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| 4 | %% Please put ''Rebellion'' examples on its own page. |
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| 10 | [[WMG:[[center: [- ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'' '''[[Characters/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica Main Character Index]]'''\ |
| 11 | '''Magical Girls''' ([[Characters/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaHomuraAkemi Homura Akemi]], [[Characters/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaSayakaMiki Sayaka Miki]]) | [[Characters/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaKyubey Kyubey]] | [[Characters/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaWitches Witches]] | [[Characters/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaSupportingCharacters Supporting Characters]] | [[Characters/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheMovieRebellion The Movie Rebellion]] | [[Characters/PuellaMagiKazumiMagica Kazumi Magica]] ([[Characters/PuellaMagiKazumiMagicaMagicalGirls Magical Girls]] | [[Characters/PuellaMagiKazumiMagicaOthers Others]]) | [[Characters/PuellaMagiOrikoMagica Oriko Magica]] | [[Characters/PuellaMagiSuzuneMagica Suzune Magica]] | [[Characters/PuellaMagiTartMagica Tart Magica]] | [[Characters/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaPortable Portable]] | [[Characters/MagiaRecordPuellaMagiMadokaMagicaSideStory Magia Record]] | [[Characters/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaConceptMovieTrailer Concept Movie Trailer]] | [[Characters/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaWraithArc Wraith Arc]]]]-]]] |
| 12 | |
| 13 | '''Beware of unmarked spoilers!''' |
| 14 | |
| 15 | ---- |
| 16 | !!Administrivia/CharacterSpecificPages |
| 17 | [[index]] |
| 18 | * '''[[Characters/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaHomuraAkemi Homura Akemi]]''' |
| 19 | * '''[[Characters/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaSayakaMiki Sayaka Miki]] (Unmarked Spoilers)''' |
| 20 | [[/index]] |
| 21 | ---- |
| 22 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 23 | |
| 24 | [[folder:In General]] |
| 25 | * AchillesHeel: The girls' soul gems. As long as the gem isn't damaged, the girls' human bodies can take all kinds of punishment and they would still recover. But, should the soul gem be destroyed, the girl herself drops dead right there. And they also lose control of their bodies if they get too far away from the gem. |
| 26 | * BadassAdorable: They're all just as cute as they are badass, thanks to Creator/UmeAoki's character designs. |
| 27 | * BeingGoodSucks: By becoming a Magical Girl, you dedicate your life to protecting the world from Witches. Don't let the glamorous costumes and promise of having any wish you want granted fool you: it is a thankless and ''dangerous'' job. [[spoiler:And the magical girls eventually transform into the monsters they fight against.]] |
| 28 | * BlondeBrunetteRedhead: Mami (Blonde), Homura (Brunette), Kyoko (Redhead), [[spoiler:who coincidentally form a squad of three at the end of the series]]. |
| 29 | * BreakTheCutie: The world of magical girls is not kind to them. This is the point of the magical girl system, to create magical girls whose suffering will give birth to witches. The energy created by the release of their emotions is used by the Incubators to stave off the heat death of the universe. |
| 30 | ** Madoka watches Mami get eaten by Charlotte and fight/unsuccessfully plead with her best friend after she turns into a witch, and in a previous timeline, kills Mami herself to stop her from killing Homura. |
| 31 | ** Homura [[spoiler:watches Madoka sacrifice herself for her, becomes a time traveling magical girl in an attempt to save her, and goes though dozens of time loops and subsequently relives the deaths of Madoka and the other magical girls over and over again.]] |
| 32 | ** Sayaka learns [[OurLichesAreDifferent the true nature]] of magical girls, and sinks into despair, believing herself unworthy of Kyosuke's love. And then she loses Kyosuke to Hitomi. |
| 33 | ** Mami's parents died in the same car accident that prompted her to make a contract with Kyubey. In a previous timeline, learning that magical girls are destined to become witches also does this to her. |
| 34 | ** Kyoko's father went crazy after learning that his religious sect was only gaining followers because of her wish and subsequently killed her entire family and then himself. |
| 35 | * ColorCodedCharacters: Madoka - Pink, Homura - Purple, Sayaka - Blue, Mami - Yellow, Kyoko - Red. |
| 36 | * CurtainsMatchTheWindow: With the exception of Homura, all the girls have eye colors that match their hair colors. |
| 37 | * DeconstructedCharacterArchetype: The five magical girls are realistic examples of what happens when naive and impulsive pre-teen girls discover a world of magic, trust a foreign creature claiming it needs help and constantly battle for their lives: |
| 38 | ** Madoka deconstructs the IJustWantToBeSpecial and ChronicHeroSyndrome tropes. Madoka spends the entire show wondering if she should become a magical girl despite learning just how destructive it is and without a wish in mind, just so she can feel useful in some way. As Kyoko points out, Madoka has a happy, stable life and a family who loves her, while most magical girls only become what they are out of desperation. Madoka would be pointlessly throwing that safety away by getting mixed up with something she doesn't ''need'' to be a part of just to feel she's doing something meaningful, which wouldn't last long since she'll simply die [[spoiler:or witch out in the end.]] Her trying to help the others when she doesn't have any powers only puts her in more danger that requires them to constantly rescue her, and repeatedly sacrificing herself only drives Sayaka and Homura to further extremes to protect her. This only aggravates those who have to keep saving her and as ''Rebellion'' shows, her constant selflessness causes a very dangerous long-term problem [[spoiler: via Homura and Kyubey]]. |
| 39 | ** Sayaka deconstructs the HeroicWannabe, WideEyedIdealist and PatientChildhoodLoveInterest. Sayaka is so inspired by Mami's selfless image as a magical girl that she contracts with Kyubey to heal Kyosuke's hand. She believes she'll be okay despite being a rookie and will thrive above all others as the epitome of magical girls. Kyoko and Homura kicking her ass proves that she's not an InstantExpert, her ideals are just childish fantasies, and Kyubey breaks her completely [[spoiler: when he reveals she's a walking corpse dependent on her soul gem to keep living]]. Meanwhile she refuses to admit that she made her wish and wanted to be a hero for selfish reasons: Kyosuke's love and admiration. [[spoiler:Her learning the AwfulTruth only destroys her confidence further, and refusing to explain herself or her sacrifice to Kyosuke leaves him oblivious to her love. This allows Hitomi to ask Kyosuke to be her boyfriend instead, rendering everything Sayaka sacrificed moot and leads to her becoming a witch out of despair.]] |
| 40 | ** Mami deconstructs the CoolBigSis and TheParagon. One one hand, Mami is a genuinely friendly person who is caring towards her magical girl wards and a near-flawless fighter when showing off on their trial run. Except Mami is also purposely invoking that image because she wants them to contract and fight alongside her. In reality, Mami is a BrokenAce with [[ItsAllAboutMe selfish motivations]] and a ''seriously'' dangerous MaskOfSanity problem that stems from survivors guilt and the trauma of constantly battling witches without end. Her putting on the appearance of a perfect and selfless magical girl leads to the others believing they ''have'' to match those standards, especially Sayaka, [[spoiler:and her dying without being honest about her faults leads everything beyond Episode 3 to spiral into a complete catastrophe. The protective aspect of sisterly mentorship reaches a lethal conclusion when in one timeline, she tries to kill her teammates and herself to spare them the fate of witching out.]] |
| 41 | ** Kyoko deconstructs TheSocialDarwinist and JerkWithAHeartOfGold. Kyoko learned firsthand that there is no gratitude for helping people when her father commits familicide to spite her when she used her wish to try and help him. This CynicismCatalyst lead her to stop caring about others; indulging in nihilistic hedonism and letting innocents die so she can get more grief seeds or drive off competing magical girls. While this attitude helped her survive, it had also kept her in a state of suppressed misery and loneliness because people are put off by her selfish philosophy. Whenever Kyoko tries to bring up a solid point or her good nature surfaces, people don't listen or take it seriously because most of her advice stems from self-preservation. Her abrasive attitude contributes to Sayaka [[spoiler:becoming a witch, something that Kyoko takes personally and blames herself for.]] [[spoiler:In the video game, all it took was Sayaka witching out and dying for Kyoko to become a witch herself, proving that her pent-up negativity would have caught up to her sooner or later with one extremely stressful moment.]] |
| 42 | ** Homura deconstructs the IWorkAlone, CassandraTruth, UndyingLoyalty and TheDeterminator tropes. Homura has learned first hand [[spoiler:from multiple timelines]] that the other girls never believe her claims about the truth behind what being a magical girl encompasses, [[spoiler:especially about Kyubey and the Witches]]. As such, she works alone and acts cold towards the others to get the work done without distractions. Except this aloofness does the exact opposite by [[SelfFulfillingProphecy making people suspicious of her and refusing to take simple advice that could save their lives]]. Meanwhile, her devotion to protect Madoka and failure to do so causes her stress to build up, leaving her teetering on the edge of the DespairEventHorizon. Her refusal to give up traps all five of the girls [[spoiler:in a constant time loop of suffering that causes them to die, witch out or fall to Walpurgisnacht, and puts Madoka in more danger because the accumulated energy makes Kyubey even ''more'' determined to get her to contract.]] |
| 43 | * DespairEventHorizon: When a magical girl crosses this line, she transforms into a witch, with her Soul Gem becoming a Grief Seed. |
| 44 | * DoingInTheScientist: The existence of Magical Girls is said to defy established logic. It's even in the name. |
| 45 | * EldritchAbomination: [[spoiler:As magical girls, each of them has a corresponding Witch form, although Mami's and Kyoko's do not appear in the main anime. In order, they are Kriemhild Gretchen (Madoka), Homulilly (Homura), Oktavia von Seckendorff (Sayaka), Candeloro (Mami) and Ophelia (Kyoko).]] |
| 46 | * FailureToSaveMurder: [[spoiler:Mami, Homura, and Sayaka]] fill the roles of Child, Hero, and Fool respectively. [[spoiler:Homura is bound by Mami's magic until it fails due to her death. She only arrives in time to save Sayaka and Madoka; however, as Sayaka wasn't there to see it, she thinks that Homura consciously allowed Mami to die, fueling her later resentment for Homura and other magical girls in general.]] |
| 47 | * FantasyCharacterClasses: Subtle, but present. Each of the five main characters slot into a role of an archetypical adventuring party. |
| 48 | ** Mami is the Warrior, the frontline fighter who can deal lots of damage but is lacking in more specified field. Mami is one of the strongest magical girls in the franchise, but she lacks any specialized magic beyond lots of guns. |
| 49 | ** Sayaka is the Paladin, a righteous warrior dedicated to a cause who serves the role of tank. Sayaka is an idealist and fully dedicated to the cause of justice, and her HealingFactor means that she can take more punishment than any other magical girl. |
| 50 | ** Kyoko is the Rogue, the morally ambiguous stealthy one. While there isn't much room for stealth when fighting witches, Kyoko's magic (though she doesn't have it in the anime) is creating illusions of herself as distractions, which serve a similar purpose. She's also the one who's most out for herself with little care for heroism. |
| 51 | ** Homura is the Mage, the spellcaster with access to magic that can either devastate the battlefield, or help the party in non-violent ways. [[spoiler:The final battle against Walpurgisnacht shows that Homura can draw on a truly staggering arsenal of weapons, and her timeloop magic is a kind of utility magic with no offensive applications]]. |
| 52 | ** Madoka is the Cleric, the priest who supports the party with healing. [[spoiler:At the end of the series, she becomes a god who saves the souls of magical girls]]. |
| 53 | * FourPhilosophyEnsemble: |
| 54 | ** Kyoko is the Cynic, with her belief that magic should be used selfishly, and [[SocialDarwinist thinking otherwise puts you on the fast track to getting killed.]] |
| 55 | ** Sayaka is the Optimistic. She enters her career as a MagicalGirl far too brashly and easily, playing TheCape to contrast Kyoko's SocialDarwinist. [[spoiler:[[BreakTheCutie Not that this helps her at all]].]] |
| 56 | ** Mami is the Realist. She is easily the most cautious magical girl, who several times warns her juniors that entering this life with an idealist view can be dangerous, while also encouraging them to make up their own minds about contracting. Her careful, precise combat style also reflects this. [[spoiler:[[LeeroyJenkins Hence why the second she gets reckless, it kills her]].]] |
| 57 | ** Homura is the Apathetic, being entirely focused on one thing, and one thing only - [[spoiler:saving Madoka, no matter what]]. Her motivations leave her detached from the rest of the group. |
| 58 | ** Madoka is the Conflicted. She spends the whole series wavering over whether to contract or not, [[DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife because she's not sure that she's worth anything otherwise]]. [[spoiler:She becomes an Optimist when she is a magical girl.]] |
| 59 | * FourTemperamentEnsemble: Madoka is phlegmatic (kind, shy, and insecure), Homura is melancholic (intelligent, aloof, and very goal-oriented), Sayaka is sanguine (idealistic, courageous, and compassionate), Kyoko is choleric (passionate, callous, and stubborn) and Mami is eclectic (a balanced mentor to the other girls). |
| 60 | * GoodEyesEvilEyes: Downplayed. Madoka and Sayaka have TaremeEyes, and they are both very naive at first about the true nature of being a magical girl. In contrast to Madoka and Sayaka's TaremeEyes, Mami, Homura and Kyoko all have TsurimeEyes, and they are all veteran magical girls who have a more cynical view on being one. |
| 61 | * HealingFactor: All Magical girls can use their magic to heal themselves. According to Kyubey, this allows them to fight even when their hearts have exploded and every drop of blood has been drained from their bodies. Sayaka heals especially fast even by Magical Girl standards. Of course, all this is only possible because their only vital components, their souls, have been removed. |
| 62 | * HumanResources: [[spoiler:Magical Girls are created by the incubators to harvest the raw power of their souls, which they intend to use to help stave off the heat death of the universe.]] |
| 63 | * HystericalWoman: [[MentorMascot Kyubey]] explains that the reason his species [[DealWithTheDevil make contracts]] with girls, and specifically ''teenage'' girls, is that they're the most emotional kind of human. Specifically, they have the most dramatic reversals between hope and despair, which provide the emotional energy that Kyubey is collecting. |
| 64 | * LittleMissBadass: None of them are older than 15 when they start killing witches. |
| 65 | * LogicalWeakness: Since the Soul Gem is a SoulJar, the destruction of it instantly ends the Magical Girl's life. [[spoiler:During her FreakOut, Mami kills Kyoko by targeting her Soul Gem and would've done the same to Homura and Madoka had the latter not shot Mami's Soul Gem, killing her]]. |
| 66 | * MagicalGirl: They make a contract with Kyubey to gain magical girl power, outfits, and duty. |
| 67 | * OneWingedAngel: [[spoiler:When they turn into Witches, they gain a ''massive'' power boost. Sayaka who was the weakest among them suddenly became a legitimate threat once she becomes Oktavia. They are killed shortly afterwards however.]] |
| 68 | * OurLichesAreDifferent: [[spoiler:Becoming a Magical Girl means having your soul ripped out and transformed into a gem, while your body becomes an EmptyShell that's remotely operated. While this does give them a HealingFactor and the ability to block out otherwise crippling pain, separating a Magical Girl from their gem causes them to lose consciousness. If they stay separate for too long, their bodies begin to rot.]] |
| 69 | * RemoteBody: [[spoiler:Their ''original'' bodies become this once they become a Magical Girl, controlled by the soul gem (their new body) from a distance of up to 100 meters.]] |
| 70 | * SanityMeter: [[spoiler:The outward appearance of a magical girl's Soul Gem is a measure of how much sanity she has left. When it fills up with too much darkness, it becomes a Grief Seed.]] |
| 71 | * SchoolUniformsAreTheNewBlack: Everyone except Kyoko wears their school uniforms most of the time when not transformed (since Kyoko is never a student outside of ''Rebellion'' storylines). |
| 72 | * SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Insofar as the rules of reality can apply to a universe with magic, but the magical girl system turns out to be uglier than it looks. |
| 73 | ** Magical girls are effectively ChildSoldiers who have no choice ''but'' to fight witches to stay alive, as Soul Gems can't be cleansed without a Grief Seed. Fighting for their lives on a daily basis means that magical girls can also get hurt, die, or witch out. |
