I think a strong case can be made that of all the anime that have aired since 2010, none have a combination of commercial success with critical acclaim that can match Madoka Magica. Love Live! has similar commercial success, but not the same level of widespread critical acclaim. Shinsekai Yori has similar critical acclaim, but not the same level of commercial success. Shirobako comes close in both categories, but appears more limited in its reach given its weakness on AniKore as well as within much of the western fandom. Fate/Series is perhaps Madoka Magica's strongest recent rival in both critical acclaim and commercial success, but Fate/Series has declined some given the overall reception of UBW 2015.
Madoka Magica is beloved by both Anime Suki and ANN. By both AniKore and MAL. By both the anime blogosphere and Reddit. Even some popular reviewers who merely dabble in anime, while sticking mostly to general sci-fi or Hollywood movies, regard Madoka Magica very highly (sfdebris is a good example of this). What accounts for Madoka Magica's very strong range of appeal, cutting through numerous boundaries?
I think the universality of Madoka Magica's narrative may actually be under-appreciated. While it's true that Madoka Magica's strong mahou shoujo motif can create a significant initial hurdle for some audiences, I also think that many people manage to get over that hurdle, in large part due to the universality of Madoka Magica's narrative and characters and ideas. In this write-up, I intend to delve into the universality of Madoka Magica, in a way that I hope will be very different from most Madoka Magica reviews.
At its core, I think Madoka Magica is actually a coming of age story. CoA stories are extremely common in anime, quite possibly the most common type of anime story. They're common for the same reason that the high school setting is – Almost everybody goes through high school, and almost everybody reaches adulthood, so high school settings and coming of age stories are at least somewhat relatable for almost everybody. However, I think that CoA stories can come across as very trite at times. As overly clean and idealized. CoA stories tend to either be rousing success stories, or mild “average person” success stories. How often do we see the other side of that? How often do we see a major protagonist fail to come of age? How often do we see them come of age, but in a way where they lose much more than they gain? How often do we see the possible negatives of new-found adulthood showcased with brutal honesty?
Madoka Magica, I would argue, does this. Madoka Magica is brutally honest about the pitfalls people can fall into as they enter into the world of adults.
“But the PMMM main cast are all mid-teen girls! None of them are entering adulthood. None of them are graduating high school, or even thinking much about it.”
Fair points, but all of the PMMM main cast (except Kyubey of course) are thrust into the world of adults.
Consider the following:
1. Mami lives by herself, and takes care of herself. Mami goes to school, does her job as a magical girl, and comes home to her apartment, where she lives by herself. Mami has no real playtime. Her lifestyle is much more adult-like than teenager-like.
2. Kyouko also has no living parents, and is completely on her own. She in fact seems to be an impoverished street urchin. She uses her powers to take food that she needs to take in order to feed herself.
3. Sayaka and Homura's parents/legal guardians are nowhere to be seen. Homura lives a very independent lifestyle.
4. Of the main cast, Madoka is the only one that has plenty of family scenes. However, a key moment for Madoka comes in the final episode, where she leaves a disaster shelter, and in the process, leaves her parents behind. The symbolic importance of this is made clear by Junko's discussion with Madoka just before Madoka leaves the shelter.
Now, strangely absent parents is certainly nothing new for anime, but it does stand out here due to the contrast between Madoka and the rest of the PMMM main cast. It also stands out due to the lifestyles of the PMMM main cast – Most aren't living a typical teenage life, just with parents absent and/or off-screen. Mami and Kyouko are loners, but not particularly shy. They're loners due more to external circumstances than inherent personality issues.
Now, let me take my core “Madoka Magica is a CoA story” idea one step forward – I think that becoming a Puella Magi is an analogy for becoming an adult. Madoka's character arc makes all the sense in the world when you look at it that way. Becoming a Puella Magi coincides with her leaving her parents behind, while the characters that are puella magi at the start of the show are never seen with their parents or legal guardians.
Also, let's really think about what becoming a Puella Magi entails, and how it is accomplished.
A Puella Magi gains new powers and abilities. But with those powers/abilities comes an implied responsibility – Fighting witches and/or familiars. Puella Magi also get to make a wish, and where appropriate, fight for it. Almost all of the Puella Magi are shown looking after themselves, without any adult help or supervision.
As a person nears/reaches adulthood, s/he gradually gains new legal abilities – such as the ability to vote, legally drink, and legally drive a car. But with those new abilities comes an implied responsibility – Finding productive work and/or gainful employment. Kids/adolescents are encouraged to think about “what are you going to be when you grow up?”, and ultimately make a choice. Adults are expected to look after themselves.
I'm sure I'm not the only one who sees the considerable parallels here. And I would argue that what makes them even more compelling are the actual wishes made by Sayaka, Kyouko, and Mami. It's notable that neither of them, nor Homura or Madoka, has your conventional fantastical wish. I mean, neither wishes for immortality, or wishes for wondrous wealth, or wishes for great fame, or wishes for great talent. All of their wishes are either very down-to-Earth, or context-dependent, or both. They are, in fact, very reflective of the sort of adulthood that a responsible teenager would wish for herself.
Sayaka wishes to heal the hand of a highly talented musician. Sayaka's wish is rooted in romantic sentiment (which itself is part of “growing up”), but it's also a wish reflective of a healer drive – The same sort of drive that could lead a young adult to choosing a career as a nurse or a doctor or a pharmacist.
Kyouko wishes for her father and his church to be successful. In this way, Kyouko is reflective of someone who hopes to carry on a family tradition, by successfully entering into the same profession that one's parents had and/or by continuing the family business.
