Okay. I have seen many kawaii magical girls throughout my experiences, for example Mahou Shojo Pretty Sammy, Sailor Moon, Cardcaptor Sakura, and so forth. At first when I see this series, I was thinking "...yeah another magical girl theme story again with a small type creature that will aid their assistance and so forth." And it did happen as the story progress...but here is the thing...the story concept may be kawaii but the characters has a darker side than expected INCLUDING the purpose and identity of the character Kyuubey. I was like "oh wow this is something I never expect something THAT cute could be THAT evil" kind of way. I place a summary here that was founded from Wikipedia, so that ends my chitchat for a bit :)
Wikipedia site wrote:There exist familiars who have the power to grant one wish to a chosen girl. However, in exchange, that girl must then become a Puella Magi, a girl with magical powers, and fight against witches, evil creatures born from curses 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 their wishes and make them Puella Magi. Another Puella Magi named Homura Akemi tries to prevent Madoka from making such a deal. Madoka soon learns that there is a dark side to Puella Magi.
The spin-off manga, Puella Magi Kazumi Magica: The Innocent Malice, follows a girl named Kazumi who has lost her memories after being allegedly kidnapped, who fights against witches with her fellow Puella Magi, Umika and Kaoru.
Puella Magi Oriko Magica will take place before the anime series, and features two of the main series' Puella Magi, Mami Tomoe and Kyōko Sakura, encountering a young Puella Magi named Oriko.
So other than the pictures related to the plot. I want to share everyone just how EVIL Kyuubey is, if you ever watched the full 10 episodes and the posted manga online.
The second video is one of my current favorites as this is Mami Tomoe's transformation theme that was first shown in Episode 1 and in Volume 1 Chapter 1 (or was it Chapter 2??) in the manga version.
Aniplex is usually hit or miss with their casting, more often being a miss.
Update:
Okay, I just started watching this... Sorry for the Double Post... But DAMN! I normally can't stand those magical girl shows, but this one's so Dark that its actually good! It even has a plot that progress past "Oops, they beat us again, lets retreat again and try to do this again next week!" Or more like it doesn't have that kind of plot at all... So bonus points for that.
...Why does everyone think Urobochi is some kind of genius for making a show full of DESPAIR? Seriously, people considering a deconstruction of the Magical Girl Genre. It's not really pulling a deconstructionist theory at all...
That's not what it really is though. Its that most of the new series are either "happy-go-lucky", "filled with ecchi", or "Slice of Life" and it annoys the piss outta most people with actual taste.
This on the other hand is just taking a Happy-Go-Lucky genre and making it into something serious.
...I don't quite get it. Yes, I don't like a lot of "slice of life" shows. However, the show has multiple plot holes that never get covered up and the characterization for most of the characters is pretty shoddy. Most of the plot is because the writer wants it to be that way. Not to mention that the title character spends most of the show moping around and being sad.
The show just has a lot more issues than people will admit.
nothings wrong with mixing cute design's with a little tragedy, take Gundam AGE for example, this adorable little guy:
Is actually maniacal psycho who doesn't even care for human life and toys around with others like a cat with a mouse, not to mention he turns totally insane at the Asemu arc.