#they decide to watch something similar on tv called something something madoka magica

[chasefoxart]

snack time 🍊🍰🍓

[butchharrydalton]

Madoka Magica’s Beautiful Queerness

I must confess: Puella Magi Madoka Magica is my all-time favorite anime and manga.

I first got into anime when I was 8, sitting down in front of the TV gleefully watching Sailor Moon swinging her sparkly wands around and declaring justice against monster after monster. I’d heard of it from somewhere on the internet, and upon asking my dad, he described it as a story about “a girl who turns into a superhero.” I’d later learn there were countless shows like Naoko Tekuchi’s classic, all falling under the aptly named “Magical Girl” genre.

To be frank, I’m not licensed to talk about Magical Girls as, by being white, I lack that cultural context to fully analyze the common tropes of these kinds of media. As such, I will NOT be talking about Magical Girls as a genre or about how Madoka Magica and Sailor Moon changed it. However, Sailor Moon was what kicked off my interest and from there on out, I sought out other similar anime and stumbled upon something… different.

That was when I came upon Puella Magi Madoka Magica. Unlike many unfortunate (and mentally scarred) fans of the surprisingly dark deconstruction, I was lucky enough to read the Wikipedia article on it and have some foreknowledge on its mature themes. I didn’t actually end up reading or watching the series then and there, and almost forgot about it until the first 3 volumes of the manga appeared in my school’s library.

I’ll admit; I mostly checked it out because of the sparkly rainbow covers, but briefly I remembered that all was not what it seemed. As much as I love girly fluff, I’m also really into psychological horror, and Madoka Magica delivered both.

PMMM follows Madoka Kaname and her friends as they make contracts with an alien cat called Kyubey, allowing them to obtain magical powers and a wish for their souls. Each of the girls realizes, though, that this contract is far more dangerous and sinister than they thought, and that Kyubey may not be fully honest about his actual motivations. It starts out adorable, but then in episode 3, a dark twist quickly turns this innocent show into an emotional and horrifying thrill ride.

The manga’s beautiful art and readability got me obsessed, and I ended up picking up the spinoff manga series and watching the 12-episode anime. Each of course, was equally magical and fantastic, only making me love this fictional universe more. The characters were incredibly human and had a depth that made me care for them, and the series managed to perfectly balance and contrast both its horrific and heartwarming moments. That’s not even mentioning the plot, which was unpredictable and enjoyably surprising, with a perfect ending.

By and large, though, my favorite thing about Madoka Magica was how beautifully queer the story was. The show has been criticized for queerbaiting and pulling out some problematic tropes, as the relationships admittedly are not as obvious as they could be, but upon watching it’s blatant that the main girls are anything but straight. Despite the flaws of this representation, the story manages overall to create an enjoyable narrative about the lives of these girls and the relationships between them.

When the series starts, we first get to know shy, pink-haired Madoka and her spunky, blue-haired best friend Sayaka. In the first episode, a romantic relationship is already teased between the girls, Sayaka hugging Madoka and explicitly calling Madoka her wife.

Sayaka and Madoka are unfortunately something of a rare-pair in the fandom, but their relationship is so genuinely wholesome and loving during the series that it’s a surprise that not many people ship them. They can be seen holding hands and supporting each other through whatever comes, and up until episode 8 they are together through everything.

Sayaka is unashamed to tell Madoka everything she’s feeling, and both are motivated mostly by protecting each other. Unfortunately, they have a falling out because of Sayaka’s increasing distress about her contract, but this is eventually resolved when they are brought back together at the end of the series.

These two aren’t the only couple hinted at, either.

When a new girl, Homura, transfers to Madoka and Sayaka’s class, Sayaka develops somewhat of a crush and remarks about how beautiful Homura is. This is quickly overwritten when Sayaka and Homura become more antagonistic, though.

After Homura joins the cast, Madoka and Sayaka are saved from a “witch” (the monster contracted girls must fight) by a girl named Mami. Both Madoka and Sayaka become fast friends with Mami, both talking a little too much about how “cool” they think she is.

While fighting another witch and alone with Madoka, Mami reveals that she struggles with loneliness and what could even be read as symptoms of mental illness. Madoka responds by holding hands with her, comforting Mami and reminding her that she isn’t alone. Mami then calls the two of them “a magical girl duo,” and monologues about the newfound emotions she feels about her companionship with Madoka. Note that this is only on episode 3 out of a 12-episode anime!

