When I'm in the middle of projects, particularly in the more stressful periods of the process, I like to take time out to watch some anime that doesn't require too much attention and brain power on my part. This is usually when I fall back on my anime-roots of magical girls such as Sailor Moon and Cardcaptor Sakura. Both are fantastic shows which you don't need to think about too much to know what's going on and I find them really fun for relaxing when stressed.
During one my stressful projects I decided to take a break and see what Puella Magi Madoka Magica was all about. I'd seen a lot of imagery about the show the last few months and I finally looked it up to see it was only 12 episodes long. Perfect! Or so I thought.
Magical girl anime shows are fantastic in my opinion. They're a bit of cute fun with charming animal sidekicks, brightly coloured costumes you never get to see in real life, transformation sequences with catchy music and often ridiculously optimistic personalities which are refreshing to see every now and then, especially when stressed with everyday life.
So when this is the primary promotional image for the anime, you would think this would be similar? Bright costumes, animal sidekick, mostly smiling faces...?
This series has taught me to never judge an anime by its promo image.
