This, right here, is why people don't want to get into anime.

I said I enjoyed it. I said I walked into it with almost no experience. I've claimed it's one of the best shows I've seen, let alone the best anime I've seen, and I've already disagreed with you that any sort of foreknowledge is even vaguely necessary.

Your move is to completely discount my experience because I haven't seen four shows that up until now I've never even heard of.

Do you need a firm grounding in L'immortal ad Vitam to enjoy Fifth Element? No.

Do you need a firm grounding in Raymond Chandler books to enjoy Blade Runner? No.

Do you need a firm grounding in '60s-era Soviet filmmaking to enjoy Solaris? No.

Do they help? Sure. But does anyone benefit when someone says "I really liked it" only to be told "you couldn't have truly liked it, you aren't kotaku enough to truly like it"?

Let it go. I'm not going to watch a half dozen Magical Girl series just to further refine my appreciation for Madoka Magica and neither is anyone else. It's just fine, as it is, streaming from Netflix, like any other show watched by any other person for any other reason in any other environment. I'm proud of you for being able to quote chapter and verse on a genre I couldn't give two shits about but your ability to quote chapter and verse on it has exactly nothing to do with whether or not I enjoy something in that genre.