3rd part in this short series. The last one turned out a lot longer than I anticipated so I might have to cut out writing on a few other shows I watched just to keep up the quality. Other than that, I hope you enjoy my ramblings.
Puella Magi Madoka Magica (2011)
Widely cited as one of, if not the best anime of the 2010s, Madoka Magica is an anime that catches everyone off guard, both with its dark themes and top notch character writing.
What is there to say about this show that hasn’t already been said? It’s really just one of those shows that in my opinion lives up to every bit of the hype it has behind it. It has one of the best depictions of tragedy I’ve seen from its medium, and some of the best written characters I’ve seen in all of fiction.
For some context, this was my second time watching this show. The first time I had watched it was around November of last year and it was something that at the time I loved, but it’s safe to say not everything sunk in on that first watch. Now almost 9 months later, this was one of the most rewarding re-watches I’ve given to a visual media piece in recent memory. While I gave Angel Beats a lot of flack for its short runtime harming what it was able to go for and accomplish within its plot, Madoka Magica is a show that I’d argue took the common 12-episode run leaps and bounds above what people think is possible for such a short runtime.
Madoka Magica is an interesting show to recommend to someone. It’s cute on the surface, and if your only impression is seeing the cover of the show then you’ll most likely think it’s just another girly mahou shoujo anime in a similar vein to Sailor Moon or Cardcaptor Sakura (which I have nothing against). But once you get past the surface level, it switches up into the masterpiece psychological horror people know it as. Even with that however, anyone that has actually given the show a watch will tell you that it’s much more than just that.
Re-watching Madoka made me realize a lot of things I hadn’t even thought of upon that first watch. These small details were hard to catch the first time because the show moves along at a pace that keeps you involved the whole way through. It’s often hard to take your eyes off the screen as it seems outside of a few moments here and there, hardly a minute is wasted throughout the entire length of the show. As all of this is going on in front of you however, little seeds are being planted as you go. Over time, these seeds are slowly watered with more and more details. Characters are developed and fleshed out. Expectations are broken. Badass magical girls Fight witches.
It’s hard to go into more detail about what makes this show so great without spoiling anything meaningful. This is another one of those shows I believe everyone should watch at some point, completely blind if given the chance. I love this show a ton, and it’s completely deserving of its status as one of the best of the 2010s. Huge props to studio Shaft.
Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie: Rebellion (2013)
The Madoka Magica movie takes what made the show so great and builds upon it more and more, making it better in pretty much every way.
If there’s a part of the Madoka series that I’d say makes a re-watch justified, it would be this. While I did enjoy this movie when I first watched it, it was also probably the most confused I’ve ever been by a piece of media. It’s a lot to take in, and I won’t blame anyone for being conflicted after watching it for the first time. However for me, everything seemed to come together perfectly during this re-watch, and it has come to be one of my personal favorite pieces of media I’ve had the pleasure (or in this case you could argue displeasure) of experiencing.
Madoka Magica was a show praised widely by critics and fans everywhere when it came out, and to this day it’s easily a fan favorite for many justified reasons. It also ended in a way people often called perfect, which is something I’ve personally come to disagree with. I thought it ended very well yes, but it left some things open that I thought could have been closed a bit better. In comes the sequel to the TV series, the Madoka Movie, which I’ll be referring to as Rebellion.
Rebellion is an extension to the story following Madoka Magica. Some people out there call it unnecessary, but in my personal opinion the series is made all the better by it. It’s a movie I’d call a 10/10, if not for its near-perfect pacing and masterful cinematography, then I’d argue it earns it with what its story manages to accomplish during its hour and 56 minute runtime. This movie has one of the best soundtracks I’ve heard. It has some of my favorite scenes in animation and visual media in general. It even takes who was my personal favorite character in the TV series, and expands her story in a way I thought was shocking, horrifying, yet also amazing. This movie is a masterpiece that I’ve come to love immensely and I honestly don’t have enough good things to say about it.
I’ll save the spoilers and specifics for another time, but as I’ve said before, watch Madoka Magica. I’m so glad I gave this whole series a re-watch because following it, I was able to appreciate this movie in a whole new light. This was an amazing experience. I love this movie to death. Can’t wait for the final movie to come out.
Trigun (1998)
An agreed-upon classic from the 90s that still holds up to this day as a great watch.
