#i will be consistent in my colouring of sayaka this time

[tothepointofinsanity]

Opinion detected, agent dispatched.

[jolyneswife-anime-reviews]

Puella magi madoka magica anime review

Spoilers for madoka magica and tw for obsession, despair and death

Please note: this review doesn't cover Magia Record, the spinoff series. I have made a separate post regarding that.

“If someone tells me it’s wrong to hope, I’ll tell them they’re wrong every time!”- Madoka Kaname

Genre: psychological, action, tragedy, magical girl (Yuri implications)

Where I watched it: Netflix

Characters: 8.5/10 (The series wastes no time getting the point across, and this attitude is reflected in the characters- all unique, beautifully developed throughout the series, they are reflections of all the different things being "human," can mean, with characterization being used as a tool to explore key themes in the anime- selfishness and selflessness, hope and despair, good and evil etc. Personally, I think Sayaka in particular was crucial to the reader if they were to understand life for magical girls, as she started off the anime as the bright picture of hope, just a regular teenage girl who wanted justice, and by the end, she was in a very different position)

Setting: 9/10 (This is some of the best visual storytelling I've seen in anime, with the witches' labyrinths reflecting them as people in so much detail we get overwhelmed, and the last battle between a witch and Sayaka being treated with simplistic setting and contrasting black, white and red to direct your focus to her, and her suffering. There's often something happening in the background, which, more often than not, holds hidden meaning in terms of the story)

Plot:10/10 (the anime is only 12 episodes in length, short and straight to the point, but it does its job at telling the story, wasting no time to build a wholesome and light-hearted facade for the first few episodes, before tearing that all away in a matter of minutes and heading in a much darker, more sinister direction)

Comfort: 3/10 (this is not a light or a comforting watch as it explores several dark themes, with things often not ending on a positive light for the clueless girls who decide to become magical girls)

Philosophy: 8.5/10 (this anime sits almost unrivalled when it comes to symbolism and the depth of analysis that can be done, such as the nature of wishes and what makes an action truly selfless)

Art style: 8.5/10 (the art tends to be on the cute, aesthetic side at first, which is visually pleasing and in line with the facade of perfection. This changes with the witches' labyrinths, which look a bit like brightly coloured collages, and in the darker scenes the pallet turns more dull to match the mood)

Originality: 9/10 (although we're not strangers to "dark" magical girl anime now, madoka magica was the first of its kind and, with its unique visions and plot twists, paved the way for many others)

Consistency: 9/10 (the quality stays high throughout the episodes and even the film, without fillers or too much fan service)

Addictiveness: 9/10 (This anime easily makes it to my top 5 this year- the characters, plot and setting are crafted so meticulously, it's guaranteed to get you hooked- the complexity of the world, the explorations of the girls' true nature and the ever deepening mystery of what a magical girl is make this a very addictive series.)

Average score: 8.4

Madoka Magica starts off like a seemingly normal slice of life anime, with girls who lead privileged lives and have no bigger problems than boys or looks. Once the mysterious transfer student is introduced and gives Madoka an ominous warning not to change her life to protect herself and those she loves, the plot starts moving. After being rescued by veteran magical girl Mami Tomoe from a witch labyrinth, the girls discover you can make a contract with Kyubey, a seemingly harmless creature from outer space, where he grants you any wish of your choice in exchange for your service as a magical girl fighting witches. The girls view it in a positive light at first, but after they witness a few fights and encounter the "real" magical girls, things quickly turn sinister. The girls realize they have essentially sold their soul and signed a death warrant in exchange for flawed and misguided (though well meant) wishes and spiral into despair as they try to find a way out. The only person who can provide this is Madoka, who has been watching from the sidelines, terrified, but has so much potential as a magical girl that she could potentially become god.

Masterlist

[gaythingliker69]

Paperwork

Read on AO3

Sayaka Igarashi’s life was consumed by paper. It felt like every two minutes she was hurrying here or there, carrying files or forms. Or she created more paper for herself with a printer, documents of all kinds then being escorted by Sayaka’s safe hands. Or there was the quick and quiet tapping of a keyboard, putting words onto paper that didn’t even exist yet. These were the tasks that came with the role of secretary. It sounds monotonous, uniform, yet her life had never been more colourful or enjoyable.