| 74 | ** Getting something for nothing almost never happens in real life, and someone who offers you what appears to be a wonderful gift with no downsides usually has some ulterior motive in mind, [[StrangerDanger especially if you don't know them well.]] Becoming a magical girl seems like it has no negatives, until you find out about having to kill witches and endanger your life on the regular. Your friendly neighborhood MentorMascot? Yes, he wants ''you'' to become a magical girl...and eventually a witch, as the emotional energy released by your fall to despair is going to help him stave off the universe's heat death. |
| 75 | ** Acting selflessly for another person sometimes comes at your own expense, and shouldn't come with the expectation of a reward or even gratitude. When Sayaka wishes for Kyousuke's hand to be healed (without his knowledge), he ends up falling in love with Hitomi after Sayaka can't bring herself to confess her feelings. When Kyoko wished for people to listen to her father's teachings, he was horrified when he found out, calling her an evil witch who was corrupting his flock. |
| 76 | * ThemeNaming: The names of the girls make them all seem as though they have TwoFirstNames. However, Homura is the only one who has an actual first name as a last name (the spelling of Akemi used for her name is exclusive to first names only); the rest all have names that are valid last names, but are more commonly used as first names. |
| 77 | * TomatoInTheMirror: [[spoiler:Those witches fought by magical girls were once magical girls themselves...so if ''you're'' a magical girl? Congratulations, you're fated to become a witch (assuming you don't die in battle).]] |
| 78 | * TownGirls: |
| 79 | ** Mami (Femme) and her two apprentices Kyoko (Butch) and Sayaka (Neither). Mami is the most feminine of the three, playing the gentle TeamMom. Sayaka is brash and a bit tomboyish, but she's also an idealist who yearns for justice and romance. Kyoko is more aggressive and tomboyish than Mami and Sayaka. |
| 80 | ** At the end of the series, there's Homura, Mami and Kyoko, [[spoiler:the three Magical Girls who are left alive]]. Homura is TheStoic Neither, Mami is the Femme older sempai-type who fights with elegance, and Kyoko as the Butch rough-talking street rat who eats a lot. |
| 81 | * TrueCompanions: |
| 82 | ** Subverted. Along with other traditional MagicalGirl tropes, this one gets hurled straight out the window. [[spoiler:They have proven themselves of getting along on occasion. Kyoko and Mami were friends before the series started, Sayaka idolized Mami and eventually grew to sympathize somewhat with Kyoko, and Homura was once like Madoka. However, due to factors like their individual reactions to discovering the truth, mental trauma, and Homura's lonerism, as well as Kyubey's machinations, their relationships end abruptly, either when someone dies, or when two individuals simply can't trust each other.]] |
| 83 | ** [[spoiler:However, ''Rebellion'', the game, and ''[[Manga/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheDifferentStory The Different Story]]'' show that it is possible for them to get along. Mami had good relations with everyone except Homura (and side material reveals that Kyoko, despite their fight, still considered Mami to be a sister). Sayaka was warming up to Kyoko. Kyoko was warming up to Sayaka. [[AllLovingHero Everyone was friendly to Madoka]]. The one Magical Girl that everyone either did not trust or straight-up disliked was Homura, as a consequence of her growing cynicism, simply not caring about non-Madokas, and her overall lonerism.]] |
| 84 | * UnstablePoweredWoman: The crux of this show's plot, as well as the MagicalGirl system in general. Kyubey intentionally targets teenage girls because, according to him, teenage girls are [[HystericalWoman Hysterical Women]] who will break under the strain of magic power and inevitably fall into despair, becoming uncontrollable [[EldritchAbomination Eldritch Abominations]] who can only be dealt with by another MagicalGirl putting them out of their misery. And the wishes they made to gain that magic power are always ultimately shown to make their lives worse off, despite how much worse many of their lives were before contracting. Apparently, teenage boys would've kept their heads on straight. |
| 85 | ---- |
| 86 | [[/folder]] |
| 87 | |
| 88 | [[folder:Madoka Kaname]] |
| 89 | !!!'''Voiced by:''' Creator/AoiYuki (Japanese), Creator/ChristineMarieCabanos (English)[[labelnote: Foreign [=VAs=]]] Creator/CarmenAmbros (Spanish), Creator/JoySaltarelli (Italian), Creator/CarolineCombes (French), Lydia Morgenstern (German)[[/labelnote]] |
| 90 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/madoka_magical_girl.png]] |
| 91 | [[caption-width-right:350:''"It's still really hard to figure out what I'd wish for. It's not something I could put my finger on that easily..."'']] |
| 92 | [[caption-width-right:350:[[labelnote:Click here to see Madoka in her normal attire.]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/madoka_casual.png[softreturn]''"I've never been good at school and I've never had any talents...I'm scared that this is the way my life's gonna stay. Always asking for help and not being able to help when people need it..."''[[/labelnote]]]] |
| 93 | |
| 94 | ->''"If someone ever tells me it's a mistake to have hope, well then, I'll just tell them they're wrong and I'll keep telling them until they believe; no matter how many times it takes."'' |
| 95 | |
| 96 | A well-behaved girl who doesn't consider herself to have any particular athletic or academic prowess. [[HeroicSelfDeprecation This lack of confidence]] feeds into a strong sense of selflessness that on some occasions is a positive thing but a negative one on others. After saving Kyubey from Homura, she considers forming a contract and becoming a MagicalGirl, which she believes will finally enable her to help other people. |
| 97 | |
| 98 | Kyubey is determined on contracting her, but Homura intends to stop this from happening. |
| 99 | ---- |
| 100 | * AbstractApotheosis: The former TropeNamer, "Becoming Hope", because she [[spoiler:AscendedToAHigherPlaneOfExistence and became the incarnation of hope for magical girls by the end of the show.]] |
| 101 | * ActionGirl: PlayedWith. [[spoiler:In the timelines where she's a magical girl]], she is a force to be reckoned with. In the main show, however, she's strictly reduced to a NonActionGuy for most of the series [[spoiler:because Homura is desperately trying to stop her from contracting, as that would bring the end of the world should she become a witch.]] |
| 102 | * AdaptationalModesty: [[spoiler:In the original version of Episode 12, Madoka and Homura have an OutOfClothesExperience when they meet for the last time in the aether before the universe is rewritten. In the CompilationMovie, they are instead wearing white lace dresses.]] |
| 103 | * AllLovingHeroine: The poor girl just wants everyone to be happy. [[spoiler:This is why she makes a wish to relieve the suffering of every magical girl that ever lived or ever will live.]] |
| 104 | * AlwaysWithYou: When Madoka [[spoiler:ascends to godhood she reminds Homura one last time that she will always be with her. In this case it's literal because she exists in every point in time.]] |
| 105 | * AndThenJohnWasAZombie: In some of the [[spoiler:alternate timelines, Madoka becomes a witch. In another one, she is about to become one, and requests Homura to MercyKill her.]] |
| 106 | * ApocalypseMaiden: In ways that run both good and bad: [[spoiler:In the bad way, she's a massive Witch that can eat the world in the span of a week; in the good way, she becomes a god and rewrites reality to make a Magical Girl's existence better.]] |
| 107 | * AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence: She becomes a [[spoiler:law of physics (or a goddess in the metaphysical sense) as the result of her wish. After learning about all the suffering Magical Girls went through, she made it clear with her wish that she doesn't care what she becomes as long as her wish ultimately saves the world.]] |
| 108 | * BadassAdorable: Anytime where she's a magical girl she is both powerful and friendly and huggably cute. |
| 109 | * BaitAndSwitchBoss: She's the only one who can defeat [[spoiler:Walpurgisnacht but doing this will inevitably cause her to turn into a Witch strong enough to destroy Earth. This is a HopelessBossFight for Homura and forces her to use the NewGamePlus feature of her power.]] |
| 110 | * BeamSpam: [[spoiler:As Ultimate Madoka, she fires an enormous storm of energy arrows to attack.]] |
| 111 | * BewareTheNiceOnes: She's one of the sweetest, most passive characters in the whole series. However, she still [[BadassAdorable fought countless witches in previous timelines]]. In the current timeline, once she learns the truth about all magical girls eventually becoming witches, she quickly gets fed up with Kyubey's machinations and makes a wish that [[RealityBreakingParadox rewrites reality]] just to make it stop, regardless of what Kyubey wants. |
| 112 | * BeyondTheImpossible: Madoka's innate potential as a Magical Girl is so great [[spoiler:thanks to Homura's GroundhogDayLoop constantly increasing it as a consequence]] that Kyubey essentially admits she could have ''any'' wish granted with no limits. [[spoiler:In addition to her RealityBreakingParadox wish in the main story, in ''Manga/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheDifferentStory'' she's able to bring Sayaka BackFromTheDead despite her having become a Witch, being destroyed, and her Grief Seed used up. Note that when Homura asked Kyubey in the anime if it were possible to bring Sayaka back as a Magical Girl, if not a human, from her Witch state, Kyubey bluntly stated it was impossible after having deceived Kyoko otherwise.]] |
| 113 | * BigDamnHeroes: [[spoiler:Her wish allows her to do this on a universal scale. Traveling to the countless individual points in time where all magical girls in existence eventually became witches, she appears before them and absorbs the darkness from their Soul Gems, allowing them to die peacefully and preventing their witches from ever being born]]. |
| 114 | * BigEater: You wouldn't know it, but [[http://wiki.puella-magi.net/100_Questions according to her 100 Questions]], she thinks about food a LOT. |
| 115 | * BigFancyHouse: Madoka's home. It was designed and built by friends of her parents. |
| 116 | * BigGood: [[spoiler:Her {{Retcon}} made her the patron goddess of magical girls, but only Homura knows she exists.]] |
| 117 | * BodyHorror: [[spoiler:When she steps into H.N. Elly's witch barrier and said witch has her familiars stretch her body to her limit as she pulls her inside.]] |
| 118 | * BreakTheCutie: She provides the image on the trope's main page. As the series goes on she endures more and more trauma until she's a miserable wreck curled up in her bed. [[spoiler:Ultimately she doesn't break and instead uses her wish to mend every broken magical girl cutie in all of time.]] |
| 119 | * ButNowIMustGo: [[spoiler:She has to leave Homura to serve her purpose as the abstract embodiment of hope to magical girls.]] |
| 120 | * CelestialBody: After she becomes a [[spoiler:god/force of nature/whatever in the final episode she gains a new body which evokes this kind of imagery.]] |
| 121 | * CherryBlossomGirl: Pink eyes, pink hair, kind, surrounded by themes of death and rebirth, and has a cherry blossom motif on her Magical Girl dress. |
| 122 | * ChildhoodFriends: With Sayaka. They walk to school together and [[spoiler:her death hits Madoka like a punch to the gut.]] |
| 123 | * TheChosenOne: Kyubey spends the series trying to make her a MagicalGirl because of her potential, which can make her an all powerful deity if she so desired. Mami theorizes that Homura is actively trying to prevent her from becoming a MagicalGirl because of jealousy. [[spoiler:Mami couldn't be more wrong, Homura's real motivation is to protect Madoka from a terrible fate should she make a contract to become a magical girl, something Madoka ''herself'' requested in a previous timeline.]] |
| 124 | * ChronicHeroSyndrome: [[spoiler:She commits a HeroicSacrifice in every timeline we see. Homura actually blames this on her low sense of self-worth, and points how annoying it is in someone you keep time-traveling to try and rescue.]] |
| 125 | * ClassicalAntiHero: Madoka spends most of the story struggling to cope with the horrifying things that happen to her friends, while being too scared to actually do much of anything. But she slowly overcomes her fears, and eventually summons the courage to [[spoiler:become a magical girl in order to fix most of the tragedy.]] |
| 126 | * CowardlyLion: She's constantly berating herself for her cowardice and indecision, though in reality she is far braver than she gives herself credit for. More than once we see her get into situations where she tries to help in whatever way she can when the sensible thing to do would be be to run and get help instead. |
| 127 | * CrucifiedHeroShot: Madoka gets one in the beginning of Episode 11, following [[spoiler:Sayaka's funeral]], while Kyubey lectures her about [[spoiler:the role of magical girls in history]]. Fitting, considering [[spoiler:that she sacrifices herself to save the world]]. She gets another while [[spoiler:saying goodbye to Homura before she disappears.]] |
| 128 | * CurbStompBattle: [[spoiler:[[OffscreenMomentOfAwesome Though we never get to see it]], in the last timeline shown before the current story, Madoka kills Walpurgisnacht ''in one shot.'' [[AndThenJohnWasAZombie After which, she becomes a world-destroying witch]].]] |
| 129 | * CurtainsMatchTheWindow: Pink hair and eyes. [[spoiler: Gets [[SubvertedTrope subverted]] once she becomes a goddess, where she gets SupernaturalGoldEyes]]. |
| 130 | * CutenessProximity: [[http://wiki.puella-magi.net/100_Questions 100 Questions]]: (link has some spoilers) |
| 131 | -->'''Question 8:''' ''"Favorite animal?"''\ |
| 132 | '''Madoka:''' ''"I love anything that's small and fluffy!"'' |
| 133 | * DarkMessiah: [[spoiler:As Kriemhild Gretchen. AllThereInTheManual describes her as the Witch of ''Salvation''. Her idea of salvation is either the LotusEaterMachine or an AssimilationPlot because it involves drawing people into her barrier.]] |
| 134 | * DecoyProtagonist: Despite being the titular character and the focus for much of the plot, Madoka mostly takes a back seat in terms of actually ''doing'' anything first to Sayaka, and then to Homura. It's only in the last few episodes that Madoka steps up and takes the role as main character. |
| 135 | * DefeatingTheUndefeatable: [[spoiler:In all timelines, Madoka is the only magical girl known to have killed Walpurgisnacht, the most powerful witch in existence. However, she either [[HeroicSacrifice dies afterwards]] or [[AndThenJohnWasAZombie turns into an even more powerful witch]]. She finally beats it for good by wishing it out of existence in the current timeline.]] |
| 136 | * DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife: Although not as severe as [[Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha that other magical girl]], Madoka considers becoming a magical girl simply to give purpose to her life. This irritates Mami. See also HeroicSelfDeprecation. |
| 137 | * {{Determinator}}: For all the misery she endures throughout the series, she never loses hope for a happy ending. |
| 138 | * DevotedToYou: Homura is so desperately devoted to her that [[spoiler:she willingly trapped herself in a hellish GroundhogDayLoop so she could find a way to save Madoka from her tragic fate as a Magical Girl.]] |
| 139 | * DidYouJustScamCthulhu: She makes a [[spoiler:contract with Kyubey in the final episode but her wish rewrites reality to favor magical girls instead of the Incubators]]. For most of the series, it's more like [[InvertedTrope Did Cthulhu Just Scam You?]] |
| 140 | * DisappearsIntoLight: What happens to her [[spoiler:body while she's saying goodbye to a crying Homura. She's gone to a higher plane of existence.]] |
| 141 | * TheDitherer: Spends many an episode wondering if she can truly be helpful to anyone. |
| 142 | * DontFearTheReaper: She's really nice. [[spoiler:When she appears to dying magical girls she is a soothing presence in their traumatic final moments, then she takes them to magical girl {{heaven}}.]] |
| 143 | * DreamingOfThingsToCome: Madoka has a dream of Homura fighting Walpurgisnacht and Kyubey trying to convince her to make a contract before she actually meets either of them. [[spoiler:Turns out her dream was actually [[DreamingOfTimesGoneBy a memory from a previous timeline]].]] |
| 144 | * EnergyBow: Her weapon is a bow that fires pink energy arrows. |
| 145 | * {{Expy}}: Urobuchi has compared Madoka to ''Manga/HidamariSketch'''s Yuno. Urobuchi remarked that every time he made Madoka cry, the Yuno fans hated him more. |
| 146 | * EyeColorChange: [[spoiler:After becoming a goddess, her eyes change from pink to [[SupernaturalGoldEyes gold.]]]] |
| 147 | * FaustianRebellion: Madoka's wish is to [[spoiler:erase every witch that had ever existed, or would exist in the future, or could possibly exist in another world, [[RetGone before they were born]] ''with her own hands.'' [[CosmicRetcon Reality gets a bit unstable]]. And in the end Kyubey has to adapt to her new system which is less convenient to his goals.]] |
| 148 | * TheFettered: Madoka believes in hope so much its one of her main defining traits. [[spoiler:This eventually became the basis for her wish, to give other [[MagicalGirl Magical Girls]] hope by erasing the despair that would eventually turn them into witches. [[AbstractApotheosis She eventually became the very embodiment of this virtue]].]] |
| 149 | * FinalSpeech: Done every time she [[spoiler:attempts a HeroicSacrifice.]] |
