#but instead of the madoka being selfless thing

[azudarlings]

jonmartin pmmm au where martin is homura and jon is madoka

jon dying over and over again and martin just has to watch. half the time has to be the person who deals the final blow. no matter how many times martin tries, jon never trusts him enough in the beginning to not doom both of them. both of them breaking and rewriting the laws of the universe to be with each other, morality be damned.

[ghostdeals]

It bother me so much that people misunderstand sayaka miki's descent into madness in madoka magica. She doesnt become a witch "just because of a boy." Sayaka is a character who ties all her self worth into being in service of others. We can see this right from the start with her idolization of mami and everything that she was. She saw mami as this "perfect hero" even though mami i would say is mentally the weakest of the holy quintet. In the timelines where mami finds out about the incubator's true goals she always immediately breaks and goes crazy, trying to kill the other girls in her own twisted way of trying to "save them". Instead of seeing the fragile person that mami was, sayaka instead sort of treats her as a martyr, a goal to achieve. We continue on to sayaka's magical girl wish. Instead of wishing for something for herself, she instead sells her soul for the sake of kyousuke. Then when he starts dating hitomi she spirals not because she's sad about the rejection but because she feels replaced in his life, that he doesn't need or want her around anymore. Then she throws herself into her magical girl work not seeing that she's harming herself because she justifies it with "well im saving people that means what im doing is a good thing." She doesn't see that she's becoming more sloppy, more ruthless until its too late. It's only in the end when she turns into a witch that her story gets resolved.

Sayaka Miki is an incredibly sad character to me. While her actions have the illusion of being selfless and "for the greater good" she is actually incredibly selfishly motivated. Everything she does is in service of wanting praise and admiration from the people she cares about. If she helps kyousuke he'll appreciate her and love her, if she becomes a hero she'll receive praise and admiration for being a good person. This is why it is important that of all people it was kyoko that fought sayaka in the end. To homura, sayaka is someone to be saved. To mami, sayaka is her sweet apprentice/younger sister figure. To madoka, sayaka is her energetic and happy go lucky friend. Kyoko is the only one who from the start called sayaka out on her bullshit, seeing straight through her. And at the end, kyoko is the one who truly accepts sayaka. Sayaka as the witch Oktavia von Seckendorff is stated multiple times in official material to be "looking for love." In the end it it kyoko who gives her that love. Even when sayaka has lost her humanity it is kyoko who accepts her for the entirety of who sayaka is with all of her selfishness and desires. She is the one who sees what sayaka has become and stays together with her till both of their ends. Kyoko choosing to die with sayaka is her saying "I'm here for you, i know all of you, and I will love you regardless."

[jam-d33r]

Say less

@dogbound1128 @queen-of-weird-girlboy-nation @cat1nah4t @alexanderhamioton321 @angryvampire @olavored @alicenocooper

[WARNING FOR PMMM SPOILERS AHEAD]

In a few of the episodes we see Madoka’s perspective on magical girls and how they operate and she’s shown to be really insecure and not have a lot of self confidence and this can play into her wishes when she wants to become a magical girl. When she meets Mami she’s sold on the deal of being a magical girl until she witnessed what happens to her. She gets to watch as almost all of her friends are gone until it’s all revealed. When the secret is revealed that Homura has been looping a thousand times to save Madoka it’s shown how selfless she is as a magical girl. In fact she fights Walpurgisnacht all on her own to protect Homura and dies in the process and even uses a grief seed to save her instead of herself so Homura can prevent all of this. and she cares so much for the people around her that she makes the ultimate sacrifice at the end where she becomes a godlike concept to save every magical girl in existence from suffering.

Mami is interest because of the way she acts in front of Madoka and Sayaka. In the beginning she’s shown to be this talented magical girl who’s so level headed that she’s performing the act of defeating witches without effort. Yet all of that is a ruse to sell the gig so Madoka and Sayaka can become magical girls with her. In fact she lets them think about what to wish in the beginning because she couldn’t even think of her own wish because she was dying when Kyubey found her and she’s lost so much that Mami’s willing to lead both Sayaka and Madoka into danger just so she no longer has to be alone anymore. I full believe that when Madoka promises to be a magical girl with her that she’s so estatic and happy that she’s not paying attention anymore. After all she’s not alone why would she have to worry about selling a gig when it’s already sold? ||and the way it lead to her downfall because that’s the same moment she dies and it’s in front of the people she was so happy to work with. Even in later episodes where it’s revealed about what happens to magical girls Mami can barely take it to the point that she’s willing to kill everyone around her just so they don’t have to suffer as both witches and magical girls.(And she has muskets what’s not to love about her)

The way Kyoko’s introduced as some sort of rival character to Saya is cool because she’s only come to Mitakihara after Mami died because she’s protecting Mitakihara and she’s portrayed as selfish because she’s willing to let people die to familiars just because witches mean more grief seeds but she’s shown to be quite selfless but extremely traumatized. She made her wish for her father’s preaches to be listened to and she continued to fight witches on the side. But ultimately it meant nothing because her father made her seem like a witch(which is ironic) and destroyed the very thing she wished for|| and the parallels between her and Sayaka I mean the way they both wished for others is enough explanation Sayaka still refuses to be even similar to Kyoko because she’s so selfish and goes against the very rhetoric of Magical girls being living representations of justice. And the fact that Kyoko witnesses Sayaka becoming a witch and sacrifices herself just so she won’t die alone is UGGGHHHH YHE PARALLELS BETWEEN SAYAKA AND KYOKO ISSSSSSSJWIEJWKDJAJSH

SAYAKA IS SUDKOWJDKW(I love Sayaka Miki). She is SUCH a tragic character and the way she’s written hits me like a mf truck. She starts off as someone who wants to help the boy she loves to the point of making her wish for him and even then she doesn’t get the recognition at all. She gets to sit by while hiding the secret of her magical girl duties while her friend Hitomi confesses to him. Even then she tried to fight for justice(just like Mami) in fact she tried so hard to finish what Mami started that it pushed her to the brink. When Sayaka are finally told that the souls of magical girls are no longer in their bodies, she breaks down. She can’t feel pain if she continues to fight and heal herself and she’s stopped fighting for people because they aren’t worth saving to her anymore, until all her magic is gone and she becomes a witch.

Homurraaaaa my favorite time looping lesbian. Her love for Madoka causes her to keep fighting, time and time again even though she fails everytime. It’s gotten to the point where she tries to take on Walpurgisnacht herself just so Madoka can’t take it upon herself to become a magical girl and defeat it. But in the end she watches Madoka become a god to make sure that no magical girls feel despair and become witches and Homura fights to keep that hope for Madoka. I don’t wanna talk about all of Rebellion here because I’m tired and I’ve been holding this stupid post off for weeks so like highlights. I’m not gonna talk about rebellion here because I haven’t watched them yet and I’m broke as fuck so take this as this.

