While the announcement that a new Madoka Magica film will premiere next year was exciting news for magical girl anime fans, it also serves as a reminder of how influential the original series was in changing the genre's traditional tropes and conventions. Earlier this month, the official Puella Magi Madoka Magica on X (formerly Twitter) gave a long-awaited update to the status on the Madoka Magica movie.

The tweet, which included an exciting new teaser trailer, stated that the film – officially titled Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie - Walpurgisnacht Rising – would premiere during the Winter 2024 anime season in Japan, with an international release sometime after that. The new film will be the fourth in franchise history.

Madoka Magica Breaks the Magical Girl Mold

While Madoka Magica is widely known for being the standard for darker magical girl anime, its original release was one of the first series to ever break the traditional themes that magical girl shows possess. Prior to Madoka Magica, magical girl stories often followed the same patterns. That being a good-natured girl teaming up with similarly kind and well-meaning young women to fight evil. However, when they're not fighting evil, the girls enjoy their "downtime" hanging out and doing all the things young girls often do. Indeed, their femininity and innocence are a source of their strength and camaraderie. Naoko Takeuchi's Sailor Moon is perhaps the best representation of this classic magical girl archetype.

Madoka Magica took the genre's traditional image and completely subverted its core themes. The series began with similar themes to what fans were used to, but the end of the third episode included something far from conventional. Mami, a kind-hearted and older magical girl that was introduced as a mentor for Madoka and Sayaka, was killed fighting a witch in front of the protagonists. Moreover, the dark shadow of Mami's death didn't disappear, rather, the event continued to haunt Madoka and other characters for the remainder of the series. This is best illustrated by how the hope and joy Madoka thought she would find as a magical girl turned out to be a bitter grind that often led to fights and disagreements between team .

Madoka Magica is the Model Dark Magical Girl Story

For all intents and purposes, Mami's death was the moment that immortalized a darker twist on magical girl anime. Madoka Magica would go on to fundamentally transform the genre. It established the idea that dark themes and young girls plumbing the depths of their despair could coexist with traditional magical girl themes.

As a result, the genre expanded its reach from mainly young girls and younger teenagers to older teens and young women. From that point on, there's rarely been a year when some new dark magical girl title has not come out. While both types of magical girls have the same goals in mind, their methods and behaviors are drastically different. Since then, Madoka Magica has done the lion's share to deepen, develop, and promote the genre in the anime industry.

Source: @Puella Magi Madoka Magica