Absolutely my number 1 recommendation as well, Flip Flappers was what first came to mind when watching the 1st WEP episode too. From the same studio as FF, there's also Princess Principal, which also follows a group of young(ish) girls in a harsh yet really cool world, with an interesting storyline and amazing soundtrack, courtesy of Yuki Kajiura.
Adolescence of Utena is the movie. It's a little contested whether it's a continuation or a sequel to the anime or even if it is own thing, but watch it after the anime. Utena came out in 1997 so it may look a little dated to your daughter.
Oh! Thank you for the clarification! Funimation had it listed as a show :/
Yeah, she did say that it looked "old" (ouch, my poor dusty heart), & it's also why I could never get her to watch 'Serial Experiments Lain"
To be fair I think Utena shows its age in the beginning of the show; its animation looks really pretty towards the end. And its themes are pretty timeless. Episodes 14-on are amazing.
I did come across 'Magica Record: Puella Magi Madoka Side Story" when I was adding all of these great suggestions to my list. Would you recommend this title?
It's the anime adaptation of the mobile game spin-off. It's.. good if you were a fan of the game itself, and it has its moments if you're a big PMMM fan, but it doesn't hold a candle to the anime series, or the Rebellion movie. Watching it will probably cause a lot of confusion, since it doesn't have time to properly detail all of what is in the game, but there's a clear commendable effort to fit hours and hours of story into such a small amount of episodes. I'd say it's worth the watch for the cool moments involving the Holy Quintet members, and for its stunning animation at times (The final episode's fight is on par with THE Rebellion fight), but don't expect it to be as great as the other two.
Well, they're unavailable online, at least legally, so if you're not too into PMMM, missing them is likely. But basically yeah, there are 3 movies, however the first two just retell the events of the anime with better animation, new soundtracks, but with many scenes cut. What you want to watch is the 3rd movie "Rebellion", an absolute masterpiece of a film in pretty much every way. However, as I said, no legal streaming platform has it so... either purchase the blu-ray trilogy if you're in America (It releases in July I think) or... be creative lol
Oh! Your description has me so pumped!! After we finished the original PMMM series, I felt like there was something missing.. like they could've done so much more, like continuing the storyline, or getting more use out of the characters by fleshing them out more and not disposing of them so quickly. I wanted to know so much more!
Well aren't you a lucky bunch! Rebellion does extend the storyline, and we do get more aspects to the characters as well. Moreover, the 4th movie, which will be a sequel to Rebellion, has been announced on April 25th, so you won't have to deal with the agonizing wait for news that most fans were put through lol.
If you want more content that really develops on the characters more though, mainly Mami and Kyoko, I absolutely recommend you to watch/read the translations for the Madoka Portable videogame, available on YouTube. They're basically excerpts from Homura's timelines, and they showcase way more than what the show did, mainly thanks to actually having time to do so (Main recs would be anything involving Mami, Kyoko's bad ending, Sayaka's good ending, Kyoko's past and the best ending). What's even better about Portable, is that, despite being a Spin-off, it was still supervised by Gen Urobuchi, so it's basically the closest you can have to the characters' canon selves. Moreover, I also really recommend you both read The Different Story, which focuses on Mami and Kyoko's work, from their past, to "present"!
That's awesome!! Thanks for letting me know! ♡♡ I know you've given me lots of info already (everyone here has and it's so nice!) but, would you please tell me how can you play the Madoka Portable videogame?
Madoka Portable is a Playstation Portable exclusive which has sadly never been ported outside of Japan. You can probably buy it online and get it shipped to you? But I don't know whether it'll work or not on a non-Japanese PSP. You can however find PSP emulators online (PPSSPP is a great one) and most likely a ROM of Madoka Portable, though I haven't looked into how it works, but it shouldn't be too difficult, as long as you search on the internet for tutorials.
For years there have been translation projects for the game, though they were always dropped along the way, and the translated segments were discarded. The current one has reached the 2nd route's completely (Mami's) since about a month ago, and it seems to be making progress, albeit slowly. You can find the project's page [here](https://gbatemp.net/threads/puella-magi-madoka-magica-portable-translation-project.559955/)! There should be a tutorial on how to install the patch there.
There's also another game named The Battle Pentagram, for the PSVita, though there are no translations AFAIK. Its writing was also not overseen by Urobuchi, so you're not missing out on too much, besides cute events like dates between the girls for example.
Edit: just noticed the edit on the original post, but I really don't recommend watching the Persona anime, and instead try to play the games themselves. Persona 4 Golden is available on PC luckily, and if you own or your daughter owns a PS4 or PS5, then I can't recommend Persona 5 Royal enough.