This beautiful moment of non-heterosexuality, though, is again unfortunately brief. Mami becomes careless and is killed by the witch she intended to defeat, leaving Madoka and Sayaka scarred. This is of course, somewhat problematic, given that Mami’s death could be read as an incident of bury your gays. The series does seem to invoke this with the characters’ deaths, and I will concede that I can’t exactly justify this especially since it really seems to take a while to even confirm that character’s queerness. Even so, the deaths are relevant to the plot and drive the story, so avoiding the characters’ demise would actually hinder the story and the message it attempts to deliver.

After Mami dies, the start of Sayaka’s primary arc begins. It’s hinted that Sayaka may have had some deeper feelings for Mami than she shows. She regrets that she didn’t make a contract in time to save her, and fights (and dies) to model how Mami used to. Most of how Sayaka acts from this point forward is in memory of Mami, which is both beautiful and tragic for her character. It’s a testament to the queer undertones of the show that Sayaka is willing to fight in honor of the girl she loved.

Another character named Kyouko is introduced as an antagonist, another one of the “magical girls.” She fights with Sayaka over witch hunting territory, and their philosophical disagreements on how to kill the monsters make them at odds with each other. Despite this, there’s an aspect of Foe Yay to how they interact with each other.

It’s revealed that Kyubey takes a girl’s soul when she makes a contract with him, causing Sayaka to fall off the deep end, while Kyouko begins to see herself in Sayaka and tries to rescue her before it’s too late. Kyouko’s character goes from a villainous one to that of someone who pushes other people away because of their fear of abandonment, supported by what she experienced prior to the series.

She wished for her father’s church to become popular again after he was excommunicated, but once he discovered that his daughter is what he labels a witch, Kyouko is outcast and her family dies by her father’s hand. Her story is reminiscent of the rejection that some queer youth face when they come out to bigoted religious family and can be read as metaphorical for that predicament.

Unfortunately, the series pulls a “bury your gays” moment yet again. It turns out that magical girls are only contracted so they too can turn into witches and so Kyubey can gather energy for his civilization based off this transformation. Sayaka, unable to cope with all the pain that comes with being a magical girl, turns into a witch when she becomes too filled with despair. Kyouko attempts to restore her original form but fails, destroying herself and Sayaka’s witch so that they can be together in death.

It's a sad ending for Kyouko and Sayaka, but it does strangely add more subtext to their relationship considering that they get to a point where they would literally die for each other. The song “And I’m Home” by Wowaka also plays after their deaths, which is a love song between the two of them expressing how despite their sadness, they’ve found safety in each other. During the song, a still image of them holding hands underwater, as if they’re drowning together, is pictured.

Madoka and Homura then become the couple most alluded to during the final 4 episodes of the series. Homura tells Madoka that an apocalypse-wreaking witch is coming to their town, and that she’s been going back in time using her magic to save Madoka from that witch, or to stop Madoka from becoming a witch herself.

Episode 10 is arguably the best episode of the series, where we see the various timelines Homura has lived through and how she bonds with Madoka every time. Madoka and Homura’s relationship during these periods are sadly brushed off as “friendship,” but Homura’s dedication to saving Madoka and Madoka’s willingness to die for Homura in several timelines alludes to something much deeper.

The best scene from this episode is by far when both Madoka and Homura are about to become witches and the two make a promise to destroy the world together as monsters. These two are perfectly willing to fall right beside each other, but when Madoka is able to save Homura from her fate at the last minute, Homura is forced to kill Madoka before she becomes a witch and reset again. The scene is heartbreaking and is really when Homura begins to drastically change compared to the other timelines.

Episode 11 features what’s basically Homura’s confession of love to Madoka, wherein she promises to keep Madoka safe at all costs and embraces her. When the giant witch finally attacks in episode 12, Madoka runs out into the ruins of the city to save Homura, and finally decides what to wish for to become a magical girl.

These final moments of episode 12 are particularly beautiful and filled with things that cannot be brushed away with simple friendship. Madoka wishes to erase witches, and through loopholes in the rules of the magical girl contract, is able to ascend to godhood and save every last magical girl from witch-hood. She basically rewrites the universe in her ideals but has to say goodbye to Homura as she leaves earth.

Madoka calls Homura her “very best friend” and gives Homura her hair ribbons to remember her by. Oh, and did I mention that during this time they’re hugging and naked in space? Yeah. Just gals being pals.

This ending is emotional, cathartic and gives a depressing series a strangely happy ending. Other than the naked space hugging (*suggestive eye raising*), it also summarizes the queer themes built up through the series.

The character Kyubey, an alien who uses these girls to his own advantage, manipulates them and profits off of their despair and personal trust. Many people have written about how he could be metaphorically read as an entitled man who views women as objects and resources to be used. Considering that queer women in today’s society are particularly marginalized due to how cishet men often feel entitled to fetishize and marginalize their gender and sexuality, the subtext in Madoka Magical also plays into this.

