I don't play favorites (I have literally never been able to fully grasp the concept), but I do put Madoka pretty high on my list of good anime. I do agree that it's not the best in its category (which I'm going to put it into drama), but it certainly stands on the better end of that scale. I think that, perhaps, it's shortness worked against it to a certain extent. While it never dragged on, I feel we as the audience didn't really get a lot of time to get to know the characters as deeply as we could. I love FMA: Brotherhood for its length because it let us really get to know virtually all of the massive cast, especially the main characters.

I am exaggerating a little. But it deserves a 10, in my simple score.

If I break the score:

Story: 9. The story is unique and interesting. Some minor flaws, but very effective. All minutes are important and used effectively.

Characters: 8. There is not much development of all characters, only some, and just one had a full development. But they are believable. And more important, you care about them.

Setting: 6. It would be a typical magical girl story, if not for the dark twist. I know some of them: Sailor Moon, Sakura Card Captors and Magical Knight Rayearth.

Fun/emotion: 10. I don't remember being emotionally challenged by an anime as much as this one.

The problem with a full score is that nothing would get a 10 since nothing is perfect in all areas.

I recommend the manga Shoulder-A-Coffin Kuro.

The problem here is that Madoka is one the most naive protagonists I have ever seen in a show. She redeems herself at the very very end, but the first 11 episodes of the show is basically her doing progressively worse and worse things to dig herself deeper and deeper into a bad situation.

Well, that is expected from a 12 or 13 years girl with no real life experience and sheltered from the world.

Also I like short shows, 12 to 26 episodes is more than enough for me. I have exactly the opposite reaction to FMA: Brotherhood, if it had fewer episodes, it could have impressed me much more. I almost did not finish it, stumbling through the last episodes.

Well, I did say it never dragged. Every episode of Madoka was one to look forward to. Granted, for me, every episode of FMA: Brotherhood was one to look forward to as well, but that's kind of beside the point.

To make a sweeping generalization, I also prefer 13-26 episode animes over longer ones. In general, these shows make better use of their time.

I didn't actually care much about the show until episode 10, and while I thought that and thereafter was really great, I'm probably not in a position to praise it.

I remember both me and my friend finding them sperging out over the unveiling of the nature of the soul gem to be a mixture of amusing and unrealistic, and the whole science explanation is pretty weak, but it's otherwise good. I think that maybe, character developments progress a bit too quickly, but it's quite long since I watched it.

Manga does a much better job of character development.
Anime does it chronologically. Manga does a flashback to it at a more relevant time.

Anyone who likes Gurren Lagann (heck, I'd argue anyone who doesn't like it too) owes it to themselves to watch this video:

Finished Akame ga Kill. 6,5

Moving on to Texhnolyze and Shiki.

A meatspace friend just had me watch the first 9 episodes of Akame Ga Kill, actually. I am thoroughly undecided on it at the moment. I'm leaning toward putting it in the same fun & stupid category as Dragonball Z. While it doesn't quite have my attention yet, it has my curiosity.

There's a few things I want to say about it, although I feel by the way it's shaping up that I'd have enough to say about it for a full review if/when I watch the rest of the series.

So, number one, there are an inordinate amount of scenes that seem like they're ripped right out of a hentai show/movie. A number of them are quite disturbing, and a some feel entirely unnecessary.

But then on the other hand there were a number of points that I saw that so easily could have been panty shots that were not, in fact, panty shots, and I really appreciated that.

The thing I think I most want to say is that I had the epiphany that the protagonist group feels like they'd be perfect for a dating sim. You've got the catgirl who uses her sexuality, the stoic non-emotional quiet one, the clutzy bimbo with glasses, the Adonis gay man, the mega-bitch (I love the term Hunie Pop gave me), the mysterious and bad-ass boss, and... I dunno, do dating sims usually have a datable perverted guy in them? The setup was working perfectly up until the RPG elements forced the roster to change.

It is not very good, just barely enjoyable. The best point of the anime is the fact that almost no one is safe, characters die a lot, which is part of the fun of this anime. Other than that it is not really different from other shounen anime.

The worst point is that the anime is never tragic enough or funny enough, trying to be to something in the middle that simply doesn't work.

It is one step over Dragonball Z and Gurren Lagann, that is certain, but not more than that.

We've probably exchanged words over Gurren Lagann before, so I wont say anything about that, but it is funny you mention DBZ. While I was watching Akame Ga Kill! (which I found out uses an exclamation point in the title), I even said to my friend "this here is exactly the reason I don't go and re-watch DBZ; I can watch some just as stupid action anime with an entirely different setting that can hold my attention just as well or better".

