Puella Magi Madoka Magika [2]

[InstrumentalityOne]

It´s good.
Very good.
Outstanding, I might say.
Could´ve been better though.

[Ornette]

and that SHAFT for once did a show that didn't resemble powerpoint slides.

You know that almost all of SHAFT's shows don't resemble powerpoint slides, right? Just, like 3 of them.

[Xard]

You know that almost all of SHAFT's shows don't resemble powerpoint slides, right? Just, like 3 of them.

yeah :P

just an overexaggaration. But Madoka's animation is really damn good for SHAFT nonetheless

[cramergamer]

A couple of friends of mine have been in my case to watch this; simple question, is it good or shit? /lazy to browse through 89343 pages and I dare not to look online reviews cause of trolls. (implying that I assume and I view you as troll-free, you should feel proud. 8)

Well, when I personally consider this review to be the most accurate on it:
http://www.japanator.com/closing-though ... =community

And despite differing opinions, no one in this thread considers it lower than an 8 (and I haven't seen anyone but trolls bash on it or level real criticism towards it), and that the fact that most of us would give it a 9/10 or even a 10/10, it has breached many of our individual personal top 10 favorite series, is one of the best selling and most successful franchises spawned from an anime since Evangelion (in Japan, atleast), I would say the chances of you enjoying it are pretty high. It is pretty damn good. Or would you dare say there are over 89343 posts on multiple message and image boards talking about and discussing this show are all trolls? Or the thousands of reviews all positive are all trolls, while the handful of reviews bashing it for stupid reasons are not?

I will reiterate one more time: The show is good, is my favorite thus far this year, and stacks up very well next to my favorites of all time. If you do not watch it, you are doing yourself a disservice.

Obviously, I am one of the ones who considers it a masterpiece. But I also have different standards than most. For me, anything that reaches the Top 20 for me is a Masterpiece.

It explores some themes very well, though those themes could have arguably been portrayed clearer, as some people missed the primary theme of the show and picked up on another (non existent, but conceivable given the context of events) theme instead, leading to some confusion and mixed response on the ending.

In addition to the themes, the actual plot and setting is very well done, intriguing, and is very open to expansion. Do not be surprised if this gets a star wars esque expanded universe treatment. The actual scenario itself is particularly inspired.

Of course, none of that would amount to anything without good characters to hold it all together. And I would be lying If I said I did not believe this show has the best cast of characters in an anime in the past decade. Each one of the characters is different and evolves in a different way. If any complaint could be leveled at the characters, it would be that they can be naive (which in and of itself is INCHARACTER and part of a vital plot point of the show) and are led around by the plot more often than they lead the plot around.

The music is top tier stuff. No one argues with that.

The animation is good and is on par if not better than Gainax's more recent stuff. It is pretty good, and uses a strong sense of style (and style change) to really drive some plot points home. It also has really good cinematography. Camera cuts, use of color, angles, different types of shots,backgrounds and environments, ect; are all put to good use to convey the mood of a scene and increase the density of each scene. The end of a result is a narrative told as much through visuals as it is through vocals. And that really ads a special layer to this show that your average generic anime lacks.

Overall, I would have no problem saying it is one of the best anime of time. Maybe not THE BEST (there is no such thing), but it definitely stands shoulder to shoulder with greats such as Evangelion, Gurren Lagann, Card Captor Sakura, and the like.

[Xard]

is one of the best selling and most successful franchises spawned from an anime since Evangelion (in Japan, atleast),

It's too early to call Madoka a fullblown franchise, I think. Let's see if it has the power to stand for few years at least and spawn games, succesful spinoffs etc.

it does have potential, but as of now I think Madoka is fairly "singular", succesful show instead of "real" franchise

[soul.assassin]

Xard's right. It's too early to label PMMM with words such as "legendary"; we have to give that show time (say, a year or two) before it is ultimately judged whether it has made a permanent mark, whether it has the potential to set a new precedent in storytelling, and shake up a complacent industry that's been lately churning out lackluster productions.

[symbv]

A couple of friends of mine have been in my case to watch this; simple question, is it good or shit? /lazy to browse through 89343 pages and I dare not to look online reviews cause of trolls. (implying that I assume and I view you as troll-free, you should feel proud. 8)

cramergamer already said most of the reasons why watching PMMM is worthwhile.

The only things I want to add and stress are
1. Watch at least 3 episodes before you make your judgement
2. If you have avoided reviews and spoilers (that's really some achievement regarding its tremendous popularity), then keep avoiding it because a lot of our excitement came from watching it real time and coming up with theories or comparing revelations to back episodes and amazed at how well it fit together.

==
As for whether PMMM is "legendary", the word may be a bit too early for now but surely this anime will be at least an important part in anime history, particularly mahou shoujo genre, given its explosive popularity, heavy influence in doujin circles, innovative collaboration between anime production/direction/screenplay/background art/character design and how it proved even now an original anime can still hold appeal that goes beyond adaptation (although everyone should be reminded that for one PMMM there is also one Fractale).

