Aeris wrote:I've been eyeballing this series for a while now, considering if I want to bother with it or not. Mostly because I've heard conflicting things about it. So, tell me about it. :O
A thorough deconstruction of the magical girl idea. Writing is interesting and the plot twists are well done, (though a few people have predicted most things.) There are a fair number of hidden references, coded messages, etc that can enhance it a bit if you're in to it.
It starts out typicalish for the genre for the first few episodes but veers darker and darker as it goes on.
The animation is quite interesting in that it uses completely different animation styles for the monsters. Watch an episode or two and perhaps check out a few of the other looks. Personally I've loved most of the unique visual tricks they've used, but opinions could be mixed.
'd be willing to bet they sat around and started sketching out how to take as many genre tropes of the magical girl as they could and simply turn them around and make them horrible for the characters.
At the same time, most of the cast is likable enough at points (though you have to give some a chance to grow on you.) I've found the actual main character to be the weakest of the main cast in terms of being "Typical protagonist A". Thankfully her development heads in a different direction.
I'd suggest avoiding spoilers as much as you can and just watching it without any prior knowledge (if you can).
It's been my pick for the season definitely.