'' Puella Magi Madoka Magica'' is a 2011

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

series created by Magica Quartet (consisting of

Akiyuki Shinbo is a Japanese animator, director, writer, and storyboard artist. Best known for his works with Shaft (company), Shaft, he has attained international recognition with the studio for his unique visual style and storytelling methods. Born in Koor ...

, Atsuhiro Iwakami,

Gen Urobuchi is a Japanese novelist, visual novel writer and anime screenwriter. He is known for being the co-creator of the highly acclaimed and commercially successful anime series '' Puella Magi Madoka Magica'', which earned him the Tokyo Anime Award for ...

, and

Ume Aoki is a Japanese Mangaka, manga artist, illustrator and dōjin artist from Hyōgo Prefecture. She officially romanizes her name as aokiume. She illustrates under the pennames apricot+ for many of her dōjinshi, and for the visual novel ''Sanarar ...

), produced by

Shaft Shaft may refer to: Rotating machine elements * Shaft (mechanical engineering), a rotating machine element used to transmit power * Line shaft, a power transmission system * Drive shaft, a shaft for transferring torque * Axle, a shaft around whi ...

, and distributed by

Aniplex is a Japanese anime, music production and anime licensee company owned by Sony Music Entertainment Japan. Established in September 1995, Aniplex has been involved in the production and distribution of several anime series, such as both ''Fullm ...

. It follows the story of 14-year-old Japanese middle school student Madoka Kaname, who is offered the chance to have any wish granted on the condition that she become a

magical girl is a subgenre of Japanese fantasy media (including anime, manga, light novels, and live-action media) centered around young girls who possess magical abilities, which they typically use through an ideal alter ego into which they can transfo ...

and fight against evil witches. ''Puella Magi Madoka Magica'' began development after Akiyuki Shinbo expressed his desire to work on a new magical girl series to producer Atsuhiro Iwakami while they were working on ''

Hidamari Sketch is a Japanese ''yonkoma'' manga series written and illustrated by Ume Aoki, centering around a group of young female art students, and following their daily lives as close friends and neighbors at the nearby Hidamari Apartments. The ma ...

'' and ''

Bakemonogatari is a Japanese light novel series written by Nisio Isin and illustrated by Vofan. The plot centers on Koyomi Araragi, a third-year high school student who survives a vampire attack and finds himself helping girls involved with a variety ...

''. During the early planning stage, Iwakami decided not to adapt an existing work in order to give Shinbo more freedom in his direction style. Gen Urobuchi and Ume Aoki then joined the project as scriptwriter and character designer respectively. The series was announced in a commercial slot during the anime series ''

Togainu no Chi is a Japanese BL visual novel created by Nitro+CHiRAL. The plot centers on Akira, a young man who is made to participate in a deadly game called "Igura" (from "игра"/ "igra", Russian for "game") in post-apocalyptic Japan in exchange ...

''. Subsequently, more commercials were shown in the same slot revealing the characters and cast. The first ten episodes aired on Japanese television channels

MBS MBS may refer for: People * Mohammed bin Salman (born 1985), crown prince and prime minister of Saudi Arabia * Mohan Bikram Singh (born 1935), Nepalese politician Places * MBS International Airport (IATA code: MBS), Freeland, Michigan, US * Mari ...

, TBS and CBC between January 7, 2011 and March 11, 2011. Due to the

2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami The occurred at 14:46 JST (05:46 UTC) on 11 March. The magnitude 9.0–9.1 (M) undersea megathrust earthquake had an epicenter in the Pacific Ocean, east of the Oshika Peninsula of the Tōhoku region, and lasted approximately six minutes ...

, the broadcasts of episodes 11 and 12 were delayed and were later aired as a double feature on April 21, 2011. The series was released on Blu-ray Disc and DVD between April 27, 2011 and September 21, 2011, having been delayed from the original release date of March 30, 2011 due to the earthquake.

