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1'''As a Fridge subpage, all spoilers are unmarked [[Administrivia/SpoilersOff as per policy.]] Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned.'''
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3[[foldercontrol]]
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5[[folder:Fridge Brilliance]]
6!! Charactistics and motifs
7* All of the girls gained personal magic that is a direct result of their wish. Their weapons match their personalities as well:
8** Kyoko had Rosso Fantasma, creating illusiory hers, until she became disillusioned with being a Magical Girl. Her wish was to sway people's hearts so she has innate magic that confuses enemies. It traps them in a certain mindset (only listening to what her father has to say) so she can create barriers that trap people. Her spear is a result of her head-on nature and her will to do anything to survive. It appearing chained in some scenes, represents her personality - her past, what she is now, all part of the same person. Plus...the enemy using clones to surround and attack you makes the situation [[ConfusionFu at least very confusing]], would it?
9** Sayaka has even better healing and more durability than a normal Magical Girl. Makes sense, since her wish was the impossible-by-modern-medicine recovery of another person. Her swords are, well, because HeroesPreferSwords and she is a HeroicWannabe. Also, because she plays the role of the KnightInShiningArmor to a [[DistressedDude boy]] with her wish, self-sacrificing herself to heal him. Her sword resembles a swashbuckling cutlass as well.
10** Homura has her time magic. She is the odd one out when it comes to weapons. While the others use traditional weapons, [[PragmaticHero Homura just steals]] [[SuperheroPackingHeat bombs and grenade launchers]]. This could represent her being more present-oriented. She also has a shield, which brings to mind the saying 'hide behind your shield' which fits [[ShrinkingViolet former personality]] pretty well. The main property of a shield is to protect, and Homura has one because she renders her existence only necessary when she has something to protect.
11** Mami... Makes Ribbons? It makes sense when you realize they're BANDAGES!
12*** They are also ribbons because she thought she was getting a gift. She saw life as a gift because it almost slipped away from her in that car crash, and she realized how precious life was - like a gift. Ribbons also bind, tie her to the life of a Puella Magi, something that really has no reward. It is representative of her attitude to hold on once she gets company, binding them to her instead of just waiting for them to stay with her, like a more docile ClingyJealousGirl if you want.
13*** Given her dirndl dress, the plume on her hat, her encrusted flintlock rifles, and the show's heavy use of German references, Mami's character could be inspired by [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Theatre/DerFreischuetz Der Freischütz]], a German opera about a hunter who sold his soul to the Devil in exchange for magic bullets that never miss their mark.
14** Madoka's bow is representative of her powerful will. A bow cannot block, and cannot face close combat. It can only strike from afar, yet it can hit with precision, like how she will do anything to enact her will no matter how far-fetched it is. While unable to influence things directly anymore as no one but Homura remembers her, she takes her place 'behind the scenes'. A bow is also a very simple weapon, which is how Madoka sees herself, and what she appears to be. But a bow is deadly in the hands of an archer, and its long range means that you probably won't see the arrows coming...
15*** The bow is also important in Shinto rituals, some of which are done to exorcize evil. Madoka uses her bow to destroy Witches and eventually [[spoiler:destroy all their evil in the form of Kriemhild Gretchen]].
16* Ever noticed the placements of the main casts' Soul Gems when they become magical girls? It turns out that this has something to do with their character. To elaborate:
17** Mami's Soul Gem was located on her head. She's the most experienced and calm MagicalGirl, and usually the one who acted as a mentor. it was the moment that she lost her composure by being reckless, or as they say "lost her head," that she literally lost her head courtesy of Charlotte.
18** Sayaka's gem was located on her Navel. She's impulsive and rash when it comes to decisions, or she "acts on her gut feelings." Falling in love is also likened to butterflies in a stomach.
19** Kyoko's gem is on her chest, because her wish was for everyone to listen and believe her father's teachings, or for "people's hearts to be swayed" by the teachings of her father.
20*** Madoka's gem is also on her chest; she's TheHeart of the group.
21** Homura's gem is on her left hand. Her power is to stop and turn back "the hands of time." Why her left hand? In analog clocks, the left hand is usually the minute hand and when adjusting time, people usually move the minute hand. It is also the most common place for a wristwatch.
22*** Also, Homura knows what the value of the soul gem is. So why not put it behind, say, a magical shield?
23* Sayaka's swords are too big for her hands, and she often seems to have a hard time getting her fingers around the hilt. Why? Because a Puella Magi's weapons and outfit are based on what they think is cool - hence why TheCape gets a cape, the hunter girl gets a dirndl, the pastor's daughter gets a robe, TheOjou gets a ballgown, and the EmoTeen gets a longcoat. Sayaka's idea of a sword is the toy swords she would have played with as a kid, which are often oversized for a kid's hands.
24** Why is Sayaka's costume so revealing (at least by average middle schooler standards)? Because her wish is to help the person she loves - ''to attract a boy''.
25*** On a similar note, there's a reason why Homura's costume reveals only the bare minimum. When she became the magical girl, she had little confidence in herself, which likely extends to her physical self-image. It is also similar to the Mitakihara school uniform, since that is the only place where she could form meaningful connections - albeit with dull colors since she was in mourning when she made her wish.
26* The witch forms of the main five have a nature and a type that fit themselves:
27** Ophelia, Kyouko's witch form, has a nature of 'Abandonement'. Kyouko's entire character is based upon forgetting what happened in her past (i.e abandoning it) and moving on. However, you can't run from your past forever, and she has to accept that it is a part of her she can't run from. Her type is Wudan, which is what a LadyOfWar is called in Chinese opera, because Kyouko became a warrior for her father and a KnightInSourArmor.
28** Kriemhild's nature being Mercy and her type being Salvation should be obvious.
29** Homulilly has a nature of Self-sufficiency because of Homura's mantra IWorkAlone. Her type references ''The Nutcracker''. When she fails to save Madoka, Homura feels like her only purpose is gone, like a nutcracker that has lost its central mechanism.
30*** Being able to reverse time itself and have an infinite {{Hammerspace}} also comes in handy for when one wants to be self-sufficient.
31** Oktavia's nature is Falling in Love, not only because Sayaka falling in love with Kyousuke dealed a lot of damage in her life, but she also 'fell in love' with the ideal that she should be a hero. Her type being a mermaid should also be obvious.
32** Candeloro's nature being inviting is how Mami acts in general. She is very open and draws others into her life, as it were - only to trap them in the vicous cycle that is the life of a Puella Magi. Her type being dress-up can bring to mind pushing others into a 'dress' or a life that is not originally theirs.
33* The four most active magical girls (Mami, Sayaka, Kyoko and Homura) follow a ClassicalElementsEnsemble pattern to reflect their powers and personalities. It's also reflects how they met their demise or defeat. Meanwhile, Madoka does not fit in the the main four elements, but her unique element is suited to ElementNumberFive and symbolizes how she ultimately won the game that the other girls lost. Their colors also match up with the colors associated with their elements in astrology.
34** Mami represents Air. Her ribbons flow and can be constructed in to guns, and has a GenreBlind mindset about being a magical girl. When Madoka promises to contract so she won't be alone, Mami describes it as feeing "lighter than air". But this uplifting feeling carries her away and bites her hard in the back when she ignores crucial advice from Homura and acts recklessly out of euphoria, resulting in her graphic decapitation courtesy of Charlotte. Common traits of an Air personality are calmness and rationality, relying on systematic takedowns to defeat enemies. Their weak point is when they forego this attitude and go more LeeroyJenkins. Her witch form is small and can float.
35** Sayaka represents Water. She has a bubbly, blue theme and transformation, and it offers her powerful regenerative abilities. The problem is it reflects how she goes far off the deep end when things don't go her way. When she finds out the truth of being a magical girl and that all her efforts to win Kyosuke's love was for nothing when Hitomi confesses, Sayaka drowns in her own self-hatred and misery, resulting in her becoming a (mermaid!) witch.
36** Kyoko represents Fire. Her transformation has a fiery theme, and fire is linked to her religious background. Kyoko is by far the most destructive and openly self-indulgent of the group, and the most temperamental when dealing with obstacles to her goals or Kyubey's nonchalant attitude when he reveals the AwfulTruth. Fire is also linked to [[BigEater indiscriminate consumption]]. When Kyoko realizes she's indirectly responsible for Sayaka's witchification, she commits a HeroicSacrifice by taking out Octavia in a huge, fiery explosion that consumes all the magic in her soul gem. Her own witch form has a candle for a head.
37** Homura represents Earth. She the most grounded and serious member of the group, and her powers are more about practicality than anything fancy. She is surrounded in diamond motifs, and the suit of Diamonds is equal to the suit of Pentacles in tarot, which represents earth. Homura has put herself in a never ending rut of repeating the same month hundreds of times to try to save Madoka from her fate. After her fight with Walpurgisnacht, she's buried under rubble and left with a broken leg, unable to move from the ground and on the verge of witching out before Madoka intervenes. Her witch form Homulilly features a flower field in the place of the top half of her face.
38** Madoka represents Aether, an element that is not apart of the main quartet and stands out as something powerful. Aether is said to move circularly instead of just up and down like the other elements, fitting for someone whose name can be translated as 'circle'. Madoka is the only one who is fully aware when she makes her wish, and thus is able to do away with her own demise (as per killing her own witch form) and rises above the others as a supreme being that represents hope. Also: it was assumed that Aether was the stuff that space was made of.
39*** In the Japanese philosophical system of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godai_%28Japanese_philosophy%29 Godai]], the fifth element is most commonly translated as void, but can also be translated as "sky" or "heaven". It represents the things beyond and within our everyday comprehension but is particularly associated with energy. At the end of the series, the energy released with Madoka's wish is what manages to stop entropy, and Madoka creates and ascends to heaven afterwards.
40!! Other
41* Each piece of [[AwesomeMusic/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica the show's BGM]] has a fitting GratuitousLatin title, but some of those titles are more significant than they appear:
42** "Conturbatio" first plays in Episode 1 when Homura transfers into Madoka's class. This doesn't seem to make sense - after all, it plays ''Sayaka's'' {{Leitmotif}} - except that "conturbatio" means "confusion", which fits Madoka's [[{{Gasp}} reaction to seeing her]] perfectly.
43** "Decretum" is a Latin noun which can mean "dogma", "principle", "an idea held with conviction", or "resolve", all of which fit the dogmatic, determined, justice-obsessed magical girl Sayaka has become by this point. But "decretum" can also be the perfect passive participial form of two different verbs: "decernere", meaning "decide", "declare", or "judge"... and "decresco", meaning "weaken" or "decline". Taking the [[FreakOut Elsa Maria scene]] into account, the name of Sayaka's theme sums up her entire character arc:
44*** She ''decided'' to become a magical girl to heal Kyousuke's hand.
45*** She ''declared'' she'd be better and more ethical than the others after watching [[NominalHero Kyouko]] in action.
46*** She ''judged'' everyone according to her own BlackAndWhiteMorality.
47*** She ''weakened'' mentally after learning the AwfulTruth about magical girls.
48*** She ''declined'' into nothing more than a [[AxCrazy crazed]] KnightTemplar driven by [[AllLoveIsUnrequited unrequited love]], and ''[[FromBadToWorse then]]'' into a [[AndThenJohnWasAZombie witch]].
49** "Symposium Magarum" literally means "a symposium of witches", which doesn't seem at all appropriate for the TragicMonster that is Oktavia von Seckendorff. That is, until you remember a certain Literature/{{Symposium}} recanted by Creator/{{Plato}}, a work of philosophy where the main focus is on '''[[LoveMakesYouEvil love]]'''!
50* Homura's witch in the PSP game is drastically different from the witch seen in Rebellion, yet share the same name. Think about it. Homura was once a shy, bumbling moe girl, but changed her hair, ditched her glasses and took on a new resolve. Yet it's the same character.
51** Not to mention, the flashback to Homura's past time loops confirms that the same magical girl can transform into different variations of the same witch under different circumstances, by showing a slightly different version of Sayaka's witch Oktavia Von Seckendorff. So, why are the two versions of Homulilly so different? Due to the nature of Homura's time loops, this Sayaka likely turned into a witch for similar reasons for both timelines. Meanwhile, the circumstances behind Homura becoming a witch in the PSP game differ greatly from what causes it in Rebellion.
52** Magia Record offers a new perspective on this. The original Homura in the game (with glasses and braids) [[https://images.puella-magi.net/5/5b/Homulilly_magia_record_doppel_sprite.png?20180706120850 had a witch that greatly resembles the one in the PSP game]]. It was still the mortal world witch as such. When the normal Homura was introduced, [[https://images.puella-magi.net/8/8e/Homura_doppel_sprite.png?20190121203402 it slightly shifted to resemble the Rebellion Homulilly more]] (i.e wider dress, fourteen familiars, etc) but still wasn't full-on Rebellion Homulilly. Why? Because her motivation didn't change yet. The Homulilly shown in Rebellion sprouted from Homura who was wearing Madoka's ribbon, and the version in Magia Record is not. It is that Madoka makes that sacrifice that Homura's intentions and motivation change, and give birth to a very different-looking witch.
53* Amazing technicolor hair is something a little girl would wish for humans to have, especially other girls around her age.
54* Goddess Madoka has a small part of her body uncovered by her large white dress, underneath the five pink gems. It may come off as an unnecessary boob window, until you realize that it isn't exposing them, and in this form she's all-powerful (being able to slay Kriemhild Gretchen in one go). It's uncovering her ''heart'', and you can say that by showing mercy to the world, she ''opened her heart'' to the magical girls.
55* Saint Walpurgis is the patron saint of people suffering from rabiës, which causes things like anxiety, confusion, agitation, paranoia, terror, hallucinations and more...all things that witches cause.
56* If Madoka eventually becomes a witch herself even as a god, what would happen to her labyrinth? She's already using it. Her labyrinth is [[LotusEaterMachine her own version of heaven]]. This is another reason she caused the paradox to cease her existence. This is also why the bodies of all the magical girls disappear along with their soul gems in the end. She's not destroying them, [[WellIntentionedExtremist she's taking them with her]].
57* Another reason Kyubey chooses very young teenagers for his magical girls? They're less likely to think their wishes through and choose something with long term or far reaching consequences and more likely to make an impulsive decision for immediate gain or stopping momentary pain. That way Kyubey doesn't have to expend large amounts of energy and gets plenty in return.
58** For recruitment quantity and energy extraction from emotional wishes, teenagers are probably the best age group to go for. Children would be more easy to recruit since they'd be even less likely to ask questions about the deal and just go in for a wish, plus they'd have few or no reservations about trusting a RidiculouslyCuteCritter like Kyubey. However, their wishes would probably have less emotional attachment to them and more focus on physical gain so the Incubators wouldn't get that much energy out of them. Kids are also known for being resilient, meaning they'd probably be less likely to fall into the DespairEventHorizon needed for them to fall into witches. On a more horrifying note, children wouldn't fare too well against witches either dying quickly or becoming too frightened to fight. Adults, on the other hand would fare better in a witch fight, but they would be harder to recruit since they would be less trusting and more suspicious of Kyubey's cutesy design and more prone to asking questions Kyubey would rather not divulge answers to.
59* The despair of the magical girls other than Madoka fit the first four deformations of [[https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/434722133080408066/553950439574339594/list.png this image]] quite well:
60** Homura's despair is the deformation of fear. She has become apathetic to all despair she sees because she's in a GroundhogdayLoop that has left her in shambles. We see that she used to be in 'fear' all the time by being a ShrinkingViolet until she took on a new resolve. Her shielding is made quite literal, as in that she uses a shield to timejump.
61** Kyouko's despair is the deformation of anger. Initially introduced as a typical bully, her agression and sarcasm towards the world is typically her. This has everything to do with the things that happened in her past. In the PSP game, her last words are her cursing the world and thus giving in to this.
62** Sayaka's despair is the deformation of sadness. Her sadness over her losing Kyousuke results in her becoming depressed, embittered, thinking that 'it doesn't hurt'. She can't move on from her loss and transforms into a witch. When she accepts this loss, however, she is saved by Madoka and is able to properly handle her despair.
63** Mami's despair is the deformation of happiness. She's an incredibly lonely girl because she didn't wish for her parents to survive the car crash too, but [[StepfordSmiler hides it]] under a layer of flashy powers and being the CoolBigSis. When this layer breaks down, she transforms into a witch.
64** Madoka's despair is arguably the deformation of both love and compassion, as Kriemhild Gretchen is typified as a witch who wants to create heaven on earth by dragging everyone in her barrier because she thinks she's saving them and thus love and compassion.
65* Why is Madoka such a ridiculously hesitant, cringing ShrinkingViolet? Because Homura wished to be someone who could protect Madoka. Madoka was noticeably more confident in the first timeline, so she had to be made weaker and more of a damsel in distress to fit Homura's wish.
66** In fact, she wished for her and Madoka's roles to be exchanged--[[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor and that's exactly what she got]].
67*** It gets better: Madoka is the same girl she always was; Homura's wish hasn't changed her at all. She ''became'' confident by becoming a Magical Girl and finding a direction for herself. Homura's wish is granted as soon as she goes back to the beginning of the loop, ''before'' Madoka makes the contract, but like all the other wishes, it doesn't necessarily ''stay'' granted. That's why Homura can only avoid falling to despair herself by stopping Madoka from becoming a magical girl; once she does, she becomes too strong to be protected, and Homura's wish falls apart.
68*** It can be argued that, actually, Madoka and Homura roles weren't changed as a result of the wish per se. Notice how Homura was still inexperienced and had to be trained by Madoka and Mami in order to develop her magic and combat skills. And for several timelines, Madoka was the confident and strong Magic Girl that we saw in the "first" timeline. Progressively though, the pink-haired girl was visibly growing with despair (to the point of becoming a witch at the end of her battles against Nacht). Madoka, being the frightened crybaby she was in the "last" timeline could pretty well be due to the fact that her deaths, defeats and bewitching on the other timelines affected her: as stated by Kyubey, Homura's constantly timetravelling motivated solely by Madoka made the events of all the timelines progressively converge into Madoka.
69** More specifically, her wish was to redo the ''month'' she spent with Madoka by having her as the protector and Madoka as the protected one. During that time, Homura was able to keep Madoka alive and safe. It's only when Walpurgisnacht appears at the end of the month, that Madoka dies or turns into a witch.
70* Rewatch the scene where Kyoko and Sayaka first meet, and notice when Kyoko first attacks Sayaka: it's after Sayaka brings up Mami. Given Kyoko's complicated history with Mami (as shown in The Different Story) and Sayaka's reductionist attitude to the whole situation (in her head, Mami=good, Homura&Kyoko=bad), it makes more sense that Kyoko snapped at that point. Not only does Sayaka seem naïve and sticking her nose in it, she's making sweeping statements about things when she doesn't know the whole situation.
71* Seeing episode 1 again, it kind of sticks out that Junko, a high flying business woman, says some pretty sexist things. Firstly, 'the one thing a woman can't afford to get looked down at is her appearance' and secondly telling Madoka that being confident is the secret to every pretty girl's success. But this could be seen as a mirror to the situation of the magical girl. Consider: Junko appears powerful at first glance but has to please the male CEO, often coming home burnt out/drunk from after work socials. The magical girls too look powerful at first glance, such as when Mami shows up and blows away the familiars in episode 1, but they are also ultimately exploited and laid low by a system imposed by a male character (Kyubey, who is sometimes referred to as a he by everyone else). That Junko talks to Madoka the way she does is a reflection of society: you can be powerful and a female, but not without being pretty.
72* When rewatching the series it can be confusing as to why Kyubey would take the soul out of the body to make the girls more effective fighters when he doesn't actually care whether they beat witches or not. Then it makes sense - if a magical girl just dies instead of witching out, she won't release energy for him to collect, or if she's in hospital every five minutes it will a) take too long to get to witchery and b) raise big suspicions as to what's going on with these girls. So by making them durable he can create more chances for them to end up like Sayaka rather than Mami, and pit them against one another, as he did with Kyoko and Sayaka, with greater chance they will survive these encounters and have them witch out faster from how harsh and dangerous the Magical Girl situation really is.
73** And if they happen to find out about this, they'll likely despair as Sayaka did. Kyubey says straight out that he's had people react badly to the discovery in the past, so his argument that it's illogical for humans to care where their souls are is irrelevant: he knows that humans do care, and uses that knowledge to create more despair.
74** It's also possible that the whole witching process is benefitted by having the afflicted soul all in one place outside of the body. Perhaps internal soul gems take longer to become grief seeds than external ones.
75** The soul no longer being in the body also means that the girls are now dependent on magic to keep their bodies functioning meaning that just by living the girls are ‘’always’’ going to be using magic thus making the obtainment of grief seeds mandatory for survival. As such, the girls are stuck fighting witches forever just to survive and do not have the option of quitting. The inability to return to a normal life combined with the constant usage of magic for body maintenance means that soul gems are likely to go dark faster thus increasing the chances of a soul gem corrupting into a grief seed
76* The very first track played at the very beginning of the series (first episode, when Madoka sees Homura fighting against Walpurgis) is the series ending. Why would they play the series ending at the beginning of the series? Maybe to indicate that Madoka's dream was just the '''end''' of another doomed timeline?
77** In fact, this is hinted at much earlier. The second episode starts with a "dream" about Mami saving Madoka and Sayaka from a witch, which is obviously a memory/recap of the previous episode. The first episode's "dream" also actually happened to Madoka in the recent past, right before Homura's last time reset.
78* Here's a one regarding the physics of the show - namely, about entropy. To put, entropy is a measure of disorder in a system - The more entropy there is, the less work there is. What does Kyuubey reinforce the concept of? Entropy. And, what happens when a Magical Girl is at maximum entropy? They're either depressed or out of magic, and they become witches. In other words, if a Magical Girl has little work and is at maximum entropy, they become Witches, which releases lots of entropy (or, energy) into the world.
79** Some more regarding the physics of entropy: When Homura makes her contract, (with the wish to go back in time and protect Madoka) Kyubey says that her wish has "prevailed over entropy". It seems like this is just a reference to the fact that the magical girls in general defy thermodynamics with their power, but with Homura, it makes sense in another way: one of the reasons time travel is said to be impossible is that, because the entropy of the universe cannot be decreased, going back in time, (which would logically reduce entropy of the universe) is impossible because it defies the laws of entropy.
80*** If that's the case in the show, then it would make sense if Homura's power is actually a form of MentalTimeTravel.
81* Possibly an obvious one, but Mami is killed when her head is eaten by Charlotte. Even with a monster chomping on her, I wasn't entirely convinced that Mami could die from just that (Homura was ''crushed by an entire building'' and still lived), until I realized something. Magical girls die when their Soul Gems are destroyed. Where does Mami wear her Soul Gem? On her hat! Chances are, one of Charlotte's sharp teeth smashed Mami's Soul Gem while chomping on her.
82** This has been confirmed by the first movie. A new shot was added which shows her soul gem shattering.
83* Homura's wish was to redo their [Homura and Madoka's] meeting and protect Madoka. Her wish was not to save Madoka, if Homura actually succeeded in saving Madoka her wish would be void because then Homura would no longer have anything to protect Madoka from. Madoka would not need protecting, therefore, Homura could not protect Madoka. The phrasing of Homura's wish not only put her in a time-loop but it also ensured that it would be a perpetual time-loop because any action she could take to break the loop and actually save Madoka would consequently stop her protection of Madoka which would void her wish. [Madoka's wish stopped the loop because it overrode Homura's wish: quoting Kyubey, "It's a treason against the wish itself".]
84* In Charlotte's barrier, there are messages in runes about Mami and Homura (who is called by her nickname, Homu Homu). There's a possibility that Charlotte knew about them because both of those girls were in hospital for a time (Mami from her parents' car crash - even if it were just for simple medical checkups - and Homura from her condition).
85* Homura has lived lifespans in the same month period and stayed sane. She's completely dedicated to Madoka in ways normal psychology cannot begin to describe. Even if she were to fight the good fight against the demons for centuries; this would be ''easy'.
86* In episode 8, when Homura threatens Sayaka with death, why does she raise her empty hand (presumably to use her inferior magical bolt attack rather than one of the firearms which she obviously prefers) to Sayaka's chest, rather than her soul gem (which is in her hand, on the ground)? Simple: she wasn't going to kill Sayaka at all. What Kyoko interrupted was a failed intimidation attempt in the hopes that she could force Sayaka to use a grief seed.
87** Initially it seems weird that Homura would go for intimidation rather than just telling Sayaka ''why'' she needed to clean her soul gem, namely that she would turn into a witch. After the [[SoulJar soul gem revelation]] and finding out Kyubey's untrustworthiness it wouldn't be that hard to believe and given Sayaka's saving people thing there's no way she'd allow herself to become a monster that kills people. However, telling her the truth wouldn't have mattered. Even if she believed Homura, given Sayaka's [[DespairEventHorizon state]] she would've reacted by either killing herself to prevent herself becoming a witch or worse she wouldn't have cared and allowed herself to turn to escape the pain. In either case, Madoka would respond by making a contract to bring her friend back. Homura scaring Sayaka into cleaning her gem by threatening to kill her thus reaffirming her will to live was the safer option and it might have worked if Kyoko hadn't interrupted which led to Sayaka overhearing the train conversation which brought her down further.
88* Take another look at the silhouettes in the ending-theme. Mami's silhouette is the only one sitting down (likely a reference to her death in episode three), and Homura's can be seen turning after Madoka's and reaching for her as she walks past.
89* Kyoko's dad claimed that she was a witch. As of [[WhamEpisode Episode 8]], [[AndThenJohnWasAZombie turns out he wasn't too far from the truth]].
90** [[TakesOneToKillOne It would also explain how Puella Magi can track down witches, enter and leave barriers and why their magic is so effective against witches]].
91** A witch that manipulated people's minds no less. Now Kyoko hasn't done that, but the real witches have!
92*** Actually, Kyoko ''did'' do that. She had a CharmPerson ability as her bonus power.
93** He's definitely right, especially with the reveal that in the PSP game, Kyoko can, depending on your actions, turn into a [[http://wiki.puella-magi.net/Ophelia witch]].
94* As of Episode 8, Homura's magic power has been confirmed as TimeStandsStill. Now consider the relevance of a wish for time to stand still in Goethe's ''Myth/{{Faust}}''... For those who don't know, Faust's bargain with Mephistopheles says that if he ever wishes for time to stand still in a moment of perfect happiness, his soul would be forfeit.
95** This is driven home further in a later rebroadcast of episode 10. Madoka's witch name is revealed to be Kriemhild Gretchen. Gretchen was Faust's lover, who went crazy and died. Homura, with the aforementioned time powers, is desperately trying to save Madoka from dying and/or becoming a witch. [[LesYay Subtext much?]]
96** Homura's case is actually a vicious inversion: Faust's condition is a moment of perfect happiness because that means he has stopped advancing: "When on an idler's bed I stretch myself in quiet. There let, at once, my record end!" In episode 11, we learn that Homura must always move forward, or her soul will be forfeit...in a moment of perfect despair. "Then bind me in thy bonds undying, My final ruin then declare! Then let the death-bell chime the token...The clock may stop, the hand be broken, Then Time be finished unto me!"
97** Confirmed by the lyrics of the ending theme: "I am the sleepless tomorrow/I will move forward in order to attain/The miracle of the two of us meeting" Meaning that Homura would've been stuck in this loop forever, if it wasn't for Madoka's wish.
98* The mysterious runes appear to be messages from the witch, or her familiars. Translated, they often seem to be like a MadnessMantra. Considering the ultimate origins of witches from fallen Magical Girls, they probably ''are'' a MadnessMantra.
99** The runes are phrases in cryptic German. You know, like the original story of Myth/{{Faust}}.
100* Sayaka's theme, 'Decretum' starts with bells, but the main instrument is a ''violin''. What does Kamijou play, again?
101** Additionally, it [[SuspiciouslySimilarSong sounds a hell of a lot like]] "Greensleeves". This is no accident: the lyrics plead for the love of someone who "cast [the narrator] off discourteously", leaving them "in a world apart". Now think about [[AllLoveIsUnrequited what happened to Sayaka]], and how she's stuck in the world of magical girls.
102** In fact, the opening theme, 'Connect', has a ''violin'' solo in it. It makes sense considering how the violin plays a pivotal role in the story. That itself becomes FridgeBrilliance, since if the theme song is the series summed up, the violin solo sums up Sayaka's arc taking a chunk of that series.
