Puella Magi Madoka Magica/Awesome
- Mami's first battle scene in episode 1. With the familiars closing in and Madoka and Sayaka trapped, a burst of light appears and Mami transforms for the first time... Her theme starts playing as she raises into the air and summons dozens if not hundreds of floating magic muskets, all with a gentle smile on her face. Even with knowledge of everything that happens afterward, this scene never fails to be awe-inspiring.
- Mami's fight against Gertrud in episode 2 is pretty cool too, especially when she whips out Grand Finale.
- The fact that Madoka never lost hope for a happy ending. Even when the audience already had (Gen Urobuchi isn't known for his happy endings).
- When Sayaka rejects Kyoko's ideals while still understanding her in episode 7. The Crowning Music of Awesome definitely helped. It's a shame about the rest of the episode...
- Whenever Homura uses her abilities, awesomeness tends to ensue. The most notable one would be in episode 8 where she used Time Stop magic to riddle Kyubey with a clip full of bullets instantaneously, just before Madoka can seal a Deal with the Devil. That scene is pure fanservice for people who hate Kyubey, which is pretty much everyone at this point.
- Major props to the animators at the end of episode 8. Even if you already knew magical girls became witches, the pure impact drawn when you see Sayaka's Soul Gem explode into a Grief Seed and the world reformat before your very eyes is still massive. Would anyone have imagined that becoming a witch would look like that?
- Episode 10, When Homura Akemi was revealed to be an ex-Shrinking Violet that Took a Level in Badass. In particular, when she starts mowing down witches with a M249 SAW
- After watching Madoka putter around and cry for nine episodes, the tenth treats us to the Madoka of the first alternate timeline, who makes a stand alone against Walpurgis despite Homura's pleading for the two to flee together. She apparently succeeds offscreen, only to be shown having died in the fight.
- Yeah, you know how it says above that Homura Took a Level in Badass? Well, her fight against Walpurgis Night in Episode 11 epitomized this, with her shooting it with a few hundred rocket launchers, hitting it with a semi truck (which, naturally, exploded), and summoning a battleship to catch her fall into the ocean and blast away at the witch. In short, Homura stole the entire fucking military. And landmines. Lots and lots of landmines.
- On episode 12 The glorious big shoot of Madoka to the witch that nearly ate the earth.
- Heck, the entire episode 12 was a crowning moment of awesome for Madoka.
- The way the showrunners used the opening song, Connect, qualifies. It is a normal bouncy magical girl opening, which seems to become Soundtrack Dissonance as the series gets darker. In episode 10, the viewer gets the impression that Homura is singing it, which makes it a huge tearjerker, since it emphasizes her despair. Then this gets turned on its head in episode 12, when it seems as if Madoka and/or Homura is singing it as an affirmation that they will never give up, and the new universe will never fall into despair (Madoka), and/or the people of that universe will be protected (Homura.) And the lyrics make sense no matter which way you're looking at them.
- In Ep 12, the Madoka of the current timeline shows that she's going to protect everyone with one last heroic speech right before she makes her wish.
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Madoka: I...*takes a deep breath* I want to erase every witch. Every witch from every world, from the past and the future. With my own hands. |
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- This is the first time we hear Madoka speak with complete authority, no hesitation whatsoever. She KNOWS what she's doing and she KNOWS Kyubey has no choice but to help.