As expected from the creators of Spirited Away, The Secret World of Arrietty is another Studio Ghibli gem that would impeccably transport its viewers to the fantasy world. This movie has a highly sophisticated touch of moéness, attention to detail, simple yet endearing plotline, adorable characters, and superb musicality. And by the end of the movie, I felt like I magically travelled back in time where I used to believe that small people or the Borrowers exist.

The film is based on Mary Norton’s novel The Borrowers. Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli managed to produce a charming and refreshing piece by laying out some of its signature anime features. Unlike the book, the story particularly focused on the 14 year old Borrower named Arrietty. Her family lives a very modest lifestyle and only “borrow” what’s necessary to survive. In order to stay safe, they must not be seen by the Beans or humans. If they get spotted, the Borrowers must leave and look for a different place.

However, what I truly enjoyed about this movie is how it unleashed my inner childhood and reminded me my fascination with fairy tales and everything that’s cute. I love how Miyazaki didn’t incorporate monsters and magical powers, but instead used Arrietty’s classy kawaii-ness and the enchantment of their small world.

By the end of the film it made me wonder, how come we get all moé and charmed whenever we see something cute and why having our own small world is like a dream? It may seemed so simple but it’s fascinating how these infinitesimal thoughts can unleash big ideas.

Now that I’m writing this, it’s funny to admit that my sudden expression if I like somebody or something is always you’re so cute or kawaii-yo. This is something that I carry over since I was a young girl. My objects of desire always allured me to keep them by myself—like hide them in my pockets. Thus, the thought of something cute gives us that towering and dominating feeling. And just like Shou, these things give us something that we can protect and treasure

Further, whenever we feel embarrassed don’t we just all want to hide or disappear? On the flip side, it might be inappropriate for me to say but don’t we love and find it cute whenever we embarrassed somebody—not in a bad way of course, but embarrassed enough for them to blush and say hazukashii-yo—then afterwards all we want to do is say hnggg and hug them.

Aside from that, I remembered when I was a kid I was so fixated with castle sands, doll-houses, puzzles, and stars. For instance, I love the fact how doll-houses can be so intricate yet occupy only minimum space. I enjoy looking at them as I get absorbed by the world that I could fully see. Hence, the idea of nearsightedness or closely focusing and everything graspable can fascinatingly spellbind us with the exquisiteness of microcosm.

As matter fact, nearsightedness inspired Mary Norton to write her novel. She admitted that as a child she used was to be myopic and this wasn’t diagnosed until she went to boarding school. Norton also confessed recalling her life before glasses made it easier for her to imagine a race of tiny people, living close at hand and among the ants.

Now come to think of it, when we were kids, it’s so easy for us to believe that we are bigger than the stars and they are just within our reach—a simple thought but huge in concept. For most, we can see how ideal the world is—everything cute and fancy.

This conquering feeling is what exactly brought me back in time when I used to see the world quite differently and used to pay attention to things close at hand. Plus, I came to a realization that our childhood selves are just like Arrietty—Borrowers avoid everyone, especially humans, except they’re own race—at some point of our lives—we tend to avoid everyone yet we’re so immensely curious to find out how this big world works.

I mentioned on my past posts that time is the variable that I fancy the most. In fact when I was in university, it came to the point that I got so obsessed with it that I wanted everything to be in-sync and happen exactly like I perceived. I was being raised by a single parent. That’s why unlike some lucky kids, I have to support my schooling by my own.

So while I was enjoying the success of handling both school and work, it somewhat hurt my personal relationships. I started to notice that I could no longer relate with my friends’ inside jokes and I always dozed off easily whenever I go on dates and events. But overtime, I managed to fix it not only by finding the schedule which suited me best, but also because my shift became more flexible as I gained seniority at my workplace.

