Puella Magi Madoka★Magica

I am notorious for picking up manga, reading halfway, and then dropping them. Waiting a few months, maybe read a few more chapters, drop them again. I will have you know that Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica is the only manga I have ever read continuously without stopping. I honestly read all 12 chapters/3 volumes in one sitting. Starting with the story, I found it extremely original. The idea of "magical girls" has obviously been done before, but never like this. A single wish puts these young girls at the heart of demise, struggling to fight the despair in the world in order to save others. Their powerscome from their own souls, and unless they slay witches, their souls become cloudy and dark themselves. Without giving away too much, I will definitely say this story was deceiving at first glimpse. The twisted plot may be why I enjoyed it so much, but I will definitely say the story itself makes it worth reading. It's relatively short compared to many other manga, so I really would recommend just trying it. As far as art goes, it's not horrible. Many people will argue with me saying that the art is supreme and heavenly over others, but the reality is the art is good. The art is up to par with other mangas definitely, but I would not go as far to say it's superior. Luckily, the art will not make the manga hard to read as the characters are still beautifully drawn and the Puella Magi outfits are stunning and original. The character this story has is absolutely outstanding. The reason I could read Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica without stopping is because of how much you could relate to the characters. There's the main protagonist Madoka Kaname who is the classic sweet girl main character, however the decisions she makes do separate her from the "classic clueless shoujo protagonist". Miki Sayaka is the most relatable for myself, being that she is conflicted with doing good deeds for herself or for others, and if she does the potential consequences of it. Sakura Kyoko is the counterpart for Miki Sayaka, who made a contract with Kyuubey in order to make her father's wish come true, only to have great despair thrust upon her family. Mami Tomoe fights to save others, Kyuubey creates the Puella Magi, etc. etc. All-in-all, the characters are very fun, very original, and very relatable. Overall, I really enjoyed reading Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica, and would definitely recommend it to everyone. This shoujo manga is not what it seems! You may find yourself asking the very common question, "why?"

I really did not like this manga. The first and foremost problem is that it’s difficult to read due to it seemingly being very disjointed. It jumps from scene to scene and explanation to explanation with little to no smooth transition making everything seem very abrupt. The same reading difficulty actually applies to much of the manga content itself. This manga does a piss-poor job of explaining the plot and circumstances. It does an even worse job with character development. Most of the time, it seem like the author is rushing through the manga at break-neck pace and decided to ignore explanation of details for a clearerpicture in favor of moving the plot along. That is actually an uncommon experience for me. In most cases, the issue is that the plot drags and the manga would spend inordinate amount of time going over the same situation/information until it’s basically cemented into readers’ head. Madoka does basically the exact opposite. Reading other reviews of this, it seems the most common praise I hear for it is that it’s much darker than typical magical girl faire. This is true and it allows for a more unique read…but honestly, it wasn’t really that special. Allowing character deaths, blood, and sorrow in a traditionally upbeat genre is a nice touch, but without a well presented story, it’ll just be a bad story with a nice touch. I had originally planned to watch the anime afterwards as Madoka appears to be one of the few cases where the manga is an adaptation of the anime rather than the other way around, but I’ve decided to skip it now. Whatever popularity Madoka appears to enjoy, it obviously doesn’t fit my taste.

Like the artist herself mentioned in a side note, the manga adaptation of the insanely popular Puella Magi Madoka Magika anime was kept on a tight leash. The entire anthology for the dense 13 episode anime is 3 volumes, and while the artist does a fantastic job with what she has, It feels like her page limit was working against her. Overall, I wish I could give this adaptation a better rating, but it just feels very rushed. I wouldn't recommend reading it before watching the original anime.