| 150 | * FirstFriend: [[spoiler:Madoka is revealed to be this to Homura in the timeline where the latter first became a Magical Girl. Madoka was the first person to get to know Homura as a person and her kindness towards the girl helped Homura to open up a little. Protecting Madoka is the reason Homura becomes a Magical Girl in the first place, and even after her CynicismCatalyst, saving Madoka from her fate becomes Homura's primary motivation.]] |
| 151 | * ForeverWar: [[spoiler:According to Mami, as a consequence of her wish to erase all witches from existence, Madoka will be fighting and defeating witches for all of eternity.]] |
| 152 | * FriendlySniper: She's a very skilled sniper, [[spoiler: as is shown when she defeats her own witch form in one shot]]. She's also probably one of the nicest characters in the entire cast. This is noted in the official design notes: |
| 153 | -->Even her bow-wielding magical girl form projects an air of kind friendliness. |
| 154 | * GirlishPigtails: She has her hair done up in pigtails which emphasises her innocence and naivety. |
| 155 | * GirlsLoveStuffedAnimals: Her room is filled with various stuffed animals. |
| 156 | * GirlyBruiser: She's very girly, with her pink hair done in pigtails tied by red ribbons, a lot of stuffed animals, and a [[PinkHeroine pink]] PimpedOutDress as a Magical Girl. Her favorite colors are also, of course, pink and white. In the alternate timelines she was a badass ActionGirl whose force inspired Homura to better herself, and is the only one capable of saving the entire world from [[HopelessBossFight Walpurgisnacht]] with nothing but frilly pink gloves. |
| 157 | * GirlyRun: Shown in the OP sequence and the first episode. |
| 158 | * GoldAndWhiteAreDivine: [[spoiler:Her Ultimate form gives her SupernaturalGoldEyes and an EtherealWhiteDress.]] |
| 159 | * GoodIsNotSoft: [[spoiler:She loves Homura deeply (after regaining her memories, if not before), but she doesn't let Homura's obsession with preserving her life stop her from accomplishing something great. Their last interaction before Madoka ascends is Homura screaming, thrashing, pleading for her to stop- and her basically saying, "No, this has to happen."]] |
| 160 | * TheHeart: She's the kindest, compared to the other characters who have signed the deal. |
| 161 | * HeavenlyConcentricCircles: In ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheMovieRebellion'', when the Law of Cycles is preparing herself to purify [[spoiler:Homura]]'s soul gem, she appears in the sky surrounded by concentric circles of geometrical motifs. A literal, pink path to heaven sprouts from the center. |
| 162 | * HeroicBSOD: |
| 163 | ** [[spoiler:Mami's death]] hits her '''HARD'''. She spends a good half of episode 4 ''crying''. |
| 164 | ** Again when she [[spoiler:inadvertently kills Sayaka]]. While Sayaka has gotten better thanks to Homura, the {{Angst}} will remain. |
| 165 | ** ''Yet again'' when [[spoiler:she sees Sayaka's lifeless body and hears that her best friend has become a witch.]] |
| 166 | ** In [[spoiler:another timeline, having to kill Mami (who had just killed Kyoko) so she wouldn't kill Homura (who had just killed Witch Sayaka)]] [[BreakTheCutie reduces her to a sobbing wreck.]] |
| 167 | ** Kyubey goes for the kill when he [[spoiler:telepathically shows her the suffering of every magical girl throughout history]]. This may have been a mistake [[spoiler:as it inspired her wish.]] |
| 168 | * HeroicBystander: She prevents [[spoiler:the forced suicide of Hitomi and Kirsten's other victims]]. Also, she [[spoiler:''tries'' to be this when she throws Sayaka's soul gem over the bridge, [[NiceJobBreakingItHero with nasty results]].]] |
| 169 | * HeroicSacrifice: In the [[spoiler:original timeline, it was hinted that she launched a one-shot SuicideAttack against Walpurgisnacht and it worked because Homura survived. In an alternate past, she saved Homura from despair using Sayaka's grief seed, in the hope of Homura's ability to rewrite history to a better end; she then asks Homura for a MercyKill, since turning into a witch was against her life-time goal. She does it again in the final episode, where she wishes for the whole Magical Girl system to change, allowing her to destroy Walpurgis and stop any magical girls from becoming a witch (by causing them to [[AscendedToAHigherPlaneOfExistence vanish first]]), at the cost of Madoka herself [[RetGone vanishing from existence forever]].]] |
| 170 | * HeroicSelfDeprecation: Subtly, but still present. At one point Madoka says the following about herself: "I thought I had nothing good going for me. [[DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife I thought I would continue on living until I died, never helping anyone, never being useful]]. That made me frustrated, and it made me feel alone. But I thought I couldn't do anything about it." Yet her actions over the series often contradict this self-characterization. This extends to the people around her who question ''why'' she would want to become a MagicalGirl. She has everything she would ever want, [[spoiler:and yet she still becomes a MagicalGirl.]] |
| 171 | * TheHeroine: Of previous [[spoiler:timelines and the GrandFinale. She's the one that ultimately saves the day]]. She's also the namesake of her team. |
| 172 | * HiddenDepths: Before [[WholeEpisodeFlashback Episode 10]], she appears to be an average girl [[spoiler:caught in awful circumstances]] who at times behaves in a supposedly "stupid" or "cowardly" manner. Episode 10 reveals [[spoiler:that Madoka is not only able to fight, but is willing to sacrifice herself because of her love for her friends.]] |
| 173 | * HopeBringer: [[spoiler:This is her final wish in a nutshell: deliver hope to all magical girls.]] |
| 174 | * ICannotSelfTerminate: In a previous [[spoiler:timeline, she asks Homura to MercyKill her before she turns into a witch.]] |
| 175 | * IKnowYoureInThereSomewhereFight: She tries to do this [[spoiler:for Sayaka in two different timelines. It failed in both cases.]] |
| 176 | * IncorruptiblePurePureness: The only way Kyubey can convince her to make a contract is by appealing to her heroism. [[spoiler:In timelines where she became a witch it's implied that it was always over-use of magic rather than despair.]] |
| 177 | * TheIngenue: Soft-spoken, innocent, etc. Interestingly for this trope, Junko says she's remarkably mature for her age because she bypassed the teenage-rebellion typical of girls her age. |
| 178 | * InstantRunes: [[spoiler:A rune array pops out in front of her bow before she fires off a barrage of energy arrows as Ultimate Madoka.]] |
| 179 | * {{Irony}}: [[spoiler:Homura's motivation to prevent Madoka from becoming a witch meant that she had to be LockedOutOfTheLoop. Madoka is able to save everyone once she gets ''in'' the loop and sees with fresh eyes the suffering of the other magical girls and learns how the Incubators have been doing this for a very long time.]] |
| 180 | * KillTheCutie: Multiple times in [[spoiler:previous timelines. Then, even though she actually does live, [[RetGone all traces of her existence vanish]] [[BittersweetEnding in the final timeline]].]] |
| 181 | * KindHeartedCatLover: The intro shows Madoka holding a cat whilst sobbing and smiling. [[AllThereInTheManual Supplemental material]] reveals that the initial contract she made to become a magical girl before Homura started looping time was to resurrect the cat after she saw it die. |
| 182 | * KungFuJesus: She's an archer who saves the universe with KINDNESS. [[spoiler:It rewrites the entire laws of time, space and REALITY itself to make the entire '''universe''' a kinder and gentler place.]] |
| 183 | * LadyAndKnight: [[spoiler:With Homura. Madoka is a perfect example of the Bright Lady (cute, innocent and kind) while Homura is her strong and determined knight sworn to protect her, although she's more of a Black Knight.]] |
| 184 | * {{Leitmotif}}: ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SW3d__g96wk "Clementia"]]''. [[spoiler:As Ultimate Madoka]], ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whlSPtRw_-E "Sagitta luminis"]]''. |
| 185 | * LetThemDieHappy: [[spoiler:The effect of her wish, across all of time and space to every magical girl. When a magical girl is about to die, Madoka appears to her and absorbs the darkness from her Soul Gem, allowing her to die peacefully without grief weighing on her heart and smile until the very end.]] |
| 186 | * LightFeminineAndDarkFeminine: The light to Homura's dark; dresses in light or pastel colors, open and friendly, a NiceGirl. |
| 187 | * LikeParentLikeSpouse: According to ancillary material, Madoka's idea of an ideal husband is someone cool like her ''mother''. |
| 188 | * LittleMissAlmighty: She's only fourteen, and [[spoiler:in the finale she becomes the goddess of hope. Interestingly, her goddess form "Ultimate Madoka" is taller and looks somewhat older than her physical form.]] |
| 189 | * LivingEmotionalCrutch: |
| 190 | ** She props up Sayaka [[spoiler:when her soul gem corrupts.]] |
| 191 | ** [[spoiler:Madoka's death will always ''[[BreakTheCutie shatter]]'' Homura, before she [[{{Determinator}} resets time all over again]] to try preventing it from happening.]] |
| 192 | * TheLoad: ZigZagged. She's the only girl who doesn't become a MagicalGirl but still tags along. [[spoiler:It is later revealed that she did become a MagicalGirl, but in other timelines]]. Since Homura tries to prevent her from turning into a MagicalGirl [[spoiler:via time travel; her transformation was always retconned]]. In the last episode, [[spoiler:she forms a contract with Kyubey and wishes that all witches from the past, present and future cease to exist, turning her into a being akin to a god.]] |
| 193 | * MacGuffinSuperPerson: Her potential power is so massive, Homura's (silent) fight against Kyubey over her drives the story. [[spoiler:Said power is also what makes her the ApocalypseMaiden.]] |
| 194 | * MagicalGirl: She spends many episodes considering whether or not accept Kyubey's contract and obtain the outfit and powers. Defying this trope for her is Homura's purpose [[spoiler:at Madoka's own request in previous timelines.]] |
| 195 | * MagicSkirt: The pink and white tutu she wears as a magical girl incorporates one. Considering how many layers of ruffled tulle must've gone into that skirt, it's not surprising. |
| 196 | * MartyrWithoutACause: One reason she doesn't make a contract is that she doesn't know what to wish for. At one point she decided to 'wish to become a magical girl'. [[spoiler:Once one learns the true nature of Magical Girls, 'martyr' becomes appropriate.]] |
| 197 | * MeaningfulName: Her full name can be taken to mean "tranquil keystone." This fits her role as TheHeart, [[spoiler:her connection to countless threads of fate from previous timelines, and her eventual transformation into the embodiment of hope for all magical girls.]] |
| 198 | ** The name Madoka can be written with the character for "circle" or "round" in kanji (円) reflecting the cyclical nature of the magical girl-witch incubator relationship as well as the circular repetition of timelines that revolve around her. It could also be written with the character for "wish" or "ambition"; the connotations of that should be obvious. Her last name, Kaname, can also be read as "pivot" or "vital point", which is apt to say the least due to Homura's time-meddling making Madoka's existence the pivotal point of every timeline she creates. |
| 199 | ** Interestingly, the three syllables which form her name are homophone to those of "the one who follows the path of evil" [[spoiler:LampshadeHanging here.]] |
| 200 | ** 'Kaname' is usually written as 'Deer eye'. A deer is the symbol of undermore [[http://www.whats-your-sign.com/animal-symbolism-deer.html love, peace and grace]]. |
| 201 | ** Her name when written in traditional order, '''Ka'''name Mado'''ka''', begins and ends with the same syllable, [[spoiler:symbolic of someone whose existence is tied to a repeating cycle.]] |
| 202 | * MeaningfulRename: |
| 203 | ** [[spoiler:Her witch name is [[Literature/{{Nibelungenlied}} Kriemhild]] [[Theatre/{{Faust}} Gretchen]]]]. Interesting to note that this was not shown on the original broadcast. For the record, [[spoiler:Kriemhild means "battle mask", likely referring to the ending animation.]] |
| 204 | ** What fans call [[spoiler:Madokami or Godoka, officially known as Ultimate Madoka]], tends to go by the name Penitent Gretchen. The name [[Theatre/{{Faust}} Gretchen]] is self-explanatory even if you are familiar with the show. The title of Penitent isn't, which means "feeling or expressing humble or regretful pain or sorrow for sins or offenses". It explains [[spoiler:Madoka's temperament at the time of her wish]]. Also, the full name is yet another reference to ''Theatre/{{Faust}}''...or more appropriately, how Gretchen saved him. |
| 205 | * MercyKill: [[spoiler:She's forced to quickly put down a manic Mami when she tries to kill the rest of the group and then herself. Madoka herself is on the receiving end of this trope from Homura at least once]]. |
| 206 | * MessianicArchetype: [[spoiler:She sacrifices herself to save all magical girls from despair. Having seen three friends die and learning about magical girls from Kyubey, she decides to make that sacrificial wish, which has her appear to magical girls throughout history.]] |
| 207 | %%%* MoeCouplet: Initially her and Sayaka, and then her and Homura [[spoiler:especially when it was {{Meganekko}} Homura]]. Also a bit with Mami, which likely would have continued if the latter [[spoiler:didn't die]], and was apparent in other timelines. |
| 208 | %%%%%%%%%% |
| 209 | * MoralityChain: [[spoiler:She's this to Homura. Despite all the trauma and foulness of all the timelines, Homura continues to help others because it would make Madoka happy.]] |
| 210 | * MuggleBestFriend: Madoka initially seems like she'll be the typical magical girl hero, but when the series reached episode 9 (of 12) Madoka is '''still''' a muggle while her best friend has taken up the duty. [[spoiler:This is because she was a magical girl in the original timeline and made Homura promise to ''save her from Kyubey's trickery''. This is why Homura prevents her from making a contract.]] |
| 211 | * NaiveEverygirl: This is one of the things she dislikes about herself; her average-lack-of-wordliness. |
| 212 | * NaiveNewcomer: As an IronicEcho to current Homura, Madoka contrasts {{Meganekko}} Homura. [[spoiler:Where {{Meganekko}} Homura blurts out something randomly inappropriate, Madoka is a mostly calm and collected person in the same situation.]] |
| 213 | * NiceGirl: She's the nicest of the girls and would do anything to help other people. |
| 214 | * NiceJobBreakingItHero: |
| 215 | ** She tried cheering Mami up with a YouAreNotAlone speech. It results in [[spoiler:Mami fighting more recklessly rather than methodical and calculating which leads to getting headchomped by Charlotte, [[Manga/PuellaMagiOrikoMagica in a battle she would've won if she never let her guard down]].]] |
| 216 | ** To prevent Sayaka from fighting Kyoko, [[spoiler:she snatches Sayaka's soul gem and throws it off the bridge they're on. This killed Sayaka because the soul gem is [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin literally]] a SoulJar]]. Cue BigDamnHeroes from Homura. |
| 217 | ** [[spoiler:She makes a contract to save Homura in one timeline, and becomes a magical girl so powerful she destroys a witch in one shot... then becomes an even worse witch who will destroy the entire planet.]] |
| 218 | * NotSoImaginaryFriend: To her brother in the [[spoiler:final timeline; he's one of two people who remember her but his/their mom believes 'Madoka' is an imaginary friend.]] |
| 219 | * OnlyFriend: To Homura. She had no friends before joining Madoka's school and afterwards isolates herself [[spoiler:to prevent herself from suffering more pain from the time loops.]] |
| 220 | * OOCIsSeriousBusiness: You know things have gotten really bad when kind-hearted and timid Madoka of all people doesn't even hesitate to [[spoiler:kill Mami when she is about to kill Homura in one of the previous timelines.]] |
| 221 | * OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent: ''Junior'' high but whatever; there's nothing remarkable about her. You know, other than her tremendous magical girl potential, and all. |
| 222 | * PimpedOutDress: |
| 223 | ** Her Magical Girl outfit is pink, very frilly and overall standard issue for a magical girl, which emphasizes her [[FriendToAllLivingThings kindness]], idealism and will to be [[spoiler:the bringer of hope.]] |
| 224 | ** Her [[spoiler:ultimate form]] dress, as well. It has a freaking ''[[CelestialBody star scape]]'' in it. |
| 225 | * PinkHeroine: Madoka is the leading lady of a Magical Girl show and has pink as her signature color. Although she isn't an actual Magical Girl for much of the show's run. |
| 226 | * PinkMeansFeminine: Madoka is likely the most girlish of the main girls and has pink as her theme colour. |
| 227 | * PlotTriggeringDeath: Homura makes the wish that kicks off the series in order [[spoiler:to save Madoka's life.]] |
| 228 | * PowerGivesYouWings: She gains [[spoiler:angelic, transparent wings when she ascends to godhood.]] |
| 229 | * PowerMakesYourHairGrow: [[spoiler:Ultimate Madoka]] gains long hair before she kills [[spoiler:Kriemhild Gretchen.]] |
| 230 | * PracticallyDifferentGenerations: She's 14 at the start of the series and has a three-year-old younger brother. |
| 231 | * {{Protectorate}}: [[spoiler:Homura's wish was for Madoka to become this for her. "I want to protect Madoka instead of her protecting me."]] |
| 232 | * {{Psychopomp}}: As a [[spoiler:Goddess, she appears to dying magical girls and takes them away to {{heaven}}. She's just the sort of companion one would want on such a journey. For instance, she allowed Sayaka to see Kyosuke play the violin one last time.]] |
| 233 | * RealityBreakingParadox: When she makes her [[spoiler:paradoxical wish, reality collapses in on itself by trying to figure how the wish would work.]] |
