We watched the 2011 anime series Puella Magi Madoka Magica, a deconstruction of the magical girl genre. Madoka and her friends fantasize about being magical girls, but when they meet a classmate who really has this secret identity, they learn about the dark bargain you have to make to gain that power. A cute alien creature asks you to sign a contract, granting you any wish, in exchange for your services battling evil witches. There’s no way out of the contract, and you’ll almost certainly become corrupted and turn into a witch yourself. But when you can have your heart’s desire, and protect your community and your closest friends from danger, is the sacrifice worth it?
The Whatnauts present The Review Show, a weekly book club style podcast for all sorts of pop culture. We cover a variety of genres and mediums — movies, TV shows, comics, anime, manga, audio dramas — picking out a specific piece of entertainment that we can cover in a week’s time. Every episode, your intrepid co-hosts Kyle and Melissa dive into the media of the week (with a spoiler warning!), give recommendations, and take turns pitching the next topic. For one episode a month, we check in with continuing coverage on a longer title, like a full TV series or comics run, and follow it all the way to the end. Join us for fun discussions on a wild variety of entertainment you should know!
Check out our other podcasts here, or wherever you get your podcasts. If video is more your thing, then check our YouTube channel. And if you like what we do, support us on Patreon to unlock early access to most of our podcasts as well as exclusive episodes and more. You can find us on Twitter and we would love to have you join us on our Discord server as well.
