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The story
A thread titled “Hey, wasn’t ‘Madoka Magica’ supposed to be an anime that caused a social phenomenon?” went up on 5ch’s Nandemo Jikkyo G (general live-commentary) board. It was sparked by a post noting that the new Madoka Magica movie’s box office on day two was falling short of the “Chiikawa” movie’s. The debate over Madoka’s reputation as a “social phenomenon” back when it aired on TV in 2011 split posters into two camps: those who argued the frenzy at the time was overstated, and those who defended the depth of its content. The discussion spread to comparisons with “The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya,” “Evangelion,” and “Attack on Titan,” turning into a broader argument over what the phrase “social phenomenon” actually means.
What people said
Bet Chiikawa won't be popular either if they make a movie sequel 15 years from now
Quit being jealous of Chiikawa
When did Madoka Magica (lol) ever sell at Chiikawa's level?
Chiikawa's the instant-explosion type
Quit being jealous of Chiikawa
Madoka Magica's content is way deeper
but it's too deep to reach women and kids
Isn't that what Pretty Cure is for?
You don't know about the darkness in creator Nagano's work? (Chiikawa's author is known for surprisingly dark undertones)
Have you actually watched Chiikawa properly?
Don't you analyze it too?
Even the TV finale had me going 'wait, that's it?'
Same goes for Madoka, same goes for Haruhi
Feel that
I watched both all the way through and still don't get what drew otaku to them so hard
Yeah, so I got recommended it, watched episode 1 through the finale, and here's my honest take
Watched the whole season, my rating's about a B-, and that's the "social phenomenon"? A social phenomenon within otaku circles, lmao. No wonder otaku get called creepy
Typing in a rush and typo'd it, lol
That's overstating it
It's not that bad
For Haruhi, Kyoto Animation's rock-solid art was a big part of it
Content-wise it's basically a Heisei-era Urusei Yatsura
The stealth marketing on that one was brutal though
Haruhi = Asuka, Nagato = Rei
Toss in some vague mysteries and otaku will do the analyzing for you
It's not something people still rewatch today like Eva, so it just feels like a fad from back then
Not sure how Haruhi would've turned out if they'd skipped Endless Eight
but that's what blew up in their face
Load it up with that mystery-heavy sekai-kei stuff and otaku eat it right up
Both Madoka and Haruhi are like two cycles out of date on the sekai-kei formula by now, but Haruhi's a whole generation older than Madoka
It's a transitional-era work, so watching it now the awkwardness wins out
Seriously, even Chainsaw Man, whose anime flopped, could clear that low bar
Is the promotion budget really that different between Jump titles and everything else?
Once you're used to watching anime you stop noticing it, but there's definitely a gap between heavy otaku-smell and light otaku-smell
Only 25 Japanese films have ever topped 10 billion yen and you're calling that bar low, lol
Calling Chainsaw Man a flop is honestly getting way too poisoned by one corner of the internet
Most viewers don't even know season 1 got torn apart
Around 2011 it really was huge
It's not exactly a summer-vacation movie
Kind of get that
Feels like Madoka's stealth marketing got completely steamrolled by Attack on Titan, and by the time the movie came out it had already faded into the background
Attack on Titan box office: 1.5 billion yen 😭
Up to that point, every magical girl show required a pure heart to transform
It got talked about because of the Mami scene, right? (the shocking episode-3 death)
That sense got lost once streaming spread and it became completely normal for regular people to watch late-night anime at all
It's kind of a self-proclaimed "social phenomenon," honestly
Even before Madoka there was Haruhi, and some of those were even worse — with even less of a real social-phenomenon feel
Background and Key Points of This Debate
The term “social phenomenon” was widely applied to late-night anime from the late 2000s through the early 2010s, but back then it wasn’t measured by TV ratings or box office — it usually referred to DVD/BD sales, merchandise rollout, and the buzz of online analysis and fan works. Now that streaming has made it routine for the general public to watch late-night anime, the very yardstick for what counts as “buzz” has shifted. What split opinion in the thread was whether it’s fair to judge an older work by “today’s yardstick” of theatrical box office — pitting those who praised the depth of the content against those who argued the fervor at the time was itself exaggerated. Note that the box-office figures and attendance numbers cited in the thread are posters’ own recollections or claims, and may not match official tallies.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Nandemo Jikkyo G) thread “Hey, wasn’t ‘Madoka Magica’ supposed to be an anime that caused a social phenomenon?.”
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