Puella Magi Madoka Magica, created by Shaft animation studio in 2011, utilizes two very different animation styles throughout the show. The first is a more standard style of Japanese animation and the second style, used only for scenes with witches and their labyrinths, is a more surreal style while also resembling Dadaist collage. The second style is really what makes the show stand out. The animation troupe behind the designs of the witches and labyrinths is Gekidan Inu Curry. The artists were inspired by Russian and Czech animation and the final result is very reminiscent of collage and paper-cut animation.
Surrealism is an art movement that represents the unconscious mind making it the perfect style to represent the subconscious mind of the witches. The labyrinths show important clues about their lives before becoming witches. Each aspect of the environment and any creature found within the labyrinths represent the inner most thoughts of the characters and their untold stories.
Dadaism started at the beginning of World War I and rejects logic and reasoning to create nonsensical artworks through collage, sculptures and sound poetry. The jumbled and chaotic nature of the Dadaist’s collages are mimicked in the flat paper cut-out style of animation used in Puella Magi Madoka Magica which combines more realistic looking cut-out pieces with sections of colourful patterns and pop-art-like illustration.
In contrast to the traditional Japanese animation seen throughout most of the show, the sequences depicting the witches looks like it could be a stop motion animation using paper-cut-outs. It shares similarities with Lotte Reiniger’s 1922 animation on Cinderella including the fairy tale feel.
Animation: Critical Perspectives 