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NEWS: Madoka Magica: Rebellion Topped Japanese Blu-rays in Half-Year Sales


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Stark700



Joined: 30 Jan 2012
Posts: 11762
Location: Earth
PostPosted: Tue Jun 17, 2014 6:01 pm Reply with quote
Wow, interesting. I'm thinking of getting my own copy of this soon.
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unitmikey



Joined: 15 Feb 2013
Posts: 286
PostPosted: Tue Jun 17, 2014 6:22 pm Reply with quote
Woah. Even I didn't think it would do this good. I just hope that when the eventual continuation of this series comes, it's a little better than this film though to be honest.
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Rederoin



Joined: 29 May 2013
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Location: Europa
PostPosted: Tue Jun 17, 2014 7:08 pm Reply with quote
It sold 179.5k copies if you include the DVDs and the RE, fyi.
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Blazingluke



Joined: 15 Dec 2006
Posts: 13
PostPosted: Tue Jun 17, 2014 9:12 pm Reply with quote
I wonder if that number includes the Aniplex of America import sales.
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Kadmos1



Joined: 08 May 2014
Posts: 13540
Location: In Phoenix but has an 85308 ZIP
PostPosted: Tue Jun 17, 2014 10:33 pm Reply with quote
As something who really isn't planning on seeing the series, what's the appeal of it? Beyond it being a dark mahou shoujo series with implied GL, what makes it popular?
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Kaioshin_Sama



Joined: 05 Feb 2005
Posts: 1215
PostPosted: Tue Jun 17, 2014 10:43 pm Reply with quote
Kadmos1 wrote:
As something who really isn't planning on seeing the series, what's the appeal of it? Beyond it being a dark mahou shoujo series with implied GL, what makes it popular?


Shock value and it kind of has this moral dualism thing going on at least in the TV series that is fairly well realized and this is coming from somebody that normally cannot stand Shaft's pretentious directing and cynical approach to making anime. It's a lot tighter written than I ever would have expected given how people like to go bonkers over pretty much nothing a lot of the time so for a rare change I'd say there's something to it and it's worth checking out though obviously it's best to reach your own conclusions on it and not let the series fanbase bully you into a position like they are wont to do.

That said at least IMO the movie is nowhere near as good as the TV series was (I'm not sure if this comparison makes sense or if you have context for it, but it's like Escaflowne TV->Escaflowne The Movie) and kind of goes for the shock value approach again albeit without the tight writing or allowing enough time to let the new ideas it introduces to the franchise to breath properly giving the feeling that they kind of develop out of nowhere as a means to open the window for a continuation and fresh conflict to what was pretty much a done deal with how the TV series ended. Basically if the TV series largely escapes the usual pitfalls of Shaft anime (namely Shinbo's tendency to smother everything with overwrought directing and weird visuals) the Movie series doesn't quite make it through unscathed.

Rederoin wrote:
It sold 179.5k copies if you include the DVDs and the RE, fyi.


Gundam UC Vol 7 will have passed it by now but still pretty good for a pretty new franchise. Curiously the last number I could pull from adding all of those discs together was 174,591 as of May 18 (1 month ago) where it apparently stopped charting so I'm not sure what chart the extra 5,000 is coming from. Anyway if the franchise can pull itself together again following that movie sequel I'm still curious to see where it goes.
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TarsTarkas



Joined: 20 Dec 2007
Posts: 5821
Location: Virginia, United States
PostPosted: Tue Jun 17, 2014 11:17 pm Reply with quote
Kadmos1 wrote:
As something who really isn't planning on seeing the series, what's the appeal of it? Beyond it being a dark mahou shoujo series with implied GL, what makes it popular?


Watch the TV series first. Last I saw you could watch it for free on Crackle, though Crackle is not HD.

I loved the series and it gave me back my passion for anime. I actually eagerly awaited for each episode to air, and spoilers didn't faze me at all. The characters I came to love, Kyubey I loved to hate, and the story entranced me. What also helped fan the flames was the incredible WiKi site which delved into the story.

Don't know if you will like it or not. My son wouldn't even give it a chance, saying it was a show for girls, despite what happens in the show.

While the above poster derides the fans of the series, the anti-fans who hate the series also rise to pounce on those who dare imply the series is any good.

