I've seen the first episode of this...the dub is awful, so not worth the price Aniplex is charging it at. Not like I would've even bought the title in the first place, most female leads tend to be awful. But really, if they're going to charge $30 a DVD, the voice acting better be worth the price. Hell, Freeman could've done a better job at voicing a female,then the people they picked for it. Yes, I know that souned strange, but I've heard Freeman do a girly voice and as creepy as it might be, he did a damn good job at it. The females sound so damn dull, no energy behind it and it doesn't flow, just like how Squid Girl sounded...that anime had a bad dub, too

I rated this anime as bad, and I won't change my mind of how bad it is. It's just another magical girl show aimed for older people and horror, that doesn't cover up what it is.

Yeah, the dub is pretty bad. But I actually blame the script more than the actors. There's really no reason not to watch the Japanese track unless you are a super-hardcore dub enthusiast. Aoi Yuki, Chiwa Saito, Eri Kitamura, Ai Nonaka? Those are some big name seiyuu. It's kinda of unfair to compare the dub, which cast a lot of newbies.

It's not really trying to. Yes, it's a magical girl show. Yes, it's Seinen. Yes, it's a deconstruction. It's also a thought-provoking, thematically rich, extremely well-written and well-executed story. Which you're not going to get out of one episode.

It just seems to me you have some kind of general loathing for magical girls, which I guess I can understand. I feel that way about ecchi and shounen tournament anime. But I'm also willing to admit when those kinds of shows are actually done well. Like Bakemonogatari and FMA.

Like it or not, yours is the dissenting opinion on the matter. You are only doing yourself a disservice by writing it off. If for no other reason than that I don't foresee Madoka fading from fandom consciousness anytime soon.

Oh my dear Soundmonkey, you couldn't be more wrong.

I've been meaning to venture my opinion of this show thus far - I am only 4 episodes in, however, before I offer my thoughts, I do want to reply to a comment:

You're referring to Evengelion right? Well, some good news, I've actually rewatched this show just because I've been thinking of it a lot lately, and I have a different preception of it this time; before when I watched it I was dpressed, no, really, I was seeing a councillor, I was a wreck, I look at pictures of myself from that time and I was so thin, now I'm slim, but toned, I even ran into an old friend from years ago and the first thing they said was that I looked much healthier and more "full of life." So, in other words, depression can absolutely srve to impair a person's judgement.

So going back to the now, I have to say I liked Evengelion much more, so much it's now on my favorites shelf, now, I still feel it is self indulgent at times, and I felt there were 2 or 3 episodes the series could've done without, but seriously, I'm not going to thrash the anime when only 3 episodes out of 26 aren't my style, especially when the other 23 are rocking. I still feel though, at times it is overrated when people say it's the greatest anime ever, but then again, that's their opinion, and they're free to feel that way.

Now, for the matter at hand:

That's not fair.

Yeah, I figured. But FMA was ridiculously good, but, my opinion. Can't like what we dislike.

Alright, NOW, my thoughts about the first 4 episodes of the anime, so, basically thus far, to be honest, I'm not all that impressed with this series. Maybe it's the amount of hype that raised my expectations higher than they're supposed to be, or maybe this one just isn't my style, either way, there were thing I liked/disliked, but overall, my general opinion of this anime points to it being somewhat subpar. Realize, I'm only 4 episodes in, so, maybe things will turn around, I'm not prepared to give up on it yet, and 4 episodes are not enough to garner a strong enough opinion.

First, the positives, what I respect about ths anime is how they killed off a major character right away - the whole episode 3 fiasco, now, many merely thought it was a cool scene, I liked it because it served a purpose: when the two main characters become a propect of being recruited as new magical girls, they're told it's dangerous - we've heard this before in many other animes(Inuyasha for example), and the hero walks away from every battle a little banged up, so as a viewer, I usually find myself becoming complacent when watching later episodes - here, on Puella Magi Madoka Magica, since they kill off a main character early who acts as a mentor, skilled and powerful, it actually does show the characters put their lives on the line anytime they undergo a mission, so there's always that looming feeling anybody could be next - this helps with suspense. I like the concept so far, the "rules" of their world and their roles in terms of what they are there to do - this is what is keeping me from abandoning this anime, it has to get better. I also love that closing song.

However, the reason I'm not too enthused about this anime are for a few reasons, I'll start with the superficial - the character designs really bug me, mainly their faces, I really dislike the eyes, and the face shapes, just really odd looking and it really does get to me. Second, while many of the labyrinth sequences are pretty insane looking, some just look bad, like someone barfed all over my screen - I get the idea of what they're doing in terms of visual innovation, but I really felt some of the scenes needed to "pull back" a little, but there were times when I was laughing and I should not have been.

I'm having trouble empathizing and being interested in the characters, in a way, (and I know I'll get flack for this), they just seem, "been there, done that." Storywise I have some questions I want resolved that I hope are covered in the anime, mainly backstory - who, what, were, when, how to be answered in the history of their "war" and origins. Now the issue here is that I'm having trouble getting motived to watch it, it also didn't help that I started watching Evengelion again at the same time I started this show - Evengelion sucked me right in, I blasted through 26 episodes in under a week - which is extremely fast for a guy like me, so, to go from Evengelion to this is sort of like watching A Beautiful Mind, Forest Gump or The Dark Knight and going to something like Good Burger or Pee Wee's Big Adventure.

My opinion of it may seem harsh, but I won't come out and say it is a bad anime, it does have the redeeming qualities I listed above, and I'm only 4 episodes through, for me, a bad anime is something along the lines of Master of Martial Hearts, Eiken, Green Green or Burn up Scramble, and this is absolutely light years above that bin of trash.

She dissed Speed Grapher, I don't like her.

Very true, I think many of us agree on this.

So, what do you think of this Puella Magi Madoka Magica anime, it's all the rage right now, do you: Like it? Dislike it? Awesome? Crappy? Overratted? Worth While? Outstanding?

Spill the beans - your thoughts, I posted mine on the first 4 episodes, but to summarize, I'm going to give it more time, let's see how it turns out.