Either way I just kinda hope it doesn't draw too much influence form Madoka.
While I love Madoka, to see another show that isn't quite connected but influenced heavily is just not what I want really.

But do love the character designs.

Never heard of this Kantoku either, but I agree with the designs being nice.

It's not a Shaft show without delays or technical difficulties. :p

Honestly, I'm not sure if I can watch another normal Magical Girl show, I only really liked Madoka and Nanoha since they both took a different path than the genre standards. At same time a Madoka retread wouldn't be too interesting either. =/

i doubt this is a traditional MG show specially since its gonna have its reveal at comicket, even knowing the ones aimed at kids have the equivalent of bronies(if not more) in japan.

"Influenced" doesn't necessarily mean copying after Madoka Magica. You might have an anime that addresses and comes up with its own answers to the problems found in Madoka Magica.

For instance you can have a magical familiar whom the girls don't trust from the get go, and he has to prove himself trustworthy before a "contract" is made. Too many magical girl shows have familiars who trick, manipulate, or downright force the lead into become a magical girl, ironically to the point where Kyubey actually looks nice.

My hopes for what is to come doesn't hold any ground until the show is shown, I have no idea what the influences could be, be it themes, setting, characters etc etc.
As things tend to be I can see them taking from Madoka cause of it's success, just like it happens anywhere.
However I don't see them really "copying" anyway but drawing ideas/inspiration, just I hope not too much.
We could have a lighthearted magical girl show that's fine, we could have something pretty grim just like Madoka again, that's fine as well, it's just as long as they at least try and come up with different ideas in how they go about doing them.
Altho safe bet is we'll probably see the same arty style we see with Shaft shows.

Awww the magical bunny mascot is adorable. :3

So far this looks like something I'll want to follow.

I'll wait till we have more substantial information to make any real conclusion about this show, but I don't have a good feeling about it. Not too sure why, might just be because I'm not a big fan of Kantoku's art.

Looks like Kantoku is having a hand in this project after all. I'm sure most of you knew or speculated, but you know just in case.

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news...-anime-project

Well, the fact it's a magical girl show done by SHAFT is almost certainly going to give it an overall visual style very reminiscent of Madoka Magica. Some of it is those magical girl character designs that look like they'd fit right in PMMM-verse, but most of it is a simple matter of "SHAFT being SHAFT". Even if this show has an overall mood as light and fluffy as Card Captor Sakura, I still fully expect it to have some weird-looking stuff in it. :heh:

The real question, then, is if it's narrative content will be as dark as (or even darker than) what's in Madoka Magica. That's what I'm uncertain of.


In the comic book world, there was a famous comic called The Watchmen. You could say that The Watchmen were to superhero comics what Madoka Magica is to magical girl anime. The Watchmen was a very well-received comic book. After The Watchmen, comic books took a decided turn towards being increasingly grimdark and "realistic". It got to the point where I often wonder if the comic book world no longer knew how to properly write bright and colorful superheroes like Superman and Spiderman.

As much as I love Madoka Magica, I don't know if I want it to forever redefine the genre. Part of Madoka Magica's appeal, imo, is the striking contrast - Character designs which are so vividly reflective of classic magical girl aesthetics in a relatively very dark show. But if those sorts of character designs consistently show up in darker shows, then they'll eventually become mentally associated with darker shows, and then the contrast value is lost. And then I fear you'd lose something of the core essence of magical girl anime.

On the flip-side, though, it can be hard to have a show be generally upbeat and optimistic while still capturing the gravitas that Madoka Magica did. It's not impossible - I would argue that Gurren Lagann did it - But it's tricky.


On the whole, I guess my hope for Prism is for it to have a look like Madoka Magica, but a feel like the original Nanoha anime. That's probably the ideal balance here, imo.

while all of you guys are comparing this to Suite Precure & Symphogear, i compare this to.... Kamen Rider Hibiki!! :heh:

What we've got so far :

- They use (elemental) coins as in "betting" them into their weapons (at least blue and red does, can't find the medal slot on green's bow and arrows)
- Red got four different transformed clothing, blue got two (power up variations ala rider?)
- City is located near shore (there will be beach episode?)
- They have either two different schools or the anime will be long enough in-universe to justify winter and summer clothing

It isn't redefining the genre, at most it is only changing one part of it. The magical girl series intended for girls is pretty much unaffected by this. If it changes anything then it will change the magical girl series intended for males between 17 and 35. And if you want to be technical, then Madoka would almost be a return to form for that sub section. Cutie Honey, the first fighting magical girl, was actually very dark in the original manga form. The anime made it a great deal lighter and softer.