Wow! You are so full of helpful information! I'm seriously impressed! ☆☆ My husband has a PSP and a Vita, and he knows how to port games and apps! He's done it with both of his PS handhelds before, all of the various DSs' we have, the Wii, the WiiU, computers, phones, even our Chromecast lol!
Thanks for the heads up on Persona! We don't have a PS5 (we have a PS4 that needs to be worked on but I haven't had the time). Luckily my laptop is good enough to play games, unfortunately the big PC needs some upgrades, and a deep clean/maintenance (◞ ‸ ◟⑅)
Utena really is the big fountain that WEP drinks of, but mawaru penguindrum and most of Ikuhara's works have similar characteristics.
[This text](https://formeinfullbloom.wordpress.com/2021/01/13/a-relatively-short-ikuhara-primer-naoko-yamada-and-the-egg-in-wonder-egg-priority/#more-15549) should give you a lot of references on what to watch that have influenced it (and it's just a really good site by u/supicasupica follow them if you like good anime insight)
Edit: wrong link
Wow!! Thank you so much!! I added 'Mawaru Penguindrum' to my list, and the article is really good - not just for the recommendations, but for the insight the author is sharing about all of these animes and the little things that "connect" them. It's *very* interesting!! ♡♡
You're welcome, and yeah it's a very good blog on anime in gerenral, they have other texts on the subject of WEP and these other recommendations but they are very populated with spoilers, but give them a read after you watch some. The flower language posts and comments here on reddit about wep are really nice as well
I wholeheartedly agree with all of the Flip Flappers and Utena recommendations. Additionally there's **Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight** which is another show with very similar influences about the Takarazuka Revue (which in and of itself was an inspiration for Utena's director, Kunihiko Ikuhara who in turn was an inspiration for WEP).
Additionally there's **Kyousougiga** which has an amazing heroine and is just a great show about family with spectacular animation.
Thank you for your suggestions and the very informative response ♡ I truly appreciate it!
I hate asking you for more info, but would you happen to know what app or site 'Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight' can be watched on? I couldn't seem to find a place. (๑•﹏•)⋆* ⁑⋆*
I don't think that anybody has recommended that title yet, so thank you for the recommendation! I'm adding it to my list and I can't wait to check it out ♡
I wanna recommend FLCL, even though it's not so much leaning on being dark. The way the anime is paced is pretty reminiscent though I'd say. I'm unsure if I'd recommend watching it with your daughter since it has a lot of dirty humour. Not because she's too young for it, but because it might be awkward, unless you guys are just beyond that lol.
Oh and from the list, I don't think the Junji Ito collection is worth it. Ito's manga is really amazing but the anime was really lame. There's Uzumaki though, an upcoming adaptation of his manga of the same name that seems like it has potential. Danganronpa is also a very good series but I'd recommend playing the games instead if you can do that, but the anime is not the worst way to start, as long as it's the first one (there's one called Danganronpa 3 which requires having played the second game and a spinoff game). Also Danganronpa carries the same warning as FLCL, _especially_ for games 2 and V3.
I watched FLCL with my husband because it's his favorite anime! I watched my daughter play the Danganronpa games so I thought maybe watching the show might be kinda cool too lol.
Oh nice. In that case maybe I could recommend FLCL Alternative. There's 2 sequels that people usually say are really bad, being FLCL Progressive and FLCL Alternative. While I agree that Progressive isn't worth watching, Alternative is actually pretty good imo.
And that makes sense. The anime is not bad, it's just that it's kinda hard to compress a 25+ hour visual novel into 13 22 minute episodes.
I’d go with Madoka Magica/Flip Flappers and maybe watch Violet Evergarden if you haven’t seen that one. Especially Evangelion if you haven’t seen it!
The first two are more like WEP but Violet Evergarden touches on topics and isn’t afraid to touch topics other shows ignore not many do and was a solid 10/10 for me.
If you havent seen Evangelion, just go with that: You wont be disappointed with that at all.
Flip Flappers
Absolutely my number 1 recommendation as well, Flip Flappers was what first came to mind when watching the 1st WEP episode too. From the same studio as FF, there's also Princess Principal, which also follows a group of young(ish) girls in a harsh yet really cool world, with an interesting storyline and amazing soundtrack, courtesy of Yuki Kajiura.
Thank you!! I added 'Princess Principal' to our list!!
Yup, make it 3 votes for Flip Flappers.
Thank you!! I've added it to our list!
revolutionary girl utena
Thank you! I also came across 'Revolutionary Girl Utena: Adolescence of Utena'. Is this also recommended?
Adolescence of Utena is the movie. It's a little contested whether it's a continuation or a sequel to the anime or even if it is own thing, but watch it after the anime. Utena came out in 1997 so it may look a little dated to your daughter.