Aniplex USA Aniplex of America Inc. or Aniplex USA is the U.S. distribution enterprise of Aniplex, an anime and music production company owned by Sony Music Entertainment Japan. It was established in March 2005 in Santa Monica, California, with the goal o ...

licensed the series in North America and released the series in three volumes between February 14 and June 12, 2012.

Manga Entertainment Manga Entertainment was a producer, licensee, and distributor of anime in the United States and the United Kingdom. Originally founded in the UK in 1987, the UK branch became Funimation UK and Ireland in 2021, also currently known as Crunchyro ...

licensed the series in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

and released it on BD/DVD in a complete collection on October 22, 2012. The opening theme is by

ClariS Claris International Inc., formerly FileMaker Inc., is a computer software development company formed as a subsidiary company of Apple Computer (now Apple Inc.) in 1987. It was given the source code and copyrights to several programs that were ...

and the ending theme is "

Magia ''Magia''Distant WL (1907) Rhynchotal notes xli. Annals and Magazine of Natural History. London. (Ser. 7) 19: 277-295. is a genus of Australian planthoppers in the tribe Acarnini, erected by William Lucas Distant in 1907. Species ''Fulgoromorpha ...

" by

Kalafina was a Japanese vocal group formed by composer Yuki Kajiura in 2007, mainly to perform theme songs for the anime ''Kara no Kyōkai'', but later expanded to include many other theme songs for other anime shows and films including the '' Madoka Mag ...

. On the DVD/Blu-ray release, the ending theme for episodes one and two is by

Aoi Yūki , better known by her stage name , is a Japanese actress, voice actress and singer represented by Aoni Production. She voiced Komachi Hikigaya in '' My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong, As I Expected'', Rita Rossweisse in ''Honkai Impact 3rd'', Tany ...

, and the ending theme for episode nine is "And I'm Home" by

Eri Kitamura is a Japanese voice actress and singer. She was previously affiliated with Early Wing, but is now a freelancer. She is known for voicing prominent roles in anime such as and Sayaka Miki in '' Puella Magi Madoka Magica'', Saya Otonashi in ''Bloo ...

and

Ai Nonaka is a Japanese voice actress and singer. She works for Aoni Production and was formerly a member of the voice actor unit Drops, which included fellow voice actor Akemi Kanda, Tomoko Kaneda, Mariko Kōda, and Ryōko Shiraishi. In high school in Fu ...

Drama CD Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine ...

s are included with the first, third and fifth DVD/Blu-ray volumes and the original soundtrack by Kajiura Yuki was included in three parts with the second, fourth and sixth volumes. The soundtrack is also included with the limited-edition North American releases. The series was retold in two

animated films Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most anim ...

released in October 2012, and a third film containing an "all-new" story set after the series was released in October 2013.

Episode list

Drama CDs

Drama CDs were included with the first, third and fifth BD/DVD volumes of the Japanese release. A fourth drama CD was released at Comiket 82 in August 2012 alongside an advance film ticket set.

Home video releases

In Japan,

distributed six BD/DVD (

Blu-ray Disc The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and c ...

Digital Versatile Disc The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

) volumes of ''Puella Magi Madoka Magica'' in 2011, all of which were included in a box set on December 25, 2013. In the United States and Canada,

Aniplex of America Aniplex of America Inc. or Aniplex USA is the U.S. distribution enterprise of Aniplex, an anime and music production company owned by Sony Music Entertainment Japan. It was established in March 2005 in Santa Monica, California, with the goal o ...

published three BD/DVD volumes of the series in 2012 and compiled them into a box set on September 27, 2016.

Notes

References

External links

Official website
*
Tenth anniversary website

''Puella Magi Madoka Magica''
at

{{featured list

Episodes Episodes may refer to: * Episode An episode is a narrative unit within a larger dramatic work or documentary production, such as a series intended for radio, television or streaming consumption. The noun ''episode'' is derived from the Gree ...

Puella Magi Madoka Magica