History YMMV / PuellaMagiMadokaMagica

** Most anime fans tend to think that this was the one responsible for the whole "grimdark magical girl" trend, with other similar series such as ''LightNovel/MagicalGirlRaisingProject'' and ''Manga/MagicalGirlSite''. But before that, there have been other dark and serious magical girl series, such as the mentioned ''Cyber Team in Akihabara'', ''Anime/RevolutionaryGirlUtena'', ''Anime/ShamanicPrincess'', ''Anime/MajokkoMegChan'', and ''Franchise/LyricalNanoha''.

* FountainOfMemes: Kyubey. Just type his name into {{Website/Google}} and see what comes up. If that isn't enough, he even has his own [[http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/kyubey page]] on Website/KnowYourMeme.

* FauxSymbolism: [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial There is no way that]] Homura could be [[spoiler: Myth/{{Faust}}]], Madoka couldn't possibly be [[spoiler: Gretchen]], and Kyubey representing [[spoiler: Mephistopheles/Satan]]? Patently absurd. There are outright quotes, and symbols referencing [[spoiler:Faust]].

** Considering that Kyubey's "charm" is his PerpetualSmiler traits, his [[https://i.redd.it/s24b8equ2vn31.jpg "Nightmare Face"]] from the manga (which he pulls when [[spoiler: Homura calls him "Incubator"]]) ''could'' come off as more overblown than truly scary, complete with BlackEyesOfEvil. [[https://wiki.puella-magi.net/File:Guidebook_Comic_04_TL.jpg Kyubey's voice actor was unimpressed]].
** Charlotte's OneWingedAngel is a large worm that appears to be made out of candy and looks as though it has the face of a clown. It's something of the equivalent of [[Anime/CodeGeass Lelouch's pink sword]] in dramatic effect after it [[spoiler[[NightmareFuel devours Mami]]]].

** Are witches monsters, or are they misunderstood creatures who want other people (especially magical girls) to avoid their same fate?
** To get a little more specific, did Charlotte kill Mami because she's a heartless monster, or did she MercyKill Mami so that she wouldn't become a witch herself?

** Madoka herself, for not accomplishing much for most of the series despite being the main character, although [[spoiler: Episode 10 and onwards [[JustifiedTrope justify]] the entire matter, and show that she ''was'' an active, asskicking protagonist in previous timelines before her death in the first timeline and the later revelations that her being a magical girl would end with her becoming the most powerful witch in the world that's capable of destroying the planet. However, she [[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap redeemed]] herself to a portion of the fanbase for ending the magical girl-witch cycle, but the ending itself is an entirely different matter.]]

* IdiotPlot: So much [[IncrediblyLamePun grief]] could have been avoided if the girls were more willing to talk things out with each other, and above all, ask questions. This is [[JustifiedTrope justified]] somewhat as the characters are mainly young teenage girls who are [[spoiler:selected and manipulated by Kyubey for the wide range between hope and despair, and actively manipulated against each other by him]].

** Many witches are implied to have very tragic back stories. Because of this, several people like to DracoInLeatherPants them, especially [[EnsembleDarkhorse Charlotte]] before [[Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheMovieRebellion her backstory]] [[VideoGame/MagiaRecordPuellaMagiMadokaMagicaSideStory was officially]] [[DarknessInducedAudienceApathy revealed]].

* DarknessInducedAudienceApathy: This series can become this for viewers. Seeing ''everything'' [[WhamEpisode after episode three]] be one long road of misery, suffering, and DeusAngstMachina [[spoiler:until Madoka rewrites reality]] in the span of only twelve episodes can become really stagnant for some.

* DeathOfTheAuthor

* DieForOurShip: [[spoiler: A portion of the fanbase now despises Hitomi for confessing to Kyosuke and, unbeknownst to her, breaking Sayaka mentally and emotionally which turned her into a witch and thus killing her and the person who {{Mercy Kill}}ed her.]] It's full of MoralMyopia because the major part of her haters insist on how [[spoiler: Hitomi's worth and goodness as a person relies solely on renouncing her own happiness, when Sayaka has the exact same flaw on her end -- in fact one of the lessons of her arc is that renouncing your own happiness ''leads to bad things''.]]
* DracoInLeatherPants

** Hell, even [[spoiler: [[ManBehindTheMan Kyubey]]]] gets this: there are a good amount of fans who actually agree with [[spoiler: their [[WellIntentionedExtremist ends-justify-the-means mentality]]]] and see [[spoiler: [[AMillionIsAStatistic the sacrifice of human beings]]]] as [[spoiler: an [[ShootTheDog acceptable price to pay]] to save the universe from heat death]].
* EnsembleDarkhorse

