Puella Magi Madoka Magica has received widespread critical acclaim. Masaki Tsuji lauded the series' world-building and narrative as well as the character development, and called the series groundbreaking. Masaki went on to say that Madoka Magica has reached a "level of perfection", and noted that the series is worthy of people's admiration. UK Anime Network's Andy Hanley rated the anime 10 out of 10 and lauded it for its deeply emotional content, and described it as immersive and filled with grandiose visuals along with an evocative soundtrack. He recommended watching it several times to fully comprehend the complex and multi-layered plot. Hanley called it the greatest television anime series of the 21st century thus far. Scott Green of Ain't It Cool News called the series "hugely admirable"; he praised the animation team's attention to detail, stating that the series "would not work nearly as well if the characters in general and as magical girls specifically weren't presented so spectacularly winningly by the production". Green also said he would highly recommend Puella Magi Madoka Magica to anyone with an interest in anime.
Michael Pementel of Bloody Disgusting called Madoka Magica a "fascinating work", and lauded its dark atmosphere and horror elements. Pementel highly praised the show's aesthetics and wrote that the "pacing in revealing twists" is one of the "show's most exceptional qualities" and also commended the characters tragic arc—particularly Sayaka and Homura. He further praised the series for offering "unique, grim twist that not only seeps the show in despair, but subverts the subgenre", concluding that Madoka Magica "stands as one of the best works of anime horror, presenting characters that must strive to find hope through profound darkness." THEM Anime Reviews reviewer Tim Jones called it "beautiful, well-written, and surprisingly dark", and gave it four out of five stars. Jones also commended the unique animation and design of the backdrops shown during witch fights, which he described as "surreal, beautiful, and trippy". In his review of the three blu-ray volumes of the anime series, Zac Bertschy of Anime News Network characterized the story as very emotionally dark and one of the most ambitious and beautiful anime series in recent memory. He awarded each of the volumes ratings of A or A+ overall, and stated "Time will tell us whether or not this show will be remembered as fondly as it is regarded by the fan community now, but it feels like a masterpiece, something to be appreciated again and again. It is a must-see for anyone remotely interested in what anime can accomplish as an art form".
Awarding the series five stars out of five, Common Sense Media wrote that the "animation style is full of fluid motion and attention to detail that makes it a uniquely pleasurable experience to watch" and "the main characters are well developed and its hard not to get attached to them as the story progresses". Reviewers highly praised the series' darker approach to the popular magical girl subgenre in Japanese anime and manga. In its review of the series, the staff at Japanator said this trope "added a level of depth and complexity to the genre that we haven't ever seen, and I don't think we will see again ... adding on that dressing gave the show a more perverse and cruel feeling to it, making it all the more compelling to watch". Liz Ohanesian of LA Weekly attributed the series' popularity with older, male audiences—an otherwise unusual demographic to the genre—to the genre deconstruction of Puella Magi Madoka Magica. She also commented on the series' cultural impact, writing that in Japan and the US there has been incredible fan interest for the series. She credited the all-star crew including writer Urobuchi, director Shinbo, and the Shaft animation studio as "hitmakers" and described the anime as "a series designed for acclaim". TechnologyTell's Jenni Lada wrote that the show's external appearance belied its true "darker and more twisted" essence. She recommended viewers watch at least three episodes to discover the series' true nature.
According to Sara Cleto and Erin Bah, the subversion of the magical girl genre "draws attention to the question of narrative power"—particularly in the use of alternative timelines—as the characters fight for their survival. Production I.G's Katsuyuki Motohiro watched Puella Magi Madoka Magica after hearing opinions that it exceeded Neon Genesis Evangelion. Upon viewing the series, he was "amazed that there was a person who could write such a work" and began analyzing Urobuchi's other works; he was motivated to ask Urobuchi to write the crime thriller Psycho-Pass. In issue 103 of Neo, journalist Matt Kamen wrote, "With its daring approach to a dated genre, Puella Magi Madoka Magica essentially does for magical girls what Neon Genesis Evangelion did for giant robots". Writing for Kotaku, critic Richard Eisenbeis hailed the series as "one of the best anime" and wrote, "It deconstructs the magical girl genre and builds an emotional narrative filled with memorable characters". Joshua Greenberg of The Daily Bruin described it as "a creepy, deconstructionist take on the magical girl genre."