| 234 | * RealityWarper: [[{{Foreshadowing}} Kyubey claims she has this sort of potential]] if she were to become a Magical Girl, as her potential is so great it would make her capable of just about ''any'' wish. [[spoiler:Turns out, he was right. Her wish was all that was needed to reconstruct the whole universe into a more merciful place]]. |
| 235 | * RecursiveAmmo: [[spoiler:Those pink arrows she spams as Ultimate Madoka can turn into more of her.]] |
| 236 | * RedOniBlueOni: To Sayaka; more cautious, less passionate. Madoka's [[ColorCodedForYourConvenience color motif]] is Pink, which is a combination Red and White. You should have a good guess where the White motif comes into play. |
| 237 | * RetGone: The price of ending the [[spoiler:ViciousCycle is her removal from physical existence and all memory of her being erased, with Homura being the only one to remember that she ever was there.]] |
| 238 | * RippleEffectProofMemory: Or rather, Ripple Effect-Proof ''Power''. [[spoiler:Because she is the subject of Homura's wish, Madoka's powers, as a magical girl or inherent, are carried over to the next timeline every time Homura goes back in time. This is the reason why she has enough power to defeat Walpurgisnacht and destroy the world as a witch.]] |
| 239 | * RoseHairedSweetie: Sweet-tempered subtype. |
| 240 | * SelfDuplication: [[spoiler:Her wish allows her to create countless copies of herself throughout time and space, which fly to every dying magical girl in existence and absorb the darkness from their Soul Gems, allowing them to die in peace without ever becoming witches.]] |
| 241 | * SelflessWish: When she learns that her wish has the potential of her becoming a god, she later makes it clear that [[spoiler:she doesn't care what she becomes as long as her wish ultimately saves the world from destruction, either at the hands of Walpurgisnacht or Kriemhild Gretchen, and ensures that magical girls do not experience sadness anymore, and orders Kyubey to fulfill her wish anyway.]] |
| 242 | * SheCleansUpNicely: [[spoiler:Supernatural example]]: Normal girl Madoka falls right into GenericCuteness and in-universe is considered plain. [[spoiler:[[https://78.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m821b4HdID1rrog1ro1_500.jpg Ultimate]] [[http://i.imgur.com/yIykPBE.jpg%20Ultimate%20Madoka Madoka]]]], on the other hand, is ''achingly beautiful.'' |
| 243 | * ShoutOut: |
| 244 | ** Madoka has some similarities to [[Manga/CardcaptorSakura Sakura Kinomoto]], as shown [[http://wiki.puella-magi.net/100_Questions here]]. They're both blood type A girls who eat breakfasts made by their fathers "who can cook anything," play the recorder "a bit," are afraid of ghosts, and list their favorite colors as white and pink. |
| 245 | ** [[spoiler:As part of the many references to Goethe's ''Faust'', she's Gretchen, the woman who saves and redeems Faust with her love. This is made most explicit with the name of the witch she becomes in several timelines, Kriemhild Gretchen.]] |
| 246 | * ShrinkingViolet: Madoka is sometimes shy and timid regardless. |
| 247 | * SignatureLaugh: A little giggle that sounds like "wehihihihi". |
| 248 | * SillyRabbitCynicismIsForLosers: {{Invoked}} in the final episode as she [[spoiler:becomes the very embodiment of hope for all Magical Girls through her wish.]] |
| 249 | --> [[spoiler:'''Ultimate Madoka:''' "If someone says it's wrong to hope, I will tell them that they're wrong every time. I could tell them that countless times."]] |
| 250 | * TheSoulsaver: [[spoiler:The fate of magical girls is either to become a witch or die and face the CessationOfExistence. Ultimate Madoka rescues them from both and brings them to a higher plane of existence.]] |
| 251 | * SpiritualAntithesis: Although the series is often considered to be the MagicalGirl equivalent of ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'', Madoka is very different from Shinji Ikari. Madoka was an ordinary girl until Kyubey and Homura came along, while Shinji's life was always bad, and being thrown into Unit-01 just made it worse. Both of them get [[BreakTheCutie heavily traumatized]], but Shinji keeps getting forced into even worse situations, while Madoka becomes too scared to fight. They both have [[HeroicSelfDeprecation low opinions of themselves]], and this translates into [[ItsAllAboutMe self-pity]] in Shinji's case and [[AllLovingHero a desire to help others]] in Madoka's. Finally, both of them [[spoiler:RestartTheWorld]], but Shinji does so [[spoiler:as a result of crossing the DespairEventHorizon]], while Madoka does so [[spoiler:because she doesn't want anyone to suffer the DespairEventHorizon anymore.]] |
| 252 | * SplitPersonalityMerge: [[spoiler:Kind of; after her apotheosis she gains knowledge of all other timelines. She sees the countless times Homura fought and got hurt for her sake, trying to keep her from being a witch, and says that Homura really is her very best friend.]] |
| 253 | * StepfordSmiler: Hinted in her ImageSong "See You Tomorrow" that despite her cheerful, optimistic demeanor she feels lonely inside even saying she forces herself to smile. |
| 254 | * StockShoujoHeroine: She has many of this trope's associated traits despite the series not being in the shoujo demographic, being a fourteen year old OrdinaryMiddleSchoolStudent, PinkHeroine, and MagicalGirl. She has confidence issues but is a very NiceGirl towards others. She is TheHeart of the main girls and has IncorruptiblePurePureness attributes. Unfortunately for Madoka, [[CrapsaccharineWorld the series she's in]] is [[{{Deconstruction}} particularly harmful for this character type]]. [[spoiler:In the end, she doesn't let any of it break her and she becomes embodiment of hope itself.]] |
| 255 | * StoryBreakerPower: [[spoiler:As Homura's quest goes on, Madoka as a magical girl becomes more and more powerful. ''[[Manga/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheDifferentStory The Different Story]]'' is presumably one of the later resets, since Madoka demonstrates the ability to ''bring Sayaka back to life'' after she had died in her Witch state, the latter alone Kyubey claimed to Homura was impossible to reverse as far as he was aware.]] |
| 256 | * SupernaturalGoldEyes: As [[spoiler:Ultimate Madoka, the Goddess of Hope.]] |
| 257 | * SupportingProtagonist: |
| 258 | ** Gen Urobuchi stated that ''Sayaka'' is TheProtagonist of his story, although Madoka is the main character originally planned by Ume Aoki. However, [[spoiler:this may have been a [[LyingCreator bait-and-switch statement]] to make Sayaka's fate more surprising, as Homura turns out to be the main heroic catalyst in the series.]] |
| 259 | ** Rather than focusing on the actions of Madoka herself, the story focuses on [[spoiler:Homura's actions to protect and nurture Madoka, and unintentionally set her up to become powerful enough to become a goddess.]] |
| 260 | ** [[PlayingWithATrope Played With]] by Urobichi. The primary character arc is the lead up to Sayaka's [[spoiler:transformation]], but the plot itself revolves around Homura's attempt to stop Madoka [[spoiler:from dying]] or becoming a magical girl. |
| 261 | ** Finally [[spoiler:the series could ''really'' be about Madoka learning about the true nature of magical girls in order to learn how to reform the system after her ultimate ascension to goddesshood.]] |
| 262 | ** However, she fits this trope for the most part in ''[[Manga/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheDifferentStory The Different Story]]''. |
| 263 | * SurvivorGuilt: After [[spoiler:Mami]] dies right in front of her, Madoka goes to her house and says "I'm sorry for being so weak." |
| 264 | * TakeAThirdOption: If she doesn't become a MagicalGirl, [[spoiler:Walpurgisnacht will happen and the Earth will die]]. If she does, [[spoiler:then she'll become Kriemhild Gretchen and the Earth will still die]]. What does she do? [[spoiler:She becomes a MagicalGirl and uses her wish to ''erase all Witches from existence'' thus safeguarding her own eventual transformation.]] |
| 265 | * TaremeEyes: As the gentle NiceGirl she is, she has rounded eyes. |
| 266 | * TenderTears: Usually accompanied by TearsOfRemorse. |
| 267 | * TimeTravel: [[spoiler:After wishing to have the power to defeat witches before their births, she travels throughout all of time--past, present and future--to appear to every dying magical girl who has ever existed and cleanse the darkness from their Soul Gems]]. |
| 268 | * TomboyAndGirlyGirl: GirlyGirl to Sayaka's {{Tomboy}}. It's not especially because she's so girly but because Sayaka is more boyish. |
| 269 | * TookALevelInBadass: Zigzagged. She spends most of the series as a {{Muggle}}, [[spoiler:before it was revealed that in previous timelines, she became a magical girl]]. In fact, [[spoiler:she becomes stronger and stronger as a magical girl with each press of the ResetButton. At the end of the series she becomes a goddess-like figure.]] |
| 270 | * TotalitarianUtilitarian: As [[spoiler:Kriemhild Gretchen she helps as many people as possible by enclosing them in her barrier.]] |
| 271 | * TrademarkFavoriteFood: She has several favorite foods in each seasons, [[https://wiki.puella-magi.net/100_Questions According to her 100 questions]]. |
| 272 | ** Her favorite food in every season is cream stew. |
| 273 | ** Her favorite food in spring is sakura-mochi. |
| 274 | ** Her favorite food in summer is shaved ice. |
| 275 | ** Her favorite food in fall is sweet potatoes. |
| 276 | ** Her favorite food in winter is apple pie. |
| 277 | * TragicBromance: A female example with Homura. They develop the closest relationship of the main group but [[spoiler:are separated at the end. In the manga, this is averted because they are reunited in Ultimate Madoka's {{Heaven}}.]] |
| 278 | * TrueFinalBoss: The final witch encountered in the series is not Walpurgisnacht, but [[spoiler:Madoka's own, planet-eating, scary-as-hell witch form. It could also qualify as a PostFinalBoss due to being destroyed by Madoka's wish rather than being fought beforehand.]] |
| 279 | * TheUnreveal: The only looks we get of [[spoiler:her witch form]] are a black, thundercloud-like entity mid-transformation [[spoiler:in one timeline]] and a colossal grey silhouette [[spoiler:in another timeline]]. The witch's name, Kriemhild Gretchen, was originally this but was shown in a subsequent broadcast. [[spoiler:Her witch card]] shows what Gretchen looks like [[http://wiki.puella-magi.net/Kriemhild_Gretchen here]]. |
| 280 | * UselessProtagonist: In a series where the only way to be useful is to throw your entire life away, few can blame her for being hesitant to do just that. Even so she desperately tries to be of any help towards the other magical girls, and is perfectly willing to throw her life away for their sake. It's just that one of said magical girls is actively trying to prevent her from sacrificing herself, and even calls her a naive fool for being so self-sacrificing. |
| 281 | * UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: [[spoiler:A past variant of Madoka asked Homura to go back in time and stop her from contracting]], unaware of just how difficult this would be. |
| 282 | * WalkingSpoiler: If you've made it this far down the page, this should already be obvious. |
| 283 | * WeaponBasedCharacterization: Madoka's bow helps her to pinpoint problems and take them out without collateral damage, which is more or less what she does with [[spoiler:her final wish]]. It also indicates that her solution to things is going to upset Homura, a shield-user who [[spoiler:isn't okay with her loved one dying for ''any'' reason, ever]]. |
| 284 | * WideEyedIdealist: She just wants people to be happy in this world. What's wrong with that?! [[spoiler:Combined with sufficient knowledge, she uses her wish to restructure the whole universe into a more idealistic place.]] |
| 285 | * WorldsStrongestMan: As pointed out by Kyubey, Madoka's potential is so great that ''any wish'' she might have, even including ''becoming a god'' can be fulfilled. As a MagicalGirl, her magical power is so great that [[spoiler:she can kill the strongest witch in existence. Unfortunately, unless she dies after the battle, [[AndThenJohnWasAZombie she replaces Walpurgisnacht as the most powerful witch in existence]]. In the final timeline, she kills that witch too and becomes a goddess.]] |
| 286 | --> [[spoiler:'''Kyubey:''' It was bound to happen sooner or later, the strongest magical girl turning into the most fearsome witch.]] |
| 287 | * YouAreNotAlone: |
| 288 | ** Madoka says this to Mami to cheer her up. [[spoiler:It distracts her enough to make a critical error in her fight]]. Mami usually fights coldly and calculatedly, but in that particular fight [[spoiler:she was reckless and was showing-off... and then HEADCHOMP.]] |
| 289 | ** Madoka also tells this to Homura [[spoiler:after Mami's death]]. Homura seems a ''little'' receptive, but is soon back to warning Madoka about what could happen. |
| 290 | ** [[spoiler:In the final episode, she tells this to every magical girl that ever lived and ever will live. Then she gathers them all on the same plane of existence so they never will be alone again.]] |
| 291 | [[/folder]] |
| 292 | |
| 293 | [[folder:Mami Tomoe]] |
| 294 | !!!'''Voiced by:''' Creator/KaoriMizuhashi (Japanese), Creator/CarrieKeranen (English)[[labelnote: Foreign [=VAs=]]] Violeta Bibiloni (Spanish), Creator/LetiziaScifoni (Italian), Creator/JuliaMeynen (German)[[/labelnote]] |
| 295 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mami_magical_girl.png]] |
| 296 | [[caption-width-right:350:''"This isn't supposed to be fun. What we're doing is very dangerous. Don't forget that, okay?"'']] |
| 297 | [[caption-width-right:350:[[labelnote:Click here to see Mami in her normal attire.]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mami_casual.png[softreturn]''"If you use your wish to grant someone else's, you should be careful you know exactly '''why''' you're doing it."''[[/labelnote]]]] |
| 298 | |
| 299 | ->''"Oh, look at this. It isn't the sort of behavior you'd expect from a role model, is it? I'm not very good at this sort of thing, am I?"'' |
| 300 | |
| 301 | A nurturing upperclassman at Madoka's school and a veteran magical girl. She wields an infinite number of magical flintlock rifles along with various ribbon-based binding spells. Her parents died in a car accident, and she lives alone. |
| 302 | ---- |
| 303 | * AbnormalAmmo: She uses her magic ribbons as ammo for her muskets. |
| 304 | * AchillesHeel: [[https://wiki.puella-magi.net/Megami_Magazine_2011-07#Mami_vs_Charlotte As a magazine interview notes]], her focus on ribbons means she would be at a very serious disadvantage against a enemy that can't be restrained. [[spoiler:Like Charlotte, as noted by the same interview.]] |
| 305 | * ActionGirl: Her introduction is saving Madoka and Sayaka from witches. She's a veteran Magical Girl with years of experience and knows how to use it. |
| 306 | * AscendedExtra: Mami was just a secondary character [[spoiler:killed off early]] in the anime. She becomes the protagonist of ''[[Manga/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheDifferentStory The Different Story]]'', which focuses on Mami's past with Kyoko and follows her story [[spoiler:in a timeline where she survives the battle against Charlotte]]. |
| 307 | * BackFromTheDead: [[spoiler:In the GrandFinale, Madoka's wish means that the witch who killed Mami never existed, meaning that Mami is still alive and well.]] |
| 308 | * BadassAdorable: She pulls ''magic rifles'' out of her hat or with a curtsy! |
| 309 | * BadassBookworm: Mami's sole magical power is the ability to create ribbons. In order to create her guns, she taught herself the engineering talents required to create a flintlock rifle capable of firing multiple types of ammunition out of ribbons and ''[[ChildProdigy at the age of thirteen.]]'' |
| 310 | * BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: Her wish to Kyubey was "to continue living" after being mortally wounded in a car accident. However, this backfires on her because she didn't specify saving her parents as well, [[SurvivorGuilt leaving her to survive the car accident while both her parents died]]. |
| 311 | * BewareTheNiceOnes: She's one of the nicest characters in the franchise, but in Gertrud's barrier, she is able to slaughter the vast majority of the familiars and the witch quite easily. |
| 312 | * BigFancyHouse: Its exact size varies across the franchise, but Mami's penthouse apartment is certainly large for someone who lives alone, let alone a teenager [[spoiler:whose parents died in a car crash]]. |
| 313 | * BigSisterMentor: To Madoka and Sayaka; she taught them about magical girl life and gave them a 'trial version' so they could understand what they were getting into. Also to Kyoko in the past and possibly to [[spoiler:Homura in other timelines]] as well. |
| 314 | * {{BFG}}: Tiro/Filo Finale, her finisher. It's a massive matchlock which can vary in size or form. |
| 315 | * BoomHeadshot: [[spoiler:During her FreakOut in the fourth timeline, Madoka [[MercyKill mercy kills]] her to save Homura's life by shooting the gem off of her hat, killing her instantly.]] |
| 316 | * BrickJoke: |
| 317 | ** Her teacup [[spoiler:is broken in episode 3 to symbolize her death.]] |
| 318 | ** The second episode shows her sitting at the glass table in her room as she explains how Witches are responsible for many otherwise-unexplainable murders and suicides. [[spoiler:Her own, for instance.]] Then there's a closeup of her hands resting gracefully on her lap in the proper sitting position. Sure, it shows how mature she is but pay attention to her reflection in the tabletop. [[spoiler:She's ''holding her upside-down head in her hands''.]] |
| 319 | * BrokenAce: She is an elegant, skilled fighter who acts kind and gentle and appears as a role model, but her ideal magical girl image is just a facade to hide how broken she is from constantly fighting witches on her own. |