* GeniusBonus

** The outside of Homura's house is reminiscent of a locale in the video game ''VideoGame/ShadowOfDestiny''. Some of the possible titles used before they settled on the final one were ''The Day and Night of Walpurgisnacht'', ''Days of Walpurgis'', and ''Time Adventure''. Sounds like a regular ShoutOut, no? The game is about a man who [[spoiler: travels back in time to prevent his death multiple times]], which it turns out is [[spoiler: very similar to what Homura is trying to do with Madoka]].
** The witch Oktavia von Seckendorff [[spoiler: who was once Sayaka]]. Her name comes from Karl Siegmund von Seckendorff, who composed for "Der König in Thule", the poem that appears in Goethe's ''Faust'', as well as wrote a book called "Das Rad des Schicksals" (The Wheel of Fate). Oktavia fights by throwing wheels, and the word "Schicksal" appears in her labyrinth. Also, the Wheel of Fate (or Fortune) is a tarot card which symbolizes "possibilities, opportunities, new developments, sudden changes"; [[spoiler: a rather apt description of Sayaka's life after meeting Kyubey]].

** The [=DVDs=] add wind chimes to the foreground of a particular scene, one with a mermaid, one with a unicorn. The mermaid obviously represents Sayaka and the unicorn, Kyouko, but if you're familiar with unicorn myths, it's a deft bit of foreshadowing. [[spoiler: In the early middle-ages, unicorns were described as being impossible to capture alive, because they would climb up a cliff and then throw themselves off of it to land horn-first on their target, ensuring both their deaths.]]
* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff

** An interesting case with [[spoiler:Kyubey. If you've heard anything at all about this show, the first thing you're likely to have heard is that Kyubey is the ultimate evil of everything that exists and should die in a fire. Ironically, [[BlueAndOrangeMorality it's not as simple]] [[WellIntentionedExtremist as it sounds]].]]

** In a somewhat lesser extent: Kyousuke, given that he ignores Sayaka and [[spoiler:even called her a monster in the PSP game.]]
* MemeticBadass:

** [[spoiler:Goddess Madoka.]]

** Sayaka Miki was supposed to deconstruct or at very least criticize tropes like LoveMartyr, UnrequitedTragicMaiden, and PatientChildhoodLoveInterest, as well as the unrealistic concepts of love and romance they rely on. ''Even at the start of the series'', when she implies that she wants to be a Magical Girl and use her wish to heal her crush, [[IllBoy Kyosuke]], [[ArmorPiercingQuestion Mami immediately points out the self-interest behind such an intention]]. Fandom, however, embraced Sayaka as a straight-up example of the tropes she was created to "attack", and still believe Sayaka is {{entitled to have|you}} his affection [[spoiler:and that he and Hitomi is the ONLY reason for her FaceHeelTurn.]]

** [[ValuesDissonance It's Japan]]. Convenience stores like Seven-Eleven and Lawson's regularly run cross-promotions with such series as ''Manga/DetectiveConan'', ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'' and, yes, [[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion Evangelion.]] "Family friendly" has a very different, but more entertaining, meaning there than it does in the West. In this case ''Madoka'' is a {{Seinen}} series, meaning it's aimed at adults even in Japan. And it's easy to see why - [[spoiler:how many MagicalGirl series can you think of that feature ''decapitations?'']]

** And then there's the tag line on the box of Nendoroid Miki Sayaka, which also happens to be [[spoiler: her FamousLastWords before [[AndThenJohnWasAZombie turning into a witch]]]].

** There are also Soul Gem bath bombs. They come in a random assortment like capsule toys. [[spoiler: When a Soul Gem breaks, a magical girl dies. Nice work killing dozens of girls for the sake of the pins inside, YouBastard]]
* {{Moe}}

