MotherOfUltra

There're anime where the ending will leave you satisfied. There're cliffhanger anime for people to die for a sequel. There're even anime that just leaves cliffhangers and never come back. There're those garbage anime that you just don't feel anything at all. And there's Madoka, an anime with an amazing story, art, sound, character, but a soulless and downright devilish ending. There will be absolutely no plot at all, because I want people to understand and be ready for anything. And, I tell you, you'll need to be.[P.S. There are absolutely no plot summaries in here, but the vocabularies and terms I use may indirectly suggest a minor point of the story.] Story: 10 This story is meant to leave an unsatisfactory ending. The motif is pretty clear: the Bible and the genesis of God and Lucifer. Come on, our world hasn't come to an end, has it? A story based on our world, a never-ending cycle of unsatisfactory endings cannot be satisfactory by itself, unless by deception and/or imagination. Urobuchi, author of Fate/Zero and Madoka among many others, is famous for a seamless plotline. I cannot state that this movie has brought down his fame, because all his stories had dark motifs. Indeed, this movie has left an unsatisfactory ending, but this is a masterpiece, creating an amazing transition between theogenesis and diablogenesis. How could I dare say that unsatisfying ending crushes this masterpiece? Art: 10 Imagine Madoka being reanimated with Monogatari: Second Season's animation technology. Now add malice to that. Now add another plot twist to that. That does not even begin how great the movie was. The seemingly childish animation was still there, but the malice was all the more heightened, getting into the fine line between creepiness and evilness. A wise mangaka once stated that drawing a malicious face (not angry face) was not an easy job. He stated that the background, the eye, the position of the panel, the position of the character, darkness, facial expression and etc were all necessary to make one malicious face. Then how much harder would it be to draw nearly an hour-long malice? Shaft studio, producers of monogatari series and of course madoka among many others, is known for their ability to, despite using quite "cheating" methods, send chills down the viewers' spine. Using scenes where the character simply stands, or where the name of the font used or color of the scene or sometimes seemingly scanning the clothings or skirts of an unknown origin, Shaft studio actually makes a great success of delivering an heightened message to the viewers. And, truth be told, I could not catch a single misgivings about the animation of the movie. When malice was needed, Shaft did their job. When they needed a happy tea time, Shaft did their job. When they needed a battle scene, Shaft did their job. No more colors or fonts. They did their job. Sound: 10 If there's one criterion I always cut down and attack, it's the sound. Being a very keen person in sound, I always wanted the producers to use the "perfect" BGMs (of course nothing is perfect but still I can dream?!) at the "perfect" moment. But I have to say it--rebellion nailed it. The song was as creepy as it could get. The background musics at the moment of realization was so good that I got a chill down my spine and nearly pissed myself (true story). On the opening, ClaRis did their usual mislead. The general "ah, this is a magical girls' story! There're absolutely no genre-twisting stories or one of those Urobuchi things in here!" and comforted the slaughter lambs. Then, came the usual malice. Scary it was. And somehow, even at the ending, although the song was in major pitch and no double voice or alterations have been added, it was still creepy and malicious. It created a sense of Judas' kiss, meaning that while the act itself was a beautiful act, the inner sense was dark enough to creep our intestines. If there is one thing that music should do, it is to do that. Even through the electronic amplifiers, music should always deliver the feelings. Rebellion was an amazing exemplification of this job of music. It did its job when it needed to, creeping our guts out after cleansing our soul with "cute" music, then presenting the "Judas' kiss". Sound--a job well done. Character: 10 No one expected this. No one could have expected this. No one could have seen this coming. Yet this was inevitable. Urobuchi always does this. He reveals a down-to-Earth fact that has been in front of our face the whole time yet at the same time a fact that no one has realized. The development of our main character, Akemi Homura, is wonderfully presented with this motif. Her "transfiguration" was something no one have realized, yet something so obvious and inevitable that everybody should have known. I will not go onto further details. As for minor characters, such as Mami, Sayaka, Kyouko and our all-time hated con artist, MOTHER****ING KYUBEY, they have done their job spectacularly. Every bit of stories they shared and every bit of clues they presented showed and developed the story rapidly. In a way, they "created" the main character. It is always difficult to involve all of the characters and giving all of them important roles. Failure to do so may not be the doom of the anime, but a horrible trial of doing so means the end of the anime and doom of its production. However, Rebellion Story, while providing every character a role, also succeeded in not awkwardly fitting in their roles into the original plot. It is indeed a job well done. Enjoyment: 5 ........... ........... ........... Now, before you say anything or go away, let me explain myself. Indeed, this was an amazing movie, and I don't think any other movie can create a seamless storyline as this one. However, I didn't enjoy this at all. In fact, I don't think I can ever see the movie again. It was too soul-breaking that it felt like my soul was breaking apart. Indeed its story was good, indeed the art was amazing, indeed the sound did its job, indeed the character development was godly. But I just couldn't like it. Still, this was only my opinion. Some people might like it. In fact, exactly because I liked it, I want people to watch this. It both critiques the conventional "now everybody's happy" anime endings and the well-known "good guy always is the good guy" logic and crashes it down to Earth. Because of this, I have to take off the Enjoyment spectrum out of the overall rate. It indeed is an important aspect of anime, but not in this one. This movie DOESN'T want you to enjoy the show. And that is exactly why this is great. Overall: 10 Great story, art, sound and character. It is the work of our lifetime. Don't miss it. If you are in a region where you can go watch the movie, you are blissed. GO WATCH IT. IT'S WORTH EVERY PENNY. Then, happy anime-ing.

