When I saw this gem I just knew I had to read it. I still want to watch the third movie of Puella Magica (haven’t seen the other two, as those are recaps), and I thought this would be a nice pre-movie enjoyment, so that I can watch the movie soon (hoping to do it this week or next, right in time for Halloween).

There are 2 sides to this book. You have a side with sketches, drawings, backgrounds, all kinds of official stuff going on, and then another side with illustrations/sketches/designs by Gekidan Inu Curry, who are an animation troupe associated with SHAFT (who animated/made Madoka) and who made all the designs for the witches and the otherworld.

If I have to pick between the sides, I would say the production (official) side was the best, followed by that Gekidan Inu Curry side. The Gekidan Inu Curry side was good, had great (and very haunting) art, but at times it was a bit too weird, even for me. Also I love seeing their art animated, but if it is just sketches and drawings, it feels a bit lifeless, their works just need to be animated.
The production side was really awesome, we have sketches, character profiles, background (empty and filled in), it was all truly amazing, though I wish they had coloured in all the characters, and not just the random one here and there.

There is also some text, probably explaining/telling us what they want to make, but since my Japanese is very very very basic level, I couldn’t read it, but I don’t mind as the illustrations often told us the biggest part and you just didn’t need the text.

Would I recommend this art book/production book? Yes, I would. Especially to the fans of the series this will be a nice treasure to have.