The host of my favorite movie podcast is serious about skipping trailers. If he can't wait out in the lobby, he'll go so far as to jam his fingers in his ears and hum. It sounds crazy, but then I hear him describe the experience of going into a movie everyone knows about, and not even knowing what genre to expect. Thinking back, I loved The Matrix and Fight Club so much because, due to circumstances I won't get into, I was completely isolated from their ad campaigns. I thought they'd both turn out to be typical action flicks. Matrix looked like a spy thriller, and I thought Fight Club was going to be one of those Bloodsport knockoffs that flooded the market during the 90s. Boy, was I wrong. :D
Same, most of my favorite movies and shows I went into not knowing what to expect. Not sure if you're familiar with the anime Madoka Magica, but if you aren't and are interested, don't look it up and just get to watching. Trust me. Not knowing about that show made it one of my favorite shows ever.
Do you think that the movies are worth watching over the show? To me, the series was a better experience than the movies were. Of course, the first experience of anything is generally better than the second, but I think taking an extra hour to watch the series instead is well worth it. Thoughts?
I dunno, the second time I watched, I was eager for things to pick up so that my sister, who was watching with me, could get as blown away as I had been watching the show. I think the movies get rid of a lot of the stuff I didn't care about, but I suppose that comes down to personal opinion. If someone had the time, I'd tell them to watch all 12 episodes. But for people less willing to spend that much time on a show, I'd tell them to skip that and watch the movie, then.
I feel like anime translated from a serial into one or more movies tend to develop serious problems with pacing. You miss out on extensive character development and get periodic forced dumps of exposition so the whole thing ends up shallow, blunt, and unenjoyable. I haven't seen MM in particular but this was true of the new Eva movies for example (though it was the least of their problems). It's the same problem with translating books: There's too much content for a movie to fit comfortably.