** The fandom is divided on Kyubey, but the most commonly believed MoralEventHorizon crossings are either when [[spoiler: he misled Kyoko into believing that Sayaka could be saved after turning into a witch, thereby leading to her HeroicSacrifice and leaving Homura as the only magical girl to fight Walpurgisnacht - all in hopes that Madoka would contract with him]], or [[spoiler: his casually delivered line asking Madoka to give his kind a call when she'd be ready to die for the universe]].
*** [[spoiler: A more agreed upon point is in episode ten. In one timeline, Madoka becomes a witch powerful enough to destroy the earth, but Kyubey doesn't care as [[YouHaveOutLivedYourUsefulness he got enough energy from humanity]] to halt entropy.]]
** [[spoiler:Kyoko's father killing his entire family after finding out that his older daughter's wish was the only reason for his popularity, and then killing himself too. Kyoko survived but ended up bitter and amoral.]]
* {{Narm}}
** Considering that Kyubey's "charm" is his PerpetualSmiler traits, his [[https://i.redd.it/s24b8equ2vn31.jpg "Nightmare Face"]] from the manga (which he pulls when [[spoiler: Homura calls him "Incubator"]]) ''could'' come off as more overblown than truly scary, complete with BlackEyesOfEvil. [[https://wiki.puella-magi.net/File:Guidebook_Comic_04_TL.jpg Kyubey's voice actor was unimpressed.]]
** Charlotte's OneWingedAngel is a large worm that appears to be made out of candy and looks as though it has the face of a clown. It's something of the equivalent of [[Anime/CodeGeass Lelouch's pink sword]] in dramatic effect after it [[spoiler:[[NightmareFuel devours Mami]].]]
** [[spoiler: Homura breaking down and crying in the last episode as Madoka is about to fade away. The last few times [[TheStoic Homura]] cried during the series, it was [[TearJerker genuinely heartbreaking]], and a real indicator of just how pear-shaped things had gotten. The last one, however, came out as a kind of [="Eeee...EEEEHUEEEEEEeeeeEEEEeeeeEEEE".=] It was...well, just a touch goofy.]]
** The movie version of [[spoiler:Mami's death scene]] will probably be narmy if you speak German, because the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-j38ZeqBJzA background music]] is [[OminousLatinChanting Ominous German Chanting]] that translates to [[TrademarkFavoriteFood "Cheese! Cheese! Where is the cheese?"]] (Bonus points for it being ''literally'' cheesy.)

* NarmCharm
** In episode 12, when [[spoiler: Madoka makes her wish and [[OutGambitted out gambits]] him]], the camera zooms to Kyubey [[http://i52.tinypic.com/33e7ytg.png making His Most Epic Face EVER.]] Unlike other cases, it ''works''.

** [[spoiler: A regenerated Kyubey eats the corpse of his body, which Homura had just killed.]]
** The manga version of [[spoiler: Mami's death]] is ''far'' worse and more graphic.

* WMG/PoisonOakEpilepticTrees: It has been said that, regarding an Urobuchi work, "Think out the worst possible logical scenario that can happen, and Urobuchi will top it." [[spoiler:[[IKnewIt It turns out to be correct, many times over.]]]]

** Sayaka. In an [[Website/FourChan /a/]] poll she was the least popular of the five main characters [[http://images.puella-magi.net/c/ce/Ep10_popularity_chart.gif?20110314214410 as of episode 10]], but the hatred for her seems to have cooled since the show ended. This is likely due to her [[spoiler: accepting her fate as a magical girl]] in the last episode.

** A big part of the fandom took [[spoiler: Mami's FreakOut]] in a horrible way, declaring that she's only a mass murderer and nothing else.

** Also ReadTheFinePrint, although it's not like [[ManipulativeBastard Kyubey]] so much as hints that there's fine print to read. [[spoiler: Fortunately, Madoka is smart enough to learn about these messages, which is why her wish worked out since she understands the consequences and is willing to make the necessary sacrifice with pure altruistic intentions.]]

** [[spoiler:Poor Mami. She's a CoolBigSis and LadyOfWar who can summon a sky full of muskets. She dies in the third episode.]]
** Just as she [[spoiler: starts to get over her {{Jerkass}} tendencies]], [[spoiler:Kyoko]] dies.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic
** Kyosuke, noted under TheScrappy, even people that don't hate usually don't think he comes off as sympathetic since a decent chunk of his screen time consists of him being a {{Jerkass}} toward Sayaka out of frustration over his injury. Realistic, yes, but people usually don't sympathize with somebody they don't see being remotely likable. Another common criticism is he could have at least told Sayaka he was leaving the hospital.

* VanillaProtagonist: This is a InvokedTrope. Madoka Kaname believes there's nothing special about herself and this feeling is highlighted by the four other members of the main cast becoming {{magical girl}}s, and beating the crap out of witches and each other. [[spoiler: As the story goes on, we find out that this is justified, as magical girls in the series are doomed to become the very witches they fight, and Homura has been keeping Madoka in this role to protect her. In the end Madoka becomes an ultimate savior.]]