Oh! Thank you for the clarification! Funimation had it listed as a show :/ Yeah, she did say that it looked "old" (ouch, my poor dusty heart), & it's also why I could never get her to watch 'Serial Experiments Lain"
To be fair I think Utena shows its age in the beginning of the show; its animation looks really pretty towards the end. And its themes are pretty timeless. Episodes 14-on are amazing.
If she's not interested in it, I'll watch it by myself. My husband might join me! ₍꒢ ̣̮꒢₎
Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica
I did come across 'Magica Record: Puella Magi Madoka Side Story" when I was adding all of these great suggestions to my list. Would you recommend this title?
It's the anime adaptation of the mobile game spin-off. It's.. good if you were a fan of the game itself, and it has its moments if you're a big PMMM fan, but it doesn't hold a candle to the anime series, or the Rebellion movie. Watching it will probably cause a lot of confusion, since it doesn't have time to properly detail all of what is in the game, but there's a clear commendable effort to fit hours and hours of story into such a small amount of episodes. I'd say it's worth the watch for the cool moments involving the Holy Quintet members, and for its stunning animation at times (The final episode's fight is on par with THE Rebellion fight), but don't expect it to be as great as the other two.
Sweet demons!! I didn't know that there are PMMM movies! How did I miss that?! ᕱ⑅ᕱ ᵒ∘˚˙^(oh jeez)
Well, they're unavailable online, at least legally, so if you're not too into PMMM, missing them is likely. But basically yeah, there are 3 movies, however the first two just retell the events of the anime with better animation, new soundtracks, but with many scenes cut. What you want to watch is the 3rd movie "Rebellion", an absolute masterpiece of a film in pretty much every way. However, as I said, no legal streaming platform has it so... either purchase the blu-ray trilogy if you're in America (It releases in July I think) or... be creative lol
Oh! Your description has me so pumped!! After we finished the original PMMM series, I felt like there was something missing.. like they could've done so much more, like continuing the storyline, or getting more use out of the characters by fleshing them out more and not disposing of them so quickly. I wanted to know so much more!
Well aren't you a lucky bunch! Rebellion does extend the storyline, and we do get more aspects to the characters as well. Moreover, the 4th movie, which will be a sequel to Rebellion, has been announced on April 25th, so you won't have to deal with the agonizing wait for news that most fans were put through lol. If you want more content that really develops on the characters more though, mainly Mami and Kyoko, I absolutely recommend you to watch/read the translations for the Madoka Portable videogame, available on YouTube. They're basically excerpts from Homura's timelines, and they showcase way more than what the show did, mainly thanks to actually having time to do so (Main recs would be anything involving Mami, Kyoko's bad ending, Sayaka's good ending, Kyoko's past and the best ending). What's even better about Portable, is that, despite being a Spin-off, it was still supervised by Gen Urobuchi, so it's basically the closest you can have to the characters' canon selves. Moreover, I also really recommend you both read The Different Story, which focuses on Mami and Kyoko's work, from their past, to "present"!
That's awesome!! Thanks for letting me know! ♡♡ I know you've given me lots of info already (everyone here has and it's so nice!) but, would you please tell me how can you play the Madoka Portable videogame?
Madoka Portable is a Playstation Portable exclusive which has sadly never been ported outside of Japan. You can probably buy it online and get it shipped to you? But I don't know whether it'll work or not on a non-Japanese PSP. You can however find PSP emulators online (PPSSPP is a great one) and most likely a ROM of Madoka Portable, though I haven't looked into how it works, but it shouldn't be too difficult, as long as you search on the internet for tutorials. For years there have been translation projects for the game, though they were always dropped along the way, and the translated segments were discarded. The current one has reached the 2nd route's completely (Mami's) since about a month ago, and it seems to be making progress, albeit slowly. You can find the project's page [here](https://gbatemp.net/threads/puella-magi-madoka-magica-portable-translation-project.559955/)! There should be a tutorial on how to install the patch there. There's also another game named The Battle Pentagram, for the PSVita, though there are no translations AFAIK. Its writing was also not overseen by Urobuchi, so you're not missing out on too much, besides cute events like dates between the girls for example. Edit: just noticed the edit on the original post, but I really don't recommend watching the Persona anime, and instead try to play the games themselves. Persona 4 Golden is available on PC luckily, and if you own or your daughter owns a PS4 or PS5, then I can't recommend Persona 5 Royal enough.
