Formerly G.G.
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You call it insanity, Homura calls it perseverance and determination.
Yep. :( @ homura hate
(homura is my favorite character and I empathize with her)
Honestly I still haven't quite figured out whose "fault" everything is. It's at least clear that Homura and Kyubey are working against each other, but beyond that I don't think the show really gives enough setting details to conclude conclusively. Walpurgis Nacht, in particular, seems to just come out of nowhere and act as an impediment for the hell of it.
edited 23rd Oct '14 11:11:40 AM by GlennMagusHarvey
Well, would witches exist if not for magical girls? Magical girls wouldn't exist if Kyubey didn't make contracts, but at the same time the first contract wouldn't have been made if the first magical girl didn't consent to it. Then you got to realize that Kyubey wouldn't have even been on Earth if something didn't create "it's" race.
It's a perpetual cycle of blame spanning generations of creation, and in the end it's impossible to fight against the one truly responsible for this madness no matter what type of wish you think of.
World's Cutest Direwolf
The coobs could have just given the first batch of megucas wishes and waited for them to witch out. Then the next batch is told he can give them the power to fight those freaky monsters.
It'd be easier to get the first batch, considering how Grief Seeds delay the witchification.
Song of the Sirens
This show is coming up soon in my queue, and I'm wondering about the movies. Wikipedia indicates that there are three movies of which the first two cover the same storyline as the TV show. Can anyone tell me (in a spoiler-free manner) how the third movie relates to the TV show?
Join my forum game!
So I can watch it after I finish the show, without loss of continuity?
You know, the more I reflect on this series, the more I begin to feel that it is essentially The Matrix with Magical Girls in terms of themes, setting, and influence. Rebellion only cements this in my mind.
Like, if Neon Genesis Evangelion was anime's Star Wars, then this is its Matrix.
edited 25th Oct '14 10:07:13 PM by LDragon2
World's Cutest Direwolf
NGE was anime's Star Wars? First I've heard of it.
That's the stupidest comparison I've heard.
If anything, Gundam is Japan's Star Wars, and Madoka, well, I don't think we have a counterpart for that.
I always saw Gundam as being more the Star Trek (not in terms of storytelling, but in influence and the like).
And I'll admit, me comparing Madoka to The Matrix is mainly after watching Rebellion, and seeing a growing number of Magical Girl shows being influenced by it (such as making them more dark and less overly colorful and cheery), like how Matrix started influencing sci-fi films by removing Zeerust and the like.
How many magical girl shows have actually been influenced by Madoka? The only one I can think of is Daybreak Illusion. Maybe Selector Infected Wixoss, but that's a card game show, not magical girl.
We got the Yuuki Yuna Yuusha one would this season also....but yeah, that's only three.
edited 26th Oct '14 12:22:17 AM by kiukiuclk
I've written a novel heavily influenced by Madoka. Needs editing though.
Well hey, it is a start. I wouldn't be surprised if more shows start taking influences.
Formerly G.G.
That is the truth, and is sadly a result of the Follow the Leader trope. But even better works can come from that, so I hope for the best.
On a more philosophical note, I just realized that this does describe one of the main conflicts in this show:
The idea of running a magical girl premise on more mature themes is not new at all, and has been around since like 2004 (Mai-Hi ME and Nanoha), if not earlier (Magic Knight Rayearth, 1993-1995).
To be fair, Mado Magi is the first magical girl show to run almost entirely on these darker themes and to achieve widespread success (the last bit to distinguish it (sadly) from Uta Kata).
I think it's too early to say what Mado Magi's influence has been. The Matrix has been around for quite a while now, in comparison.
Rainy Echoes
That's an interesting look indeed and I have something else to add, if you don't mind.
If you consider Oriko to be canon, then that was the one time things were different. Mami didn't witch out after hearing the truth and Kyouko and Sayaka(since she didn't contract) didn't die, meaning that there would have been four magical girls(Mami, Homura, Kyouko, Yuma) facing Walpurgisnacht instead of Homura alone. Most importantly, Madoka was not killed nor did she contract. A win-win for Homura, right? Wrong! This timeline was only different mainly, I think, because of Yuma's and Oriko's presence and actions, not Homura's actions. And as if to mock her for thinking that this might be the timeline she was looking for, Madoka ends up dying anyway, making this attempt yet another failure.
Crestfallen and defeated, Homura went back to the usual routine of trying different scenarios with the same outcome until Madoka's wish uprooted the Witch system, which was soon followed by Homura doing the same to Madoka's, becoming the Queen of the Night, biding her time on her throne waiting for the day her former comrades come to put an end to her self-inflicted misery.
I first posted this elsewhere
, in response to Handsome Rob's and Diamite's comments here, but I figured I'd repost them (the relevant parts) here:
Apparently there's a lot of subtext in the Madoka Magica metaseries (i.e. including the supplementary materials) implying that Homura is wrong to fight destiny. There seems to be setting details basically actively trying to screw her over. Kyubey having access to multiple bodies, Walpurgis Nacht always being too powerful (and even being a thing in the first place).
It's almost like saying "stop trying". Well, you know what, fuck destiny. Maybe Homura needs dimensional magic to get out of her series and hold Gen Urobuchi at gunpoint?
They never really say what Walpurgis Nacht even is, other than a super-powerful witch.
Well I think WN is basically symbolic. Which is what gives it the power to basically skirt rules of setting mechanics, which is what Homura is going by.
Incidentally, I ran across a version of "Surgam identidem" (WN's battle theme) that was basically an emulated/MIDI soundset version of it. At first, I felt the sound quality was poor. Then I realized, it was appropriate. It's a construct. It's a construct made specifically to screw the main characters over. It's not actually a "real" thing; any impacts it has in in-universe reality are basically just rules-ignoring on the part of destiny (which could be interpreted as the story direction/writers, but exactly who this is is irrelevant as this is mostly a conceptual consideration).
TL;DR: Fatalism is a theme — perhaps even the theme — in Madoka Magica.
edited 26th Oct '14 6:00:03 PM by GlennMagusHarvey
Incidentally, having listened to Surgam Identidem a few times now, I can't get out of my head its similarity to (at least the start of) this track:
Yay happy family!
Also, To The Stars updated, I guess. And we've normally linked that here, so.
The Bonds That Link Us.
Causality.