In Puella Magi Madoka Magica, magical girls are teenagers who have made a contract with little kitty aliens. The contract grants them a wish of their choice, and in return they must use new powers to kill abstract creates called witches...maybe I'll cover the witches someday too, because their designs are literally my aesthetic. Each magical girl has her own unique costume, weapon, and soul gem (a crystal containing her life energy), all subtly reflecting her personality and wish. We can infer that, on some level, the girls subconsciously design their own costumes, if Madoka's doodling is anything to go off. In this way, the costumes seem to be things they would CHOOSE to wear, which is the best way to design a magical girl in my book. Madoka Magica is my favourite magical girl show (said everyone on the planet in unison), so most of this will be gushing. Seriously, these are flawless magical girl designs. On their own they're great, and together they're phenomenal.
Madoka Kaname
Madoka Kaname is our sweet pink poster girl, but in an interesting twist she doesn't transform until the very end of the show. Her design, like everyone in the Holy Quintet, is the ideal blend of simplicity and detail; everything feels cohesive and necessary on these costumes. Madoka's dress is Classic Lolita style with bows and frills aplenty and pleasantly soft shapes, contrasted nicely with some shapeness from her hair and the top layer of her skirt. Madoka's design overall adopts the shape of a (shooting) star, representing hope, light, and wishes. The pinkish red details go beautifully with the pink, as does the creamy yellow lace of her bodice. The tiny heart cut out of her back is so cute. Her soul gem, on her chest, is placed over her real 'heart' and reminds me a little of Kyubey's eye, as if to show he is always watching Madoka...and it also, from afar, kind of looks like a wound. A literal bleeding heart. Madoka is my favourite magical girl design ever. If you want to know how serious I am, when I was a fourteen year old with a constant magical girl alter ego daydream running in my head, I imagined myself with this costume < 3 Madoka's bow and arrow, made of a rose branch, is also super neat. Her wish and personality varies across timelines, but her costume always stays identical, gunning down a few theories on how the costume design works, but I'd say Madoka stays similar enough throughout the timelines for her idealised self as a magical girl to not change. I think Madoka's transformed costume is just her vision of a fluffy, idealised magical girl, and it's perfect. No notes.
Sayaka Miki
Sayaka looks so cool! She's introduced as Madoka's cheerful, outgoing friend. Note how this show flips the usual magical girl personality colour coding. Back to Sayaka, her costume is of course based on a knight, mirroring her desire to save her crush Kyosuke and sweep him off his feet...in this sense, he's taking on the princess/prince role. The knight theme is fairly subtle, but conveyed expertly through just the cape and the sword. The sword is generic, but this suits Sayaka's scenario, and it's cleverly used in some fight scenes like a conductor's baton to nod to her musical interest. I really love the simple outfit under the cape, which has a fashionable modern feel with the belt and cropping, then a cool asymetrical skirt to hint at Sayaka's instability. There's an almost mermaidy flow to it, too, perhaps alluding to her Little Mermaid parallels. I'm really fond of the short hair--I think a lot of magical girl shows miss out on cool design potential by always defaulting to longer styles. Here, it almost looks like water dripping over her face. Sayaka's soul gem is a curved shape (a bit like a moon) over her belly button, suggesting vulnerability and yearning. Her shape language suggests a teardrop, fittingly, and the colour palette gives subtle nautical vibes without any actual ocean imagery. Super clever. Side note, her surname, voice actress, colour scheme and...the timing of PMMM means she could be a Cure Berry reference. I hope so :p
Mami Tomoe
Mami is the flower-shaped magical girl with a flowery persona, projecting an air of wisdom and confidence despite being a child herself, and a deeply troubled, lonely child at that. Her magical girl costume conveys this by making her resemble a doll, or a child's idea of a refined, elegant lady. At the same time, Mami's ass-kicking is immediately suggested through the hunting elements of her costume and the muskets she wields in battle. Her corkscrew pigtails balance her elegant persona with the truth of her age and innocence, and also call to mind her signature golden ribbons. I love the use of brown to compliment the yellow. The beret is a wonderful touch--each Quintet girl has a hair accessory of sorts and it works well to unite these otherwise quite diverse styles and cut of costume. Mami's soul gem is here on her hat, pointing to her knowledge as a magical girl veteran. The plum coloured stockings stand out in the yellows, browns and whites and yet they work perfectly, giving her lower half more visual interest. I didn't want to have to mention this, but I think it's important...the original Madoka anime gave Mami a very realistic body type, and it's disturbing to me that all later material has ballooned her chest to comical proportions when a) it looks stupid and b) she's a kid. Mami deserves better than that!!!
Kyoko Sakura
Kyoko is a little rougher than the other girls, more eager to fight, and her spiked mane of hair with the snaggletooth serve as an immediate indicator. But then we have the religious-looking, candle-shaped gown she wears (I guess in this case her hair is the flame) and the hair ribbon. These softer touches and surprising frills points both to Kyoko's inner goodness and her background in the church. The parting of her dress actually seems to form the silhouette of a church as seen from the front. I like this shade of cherry-red she's got going on, though I think the lack of contrast can be confusing on the eyes and I would have made her dress a slightly darker shade, personally. Kyoko's soul gem is on her chest, implying her (understandable) selfishness and her pride. Her spear breaking into chains is always supercool.
Homura Akemi
I think Homura's design works better for her non-glasses self, which makes sense, because I'm sure that was designed first--I always thought glasses Homura would probably have a longer skirt, or even some goofy cute detail like a little witch hat, I don't know. Still, the comparative sleek plainness of this costume makes sense, because Homura is a magical girl who lives and fights just for someone else and has little sense of personal identity. Her entire outfit seems to be a school uniform crossed with a flatter copy of Madoka's skirt, with the more modest long sleeves and full tights/boots. Only the small bows and skirt ruffles suggest a conventional magical girl, and they're seemingly just what Homura emulated from her crush. I prefer her design with the braids and glasses, but her final look is just as cohesive. With her hair down, she takes on a diamond shape--sharp and powerful--mirrored in her cool shield and her soul gem, which is on her hand. That seems like a risky spot, but I have to believe they're pretty strong gemstones, since she's survived so long. Homura is clearly meant to be a bait and switch, taking on the role of a mysterious, antagonistic dark magical girl in the early episodes, and her design is perfect for this.
Nagisa Momoe
I must guess Nagisa was designed after Charlotte, and they did a brilliant job of not just...copying the witch design or palette. I think it's far more interesting that the witches don't necessarily look anything like their magical girls, though certain details can be similar. In Nagisa's case, she has a cute little hood like Charlotte's doll form. Her weapon does closely resemble Charlotte's wormy form, but I'd guess this isn't how it would have looked before she witched out. It's probably more like how Sayaka summons Oktavia in the same scene. Nagisa looks like a little piping bag or chocolate treat with her cream-white waves of hair and her rounded brown skirt. The muted, brownish palette works so well, and though I like the Mami allusions in her concept art, I'm glad they settled on the white hair to make her stand out. Nagisa is just supercute and fits in nicely with the original Quartet. My babyyyy.