She came in to drop some forms to the Vice President, nodding at the masked girl before quickly retreating back to the printer to get more paper. It was amazing really. She was convinced that her activities alone were the cause of deforestation. But she didn’t mind - she never had, and she imagined she never would.

The hum of the printer and warm, smooth feel had become all too familiar to her. This was another instance of someone just sending something to her printer, presumably for her to make a delivery. She quickly leafed through the sheets, none of which really caught her eye. But the bottom sheet was written in tall block capitals, unmistakable as a command. A command that made Sayaka’s heart quicken until it was all she could hear. One that sent her cheeks red and eyes wide.

‘COMPLETE WHAT ERRANDS YOU HAVE. QUICKLY. THEN COME TO MY OFFICE. ALONE. I EXPECT TO SEE YOU SHORTLY.’

She stumbled through the next fifteen minutes, taking several wrong turns and running straight into a puzzled Yuriko. Apologising and picking herself up, she near sprinted to finish what she had to do, then turned, and headed quickly for her office.

As she approached the doors, the nervous energy she was already feeling intensified. A strange cocktail of apprehension and excitement causing her breathing to become quick and her hands to shake slightly. She’d finally get to see her, after what felt like years. It had been hours, if that. But the note…

What did the President want? Why did Kirari ask her here? She ran through every possibility in her mind, but realised it was futile. Their minds were opposite after all - that was what drew them together. She remembered the Tower, lying on the crash mat and feeling Kirari’s weight on her, and how she looked ethereal in the moonlight. She blushed deeply, and again tried to think what this could be. She failed, and sighed slightly. Then, with an almost Herculean effort, she pushed the door open.

Kirari was just sat on the desk, as she always appeared. Her, in all her beauty. Her eyes were trained on the door, and seemed to almost glow as Sayaka appeared in the doorway. Her hair was held in the braids Sayaka had done herself, her hands nearly shaking as she did them. Kirari must look perfect. Or maybe she would regardless - Sayaka thought she could probably pull off anything.

“Sayaka, you took longer than I expected.”

“I’m sorry Madam Presudent, I fell, I tried to-“

“Oh, that doesn’t matter. You’re here now.”

Kirari smiled and stood up. Sayaka found herself almost running across the room, and fell into the Oresudent’s arms. And everything melted. Any thoughts of being late, the stress from the day, the embarrassment of falling, all just dissipated. Kirari held her to her chest, and she rested her head there. She heard Kirari’s heartbeat, quiet and consistent, and she knew then she was fine. Safe. Protected in the warm shield of Kirari’s arms. Her breathing was even, and she relaxed into the embrace, loving the warmth that surrounded her.

Kirari pushed her back and kissed her, firmly, if only for a second. She felt alive in a way she never knew she could do, her body felt almost on fire. She wanted that moment to last forever, for time to simply stop so they could stay there like that, locked together forever. Kirari drew back, a faint smile forming on her lips as she saw the deep blush that painted Sayaka’s face. They held each other like that for a moment, simply looking each other in the eyes, deep purple meeting intense sea blue.

“I love you, Sayaka Igarashi,” said Kirari, quietly, as if she wanted it to be their secret. Sayaka blushed harder still, and pulled herself back into Kirari’s chest. And they stayed that way for a long time, the passage of time, the comings and goings at the office door, all irrelevant to them. They had all they needed.

[rivetwrites]

//hello!! it's here!! it's my first fic, so it's not at my full potential yet! i had a lot of trouble with toko and syo. i tried my best to...at least remove the sneezing thing, but i know it's not perfect and i'm hoping to improve in the future! the ending is sort of rushed, as i was milking the last of motivation and ideas!! definitely not proof-read BAHHAHA

Byakuya Togami's Trial

Chihiro was dead. It was almost surreal, everyone promised not to kill anyone else. Yet it was in such a gruesome way. He was found in the girl’s locker room, which is strange, since he discovered to be a boy. Surely Monokuma knew about it, he knew practically everything about them.

Everyone was seated in their respectful places in the trial room. Kiyotaka looked the most nervous, but everyone looked the same. Who wouldn’t be? Chihiro was found strung up by his wrists and neck, “bloodlust” written in his own blood on the wall. And someone took the time to do that. Who would even want to hurt Chihiro? Sure, he’s an easy target, he wouldn’t have fought back, but he was the nicest one here.

