Hmm, clearly this series was overrated. I mean darkier and edgier sounds like a cool new concept to bring to the magical girl genre, but having a darker twist in itself is not original. Hell, it's been done to death in the 90s and it's kinda annoying that Darkness= quality. It's not original, it's just gimmicky. PMMM could have had a lot of potential, but most of it was squandered with dancing marshmallows with mustaches.
Visuals: 5/10
What some may call artistic, I call cost cutting. Is not trying to have animation artistic these days? Surely, it's not as bad as their previous shows, but it's just lazy trying to be abstract and comes across as just being pretentious.
And what's with those character designs? Pancake faces? Really? The only attractive looking character is Kyubey, and it's sad that some demon-alien looks the best out of the cast.
Backgrounds are nice... when they actually give a damn. But all and all, nothing special
Story: 4/10
Although the story can be considered self-consistent, it gets cluttered with all kinds of nonsense and pacing problems. The entropy nonsense not only highlights the writers' lack of understanding of basic science, but also the lack of ability to throw in a suitable plot twist. Oh, time travel too? How impressive-- that just sets up a chance for a reset button. The ending cannot be called a true deux ex machina, but instead of having the characters find a way to fight out, they have an easy bake solution.
Also, it's convenient to have most of the parents out of the picture huh? Well, Kyoko had that excuse, but Sayaka? Mami? Please! Kyubey wouldn't have had half the chance. When I make a choice I am always right in hindsight; they should obviously be too.
Then the series ends with some kind of naked hugging lovefest. Lay of the drugs, guys.
Characters: 3/10
A story needs characters, not plot devices. Madoka herself is the ultimate plot device; we have some frail little girl who oh wants to help, but won't do anything until it's too late. Hey, why not just make the wish now and spare us the suffering? Some may consider them clever for saving her up, but honestly, it's just to drag the show on and sell more DVDs.
It'd be even better if she had some more willpower. How can you have a story when the hero is a sobbing mess all the time. Look at Evangelion, the Rebuild movies are better, because the hero pulled something completely out of his ass out of sheer willpower! Why can't we have something like that?
Everyone else isn't worth mentioning. They have roles, but they are clearly here to be tortured by this sadist of a writer. Homura has to keep the idiot ball going with her cryptic hintings of plot and her time travel plot, Mami's to get killed for shock value, Sayaka to make them even more confused, and Kyoko's there to eat because they're all too depressed to do so. And what's with Kyoko's regular outfit? Fanservice fail.
Enjoyment: 6/10
Well, I guess watching people die repeatedly was fun, in a sadistic way... but really, dragging
Overall: 4/10
Plot contrivances out of the wazoo, characters that service the plot. Gee, really, I can't believe I wasted my time because everyone hyped it up so badly. Sheesh.
Ok, I'll write an
actual review later... I just think you guys need a balance to all the praise I'll give later as well as from others.