Are you ready?
Back in our Winter Preview, I declared my unyielding love for this show:
KYAAAAAAA SHINBOU MAGICAL GIRL ANIME. I don’t care that it’s kind of like a learning opportunity for up and coming SHAFT director Yukihiro Miyamoto. Character designs by Ume Aoki (Hidamari Sketch writer) = win. Script by the guy who did Phantom? Oh God I’m so ready to get on the awesome train. Shinbou, TAKE ME AWAYYYYY~~~
Well the awesome train has begun to leave the station, and if you’re not on board, get on now.
Or else.
What is Madoka Magica? Well you could see it as another generic Mahou Shoujo show, and if you only watched the OP, you’d definitely get that feel. Unfortunately you’re only half right. The plot in Madoka is your typical average generic Mahou Shoujo plot. In fact, as far as I can tell, there’s really nothing special about the plot at all. The characters are what you would expect from your typical Mahou Shoujo series, the plot is what you would expect as well… But what sets this one anime apart from every other Mahou Shoujo series out there: Shinbo.
I really don’t think it’s a far stretch to attribute Madoka’s absolute awesomeness to Shinbo alone. I mean if there’s one thing that everyone can agree on that separates SHAFT from other animation studios, it’s the animation style. And that’s why I love SHAFT when they get it right. The mark of a great SHAFT anime is ultimately the utilization of some element that just can’t be captured in any other medium. You really can’t read the Bakemonogatari novels, then watch the Bakemonogatari anime and think that it’s the same experience. The unique animation style in the anime twists your perceptions around.
And it’s no different in Madoka, except Shinbo takes a different approach to the animation in Madoka than in any other of his works (and there’s no Madoka novel/manga/VN, but there will be a manga soon). In other words, Shinbo’s animation style is a perfect match for the Mahou Shoujo genre.
The reason why Madoka is so wonderful to watch is because of the complete demarcation between the real and magical world that Shinbo’s animation provides. For example, watch this progression of screencaps:
Madoka moe~ This music store too pretty~
Madoka shadow~ This place too creepy~
O_O Scary place >.<
In pretty much every other Mahou Shoujo anime, the world stays relatively consistent throughout the normal and magical world. Ok, yes, they change costumes, maybe the world gets a little darker, time freezes, etc, but it’s still recognizable. Shinbo’s magical world is like a nightmare. We’re talking about stepping into a world where white cotton balls with moustaches grow out of butterflies and where scissors grow on thorny vines.
Holy what’s going on.
And this is where Shinbo’s Mahou Shoujo anime completely diverges from others. All other Mahou Shoujo series paint the magical world as something that isn’t necessarily scary, and even one that people might want to live in. In some cases like Nanoha, the protagonist ends up living in the magical world.
But Shinbo’s magical world is nothing like any other. It’s dark, scary, terrifying, deadly. Why? Hell if I know. It’s only episode 1. But it’s something that I’ll be taking note of.
But what this dark and scary world emphasizes is, at the very least, this fundamental disconnect between the real and magical world. They’re two completely different universes. One occupies the world of some of the prettiest modern architecture to date, with a full blown mall and other great things. The other one occupies… Something completely different.
Depending on how deep you want to take the analysis, something that I’ve considered is that Shinbo might be parodying the sheer absurdity of the Mahou Shoujo genre. I mean come on guys, everything in Mahou Shoujo anime just seems to be TOO idealistic you know? Hey look Nanoha found an awesome friend from the magical world! The girls in Heartcatch Precure use FLOWERS to attack things. Aren’t we getting just a bit too absurd here?
… No words.
And the way Shinbo attempts to show this absurdity is through contrasts and divisions. Elements in Madoka Magica kind of don’t make sense when you put them together. Starting with the OP and ED. ClariS and Kalafina. The first group premiered with OreImo’s OP. The latter premiered with Kara no Kyoukai. How about the BGM? Well that’s harder to actually express, but I think it’s rather rare in Mahou Shoujo series to hear such ominous music. I mean dramatic music is often heard, but rarely do you hear a track that sends shivers down your spine like some in Madoka Magica.
I already explained how the contrasts work visually, and tons of people picked up on this too, but the visual divisions are clear as well. Shinbo also uses negative space really well, though considering his previous works, that shouldn’t be surprising to anyone. A couple of shots:
Do you choose to cross the bridge or go back?
A visual barrier.
A field of chains separating Madoka from this strange world.