Love ya!!!! 🧡🧡✨

[samble-moved]

everytime i see a post criticizing pmmm charas im like...you know if they had none of these flaws you hate so much, they'd get branded as unrealistic, one dimensional mary sues, yes?

if madoka was selfless without being a "crybaby", if homura was 100% normal acting (despite her trauma), if kyoko was a nice and sweet girl from the get go, people would then complain that there's not enough personality diversity and that they're boring, or that the portrayals of trauma aren't realistic enough.

think about the logical extremes. people call madoka too emotional and a crybaby. so madoka could be selfless, but never show any serious emotion, ever, even if 99% of the time when she cries it's because of things like her friends dying. homura is creepy and cold due to trauma? let's ignore the effects that trauma has on irl people to make her act 100% like she did before all of her trauma, ignore how people irl are changed by it. sayaka is too untrusting of homura and "died for a boy" and was selfish? sayaka should accept any and all shady people as trustworthy, not feel bad that her lifelong friend was permanently unable to do his favorite thing, and never have her own desires, because having your own wants is selfish and evil. kyoko is too mean? let's erase her trauma, again, because mean little girls are clearly too much for an audience to take. mami is too prone to breakdowns and is fake? again, let's ignore her canon trauma, because people with ptsd and mental illnesses are clearly evil.

in such a show, people would then, instead of griping about the current personalities, say that 1) the characters aren't realistic for not reacting to their trauma, 2) the characters are too similar and/or one dimensional, and 3) they're really boring.

making all the characters the same good, palletable, perfectly mentally healthy (despite trauma) cookie cutter personality would be rightfully criticized as being boring! but when they...show realistic reactions to trauma and act like their canon ages (middle schoolers) with different personalities...people get mad that they act realistically. there's no real way to win for people who's hate for pmmm as a whole boils down to "madoka is a crybaby, homura is cold and creepy, kyoko is mean, etc". because if these traits were taken away, they would then say the characters are boring and unrealistic.

[pinkberrypocky]

pmmm rewatch live notes: ep 8

the conversation between homura and sayaka in this ep makes me feral. also the way we see homura expressing emotion and breaking down after madoka in a way kind of rejects her... literally stabbing me would hurt less.

Sayaka keeps hitting the witch even after it’s dead until the labyrinth disappears

As they leave the labyrinth she has a hollow empty look on her face

She gives the grief seed to kyoko bc she thinks that if she refuses the rewards she is making up for the fact that she isn’t being totally selfless / she wants to punish herself

Clinging onto the last fragments of her ideology

Sayaka sees herself now as only a weapon for killing witches

Nothing can be good for her or bad for her it doesn’t matter what she wants or how she feels bc she’s not human

Sayaka telling madoka to fight the witches herself if she doesn’t want sayaka to shows sayaka breaking on a fundamental level

Her whole thing is protection and yet she tells her friend to risk herself for her

Right after that sayaka says she’s beyond saving and doesn’t understand why she acted that way

Beyond saving from becoming a witch, which means being a different person

Homura’s room is so interesting why does it look like that there must be a symbol

Only thing is images of her goal on the wall of a blank white space

She is nothing but her goal

The weapon thing swinging in the background shows both the violent nature that has become her only choice and also similar to a pendulum of a clock 

After homura reveals that sayaka will become a witch soon if they don’t do something the room/lighting turns to yellow and kyoko and homura become black silhouettes

The lighting is yellow around sayaka as she watches hitomi confess to kyosuke

When she fights the witches she is screaming and crying trying to fulfill her purpose and be a hero of justice when she knows that she does regret her wish, she did want something more from kyosuke

She is forced to face that she made the wrong choice and has been selfish all along

Moon as sayaka’s symbol 

Shape of her soul hem

Shot of the crescent moon as sayaka rejects the grief seed from homura

She  says it's bc she doesn’t want help from those who are not in her definition of good

“Do you realize this is just making madoka suffer more?” - homura

“Madoka? This has nothing to do with her.” - sayaka

“No. Everything has to do with her.” - homura

Black and white during the train scene where the guys shit talk their girlfriends

We don’t see their faces just their legs and when we do see faces there are no eyes and it's only for a split second

Sayaka’s head lolls unnaturally like a doll and her eyes are glazed over

This is the scene where she really is forced to accept that the world is not good

Kyubey having the audacity to ask madoka if she was upset w him too is so manipulative

She is in a way more mature than sayaka bc she understands that benign angry won’t fix anything and instead tries to understand and forge a new path

The background track of the haunting chorus is SOOOOO

Resembles church choir

Madoka always thought she would never do anything important and stumble through life never being able to help anyone so the idea of being able to be such a powerful magical girl is SO enticing

Homura kills kyubey just as madoka was about to make the contract even though 

Don’t treat yourself like you don’t matter! There are so many people who would be sad if you died! 

Homura breaks down crying asking madoka “what about the people who have fought hard trying to protect you” 

Rain drops in the air representing all the timelines

She sobs and asks madoka to stay but madoka rejects her and that is why she collapses and is unable to keep going

Bc she can take anything but madoka rejecting ehr

She killed kyubey in that moment bc stopping the contract was more important than madoka’s opinion of her but she still cares SO MUCH

Kyubey as incubator bc he creates the magical girls as eggs and raises them to be witches when they “hatch” to be a food source

“Hope and despair balance out to zero”

Sayaka’s eyes are hidden when she talks to kyoko before becoming a witch

UNTIL she turns crying and says “I was so stupid” and BAM becomes a witch

And it has to be kyoko in that moment bc kyoko understands she has also been stupid in this way and faced the consequences and even tried to warn sayaka but she was too blind and stubborn to see it

[entamewitchlulu]

i binged the entirety of Granbelm last night

and it was good! i give it an 8/10. and I'm making a post about it because I went into the tag after I finished it hoping to see some cute gifs and art of lesbians and instead i just saw a bunch of people calling it mid or at the absolute worst comparing it to *shudders* w/onder e/gg p/riority.

So i'm going to talk about my thoughts on it and why I think it's good and some of you all just see something that vaguely looks like Madoka and decide to write it off!

So first, yes, the Madoka influences are obvious. We have a pink haired protag and a dark-haired deuteragonist. there's some magical girl elements and it's a little dark and sometimes girls die.

but that's. really where the similarities end. You really can't call it a Madoka ripoff at all.

From off the cuff, I remember my first thoughts was that I was happy that Shingetsu wasn't the dark, cold, stoic person that she immediately appeared to be. She was determined, but she was also awkward and clearly deeply hurting but tried to be kind regardless. I liked that Mangetsu wasn't a selfless, sacrificing protag, but rather someone with a bit of selfishness and the desire to matter. That dynamic was really prominent to me and really set Granbelm apart as more than just a """Madoka ripoff"".

Secondly, it's. not even a magical girl show.

I think people saw that the girls had magic outfits and though "ah. clearly magical girls." but that's not. What magical girls are?? There's no transformation sequences for the girls, they aren't fighting any distant evil thing that threatens the world, and their magical forms aren't considered secondary personas or identities by any stretch of the term.

If anything, these girls are wizards who just happen to have magic robes. There's really no magical girl element at all.

That's out of the way. I want to talk about the show itself now rather than just defending it from unreasonable detractions. This is going to be spoiler-y.

What's interesting to me about Granbelm is that the only real enemy here is human nature. There's no magic enemy a la Madoka witches or Precure Dark Kingdom, and even Magiaconatus is itself a sort of concept rather than an antagonist, an ideal or a dream. The "antagonist," if there is anything, is just....human desire. It's humans who push themselves, who want too much, whose wishes drive them off the edge. The tragedy is that all of them could stop at any time. They could give up on their wishes and honestly, for most of them, their lives would still be mostly fine. But because they can't let go of the possibility of a magic fix to their problems, they get lost in their own desires. It's the possibility of power itself that is the "bad guy." And that's what makes Shingetsu's desire to destroy that possibility of power so interesting.

If there's one other thing that Granbelm does that's Madoka-like, it's the rug pull about who the actual protagonist is. Much like how we learn that from the beginning Homura has really be the protagonist of the show, even more so we learn that Shingetsu was the protagonist of Granbelm.

Mangetsu is portrayed as the protagonist of the show at first, but then we learn that she's not real, and has never been real. She was a doll created by Shingetsu's desperate desire for a friend. Mangetsu has spent the whole show thinking that she has nothing - she's not good at sports or school, she's not really a part of any friend groups, and she always feels a bit lonely. Learning that she's been right the whole time and that her feelings of "nothingness" stem from the fact that she genuinely doesn't have a past, that her memories of being a living person are fabricated, at first breaks her, as all the people she thought were part of her life slowly forget her.

