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Time for something completely new for a change. In my opinion, one of the most unique feature here in psgels is always the scoring system, which goes all the way up to 100. This allows much more range in rating a series, compared to the usual 5-star or 10 rating scale. However, the truth is that rating’s highly subjective. We score some shows higher because we think that they are “better” than other shows, and we score them evenly because we believe they have the same quality. But we know that you will always have different opinions than us. Which brings me to this very poll.
Now it’s your turn. The premise of this Versus Show is simple: Take any 2 shows that have the same rating here in psgels, and YOU vote for the one that you think is better. Sounds like fun? Let’s begin.
Here come the first pair, arguably two of the best shows out of 2011, which shared the same score of 87.5. Let’s run them down:
Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica
(AKA: Girls have to save themselves)
Studio: Shaft
Season: Winter 2011
Episodes: 12
MAL Rating: 8.52
Madoka Kaname and Sayaka Miki are regular middle school girls with regular lives, but all that changes when they encounter Kyuubey, a cat-like magical familiar, and Homura Akemi, the new transfer student. Kyuubey offers them a proposition: he will grant one of their wishes and in exchange, they will each become a magical girl, gaining enough power to fulfill their dreams. (from MAL)
Here’s an excerpt from an original review by our truly psgels:
“Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica finally shows us another deconstruction of the Mahou shoujo genre, and it is glorious… The thing that’s especially amazing about this series is how well everything fits together. It’s twelve episodes long, but it makes excellent use of its time, the characters all fit the story perfectly and everyone serves his own purpose to the points that this series is trying to make. The show really makes sure that it doesn’t waste its time and just about every episode adds something to the overall story and characters. This creates quite a bit of nice development for such a short series.”
Versus
Steins;Gate
(AKA: Boy saves girl, by letting another girl die)
Studio: White Fox
Season: Spring 2011
Episodes: 24
MAL Rating: 9.17
The self-proclaimed mad scientist Rintarou Okabe rents out a room in a rickety old building in Akihabara, where he indulges himself in his hobby of inventing prospective “future gadgets” with fellow lab members: Mayuri Shiina, his air-headed childhood friend, and Hashida Itaru, a perverted hacker nicknamed “Daru.” The three pass the time by tinkering with their most promising contraption yet, a machine dubbed the “Phone Microwave,” which the phenomenon doesn’t provide anything concrete in Okabe’s search for a scientific breakthrough; that is, until the lab members are spurred into action by a string of mysterious happenings before stumbling upon an unexpected success—the Phone Microwave can send emails to the past, altering the flow of history. (from MAL)
psgels said:
“There is one thing at which Steins;Gate is unrivaled at compared to anything else that aired this year: its plot. If it’s originality, creative twists and multi layers that you want, then this is a must-watch. This has a bit of a slow start, but as the series goes on its intricately woven plot about time travel shines like no other and this show is masterful at combining seemingly insignificant hooks into gripping plot twist… The lead characters’ monologues in particular are well written, but on top of that this is a series that really did its research into time travel. It may not present the most logical way that time travel might be possible (I mean, there are still parts where you’re going to have to suspend your disbelief), but it’s very well researched.”
This poll is no longer accepting votes
There are some rules, though
RULE #1: NO MIDDLE GROUND. You can’t vote for both. It has to be either Madoka or Steins;Gate. After all this is an objective of the poll.
RULE #2: NO MULTIPLE VOTE. One vote per person only.
RULE #3: NO INSULTS. It’s perfectly fine that people have different opinions and we respect that. Don’t ruin the fun by berating, harassing or taking it too personally.
Apart from those rules, anything goes. As this is just purely an experiment to see if you viewers find it interesting, there is no time limit for this first boxing match. Please vote and if you like, tell us more about your choice in the comment below. Also, any recommendation how you would prefer us to do, content-wise and format-wise (even if you want to tell us to stop this) would be very welcome as well. If you think of any interesting pairs for the next show-down, drop us a line as well. For now, HAPPY VOTING!
I think this is a cool new thing to do, keeps the site alive.
Also a very good mathcup, 2 highly regarded shows that are rather similar in rating (still an easy choice of Steins;Gate for me though).
As for the next one, I did some searching and found 3 that were rated the same and were, in some way, similar:
Air Vs Clannad:After Story, Cross Game vs Chihayafuru and Fate/Zero vs Spice and Wolf.
Thanks for being the first one to comment topgavin. The only downside of just covering current season is that for those who don’t follow the new season, there is little to no reason for them to check back to the site, so in a way we aim for more interaction with readers by doing this.
As for your recommendations, I’m not to sold on Air and Clannad:After Story as I feel them more like a sibling than actual rival (they came from the same studio); Cross Game vs Chihayafuru could be an interesting match, since they are very well-made sport shows (albeit very different kind of sports). But I’m already sold on the pair-up of Fate/Zero vs Spice & Wolf. They are totally different shows, to the point I think each of them has their own passionate fan-base, and they’re both great on their owns. Anyhow, rest assured that if we gonna do this thing again, we will pick the next match-up to be even more competitive.
