Anime rec: Puella Magi Madoka Magica
I've been getting over a cold since Swancon, and one way I filled in the time was watching the anime "Puella Magi Madoka Magica". I really liked it, on the surface it seems like a typical magical girl anime but as it goes on it goes to some very interesting and sometimes dark places, a bit like Princess Tutu or Homestuck though it's not as surreal.
I've seen criticisms based on the fact that it's "moe": aimed at men who like stories about innocent young girls being adorable(*), but regardless of the creator's intent it didn't ping as exploitative or creepy to me, apart from maybe the short skirts. Pretty much all the characters are female and they have some very compelling relationships and emotional arcs. Plus the main character has a mother! Who's alive! And awesome! (She doesn't show up much, but it's still notable)
I went in completely spoiled for all the major plot points (such is the nature of Tumblr), and I still really enjoyed it, but it would be MUCH more enjoyable if you went in spoiler free. I will warn for an encounter with a suicidal person in the first episode or so. This fan made trailer is mostly based on the first episode if you want to have some idea of what you're getting into.
And once I ran out of episodes and finally got my
junetide submission out of the way, I drew some fanart :) They're a little spoilery by implication, I guess.
Though Puella Magi Madoka Magica and Homestuck have very different tones, they explore some similar themes, and there's lots of crossover fanart. But noone seemed to have drawn the obvious choice of Aradia:
Puella Magi Aradiabot Magica on deviantART and on Tumblr
Merrill has always looked a bit moe to me, and works as a Puella Magi (magical girl) for lots of reasons.
Puella Magi Merrill Magica at deviantART and on Tumblr
I inadvertently made Aradia (who's 13, though I tend to think of her ghost-in-robot form as older) look older than Merrill (who's got be in her her late 20s by the end of the game), oh well. I like the idea of god tier Aradia as a Puella Magi too but I don't think I can be bothered drawing it.
(*)A very dodgy explanation of the term. Still, while Japanese media has it's own issues with gender, "lack of female main characters" and "belief that men can't relate to female characters" definitely aren't among them.
This entry was originally posted at http://alias-sqbr.dreamwidth.org/395799.html. There are
comments.
I've seen criticisms based on the fact that it's "moe": aimed at men who like stories about innocent young girls being adorable(*), but regardless of the creator's intent it didn't ping as exploitative or creepy to me, apart from maybe the short skirts. Pretty much all the characters are female and they have some very compelling relationships and emotional arcs. Plus the main character has a mother! Who's alive! And awesome! (She doesn't show up much, but it's still notable)
I went in completely spoiled for all the major plot points (such is the nature of Tumblr), and I still really enjoyed it, but it would be MUCH more enjoyable if you went in spoiler free. I will warn for an encounter with a suicidal person in the first episode or so. This fan made trailer is mostly based on the first episode if you want to have some idea of what you're getting into.
And once I ran out of episodes and finally got my
junetide submission out of the way, I drew some fanart :) They're a little spoilery by implication, I guess.
Though Puella Magi Madoka Magica and Homestuck have very different tones, they explore some similar themes, and there's lots of crossover fanart. But noone seemed to have drawn the obvious choice of Aradia:
Puella Magi Aradiabot Magica on deviantART and on Tumblr
Merrill has always looked a bit moe to me, and works as a Puella Magi (magical girl) for lots of reasons.
Puella Magi Merrill Magica at deviantART and on Tumblr
I inadvertently made Aradia (who's 13, though I tend to think of her ghost-in-robot form as older) look older than Merrill (who's got be in her her late 20s by the end of the game), oh well. I like the idea of god tier Aradia as a Puella Magi too but I don't think I can be bothered drawing it.
(*)A very dodgy explanation of the term. Still, while Japanese media has it's own issues with gender, "lack of female main characters" and "belief that men can't relate to female characters" definitely aren't among them.
This entry was originally posted at http://alias-sqbr.dreamwidth.org/395799.html. There are
comments.