Jesus tapdancing skateboarding Christ I make a post about five different topics and so far every single response has been wanking about Madoka. Siiiiigh.
Wasn't the real reason Madoka became so popular because pretty much all the other anime that debuted in that season was pretty bad?
I definitely can't disagree that pretty much all of the other anime airing last winter was pretty bad. :) But that alone doesn't account for the explosive popularity of Madoka. It was a combination of factors: Shaft building up excitement beforehand, all of the narrative kinks carefully calculated to appeal to various audiences (the moe character designs, the SHOCK moments, the yuri overtones, etc.), and - like I said in the comments above - the fact that for the first time there was a large portion of Madoka's male audience who hadn't ever seen a grimdark magical girl show before, because they had only been exposed to "magical girls for guys" shows (which tend to be much more with the sparkly pink and a lot less with the conflict and death), so to that section of the audience Madoka was suddenly the most revolutionary thing ever. At least, that was the impression that I got from lurking on 2ch while the show was airing. And definitely the impression that I'm getting now from the trolls who are (still!) attacking one my friends (and have been doing so for two months straight!) just because she posted a comment on devart about how Sailor Moon did it first.
Also as pointed out otaku aren't known for not watching "sparkly pink girly stuff" and I know that Pretty Cure And Sakura have a huuuuge otaku fanbase, so why compare them with people that refuse to watch MLP because is for girls?
I am comparing the specific group of people who praise Madoka for being original while refusing to watch Sailor Moon or Pretty Cure to the people who refuse to watch MLP for the same reason - because those things are for girls.
Sorry, but after having dealt with the Madoka trolls for months now, I still find it very damning that the most vocal Madoka evangelists are a) men and b) admit to having never watched older magical girl shows for girls and c) refuse to do so because those shows for girls couldn't POSSIBLY be as intelligent, well-written, or universally relevant as Madoka, right?! Which is exactly the phenomenon that Melinda Beasi described in her post.
Like I've clarified in the comments multiple times, this isn't about Madoka fandom in general, just a particularly obnoxious - and, fuck, let's face it, blatantly sexist - segment of the fanbase being asses about it.
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Wasn't the real reason Madoka became so popular because pretty much all the other anime that debuted in that season was pretty bad?
I definitely can't disagree that pretty much all of the other anime airing last winter was pretty bad. :) But that alone doesn't account for the explosive popularity of Madoka. It was a combination of factors: Shaft building up excitement beforehand, all of the narrative kinks carefully calculated to appeal to various audiences (the moe character designs, the SHOCK moments, the yuri overtones, etc.), and - like I said in the comments above - the fact that for the first time there was a large portion of Madoka's male audience who hadn't ever seen a grimdark magical girl show before, because they had only been exposed to "magical girls for guys" shows (which tend to be much more with the sparkly pink and a lot less with the conflict and death), so to that section of the audience Madoka was suddenly the most revolutionary thing ever. At least, that was the impression that I got from lurking on 2ch while the show was airing. And definitely the impression that I'm getting now from the trolls who are (still!) attacking one my friends (and have been doing so for two months straight!) just because she posted a comment on devart about how Sailor Moon did it first.
Also as pointed out otaku aren't known for not watching "sparkly pink girly stuff" and I know that Pretty Cure And Sakura have a huuuuge otaku fanbase, so why compare them with people that refuse to watch MLP because is for girls?
I am comparing the specific group of people who praise Madoka for being original while refusing to watch Sailor Moon or Pretty Cure to the people who refuse to watch MLP for the same reason - because those things are for girls.
Sorry, but after having dealt with the Madoka trolls for months now, I still find it very damning that the most vocal Madoka evangelists are a) men and b) admit to having never watched older magical girl shows for girls and c) refuse to do so because those shows for girls couldn't POSSIBLY be as intelligent, well-written, or universally relevant as Madoka, right?! Which is exactly the phenomenon that Melinda Beasi described in her post.
Like I've clarified in the comments multiple times, this isn't about Madoka fandom in general, just a particularly obnoxious - and, fuck, let's face it, blatantly sexist - segment of the fanbase being asses about it.