Trigun is the oldest anime I’ve seen so far. It’s a show I had heard the name of before, but past the fact that it was wild west themed and its age, I knew next to nothing about the shows actual content. I decided to give it a watch with a friend over discord, and the start of the show couldn’t have been a cooler intro. Trigun’s opening scene is a bit of something of the past. It’s funny how similar it is to Cowboy Bebop’s in that it starts in a bar, and said bar gets shot to smithereens past the point of recognition. The animation in this scene is incredible for its time, and it serves as a bit of a representation of the peaks hand-drawn animation could reach back during its prime.
While Trigun of course has a lot of cool action and wild-west standoffs, my focus a lot of the time was elsewhere. In my opinion, Trigun’s strengths lie in its characters. Vash is the cover man, the charismatic, recognizable face of the show, and he fits the role like a glove. He’s funny, witty, humble, and without a doubt the best gunman around. He’s such a fun character to watch throughout the show to the point that I’d say with zero hesitation a Trigun without Vash isn’t Trigun at all. Following him is the duo of Milly Thompson and Meryl Stryfe. The two of them bring a ton to the table as well. They’re almost polar opposites of each other, Milly being a tall airhead, and Meryl being a short but smart tsun-ish character. Their reactions to the happenings of this show are hilarious, and the ways they interact with Vash are great. It’s always hard to hold back a smile when they’re on screen. And finally following the two of them is Nicholas D. Wolfwood, a priest who turned out to be my favorite character during the show. Wolfwood was by far the funniest member of the cast, while also being super down to earth in all the moments that counted.
The chemistry between all of these characters is what made me so invested for so much of this show. Seeing them interact with the things around them as well as themselves was what kept me clicking that next episode over and over again. Even when bad things start to go down during the show, the quality of the characters never fails to keep me watching.
I enjoyed the hell out of this show. It was super fun seeing the main cast moving throughout the desert wasteland, and seeing the twists in the story happen made it quite the ride through and through. The animation at certain points turned out a little rough, but even with that. I enjoyed my time. I can happily recommend this one if you’re into anything wild-west.
Yuru Camp (2018)
Yuru Camp is nothing more than what its name implies, just some laid-back camping, and I couldn’t ask for more.
Slice of life is a complicated genre. I’m also 20 feet tall and covered in scales. I also happen to be very bad at lying over text if you couldn’t tell. What I’m trying to say is that slice of life isn’t that complicated, and if you ask me it’s completely fine that way. I’ve been a fan of slice of life ever since I stumbled upon K-On! a year ago by chance while scrolling through Netflix. It’s a genre that I honestly never expected myself to enjoy, and I even swore off the entire genre when I first started watching anime, calling it stupid and pointless like the naive fool I was. I came to just love the simplicity of everything, and came to appreciate the overall quality behind the writing a lot of these shows had, even if they didn’t involve some grand plot about saving the world. The characters in this genre are often the most relatable of the medium, and it’s pretty easy to see why that’s the case. These more grounded stories are appealing to people who are looking for a bit of escape and some characters with much more relatable motives than say, a young alchemist hoping to revive his deceased mother with the power of a rare stone.
For these reasons, Yuru Camp is possibly the coziest thing I’ve ever watched. The combination of everything presented by the show just makes it such a delight to watch. It really does give you that “warm and fuzzy” feeling inside the best slice of life shows are associated with. Everything from the super calming music, to the stellar voice acting of all the girls, and even just the great art of the show, they all make Yuru Camp into what it’s known as, just a cozy-ass show. Seeing all the girls in the group of campers out and about puts the stupidest smile on my face. They all have such a great dynamic, and in a show about cute girls doing cute things, sometimes that’s all you can really ask for.
Also I just want to reiterate that the art is so great. The mountain ranges covered in snow that fill the background for a lot of the show are beautiful. The characters are simply drawn but really well animated. And most of all, the food, oh my god the food looks so good. Just have a look at some of these from the show.
Overall I think this show is great. It’s something I’d easily recommend to anyone as something they could put on during dinner, kick back, and unwind a bit. It’s so cozy and warm, the characters are adorable, and it’s just super easy to watch because there’s not anything complex involved with it. Peak “no thinking required” type of show.
Thanks again for reading this if you did. I procrastinated on writing this part for a few days, but today I managed to get around to it. I unfortunately might have to cut down on a few of the shows I was going to write about just for time’s sake. Starting tomorrow, I’m finally going to have stuff in my schedule to do (shocking I know!). I’ll try to get another part done to sort of finish this short series up by next week, and I’ll try to get that bonus part about manga done too when I get the chance because I do really want to write about those few. Anyways, look forward to the next update.
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