From what little I've seen of it, I think Akame Ga Kill! may suffer from pacing issues as far as tragedy is concerned, but the comedy is... it is what it is, I guess. It's filled with too many clichés and unnecessary moments to have made me laugh at any of the actual jokes -- that is to say, I didn't laugh where the show was trying to get me to laugh.

I'm not saying it's altogether unpleasant (that would go to AoT and SAO), but it isn't one I would have gone to find myself. I might go watch the rest of it on crunchyroll if I don't end up seeing it with the meatspace friend, but had I not been introduced to it I likely would never have looked at it.

EDIT: HOLY JEEGUS I KEPT TELLING MY MEATSPACE FRIEND HOW MUCH THE SHOW SEEMED TO BE MIMICKING GURREN LAGANN AND JUST NOW CRAZY GIRL LITERALLY TURNED HER ARM INTO A GIANT DRILL

For me, it works like this.

10 and 9: It is excellent or awesome. This is something that must be watched if you like anime (even if you don't like, these are the ones that will make you possibly like).

8 or 7: It is good or very good, and I can safely indicate it for watching, but only if the person like that genre.

6 or 5: It is only regular, I cannot freely indicate this to anyone. Watch at your own discretion.

4 and below: Stay away from these.

As 6,5, Akame ga Kill! is the best of the regular category, not that fact is a worthwhile achievement. It is moderately fun, due to a lot of deaths, but the fights are boring and the anime is utterly forgettable. You don't miss anything for not watching either.

That grade split is around the same as what's in my mind when I grade stuff in my reviews.

For me it goes:

10 - Masterpiece: Not everything is necessarily perfect, but the flaws don't really detract from the show in any way. Anything in this category floored me in some way, whether it be visually, philosophically, etc. I try to make sure to keep things in the context of when they were created as well, because if something was a masterpiece when created and then defined a new genre, there are obviously going to be some shortcomings that are brought on by age, even if they weren't shortcomings at the time of creation.
9 - Excellent: These are shows that I really, really, really enjoyed. A lot. They made me laugh, or cry, or something, but—even if they left me wanting more—they had flaws that detracted a bit for me. Be it pacing, jokes that didn't translate well or fell flat, hard to ignore plot holes, etc. These are shows that I love, and maybe might be quicker to suggest than some 10s, but to me they didn't impress me to the same degree, even if they were a lot of fun.
8 - Very Good: These are shows that I enjoyed enough to consider them really solid animes, but I wouldn't be quite as quick to suggest them and they might have a pretty glaring flaw to them that I'm willing to mostly overlook because they are outweighed by the positives. Unlike 10s or 9s, these aren't shows that I finished and said "wow, that was amazing", they are shows that I said "yeah, that was a pretty fun show" and then mostly moved on.
7 - Good: These are shows that I liked enough that I was, at the very least, glad that I watched them after the fact. I wasn't impressed by them, but I did enjoy them and I might suggest them to someone.
6 - Fine: These are shows that had enough merit to them that I was okay with the fact that I watched them. I could have not watched them and not missed out on too much, but there was enough to these shows that they were still enjoyable. These are shows that are okay. I liked something about them, just not enough that I'd consider the show "good".
5 - Average: I could just as easily have not watched this show. Watching this show wasn't a mistake, nor am I especially glad that I did. It was just good enough for me to put up with it.
4 - Bad: I don't generally rate shows that I don't finish, so there aren't many shows that I'd give this rating to because I would have quit them well before that point. These are shows that I regret watching, but not strongly.
3 and lower - Very Bad/Horrible/Appalling: These are just greater and greater degrees of disdain. It's unlikely that I'd complete something lower than a 4, but possible.

My grading scale is a bit simpler:

- Must Watch if you like anime (i.e. Madoka, FMA:Brotherhood, Cowboy Bebop, etc.)

- Enough Entertainment for the Time Spent to be worth watching (i.e. Hellsing, Bleach, DBZ, etc.)

- Meh (i.e. anything generic you've seen 100 times before)

- Crap

- Crime against Humanity (i.e. Rosario X Vampire)

Until the seven grade, there is no difference between our scales.

Honestly? I think the only thing that matters is if you should go watch it.

For shows like High School of the Dead or Blue Exorcist....... meh. If it's your cup of tea then go ahead, but you don't really have to go see them. But something like Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood, or Soul Eater, or Bleach. Or One Piece. Or **** it even Naruto Shippuden. Those are the shows you've got to at least go try. There's a reason some of these become somewhat iconic. Madoka Magika is not one of the most popular animes ever because it's mediocre but fan hype. It's able to back it up ... somewhat.

I don't think most long-running shounen are shows that you "have" to watch, personally.