So, let’s put all the theories aside for now and analyze Madoka.

I know, I know. Talking about theories is fun, but it’s not something you should do for a long period of time. Or you will turn into someone like me who can’t just take anything in the world and try to find the (non-existent) hidden meanings from everything.

So, here we go.

1. The Mascot.

How can we talk about a Mahou Shoujo anime without the mascot. Kyuubee is white, little, cute thing, meeting all the requirements for a mascot. ( ◕ ‿‿ ◕ )

Mascots are important, as they connect the two otherwise-not-related realms: the world we live in, and where the magic happens. Mascots usually take the form of a small animal, or something that looks awfully like a small animal. In many of the Mahou Shoujo anime, they act as stuffed animals, but in Madoka, no one else can see Kyuubee so it doesn’t matter, I guess.

Mascots are usually the source of mahou shoujos’ magical power. There are two cases. One, the mascot gives the power to a normal girl, or the mascot AND the mahou shoujo may come from the magic world. Madoka is the first case.

Long story short, no mascot, no mahou shoujo.

2. Warm-Hearted Advisor.

Mami does good job of this. The advisor is the one who explains what a mahou shoujo must do. It’s a good way to advance the story. Now the new mahou shoujo knows what she must do, and as watchers, we understand what is going on in the show. This is usually the job of the mascot, since not many shows feature a previous mahou shoujo.

3. The Parting Advisor.

The protagonist of the show is not the advisor, whoever it might be. As I will explain later, most mahou shoujo anime is about (mental or spiritual) growth of a girl. This includes not relying on someone else. When the time is right, the advisor has to let go of her successor and watch from behind.

And in our point of view as watchers, we pretty much know the show now. We don’t need someone explaining stuff. It kills the mood and slows the plot.

This is when that character’s weight goes down fast.

4. Problems. They Are Right Next To You.

One of the mahou shoujo’s main job is solving problems, and they often are right next to them. But us normal folks never knew that. We KNOW that magic doesn’t exist, so we KNOW whatever happens out there has a scientific explanation. Right?

It is the mahou shoujo who solve the problem in the shadows, and we will never know that.

5. The Rival Appears!

It’s not fun if our protagonist does all the things without few conflicts every now and then. The rival is usually better than anyone we’ve seen so far. We watch as our girl grows little by little, and girls who watch the show will feel like they can do stuff to, no matter what blocks them.

The rival has the same goal, but for some reason, she doesn’t like how our girl’s doing stuff. She thinks our girl’s way of doing it is wrong.

An irregular example of this would be Shaoran Li from Card Captor Sakura, who is actually a boy. But if we put the fact that he is a boy aside, he is a perfect example of a rival mahou shoujo(?).

And it turns out, our girl has a tremendous potential, whole lot more than the rival, but she never hates her rival. Now this leads right into…

6. She Was a Good Mahou Shoujo, Too.

The rival is now on our side. But when this happens, the rival’s role changes from someone who has a heavy influence in plot to someone who appears with our girl. Like I said before, it’s about our little girl. Not some random rival. Like I said, Shaoran. A perfect example.

Now, what do we do? We need…

7. またかよ！

The new rival comes along. It’s really not much of a rival, but a real enemy. She is usually more aggressive than the previous rival. Why? Because the plot needs to progress.

They make you think that the rival was enemy, but she just had different ideas. But now we have someone who actually tries to stop our protagonist. The two shoujos join the forces. I just didn’t know Kyoko was gonna be on our side, too. And Homura didn’t really do #6.

8. The Close Friend.

The protagonist usually have a close friend. She knows that our girls is a mahou shoujo. She is the only one whom the protagonist can talk things over when she feels down. The mascot is also a cool tool for this kind of situation, since it might know what it is to use magics and stuff better, but human friend is a girl who is similar in age. The similarities make it easier to talk to for the protagonist.

The writer of Madoka said that Sayaka is also a protagonist of first part. Madoka kinda works as the close friend of Sayaka so far. An interesting tool Shaft is using.

9. I Wonder How He Thinks Of Me…

There’s usually going to be a guy that the protagonist likes. They have probably known each other for a long time. She like the guy, the guy has no idea. It’s not that he doesn’t like her. She never talked about it. Part of her growing to be an adult.

10. おめでとう、パチパチ、おめでとう。Congratulations! (Clap) Congratulations!

At the end, all mahou shoujo shows are about growing up. If you don’t believe me, go back to the start of the list and read it again, this idea in mind. Starting learning to stand alone, to solve conflicts with other not by violence, to work with others, to make new friends even though they didn’t like you first, and to know what love is.

So, how do you think? I think Puella Magi Madoka Magica is a pretty good mahou shoujo anime. It follows the formula but not too close. If it’s too far, it’s not mahou shoujo anime. If it’s too close, it’s not fun. So, here is my conclusion. It keeps the balance.

PS: this post is to trick people who haven’t seen Madoka to think that Madoka is just another mahou shoujo anime and start watching it. I think I did a pretty good job.

But I do believe they did try to follow mahou shoujo formula.