Puella Magi Madoka Magica & Rebellion
The power of keeping secrets in a story
Introduction:
This series started out as a simple premise; what if magical girls, but evil. However Madoka Magica has turned this story into so much more than that. They managed to create a truly amazing character study on grief, love, hope, and obsession. With genius cinematography, mixed media animation, and writing this blows most other stories out of the water with the emotional impact they are able to deliver to their audience.
It is a franchise I cannot talk about without spoiling so there will be a huge spoiler warning!
The best thing I can do is to recommend that you go watch it! The less you know about it when you start the better. I promise that it is definitely worth your time!
Manga adaptation cover
What’s Inspiring about Madoka Magica mini series and its sequel movie Rebellion?:
Everything is crafted with care to be wholesome yet unsettling. How it is able to pull this off is by giving the characters we meet deep motivations that drive their actions. While creating uncertainty by keeping extremely relevant information from us and the characters but hinting at it in every scene. Just something not adding up or an odd look or something eerie. It is immaculate because you come to understand the five main girls and their motivations perfectly while being horrified and shocked at the extremely relevant details that were being hidden from us in the beginning. What an expert level of craftsmanship to pull off this feeling of dread and ecstasy. A show that is good at keeping its secrets until the perfect moment and it NEVER feels contrived. It earns every single step.
On top of masterful storytelling Madoka Magica also delivers on peak animation. It switches styles, color pallets, mediums, and so much more. There is so much genius art and composition decisions in this show that I could just gush over for hours. Like you just have to see it to believe it. The animation also just keeps on getting better and better as time goes on. So the next movie is sure to also be stunning.
I haven’t even talked about the fight choreography and how they work to make sure each character’s fighting style and powers are perfectly represented.
Go watch this show… Please.
SPOLERS FROM HERE ON OUT
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Turn Back Now
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SPOLERS FROM HERE ON OUT - Turn Back Now -
I thought that the show had an amazing ending with the time travel reveal. This might be the best time travel story I may have ever seen. The fact that Homura has been reliving the same three months for years and years learning everything about Kyubey and these characters was just such an amazing shock. Especially when she cries to Madoka to stop belittling herself and telling herself that she’s not special is such a beautiful scene that adds so much depth to Homura’s character.
Homura I truly believe is the main character of this series and its only named after Madoka because of her love for her. Rebellion only proves this by giving Homura the opportunity to finally live in a false reality with everything she ever wished for. This of course comes crumbling down by the end of the movie but reveals so much about her and the other characters. Just incredible outgrowths of their personalities and values.
This show makes you really grapple with these children, their emotions, and how Kyubey manipulates them. It really shows how emotion affects our actions and decisions and just how powerful they can be. It highlights how important it is to care for your emotions. It also shows how messed up a Magical Girl’s life is and how Kyubey’s system of praying on young girls is one of the most horrific and awful things to ever exist. No one should be forced to experience what these girls do and I am so glad that this anime exists to analyze and enjoy.
Kaname & Homura embracing
Final thoughts:
If you ignored the spoilers and you are here… go watch it. I beg of you. Misery loves company, and I am such an incredible mixture of awe, elation, and despair after experiencing this series and movie. I think more people should feel this way. I’d love to hear more peoples thoughts on this series so I can dive deeper into its themes.
Madoka Magica is such an amazing, heart wrenching story. I haven’t seen any other story quite like it and I urge you to go and experience it for yourself.
It’s just THAT GOOD.
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Get an insight into the children’s book that helped create this site’s design and how it looks.