* WinTheCrowd: It starts off as a thoughtful, if somewhat ominous MagicalGirl series. Then, come [[WhamEpisode episode 3]], viewers were left screaming [[spoiler:"Did Mami's head just get bitten off by that cakeworm!?"]], at which point it became clear just what sort of [[DarkerAndEdgier series]] they were dealing with. Word spread out of the mahou shoujo/general anime viewership with intense speed and it is now considered one of the best anime of recent years. 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." (From the other wiki)

** Sayaka due to [[spoiler:her heartbreaking breakdown, but also because WordOfGod has declared that she [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption can't be saved]] in any timeline. Poor girl.]]
** Kyoko's backstory implies she's an IronWoobie herself. It's impressive [[spoiler:she didn't immediately turn into a witch after her family was murdered by her freaking out father.]]
** [[spoiler: The witches themselves count as a WoobieSpecies because they're fallen magical girls.]]

** At the end of the series, in the original Japanese [[spoiler: the new monsters that replace witches are called "''majuu''", which literally means "magical beast"]]. The fansubs for the anime simply translated the world as [[spoiler:"demon"]], but the official subtitles use [[spoiler:"wraith"]] instead. Not only does the latter better fit their appearance, it also preserves an additional meaning in the original Japanese: the word [[spoiler:"''majuu''"]] is very similar to [[spoiler:"''majo''"]], the Japanese word for [[spoiler:witch]], reflecting the idea that the former are a replacement for the latter. In English [[spoiler:"wraith"]] and [[spoiler:"witch"]] also possess some of this similarity; they both [[spoiler:start with "w", end in "h", and have an "it" in the middle.]]
** In the English dub, "Girls can't love girls!"

** This isn't the first anime where the MentorMascot [[spoiler:turns out not to be trustworthy and has ulterior motives for helping out the magical girl protagonist]]. In ''Manga/PhantomThiefJeanne'', which predates ''Madoka'' by about 13 years, [[spoiler:Maron/Jeanne's own MentorMascot, Finn Fish, turns out to be a FallenAngel and TheMole for the Devil himself]].

** Nearly everyone new to the series knows going in that [=PMMM=] is not the sweet magical girl anime it advertised itself as.

* DarknessInducedAudienceApathy: This series can become this for viewers. Seeing ''everything'' [[WhamEpisode after episode three]] be one long road of misery, suffering, and DeusAngstMachina [[spoiler:until Madoka rewrites reality]] in the span of only twelve episodes can become really stagnant for some.

** Considering that Kyubey's "charm" is his PerpetualSmiler traits, his [[http://i55.tinypic.com/106kap5.jpg "Nightmare Face"]] from the manga (which he pulls when [[spoiler: Homura calls him "Incubator"]]) ''could'' come off as more overblown than truly scary, complete with BlackEyesOfEvil. [[https://wiki.puella-magi.net/File:Guidebook_Comic_04_TL.jpg Kyubey's voice actor was unimpressed.]]

** This isn't the first anime where the MentorMascot [[spoiler:turns out not to be trustworthy and has ulterior motives for helping out the magical girl protagonist]]. In ''Manga/PhantomThiefJeanne'', which was first published all the way back in 1998, [[spoiler:Maron/Jeanne's own MentorMascot, Finn Fish, turns out to be a FallenAngel and TheMole for the Devil himself]].

** Mami's cute little hops with bended knees and pigeon toes before her TransformationSequence were out of place.
** Sayaka's use of the phrase "For realz?" sounds so painfully out of place in the English dub.
** In episode 11, [[spoiler: Walpurgisnacht]] is supposed to be a ''very'' dramatic fight... except for [[spoiler: Walpurgisnacht]] having a super ultra high-pitched EvilLaugh.
** A brief shot in episode 8 of a crazed Sayaka showing her soul gem to Madoka whilst everything else is blood red seems out of place. It's no surprise that it was cut from the movie.

** The signature head-tilt can turn a serious and dramatic moment narmy given how unnatural it looks.
** Junko [[spoiler: letting Madoka go into the storm. In the context of Madoka's development it makes sense, but it's a little hard to take it seriously that Junko was willing to let a fourteen year old walk off into a dangerous storm for no other reason than 'I need to save a friend'. Include the fact that Madoka's friend has just died in extremely suspicious circumstances, Junko feels Madoka is hiding something, and it becomes incredibly hard to believe that Junko would ever let her go (or that any parent would)]].