And then she shifts her perspective. And realizes that no matter what happens, that the fact she had the chance to exist was a miracle.

I saw another comment that Granbelm was nihilistic. They're right, but in the wrong way. Granbelm acknowledges that life is inherently pointless. But because of that, we get to choose our own purpose. Once we realize that life has no inherent meaning, we get to give it our own. We get to find joy in the mundane - in eating good food, enjoying a starry sky, laughing with your friends. That even if you feel invisible, the things you have done for others, they leave a mark. People may not remember you, but they will remember the way you made them feel, and you continue to exist in that feeling, in that ripple that you caused with your existence. No one has nothing. No one is nothing. Just the fact that you are alive is a fucking miracle! Today you can go stand outside and feel the wind! You can smile at a passerby! You can watch a cloud go by! Isn't that wild? Isn't that wonderful?

Shingetsu watched almost everyone around her deteriorate because they wanted more, more, more. She watched their desire for power destroy them, because they couldn't be happy with what they had, while simultaneously putting her on a pedestal for her own power where she could never be touched by love. And the one person she expected to hate her the most, for accidentally creating her and consigning her to a meaningless existence, tells her "this mundane moment right now where we are alive and breathing, matters. I don't want power. I just want to enjoy this moment, and to tell you that all the little things, it matters."

Shingetsu wanted to destroy magic because she wanted to be free of its hold. But because Mangetsu, now she wants to destroy magic so that the people who would otherwise be destroyed by it might not feel like they had to strive for it - and could instead look back and realize that where they are right now is good.

I like that at the end, it's pretty ambiguous whether the promise of Magiaconatus came true - is Shingetsu actually invisible? Does no one see or interact with her? We're not totally sure. Maybe she is. Maybe she just keeps to herself. Maybe that's Mangetsu joining her as a transfer student.

But we do know that Shingetsu knows now, that it all matters. That she's more than just the power she once had. All the little moments mean something, and always meant something.

I think that's an excellent message.

[clevermird]

Review: Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica

I wasn’t originally planning to review comics on this blog, but I’ve recently started reading more manga and decided “why the heck not?” Although I can’t promise this will become a regular thing, I wanted to highlight this series because it’s such a puzzle to review.

Madoka Kaname is an ordinary 14-year-old girl with a family that loves her and severe self-confidence issues. On a visit to the mall with her best friend, they encounter magic-wielding superhero Mami Tomoe and Kyubey, the strange catlike creature that gives her power. Madoka and her friend receive an offer: they too can have their deepest wishes granted in exchange for becoming magical girls and fighting monsters! But as they consider the possibilities, it becomes clear that a mysterious new student at their school knows far too much about Madoka and will stop at nothing to keep her from accepting Kyubey’s deal. And when Mami is killed by one of the monsters she fights, Madoka and her friends realize that they are dealing with forces well beyond their control.

Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica is the print adaptation of the hit anime Puella Magi Madoka Magica and reviewing it is tough. I try to base reviews of adaptations on their own merits rather than endless comparisons to the source material. But here, it’s impossible. Madoka Magica is one of my all time favorite shows (anime or no) and this manga adaptation can’t really hold a candle to it. The spectacular visuals are much reduced by being forced into still black-and-white images, the character development is summarized, and while many sequences are almost shot-for-shot with the anime, the manga feels rushed and harried, trying to cram entire episodes into single 40-page comic chapters. If I hadn’t seen the show first, I would have been alternately overwhelmed by rapid-fire plot points and bored with scenes of pathos focused on characters that I’d barely had time to connect with.

That being said, the story it tries to adapt is worthwhile. While familiarity with the “magical girl” genre of anime helps greatly in appreciating the story, even those who have no idea what it references can enjoy the slowly unfolding revelations of what it really means to be a magical girl and the tragedy and beauty of the characters’ lives. The plot explores themes of fate, sacrifice, idealism vs cynicism, and the difficulty of true selflessness. It’s impossible to convey without major spoilers exactly why the story is so impactful, but the finale is legitimately the only TV show episode or movie that I can’t watch without tearing up – and they are tears of both sadness and joy.

In the end, my opinion on Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica is one that is a bit of a rarity for me – just watch the show instead.

Warnings: In contrast to the poppy, colorful visuals, this series contains relatively bloody violence, the deaths of several young teens, suicide, and themes of slavery and child exploitation.

Rating: 4/10 (for the manga), 10/10 (for the anime)

[ros-sauce]

MadoHomu MizuEna.

Or MizuMafu-

Do you see my vision???

Mizuki who doesn't really know what they want in life other than the peace that they already have. (A part of them wants to wish that they were 'born a girl', but they can't stop clinging to the care that their sister gave them and their journey of identity makes up a big part of who they are)

Mafuyu honestly fits Homura better personality wise (but MizuEna is more popular even though these last English Niigo Events make Mizuki look whipped asf), they've been doing this so long that they don't even know who they are anymore- struggling and struggling and struggling again. They KNOW it's useless, that it's futile, but Mizuki was the only thing they had repeat after repeat.

The scene opens up like Madoka Magica did, but it's Mizuki and their sister (maybe on the phone instead of in person, so it's got that extra longing while maintaining the comfort) encouraging Mizuki to be a little flashy.

Mafuyu enters coldly just like Homura did, but they don't have the same steadfast, forward approach that Homura used. Instead, it's just Mizuki being drawn to the person that they saw in their dreams, and Mafuyu trying to keep up their walls hoping for safety.

Now, I think Kanade and Ena would be Sayaka and Kyouko which doesn't make /too/ much sense at first, but hear me out because

Kanade and Sayaka have a LOT of parallels and similarities, especially in dealing with their own selflessness. Kanade has the same route with music that got her dad into the hospital (even though it was so far from her fault that happened bruh), and she takes comfort in music, just like Sayaka.

Again, like Sayaka, she uses her wish to heal her dad, but it doesn't work. He goes back to being the same unstable song writer that he was before he hospitalized himself and Kanade has to deal with the aftermath (and the formath, you know when her father is following the same line as Souske (was that his name?) did)

Kanade realizes that her music can't save the people closest to her and she throws herself into being a magical girl.

Ena and Kyouko is the biggest stretch (also because I watched the show ages ago and don't remember them expanding much on her backstory other than implying that her wish was just to live and also that she stole food?) Ena definitely isn't as territorial as Kyouko, but she wants to keep living so, of course, she tries to chase Kanade out because she needs to be able to have those Grief Seeds.

Similarly, she scoffs at Kanade's obsessive selflessness, but comes to eventually wish that she had someone like Kanade (unlike Ena who jumps at the idea of being saved- I know they'll get their moment, but I'm not sure how)

Only, in this version, Mami wouldn't exist, so it would be much more of a slow burn, and also we wouldn't overlook the fact that Hitomi canonically wants to die. (I thought about replacing her with Rui, since Hitomi doesn't become a magical girl and is mostly off screen when shit starts to really go down- but I would feel bad not giving Rui more of an important role, since it was sad that Hitomi ended up SO sidelined)

Do you see my vision or am I crazy?? Do you see the vision anyways??? (I am crazy)

I can't decide if it goes down more similarly to Sekai (Mizuki and Kanade watch Mafuyu mostly from afar without seeing through their persona- only to find their true self when they're maybe battling a witch?) or more similarly to Madoka (wherein Mafuyu firmly plants themself as the antagonist in the same way that Homura does and the sins of the Magical world are slowly revealed).

But you know. I mostly just have been rotating 'ha, Mizuki, Madoka' in my head seeing all the Madoka fan art and wrote this entire thing down frantically in one sitting after seeing you reblog a Madoka picture.