iSheep

I don't think I've ever given perfect 10's across a rating scale. I don't think the third Madoka Magica movie deserves 10's across the board either, but this is the closest I'll probably ever get. I dreaded the day that a sequel came to fruition for Madoka Magica. This was a show that ended on a rather ambiguous note but still left a good, everlasting impression in its original run, hinting that there was really no need for a sequel, an explanation, or an "After Story", for that matter. I'm not saying I don't want any more of it, not at all. But seriously, Gen Urobuchi,there's no way you can write a sequel any better than the original series, especially when your original series was THAT good. So yeah. Like.... just stop. Okay, I was jumping like a schoolgirl when I heard that there was a new Madoka Magica, but I didn't have much hope for this one either. But what I believed to be a mediocre attempt to capture the world by storm and ultimately fail, I was proven wrong. I hate being wrong. I can't stand the thought of being wrong. To me, being wrong, is just wrong. Never been happier to be wrong. Story: What the original series packed was a story that was armed to the teeth with dark undertones and twists so shocking, Lindsay Lohan could be one month sober from her usual crack fiend habits and the power of the message would still be ultimately missing. So when Madoka Magica was renewed for a sequel film, they ultimately took the exact same impact and made it even better. For those of you who have already seen the original (and you HAVE to see it first), you might be wondering, "how does it get any better?" Remember when Madoka transcended into the heavens and became a holy power? Think of this as God's believer trying to make direct contact. However, I think the real impact of the film doesn't happen until much, MUCH later. You're watching for an hour and thirty minutes and you probably haven't reached it yet. Ten minutes later, you're probably.... almost there, and I'm specifying what happens near the end. When you hear from other MAL users about how the ending was a serious shock, nobody knew how to take it, "ending of Oreimo", all that stuff, that's all true. But if you still have a vague idea of what they're talking about, then imagine it this way: life gives you a cookie, then kicks you in the third leg just to take it back (if you don't have one, forget the reference!). Only difference is, if life does it, you're rolling on the floor, writhing in pain. The ending to this third movie turns you into Niagara Falls for a while. The story is just splendid. Art: Aniplex can screw up just about anything on this list in the eyes of some, but if there's something a pissed-off fanboy or a nine-year-old shounen rage kid cannot base his bad rating on, it's the animation. Looks clean, characters move in a crisp and fluid motion, and the Nightmares that appear, while they don't retain the same animation style as the rest of the characters/scenes, it blends in, oddly enough. If they did those sequences wrong, it would pop out very noticeably, especially given the two conflicting animation styles. Fortunately, there's a sense of depth, and instead of that bolstered look where a character looks as if they "happen" to appear in the scene, the character looks like they're actually there (and there is a HUGE difference between the two definitions). Sound: I'm a fan of ClariS. ..... .....yeah, moving on..... Character: I didn't quite understand Homura's actions the first time I watched the movie, but after a good runthrough over the exact section I was skeptical about, I had to use my own judgment and speak for myself, "it's logical, it makes sense." This is the exact same place in the movie where everyone spreads rumors about Gen Urobuchi "ripping out your hearts and sending you into a black oblivion of nothingness and despair and I'm gonna go kill myself and-" you get the idea. You'll just have to watch this part for yourself and make your own decision about Homura's actions (that's a small spoiler, I think, but I know it's not enough to spoil the entire thing). I don't like forgettable characters. Not the forgettable ones in the sense that we see them once throughout the whole movie and they dick off for the rest of the time to do as they please because we don't need them. I don't like forgettable MAIN characters, and while Sayaka was one of the main cast of the original series (and still is), I feel like she was neglected most of the time, and never really got the spotlight even after Kyouko came in, who ended up stealing it (as far as Character Favorites on MAL tells me). With the amount of screen time Sayaka got in the original series, I was impartial about her death. It never struck me as particularly noteworthy. That changes with the third movie. Her role is more defined, we do get to see more of her, and this "more of her" that we see isn't just a way to give Sayaka fans something to squeal about. This is her own persona, her own contribution, and what I would call redemption from her lack of presence in the first movie. I'm more delighted by the idea that Urobuchi doesn't neglect to use his characters when he needs them. Enjoyment: If you can classify "enjoyment" as sitting at home and drowning in my own puddle of tears while watching, then yes, I did enjoy it. Madoka Magica is one of those shows that never initially grabbed my attention, but then again, it doesn't take very much to draw me in at the same time. All it needs? Good storyline, good execution, and I can cope with the rest. But while a select number of shows can do a combination of both and I would still point out a flaw or two, and while some will gradually lose my initial attention, Madoka Magica is, for me, a very, VERY difficult show to dislike or change the rating of, or keep my eyes off for that matter. I wasn't swayed by the hype, I've listened to all the criticism, and at the end of the day, this series still stands as one of the best series I've seen, if not the absolute best. Even with the ending as controversial as it is, there's no way I can bring myself to dislike this series. I thought it wasn't a proper ending, as diehard of a fan as I could be, but I was satisfied having seen it. And while I have a tendency to associate myself with shoujo and rom-com shows, I'll have to admit eventually that I loved the action sequences just as equally as the idle explanation scenes. You know, those ones where they just sit around and talk to each other? Yeah, I don't know why I like those scenes. Maybe I'm just weird. Overall: I think everyone who previously didn't know I like watching anime and everyone who does know has heard this from me at least twice within the past two days: WATCH THIS MOVIE. If I keep this up, I probably won't have a social life. Whatever the case, I don't think I've been this hyped over an anime show, nor have I had such a strong desire to watch it again. Maybe I'm being biased because this is my favorite show, and maybe I'm missing something here and I failed to pick it up, and while this third movie may probably be one of those shows that will still get bogged down on hype alone, there's no reason for any of that. It's brilliant, it's well-thought-out, and it really doesn't need any of its hype to prove its worth.