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Alright... heres the short review:
This anime can be dark one second, then light and happy the next. It deals with deep issues of the human race and asks questions of: what society would be like if.... as well as: if this belief of **** was taken to the extreme, life would be like.... (and other things silmular to these questions) The art is not great by any means but it really doesnt need to be, actually if it was too great it would take away from some of the deep topics the story goes into. So, in short, this anime is a good ... anime for a mature audience that can make one ponder about life and how mankind could be in multiple situations.

And Heres the Long Reviiew:
Story:
The story revolves around a girl named Kino and her motor bike named Hermes traveling from 'country' to 'country' meeting new societies and peoples. The 'countries' in this world are large cities that are surrounded by large walls. Each country she visits she only stays for 3 days and then moves on, no matter how great or horrible the country is. The story also goes into people she meets on the road, either fellow travelers, hermits, or others that she runs into. So, if you do not like random stories that only slightly relate to each other, this anime may not be for you. Also, some questions about Kino's past are not fully answered, but this is not fully a bad thing. For this allows her to still be a sort of stranger to the audience, like she is to the people she meets. Also, the ending is not really conclusive, but again this isn't really a negative, for I personally liked feeling that we only got to see a small section of kino's travels. This made me want more, but did not cause me too much anger from not getting any more.
Art:
The art is overall not very good. Nothing to horrible, but it is definately simple drawings. Hermes is done pretty well though, which is nice that the artists did not make the motor bike look cheap, but again, the art was nothing to be proud of.
Sound:
Nothing greatly stood out to me, however thhe opening song was pretty nice in my opinion. and the little bit of the ending song that I heard everytime before i quickly changed to the next episode appeared to match the show quite well. (not being able to wait for the ending song to finish because i wished to see the next episode soo badly is a pretty good sign that this show is good)
Character:
There are really only two main characters in each episode: Kino and Hermes. My only true issues were that Hermes... a bike....talked... This may sound strange and it took some getting used to (at least for me) But soon I was able to adjust and the show definately wouldn't have been as good without Hermes being able to talk. Also, Kino's entire story was not shared with us, neither all of her past (only a part of it) or her future plans... but as I said before this wasn't all bad... It was sort of like she traveled into our lives for a bit and then left without us fully understanding everything about her, just like she visited our country and left... this fits the story very well and was fitting to her character (so I thought). The numerous side characters are very good and can be as dark as cannabalistic slave traders to as pure as passifists and little children. all done very well and almost every character poses yet more deep and meaningful insights into the human race and the 'what ifs' of society.
Enjoyment:
Overall, very high... Only negative for me... the way they portrayed religion 9/10 was very negative... being a christian myself I thought they could have at least have tried to show a positive outlook to it. Don't get me wrong, I liked how they showed how some religions are made and taken advatage of by selfish and power hungry people, but with every negative there are also positives... I sorta wished that would have been stressed more in some of the stories which only appeared to show the negative extremes in each situation...
Overall:
Very good, but I suggest mature audience, and I believe most people would enjoy this... some dark themes are addressed. But if one can accept that, I think they can last the 13 episodes of this anime without too much trouble... You probably will even want to watch it again.. :)

The short review: its not really good... why there is a second season?...idk... they wanted to add that new character? idk.... not worth watching...

The long review that I am willing to do:
Bad: music, characters are cookie cutter, main lead is SO ANNOYINGLY NAIVE!, random fanservice
Good: storylines could have been worse, one character with double personality was funny, two characters with past childhood relationship was a decent twist to see how they interacted with one another, animation was pretty (definately had/have a great budget)
This show is for: people who like watching pretty boys fall for a lead girl who is overly airheaded and naive
... This show is not for: people who have time to watch any better show

If you like this genre but are hesitant to watch this particular show.. DO NOT LOOSE HOPE! there are good shows in this genre... Ouran High School Host Club and Fruit Basket would be on the top (particularly the mangas) However, If one wishes to explore this genre more, and find MANY good animes/mangas... i'm sorry but there are not too terribly many.. after a while you will begin to see a pattern in most/all of the characters and plotlines...

OK.... the short review of this show= it is a reverse harem anime with music, magic, and a fairy....not much fan service and great musical pieces throughout.. if this sounds like the show for you great! If you are still hesitant... here is the deeper review:

Story: I'm not going to harp on this... for it is a reverse harem anime that is mediocre... that means that there are attractive males throughout that like the main female lead who is usually pretty useless and emotional. So, i expect everyone wanting to watch this are already expecting a storyline that is simular to the one I just ... described. Now, this one is definately mediocre, it is not as good as ouran high or fruits basket, but it could definately be worse (i personally believe the music is what mostly saves this) The good: I was able to finish the series and somewhat looked forward to the next episode (i say somewhat hesitantly)

