Basically this. This seems to be the general consensus. They usually get scorned publicly, they are not normally praised for being 'good', hence why I assumed that the initial post was just trolling. However, AoT actually has enough merit to qualify as 'good', thus my confusion.

Anyways...

Puella Magi Madoka Magica

A Masterpiece.

The nihilistic themes and prevalence of true neutral characters just really resonated with my own personal life views. Having all that wrapped up in a 'cutesy magical girl' anime is just icing on the cake.