“Let’s go over the rules once mo-” Monokuma had started, the bear sitting in his “judge seat.” But he was quickly interrupted by Byakuya, “Shut it. We’re starting.” That wasn’t unlike him, but he had a small smile on his face, almost like he was excited to start the trial. Who the hell would be excited to discuss one of our dead friend’s death? And convict someone and send them to their own death. “Very well! Since Togami thinks that he’s the judge, we shall start!!”

Of course the discussion went to how Chihiro even got to the girl’s locker room. Monokuma had stated that he did know that he was a boy, so it would’ve been impossible for him to get into the room on his own. “Obviously he was dead before he even went into the girl’s locker room,” Byakuya started, “then strung him up onto the wall. Doesn’t the position of his body look familiar, Makoto?” He looked over at the small boy, who perked up at his name.

Yes, it did look familiar. Makoto had seen similar positioning in the book that Byakuya showed him in the library. The cases with Genocide Jack. But Genocide Jack wasn’t here. He couldn’t be. As soon as Makoto mentioned his name, Byakuya looked over at Toko, who seemed to have almost burst a blood vessel.

“Genocide Jack is a lot closer than we think, Makoto,” he hummed, his hand resting on his chin. Toko looked like she wanted to jump over her table to kick his ass, but she was starting to panic. “Y-you promised n-not to tell anyone, B-Byakuya!” It had only hardened the case that Toko was Genocide Jack. On cue, from the sudden conviction and stress that she had been forced to endure, her eyes rolled back as she fell onto the floor.

Makoto had jolted up to help her up, which Togami gripped his arm tightly. Toko had started to stand back up, but she looked so different. This wasn’t Toko, it couldn’t be. She had flashes of both anger and slight arousal as she started laughing hysterically. Her voice radiated throughout the trial room, high pitched and unnerving. Her laughter soon died down to small chuckles and giggles, her wild eyes looking at Makoto. Well, it looked like she was looking at him, but her eyes seem to not have acknowledged him. “You caaaallled? Master has called me! Ooooh!! I’m guessing it was about me, huh huh huh?” Her voice sounded completely different compared to Toko’s quiet, stuttering voice.

Once Byakuya started explaining how he found out about Genocide Jack, she seemed confused. “That’s what they call me? I’m not some guy! Genocide Jill, or Syo would do for me!!” Her sentence followed with her cackling laughter. Tok- Syo, was definitely confused when everyone started to convict her of being the murderer. “Whaaat? No way! Makoto! You should see a pattern of my kills!” Of course she went to Makoto. But she was right. She only killed boys. But once Byakuya stated that Chihiro was yes, indeed a boy, she almost looked disappointed. “Awhh!! Now I wish I killed him! But I didn’t! I don’t use those weapons! Plus, an electrical cord?” Again, she was right. All the pictures consisted of the boys being pinned up by scissors.

Makoto was about to state that she didn’t have any, but it was shot down when she already had two scissors in her hands. Well, now the suspicion went to Byakuya. He was the only one to know of Genocide Jack, besides Makoto, who had an alibi. Togami looked like he was about to snap, but clicked his tongue. “Obviously I couldn’t have done it. I saw Mondo leaving the girl’s locker room,” that sentence brought Mondo’s attention. “You fucking strung Chihiro up?!” Thankfully Sakura was within arms reach of Mondo, because he was about to fucking kill Byakuya.

“I simply wanted to make things interesting. You wouldn’t want a boring trial, now would you?” He still had a cool smile on his face, but his back was tensing from the sudden threat of Mondo actually getting to him. “Why the fuck would you do that?!” Owada’s voice started getting furious and loud. Kyoko put one of her gloved hands up, her eyes glaring at Byakuya with clear disgust before saying that we should continue the trial before times up.

Now everyone looked over at Mondo, who looked extremely guilty. Before people even began to shoot questions at him, Kiyotaka’s voice triumphed over theirs. “N-no way! Mondo would never! We’re bros, he’s not that kind of person!! What kind of people are you?!” Mondo looked just as astonished at Taka defending him, especially in such an aggressive manner. It was very unlike him. Mondo wanted to confess so badly, but something inside him, anxiety and fear prevented him from doing so. But all the evidence started pointing to him. Celeste said she saw Chihiro late at night with a workout bag, how Mondo said the correct colour of the tracksuit, how he was strong enough to swing that weight at him. It was all clicking into place, and now looking horrible for Mondo.