| 320 | * BrokenBird: Does what she can to smile, but is pretty screwed up inside. To put it into perspective, [[spoiler:in one timeline, upon finding out that Magical Girls turn into witches, she gets so broken that she ''very quickly'' resolves to commit triple-murder-suicide. In another timeline (''[[Manga/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheDifferentStory The Different Story]]'' Manga), she commits suicide by destroying her own soul gem, albeit so that Madoka wouldn't have to wish her to have a normal life back, so it overlaps somewhat with HeroicSacrifice -- Madoka resurrected Sayaka, instead]]. |
| 321 | * BrokenHero: She is seen as the ideal magical girl by Madoka and Sayaka, but confesses that she cries a lot when alone and says her smiles are all false. |
| 322 | * BrokenPedestal: In ''[[Manga/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheDifferentStory The Different Story]]'', both her apprentices Sayaka and Kyoko view Mami as the perfect magical girl and they come to feel their selfishness makes them undeserving of having Mami as a mentor. Eventually, Mami reveals her own hidden weakness and selfishness to them, admitting that she's nothing but a sad, lonely girl who pretends to be perfect to impress others. Sayaka is so appalled by learning that the hero she looked up to was a farce that [[spoiler:she completely snaps and turns into a witch]]. Kyoko, on the other hand, is shocked to discover that Mami is so mentally fragile as to fall into despair after learning the AwfulTruth [[spoiler:about magical girls turning into witches]], but she still cherishes her as her former BigSisterMentor. |
| 323 | * BulletHell: Creates these with the many rifles she summons. |
| 324 | * ButNotTooForeign: Creators have said that she's not fully Japanese. Her name is a Spanish word and her [[CallingYourAttacks final shot is]] [[GratuitousItalian in Italian]], and Creator/UmeAoki says that she designed Mami after the image of a western gunner, but her true ethnicity has yet to be revealed. |
| 325 | * CallingYourAttack: "Tiro Finale!" (Italian: "Final Shot!") |
| 326 | ** [[AllThereInTheManual The third drama CD]] has Mami insisting Kyoko call her attack too--and she even picks out a name for it. |
| 327 | * CoolBigSis: She is the mature center that the other girls orbit around. It's carried over to meta level; the staffs, the voice actresses, and the fans usually call her [[UsefulNotes/JapaneseHonorifics Mami-san]] because of this very reason. |
| 328 | * CriticalHesitationBlunder: [[spoiler:She goes into Charlotte's barrier thinking the witch will be an easy kill, but then the witch suddenly shifts into her second form, a giant worm with a mouthful of sharp teeth. Mami is too shocked to move when she sees Charlotte flying right at her mouth-first, and gets her head bitten off.]] |
| 329 | * CruelAndUnusualDeath: [[spoiler:Being decapitated and then eaten by a creepy clown-faced caterpillar-like witch DEFINITELY counts. [[NauseaFuel You can see her decapitated body fall to the ground and hear the crunching]].]] |
| 330 | * CurbStompBattle: Her fight against Gertrud and her familiars. They never stood a chance. |
| 331 | * DanceBattler: She shoots, swirls, and bashes with her rifles all while her strings swirls about prettily too. |
| 332 | * DeadStarWalking: [[spoiler:First magical girl and features in the opening but dies in the third out of 12 episodes.]] |
| 333 | * DeerInTheHeadlights: [[spoiler:During her fight with Charlotte in episode 3. It does not end well.]] |
| 334 | * DespairEventHorizon: [[spoiler:In a previous timeline, after learning the AwfulTruth about witches, she loses all hope and kills Kyoko. She plans on going for Homura and Madoka before offing herself as well, but is instead killed by Madoka.]] |
| 335 | ** In ''[[Manga/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheDifferentStory The Different Story]]'' she puts up with a ''lot'' of [[TraumaCongaLine awful, traumatic things]] before the [[spoiler:death of Kyoko, her surrogate sister and former student, right after their reconciliation finally pushes her over the edge. Unlike other timelines, she just quietly commits suicide by crushing her Soul Gem.]] |
| 336 | * DiedHappilyEverAfter: [[spoiler:Implied to be her eventual fate, following Madoka's wish.]] |
| 337 | * DoppelgangerAttack: [[spoiler:''Rebellion'' reveals that she can use her ribbons to create duplicates of herself.]] |
| 338 | * DrinkBasedCharacterization: Being a ProperLady and LadyOfWar, Mami pulls a tea cup from somewhere and sips from it right after a battle. |
| 339 | * DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:''[[Manga/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheDifferentStory The Different Story]]'' manga ends with Mami shattering her own soul gem to join her parents and her sister figure Kyoko in death. Homura remarks due to Mami's personality, she is guaranteed to succumb to this if she ever finds out the truth about witches and uses the events of Episode 10 of the anime as reference.]] |
| 340 | * EatenAlive: [[spoiler:Is devoured by Charlotte, in front of Madoka and Sayaka.]] |
| 341 | * EveryProperLadyShouldCurtsy: Then guns start to fall from under her skirt... |
| 342 | * {{Expy}}: Ume Aoki has said she shares many traits with Hiro from ''Manga/HidamariSketch''. Physically she strongly resembles Miyako, who also shares the same voice actress. |
| 343 | * FamilyUnfriendlyDeath: [[spoiler:Decapitated, eaten alive, then having your remains chewed on even more in front of two innocent, 14 year old girls. You can see a shadow of what remains of her body land near Homura after Charlotte explodes.]] |
| 344 | * FeminineWomenCanCook: The third drama CD reveals that she's a SupremeChef. |
| 345 | * FinishingMove: Tiro/Filo Finale, a ''[[{{BFG}} massive]]'' [[{{BFG}} matchlock rifle]]. |
| 346 | * {{Foil}}: To Homura. They're both veteran Magical Girls, but while Mami is warm and inviting, Homura is cold and aloof. Mami wants to believe in the traditional magical girl show - even using CallingYourAttacks where no-one else does, whereas Homura knows the truth. Mami appears kind and selfless despite having some questionable motives for recruiting Madoka and Sayaka, whereas Homura appears harsh and to be a magical girl similar to Kyoko but is actually time travelling solely for Madoka's benefit and not her own. Even their uniform colors are opposites. Mami's color yellow is the opposite to Homura's purple. |
| 347 | * FondMemoriesThatCouldHaveBeen: At the end of ''[[Manga/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheDifferentStory The Different Story]]'' manga, [[spoiler:Mami commits suicide and dreams of a normal life in a world where she could stay friends with Kyoko and Sayaka and her parents never died.]] |
| 348 | * FreakOut: [[spoiler:After Oktavia's death in another timeline, she kills Kyoko and would have shot Homura, Madoka, and herself too if Madoka hadn't killed her (Mami) first.]] |
| 349 | * FriendlySniper: She's pleasant toward Madoka and Sayaka, but admits that she has no real friends. |
| 350 | * GenderBlenderName: [[spoiler:Her witch form, Candeloro]], has a name that's technically masculine. |
| 351 | * GirlyBruiser: She's quite the talented magical girl, and hosts tea parties after gunfights with witches. |
| 352 | * GoMadFromTheRevelation: [[spoiler:Episode 10 reveals that this happened to her in at least one timeline after being forced to fight and kill witch Sayaka (from her point of view) and discovering that everything she believed in was a lie, to the point where she starts [[MercyKill killing her friends to save them from]] a FateWorseThanDeath.]] |
| 353 | -->'''Mami:''' [[spoiler:''(sobbing as she aims her gun at Homura)'' If Soul Gems give birth to witches...then we have no choice but to die, don't we!? Both me...''AND YOU!'']] |
| 354 | * GoodIsNotSoft: She's extremely kind, helpful, and motherly to her friends, and utterly ruthless when slaughtering witches, even going out of her way to hunt down familiars that don't have grief seeds to save as many innocents as possible. [[spoiler:She's willing to kill her own friends when she discovers they'll eventually turn into witches and do evil things.]] |
| 355 | * GratuitousItalian: ''[[CallingYourAttacks Tiro Finale]]!'' |
| 356 | * GunKata: The musket variant. She clobbers Charlotte with them. |
| 357 | * GunsAkimbo: One musket in each hand; one to shoot with and the other to club witches with. |
| 358 | * TheGunslinger: With all those muskets she's a terrific shot. She's had plenty of time to practice. |
| 359 | * HairOfGoldHeartOfGold: Kindhearted and feminine [[PlayingWithATrope but she's also]] very lonely and depressed, angsty over [[spoiler:the accident that killed her parents]] and she takes GoodIsNotSoft to high levels. |
| 360 | * HatesBeingAlone: She took on so many students because she can't stand loneliness, having been alone ever since she contracted due to the death of her parents. When Madoka decides to become a magical girl so she won't be alone, she becomes ''deliriously'' happy. |
| 361 | * HealingHands: She can heal the injuries of others, patching up Kyubey's body after he's injured by Homura in the first episode. This is presumably connected to [[spoiler:her wish, which was to survive a car crash that killed her parents and left Mami herself critically injured]]. |
| 362 | * HeartIsAnAwesomePower: Her ''only'' power is to ''create ribbons''. She learned to make bridges out of her ribbons and even locks that can trap Homura. |
| 363 | * HeroicBSOD: |
| 364 | ** [[spoiler:In at least one of the alternate timelines. She doesn't cope with learning what magical girls become witches. This unfortunately causes her to kill Kyoko and die at the hands of ''Madoka'' because [[WellIntentionedExtremist she thought this would be the best way]] to prevent becoming a witch.]] |
| 365 | ** [[spoiler:She had one in the 3rd drama CD when Kyoko left her embittered due to their ideals becoming wholly different, lamenting that she's left alone again.]] |
| 366 | ** [[spoiler:In ''[[Manga/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheDifferentStory The Different Story]]'' manga, which centers around her, she breaks down so badly that she takes her own life.]] |
| 367 | * HeroOfAnotherStory: By the time she meets Madoka and Sayaka, she's been a magical girl for years and won a turf war or two. |
| 368 | * HyperspaceArsenal: She can pull those muskets from her skirts and her hat. When she finishes off an enemy, she can also pull out a cup of tea from nowhere. |
| 369 | * IdiotBall: She catches it in Episode 3, [[spoiler:with fatal results. If she survived as a magical girl for years, then why did she just sit there while Charlotte was about to eat her?]] |
| 370 | ** This is given a nod in ''Oriko Magica'', [[spoiler:a timeline in which she fights Charlotte and lives; after the fight, she comments that she could have been killed if she'd let her guard down. The implication seems to be that Madoka's [[ThePowerOfFriendship power of friendship speech]] in the main timeline distracted her to the point that she wasn't giving her whole attention to the fight with Charlotte, and that was why she got killed.]] |
| 371 | * IJustWantToHaveFriends: Her greatest wish is to have a friend. |
| 372 | * ImplausibleHairColor: She's a Japanese girl with blonde hair. |
| 373 | * ImprobableHairStyle: Her cone-like curls are highly improbable to pull off in real life, much less maintain orderliness after all the fighting she does. ''Rebellion'' reveals that she curls them with magic. |
| 374 | * InterclassFriendship: While it's unknown if she is rich, she is more well off then Kyoko Sakura who comes from a poor Christian family. She became both a friend and mentor to Kyoko. |
| 375 | * ItsAllAboutMe: Her motivation is basically to encourage other girls to form a contract so she can have friends, despite knowing how dangerous it is and being a magical girl as long as Homura had, so she had probably seen her fair share of other magical girls get killed. She's not nearly as bad as most examples as she does thoroughly warn Madoka and Sayaka against wasteful, selfish wishes and motivations, but when Madoka insists that she wants to be a magical girl to help Mami so she won't have to fight alone anymore, she immediately concedes. |
| 376 | * JustDesserts: [[spoiler:Not because she was ever evil, but because she was [[LeeroyJenkins unusually reckless]].]] |
| 377 | * KilledOffScreen: [[spoiler:In the first and second timeline, her death wasn't shown. The first timeline however did indicate that she was killed by Walpurgisnacht.]] |
| 378 | * KillTheCutie: [[spoiler: Mami is well-mannered, maternal, and sweet, she becomes a beloved mentor to both Sayaka and Madoka, naturally she's the first out of the girls to die, and the way she does is horrific, heavily traumatizing her protégés. It's undone as a result of Madoka's wish though.]] |
| 379 | * LadyOfWar: She uses her guns with a heavy emphasis on precision, grace and high calculation instead of brute force. She also finishes her battles with a curtsy and sipping tea. |
| 380 | --> "I can't let myself look uncool in front of my magical girl trainees!" [[spoiler:A meal, on the other hand...]] |
| 381 | * LastNameBasis: Typically calls the other girls by their last name and the "-san" honorific. The dub changes it to FirstNameBasis. |
| 382 | * TheLeader: Of Madoka's team because she's the mature veteran. |
| 383 | * LethalHarmlessPowers: Urobuchi has stated that her only power is to create ribbons. Ergo, the matchlock rifles she conjures, as well as the bullets they fire, are actually constructed ''using her ribbons''. |
| 384 | * LeeroyJenkins: [[spoiler:This is the very trope that turns her into an item on Charlotte's menu; instead of her usual precision and caution she fought with reckless abandon.]] |
| 385 | * {{Leitmotif}}: ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqQ3hP_q7Ns "Credens justitiam".]]'' |
| 386 | * LeonineContract: She could either take up Kyubey's offer to become a MagicalGirl or [[spoiler:die alongside her parents]], which is the first hint that [[spoiler:Kyubey is far more sinister than he seems.]] |
| 387 | * MacrossMissileMassacre: Her choice of attack when she first shows up involves summoning and shooting [[MoreDakka hundreds upon hundreds of gigantic matchlocks]]. She can fire them fast enough to match actual machine-gun fire, and can use them to fire any type of bullet she wants, though they can only fire one each. |
| 388 | * MageMarksman: She uses her magic powers to conjure single-shot muskets, bombards and cannons out of thin air. Sometimes in massive amounts, only to have them fire a shot each and disappear. |
| 389 | * MagicalGirl: The closest thing this show has to a traditional one; a friendly girl who transforms into an elaborate outfit to fight monsters ForGreatJustice. According to the 3rd Drama CD, this is an [[InvokedTrope Invoked Trope]]. |
| 390 | %%* MagicDance: |
| 391 | * MagicSkirt: Her magic holds her skirt up while she is dangling upside down. |
| 392 | * MaskOfSanity: Her elegant and nurturing personality hides a dangerous instability; [[spoiler:according to Homura, the AwfulTruth knocks her mask off every time. Averted in Oriko and ''[[Manga/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheDifferentStory The Different Story]]'' -- the former has her regain her hope thanks to Yuma, while the latter has her calm down, accept her fate, and commit suicide quietly.]] |
| 393 | * MasterOfThreads: Mami can create ribbons which she can use in various ways such as binding enemies or creating a bridge. |
| 394 | * MeaningfulName: "Mami" means "Mommy" in Spanish, emphasizing her gentle, nurturing character and her role as TeamMom, and Tomoe Gozen was perhaps the most famous female samurai, renowned for her valor and combat prowess. |
| 395 | ** Tomoe is a rare female Japanese name that means "friend and blessing". She sure [[spoiler:was]]. |
| 396 | * MentorArchetype: She acts as a mentor to Sayaka and Madoka, and persuades them not to waste their lives and talent on a stupid wish, and to join her as a Puella Magi to fight witches. |
| 397 | * MentorOccupationalHazard: [[spoiler:While mentoring two magical girl candidates, poor Mami is eaten by the witch Charlotte.]] |
| 398 | * MercyKill: [[spoiler:In at least one of the alternate timelines, she learns that magical girls turn into witches and decides that it is better for them to die right there than [[FateWorseThanDeath to become witches and start killing humans.]] The order she picked in mercy killing her allies makes a lot more sense when you know that she and Kyoko used to be good friends before the death of Kyoko's family. Mami ''knew'' Kyoko had been living on the edge of despair since said incident, and knowing what would happen if she'd truly go over the edge and her attachment to Sayaka, it would be easy for her to see that she would turn into a witch next, something she really did not want to see, especially after what happened to Sayaka. There's also the fact that as a hardened veteran Kyoko would've reacted alot quicker to Mami's MurderSuicide attempt and put up a decent fight which is why Mami didn't finish Homura off right after tying her up but shot Kyoko dead next while probably not expecting Madoka to try to kill her.]] |
| 399 | * MinorLivingAlone: Mami's parents died in an accident. As it turned out, she also had no relatives, and thus had no choice but to live on her own. |
| 400 | * MsFanservice: Has easily ''the'' most attractive figure of the principle cast; a fact the cinematic adaptations ''love'' to emphasize. |
| 401 | * MyGreatestFailure: |
| 402 | ** [[spoiler:Using her wish to live, but not to revive her parents as well. She doesn't ''openly'' regret making her wish since it saved her life, but she asks Madoka to think carefully of hers and lectures Sayaka when she learns that she wants to heal Kyosuke, implying that she feels guilty anyway.]] |
