Here's why Maho Shoujo Madoka Magica is ACTUALLY AND REALLY different from Sailor Moon and other Magical Girl animes. It was different from Episode 1 in fact.



1. The art style of the Witches and their minions and barriers, which by the way, reminds me of corny and ridiculous stuff like Courage The Cowardly Dog, Chowder, Flapjack, The Amazing World of Gumball, Betty Boop, and other such goofy shows, which also use those art styles too, and is why I can't take the series seriously, although it is still good though.

Heck, even SpongeBob used those Art Styles at times, like with "DOES THIS LOOK UNSURE TO YOU" and "The Fly Of Despair." It just made it even more ridiculous and silly-looking at those parts too.





2. There is no "Queen Beryl or Rita Repulsa-esque" Head Honcho Villain who is sitting on her throne, sending out the enemies after them (I always found Queen Beryl in Sailor Moon to be similar to Rita Repulsa in Power Rangers, Dr Hell in Mazinger Z, and also similar to baddies like King DeDeDe in Kirby and the Head Honchos in Jojo's Bizzare Adventure).



Like in most Magical Girl shows, there's always a Queen Beryl-esque head Honcho shown at the start who is like in each episode "Hahahaha, I'll send this one of my Random Minions after them, it will be the best way to deal with those troublesome heroes, and then I'll rule the world, BWA-HAHAHAHA!"

And most of the time, the random minion she sends out has something to do with a particular personal problem or place they are at or other such situation they are in for the episode.

Then when the Random Minion is defeated, she's like "Blast, how could that minion have lost, but I'll be back with another one, and next time You Sailor Scout Heroes will Regret This," or something like that.



Other Magical Girl animes also had a Head Honcho like that sending them out, including Tokyo Mew Mew and Pretty Cure.



In Madoka Magica though, there is no Queen Beryl or Rita-esque Head Honcho sending them out after them. The Witches are acting on their own behalf. And the presence of such a Head Honcho villain sending them out or not makes a BIG DIFFERENCE.





3. In Madoka Magica, they never say something like "We Will Win By Using The Powers Of Love," or something like that, like they always exclaim out loud in other Magical Girl shows. That also makes a BIG DIFFERENCE from other Magical Girl series.





4. The Boss Battles are more action-packed and cooler, unlike most Magical Girl shows.



Like in Sailor Moon, all the battles were basically this, she runs around a bit, waves her staff in the air, yells out "MOON TIARA MAGIC!" and then seals them away. That's it.

Not a big and long fight with lots of Parkour Moves and Explosions and Cool Attacks to damage the foe until it goes down.



That's what makes it cooler to me, and one of the reasons why I like the series, other than for the cuteness and cuddliness and fluffiness and moe'ness.