103* For a long time, this troper thought that "Puella Magi" as a mistranslation, the product of someone at Shaft not brushing up on their dictionary skills enough. Given the Japanese title of the show, this troper still isn't certain that that isn't the case. But one thing that's starting to sway this troper away from that point of view is remembering that 'magus', the adjective in question, has a double-meaning - it may obviously be the root of 'magicus', whence we get our word 'magic' and all words related thereto, but it itself originally meant 'wise' i.e. the wise men of primitive tribes or of priesthoods, who naturally cultivated a certain air of mysticism around them and, thus, magic. Now to return to 'Puella Magi'. Given that 'Magi' is an adjective which doesn't agree with anything else in the title, it should be taken to mean 'of the Wise Man'. Or, alternatively, 'of Wiseman'. Now [[ShoutOut who]] [[Characters/SailorMoonVillains does that remind]] [[FridgeHorror you of...?]]
104** 'Puella Magi' at face value: Puella=Girl, Magi=Magic (not quite, see above, but close enough.) But depending on the context 'Puella' can mean 'Slave' and 'Magi' can mean 'Deceiver', making the title's alternate translation: Magical Madoka, Slave of the Deceiver.
105** Actually, given how adjective can work in Latin, the title correctly translates as either as "Magical Girl Madoka of the Wise Man", showing how Madoka becoming a magical girl makes her a possession or instrument of Kyubey, or "The Wise Ones, Magical Girl Madoka" establishing a contrast; there are "The Wise Ones" separately from "Magical Girl Madoka", that is those who are wise are not magical girls.
106* With the revelations of episode 9, the relative emotionlessness of Homura becomes Fridge Brilliance: It is revealed in Episode 9 that Puella Magi are essentially giant entropy defying power plants for a sufficiently advanced Alien species. The more emotions a Puella Magi lets up to the surface, the more energy they produce. If Homura was to allow her emotions of the fore instead of repressing them, she would essentially be giving in to Kyubey.
107** Episode 10 shows that she's actually distancing herself from the horror of watching everyone die over and over again.
108*** Another possible (partial) reason suggested by Episode 10: most "mundane" aspects of the GroundhogDayLoop (for example, the questions that Homura gets asked on her first day) stay largely the same from loop to loop--so Homura is living through a lot of the same conversations over and over, waiting for the more pivotal events of the loop--and so she only seems to really react around Madoka.
109* Kyubey says he wouldn't be surprised if a Magical Girl ever succeeded in reviving another. Of course he wouldn't. ''He can't feel emotions, he just said so.''
110* The Elsa Maria's barrier in episode 7 [[ArtShift makes everything black and white]]. At a glance, this would seem to be a discretion shot so the viewers can't see Sayaka's insane expression. The FridgeBrilliance is that both Elsa Maria and Sayaka see the world in BlackAndWhiteMorality.
111** This would also make Elsa Maria Sayaka's Shadow in terms of Jungian Archetypes.
112** [[AllThereInTheManual Her witch's card]] states that one must experience the darkest anguish in order to defeat her. It's when Sayaka accepts herself as a zombie, as shown by her intentionally shutting off her sense of pain, and therefore unable to be with Kyousuke that she is able to kill Elsa.
113* Why are there no Magical '''BOYS'''? In most countries, boys are socialized to release their negative emotions through aggression like fighting. Girls are socialized to let it stew or act out verbally. For Kyubey, who is trying to run a system that requires to '''fight Witches''' and creates them from grief/sorrow to create energy to end entropy, girls are just much more efficient. Or it can simply be that Madoka Magica is a Deconstruction of the MagicalGirl genre, it's pointless to put boys as fighters.
114** Boys are also taught to actually want concrete, direct things for themselves that they can use to benefit others, rather than being taught that they'll be rewarded for thinking of others ahead of themselves like girls are. The girls except Madoka all wish for huge, largely vague and abstract things that benefit others, thinking that they'll reap the much simpler, indirect benefits they really want, but since Kyubey has no emotions and can only seek to profit by granting the wish in its most literal form, it's just that much more efficient to only use girls.
115*** Suicide statistics also play a role. A teenage girl is more likely to commit suicide as a long, drawn-out attention seeking gambit (you could interpret Sayaka's breakdown as a cry for attention from Kyosuke). A teenage boy is less likely to try but more likely to succeed (a genuinely suicidal magical boy would be more likely to just shoot his soul gem and be done with it). Considering witch transformations rely on the target's depression getting to dangerous rates without the soul gem being destroyed, the former is much more efficient.
116** Considering Incubators are basically a space equivalent of an amoral Corporation it actually makes a lot of sense that they'd aim exclusively at girls for magical potential. From a '''purely''' business point of view it would waste a lot of time and resources to recruit both magical girls and boys with not a lot of pay off for the few magical boys that did give off a lot of magical potential, and although not every girl would give off a lot of magical energy themselves, there would be enough to single them out, again from a '''purely''' business perspective. Kyubey says outright that adolescent girls are their target demographic because as a whole, they suit the Incubators' needs best. Eliminating the half of the species is just easier than devoting the resources to hunt for magical boys; would you rather look for a needle in a haystack, or a pincushion?
117** Kyubey implies that without the incubators human society and civilization would never have happened - we'd still be living in caves - so it's not impossible that girls being socialized to be more emotive was a tactic to try and increase the power of their emotions and thus the amount of energy they would produce. To use his own example this is kind of like how we have selectively bred livestock to maximize yield and/or quality.
118* Kyoko is a constantly seen eating something and the food is her obsession. Because she and her entire family had fallen in poverty, and nearly starved. Real people were known to have food-hogging manias after prolonged hungers, particularly the young survivors of World War Two.
119** Further, Kyoko never gets fat! 1) It would be harder for a fat magical girl to fight. 2) A soul gem is a magical girl's power source. Maybe they don't need to eat at all since Kyubey has removed their souls from their bodies and changed the structure of their bodies. Sell your soul, get a wish, and weight loss!
120** Alternatively, Kyoko does not get fat because since her soul was placed within the Soul Gem and her body is basically a conduit by which she uses to fight Witches, it may simply be that like in the case of Homura where she made herself not need glasses anymore, that magical girls are able to alter their bodies in such a way they could stay forever fit and combat-oriented, especially since they change forms between fighting and living normal lives.
121* Episode 10 doesn't have an opening animation, instead diving straight into the plot and staying there. At the end of the episode, the opening plays. Nice way to drive the point home, guys!
122** Look at the lyrics of the opening after watching Episode 10 and it clicks. ''The song was sung from Homura's perspective the whole time.''
123*** And look at them again after Episode 12: They now beautifully describe Homura in the new world. The "unforgotten promise" is no longer Homura's promise to save Madoka, but Madoka's promise that they'll meet again.
124** The time loop also explains why Homura has been doing so well in school and gym class.
125** Also, go watch episode 1 and compare with episode 10, the part where, technically, Homura leads Madoka to the nurse's office...and vice versa. Shaft actually bothered to synchronize them. In episode 10 you can see how [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPEu5dOsv1k#t=1m35s Madoka calls her "Homura-chan"]]. In episode 1, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUbfyCvD6KE#t=12m25s Madoka calls her "Akemi-san"]] and you can see Homura frown for a moment and ask Madoka to call her "Homura". You can notice some other things Homura is not very amused with after watching episode 10. It just makes you feel bad for the poor girl...
126*** Episode 3. After her nighttime conversation with Mami, Homura looks very pained, complete with HiddenEyes. You would be that way too if someone who was your mentor in a previous timeline thinks of you as an enemy and doesn't wish to speak with you anymore. Heck, most of Homura's interactions with Mami are this. Giving Mami back Gertrud's Grief Seed? She doesn't want Mami to become a witch. Saying that Madoka's talent is a problem? In the previous timeline, Madoka became a witch that could ''end the world''. Her refusal to explain these things to Mami? [[FreakOut You saw what happened in the third timeline.]]
127* Madoka's doodles of everyone's magical girl outfits were astonishingly accurate, probably because she's seen them all before.
128** Also a bit of ''Foreshadowing'': Beside the coloured picture of Madoka is a doodle. What of? Something that looks suspiciously like angel wings!
129* ''Literature/FateZero'' references. It is obvious due to Creator/GenUrobuchi is the script-writer of this series (and author of ''Literature/FateZero'') and there are indirect references with some of the characters and abilities. (For example, with exception of her AlwaysSaveTheGirl trope Homura Akemi is [[{{Expy}} THE Kiritsugu Emiya]] of the story.) The timing is perfect for this anime to begin as the ''Literature/FateZero'' anime is still in the works; this is maybe considered a very indirect and distant preview despite ''Literature/FateZero'' is worked on by a different studio.
130** On that subject, check out the excerpt from the afterword on the [[Quotes/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica Quotes page]]. Now, considering the reference to the heat death of the universe, it's not that much of a leap to connect it to ''Madoka''. But then consider the next part: he talks about how the only way you can get a really happy ending is via a force that can do the impossible and reverse the decline of the universe, and someone purehearted enough to really believe in the inherent goodness of humanity. ''This story has both''.
131* In Episode 10, why was Madoka so much more powerful in the last loop? Because a mahou shoujo's powers depend on the wish she makes, and she made a much more powerful wish that time around. In all the other loops, Madoka contracted at the beginning of the cycle; judging from the main timeline, her wish at that point would have been a throwaway like cake or just being a mahou shoujo. If she followed Kyubey's suggestions in the last cycle, she would have wished for power: to save Homura, to defeat Walpurgisnacht, or even to change fate.
132** As the first Drama CD reveals, her very first wish was to save the black cat she is holding in the opening after it was run over by a car. She is just that good-hearted. Of course, such a small wish does not give her much power.
133** It's not just the wish. Kyubey pretty much says that Homura's constant rewinding time, essentially rewriting the world over and over for the sake of one person has built up an increased cosmic destiny for Madoka, and that Madoka had the potential to be the most powerful of magical girls because of this cosmic destiny. Therefore it makes sense that each cycle was adding to her cosmic destiny. Madoka most likely had increased power each time.
134*** Furthermore, while not explicitly stated (in the original anime at least) it's entirely possible that the power the wish to be granted may be based off of the potential of the girl the wish is made for. If that's true then it's possible that the only reason Madoka was able to make such a powerful wish was because of Homura's spending who knows how many subjective months or years constantly rewinding time for Madoka building up enough cosmic destiny to power the wish. That perspective sure helps to justify all the sacrifices that Homura made.
135*** This actually was explicitly stated in the original anime. On multiple occasions Kyubey mentions that because Madoka's potential is so great, she could even wish for incredible things and have it come true. Then, in the last episode when Madoka is finally describing her wish to Kyubey he once again mentions "Since you're the center of so many karmic destinies, no matter how enormous the wish, you will most likely be able to make it come true". That directly supports the notion that everything Homura did was what made the ending possible.
136* Why does Kyubey, a StarfishAlien, {{Hive Mind}}ed EldritchAbomination, look like [[RidiculouslyCuteCritter an adorable mutant cat thing with big floppy ears]]? (I mean in-universe, not just because CuteIsEvil) His form was ''designed'' to appeal to teenage Japanese girls; it's a trick to help him lure his victims. The CatSmile was chosen as the "cutest" expression, but due to his difficulty with emotions, he doesn't know what it should be in different circumstances, and [[FrozenFace leaves it the same]] to be on the safe side. The main thing that makes him seem a bit creepy in the show is the way his voice and expression never change no matter what's happening; show a still screenshot of him to someone and they'll usually go "D'aww!" Which is exactly what he's aiming for.
137** Also, it does help that there are magical girl anime in Madoka's world too, which probably made it easier. And also - fanartists are acclaimed for drawing his hypothetical human form [[https://www.zerochan.net/1542746 rather]] [[https://www.zerochan.net/1666247 handsome]] - this is not a new thing. [[LightIsNotGood The devil is said to appear as an angel of light]].
138** His design is also somewhat fox-like. [[AsianFoxSpirit Kitsune]] are known for being cunning tricksters. Is it any wonder that Kyubey's name sounds eerily similar to [[{{Manga/Naruto}} one of the more iconic Kitsune in Anime history?]]
139*** His design also recalls cats and weasels, with a pinch of rabbit. He's basically four trickster beasts in one.
140*** Also that of [[Literature/TheHitchHikersGuideToTheGalaxy Mice]] given that the Incubators are selfish experimenters.
141** In the first episode when Madoka finds Kyubey hurt by Homura, she assumes Homura is bad and Kyubey innocent; why does she makes this jump of logic? Because he's ''cute''.
142* May or may not be unintentional, but [[http://community.livejournal.com/madokamagica/32035.html#cutid1 in this shot of Madoka's sketches about the Magical Girl designs, Homura is under Madoka's thumb]].
143* Ever stop to think about Soul Gems and Grief Seeds and why they're called that? Take the initials of Soul Gems, and flip them. SG becomes GS. GS stands for Grief Seeds. Guess what Soul Gems become.
144** Also Soul Gems are egg shaped and the birth of a witch is referred to as 'hatching'. Guess where witches come from?
145* Kyuubey has no concept of lying, and he can only tell the truth; [[WillNotTellALie he will tell you what you need to know;]] whether it be [[AwfulTruth something you don't really want to know, something you wish you had not known]] or something that he honestly thinks he doesn't know. [[ManipulativeBastard He will, however, tell some pieces of information that will be sure to elicit a reaction that he wants.]] An example is when he told Kyoko that he doesn't know of a way to return Sayaka from being a witch, which gave the impression that there are things he doesn't know. It turns out that he really doesn't know of a way, because '''there was no possible way.''' He just wanted Kyoko out of the picture so that only Homura will be left to fight Walpurgisnacht, which would force Madoka to make a contract, since he knows Homura will lose.
146* On Madoka's finale and ''Myth/{{Faust}}'':
147** Goethe's Faust (Part 1) ends with Gretchen dead but in heaven. "Literature/TheLittleMermaid" ends the same way. Makes sense that Sakaya (becomes a mermaid when witchified) and Madoka (Gretchen) ended up like that while Homura (Faust) lives.
148** In a more general sense, this version of Faust has a relatively happy ending, unlike previous versions, and in spite of the fact that "tragedy" is ''right in the title''. Madoka, in the same way, has a BittersweetEnding instead of a DownerEnding, even though it's written like a tragedy.
149* After Episode 12, the scene in the opening where older Madoka transforms younger Madoka makes (a little more) sense. Older Madoka is Goddess-Madoka - she gave Homura her ribbons, and this is the self that defines Madoka as a magical girl.
150* Back when Kyubei's intentions were first revealed, I posted a Headscratchers entry about why, if he's trying to maximize efficiency, he didn't just make factory farms. In episode 11, he reveals that the Incubators have been influencing the development of human society since prehistoric times. So what's a city but, well... his form of factory farm?
151** This is taken a step further when you consider Kyubei's speech about meat. He conjures up an image of non-factory farms where animals can graze out in the countryside. It implies that his species sees the ENTIRE WORLD as one big farm, with the "free range" animals being people who live outside cities.
152*** This also explains why he only showed Madoka images of free-range cattle: as a city-dweller, he sees her as a factory farm animal. Showing those images might hit a little close to home. It's consistent with Kyubei's style of telling the truth but leaving the worst parts out.
153** There's also the point that, if Incubators are looking for maximum efficiency, they need their livestock in situations that will provide that energy. If a 'factory farm' existence is all one knows, then there is little to hope for. The resulting despair/Witch-creation would not be of much use to Kyuubey's kind. They ''need'' the tragic accidents, the misguided love triangles, the random unfortunate incidents, to provide something more substantial. And if he's to be believed, then they've indirectly engineered human civilisation to their needs through allowing, in part, emotional humans to be themselves.
154* In episode 9, after explaining his motivations to Madoka and getting blown off, Kyubey leaves with a rather insensitive admonition, "If you ever feel like dying for this universe, just call us." Cue episode 12: Madoka ended up doing ''exactly that.''
155* For those who don't get the Incubator reference, this might count as FridgeBrilliance: Incubation is the process in which someone sits on an egg to provide warmth, and thus hatch it. Note how the Soul Gems are egg shaped and become Grief Seeds when enough despair has been put into it. So Kyubey, short for Incubator, warms, or looks over the egg-shaped gems, until they "hatch" into Grief Seeds.
156** Apparently, he still refers to himself as an Incubator in the new world; perhaps the term actually refers more generally to one of the elements of incubation, that is, the trapping of heat in one place; referencing their professed goal of halting entropy.
157* The day of the airing of the final episodes is on ''Good Friday'' [[KungFuJesus considering]] [[CosmicRetcon what]] [[AbstractApotheosis happened]].
158** It was not initially planned that way. They were to be aired earlier, but the showing was delayed by the massive [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_T%C5%8Dhoku_earthquake_and_tsunami tsunami]]. Which tsunami hit very soon after after the airing Episode 10 where Walpurgis is first shown, apart from the Episode 1 dream. [[HarsherInHindsight Gives "scary" a whole new meaning...]]
159*** Some Madokas from alternate timelines died in partially water-submerged areas. It even caused some fans to speculate that the original Walpurgisnacht ending was intended to be somewhat tsunami-related and the studio had to delay airing and redo the final episode because it all suddenly went real. (And more than once Kyuubey was photoshopped in some real tsunami footage.)
160* Before the unpleasantness of what happened to Mami in Episode 3, she said Madoka should just wish for cake if she couldn't think of anything good. Seems harmless and counter to the gravitas of the other wishes/the push from Mami and Kyubey to not take the wishes lightly. Now think back to the concept of equal hope bringing about equal despair and Episode 11, where Kyubey actually explains what makes magical girl potential to Homura. Given that it is predicated on the amount of misfortune the girl is burdened with, as well as the hope brought by said wish, wishing for cake is the best idea under the original system! Due to the circumstances, Madoka could do better, but for any normal would be magical girl, cake is the best choice. Might be FridgeHorror if you think about why Kyubey was so stringent on the girls not making frivolous wishes.
161** Definitely is FridgeHorror or at least Fridge Irony if you know that Charlotte, the witch Mami is about to fight, DID wish for cake- she wished that she could eat cheesecake with her dying mother one last time.
162* It's shown that witch's runes only appear inside of their barrier, and whenever a witch is introduced, it is shown with its name, with the [[AllThereInTheManual website]] being updated later. Thus it makes perfect sense to not know Walpurgis Night's name, she never had a barrier in the first place!
163** Walpurgis-chan is said to be a combination of other magical girls, after all...
164* We never see Homura using a Grief Seed, even though she seems to carry a few of them around (and going by episode 3, she's definitely not giving them to Kyuubey). Seems like FridgeLogic, right? But Homura has infinite magic as long as she believes she can save Madoka. That's why Kyuubey knew her Soul Gem would darken the second she realized she couldn't beat Walpurgis Night. It's pretty much been frozen in time since she made her wish!
165** Expanding on this, why didn't Kyouko turn into a witch after her father's rampage? Because she still believed in him to some extent. And because the despair must be equal to the wish, that's why Sayaka transforms when she knows she can't be with Kyosuke...''and''why Mami had a FreakOut in the timeline where [[CassandraTruth Homura told them the truth]]. She realized that since her wish was pretty much wasted, she would become a witch soon, and she decided it was better to die before that happened.
166*** Actually in ''[[Manga/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheDifferentStory The Different Story]]'' which explores Mami and Kyoko's past, showing that they used to work together and Kyoko considered the latter a sister figure, Kyoko mentions that she didn't fully go into Despair since Mami - and thus someone she considered family - was still alive. That said, this puts Kyoko's TakingYouWithMe in episode 9 in a different light. With her family gone, sister/mentor figure dead and the girl she had formed a connection with as good as dead, Kyoko didn't have anything tying her to this world and knew she'd become a witch soon, so she decided to go out on her own terms before that happened.
167** An alternate explanation is that Homura is just super-efficient: She uses conventional weaponry, and her shield uses its own fuel to stop time. She might not need to use ''any'' of her soul gem's magic when she fights. She does sometimes use energy attacks, which would explain how she ran low when fighting Walpurgis Night in one of the past timelines — though that could also have been despair creeping in.
168*** Let's see... Homura makes a deal with the devil hoping to protect the girl who matters most to her in the world but discovers that USING her powers would bring her closer to her own damnation and resorts to conventional guns and explosives as a loophole. [[ComicBook/{{Spawn}} Does that remind you of anything?]]
169** Plus Homura can, you know, rewind time. It's entirely possible for her to actually have a huge cache of grief seeds by [[SaveScumming going back in time to kill witches she knows will appear and are easy to kill.]] Just because we don't see her using them doesn't mean she doesn't.
170* Notice that Madoka's Soul Gem in episode 12 and the symbol on Kriemhild's Grief Seed in Episode 10 are both shooting stars. If you don't understand, what do people do when they see a shooting star? ''Make a wish''.
171** The symbolism is also present in Madoka's final attack against Walpurgis Night, where her arrow of light splits into countless ones that descend like shooting stars. Bonus points that when Madoka appears out of said arrows, she does grant the magical girls' wishes to not end as a witch.
172* In episode 11, Kyubey tells Madoka that he doesn't understand why humans get so upset over a single one of their kind dying when there are billions of people in the world. He's not just being callous; due to his StarfishAlien HiveMind status and inability to feel or comprehend emotions, he ''literally doesn't understand'' how the loss of an individual could affect another individual, because to him individuals are just components of a whole. He can't concieve of how it would feel for a human to lose someone they care about, or why they would care about the death of others they've never met.
173* Episode 1 starts with lines which seem nothing but a cruel deception both in and out of universe closer to the end of the series... until you see that they basically describe the ending.
174-->'''Kyubey''' (talking to Madoka): ''"If you give up it will be the end of everything. But you have the capacity to change fate. This unavoidable destruction, this sorrow - you can change it all. That's why you have this power."''
175-->'''Madoka:''' ''"Are you telling the truth? Can someone like me really do something to stop this? Can I really prevent everything from turning out this way?"''
176-->'''Kyubey:''' ''"Of course you can! Form a contract with me and become a magical girl!"''
177** [[BatmanGambit Even more than that, if you stop for a minute to consider where exactly Madoka dream sequence was cut off, and who among the cast demonstrably can do stuff like broadcasting images into Madoka's head]].
178** Moreover, because Homura is still a magical girl despite having made a contract in a separate loop and thus can communicate telepathically with Kyubey, there's nothing stopping him from taking memories of those alternate timelines in HER head and using those as "premonitions" for the other girls. Thus, the worse things get... the easier it is for him to trick the girls into contracts that escalate the conflict one level higher each iteration.
179*** Actually, these last two probably didn't happen. Remember he doesn't know who Homura is or where she came from, or what her powers are, in the beginning of the story. That makes it pretty hard for him to be exploiting knowledge or abilities he gained indirectly from Homura's powers.
180* Along with the many tropes this series deconstructs, it also deconstructs CityOfAdventure. Why would the city the main characters live in have so many witches for them to deal with? Because Kyubey's there.
181** Not to mention that since witches are drawn to people, of course they would end up going where they can find more prey. And in turn, the magical girls would be drawn to where there are more witches to purify their soul gems...
182* Why is "Connect" used as the ending in the final episode, and why are the last two episodes missing the dark and scary ending theme? Because Madoka is fixing things for the better--of ''course'' the dark ending theme isn't there, and ''of course'' it's replaced with a more optimistic song!
183** It also means that since everyone is now living in Madoka's witch-free universe, everyone can now have a new beginning.
184* In episode 12, most people seem to miss that Madoka's wish covers more than the elimination of witches, probably because Kyubey's reaction breaks it up. The second part is perhaps more important than the first: "I don't want any of the girls that have fought witches until now — all the magical girls who believed in hope — to cry. I want them to remain smiling to the end. I'll destroy any rule that stands in my way. I'll change them all. This is my wish, my desire." For this to come true, none of the girls who would have become witches can end in grief and wishes can no longer come with an equal amount of despair. We don't get to see how this changed any backstories, but Sayaka dies a hero, and witch-winged Homura is smiling in the epilogue. The magical girls of the new world are probably best described by Madoka herself when she meets Homura in the space between worlds: We just have to believe. Magical girls make hopes and dreams come true, after all.
185* When Madoka offers Kyouko her hand to shake, Kyouko laughs and instead gives her a candy bar. At first this seems like Kyouko being.. [[{{Jerkass}} Kyouko]] but when you consider Kyouko's attitude towards food you will realise that that giving Madoka that candy bar ''was Kyouko showing Madoka that she had her deepest respect.''
186** Following that same line of thought, Kyoko's "advice" to Sayaka on how to get the man she wanted can be seen in a very different light. Considering [[DeconstructorFleet what PMMM is]], it's very easy to see Kyoko's advice as a darker reflection of giving someone advice in this kind of situation. Which means that when she came up with the nice idea of breaking all of Kyosuke's limbs to render him helpless and dependent on Sayaka, she wasn't trying to mock her. It was probably the first genuine gesture of friendship Kyoko had done towards Sayaka!
187* In a huge tie to "Literature/TheLittleMermaid", Hitomi represents the princess that the prince goes for instead of the mermaid. This explains why she has feelings for him.
188** The mermaid's and Sayaka's motivations for making their prospective DealWithTheDevil are also inverted. In Anderson's tale, the mermaid became human for the prince to fall in love with her in order for her to gain a soul so she could attain eternal salvation in Heaven since mermaids are soulless and undergo CessationOfExistence when they die. Sayaka became a MagicalGirl and later, a mermaid witch, giving up her soul (though she was unaware of this at the time)in order for her to attain Kyosouke's love.
189* In Episode 7, Kyouko gives Sayaka advice and tries to get her to see things her way. Sayaka refuses to listen and walks away, causing Kyouko to become extremely pissed off. Why does she get so mad? According to a [[AllThereInTheManual magazine article]] she was once a CharmPerson who could persuade others to see from her point of view, but lost this ability from the shock of seeing her father go crazy and kill her family. It must be incredibly frustrating for her to have others ignore what she says.
190** In a way, it ''does'' work. Although Sayaka rejects Kyouko's ideals, she ''does'' understand it.
191** When talking about her past before the PaterFamilicide, Kyoko talks about her father who she describes as an honest man and way too nice and the kind of guy who'd read the papers and start tearing up cause he couldn't figure out how to make things better. So, an honest, kind person with a desire to be a hero and help other who then GoMadFromTheRevelation goes on a self destructive and eventually suicidal streak after finding out the AwfulTruth. Gee, who does that sound like? Perhaps Kyoko wasn't just comparing Sayaka to herself when narrating her backstory. The reason Kyoko may taken Sayaka to her father's church wasn't just to cheer her up but prevent her becoming despressed enough to commit suicide or worse take someone else with her. It also explains why she sounded so horrified when Sayaka mentioned hurting her best friend (Madoka) when Kyoko found Sayaka moping in the subway; she may had been having flashes of deja vu.
192* WordOfGod (as seen [[http://wiki.puella-magi.net/Megami_Magazine_2011-07 here]]) reveals that Mami's wish was "to connect lives". --It's a mistranslation, but the phase "connect lives" can still apply to Mami given her [[CoolBigSis role in the show]]. She was introduced saving Madoka and Sayaka from a witch. Episode 10 reveals that she along with Madoka saved Homura from a witch in the first timeline. Also she once acted as sempai to Kyoko before the latter became cynical according to the 3rd CD drama. The spinoff Kazumi Magica further expands this by showing that Mami saved Kazumi who would in turn save the other girls who would form the Pleaides Saints and even emulate Mami's attack style and habit of CallingTheirAttacks.
193* In the third timeline, why did Mami restrain Homura ''before'' shooting Kyouko? Well, along with the Fridge Horror below, Mami probably knows that Homura can't use her abilities if she's being restrained and that said abilities would make it difficult for her to kill the others and herself.
194* Notice that Mami defeats Homura at least twice, despite Homura apparently being a much stronger magical girl, capable of defeating a witch that Mami couldn't in episode 3 with ease. How does Mami manage to do it? Partially because she has the element of surprise, with Homura not expecting either attack, but also because she ties Homura up each time. WordOfGod says that [[http://wiki.puella-magi.net/Megami_Magazine_2011-07 her special talent (based off of the wish she made) is to be able to bind or tie things]]. Each time Mami was attacking with her strongest ability.
