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+===============
+ Madoka Magica
+===============
+
+A great leap in quality for the Magical Girl genre.
+===================================================
+
+:CreationDate: 2012-12-16 15:22:38
+:Id: anime/review/madoka-magica
+:tags: - anime
+       - review
+:rating: 4.5
+:original: http://www.easternkicks.com/reviews/puella-magi-madoka-magica-complete
+
+"Magical Girl" is one of the main genre of Japanese animation,
+alongside "giant robots", "sports", "fighting", and the like.
+
+This genre has a long history: it probably started in 1962 with ひみつ
+のアッコちゃん (Secret Akko-chan, animated by Toei Animation), and got
+most of its defining characteristics from 魔法使いサリー (Sally the
+witch, Toei Animation) and, later, 魔法のプリンセス ミンキーモモ
+(Magical Princess Minky Momo, Ashi Production).
+
+Magical girls were sometimes non-human, coming from magical places to
+Earth as a rite of passage (yes, Kiki counts as a magical girl anime);
+more often and more recently, they're normal girls who receive magical
+powers through an object donated by aliens, or magical / divine (in
+the Shinto sense) beings.
+
+Minki Momo, and the Studio Pierrot magical girl series (Creamy,
+Persia, Emi, Yumi), established some conventions that have remained
+mostly unchanged ever since; in particular, the "animal sidekick"
+(magical beast, alien, magically animated plushie…) that usually helps
+/ guides / counsels the main character.
+
+In deference to these tropes, Madoka Magica opens with the
+cute-looking alien Kyuubee offering to make Madoka, a normal shy
+schoolgirl, into a magical girl to save people from evil witches. In a
+significant departure from the standards of the genre, though, this
+does not happen in a common and tranquil setting: it happens inside a
+nightmare scene where another girl is fighting for her life and
+clearly losing. The psychological pressure that Kyuubee brings to bear
+on Madoka is nearly overwhelming, and the scene sets the tone for the
+entire series.
+
+I have to say that I hate Kyuubee, so much so that I bought a
+life-size stuffed doll of it, to punch, as a stress-relief aid. Even
+if you ignore the opening scene, and pretend that Kyuubee starts out
+very much like any other magical girl companion, you'll feel pretty
+soon that something is not right, that its promises are a little too
+vague, its empathy a little too forced. And while the series
+progresses, the feelings of wrongness and alien-ness keep
+growing. Sure, it gives magical powers to young girls, makes one of
+their wishes come true, allows them to help people by fighting
+witches… but the cost is too high, the fighting too hard, the reality
+of the wish always disappointing. Only Homura and Madoka manage to
+turn their wish into something fully positive, but it's more thanks to
+their stubbornness and determination, than to Kyuubee and its ilk.
+
+In addition to a deep and gripping story, and to characters that
+provoke strong emotional responses, the technical aspects of the
+series are also well above average: from the music (written and
+performed by ClariS and Kalafina) that perfectly sets the mood, to the
+animation, flawless both in the slow, contemplative scenes and in the
+fast action of combat. A special mention must be made of the depiction
+of magic: raw, barely controlled near-omnipotent magic, distorting the
+structure of the universe at every level, it's shown as psychedelic
+collages that follow their own crazy internal logic (and those wings
+of raw power at the end of the last episode still send chills down my
+spine!).
+
+I've watched this series twice from beginning to end, and the last
+three episodes at least twice more. This happens rarely to me, but
+Madoka Magica is just worth it.
+
+With almost fifty years of history, you'd think that the Magical Girl
+genre had been thoroughly explored and very little new could be
+written in it, and if you looked at most recent offerings you'd be
+justified in confirming your opinions. And in this lays a good part of
+the importance of Madoka Magica: I think, and hope, that just like
+Neon Genesis Evangelion infused new life into the "giant robots"
+genre, echoes of Madoka Magica will rapidly be seen in other Magical
+Girl series. Eva took the well-known elements of the robot story
+(alien invaders, reluctant pilot, collateral damage) and re-framed
+them more-or-less explicitly as a psychological analysis of social
+interactions. Madoka takes the Magical Girl tropes (wish-fulfilment,
+friendship, responsibility, helping people) and re-frames them in
+cosmic terms, making the protagonists directly relevant to the world
+at large.
+
+If you hadn't noticed, I consider Madoka Magica one of the best series
+of the last few years, and I'm trying to convince all my friends to
+watch it: all of those who've seen it has only good things to say
+about it. I can only hope that this review will convince you, and that
+you'll see how an old genre and overused devices can be given a
+glorious new life.
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