Light vs. Dark
Moe vs. Non-moe
And so on and so forth. Madoka is… well beautiful to say the least. Really what else can you say? The music and visuals work together in such a great way. The characters are… Well they’re appealing to me at least.
Thus far I’ve been mostly obsessed with the visual aesthetics of Madoka Magica, but I honestly have little to say about the plot. It’s actually very much in line with something that I would expect from a Mahou Shoujo series. I get the feeling that the opening pulls together a lot of elements from different Mahou Shoujo series, but I haven’t watched enough to tell. The one I did notice was the “ferret” calling out to Madoka, which was a clear nod to Nanoha.
On the other hand, there are plenty of mysteries floating around the beginning of the show. First and foremost: Why does Madoka’s family have the mom working? Come on guys. We need traditional gender roles here. But more seriously, why does Houmura have some beef with her name? It might just be coincidence, but every single time she grimaced was right after Madoka made some reference to her name, particularly her last name. Ok that one was rather esoteric, but the psychedelic magical world has a lot of mysteries too, including everything. Strange letters, strange creatures, strange visuals, why the hell is the Eiffel Tower there, etc.
But I get the feeling that the mysteries aren’t going to be the reason why I’ll love this show. It’s the experience. The series is something to be watched and enjoyed. Will it beat out the Noitamina shows starting out next week? I don’t know, but it has proven that it’s a clear contender. In fact, I might even episodically blog this, though that will largely depend on episode 2. But for now, it’s time to sit back, relax…
and enjoy the film. (This is actually a shot from the opening of Madoka, which I found strange, but I have no explanation for it so I’m just putting it here for people to think about it).
50 Comments
indeed, SHAFT and Shinbou stand out because they can break conventional anime traditions…sometimes they do it wrong, but that’s fine. =D
It’s all part of an experiment I agree~… As long as the experiment doesn’t fly out of control *coughVampireBundcough*
Wow, your post has represented the whole thing I want to say about Madoka Magica.
Music by Yuki Kajiura btw. Mai-HiME, KnK, Pandora Hearts, Tsubasa Chronicle, NOIR, Madlax, etc.
I <3 Yuki Kajiura. Her music isn’t necessarily the most impressive, but it works oh so well when you match it to an anime.
Yuki Kajiura is great. Her music is very characteristic, and I can basically tell right away when I hear it.
Music was instantly recognizable as Yuki Kajiura. Loved it.
Must agree with the visuals. I had to pause the episode for a few minutes at the screenshot you captured of them on the bridge to just admire how frikkin pretty it was. The spaces are so beautiful. And the cotton monsters are freaky, but cool.
I hope you opened up the episode and paused it at 720p or something, because it looks so much cooler there. What’s also really impressive in Madoka that I didn’t mention in the post because I couldn’t find a way to weave it in is just how much work was put into reflections. For example Madoka’s bathroom has a ton of mirrors reflecting trees, you can see Madoka and her mother reflected many times in the mirror facing the sink, and the reflection of the sky really comes out in that bridge shot too!
Hmm, where do I start, maybe a list (in no order of preferences)
1. Widefaces
2. Madoka’s awesome mother
3. Chiwa Saito channeling another dangerous SHAFT maiden who runs track and field, sadly no staplers or crabs involved here
4. CLASS S GOGGLES, ACTIVATE!!!
5. Potential HiME-lander in the works
6. OMG IT’S DALI ON LSD AND OTHER DRUGS!!! Also psychedelic background/environment reminds me of some of Dave McKean’s Sandman work…
7. MUSKET-FUNNELS GO!!! Also coming from most stacked middle schooler ever…
8. Awesome music from Yuki Kajiura…
Lol you think these are “widefaces”? Not wide enough. We need Hidamari level wide
While I know of the (T _ T) meme, I didn’t watch HidaSketch, and these are wider than what I’m used to…
What how is (T _ T) wide enough? STILL NOT WIDE ENOUGH! Hidamari faces are like (X_____________X)
Ohhh, you mean:
(X ‘ ________________________________________________’ )
Cool first episode a bit trippy in the end there but awesome! must see more of this and see where things end up
Where things will end up? The usual SHAFT debate of course… *sigh*
I think that Puella Magi Madoka will probably stand evenly or slightly above this season’s noitamina series, at least for the first few episodes, but then again the demographics these series ( Madoka, Fractale and Hourou Musuko) target are pretty different, so it’s not something very easy to judge. Whatever the case may be i plan on watching all three.