When Madoka finally manipulates and one-up’s Kyubey for a change, Kyubey is shocked because of what he doesn’t anticipate. From him predicting Kyouko’s death to his original contract with Homura, Kyubey has used the girls’ love for each other as a weapon against them as many straight men do towards queer and trans women. He doesn’t expect Madoka’s love for Homura and for her friends to win over him, and it creates a fantastic ending because of how Madoka’s love is literally able to rewrite the universe. Yeah, gay love saves the world.

One of the key ideas of the show is the relationship of hope and despair, but the emotion of love can easily be included in either, so even though Kyubey can tip the balance of hope and despair he is incapable of doing anything to the love the girls feel for each other. Though he can weaponize it, as shown by Madoka’s wish he is never fully able to erase it. What gives Madoka the hope to continue standing against Kyubey is nothing but the love she’s felt between herself and her (more than) friends.

The whole of Madoka Magica can even be read as Madoka’s coming out story. In the beginning, she’s shy and unsure of herself. Sayaka is blissfully ignorant to the pain of the world (metaphors for discrimination), and Mami is lonely because she’s set apart as a “magical girl.” Kyouko was also rejected due to religion.

The girls are eventually all taken by the whims of Kyubey and his need to use them, but even so they find solace in their relationships with each other. Madoka witnesses these events and gains a full understanding of what it means to be a magical girl, and instead of giving up, chooses to hope for a better world and actively change it.

But the story is also arguably about Madoka falling in love with Homura and gaining strength from the experience. In the end, she literally becomes a goddess when she embraces herself and defies Kyubey’s (and society’s) expectations.

Madoka Magica isn’t perfect. Bury your gays, and almost canon subtext are features that fall under queerbaiting and are somewhat problematic. Beneath it all, though, Madoka Magica is a great story about a group of queer girls of color opposing a system built against them. It’s got flaws, and more steps need to be taken so that the series improves in this manner, but Madoka Magica is a good start and I hope that the 4th Madoka movie will continue to improve its LGBT themes and perhaps even explicitly confirm the relationships.

Until then, I’d highly recommend Madoka Magica for its storytelling, animation, and it’s beautiful (if not perfect) queerness.

[natsubeatsrock]

Looking Back at Fairy Tail... II

After posting my Quick Notes for chapter 529, I got this ask.

I responded to the Phantom Lord thing later on but I really struggled with how I should address this. Not because this is my first time getting “anon hate”, but because I’ve been questioning my place in this fandom.

I feel like it’s becoming way too common for people to bash Fairy Tail or Mashima as a writer. Every other week, someone is declaring that whatever chapter happened that week is the worst one in the series and/or something to be the worst thing in the series. Fans of the series are dropping it left and right. People are regretting even defending Mashima’s work from dissenters in the first place. 

It’s gotten to the point where people who have problems with the series and vocalize said problems are having a hard time deciding what to talk about in detail when it comes to the issues the series has. I can joke about one flaw, ac-fairytail will explain why something else is wrong with the chapter, fairytail-whathesays will bash something entirely different made no sense and any number of other people will find something else that made no sense in any given chapter from story to art to ships.

I’m not here to argue that any of the criticism levied towards Fairy Tail or Hiro Mashima isn’t warranted. In fact, about my only problem with the people who have dropped Fairy Tail and try to get other people not to even start it is that they’re using old information. Frankly, I think I could easily argue their points with current information and potentially even make a stronger case for not getting into this series than them. Heck, I might even be able to pick up stuff they forgot or left off.

And yet here I am. 

Still running a Fairy Tail side blog. 

Still making (usually) weekly reviews of chapters as they come up on Crunchyroll after reading each chapter multiple times. 

Still working on long posts talking about the series and its fandom. 

Still excited for the new anime and, to a lesser extent, Dragon Cry. 

Am I out of my mind?

If that’s not crazy sounding enough, I’ve given both the manga and anime for Fairy Tail a MAL Score of 7. By my own personal standards, that means that I would be willing to re-watch and/or re-read Fairy Tail. 

While that score and/or the fact that I would go through Fairy Tail more than once might not mean that much to some of you, I should probably also mention some of the popular anime that I’ve given similar or lower scores: 

Bungo Stray Dogs (both seasons)

One Punch Man

Mob Psycho 100

Neon Genesis Evangelion (both the TV series and End of Eva)

FLCL

Puella Magi Madoka Magica

Nisekoi

Sound! Euphonium

K-On (both seasons)

My Neighbor Totoro

Any Ghibli film by Isao Takahata

Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid

While I would argue that all of those shows are technically better than Fairy Tail on a number of individuals levels and many are probably better as complete packages, I would still watch Fairy Tail again before I revisit any of those other shows. If you haven’t read my posts about Naruto, I said had similar feelings for that manga.