| 403 | ** In the PSP game, [[spoiler:Mami openly expresses that she resents herself for failing to save her parents. She states that she made "a selfish, cowardly wish" and that she was only ever thinking about herself. The despair of this realization (as well as the pain she experienced when she saw the despair of the mother of a boy she had failed to save from a witch) eventually pushes her over the edge, and she becomes the witch Candeloro.]] |
| 404 | * MundaneUtility: As shown in Rebellion, she uses magic to curl her hair into their iconic corkscrew shape. |
| 405 | * NiceGirl: She's a very polite and kind girl. |
| 406 | * NoBodyLeftBehind: [[spoiler:Implied to be her ultimate fate due to Madoka's wish]]. |
| 407 | * NoOntologicalInertia: [[spoiler:On the way to confronting Charlotte, she turns down Homura’s offer to fight in her stead out of distrust and restrains with ribbons, promising to release her when she comes back. Just as Charlotte sinks its fangs down on her head, the ribbons binding Homura unravel on their own. Homura quickly figures out why she’s free even though Mami hasn’t come back, and runs off to defeat Charlotte herself before Madoka and Sayaka become its next meal.]] |
| 408 | * NotSoStoic: [[spoiler:When she has an HeroicBSOD and confesses to Madoka that she's far more frail than she lets her see. Also the revelation that magical girls can transform into witches, which in an alternate timeline, makes her [[FreakOut flip out]] and in ''Manga/PuellaMagiOrikoMagica'' almost makes her fall into catatonic despair.]] |
| 409 | * OfCorsetsSexy: She wears a corset in her magical girl outfit. |
| 410 | * AnOfferYouCantRefuse: How Mami became a MagicalGirl. It was either make a contract with Kyubey or die in a car crash. |
| 411 | * OffWithHerHead: [[spoiler:Initially in Episode 3 by Charlotte. Thanks to that, [[MemeticMutation the Japanese fans now associate her name as a verb of the trope.]]]] |
| 412 | * OjouRinglets: She has a pair of large corkscrew curls that start behind her ears and frame her face. She's the {{Ojou}} because of her deceased family's wealth and her own class and uses a more [[LadyOfWar graceful]] style of GunKata. |
| 413 | * OOCIsSeriousBusiness: [[spoiler:If OOC equals happiness-induced recklessness, you're going to end up on a witch's menu.]] |
| 414 | * TheParagon: A paragon of MagicalGirl-hood... [[spoiler:[[MentorOccupationalHazard for all that it entails]].]] Sayaka, and even Kyubey, consider her to be the exception to most magical girls because she's the only one who is fully devoted in keeping Mitakihara safe from both witches and familiars while others will simply hunt witches for the grief seeds, and managing to do it by herself for years without dying or transforming. |
| 415 | * PleaseDontLeaveMe: Two cases of this in ''[[Manga/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheDifferentStory The Different Story]]'': |
| 416 | ** When Kyoko broke off their partnership, Mami desperately tried to stop her both because she didn't want to lose the only magical girl who was her friend and leave Kyoko all alone after the [[spoiler:Sakura PaterFamilicide incident had happened recently.]] |
| 417 | ** Later on, Sayaka also wants to stop teaming up with Mami because [[spoiler:deliberately abandoned her love rival to die at hands of a witch]]. Mami begs her to stay together with her because all she wants is to have a friend who is also a magical girl. Sayaka feels glad to hear that, but she ends up losing all respect for Mami [[spoiler:because she's trying to stay friends with someone who tried to let an innocent die and this causes Sayaka to transform into a witch.]] |
| 418 | * PoorCommunicationKills: If she'd had all the facts, she probably wouldn't have [[spoiler:mistrusted Homura enough to leave her tied up and try to fight Charlotte alone]]. |
| 419 | * ProperTightsWithASkirt: In her normal attire because she is a ProperLady. |
| 420 | * RazorWire: As demonstrated in ''[[Manga/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheDifferentStory The Different Story]]'', she can sharpen her ribbons to act like these. |
| 421 | * RedOniBlueOni: The blue to Kyoko's red in the past and in ''[[Manga/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheDifferentStory The Different Story]]''. The mentor had the grace and cool head while the student was more hotblood and crude. |
| 422 | * ReplacementGoldfish: [[spoiler:Her witch form, Candeloro, has minions named Du Polignac who are described as her precious friends. One has pink hair in pigtails like Madoka, while the other has red hair in a ponytail like Kyoko.]] |
| 423 | * SacrificialLamb: Zigzagged. |
| 424 | ** [[spoiler:In alternate timelines, she wavers between this and a SacrificialLion. While she survives much longer in Homura's previous loops, until just before Madoka's battle with Walpurgisnacht, her screentime is often scarce and, with the exception of her FreakOut, her death is merely a background event.]] |
| 425 | ** [[spoiler:Averted in ''Oriko Magica'', where she's much more careful against Charlotte. She even makes a remark about how she could have easily died.]] |
| 426 | * SecretlySelfish: Mami gives the impression of being the only completely altruistic and virtuous magical girl there is in the CrapsaccharineWorld, to the point Sayaka and Kyoko think that she's a unique epitome of selflessness. The truth is Mami never wanted to be a hero of justice, but tries to save as many people as she can as a way to alleviate her SurvivorGuilt over using her wish to only save herself instead of saving her parents in the traffic accident too. Her saintly image is just a mask she puts on to impress her apprentices in hopes they will like her and stay with her if she looks perfect to them. |
| 427 | * ShoutOut: She's not the first magical girl to be named [[Anime/CreamyMamiTheMagicAngel Mami.]] |
| 428 | * SignatureHeadgear: A feathered hat which acts as HyperspaceArsenal in the other world. |
| 429 | * SkilledButNaive: Ultimately while Mami is quite the experienced magical girl in combat with a wider variety of hard learned skills and talent, her greatest weakness is a lack of awareness of the darker side of her job. [[spoiler: She is well aware that being a magical girl is lonely, dangerous, and you will regret a bad wish, but she is completely unaware of the origin of witches and the nature of Soul Gems.]] As a result she does have a lot of, and gives, Madoka and Sayaka genuine, hard learned advice, but there is simply parts of the job she can't give them advice or warnings on because she doesn't know about it. |
| 430 | * SmallGirlBigGun: She's a teenage girl and her ''Tiro Finale'' is as big as a tank. |
| 431 | * SocialServicesDoesNotExist: Her parents are gone [[spoiler:because they were killed in the same accident that Kyubey used to get her to become a magical girl,]] leaving her completely alone in their penthouse. |
| 432 | * StepfordSmiler: By her own admission, her smiles are nothing more than an act. |
| 433 | * TheStoic: Of the "say something horrific without any emotions" variety. |
| 434 | * StormOfBlades: Of many rifles pointed at the enemy. [[MemeticMutation Unlimited Musket Works]], indeed. |
| 435 | * StrikeMeDown: In ''[[Manga/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheDifferentStory The Different Story]]'', after [[spoiler:Sayaka turns into a witch]], Mami and Kyoko get into a fight, after which a suicidal Mami begs Kyoko to kill her. Kyoko refuses [[spoiler:and instead uses her illusion magic to make Mami think her soul gem is clean, in order to prevent her from becoming a witch. It succeeds in stalling the matter out, buying time for Kyoko to gather grief seeds... [[DownerEnding but Kyoko herself dies fighting a witch, and Mami ends up shattering her own soul gem]].]] |
| 436 | * SupremeChef: According to [[spoiler:Kyoko]] in the third drama CD, she's a fantastic cook. |
| 437 | * SurvivorGuilt: When Kyubey contracted with her after the car accident, she only wished for herself to be saved and didn't wish for her parents to come back to life. She has felt guilty about it since. |
| 438 | * SwissArmySuperpower: Everything Mami can do comes from a simple starting power, the creation of ribbons. |
| 439 | * TeaIsClassy: She serves tea when her friends visit her penthouse. |
| 440 | * TeamMom: She plays the role of a caring, gentle and nurturing mentor to Madoka and Sayaka. |
| 441 | * ThemeMusicPowerUp: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QEa4TiHDBA This]] pretty much plays anytime she's transforming into her magical girl outfit, or when she's pulling a BigDamnHeroes moment [[spoiler:but it doesn't save her in Episode 3...]] |
| 442 | * ATragedyOfImpulsiveness: After Madoka gives her a "YouAreNotAlone" speech, Mami goes into her next fight guns akimbo. Unfortunately, her recklessness [[spoiler:costs her her head and, naturally, her life.]] |
| 443 | * UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: Mami can be considered one of the people responsible for Sayaka's eventual breakdown [[spoiler:and transformation into a witch]] right after Kyosuke and Hitomi. Mami's pretense at being the ideal magical girl when her true self is far from it ended up creating an unrealistic image of a perfect hero of justice in Sayaka's mind that no one could ever truly live up to. Sayaka becomes a magical girl to try to be just like Mami, but she soon realizes it's impossible and this is what kickstarts her depression. Taken further in the ''[[Manga/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheDifferentStory The Different Story]]'', where Mami confesses her hidden selfishness and weakness in hopes that will convince Sayaka to stay friends with her. Instead, Sayaka completely snaps at realizing not even her idol Mami was perfect [[spoiler:and turns into a witch]]. |
| 444 | * WalkingSpoiler: Because of [[spoiler:her gruesome death]] a quarter of the way in the series, it's hard to discuss Mami in a spoiler-free way without bringing it up. |
| 445 | * WeHardlyKnewYe: [[spoiler:In the anime, she dies in the third episode and otherwise has little screentime in alternate timelines.]] Spin-offs do expand more on her character. |
| 446 | * WellIntentionedExtremist: Post-HeroicBSOD, [[spoiler:she kills Kyoko because she thought she was saving them from becoming monsters.]] |
| 447 | * WeUsedToBeFriends: The third drama CD shows that she knew Kyoko when they were younger and were friends and partners in fighting witches, until [[spoiler:the PaterFamilicide happened and]] Kyoko decided to be selfish with her magic. |
| 448 | * WorfHadTheFlu: It's implied that her BrokenBird status is holding her back ''a lot'', and the "Rebellion" movie confirms it by having her in a far better mental status and capable of [[https://youtu.be/vpcFeYkwkKQ?t=390 an attack that could have one-shot Walpurgisnacht]]. |
| 449 | * TheWorldsExpertOnGettingKilled: [[spoiler:A veteran magical girl and the first casualty.]] |
| 450 | * YamatoNadeshiko: She's feminine, polite, good at cooking, acts like a mother figure towards the other girls, and has a graceful fighting style. In one scene, she calmly sips tea immediately after a battle. [[spoiler:Discussed in ''[[Manga/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheDifferentStory The Different Story]]'' when Mami mentions during an internal monologue that she exaggerates this part of her personality in order to be a perfect role-model MagicalGirl for her pupils]]. However, she doesn't have any of the yamato nadeshiko's typical looks; she has blonde hair that she wears in OjouRinglets, is noticeably well-endowed, and the creators have also stated that she isn't fully Japanese. |
| 451 | * {{Yandere}}: [[spoiler:Her witch form, Candeloro, hates being lonely and has an inviting nature, inviting visitors to her tea party and tying them up when they try to leave.]] |
| 452 | * YankTheDogsChain: [[spoiler:After making a contract with Kyubey, Mami finds herself experiencing loneliness as her parents are dead and is prevented from having a social life due to her MagicalGirl lifestyle. She finds Kyoko, another MagicalGirl, whom she takes under her wing and becomes friends with and putting an end to her isolation until Kyoko grows bitter from her PaterFamilicide, breaking up her partnership with Mami and leaving her all alone again. Some time later, she saves two girls Madoka and Sayaka who are discovered to have magical potential and Madoka tells Mami she intends to become a MagicalGirl and find alongside her which fills Mami with glee. Then she is killed gruesomely moments later.]] |
| 453 | ---- |
| 454 | [[/folder]] |
| 455 | |
| 456 | [[folder:Kyoko Sakura]] |
| 457 | !!!'''Voiced by:''' Creator/AiNonaka (Japanese), Creator/LaurenLanda (English)[[labelnote: Foreign [=VAs=]]]Marga López (Spanish), Creator/VeronicaPuccio (Italian), Creator/IlonaBrokowski (German)[[/labelnote]] |
| 458 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kyouko_magical_girl.png]] |
| 459 | [[caption-width-right:350:''"Hey, God. If you're there, my life sucked. So for once, please, let me have a happy dream."'']] |
| 460 | [[caption-width-right:350:[[labelnote:Click here to see Kyoko in her normal attire.]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kyouko_casual.png[softreturn]''"We can go all out up here if we want! Come on, give me your best shot!"''[[/labelnote]]]] |
| 461 | |
| 462 | ->''"You thinking about becoming a magical girl on some stupid whim? I'd never allow that to happen. Hell, I'd kick your ass before you could. If you do this, then you're putting your life in danger. The only people who should do this are the ones who've got no other choice. Anybody else who sticks their nose in it is just messing around. And that's dumb."'' |
| 463 | |
| 464 | A veteran magical girl. Introduced as morally ambiguous and selfish, she first appears as a foe to Madoka and Sayaka, serving as a "pseudo-villain" for a few episodes. Her view of a magical girl's duties is ruthlessly utilitarian; for example, on her first encounter with Sayaka, she suggests allowing a familiar to feed on humans and mature into a witch so as to ultimately gain a grief seed from slaying it. She wields a halberd with a segmented, chained shaft, giving her weapon dangerous flexibility and reach. However, in the end [[HeroicSacrifice she reveals she's not at all the bad person she seemed to be]]... |
| 465 | |
| 466 | If you want to read about her from her perspective, click [[SelfDemonstrating/KyokoSakura here]]. |
| 467 | ---- |
| 468 | * AccidentalTruth: [[spoiler:After her father found out that she was the reason that people started to listen to his religious teachings, he was horrified and called her a witch. Although neither of them were aware of it, by becoming a magical girl, Kyoko had also become a witch -- just not a fully grown one.]] |
| 469 | * AmbiguouslyGay: Kyouko never shows any interest in boys, but becomes ''very'' friendly with Sayaka once her initial antagonism passes. She shares food with her, tells her her DarkAndTroubledPast, tries to give her advice to got over her hero complex, and [[spoiler:sacrifices herself to be TogetherInDeath. Their relationship has all the hallmarks of a tragic romance]]. |
| 470 | * AntiHero: After her HeelFaceTurn, she becomes mainly a KnightInSourArmor. |
| 471 | * AntiVillain: Initially appears as a dangerous antagonist and a cynical SocialDarwinist who lets people die just to harvest more Grief Seeds for herself. However, it turns out that she isn't outright malicious, and is merely a broken girl: her selfishness is a result of her selfless wish backfiring spectacularly, and she later warms up to Sayaka and others after realizing the truth about magical girls, to the point that she isn't antagonistic at all in ''Rebellion''. |
| 472 | * ArcVillain: Serves as the main villainous focus for a few episodes until her HeelFaceTurn, but mostly as the catalyst to demonstrate ThePlan and intention of the ''real'' villain, [[spoiler:Kyubey]]. |
| 473 | * AscendedExtra: Like Mami, Kyoko is given a bigger role in the spin-off ''[[Manga/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheDifferentStory The Different Story]]'', which explores more of Kyoko's backstory and relationship with Mami. |
| 474 | * BackFromTheDead: [[spoiler:In the GrandFinale. Since she died fighting a witch, Madoka is able to revive her with her wish.]] |
| 475 | * BadassAdorable: An interesting example of this considering she's a DarkActionGirl who starts out as very violent and aggressive, but she's also a very lively and cheerful person who is constantly eating cutesy-looking sweets and can often be found gleefully dancing at the arcade, she's rarely seen without a mischievous looking smile. Her cuteness doesn't make her any less deadly nor ruthless though. This trope becomes more clear [[spoiler: After her HeelFaceTurn, when she's a lot more friendly and endearing.]] |
| 476 | * BerserkButton: Wasting food. When Sayaka deliberately drops the apple Kyoko tosses to her, she grabs her by the throat and threatens to kill her before collecting herself and picking the apple back up. [[spoiler:Justified, since her tragic backstory involved her family enduring starvation after her father was excommunicated]]. |
| 477 | * BetterToDieThanBeKilled: [[spoiler:After finding out the whole AwfulTruth and unable to save Sayaka, Kyoko felt she had two choices: destroy her soul gem in a final attack to put Sayaka out of her misery and die together, or win the fight the usual way and still become a witch sooner or later, be killed by a magical girl and die alone. Considering her past, guess which one she picked?]] |
| 478 | * BigDamnHeroes: Creator/GenUrobuchi ''loves'' to play with this trope. In Kyoko's case, [[spoiler:Homura saves Sayaka from her and then she saves Sayaka from Elsa Maria. Then she saves Sayaka when she thinks Homura is about to attack her. She tops it off by protecting Madoka and Homura's escape from Oktavia... by going out with a bang.]] |