Mami wishes merely for her very survival. This may reflect kids that merely dream of reaching adulthood in a general sense, without any more specific drive or goal.
Madoka and Homura's wishes are more fantastical, but still holds some similarities to kids-with-adult dreams.
Madoka wishes to reform a system, which could be reasonably compared to a teeanger that aspires to be a politician, hoping to change major institutions to better the world in general.
Homura's wish is motivated by losing a dear friend, and it's certainly not strange for such occurances to motivate core life choices for people. Homura is almost like someone who loses a best friend to a particular disease, and then devotes her life to finding a cure to said disease in order to honor her friend.
So in the PMMM main cast, we see wishes that are anything but childlike or whimsical or grandiose for purely self-serving ends. We see practical personal wishes based on very immediate concerns, all similar to a kid hoping for a good future as an adult.
Now, what does this make of Kyubey? Where does he fit in?
Kyubey is the talent scout, and the college recruiter. He's the person eagerly meeting with young adults, carrying great tales of the bright adulthood to come, overflowing with hope and potential. “Be all that you can be in the magical girl marines!” Kyubey is the adult world actively reaching out to young adults, conveying a grand message of hope and opportunity and possibility. Kyubey represents the self-esteem positivism of our age, where everyone gets a participation award and everyone is a winner.
But is that actually true? Is that how it pans out for most people?
And here's the brutal honesty of Madoka Magica. A down-to-Earth brutal honesty that distinguishes it from shallow nihilism or navel-gazing existential crisis. A down-to-Earth brutal honesty that makes Madoka Magica contrast nicely against the more idealized CoA shows, but also ensures that Madoka Magica is not some inauthentic edgelord show being dark for the sake of being dark (i.e. cool, hip).
Madoka Magica shows us a few examples of CoA failure (or, at best, mixed success). A few examples of adult reality not lining up with the colorful dreams presented to us by the Kyubeys of the world.
But Kyubey is not a simple liar, just like the College recruiter isn't. Kyubey grants the wish without any painfully obvious monkey's paw troll, just like the pro sports scout generally tells you the truth about what the team hopes for you and expects of you and will give you if you succeed. It's just that what is not said is often more important than what is said. It's the unspoken pitfalls that can be the most devastating ones.
How many people can relate to Sayaka or Kyouko or Mami or Homura in this deeper but perhaps hard-to-verbalize way? How many young adult romances are epic failures for young adults, much like what Sayaka faced with Kyousuke? How many young adults find dissatisfaction in trying to continue the family business and/or end up somewhat estranged from one's parents, like a much milder version of what Kyouko deals with? How many young adults seem outwardly cool and successful, but are living alone in their apartments secretly feeling very lonely, like Mami? How many people keep chasing a particular wish, but no matter how hard they try and how many times they try, they keep failing, like Homura did?
So in Sayaka, and Kyouko, and Mami, and Homura, we see the dark side of the CoA story. We see how, in reality, the Coming of Age can go very wrong and be filled with disappointment.
“I know that feel bro”. That's what Sayaka and Kyouko and Mami and Homura all offer to the adult PMMM viewer enduring and/or looking back on their own disappointments in adult life. They share your pain, or one similar to it. Even something like crushing student loan debt is comparable to Puella Magi having to fight witches in order to pay off their Soul Gem darkness debt.
But it would be overly dark and cynical if PMMM showed nothing but disappointments, so it shows one clear-cut success story – Madoka. Madoka is Bernie Sanders getting elected President of the US, and then canceling that terrible Soul Gem darkness debt for you, leaving you freed into bliss. Hey, it's possible!
Madoka's success adds just the right amount of hope and balance to the “I know that feel bro” that Sayaka and Kyouko and Mami and Homura all offer.
“I thought adults were good responsible people like Mami, but most are just in it for themselves like Homura and Kyouko are!” - Sayaka
“This world is a survival of the fittest rat-race, and so I have to give up old idealistic dreams in order to be on top of that food-chain!” - Kyouko
“I have no time for playing games or having boyfriends – I have a PhD to finish, even if it leaves me feeling lonely with nobody but my pet cat to keep me company” - Mami
“My best friend needs help, but who can I turn to? Nobody believes me or trusts me, so I can't trust them. Nobody else seems to care, or even be aware of what she's going through. So it's up to me alone to help her out!” - Homura
“Here, sign on the dotted line to join our great Ivy League university! Take any degree you want, it doesn't matter, we aim to fulfill any wish you might have!” - Kyubey
“I want to be useful. I want to find my place in the world, and I want to make the world a better place. This system is corrupt, and I will change it to help others” - Madoka
Madoka Magica is very modern reality, channeled through a beautiful prism of colorful action scenes all accentuated by Hollywood music. The magic is there, and it's real, but it's the magic of life itself, and so it's a magic that can cut both ways.
And so here we see the profound universality of Madoka Magica, exploring the concrete reality of what it means to be human (and becoming/being an adult) in the modern world. It's brutally honest, but it's not pushing excessive artificial darkness. It just shows both the good and the bad of what life itself is like, and then says “I know that feel bro”, before offering higher hope.
In this way, it transcends anime tropes and character types even as it embraces them. In this way, it is a terrific towering total package of tasty entertainment with “keeping it real” emotional richness. And because it does so subtly, through implication and similarity, it doesn't feel overly obvious. It hits at a wordless core level, deep down inside.
What does everybody else here think?