In a luxurious mansion in Tokyo, Okino Reiko sat before her high-end television, watching the first episode of Puella Magi Madoka Magica. She couldn't help but exclaim, "The image quality is incredible! The art style is so exquisite! This is truly a high-definition animated series!"
Only TVs that supported HD resolution could display high-definition animated series, a trivial matter for Reiko, born into a wealthy family.
She had initially doubted whether the actual animation would live up to the quality of the promotional PV, whether it would look as comfortable and pleasing to the eye. Now she realized she had been wrong.
The visual quality of the main animation was every bit as impressive as the PV.
Madoka's round face might be jarring to some, but Reiko had read the Hidamari Sketch manga and found the character design perfectly acceptable, even likable.
Moreover, having read Hidamari Sketch, she could easily immerse herself in the world, and the healing atmosphere of the series was utterly captivating.
With the character design being acceptable, the overall visual quality and art style of the animation truly blew away all other series released at the time.
This is amazing!
It was utterly captivating.
The only issue was that, despite the exquisite art style evident in the opening minutes, something felt off.
Instead of the animation's opening sequence, it seemed to be a dream sequence of the protagonist:
A corridor of black and white stripes, a bizarre setting. Madoka Kaname, with her light pink twin-tailed bob, ran alone into a hall with a disturbingly strange art style. She ascended a series of steps and pushed open a door.
The camera slowly shifted to a wide shot, revealing the protagonist's surroundings.
A massive, withered tree stood in the darkness, surrounded by floating black, board-like objects. The sky was a hazy gray.
Black gears turned. High above, something shaped like an eagle—equally dark—hovered, encircled by two eerie halos.
The background music swelled, a fiery, energetic track that made it feel like a battle was about to erupt.
Madoka walked to the railing and gazed into the distance.
On a distant building stood a girl—Homura Akemi, the second female lead who had been featured in pre-broadcast promotions.
Homura Akemi, dressed in a sailor uniform, her long black hair billowing in the air, leaped skyward, charging toward the mysterious object radiating an eerie halo.
A fierce battle erupted, reducing nearby buildings to rubble.
Forces of different attributes clashed, creating dazzling, blinding light.
"This is too much," the female protagonist, watching from the sidelines, suddenly said.
"There's no choice. She'd be overwhelmed alone, but she's made her resolve," a voice replied from beside her.
Her contracted pet, Kyubey, materialized beside the protagonist. Its body was pure white, and its long, fluffy tail resembled a fox's. It looked like a cat but wasn't quite one, yet it was as adorable as a little white kitten.
The battle raged on in the distance, and it was clear Homura Akemi was being pushed to her limits.
After Kyubey's explanation, the protagonist couldn't help but protest, "How can this be? This is too cruel! There's no way this is fair!"
Meanwhile, Homura Akemi was suddenly struck down. Dazed, she glanced toward the protagonist's location and her eyes widened in alarm. She opened her mouth and screamed.
Judging by her lip movements, she might have been shouting "No," but the distance made it impossible to hear her voice, so we couldn't be sure what she was saying.
The camera shifted back to the protagonist.
Beside her, Kyubey said, "If you give up now, it all ends here."
"Huh?" The protagonist looked up, confused.
Kyubey continued, "But if it's you, you can change your fate."
The protagonist's face lit up with joy, but soon the flashing red light and crackling electricity forced her to cover her ears in pain.
"The unavoidable destruction and despair—you just need to overturn it all. You have the power to do it," Kyubey said.
The protagonist took two hesitant steps forward and asked, "Really?"
In the distance, Homura Akemi was falling from mid-air.
At the same time, the protagonist doubted herself: "Could someone like me really do anything? Could I change this outcome?"
"Of course," Kyubey replied with absolute certainty. "So, make a contract with me and become a magical girl."
The heroine hesitated, about to agree, when suddenly she gasped and woke up.
She was lying on her side in bed, wearing pajamas and clutching a pink teddy bear.
After a moment of dazed confusion, she sat up, hugging the bear with a relieved sigh. "It was just a dream."
The opening sequence began, and the initial scene ended.
From the heroine's awakening, everything seemed normal. The art style was standard. But the dream sequence... that was just too bizarre.
Those who had followed Lin Zhiyan's new animation announcement might have been prepared, but others would likely have assumed it wasn't a healing-genre Magical Girl Anime at all—more like a horror-themed, dark-style one.
They said it was a Magical Girl Anime for audiences 15 and older. Could this style be the key? Okino Reiko couldn't help but wonder.
Still, it was just a dream, so it didn't prove anything.
When the opening sequence finished and the GG screen faded, the main story began. Okino Reiko continued watching intently.
The title of the first episode was "The Face I Seem to Have Seen in a Dream."
The content revolved around this theme: the protagonist encountered Homura Akemi, who appeared as a transfer student at school.
Before that, the episode introduced the protagonist's basic situation: her mother worked to support the family, her father was a stay-at-home dad, and she had a younger brother in kindergarten. At school, she had two close friends: Hitomi Shizuki, a popular and beautiful girl, and Sayaka Miki, a lively and cheerful girl.
