I finally got around to watching Madoka Magica and Psycho-Pass a while ago, since they seem to have become a part of “required reading”. I had previously dropped out on Fate/Zero and given up on Madoka while it was running, and come to the conclusion I seriously dislike Urobuchi Gen’s writing. After looking at these series in larger blocks, I’m still not a fan, but could see the gripping aspects. (Warning: grumbling follows.)
There is such a thing as too much of a clear thing. Madoka is quite obviously a deconstruction of the mythology of the mahō shōjo. The narrative hits you over the head with “hey look, this is the underside/gritty reality of the magical girl world” moments over and over again. Sailor Moon, Utena and CCS also deconstructed magical girls, but it wasn’t the point that the writers would club the viewers with.
A year later, Psycho-Pass had much improved writing. The setting was interesting (if not terribly plausible) and its implications were explored in many episodes, though occasionally in a slightly contrived manner, as if the writers thought “we’re gonna need some deep stuff in here”. And I do expect they spent quite a bit of time thinking about Ghost in the Shell, particularly the Stand Alone Complex series. GitS’s ponderings do occasionally approach the shark-jump, but it manages to fit a lot of historical background and interesting questions about the implications of cyberbrains into the episodes. Psycho-Pass is at least a nice try in the same direction.
Besides wanting to make everything clear, Urobuchi’s writing has another significant annoyance in both Madoka and PP that repeatedly struck me: his penchant for gratuitous violence. It’s like there’s a quota for beatings per episode.
Violence in fiction is not necessarily a problem, but there should be a point. For example, Nasu and Tarantino have no lack of gore, but it’s usually directed to have some plotwise meaning. Urobuchi heads more in the splatter direction: guy comes to rob an apothecary, stabs workers with stuff for fun; citizens riot on the streets, beat up random guy for whatever; and so on. Gotta fill that quota. That blood ain’t gonna spill itself, guys.
Urobuchi’s upside is that he can write engagement like a pro. Or a game writer (oh wait…). Watching Madoka and PP is like watching a series of game cutscenes, but instead of grinding monsters between the episodes, you just have to wait for a week. Watching them in bulk is like a bag of chips: it’s impossible to stop even while getting annoyed at the nasty stuff.