OUGH. this is excellent i'm rotating it in my brain forever

[magicalgirlpictureencyclopedia]

I found that entire argument weird, lol. Seeing two people go back and forth about Sailor Moon and Madoka Magica being feminist and yet them seeing both shows as fundementally different is what got me. Besides it being 14 year old rehashed discourse, both shows reach the same conclusion - that kindness, love, and selflessness beat out misery and that it's better to be optmistic in the face of sorrow than giving up. A lot of the "magical girl warrior" shows have this as their message, with even the shows that aren't in this subgenre having this core element (Minky Momo did this a lot.) It's just weird seeing people argue over series with the same thematic structure, ignoring that, and then getting into a fight over a silly feminism animanga list in the first place.

As for the Urobuchi talk, yes, Madoka is very tame violence wise. I still find it odd how people make the show's intent on torture as if they were looking at something like Genocyber. You can dislike the show, even outright hate it, but it's still a bit silly to make the entire show out to be some kind of (I find this term gross but--) "torture porn anime where the director gets off on seeing young girls suffer" as many detractors make the show out to be. At some point people who highly dislike Urobuchi and Madoka itself need to let go, because every week someone is fighting strangers online about a 12 episode anime from 2011.

Also, I do think this is main consequence as interpreting the genre as "wish fulfilment fantasy" and other things by a much older age demo. People then go back and forth on which magical girl shows mattered more, which subverted tropes more, is more feminist/progressive/etc when missing that most of the genre is for young girls. The shows are made for things like toy sales and moral lessons, so the mindset of them only having any value to self insertion to adult daily life I see online is odd. Excluding Madoka's key demo not being children nowadays despite the staff wanting a general audience... what purpose does it serve for two adults to debate shows in this manner when they aren't the main demographic and then miss both shows have the same core values anyway? It's never based on what the actual creators have stated about their projects, just their reading of these shows and many times people assume author's intentions. You can view a show how you want, sure, but the assertions made about both series in that debate aren't things I have ever seen from actual interviews from Takeuchi or Urobuchi and co.

But of course, this was on Twitter, and the magical girl community there is more focused on propping up shows off which is more feminist/a deconstruction/whatever the hell instead of noticing these shows have more in common than not. The ones that don't have these elements (ie themes about growing up being a positive part of life, love, kindness, accepting others, etc) or are subdued on stuff like saving the world they don't watch anyway.

They could instead find series do focus on topics such as gender roles, stuff tied to feminism more intentionally (even kids series like Sugar Sugar Rune manage to do this) or patriarchal structures, but they won't, so I didn't bother responding as MG Twitter's scope of what they watch is fairly low as is.

I do not think it's *torture porn* or anything like, Madoka isn't even that dark or cynical especially not for Urobuchi lol, Madoka was seen as perfectly optimistic enough for them to ask him to write a season of Kamen Rider for kiddos lol.

Madoka just... isn't about feminism though. It's about desire, wishes, selfishness and all the good and bad that comes with it. It's a be careful what you wish for narrative, but without the evil genie who punishes you for being an idiot.

Mami regrets not wishing for her whole family to live. Kyoko tells Sayaka to wish for what she actually wants and not what she thinks makes her a good person because it'll hurt her in the end. Madoka spends days ruminating on what a good wish is, and decides to make an extremely detailed wish for the sake of saving the magical girls. It's a story about how your desire can cause pain but it can also bring joy to others. Sayaka wanted that boy to love her, but she also really DID want to help him. those also just aren't the same wish. Madoka's desire was purely selfless and in the end Homura's desire caused her to become a devil cuz repeating the same month 398305235 times might make your brain fry a little.

[gayleviticus]

Better to Serve in Hell than Rule in Heaven

Kyubey: I don't believe it. Your tainted Soul Gem should have disappeared with your soul, but it hasn't! Why? Homura: Because I remembered why I repeated time and suffered over and over again; my feelings for Madoka, they run so deep that even pain has become precious to me. And as for my Soul Gem? A curse isn't what's tainted it. Kyubey: Then what is? Homura: Something you can't understand, Incubator. It is the pinnacle of all human emotion. More passion than hope, much deeper than despair. Love! - Rebellion

 I rewatched Rebellion today for the first time in about 5 years and was really struck by just how juicy Homura’s character is in the film – her selfish selflessness, her turning the whole way of the world upside down even as she perpetuates it. She’s heartbroken and guilty over leaving Madoka to sacrifice for the good of the world, so her solution here is to make herself the sacrifice instead.

If Madoka was to be a goddess, Homura’s fate is to stand against her and become the Devil. And so, she creates a paradise where no more magical girls have to suffer or become Witches or die, and where Madoka and her friends can live in peace. What’s so bad about that? The Incubators suffer, but they had it coming. Homura suffers, but it’s a sacrifice she’s willing to make.

But in the end, have things really changed? A magical girl becomes a godlike being and rewrites the entire universe to bring about her ideal happy ending, sacrificing her normal existence in the process. Madoka didn’t quite break the cycle, but rather softened it; magical girls still commit themselves to lives of endless fighting, but instead of rotting into Witches they instead find peace in Madoka’s arms when time runs out. Homura, in turn, smashes the cycle entirely, placing the burden of the world’s salvation on the Incubators’ backs… but at the cost of her own happiness.

In a sense, her Rebellion changes everything, but the logic of sacrifice endures. But perhaps this Rebellion against the world is a necessary step. For all the struggle and sacrifice, all Madoka could do was cheat a cold, cruel, impersonal cycle last-minute. But what Homura does is prove that love is stronger than such systems. And yes, it’s a twisted, flawed, unsustainable love, built on trapping Madoka in a pretty little cage as Homura tears herself apart from the inside. But it’s love nonetheless, triumphing over rigid laws and the cruelty of fate.

I’ve seen some complaints that Rebellion mischaracterises Homura – she would never do something as evil as rip Madoka out of heaven. But isn���t this basically the logical extreme of her entire raison d’etre throughout the series? Homura rewinds time again and again and again to prevent Madoka making a wish and becoming a magical girl, no matter what Madoka thinks. She takes it upon herself to become Madoka’s protector, and the painful truth is that the greater this love grows, the further she becomes from Madoka in truth.

So when Madoka decides on her final wish, Homura is terrified.

Madoka: I finally figured it out what I wanna wish for. I know what I want now more than anything else. And I'm ready to trade my life for it with no regrets. Homura: But you can't! If you do then, everything I've fought for, it's all for nothing! Episode 12: ‘My Very Best Friend’

Is it really such a surprise to think that the Homura who spent endless cycles fighting to spare Madoka from the pain of becoming a magical girl would hesitate to do the same to spare her from the pain of becoming a goddess?

At first, Homura tells herself that it’s OK. This is what Madoka wanted. But then when in Rebellion she tells Madoka about the terrifying ‘dream’ she had, where Madoka went far far away, never to be seen again, forgotten by everyone except Homura…

Homura: I was so lonely and sad... But no one understood how I felt. I started to think all my memories of you were just things I'd made up... I thought I was going crazy... Madoka: You're right... That dream does sound awful. But it's okay now, really! I'm not going anywhere, especially if it's so far away I couldn't see you again. I'd never do something like that. Rebellion

Everything falls apart. The sole consolation Homura had clung to – that Madoka was happy, that the sacrifice was worth it – comes undone. Madoka would never do something like that. How could Homura let her best friend throw her life away like that?

Madoka has no idea, of course – she has no idea how brave she’s capable of being, how much courage she has to spare for the sake of the world. But for Homura, this is where she realises that she’s made an incredibly stupid mistake.

For Homura, anything that causes Madoka pain is automatically her enemy. And when she realises how much pain becoming the Law of Cycles caused her – well, the logical conclusion is that the greatest threat to Madoka’s wellbeing is Madoka herself.

