Puella Magi Madoka Magica

She has a loving family and best friends, laughs and cries from time to time... Madoka Kaname, an eighth grader of Mitakihara middle school, is one of those who lives such a life. One day, she had a very magical encounter. She doesn't know if it happened by chance or by fate yet. This is a fateful encounter that can change her destiny. This is a beginning of the new story of the magical witch girls.

Puella Magi Madoka Magica (2011) is a Japanese anime series produced by SHAFT and Aniplex for MBS, a twelve-episode serialized dark fantasy with a cheerful surface. Eighth grader Madoka Kaname (voiced by Aoi Yuuki) lives an ordinary life in Mitakihara, until a mysterious creature named Kyubey (Emiri Kato) offers her a wish in exchange for becoming a magical girl. Her closest friend Homura Akemi (Chiwa Saito) and fellow fighters Sayaka Miki (Eri Kitamura) and Kyoko Sakura (Ai Nonaka) form the core of the team battling witches that feed on despair. Each episode builds the sense that every wish carries a price, and the bright pastel visuals keep sliding into unsettling, surreal imagery. The show shifts between warm school-life scenes and sudden moments of cosmic dread, and it leans on subverted genre expectations, foreshadowing and a tightly constructed mythology. Fans of Serial Experiments Lain and Neon Genesis Evangelion will find resonance in its bleak existential mood and surreal style. Its tone is haunting, melancholic and tense, and it rewards close attention across its single season.

Viewers broadly acclaim the series as a dark, subversive take on the magical girl genre with a sharp script and striking visuals.

• Serial Experiments Laindark magical girl fantasy with bleak subversion of a cheerful genre
• Neon Genesis Evangelionsurreal dark fantasy with a sacrificial, cosmic-stakes mystery and a teen protagonist
• Gurren Lagannsubverted children's fantasy with escalating existential dread and a cute mascot hiding a sinister agenda
• Madoka Magica Rebellionteen fantasy with a wish-driven supernatural bargain and a tragic emotional core

Release Date

2011-01-07

Episode runtime

25 min

Rating

8.2 / 10 (391)

What is Puella Magi Madoka Magica about?

A cheerful eighth grader is offered a wish that could change her destiny, and she learns that magical girls fight a hidden war with grim costs.

What is Puella Magi Madoka Magica like to watch?

Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Puella Magi Madoka Magica as measured, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.

Is Puella Magi Madoka Magica violent?

Somewhat. Ember rates the violence in Puella Magi Madoka Magica as moderate.

What did critics think of Puella Magi Madoka Magica?

Viewers broadly acclaim the series as a dark, subversive take on the magical girl genre with a sharp script and striking visuals.

Which shows are like Puella Magi Madoka Magica?

Shows with a similar feel include Serial Experiments Lain, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Gurren Lagann, and Madoka Magica Rebellion.

How long is Puella Magi Madoka Magica?

Puella Magi Madoka Magica: 1 season, 12 episodes.

Is Puella Magi Madoka Magica still running?

No, Puella Magi Madoka Magica has ended.

Where can I watch Puella Magi Madoka Magica?

In United States, Puella Magi Madoka Magica streams on Netflix, Hulu, Crunchyroll, Crunchyroll Amazon Channel, Netflix Standard with Ads.