Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica Movie 1: Hajimari no Monogatari

Madoka Kaname and her best friend Sayaka Miki are ordinary middle school students in the city of Mitakihara. But one day, they encounter a strange cat-like creature named Kyuubey, who claims he can grant them one wish. In exchange, they would become magical girls and fight against evil perpetrated by witches. A veteran magical girl in the area, Mami Tomoe, decides to show them how to hunt witches, while the mysterious transfer student Homura Akemi warns them to not take Kyuubey's deal, though she refuses to say why.

However, after witnessing the brutal reality of fighting witches, the girls decide it may be safer to decline Kyuubey's offer. But when another magical girl arrives in the city and Sayaka decides to make a wish to help the one she loves, things quickly escalate as they are confronted with the harsh truth behind their powers and the ultimate price of their wishes.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Akemi, Homura Main

Saitou, Chiwa Japanese

Kaname, Madoka Main

Yuuki, Aoi Japanese

Sakura, Kyouko Main

Nonaka, Ai Japanese

Miki, Sayaka Main

Kitamura, Eri Japanese

Tomoe, Mami Main

Mizuhashi, Kaori Japanese

Kyuubey Main

Katou, Emiri Japanese

Charlotte Supporting

Kaname, Junko Supporting

Gotou, Yuuko Japanese

Shizuki, Hitomi Supporting

Shintani, Ryouko Japanese

Kaname, Tatsuya Supporting

Mizuhashi, Kaori Japanese

Iwakami, Atsuhiro Producer

Kananiwa, Kozue Producer

Mori, Yasunori Producer

Maruyama, Hiroo Producer

Reviews

Jul 8, 2022

Lottie3

Recommended

Puella Magi Madoka Magica: Beginnings is a great alternative to watching the original TV series. This film version fixes any wonky animation errors that existed in the original, while also generally enhancing the art. The new character transformations are a highlight. Being an integral trope of the Mahou Shoujo genre, it was an excellent decision to amp up the dynamic movement and creativity in these sequences. Another noticeable improvement with the animation is the gorgeous backgrounds and establishing stills of Mitakihara City's skyline. The amount of detail, dynamic lighting and shading added here is a much welcome addition. There are many, many other small improvements ... and changes in the animation throughout the film that greatly increase the artistic quality of the original series, so Beginnings is overall superior in this regard.

The music has also been redone in this movie adaptation. Although I personally prefer the original OP song, and the original soundtrack too for the most part, there's nothing to fault with the changes made. In some places, the new soundtrack actually enhanced the experience. For example, during Mami's second transformation, or the scene featuring Charlotte the witch. In other places, I felt indifferent to the changes made, though I appreciated hearing a fresh take on an already great soundtrack.

My only issue with this adaptation is that due to runtime restrictions, a few scenes have been cut that are greatly missed. Being a movie, it was inevitable that some content would be excluded. Although most of these scenes are not essential to understanding the story, one in particular has an important piece of exposition that may cause confusion for the viewer later on in the film because of its removal (the scene is about witches and their lesser forms, familiars). The other cut scenes are not necessary for following the plot, but they do add a decent amount of extra depth to certain characters and their relationships, which is now missing in Beginnings. It's worth noting that without these cuts, the pacing of the film may have suffered.

In summary, I greatly appreciate this version of Madoka Magica's first few acts. When I re-watch this series or introduce it to friends, I tend to go for this movie adaptation because of the superior animation and single watch session runtime. If my friends really enjoy the movies, I then recommend they check out the original series the next time around to catch those extra scenes, as I feel the original series is a more 'complete' version of the story.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Jan 30, 2022

Apocriya

Recommended

You don't need my review to tell you the story. I just want to tell you about my few gripes. Madoka Magica is my single favorite anime of all time. I believe it is perfect. I love the characters, I love the story, everything. It's my favorite media franchise, even outside anime. However, this movie removes TWO scenes that I think are incredibly important to character development, and thus, I believe you'll get a better experience of watching the series until episode 8, then switching to the second movie for the latter half of the series.

The two scenes take place fairly early on. One ... scene is in episode two, when Mami warns Sayaka to question whether or not she's making her wish truly because she wants to help the person, or if she wants it for their returned gratitude. After this, Madoka asks Mami what she wished for, and we learn a bit of Mami's backstory, being in an accident and having no time to think of her wish before making such a life altering decision, in order to save her own life. The second scene takes place during episode 7 when Kyoko asks Sayaka to talk. The movie skips their walk to the church, in which they talk a bit beforehand about Kyoko's view on the previous revelation, and in turn, I believe gives Sayaka time to reflect on what Kyoko said before the end of the conversation that plays out in the church.

these scenes are incredibly important to the characters, and I don't understand why they'd remove two scenes that add only 2 minutes of screentime at most, especially a moment that includes Mami, considering how little screentime she gets at all. Don't get me wrong, the movie is still great, it's incredibly beautiful, but cutting scenes like this make no sense, and if I'm showing the series to anyone, I generally show them the first 8 episodes, then pop in the second movie, as the second movie doesn't cut out anything at all, and is gorgeous.

So please, this isn't much a review, but if it's your first time watching the show, at least watch the series til episode 8, then put on movie 2. Only watch this one if you've seen the series before. The stuff it cuts out is far too important.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Jan 2, 2025

bossunhimeswitch

Mixed Feelings

I don't normally enjoy movies that basically rehash the series, but it's been long enough since I saw the original anime that I didn't mind it this time. I thought that the movie did well pick and choosing how to pace the scenes and which major plot points to showcase. I'm glad that I chose to watch it before going to the third movie, which is a sequel to the original anime because it's a good refresher.

That said, I think that if I'd recently completed the original anime, this movie would have felt repetitive and unnecessary. So I would really only recommend it for ... those who either don't want to make the twelve episode commitment to the anime or haven't watched the anime in a long time.

However, I would recommend making the commitment to the original anime instead because I feel like having the story play out in the twelve episode format gave it more impact emotionally. Although admittedly that might simply be because that's how I experienced the story the first time.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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