While announcing that a new product Madoka Magic the movie coming out next year is exciting news for magical girl anime fans, it also serves as a reminder of how influential the original series was in changing the genre’s traditional conventions and conventions. Earlier this month, the official Puella Magi Madoka Magica account on X (formerly Twitter) gave a long-awaited update on the status of the upcoming Madoka Magica movie.
The tweet, which includes an exciting new teaser trailer, claims that the film – officially titled Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie – Walpurgisnacht Rising – will premiere during the Winter 2024 anime season in Japan, and International release will follow. The new film will be the fourth film in the franchise’s history.
Madoka Magica breaks the magical girl stereotype
While Madoka Magica is widely known as the standard for dark magical girl anime, its original release was one of the first series to break from the traditional themes that magical girl possesses. Before Madoka Magica, magical girl stories often followed similar patterns. It’s a kind girl who teams up with similarly kind and well-intentioned young girls to fight evil. However, when not fighting evil, the girls enjoy their “free time” hanging out and doing all the things young girls do. Indeed, their femininity and innocence are the source of their strength and camaraderie. Naoko Takeuchi’s Sailor Moon is perhaps the best representation of this classic magical girl archetype.
Madoka Magica takes the genre’s traditional imagery and completely subverts its core themes. The series begins with similar themes to what fans are familiar with, but the end of the third episode includes something far from the norm. Mami, an older and kind magical girl introduced as a mentor to Madoka and Sayaka, was killed while fighting a witch in front of the main characters. Furthermore, the shadow of Mami’s death does not disappear, but instead, the event continues to haunt Madoka and the other characters for the rest of the series. This is best illustrated by how the hope and joy Madoka thought she would find as a magical girl turned out to be a bitter pain that often led to fights and disagreements between members. member in the group.
Madoka Magica is the story of the archetypal dark magical girl
For all intents and purposes, Mami’s death is the moment that immortalizes a darker twist in magical girl anime. Madoka Magica would go on to fundamentally transform the genre. It established the idea that dark themes and young girls immersed in deep despair could coexist with traditional magical girl themes.
As a result, the genre has expanded its reach from primarily young girls and young teens to older teens and young women. From that point forward, there was rarely a year when a new dark magical girl title didn’t appear. Although both types of magical girls have the same goals, their methods and behaviors are very different. Since then, Madoka Magic has made an important contribution to deepening, developing and promoting this genre in the anime industry.
Nguor: @Puella Magi Madoka Magica