Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica was the best anime I've seen in quite a while. It starts off as if it were a clichéd magical girls show... takes three episodes to show that that's not quite true... takes another three episodes to prove the exact opposite. It basically takes your preconceptions of series of the genre and throws them right back at you.

The story is pretty dark. I won't go much further into it to prevent spoiling anything, but the plot has a lot of twists that (may) go directly against your expectations of what the show would turn out to be. It had great pacing, always keeping on pressure to make you continue watching. By the end it very much reminded me of two other anime I like a lot, and that would be (SPOILER)Steins;Gate and Higurashi no Naku Koro ni.

It's one of rather few shows with an episode count in the ~12 range that didn't feel cramped. Air and Angel Beats felt like they should've been longer. Not the case with Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica, it took just as much time as it needed, no more, no less.

I can only recommend it further, particularly to people who like shows such as Elfen Lied. Definitely among my Top 5.

Next up, finally Little Busters! I've been itching to watch it ever since someone who's seen Clannad told me it was the saddest anime they'd ever seen. And that's quite a statement. Might take a while till I finish it though since I have a couple of deadlines coming up this week.