Fate/Zero and Spice and wolf isn’t really a fair matchup though. What the focus on is too different and theres little to compare between the two of them.
Though here’s an interesting one. Fullmetal Alchemist original vs Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood.
Yeah, that’s one I thought could work too but then again, we all know that brotherhood would blow it out of the water.
Spice and Wolf and Brotherhood.
But I also love the other two.
Really good first matchup. Both are well made, both use time travel in some way, both have a rather dark tone at points.
Steins;Gate is still the easy decision, but hey, I enjoyed both.
Well. I didn’t expect this to be so one sided. I picked Madoka, mostly because I felt it was a much better whole. Steins Gate had a slow start and only really hits it’s stride halfway into the series.
On Team Madoka as well! Much better pacing, and requires much less knowledge of “in-group-vocabulary” than all the Akihabara stuff that S;G has.
Both good series, but while S;G is merely “very good”, Madoka goes straight into “masterpiece” territory. No match for me. Steins has some faults – the pacing at the beginning most notably, and more in general some issues with repetitiveness as well as a plot without much substance or meaning besides its immediate value as an excellent sci-fi thriller. For Madoka I’d really be hard pressed to find ANY faults – it’s basically perfect, amazingly well paced, doesn’t waste a single minute of air time nor rush a single plot point, and tells a perfectly contained and multi-layered story. It’s just Up There with the greats (it’s in fact my third favourite show ever after Paranoia Agent and Revolutionary Girl Utena).
This is such a fun idea! I picked Madoka because it was short and (bitter)sweet, developed its own aesthetics and deconstructed a genre that needed some love and attention again. Plus it’s overwhelming impact globally is something to be noted, I could’ve never imagined it blowing up the way it did when I watched it as it aired.
I would chose Stein simply because it’s more honest to its premise.
Madoka is a good show, phenomenal, but it’s an extreme deconstruction of a genre, so a bit of pretentiousness is there.
You can’t knock a show just because of it’s intention in my opinion. Maybe you can fault Madoka for being too transparent, though, since it was blatantly obvious in that case.
Great pick, as they are pretty much very comparable to each other.
This time I quite decisively pick Steins;Gate, though. Madoka quality overall is more balanced, and yeah S;G early part (and side arcs) is rather weak. However, the ultimate payoff of S;G is much more rewarding compared to Madoka.
Madoka’s Homu2 + final episode are great, but S;G final arc is possibly the best arc of any series out there, with various taste of drama, thriller, romance, and epicness thrown into it, finished with pitch perfect ending.
So yeah, in the end it’s more of my personal preference which value a flawed series with a phenomenal part with it more compared to a constantly good series. Plus, S;G has a lead since it’s two cour, thus have more time for investment.
Well, Steins;Gate maintains a very comfortable lead atm. The general consensus seems to be both shows are on the same level, but Steins;Gate is a wee bit better.
As for me, Steins:Gate is a clear winner, but that’s just because I response to that show more personally than with Madoka. And Madoka is very hard to fault it. I always feel the characters’ development in Madoka is designed more for plot progress and thematic relevance than for characters themselves. In other words the characters never feel like real people to me. Maybe that’s why I enjoy the Rebellion film than the whole series. But then again I don’t consider it its weakness, it’s more about my personal preference really.
I love both shows to pieces. Such wonderful animes.
S;G lives off its characters and their interactions. It is more easily accessible, and with the requited and fulfilled romance between Kurisu and Okabe, it left me (and obviously, the majority of voters) fully satisfied. At the same time, it was a melange of multiple paths of the various girls due to its Visual Novel source, so it was a bit uneven at times. A sweet Latte de Macchiato for everyone.
Madoka is also heavily focused on characters, but it is more densely and carefully constructed with a remarkable logical coherence. All characters had a big influence on the plot, and the rises and falls of all characters contributed to the progress – noone could have been left out or written around. No other anime gripped me as much emotionally. I recall that at the end of episode 11, with Homura trapped under rubble and despairing, about to turn into a witch herself, seemingly not only failing in her endless struggle, but rather exacerbating the problem with her efforts, I was literally yelling at the screen in tears. I knew Urobutchi Gen’s works, so I knew that he’d be fully capable of pulling the trigger for an utter catastrophe. This penultimate catharsis of the real heroine of the show, leading to the clever resolution by the nominal heroine, was nothing less than a piece of art. An almost-unsweetened bitter and dense moccha, hard to swallow, but impossible to forget.
In the end, S;G would probably make my personal top10, if I had to pick animes to take along on the famous lonely island. Madoka is – bar none – the best anime I’ve ever watched. There is no other anime that I’d rate equal or even higher.
Freudian lapse. Of course it’s Urobuchi Gen.
As a time-traveling show, Steins;Gate is a clear winner for me. It doesn’t necessarily mean that I consider it better than Madoka though. If we were doing a versus on which is a better show in psychological factor, I’d vote for Madoka.