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Puella Magi Madoka Magica (Japanese: 魔法少女まどか☆マギカ, Hepburn: Mahō Shōjo Madoka Magika), <onlyinclude> also known simply as Madoka Magica, is a Japanese anime television series created by Magica Quartet, and animated by Shaft. The story follows a group of middle school girls, led by protagonist Madoka Kaname, who make supernatural contracts to become magical girls. In battling surreal enemies known as "witches", they learn of the anguish and peril associated with their new roles. The first ten episodes of the series aired on TBS, MBS, and other their affiliates between January and March 2011, while the final two episodes were delayed until April of the same year due to the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.
A manga adaptation of the anime and various spin-off manga have been published by Houbunsha and licensed in North America by Yen Press. A novelization by Nitroplus was released in August 2011, and a dedicated magazine, Manga Time Kirara Magica, was launched by Houbunsha in June 2012. A video game for the PlayStation Portable was released in March 2012 and another for PlayStation Vita was released in December 2013. A mobile game, Magia Record, launched in August 2017, and a three-season anime adaptation produced by Shaft aired from January 2020 to April 2022. An anime film series, beginning with two films recapping the television series, was released in October 2012. A third film featuring an original story, Rebellion, was released in October 2013. A sequel film to Rebellion, titled Walpurgisnacht: Rising, is scheduled to be released in February 2026.
Puella Magi Madoka Magica has received widespread critical acclaim, with praise for its complex narrative, visuals, themes, and soundtrack as well as its unconventional approach to the magical girl subgenre. It became a commercial success; each Blu-ray Disc volume sold more than 50,000 copies in Japan. The series garnered a variety of awards, such as the Television Award at the 16th Animation Kobe Award, as well as 12 Newtype Anime Awards and the Grand Prize for the Animation Division at the 15th Japan Media Arts Festival in 2011. (Full article...)
The fifth season of the One Piece anime series was directed by Kōnosuke Uda and produced by Toei Animation. Like the rest of the series, it follows the adventures of Monkey D. Luffy and his Straw Hat Pirates, but instead of adaptating part of Eiichiro Oda's One Piece manga, it features three completely original, self-contained story arcs. The first five episodes, each following their own plots, form the "Dreams!" (ドリームス!) arc. The next three episodes make up the "Shutsugeki! Zenii Kaizoku Dan" (出撃! ゼニィ海賊団, lit. "Sortie! Zenny Pirates") storyline and focus on the Straw Hats meeting an old moneylender. The last five episodes form the "Niji no Kanata e" (虹の彼方へ, lit. "To the Other Side of the Rainbow") arc and deal with the protagonists getting trapped inside a mysterious, rainbow-colored mist.
The season initially ran from November 3, 2002 through February 2, 2003 on Fuji Television in Japan and was released on DVD in five compilations, each containing one disc with two or three episodes, by Toei Animation between March 3, 2004 and July 7, 2004. The season was then licensed and heavily edited for a dubbed broadcast and DVD release in English by 4Kids Entertainment. Their adaptation ran from August 4, 2007 though September 22, 2007 on Cartoon Network and omitted seven of the season's thirteen episodes. It was the last season to be dubbed by 4Kids Entertainment. DVDs of their adaptation were not released. Starting with the sixth season, Funimation Entertainment began dubbing new episodes for broadcast on Cartoon Network. Eventually they began redubbing the series from the start for uncut release on DVD and released the fifth season, relabeled as "One Piece: Season Two – Seventh Voyage", on May 11, 2010. (Full list...)