195** Further, why did Mami struggle so much with a witch Homura was able to defeat so easily? The witch in question had the ability to mold it's body in such a way that it could easily shift out of any binds Mami put around it. In other words the witch was perfectly suited to defeat Mami's strongest talent.
196*** The FridgeBrilliance doubles in that Mami was ''caught off guard'', [[HoistByHisOwnPetard defeated by the element of surprise]].
197* We learn at one point that Kyubey's race considers emotion to be a mental disorder. What happened when Madoka declares her wish and Kyubey goes into all-out VillainousBreakdown mode, the only real time we ever see him express more than a superficial amount of emotion? That's right - the full implications of the wish '''drove him mad'''. Oh so satisfying!
198* Homura's quote from episode 1: "With kindness comes naïveté. Courage becomes foolhardiness. And dedication has no reward. If you can't accept any of that, you are not fit to be a magical girl."
199** Sayaka was a very kind character, and believed in {{Black and White Morality}} for the entirety of her arc, however, this led her to make some very stupid decisions.
200** Mami had so much confidence in her abilities that, when Homura tried to help her, she merely brushed off her advice, leading to her death.
201** Kyoko was very dedicated to her family, and wished that her dad's church would have believers. Her reward? When her dad found out, he called her a witch that manipulated people's minds and killed her entire family, including himself.
202** As for Homura, She's the only person who remembers Madoka, and has to live with knowing that her actions removed Madoka from her life altogether. ''The Rebellion Story'' shows us what happens when Homura's dedication finally meets its limits.
203* At the end of episode 3 after defeating Charlotte who'd just killed Mami, Homura states that 'This is the end of a MagicalGirl. Cue a shot of a teacup smashed by a Grief Seed symbolizing Mami's death. At first, it simply seems that Homura was refering to how {{Magical Girl}}s were bound to die horrible deaths by witches. Until after episode 8 we find out that Magical Girls who don't purify their Soul Gems become witches. Homura was subtly hinting at the darker nature of the Puella Magi system. -spinindiamond
204* Kyousuke's song choice (Ave Maria) might be a bit odd, but then you realize that the song was in [[WesternAnimation/{{Fantasia}} a short]] that also had Walpurgis Night as a plot device. In the finale, he plays it after Walpurgisnacht was taken care of, much like how the song was played after Chernabog hid away.
205** I might remember wrong, but wasn't Ave Maria also the song he played when Sayaka took him to the roof for that impromptu concert? I saw it as a call-back to that, since both times he plays that song, Sayaka is calm, first reassuring herself that it was worth it and the second time remembering that she really only wanted to hear him play again. Not to mention that when he finishes Ave Maria in front of the jury, despite Hitomi waiting for him, he mutters Sayaka's name, as if he felt her presence in the audience.
206*** You remember right, it was.
207* Next time you watch the series, check out Madoka's room, particularly the arrangement of stuffed animals and shelves. In episode 9 in particular, during her conversation with Kyubei, the arrangement of the room changes over the course of a single scene. Sloppy animating, or is this conversation taking places repeatedly, identically, in several different timelines?
208* Just what ''are'' the demons from the new universe? Well, when Madoka became a Puella Magi, she created an infinite amount of hope. As has been proved numerous times throughout the series, the amount of hope a Puella Magi makes will be equal to her despair, usually resulting in a witch. But there are no more witches. Madoka's goodness created an equal amount of evil, thus resulting in the demons.
209** Manga/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaWraithArc actually explains what they are. They are basically demons, but their role [[spoiler:is to take on the negative energy that grows from people's emotions]].
210* Everything that happens in Episode 1 is important. Do not miss any part of it. For example:
211** The chairs in Madoka's mother's room: It's a ShoutOut to ''Manga/{{Bokurano}}'' that's eventually echoed in Episode 9, when Kyuubey is revealing more of the AwfulTruth.
212** Madoka deciding what ribbons to wear: Madoka's last mortal act is giving them to Homura, who in Episode 10 has been shown to like red headwear.
213** Madoka's mom telling her to act like she has secret admirers: Turns out, the MysteriousTransferStudent Homura is more or less in love with her (MentalTimeTravel plays a role).
214** Hitomi's bashfulness over Sayaka teasing Madoka: Hitomi and Sayaka are in love with the same boy. Hitomi's behavior is overcompensating for hoping Sayaka prefers Madoka.
215** Homura re-writing her name on the board: In the first timeline, the teacher didn't write it in Kanji. Homura would like that to stay the same.
216** Homura being good at everything: Not only has she done all of this before at least four times, but she no longer has her heart defect to bother her.
217** Sayaka wondering if Homura gets {{Moe}} off of how she treats Madoka: Homura herself used to be quite the moeblob, before the series happened.
218** Homura using purple energy bolts as an attack, even though her real abilities are more efficient. She doesn't want Kyuubey to know what her real abilities are.
219%%I'll finish this later.
220* In 10 and 11, the ending isn't shown. This is symbolic, implying TheEndIsNigh.
221* Homura uses her powers to correct her eyes, despite not having healing powers. How? She knows her body is a ''corpse'', and restoring a body is something that any magical girl can do; Kyouko uses her Soul Gem the same way Homura does to keep Sayaka's body from decomposing. In other words, she's restoring her sight by healing her ocular degeneration.
222* [[LostInTranslation In the original Japanese title]], the styling of the logo makes the first character able to be read as "廃怯" or "wavering" instead of "魔法" or magic, making the title "Hesitant Girl Madoka Magica".
223** Likewise, much like mahou shojo, or magical girls, become majo, or witches, the hesitant girl or hai-kyo shojo will become a haijo, a girl who abolishes.
224* In Episode 7, after having her advice rejected by Sayaka, Kyoko is shown furiously taking bites out of an apple. Now, Kyoko's BerserkButton is wasting food, so she chooses to eat the apple to vent her frustration rather than crush it in her hand, which she would've accomplished given the way she was squeezing it as Sayaka walks away.
225** Related is, in Episode 9, we see her gobbling up lots and lots of food from her apartment[/]hotel room. She already figures [[HeroicSacrifice she's going to die in the battle]], so she's making sure none of her food stores go to waste - note that her fight against Oktavia and the buildup to it are the only scenes in which she's not eating anything.
226** This also explains why she berated Sayaka for trying to kill a Familar. To her, there's a food chain between humans, witches, and magical girls. Since Familiars don't drop grief seeds, at least until they kill enough humans to become a duplicate of a witch, killing them is a waste.
227* Homura's given name is usually a surname, while her surname is usually a given name. This makes her name sound like it's being spoken in western order and gives her a foreign feel right from the get-go. Turns out, she ''is'' a foreigner to this timeline. Likewise, the other characters all have surnames that are usually given names, so they always sound like they're speaking informally to one another even when they're not which is foreshadowing to how close they were[=/=]will be in other timelines.
228* Walpurgis Night uses [[KillItWithFire fire attacks]] and the holiday itself is associated with [[BurnTheWitch bonfires]]. Homura uses [[MoreDakka military-grade explosives and artillery]]. It suddenly makes a lot more sense other than just JustForFun/SuperWeight for [[NoSell Walpurgis]] to be [[RequiredSecondaryPowers completely unfazed]] by anything Homura does.- g3m1n1
229** Witches can still be affected by human artillery, hence the genuine need for a Labyrinth. Walpurgris is a combination of other magical girls, which explains why ''she doesn't have a Labyrinth in the first place''. Either she absorbed a magical girl with the ability to be unaffected by man-made weapons, or she grew so powerful to the point where only magic can affect her.
230* This troper wondered why Mami who could supposedly conjure guns out of thin air use her ability to create modern guns such as [[MoreDakka machine guns or assault rifles]] instead of smoothbore muskets that could only fire once. Then she read an article in which Urobuchi stated that Mami's original and primary magic was creating ribbons. The Mami route in the PSP Portable game shows that she started off with using her ribbons as whips and only started using firearms after reading up on gun mechanics to which she shaped her ribbons to look like guns. Muskets were probably the simplest model she could make with her ribbons since modern firearms would require rifling that would be nearly difficult to adjust her ribbons to not to mention being more complex. If the mechanics and physical makeup of a weapon are needed for its creation, then it would explain why the majority of Puella use traditional weapons such as swords, bows and arrows, spears,etc., instead of more modern weaponry such as bombs.
231** Mami ''is'' using rifles (the rifling is visible during her FreakOut in episode 10). Still, the point of using simpler weapons stand: Mami's rifles are single-shot rifled muskets of the flintlock and matchlock types. Even if the propellant is smokeless powder and not black powder, she's still using a simpler weapon than any breech-loader.
232*** Leads to FridgeHorror: there's a modern weapon even simpler to create than a musket. All you need is a core of a particular metal, and enough explosives packed around it to [[Main/NukeEm crush it...]]
233*** Well, this explains [[https://youtu.be/vVcnRsqyGm0?t=397 Mami's strongest attack]]: [[GodzillaThreshold given the situation]], ''she did just that''.
234*** It would also explain why Homura was under the impression two or three Magical Girls could take on Walpurgisnacht, Madoka had done just that in the first timeline, or that her enormous amount of artillery would have done the trick: in the first timeline, ''Mami had nuked Walpurgisnacht'' before being killed, weakening her enough Madoka could finish her off and giving Homura the wrong impression.
235* All the soul gems are the same colors of the eyes of the magical girl who hold them, right? And what are eyes, but windows to the soul?
236* You want to know how many times Homura has fought Walpurgisnacht? Enough times to have mastered the timing/placement of all that hardware she uses. She knows exactly where to hide the V2 rocket launchers, the fuel truck, the tanks, etc, all likely done while she was off screen over the course of each timeline. Heck, she knew exactly where Walpurgisnacht would land after being Tomahawk-missile'd, so as to stack hundreds of individual claymore mines for maximum damage. She's done this fight, over and over, so many times that she has all the timing down to an almost reflexive level, and each time it's not enough.
237* More of a meta example, but read through the [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Heartwarming/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica Heartwarming]] and [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/TearJerker/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica Tearjerker]] pages. It's almost as if every sunny moment in the show needs to be balanced out by a related or following dark moment...
238* Minor, but at her entrance in Episode 1, Mami's protective powers cast unusual color patterns on the girls and her Soul Gem had jittery flowers blooming over it...stylistically similar to witch powers, particularly a barrier-barrier comparison.
239* [[http://mangafigures.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/review-mahou-shoujo-madoka-magica-akemi-homura-good-smile-company-figure-00c.jpg Homura's magical girl uniform]] and [[http://i.imgur.com/QsQtLfO.jpg the Mitakihara middle school uniform]] look very similar. Makes sense that since Homura's wish was for Madoka, her magical girl outfit would be something that she'd associate with her.
240** Compared to the other girls' fancy and colorful outfits, Homura's Puella getup is more plain, lacking in frills and adornments befitting her stoic, no-nonsense personality. It also ties into her original ShrinkingViolet personality.
241** The fact that her uniform is almost entirely greyscale aside from some very sparse purple highlights also reflects that she was in mourning when she made the wish.
242* In the third timeline of episode 10, Mami snaps after learning that Puella Magi turn into witches. She decides that it's better to die instead of turning into a witch and tries to kill her friends before committing suicide. Although it seems that Mami had completely snapped and was killing with no thought, this actually isn't the case. First she ties up Homura, who cannot use her time stopping magic while restrained. Next she shoots at Kyoko's soul gem; Kyoko posed the most threat because she was the most aggressive and would likely act quickly after Mami attacked; by restraining Homura, she could not use her magic. And finally, Mami left Madoka alone, which was ultimately her downfall. Mami likely knew that, because of Madoka's timidity and her admiration of the older girl, she wouldn't attack. Mami wasn't insane; although she [[GoMadFromTheRevelation went mad from the revelation]], she was very much calculated and in control of her actions!
243* Why is it that the semi-official [[AllThereInTheManual magical parameters]] only specify Madoka's stats for the first three timelines? It's so that the exact number of timelines Homura has been through will intentionally remain ambiguous.
244* Why does Kyouko react so strongly to the AwfulTruth about the Soul Gems? As a (possibly former) Christian she'd be very concerned about the fate of her immortal soul.
245* When Kyubey grants Homura's wish, he says "Congratulations; the power of your wish is such that it's overcome entropy." One of the consequences of entropy is the "arrow of time"--the reason why travel to the past is theoretically impossible. Homura's hope/despair about Madoka ''literally'' allows her to violate physics.
246* Comparisons between this anime and ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' are obvious, due to the themes of both shows, but here's a parallel that might not be obvious: The title translation. The titles of both shows are translated from their original Japanese into [[ClassicalTongue an ancient dead language]] with [[SacredLanguage religious]] and [[LanguageOfMagic mystical connotations]] (Greek for Evangelion, Latin for PMMM).
247* Many people have asked why, in the last episode, Kyubey didn't simply refuse to grant Madoka's wish, since it could have negative consequences for him and his race. The answer is actually pretty obvious: he ''lacks the authority'' to deny someone a wish, especially someone with such a ridiculous amount of stored emotional energy. Many times throughout the series, he mentions things that he isn't allowed to do (like suggesting wishes) and talks about his "role" and assigned "quota" in the magical-girl-generating business. Despite people blaming him for all the bad stuff that happens, he's just a PunchClockVillain who probably thought the wish, like all other wishes before it, would backfire and he'd earn himself a promotion. Either way, he's all but incapable of making that sort of decision; from his HiveMind viewpoint, he's not allowed to do it in the same sense that your arm isn't allowed to punch random passersby without your permission.
248* Look at these traits : Superficial charm, grandiose sense of self-worth, cunning/manipulative, lack of remorse or guilt, emotionally shallow, Callous/lack of empathy, failure to accept responsibility for own action. Don't they just match Kyubey's personality perfectly? These are the standard traits for sociopathic personality.
249* This one may be a bit obvious, but: "Walpurgisnacht" is the name of a European festival that takes place exactly six months away from Halloween (or All Hallow's Eve if you prefer), which is April 30th. Offhand mentions of the date in the series and some math show that April 30th is very likely the date during the final episode. In other words, ''Walpurgisnacht is fought during Walpurgisnacht!''
250* It was revealed in the ''[[Manga/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheDifferentStory The Different Story]]'' manga that Kyoko had illusionary powers as a result of her wish, but lost it after her father committed PaterFamilicide. You could also say that Kyoko lost her illusions after she became disillusioned with acting idealistically as a MagicalGirl.
251* Madoka's Soul Gem, when transformed, is a ''teardrop''. When she becomes a Magical Girl in episode twelve, her wish includes her desire for magical girls not to cry anymore, and the declaration that even she has no reason to fall into despair... and it erases her (and her own tear shaped gem) out of existence. When she reaches her Ultimate form, not only is it white with pink/red accents (and thus bears an uncomfortable resemblance to Kyubey), it's adorned with ''five of them''...one for each of the friends she's left behind, ''including her own!'' She literally took their tears onto herself.
252* In one of the timelines shown in Episode 10, Sayaka is reluctant to work with Homura because as a melee fighter, she's afraid that she'll get caught in one of Homura's bombs. When she becomes a witch, the thing that kills her is in fact, one of Homura's bombs.
253* [[BeresfordProductions This troper]] has discovered something about one of Homura's [[FanNickname many nicknames.]] Homerun originated from deliberate mispronunciations, however this nickname has some link to the actual plot. You see, in baseball, when you score a home run, [[GroundhogDayLoop you basically end up back where you started.]]
254** And you gain a point/level.
255* How did Mami know that Walpurgis was coming in the original timeline when it was said to be impossible to predict when and where it will show up? Oriko of course. She wouldn't become antagonistic until Madoka's witch form becomes powerful enough to threaten the planet and Madoka won't go witch in that timeline. Oriko wouldn't help them because she would know that Mami and Madoka would take care of it without her help.
256* The ending illustrates exactly how Kyubey's magic overcomes entropy. Wishes create an equal amount of happiness and despair, which balance out to zero, but the despair doesn't have to negate the same happiness that came with it, only an equal amount. Madoka creates enough despair to destroy the world ''and'' enough happiness to create it, so she uses the despair to destroy the old world, leaving the better, happier one in its place. ''All'' wishes do that, just on a much smaller scale.
257* Kyouko's barrier power. Given her [[Trope/JerkAss JerkAss]] personality, her having this power doesnt seem to make sense at first if you subscribe to PersonalityPowers. Later when preparing to take down Sayaka's witch form in a HeroicSacrifice to buy Homura and Madoka time to escape as well as prevent Sayaka from DyingAlone she mentions to Homura how important it is to find something important and protect it and that she's been looking for one for a long time, so her barrier power does make sense. In addition, it could also be indicative of her ''shielding'' herself against the trauma of her father killing the rest of his family and himself.
258* Episode 10's Oktavia is said to be based on guitars and not violins, also her familiars look very much like Hitomi. As in the fridge logic section implies that in this timeline, Kyosuke played the guitar. This is reinforced by the fact that Oktavia's barrier looks like a stage for a rock concert, complete with colored lights, backup dancers (the Hitomi-look-a-like familiars), and smoke.
259* Madoka's dress as a magical girl has the frilly tutu-petticoat thing, but the pink overskirt on top of it is shaped like a [[CherryBlossom powerfully symbolic flower that carries meanings of transience, sacrifice, first loves, and new beginnings]], all of which apply to her in a huge, huge way.
260* I never understood how Homura's time magic made it possible to follow Madoka into the ether, as it were, but then it hit me: Madoka didn't just change the laws of the universe, she caused a ''time paradox''. ''That'' is why Homura is able to go as far as she does, AND why her constant time-looping hinges all that energy on Madoka: ''she's paradox-proof''. Her magic prevents her from causing temporal paradox! If she ''had'' been able to protect Madoka from contracting before her sand timer ran out, she would have erased her own reasons for becoming a magical girl and caused a paradox in whatever new timeline she'd created, so her time magic alters fate and displaces it from Homura in order to prevent her from doing exactly that. Madoka made her wish in such a way that disregarded time altogether; Homura's explicitly meant going back in time to try again. Homura's real wish ''could never have come true''.
261** That also explains why Homura is still a magical girl in the new universe, even without a Madoka in that universe to try and save by making the contract. She's still paradox-proof (hence why she still has her memories of Madoka in the old universe) when she goes to the new one, Ultimate Madoka just retcons the circumstances surrounding her fate to allow for her continued presence rather than erasing her to make room for the Moemura who would normally exist there.
262** One more thing about Sayaka's swords: She often summons a lot of them, despite only really needing/being able to handle one at a time. Why? Because the only MagicalGirl she saw in action before, her respected senpai, Mami, did the same with her muskets. She is honoring her.
263* Kyubey's "magic" is basically just SufficientlyAdvancedTechnology, right? Of ''course'' [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor the wishes always screw up somehow]]. A computer doesn't do what you want it to. A computer does ''what you tell it,'' no more and no less. A common way for programming teachers to introduce students to algorithms is the "sandwich exercise," where the students come up with a list of directions to make a sandwich, and then the teacher follows those instructions to the letter and gets the sandwich wrong. For example, if the students write the sentence "put jelly on bread", the teacher puts the unopened jar of jelly on top of the bag of bread. The purpose of the exercise is to force the students to rewrite the directions until they're so precise that even a computer can't screw them up. Unfortunately, every magical girl only gets one (1) wish, and if she messes up the wording, there's no do-overs...
264* Why can't Charlotte make cheese if she can make any dessert she wants? It's because she wished for one ''last'' cheesecake when she became a magical girl. She can't make anything with cheese in it because her wish still stands, and she can never have it again.
265* Ever look back to how Homura talked about how people will just disregard Mami and consider her missing and wonder just how she could put it so heartlessly? Well, in the PSP game, during an event in Mami's route where she witches out, Kyubey essentially explains that same point. ''Word for word''. It practically makes sense that she said it so heartlessly because she was quoting a heartless (in the sense that he has no emotions) being.
266* Walpurgisnacht's description as the "stage-setting witch" is just a fancy way of saying that she's the excuse for the plot to happen: her approach (and finally presence) sets the stage for the action of the show.
267* From the HardTruthAesop page, why Madoka's final wish erased her from existence:
268--> If you somehow become capable of selflessness, you will cease to have a self.
269* The way that Sayaka acts, and a lot of the factors that caused her eventual fate, felt familar to me when I first watched it. I wasn't sure of it at first, but then I realized, Sayaka shares a lot of odd personality quirks with someone who has Borderline Personality Disorder! Abandonment issues, mood swings, acts of violence, moments of extreme regret afterwards....
270* One neat thing I caught in the Rebellion movie is that this is the first time Sayaka calls out the name of one of her attacks, "The five Lillians!" A common meaning of the lily flower is, "As the flowers most often associated with funerals, lilies symbolize that the soul of the departed has received restored innocence after death." Just like Madoka has restored Sayaka's innocence after becoming a witch.
271** Also, another word for lily is {{yuri}}. There are five of them and ALL have had romantic or semi-romantic subtext with each other in different media...
272* There were two 'flaws' in the show that bothered a lot of viewers: the fact that [[TheScrappy Madoka was such a timid crybaby]], and the fact that it took forever for her to [[ForegoneConclusion make a contract.]] But these traits make a lot more sense when you consider the fact they manifested '''after she witnessed Mami's death.''' Madoka only really begins bursting into tears after that event, most notably when she's on the roof with Sayaka and Kyuubey in episode 4 turning down the contract and when she's begging Sayaka to stop fighting in a way that hurts herself after the latter savagely beats Elsa Maria to death. Also, she starts to hang back more in the [[EldritchLocation witch's labyrinths.]] Up until then, she'd just been [[ShrinkingViolet shy]] and hadn't really been less involved than Sayaka. It seems like seeing the death of her new friend really [[BreakTheCutie left a mark on her personality]], especially when she blurts out "don't talk about her (Mami) like that!" to Homura in the cafe. For someone as softspoken as MADOKA, that speaks volumes.
273** As for her reluctance to become a [[MagicalGirl magical girl,]] not only would she be scared out of her mind of witches after the infamous episode 3, but a lot of what Mami said and did before then left an impact on ''her'' as well as Sayaka - notably, not to waste her wish, which Madoka spends much of her screentime thinking about. And the last time she said she ''would'' contract? It went horrifically wrong. SPECIFICALLY because Madoka promised she would, no less. Is it really any wonder she'd hesitate?
274** To summarise, since Madoka only starts breaking down after watching Mami die, and because she inadvertently CAUSED that death by promising Mami that she would contract, her "crybaby" nature and her hesitation in regards to the contract look less like a [[TokenMiniMoe token 'cute' characterisation]] and more like a complex developed in her grief, maybe even PTSD.
275* After being a MagicalGirl, the characters seem to have gotten physically stronger, an example being Homura breaking the district record for the high jump. After TheReveal of the true nature of being a MagicalGirl, it hit me: Magical girls do become physically stronger because they lose the physical limitations of their bodies. They are Liches after all.
276* Homura is nearsighted, both [[{{Meganekko}} literally]] and figuratively as she prefers the short-term over the long. Even when she fixes her eyesight post-Timeline 3 all her plans are focused on a single near-term goal (at least relative to Kyubey's timescale of billions of years).
277* Why he title of the show refers to Madoka, when after episode 10 it's made clear that Homura is the real protagonist? Heck, even the movie has Madoka's name when it's all about Homura. Because Madoka is literally the center theme of the show. While Homura is the star, Madoka is Homura's motivation. All she does is because of Madoka's well-being. It's also because everytime Homura turned back the clock, it added more karmic energy to Madoka, to the point of making her have the power to be the strongest magical girl and witch. Everytime Homura returned in time, she made the universe focus more and more on Madoka.
278* There are tons and tons of Tarot references in the story, if you know where to look.
279** Episode 1 parallels the start of the Fool's Journey: Madoka meets Kyubey and Homura, not knowing anything about what's going on. the Fool (an innocent, stumbling into things she doesn't understand) meets the Magician (a figure of power that controls Heaven and Earth with knowledge of magic) and the High Priestess (a feminine figure of love, wisdom, serenity, and the holder of knowledge from an otherworldly source).
280*** Since the events of the series are one month long and it ends on Walpurgisnacht (April 30), it's not hard to imagine that the time loop starts on April Fool's Day.
281** Mami dies in Episode 3, and the 3rd card is the Empress, associated with motherhood, beauty, and comfort, all of which are lost with her.
282** Episode 4, and the 4th card is the Emperor, associated with authority, responsibility, power, leadership, and inflexibility. Sayaka becomes a magical girl in order to restore Kyousuke's hand and take up the mantle of magical girl to protect Mitakihara. Also relevant: the people driven to suicide by the Witch's Kiss do so in a cult-like fashion, the extreme end of an abusive authority forcing them to act.
283** Episode 5, the 5th card is the Hierophant, associated with tradition, the status quo, education, experience, and formality. Homura tells Madoka that magical girls can't be saved because she knows what they really are, and is able to put a stop to Kyouko's (pragmatism) and Sayaka's (idealism) fight with her own knowledge rather than raw power (experience).
284** Episode 6, the 6th card is the Lovers, associated with both love and a choice between two divergent options. Madoka pleads with Sayaka to reconcile with Homura and Kyouko, but Sayaka refuses for the sake of her own ideals; on the other side of the coin, Kyouko agrees to help Homura against Walpurgisnacht.
285** Episode 7, the 7th card is the Chariot, associated with victory, motion, pride, and control. Sayaka starts losing control of her emotions, torn between wanting to uphold her ideals and bitterness that she can never be with Kyousuke; the forces pulling her forward are also pulling her apart.
286** Episode 8, the 8th card is either the Strength card or the Justice card, but Justice fits better; Episode 8 is when Sayaka's strength and her belief in herself as a hero of justice finally falters and she becomes a witch. In other words: both cards reversed. Octavia von Seckendorff has connections to the number 8 (eight syllables in the name, plus Octavia referencing musical octaves.
287** Episode 9, the 9th card is the Hermit, associated with solitude, guidance, introspection, and isolation. Kyubey comes to Madoka alone in her room, and explains the truth about magical girls, witches, and the Incubators to her, and since he eliminated Kyoko by sending her to die with Sayaka on a false hope that she could be saved, Homura is now the only one left to fight Walpurgis.
288** Episode 10, and the 10th card is the Wheel of Fortune, associated with fate, destiny, and cycles. We find out Homura has been reliving the past 30 days over and over again to save Madoka. Octavia von Seckendorff's appearance also recalls the Wheel of Fortune in her attacks.
289** Episode 11, the 11th card is either the Strength card or the Justice card, but Strength fits better; with no other options, Homura faces off against Walpurgis alone, shouldering the burden of her time-looping and its consequences by herself.
290*** Episode 12 ends the series with Madoka becoming the Hanged Man: she chooses to become suspended between Heaven and Earth, giving up her earthly life and form in order to be forever a magical girl, eternally fighting the witch she will also forever be. This forces the world to be destroyed and reborn, with only Homura remaining aware of what happened, and making her the only person who has had to change with the passing of the world, thus becoming card 13, Death, the card of endings and new beginnings.
291*** And finally, in ''Rebellion'': Ultimate Madoka appears in Homura's labyrinth with Sayaka and Charlotte as her agents in order to bring Homura the reunion, peace, healing, and security she promises all magical girls as card 14, Temperance), and Homura rejects it and becomes card 15, the Devil.
292* Magical Girls can use telepathy to communicate amongst themselves and to potential MGs, as shown by Mami, Sayaka and Kyoko, with only Homura and Madoka, even if it would been extremely useful such as the fourth timeline when she shouts at Madoka not to make the contract but is too far away to hear and episode 3, when she tries to warn Mami about Charlotte after the latter ties her up. Homura's lack of telepathy makes sense, though when you remember that Kyubey acts a relay for those thoughts to be broadcasted, and since Kyubey ''wants'' Madoka to make a contract it could block Homura's telepathic warnings. It may had even prevented Homura from telling Mami about Charlotte's true nature, hoping that Mami would either die or be pushed into a corner driving Madoka to contract.
293* In episode 2, Kyubey expresses astonishment that Madoka and Sayaka don't immediately contract, mentioning that every girl he appeared to had always been quick to make a wish. Sayaka, in a moment of introspection, replies that maybe its because she and Madoka had lived such privileged lives that they aren't in need of anything and wonder why they were chosen when there are plenty of less fortunate girls out there who would trade their lives for a wish. As the series and its spin-offs show, Kyubey's MO is to show himself to girls at their DespairEventHorizon (Mami at the brink of death, Kyoko when she and her family were starving) when they see no other alternative, explaining why they were be so eager to contract, which is what Kyubey is aiming for and because wishes with high emotional attachment provide more energy for him and his kind. The reason why Kyubey is trying to coerce Madoka and Sayaka into a contract when neither is at an emotional nadir, is because Kyubey can sense enormous potential in Madoka and wants her to contract so that he can collect it. If Sayaka contracts, then it gives Madoka a motive for becoming a MG to help out her friend.