Art: again...decent... seemed pretty most of the time... However it really shined when the characters were playing their instruments. It really could make you sit on the edge of your seat if a character was playing a fast-pace song, especially when the song was played by the piano or the violin (these two insturments seemed to be animated the best the majority of the time)

Sound: BEAUTIFUL!!!!!.... but i must harp on this... they are pieces that many people have heard because they were done by famous composers... the music the anime had that was unique to itself like the opening and ending scenes were horrible! namely the intro song (the ending song i don't really know if i ever watched it all the way through and therefore don't remember much) The intro song should have been full of classical music and beautiful scenes of people playing instruments right? WRONG!.... if you are going to watch this anime... JUST SKIP THE OPENING! And again, the rest of the already famous pieces were good throughout the show.

Character: the good= the main heroin wasn't as annoying as I was worried she would be. A couple of the males had ok stories and one of the character's true nature caught me by surprise... also.. there were more females in this show than in typical reverse harem shows... or at least I thought there was more than usual... kinda refreshing actually to not be shown yet ANOTHER pretty boy for every character spot that needed to be filled. the bad= they are cookie cutter characters that are typical in a reverse harem anime. One character that i want to harp on especially is the loli boy that plays the cello....HE IS A WASTE OF CHARACTER! He is only there so that the anime can say that they have a loli boy other than the fairy.... he really has no true emotion and is a waste of space! ..... he plays the cello nicely.. but why couldn't he actually do something more than just sleep, play cello, sleep, say an interesting fact, sleep, then say a little something that is slightly inspirational that any other character could have said!!!.. (sorry... just ranted)

Enjoyment: ..I finished it... take that as you will... (few of the characters were slightly enjoyable, i liked the music, and the twist in the one character did surprise me even though it probably shouldn't have)

Overall: its ok.... i like the classical music elements, the animation of some of the instruments.. some characters grew on me a little.... but nothing too amazing... If you want the best that this 'pretty boy' genre has to offer... watch/read Fruits Basket or Ouran High.... If you want to know what this one is simular to... it is like UTA no Prince Sama 1000% and its sequel UnPS 2000% however Uta no Prince has a SUPER pathetic main female lead... and stupid fanservice at random points... >.< OY VAY!

SUMMARY: IT WAS A WASTE OF POTENTIAL
...WOW... I believe I, like many others, may have had too high of expectations.. So I want to tell all of you people who are considering watching this... It is not an AMAZING anime... Is it good enough to finish? yes.... Did it sometimes make me wonder what was going to happen next? Yes... HOWEVER: Does it have annoying characters and easily forseen plot twists? YES

OK... more in depth:
STORY- GREAT! Got me hooked in seconds... sounded interesting, pretty unique, and had a lot of ways it could have gone. However, this amazing amount of potential was wasted ... with lack of developement of characters and a pretty boring and uninspired take on the storyline.

ART: ok... not horrible, nothing was beyond amazing, not like some of the prequels and such that have come out for this anime, but still nothing absolutely terrible either.

SOUND: um... ok again... since I did not notice it it must not have been fantastic or horrible....

CHARACTERS: UGGGGGGGGGGGGH!!!! SUCH A WASTE! They could have done sooo much more with them... instead they have the main male lead as one of the most annoying characters of all time with some crazy justice obsession. The multiple strong girl characters would have been much more entertaining and likeable if they did not become part of a sort of harem for the pathetic male lead. And the side characters, who were decently entertaining, were not given enough screen time and their stories were not gone into enough.... granted, some stories are well known (i won't give spoilers but some of these people are legends) but still, for the viewer that has not read greek literature or medival literature for a while, it would have been nice if the writer would have done a memory refresher so that we could relate to them more and feel more pain when they died or made a sacrifice. Many of the more main chracters ran into this problem as well... not enough past developement... (I am not refering to the main two characters...)

SUMMARY: AT TOP

Ok... So first off... Madoka Magica is the first Magical Girl show that I was actually able to finish... I had tried to finish others in the past but they were too slow, had pathetic characters, and much more... This show however through me for a loop... It was a DARK MAGICAL GIRL SHOW!!!!
Dark in the sense that people died, background stories were dark and twisted, and one could not help but feel sad. It was greatly entertaining for me. I suggest that only teenagers and older watch this show... for it is not a lighthearted show for children, even if the art suggests ... that.
The audience for this show could be anyone who is a teenager or older, for it has many mature and interesting themes within it.

Only complaint: did not like the ending too much... I don't want to make a spoiler, but I thought there could have been a better way to end it... but it was a good ending overall. :) So not a really big complaint.

Also: before I rated the story I watched an anime review on youtube by arkada, so some of the numbers may be influenced by that. And if any of you guys want to watch a good review on many animes, including this one go to Youtube ad look up GLASS REFLECTIONS Anime Review (Arkada).