So watch the TV series, if you like it great, if you hate it, you will probably, passionately hate it.
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Kaioshin_Sama



Joined: 05 Feb 2005
Posts: 1215
PostPosted: Tue Jun 17, 2014 11:25 pm Reply with quote
TarsTarkas wrote:
Kadmos1 wrote:
As something who really isn't planning on seeing the series, what's the appeal of it? Beyond it being a dark mahou shoujo series with implied GL, what makes it popular?


Watch the TV series first. Last I saw you could watch it for free on Crackle, though Crackle is not HD.

I loved the series and it gave me back my passion for anime. I actually eagerly awaited for each episode to air, and spoilers didn't faze me at all. The characters I came to love, Kyubey I loved to hate, and the story entranced me. What also helped fan the flames was the incredible WiKi site which delved into the story.

Don't know if you will like it or not. My son wouldn't even give it a chance, saying it was a show for girls, despite what happens in the show.

While the above poster derides the fans of the series, the anti-fans who hate the series also rise to pounce on those who dare imply the series is any good.

So watch the TV series, if you like it great, if you hate it, you will probably, passionately hate it.


I think it's good, but like any franchise that gets really really popular the hardcore fans can tend to give other people the wrong impressions due to being overzealous and defensive. Personally I think the whole fanboy versus anti-fan thing is stupid at the end of the day though, it's annoying and the end point should be is the show good or not at what does it do for the individual. I'd say yes it's good and worth the watch, but other people might think differently for their own reasons. I've learned to respect that and unless people have really bogus reasons for reaching such conclusions I tend to think it's not worth arguing or getting personal about but some people I'm sure would feel differently.
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Jose Cruz



Joined: 20 Nov 2012
Posts: 1767
Location: South America
PostPosted: Tue Jun 17, 2014 11:42 pm Reply with quote
Kadmos1 wrote:
As something who really isn't planning on seeing the series, what's the appeal of it? Beyond it being a dark mahou shoujo series with implied GL, what makes it popular?


Well, it's perhaps the single most popular adult anime series ever made up to this point (considering it had about 50 billion yen in merchandise and disk sales, far dwarfing the popularity of other late night anime series, the only late night anime who sold more copies of it's TV series is Bakemonogatari but it did sell as much merchandise and did not sell it's movie versions).

It combines elements of 21st century anime (such as moe slice of life, psychological thriller, fantasy, some science fiction, horror and tragedy) and combines all these elements into a single 12 episode series that works wonderfully without almost any single wasted lines of dialogue. I found it beautiful how everything is weaved together. The series is available on youtube at high definition.

Sales of nearly 200,000 units in Japan are gigantic. For example, the biggest mainstream Hollywood blockbusters usually sell around 100 k copies of blu-ray and dvd combined.


Last edited by Jose Cruz on Tue Jun 17, 2014 11:58 pm; edited 1 time in total
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mdo7



Joined: 23 May 2007
Posts: 6248
Location: Katy, Texas, USA
PostPosted: Tue Jun 17, 2014 11:49 pm Reply with quote
Well, that's an amazing achievement, and I'm not surprised by this news. Smile
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Emma Iveli



Joined: 19 Jun 2005
Posts: 679
Location: Hobo with internet
PostPosted: Wed Jun 18, 2014 12:51 am Reply with quote
Kadmos1 wrote:
As something who really isn't planning on seeing the series, what's the appeal of it? Beyond it being a dark mahou shoujo series with implied GL, what makes it popular?


Well I'm not good when it comes to words about what makes something good...

However there is a rather popular Sci-Fi reviewer called SFDebris. Most of the stuff he does are requests, not only did he get two requests to review the series (the same day no less) but also to review the episodes on their own (he has done videos that were recaps of Avatar: The Last Airbender).

Over the course of four months last year he did all 12 episodes... the End results: It is the show he recommend the most out of all of their series he reviewed.

Of course things might have changed what with a couple new Series since then but I don't watch everything he posts.

If you don't care about spoilers I recommend checking out his reviews... Also you should watch one of his Star Trek Voyager Reviews before you watch the final one as at one point he talks about his interpretation of the relationships and he uses his version of Captain Janeway to accuse him of being a homophobe.
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Rederoin



Joined: 29 May 2013
Posts: 1427
Location: Europa
PostPosted: Wed Jun 18, 2014 5:58 am Reply with quote
Kaioshin_Sama wrote:

Rederoin wrote:
It sold 179.5k copies if you include the DVDs and the RE, fyi.


