Genres: psychological
Themes: magical girl, tragedy, witches
Number of episodes: 12
Vintage: 2011-01-06
Objectionable content: Significant

Plot Summary: After experiencing a bizarre dream, Madoka Kaname, a kind 14-year-old girl, encounters a magical creature named Kyube. Madoka and her friend Sayaka Miki are offered the opportunity of gaining magical powers if they agree to make a contract with the strange little being. He will also grant them one wish, but in exchange they shall risk their lives by accepting the responsibility of fighting witches. Invisible to human eyes, witches are catalysts of despair in the areas they inhabit. An ally of Kyube, a magical girl named Mami Tomoe, befriends and encourages the two girls to accept the contract. For an unknown reason, another magical girl named Homura Akemi is determined to prevent Madoka from accepting the deal.

New Shinbo/Shaft Anime to Be Maho Shojo Madoka Magica

posted on 2010-10-28 06:37 EDT
Magical girl story with Bakemonogatari's Shinbo, Hidamari Sketch's Aoki, Phantom's Urobuchi

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The December issue of Gakken's Megami Magazine is announcing on Saturday that the new project with director Akiyuki Shinbo, original character designer Ume Aoki, writer Gen Urobuchi, and the anime studio SHAFT is titled Maho Shojo Madoka Magica (Magical Girl Madoka Magica).

Aniplex had already confirmed that a television commercial aired on the MBS station for this project. Shinbo directed Bakemonogatari, Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei, Hidamari Sketch, and Arakawa under the Bridge, while Aoki is best known for creating the Hidamari Sketch manga which inspired several anime projects by Shinbo and SHAFT. Urobuchi wrote the Phantom ~Requiem for the Phantom~ and Blassreiter anime projects for Nitroplus, as well as the Fate/Zero and Black Lagoon novels. A silhouette of a female character appeared in a poster for the project.

Magica Anime Adds Composer Kajiura, Durarara's Kishida

posted on 2010-10-28 18:28 EDT
Gen Urobuchi of Nitroplus to script all episodes of SHAFT's Puella Magi Madoka Magica

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The official website and Twitter account for SHAFT's upcoming magical girl anime project Puella Magi Madoka Magica (Maho Shojo Madoka Magica) has launched with more details about the projects.

Prolific composer Yuki Kajiura (Tsubasa, RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE, .hack, Noir, Kara no Kyoukai, Black Butler's "Lacrimosa") is scoring the music, and Takahiro Kishida (Durarara!!, Serial Experiments Lain, Noein - to your other self) is adapting the original characters designs by Hidamari Sketch creator Ume Aoki. Gen Urobuchi (Phantom ~Requiem for the Phantom~, Blassreiter, Fate/Zero) of Nitroplus is not only supervising the scripts, but also writing all of the episode scripts himself. The website also has more silhouettes of the characters and the original Aniplex teaser commercial that revealed the project.

Even if this turns out to be horrible, I hope Sentai picks this up!

Magical Girl anime + SHAFT + Yuki Kajiura = WIN!

Puella Magi Madoka Magica's Voice Samples Posted

posted on 2010-11-04 14:46 EDT
January TV anime about middle school girl (Aoi Yuki) who becomes a magical girl

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The official website for SHAFT's upcoming magical girl anime project Puella Magi Madoka Magica (Maho Shojo Madoka Magica) has added voice samples on Friday for Madoka Kaname, the title character as voiced by Aoi Yuki (Kure-nai, So-Ra-No-Wo-To, Yumeiro Pâtissière). The MBS station had just aired a new teaser commercial for the project during Thursday's showing of the togainu no chi -Bloody Curs- anime, and the commercial ended with an announcement of Madoka Magica's January 2011 broadcast premiere.

According to the commercial, Madoka is an kind, friendly, but ordinary second-year middle school girl. She wonders aloud what she should do if she can grant whatever you may wish through magic.

The anime features director Akiyuki Shinbo (Bakemonogatari, Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei, Hidamari Sketch, Arakawa under the Bridge), series script supervisor Gen Urobuchi (Phantom ~Requiem for the Phantom~, Blassreiter, Fate/Zero) of Nitroplus, original character designer Ume Aoki (Hidamari Sketch), animation character designer Takahiro Kishida (Durarara!!, Serial Experiments Lain), and musical composer Yuki Kajiura (Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE, .hack, Noir, Kara no Kyoukai).

The official website of the Puella Magi Madoka Magica television anime series has been revamped with, among other items, a stream of the anime's eighth commercial. The commercial confirms that ClariS is singing the opening theme song "Connect" and that Kalafina is performing the ending theme song "Magia." It also lists the previously revealed characters in the magical girl anime: Madoka Kaname (Aoi Yuki), Kyubey (Emiri Katou), Homura Akemi (Chiwa Saito), Mami Tomoe (Kaori Mizuhashi), and Sayaka Miki (Eri Kitamura).