sales
The first Blu-ray volume of the series sold 53,000 copies in its first week, 22,000 of which were sold on its first day, breaking the record held by the sixth BD volume of Bakemonogatari. The second volume sold 54,000 copies, breaking the first volume's record. Each subsequent volume sold over 50,000 copies in their first week. As of October 2012, the total sales of BD and DVDs of the series recorded 600,000 copies, which was unusual for a late-night program at that time. This was despite controversy over the pricing of the volumes, which some considered to be unfairly high. The staff at Japanator stated they could not recommend the volume to their readers due to the prohibitive cost. Bertschy concurred, writing that the "limited episode count and high price of entry make the show inaccessible to an audience unwilling to shell out". The 2017 compilation album Puella Magi Madoka Magica Ultimate Best ranked at No. 4 on Oricon's weekly albums chart, having sold over 13,500 copies. By the end of 2017, Ultimate Best was the 29th best-selling anime CD album of the year.
Japanese newspaper Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported that Puella Magi Madoka Magica had grossed over ¥40 billion ($400 million) from the sales of related goods within two years of its release. A live broadcast of the entire series was streamed on Nico Nico Douga on June 18, 2011, garnering around a million viewers, surpassing the previous streaming audience record of 570,000 held by Lucky Star. According to Google Zeitgeist, Madoka Magica was the most-searched and fastest-rising search query in the anime category of 2011.
accolades
Puella Magi Madoka Magica won the Television Award at the 16th Animation Kobe Awards; as well as 12 Newtype Anime Awards; and the Grand Prize for animation in the 15th Japan Media Arts Festival awards, making it the first and only original anime television ever to win this award with the jury describing the series in their justification as "an outstanding animation with an ingenious magical scenario" and commended the "ambitious" show for "skillfully setting critical traps that shook the very foundations of the genre". It was nominated for the 32nd Nihon SF Taisho Award; and won the 2011 Bronze Prize for Kyubey's catchphrase. It also won three 11th Tokyo Anime Awards in the Television Category, Best Director and Best Screenplay; and the Selection Committee Special Prize award at the 2012 Licensing of the Year awards. Madoka Magica was awarded a 43rd Seiun Award for "Best Media" at the 2012 Japan Science Fiction Convention; and was also awarded a Sisterhood Prize for the 11th Sense of Gender Awards. In 2015, the show was awarded the inaugural 1st Sugoi Japan Award Grand Prix; Japan's nationwide vote for manga, anime, and novels considered as cultural assets that have the potential to be beloved all over the world, among all of the works published since 2005. In 2017, Madoka Magica was selected as the best anime of 2011 by the Tokyo Anime Award Festival.
Multiple media publications have hailed Puella Magi Madoka Magica as one of the best anime series of the 2010s, that includes Polygon; Thrillist; Looper; IGN; Crunchyroll; and Anime UK News. The Brazilian website Legiao Dos Herois listed the series as one of "10 most successful anime" of 2010s.
legacy
The radio station Tokyo FM reported that Puella Magi Madoka Magica has developed into a social phenomenon in Japan. Toussaint Egan of Paste magazine stated that the series was "widely celebrated by fans and critics alike" upon its release and that the show is "a postmodern reconfiguration of genre tropes rife with plot twists and existential malaise on a cosmic horror level". The Spanish film director Carlos Vermut has cited Madoka Magica as a large influence on his 2014 film Magical Girl. The series was referenced in the HBO series Euphoria. Anime director Hiroyuki Imaishi said that darker-toned series like Madoka Magica are an "industry trend". The series also inspired a Nigerian magical girl franchise, Adorned by Chi.