Anyway, I guess what I’m trying to convey is regardless of my time management, I still need to sacrifice some stuff if I want to gain other stuff because I cannot have everything. That’s why in terms of forming my anime list, I tend to have a somewhat short list. The first impression matters a lot to me because I don’t have the time to see up to three episodes whether I’m going to keep a series or not. After one or two episodes, I’m concluding my decision.

Usually, I only tend to keep four or less series on my bucket per season because if I choose more, that would mean I would have to cut some of my hobbies such as watching TV shows, browsing new music, and hanging out with friends—which are relevant in order for me to socially exist IRL.

Aside from this, I also chose to blog. Although I’m talking about anime, I still want to present something unique and contribute ideas that are beyond the usual aniblogosphere discussion. Thinking of a topic takes most of my time. Over the weekdays, I’m not in the mood to blog because I’m already exhausted by the time I get home from work. But to maintain my posting consistency, I always set myself a deadline.

Meeting this cut-off time and coming up with a unique theme is the most interesting part whenever I write because it gives me challenge, leisure, and drive to continue. My regular visitors might have noticed that I frequently blog over the weekends, that’s because I have more time to sleep and free time to reflect. It’s also important for me to keep-up with the shows that I’m watching so that I can write something relevant in time. But that being said, I still keep this anime hobby unknown to my friends. It’s because sometimes, I just want to have that solitude moment and this anime pastime rewards me that space and escapism that I’m seeking.

Another way for me to keep up with anime updates and connect with the blogosphere is through Twitter—I have it on my phone. Seeing those anime avatars exchange ideas is so amusing to look at. I enjoy reading threads and debates, except for spoilers. However lately, I keep on noticing that some people tweet that they are forever alone and that the only friends whom they have are their computers. At first it’s so funny to read tweets like these, but come to think of it, every joke is a half truth.

For us bloggers, it’s really gratifying to gain that virtual presence, but if you’re empty IRL, I don’t think it’s good. Come to think of it, successful interaction is just all about timing and balancing of both worlds—real and virtual lives.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

Side Notes:

• I’m honoured that a fellow blogger, Kai of Deluscar, invited me to participate with this Anime Time Management project. Check out also his interesting post.
• Most of my main sources of ideas came from the discussions that I had with friends, what I watched on TV, and what I read from somewhere.

Oh summer, it’s probably the most awaited season of the year. But how could it not be? It’s the embodiment of the youth life, that time of the year when school is over and free-time is excessive. Yes, this is it, the epithet of the beginning of the seemingly never-ending fun.

In some mysterious ways, there’s just something special with its heat for bringing the endless possibilities of excitement. Whether it’s the usual camping on the woods, fun moments at the beach, hefty times in summer jobs, or lazy days in somebody else’s room… Yes! How I loved the warmth for compiling all of these in my photo album of memories.

Also, as nostalgia starts to simmer in my subconsciousness, how could I ever forget the pages of that dull yet addicting pain that this warm season had introduced me with? How wonderful that was and experimental in its deepest sense. The passing summer love by which overtime became my seasonal drug and cyclically turned the ache into ecstasy. Indeed, it’s the loss of innocence—the enlightenment of the blazing sun. So sweet yet too short though I knew there’s naught to complain.

For all I discern, reality is the only thing that there is to blame. It’s funny how summer comes and goes with its endearing fling, which wasn’t even worthy to be chased. Because all it gave me was the option to drift and return to my wandering state, as I anticipated vainly for its next occurrence.

But oh well, I guess it’s really unavoidable how some memories just suddenly jerk off when you’re watching a familiar theme. I’m not sure how Ano Natsu is going to end. It may seem cliché, but regardless, I’m loving this show due to the its nostalgic vibe—whether it’s reviving the shadow of some past anime (Toradora and Ano Hana) or recalling a few personal summer flings.

And I admit, I sound cheesy and silly but yet I can’t help to reminisce. Teen life is always so recollecting.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

Side Notes:

• My family moved quite a few times and I transferred schools several times… which made me relate with Ichika’s feelings when she’s thinking about her future departure.
• I just realized that it’s easy to describe summer when it’s winter (and especially when you’re pretending like a snowman–don’t ask why).
• Is it only me… I noticed that summer fling is a very common theme IRL and in anime.