Homura: Well then, I suppose one day, you'll also be my enemy. It's fine, I don't care. I'll keep wishing for a world where you can be happy. Rebellion

So Homura selfishly chooses to override Madoka’s wish, out of pure, selfless love. Out of love for Madoka, she turns herself into the Devil, a suitable foe to fight a Goddess. Out of love for Madoka, she has imprisoned the girl within a prison of illusions. Out of love for Madoka, she has essentially renounced Madoka’s love.

There’s something utterly selfless about this. Homura is willing to make Madoka – her little pet bird singing sweetly in a silver garden – her enemy. She puts Madoka’s welfare first and foremost, even if it means someday Madoka might reject her, or fight her, or perhaps even hate her. In order to prove her love for Madoka, Homura is happy to never be loved by Madoka in return. Without hope, without witness, without reward, she takes the burden from her shoulders. Better to serve in Hell than rule in Heaven.

But there’s something undeniably selfish here. Who cares what Madoka wants? Madoka comes all the way to save her from her self-inflicted hell within the Soul Gem, and yet Homura refuses because she knows best. Madoka’s job is sing sweetly by the window, never leaving, trapped within a never-ending beginning, with the door to adulthood firmly closed. Madoka is not really a human, a girl, a friend – she’s an idol, to be cherished and protected by any means necessary.

If witches are born of the selfish wishes of magical girls (such as Sayaka’s wish done in hope of having Kyousuke fall in love with her), and goddess born of pure and selfless wishes, then it’s no surprise that Homura’s selflessly selfish love would create the Devil herself.

[clacing]

Sayaka being just a little mean is so precious because I feel like a lot of the other girls easily fall into their character tropes (Sporty, tragicly in love, impossibly good, mom) and Sayaka is a hero who is also just kind of a jerk some times. It's like genuine.

(God I hope whoever sent me this watched Rebellion already ‘cause if not..... thread carefully 😩)

I feel like they're all subversions of certain character tropes actually! Mami tries to be the wiser older mentor, but she’s also lonely and terrified and in such desperate need for friends that she tries to push Madoka and Sayaka into being magical girls even though she knows what kind of life she'd be condemning them to. Kyoko tries to be a selfish jerk, but she can’t forget that she used to believe in love and fairytales and chivalry and eventually finds something worth believing in and dying for again in Sayaka. Homura puts on acts all the time and her being the devil and evil incarnate and yadda yadda is only the latest one because she just doesn’t have it in her. Madoka is a bit trickier but I think her being “impossibly good” is not presented as an entirely positive thing and it’s also largely just the effect that Homura’s love for her has on the narrative.

And then we have Sayaka who wants to be a hero so badly that she holds herself to impossibly high standards of goodness and righteousness, then despairs when she fails to meet them. She makes what she thinks is a selfless wish and chooses to destroy herself rather than gain anything from it. She snaps at Madoka once and it starts a downward spiral. She has no mercy for witches because they kill human beings then totally kills two guys on a train for disrespecting women. I love her so much. If Madoka is a God figure then Sayaka is a Virgin Mary figure and trying to fit into that box literally killed her because human beings are flawed and not just “all good” or “all bad”.

This is why seeing Sayaka embrace her witch form and therefore her despair and sadness and anger in Rebellion is so important! She’s finally made peace with the less-than-pleasant parts of herself and found a way to weaponize them so that she can be a better hero, instead of hating herself for them! Now I just need Madoka to be knocked off the pedestal Homura holds her onto I know the process already started with the flower bed scene but I need something more. I need her to fuck up badly enough that Homura can’t help but see that she isn’t perfect but she’s still a good person in spite of that so she can stop idealizing Madoka and thinking of herself as the devil. Thank you for coming to my TED talk

[none-shall-caricature-me]

In ep 5, why didn't Madoka just ask Sayaka why she accepted turning into a magical girl ?

And yeah, I agree that Sayaka was fucking dumb for thinking her crush would hate her just because her soul is inside a gem despite her appearance and function being exactly how they fucking were before everything. How's that being a zombie ? Her crush won't ever know a thing. I'll never understand such a dumbfuck opinion honestly.

If she's simply scared that as a magical gurl, she could die horribly any moment or be occupied in fighting witches all the time, and therefore feels like she wouldn't be able to give him enough attention, that's understandable tho still too self - sacrificial.

Also I know that teenagers are dumb and overidealistic as all fuck and do blunderous, even occasionally life - threatening, shit due to that - but Sayaka oh my god. She's rushing headfirst into fatal contracts and battles despite knowing the horrific consequences and having ample opportunities to step back and reconsider - she's unbearable to watch. How can she take her own death so lightly ? Only a brainwashed zero IQ person would.

Also, I get her intense desire for creating a just, good, compassionate world, and killing evil for the sake of good, and not abandoning or hurting anyone. Even before she knew about magical girls, she was always to Madoka's rescue - from perceived dangerous bullies or from supernatural horrors - and after she made the contract, saved her friends from witches too. She's a noble person, always willing to help others even if it means putting herself in danger - and she wants a world and society that is as fair and kind. She applies these morals so strictly to herself too - instead of just accepting others' help to tide over tough times, she considers herself worthless and unlovable if she can't save people and defeat witches. Her view of love is so all - sacrificing too : it's immature, and yes romantic love is NEVER selfless, but she's still devoted to her crush and willing to do anything for him.

Her ideals for the world, people and friendships / romance are infact quite pure and grand. So when she sees the reality of people's lack of enough consideration, compassion and bravery - especially from her friends or the crush she did everything for - she feels hopeless re : life, and begins to think such a world is not worth living in or for. Her snapping at Madoka, calling her out for not becoming a magical girl and helping her when she could have much more easily - when she believes that such sacrifices are required in true bonds, and does so herself, she will feel betrayed if others chicken out, cop out and so don't do so on the same scale for her. It's illogical, but understandable, tho still not justifiable purwly from a practical, realistic worldview.

Imo, the story of her tragedy is the story of an incredibly kind, self - sacrificing and idealistic person realising that the world they've seen will never do nearly as much for them or anyone else, and not even try to improve.

[atamascolily]

Hmmm, okay, so the short answer is that Kyouko and Sayaka's arcs mirror each other. When we first meet Kyouko, she's the jaded cynic who doesn't believe in anything outside of her own pleasure and well-being, in contrast to the idealistic Sayaka, who is fighting for anything but herself (to the point where she repeatedly refuses grief seeds as a symbol of her selfless virtue, which ultimately destroys her).

By the end of their mini-arc (ep. 5-9), the two have switched places: now Sayaka is the jaded cynic who no longer believes the world is worth fighting for, and Kyouko's childhood belief in heroism and miracles has been revived. If you watch Kyouko's fight with Oktavia, you'll notice a lot of parallels with her first meeting with Sayaka--Kyouko's use of a barrier shield to block Madoka from the action (this time to protect her) and Kyouko getting pummeled without mercy, just as she attacked Sayaka before. Kyouko even comments on it: "Oh, I get what you're doing. This is payback, right?" (English dub).

And then we get this:

The red and the blue swirl together to form their bodies, posed like the classic yin-yang sign before dissolving into a never-ending spiral. The contrast between red and blue is a major motif in this battle, as demonstrated by the changing color of the auditorium seats in the background as first one and then the other is in ascendancy.

Oktavia von Seckendorff is the one witch Kyouko can't walk away from. The one witch she cannot kill, laughing, and move on, because she knows the girl behind the witch and that girl matters to her. The two are so evenly matched that Kyouko cannot win, and she refuses to let Sayaka go on as she is, so instead Kyouko choses a martyr's death (evidenced by her praying, contrast with Elsa Marie's witch earlier) and dies with Sayaka, precisely so neither of them have to be alone ever again.