On a side note i hear that the producers behind Hourou Musuko had their noitamina license expire or something so i’m worried about a bit.
Well I feel like Shinbo will keep this show interesting, but Noitamina has traditionally had absolutely wonderful works, so we’ll have to keep a look out to see how Fractale and Hourou Musuko stack up…
I think I’ll love these series =] I like how the colors look like they were crayon pictures too (particularly the eyes of the characters), and how in the magical world things look like cardboard props.
Oh, and the bajillion GUN BITS/FUNNELS/FANGS/OPTIONS
The style in which the characters were drawn is actually an interesting choice, and does look actually a bit messy, but it makes the characters look even more distinctive, especially in comparison to the psychedelic backgrounds.
You know what we need next? A bajillion knives a la ZA WARUDO~
The magical world gives off a bit of a Tim Burton vibe…
=)
I haven’t watched too many of his films, but I don’t think he’s ever gone literally off the deep end into what could be construed as non-sensical backgrounds lol.
“But more seriously, why does Houmura have some beef with her name? It might just be coincidence, but every single time she grimaced was right after Madoka made some reference to her name, particularly her last name.”
I’m guessing that it isn’t her real name, just an identity she’s assumed/taken over after contracting with one of the magic world familiars. Kyube offered the other girls whatever they wished. I can’t believe that there isn’t a major cost involved. I’m guessing losing her real-world identity was the price Akemi paid, which is why she tries to warn Madoka and off the familiar.
On another note, blonde-girl’s death threat was the thing that stuck out most for me the most this episode. Yes, even more than the magic world. I think it sets up a dynamic you don’t see often in magical girl anime.
Now that’s an interesting theory. Of course because we know basically nothing right now, I can’t really say anything to that
And as for the blond girl’s “death threat”, that translation actually only exists in gg’s fansub of Madoka. None of the other fansubs I’ve checked used the phrase “kill”, and even after listening to the phrase to the best of my ability, I couldn’t find any word that sounded close to “kill” or “death” in any variation. If she really does issue a death threat, it must be an idiomatic/metaphoric one or something. *Shrug*
There’s probably a whole closet of skeletons this Homura lass is hiding behind her back. Her name might be the family name of something she isn’t proud of (like evil sorcerors?!?!) but I guess we’ll find out in time~
The plot is as typical as it gets, but that SHAFT style is what keeps me hooked too. I have really high hopes for how this will turn out <3
There’s also been the suggestion thrown around that perhaps Homura is the good guy, which is actually also plausible. It’d certainly be an interesting twist :3
When I first heard of the show, I was very surprised to find that Kajiura Yuki was doing soundtrack. I reasoned that the show was either more serious than it sounded like, Kajiura Yuki was also given a learning experience, or she got completely screwed over, considering that all of her work involves beautiful or epic sounding music (famous for her choruses in the main battle themes for the shows she did). Just off of that, I was going like, “……. HEHHHH???”
After watching the first ep, I think that this could potentially the “heel face turn” for the genre, in the sense that this could potentially revolutionize how the genre is stereotypically written. I mean those Dali/American Indie film-like motifs don’t just pop up anywhere outside of their own style of art. Also, the pretty legit dark atmosphere of the ep really contrasted with the cute premise of show was very unique. I have to say if this is done right, it could potentially be the best show of the season.
on a side note, i am quite jealous of how rich they are. i mean look at that SCHOOL, that HOUSE, that ENVIRONMENT. @.@ i can understand if it’s like IS, but srsly… man i would love to live there.
nah never in IS or there ><
After watching the first ep, I think that this could potentially the “heel face turn” for the genre, in the sense that this could potentially revolutionize how the genre is stereotypically written.
If only I could be that optimistic. Quickly you learn that creative series like this just don’t get a lot of traction. I believe that Madoka Magica might be different considering how keeps a foot on both dry land and in the ocean, but to think that studios will deviate from the much simpler and easier executed formula of mahou shoujo anime is kind of a long shot. I mean it might not seem like it for Western fans, but Heartcatch Precure is actually incredibly popular in the Otaku fanbase in Japan right now. Not to Nanoha levels sure, but that series has given Toei a solid source of income.
And I’m pretty sure that they’re living in a rather idealistic sci-fi future, but considering the dark nature of the series, I won’t be surprised if we find out that Akemi has a past marred with poverty or something.