If last winter I was enchanted by Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica, this time I’m spellbound by Senki Zesshou Symphogear. Although it seemed comedic and playful for the most part, I like it because from the get-go it already gave us that mysterious vibe and sad event. Aside from that, this series also has very heart-warming yuri moments and engaging visuals and musicals. However, what fully caught my attention is the intricate and mind-boggling magical makeover of these Swansong and Noise-fighting schoolgirls especially Hibiki’s super awesome techno-futuristic transformation on the first episode.

The lovely visualization of how these regular young girls turned into glamorous fighting machines is so amusing. It gives me that entrancing spiritual experience whenever they deviate out from their earthly bodies as they change into the marvellous magical girls in armours. These scenes may seem like short flashes but when dissected, these give fascinating profundities that we can play creatively within our imaginations.

Interestingly, just like its predecessors, I find these transformation sequences as charming and spiritual in nature because from being ordinary, these young ladies undergo to the divinization process. I’m so charmed by the idea of the possibility and the possibility of the impossible. The imagery wherein a magical girl hovers as she aesthetically moves and glows into the air over a magical background as her clothes fade away is so symbolic and very feminine in nature. And, the way it’s being depicted is like the classic mental picture of the mystery of the Intelligible Triad.

That’s because we can see that during the transformation, the Harmonic is like a little world inside the great universe as she suspend by all her three spirits. First, we know that her worldly body is deeply connected and in constant sympathy to save its parent earth. Second, being a creature that has her own thoughts, she separates herself from this material world as she creates her new form of reality.

Further, Symphogear has very cool and enthralling visualizations of how a Harmonic’s astral soul suspends and lives in unison with her sidereal anima mundi—she is in it, as it is in her. Those techno background, sound bars, and cryptic wordplays are so wonderful and emblematic in ricocheting the world-pervading elements which fill all the space. Plus, I love the progressive movements on the screen for embodying the shoreless and infinite space.

Third, in the final phase of her divinity, it’s so captivating to see those segments of infinitesimal rays and those countless radiations. I see it as something that represents the Highest Cause—the emblazoning of the eternal Spiritual Light/Sound of the World. Hence, this trinity of the organic and inorganic facets creatively shows the clashing and merging of the physical and spiritual world. Or simply, the wonderful transformation of an ordinary school girl to sexy goddess-like Harmonic.

Right now, this is the most engaging anime that I’m watching. Apparently, I’m loving it more than I thought I would. But of course, how can’t I? With music as its main plot device embellished by yurific moments and artistic visuals, Symphogear is truly one of its kind. Plus, there are so much for me to fangirl about on this show (quite shallow but who cares? duh.)

And, Kanade x Tsubasa and Hibiki x Miku… so hnngggg<3

If last week, we were blown away by Kanbaru’s seductiveness, then surely this week has a different picture. With just a flick of a switch, all of a sudden Senjougahara is back on track. This girl doesn’t need to get naked to slobber her fanbase because all she has to do is to . . . *smeyes*. . .  And voila! She has imprisoned us with her sadistic glares.

Smeyes is popularized by Tyra Banks. It is short for smile with your eyes. You don’t literally smile but you create some sort of an expression or you put emotions into your eyes that would surely absorb your viewers. And, it is effectively done if you intensified your smeyesing by some striking poses. As Tyra said, smeyes and you’ll get a second date—uhm, duh…

Okay, so way back in Bakemonogatari, we had been engrossed by the Senjougahara Fascination because of Hitagi’s straight-face yet fierce look flourished by some odd and arty poses such as the infamous head-tilts. It is so captivating to see how she unleashed all her seriousness, naughtiness, sincerity, and vicious love through those sexy blue eyes.