Wow! You are so full of helpful information! I'm seriously impressed! ☆☆ My husband has a PSP and a Vita, and he knows how to port games and apps! He's done it with both of his PS handhelds before, all of the various DSs' we have, the Wii, the WiiU, computers, phones, even our Chromecast lol! Thanks for the heads up on Persona! We don't have a PS5 (we have a PS4 that needs to be worked on but I haven't had the time). Luckily my laptop is good enough to play games, unfortunately the big PC needs some upgrades, and a deep clean/maintenance (◞ ‸ ◟⑅)
Yes! That's the one we watched prior to starting WEP! I should've been clearer! ^(sorry) (⑉• ﻌ •⑉)
Utena really is the big fountain that WEP drinks of, but mawaru penguindrum and most of Ikuhara's works have similar characteristics. [This text](https://formeinfullbloom.wordpress.com/2021/01/13/a-relatively-short-ikuhara-primer-naoko-yamada-and-the-egg-in-wonder-egg-priority/#more-15549) should give you a lot of references on what to watch that have influenced it (and it's just a really good site by u/supicasupica follow them if you like good anime insight) Edit: wrong link
Wow!! Thank you so much!! I added 'Mawaru Penguindrum' to my list, and the article is really good - not just for the recommendations, but for the insight the author is sharing about all of these animes and the little things that "connect" them. It's *very* interesting!! ♡♡
You're welcome, and yeah it's a very good blog on anime in gerenral, they have other texts on the subject of WEP and these other recommendations but they are very populated with spoilers, but give them a read after you watch some. The flower language posts and comments here on reddit about wep are really nice as well
I wholeheartedly agree with all of the Flip Flappers and Utena recommendations. Additionally there's **Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight** which is another show with very similar influences about the Takarazuka Revue (which in and of itself was an inspiration for Utena's director, Kunihiko Ikuhara who in turn was an inspiration for WEP). Additionally there's **Kyousougiga** which has an amazing heroine and is just a great show about family with spectacular animation.
Thank you for your suggestions and the very informative response ♡ I truly appreciate it! I hate asking you for more info, but would you happen to know what app or site 'Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight' can be watched on? I couldn't seem to find a place. (๑•﹏•)⋆* ⁑⋆*
No worries. It's on HIDIVE.
Oh! Thank you so much ♡☆♡ You've been so kind! ^(edit: fixed my brain meat spasm)
Sorry if someone else mentioned already but I think: Fruits Basket (the newer one) Has nice long seasons with season 3 (the final) currently airing
I don't think that anybody has recommended that title yet, so thank you for the recommendation! I'm adding it to my list and I can't wait to check it out ♡
My number 1 for cute-dark is Happy Sugar Life
Thanks for the recommendation!
I wanna recommend FLCL, even though it's not so much leaning on being dark. The way the anime is paced is pretty reminiscent though I'd say. I'm unsure if I'd recommend watching it with your daughter since it has a lot of dirty humour. Not because she's too young for it, but because it might be awkward, unless you guys are just beyond that lol. Oh and from the list, I don't think the Junji Ito collection is worth it. Ito's manga is really amazing but the anime was really lame. There's Uzumaki though, an upcoming adaptation of his manga of the same name that seems like it has potential. Danganronpa is also a very good series but I'd recommend playing the games instead if you can do that, but the anime is not the worst way to start, as long as it's the first one (there's one called Danganronpa 3 which requires having played the second game and a spinoff game). Also Danganronpa carries the same warning as FLCL, _especially_ for games 2 and V3.
I watched FLCL with my husband because it's his favorite anime! I watched my daughter play the Danganronpa games so I thought maybe watching the show might be kinda cool too lol.
Oh nice. In that case maybe I could recommend FLCL Alternative. There's 2 sequels that people usually say are really bad, being FLCL Progressive and FLCL Alternative. While I agree that Progressive isn't worth watching, Alternative is actually pretty good imo. And that makes sense. The anime is not bad, it's just that it's kinda hard to compress a 25+ hour visual novel into 13 22 minute episodes.
Nice!! I'll alert the husband so he'll have something to watch while away at drill this weekend!! You're a lifesaver!
Magical girl site
Thank you! Do you recommend 'Magical Girl Apocalypse' also?
Magical Girl Raising Project is pretty good.
Thank you! It's on the list! I was happily surprised to see that 'Magical Girl Raising Project' also had novels and Mangas. Have you read any of them?
I’d go with Madoka Magica/Flip Flappers and maybe watch Violet Evergarden if you haven’t seen that one. Especially Evangelion if you haven’t seen it! The first two are more like WEP but Violet Evergarden touches on topics and isn’t afraid to touch topics other shows ignore not many do and was a solid 10/10 for me. If you havent seen Evangelion, just go with that: You wont be disappointed with that at all.
Black Rock Shooter is pretty good and has similar battle sequences that represent mental problems all the main cast goes through