Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica is many things, its a subversion of the magical girl genre, a dark solution to Isaac Asimov's "The Last Question", a fucked up journey into the world of witches and selfless wishes. But to me, the biggest thing this anime is, is the story of a kind hearted girl who wants to do what is right, no matter the cost to herself. It fulfills all of these roles exceptionally. Madoka Magica combines the tales of many characters to tell a well crafted, multi faceted story that ultimately has you questioning what was right and what is wrong.

Firstly, it's incredible, just how well it can subvert your expectations, showing how becoming a magical girl would actually be horrible, as well as the cost of powers. This was represented the best by my favorite character, Sayaka, who used her wish to heal another, who she ultimately emotionally lost. She claimed to know what the other wanted, but she herself could not know what she wanted until the very end, when her purest wish came true but at the cost of her life. Sayaka ultimately lost herself to her powers and became the very thing she swore to destroy, a grief stricken witch, driven mad by the responsibility of power granted by a twisted contract. In my mind, Sayaka perfectly, and tragically represents the phrase "Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster". When we have power, it is imperative that we first know ourselves before anything, lest the power take control of us and turn us into the injustice we fight. Sayaka was unfortunate to not be in the know of herself and the very powers she wished to possess in order to save others. She became corrupted, even though her wish was innocent.

This is in complete contrast to the main character, Madoka, who struggled continuously (in a genius decision by the writers) and held off on becoming a magical girl right up until the end. She constantly questioned herself and the nature of the brutal world around her, so as to not let the power overtake her when she wanted it most. By knowing herself and the world, Madoka was able to do what she thought was right, in a clear state of mind, to bring about an ultimately better version of the world she wished for, even though it too, came at a cost. The cost of her individuality and existence. Indeed, we now know that in order to do what is right, there will be heavy sacrifices ahead, but its not until our mettle is tested that we truly know just what sacrifices we are willing to endure. Madoka knew, and yet she still chose, to save everyone and Homura, who has suffered to see her die a hundred times (Homura is incredible fr fr fr she had it so tough man, I shudder to think how many times she had to execute Madoka at her request). But her existence was not erased entirely, the person who anguished for her will remember her and keep on fighting to protect the world she wished for. It's fucking beautiful. The parallels between Madoka and Sayaka is god tier levels of writing I'm telling you mate this is fucking incredible. Out of all the tropes that were subverted, the one I did not expect the most was Madoka holding off on becoming a magical girl until the very end. One might have thought that she would have become one sooner, but she was meant to be the viewer, the observer to the harsh reality of power, of sacrifice, of noble intentions gone wrong. It was all for a good purpose, to complete her character arc from a naïve, innocent girl, to an enlightened hero. The psychologic factor of becoming a magical girl was by far the best subversion of the series.

Further adding a layer of complexity to this anime are the actions of Kyubey (Kyubastard), and the purpose of the magical girl system. Entropy. The ultimate fate of the universe, the unsolvable problem to which no solution currently exists. All usable energy in the universe shall be depleted, leaving everything to die. The great American Science Fiction writer Isaac Asimov once explored Entropy in his short story, "The Last Question", to which I find substantial similarities to in Madoka. In The Last Question, humanity builds a supercomputer to answer the titular last question, "can the effects of entropy be reversed?". The supercomputer AI cannot answer the question until the very end of the story when humanity has gone extinct, and the life of the universe has been extinguished. At the end, the AI answers "Let there be light" and there was light. Further on down the story of Madoka, we come to learn the grand plan of Kyubey and the magical girl system. After damn near deceiving the main cast of the show, we learn that the magical girl system exists as a solution to the problem of Entropy. The magical girls are destined to ultimately become witches themselves after undergoing despair and losing hope, thereby releasing usable energy unto the universe, allowing life to continue. Much like Asimov's story, Kyubey, an extra terrestrial, could be interpreted as the AI having been called to existence to solve a major problem and stopping at nothing to achieve one goal. The survival of the universe.

Kyubey and his species lack the capacity to feel emotion and to comprehend the emotions and actions of human beings. Kyubey, much like a cold and unfeeling robot, offers a solution and moves towards it. From our point of view, Kyubey enslaves poor little girls to the magical girl system by giving them and enticing offer. Become a magical girl, fight witches, and you can have any one wish of yours granted! We look upon his actions unfavorably and label him as an antagonistic, villainous force that plunges characters into suffering and despair. But where Kyubey is coming from, his actions are only necessary, he cannot feel emotions or understand humans, he can only understand the common desire of biological beings to reproduce and avoid extinction and therefore enacts his solution. He, at one point, even compares humans to livestock, citing that livestock have high reproductive rates and can live their full life in captivity. There should be no problems, right? Just as the livestock and emerge biologically successful under captivity, humans should also be content and satisfied to do the same under the captivity of the magical girl system. Indeed, there are benefits to this system which has been in effect since prehistoric times. This is why some may view Kyubey as an antagonist, but others may see him as a pragmatic savior. But is his solution necessarily the best one? Is he an antagonist afterall?

Here is what I believe: saying that "Kyubey did nothing wrong" is wholly false, his conclusion had a flaw in it, the one factor missing that, with it, Madoka was able to rectify the issue and create a better alternative. Human emotion. As stated before, Kyubey could not feel or understand emotion, but Madoka understood the weight of a human life. Her aforementioned journey is what leads her to be able to comprehend what is right not just for the whole, but for each and every individual. That is why she was meant to be the witness, the observer to the harsh reality of power, of suffering, of sacrifices. Kyubey forced humans into a utilitarian system by condemning a few to suffer while the rest could live, but Madoka was able to alleviate the needless suffering of her fellow magical girls. While we the viewer are biased towards Madoka, the show, amazingly, allows us to form our own conclusions. Was it the best possible world? No (magical girls still exist), but it is a better one than what came before it, even at the cost of her individuality, Madoka created a better world. A world in which a sole survivor of the previous carries her the memory of her and fights to protect the world she sacrificed herself for. I'm fucking telling you this again because this is so god damn beautiful.

Now for the other things that I liked (ramble). The presentation and direction of this anime is bold as fuck, not many anime today would attempt to do what this did with the representation of the witches and barriers as paper art. The fights are really cool and moments of sakuga catch the eye together with the choreography to make the scenes unforgettable. The music in this anime slaps, especially Sayaka's theme "Decretum" which was so good that Yasunori Nishiki basically stole it and put it into Octopath Traveler as Primrose's theme lmfao. One thing I also realy appreciate about this anime is how 3 episodes in it gives us the real ED which is dark like "Bitch you thought this anime was smiles and sunshine? WRONG". Shoutout to Madoka's mother who is a cool as fuck anime parent.

For the reasons stated above (and those which I have not talked about) Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica deserves a 10 out of 10. A brilliant fulfillment of fascinating ideas and themes that come together to craft a legendary masterpiece of a story.