Right before she dies, Kyouko tells Homura that the most important thing is to find the one thing worth fighting for and protect it until the end, and that's exactly what she does with Sayaka. The Kyouko from episode 5 never would have done this--Kyouko died precisely because she changed and grew enough as person to let go of all her old rules for survival as a result of meeting Sayaka. Because she discovered there was something more important than living for herself--even though it meant dying for it.

Characters becoming their opposites is a major theme in PMMM - you can see it in magical girls becoming witches, and also in Homura and Madoka's arcs as they keep switching places with each other. It's one of the things about this series that makes me scream and froth at the mouth every single time because it is so prevalent and so well done.

There is a tendency I see in PMMM analyses and discussions to treat the witches simply as monsters that can be overcome with sufficient force regardless of other circumstances--and thus Homura's failure to ever win against Walpurgisnacht on her own terms is something that could be easily fixed with more firepower and different tactics. And while there's nothing wrong with this interpretation, it's not one that particularly interests me, either.

What I like about PMMM and what makes it so engaging for me, is that it can be read on multiple levels--both as a literal journey and as a symbolic one. In-universe, witches are the shadow selves of magical girls; is it really so surprising that they also serve as narrative foils to those who face them, thus making victory or defeat as much of a character issue as a tactical one?

It is not a coincidence that Mami Tomoe, a girl who was forced to grow up too fast and who could have wished to save her dying parents but didn't, meets her end at the hand of a particularly childish and immature witch, a lumpen, misshapen doll that transforms into a clown--a girl who never grew up, who could have wished to save her dying parent but didn't. Mami, an experienced veteran who wiped the floor with the Rose Witch and her familiars earlier, is completely caught off-guard and is eaten alive by a witch who embodies all of the issues she herself struggles with and has yet to overcome within herself.

Yes, Mami was careless and overconfident, which led to her doom--but she had also fulfilled her role of introducing Madoka to the world of magical girls. On a narrative level, her death was necessary--not only to free Madoka from her impulsive promise to become a magical girl too early in the story, before she'd learned all the facts and could make a fully informed decision, but also to teach Madoka one final, horrific lesson about what life as a magical girl is really like.

This is not to say that AUs where Mami survives are wrong or missing the point--I've written them myself and I love them! (It helps that Mami's survival is usually the result of someone else's interference, not something she accomplishes on her own.) Nor do I mean to suggest that Mami's death is a moral failing on her part--merely that I think that Charlotte represents Mami's own particular brand of kryptonite at that particular point in her life, one she might have been able to survive if she had been able to move beyond the psychological issues hobbling her.

Meanwhile, Homura is able to easily defeat Charlotte, because metaphorically she's moved beyond the childish worldview that Mami is still stuck in. From that same symbolic perspective, it's this relative level of maturity, as much as her time stop and pipe bombs, that allows her to win.

Likewise, it is not an accident that the next witch Madoka encounters is one that specializes in extracting the memories of its victims, trapping Madoka in a spinning carousel as she is tormented by her own grief and guilty conscience over Mami's death. She is freed by Sayaka, who has moved beyond such angst by her decision to take on Mami's role as an idealized magical girl protector. Later on, Sayaka's descent into dualistic thinking is symbolized by her fight against a witch whose world is literally black and white--whom Sayaka defeats, but only at the cost of pushing herself dangerously to her limits.

As with Mami, Sayaka's death is directly tied to her own psychological issues--in this case, by her incredibly strict rules about how magical girls should behave and her refusal to cut herself any slack whatsoever. Her metaphorical self-denial results in literal self-denial, and her death as a magical girl and rebirth as a witch.

Then we come to Walpurgisnacht, a witch made of cogs and gears--the one witch Homura cannot beat, no matter what she does. Homura is stuck in her loops, unable to imagine a future beyond them, increasingly isolated from any meaningful connections or relationships--Walpurgisnacht may be the "fool that spins in a circle", but so is Homura. The inside mirrors the outside; when we watch Homura fight against Walpurgisnacht, we are also watching Homura's struggle with herself. Unlike Mami and Sayaka, Homura's magic allows her to fight this battle over and over again--again and again she is forced to retreat and start over, unsatisfied with the results and determined to do better next time. She doesn't die, but she doesn't win, either--instead, she's locked into perpetual stalemate with no end.

Madoka, however, is able to see beyond the vicious cycle represented by Walpurgisnacht and thus easily and repeatedly defeats an enemy that Homura cannot, regardless of her relative power levels in any given timeline. It's probably too simplistic to say that hope triumphs over despair--and yet, that's exactly what happens, every single time. Homura has numbed herself through repeated exposure to where she no longer feels hope or despair, thus existing in perpetual stasis with her purpose the only thing driving her. Paradoxically, the one thing she needs to do to win is the one thing she cannot do--and the thing that Madoka can do all too easily.

(This is not to say that Madoka doesn't have her own issues--she does!--just that her issues are different from Homura's, meaning she's not tripped up by this particular obstacle in the same way that Homura is. And it's not that Homura's struggles were pointless--they were what allowed Madoka to get to point where she had both the power and the knowledge that she could save everyone, including Homura.)

Homura's final battle with Walpurgisnacht shows Homura going to insane lengths, including a wall of C-4 explosives inside a refinery, a flaming oil tanker, and a submarine with Type 88 Surface-to-Ship missiles--none of which has any lasting effect on Walpurgisnacht whatsoever. That episode goes to great lengths to show that Homura's approach to fighting Walpurgisnacht fundamentally isn't working; I don't think adding more nukes would help.

The one time Homura gets the closest to her happy ending is the one timeline where she and Madoka fight and fall together--the one timeline where they are shown as equals, and the one where they debate becoming witches together and destroying the whole world before Madoka thinks better of it. This is also not a coincidence. If there is ever to be a truly happy end to this franchise--or an end at all--Homura and Madoka must be equal and willing partners, not one protecting/sacrificing themself for the other again and again. It is also likely that they will remake the universe in the process, through the combined power of their mutual wish.

[It also wouldn't surprise me if that line foreshadowed future plot elements--after all, Madoka technically became a witch in the final episode of the TV series (she got better, thanks to the nature of her wish), and so did Homura in Rebellion--but we shall see if the series ever follows up on this.]

This is why I'm so excited that Walpurgis no Kaiten seems to be laying the groundwork for Homura creating her own enemies and her greatest enemy being herself--once again, making the metaphorical literal. I'm excited about the prospect of Homura getting a do-over with Walpurgisnacht, which would represent a chance for her to confront her narrative foil one more time, and show us how her character has changed. Though it may play out on a larger stage, the real battle will be inside Homura's mind and heart--and, I would argue, always has been. The only way the outcome will change--the only way we can move beyond what's been and into something new--is if/when she changes.

I want to be clear that there's absolutely nothing wrong with the strictly literal interpretation of witches, and I think people should write what they want to write; if that's the story you want to tell, then go for it! For me, however, I find it far more compelling--not to mention richer and truer--if the actions and words on-screen correspond to the characters' emotional and psychological journeys, and there's no question that this preference how I interpret media in general, and PMMM in particular. And it's not that I think Homura couldn't defeat Walpurgisnacht in an AU scenario--merely that any story where she achieves this victory without changing in any way or addressing her own psychological issues in some fashion removes exactly the elements that drew me to this series in the first place.

[woolishlygrim]

So, with the new Madoka Magica thing coming, I watched Rebellion again, and was reminded of how interesting and thematically rich the weird, surreal transformation sequences from that movie are.

So I looked up some people’s analyses of the sequence, and those analyses were, you know, really bad. Luckily, I’m a relaxed person who can let things go and doesn’t feel the burning need to waste a lot of time analysing a one-and-a-half minute sequence from an eight year old movie.