So, if there’s a difference between Kanbaru and Senjougahara’s fanservice that is, Kanbaru got stripped right before the viewers’ eyes, while Senjougahara stripped the viewers right before her very own eyes. So truly, as they say, the eyes are the windows to the soul… and the secret curtain is smeyesing!

Speaking of the soul, I loved this recent episode. It unveiled that soulful Araragi-Senjougahara relationship that made me fall in-love with Bakemonogatari. Staying true to their classic freeze-framed relationship, it all started with Senjougahara torturing Araragi and reminding the consequences of dating her. It was linked to the first episode and brought into our attention that she kidnapped her boyfriend in order to protect him from the creepy guy named Kaiki.

And although it was never resonated on her cold voice, Hitagi’s desire to guard Koyomi was oddly and sadistically shown how she handcuffed and chained her boyfriend. But, we all know that Koyomi is just such an adorable and a kind-hearted boyfriend to play as masochistic with his girlfriend. Most of all, what I truly liked about this couple is they know how far they can stretch each other’s boundaries and respect each other. Senjougahara’s sensitive and feminine side is so cute as she blushingly confirmed that she finds Araragi’s stubbornness to save everyone cool and how she would still love him even if she’s a man.

Gosh, I just really heard my heart went dokidoki and echoed with badump! effect after that scene.

Lastly, the cliff-hanger sounds so exciting; I like the idea of having Senjougahara and Hanekawa teaming-up together… that should be really fun.

While the plot is a somewhat clichéd bizarre love triangle, I’m really enjoying reading Kimi Koi Limit mainly because it’s nicely drawn, well-paced, emotionally engaging, and stimulatingly expressive.  It also doesn’t have that heavy atmosphere because comical fluffs are being thrown in before the drama fully consumed the reader. Also, the conflict is simple but how it’s being delivered is so engaging.

As a brief overview, Sono confessed to Satomi and got rejected. After that, Satomi left for Tokyo to study in a university. Subsequently, Sono followed Satomi and went to Tokyo as well. Over there, as she piteously wandered around the city, she met her soon to be girlfriend Hiroko—a university student who also happened to attend Satomi’s school. However, despite being in a relationship, Sono still continuously craved for Satomi. Until one day, they met again and because of this, much tangled events await.

To be honest, although Sono is so immature, I still pity her but not as much as how I feel sorry for Hiroko. It’s so hard for me to understand what is so addicting with agony that some people can’t get enough and even chase after it. Indeed, for some it pays off, but for most part, misery is just like reaching for a plain dead end—which can be clearly seen in Hiroko’s standpoint.

So if there’s someone that I can grasp on this series, that would be Satomi. She’s that cool and care-free person who can easily brush aside all the seriousness. But when she broke down and cried, that moment was so poignant and realistic that I could easily identify her pain and fear. That’s because for most part, people are afraid of change and stepping out of that friend zone especially if the relationship is not too well accepted and if friendship is at risk. It’s also so touching to see how Satomi’s bottled up feelings and unspoken desires are like gravity—no matter how hard she resists, her last move is always to fall.

Furthermore, what I really find interesting while reading this manga is the notion of exclusivity of love, as they say “three’s a crowd”. This is a bittersweet story because one of the girls would surely end up lonely. So whenever I read these love triangle plotlines, these always make me wonder how come romantic love only involves two people, not three, not four, not five… So what happened to the notion of the more the merrier? Hence, what is so special and intimate with being a “couple” when it comes to romance?

My curiosity always brings me back to the binary world. Aristotle’s geometry of love tells that love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies. So, the notion of complementariness or that other half suggested that a person can be filled simplest by one entity—your soulmate.  Plus, my functionalist side argues that a person can only maximize the use of his/her parts if they are dedicated and focused solely on one object of desire. For instance, you can lock lips only one at a time, likewise with your eyes which can only look at one thing. Hence, it seems like we are designed to perfectly match and fit with somebody.

