Madoka Magica - Overall Series Impressions & Total Series Rating

[AuraTwilight]

I'm seeing that my point is failing to come across because of my poor English skills. Nevermind let's just drop it. We're not matching up here at all.

[Kazu-kun]

Originally Posted by AuraTwilight

Nevermind let's just drop it. We're not matching up here at all.

Fair enough.

[fanty]

Marathoned the whole thing yesterday.

This show had a decent story, but it had three major flaws:
1. The characters were empty, soulless, and lacked any real development.
2. There were too many episodes for the amount of story there was to tell. It didn't need to be 12 episodes long, 8 episodes (or 10 at most) would have been more than sufficient. This would have also made the first few episodes much less boring.
3. SHAFT was being pretentious in it's use of animation, as usual.

6/10

[Animexcel]

Originally Posted by fanty

Marathoned the whole thing yesterday.

This show had a decent story, but it had three major flaws:
1. The characters were empty, soulless, and lacked any real development.
2. There were too many episodes for the amount of story there was to tell. It didn't need to be 12 episodes long, 8 episodes (or 10 at most) would have been more than sufficient. This would have also made the first few episodes much less boring.
3. SHAFT was being pretentious in it's use of animation, as usual.

6/10

Are you saying that if the series was shorter, they could have fit in more character development?

[fanty]

No. If they had some character development happen then the series could have been any length.

I'm just saying that, with this anime being all about the story and not much else, there were too many episodes. If the show was shorter and had a faster pace, then the lack of character development wouldn't have been such a noticeable and jarring flaw. A snappy pace would have definitely improved this show (given the execution was good).

[Solace]

*shrug* Nothing wrong with a 6/10 really. You liked it enough to finish it, and you aren't posting here calling it the worst thing ever, etc.

You've mentioned some things you disliked though....what were some good things you found in the show?

[fanty]

Originally Posted by Solace

You've mentioned some things you disliked though....what were some good things you found in the show?

I liked the premise.

Also, the ending was surprisingly good, for an anime. Even some of my favourite shows ended up going wayward towards the end, while this show always knew where it was going.

[Solace]

Good point on the ending. I can't count how many anime I've seen where the ending kind of wanders off a bit. Actually most of them wander a lot....if they even bother to "end" things.

[MyGoddess]

Maybe my brain is too tiny to comprehend the epicness of this or maybe it was because I watched Steins;Gate before this and now I can't take other time travel stories seriously anymore but for me it wasn't that great.
But there were things I liked like the animation for the witches in the first episodes. It felt different and refreshing and the action scenes were pretty nice as well.

7/10

[Kayoubi]

Originally Posted by MyGoddess

Maybe my brain is too tiny to comprehend the epicness of this or maybe it was because I watched Steins;Gate before this and now I can't take other time travel stories seriously anymore but for me it wasn't that great.
But there were things I liked like the animation for the witches in the first episodes. It felt different and refreshing and the action scenes were pretty nice as well.

7/10

OMG that's exactly what I did! I finished watching steins;gate then tried to watch the next super highly rated anime. If I watched naruto's filler season and then watched madoka i'm pretty sure I would've found this show much more amazing. But coming after steins;gate; come on, steins;gate man!

8/10. I like how the character design wasn't the usual bishoujo. The artistic themes of each maze were very pretty which reminds me of count of montecristo anime designs for some reason.

At least i've learned the lesson that 2 time traveling animes does not go well back to back. G-baccck! j/k.

[Digital_Love]

Thought I'd comment on Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica, or as I like to call it, Mediocre Madoka Magica. Why? Because it has a nicer ring to it.

Well that and the fact that the show was an empty experience to me.

Mainly because of the characters. Simply put, the characterization in this show is pretty weak. The characters are more like agents than human beings.

Suffice it to say, I won't care about such characters. Not a good thing for a show that is essentially a classical tragedy.

It feels like I was only given the bare bones of the story. It works alright, it's well-structured and it usually comes together logically, but they neglected the characters and what I got was a show that fails to be compelling in any way.

Seems like characters that are actually characters instead of agents/fetish objects/plot devices/potential pairings for a male lead are an endangered species these days...


TL;DR This TV show is bland and forgettable. What else is on?

[Snork]

I had an impression that the writer took time not to waste a single line in the script without adding to the characterization. Shinbo then kicks in and adds even more through his usual detalization and freeze frame milestones. Despite that, Ballad of Bland Characters remains a hit among MadoMagi critics. Well, to each his own. If you didn't see all the characterization the script was made chok full of, too bad. What you need is a show where it will be even better and more spelled out, so I wish you to see lots of those in future.

[Roloko vi Britannia]

I liked the whole twisted magical girl premises, but the show was kinda well not as good as the hype let it to be.

7/10

Good series, but not the best. I loved Homura though.

[Snork]

That's the bad thing about hype.

[Solace]

Originally Posted by Snork

Despite that, Ballad of Bland Characters remains a hit among MadoMagi critics.

It's a criticism I find myself struggling to understand. Maybe for Mami, since her role is limited to the beginning and end of the show, but otherwise I'm not really seeing how the character development was weak or bland (or as some assert, nonexistent).

[~Yami~]

there's only one explanation why people give this show a high rating....

it's because they don't marathon the show... lol

all of my friends also said there's nothing special from this anime after watch it all in one go

[Kimidori]

Originally Posted by ~Yami~

there's only one explanation why people give this show a high rating....

it's because they don't marathon the show... lol

all of my friends also said there's nothing special from this anime after watch it all in one go

i marathonned it in just a morning and this is one of my top anime of all time you know?

what i love the most about this show is the heavy Symbolism, the relationship between characters and many hidden meaning behind it. after watched it i spend about a week read dozens of article on the wiki and i'm still reading them right now

[Proto]

there's only one explanation why people give this show a high rating....

it's because they don't marathon the show... lol

all of my friends also said there's nothing special from this anime after watch it all in one go

Maybe you're right. It does help to stop and actually think about what you're watching to further appreciate the show.

[MartianMage]

Well TBH there's a lot of criticisms about this show that I don't understand. I just stopped trying to... Not like other people having different opinion or simply them misunderstanding something about this show has ever stopped me from enjoying my rewatches.

[woxx]

I began to like the show very much only after second rewatch. Deep story, brilliant soundtrack, lots of yuri hints. 10/10