** A similar example to the above comes in episode 10. [[spoiler: The emotional impact of Homura having to MercyKill Madoka can be completely destroyed by the sound that Homura utters seconds before pulling the trigger.]] [[NarmCharm ...If it doesn't have the opposite effect.]]

** Homura's constant hair flipping can be out of place in dramatic scenes.
** Mami's name is pronounced like "Mommy," which would make the scenes [[spoiler: where her allies mourn her]] sound a bit [[IWantMyMommy humorous]].

** Hearing all the hype about this series as a {{Deconstruction}} of magical girls can be annoying to people who have already watched series that have done that (particularly since a noticeable portion of Madoka's fanbase has SmallReferencePools regarding the genre). It turns even heater with the existent debate about whether ''Madoka'' works more as an actual deconstruction or an elaborated yet regular DarkerAndEdgier take on the genre.
** This could be the case depending where you live in, as although succesful in both regions, the show is nowhere near as loved in Europe as is in US. Many people, especially the ones to which ''Madoka'' was not their gate to anime nor their first {{Deconstruction}} series, believe that while the anime is good, it is definitely not as good as the sheer amount of fandom, reviews and promotion in internet might lead to think, nor as deep or revolutionary those review commonly advocate. It doesn't help that SHAFT capitalized on ''Madoka'''s uber-memetic status by launching spin-offs and merchandising nonstop, with the effect that the franchise was pretty much everywhere on the internet for many years yet at the same time it did not get actually developed beyond the 12 episode series - at least until the movies, which brought their own controversy to the table.
** It has to be noted the overhype done by distribution companies when the anime was licensed in countries like Spain and France, where it came too much time after its jump to fame in internet and thus it didn't have the same impact anymore. With the exception of the spin-off mangas, which were generally well received, the licensed anime was underlooked by many people because it was being promoted as the next big thing when most of the ''Madoka'' craze had faded.

* OlderThanTheyThink: Most anime fans tend to think that this was the one responsible for the whole "grimdark magical girl" trend, with other similar series such as ''LightNovel/MagicalGirlRaisingProject'' and ''Manga/MagicalGirlSite''. But before that, there have been other dark and serious magical girl series, such as ''Anime/RevolutionaryGirlUtena'', ''Anime/ShamanicPrincess'', ''Anime/MajokkoMegChan'', and ''Franchise/LyricalNanoha''.

* CargoShip: Kyousuke's haters tend to ship him with his violin. several of them even wanted him to marry it.

** It has to be noted the overhype done by distribution companies when the anime was licensed in countries like Spain and France, where it came too much time after its jump to fame in internet and rhus it didn't have the same impact anymore. With the exception of the spin-off mangas, which were generally well received, the licensed anime was underlooked by many people because it was being promoted as the next big thing when most of the ''Madoka'' craze had faded.

* OlderThanTheyThink: Most anime fans tend to think that this was the one responsible for the whole "grimdark magical girl" trend, with other similar series such as ''LightNovel/MagicalGirlRaisingProject'' and ''Manga/MahouShoujoSite''. But before that, there have been other dark and serious magical girl series, such as ''Anime/RevolutionaryGirlUtena'', ''Anime/ShamanicPrincess'', ''Anime/MajokkoMegChan'', and ''Franchise/LyricalNanoha''.

** [[spoiler:There's plenty of stories on the magical girl forums of the canon witches.]]

** Yet another background character, a girl nicknamed "Tan Girl" or "Fake Sayaka"[[note]]偽さやか[[/note]], while not as memetic as the two above, has a fair share of popularity in ''Website/{{Pixiv}}'' due to [[http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=34891714 resembling Sayaka with dark tan]].

* MemeticMolester: There was a point of this trope here. A summary of previous entry: Homura is perceived as a stalker whose life revolves around Madoka. She wears Madoka's panties at her head while watching Madoka through hidden camera.

** It's extremely popular for virtually any fandom to contain at least one or two crossover fanfics, which are often about the characters becooming magical girls/boys.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: Given the confirmation that Homura went through ''nearly 100 loops'', there are those who felt that more than three previous timelines should have been shown.

** Madoka herself, for not accomplishing much for most of the series despite being the main character, although [[spoiler: Episode 10 and onwards [[JustifiedTrope justify]] the entire matter, and show that she ''was'' an active, asskicking protagonist in previous timelines before Homura determined it was too dangerous for her. However, she [[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap redeemed]] herself to a portion of the fanbase for ending the magical girl-witch cycle, but the ending itself is an entirely different matter.]]

*** Different troper here, my friend described that face as 'Welp, I'm screwed'.