Puella Magi Madoka Magica

Welcome to the world of Madoka Magica. We hope you survive the experience. Seems harmless at first sight doesn't it? Cutesy moe girls with frilly clothes transforming to fight for the world! For Justice! Love! Friendship!

Hah! All that cutesy moe stuff? You're looking in the wrong place because Madoka Magica, is truly terrifying and tragic. Don't believe me? Just go see for yourself. My review is supposed to help you make a decision after all. You mentally prepared? Okay, let's get moving.

The show starts off light, giving viewers the illusion that this was just going to be your average, no-brainer magical girl anime. All the character introductions are made, all revolving around Madoka Kaname and her friends. But one day, a girl she sees in her dream appears in her class as the new transfer student. Homura Akemi is pretty, athletic and cool, but there's something off about her. When Homura asks to be accompanied to the nurses office, Madoka does so (hesitantly).

To her surprise, the new girl knows the way there surprisingly well and she asks Madoka a very weird question. Something about miracles. Madoka doesn't dwell too much on it, but one day after school she hears a voice in her head calling out to her. She manages to rescue a cute animal called Kyuubey. From there, the mysteries start to unravel.

Who is this creature? What does it want? Why is it here?

One thing i love about this anime series is the unpredictable plot twist and how each character propels the story forward. Not only that, the seiyuu's have done an extremely good job in potraying the characters. Every sob and scream seems to tear out your very soul. The OSTs for this anime is incredible. Actually incredible doesn't even begin to cover it. Yuki Kajiura is a genius. How she creates this stuff, i will never know. The battle themes are able to bring up the tension, and the emotional scenes are even more heart rendering when combined.

The animation is done by shaft, which is notorious for finishing their work hours before the deadline, ultimately leading to half-assed scenes. However the release of the Blu-ray seems to have fixed all their mistakes (thankfully). Personally, i love Mami and Homura the most out of all the characters because i became somewhat emotionally attached to them during the show.

Plot: Executed perfectly and more than a little tragic. 10/10

Characters: Personally i found Sayaka somewhat annoying. But she did worm her way into my heart a little. Just a little i swear! 8/10

Animation: The original broadcast wasn't very good but the blu-ray release was great. 9/10

Soundtracks: Yuki freaking Kajiura. Battle themes. Op and ending. Need i say more? 10/10

Overall: Deconstruction of the magical girl genre which is interesting and different. Not for the faint hearted. Also, prepare a box of tissues. 5/5

Mushibugyou

So we all know Shingeki no kyojin. What about Mushibugyou?

The spring animeline up consists of many underrated anime series because they were all overshadowed by Shingeki. Mushibugyou was literally hiding right under their noses.

When i first started watching this, i expected it to be a hit and miss. After all the entire story was going to be set in ancient edo....with characters battling giant insects. I was pretty sure it would be those ridiculous stories with over the top characters shouting out fancy names for their awesome fighting styles. To my amazement, it was all that.....and more.

One thing that really caught my attention was how unexpected the story was. There are two story arcs. The first few episodes were dedicated to introducing the characters, showing how they and the main character's friendship would bloom. You know the usual stuff. Jinbei himself reminded me of a typical shonen character, but surprisingly, he was thankfully imbued with good comedic sense and just a little bit of pervertedness that made mushibugyou interesting and funny.

After all that layman stuff was over, the show started to pick up speed, and got the ball rolling. From there it was a non-stop pleasant experience for me. Samurai anime's are usually overdone so i threw away my common sense and enjoyed the show even more. Another thing about that stood with mushibugyou is their characters. Each one was given a distinct personality and to make things better, their voice actors did an amazing job portraying them.

However, their fight scenes were a little to dramatic for me. Some of their attacks were little too over the top and only several fights were especially good. But if you overlook all the flaws, i can say that Mushibugyou would be close to perfect. It really exceeded my expectations. I am looking forward to rewatching it again soon.

Plot: Great and better than i initially expected. 8/10

Characters: The main characters had an impact on the plot on a very personal level and their past were explored intimately, something that really made the show better. 9/10

Animation: Pretty good.But the character designs threw me off a little, they were abit too comical for my tastes. (Mugai and Kotori hairstyles.)  7/10

Soundtracks: A little repetitive but all openings and endings were pretty amazing. 7/10

Overall: Takes a long while to get to the real plot but you will be rewarded. 3.5/5