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Madoka gets an 8/10 from my point of view. First short anime series I've watched in a while, so it was definitely good enough to get my attention. The story itself was intriguing and I enjoyed the Faustian undertones present throughout. Rather than reiterate the good points of a clearly well-loved series I'll point out my few detracting factors:
Predictable - The series was very predictable, which in and of itself is not a bad thing (Maison Ikkoku being one of my favorite series), but I do not get the impression it wanted you to have everything figured out before they revealed things to you. I had surmised that Homura was a time-traveler, using Kyubey's wish to accomplish this feat, very early on. Kyubey was quite obviously a 'villainous' creature from the first episode - the foreshadowing came on a bit strong in my opinion.
Characterization - Only one problem here, but it was rather glaring... Kyoko and Sayaka sure did pull a rather unjustified 180 in their antagonism/friendship. Guess I'll chalk that one up to not having enough time.
The setting - I am an open minded individual, but the magical girl element only served to detract from the series, in my opinion. The story could have been given a more serious cast and set of powers and still portray the same message. Of course, part of this one has to do with the target audience, but this is my personal viewpoint. It's just a little bit too silly for me.
The ending - Deus ex machina... The demon bit made very little sense in this rewritten world, as well. I hesitate to say I wanted a bad ending for the characters, but having Madoka destroy the world and Homura turn into a witch would have been a more palatable ending than this - some things can't be changed.
Despite these problems, I enjoyed the series quite thoroughly, thus it gets a thumbs up from me.
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