Mentioned animation fine , plot nothing much. To sum it up : I agree with most of it what was written, but overall -_-
Heh well we’ll have to see what comes out of the plot. I mean we are talking Shinbo, and considering the dream sequence in the beginning of the show, the likes of which has (I believe) never been seen before in mahou shoujo series, we might have a killer plot waiting for us
I’m on dat train, brah!!!
Good. Now you won’t be killed by firing “squad”
It’s like they hired Dave McKean to work on the dream world sequences. I’m getting Sandman and Arkham Asylum vibes from that place.
While everyone else was going all “It’s Dali!!!” I felt it had more McKean than Dali-esque surrealism in it (especially from McKean’s Mirrormask work), nice to know someone else shares the same opinion…
Yeah it’s definitely not Dali. That’s a strange claim to make, and I can’t pinpoint any real influence of him on this stuff. I’m definitely not an art buff, and I’m especially ignorant on modern art, but it seems like it’s inspired from both surrealism and pop art, though there’s definitely still something missing from that…
I didn’t know who Dave McKean was until now (though I’ve seen his work before), but I’ll be sure to check out the film. Thanks!
@Mystlord: If you’re going to read anything illustrated by Dave McKean, take plenty of breaks, his artwork can be… hard to read…
That, or read the piece five times over. I’m pretty sure after all this time that I’m STILL missing out on some details in Arkham Asylum.
Did I mention he did an entire Tarot Deck based on Vertigo characters? now I did.
Moonlight rules. Period. :3
feels like I’m watching bakemonogatari mixed with the light shade of hidamari and with the sorta of zetsubou sensei… man, I was surprised at that one.
Except much scarier amiright?
God those cotton balls…
The visual were so stunning; it almost makes me forget I’m watching a typical Mahou Shoujo story development. I’m really looking forward to more of the wacky collage styles.
Wow. I wasn’t actually looking forward to watching this show much. It was going to be a ‘watch it for the sake of watching it’ instance. Suddenly I’m a lot more excited for when I get around to the first episode tomorrow.
If you go through it once just watching it for the sake of watching it, you’ll need to go through it again to correct that view, then again to admire it for the visuals, then again for the music, then one more time for the plot XP
So you’re all excited over Shinbo and Shaft but not for Gen Urobuchi the main writer of Nitro+, lame….
I’m lazy to write about this guy so…
From animapple blog:
–2000–
NitroPlus makes visual novel called ‘Phantom of Inferno’, which remains as a legend now-a-days. The main script writer was ‘Urobuchi Gen’, who becomes popular along with this work.
–2003–
NitroPlus produces visual novel called ‘Saya No Uta’, writen by Urobuchi Gen, which cause so many controversies and sensational boom. It is well-known for dark, gruesome plot with excessive gore, nudity and psychological terrors. With this work, Urobuchi Gen becomes very famous
2006–
Urobuchi Gen starts to write ‘Fate/Zero’, with the collaboration of Type moon Mushroom guy. This becomes his signature work as a writer. His name value and NitroPlus is now equivalent to that of Typemoon Mushroom and Ryukushi07 (When they cry series).
I guess that he’s not THAT famous for people that doesn’t read visual novels and light novels.
what is he working on this season?
he’s working on Puella Magi Madoka Magica: Mahou Shoujo
Yeah I’m not up for VN stuff, so I wouldn’t know. I did watch Phantom, but the difference between Madoka and Phantom is that he’s only a scriptwriter here, which means that someone else is pulling the strings, hence my focusing on Shinbo.
This show comes at a somewhat bad time for me. I’m currently trying to get more familiar with the mahou shoujo genre right now, and this show feels like it’s going to parody or directly contrast with those shows. I’m a bit afraid of some of the nods an homages that might fly over my head. That said, I can’t resist watching a Shinbou directed show once it grabs me. It really is beautiful to watch, though the character designs are kind of jarring considering the scenery surrounding them.
Given what you’ve said about the tone of magical girl series, you should check out the story Sailor Nothing
http://www.pixelscapes.com/sailornothing/
It’s not quite a fanfic, since it isn’t based on any existing magical girl storyline, but is an exploration of what the magical girl thing would be like from a psychological angle.
has anyone taken note of the whole emergency exit sign thing? it seems to be a recurring symbol of some sort but whatever it’s supposed to mean is going way over my head at this point.
Beautiful
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[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by 黒い雪, Mystlord. Mystlord said: Mystlord: A bit late, but I couldn't resist. "Puella Magi Madoka Magica: Mahou Shoujo Shinbo Style" is now up: http://bit.ly/e81yAl [...]