After reading the episode summaries for PMMM, to get the full experience I went and read the manga. Why? There was no way I could sit through a 24 minute episode. Especially since when I first tried to watch PMMM I stopped watching half through the first episode.

I will admit it was a good read. I'm glad I read it. So what are my thoughts?

Meh. Honestly I don't get the hype for this series at all. The characters are boring and I don't care about them at all. If anything I slightly felt bad for Homura and Mami. I wanted to punch Kyubey though. 

I feel like I would have gotten into the series if we started with Homura meeting Madoka for the first time. Then going back in time to save her. I would have cared about both these girls.

Or if the story would have slowed down a bit. I like literally know nothing about these girls. There's like zero character development. They tried to do something with Sayaka, but I didn't feel bad for her when she lost her mind. I get that the spin offs help develop the girls. But ummm shouldn't they be flesh out already in the original series? If anything the manga could have expanded the story.

Yea with the anime you're not gonna fare much better. From what I recall reading the manga is actually based on the draft of the anime, which is why it includes little details like the Walpurgy's familiars looking like Mami and the others. 

Other than little details like having Madoka physically ripped apart (for absolutely no reason other than shock value) when she enters the barrier of the witch Sayaka takes out when she first contracts, there isn't really much of a difference between the anime and manga. The plot and characterization are all pretty much the exact same thing.

If anything I'd say reading the manga is better because it doesn't have the doughy-eyed moe moe character designs or annoying voices. But I do think Kyubey being so obviously evil and making those nightmare faces is worse than his frozen face in the anime (although he was more expressive in the early episodes)

Yeah Kyubey's faces got pretty creepy. 


The one thing that bugs me is the ending. Like magical girls don't disappear unless they lose hope? Wow as a human being it's pretty easy to lose hope in something. I can't tell you how many times I lost faith in something.

And with how miserable the system already is, it'd be pretty easy to lose hope.

These girls still have to be isolated from making friends, unable to get a job because they have to constantly fight these ill defined thingies that keep popping up. There's still the very real risk of death on a daily basis. They still have to maintain and protect the little Faberge eggs that are their souls.

And Kyubey is still a little prick who cares more about his own personal gain than the people helping him (read: that he's using) to achieve it.

So yeah Madoka really didn't save them. what she should have done was to get rid of the need of magical girls period.

Basically all she does is provide a mercy kill before their Soul Gems cloud over. What Homura did to her in the past... she basically does the same thing but on a grander scale.

I feel like she kept the Magical Girls around because of Kyubey's speech about how they helped further along human society and all. But yeah...it would have made more sense if she had just gotten rid of witches/magical girls all together.

I thought Kyubey's race needed to energy from magical girls to keep the universe balanced or something?

If I remember correctly, yes Kyubey needed energy, but the wishes that the individual magical girls made had such an impact on the world that it advanced the species.

I haven't read the manga, so I don't know if that speech was in there, but I know he said he thought that humans would still be in caves without the miracles from magical girls.

Oh, I remember him mentioning about history. So he probably said something like that.