...

...

1) Mami.

Mami is really straightforward. As the transformation sequence starts, she’s doing an ice dance, a kind of dance that strives to create the impression of free movement, grace, and creative expression but which is actually governed by incredibly rigid rules, not unlike how Mami attempts to foster an external presentation of effortless, free-spirited grace, while binding herself to a rigid code of behaviour.

As she moves into her final spin, she folds up one leg, forming the shape of a grief seed, which her magical girl form tears its way out of, breaking her back open as it goes. This is some incredibly literal symbolism: For Mami, who made her wish solely to escape death while the rest of her family died and later threw herself into being a magical girl, her magical girl persona literally tore its way out of her grief, breaking the person she was before.

Her back breaking also ties back to her death in the series, as Bebe crushed her in its jaws.

2) Kyoko.

Kyoko has an excitable, fast-paced dance to pretty straightforwardly represent her excitable, wild personality. As the sequence goes on, she sprouts a multitude of arms, waving about her, in what is almost certainly a reference to Guanyin, the Goddess of Mercy. Apart from referencing Kyoko’s selfless wish to help her father, and her act of mercy-killing Sayaka, Guanyin was typically conflated with the Virgin Mary, with statues of Mary disguised as Guanyin and a cult of 'Maria Kannon’ having formed around her at one point. Giving that her father was apparently a priest excommunicated for heresy, it’s entirely plausible that heresy was the veneration of Maria Kannon.

Next we see a man’s hand reach for Kyoko’s face. This is almost certainly Kyoko’s father’s hand, reaching for her either in affection or in anger after killing the rest of their family. We see Kyoko split into multiple images, referencing her now lost power of duplicating herself, before the scene is torn open by a demonic, red-eyed, terrifying looking Kyoko. This is the one bit of symbolism in this sequence that has me completely stumped. A representation of how Kyoko sees herself, maybe? Or perhaps a representation of how her father saw her.

3) Sayaka.

Winning the prize for ‘least disturbing,’ we’ve got Sayaka, who kicks off her transformation by break-dancing, as coloured silhouettes mimic her movements at a slight time delay. The break-dancing itself is just a reference to her athleticism, but what’s interesting is that some of the silhouettes occasionally flicker to black with spots of oily colour, the pattern of a soul gem just before it becomes a Witch, referencing Sayaka’s fate in the original timeline of becoming the Witch Oktavia.

As the transformation ends, a silhouette of Sayaka as a schoolgirl sprints (with perfect form, again referencing her athleticism) at a silhouette of herself as a magical girl, the two colliding and splattering like water. There’s a general running theme of water in this one, referencing Oktavia again. As the two colours mix, a liquid version of Sayaka as a magical girl emerges, and for a split-second we see her cry into her hands, representing her regret at becoming a magical girl.

This one is almost as simple as Mami’s, all told.

4) Homura.

The most symbolically rich and also probably the most disturbing. As Homura starts, we see her holding her soul gem, which for a split-second flashes to an artistic representation of a scene later in the movie: The forest of lanterns that Homura and Kyoko end up passing through when they’re trying to leave town. 

Homura’s dance is a ballet dance, representing how ... let me check my notes here ... she’s a ballet dancer. Like Sayaka, she has a silhouette following her at a time delay, but unlike Sayaka, her silhouette isn’t actually perfectly mimicking her movements, instead deviating at points. This is probably playing triple duty on the symbolism side: Homura is at this point both magical girl and Witch, both the original Homura and the new universe’s Homura, and is in two minds about what she wants to do. 

As the transformation goes on, the white silhouette gets caught in a film reel, repeating her infinitely, while the purple silhouette is still and singular: The purple silhouette is the new universe’s Homura, while the white silhouette is the original timeline’s, repeating the same period of time over and over again. 

We get another short shot of a future part of the film, this time the rising lanterns that lead up above the city, which will eventually be transformed into the arch and castle where Homura becomes a Witch.

This transitions to a silhouetted, yellow-eyed version of Homura (the ‘lizard-girl’ she figuratively becomes) bursting into patterns as Homura escapes from it, reaching for something, before transitioning to a pair of glowing hands grasping around a soul gem. The colour grading makes the soul gem look purple, making it look like Homura’s, but it’s actually not: Homura’s soul gem is visible on one of the glowing hands. This is actually Madoka’s soul gem that Homura is grasping at.

After a split-second shot of some very sinister witch text, we cut back to Homura, who segues into some more ballet moves before her striking her pose. These actually aren’t just any ballet moves, though: She’s dancing the death of Odette at the end of Swan Lake. At the end of Swan Lake, Odette dies and ascends to heaven, freeing the other swan maidens from the grip of Rothbart. It’s a very close match to someone’s story, but that someone is Madoka, not Homura: Homura’s mimicry of Madoka/Odette casts her in the role of Odile, the Black Swan (whose costume Homura wears as part of her devil attire later on in the movie), who imitates Odette and in doing so steals her purpose from her. This is some really heavy foreshadowing for the end of the movie.

5) Madoka.

Madoka’s dance is styled after the pop dances of idols, figuratively representing her as Homura’s ‘idol,’ (and potentially tying in to ideas of the artificiality of Jpop idols: This both is and isn’t Madoka, after all, it’s a mask that the real Madoka is wearing). 

After the dance, the transformation cuts to the same film reel Homura was stuck in, but this time with an endless line of paper dolls of Madoka. This is pulling double duty for symbolism here: The dolls are both the many iterations of Madoka that Homura has seen in her time loops, and the infinite iterations of Madoka that exist in the moment of every magical girl becoming a Witch -- we actually see an almost identical scene elsewhere, in Ultimate Madoka’s transformation in Magia Record, with the key difference being those Madokas are real, whereas these ones are a chain of paper dolls, hinting at Homura’s view of those Madokas as being ‘not fully real.’ The Madoka she knew is gone, and Ultimate Madoka both is Madoka and is just a pale imitation.

We cut from there to grainy, close-up images of Madoka. The angle of these suggest that we’re seeing through someone’s eyes, and we are: These are Homura’s memories of the ‘real’ Madoka. As we watch, a glowing hand breaks through, shattering the images like a mirror. A lot of people have assumed this is Madoka’s hand, but it’s not: We’ve already seen this exact glowing hand, in Homura’s transformation, because it’s Homura’s hand, reaching for Madoka. As if to confirm this, behind the hand we see buzzing stripes of colours for just a moment: The same ever-shifting rainbow shades as Devil Homura’s eyes briefly turn.

Madoka is revealed, peering through her hands in a way that mimics the floating eyes of Kyubey outside the isolation field they’re all trapped in. Like Kyubey, Madoka is a godlike being who exists beyond the world that Homura has created here.

Whew. Okay, that’s all five. We get Bebe’s transformation later, and the symbolism there is that she likes cake and shit.

[mistbornthefinal]

Madoka Magica Aniversary Analysis: Part 10

I Wished That I Could Turn Back Time

Well this is the episode, Episode 3 may have gotten people talking about Madoka but it was this one that cemented this series as a classic. 

We begin with Homura, but very clearly not the Homura that we’re familiar with. The introduction of this Homura is an inversion of what we saw in episode 1. Rather than brush off the curious students she needs to be “saved” by health officer Madoka. (rather than her transfer being mysterious we are told she just got out of the hospital for an unspecified heart condition that she still takes medicine for) This time Madoka leads and Homura follows, Madoka is the one setting the terms by which they refer to each other, Madoka complements Homura’s name which echo’s back to EP 1. Rather than Homura exhorting Madoka not to change it’s Madoka who exhorts Homura to try live up to her name. 

