ANIME REVIEW | APPLYING KANT TO ANIME?!

Whenever a conversation about anime strikes up, I always recommend these animes because they are some of my favorites: Soul Eater, Naruto, Blue Exorcist, Kaichou wa Maid-Sama, Kamisama Kiss, Asobi Asobase, Death Parade, Paradies Kiss, You Lie in April, and Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica. I'll tailor recommendations, but these are all great. I rewatched Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica in hopes of finding something new and crying my eyes out. 

My love for Magia by Kalafina and Connect by ClariS (the songs in this anime) have remained constant, along with my burning hate for Kyubey. I also have a newfound respect for the concept and world; maybe I skipped it before, or I wasn't paying attention, but the utilization of karma and entropy somewhat explains why and how things happened. I can't recommend enough to revisit old favorites. I would love to see a story that explores Kyubey's universe and life post show's end in the future because I find how worlds and time work in this case interesting. I typically avoid anything that talks about time and dimensions because it creeps me out, but I'm really intrigued in this situation, mainly because it's impossible. 

In my naivete, I over-simplified the plot as girls who value friendship and would do anything to save their friends/do the right thing. While this is true, there is more too the story. Like, you seek out to be a hero/your idealized self, but you realize that some things are not meant to be, and you become the person you've always hated. Wow, that's depressing... Sometimes doing the right thing is hard, or it's not feasible to always do the right thing. There are a lot of ethical and moral themes in the anime. I'm going to go over the series as a whole before I dive into the Kant, whom I hate. The punishment I would inflict on Kyubey would be to read Kant. 

The art is super cute and slightly futuristic (mainly the architecture.) Even though it's futuristic, there are many contemporary and familiar elements in the setting. I love the art when the witches appear: colorful, weird, creepy, eerie, etc. The plot starts to lag somewhere in the middle, so I skipped through most of it. I forgot how insecure and naive Madoka was. I also forgot how much drama there was too. Since the middle lagged, the ending was rushed. The people in charge missed an opportunity to further explore the world-after, which is such a disappointment!

Now to the Kant...

Kyubey is an extraterrestrial-being; his species discovered that magical girls, who fight evil (witches) in exchange for granting any wish, are a valuable source of energy that keeps the universe in balance. Throughout history, he/they have been making these contracts with teenage girls because they are highly emotional, thus a high source of energy. While he/they grant the girls' wishes, he/they leave out the fine print. When the girls discover the truth, they are justifiably angry, and Kyubey is confused. He is using them as an ends to a mean and not forthcoming about all his intentions/maxims. Most of the girls agree to the contract without knowing all of the truth, but an interesting dilemma arises: do you still make the contract when you know the whole truth?

I think the addition of moral and ethics make this a well-developed psychological thriller. While I have a new-found appreciation for this series, I didn't enjoy it as much as the first time, nor did I bawl my eyes out. Do you watch anime/have you watched anime?