| 479 | * BigEater: She's always eating something and it's ''not'' PlayedForLaughs, as there is a FreudianExcuse for it. |
| 480 | * BifauxnenAndLadette: The Lad-ette to Sayaka's Bifauxnen. Kyoko has her hair tied a TomboyishPonytail and has a aggressive and rude personality, while Sayaka has boyish short hair and a personality of KnightInShiningArmor. |
| 481 | * BloodKnight: Unlike the other girls she enjoys hunting witches mainly for her own selfish purposes. |
| 482 | * BrokenBird: She used to be a lot like Sayaka, a "hero of justice" but then [[spoiler:her dad freaked out and killed their family]]. Is there any surprise she is now so cynical and selfish? |
| 483 | * BystanderSyndrome: In the manga ''Homura's Revenge'', she has [[spoiler:no interest in helping Homura save Madoka since Homura can't offer her anything to reverse with her time magic in return.]] |
| 484 | * ByronicHeroine: A good person with a dark past and a lot of angst who engages in hedonistic behavior; yep. |
| 485 | * CallingYourAttacks: She never does this in the anime, but [[AllThereInTheManual in the third drama CD]], [[spoiler:Mami insists on calling her DoppelgangerAttack "[[GratuitousItalian Rossa Fantasma]]" - literally "Red Phantom".]] Kyoko says it once during battle, but then breaks out laughing afterwards because she can't take it seriously. |
| 486 | * ChallengeSeeker: Tell her she can't do something. Anything at all. She will do exactly what you say she can't do, or die trying! |
| 487 | * CharacterCatchphrase: "You want some?" |
| 488 | * ChasteHero: The second Drama CD has her as this. When the girls are trying to stop a panties thief, Kyoko doesn't understand why someone would steal ''[[ComicallyMissingThePoint used]]'' panties. Demonstrated by this [[https://wiki.puella-magi.net/File:Sunny_Day_Life_Kyouko_is_Naive.jpg illustration]]. All in all, it would be rather logical for someone raised in a church. |
| 489 | * ChekhovsGunman: Appears in the title and credits sequences before appearing in the series. It's also implied that she's [[spoiler:the magical girl that Kyubey and Mami talk about in Episode 3, who made a wish for someone else.]] This is confirmed in the [[AllThereInTheManual third drama CD]]. |
| 490 | * ClingyJealousGirl: [[spoiler:Becomes this to Mami in ''[[Manga/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheDifferentStory The Different Story]]''. After their separation, Kyoko tried to bait Mami to fight her twice and got frustrated both times by her refusal. The irony is that this jealousy is the result of Mami taking Sayaka as her partner.]] |
| 491 | * ClothingReflectsPersonality: She's a rough ActionGirl and TheLadette. In contrast with the girlier female characters, Kyoko's civilian garb is a green hoodie and short shorts instead of a school uniform. |
| 492 | * ConfusionFu: [[AllThereInTheManual It is stated]] that Kyouko's innate magic is geared towards confusion and illusion, likely born out of her wish to 'sway people's hearts'. An example is [[spoiler: summoning clones of herself, which a very easy way to confuse the hell out of your opponent]]. |
| 493 | * CurtainsMatchTheWindow: Red hair and eyes. |
| 494 | * CuteLittleFangs: She has one and it makes her look like the predator she talks about. (Also cute). |
| 495 | * CynicismCatalyst: [[spoiler:She made a shortsighted wish to bring followers to her father's congregation. When he realized what was going on, he killed his family. After this, she decided to work for herself and only herself.]] |
| 496 | * DarkActionGirl: She's selfish, brutal, and not at all heroic. [[spoiler:This changes some after her HeelFaceTurn.]] |
| 497 | * DarkAndTroubledPast: [[spoiler:Her father was a priest, but he was excommunicated for "heresy" and the Sakura family fell in poverty as he couldn't support them anymore. Kyoko used her wish to get more followers for him...but when he found out it was just magic and not his ideas and words, he went crazy and killed himself and his entire family, leaving Kyoko as the only survivor.]] |
| 498 | * DarkerAndEdgier: Than the other main characters who think of themselves as traditional 'love and justice' magical girls. |
| 499 | * DarkMagicalGirl: Her time in the show is all about pitting herself and her beliefs against Sayaka, who sees herself and her beliefs as a traditional magical girl. [[spoiler:As per the trope, she has a HeelFaceTurn and develops a soft spot for Sayaka, who reminds her of her ideals.]] |
| 500 | * DeathEqualsRedemption: [[spoiler:Part of the reason of her HeelFaceTurn is the realization that magical girls are essentially [[strike:zombies]] liches, and that she might as well do something to [[IncrediblyLamePun remedy]] [[TheAtoner this situation]]. Culminating in her HeroicSacrifice to give the bewitched Sayaka a MercyKill. She even gets her final [[ObiWanMoment moment of clarity]], where she realizes that [[DeclarationOfProtection she has always wanted to protect someone.]]]] |
| 501 | * DefrostingIceQueen: Introduced as cold and selfish, but reveals a slightly warmer personality later as she grows fond of Sayaka. |
| 502 | * DependingOnTheArtist: Depending on the artist drawing her, Kyoko's chest size varies from being fairly flat to being one of the largest in the core cast. |
| 503 | * {{Depower}}: [[AllThereInTheManual The third drama CD]] reveals that Kyoko could originally create illusory copies of herself, but she lost this power [[spoiler:when her family died]]. |
| 504 | * DespairEventHorizon: |
| 505 | ** [[spoiler:Played with. As the sole survivor of a PaterFamilicide committed by her father she became bitter and jaded, but her soul gem did not completely corrupt, so she did not become a witch. When Kyubey lets slip the AwfulTruth, she shows more and more humanity.]] |
| 506 | ** [[spoiler:Potentially played straight in the PSP game if Homura defeats Oktavia before she has a chance to save what is left of Sayaka, thus removing the very last trace of hope and idealism she had left, and triggering her transformation into Ophelia.]] |
| 507 | * DiedHappilyEverAfter: [[spoiler:Implied in the anime to be her eventual fate, following Madoka's wish.]] |
| 508 | * DiesWideOpen: In one of the timelines after [[spoiler:Mami find out that magic girls turn into witches she went crazy and destroys Kyoko soul gem]] Kyoko falls lifeless with eyes open. |
| 509 | * DoppelgangerAttack: [[AllThereInTheManual The third drama CD]] reveals that Kyoko's original power was to create decoys of herself. She lost this power when [[spoiler:her family died]]. |
| 510 | * DyingMomentOfAwesome: [[spoiler:She kills Octavia in a HeroicSacrifice which is also a TogetherInDeath attempt.]] |
| 511 | * EdibleThemeNaming: Her first name means "apricot," while her last name means "cherry blossom." Both can be used as food, which makes sense for a girl who eats so much. |
| 512 | * ElementalMotifs: Fire. Not only does her [[FireIsRed theme color]] tie into fire, but she's also a FieryRedhead. Her backstory is told in the form of a shadow play, and one needs light (such as fire) to enact it. [[spoiler:She dies in a fiery explosion that kills both herself and Sayaka's witch, and her own witch has a burning candle for a head.]] Also, fire is associated with [[BigEater indiscriminate consumption]]. |
| 513 | * ElementalPersonalities: She's the most short-tempered and threatening of the main magical girls. Her [[ElementalMotifs elemental motif]] is fire and it includes [[spoiler:her Witch form having a burning candle for a head]]. |
| 514 | * EvilRedhead: Initially, she is an antagonist and her hair color is much darker than pink-haired Madoka. |
| 515 | * FaceDeathWithDignity: [[spoiler:Her last moment is her praying to her God.]] |
| 516 | * FallenHeroine: She was sort of a ChurchMilitant and she acknowledged how stupid heroism is [[spoiler:but not even she can help feeling a little sympathy for Sayaka's broken state, leading her to a HeelFaceTurn.]] |
| 517 | * FieryRedhead: As her red hair indicates, she's abrasive and hotheaded. |
| 518 | * {{Foil}}: |
| 519 | ** To Homura: |
| 520 | *** Homura is a gunslinging LongRangeFighter, while Kyoko is the best melee fighter out of the main cast. |
| 521 | *** Homura [[IDidWhatIHadToDo fights for the greater good]], but is ultimately driven by [[AlwaysSaveTheGirl a selfish and personal interest]]. Kyoko is content with killing witches just to survive, but her selfishness also acts a way to prevent others from suffering the same fate as her. |
| 522 | *** Homura is cold and callous [[spoiler:because of hostile experiences with them in past timelines and their neverending deaths instilled a sense of indifference towards them in her]]; Kyoko initially acts hostile towards Madoka and Sayaka, but later warms up to them. |
| 523 | *** Kyoko's growing interest in Sayaka causes her to act like a good person again, a case of LoveRedeems. [[spoiler:Homura's longstanding dedication to Madoka is what put her through heaps of tragedy in the first place, leading to her becoming the cold person she is now.]] |
| 524 | ** Also to Mami. Mami uses her magic for other people's benefits and fights familiars as well as witches. Kyoko uses her magic for herself and fights only witches. Under the surface, though, Mami is pretending to be a cool and collected mentor, and is trying to get Sayaka or Madoka to contract so she doesn't have to be lonely anymore. Kyoko, meanwhile, is initially hostile to Sayaka but often does the reverse of what she claims - she says she won't use magic for others but helps Sayaka out and tries to let her have a share of the Grief Seeds. |
| 525 | * FreudianExcuse: Her love of food comes from [[spoiler:her family constantly starving after her father was excommunicated for "heresy" and barely having enough to eat; a scene in the manga shows Kyoko getting punished by her mother for wasting food]]. Her selfish and {{Jerkass}} nature comes from [[spoiler:the fact that her wish led to [[GoMadFromTheRevelation her maddened dad]] [[OffingTheOffspring killing the whole Sakura family]] except for her.]] |
| 526 | * HeelFaceRevolvingDoor: From a rookie magical girl to an amoral PsychoForHire to a defrosted KnightInSourArmor. |
| 527 | * GoOutWithASmile: [[spoiler: Right before her explosive HeroicSacrifice, Kyoko gently smiles as she talks to Sayaka and explains the reasons why she wants to die alongside Sayaka so that she doesn't have to be alone anymore, it's a sharp contrast from her usual over the top smirk, and shows how at ease she was in her final moments as she prepared to go to a better place with the person she cares most about.]] |
| 528 | * GoodIsNotNice: Becomes this [[spoiler: after her HeelFaceTurn, she's still very snarky and cynical but she really does try to genuinely help out Sayaka and do the right thing, and on the day of her death she's genuinely very sweet and considerate to Madoka.]] |
| 529 | * HeelFaceTurn: Cements this with a near-[[PrecisionFStrike Precision Bitch Strike]] as soon as [[spoiler:Kyubey lets slip the AwfulTruth.]] She then dedicates herself to [[spoiler:preventing her friends from suffering Sayaka's fate.]] |
| 530 | * HeroesGoneFishing: Homura once meets up with Kyoko while she's playing a dancing game in an arcade. |
| 531 | * HeroicSacrifice: |
| 532 | ** [[spoiler:She does a MercyKill on Sayaka so she won't have to die alone.]] |
| 533 | ** [[spoiler:In ''[[Manga/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheDifferentStory The Different Story]]'', she uses Oktavia's grief seed to cleanse Mami's soul gem, but this leaves her without another one to use on herself, and she dies while fighting another witch later.]] |
| 534 | * HeroOfAnotherStory: She was a magical girl for a long time. Her start up until meeting Madoka could be its own story. |
| 535 | * HiddenBuxom: She has a case of this in the Madoka Magica Slot Machine: Smashing Watermelons mini-game [[https://i.imgur.com/t42Us8z.jpg ending]], where in the full image she's almost on par with Mami. Who knew? |
| 536 | * HiddenDepths: She reveals to Madoka in Episode 9 she used to love stories where love would triumph. This is hinted at when Kyoko tells Sayaka about her DarkAndTroubledPast; [[spoiler:losing her family]] left her jaded, but she didn't fall into the DespairEventHorizon and she kept on fighting. |
| 537 | * {{Hypocrite}}: [[spoiler:She scolds Homura for coolly explaining the true nature of Magical Girls and Witches to Madoka who is crying over Sayaka's lifeless body, saying that Sayaka was once Madoka's friend and asks if she's even human, but the reason Kyoko came to the city in the first place was to ''kill'' Sayaka and take her place as Mitakihara's resident Magical Girl when she heard about her and she likely ''wasn't'' thinking about the friends who would mourn Sayaka. Not to mention she was totally fine with letting Witch familiars devour innocent humans so they could become Witches and produce Grief Seeds when killed.]] |
| 538 | * IKnowYoureInThereSomewhereFight: She ''tries'' to do this alongside Madoka [[spoiler:in a desperate attempt to save Sayaka after she turns into a Witch. It fails and Kyoko [[MercyKill has to kill Sayaka]] [[TogetherInDeath along with herself]].]] |
| 539 | * ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: [[spoiler:In the manga, during her fight with Oktavia von Seckendorff.]] |
| 540 | * InconsistentSpelling: "Kyoko" versus "Kyouko". Both are officially endorsed, with the anime materials using Kyoko and manga materials using Kyouko. |
| 541 | * InnocentlyInsensitive: Back when she was Mami's apprentice, Kyoko once mentioned that she didn't exactly think of Mami as her friend. Mami thought this meant Kyoko only saw her as a means to become a stronger magical girl and would eventually abandon her when she learned enough from her. Kyoko was simply too embarrassed to tell Mami that she was like a sister to her. |
| 542 | * InterclassFriendship: Came from a poor family and ended up being friends with Mami Tomoe who was more financially well off. |
| 543 | * IronicEcho: [[spoiler:When she first encountered Oktavia (Sayaka's witch form), she was rescued by Homura because she was carrying Sayaka's lifeless corpse and had no way to defend herself. When she refused to drop Sayaka's corpse, Homura calls her a hindrance. During [[IKnowYoureInThereSomewhereFight their futile attempt to bring Sayaka back from being a witch]], a very injured Kyoko leaves an unconscious Madoka to Homura, before stating that they should leave because Homura would not be able to fight with a hindrance like herself, before making her HeroicSacrifice.]] |
| 544 | * {{Irony}}: [[spoiler:The daughter of a religious man, who battled witches in the dark, is labeled as a witch by her own father. To make it worse, instead of her father burning her at the stake, [[PaterFamilicide he burns himself, Kyoko's mother and younger sister together with their church,]] leaving Kyoko the last of her family.]] |
| 545 | * ItsAllAboutMe: This is what she claims to be her philosophy; that a magical girl should only use her powers to benefit herself. However, [[spoiler:she says this to Sayaka because she thinks she would benefit from that philosophy, [[{{Hypocrite}} and then she tries to help Sayaka against a witch]].]] |
| 546 | * JadeColoredGlasses: There was a time she was actually a lot like Sayaka and she wished to be a "hero of justice", but had her optimistic worldview shattered when [[spoiler:her father killed her whole family and then himself after finding out people only listened to his preachings because of the wish she'd made.]] |
| 547 | * JapaneseDelinquents: She skips school, picks fights with those who enter her territory, wears [[AgeInappropriateDress somewhat inappropriate]] clothing for her age, and lives off of stolen food. And true to the major character archetype of this trope, she turns out to be nicer than she acts. |
| 548 | * JerkassHasAPoint: As cruel as her SocialDarwinist outlook may seem, her belief that helping others would only lead to trouble is accurate in light of the [[CrapsackWorld series' universe]]. [[spoiler:Both her and Sayaka's contracts came back to bite them ''horribly'', Madoka's attempt to cheer [[BrokenHero Mami]] up by promising to fight alongside her distracted the latter in a fight, leading to her ''death'', and finally the whole dark series began from Homura making a wish to prevent Madoka's death resulting in a progressively worse GroundhogDayLoop.]] |
| 549 | * JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Initially, she cares about nothing more than killing her foes and leaving people to die in order to benefit herself. Her backstory doesn't justify her horrible treatment of Sayaka before the AwfulTruth happened. However, her [[PetTheDog later interactions with Sayaka and Madoka]] show that, {{Jerkass}} as she is, Kyoko is still somewhat redeemable, and ultimately a good person. The spin-off manga ''[[Manga/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheDifferentStory The Different Story]]'' shows more of Kyoko's better side through her interactions with her former BigSisterMentor Mami who Kyoko cares about like a true sister. |
| 550 | * KilledOffscreen: In ''The Different Story'', [[spoiler:Kyoko disappears after killing Oktavia and cleansing Mami's soul gem. Kyubey later informs Mami and Homura that Kyoko tried to defeat another witch to get a Grief Seed for herself, but she ran out of magic energy and was killed by the witch.]] |
| 551 | * KleptomaniacHero: Implied that she stole most, if not all, of the food she was eating. |
| 552 | * KnightInSourArmor: After being reminded of her ideals by Sayaka she became this; renewed idealism but still bitter. |
| 553 | * KnightOfCerebus: There's a ''reason'' why they waited until after [[spoiler:Mami's death scene]] to introduce her and why she originally [[SirNotAppearingInThisTrailer didn't appear with the other core four in promotional materials]]. |
| 554 | * KnowWhenToFoldEm: Confrontational as she is, she’d rather not pick a fight with Homura when she doesn’t understand the latter’s powers. |