Anywho, it does look like this is aimed for the male 17-35 market based on its appearance at Comiket. Then again, some of the magical girl series with the young girl target audience do have males 17-35 as a secondary demographic. I'd guess 75% likely for adult males and 25% for young girls.

No. :heh:
There have been plenty of darker takes on magical girl anime over the years; I liked Madoka quite a lot, but it is neither unique, special, nor genre-redefining.
Furthermore, given that it's only been a year and a half, I think it is far, far too early to say anything about its impact upon the medium.

Anyway, Prism Nana looks really standard, but if it ends up being something like Nanoha, I guess I'll be happy.

I somewhat disagree. "Unique" is a strong term, but I think that at the very least Madoka Magica can be considered "special". There have been dark magical girl shows before it, sure, but the specific way Madoka Magica goes about being dark is particularly deconstructive (one key piece of this is how it handles the magical girl familiar character type).

And I never said that Madoka Magica is genre-redefining. My point is that I don't know if I want it to be or not.

Madoka Magica deconstructs magical girl anime in a way similar to how The Watchmen deconstructs comic book superheroes. But whether or not Madoka Magica will impact magical girl anime the way The Watchmen impacted comic books remains to be seen, of course.


Given Madoka Magica's sheer sales success I think there's reason to suspect that it will have a major impact on the medium.

That is,if you really consider her as a magical girl since she's a robot (cutey honey flash doesn't exist :p ) also there's still some magical girl show trademarks missing such as there being a mascot.


I don't expect Shaft to go for grindmark here,they don't have the surprise factor anymore (yeah some knew who urobuchi was but he wasn't as well known as he is now) which is what really created the buzz, so I expect something more like Nanoha.

High-res gallery (extracted) from official website
22 images, click on the cog on top right on each image to see full resolution.

Kantoku's notes on each image:

http://i.imgur.com/fxHMMm.jpg
(2nd from the right) 「キャラによってマークを変えます」 "This mark changes by character"
(Rightmost) 「胸のハートはキャラで変える」 "Heart mark changes per character"

http://i.imgur.com/JHNqTm.jpg
(Top) 「水盤」"Basin"
(Bottom) 「芝生」"Lawn"

http://i.imgur.com/GheJtm.jpg
(Top-right) 「うーむ」"Hmm..."
(Bottom-middle) 「ゆるせない」 "I won't forgive you!"

http://i.imgur.com/222eDm.jpg
(Top-left) 「北側」"North"
(Top-middle) 「東側・山々」"Eastern/Mountains"
(Top-right) 「南側」"South"
(Bottom-left) 「工業地帯」(Not sure) "Industrial area"
(Bottom-middle) 「西側・日本海」"West/Sea of Japan"
(Center-left) ???
(Center-middle)「工業道路」(Not sure) "Industrial expressway"
(Center-right)「高速道路」"Expressway"

Town settings feels very SHAFT-like.

This is beginning to look more interesting by the day. Music seems to be very important in this series (maybe a music academy, with the girls being music students?)

My prediction on character types:
- Blond girl: rich, maybe even of royal descent.
- Blue-haired girl: definitely a tsundere
- Brunette: Probably a ditz/airhead. If these girls form a group of magical girls, I'm expecting her to be the leader.

I am hoping for much stronger character interaction, besides sailor moon anime, all magical girl shows I ahve watched feel weak in that aspect.

See totoum's and zeniselv's replies.


Hmmm. So I'm now 95% sure Gen's gonna be the writer. I hope he is.

Sailor Moon did have good character relationships. Madoka Magica did too.

Hopefully this isn't just a Madoka Magica clone. I got faith in the people involved.

But I also had faith in Kawamori and Okada when Evol was announced. :heh: