Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Vol. 1 by Magica Quartet

I mean, I had no idea that the manga would actually go as far as showing Mami having her head ripped off by Charlotte the witch, and all the blood and gore that went with it. It’s nice to look at the slight differences in art, character expressions, dialogue, and compare and contrast them.

Hanokage and Magica Quartet’s manga adaptation follows the anime to the letter, and while this is usually a complaint, I have no qualms with it whatsoever.

I just couldn’t get enough of this delightfully dark and subversive magical girl story, which made me bawl my eyes out during the last episode, so hard that I actually needed to be comforted by a family member. So naturally, I picked up the manga when it came out over here. I’m currently saving up for the series on Blu-Ray, because it’s simply too gorgeous to only behold in standard definition.) (Yes, like all anime it had its quality and off-model moments, but man. The writing, the art, the animation, the music, the character and background designs, everything about it was so wonderfully neat and polished. I don’t normally watch anime this way (but when I do – *shot*) but Madoka was incredible from all technical standpoints. In 2011, I started watching the anime Puella Magi Madoka Magica as it was airing in Japan. Madoka, following her friends, soon sees the darker side of being a magical girl, and because of knowing the truth about being a magical girl, she questions if she should become one as well. However, contrary to the glamorous notions one would expect, a magical girl finds herself dealing with death, isolation, loss of humanity, agony over the value of her wish, and existential crisis. Another magical girl named Homura Akemi tries to prevent Madoka from making such a deal, while Kyubey urges Madoka by telling her she will become the most powerful magical girl. In the city of Mitakihara, a schoolgirl named Madoka Kaname and her friend Sayaka Miki are approached by a familiar named Kyubey, who offers to grant each of them one wish in return for making each of them a magical girl. However, in exchange, that girl must then become a magical girl and use their powers to fight against witches, evil creatures born from darkness that are responsible for murders and suicides. In this world, there exist strange creatures who have the power to grant one wish to a chosen girl.

Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Vol. 1 by Magica Quartet