One factor that may push PMMM to "legendary" status is how well the BD/DVD sells. The figure should come in soon later today (or early tomorrow)...

==
OMAKE time:

OMAKE 1 - fan-made HomuHomu camera (for taking pics of Madoka?)

SPOILER: Show

OMAKE 2 - the tiniest QB you could ever found!!!!

SPOILER: Show

click to see bigger (and clearer) images of QB!!
The coin with a hole inside is a 5 yen coin and it is smaller than a quarter coin in USD...

OMAKE 3 - another robot rethink of PMMM

SPOILER: Show

[Merridian]

Well, when I personally consider this review to be the most accurate on it:
http://www.japanator.com/closing-though ... =community

Can someone actually give a solid defense to the "Madoka is a deconstruction of mahou shoujo" idea?

In fact, can someone even give a solid defense for this usage of the word "deconstruction" without citing TV Tropes or Wikipedia?

I don't want to sound confrontational, but this sort of hype is just one of my pet peeves. I'm not convinced most people using this term know what it means, and the definitions I've come across are so redundant that I have to wonder just what the purpose of the usage is. Then again, this would probably risk derailing the thread.

[Defectron]

As for whether PMMM is "legendary", the word may be a bit too early for now but surely this anime will be at least an important part in anime history

It was good but I would hardly call it legendery. I think this is just your usual hype surrounding a popular show with people saying that.

[soul.assassin]

It was good but I would hardly call it legendery. I think this is just your usual hype surrounding a popular show with people saying that.

It just got real hyped and snowballed from there, starting from Episode 3.



EDIT: Oh, bloody fuck, WWE!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qx35y901XtU

[symbv]

It was good but I would hardly call it legendery. I think this is just your usual hype surrounding a popular show with people saying that.

Whether it is legendary or not is not up to you or I to call. We should leave it to history (and the fandom in Japan) to decide. And the wave of enthusiasm is something I have not seen for a very long time when I was in Japan.

+++++++++

Remember I mentioned in Matsudo in Chiba prefecture, there is a PMMM CAFE ? Today (May 3rd) is a public holiday in Japan (part of the Golden Week) and it opened its door: People need to wait for 2.5 hour in line to enter !!!

Here are the pics

Signboard at the entrance

SPOILER: Show

The long queue

SPOILER: Show

The inside

SPOILER: Show

The exhibition section for screenplays

SPOILER: Show

The exhibition section for character/monster design

SPOILER: Show

The exhibition section for HomuHomu's weapons

SPOILER: Show

Part of the menu

SPOILER: Show

Food!!

SPOILER: Show

Washroom

SPOILER: Show

If this can stay long like the Gundam cafe in Akihabara, then it would be another reason to think PMMM is heading for legend.


EDIT: I was using min.us for the image hosting but it caused server not responding error and according to admin dreamhost (where EGF was hosted) and min.us domain seemed to have communication issue. I have now switched to imgur.com and re-uploaded the images. Hope it works this time!

[cramergamer]

Can someone actually give a solid defense to the "Madoka is a deconstruction of mahou shoujo" idea?

In fact, can someone even give a solid defense for this usage of the word "deconstruction" without citing TV Tropes or Wikipedia?

I don't want to sound confrontational, but this sort of hype is just one of my pet peeves. I'm not convinced most people using this term know what it means, and the definitions I've come across are so redundant that I have to wonder just what the purpose of the usage is. Then again, this would probably risk derailing the thread.

I do not care either way for the word deconstruction. To me, it holds no bearing on the quality of the story. I am sure one can infer the meaning of the word based on the context of the one using it, however.

But either way, I do not care if it is or isn't a deconstruction, or even if deconstruction is a valid term. I only care about the wonderful characters, engrossing themes, beautiful soundtrack, sweeping visuals, masterful execution, and excellent story. And if all of those being top of the game, vastly better than 90% of other shows in the same medium does not qualify it for masterpiece status, then I do not know what does in your eyes.

[soul.assassin]

Damn funny case of coincidence. Watched SuckerPunch and saw, yes, parallels between that flick and this.

SPOILER: Show

Babydoll = Madoka
Sweet Pea = Homura

And you can guess how the story goes.

Reading this now, because it has EGF mentioned:
http://green-oval.net/cgi-board.pl/a/thread/48940567

[cramergamer]

Damn funny case of coincidence. Watched SuckerPunch and saw, yes, parallels between that flick and this.

SPOILER: Show

Babydoll = Madoka
Sweet Pea = Homura

And you can guess how the story goes.

Reading this now, because it has EGF mentioned:
http://green-oval.net/cgi-board.pl/a/thread/48940567

If only I could find the sucker punch/madoka crossover trailer I saw back when episode 8 first came out.

[IrkenEvangelion]

That cafe looks amazing... Just another reason to move to Tokyo..

[soul.assassin]

If only I could find the sucker punch/madoka crossover trailer I saw back when episode 8 first came out.

Found it.