Come to think of it, I saw your name. in theaters last month and I gave it the same MAL score as Fairy Tail. Let that sink in. I gave the current highest-earning anime film and top-ranked anime on MAL the same score as Fairy Tail.

By the way, those are just the shows I finished. I’ve been sitting on finishing the original Fullmetal Alchemist and I dropped Nichijou, Kill la Kill, and Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. While I might end up finishing those guys, I dropped Attack on Titan and I have no intentions of getting back to that ever.

So again, am I out of my mind? 

Probably.

This January, I decided to rewatch one of the episodes from the Grand Magic Games “Sin and Sacrifice”. I’m planning on writing something Graytear-related and I wanted to refresh my memory on certain events. Not to mention, I kind of wanted to remind myself of what certain characters sounded like because it’s been months since I’ve seen real FT anime. If my reasoning wasn’t proof enough already, after I went through the entire episode I came to a really weird conclusion.

I don’t hate Fairy Tail.

I was still able to find myself laughing at the jokes, even though I’ve heard them before. I found myself actually caring about what happened to characters I knew would be fine by the end of the arc, and even the episode. I still got chills listening to the OP 16 and ED 16, which I consider to be two of the best openings and endings in the series respectively.

During February, I was introduced to some of Mashima’s other works, Monster Soul and his one-shot Starbiter Satsuki. And…

I enjoyed them.

Don’t get me wrong. Neither is in the running for “Best Manga Series Ever” or even “Best Hiro Mashima Work Ever”. Frankly, some of the same complaints I’d have with Fairy Tail are in both. However, I still had fun reading both. It’s been a while since I laughed as hard while reading manga as I did with Monster Soul and Starbiter Satsuki could have been its own series is Mashima wanted to go that way. I would easily trade all of the FT OVAs and the first movie in order to get an animated version of Monster Soul made, either as a movie or its own series.

I’ve seen a lot of amazing anime and some not so good anime. I’ve been playing video games for more than half of my life and I’ve been a musician for even longer. If it isn’t all too obvious, I could be running a blog that has little to nothing to do with Fairy Tail. However, I can really only think of three series that I could run an effective side blog for. Those three are Bleach, Rave Master, and Pokemon. 

Even then, I’m not sure I could even do those well. I’m way too late to either Bleach or Rave Master to make posts anywhere near similar to what I’m doing here. I’m not even close to being finished with Bleach right now and Rave Master’s fandom is all but dead. It’s getting some more stuff in it, but it’s not very lively. Not to mention, I have no intentions of watching the anime versions of either, unlike Fairy Tail.

As for Pokemon, my experience is limited to my own experience to some of the games. Again, I’m not caught up with any form of the anime and I have no interest in the trading card game. And even my experience with the video games is limited. I’ve only played half the generations and I’m not even playing the current generation of Pokemon.

And honestly, I don’t want to quit Fairy Tail.

Even though I know that this series probably isn’t going to get better and it probably hasn’t been good, to begin with, I still can’t pull myself away from it. While part of it is personal stubbornness and the fact that it’s ending anyway, I still do enjoy Fairy Tail. 

I still enjoy thinking about things that have happened and are happening in the series. I still enjoy seeing how the fans react to both the good and bad from each chapter. I still enjoy reading and talking about the chapters every week. I still enjoy listening to the credits songs and soundtracks from the anime.

A lot of my frustrations with Fairy Tail come from my genuine enjoyment of the series. As much as I enjoy it, I can’t even recommend that anyone actually go through with the series knowing everything that happens. I think it really set in when one of my college friends accused Fairy Tail of being porn based just off the title and I had finished the Christmas Special just minutes before. 

That was in December 2015, and I’m still here complaining about weird covers, stupid design choices, bad angles and whatever Larcade did to the guild that one time.

The phrase a lot of people would use to describe this kind of thing is “guilty pleasure”. While I get the sentiment of liking something while being fully aware of its flaws, I struggle to call Fairy Tail my guilty pleasure, because I don’t feel guilty for it. I probably should, but I don’t.

I don’t feel guilty about the fact that I enjoy reading this series. I don’t feel guilty that I could be reading literally any series other than this. I don’t feel guilty talking about Fairy Tail and I feel even less guilty over the things I say. If anything, I feel guilty that I’m associated with this fandom, but not because I enjoy the series.