294* Kyoko's contract with Kyubey parallels the Tree of Knowledge story in the Bible. She gained knowledge of a cruel truth: that the world will break people with unprepared idealism and naivete. She also lost the place she called home, in a figurative sense (her family was gone). Her color motif is also red, like the fateful fruit...and she also likes apples.
295** Kyouko's Biblical themes fit nicely with Sayaka's fairytale themes in that way. Kyoko takes a bite of the fruit by becoming a magical girl: she becomes aware of good (puella magi) and evil (witches) and, as a result, loses her home and subsequently, she also loses her faith in God and descends into a life of sin and selfishness (stealing food, allowing innocent humans to be killed so she can get Grief Seeds, being violent and generally kind of a layabout). Sayaka, being the Little Mermaid, gives up everything for a love that, in the end, is unrequited, and without a soul, she can't go to Heaven... which leads to Kyoko to sacrifice herself to follow her into the dark at the same time she reconciles with God and finds enough faith to pray again, and she does it without crying; according to some versions of the story, the little mermaid becomes an air spirit after she dies and will gain a soul and go to Heaven, but must remain a spirit an extra day for every tear shed by a child. And, of course, Madoka's wish is for all magical girls not to cry and to always remain smiling to the very end... and Sayaka gets to go with her to Heaven.
296* Emotions considered a mental illness? That's not because feeling emotion is illogical; it's because it's a sign of individuality. Only an event on a cosmic scale, like, say, the universe being destroyed, would affect a large enough portion of the Incubators for the HiveMind to register anything resembling an emotional reaction to it. To feel emotions for itself, an Incubator would have to be excluded from the HiveMind, thus, an aberration to the others.
297** Hope is the desire and anticipation of something other than the current reality.. in other words, it is ''potential'', something that ''could be''. The contract simply converts "potential" reality into "kinetic" reality, thus adding energy to the universe and staving off heat death!
298* Why is the opening so happy and shows Madoka as a Magical Girl despite not becoming one until the end of the series? Because we aren't watching the opening for this time line, we are watching the opening to the show if it were the times Madoka did become a magical girl, hence the scenes and so on, or perhaps it really is just to screw with expectations and make us think its a cute show.
299* Kyoko and Mami are pretty strong foils for each other, especially since they're not so different. Mami seems like a hero, while Kyoko seems like a selfish villain, but Kyoko wished for her family to be happy (by wishing for her father to succeed) while Mami wished to live and (by implication) leaving her family to die. Moreover, Kyoko actually becomes a more heroic character when she founds out the [[AwfulTruth Awful Truth]] while that same truth is what cases Mami's breakdown. As a result, this highlights the fact that when Sayaka rejects Kyoko in favor of aspiring to be like Mami, she's really idealizing Mami into an unattainable goal, setting herself up for her own fall.
300** Another good foil for Mami is Homura. Both use long range weapons and rely a lot on their magic, but both personalities and wishes differ greatly which makes them the best rivals. Mami's power are based on her ribbons thanks to her wish of "connecting to life" or "connecting lifes" and she longs for company in her mission; Homura is extremely self-relying and prefers to do things her way and alone, that's why Mami's ribbons are the only known AchillesHeel to her time-manipulation magic. Also, Mami's wιsh was in order to survive (a selfish wish) but later she would be a big sister mentor for Sayaka and Madoka; Homura's wish was in order to protect Madoka but she became more and more selfish and bitter over time.
301* Why does Hitomi decide to tell Sayaka that she has 24 hours to confess to Kyosuke? At the beginning of the series, Sayaka is brash, decisive, and confident -- the kind of girl who doesn't hesitate to act on her feelings, and the kind of girl Hitomi knows her as. Hitomi was likely banking on that, but she had zero idea that Sayaka's self-confidence was being destroyed by the revelations of her new life as a Puella Magi.
302* As with other ironies in the show, the nature of the powers of the four main magical girls are ironies in themselves. To elaborate:
303** Mami's main ability is the creation of ribbons. Ribbons, like strings, represent connections both with life (as with the nature of her wish) and with others, hence there is such a thing as the "red string of fate" that connects individuals. Sadly for her, she was unable to actually connect with others due to her MagicalGirl duties, and any connections she tries to make are mostly severed due to circumstances beyond her control.
304** Sayaka gained the power to heal herself after wishing that Kyousuke be healed of his injury. Sadly, the one injury she cannot heal is her broken heart upon learning that Hitomi and Kyosuke became a couple, in addition to the fact that she felt DefiledForever after learning the true nature of being a MagicalGirl.
305** As stated in ''[[Manga/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheDifferentStory The Different Story]]'', Kyouko can create illusions due to her wish of making sure everyone believed her father's words. All it did for her father upon learning this is to go mad because in his point of view, people believing him was not because of his words, but because of the illusion cast by her daughter to make people believe. She loses this ability once she becomes disillusioned with being a MagicalGirl.
306** Homura gained the power to stop and reverse time. Yet in each reset she did, not only did she fail in her objective, she actually made things worse for Madoka. As pointed out by Kyubey, she tries hard because she knows failure is not an option and as soon as she gives up, her fate is only to become a witch. Long story short, time has already stopped for Homura the moment she made the contract, with no possible way of returning back to what she was, or going forward to a future without Madoka. She loses her time stop powers when Madoka rewrites the universe as soon as she accepted the fact that she has to move on without Madoka, thus starting her time again.
307* At first, a magical girl had to take on the despair equivalent to the hope brought to the world by her wish, and magical girls fight Witches in order to collect Grief Seeds. Despair is the equal-and-opposite reaction to the introduction of hope, creating distortions in the fate of the magical girl that eventually turn her into a Witch. In the new universe, the distortions created by despair are the Wraiths, which the magical girls fight. The difference is that in the new universe, the world gets both the hope and the despair, and the magical girls are now fighting to smooth out the distortions, which leave behind a byproduct that the Incubators can use.
308* As Mami explains in Episode 2, using magic dims the Soul Gem. When a Soul Gem goes completely dark, it is akin to having no magic left. Since magic and the Soul Gem are derived from hope, the act of using magic is then like hope decreasing. As a witch fight continues, subconsciously a magical girl will start to wonder when they will defeat it. The longer they fight, the more hope is lost in fear of not successfully defeating the witch and despairing and becoming a witch themselves.
309** In short, it is more or less how the Sanity mechanic works in ''VideoGame/LimbusCompany'' - if your Soul Gem is bright you're full of hope and more likely to win, but if the friends around you die in battle then your sanity and hope takes a big hit, causes your Soul Gem to get dark, thus lose confidence and lose fights and in the worst case, Corrode/turn into a Witch.
310* After Kyoko prevents Sayaka from killing a familiar in episode 6, she acts surprised that Mami never told her about familiars growing into witches if they ate enough humans. Considering Madoka and Sayaka had spent a couple of days with Mami hunting familiars, it seems surprising that this topic never came up. However, Mami may had been worried that if Madoka and Sayaka knew about familiars becoming witches through human deaths they may decide to take advantage of this to farm familiars as Mami's old student Kyoko did, which was the main reason they split up. Alternately, Mami really wanted the two girls to become puella magi due to wanting a partner from loneliness and if either two knew that other magical girls were willing to allow humans to die for grief seeds, they may had been turned off from joining.
311* In episode 6. Sayaka exclaims that she hates Homura because she thinks Homura allowed Mami to be killed by Charlotte in order to obtain a grief seed for herself. At first, this statement seemed to come out of left field considering that she’d made no mention of it before and is saying it after Homura had saved her from Kyoko. In episode 4, when Homura arrives on the scene after Sayaka had saved Madoka from a witch, she teasingly jokes about her being late rather than accusing her of intentionally letting Madoka die like Mami. If she did think Homura was someone who would sacrifice people for grief seeds, wouldn’t she had tried to warn Madoka to stay away from her. However, looking back at previous episodes, it becomes easy to see why Sayaka would think that way. Homura shows up after the first few witches (Gertrude, Charlotte and H.N. Elly) appear. Looks like her simply tracking witches and coming across the other girls by accident. However, during Sayaka’s and Kyoko’s fight there were no witches or familiars around yet Homura still appears to pull off a BigDamnHeroes moment even when there’s no reason for her to be. Now, Sayaka’s an introspective girl when she’s not being bullheaded and must have wondered how Homura knew they would be there. The answer: she’s been stalking and following them this whole time. This puts her encounters with them in a different light. Instead of Homura looking for Charlotte and coming after Mami got eaten, it now looks like Homura ‘’followed’’ Mami and Madoka into the barrier, saw Mami about to be killed and ‘’let it happen’’ only interfering when it looked like Madoka and Sayaka were about to contract. Without the knowledge that Mami tied Homura up so she couldn’t interfere, it puts Homura ''in a damning light.’’ In addition to that, Sayaka had just been told by Kyubey that Madoka's potential would be high enough to put everyone's to shame making Homura's previous BigDamnHeroes moments seem like an attempt to prevent a future grief seed competitor given that Kyubey was on hand to turn Madoka into a Magica Girl if she so wished.
312* The typical MagicalGirl show has the protagonists fighting with the power of abstract concepts like Love, Friendship, and Benevolence, manifested into BeamSpam that can kill or heal evil enemies. The authors of Madoka Magica evidently think this is bullshit. The protagonists still fight with these sorts of principles, but they're treated realistically, as motivations: Homura doesn't hit enemies with a Love Beam or a Friendship Ray, but her love and friendship for Madoka drives her to work tirelessly to give her a better future, which is how the power of love and friendship ''actually'' works to improve the lives of our loved ones. Madoka doesn't strike a pose and shout about Benevolence before she starts attacking a witch; instead, she commits herself to creating a more benevolent world every day by preventing the causes of suffering and helping those who are in pain, which is how the power of benevolence ''actually'' works to make the world better and happier. It's a far more mature treatment of the same idea.
313* Why doesn't Madoka's wish ever get warped like all the others do? Because she didn't ''just'' wish for all witches to never exist, she wished to ''personally defeat them before they're born''. She goes through the entire series hesitating and being down on herself for not being able to help, for not being useful, for being ordinary. Instead of wishing for something that would eventually produce a result she could be happy with, she makes a wise wish, one that's powerful and practical enough to help all magical girls while still providing her with what she really, truly wanted: to feel like she matters.
314* This is not confirmed as far as this Troper knows, but the placement of Kamijo's performance of Ave Maria was a likely reference to the Disney film ''{{WesternAnimation/Fantasia}}''. In both, Walpurgis Nacht is represented by huge and terrible beasts that only seek to destroy and bring despair. After they are defeated, the simple and calming song of Ave Maria is played to represent that things are now better.
315* Sayaka's whole arc is about being torn apart between upholding her ideals and striving for the sake of others, and learning to cope by becoming greedy and selfish. "Kyosuke" and "Kyoko" are the masculine and feminine versions of the same name, and they each represent these conflicting extremes while also providing flashes of the other side (Kamijou's freakout about Sayaka's gifts of music cds feeling like bullying to him and how he was told to give up, then him not telling Sayaka he was discharged and throwing himself into violin practice and Kyoko selflessly advising Sayaka, looking for her, trying to save her and sacrificing herself for her).
316** This extends to how they act towards Sayaka too. Kyosuke was polite to Sayaka on the surface but was secretly upset that she kept finding him classical music that he was no longer able to play, eventually blowing up at her for it. Kyoko wore her heart on her sleeve, and while she was initially prickly and dismissive towards Sayaka, she still cared for her underneath that, enough to want to try and bring her back from witching out.
317* Madoka's contribution to the magical girl genre's coming-of-age themes is deep as hell, but it can be read as a very thorough examination of what growing up means for a girl when you actually consider all the really dark stuff that adolescence can put her through. Sexual desire (the selfish desire at the core of a wish) is downplayed, ignored, and obscured for being inappropriate, and instead replaced with a charming, romantic ideal (the wish that actually gets made), leading her to trust a man who exploits that ideal (Kyubey) in order to take advantage of her (the magical girl contract). At first she enjoys it, but with the loss of virginity, she has permanently changed in a way she didn't realize, (she becomes a lich) and by the time he's done with her, she's become a woman (a witch). Witches are essentially scorned women, turned to bitterness and hatred because they believed in something that wasn't real and ended up being destroyed by it; in other words, the purity myth. And that's another way Madoka's wish breaks the cycle: she approaches ''her'' awakening with full knowledge and no illusions. If the contract is a metaphor for her first sexual experience, Madoka does it fully on her own terms, with her own wants and needs being fully addressed. And she near-effortlessly defeats Kriemhild Gretchen because, as the anger at the purity myth personified, Madoka knows it's just in her own mind, and she's fully resolved and confident in her decision. This is also why Sayaka will ''always'' become a witch: because she always makes her contract (ie, gives up her virginity) ''because she wants a boy to love her, and he never does''.
318** Creepily, "Incubator" easily refers to Kyubey watching over the egg-shaped Soul Gems until they hatch into witches... but it also references the idea of the ''incubus'', a male demon said to have sex with women while they sleep and causing their dreams to become perverted. Fitting, no?
319*** Also, wikipedia also says that this happening was said to be the cause of the birth of witches.
320* Why can't Homura defeat Walpurgisnacht? Because Walpurgisnacht probably ''can't'' be beaten, period. The only way she's ever defeated is by Madoka, after she's gained a few universes' worth of power. Walpurgis has been milling around causing natural disasters and absorbing other witches and their curses for so long that normal magical girls simply don't have the capacity to defeat her, and even Madoka inevitably witches out because Walpurgis' defeat costs the entire stock of her magic, no matter how strong she is. The helplessness of her nature refers to the PyrrhicVictory of fighting her at all: even if you win, you lose, because she's the entire unfair deal of the Incubators made manifest. And that's also why Madoka has to defeat her without actually fighting her: she just forced the entire universe to TakeAThirdOption, one that prevents Walpurgis from ever existing.
321** In addition, unlike regular witches who do not have a physical manifestation outside of their barrier, Walpurgisnacht affects the real world by causing a calamity like a violent storm. Since witches feed on despair, Walpurgisnacht probably has a near infinite source of power via feeding on the despair of the people being affected by the calamity she causes. In short, those unlucky enough to fight Walpurgisnacht are surely to be on the receiving end of a CurbStompBattle because they are literally fighting a malevolent force of nature instead of an individual turned to a monster due to despair.
322** Walpurgisnacht's battle is basically a HopelessBossFight because, in addition to the above point about it having a near limitless supply of power due to the despair it gains from people, it has elements that would make anybody intimidated by it in the moment it appears; it is gargantuan in size compared to the regular witches most Puella Magi see. It can also fly, whereas no Puella Magi seen so far has the ability of flight. Finally, two of its main powers are fire and wind, basically elemental powers that no puella magi shown possessed. Even if they somehow blocked a fireball from Walpurgisnacht, the explosion and heat from said attack will slowly wear down a puella magi's defenses, and they cannot fully defend against powerful gusts of wind because they would only be blown away, given their small frames. Finally, it is absurd to think that a small girl would even be able to inflict significant damage on such a titanic being, especially when it is shown that even missiles cannot hurt Walpurgisnacht because artillery, if you think about it, uses fire to deal damage, and since part of Walpurgisnacht's powers is manipulating fire, it would be correct to assume that it will be invulnerable, or at least very resistant, to any kind of fire attacks. To make a long story short, Walpurgisnacht is built to be any puella magi's nightmare, hence its nature is '''helplessness.'''
323** Walpurgisnacht is said to be undefeatable, but the only time we ever see her defeated is when she goes up against ''Madoka''. Even in the first timeline shown in the anime, Madoka managed to defeat Walpurgisnacht, albeit at the cost of her own life. She only survived the later ones due to her karmic destiny increasing from Homura's time-travelling, which lead to her turning into a witch. And that's why Madoka can defeat Walpurgisnacht. Walpurgisnacht's nature as a witch is helplessness, meaning nobody ''can'' defeat her... except Madoka, whose witch nature is ''mercy''. Even without turning into a witch herself, Madoka embodies mercy -- and given the state of witches being magical girls that fell into despair, being killed by other magical girls probably is a MercyKill for them. That's why Madoka was the only one that ever managed to defeat Walpurgisnacht. The mercy for every magical girl/witch, saving them from their fate.
324* Subtle, but very neat: Walpurgis has two 'settings', for lack of a better term. The humanoid/doll part of her and the mechanical gears it sits on can either be upside down (as she floats around causing destruction) or right side up (when she basically detonates herself to become a fireball the size of several city blocks), and it's a nice illustration of the futility inherent in fighting her ''and'' Homura's endless struggle with time. She's like an hourglass: you'll never be able to stop the sand falling into the bottom so long as it's upright, the most you can do is flip it over so the bottom is never full. Pay attention to how Walpurgis gets defeated: Madoka's attacks don't physically touch her, but ''she tips over onto her side'', with the gears facing outward as the doll falls apart. Tipping the hourglass on its side is the only way to stop the sand from moving permanently, which is exactly what Madoka's wish does when it defeats Walpurgisnacht and reorders the universe accordingly.
325* Why doesn't Homura care for Mami like she cares for Madoka? Well, LesYay aside, Homura's seen both Mami and Madoka in dozens of timelines and witnessed their reactions to the darkest moments of each month. She likely knows that Mami's compassionate actions, though benevolent, are motivated by her [[SecretlySelfish need to be loved and respected by those around her]]. When Mami is scared or agitated, her benevolent personality cracks and she goes deep end. The best case was when they all learned about the nature of witches, Mami instantly MercyKill[=ed=] her teammates without even asking their opinion. Despite all the horrors in each timeline and Moemura's increasing cynicism about people, Madoka remains consistently honest and ''truly'' selfless. Madoka's not the only person who ever said she loved Homura, but she was the only one who really ''meant it''. That's why she the only one who is so special to Homura.
326** On top of that, Mami is indirectly responsible for most of the suffering Madoka goes through. She's usually the one to introduce Madoka to the magical girl world and convinces her to form a contract with Kyubey, the very problem Homura is desperate to fix. This either leads to Madoka's death or breaks her spirit entirely, leading her to witch out. In the third timeline alone, Mami's FreakOut and attempted murder-suicide act completely traumatized Madoka, and led to her and Homura's deaths at Walpurgisnacht's hands. For all the misery Mami unintentionally puts Madoka through, small wonder Homura could care less for Mami after seeing it happen so many times in different ways.
327* The fountain that looks like a shooting star is obviously referencing making wishes and Madoka's destiny and so on, but why a fountain? Shooting stars are real things, why not just have one in the sky for that scene? The fountain is man-made. Madoka's potential as a magical girl isn't naturally occurring, so it's more appropriate that the metaphorical shooting star that represents her potential is the natural shape (the water display) of a human effort (the fountain itself). You can even take it a step further to interpret the fountain and the ''very idea of plumbing'' as being the end-product of the human effort to control a crucial element of the natural world, which ties into Walpurgisnacht causing natural disasters that always end Mitakihara in flooding, and Sayaka's water theme: water isn't ''inherently'' good or bad, but it's necessary for human life even when it can cause death.
328* In Episode 10, it's revealed that Madoka's dreams are actually [[DreamingOfTimesGoneBy memories from previous timelines]]. Why is Madoka the only one besides Homura to [[RippleEffectProofMemory retain this information]]? In Episode 11, Kyubey reveals that a Magical Girl's power is determined by her karmic destiny. In Hinduism and Buddhism, Karma is defined as the sum of a person's actions in their current and previous states of existence. Homura's wish and her continuously resetting caused multiple timelines and parallel universes to be centered around Madoka, which resulted in the karma from them accumulating around her as well. What else came along? The memories of those actions.
329* One of the earliest warning signs that the magical girl system in Madoka isn't all what it appears to be comes in the form of Grief Seeds. While it's true that most magical girl shows have magical trinkets that the monsters drop, they more often than not take the form of either a jewel or a cutesy decoration rather than something gothic looking.
330* Kyubey has emotions. Not the entire spectrum that's normal for humans, but rather only some primitive ones that would be highly valued for pure survival benefits. For example, Kyubey can't feel happy or sad or angry or anything like that. Nor can he feel wistful, or bored. But he *can* feel simple satisfaction, disappointment, fear, etc.
331** Add to this, he seems to enjoy some things that are physically pleasant. His love of food might be funny, but it does make sense that he could draw enjoyment from things that are necessary for survival.
332* The most selfish wishes tend to lead to the worst outcomes for the characters. Mami's wish was apparently to survive after a car crash, she says that she didn't really have time to think about it, while Kyouko's was for people to listen to her father because she genuinely believed that he was saying the right things, and that people needed to hear them. Mami died a fairly random death in a fight with a witch, while Kyouko peformed a heroic sacrifice to take out Sayaka's witch form. Compare those to Sayaka, whose wish was for someone else, but who made it because she ultimately wanted to benefit because she was in love with them, and Homura, who initially made her wish because wanted to go back and save Madoka despite Madoka willingly going into the fight knowing that it was likely she could die. Sayaka is turned into a witch, while Homura repeatedly goes back in time, but ultimately fails in the series because, like before, Madoka makes a choice that essentially leads to Homura losing her in a different way, [[spoiler:and only succeeds in Rebellion by becoming a villain - and she still loses Madoka.]]
333** Homura doesn't fit that pattern. By that logic, it's selfish of a parent to stop their child from touching a hot stove. Everything she does in the series, Rebellion included, is based on the (sometimes erroneous) idea that Madoka doesn't really know as much as she thinks she does and ends up getting killed or worse. In the series, it's the truth about Soul Gems and Grief Seeds and Kyubey, and she ends the series doing just fine, if lonely and more than a little depressed. In the movie, it's that Madoka regrets becoming a goddess (which she doesn't, but Homura thinks she does because of a misunderstanding) and can't evade Kyubey forever (which the movie itself shows is true). Homura's selfishness is that she'll forsake the world for Madoka's happiness, but that's not until Rebellion.
334* The significance of karma in a magical girl's potential handily explains why Mami, Homura and Kyouko, even ignoring their obvious experience advantage, are so much stronger than Sayaka. Mami is implied to have been Mitakihara's only magical girl (we never get wind of her trying to cooperate with anyone besides Kyouko prior to the series) when she was contracted, so the fate of pretty much everyone in the city rested on her shoulders, and she lived like that for months if not years - that's a hell of a lot of lives to influence. We don't know Kyouko's situation in Kasamino, but we do know that her wish led to the literal birth of a new religion with throngs of followers, and even if they stopped believing after her father's death, what all those people went through must've left a mark. Homura pretty much held the universe hostage and refused to let it move forward in time until she saved Madoka. But Sayaka's wish only really affected one person and their friends/family, and Kyouko and Homura were already around killing witches (and in Homura's case, probably familiars), which made her services as a magical girl far less integral than Mami's.
335* Mami ignoring Homura's reprimand that she is bringing innocents into a dangerous battle in Episode 2 makes more sense when you consider a fundamental fact about Mami: she's not just ignoring the potential danger to Madoka and Sayaka for her own benefit, she's fundamentally GenreBlind. She thinks she's in a show more like Anime/SailorMoon / Manga/CardcaptorSakura, when she's actually in a magical girl show somewhere between Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion and Anime/RevolutionaryGirlUtena. That she ignores Homura's warning makes sense - in her mind the script is supposed to go 'maybe Sayaka and Madoka will face danger as Magical Girls but we'll get through it together!' Given Madoka's potential, her having this view makes even more sense. The same can be said of her battle with Charlotte - she's overconfident partially as a result of her joy at having someone ready to contract with her, but also partially because it hasn't really sunk in that she can die in this battle. It also makes sense given her age - children and teenagers are said to think of themselves as immortal, because they're just too young for death to have any real meaning to them. That Homura acts so much older than her age and treats the battles with the gravity they deserve shows how much death she's had to deal with in multiple timelines - she's both literally and figuratively older than anyone else.
336* Kyubey reveals his species is not just farming magical girls on Earth, but across the galaxy, maybe even the universe. Madoka's wish was not limited to the Earth. So she had to become a goddess, to be able to affect all of creation.
337* Walpurgisnacht and Kriemhild Gretchen are shaped like two halves of an hourglass. In the timelines where Madoka beats Walpurgis, she becomes Gretchen. The crisis doesn't end; the hourglass just flips over.
338* Gertrud is most likely named after Gertrude Jekyll, a British gardener called queen of gardens.
339* If you listen to Sayaka's theme song, ''Decretum'', you'll notice that the song starts off with guitar in the background and then transitions to violins. In Episode 10, we find out that before Homura started messing with time, Kyousuke, who was a primary element in Sayaka's wish making and witching out, used to play the guitar, [[CloseEnoughTimeline but Homura's interference made him a violinist]].
340* Some might question why Homura couldn't use her time powers to rewind time and change things. Why couldn't she just redo everything that happened immediately after it happened, like relaying the battle plans for fighting Walpurgisnacht? It's very simple: she wished for the ability ''[[ExactWords to go back to when she first met Madoka]].'' While she can stop time, rewinding always sends her back to the same day in the same bed in the same hospital. She has no choice but to live through the same two months to try and get things right. Let us also not forget that, even if she could, her time travel is not a free action.
341* Walpurgisnacht's nature can be interpreted as a metaphor for the magical girl cycle and the story of ''Madoka Magica'' itself.
342** "Her nature is helplessness." As magical girls fall into despair, they become helpless to stop themselves from turning into witches.
343** "She symbolizes the fool who continuously spins in circles." This can be taken as a reference to the endless magical girl/witch cycle (magical girl defeats witches to harvest Grief Seeds, becomes a witch herself and gets her Grief Seed harvested by another magical girl, repeat ad infinitum) or Homura endlessly repeating the same month over and over to save Madoka.
344** "She will continue to rotate aimlessly throughout the world until she completely changes the whole of this age into a drama." Magical girls throughout the world make contracts and wishes, influencing the many lives around them in ways both good and bad.
345** "When the doll's usual upside-down position reaches the top part of the witch, she completely roils the civilization on the ground in a flash through her gale-like flight." At the end of Timeline ''n,'' when Homura's sand timer is used up, Madoka makes her wish to erase all witches from history, becoming a goddess and rewriting the universe from the ground up.
346* Kyoko screams "What are you and what have you done to Sayaka?!" at Oktavia while holding onto Sayaka's corpse, unaware that Oktavia ''is'' Sayaka. When does she ask this? After hearing Oktavia letting out anguished wails and cries of pain in Sayaka's voice. From Kyoko's perspective, it looks like the witch might be torturing Sayaka's soul and causing the screams.
347* Some of the theme colors of the Puella Magi have connections to their stories:
348** Sayaka's theme color is blue, which represents sadness. She became a witch out of heartbreak and sorrow.
349** Mami's theme color is yellow, the color of happiness. Her joy at finally having a companion to hang out with while fighting distracted her and got her killed by Charlotte.
350** Madoka's theme color is pink, which is the color of love. Madoka's love for all humans was what led to her making the wish to become Ultimate Madoka.
351** Homura's theme colors are black and purple. Purple is a combination of the calm stability of blue and the fierce energy of red, which shows her ability to remain stoic and her fierce determination to save Madoka. Purple is also said to show ambition, and seeing as Homura repeated time at least 100 times, she's definitely ambitious. Black is the color of mourning; Homura was mourning Mami and Madoka's loss when she contracted.
352* Of course, who's to say that some magical girl ''didn't'' wish the existence of entropy and the heat death of the universe? The '''very''' thing the incubators are trying to prevent?
353* Fridge Funny: The only thing Kyubey is able to completely comprehend about humans is knowing what they qualify as cute.
354* In Japanese, "Kaname Madoka" starts and ends with the same letter, "ka" - very fitting for someone who, even if indirectly, caused time to loop itself over and over again.
355* In the first episode, Madoka updated her mom on her homeroom teacher's dating life. Why so? As shown in episode 11, both women are friends.
356* Kriemhild Gretchen is already known to be a fitting name for Madoka's witch, with the second name helping it tie into Faust symbolism. However, the first name "Kriemhild" is equally fitting for the witch and Madoka as well, as it ties into the ''Nibelungenlied''.
