The first two episodes start off pretty standard for magical girl anime: weird creature comes to protagonist offering magical super powers in exchange for vanquishing weird demons and whatnot. However, by the end of episode three, the dangers of this lifestyle become extremely apparent and the whole anime takes a HUGE tonal shift as a result. I don’t really want to go further into it as I’d fully recommend you see it yourself.
Madoka Magica, and the joke is
spoiler
The first two episodes start off pretty standard for magical girl anime: weird creature comes to protagonist offering magical super powers in exchange for vanquishing weird demons and whatnot. However, by the end of episode three, the dangers of this lifestyle become extremely apparent and the whole anime takes a HUGE tonal shift as a result. I don’t really want to go further into it as I’d fully recommend you see it yourself.