I'd eventually watched it after everyone's constant natter about how this had "revolutionised" the Mahou Shoujo genre piqued my interest in it.
Everyone makes a big deal about the "twist" in ep3 that comes along, but it wasn't the only thing that it should be known for, I think, on hindsight. Things like Kyuubey's unnaturally constant persuasion, his very creepy unchanging expression, Madoka's reluctance to buy anything he said - there was enough of a build up for me to accept that the creators hadn't just shoved it in there for mere shock value.
Am a fan of the ending as well.
imo there's also something very special about how unremarkable Madoka's personality is. She is not clever, or intellectual, charismatic, or particularly outstanding in any other way. And yet, consider this:
tl;dr: Yeah. Consider myself a fan~