 |
| From https://3.bp.blogspot.com /-QFHPx_b6WMc/TlE2aTR-YJI/AAAAAAAADk0/ YMSMwrGL3Co/s1600/71W5O75ISjL._AA1349_.jpg |
Director: Akiyuki Shinbo
Screenplay: Gen Urobuchi
Voice Cast: Aoi Yūki (as Madoka
Kaname); Chiwa Saito (as Homura Akemi); Emiri Katō (as Kyubey); Ai Nonaka (as
Kyōko Sakura); Eri Kitamura (as Sayaka Miki); Kaori Mizuhashi as Mami Tomoe and
Tatsuya Kaname)
Viewed in Japanese with English Subtitles
Spoiler Warning: The paragraph
explicitly dealing with major plot twists with be signposted so it can be
avoided.
Madoka was an emotional rollercoaster, so to try to write about the
twelve episode series is going to be difficult. It could be summed up as a
deconstruction of the Magical Girl subgenre which Sailor Moon is the famous example of, where a teenage girl develops
magical powers and an alternative identity to fight magical enemies, but that
would be like saying Neon Genesis
Evangelion (1995-6) is merely a deconstruction of the giant robot genre
only. The same theme that appears in anime for decade now appears here, hope
even in the worst of circumstances, even in a world that is unremittingly
bleak, but what's different here is that it's through a novel, extreme concept
of the magical girl stereotype character being created through a Faustian pact.
Like Evangelion bringing severe
emotional weight to its content, the same is found here when two fourteen year
old girls, Madoka and her friend Sayaka, encounter a cute cat-like creature who
says he can give them any single wish if they become magical girls and fight
witches, horrible deformities of people's souls who encourage others to commit
suicide and feed off this type of death.
On paper, while the suicide
aspect is dark, immediately brings to mind merely a slightly more adult and
serious version of Sailor Moon, at
least what people think Sailor Moon
is, alongside the promotional art very deceiving to me of what I was ultimately
going to get. Alongside Madoka and Sayaka are Mami, a slightly older girl who
takes them under her wing before they even consider becoming magical girls,
Homura, an unnervingly quiet transfer student who warms Madoka continually not
to become a magical girl, and Kyōko, a misanthrophic magical girl who comes
later into the show who only cares for the prizes slain witches leave rather
than saving lives, the only thing she cares for being the vast quantities of
food she is continually munching on. I liked the first two episodes, which have
a lightness to them despite the dark subject material, from the humour of
Madoka's classroom teacher to scenes of her family life, her mother a huge
emotional crux she continually goes to for advice throughout the series. From episode
three however, when a significant tragedy happens, what I jokingly viewed as
one of the most depressing anime I've seen in a while builds from this shocking
and unexpected death into a drama taken to the level of cosmic implications,
taking the blatant metaphor in the story of a magical girl being a teenage girl
becoming an adult and, letting the complications of emotional growth and
awareness that all teenagers go through, be filtered through this dark fantasy
from the perspective of Madoka. As she keeps hesitating in becoming a magical
girl, she bears witness to the psychological trauma that takes place for
everyone else, the magical girls and the witches not what they appear as the
cute cat-mascot, Kyubey, turns out to be an alien with no concept of emotions
whose purpose being the magical girls is literally described by him as cattle
during an ethical argument with her. The series' message is very obvious and
seen many times before, sacrifice and perseverance, but why the series does
succeed is that, alongside its memorable visual style, is that it completely
subverts the magical girl sub-genre and also allows unsettling implications to
be written into the drama, where even the act of hope for one character can
literally poison their soul and eventually turn them into a monster.
