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A film projector rattles. Curtains rise. We enter a chequered staircase and see a girl running down and along long, black and white corridor The girl's pink hair is the only drop of colour in a world of light and darkness. A door opens, and the girl was into a nightmare, the nasty red light does nothing to lighten a scene of distraction. Madoka faces a choice, Cut.
These are the first couple of minutes of a masterpiece, and I could easily write a post on these few minutes alone.
Even though this anime is now a decade old, I hadn't yet seen this unique take on one of the medium's most popular subgenres, the Magical Girls trope. Already the first episode shows a depth that no other show in this genre has, at least to my limited knowledge (and we've all reason to be thankful for Magical Girls — few areas have done so much to mainstream understanding for love in all its facets). Where Sailor Moon is all bubbly colour, Madoka Magica is dark and proud to explore the price to pay to be a Saviour.
That said, Madoka has a lot in common with Usagi. She's deliberately designed to be average (in a good sense), at least on the surface — a functioning family, a nice house, caring parents, friends. She's far from the top of the social hierarchy of her class at school, but she's definitively not a loner either.
Her biggest wish, however, seems to be to stand out from the crowd like her successful mother, whom she clearly admires (and yes, I'm curious how this will play out...)
I'll leave it at this for now, but already I'm hooked to learn more about Madoka's explorations in this world of nightmares, her friendship to the new girl in class, Homura Akemi — and to her own mother. More to come!
Official Website of the anime (in Japanese)
Website of the anime (in the US)
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