But it didn’t make sense. Would Chihiro be able to die from one swing? There was only one head wound, quite a bit of blood, but would he be able to die? Or simply be knocked out. Mondo wasn’t the...brightest of the bunch, so would be able to know that he didn’t actually kill him? Kyoko had the same thought, her eyes scanning Mondo’s face as she spoke up, “Were you sure that Chihiro was dead?” Straight to the point. Owada looked confused, his brows furrowing, “...Yeah. I carried him to the girl’s locker room. He wasn’t breathing.” Which is understandable, but if you get knocked out, especially by such a big guy like Mondo, your body can seem dead.

“Obviously he was dead. I checked beforehand.” Byakuya tapped his glasses, his voice speaking matter of factly, but it still didn’t make sense. “Togami, your breathing stops and your pulse goes faint when someone knocks you out,” Makoto piped up. He wasn’t trying to accuse him, but he was looking at every option. Their lives are on the line. “What’re you saying, Makoto? That I killed him? I’m telling you, he was already dead!” His voice started to falter, like he was starting to believe it himself. He didn’t properly check Chihiro before he hung him up, but he didn’t want to admit it.

Byakuya turned to Monokuma, “Bear! Tell them that I didn’t kill him! There’s no way!” The smile that he held had fallen as soon as he was being suspected. Monokuma didn’t respond, only a soft “puhuhu” coming from him. Sweat started to bead on Togami’s forehead, looking back at the students, “There’s no way. I didn’t!” No one was defending him, well, except Syo, but even then, she wasn’t taking it seriously. “When I was checking his body,” Sakura finally said, crossing her arms across her chest, “his lips and fingertips were blue. Which I’m pretty sure wouldn’t happen if he was already dead.” In which, Kyoko confirmed that it’s true.

Now everyone’s eyes were on Byakuya, who looked disheveled and anxious. He looked like he was at his breaking point, the reality hitting him that he, Byakuya Togami, had killed Chihiro by accident. He didn’t mean to in the slightest, but the chance that he did was eating him up.

Though, the one who looked the least anxious and sad now, was Taka. The weight of grief was lifted off of his chest, that maybe, just maybe, his bro was safe!! Mondo, not so much. He felt a weight of guilt on his own shoulders. He caused Chihiro’s death. It’s his fault. All his fault. He never felt worse. The boy trusted him, and he just- Mondo was thrown out of his thoughts at Monokuma’s voice. “All right!! Time to cast your votes! I will change this a bit!! Whoever has the most votes between Togami and Owada, will be chosen! Now it’s just luck! Puhuhuhu!!”

There wasn’t enough time to actually get a confession. But even they don’t know. Guess it was just luck. The voting time was a lot longer, which they couldn’t choose to be thankful over, or to be fucking terrified. Finally, the votes were in.

Byakuya had the most votes.

The look of horror on Togami’s face was...almost priceless. When Monokuma pulled the slot game to reveal his sprite, they were correct. Byakuya did kill Chihiro. It felt like fiction. Actually, this entire fucking game felt like fiction to them, but it was all real. All the deaths were real. Sayaka, Junko, Leon, and Chihiro were all gone, and Byakuya was next. The tall boy didn’t even want to believe it, his jaw opening and closing as he tried to think of a rebuttal. But it was already decided. Byakuya killed Chihiro, it was over.

They all left their stands, off the court to discuss, but Byakuya was near unresponsive. It was...strange. He always had something sarcastic to say, just like he said to Leon before his execution. It was...quiet. Probably out of shock, no one expected Byakuya to kill someone. Byakuya being a victim, yes, but not him being a murderer. Mondo seemed to have calmed down, well, as much as he could during the situation. Sakura still had to hold him back by the arm so he didn’t commit his own murder right in that trial room.

