Elaby's LiveJournal - 57 Academics

I think it's indicative of anime in general that Hideaki Anno - yes, THAT Hideaki Anno, director of Evangelion - can comment in an interview about how well Kyuubey was presented in the series as a symbol as well as a character... and in the same sentence call Homura "HomuHomu". You all knew advanced critical close-reading (or close-watching, as the case may be) goes best with affectionate fannish excitement, didn't you?

HomuHomu, the Japanese fandom's nickname for Homura, comes from the verb "homuhomu suru", which means to caress, console, or take care of. *has lovely imaginings*

All of this is to say THERE ARE GOING TO BE MADOKA MOVIES. THREE OF THEM. The first two are reportedly going to be rearrangements of the series and the third is going to be original content. *flail!*

I said I'd post about Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica, and so I shall! Incidentally, this is the first anime I've watched as it comes out in Japan, and I have to say that I love the experience XD It's so nice to only have to wait a week between episodes instead of several months for the next DVD. Nowadays I tend to lose interest or forget about a series I liked if I have to wait for the next set of episodes to come out (sorry about that, Baccano.) Not so with Madoka; although, if I hadn't seen up to episode 3 in one sitting, I'm not sure I would have continued watching it. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica is the Japanese name of the series. It translates to Magical Girl Madoka Magica ("magica" meaning "of the mage", I've read somewhere?), but, like Utena "La Fillette Revolutionnaire", the series' title has an official non-Japanese alternate title: Puella Magi Madoka Magica. I think this is Italian? And, I presume from my limited knowledge of Latinate languages, it means approximately the same thing as the Japanese.

I came across this series in an interesting way. I was on Safebooru, which is (I think) a mirror of the fanart site Danbooru, only, um, apparently not so full of pr0n. There's a list of tags on the side of each page, and while looking through Vocaloids fanart, I came upon the tag "hug". I like hugs! So I clicked on this tag just to see what cuteness might exist there. If you're familiar with this site, there are usually about... I dunno... 30 thumbnails displayed on each page. I clicked through maybe five of these pages, and 90% of the art was from Madoka Magica. Considering the pace at which I'd noticed Vocaloid art piling up on the new pages, the fact that so much art came from this one series told me it had to be popular. And if it engendered this many pictures involving hugging, I knew I had to see it.

At first glance, Madoka Magica is your standard magical girl show. The protagonist has pink hair in adorable pigtails and wears a fluffy fluffy pink dress and shiny Sakura-esque shoes in the opening. Throughout the first two episodes, I was like "Okay, here's the usual mahou shoujo beginning, girl meets magical talking animal... interesting animation choices when it comes to monster battles, but nothing too surprising." Then certain events in episode 3 had me diving behind the couch.

This is not your standard magical girl show. It reminds me of Evangelion in the same way that you'd start watching that, going "All right, mecha, big battles, girls in tight suits, oka--WHATOWMYBRAIN." Except that I'm like a zillion times more attached to the characters in Madoka. It turns all of the usual magical girl cliché's and standards upside down in quite disturbing ways, while still retaining the heart of what I love about shows like Sailor Moon. If you're looking for happy fluffy funtimes, this is not the show for you. But if you like drama and horror and unfailing love and existential crises, and you don't mind being a little traumatized (in a good way! XD) on occasion, I highly recommend Madoka Magica.

( And now for the spoilers. )