| 555 | * TheLadette: She is the poster child for this in a MagicalGirlWarrior series. She eats food without manners and [[BigEater at a fast rate]], [[SirSwearsALot curses constantly]], and [[BloodKnight loves to start fights]]. This is in contrast with the other tomboy of the series, Sayaka Miki, who [[TomboyWithAGirlyStreak has her moments of girlishness]]. |
| 556 | * LadyInRed: Her magical girl outfit is red and she has hedonistic tendencies. |
| 557 | * TheLadysFavour: {{Inverted}} in ''[[Manga/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheDifferentStory The Different Story]]''. [[spoiler:Kyoko goes off to fight Oktavia and leaves her ribbon with Mami, promising her to return to get it back.]] |
| 558 | * LadySwearsALot: By Japanese-standards, her vocabulary is filthy and at best is inappropriately masculine. |
| 559 | * LaughablyEvil: There are no comic relief characters in ''Madoka'', and definitely not Kyoko, but try not to chuckle a bit as she nonchalantly stuffs her face with food or plays a BlandNameProduct ''VideoGame/DanceDanceRevolution'' clone as the events of the series unfold. |
| 560 | * {{Leitmotif}}: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4xSbSpR9j4 "Anima mala"]] ("Evil soul"). |
| 561 | * LettingHerHairDown: Does this just before [[spoiler:sacrificing herself for Sayaka]]. |
| 562 | * LostFoodGrievance: Do ''not'' waste food in Kyoko's presence if you value your life. She threatens to kill Sayaka for wasting food. That attitude results most likely from either her religious upbringing, her life in poverty or both. |
| 563 | * MagicKnight: Mainly a melee fighter, but her main element is "enchantment" and she can occasionally use illusionary powers. |
| 564 | * MasterOfIllusion: Used to be capable of illusions as her magical girl power before [[spoiler:the PaterFamilicide incident.]] |
| 565 | * MeaningfulName: 'Kyouko' means 'apricot' (this ties in to [[spoiler:Momo]], the name of [[spoiler:her sister]], meaning 'peach'), which symbolizes strength achieved through struggles with adversity. 'Sakura' is the cherry blossom, which represents the transcience of life. |
| 566 | * MercyKill: [[spoiler:Gives one to Sayaka that doubles as a TakingYouWithMe.]] |
| 567 | * MinorLivingAlone: Kyoko lives in her apartment complex alone with no parental supervision due to [[spoiler:her father murdering her mother, younger sister, and then himself in a murder-suicide.]] |
| 568 | * MyGodWhatHaveIDone: It's extremely subtle but after nearly strangling Sayaka, her face goes from anger to an expression of shock and she briefly gasps as she lets go of Sayaka, while she never explicitly says it, it is implied she does feel bad for attacking her as at this point she's starting to genuinely like Sayaka deep down. A big contrast from their first meeting where Kyoko almost gleefully tried to kill Sayaka. |
| 569 | * NavelWindow: Her jacket is opened at the bottom just enough to expose her navel. A lot of art work -- both official and fan -- implies she's wearing a belly shirt underneath her jacket. |
| 570 | * NeckLift: Performs one on Sayaka when she [[BerserkButton throws her apple to the ground without eating it.]] |
| 571 | * NiceGirl: ''[[Manga/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheDifferentStory The Different Story]]'' and the PSP game show that she used to be this back when she first started out as a magical girl, being a very nice and polite girl who wanted to save the world from Witches and had undying respect for Mami, just like Sayaka did. But [[spoiler:her father's increasingly abusive behavior after he found out the AwfulTruth and eventual PaterFamilicide]] left her jaded and resulted in her becoming far more cynical and selfish to the point where her and Mami's friendship ended because her philosophy developed into the complete opposite of Mami's (at least in a first moment, but she's still a good person deep down). |
| 572 | * NoBodyLeftBehind: [[spoiler:Implied to be her ultimate fate eventually, due to Madoka's wish.]] |
| 573 | * NominalHero: At the start, while she's a magical girl who fights witches and may be loyal to both her teammates and the mission, she cares far more about killing witches, gaining grief seeds, and letting familiars kill people so they can become witches with grief seeds, than she does about protecting civilians. However, she reveals to be [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold ultimately kind-hearted]]. |
| 574 | * NotYourProblem: Kyoko tries to convince Sayaka that she shouldn't bother with trying to save people and should prioritize herself with her power as a magical girl. This only serves to upset Sayaka and drive her away from Kyoko. |
| 575 | * OralFixation: Always has something in her mouth. |
| 576 | * PaterFamilicide: [[spoiler:In her backstory, her father killed her entire family save her before killing himself.]] |
| 577 | * PimpedOutDress: Her magical girl outfit is bloodred to symbolize her aggressive nature [[spoiler:[[NiceJobBreakingItHero and the blood that was spilled]] [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor as a consequence of her wish, as well.]] It is also adorned with the symbol of her father's church.]] |
| 578 | * PostStressOvereating: She's shown to absolutely scarf down food when upset. After her argument with Sayaka, she practically inhales the apple she's holding out of anger. [[spoiler:And when she's desperately trying to figure out if Sayaka can be recovered after witching out, she rapidly pigs out on a huge variety of food]]. |
| 579 | * PowerLossMakesYouStrong: Kyoko lost her illusion magic as a result of [[spoiler:her believing her family died because of her wish]]. Kyubey didn't think Kyoko would last with such a drawback, but Kyoko found ways to keep fighting while just relying on her weapon and combat skills. In ''[[Manga/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheDifferentStory The Different Story]]'', she's able to go toe-to-toe with a serious Mami and hold out better than she ever did during their training sessions. |
| 580 | * PreachersKid: Her father was a priest in an unspecified Protestant denomination [[note]]One fansite [[https://wiki.puella-magi.net/Kyoko_Sakura#Observations observes]] that Kyoko's faith strongly resembles the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglican_Church_in_Japan Anglican Church in Japan]], as the architecture of Kyoko's church and the style of her father's outfit resemble Anglican forms, besides his being a married priest with children.[[/note]] although it's also mentioned that he practiced an unorthodox version of the faith which alienated his parishioners and even caused him to be excommunicated. Kyoko, unsurprisingly, doesn't seem to retain any trace of her religion after the death of her family. |
| 581 | * PsychoForHire: Initially, she kills witches for their grief seeds and Kyubey has her on call. |
| 582 | * PsychosomaticSuperpowerOutage: She's been unable to use her MasterOfIllusion powers ever since [[spoiler:the PaterFamilicide incident]]. It's implied this was because of the trauma she experienced. As shown in side materials, in [[spoiler:a few of the alternate timelines]] she eventually gets them back. |
| 583 | * APupilOfMineUntilSheTurnedToEvil: She used to be Mami's apprentice just like Madoka and Sayaka, until [[spoiler:the PaterFamilicide happened and]] Kyoko decided to be selfish with her magic. |
| 584 | * RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver: Initially she is a (sort of) villain and her magical girl outfit is red with a bit of black. Subverted when she becomes more heroic towards the end. |
| 585 | * RedemptionEqualsDeath: [[spoiler:[[MoralityPet Sayaka's influence on Kyoko]] leads her to perform a MercyKill that [[TakingYouWithMe takes both of]] [[HeroicSacrifice of them out]]]]. |
| 586 | * RedEyesTakeWarning: Her eyes are red and she is the first indication that some magical girls are outright evil. |
| 587 | * RedIsHeroic: Averted, at least for most of the original anime since she lets familiars turn into witches, so she can collect grief seeds. Eventually, though, she does join the gang and [[spoiler:tries to uncorrupt Sayaka, despite it never having been done before. When she can't, she commits a HeroicSacrifice and makes sure that Sayaka doesn't have to die alone by killing them both with her Soul Gem.]] |
| 588 | * RedIsViolent: Her color theme is red and one of the first things she tries to do on screen is kill Sayaka. |
| 589 | * RedOniBlueOni: |
| 590 | ** The red to Sayaka's blue. She's more feral and hedonistic and they are color coded. Although ironically [[spoiler: as the show goes on, Sayaka becomes more aggressive and emotionally unstable whereas Kyoko becomes far more level headed.]] |
| 591 | ** Also the red to Mami's blue in the past and in ''[[Manga/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheDifferentStory The Different Story]]'' because she was more reckless and less precise than her mentor. |
| 592 | * SayMyName: She yells '''"SAYAKAAAA!!!"''' when [[spoiler:Sayaka becomes a witch.]] |
| 593 | * SelectiveObliviousness: A common theme is how Kyouko says many things... while not actually doing them. |
| 594 | ** She ''says'' she's going to kill Sayaka... but is content (at first) to only beat her up before walking away. |
| 595 | ** She talks trash about Mami and her beliefs... but as other content showed, she at first came back to Mitakihara to try to reconcile with her, before learning about her death. She even made a grave for her. |
| 596 | ** She comments on how normal people are essentially just food... but never hurts Madoka and doesn't stop her from going to Sayaka. She even encourages Madoka that she's done nothing wrong and that being a magical girl isn't something to envy. |
| 597 | ** She talks about how magic is only meant to be used for herself... but her wish was used for someone else, and even after that she uses magic for Sayaka and Madoka's sake, repeatedly. |
| 598 | * SelfDuplication: [[spoiler:This used to be what her ability Rosso Fantasma was all about]]. |
| 599 | * SenselessSacrifice: In ''[[Manga/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheDifferentStory The Different Story]]'', [[spoiler:she uses Oktavia's grief seed to cleanse Mami's soul gem, but this leaves her without another one to use on herself, and she dies while fighting another witch later. Sadly, Mami is driven to despair by losing Kyoko right after they reconciled and commits suicide.]] |
| 600 | * SeriousBusiness: Nearly strangles Sayaka because she threw an apple on the ground. PlayedForDrama; see FreudianExcuse above. |
| 601 | * ShipTease: Implied to have a one-sided crush on Sayaka. |
| 602 | * SirNotAppearingInThisTrailer: Didn't appear in early promotional materials, likely because of her darker nature. |
| 603 | * SourOutsideSadInside: At first, she seems to be a mean, selfish girl who believes that magical girls should use their powers for their own purposes. As the series progresses, it's revealed ''why'' she acts this way: [[spoiler:Her family fell into destitution after her preacher father was excommunicated and when he found out that his followers increased and came back was due to Kyoko's magical girl wish and not from people actually believing in him, he killed his family and himself and only she survived]]. It is only when she learns about the {{Awful Truth}}s of being a magical girl and when she saves Sayaka from Homura (who was trying to intimidate her into using a Grief Seed) that she starts to get over her sourness, [[spoiler:which culminates in her performing a MercyKill to witch Sayaka and sacrificing herself so Sayaka wouldn't be alone.]] |
| 604 | * TheSocialDarwinist: She compares the fight against witches to the food chain: Witches and their familiars prey on weak humans, while Magical Girls are the apex predators and prey on Witches. Familiars don't drop grief seeds, so she sees no point in killing them before they kill enough people to become a witch themselves. She also applies this to Magical Girls themselves: weaker ones should yield their territory over to the stronger ones or die. [[spoiler:She seems to have abandoned this philosophy after learning the true nature of Magical Girls.]] |
| 605 | * StepfordSnarker: Although she's abrasive, Kyoko comes across as very cheery, confident and sarcastic most of the time, however in reality she's a deeply traumatized and sad young girl who is [[spoiler: dealing with the guilt of her wish backfiring to the point of it killing her family, and hides it behind a brash yet cheerful facade, even after Sayaka transforms into a witch she doesn't openly show her sadness and becomes more of a StepfordSmiler on the day of her death as she's genuinely nice to Madoka but clearly still heartbroken about Sayaka.]] |
| 606 | * StoppedCaring: She was very idealistic when she started out, wanting to be a hero and save people from witches. After [[spoiler:the PaterFamilicide]], she's now perfectly fine with letting people get killed by Familiars if it means more Grief Seeds. Meeting Sayaka reminds her of her old ideals and eventually gets her to start caring again. |
| 607 | * StupidSacrifice: The only thing Kyoko accomplished by [[spoiler:throwing her soul gem to Oktavia]] was [[spoiler:forcing Homura to fight Walpurgisnacht all by herself]]. |
| 608 | * SuicideAttack: [[spoiler:She kills Oktavia with one.]] |
| 609 | * SuperDrowningSkills: According to the 4th drama CD, she can't swim. |
| 610 | * SuperSupremacist: She believes that humans are lower on the food chain because they get eaten by familiars, which evolve into witches, which get killed by magical girls for their Grief Seeds. |
| 611 | * SweetPollyOliver: In a [[{{omake}} gag image]] Kyoko decides to disguise herself as a boy in order to become closer to Sayaka. |
| 612 | * SweetTooth: She's constantly munching on sweets, even during battle. |
| 613 | * TastesLikeFriendship: Kyoko isn't the nicest person, but if she's willing to open up to you, the first thing she'll probably do is hand you a candy bar and say, "You want some?" |
| 614 | * TogetherInDeath: [[spoiler:To put witch-turned Sayaka out of her misery, Kyoko kills her via SuicideAttack so Sayaka doesn't have to die alone.]] |
| 615 | * TokenEvilTeammate: Not really evil, but initially, prior to her HeelFaceTurn, she was a nasty magical girl. Kind of like a mercenary. |
| 616 | * TomboyishPonytail: She wears her hair in a unkempt high ponytail, fitting her aggressive personality and masculine manner of speaking. |
| 617 | * TomboyWithAGirlyStreak: Downplayed; aside from using the feminine pronoun "atashi", her speech patterns are very rough and masculine, and when it comes down to it she's not very girly at all. In comparison, Sayaka is quite a bit more feminine than she is. |
| 618 | * TookALevelInJerkass: Let's just say the results of her wish changed her drastically. [[spoiler:Before her father killed her family, Kyoko's interactions with Mami are of a naive girl who wants the best for everyone. After the fact, Kyoko cruelly leaves Mami behind and thinks only of her own survival]]. |
| 619 | * TookALevelInKindness: After starting as a bitch, Sayaka's and Madoka's suffering soften her up little by little, and she genuinely warms towards Sayaka. This culminates in Episode 9 with her [[spoiler:''bonding'' with Madoka, then sacrificing herself to save Madoka from a bewitched Sayaka, and putting Sayaka out of her misery]]. |
| 620 | * TroubledButCute: Kyoko is the very definition of a bad girl with a troubled past, but still cute. |
| 621 | * {{Tsundere}}: She comes off as aggressive and bitchy, but there's a warmer personality buried under. These tendencies are more prevalent towards [[LesYay Sayaka and Mami]] in ''[[Manga/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheDifferentStory The Different Story]]'', since she obviously cares about them but refuses to express it openly. |
| 622 | * TsurimeEyes: Her eyes end in a distinct sharp point, befitting her harsh and confident nature. |
| 623 | * UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: [[spoiler:Had Kyoko not picked fights needlessly with Sayaka, Madoka wouldn't have snapped and thrown Sayaka's soul gem away, thus TheReveal would have happened later, or not and all -- and thus, Sayaka wouldn't've begun her StartOfDarkness either.]] |
| 624 | * UsedToBeASweetKid: A DaddysGirl who made a SelflessWish and heroically fought witches, who later became a NominalHero and BloodKnight. |
| 625 | * VariableLengthChain: Her spear can segment into parts separated by chains. Her spear's shaft length also changes between scenes. |
| 626 | * WeUsedToBeFriends: The third drama CD shows that she and Mami knew each other when they were younger and were friends and partners in fighting witches, until [[spoiler:the PaterFamilicide happened and]] Kyoko decided to be more selfish with her magic. |
| 627 | * WhatHaveIBecome: Not even ''she'' could stay indifferent to the AwfulTruth but she takes [[spoiler:becoming a lich]] better than Sayaka. |
| 628 | * WhipSword: Her spear is capable of splitting into chains, but it also appears to be able to curve in a whip-like fashion. |
| 629 | * WideEyedIdealist: Implied by her line to Madoka about originally believing in stories about love and courage triumphing over evil. After her father's PaterFamilicide, she [[TookALevelInCynic takes a good level in cynic]]. |
| 630 | * WrongGenreSavvy: Tries to [[spoiler:start an IKnowYoureInThereSomewhereFight to transform Sayaka back from her witch state]]. Explicitly lampshades it ("It'd be like one of those stories where love and courage triumph over all"). Considering the tone of the series, [[spoiler:it's not surprising that it doesn't work.]] |
| 631 | ---- |
| 632 | [[/folder]] |
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FollowingContext Characters / PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaMagicalGirls
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