For example, because Sono was thinking about Satomi while making love with Hiroko, she couldn’t help but to scream for Satomi’s name as she climaxed.

Initially, I wanted to laugh when I saw this scene, Sono was trying to multi-task and screwed up big-time, but then I realized how humiliated Hiroko felt that’s why I ended up feeling remorseful.

So despite the angsts and with one chapter left, I guess pretty much it’s quite evident that we’re heading to a dokidoki ending. I’m also so excited to see more of Satomi’s sensitive and sweet side. As for Hiroko, I wish all the best for her and hopefully she’ll find somebody who would respect and love her as well.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

Side Note:

• I may sound so eccentric and ridiculous on this post, but I’m really curious what’s up with the number two and the composition of the binary world.
• Prism is another yuri manga that I’m reading, it’s much more light-hearted.

So why is that so? Anime is an art. It’s an expression that is purely creative with the intention of stimulating our imaginations. Clearly, individuality defines the perception of the viewer–albeit we are using our brains or hearts. And because of this, it’s exceedingly impossible to recapture that sole authentic entertaining experience. For instance, none of the 17 participants came up with identically the same criteria or basic elements that affect the way they enjoy an anime. Indeed, some agreed that animation, plot, and character immensely influenced how we take pleasure in watching anime. But, if we are going to dissect what makes a good character, plot and animation, nobody stated exactly the same factors that defined these.

Another thing that I realized from this carnival is that we are clearly products of our own time and space. I do believe that the diversity in our reasoning is vastly due on how anime impact us exclusively in a way that we could relate or understand what we are, as Marrow said, experiencing. And surely, our historicity with anime together with our personal experiences becomes our benchmarks in defining that masterpiece.

And lastly, 10/10 anime is an endless array of definitions. Every single blogger who participated on this anime blog carnival defined 10/10 differently. Some are willing to give that “perfect” mark because it symbolically best delineates their viewing experience which does not necessarily mean flawlessness, and some are not keen to do so because for them a 10/10 means perfection—no more room for improvement. In these two cases, I classify myself as the former. But at the end of the day, we all agreed that how we rate anime is solely based on our own preferences—no more, no less.

Overall, it is such a fun experience participating on this Blog Carnival. I would like to thank all the participants for sharing their thoughts, especially du5k for organizing this event.

In case you missed out the other participants:

Ace Railgun by AceRailgun
Anime B&B by Marina
Anime Viking by Marow
Draggle’s Anime Blog by Draggle
Ephemeral Dreams by Ephemeral Dreamer
Hachimitsu by Mira
Leap250’s Blog by Leap250
Listless Ink by Yi
Mainichi Anime Yume by Yumeka
Nopy’s Blog by Nopy
One Minute of Dusk by du5k
The Otaku’s Study by Sam
World of Yamaguchi Hoshiko by hoshiko
G-Empire by Overlord-G
Deluscar by Kai
Ambivalence, or is it ambiguity? by @fkeroge and Valence

Perfection irritates as well as it attracts, in fiction as in life.
~Louis Auchincloss

First off, reviewing an anime is highly subjective no matter how objective we claimed to be. But if you have been watching for a long time, you need some sort of a marking scale on how you would rank what you had seen and how you would justify the differences. I’m a huge believer of numbers because I view it purer than any other word if being used correctly. Say for instance with words you can have excellent, superb, brilliant and outstanding but how would you know which is the best of the best through these? Take note, we are reviewing and evaluating, we want to be as accurate as much as possible—of course we don’t have to show this, and I do believe that we have our own mental calculators (to those who insist they don’t have, I deeply apologize).

I do acknowledged the fact that numbers would never mean a thing unless it’s being explained. But come on, we are anibloggers—that’s why we have that huge white space to fill-in. That being said, neither I’m implying that numbers is superior to words, nor words are superior to numbers. But whatever vagueness and broadness of words have can be reduced through the use of numbers. Likewise with numbers, it will forever remain as a plain figure unless words will breathe some life into it.

