It's a deconstruction only in the most basic sense. Young girls fighting dangerous monsters.
Deconstruction = Unrealistic, flawed concept played out realistically.
Nothing about the transformation items or Kyubey's nature is any more realistic than an episode of Sailor Moon.
A good example of a deconstruction is Ducktales. Scrooge's big safe full of coins that he likes to dive into and swim around in. If you tried to dive into a pile of solid, metallic objects in real life, you'd be dead, or severely injured.
So basically Madoka Magica is more of a dark subversion of the genre. It doesn't say "If you're a Magical Girl in real life, this is how your life would be." Instead it's more like "If you're a Magical Girl IN THIS SHOW, your life WILL suck and you will suffer and die."
mami' wish was to be "Bound to Life" hence Mami has all the golden rope/string things - for binding stuff
-Sayaka's character had the huge potential to be explored and more developed, but...well, um...yeah.- Her character was explored and developed, just not in a way you hoped/expected for.
-Who made witches in the first place, if it wasn't Magical Girls?- An incubator. The first Magical Girl was also the first witch.
-And why can't you just ignore the Call and avoid fighting witches?- Because Magical Girls constantly use magic and the use of magic causes the corruption of their soul gems.
Lazy and pathetic.
@ Grand Prince Paulll: you say that Sayaka's character was developed- just not in a way that I was hoping for. Okay, so give me some examples please? That would be wonderful.
Also, why do they have to keep on using magic? Like, is it a requirement for them to constantly use magic? Can't they just store it away for later use?
I sympathize with short, angry men who have big egos.
About magic, They're zombies with detached souls or liches. Something has to keep them moving, and in this case, it's probably magic. By living, they're using up magic whether they like it or not.
As for Sayaka, going insane from seeing the world and herself with a black and white morality and the inability to forgive anyone including herself counts as character development. It's not a lot, but in a plot-based story, the characters don't need a lot of development. Here, they are reasonable developed. I have no qualms about it.
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I don't get it. Why is Puella Magi Madoka Magica considered a deconstruction? It deconstructs the idea of generosity and childish idealism, but it's more like putting a darker twist on the given aspects of the Magical Girl genre. If someone would give me an example of more deconstructions, then that would be great.
But besides that confusion, I found this anime to be cool.
It wasn't too groundbreaking. It was just cool, with its beautiful visuals, awesome action scenes, and haunting soundtracks. What I looked forward to most were the witch battles and the costumes. And dayuuuuuum, the weapons- completely, utterly badass looking. And then the character designs- ADORBS.
The characters were okay. The characters who I found to be the most recognizable and developed were Homu Homu and Kyouko. Their backstories were just wonderful and heartbreaking. Madoka had a pleasant personality, but it seemed so...boring. Generic. Sayaka's character had the huge potential to be explored and more developed, but...well, um...yeah. Mami's character was the same. I liked it when she died because it showcased a flaw of hers, yet...I also cried because it meant that her character would never be explored again- besides in Homu Homu's flashbacks. Actually, Mami was fleshed out more in the memories. It showed more of her flaws and her tendency to easily break apart.
Kyuubey is one of the best villains ever. He actually has a good reason for his evilness, and he induces genuine FEAR in me. He also has the added bonus of not having the Evil is Deep trope played on him. the audio dissonance made him even CREEPIER.
I find the premise to be one of the show's stronger assets. The Magical Girl transformation is pretty logical, and the entropy background made it have all the more sense. I just loved the justification of why the Incubators chose to torment middle-schooled girls. Puberty = WIIIITCH.
There's some hitches to the plot- like, what exactly was Mami's power if she wished to be saved? Who made witches in the first place, if it wasn't Magical Girls? And why can't you just ignore the Call and avoid fighting witches? Also, in the original timeline,if Madoka was a Magical Girl one week prior to when Homura first showed up, then why wasn't she already a Magical Girl when Homura reset the timelines?
But forget it. This anime's awesome.