Their homeroom teacher was a woman named Kazuko, who had been in several relationships, but none had lasted more than a few months.
When the protagonist noticed that the transfer student, Homura Akemi, looked exactly like the person she had seen in her dream, she was so surprised that she didn't dare meet Homura's eyes.
After class, several girls crowded around Homura Akemi, chattering and asking her a barrage of questions.
Homura answered a few questions briefly before using the excuse of feeling unwell to excuse herself to the infirmary.
The girls gathered around Homura Akemi, eager to help her find her way, but she politely declined their offers.
She stood up and approached Madoka Kaname, asking her to take her to the infirmary.
However, despite asking Madoka to lead the way, Homura actually walked ahead once they left the classroom, with Madoka trailing slightly behind. This gave the impression that Homura was leading Madoka instead.
As it turned out, Homura didn't need any guidance at all; she knew exactly where the infirmary was.
During their walk, they had a brief conversation.
"Never try to become someone else," Homura told Madoka. "Otherwise, you'll lose everything."
Madoka looked utterly bewildered.
Homura offered no further explanation, leaving her with this parting remark: "Just keep living as Madoka Kaname, just as you always have, and just as you always will." With that, she continued walking, leaving Madoka standing there, utterly confused.
Following this exchange, the text began to describe Homura Akemi's background: her exceptional academic performance and remarkable athletic abilities, which left teachers and classmates in awe.
After school, at the mall, the protagonist sat with her two best friends, eating and sharing her recent experiences. She even told them about seeing Homura Akemi in her dream, which only made her friends laugh.
"It must be karma from a past life," Sayaka teased. "You two are destined companions, destined to meet across time and space."
Hitomi joined in the joke, "Maybe you really have met Miss Akemi before."
After chatting for a while, Hitomi stood up to say she was going to practice tea ceremony.
The protagonist and Sayaka gathered their things and prepared to head home.
On the way back, they stopped by a CD shop to pick up something for a guy named Kamijō, who was rumored to be Sayaka's crush.
Meanwhile, Kyubey was being chased by none other than Homura Akemi.
While the protagonist was listening to music with headphones in the CD shop, Kyubey's voice suddenly echoed in her mind: "Save me."
"Huh?" The protagonist took off her headphones, utterly bewildered.
Soon, Kyubey's voice rang out again: "Save me, Madoka. Please, save me."
Puzzled, the girl left the CD shop and went to a construction site that was under renovation. As she searched, a hole suddenly opened in the ceiling above, and a white creature fell down—it was Kyubey.
Kyubey was severely injured.
The girl was startled. She picked up Kyubey and asked, "Is it you?"
"Save me," Kyubey pleaded desperately.
Suddenly, another figure dropped down from the hole in the ceiling—it was Homura Akemi, much to the girl's astonishment.
"Leave that thing," Homura ordered.
"B-but this child is injured!"
Instead of leaving, the girl shielded Kyubey in her arms. "No, I can't. Don't do anything so cruel."
"It has nothing to do with you," Homura said, approaching the girl.
"But this child is calling to me! I heard it! It said, 'Save me!'" the girl explained.
"Is that so?"
Homura stared expressionlessly at the girl, her chain weapon swaying as she considered how to handle the situation.
At that critical moment, Sayaka appeared, spraying Homura wildly with a fire extinguisher.
With Sayaka's help, the protagonist successfully escaped with Kyubey.
So far, the plot had been fairly ordinary. But the next moment, bizarre patterns began to appear around Homura Akemi.
Strange butterflies, eerie architecture, and bizarre carriages... The entire television screen transformed into a surreal spectacle, accompanied by peculiar sound effects and a driving, intense soundtrack.
"What is this?" Okino Reiko, watching from in front of the TV, couldn't help but frown.
For a moment, she thought she'd accidentally switched to the wrong animation.
How could a healing-genre Magical Girl Anime suddenly show something that would drive your Sanity to the brink?
On the screen, Homura Akemi seemed unfazed by the phenomenon. She muttered, "Just at this moment..."
Meanwhile, the protagonist and Sayaka continued their frantic escape with Kyubey.
Along the way, Sayaka couldn't resist complaining, wondering if Homura was cosplaying a perverted serial killer and asking what the thing in the protagonist's arms was.
Before they could reach safety, the emergency exit suddenly vanished. A swarm of bizarre entities materialized, completely surrounding them.
Both girls were terrified.
Having never experienced anything like this before, Sayaka even wondered if she was having a nightmare.
In their moment of crisis, a new character appeared: Mami Tomoe, with her golden hair.
Though wearing the same school uniform as the girls, Mami was already a seasoned magical girl.
She unleashed the power of a magical girl, obliterating the bizarre entities and saving the protagonists. She then confronted Homura Akemi, who had been pursuing them, forcing Homura to abandon her chase of Kyubey.
After Homura left, Mami even helped heal Kyubey.
Once recovered, Kyubey first thanked the trio. Then, he introduced himself to the protagonists and, with a radiant smile, made his proposal: "I hope you'll sign a contract with me and become magical girls."
The ending credits rolled, and the first episode concluded.
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