So, here’s a rough idea on how I would score an anime. I came up with these numbers to at least accurately express to my readers WHAT weighs the most when I’m watching anime and WHY I’m entertained in a GENERAL SENSE and SIMPLEST way. If I’m not blogging or reviewing publicly, there’s no point of doing this because I know exactly what I want.

0. Genre (0%) - I don’t score the genre. But to capture my attention, an anime should fall under the category that I’m interested at—how can I start evaluating if I’m not even touching them. By most part, I choose shows that are mainly categorized as slice-of-life, psychological, yuri, romance, and comedy. But of course, there are always exceptions. If the anime is well-recommended by a friend then, I’ll definitely give it a shot.

1. Animation (30%) - Animation is always the first to capture my eyes whenever I look for an anime to watch and most of my first impression depended on it. After all, were watching anime—animated stuff.
a. Eye-candy characters
b. Painstaking architecture and vibrant aesthetics
c. Consistency of the artwork
Examples: Chihayafuru, Bakemonogatari, 5cm Per Second

2. Characters (20%) – how the characters deeply impacted and made me think
a. Lovely character artwork that someone I can fangirl with.
b. Character development
c. Dynamicity and characterization
d. Convincing Dialogues
Examples: Hitagi Senjougahara (Bakemonogatari), Kyuubey (Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica ), and Rinroku Kaishou (Un-Go)

3. Musicality (10%) – these are sound and music that will put you into the appropriate mood. I prefer something that has captivating Opening and Ending songs, refreshing background music which is consistent with the atmosphere and emotion of the scene, and meaningful lyrics
Examples: Noruniro (Mawaru Penguindrum’s OP), Fantasy (Un-Go’s ED), and Storywriter (Eureka Seven)

4. Plot (30%) – how artistic, profound, non-deceptive, emotional is the sequence and pattern of events.
a. Striking Introduction
b. Moving and profound plotline
c. Astounding climax
d. non-gimmicky but twisted conflict
Examples: Clannad After Story, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, and Mahou Shoujo Madoka

5. Memorable Ending (10%) – usually, I like an ending that is still packed with mystery because I believed that some things are always better left unsaid. But, that being said, the mystery should never be greater than the revelation.
Examples: Clannad After Story, Eureka Seven, and Revolutionary Girl Utena

Although I came up with this system, I’m not really fond of reviewing and scoring an anime because writing this is boring and tedious. Not that I have anything against with it–it’s just not my thing.  Also, I mentioned on my last posts that the only anime that I gave a ten on MAL is The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. If I’m going to use my own marking system, I doubt that it would get a 100%, however, it’s good enough to be called as a masterpiece.

And of course, it’s really up to us on how we’re going to measure the level of our enjoyment. After all, judging an anime is just all about our own preferences.

Also, check out what others have to say.

Ace Railgun by AceRailgun
Anime B&B by Marina
Anime Viking by Marow
Draggle’s Anime Blog by Draggle
Ephemeral Dreams by Ephemeral Dreamer
Hachimitsu by Mira
Leap250’s Blog by Leap250
Listless Ink by Yi
Mainichi Anime Yume by Yumeka
Nopy’s Blog by Nopy
One Minute of Dusk by du5k
The Otaku’s Study by Sam
World of Yamaguchi Hoshiko by hoshiko

Yi of Listless Ink is so nice to host what I wrote about genders and fairytales. On this post, I described how the metaphors of fairytales are deeply embedded in our ideology and biology, plus how it influenced the way we perceived our gender roles–think about harems vs reversed harems. I’m inviting everyone to check out my very first guest post and Yi’s fascinating blog.

Click here to redirect.

As a huge psychological, yuri, and fantasy fan, Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica effortlessly fell under the category of my preference. But on the contrary, that didn’t give this anime an easy-pass to my watch list despite the fact that it clearly satisfied my genre of interest. With all honesty, those wide-faced and neon coloured hairs failed to impress me. Not that I have anything against with cute-moés, but I would prefer to watch characters with pointy faces, slimmer figures, and somewhat mature looking wardrobes—kind of like Ikuhara’s artwork.