357** In the story, Kriemhild was married to Sigurd/Siegfried, although this love was marred with difficulties between herself and Brynhild after difficulties arose when Sigurd tried to get Kriemhild's hand. This can represent the rising tensions that being introduced to the issues of Magical Girls, with Sigurd befitting Sayaka and Brynhild potentially befitting Homura.
358** Later on, as tensions rise due to the trickery, Kriemhild's brother tries to set up Siegfried's death to avoid conflict. His vassal, Hagen, gets Kriemhild to put a cross on the one part of Siegfried's body that is vulnerable under the pretense that it's for protection. Kriemhild does so, and Hagen then effortlessly kills Siegfried. Hagen proceeds to throw all of Kriemhild's wealth into the Rhine to prevent her from making an army of her own. Gunther and Hagen could befit Kyoko and Kyuubey respectively, the first budging in on Sayaka's territory while the latter explicitly wants to corner Madoka into contracting, manipulating away her resources and things she depends on until she has nothing left.
359** After which, Kriemhild proceeds to marry Atilla the Hun, out of a desire to achieve revenge on Hagen. Underneath the pretense of a baptism, she invites her brother's court to it and after some heated words with Hagen, who proudly carries her husband's sword and who proceeds to murder her child, Kriemhild sets the court ablaze and many heroes die in the ensuing conflict, ultimately ending up with Hagen and Gunther paying with their lives and Kriemhild dying. This, in the end, could befit every timeline Madoka makes a wish that ends up with her witching out, that she just continues the cycle of death and destruction and that her witch has the potential to kill everyone.
360* Walpurgisnacht is a stage-setting which. She has the power to gather witches and absorb them. A stage-setter would want to gather people around for their show, would they not?
361* Why do witches appear more frequently near hospitals or places known for accidents and suicides? Because they tend to be places where people, such as magical girls cross the DespairEventHorizon
362* Homura's choice of weapons reflects directly on her experience and skills at the moment she uses them:
363** Her first weapon is a rather ineffective golf club, when she had just contracted and barely had any idea of what she was doing... And she's promptly told to get something better before she even get to fight once.
364** After that time she switches to pipe bombs and guns stolen from the Yakuza, most notably an AwesomeButImpractical Desert Eagle. She's getting better, but isn't quite there yet.
365** By the final timeline she switched almost completely to military weapons, and has one for any occasion (even stun grenades for non-lethal takedowns), indicating her extreme competence and just how deadly she is.
366*** The one non-military weapon she still uses is the pipe bomb, being the first weapon she even uses on-screen ([[FreezeFrameBonus four can be briefly seen on Charlotte's tongue right before she explodes]]). While it's a weapon for her early days it's an ''effective'' weapon and one she can make herself, indicating her devotion to self-reliance.
367*** One of her guns is a Beretta M9, that she empties on Kyubey of holes and keep Madoka from contracting. Not only this is [[NoKillLikeOverkill extreme overkill]], she's using a gun criticized, among other things, for being large for adult men, let alone a teenage girl, the latter hinting that she's not as on top of things as she seems and the former that, when it comes to Madoka, she'll pull all stops.
368* Charlotte looks out of place compared to her fellow witches, with a hand drawn design and not some kind of mosaic. She looks more like a simple cartoon plush toy/caterpillar monster, which makes more sense knowing who she was in life. Nagisa was only 8 years old when she contracted and turned into a witch without fighting any in her short life. The cartoon design resembles her youthfulness, while the simplistic design separates from the other witches who had far more experience and maturity when they were magical girls.
369* Kirsten/H.N. Elly has an Internet theme, with "H.N." standing for "Handle Name" (in other words, an online username), official materials describing her as a {{Hikikomori}} (implying she spends a lot of time on the internet), and her barrier having a lot of computer or TV screens in it. She is also the only known witch to have spread her witch kiss to a large number of people. This ability may be related to her motif: it's easier to reach a lot of people at once over the Internet, especially with the rise of social media.
370* Magical girls get their magical powers by selling their souls (and making a wish). Historically, witches (as in the mythical spell-casting women, not the creatures from the anime) were sometimes believed to be people who sold their soul for magical powers. Now, remember what the eventual fate of all magical girls is shown to be?
371* In Puella Magi Madoka Magica, magical girls eventually become witches. Looking at the magical girl genre as a whole, the earliest works were [[CuteWitch majokko/witch girl]] stories like ''Manga/SallyTheWitch'' and ''Anime/MajokkoMegChan'', while the more well known [[MagicalGirlWarrior Magical Girl Warrior]] subgenre that the magical girls in PMMM seem to take inspiration from came much later in the genre's timeline. Perhaps the thing with magical girls becoming witches in PMMM is a reference to this, albeit in reverse.
372[[/folder]]
373
374[[folder:Fridge Horror]]
375* Walpurgisnacht is confirmed to be made of multiple magical girls. Since magical girls have innate abilities based on their wishes, this means only a purely powerful wish that is stronger than not one, or two, but many witches' curses at once can counter this. Madoka is fated to be the only one to fix this.
376* If a magical girl's soul is extracted from her body when she makes her contract so their body can become more durable, wouldn't that have made Mami's wish to live a waste since her body could have been more easily fixed after she made the contract?
377** It was indeed wasted, and she realised it the moment it was over, but also for another reason: it gave her the guilt of wasting the wish on herself when she could have saved her parents as well.
378*** Worse yet. What if she wasn't dying? All we know for certain was that 1) she was injured and 2) her parents were killed. Maybe she was dying, but maybe she only ''thought'' she was dying and Kyubi exploited that to his own advantage. We never heard her wish, it could have been "I don't want to die ''here''" as opposed to "I don't want to die". It could not have been "I don't want to die" because of obvious reasons...
379* Much of the series when considered from the perspective of the adults is this. Teenage girls inexplicably going missing and/or turning up dead, sometimes for no seemingly no reason whatsoever.
380* It is mentioned that those who die in a witch's barrier leave no bodies behind. Pondering this, it makes you wonder how many people killed by witches were presumed to be missing. Also, consider Magical Girls who turned into witches. Their families and friends think of them as missing and spend the rest of their lives looking of them never realizing that their daughter, sister, etc. has now become an EldritchAbomination that feasts on humans. That missing 12 year old on the news report whose parents are begging to be found, probably skulking around in an alley sucking human souls and emotions assuming she hasn't been killed by a Magical Girl yet.
381** It makes perfect sense that the first despair victims of a new witch would be her family. It is much harder for the family of a disappearance victim to wonder what happened to their missing loved one than to learn she was murdered and get closure in time.
382*** I'm not sure if you meant family are figuratively or literally victims of the witch, but the latter interpretation makes a lot of sense. Plenty of girls probably succumbed to despair during their civilian life. The people nearest them in that case would most likely be family or close friends, either there to comfort them or inadvertently causing the break...
383* The magical girls? They're powered by Grief Seeds, the life force of the Witches they hunt. Witches that gain said life force by forcing humans to suicide.
384* For those who haven't gotten the fridge horror about Myth/{{Faust}} references -- Faust is the [[UrExample prototypical]] story about a guy being tricked into making a DealWithTheDevil, '''who appears to him as a cute animal'''. Turns out that the MagicalGirl contract involves Kyubey [[SoulJar removing the girl's soul and moving it into a soul gem.]]
385* One of the Puella Magi shown in the last episode is suspected to be Anne Frank. She gets saved by Madoka, but what if that didn't happen? Remember why Mami wanted to kill Charlotte? To prevent her from sucking out the life from already weakened people. Now, think of where that girl is going, and how many "weakened people" are going to be there.
386** This brings up the knowledge of how many other Witches ''must'' have been born out of [[GodwinsLaw the Holocaust]] ([[UnfortunateImplications perhaps opening up a whole new can of worms there]]), the rest of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, all of humanity's other wars and instances of, well, inhumanity...as well as economic downturns such as [[TheGreatDepression the Great]] (ahem) [[TheGreatDepression Depression]] ([[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything which paved the way for the Nazis' rise to power]]), natural disasters and epidemics... And that's not getting into the much more permanent misery of the Third World. How many Witches has, say, Haiti or Sudan produced? Yeah, [[NightmareFuel you don't want to]] [[TearJerker think about it for too long]].
387** How long do those Witches live if they aren't killed by Magical Girls? Maybe some of them have been sitting inside their barriers, alone, for decades, centuries, or possibly ''even longer.'' Even as the outside world moved on from those tragedies, they were left behind.
388** This scenario is made even more disturbing when you consider just what sort of wish a candidate during ''the Holocaust'' would make and how that would be subverted. How many people tried to save their families only to have them murdered in even more horrific ways, or got their loved ones more food in exchange for their being put in the "better" barracks where subjects for sadistic medical experiments were kept?
389** Alternately, considering that Walpurgisnascht is an amalgamation of multiple magical girls, perhaps the sheer despair born from the Holocaust ended up giving birth to one or more Walpurgisnascht-like witches in addition to the ''many'' witch barriers spawned from the concentration camps. Such an outcome likely lead to a far worse outcome for Germany due to all the witch attacks in tandem with Allied efforts to defeat the Nazis, effectively crippling the country economically and socially if it wasn't destroyed outright.
390** [[FromBadToWorse And it gets even more disturbing.]] Kyuubey says that he and the Incubators have been guiding our development since back when we were cavemen. That they were the ones who help build our civilization. ''Literally all of humanity history has been built on this cycle of witches and magical girls.''
391* Magical girls are powered by wishes. Mami comments to Homura on how much talent Madoka has...Or in other words, how many unfulfilled wishes she carries.
392* The scene where we see Mami's shattered tea cup. If you ponder the color and viscosity of the fluid that's also there, and what fell onto the table a moment ago, you'll realize what else you are seeing in that scene.
393** Better yet, it's been confirmed that Charlotte is unable to create cheese. Now what colour is cheese again, and which Puella Magi has that as her theme colour?
394* Episode 6 reveals that a Soul Gem is almost literally ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. [[SoulJar It contains the soul of the Magical Girl who uses it]], turning the girl herself into a lifeless shell that needs the Gem to be animated. In short, being a Magical Girl is the same as being a ''[[OurLichesAreDifferent Lich]]''. When Madoka snatches Sayaka's gem and throws it off the bridge, it safely lands on a truck with a soft canvas over the back. Imagine if it missed.
395** Even worse, imagine if Homura didn't catch up: it could get buried in some foundation, with Sayaka's soul sealed away in stasis ''forever''.
396** As of the [[VideoGame/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaPortable PSP game]] revealed: If Sayaka's soul is being kept away from her body for too long, such as a week or further, her body would begin to rot. Imagine Sayaka [[FromBadToWorse waking up with her grossly rotten body and bumping toward Kyosuke]]...
397** A huge FridgeHorror moment when you realize that Madoka NEARLY became a lich for CAKE.
398*** Word of God has said that Charlotte's wish was '"To eat a cheesecake with her mother before she died"'. Her mother being a cancer patient who can't eat cheese due to chemotherapy. This results in almost instant despair and witchdom when she realizes she ''could have just wished for her mother to be cured''. Now, think about all the opportunities Madoka would have after the hypothetical cake with Mami to ''really regret eating that cake'' in lieu of a better wish, the ending for example.
399** What happens if a Magical Girl gets another's Soul Gem while they don't have their own? For that matter, what happens if they get a Witch's Grief Seed? Kazumi Magica has as arc villains a pair of Magical Girls who share a body, with different transformations and the ability to merge their power to boot.
400** Suppose a Magical Girl's body were to be completely destroyed like say incinerated but her Soul Gem were to remain intact. Unless someone destroyed it, then their souls would be trapped within unable to pass onto the afterlife. [[AndIMustScream And let's not get into the possibility that the magical girl's souls are sentient inside the soul gem...]]
401* Episode 8: Confirms that Witches are fallen Puella Magi. Sayaka becomes one by effectively committing mahou-suicide and not purifying her soul gem, at all. Combine that with the implications that destroying Witches to cleanse your gem will net a profit (at any rate, this seems to work for Kyoko), that effectively means that the ''only'' way for a Soul Gem to corrupt to a Grief Seed is for the Puella to let it happen. In other words, every fallen Witch has gone through the same level of [[BreakTheCutie trauma, pain and suffering]] that Sayaka did. How many Witches have we seen so far? ''Yep''.
402** In fairness, they could have been familiars who grew into witches...but they likely still originated from a fallen magical girl. Clones, perhaps?
403*** Don't forget, it's been stated that familiars have to kill someone (possibly consume their soul?) to become full Witches...
404** Grief Seeds are souls. Kyubey consumes Grief Seeds. AndIMustScream.
405*** Even better: Grief Seeds are ''lost'' souls.
406** There are other ways that are either stated or implied as possible causes for a Magical Girl becoming a Witch. The "best" way, though, would be accidentally burning through your reserve of energy, or being forced to do so by circumstance. The latter happens in Timeline 3, when Madoka and Homura both nearly become Witches, while the former occurs in Timeline 4, when Madoka (as a new but incredibly powerful Magical Girl) realizes that she ''can'' kill Walpurgisnacht with one attack, without knowing that she ''shouldn't''. This is implied to cause depression and pyschosis when the victim is rapidly drained of any ability to feel any positive emotion, though, so it's not really any better. Other means of turning involve falling into despair the old fashioned way, or believing that you have died. In short, all of the Witches have suffered horribly thanks to the jerkass bunny-cat, regardless.
407* Even more vicious when you realize that Mami's death could be considered an unintentional MercyKill. Since becoming a witch is FateWorseThanDeath.
408** This hits home even harder considering how Mami reacted to learning about the nature of Soul Gems. By trying to kill everyone else.
409** Which makes Kyubey's line about Mami never finding out the nature of Soul Gems HarsherInHindsight.
410* Episode 8 we have the following exchange between Kyoko and Homura:
411--> '''Homura:''' Walpurgis Night will begin here (pointing to a location on the map)\
412'''Kyoko:''' How do you know?\
413'''Homura:''' Statistics.
414** How many time loops do you have to experience to form STATISTICS?
415*** According to [[WordOfGod Urobuchi]] almost 100
416* Alternatively, the symbolism surrounding Elsa Maria is ''very'' Christian-like, specially in regards to prayer and roots. Kyoko had a younger sister, Momo, who shared her suffering. [[http://wiki.puella-magi.net/File:Ep7witchandflashback.jpg She was seen praying in Kyoko's flashback]], and there were root-like trees in the background. Unlikely, but what if Momo went through the same and ended up as a MagicalGirl too?
417** Just going to point out, but didn't Kyoko say that her father killed her family before committing suicide? Unless Kyubey approached Momo, it would be impossible for Elsa Maria to be her.
418* After Homura shoots the hell out of Kyubey, Kyubey returns in another copy and eats his own corpse. You would think this was done just to emphasize the creepiness, but fridge horror hits when you realize Kyubey wants to obtain and conserve as much energy as possible to the point of ''eating himself'' as to not waste energy.
419** Another FridgeHorror in that scene: Kyubey appears completely black save for the creepy red eyes. He won't even let ''light'' escape his being, Kyubey is a black hole that sucks everything in.
420* Familiars become Witches themselves after consuming people. Familiars mature into Witches identical to the one they "budded" from. Multiple Charlottes, for example, is a very realistic notion.
421** Mami's victory against Gertrude and loss to Charlotte despite showing off in both fights are simple to explain if you think that Mami had faced another Gertrude before while Charlotte was a witch she hadnt faced. Against Gertrude, Mami gets Gertrude's attention by [[BerserkButton stepping on her flowers]] and aiming her shots to capture the witch at the right time, indicating past experience with the witch. The likely reason Mami didn't tell Madoka and Sayaka about this would be because it looked more impressive that way and she may had been thinking about Kyoko.
422* Kyubey's [[CosmicHorrorStory explanation]] in episode 9. There's an entire SPECIES of those things. On. Our. PLANET.
423* The interaction of Puella Magi and Witches with their feeding habits is a long-established system. Now, think about how the first witches came into existence. That's right, most likely Kyubey's kin created them, or Puella Magi that matured into them, without providing anything to keep corruption at bay. Just like that.
424* Homura's power is to use a sand timer with about a month's worth of sand in it. By blocking the sand flow, Homura use her time-stop powers. However, the sand timer resets itself (and the world) when it runs out of sand, ''whether or not Homura wants to restart the loop''.
425** It gets worse. If Homura can't control the loop, then the only way that she could succeed (other than what actually happened) is to find a satisfactory ending then immediately self-terminate. Still not bad enough for you? ''Homura probably wouldn't know that the first time.'' So first, she has to find a satisfactory ending, than ''watch it reset itself'' and then find it again (possibly involving another 100 time loops, because any tiny mistake could make it change) and ''kill herself immediately.'' Yeah, she really got the short end of the stick here.
426* In the fourth timeline of Episode 10, Homura decides to handle everything by herself. In her monologue, she revealed she killed all the witches, except for Walpurgisnacht. In that timeline's Walpurgisnacht, only two people remain: Madoka and Homura. What happened to the other Magic Girls? Homura killed them too, to make sure none of them mature into witches.
427** Very unlikely, as ''Rebellion'' movie shows Homura being incapable of killing Mami by shooting her soul gem. Oriko is a definite exception due to her clear intent on killing Madoka in almost every timeline she appears. It is still possible for Homura to turn the other way and abandon her fellow Magic Girls who were cornered in Witch barriers, though.
428* One of the Episode 10 Witches, Patricia, is apparently based off school uniforms. Thanks to the tone of episode (at that point in time), it looks pretty damn ridiculous, but when you stop to think about it...
429** Original Witches (non-familiar spawned copies) are grown out of fallen Puella Magi, usually due to them falling to despair about life.
430** Witches always have some way of stealing the souls of those who enter their Labyrinth; be it eating them (Charlotte), dragging them into themselves (Elsa Maria) or more exotic methods (such as Oktavia, for instance, [[AllThereInTheManual who steals souls via her music]]). Up this Witch's skirt appears to be some sort of infinite orifice.
431** Given the uniforms, the above fact that witches originate from ''young girls'', take note of the odd position the Witch appears to be in, and that her familiars have bruises on their thighs... and realise you're probably looking at a Puella Magi who fell to despair and turned into a Witch because of ''sexual abuse''.
432*** To make things even ''worse'', remember how Homura killed her... by throwing a bomb up Patricia's skirt.
433* Each mahou shoujo's wish comes with a curse to balance it...and Mami [[ForegoneConclusion wished to live]].
434* In episode 10, Kyubei mentions meeting his quota for this planet. This would imply that Kyubei's species is working on other planets, with other species. What if Walpurgisnacht's already happened on other worlds? What if a witch can send familiars out to other planets? Has Kyubei's kind unintentionally created something on the level of [[VideoGame/ChronoTrigger Lavos]]?
435** There is more evidence that supports this, [[http://wiki.puella-magi.net/Itzli Itzli]] appearing in the PSP game is said to have come from the end of the galaxy, thereby effectively making her some form of Lavos. While not common knowledge due to being an endgame boss, the consequences are horrifying.
436* [[ParanoiaFuel Say, ''your'' sister has been acting a little odd lately, hasn't she? I believe she was nattering away making a wish about something or other until about three days ago, hmmm? Let's hope she hasn't made a wish ''that'' way yet.]]
437* Entropy. Kyubey kind of fudges the explanation in order to simplify it for Madoka, but the concept is very real. While there are at least a dozen ways for the universe to end before that, according to everything we've learned until now, entropy is what will eventually and inevitably do us in, even if all else fails. So, unless we can hop over to another universe - one with less sucky laws of thermodynamics preferably - we're all screwed in the long run.
438** As of December 2011, Wikipedia on entropy states: "The role of entropy in cosmology remains a controversial subject. Recent work has cast some doubt on the heat death hypothesis and the applicability of any simple thermodynamic model to the universe in general. Although entropy does increase in the model of an expanding universe, the maximum possible entropy rises much more rapidly, moving the universe further from the heat death with time, not closer."
439*** Because Madoka's wish gave Kyubey enough energy, of course!
440* People are complaining about Kyubey having facial expressions in the manga, arguing that the reason Kyubey is so scary is because of his FrozenFace showing his LackOfEmpathy. On the other hand, being able to show facial expressions makes Kyubey's job easier. After all, a girl might be wary of a creature whose face never changes. Kyubey's inability to feel emotions probably hasn't changed. Now he just ''knows how to fake them''. It's also more of a pragmatic thing. A lot of the impact of his (lack of) tone of voice and ''absolutely'' still expression (even most characters with a FrozenFace move their mouth when they talk) is lost in the transition to a print medium. As mentioned earlier under FridgeBrilliance, he tends to look much cuter in still screenshots than he actually does in context, so the manga had to try to compensate for that.
441* Episode 11 Kyubey states that "emotion is a mental disorder on our world." IndividualityIsIllegal on the Incubators' homeworld, so not only are there probably thousands of fully sentient Incubators trapped in asylums for "feeling", but the Incubators as a whole will never evolve emotion and thus have to keep leeching off the despair of other worlds.
442** It's also very likely that they're leeching off the despair of their own mentally ill. /人◕ ‿‿ ◕人
443* Remember that one familiar Kyoko let escape in episode 5? The childlike scribble playing with hundreds of rubber balls? [[AllThereInTheManual The official website]] labels her Anja, a minion of the witch Albertine, whose ability is...transforming humans into rubber balls. [[AndIMustScream And making them bounce for every lie they've told in their lives.]] How long can someone survive being bashed against the ground like that? How many people died because Anja escaped, [[WhatTheHellHero just so Kyoko could get a Grief Seed?]]
444** Anja attacked Sayaka using the rubber balls, and Sayaka ''cut them in half''.
445** More on Albertine: Her familiar's barrier is decorated with notebook paper, colorful stars and pencils like one might see in a school setting. [[AllThereInTheManual Outside of the show,]] Albertine herself takes the form of a young girl in a colorful jumper. She likes to play hide-and-seek, and makes her familiars punish humans for lying. Adding this all together implies that the MagicalGirl she spawned from was either a very young girl or a PsychopathicWomanchild.
446* According to her witch card, due to Kriemheld Gretchen's goal of ridding the world of misfortune, "The only way to defeat this witch is to make the world free of misfortune. If there's no grief in this world, she will believe this world is already a heaven." The only plausible way to do this is to make a wish to that effect... but Kyubey, if he even knows this would work, ''is not allowed to suggest wishes''. He couldn't stop her even if he wanted.
447** Even worse, what if Madoka ''did'' wish for that? After all, Kriemheld Gretchen created a world with no misfortune, no grief . . . and no people.
448* During the fight with Oktavia von Seckendorff, [[http://ext.pimg.tw/outlawstar/7e351715313a771f1e91953911bf7b11_n.jpg a sort of melting shadow]] appears. [[AndIMustScream Is that what's left of her soul trapped inside, being corroded by the despair of a witch?]]
449* In nearly every timeline Mami seems destined to lose her head. Either figuratively (by snapping) or literally (by becoming dessert).
450* Fridge [[TearJerker Depressing]], maybe. Why is Homura becoming so cold and standoffish, even to Madoka, after repeating the timeline? It's because Madoka's lack of confidence reminds Homura of her old self, from the first time she failed to save Madoka's life.
451* More Fridge [[TearJerker Depressing:]] It has been established by WordOfGod that in ''every single timeline,'' Sayaka is doomed to contract and become a Witch (or in the finale, die fighting one). ''No matter what.'' That's right--Sayaka is ''unable to be saved. She is'' '''''completely and utterly doomed.'''''
452** Good news: This is only the case if she contracts. In the other timelines ([[Manga/PuellaMagiOrikoMagica case in point]]), she turns out pretty okay.
453* When a Magical Girl's Soul Gem shatters, she dies, and her body detransforms almost immediately. However, in Episode 3, it takes a small while for Mami's body to detransform ''after'' she's getting her head chewed off by Charlotte. Meaning, she was still ALIVE and possibly CONSCIOUS for a few instants while this happened! Brr.
454* So you think the ending is all fine and dandy with everyone happy, right? Well, here's the things that ''didn't'' get fixed from the old world. (Shouldn't add anything bad to the Already Bad World, but just so you remember this is still ''Puella Magi Madoka Magica'' we're talking:
455** Kyouko's father still went suicidal and killed her family.
456** Soul Gems are still [[SoulJar Soul Jars]].
457** Magical girls are still prone to disagreements, anger, etc. For instance, Sayaka and Kyouko still fought.
458** The death rate is still probably high.
459** Even in the new world, becoming a Magical Girl dooms a girl to a violent and probably short life.
460** There are demons everywhere!
461* It is heavily implied that Homura is about to die after the Credits. First we see her with white wings, then after the Ending with Witch-Barrier like wings. Also she is hearing Madoka's Voice, suggesting that Madoka will have to prevent the birth of a Witch again.
462* So Kazuko says that Hitomi feels bad about Sayaka's 'death'. What did Hitomi do right before that? Confess to Kyosuke, of course. The girl probably believes she accidentally ''[[DrivenToSuicide drove Sayaka to suicide]]'' by doing that.
463** ''Worse'', when you consider that her confessing to Kyosuke was the accidental catalyst for the already very deep-in-shit Sayaka's transformation into a witch.
464* The Manga's changes show some unsettling ideas. For one, look at the scene where Sayaka attacks Hitomi and Kyousuke. Consider that one, the author of the manga supports the theory that Sayaka killed those two men in the train, and two, ''you never see Kyousuke and Hitomi until the new timeline''.
465** Oh, and no funeral scene would mean that in the Mangaverse, ''Weekend At Sayaka's'' is possible.
466** Another disturbing scene occurs when Homura is fighting against Walpurgisnacht and gets attacked by three familiars that take the shapes of Mami, Kyouko, and Sayaka. When you consider that Walpurginacht is an amalagation of the spirits of dead {{Magical Girl}}s, its possible that those werent familiars but the three other main characters under the control of Walpurgisnacht. To add to that nightnarish scenario, remember that Madoka also fought against the same witch in other timelines and may have also been treated to the same experience.
467* Kyouko's last moments in Episode 10. Mami, the Magical Girls' [[TeamMom parental figure]], finds out everything she believed in is a lie and tries to commit triple murder-suicide in a fit of madness. [[PaterFamilicide Which incident from Kyouko's past does that sound like?]] So basically, Kyouko dies going through the worst thing that ever happened to her ''all over again.''
468** ''Worse.'' The PaterFamilicide incident could be ''why'' Mami targeted Kyouko first -- so she wouldn't have to witness a similar event again and why she didn't go after [[TimeMaster Homura]] first or the other long range fighter Madoka. Considering the third Drama CD, which reveals Mami and Kyouko's common past and tells things that happen quite a while ''before'' Homura starts the time jumps and time changing... it's ''very'' likely.
469* So according to Kyubey, putting too much corruption into a Grief Seed can revive a witch which is why he eats used up Grief Seeds. This is bad enough in that it means Puella Magi have to continually battle witches to keep TheCorruption at bay with new Grief Seeds, but think about what this means for witchturned!Puella Magi. Since the Soul Gems are the girls' SoulJar and they can only be killed if the gems are destroyed and Grief Seeds are fully corrupted Soul Gems then defeating a witch doesnt kill it but only puts it into hibernation since the Grief Seed hosting the former Puella Magi's soul is still intact. In other words, ''' The girl is still doomed to live out the days of her unlife as a witch unable to pass on. The only true way to end the girls' curse is to destroy the Soul Gem or Grief Seed.''' Kyubey, true to his nature of preserving resources could be collecting Grief Seeds to revive them later as foes for new contracts as well as prevent any Puella Magi aware of the AwfulTruth from destroying them.
470* Listen to the song "Nux Walpurgis" from OST volume 3. While it plays in episode 11, Homura's gem is corrupting, but Madoka stops the process. But in the OST there is a longer version, and it perfectly fits the Homura transformation into a witch.
471* Right after Mami's death, a distressed Madoka asks how many people Homura has seen die. Homura pauses, then says that she's seen [[{{Foreshadowing}} more deaths than she could count]]. Considering the four main characters that are not Homura die every time loop, about a quarter of these "countless" deaths would have been Madoka herself.
472* The bizarre creatures at the end of the first episode (flying scissors and everything) say things like "Let's just cut them off" and "We present the roses to our queen" in their weird, screechy voices. Now think of what would've happened if Mami hadn't been there to save them.