 |
| From http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sweet-dreams_3701.jpg |
Magica is, openly from me, an
incredibly powerful and beautiful made series, some of plotting abrupt but the
bar is significantly high in terms of scope, gut impact and what quality is
there. Here in particular the importance of a great voice performance really
stood out. Even if I have to rely on English subtitles, unable to speak
Japanese, every central performance (all done by actresses) stands out, making
sure that it doesn't just become a misery fest of crying sequences and death
but with sympathetic characters you care for. Even if the show sells itself on
its lush character designs, bold and colour coded character designs by Ume Aoki
which are memorable, a central figure like Madoka isn't just a cute pink haired
teenager put in existential hell, but through the script and performances is utterly
sympathetic even if the character is one in a long line of female characters
who want to help everyone and will do everything to help others, a character
type that could go badly wrong and become trite if it wasn't for the quality
shows like this has. The visuals are also a huge factor to the show, sumptuous
but helping subvert the tropes of the magical girl. Realistic city environments
are contrasted by an inspired idea of the witches, far from monsters with a
conventional aesthetic, being based on innocent symbolism. Their worlds within
the main characters' world, called labyrinths, can be orchestral halls or full
of food, whilst the witches can be drawn with crayon or cartoonish, big eyed
creatures. From a circus theme to even the bottom half a giant schoolgirl who
fires panties at people, they are whimsical and potentially silly monster
designs from more light hearted shows given a severity when you witness the
shock in the early episodes and what they represent, innocent symbols turned
into the worst of humanity, made more unsettling when the cause of how the
witches are created is revealed. The show uses a lot of digital layering and
experiments with various animated styles, both making something as innocuous as
a cotton ball with a moustache creepy but also helping with the fantastical
nature of the show. While it cannot match the symbolic and surreal qualities of
another show also from this year, Kunihiko
Ikuhara's Mawaru Penguindrum,
they both show that, whilst I miss the style hand drawn animation gave anime,
that when it's at its best computer assisted animation after the 2000s,
especially now, is capable of a new fantastical quality especially when the
aesthetic is as bold as both of them. Like Penguindrum,
Madoka shows the best quality of
this new aesthetic style in that, alongside the voice acting, it allows a good
script to be fleshed out with visual stimulus adding emotional importance. I
could still joke about it being the meanest anime I've seen in a while, but
it's not pointlessly cruel killing off characters for the sake of it, nor
absurd to the point of being stupid, instead every plight felt to be poignant
as much because of the production quality.
[Spoiler Warning: Skip ahead to after the next bracket if you don't
want the series spoilt]
The style of the series, especially
when it commits to its cosmic interpretation of its message, is ultimately
rewarding after all the agony you suffer as a viewer if you can emotionally
connect to it. Strangely the series ends the same way Serial Experiments Lain (1998) in some form, Madoka when all her
friends baring Homura becoming witches or dead deciding to become an omniscient
deity reverse this pain and save everyone else. The willingness to take risks,
like killing off a central character you immediately love in episode three or
the show's ending, which still is bleak as monsters still exist but means Madoka
protects all magical girls from the fates they could suffer originally, is the
sort of thing I love the most in anime. Its heightened and utterly
melodramatic, a style close to the ridiculous that few western animated works
is willing to attempt, something which appeals to me more than being safe and
grounded emotionally without the fear of a beloved character dying or becoming
a monster themselves.
[Spoiler Warning Ended. Read
after this bracket to avoid spoiling the story]
 |
| From https://avvesione.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/ puella_magi_madoka_magica-07-kyoko-church-puppet.jpg |
In a lot of ways the series isn't
really a magical girl show thought. There are action scenes, and they are of
importance, but most of the story over twelve episodes is concentrated on the
drama itself, most of the characters soon into the show immediately dealing
with the implications of being a magical girl than stumbling upon it to their
horror after time fighting witches for a few episodes. It suggests a
speculative "what-if", the show perfect as it is, from someone like
me as an anime fan who does like a good twenty four episode show. The series is
brisk in its plotting, causing me to wonder what it would've been like to have
a monster-of-the week episode or two, some more comedy or more time to spread a
story that takes a month chronologically into a slower pace. Episodes for Evangelion which could've been seen as
filler early on proved to add important characterisation to its cast, making
what happened later on more meaningful, and while Madoka works perfectly as it is, double the episode length if done
well would've still worked, more time with Madoka, Mami, Homoru, Sayaka and Kyōko
as the central cast would've had just as much power as the economic plotting in
the series as it stand does. The only real issue with what has been done with
the series for real is that, rather than additional episodes, there are now
spin-offs that capitalised on its success. Like another popular franchise Full Metal Alchemist (2003), this is a
potentially troublesome issue as the story for it and Madoka were final, meaning any continuation ultimately undoes the
ending people liked originally. After two compilation films of the original series,
this new story Rebellion (2013) was
released in Japanese cinema, causing controversy for Western fans both for
undoing the series' ending and a controversial plot twist using a beloved
character. Rebellion looks visually
fascinating in screenshots, but again the stuff that's upset peoples makes me hesitant
to view, something I have to deal with when I eventually cover it on the blog.
 |
| From https://avvesione.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/puella_magi_madoka_ magica-11-madoka-homura-hug.jpg?w=533&h=300 |
No comments:
Post a Comment