On the other hand, staying true to Shaft’s tradition, I highly commend how this show beautifully presented its architectures and aesthetics. The buildings, roads and houses were well-structured and constructed. Plus, the minimalistic interior designs were truly impeccable and refreshing to look at. What’s more praiseworthy was how within all of these vibrant structural and flashy character designs, this anime artistically managed to breed something dark and baleful. It creatively turned tame-natured objects into something threatening and captivatingly mysterious. For instance, those strange checkers, malevolent candy land, evil doll houses, and shady hospital wards sinisterly yet pleasingly aired-out this show’s dark atmosphere—a perfect setting of a fairytale gone wrong plot device.

Plot-wise, MSMM might neither be a total ground-breaker nor one of a kind show. However, in such a small package—12 episodes—it innovatively rendered its dark twist without having unnecessary tease-and-chase components. The mystery was kept neatly and revealed cleverly. And from the get-go, this show gave its viewers a premonition which hinted and revealed vaguely the Walpurgist Night and the main conflict of the story—allowing us to wonder and guess what’s stored on the next episode.

Apart from that, what I truly loved the most about the plot was how it didn’t need any twofold deceptions in order for the antagonist to mind-blown its viewers. All those times Kyuubey was sneaking right under our noses by using its charm. Come to think of it, Kyuubey didn’t really deceive the viewers but rather shocked and caught us off guard. That being said, the execution of the events such as Mami’s death and Kyuubey’s revelation were smartly placed and carried out within the series.

As for characters, clearly we have seen character development especially on Madoka’s part. Her character wonderfully illustrated fear, hesitation, naivety, and triumph. Aside from that, it’s worthy to point out how she didn’t transform overnight, but instead took her time to metamorphosis and used effectively the roles of the other characters before completing her sole and ultimate task—which successfully made its viewers hang on their seats and anticipate the next episode.

For instance, Mami’s death deeply surprised us and seriously set the tone for some dark premise. Secondly, Sayaka’s insanity brilliantly setup and revealed Kyuubey’s misleading character and reminded how humans are so prone to deception. And lastly, despite leading to hopelessness and damnation, Kyouko and Homura’s characters showed hope and goodness in humanity that is worth saving—likewise Madoka’s family. Hence, it’s pretty apparent that every character has its own significance and strongly backed up the other.

Finally, indeed, the ending wasn’t as overwhelming and memorable. However, overall, it delivered a heart-warming and satisfying finale fitting enough to preserve the emblem-filled nature of this series and allowing the viewers to discuss and assume more. If we’re going to measure the level of success of this anime, it’s quite obvious that this show created the most buzz, profoundly impacted the start of the season, and elevated its characters into pop culture icons—Madoka was even said to have her own cult.

Some might say that viewers of this show only jumped into the bandwagon. But based on my experience, I would deny that. I was an aniblogosphere outsider when this show started to air. I don’t browse reviews and summaries because I dislike spoilers, and I don’t read posts that I don’t know anything about. Hence, this show allured me with its own magic. But of course, I’m aware that not everyone likes this series, however, for me, it’s beautiful and special on its own way.

Just before I end my final post of the year, I’d like to thank all of the readers and visitors of this blog, and online friends whom I interacted with on twitter. I really appreciate the encouragement and support which makes blogging really fun.

Happy 2012 to everyone and I wish for a prosperous and wonderful year ahead of us. 

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

Past Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica Posts:

• Death Drive in Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica
• 2nd Day of Anime: Signing a Contract with Kyubey

Top Five Honourable Mention:

• Ikoku Meiro No croisee
• Mawaru Penguindrum
• Usagi Drop
• Un-Go
• Hanasaku Iroha
• *Chihayafuru – still airing