“Puhuhuu! What a twist!! I do love surprises, isn’t that right Togami?” Monokuma looked down at the man from his seat, “I mean, you do love surprises!” The words were almost taunting Byakuya, beads of sweat trailing down the side of his face. He looked...defeated. Togami didn’t even care that he was going to die, just to be found out, just to be wrong, really hit him like a truck.

No one wanted to say anything, the only words to be heard was Mondo’s hisses of rage and Taka’s reassuring words to his bro. Makoto was the first to say something, “Chihiro would be alive if you didn’t do that stunt, Byakuya.” It caused the taller man to snap his neck to look at Naegi, his gaze being a split of sorrow and...almost anger. Before Byakuya could even respond, Kyoko piped up, “it was stupid of you. I didn’t expect something that disgusting to come from you.” It was harsh, probably the harshest that Kirigiri has been up to that point, but no one could really blame her.

Byakuya felt like he should...apologize, but pride inside of him refrained it. They weren’t good enough to hear an apology, so he stayed silent. It only displeased everyone, Sakura now having to hold back Aoi from smacking him as well. Since the conversation was going nowhere, Monokuma decided to end it himself, “Huh! I thought we were going to get, ‘oooo, I’m so sorry! Forgive me, don’t do this! I need to be there for the Togami’s!” His words were mocking, draping the side of his body over the arm of his chair dramatically before laughing, “buuuut, I wouldn’t expect anything less from you! P-p-p-punishment time!!”

It was almost ceremonial to see Byakuya being dragged off with little to no resistance. He didn’t want to look like a fool, especially the last time they ever get to see him. Kiyotaka would usually look away, hating seeing the death of people who, in his opinion, ultimately didn’t deserve it. But he was the one in the front, watching everything unfold. Mondo tried to get him away, not really wanting Taka to get sad again, but he refused, pulling away from his bro’s touches.

Instead of watching it first hand, they looked up on the big screen. It flickered on, the colours warping to what...seemed to be Byakuya. He was wearing very beat up clothing, filthy with dirt. He was looking down at his attire, a look of pure disgust on his face. He was...a “commoner.” Monokuma popped into the scene, wearing an elementary student uniform. He had a huge pile of rocks, ranging from small pebbles, to near huge stones that he could barely hold. The name of the execution finally appeared on the screen:

Human Disqualification

The music playing in the background was almost somber. Until Monokuma started pelting the stones at Byakuya. Look of pain of agony appeared on Togami’s face as he was forced to endure the hard rocks hitting his skin. Welts and bruises started to appear as time went on.

Stoning someone to death took ages, especially from only one person doing it. But everyone sat in watch. Not like they had other things to do, they weren’t allowed to leave. But people were allowed in. Everyone was so distracted, Aoi cringing every time the stones hit a more sensitive place on Togami. No one spoke a word, but they didn’t have anything to say anyway.

Until they heard the courtroom door open.

It was so sudden, even causing Sakura to jolt slightly from the sudden change of noise. Everyone’s head whipped around to see what has caused it. Definitely not one of them, since they were too entranced by Byakuya’s execution, which was still happening slowly. Small footsteps seemed to have been getting closer, and they were very uneven and tended to scrape on the floor ever so often.

...Chihiro?

The small boy looked rather...sullen. His blood was stained on his clothes and the right side of his face, his neck and wrists bruised from the blood rushing to them. It was...strange. Why was he here? Was this some kind of sick trick that Monokuma was playing? That thought was immediately debunked as Chihiro spoke,

“D-did I...miss something?”

He seemed so confused and...understandably upset. He had woken up in a small pool of his own blood, his neck and wrists sore from the constant pressure of the electrical cord on them, no one around the entire school. He had assumed there was another murder and that he just wasn’t told, so he went there himself.

But everyone was staring at him. It was starting to make him nervous, having so many eyes on him, Byakuya’s execution in the background. Huh, Chihiro didn’t expect him to be able to kill someone. Kyoko was the first to speak up, of course, but even she had a look of shock on her face, “You’re...supposed to be dead. Byakuya killed you,” her voice was still as calm as ever. It was sort of hard to hear her over Yasuhiro’s shrieks of terror at the boy’s “ghost.”