That doesn’t mean that I enjoy everything in this series. If you think I have, you need to read more of my stuff. I call stupid things in the series I see stupid. I question the motives behind certain weird choices from chapter to chapter. More often than not, I concede to the people who can do it better than I can.

But I’m not planning on leaving the series. I still do enjoy Fairy Tail.

[recentanimenews]

Five Must-Watch Anime Series for Star Wars Fans

  It's a good time to be a Star Wars fan! With movies, TV shows, books, and games all readily available, there's plenty to keep us entertained. But as we await the next films, streaming spinoffs, and (most importantly) Season 2 of The Mandalorian, we need something to keep us entertained. Fortunately, there's plenty of anime that's perfect for fans of the epic space adventure.

    For this May the 4th, we've compiled a list of anime series for Star Wars fans in need of a fresh watch. From journeys to distant planets to the origins of famous masked baddies, explore our list for something new to enjoy!

   Somali and the Forest Spirit

If you're all done with Season 1 of The Mandalorian and itching to know what comes next, Somali and the Forest Spirit is a perfect stopgap. The series follows a golem nearing the end of a long life spent watching over a forest. He finds an abandoned human girl and decides to watch over her. However, with only a year to live, he decides to take her to live with humans like herself — a difficult task, as humans are being persecuted nearly to the point of extinction.

  We've talked at length before about similarities between The Mandalorian and Somali and the Forest Spirit. There are key differences, but if you're a fan of the Lone Wolf and Cub-esque relationship between the Mandalorian and the Child, Somali will definitely be a good fit for you.

  Mobile Suit Gundam the Origin: Advent of the Red Comet

Star Wars has never been shy about delving into less-than-heroic origins. Darth Vader, one of the most memorable film villains of all time, is the centerpiece of much of the Skywalker Saga, tracing his miraculous origins and his turn to the Dark Side. If you're a fan of that sort of deep dive into an antagonist's history, then Gundam has a series for you.

  Gundam the Origin: Advent of the Red Comet pops open the history of one of the UC's greatest bad (and occasionally good) guys, Char Aznable. From his tragic youth to his plans for revenge, viewers who may have missed his back story in the Gundam the Origin manga can now get to know Casval Rem Deikun before he became the Red Comet. You'll also see Amuro Ray here and there, leading up to what will become one of anime's most memorable rivalries.

   Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Die Neue These

If you're a fan of the more political aspects of Star Wars, you'll find a good match in Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Die Neue These. This new series is the latest version of the epic space opera penned by Yoshiki Tanaka. As ever, we follow the war between the Free Planets Alliance and the Galactic Empire — and, more specifically, the personalities behind each.

  There isn't really a "Light Side" or "Dark Side" in Galactic Heroes. Each side has its good and bad people, its merits and flaws. But most important, each side has its military genius: the humble Yang Wen-li and the noble Reinhard von Lohengramm. The two respect each other above all else, even in the midst of one side fighting for freedom from the other.

  Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet

The universe of Star Wars is full of beautiful and unique planets, each with its own style and culture. If you're a fan of sci-fi series with gorgeous settings, Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet is a great place to land.

  The series, written by Madoka Magica and Psycho-Pass writer Gen Urobuchi, starts out as an alien-battling mecha show. But when Galactic Alliance soldier Ledo and his robot Chamber fall through a wormhole, things get a lot more ... aquatic. They find themselves aboard a fleet of ships called Gargantia, on an ocean-covered world long believed to be a myth. Ledo eventually finds himself loving this new world — including the Gargantia's messenger, Amy.

  While there are still plenty of battles to be had, it's a beautiful show for fans of the — how should we put it — less sandy locales of Star Wars.

  Captain Harlock

There are lots of reasons to love Star Wars, but we all know the real reason we're watching: we like to see space heroes fighting with magic swords and flying cool spaceships. And there's no anime that brings all those things quite like Captain Harlock.

  Just one of Leiji Matsumoto's memorable space heroes, Harlock sails the sea of stars in the space-bound pirate ship Arcadia. Accompanied by a crew of humans and aliens, he fights back against the plant-like aliens known as the Mazone, as they attempt to claim Earth for their own. 

  If you're missing Han Solo — and, let's be real, lots of us are — Harlock is the space pirate you need in your life.

    That's just a small taste of what Crunchyroll has to fill the Star Wars-shaped hole in your watch list. Be sure to check out our full catalog for more suggestions. In the meantime, May the 4th be with you!

  What anime series do you consider essential for Star Wars fans? Share your suggestions in the comments!

  By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com