[symbv]

Reading this now, because it has EGF mentioned:
http://green-oval.net/cgi-board.pl/a/thread/48940567

There are more knowing people in 4chan than I expected -- many are troll fodder (those who said things like "You will be LUCKY AS FUCK if it has done over 40k" really did not know what they were talking about) but there are some serious effort at guessing the PMMM sales figure. And I saw mention of evageeks forum too?? Oh.. now I saw my post being quoted there... (""In 2chan the response are overwhelmingly positive.....") Guess that's why this thread has been having so much traffic. It is interesting to see them using all means they could (including Google Translate) to try to get the latest and detailed information about PMMM Many hit the mark pretty well. PMMM most likely will not hit 100k BD/DVD sales in first week but if it manages to sell over 51k it will break Bake's first week record (and enters "legend"). The sales figure for the bestselling Eva TV video is intriguing, although it is a bit hard to compare VHS/LD sales with DVD/BD sales. But I am sure that if PMMM really sold above 80k claim will be made that it surpasses Eva (at least the TV series).

The DVD sales of around 9k for PMMM #1 was clearly not too encouraging because many had expected the sales figure would at least be 5 digits. And if the usual ratio of BD to DVD sales of 4-6 to 1 still holds for PMMM, we are talking about 50k BD in first week, making the total around 60k which will be at the lower end of the regression analysis result done by some 2chan people (estimated to be 60k to 85k). But that still beats Bake for first week sales, but of course at the end it is the total sales that counts and one should not forget that Bake picked up sales later because so many stores ran out of stock at that time (many were caught by the huge popularity of the anime and did not order enough stock) which is no longer the case for PMMM. So the tail would be thinner for PMMM compared with Bake, though it may still prove long selling depending on the momentum.

By the way, anybody has a bigger image of http://green-oval.net/cgi-board.pl/a/im ... 338107.jpg ? It has boxes of Eva, K-On, Bake and PMMM in it, apparently a joke taken from PMMM witch / mahou shoujo life cycle?

=====================
EDIT History has been made

BREAKING NEWS !!!!!!!!!
Puella Magi Madoka Magika Vol.1 BD first week sales is 53000
breaking the record of first week sales for BD, which was 51000 made by Bakemonogatari vol.6 (final volume)
PMMM has now formally entered into the realm of legend
ｷﾀ━(ﾟ∀ﾟ)━(∀ﾟ )━(ﾟ　 )━(　　)━(　 ﾟ)━( ﾟ∀)━(ﾟ∀ﾟ)━!!!!
大勝利！！！！！！！WIN !!!!!!

This sales figure may already have suffered because of the quake and (as important) the recall issue stemmed from problem in printing of lyrics and one line of unnecessarily changed dialogue in Ep.2 Some people may want to wait until the fixed BD is released and so are not buying now.

There is still possibility that the sales volume for the final volume may be even higher, but for now what we want to see is if PMMM can beat Bake in final total sales too.

Total first week sales of BD/DVD is 62000, which matches previous regression analysis prediction, but near the lower end. On the other hand, sales ratio of 62/9 meaning 5.9 to 1 is at the high end of the usual BD to DVD sales ratio.

* sidenote: first week BD sales for Bakemonogatari Vol.1 was 40k
====
EDIT 2

I also found the 4chan pic I asked above. It was taken from 2chan!!

SPOILER: Show

Basically it was how the "believer" of those noteworthy anime view their rivals.

Bakemonogatari (the current king of midnight anime) 80k
-> Eva * ignore
-> PMMM * ignore

Eva (the supreme being in anime industry) 110k (max 170k)
-> Bake * what's it?
-> PMMM * don't get carried away, shit kid
-> K-On * who are you?

K-On (I am social phenonmeon!) 40k
-> Eva * we beat you!
-> PMMM * I'll absolutely kill you!

PMMM (the hegemoth) 80k-100k -> 9097 ??
-> Bake * declaration of war
-> Eva * Ah? Oh yeah?!? So what?
-> K-On * not even in eyesight

IS (oink oink oink --- moe pigs noise)

Fractale (director Yamakan)
-> PMMM * human reality

VERY FUNNY !!!!

[soul.assassin]

If only someone could draw in the representative characters of each show, then we can get a more coherent picture of how one views the others.

[symbv]

The obligatory posting of the Hall of Fame of best BD sales

SPOILER: Show

By the way, the fixed BD of PMMM vol.1 will be released in late May so this definitely has an impact to the current BD sales of PMMM vol.1

[Xard]

Eva (the supreme being in anime industry) 110k (max 170k)
-> Bake * what's it?
-> PMMM * don't get carried away, shit kid
-> K-On * who are you?



Whatever happens here PMMM will never threaten Rebuild's reign :P

Where are these sale stats for eva coming from anyway? The initial VHS sales? I mean, 15 years later the sales must be many times over this number... (110-170k is quite a field too which IMO seems to nod at we're talking about some old sales figures which are hard to figure out these days)

I'm a bit torn about this, I'd rather see PMMM than Bakemonogatari as top selling tv anime but on the other hand they're both SHAFT which for some reason pisses me off. F*cking SHAFT