A look of terror appeared on Chihiro, tears filling his big eyes as he looked up at the huge screen, “B-but, I’m not! I-I promise!” It was obvious that he wasn’t dead, but it was mostly to soothe Hiro. But if Chihiro is alive, then Byakuya has no reason to die. Makoto was able to shout loud enough, “M-Monokuma! Chihiro is alive!!” It caused the Monokuma on the screen to turn to the camera, an obvious look of confusion on his face. The robot paused for a moment, not responding, almost like he was...checking that what they were saying was true. He quickly returned, a loud sigh of...annoyance emitting from him as he was forced to stop the execution.

After all, he wasn’t allowed to break his own rules.

Byakuya was quickly let back into the trial room, bruises and cuts all over his body as he was still wearing the “commoner” clothes. He fell to his knees in front of a very confused Chihiro, which caused the small boy to back up a few steps. Togami reached for the boy’s tiny hand, pressing small kisses to his fingers as he apologized. His voice sounded broken and saddened. His ego was just crushed to death. He didn’t even care who was looking, nor how he even looked like in that moment.

Chihiro looked visibly uncomfortable, trying to tell him that it was okay - though it kind of wasn’t - and that he shouldn’t apologize like that. It took Sakura and Aoi to drag Byakuya away by the shoulders, forcing him to let go of the boy’s hand. He didn’t speak to anyone else, still spewing apologies at Fujisaki. It was almost laughable. Surely, Mondo would’ve been laughing straight at his face at it, but the total shock to see Chihiro alive really hit him. He had pulled the small boy close to his chest, his own apologies leaving his lips. The boy welcomed this one a bit more, his cheek resting on his shoulder. Though, Mondo felt like he shouldn’t be forgiven. He had almost killed the boy.

But it was okay for now, they were alive, and somehow Byakuya was able to survive another day. Mondo promised not to beat him alive...yet, as long as Chihiro and Kiyotaka was alive, he was going to be okay.

[tothepointofinsanity]

i really want to ask how do you draw sayaka and the others like that?? (the style)

Oh, hello. I think my style is generally too broad and inconsistent for me to give a visual guide on [unless you point out a specific piece that you wish to know how it came about, and if you do feel free to let me know] since a style can cover a lot of things, but the core elements of it are:

1) Using a textured brush, especially pencil-based ones. Or anything that allows you to freely sketch and has more shading opportunities. Then you fill in your works like you’re using a coloured pencil. The trick is to have fun with it.

2) The eyes are a crucial component to the character.

Sayaka’s eyes should have a tired weight to them, or look like a fish-eye. Or anything bleak and dead, because she seems to think she is like that. Madoka’s eyes are wide and round like the tbh creature. Homura can have similar eyes to Sayaka, but I like to give the former swirly patterns in her pupils if she’s feeling particularly devilish that day. Kyoko’s eyes are sharp and cutting. Sometimes I like to mix all of them together and break my own guidelines [Sayaka can look cutting, Kyoko can look tired]. You can draw them however you like since a style is personal, but that’s just the way I draw The Gang [yet to figure out how to draw Mami properly].

3) Have a bunch of different inspiration ideas and source materials. Sometimes style is more than visuals, it’s also feeling. Drawings are typically based on “sentiment” anyways. Have a Pinterest board if you want a more organised collection that you can tangibly revisit from time to time.

My main inspirations for the style are the titular Gekidan Inu Curry, but I also generally like looking at the illustrations for children’s story books and artistic posters. I think at one point I was inspired by a PowerPoint presentation of all things. I also like a lot of “childlike” things such as dolls and toys. You can take a lot of different things you like and blend them together to achieve a large variety of results. I have a laundry list worth of muses to learn from.

4) Colour choices and shapes. The oddity of some Madoka Magica scenes is how the colour pops out in nonsensical ways that capture your attention. Of course, mixed media has a hand in it, but it rarely sticks to one consistent colour palette. There’s black and red, green and pink. I like using blue, green and red for Sayaka, purple, black and white for Homura…It’s also important to play around with the shapes and patterns you can present in the overall composition. You can always go for a less chaotic and harmonic piece with balanced colours, but I like to push contrast to the limit and flash bang every user who has the misfortune of scrolling through my gallery.

That’s really about it for “style” I think…I’m aware it’s not exactly the clearest explanation a person can give…if it’s too vague for a post, maybe I’ll make an actual visual guide if others also want it…u_u

Thank you for the ask!