473* Seems like a lot of witches or their minions like to eat or mutilate corpses. That means many witches or their minions probably ate the corpses of their own human forms.
474** Which even has precedence, considering Kyuubey also eats his own corpse, and the witch[=/=]magical girl system is the creation of the Incubators.
475* Why did Hitomi, arguably one of the most happiest girls in the show, got a witch's kiss so easily? Doesn't having a witch's kiss mean that you were depressed enough to be vulnerable to it, or at least have depressing thoughts? Kyousuke's hand was healed in the same episode, the episode that Sayaka became a magical girl. Considering that Hitomi wanted Sayaka to confess to Kyousuke first, did she somehow hear about Kyousuke getting better (maybe from Sayaka herself before she saved the day?) and, not only thought about but ''feared'' of the consequences of the [[{{LoveTriangle}} Love Triangle]], thinking it would harm their friendship? Given how she decided that Sayaka should take the initiative when she got better, probably because she wanted her friend to be happy, what was she planning originally? Was she thinking that if she [[{{DrivenToSuicide}} 'got out of the way']], her friend could have their crush all to herself and then everybody would be happy...?
476** Adding to or even besides that, she has loads of extracurricular activities, like traditional dance and tea ceremony. It's likely she has a lot of pressure on her.
477* In one of the alternate timelines in Episode 10, Mami tries to commit triple murder-suicide after finding out the fate of a Puella Magi and starts by attacking Kyouko first, by destroying her Soul Gem. This implies that Mami in that timeline knew that Puella Magi were the equivalent of liches.
478** Seeing as Sayaka still turned into a witch, Mami probably found out the same way we did in the main storyline.
479* A girl who wins a fight but gets a serious injury may be [[PyrrhicVictory already dead]]. Her fighting ability is severely downgraded, lowering the ceiling on the strength of witches she can fight. She'll use up more power compensating. If another girl is interested in her territory, they'll lunge at the opportunity. If the injury is serious enough, she may be forced to get medical treatment. And imagine if she's trying to keep a civilian life! [[BlatantLies "No big deal, Mom and Dad, I just tripped and ripped my arm off."]] This logic applies to [[TripleShifter a lot of settings]], but it seems more depressing for this one; imagine the terror and mounting desperation of a prepubescent or teenage girl as these consequences hit her. Now imagine the effect it has on her soul gem.
480* In the end, Madoka tries to make a fairer system by wishing to destroy all witches in the past, present and future in every timeline which results in {{Magical Girl}}s passing away to MagicalGirl Heaven instead of turning into soul-sucking {{Eldritch Abomination}}s. Now who's to say that no one's tried to 'fix' the system before, in which case, the Puella Magi system we've seen in the show is probably a better system than a previous one. Think about it. For a supposedly emotionless species, the Incubators seem to have a set of rules they abide by [[BlueAndOrangeMorality for all it entails them]] such as having the girl consent to the contract of her own free will instead of mind-controlling them, no BlatantLies and no suggesting wishes. It's possible in earlier times, the Incubators had no problem outrightly lying to the girls instead of just leaving out details or being Jerkass Genies to twist the girls' wishes so that they would fall into the DespairEventHorizon sooner. Soul Gems probably came about from someone wishing for the death rate of Puella Magi to decrease when it became apparent that new contractees were getting killed off on their first witch hunts.
481** Witch hunts nothing; if a wish can create the demons, it can create the witches. Originally there probably were no {{Magical Girl}}s or witch fights at all, and the Incubators collected power more... ''directly''. I'm thinking the whole thing started out as them playing JerkassGenie, offering wishes and corruping them much worse than the current results of the wishes (which, unless I'm wrong, play off natural consequences to twist them rather than deliberate JerkassGenie -ery to make them go wrong), for an ''on the spot'' DespairEventHorizon. Someone probably figured out the system (somehow), and made a wish which created the MagicalGirl, Soul Gem, and Witch system.
482*** That wish would have probably been something along the lines of "Incubators cannot emotionally or physically harm, or manipulate to their victims (the to-be {{Magical Girl}}s) directly". Hence the lies through omission (cannot directly manipulate), inability to suggest wishes (cannot directly manipulate again), comparatively less corrupted wishes which seem to come true at first (cannot directly emotionally harm). So where did the idea of Witches and {{Magical Girl}}s fighting them come from? The Incubators needed a way to harm the Magical Girls emotionally and put them under pressure, without the ability to totally and directly corrupt their wishes, or directly hurt them physically or emotionally. Forcing them to fight {{Eldritch Abomination}}s using up the power of their good emotions, leaving only depression, about fit the bill. Why give the Magical Girls special abilities, Soul Gems, and Grief Seeds? Because putting them in battles with no way to survive or recover comes under "direct harm". If the Soul Gems inevitably became fully corrupted over time, that would be direct emotional harm (because it's due to the Incubator's actions), but if there's a chance to cleanse them through Grief Seeds, it's not direct, because it's the Magical Girl's failure to cleanse their Soul Gem, not the effects of the Incubator's actions, which harms them...
483*** When they can, it seems like the Incubators may still do this, making it all the more likely that it could have originally been their entire ''modus operandi''. It's been confirmed that Charlotte never had a chance to fight a witch before becoming one herself. Given the nature of her wish and its subversion (she wished to eat a last cheesecake with her mother who was undergoing strong chemotherapy, and saw her mother die ''immediately'' after eating it) and where her grief seed was found (a hospital), she likely only had ''minutes''.
484** According to WordOfGod, a Puella Magi whose body was destroyed and did not the truth about [[SoulJar Soul Gems]] would witch out immediately due to despair of dying. In episode 3 when Mami dies her head containing her Soul Gem is bitten off and chewed destroying her Soul Gem. Had her Soul Gem been located anywhere else on her body, she would have likely witched out due to shock, also leaving Madoka & Sayaka to deal with two witches. This would have two possible outcomes: option one, they die. Option two, they save themselves by contracting, with the full knowledge of the fact that they will end up either witching out or dying in the future.
485*** That won't be necessary; since Mami witching out would still presumably cause her ribbons to disappear, Homura would be free to do her usual BigDamnHeroes routine.
486** It's possible that the original Puellae Magi (as in Cleopatra-age original) were given powers to fight evils that weren't witches, like rivalling armies or some such, and perhaps weren't granted a wish in return. And then they became witches, [[SincerityMode starting the cycle we all know and love.]]
487* So, unless Madoka did something would keep the Incubators from abandoning planets, it seems like Earth is still screwed because Kyubey will still leave when he reaches his quota and then it will actually worse than before because magical girls will run out of numbers but the wraiths won't.
488** It should be okay. In the new universe, Wraiths are created from the distortions brought about by wishes being granted, so once Kyubey meets his quota and leaves, he'll stop granting wishes, there won't be any more magical girls, and the ones remaining will be able to work together to clean the last of the wraiths up. And since the wraith system is much less efficient than the witch system, Kyubey won't be meeting his quota for a long time yet.
489* How does Kyubey seem to always be at the right place at the right time so that he'll be able to offer a girl a contract to become a MagicalGirl, like for example in Mami's case, [[AnOfferYouCantRefuse where she literally didn't have a choice on the matter?]] After the reveal that Kyubey basically is a HiveMind with a lot of spare bodies, it becomes clear; Kyubey uses his spare bodies to scout for girls who have the potential to make a wish as a solution to a desperate situation. Since he's InvisibleToNormals, he can choose to show himself to a chosen girl if he thinks she is in her most desperate hour, so that he'll have no problems making his offer.
490* Kyubey doesn't tell magical girls about the real nature of Soul Gems; he only tells Madoka because he's exploiting her low self-esteem and guilt to get her to make a contract. Sayaka, Homura, and Kyouko have a reason to always carry their gems (Sayaka because she loves being a heroine, Kyouko and Homura are basically homeless), but what if they didn't? What happens to a Magical Girl who ''walks'' too far away from her Soul Gem as she goes about her day? How many parents have come home to find their daughter's corpse in front of their mailbox, and a cute glass egg figurine on her nightstand upstairs?
491** Imagine if Sayaka had left hers in her schoolbag and left it in Kyousuke's room when she took him to the roof...
492** Thankfully, it's in Kyubey's interest to tell them to carry their soul gems at all times, and even has a convenient fact to use - after all, it's their TransformationTrinket, and what if they stumble on a Witch? The problem is if they have the gems stolen and they can't recover them - all of sudden their bodies just fall down lifeless, with nobody having any idea of what happened... And after a while, the soul in the gem ''will'' realize what this means, witch out, and kill everyone in sight.
493* How many people lost jobs or got court marshaled for all the military hardware Homura steals?
494** Forget the military, Homura stole from the Yakuza! How many people got mutilated or murdered because the boss thought they were stealing their very expensive custom guns and ammo?
495* Rewatching the part in the first episode when Madoka first happens upon Kyubey is a little chilling considering what Madoka's original wish was.
496** In case you were wondering, it was to save a cat that had been run over by a car. Not her cat, or anyone's pet just a common stray. Now consider that Kyubey could've been able to manipulate Madoka into wishing him healed by faking dying or serious wounds. The series would've been shorter.
497*** Thankfully, Kyubey has a rule for some reason that he is not allowed to suggest wishes, even when it would work to his advantage. Of course, that does not leave out the possibility of another magical girl like Mami being nearby and suggesting that Madoka make a wish to heal him...
498* On a similar note, Mami binding Homura with her ribbons in the third episode after the latter warned her not to go after Charlotte. In episode 10, it's revealed in a previous timeline after Sayaka turned into a witch and was killed, Mami promptly went crazy and attempted to perform MurderSuicide on the cast by starting with tying up Homura so that she couldnt use her TimeStandsStill powers and killing Kyoko. so Homura probably thought for a moment that Mami intended to shoot her dead especially in light of their last conversation. And even if she didn't, being bound again would still conjure up some unpleasant memories.
499** It's also notable that Homura's reaction to being tied up [[NotSoStoic is the first time she actually shows any emotion in her voice]].
500* Kyubey's modus operandi is essentially finding young girls at their most desperate, coming to them in an appealing shape while offering them something, allowing them to become increasingly emotionally unstable as he exploits them, only to repeat the cycle with other girls once the original girl becomes something barely resembling the way she was prior to meeting him. [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything This]] pretty makes the show "Stranger Danger: The Anime".
501** Especially since the transition of magical girls into witches is explicitly referred to as what happens when magical girls [[GrowingUpSucks mature]]; in other words, he moves on ''when they get too old for his needs''. Pretty much the whole show can be viewed as Madoka's grooming.
502** Now that you put it like that, it makes the fact that the series is [[SeinenDemographic Seinen]]...kind of [[NoYay unintentionally creepy]] when you consider how another thing the series has in common with ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' is the MisaimedMarketing (albeit more {{Moe}} than Ecchi ,but it sometimes gets close to the later).
503* Madoka Online offers us a new story in a new timeline, with MC/PC/OC as a new magical girl with an outstanding potential, potential Homura sees as the key that could help her save Madoka. All good there, but as per the series things start to get out of control, and Homura repeats timelines in order to use PC's power. FridgeHorror kicks in when you realize Homura is doing the same she's doing to Madoka, this time to ''you''. Since her focus in the next timelines is is to use PC's potential to save Madoka she's basically dragging the character as another center of the universe, making her hold karma just like Madoka. This may be seen when Homura, after starting a new timeline, meets with PC again and her power is in the same level it was when before she started over, and not only that, ''it is growing''. PC is another Gretchen in the oven.
504* In the alternate timelines shown in episode 10, Mami seems to survive a lot longer than she should, seeing as she dies in the major timeline in episode 3. The first time through, she lives up until Walpurgisnacht arrives, and in another, she lives at least long enough to see Sayaka become a magical girl and, subsequently, a witch. But in the timeline of the actual show, she dies very early on. Why? Because of the timelines in which we ''see'' Mami, that's the only one in which Madoka was not also a magical girl. Because Madoka distracted her from Charlotte as a civilian instead of assisting her as a magical girl, Mami died. When Madoka thinks that she could have saved Mami if she ''had'' made a contract, she's ''entirely correct.''
505** Not really, in ''Oriko Magica'' Mami defeats Charlotte without any witness, though she notes it was a close thing. It just means that, in the main timeline, ''Madoka directly caused Mami's defeat by getting her distracted''.
506* In the PSP game, you can find [[http://wiki.puella-magi.net/Quitterie Quitterie]], a Witch who wears a Kyubey mask. This, and the description of her card ("She is the remains of a magical girl who gave up everything to fight for the universe. She believes that she is saving the universe even now.") seems to indicate that her believed everything that Kyubey told her and maybe she let herself turn into a Witch believing it was the right thing to do.
507* The only requirement for a girl to become a Puella Magi is the magical potential they have, personality, morals and goals not counting. Now, consider a sociopathic girl finding herself with magic powers, superhuman abilities and durability and abusing them to the fullest, especially if they knew they couldn’t be killed unless the Soul Gem was hit. Since the Incubators have been contracting for millennia there have probably been [[TeensAreMonsters countless girls that used their powers to bully, intimidate or even kill regular people, who would be almost helpless to defend themselves.]]
508** She probably wouldn't have been able to bully regular people too much without exposing the truth about magic to humanity... but what about weaker magical girls? A cruel magical girl could easily bully a new or weak one into giving up her collected grief seeds... or a cruel magical girl who knew the AwfulTruth could cheerfully drop some knowledge on her less-experienced juniors and harvest ''their'' Grief Seeds as they become witches.
509* In the first timeline, Mami already knows about Walpurgisnacht and she wants to make sure Madoka is prepared to fight her when the time comes, but in every timeline shown after that, Homura is the only one who knows about her before she arrives. Why? Because Walpurgisnacht is ''always'' Kyubey's ace in the hole for getting Madoka to make the contract. Before she becomes a magical girl, in every timeline, Madoka sees herself as being nothing special. Presenting her with a chance to save the entire city from a terrifying witch is enough to convince her to make the contract, so originally, Kyubey drops the name Walpurgis on her to convince her over the last issue. Even in the final timeline, Kyubey is using Walpurgisnacht, alive and in the flesh, to pressure her into it.
510* Consider the sheer scope of Kyubey's powers. He has the power to change the shape of the human soul, to such a degree that his species has developed an established program for removing a soul from a body, forcing it into the shape of a cute trinket/jewelry piece, and from it, extracting the trappings of a magical girl: a color theme, a weapon, an icon, and an imaginary outfit, all of it done to make the whole concept more attractive to girls. This is a universe where magical girls pre-date ''homo sapiens''. How much of human civilization was not just influenced, but ''modeled after'' the workings of the Incubators on humankind?
511* I always wondered why people act like Hitomi is such a bitch for wanting to confess to Kyosuke, but then something dawned on me: she seems like a bitch because she's acting in a really in-character way (polite, restrained, offering Sayaka the first chance at it) to do a really out-of-character thing (ruthlessly giving Sayaka a single school day to confess before confessing, the very day she finds out Kyosuke is a prodigy violinist again) utterly confident that the oblivious, dense, incredibly busy boy in question will end up her boyfriend, even though she apparently never visited him in the hospital... and he does. It's not outside the realm of possibility, but consider how Hitomi was acting in the epilogue at the end: hiding behind the curtain, shy, hesitant, nervous that Kyosuke's audition might not go well. Doesn't sound anywhere near the cold opportunist anymore, right? ''What if Sayaka's wish made Hitomi fall in love with him?''
512* A minor thing at the start of an early episode. Mami finishes off a familiar in a routine kill, and Sayaka casually comments 'It seems we've only been getting duds lately' (or something similar)- as in, only familiars and not witches. But if Mami had not been killed and the situation had gone on, she would have been expending magic with no Grief Seeds from a witch to renew it. If her gem turned critical, she could have witched out and potentially killed both Madoka and Sayaka, the girls she so desperately wanted to befriend. True, Mami has more magical talent than most, but the possibility could have been there even if they became a team and the show followed the traditional magical girl route.
513* Also, consider Mami's attitude. Her desperate loneliness leads her to try and conscript Madoka and Sayaka to become magical girls. With the normal connotations of what a magical girl is, it doesn't seem that bad. But then we found out that the danger is all too real. If you substitute the phrase 'magical girl' for 'mercenary' or something similar, Mami's character can be cast in a very different light. Needless to say, comparisons of Kyuubey to a kind of trafficker also hold up pretty well.
514* Kyoko's father declaring her a witch after seeing her using her powers makes horribly sense for two reasons: as an Anglican priest he's more in contact with European culture than the average Japanese, and thus may know of the ancient belief that red hair was a hint that a woman was a witch; to a Christian (and those of the Protestant faiths in particular), a witch was someone who did things beyond human abilities thanks to a DealWithTheDevil (an evolution of the pre-Christian belief that magic came from enticing supernatural entities to help), and Kyoko most likely told him how she got her abilities. It also explains him killing himself, his wife and other daughter and sparing Kyoko: he was seeing himself as already Damned so it made no sense for him to stay on Earth, and killing his wife and other daughter meant keeping them outside of the Devil's reach, but he may also still have had the hope Kyoko could redeem herself and escape Damnation.
515** Also regarding Kyoko's wish, regardless of whether she meant or not, she essentially gave her father MindControl powers with which he unintentionally brainwashed anyone who hear him into believing what he said and possibly doing whatever he inquired of them. Other works often delve into how disturbing brainwashing is and the potenetial horror. Code Geass? 1984? Kyoko mentioned that to passerby, her father looked to be leading a cult. Imagine if that had been the case and Mr. Sakura did turn out to be unscrupulous, narcissistic or megalomaniac as cult leaders tend to be. He could have ordered his folllowers or anyone who heard him really into robbing, killing or committing all sort of crimes for him because the wish magic would make them believe Father Sakura's words to always be right. While it ended horribly for the Sakura family, it's perhaps a good thing that Mr. Sakura rejected his daughter's wish. On minister Sakura's side, there's finding that you believed to be righteous and good, having made a supposed DealWithTheDevil to allow to bewitch everyone around you by robbing them of their free will, the gift God gave to humans. Also, he could probably never trust anyone again since he couldnt be sure any opinion or response someone gave him was really his or just magic forcing them to agree with him.
516** Also the PaterFamilicide becomes more tragic when you realize that ''Kyoko could have saved her family.'' The 3rd drama CD and ''[[Manga/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheDifferentStory The Different Story]]'' show that she wasn't at home when her father killed her mother and sister before killing himself. If Kyoko had been at home, its possible that she could have restrained her father once she saw him about to attack the family, not a hard feat considering her MagicalGirl strength and the Soul Gem would mean her dad couldn't kill her easily, thereby saving their lives.
517** What's even more tragic and horrific is that Mr. Sakura ''might have brainwashed'' his wife and youngest daughter to agree with committing suicide with him, simply by ''speaking about it''. [[Anime/CodeGeass Like what happened to Lelouch and Euphemia]], Mr. Sakura might have said something that pertains to suicide, only for his wife and daughter to overhear him. Due to the [[MindControl unintentional nature of Kyoko's wish]], they instantly believed him and Mr. Sakura, realizing that his own family had fallen into his curse, decides to take them with him.
518** And here's a nice bit of Fridge Horror for you. Kyoko's reaction to the Soul Gem revelation makes a lot of sense when you remember her upbringing, but what's worse is that by realising that her soul is outside her body she's probably thinking her father was right about her being an unholy monster. When Sayaka falls and becomes Oktavia, Kyoko ''knows'' her father was right. She ''is'' a Witch, just not a fully grown one.
519** Did you think it couldn't get worse? Because it gets worse. Kyouko's father is stated to have committed suicide because he found out that the success of his preaching was due to magic. How could he possibly have made the logical leap to that point from the discovery that his daughter was using magic? ''She must have told him''. She let it slip, and as a direct result of that, her whole family is dead. Is it any wonder that at the beginning of the series she's broken?
520* Walpurgis works like tornadoes, a massive which that absorbs other witches... if Madoka hadn't stepped up at the last minute and given Homura enough hope to stave off her own transformation, as a new witch, Homulilly would have fallen to despair, only to be completely assimilated into the very nightmare she sold her soul to fight.
521* Each of the Witches is listed with a nature which describes their behavior. If you pay close attention, you'll notice that the Witch's nature corresponds with a trait of the magical girl that killed it! As in:
522** Gertrud, who is distrustful of humans, reflects Mami's initial distrust of Homura.
523** Charlotte, who is tenacious in her quest for cheese, represents both Mami's tenacity in defending Mitakihara City and Homura's own tenacity in her quest of of protecting Madoka.
524** H.N Elly, who covets anything that approaches her barrier, reflects Sayaka's own covetous desire for Kyosuke's attention.
525** Gisela (The witch Kyoko fought in her flashback) has a liberal nature, reflecting Kyoko's unorthodox view regarding magical girls.
526** Elsa Maria's self-righteous wish to bring salvation to the world is equivalent to Sayaka's self-appointed role of "hero of justice."
527** Oktavia Von Seckendorff's nature is to fall in love. Kyoko realized how much she has in common with Sayaka, and [[LesYay sympathizes]] with her. And it is in the Third Timeline, specifically after defeating Oktavia, that Homura reaffirms her loyalty to Madoka.
528** The witch that attacked Homura in the First Timeline, Izabel, has an vain nature. While not vain, Mami and Madoka have do have certain overconfident moments.
529** Patricia, the student Witch with many hands, has a nature that makes her act like an onlooker. Homura only intervenes when necessary, and prefers to stand-by in events that don't concern her.
530** Roberta the caged Witch is perpetually angry; just as Homura, who is angry at being unable to save Madoka.
531** Walpurgisnacht has a nature of helplessness, as any magical girl that fights her either dies while fighting her, or witches out shortly thereafter.
532** Kriemhild Gretchen's nature is Mercy. Who is the most merciful person in the whole series? Madoka.
533* The fact that Walpurgisnacht and Kriemhild Gretchen make an hourglass isn't entirely coincidental. If one half is defeated, the hourglass simply turns. In the timelines where Walpurgisnacht is seemingly defeated, Gretchen emerges. And when Gretchen doesn't appear, it is because Walpurgisnacht has won.
534* The very existence of Walpurgisnacht is fridge horror itself, it can withstand anything, generate fire and tornadoes, and hurl skyscrapers at its enemies. Any magical girl who was unlucky enough to have faced it and not have a way of escaping surely has felt how helpless she was at the face of what can only be described as a force of nature. Hence. why Walpurgisnacht's nature is "helplessness", for any attempts to resist it will ultimately prove to be futile, and it will only laugh at your feeble efforts.
535* It might actually be a good thing that Kyubey doesn't have emotions and is only focused on young girls. If he truly appreciated the power of mundane authority, like the police or, more relevant in the context of young girls, parents, imagine what kind of AncientConspiracy he might have been able to cultivate. Part of the reason Kyubey gets the most bang for his buck out of preteen girls is not just their emotional output, but because they're more likely to make the kind of foolishly not-really-selfless wishes that turn them into witches within a short time frame. The world is ''full'' of cynical, abusive parents who would have no trouble at all pressuring their daughters to make a wish "for the benefit of the family"?
536** Alternatively, we have no way of knowing what kind of changes have been made to humanity in general due to the wishes of magical girls. Mami, Homura, and Kyoko don't have parents; Sayaka technically has them, but she's a latchkey kid who doesn't have any hurdles to going out at night unsupervised, so she's basically neglected. Given what we know about Homura (utterly lonely, no self-esteem) and Kyoko (PaterFamilicide), and how we know that a magical girl can have enough power to affect the world even without having Madoka's universe-altering potential, it's possible that truly abusive parents no longer exist in that world because a magical girl wished that any parent who abuses their child should die. Think about it; Mitakihara is a beautiful, well-designed, technologically advanced, and prosperous place that very obviously puts a lot of its money towards caring for its young students and providing for its citizens in the event of a disaster, where the only parents we ever see are Madoka's (who are not only wonderful people, but who live in defiance of standard gender roles) and Kyosuke's (who kept his violin even after he wanted it thrown away because they couldn't bear to be rid of something that made their son happy)... and all the rest are missing or dead.
537* They eventually found Sayaka's body in a hotel room, kept fresh with magic by at least a day or so. She got a funeral and everything. What kind of horrible thing must her parents be imagining for her, since no medical examiner would be able to give an accurate time or cause of death? To them, their daughter disappeared, was taken to a hotel room with no record of how she got in or who paid for the room (since probably no one did), and then mysteriously died for no apparent reason. Add one to the "Kyubey as a human trafficker" metaphor tally.
538* Homura collapses trying to go after Madoka after she pops Kyubey full of bulletholes. It seems sort of contrived, since it keeps her on the spot long enough for Kyubey's second body to show up and drop some [[WhamLine important exposition]], but it's coming right near the very end of Sayaka's character arc after she realizes she can weaken the connection between her Soul Gem and her body in order to block out the pain of combat. Homura has no trouble dealing with combat normally, but she stumbles after Madoka gets a flash of ''deja vu'' and then runs after Sayaka, completely ignoring Homura in the process: in other words, Homura was using that same method to block out the ''emotional'' pain of dealing with her.
539* WordOfGod has stated that every timeline where Sayaka contracts is one in which she's doomed to die. So if Sayaka becomes a magical girl, she learns the truth about Soul Gems, loses Kyosuke to Hitomi, crosses the DespairEventHorizon, and basically tries to commit suicide by not purifying her soul gem, not knowing that its corruption leads to her transforming into a Witch. She's killed by one of her friends and is one of the few magical girls lucky enough to receive a funeral, which Kyosuke and Hitomi both attend, possibly feeling a bit responsible for her death. However, the alternative isn't all that much better. If she doesn't become a magical girl, Kyosuke's hand remains crippled and he can never play violin again, which might lead to him becoming so depressed that ''he'' might end up attempting suicide. Sayaka will more than likely be consumed with the guilt of knowing she could've used her wish for him.
540* Kyouko decides take out Octavia with a SuicideAttack combined with a MercyKill. The artwork and the scene is framed to suggest that they're together in death, that Kyouko is following Sayaka into the darkness... but that's not actually possible. Sayaka is beyond saving at that point, the destruction of Octavia and (possibly) her Grief Seed mean that she's more than dead, she's annihilated, and Kyouko was the one who pulled the trigger on her. In a way it's a bittersweet victory, in that Kyubey is deprived of two Grief Seeds and so they both manage to avoid being consumed by the Incubators' plan, but the bottom line is that Kyouko's death was utterly meaningless. That happy dream she prayed for in her last moments was just that: a dream, a worthless delusion that let her believe she was helping someone who was far beyond all help.
541** After losing her family and Mami, Sayaka was the only friend Kyouko had left. After learning the truth about Witches and Magical Girls, and seeing it happen firsthand with Sayaka, maybe Kyouko knew it was a pointless task as well. Maybe that prayer for a happy dream was a way to keep herself above the DespairEventHorizon just a little longer? Long enough to [[DrivenToSuicide end things herself]].
542* Why did Homura dedicate herself to saving Madoka when, in previous timelines, she was trying to save everyone? The obvious answer seems like it would be that she gave up when they wouldn't listen to her. But think about the nature of the wish she made. The way she phrased it was "I want to redo my meeting with Miss Kaname, but instead of being protected by her, I want to protect her." Protect '''her'''. She made a wish so that she could save Madoka specifically, which means that she can't save Mami, Sayaka, or Kyoko, no matter how hard she tries or how much Madoka might want her to if she found out. And Madoka ''did'' find out in at least one timeline. When Homura resets time, it specifically sends her to the morning of the day she first met Madoka, so she has to relive the same two months each time. The PSP game has a route where she goes around trying to solve everyone's problems in that time and get them together to fight Walpurgisnacht, but even that turns out to not be enough. Homura gave up because she realized it was impossible for her to save anyone besides her best friend, the one she cared about the most and who she made her wish for, so she gradually StoppedCaring about everyone else.
543* Kyubey was the only constant companion Mami had. Considering what we learn of Kyubey's modus operandi, and the implication it would have [[ToxicFriendInfluence for their relationship]]. That, and [[EtTuBrute there is a reason]] learning the AwfulTruth about what Kyubey does [[GoMadFromTheRevelation broke her like it did]].
544** Then consider Mami was the prime magical girl recruiter, and that Kyubey likely spent as much time with her, [[PragmaticVillainy keeping her as well off as she was]], [[UnwittingPawn to that end]]. there is ''[[MyGodWhatHaveIDone another]]'' reason she broke upon learn what she was [[FateWorseThanDeath recruiting them to]].