Also unlike in the first episode where Homura blows everyone away this Homura struggles with both academics and athletics. As she walks home she recalls Madoka’s call to “be cool to match her name” which only deepens her depression. She’s overcome with a sense of directionlessness and ennui that’s fairly similar to Madoka’s own insecurities. As he mood darkens the Witch Izabel calls to her seeding her with suicidal thoughts and then pulls her into her labyrinth. Her minions lurch toward Homura, all seems lost, but then a familiar theme is heard.

The Puella Magi, Mami and Madoka(?!) are here for a clutch save and they make short work of the witch. At Mami’s apartment Homura is (presumably) filled in on Meguca 101 but also that Walpurgisnact is soon to arrive. 

We cut to that immediately after that because this episode doesn’t mess around. Mami’s dead, Madoka is the only thing standing in the way of the mightiest Witch. Homura pleads with Madoka to run, that no one will blame her for it. But for better or for worse Madoka has the soul of a true hero. Even though it’s brought her into this seemingly hopeless situation Madoka doesn’t regret becoming a Puella Magi she leaps back into the fray with a smile on her lips.

She’s even able to defeat Walpurgisnact but only at the cost of her life. As Homura sobs over her body, she should have lived rather than save someone like her. In her grief Kyubey is there with the same offer as always, is there a wish she’s willing to trade her soul for? There is, of course.

I want to redo my first encounter with Kaname-san. But this time, instead of her protecting me, I want to be strong enough to protect her!

The soul gem rises from her chest shining, her wish has surpassed entropy. As she grasps it we see the gears of her shield start to turn. She awakens in a new timeline, the clock wound back to the day she was discharged from the hospital.

At school she grabs the hands of a very confused Madoka at the first oppertunity and tells her that she became a Puella Magi. We then cut to Homura demonstrating her power by wailing on an oil drum with a golf club in stopped time. It’s an impressive power but as Mami points out it’s limited by her ability to actually do damage as she seems to lack the superhuman physicality that the other Puella Magi seem to have. 

Homura elects to solve this problem by making pipe bombs, which we see her demonstrate on the witch Patricia. Much to Madoka’s... enthusiasm. 

Sadly the happy-fun-(yuri)-times can’t last while the shadow of Walpurgisnact looms. We’re back to were the last timeline ended, only this time there’s still a Soul Gem in Madoka’s hand one about to fully darken. Homura leans the terrible truth as Kriemhild Gretchen is loosed on the world, and then the clock is wound back yet again.

Now knowing the truth Homura attempts to warn the other Puella Magi about Kyubey’s deception. Unfortunately the other Puella Magi now incudes Sayaka, who is instinctively hostile to Homura and dismisses her out of hand. Though it might in part owe to swords comboing poorly with bombs. That part at least is something Homura can solve, by stealing guns from the Yakuza. 

Just in time for Sayaka to become a Witch. Madoka is on the “try to talk down Oktavia” plan that we saw in the last episode and it’s not any more effective than that last time we saw it. As Madoka is cornered by wheels Homura steps in with her time stop to deflect the attack with her new end the fight.

As the reality of what happened set’s in the girls are distraught, especially Mami who ties up Homura with her ribbons and then just shoots Kyouko’s soul gem. She turns her gun on Homura saying that if Witches are born from Soul Gems then they have no choice but to die. Before she can pull the trigger Madoka kills her. Homura tries to comfort Madoka saying that the two of them can still defeat Walpugisnact.

Well she was right, but though victorious the two of them are out of magic, and they both know what happens next. Maybe it won’t be so bad Homura muses, the two of them can become monsters together and lay waste to this awful world. Madoka has a different idea, she actually has one last grief seed and she uses it to cleanse Homura’s gem. She wants Homura to do something that Madoka can’t.

Could you save me from my stupidity... before I get fooled get fooled by Kyubey?

Homura agrees and in this moment that the Homura we know is truly born. She’ll do it no matter how many times it. But there’s on last thing, Madoka doesn’t want to become a Witch, the may be many sad and awful thing in this world but there are some worth protecting, and one last thing the two of them can do for this world. 

It’s in this moment that Homura is finally able to call Madoka by her first name, just as Madoka asked her two timelines ago. 

In the new timeline Homura leaps from her bed, heals her eyesight with magic, and undoes her braids, completing her transformation into the Homura we’ve gotten familiar with throughout the series. She then appears beside Homura’s window dead Kyubey in hand and tells her that if anyone offer a miracle she shouldn’t trust them.

Homura raids a military base and then wages a one girl war against Mitakihara’s Witch population. She makes a vow, she will never depend on anyone again, never allow Madoka to fight, she will destroy all the Witches by herself. Including Walpurgisnact. 

Just like that we’re back to the very beginning of the show. The scene that the current Madoka saw in her dream, Homura struggling alone against the legendary Witch. As before Madoka looks on in horror and Kyubey is there to tempt her into his trap. This time though we hear as Homura desperately calls out to Madoka not to trust his contract. 

And this time we see the aftermath.  Kriemhild Gretchen looms on the horizon like a mountain of darkness, Kyubey estimates that she will destroy the planet in about ten days. Kyubey predicted that something like this would happen but given he has met his quota it’s humanities problem now. But not Homura’s this isn’t her battlefield she says as she turns back time once again. 

We’re now in the main timeline seeing Homura hunt Kyubey in episode one from her perspective.

I’ll do it over... as many times as it takes. I’ll relive the same time over and over, searching for the one way out. I’ll find the one path that will save you from your fate of boundless despair. Madoka... my one and only friend. If it’s... If it’s for you, I don’t mind being trap in this endless maze... for all eternity. 

This episode ends with Connect rather than opening with it, just in case we weren’t now aware that it’s Homura song. This version ends with all five girls rather than Mami, Sayaka, and Madoka (who are never contracted at the same time in the main timeline)

So that was episode 10 as previously stated this episode is all about Homura’s character, her wish and how she came to be the person we met in episode one. Honestly I’d say that Homura is the most misunderstood characters in the series, like we’ve all seen plenty of “crazy stalker Homura” jokes.  Homura’s determination to save Madoka isn’t a totally one sided thing either, ultimately she working to fulfil the request of TL 3 Madoka. Rather the tragedy is that she decides her devotion to saving Madoka must take priority over her relationship with Madoka, which doesn’t leave anyone happy.

To a certain extent Homura is a foil to all the other girls. Much like Mami most of what we see from her is a façade, as much they both project confidence they’re hiding a lot of pain and loneliness. Like Sayaka she made a selfless wish for somewhat selfish reasons and is ultimately kept from the person they love in part because they are unwilling to be honest about their feelings. She puts on an air of cynicism despite being a disillusioned romantic in a similar way to Kyouko even though both of them are still willing to put it all on the line for the person they love. 

And of course Homura and Madoka share a self-sacrificing streak born from a low opinion of their own value, and what they both want form their wish is not only to save others but also to change themselves. Homura doesn’t wish merely to save Madoka but to become someone capable of saving her, much in the same way Madoka wants to be a person who saves others. 

[angeldrawsstuffs]

Been playing Madoka’s new online game, Magia Exedra, and recently got to this part of the story and like-

On a rewatch, it’s really easy to sympathize with Kyoko. She and Sayaka are idealistically opposed and thus came to blows, but throughout most of her scenes, Kyoko is trying to give Sayaka actual, practical advice on being a magical girl in the system they’re under. Not following that advice is part of what set Sayaka on this dark path. Kyoko and (eugh) Kyubey were right- Sayaka can’t afford to be selfless. Or, more accurately- not Sayaka’s idea of “selfless”, which is wholly self-destructive.

It’s also interesting to look back and see that, in all of their fights, they only escalate as far as they do because of Sayaka poking the bear instead of doing the smart thing and retreating.

Bc the 2 of you are parallel lines in the same story.