Puella Magi Madoka Magica

This time I am reviewing the popular Puella Magi Madoka Magica or just Madoka Magica. It's a short anime series consisting of just 12 episodes. The story at first can get a bit overwhelming and confusing while they try to give you as much information in the first episode. So here's a quick summary: a young 14 year old girl named Madoka Kaname lives a typical school life with her friends. However, she has had dreams involving a mysterious girl and herself battling a giant monster, later to be known as a witch. One day at school, a transfer student by the name of Homura Akemi appears in her class and Madoka quickly notices that she is the one from her dreams. From there, the story takes off explaining Madoka's dreams to who and what Homura is. She is a magical girl which are girls who have their souls taken out by the Kyubey, which is a creature from another alien race, to battle evil witches. However, the meaning as to how witches come into being is a startling one which makes Madoka's decision to become a magical girl even more difficult. Throughout the series Homura tries to stop Madoka from becoming a magical girl, but the Kyubey wants her to become one, for she can become the most powerful magical girl ever due to reasons later to be explained.

The animations and design of the whole anime is pretty interesting. Normally, characters aren't drawn with big, bulgy heads but this actually gave it a unique distinction among other animes I've seen. It added to the whole innocent factor of the girls who are trying to learn more about the  purpose of Magical Girls. What also set it apart from other animes was the art given to emphasize the withes' evil and strength such as drawing some cartoonish and fun while other witches were a somewhat realistic and dark. I sometimes had trouble getting used to this since sometimes the witch animations were sometimes 2D while the girls were meant to be 3D. In other words, it just seemed as if the girls were fighting flat images. The scenery was nice and simple. To me it didn't seem as if the scenery and landscape of the city was important to the story at all. 

The story itself was alright. It wasn't great. It did have some flaws while some characters had no real purpose in being in the actual main plot. At times it felt awkward or just not making any sense. Even the Japanese voice actors sounded as though they got tired of working on the anime because their reactions felt off or not as emotional as it should have been. It really could have been better. It was decent. Just that. Decent. Would I watch it again? Probably not. My favorite character was Kyubey though. His whole purpose/mission and persona was amazing. The story did seem as though it was being rushed in the final few episodes as they were just blowing by all this information that seems like it would be crucial to the ending, but not all of it was. The ending had you asking questions instead of letting you feel it ended nicely.

Overall, I thought it was OK. I would give it a 6.5 or 7 out of 10. It really could have been better. I did feel somewhat emotional after what happened after Mami's situation, but after that, you're just waiting for Madoka to become a magical girl since you already know by the first episode she's going to be one. Some characters did get annoying, but some really aren't lasting characters. In other words, most of these characters will be forgotten by the time you finish watching this anime. I wouldn't recommend it as a "must see" but more as a "watch when you have the time". If you feel the urge to quit after a few episodes, then just read the episode summary. No big deal. I've seen better. Not saying that it's bad, but I've seen better.