545** Also, given Mami's sheer despair, she likely would have become a witch not long after, making her plan to kill herself ''justified''. But would she have lasted long enough to MercyKill everyone else (all but certain to make her state worse) then herself before succumbing and witching out? Or would she succumb sooner leaving any survivors, still weakened and traumatized by dealing with witch Sayaka, to deal with her?
546* Kyubey's amoral nature is made more disturbing by the realization that there's absolutely nothing to keep the RidiculouslyCuteCritter from granting ''inherently'' terrible wishes. It's almost definitely caused people to die in "accidents" at the wishes of children, helped families to purchase slaves, and given adolescents infinite quantities of heroin in exchange for turning contractees into magical girls.
547** In Suzune Magica, one of the main characters wished to make her own sister disappear from existence simply because she got all the attention, and Kyuubey didn't hesitate to grant it.
548* More of Fridge Sadness than Horror: Junko was thrashing like a vampire coupled with her sleeping environment is probably because she was suffering from hangover from her social drinkings with her workmates. As shown in episode 3, it's a common occurance in the Kaname household for Junko to come home drunk.
549* Kyouko moved to Mitakihara from Kasamino city, where there were apparently no other witches. Assuming that Kyouko was Kasamino's only Puella Magi, if an escaped familiar reached Kasamino, who would stop it?
550* If Homura hadn't noticed that she was in Izabel's barrier, then she would have become fully under the influence of a witch, just like Hitomi. You could even see her falling asleep as Izabel told her to kill herself. What would have happened if Homura hadn't wandered into Izabel's barrier, if she hadn't been brought to her senses by being there?
551* Most Witches eventually have their Grief Seeds destroyed, usually by Kyubey "eating" them once they're full. And it's implied that Familiars eat the souls of other people so they can eventually turn into a copy of their parent Witch. In both cases, the Magical Girls and other people this happens to are [[CessationOfExistence gone forever without even the chance of an afterlife]], at least until Madoka retroactively prevented it from happening throughout all time and space. As mentioned elsewhere, both Mami and Kyoko were seemingly in the afterlife at the end of Episode 12 (before Madoka's wish took full effect) and Sayaka was nowhere to be found because her soul was annihilated.
552* WordOfGod has explicitly compared Kyubey to [[Franchise/CthulhuMythos a Lovecraftian entity]]. He's an alien, takes AFormYouAreComfortableWith, seems to be [[ResurrectiveImmortality immortal]], is capable of [[RealityWarper warping reality]], [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor grants wishes that end in disaster]], but their biggest similarity is in their psychology. Kyubey is not actively hostile toward humans, he's cooperative enough to tell them things (if they ask), and his manipulation and deception are about furthering his own goals. He's cold and emotionless, but ultimately not sadistic. The reason he considers Madoka's transformation into a witch to be humanity's problem isn't because he holds us in contempt or wants to see us destroyed, but because he got what he came for. Kyubey, like Lovecraft's gods, is not evil; for all his claims of symbiosis and wanting to help, he's completely apathetic toward the human race.
553* The basic mathematics of Grief Seeds lead to this once their true nature is revealed. ''Every single'' Grief Seed is the soul gem of a fallen Magical Girl. And Magical Girls need to constantly consume Grief Seeds to survive (if they don't, their own gem darkens until it becomes a Grief Seed itself and they turn into a witch.) For "successful" magical girls like the protagonists to continuously consume Grief Seeds and survive, this means that the majority of Magical Girls probably never get their hands on a single Grief Seed and end up turning into a Witch almost as soon as they make their contract.
554* This came to mind after seeing some of the girls in the Magia Record game, but ... the newborn magical girl will pick weaponry she thinks is proper. Sometimes, it is, but some weapons just don't work as well. Kyoko would always have an advantage over Sayaka in a fight due to her spear. And some of the girls in Record have worse weapons -- scissors are awkward, there are a few shortsword users, and one just uses her bare fists. How many magical girls have made a contract, chosen an AwesomeButImpractical weapon, and then been utterly trashed in their first fights?
555** Can you imagine what would have happened to [[spoiler: Nagisa]] in the original universe, had she lived long enough to get into combat? The only weapon her outfit comes with is [[spoiler: a horn that ''blows bubbles''.]]
556* Kyubey claims that his race runs the magical girl-witch system to harvest energy to stall entropy. The thing is, who would actually benefit from a perpetually running universe? The humans (or other such sapient life in other parts of the universe)? They are too short-lived to even notice the effect of entropy on their world, so even when heat death is staved off, those sapient specieses won't be the ones benefiting. Instead, it's the more long-lived beings who are more likely to want a never-ending universe so that they can live forever. In short, ImmortalsFearDeath, and they choose to make the more fleeting races suffer for their eternal lives.
557* Several people have theorized that the reason why Homura can't beat Walpurgisnacht is because either Walpurgisnacht is near-immune to non-magical attacks, or that she can only be beaten by someone who wields a concept antithetical to hers. But perhaps there's another reason? It's known that Homura's repeated time reset stacks up karma on Madoka because Madoka is the focal point of those resets. But the thing is, most of the time, Homura resets the timeline because Madoka dies or becomes a witch after fighting Walpurgisnacht... which means all those time loops empower not just Madoka and Homura but also Walpurgisnacht, since the witch is a very important reason why Homura resets timelines and accumulates karma on Madoka. As for why Homura still can't beat Walpurgisnacht after all those resets, it does relate to Homura's use of mundane weaponry; even if Homura also benefits from the resets, it only empowers her ''magical powers'', and we know her magical powers are not even offensive (This is sort of proven by ''Rebellion'': [[spoiler:When Homura finally unleashes her own magical powers and becomes a witch, Homulilly becomes a witch stated to be even stronger than Walpurgisnacht]]). Result: Homura ends up using tons of weapons that essentially CantCatchUp against a repeatedly empowered witch.
558* The ending song and image from episode 9, in which Kyoko hold's Sayaka's hands whilst they're underwater get's significantly more tragic when you remember Kyoko can't swim as confirmed by her Magia Record Swimsuit card. That her witch is named Ophelia, as in the Shakespeare character who died by drowning, is more than just coincidence.
559* Walpurgisnacht's nature is helplessness. Is it because magical girls are helpless to stop her because she is undefeatable, or does it refer to the collection of former magical girls that make her up, helpless to stop themselves from causing death and destruction?
560[[/folder]]
561
562[[folder:Fridge Logic]]
563* Why didn't any of the girls think of using their wishes to resurrect or warping realities to something like "Erase negative emotions forever for everyone" or simply asking for a thousand more wishes. [[JustEatGilligan But then again that would remove any conflicts in the story and we wouldn't have this awesome show we are watching now.]] But Kyubey wouldn't agree to it anyway.
564** I hate these "why didn't any of the girls think of (I-think-I'm-clever wish)?" things. They didn't think of it because they never had the whole story on what wishes can do and what magical girls actually are, and they all had some form of personal desire that they wanted ''before'' Kyubey approached them, or he wouldn't have offered in the first place. The only person who finds out ''before'' she makes her wish is Madoka, and she makes exactly the kind of reality-warping wish everybody wants to think the other girls should have been made. The show and the supplemental material go over all the reasons magical girls don't make those kind of wishes.
565** Episode 12 shows that he can't actually refuse to grant a wish as Madoka essentially wishes for Witches to have never existed. He doesn't like it, but he's unable to actually tell her she can't do that. All he can do is point out the potential consequences.
566** Additionally, your magic has to be strong enough to grant the wish. Madoka was essentially powerful enough to get away with a wish to rewrite reality.
567** In the ''[[Manga/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheDifferentStory Different Story]]'' (timeline?), Madoka's wish was for Sayaka to be resurrected. At that point, Sayaka had just turned into a witch and subsequently killed by Kyoko (Madoka was only told that she "was killed by a witch") but she was actually resurrected, still a magical girl (but with partial memory loss), and joined the Walpurgis Night fight.
568** Speaking of wishes, why doesn't anyone within the span of human-to-Kyubey had the common sense to ask for world peace? Even if it didn't immediately destroy the concept of witches, if Kyubey was a LiteralGenie, the amount of goodwill that would counter the DemonicPossession that drives a island country - [[DoingInTheScientist already dealing with massive suicides due to cultural norms]] - to suicide pacts, would diminish tremendously until witches became a myth in the magical girl community. So, is every girl that signed up selfish enough not to wish 'world peace' in the universe? Chalk that up to WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief.
569*** Taking a page from ''Literature/FateZero'' and ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'': "World peace" can be achieved by ''killing everyone'', as Clavicus and the Holy Grail point out. In fact, as almost all magical girls aren't cosmic-tier powerful like Madoka, making their "wish power" far weaker, this would be the only way that "world peace" can be created within normal ''Madoka'' rules. Also, there's the whole emotional EquivalentExchange thing: a wish like that has to have a corresponding curse, after all. This fiasco may have happened on another planet, thereby robbing the Incubators of perfectly good cattle, so they might actively discourage these kinds of wishes.
570*** There's also the possibility that none of the girls Kyubey targets are the kind of person who thinks of "world peace" as a viable wish. Kyubey doesn't get anything out of a peaceful world, even if the girl in question has the magical potential to make it work; even Madoka, the strongest magical girl to ever exist, couldn't create a perfect world, only one that treated Magical Girls a little better. Long story short: it can't be done, and there's no point in letting a magical girl waste a wish that, even if it did work, would only defeat the Incubators' purposes.
571** Forget all those other wishes. Did no Magical Girl ever wish that there would never ''be'' a heat death of the Universe, thus negating Kyuubey's reason for making Magical Girl's in the first place?
572*** Because that's actually the only wish it would be literally impossible for the Incubator's wish-granting system to grant. Leaving aside that there's no way to predict what a universe would look like if no energy was ever truly lost, that's the goal of the system in the first place. Madoka is the most powerful magical girl to ever exist, but even she couldn't change the system beyond adding a law of physics to the pre-existing system, one that required an entire restructuring of the universe but only accounts a change that can only be applied under extremely specific circumstances. The reason for this is the concept of karmic destiny: a wish can only be as significant as the magical girl who makes the wish, and even Madoka could only make one very small (if far-reaching) change. The magical girl who could successfully wish to avert the heat death of the universe would have to be more significant to the progress of the universe than every Incubator in the Hive ''and'' every life affected by Incubator technology (which is ''at least'' everything that has ever happened on Earth since the first human magical girl made the first wish) in the entire universe; we know extraterrestrial life is a thing in this setting and we know that Kyubey has made a contract with at least one of them. The only reason Madoka comes within spitting distance of that level of power is because she was getting a power boost on an unprecedented scale, and even that only went up to 30 days' worth of the entire universe's energy; in order to avert heat death, she would need literal hundreds of billions of times that amount of energy before she even makes the wish ''and'' be the most important creature to ever exist. And even then, she'd have to come up with that wish on her own (something that a little girl is astronomically unlikely to even realize is a thing, let alone consider it something she personally wants, since if she knows about it, she probably knows it won't happen until long after the human race is extinct) since Kyubey can't suggest it.
573*** On top of ''that'', that wish doesn't create the time paradox that Madoka's did. Madoka's wish only recreates the universe because her wish was retroactive: since Madoka was able to defeat her own witch, placing her in a state of dual existence (as both a witch in the physical world and a magical girl outside of time), the universe had to be restructured to resolve that paradox. The wish to avert a future event doesn't have that, which means the magical girl who wishes for it would become an EldritchAbomination the size of ''multiple galaxies''. Gretchen was able to use celestial bodies for her ''eyeballs'', imagine something ''two hundred billion times'' that size. That's reason enough for the Incubators to never want that to happen.
574* With recent revelations in Episode 8, one has to wonder the following: Where did Charlotte's Grief Seed in episode 3 come from?
575** Charlotte's wish was to share a last cheesecake with her mother, who was in the hospital and dying. Kyubey granted that wish: she got a single cheesecake, and her mother died immediately after they finished eating it. The magical girl who became Charlotte fell into despair when she realized she could have wished for her mother to get better. Her Grief Seed is there because she witched out almost immediately after her wish was granted.
576** [[WildMassGuessing Charlotte lost/discarded her Soul Gem in that area, and it built up negativity over time?]]
577** Alternatively, maybe the Grief Seed was disposed of there after another Puella Magi learned the {{Awful Truth}}, but had absorbed just enough of {{The Corruption}} to reform into a witch?
578** Maybe Kyubey put it there? Incorporating the WMG "It was all part of Kyubey's plan for Mami to die", The whole thing may have been a setup to force Madoka into a position where she had no other choice but to become a magical girl.
579** We know that familiar separated from original witch can grow grief seed of their own and become witches themselves. Maybe in the transition process, there's dormant stage, when new grief seed accumulates negativity to power familiar's new form.
580** A common theory holds that Charlotte was hospitalized, and that her wish was to be able to eat all the sweets she couldn't on her patient's diet. If she became a witch in the hospital, then naturally it would appear there.
581** Sayaka/Oktavia von Seckendorff, as well as the witch Mami tracked down in episode 2, show that Witches can 'relocate' their mazes. For all we know, it's possible that once a witch has drained an area, it turns back into a Grief Seed, transports somewhere else, sits dormant for a while, and then hatches after absorbing enough grief from the area.
582* Okay, so as of Episode 10 we know that Homura was sent back in time each time she fails to protect Madoka as per her wish. Now what's interesting is that she starts the new time line with her Puella Magi powers. So what would happen if she eventually snapped under the pressure of continuously trying and failing to save Madoka, and became a witch? Also, if she remained a witch through further time loops this would permanently lock her out of fulfilling her wish. What some sort of time paradox would result from THAT?
583** Her wish would most likely be voided, since witches are technically no longer magical girls and are no longer bound by the contract. Plus, it's the contraption on her arm that allows her to time travel, so either she loses it when she transforms, or the even worse alternative that we get '''a time traveling witch'''.
584*** [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII A time-]][[VisualNovel/HigurashiWhenTheyCry traveling]] [[VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry witch?]]
585*** And '''Walpurgisnacht''' is speculated to be Homura, and it does make sense considering that for as long as witches exist, if she were to stay in one reality for long enough, she would change into a witch. And since '''Walpurgisnacht''' always arrives on the time of Walpurgisnacht, which is Homura's time of real despair, I wouldn't be surprised if this were true.
586*** {{Jossed}} by the [=PSP=] game--she has a witch form, and it's not Walpurgisnacht. The elephants, parade floats, etc. that appear with it indicate a circus/festival performer, and are an explicit reference to the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walpurgis_Night Walpurgis Night festival.]]
587** Actually, that's not what her wish was. Remember, the tragedy of the show is that the girls don't wish for what they really want, they wish for something they think will ''get'' them what they want indirectly. Homura's wish was immediately fulfilled after she became a magical girl, just like all the others: she didn't wish for Madoka to be protected, she wished ''to go back and do her meeting with Madoka over again''. If she becomes a witch in a new timeline, there's no paradox at all.
588*** Actually, that IS what her wish was. She wished to go back and do her meeting with Madoka over again ''as someone who can protect her (Madoka)''. The PMMM wiki shows her exact words to be: "to meet Madoka again, but this time as the one protecting her, not as the one being protected!"
589*** No, it's not. The exact wording only ensures that Homura will be strong enough to protect Madoka ''when they meet''. She always is, because the start of the loop happens before Madoka makes her contract. Homura doesn't wish for Madoka to ''be protected'', she wishes for the strength ''to protect Madoka''. She wished for an opportunity, not a result.
590*** That doesn't change anything, her wish is still granted immediately as soon as she goes back the first time, because ''she's'' a magical girl, but Madoka isn't because it's a week before she makes her contract, Homura is by definition the stronger of the two and immediately sets herself to protecting Madoka. She ''didn't'' wish for those circumstances to never change.
591*** That would seem to be a key part of why her potential was so low. She technically only asked for a chance, and even if Kyubey had given her only that one chance instead of time powers, the wish would have been fulfilled. Most of Homura's actual capability stems from her own natural intelligence and tenacity rather than her magical potential. It probably wasn't even possible for Kyubey to see what she would do, which is likely the only reason (s)he was willing to contract with her in the first place.
592*** There's a horrible thought for you: in order to protect something, it needs to be be vulnerable to a threat. Wishing to protect something also means wishing that it be in danger.
593* So, why is Kyubey surprised to learn that Homura is time-traveling? And why doesn't he take any action to stop her from saving Madoka? He/They are the only things that give the girls their power he just doesn't remember it, so it shouldn't be hard for him to figure out that she's from the future.
594** The only power she habitually displays is stopping time, and before the reveal that could've simply been believed to be a teleportation-based power -- she ''does'' have a {{Hammerspace}} buckler, after all -- the time travel only comes up at a point wherein after its use no one else is going to remember it anyway. Also, remember that what wish a Puella Magi made is a key aspect that informs some of their powers. Without knowing what she wished for it's harder to extrapolate what she can do. Besides, he's done plenty to stop her from saving Madoka -- he's put Homura in a MortonsFork by letting Kyoko think she could save Sayaka and consequently sacrificing herself to help Homura escape with Madoka. Now either Homura faces down Walpurgis on her own -- when that worked ''so well'' the last time -- or she lets Madoka form a contract with Kyubey. And there is nothing about the former that actually prevents the latter.
595*** Woah, I totally forgot about the MortonsFork - my bad. But in previous timelines, he must must have seen Homura use her time-stop powers to place bombs and stuff, assuming Kyubey follewed them around like he sometimes did in the current timeline. I guess I assumed he would put two and two together (no memory of making her a Puella Magi and time related powers) and instead of being shocked, he'd be all, "Go ahead and try again, see how it works out for you. You'll become a witch eventually". Of course, he might have been bluffing, and this is another part of his horrible scheme.
596*** Well, again, time-related is not an assumed given -- from an outside perspective there's very little difference between TimeStandsStill and teleportation powers. And before Episode 8 I don't think he really had as much solid evidence to go on; she'd been fairly careful about not mentioning the other timeline, and most of his previous interactions with her didn't exactly put him in a prime position to observe, what with him running or her keeping a low profile.
597*** Why would Kyubey want to stop her? The more powerful the Puella Magi the more powerful their witch. He may very well see it as Homura looping again and again, getting stronger each time until finally she falls into despair at the futility of it after too many failures, at this time she is unusually powerful, mmm, delicious witch energy. So long as he thinks she'll never succeed it's actually beneficial for him if she keeps looping.
598*** Homura's looping also made Madoka stronger if I'm understanding this right.
599*** Short answer: An early reveal that Homura is a time traveler would weaken the impact of episode 10's development of her characterization.
600*** Long answer: Even if Kyubey realized Homura's ability was a Time Stop and the implication that her wish would logically relate to time travel, it would be impossible to prove. Instead of plans specific to that possibility, Kyubey concentrated on ones guaranteeing that stopping the Walpurgisnacht was impossible unless Madoka contracted. It can also be inferred that even if he wanted to stop Homura, direct confrontation falls between undesirable and impossible. Killing Homura would reduce the amount of energy Kyubey could harvest but, having shown no offensive ability precludes option entirely. Additionally, there is no evidence he could affect her magic in order to stop Homura; meaning even if he could physically prevent her interference temporarily, once she could no longer change Madoka's fate, Houmra would simple hit reset. By having Kyoko remove her self and informing Homura that each time she traveled back to save Madoka increased how much despair she was destined to bear, Kyubey chose an opition that should have been checkmate. Unable to beat the Walpurgisnacht Homura would either hit reset increasing his energy gain from Madoka, or unwilling to cause her to suffering grow, Homura would lose hope and become a Witch.
601*** Long answer bonus: the more times Homura hits reset to try and do something different, the more despair she accumulates and carries off to the next loop, making the situation harder to beat and creating MORE energy, more despair, and requiring Madoka's wish to be ever BIGGER in scope to try and reverse it, making an even greater endgame EarthShatteringKaboom as its ultimate conclusion. The only way out of this was Kyubey's inability to foresee final loop Madoka's RulesLawyer wish making her absorb ALL the despair in the universe and saving HERSELF from becoming a universe obliterating force into a paradox so massive it forced the ENTIRE UNIVERSE into a HeroicBSOD and forcing a reboot with a new rule: NO WITCHES ALLOWED.
602* So now that the episode 10 witch cards are out, it seems that alternate!Oktavia's barrier is based around ''guitar'' and not violin. That makes very little sense.
603** Maybe in that timeline she made a different wish?
604** Or Kyosuke played the guitar in that timeline.
605** But the backup dancers were all based on Hitomi while the orchestra was full of... [[FridgeBrilliance Oh.]] ''[[LesYay Oh.]]'' '''''Are you trying to say something, Urobuchi?'''''
606*** Or it was alternate!Oktavia's way of screwing over the person who screwed her over, so to speak. Apparently, Hitomi wins in every timeline and alternate!Oktavia would prefer if she dance in the background, unimportant, while she takes center stage.
607*** Adding to that, Oktavia is shown to attack the Klarissas herself, either to vent her frustration consciously or just as collateral damage. If you watch closely when she's throwing wheels at Madoka, you can see Hitomi-clones being crushed too. It's a way to torment Hitomi vicariously.
608*** Most likely, considering Oktavia's MadnessMantra: "LOOK AT ME!"
609* The whole "Entropy is lowering the amount of energy in the universe so we're tormenting little girls to make more" thing, while holding the plot reasonably well and functioning as an artistic subversion of the usual "power of love" or "harvesting energy" angles many Magical Girl series rely on.... is STILL a complete and utter load, simply because neither matter nor energy can be destroyed. The amount lost during conversion from one state to another doesn't just vanish, it simply isn't converted to the same state. What Kyuubey's doing is somehow adding more energy to the equation. Whether that would be a bad thing or a good thing notwithstanding, it's a bit jarring to hear that his race can warp reality but it can't understand basic physical laws.
610** What the magic is doing is ''healing'' the universe; the inevitable increase in entropy is ''rotting'' it. Energy ''is'' changing form without overall increasing or decreasing, as outlined by the First Law of Thermodynamics (EquivalentExchange); according the ''Second'' Law of Thermodynamics (Entropy), it will never be a 100% perfect conversion into work, with some energy changing from being localized to randomly dispersed (mostly as heat). It might make more sense if you replace "the universe is losing energy" with "the universe is ageing/decaying/degenerating until it becomes too old and inefficient to sustain life" (which is pretty much what the Heat Death is about), and "adding more energy" with "the souls of magical girls (who can of course symbolize youth and fertility) reverse the process of energy decay, returning energy to a better, less entropic form, and provide some sort of ''Philosopher's Stone'' for this universe in order to rejuvenate itself". Finally, the laws of Thermodynamics don't matter too much, because Magic could break whatever natural laws it wanted, which is why it's so valuable. It's basically [[Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann Spiral Power]].
611*** It may be a bit of Fridge Horror, but isn't the Kyubeians' {{plan}} eventually leading up to the [[Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann Spiral Nemesis]]? That was the first thing I thought of with the whole entropy speech.
612----> '''Kyumina:''' "Go beyond the impossible and kick entropy to the curb! That's the Puella Magi way!"
613** Incubators are basically how Anti-Spirals would behave if the end of the universe involved Heat Death instead of a Big Crunch. By the way, both entities' agenda for saving the universe involve putting humans into absolute despair (in TTGL despair restricts Spiral Power, in PMMM despair enhances Magical Power).
614** Well, if they can warp reality, why would they ''need'' to understand basic physical laws? Though the explanation above is probably far closer to canon.
615** Eh, his explanation was likely dumbed down for Madoka. Enough to probably hide more truths.
616** Or maybe they needed to understand basic physical laws precisely for explaining it to us humans. Which makes sense since Kyubey's explanation could have come from a guy who just skimmed through a physics textbook; the gist is there, but it's not quite right.
617** The most likely theory is that the magic is capable of breaking the laws of thermodynamics, and Kyubey's MagicalGirl system is simply the most efficient way to generate energy. I'm pretty sure that even Kyubey isn't sure how the magic works, but I don't think he cares as long as he gets energy out of it.
618** This point was actually FridgeBrilliance for this troper. Think about it: Kyuubey's race are SufficientlyAdvancedAliens. Their [[RealityWarper reality-warping]] powers [[DoingInTheWizard are essentially just very fancy technology]]. This means that they're centuries, maybe even millennia, ahead of us scientifically. Given that, it's incredibly likely that ''their'' understanding of entropy is very different from ours; or, to put it another way, even explaining it in such a manner that the most advanced physicists of our day and age would judge to be correct ''would be dumbing it down as far as they're concerned''. Given this, why make a fuss about simplifying it just a little further to ease its consumption by little girls?
619** I think the correctness of it is unimportant. The main point of it is to drive home the idea: Kyubey is utterly alien, in a way seldom seen in fiction. He's not only emotionless, relentless in pursuing his goal, and a hive mind that cares nothing for one body, but even the thing he's doing in the story is incomprehensibly alien to any human being: the heat death of the universe is an event that's somewhere around 10^100 years away. In that time the solar system could be fully recreated, humans to re-evolve and the Sun to die more than 10^80 times. Yet he's here, today, working on postponing that date, and working personally with humans on their timescale. Just try to figure out how something like THAT thinks. Either that, or he's just a minor servant or the extension of an even greater eldritch horror. Alternatively, maybe the heat death is much closer than we think, and his race might be the only one that realized it. Now there's a scary prospect.
620** Fridge logic in universe, though it's necessary to have a story: if they're so powerful, why don't they breed magical girls under more controlled conditions? I doubt there's a shortage of despair in your average factory farm, and it doesn't seem to take that many magical girls to power the universe, especially with Homura's ability to charge up a single person. What kind of EvilOverlord looks at a couple ten thousand cavemen and goes "yes, I will bet the survival of my race on these primitives not slaughtering each other when I give them extreme magical powers fueled by negative emotions"? No; you domesticate, control, and optimise.
621*** What do you mean "why don't they", ''they already do.'' Kyubey states that he deals with humans fairly because he recognizes that humans are sentient, sapient creatures, but magical girls (according to him, anyway) are the reason humans aren't living in caves, and he doesn't harvest ''despair'', he harvests ''grief seeds''. A person just being sad that their life sucks isn't actually useful to him because it's not in a useable form. Grief Seeds are his method of refining despair into fuel, and they can't come from just anyone, they come particularly from teenage girls because that's what Kyubey sees as the most efficient means. If expanding a population from a few ten thousand to ''over six billion'' at a continuous exponential profit because you've created a much safer, more stable environment for them to breed in and thus ensure an ever-increasing number of useable members of that population without them even realizing they're being consumed in the first place isn't "domesticated, controlled, and optimized", ''what is''?
622*** The factory farm you're describing wouldn't work for the Incubators' purposes anyway. They generate magical girls to fight witches so that they can harvest grief seeds, but in order to create a wish, they have to offer hope to one of them so that it can be converted into despair. That's what the wish does. Without the Wish, there's no magical girl, and if they created a factory farm for humanity so that they could churn out teenage girls, the first thing the girls would wish for is that the factory farm would change or be destroyed because it would be directly responsible for their despair. The way the world works in the show, they don't invest resources into the Earth, they're letting humanity build their own civilization so that they don't lose anything when it improves through magical girls' wishes.
623* Can Charlotte create cheesecake?
624** Isn't cheesecake just cheese shaped like a cake?
625*** No. [[http://www.cookingforengineers.com/recipe/89/Cheesecake-Plain-New-York-Style Cheesecake is more like custard in a pie crust, made with a lot of cream cheese or ricotta cheese]].
626*** It's just that she desires cheese, but can only make desserts (i.e. her description makes it sound like the two are mutually exclusive when they're not). Maybe she can't actually make cheese-based desserts. Or maybe she can, but sweet cheeses don't satisfy her cheese cravings. Either way, I'm going to guess that this is one of those things that one [[MST3KMantra isn't supposed to think]] [[BellisariosMaxim too hard about]].
627*** [[FridgeBrilliance She's a witch. In despair. She doesn't think of these things.]]
628*** Japanese cheesecake is different from American cheesecake. The Japanese style has much more of a cheese flavor then the American style does. Which means it would be like eating fake cheese when all you want is cheese.
629*** Nope. She wished for a ''last'' cheesecake, and her wish still stands: she can never have it again. The cheese she loves most is whatever cheese went into the cheesecake she wished for.