The anime features director Akiyuki Shinbo (Bakemonogatari, Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei, Hidamari Sketch, Arakawa under the Bridge), series script supervisor Gen Urobuchi (Phantom ~Requiem for the Phantom~, Blassreiter, Fate/Zero) of Nitroplus, original character designer Ume Aoki (Hidamari Sketch), animation character designer Takahiro Kishida (Durarara!!, Serial Experiments Lain), and musical composer Yuki Kajiura (Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE, .hack, Noir, Kara no Kyoukai). It will premiere on January 6 in Osaka.

News: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Ad with Anime Footage Posted

posted on 2010-12-16 13:21 EST
1st commercial with animated footage from January magical girl show

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The official website of the Puella Magi Madoka Magica television anime series has begun streaming of the anime's ninth commercial. Unlike the previous commercials, the new one includes actual animated footage. The commercial also has a sample of the opening theme song "Connect," as sung by ClariS.

The anime features director Akiyuki Shinbo (Bakemonogatari, Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei, Hidamari Sketch, Arakawa under the Bridge), series script supervisor Gen Urobuchi (Phantom ~Requiem for the Phantom~, Blassreiter, Fate/Zero) of Nitroplus, original character designer Ume Aoki (Hidamari Sketch), animation character designer Takahiro Kishida (Durarara!!, Serial Experiments Lain), and musical composer Yuki Kajiura (Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE, .hack, Noir, Kara no Kyoukai).

News: Puella Magi Madoka Magica's New Commercial Streamed

posted on 2010-12-23 12:40 EST
2nd commercial with animated footage from January magical girl show

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The official website of the Puella Magi Madoka Magica television anime series has begun streaming of the anime's 10th commercial. The 30-second ad is the second one to include actual animated footage. Just like the previous commercial, the new one has a sample of the opening theme song "Connect," as sung by ClariS. In the spirit of its holiday season revamp this week, the website also posted Christmas wallpaper for personal computers and mobile phones.

The anime features director Akiyuki Shinbo (Bakemonogatari, Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei, Hidamari Sketch, Arakawa under the Bridge), series script supervisor Gen Urobuchi (Phantom ~Requiem for the Phantom~, Blassreiter, Fate/Zero) of Nitroplus, original character designer Ume Aoki (Hidamari Sketch), animation character designer Takahiro Kishida (Durarara!!, Serial Experiments Lain), and musical composer Yuki Kajiura (Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE, .hack, Noir, Kara no Kyoukai).

The anime will premiere in Japan on January 6.

Story: whaaaaatever
Visuals: 5

So here we go: pink-haired cutsey-poo Madoka has a terrifying vision of an apocalyptic future where an unnamed threat is being fought off by a struggling magical girl with long hair. A little Sanrio-lookin’ cat mascot character tells her that if she wants to stop all this from happening, she has to become a Puella Magi. Next day at school a mysterious, stern, soft-spoken girl shows up and wouldn't you know it, it's the same girl from her dream. During a fateful trip to the mall, she gets a mysterious telepathic distress call from said Sanrio cat mascot thing and winds up having to save it from the mysterious girl, who's trying to kill it for some reason – then the Benevolent Magical Girl finally shows up, a bunch of crazy shit starts happening and then they ask Madoka to join the Puella Magi and presumably get the story moving.

In terms of plot, this is no different from your standard “late night magical girl show” where there's obnoxious loli fanservice in the opening credits (although surprisingly none in the episode itself) and the characters are mostly pasted-together moe archetypes. The story here is predictable, and it seems like they're taking a lot of cues from the last big “serious business” magical-girl-show-aimed-at-otaku, Nanoha. Normally I don't like this kind of thing.

But that “5” up there in the ratings box is entirely for how stunningly visually inventive Puella Magi Madoka Magica is. We open on a beautifully rendered apocalyptic landscape with some intense colors going on, and then transition into the “real world” where the backgrounds are all very pleasing to the eye – they look like modern art museum interiors or maybe Futurist Frank Lloyd Wright, with lots of intense but carefully placed angles. Then later in the episode things get really cool and the screen is awash in some really nifty street-art-meets-abstract-surrealism stuff, with elements pasted on like some kind of Banksian collage. I haven't seen anyone try to get this artistically ambitious in an otherwise boilerplate genre show since King of Bandit Jing; I have to assume that it's the hand of director Akiyuki Shinbo, whose stuff I also don't usually like, but the man is known for trying some crazy things visually and whatever he's doing here, it works. It's exciting to see someone try something different. It's a little jarring to see the extremely generic character designs wandering around through all this artistic madness; I can't say I care one bit about the story or what's going on, and I can't say I'd watch more of the series unless I were fast-forwarding until all these elements start popping up again, but I'm more than happy to applaud even a glimmer of visual inventiveness.

I so want to see it now!