Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica Episode 1: "As if I Met Her in My Dream..."

Madoka's reaction after opening the door in her dream.

OMG

So it's our first episode review!

This is so exciting!

Hahahah :'D

Anyways....

On to the review!

While getting ready for school, Madoka picks her red hair ribbon which she wears for the remainder of the series.


~story~

The episode starts and we see a girl fighting some..thing and Madoka appears and talks to this white cat-like animal and something happens and some words are sad that are super confusing and basically this whole opening segment is just a big "lolwhut" moment. Luckily this all turns out to be a dream and Madoka is actually all nice and comfy in her bed living the good life (lol not for long). The first half of the episode is basically just a normal day in the life of Madoka except for the new student is oddly creepy and is kinda staring at Madoka and there's an awkward exchange of words and it's just slow and drags on. However, once the action starts things start to get better. The fighting really makes the episode move faster and it gets a lot more interesting. However, the end was built up to be this big climatic moment where Homura jumps off a box or whatever it is she is standing on because there is this big sound effect but from what is seen it is really unclimatic and it just doesn't work out as well as they would have hoped. Now this episode ends with the viewer being confused beyond belief but there is hope because the episode ends with a nice little chat with a new girl (Mami) and the next episode preview makes it pretty obvious that there will be some serious 'xplainin' that will be done in the next episode.

Madoka waves to her friends Hitomi (left) and Sayaka (right) as they walk to school together.

~art~

This art would be great...in the year 1999. Too bad it's 2012 in what...two days? This art looks very dated and is somewhat distracting at times. There isn't much effort put into detail and the animation looks a bit awkward at times. One thing that is very original about the art style is that there is some creepy visual aids that are thrown in once the witches start appearing. It really creates the essence of the scene and it's something that hasn't been seen in anime up until this point. Some may enjoy this new style of art, others may find it dumb and awkward. It is really up to the viewer's personal taste. 

Homura, after introducing herself to the class.

~sound~

The quality put into this OST is superb and the actual OST itself is one of the highlights of this series. Some of the tracks give off a .hack-esque feel to it, which is really nice since .hack has some of the best OSTs in anime history. The opening theme is a fairly generic anison track done by the pretty recent anison group ClariS. This duo really compliment each other's voices and the song itself is good - it's just that there are better songs out there. 

 Madoka and Sayaka keep close when the area of the mall's renovation starts to twist into the witch's realm. 


~character~

The first thing that was noted during the first minute of this episode is that Kyube is the Luna of this series. That is fairly obvious. Both talking feline-creatures that have come to choose the magical girl. All of the human characters at this time seem very one-sided - however this is only the first episode and they are expected to get much deeper as the series progresses. One of the more iconic characters in this episode would have to be Sayaka. Up until the fighting she was just in the background but once Madoka was in a pickle she comes out of nowhere and kicks some serious witch butt with that fire extinguisher. She deserves a medal for that. If I woulda walked into that fight I woulda ran and cried like a little girl. We get to see our first "hero" at the end as she comes to save the day. Her name is Mami and she is the moe character of the series. Beautiful costume and flawless hair. 

Madoka and Sayaka meet Mami, a magical girl, who saves them from the witch's realm.


~overall~

This episode is given a B+. The storyline is very much your typical magical girl story and nothing about it is too original right now. The art isn't the best - but it's not unbearable while the OST is one of the best things this series has to offer.