Monday 30 September 2013

Manga Review - 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Vol 3' by Magica Quartet, Hanokage

And now that the true nature of Magical Girls is revealed, Kyuubey has his nightmare face on every panel he's in.

Great ending to a great series. There were things in this manga that I didn't think about when I watched the anime - it highlighted certain ideas and expressed new themes! 

The characters truly shine here and it's amazing to see how far they will go to achieve what they want. The sacrifices made are genuinely tragic; I adore these magical but human girls.

And I've come to accept that not every panel is going to imitate the anime, because the artwork and the emotion put into it is heart-wrenching all on its own. 

I also have to talk about a certain trope that relates to 'Madoka Magica' in regards to feminism:

Too often in movies, TV series and books, whenever a woman or a girl-becoming-a-woman is made powerful and is supposedly highly intelligent, it is a mandatory rule that she must go insane. She can't keep so much mental and emotional responsibility under control without a man by her side. I think this stems from a misogynistic world viewpoint that females can't handle adulthood - they must stay innocent and pure and young, so that men can protect them always (after all, to call a grown woman a girl is considered a compliment mostly, whilst calling a man a boy is widely seen as an insult). Also, this implies that men are not allowed to be emotional - or heck, human - in mainstream culture. 

Without giving away spoilers, 'Madoka Magica' does present this trope... kind of. But in the case of this franchise it actually makes sense - to the concept and the plot. Besides, as it contains an abundance of three-dimensional female characters who are strong in their own way, a slip-up like this is easily forgivable. To me anyway.

Full of twists and turns and inevitable outcomes, I got teary-eyed all over again. 'Madoka Magica' is brilliantly-written, thought-provoking and beautiful. 

A dark and perfect Magical Girl story.

Final Score: 5/5

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