For those who may be unfamiliar with this type of story, the magical girl genre involves stories about girls (usually ordinary girl next door type of girls) who are contacted by some magical being, and are given the choice to accept magical powers. They are then obligated to use these powers to combat evil magic already in the world, or to complete some task with their magic.
In this story, the girl's name is Madoka, and she is a sweet, good- hearted girl. She doesn't have anything that distinguishes her from any other girl... in fact, she may be lacking in several areas in comparison. Everything changes for her however, when a new exchange student transfers into her class. The girl stares at Madoka, who oddly enough had had a dream about her the previous night. The girl warns Madoka that if she values her friends and family, she should not make any changes to herself. Madoka of course finds this odd, but disregards it. Later that day, she hears a voice in her head calling out for help. The voice belongs to this cat-like creature, who the new transfer student is apparently trying to kill. Madoka and her friend are then exposed to the hidden world of witches and magical girls. The cat-like creature, named Kyubey, explains that he has the power to grant a chosen girl any one wish in the entire world. But in exchange for that wish, the girl must agree to become a magical girl, and devote her life to hunting down 'witches' or evil spirits that are the cause of many unexplained evils in the world. Madoka and her friend Sayaka are both chosen by Kyubey, and try to learn more about this world, to see if any wish they might make would be worth giving up their freedom, and maybe their lives. However, the transfer student is adamantly against Madoka becoming a magical girl, and does everything in her power to prevent this. Kyubey said that Madoka would be the more powerful magical girl who had ever existed to this point if she were to choose to turn. Is the new girl afraid of her power? Is there anything Madoka would wish for that would compensate for what she might lose? Why is someone as insignificant as Madoka so important in what seems to be the fate of the world?
As I said before, this is a darker manifestation of the magical girl genre. There is a very real possibility of death with every battle the girls may face, and indeed we witness several deaths. A couple, quite significant to the plot. The girls are fighting against these monsters, but they are also fighting against themselves for territory. If a girl kills a witch, she gets to cleanse her source of magic with what is left over from the witch, and if the girl doesn't do this, something bad may happen to her. As the story progresses, we find out that being a magical girl is not at all a fun thing, that a lot of sacrifice and heartbreak and loneliness results from the wish they make. We also learn that there may be more to the contract with Kyubey then we might have been initially told. The show deals with the idea of 'good deeds', and how much of yourself you would be willing to give for the benefit of someone else, without getting anything in return. It makes you wonder, is there anything you would want enough to sacrifice your life for, or at least your livelihood? Just how valuable are the relationships in your life? What would you give to keep them, or let them go? Just how much do you actually care about others? And more interestingly, what do you consider about yourself to be human? Your body?
An interesting, if not somber, show. The animation was interesting as well. The anime was very detailed at some points, but the scenes with the witches played around with animation styles. Another interesting thing about this show is that the main character of this 'magical girl' show, is for the most part, the only main character who is not a magical girl. It re-imagines the genre, and positions it for an older audience, who maybe grew up with the more traditional magical girl shows. It takes a little while to get into, but it brings a new level of complexity to the genre. It's only 12 episodes long and can be seen online.
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