Gundam UC Vol 7 will have passed it by now but still pretty good for a pretty new franchise. Curiously the last number I could pull from adding all of those discs together was 174,591 as of May 18 (1 month ago) where it apparently stopped charting so I'm not sure what chart the extra 5,000 is coming from. Anyway if the franchise can pull itself together again following that movie sequel I'm still curious to see where it goes.

Gundam UC Vol 7 is slightly below it(by like 1k), but it will most definitely pass it next week.


Its still charting in the BD top 100, thats where those numbers are coming from.
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Ranho



Joined: 04 Apr 2014
Posts: 68
PostPosted: Wed Jun 18, 2014 9:50 am Reply with quote
Kadmos1 wrote:
As something who really isn't planning on seeing the series, what's the appeal of it? Beyond it being a dark mahou shoujo series with implied GL, what makes it popular?


Let me answer your question.

Its premise: Magical Girls With a Sci-fi Twist.

People are hot for this anime because of two things: its idea and the fact that there was nothing else like it at the time of its airing. You'll read things like how it took a "mature approach to story-telling" or something to that effect but really all that really means is that it didn't have heavy fan-service like most shounen/harem/ecchi/all of the above type anime and that it plays with ideas that will make you think.

About point number 1, its idea, admittedly, is a good one. Shame that the guy who writes it is a pretty shallow writer so the idea isn't really explored all that well, or rather in a way where you actually care about what's going on. Just like the other shows he's scripted, really (Fate Zero, Psycho Pass, Gargantua etc).

As for point number two, again the show is special because of the idea behind it, which set it apart from the droves of harem, ecchi, slice of life shows.

Take the first thing away from it and you've got an anime that's nothing more than an average story that is overhyped because everything else beside it is something you've already seen a million times over and are tired of.

Kinda like, oh, I don't know, two of last year's monster hits. You KNOW which ones I'm talking about, come ooooon: The one involving cannibalism and the other involving female empowerment through nudity (O RLY?)?

My turn! Let me ask YOU a question:

Do you like -

    1 dimensional characters that fit certain archetypes?
    Highly interesting ideas that are executed clumsily and consequently come off as pretentious?
    Melodramatic scenes involving characters you feel nothing for?

Then this is the anime for you!
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Ranho



Joined: 04 Apr 2014
Posts: 68
PostPosted: Wed Jun 18, 2014 10:10 am Reply with quote
Jose Cruz wrote:
Kadmos1 wrote:
As something who really isn't planning on seeing the series, what's the appeal of it? Beyond it being a dark mahou shoujo series with implied GL, what makes it popular?


Well, it's perhaps the single most popular adult anime series ever made up to this point (considering it had about 50 billion yen in merchandise and disk sales, far dwarfing the popularity of other late night anime series, the only late night anime who sold more copies of it's TV series is Bakemonogatari but it did sell as much merchandise and did not sell it's movie versions).

It combines elements of 21st century anime (such as moe slice of life, psychological thriller, fantasy, some science fiction, horror and tragedy) and combines all these elements into a single 12 episode series that works wonderfully without almost any single wasted lines of dialogue. I found it beautiful how everything is weaved together. The series is available on youtube at high definition.


"adult anime series"? Hmmm, you'd think an anime aimed at adults would feature characters that actually behaved like recognizable personalities you'd find in real life at the very least, but I guess being dark and having characters die qualifies as "adult" when placed next to brainless harem-ecchi comedies and even more brainless slice-of-life shows, huh?

Or is it the idea of what Kyuube-tachi represented as well as what our Mahou-Shoujo's powers represented? Is that what makes this show "adult"? The ideas it "tries" to explore, regardless of whether they are explored in an efficient and/or emotionally rewarding way?

Well, whatever, 50 billion yen and god knows how many copies sold can't be lying so, whatever, so that's all the evidence needed to at least give this show a try.

But to use the term "adult" to describe this show? I don't know about thaaaat...
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Rederoin



Joined: 29 May 2013
Posts: 1427
Location: Europa
PostPosted: Wed Jun 18, 2014 10:53 am Reply with quote
Ranho wrote:


But to use the term "adult" to describe this show? I don't know about thaaaat...

Its aimed at adults, does it need another reason to describe the show as such?
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