So I just finished this series not too long ago. Honestly I expected much worse but I wouldn't go as far as saying it was a good show.

The show is basically a vastly different alternate universe version of Fate/stay night where the Holy Grail War which both Fate/Zero and FSN focused on never happened, the servants used in the war are replaced by 'Class Cards' with special powers coresponding to the various classes (Think something like the Clow Cards in CCS) and of course Illyasviel becoming a magical girl.

It's pretty messy but the way it pays tribute to the other titles in the franchise is probably the best part. On top of that there's some surprisingly really good looking action scenes and some really funny comedy skits here and there.

Unfortunately there were a lot of downsides which lead to the show falling back into the realm of mediocrity for me. Lolicon fanservice is a given in the type of show it is so I can't really criticise it for that even though it was quite annoying. What I can criticise the show for is the fact that every time it tries to take itself seriously, it gets instantly worse. Forced melodrama, misunderstandings, brief forays into grimdark territory, you name it.

Once again I have to stress that it's probably not as awful as you may think a show like it would be. But at the same time, that doesn't make it good. Supposedly Season 2 is better but Season 1 on its own is painfully mediocre.

This kind of reminds me of the Pretty Sammy spinoff. I have to imagine the people most interested in watching it are the people who are familiar with the character, the way my reason for watching Pretty Sammy was because I already adored Sasami.

I've seen screencaps and I can't imagine myself watching something like that. The aforementioned fanservice is one thing, but the "tryhard drama" as one of my MAL friends referred to it is off-putting too.

I will say one thing I respect about Madoka is that it didn't lolicon up the characters. I mean there's the official hugging pillows and the magazine art, but the show itself stays pretty clean on that note. It would be impossible to take the drama seriously if Madoka's crying was complimented with a random close-up of her underwear.

Oddly enough, they did a pretty good job of keeping the fanservice scenes separated from the more serious scenes. Well, for the most part. Watching an elementary school age girl engaging in violent combat against Berserker from Fate/stay Night while dressing in a slutty version of the outfit Saber wears in Fate/stay Night is one of those moments where I ask myself 'Why do I watch anime again?'.

That being said most of the serious moments are very cringeworthy. Although it's far more often a result of pure, clean, good old fashioned bad writing as opposed to the rampant, unnecessary sexualisation of girls who aren't even old enough to legally purchase the series in my country.

I honestly don't care nearly enough about the series to be able to explain in depth how the drama doesn't work. But what I will say is that literally every time the show tries to take itself seriously it gets instantly worse. I wish I was exaggerating.