Thursday, November 29, 2012

Manga Review: Puella Magi Madoka Magica vol. 1 by Magica Quartet

Title: Puella Magi Madoka Magica vol. 1
Author: Magica Quartet
Pages: 144
Publication: May 29, 2012
Publisher: Orbit
Summary taken from goodreads: 
In this world, there exist strange creatures who have the power to grant one wish to a chosen girl. However, in exchange, that girl must then become a magical girl and use their powers to fight against witches, evil creatures born from darkness that are responsible for murders and suicides. 
In the city of Mitakihara, a schoolgirl named Madoka Kaname and her friend Sayaka Miki are approached by a familiar named Kyubey, who offers to grant each of them one wish in return for making each of them a magical girl. Another magical girl named Homura Akemi tries to prevent Madoka from making such a deal, while Kyubey urges Madoka by telling her she will become the most powerful magical girl. However, contrary to the glamorous notions one would expect, a magical girl finds herself dealing with death, isolation, loss of humanity, agony over the value of her wish, and existential crisis. Madoka, following her friends, soon sees the darker side of being a magical girl, and because of knowing the truth about being a magical girl, she questions if she should become one as well.
3 STARS - I LIKED IT

MY REVIEW: 

Initially, I was interested in this trilogy since it had a Latin word in the title, and I was hoping to see more of the language used in manga (it didn't). And because of the pretty art. I didn't have high expectations since it is a magical girl type of story--and  a short one at that since it only spans three volumes. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that none of the characters were the stereotypical airheads or Mary Sues. 

Yeah, Madoka sometimes is on the border of becoming a Mary Sue, but it's mainly her friend's fault for making her worry about her so much. In addition, a couple of the characters start off as cardboard characters, but once you get past the first few chapters and see their back stories, the characters become a lot more fleshed out, and the plot definitely becomes more interesting (I'm mainly referring to the second volume though).

If you want a super quick trilogy to read, I recommend this one. 

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