630* Kyubey claims its species is emotionless. Yet, they obviously care enough about their own existence to go through such great lengths to prevent entropy. Caring, even if it is only for your own survival, is technically an emotion.
631** Wanting to protect your own existence can also be derived from many logical means. Using some outer-world logic, he may have formulated it was more beneficial to exist than to not, or at least "most people would prefer to exist, so we shall cater to them".
632** Could just be instinct. Also, episode 11 reveals that emotions are considered a mental disorder to incubators. So some incubators might have had emotions, but were shunned for being different.
633*** We have no clue how they treat their mentally ill. It's possible that incubators with emotion are shunned, but it's just as possible that they're treated like anyone else. It's also possible that [[FridgeHorror they're sent to distant planets to recruit Puella Magi.]]
634** It is quite possible to have goals, and work to pursue them, without having emotions. Think artificial intelligence--an AI you program to strive for some goal will pursue that goal relentlessly, in fact relentlessly isn't even an applicable word because it won't even consider that ceasing to pursue it is an option, only changes in strategy. It'll pursue that goal with more vigor than any human. The incubators have the goal of prolonging the universe, presumably as a means of achieving the deeper goal of "keep ourselves and/or our creators and/or all life in the universe from being destroyed for as long as possible". The only way to make them give up would be to convince them that their approach will not work or that another will work better or possibly that some goal they hold even higher is mutually exclusive (not likely); ''any other'' appeal or factor of any kind will be useless. THAT is what a lack of emotions gets you.
635* In episode 8, when Homura [[http://wiki.puella-magi.net/File:Incubator.jpg turns Kyubey into swiss cheese,]] he is shown to have been shot at least ''fifteen times''. The largest magazine clips for handheld pistols only carry twelve bullets. Unless she used two guns or reloaded partway through, fifteen shots isn't possible, unless there's a recently made clip with greater carrying capacity that I don't know about.
636** It's a Beretta [==], which has 15 rounds (meaning she used every single one). Might actually count as a ShownTheirWork, given the exactness.
637** So if all 15 bullets pierced Kyubey, then why isn't there any bullet-holes on the park bench?
638*** Because they were all fired parallel to the bench.
639*** Then how is it that Madoka was not reduced to a bloody mess seeing as she was sitting right next to Kyubey?
640*** Hollow-point rounds tend to over-penetrate less.
641*** The terminal ballistics of 9mm impacting an Incubator are unknown.
642*** Just gave that scene a second watch. Homura ''didn't'' fire perpendicular to the bench, she shot him point-blank. Homura caps Kyubey in that instant because Madoka was about to make a contract, and after checking the details, she didn't do it as suddenly as it looks: she stopped time, emptied her pistol into Kyubey at point-blank range, ''collected the spent casings, and put them down on the ground in the area perpendicular to the bench'', and then restarted time once she was in that spot. You can tell because the casings are already on the ground; if she hadn't, they would have frozen in midair as soon as they were ejected from the pistol and dropped as a pile all at once when she let time start again. Once she does start time again, the first thing she does is drop the empty pistol to make a sudden, loud noise, and she's doing it deliberately. Not only does it obfuscate what her magic does (in case one of Kyubey's other bodies is around to watch), it gets Madoka's attention and forces her to turn her back to Kyubey in order to focus on Homura. ''That'' is why Kyubey is full of bulletholes and Madoka is unharmed; Homura set it up that way to force Madoka to (temporarily) forget about making a contract. It's just a very elaborate, violent distraction.
643*** I've been thinking about it, and I think I've reached a conclusion: Kyubey's body is comprised of mana, he forms his bodies out of the ambient magical energy in the air (that's why he eats his corpses, so it doesn't get wasted). However, his body is also a portal for carrying Grief Seeds back to wherever they go to be used to combat entropy. Homura's rounds disappear when they go through Kyubey because they end up going through that portal, but the impact disrupts the body enough that the portal falls apart, leaving only the marshmallow-like flesh to be riddled with bulletholes before collapsing into edible mush.
644** This is explained. In episode 10 and 11, we see Homura using her Time powers to group her shots. She'll stop time; then fire, reload, then fire again however many times she has ammo; then start time again. To the outside world; all of her shots go off at the same time. It doesn't matter how many rounds she has per clip.
645* Combines with ''FridgeHorror'', but...what happens if a magical girl uses a grief seed and Kyuubey isn't around to consume it? Would she be able to destroy it herself? Or would she just have to leave it there?
646** Soul Gems are pretty fragile, and Grief Seeds are just corrupted Soul Gems, so it's entirely possible a magical girl could just break it herself. What this does to the witch's/magical girl's soul compared to if Kyuubey eats it is up in the air. This would also explain what Homura does with her Grief Seeds if she's not giving them to Kyuubey.
647* In episode 11, Madoka wants to go out into the storm to help Homura. Her mom, very realistically doesn't allow her, saying she should let the police or rescue workers deal with it. Madoka defends that they couldn't handle it. That right there would normally be a red flag, but one encouraging speech later, Madoka's mom seems to think a fourteen year old girl is more capable than an entire squad of adult men with rescue vehicles.
648** Junko is by this point aware of the fact that Madoka is hiding something important from her that likely caused Sayaka's death and has been causing her mood swings. Given Madoka's cryptic explanation of what she has to do, she rightly assumes that it's related to the same thing she doesn't know about.
649*** Still, the cryptic explanation would make any realistic parent (deconstruction = realistic, not just DarkerAndEdgier) even more reluctant to let their children go off into danger. The only reason this kind of thing works in any other anime is because at this point the parent is aware of the child's powers or Mon traveling companions, so they know their child will be protected. Madoka on the other hand is still a normal fourteen year old and her mom doesn't know any different.
650*** To quote the Puella Magi Wiki, "In Episode 6, Junko and Madoka had a conversation on how difficult it is to do the right thing, even when no one is in the wrong (per say). Junko's advice was for Madoka to be on the wrong against her friend to solve the problem, even if it means that her friend would hate her for it. In Episode 11 Junko confronts Madoka to stop her from getting into the danger of the storm, Madoka reminds her mother that she is a good girl and never does anything wrong but she tells her she needs to do this, a throwback to their earlier conversation. Madoka knows that what she is doing will worry her family, but she also knows that she must disobey her mother to save her family and her town. This conversation between Junko and Madoka earns her mother's trust."
651** We don't know how much the average [[{{Muggles}} muggle]] knows about Puella Magi. Considering the fact that many important historical figures have been contractees, it can be assumed that there's ''some'' general idea about something or other that happens with teenage girls and[=/=]or a general social rule that teenage girls should be left to their own devices. Junko knows Madoka's hiding ''something''.
652*** It's also been theorized that Roberta is the witch form of the School Teacher, which could give Junko even more reasonable suspicion that Madoka is a Puella Magi or is planning to become one.
653* Episode 6: The major WhamLine of the episode. Kyubey seeming surprised, calling Madoka crazy for "Throwing her friend" off an overpass. Seems reasonable until you realize that he KNOWS she doesn't know the truth, as he never told her. There's no reason for him to seem so surprised, or pose this statement this way, other than it being the most shocking way to reveal the truth about [[SoulJar Soul Gems.]]
654** He wanted Madoka to make a contract. Note that Homura shows up out of nowhere and immediately chases after Sayaka's Soul Gem after Madoka throws it, leaving the others with Kyubey. If she hadn't been there, the Soul Gem would have disappeared altogether because they would have no way to find it, and Madoka wouldn't hesitate to make a contract if it meant she could wish for Sayaka's Soul Gem to be teleported back to her body.
655** Kyubey may not have told the girls the truth, but the girls know that Soul Gems are important at least. He probably didn't think Madoka would actually take Sayaka's Soul Gem and throw it off an overpass.
656** Being a hive-mind creature, he's likely to have some problems keeping in mind that unless he's actually ''told'' other people about certain things, they just won't know them.
657** This being the most shocking way to make TheReveal was most likely his reason: the way he reveals the truth suits Kyubey's goals quite well, as his phrasing of the news in such harsh (to a human value system) terms, yet without actually expressing disapproval as such, makes for maximum emotional impact on the girls, which in turn progresses the girls toward their eventual Witch transformations. Don't forget, while Kyubey's kind cannot understand what it's like to have emotions, they've had millenia of practice manipulating them!
658*** It's possible that Kyuubey just sees the name "Soul Gem" as self-explanatory. His modus operandi revolves around the idea of YouDidntAsk because to him, it's all pretty straightforward; he probably just assumed it was as obvious to everyone as it would be to him, and was actually surprised that Madoka would throw a Soul Gem... but couldn't begin to care one way or the other why she wouldn't know better.
659* Episode 6: What is Madoka's mother doing drinking alcohol by herself? Is her husband sleeping already? This allows a nice scene to happen, but seems quite unhealthy. Madoka even says something about how she will drink alcohol with her mother when she grows up. Which is cute, but YMMV.
660** She's a Japanese businesswoman who had a stressful day.
661** It's a Japanese culture thing. Being old enough to drink alcohol with a parent a rite of passage to show that your parents recognize you as an adult, basically Madoka is saying she looks forward to being able to bond with her mother as an adult after she's grown up... which is extra sad, because we know she never will.
662* So, we know that no matter what, regardless of whether Madoka has made her AbstractApotheosis wish yet or not, it is inevitable that a soul gem will either be destroyed or go dark. This applies to every single magical girl. Madoka, in the new system, is preventing darkened soul gems from becoming witches by bringing them to her magical afterlife instead. But she's a magical girl too, so won't her soul gem go dark eventually too? [[ApocalypseHow She wouldn't be able to save herself...]]
663** Except she does save herself. It's shown in the montage before the new world is created that her witch form engulfs the Earth, and an even bigger Madoka comes along to defeat her, so it can be assumed that she will be able to save herself at the end of time. There's also the fact she becomes the anthropomorphic personification of hope by the end. Wouldn't be a very useful personification of hope if she could feel despair.
664*** I'm not necessarily saying she'd become a witch or fall into despair. But she does have only a finite amount of magic she could expend, right? And with no direct contact with incubators, she could still run out.
665*** The truth of the matter is that she ''does'' become a witch... in the old system. The hope that creates the universe would lead to despair enough to destroy the universe. However, Madoka's wish was such that she would destroy ''every'' witch before it was created, including ''that'' one. In that moment, the system as it stands literally ''cannot'' be supported, and everything is rewritten.
666*** Magic in this universe doesn't seem to have a limit for anyone. The only thing that seems to quallify as a limiter is the speed at which a {{Magical Girl}}'s Soul Gem darkens. That itself has a few factors behind it, such as a {{Magical Girl}}'s power potential (which is just the amount of despair they are likely to experience, or how important they could be to the universe) and their current state of mind (being depressed seems to speed up the darkening, as demonstrated by Homura in episode 12, when the realization of the consequences and futility of her actions makes her Soul Gem go from bright purple to almost completely corrupted in in just a few seconds). Also, the Incubators don't give them magic; that's something that they just unlock for the {{Magical Girl}}s, and the Incubators are just there for questions, advice, MagicalGirl candidate scouting, and Grief Seed collecting.
667*** Magic always had a limit. Using it darkens a Soul Gem, and it's the ''only'' thing that can darken a Soul Gem now, because the hope/despair balance has been removed from the Magical Girl equation. Rather than "hatching" into a Grief Seed, it shatters when it gets too dark. Mami says as much, and that's how Sayaka dies in the new universe: she uses up all her magic rather than witching out.
668*** The hope/despair equation has been overturned in the sense that a Witch and her curses vanish from the world at the moment the Gem is erased, but the function of the Soul Gem itself wasn't altered: it will still darken with grief and despair, it just disappears before it can inflict that despair on the world as a Witch.
669*** With that in mind: the reason Madoka will never run out of magic is because in the new universe, she never existed. She doesn't have a soul gem because she was never a magical girl, she never made a contract and was never subject to the laws of magic. This FridgeLogic is exactly the reason why she had to be erased, because it couldn't support an existence that broke the rules like hers... so it just got rid of her and turned her into a principle upon which the new universe would be based.
670*** Basically, Madoka doesn't have to worry about running out of magic in the same way that concepts like gravity, entropy, and buoyancy don't have to worry about running out of magic. She's a logical rule of the universe now, not a machine with a function.
671* So, in each alternate timeline, there is a different Madoka, Sayaka, Kyoko, Mami, etc. Does this mean there's a different Homura too? Since it's mostly MentalTimeTravel, it can be assumed that it's largely just her Soul Gem traveling. [[NightmareFuel does the presence of the soul gem suffocate the consciousness of the alternate universe Moemura who wakes up to the aftermath of the battle with Walpurgisnacht]]? Especially considering the alternate universes don't seem to cease existing when Homura leaves them... (The scene of her "walking" back to the beginning of a timeline is probably artistic licence, regardless of whether the rest of this FridgeHorror is valid.) On a less horrifying note, does she need to re-heal her eyes each timeline?
672** Every time Homura goes back to the start of the loop, the previous loop is destroyed, and all the energy connected to that previous loop is channeled into Madoka... but those timelines are, at the moment Homura goes back, ''potential futures'', not parallel timelines. That's what makes Madoka's magical potential so unbelievably vast: countless possible futures literally revolve around her, because her condition is what ultimately determines whether Homura negates them. In other words, Madoka is crammed full of 30 days' worth of the entire universe's potential energy every time Homura goes back to the start; all the magical girls are the same ones they always were, but the magical girls they ''could have become'' have been sublimated into Madoka's magic, never to fully exist.
673** The name 'Kaname', could even be read as 'pivot' or 'vital point'
674** She probably does need to heal her eyes every timeline (and undo her braids, probably) because she goes back to a point when she's sill physically Moemura. Souls don't seem to be subject to the effects of time, which might make for some pretty good FridgeBrilliance (because of course the power of the soul overcomes entropy, they're immortal, eternal things that don't change unless forced by Incubator technology) so it's more likely that Moemura's soul is absorbed by the Soul Gem because it's still subject to the Magical Girl Contract. ''ComicBook/ElfQuest'' has a really good line to explain that kind of thing (''"Hold a candleflame to another and you realize they could never be anything but one; any fire is all fire, any spirit is all spirit. The blending takes up no space within a body."'')
675* Wait a minute. In episode one, when Mami fights Gertrud, the witch has ''male'' minions. (At least implied to be male because they have mustaches and are called "Anthonies".) Now if they were to wander away from their witch and form a new witch, would it be a female or male witch?
676** Familiar-spawned witches are identical copies of their mother. The gender humans would arbitrarily assign the familiars seems irrelevant, as they reproduce more-or-less asexually.
677* Why does Kyubey think leaving around planet destroying witch is a good idea, because it seems like it would go keep destroying more planets and then we'd all be screwed.
678** Because Witches don't care about what happens beyond their Home planets. Kriemheld Gretchen is only concerned with saving humanity and making Earth a paradise. Once the planet is engulfed in her Utopia, she's complacent and still, radiating energy like a star of black magic.
679*** Witches don't seem to be able to harm Kyubey in any serious way. Even Homura pumps him full of lead and he doesn't care except to be mildly annoyed at having to eat his own corpse, so even if Gretchen did become a wandering apocalypse he probably wouldn't mind too much. Without emotions he can't really even care about Gretchen destroying ''other'' civilizations, and the Incubators apparently don't have allies in space.
680* If a grief seed absorbs enough soul gem pollution, it resurrects the witch. Ok. In episode 10, Madoka uses a grief seed to save Homura from becoming a witch, seemingly dooming herself. In these circumstances, wouldn't it be perfectly acceptable to allow the witch (in this case, Oktavia von Seckendorff, according to the design on the grief seed) to be resurrected? Homura is more than capable of re-killing the witch by herself. For that matter, couldn't a magical girl with enough combat prowess resurrect and re-kill a witch to get rid of her soul gem's pollution without cost?
681** No. Even if the magical girl starts the process with a perfectly pure Soul Gem, she'd still have to absorb the grief of her own wish on top of the grief she accumulates fighting the witch, which she would then funnel back into the witch. In the best-case scenario, the Grief Seed would get full and hatch and the Witch would kill the magical girl; worst-case, the magical girl witches out when she realizes she didn't cheat the system after all.
682** Grief Seeds hatching into Witches again is, I'm pretty sure, entirely speculative. We never see it happen, I'm pretty sure no one ever says it will, and Kyubey's plan depends on him harvesting Grief Seeds once they're full. Given what we do know about how magic works, a witch that respawns can only have as much room to hold grief as it takes magic to kill her. At best, it would end up balancing to zero and the magical girl wouldn't gain anything.
683*** It's not speculation. Kyuubey tells Sayaka in episode 6 that a Witch will hatch if she pours too much corruption into a Grief Seed when cleaning her Soul Gem.
684** The witch Charlotte hatches from a grief seed stuck inside the wall outside of a hospital (how it got there is another mystery), and it's not hard to imagine a witch re-hatching from a grief seed after it turns pitch black, like Madoka's soul gem-turned grief seed does right before she turns into a witch (in Episode 10's second timeline). Kyubey himself states that the laws of thermodynamics don't apply to Magical Girls. He also tells Sayaka that a witch could hatch from the grief seed she just used in Episode 6 if it absorbs more darkness, and that one of Kyubey's jobs is to eat grief seeds before this happens. Kyubey is incapable of telling lies, half-truths and misleading statements aside. It also doesn't seem right to say that witches absorb Soul Gem pollution based on how much magical power it takes to kill them when Homura has killed multiple witches without any direct use of magic.
685*** A couple of things here:
686*** A respawning witch would never be harvested. And since Witches are a leading cause of death and not Witching out for magical girls, allowing a witch to continually spawn wouldn't gain anyone anything.
687*** Witches don't have to be defeated by magic specifically, but they can only take so much damage before they're killed and their Grief Seed can be collected; the Seeds can only hold so much Grief before they get full, but not all witches drop their Seeds when killed.
688* To add on to this, why does Homura say that she and Kyouko have to run away from the witch Oktavia von Seckendorff, if Kyouko is going to burden herself by carrying Sayaka's body? In episode 10, Homura slays Octavia by stopping time and surrounding the witch with pipe bombs. Why couldn't she have done that here? Would Sayaka's corpse vanish if Kyouko didn't physically carry it out of the witch's barrier before killing the witch?
689** Yes. We know because of what happened with Mami; Homura comes right out and says that she'll be a missing person forever. She's a bit of a special case in that Charlotte literally eats her, but none of the witches have their corpses in their labyrinths. Given what we know about how Kyubey operates, chances are that's actually how labyrinths are ''designed'' to work. Kyubey eats his own corpse in order to minimize the amount of energy wasted on his corporeal form, so most likely the Soul Gem technology was developed with that same principle in mind, not to mention that a magical girl might get suspicious if she happened to notice that every witch has the corpse of a young girl in it somewhere. Logically, the efficient way to handle it would be to set it up so that the labyrinth absorbs the corpse somehow.
690** The point is that Kyouko wanted to keep the corpse for sentimental reasons. She says as much: if Kyouko drops it, she and Homura can just waste Oktavia right then and there, but if they fight, it's gone for good, whether because the barrier collapses on it, or it gets destroyed as collateral damage.
691** This is confirmed in the PSP game, but it doesn't show whether or not the corpse would vanish if Kyouko was carrying it in her arms, as opposed to if it was laying on the floor of the labyrinth.
692*** Except for the part where Kyouko ''does'' carry it out of the labyrinth and Sayaka gets a funeral. This isn't Fridge anything, this is answered directly in the show.
693*** I don't think it matters. Oktavia is what's left of Sayaka. It'd probably be destroyed/disappear either way.
694* Episode 10: During our peek into some of the different timelines, we see the whole cast of magical girls together: Mami, Madoka, Sayaka, Homura and... Kyoko? Wait a moment. It is shown at the end of episode 4 that the only reason Kyoko came to Mitakihara was to claim the turf left by Mami's death. If Mami was never killed by Charlotte, then why is she part of the group?
695** It's shown in a spin-off manga that she often than not just buts into Mitakihara regardless of Mami's survival. Her death was just a reason for her in ''that'' time line.
696* Why does nobody ever realize the name Soul Gem is literal and is actually their soul taken solid form? Kyubey outright calls it a soul gem and the gem in question is formed by pulling it out of your body so how did nobody ever connect the dots? and not just the main cast. In the other spinoffs none of the girls there ever figured it out for themselves. Instead, they only find out when someone witches out or their gem gets too far away leaving them lifeless. The only Puella Magi who seemed to have realized the Soul Gems were SoulJars on thier own was Oriko, mainly due to having psychic visions. Maybe some girls were too disturbed by the prospect of soul removal to actually ask Kyubey about it but then you'd expect other girls to confirm it with Kyubey to be sure whether or not they'd die if the gem was broken.
697** Because there's no reason to think that at first. For humans, the soul is an abstract concept. It's the immortal inner self and the origin of all our higher thoughts, but it doesn't feel any different after the contract is made unless you have a reason to perceive your little egg figurine as being yourself even when you can clearly see through the same eyes you've always had. Kyubey is also a manipulative little shit. The way he presents the contract, ("What is the wish that will make your Soul Gem shine?" it makes it sound that the ''wish'' is being drawn out of the soul to create the Soul Gem.
698** Also, pay close attention to what happens when a girl makes the contract. She's always ''alone'' when it happens, or else in the company of someone who can't interfere. That's deliberate on Kyubey's part. He only tells the girls that they'll make a wish and then become a magical girl, he never precisely tells them what that entails, and he always makes sure that there are no witnesses around to see the soul being extracted and formed into a gem. Since it doesn't feel any different to the magical girl herself and no one sees it happen, nobody figures it out unless they manage to get around Kyubey's methods. None of the girls are ''stupid'', there are no plot absurdities involved; the relevant information is deliberately obscured or hidden from them because if they knew the truth, they wouldn't do what Kyubey wanted.
699** Regarding the series' timeline, the simplest answer is that "Soul Gem" is being said in English to a bunch of Japanese kids. They're not guaranteed to make the connection.
700* How the Hell are there all these differences in Homura's timelines that occur or stem from events that occurred BEFORE the start of her loop and that she never interacts with? The big glaring one is the one where Kyousuke plays guitar instead of violin, but I'm sure there are others that I'm forgetting. Homura's sand-timer only goes back one month and she always goes back to the exact same day.
701** Based on what we've seen of her powers, she probably ''isn't'' going back to the exact same day every time. It's the same ''date'', of course, but we know that when a wish conflicts with reality, reality is altered to suit the wish, and time itself (as per Madoka's take on it, at least) can't be confined: when it's moving, it's moving everywhere, when it's stopped, it's stopped everywhere. When Homura goes back, she negates the timeline she just completed, and according to Incubator magic once it's gone, that future can never happen again. It's the same thing as the time paradox that destroys Walpurgisnacht without Madoka actually having to defeat her: the circumstances that lead to the point in which Walpurgis is attacking Mitakihara no longer exist, therefore Walpurgis herself cannot exist, and because all magical girls are bound to defeat witches, that causes such a massive paradox that the universe itself has to be remade in order to resolve it all. Homura is doing a smaller version of that. The negated timelines are sublimated into Madoka's karmic destiny (since she's the reason they were all negated in the first place) and then they're gone for good. The changes that are introduced in subsequent loops are magical "edits" to the timeline to ensure that even if Homura attempts to go through a loop exactly the same way as a previous one, there will be enough differences that she won't cause a paradox by going through a timeline that can't exist.
702* Incubators really are true sociopaths and also have the "incredibly short sighted" handicap that comes with that definition. In episode 11, when Kyubey is telling Madoka about how Incubators have been treating humans like farm animals he mentions that the incubators were shocked/surprised to find humans had a functional society even though all of their members had different emotions. Which would suggest that at the time they found humanity humans were the ONLY sentient race they knew of with both emotions and a functional society. Even if they've found other races since then this would imply that emotional races are a rare commodity. So why on earth would Kyubey EVER contract with Madoka in the final timeline? Madoka's got off the charts potential. Theoretically impossible potential. Which means her witch form will be dangerous enough to threaten the planet. A planet that the incubators have invested countless amounts of effort into cultivating into a good farm. Heat Death can be staved off temporarily by reducing energy in the universe... but not forever. Not unless their farm keeps generating more energy to push it back. But this Kyubey doesn't care anymore because he's met his personal quota. Even though in the process the farm will burn down in ten days. A precious and rare farm. Kyubey might not be able refuse a wish... but he doesn't have to be around for a girl to make a wish with either. By contracting with Madoka Kyubey was essentially eating his seed corn and he had to have known it. He just didn't care about the consequences.
703** We don't actually know what Kyubey planned to do with the grief he was harvesting, other than "something to fix entropy". We know the Incubators have at least one other race that can facilitate magical girls, and Madoka's potential was sufficient to create and destroy an entire universe by the end. If Madoka's wish hadn't been a logic bomb, there's no real limit to what he could have done with it, especially if he didn't care if anyone but the Incubators could live in the universe once he was done. Either way, Kyubey is an ageless hive mind that has been working toward his goals for the entire span of human existence, it seems pretty apparent that he's not short-sighted.
704** He also mentions that he's nearly met his quota when Gretchen is strong enough to destroy the earth within ten days, and he says that she's humanity's problem now. He's right, naturally, he hardly cares what witches do most of the time. But that's fine, really, if he needs Gretchen cleaned up, all he really needs to do is find another girl and tell her that she can stop Gretchen if she makes a contract with him. Even Walpurgisnacht, a witch made up of several witches combined, can't be everywhere at once. If Gretchen gets all of humanity inside her labyrinth, Kyubey just has to dip in there and find someone to make a wish and boom, problem solved.
705* One of the ways the series deconstructs the [[MagicalGirl Magical Girl]] genre is in the way that teamwork is not only discouraged, but extremely unlikely. The girls in this series almost certainly shouldn't team up, because the hard-to-gain and extremely important grief seeds cannot be shared between them. How does the series show this in an obvious way, but tell it to the audience almost subconciously? Through the girls' costumes. Unlike Manga/SailorMoon - esque magical girls, all of the magical girls in this series have very different costumes from one another - costumes that take from separate influences and clash with one another: Madoka's is inspired by classic MG costume; Sayaka's is influenced by both knights and superheroes; Kyouko's is based on priest vestments, in reference to her father and her past. The rest of the girls have similarly unique costumes. In this sense, without literally spelling it out to the audience, the impossibility of magical girls in PMMM working together is shown eah time two or more are on screen.
706* Remember Sayaka's outburst after finding out about Soul Gems, saying that she's already dead, a zombie? There is a real-life condition where people actually do believe they already died or are dying (or parts of their body are), called Cotard's delusion.
707** See also Walking Corpse Syndrome. Which deals in large part with extreme depression and depersonalization.
708[[/folder]]
709
710[[folder:Fridge Sadness]]
711* In the end, Homura didn't change Madoka's fate at all. Simply the circumstances. In the "original timeline" we saw that Madoka was already strong enough to take out Walpurgisnacht in a mutual kill effort. At least after Mami had softened the witch up a little, anyway. And in the end, both Madoka and Walpurgisnacht, as they are, still "die" together. It's just instead of a Witch being harvested and a Magical girl falling in battle, both are retconned into a large group of magical girls who at different points were taken away by the Magical Girl Goddess and said Goddess respectively. But in either case, Homura still has to face living in a future without Madoka the human in her life.
712* During the first battle with Oktavia, she begins screaming(in a haunting distorted version of Sayaka's voice) when she notices Kyoko carrying Sayaka's lifeless body, this heavily implies that somewhere deep down within Oktavia, Sayaka realised she was now a witch forever and couldn't do anything except scream in agony and sadness, which in turn implies she was completely aware of her situation and unable to stop herself. While it falls under FridgeHorror too, it is also utterly heartbreaking to think about the once plucky and kind-hearted Sayaka Miki being unable to stop herself from attacking Kyoko and Madoka. Sayaka already took being put into the soul gem badly to the point where she called herself a monster, so imagine how she felt about becoming a witch. In turn it also shows that the other witches like Charlotte/Nagisa (who were once little girls who only wanted to make a wish and fight witches) also had a degree of self-awareness.
713** Worse still this implies she was aware of Kyoko's final words and sacrifice to MercyKill Sayaka, had Sayaka had some degree of control she likely would have tried to stop Kyoko from sacrificing herself, but all she could do was watch as her newfound friend died to put her out of her misery.

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