Puella Magi Madoka Magica

I take it those are lines from the book? I can probably guess that its an Alice In Wonderland style horror story.

Sparkling and glittering! Jan-Ken-Pon!

Near as I can tell, the lines were written for the show. The earlier talk of Shock Headed Peter was speculation

huh...I wonder will every Witch have their own theme...

Having watched both episodes...how come? Mami saved them from Homura and the witch's mooks. And she seems nice...like Miyo Takano when she wasn't evil. And Kyuubei a talking puppy who is nice enough to grant them one free wish if they become Magical Girl and helped him hunt witches...who are evil, since they're born from curses.

Isn't that the same as a talking cat recruiting that girl to become Sailor Moon to fight...whatever the villains are called.

edited 17th Jan '11 12:53:29 AM by Signed

"Every opinion that isn't mine is subjected to Your Mileage May Vary."

First off, Homura wasn't actually a threat to anyone but Kyubey. Second, being similar to 34 isn't a good thing.

The fact that a free wish is necessary to get people to sign up is suspicious itself. And there's a lot of questions about where exactly witches come from

and

Plus, there's the ominous fact that we're only two episodes in and there's graffiti quoting Faust, of all things. That practically forces the viewer (if he's at all familiar with Goethe) to look with much skepticism upon any sort of "wish" offered to the protagonists — now we're suspecting that there's a catch of some sort, as there almost always is with such things, and we're trying to think of what it could be.

edited 17th Jan '11 1:03:06 AM by JakesBrain

What's wrong with a free wish to do something? I assume the wish is a compensation for having to risk their lives to hunt Witches.

Sort of like the free wish in The Lucifer And Biscuit Hammer.

edited 17th Jan '11 1:03:17 AM by Signed

"Every opinion that isn't mine is subjected to Your Mileage May Vary."

I take it you've never played D&D? There are all kinds of ways that a wish can be twisted. We've been warned, too, that this is a Deconstruction of the magical-girl stereotypes — what better way to do that than to make the magical-power contract into a total screwjob? The wish-granter might be a Literal Genie, might misinterpret the wish in order to give the wisher what (in his opinion) they should have instead of what they actually wanted, might grant the wish in full but not protect them from any negative consequences, might threaten to undo the wish if the wisher doesn't hold up their end of the deal... there are so many ways that signing your life away for a wish could go nightmarishly wrong.

edited 17th Jan '11 1:10:58 AM by JakesBrain

Because there are also references to Faust you know, the story of a man who makes a deal with the devil in return for granting his wishes?

In Faust's case the catch was that he could have anything, but nothing eternal: The moment he found happiness and wished to remain at a place his soul was forfeit. He gets out of it becuase when he finally wishes for time to stand still it's not for his own sake, but so that he can help a bunch of total strangers in trouble.

edited 17th Jan '11 1:11:37 AM by Arilou

"No, the Singularity will not happen. Computation is hard." -Happy Ent

Well...I have played Never Winter Nights, which is supposed to have something to do with Dn D (lots of numbers?)...

But...never really heard most of those tropes you potholed actually...

^ ah.....I also didn't know what Faust was. Let's hope those words aren't there just to looky artsy like Christianity in Evangelion.

Seeing your summary of the story..........Madoka's power will involve time

---

And did the studio say that this is meant to be a deconstruction? Because I haven't been following this show's production.....and if it is, aren't you supposed to NOT tell the audience that it's a deconstruction so that the effect will be even better once revealed that it is one?

So far...I'm watching the show for Madoka's moms and those crazy looking mooks.

edited 17th Jan '11 1:15:30 AM by Signed

"Every opinion that isn't mine is subjected to Your Mileage May Vary."

I'm assuming some of the speculation is also due to the series being written by the person who I believe wrote Saya No Uta.

Besides the reference to Faust:

• Homura all but outright told us that 'becoming a magic girl => friends and family dying.' And since she's probably not a bad guy, chances are she wasn't trying to trick anyone.
• The imagery after the fight with the witch likens Mami to a spider who just caught a butterfly, which is rarely a positive image.

"Canada Day is over, and now begins the endless dark of the Canada Night."

There's also things like the explanations Mami and Kyubey give not matching what actually happened

If I remain cautiously optimistic...I might as well throw in my own crazy WMG...

Mami hunt witches as a hobby. Kyubei feeds on the egg a dead Witch leaves behind. They convince normal gullible girls to become Magical Girl, and they turn into Witches after having their wish granted, their abilities and appearance relating to their wish. At that point, they hunt down the new Witch they created like a hunter who hunt hares he personally bred as a game, all the while recruiting the next girl.

Wouldn't it be funny if an outrageous Wild Mass Guessing actually became true for once? Not just in this show...

edited 17th Jan '11 3:58:59 PM by Signed

"Every opinion that isn't mine is subjected to Your Mileage May Vary."

Not Cosmic Horror Story enough. Having a clear villain who's responsible for everything takes all the fun out of it. Just go beat them up. The real trouble comes from having no good solution because the world itself perpetuates the suffering. Unless you manage to Take a Third Option and Earn Your Happy Ending.

Watched the first episode.

So is this going to be Nanoha: The Studio SHAFT Version all the way through, or what...?

You can't even write racist abuse in excrement on somebody's car without the politically correct brigade jumping down your throat!

What else could it be?

Nanoha meets Tsukuyomi Moon Phase ? I don't mind...as long as the outfits are nice. Just...give us a more complete ending than Moon Phase did.

edited 17th Jan '11 4:17:42 PM by Signed

"Every opinion that isn't mine is subjected to Your Mileage May Vary."

Nanoha was basically Generic Magical Girl Show: The Seinen Version. Pretty much any Magical Girl series is going to have some similarities to Nanoha

Watched the first two episodes. Excellent. Will continue watching. Very SHAFT-ish.

Remember, Shinbo DID direct the first season of Nanoha, after all...

Time to strike half the WMG page, folks. They just killed off Mami.

Oh...god.

What...what did I just watch.....why...what..I...I...I can't...speak...I...I just...no...what..how...did...but..the episode was...nice and happy...and...and...why...no....NO!

UROBUCHIIIIIIIIII

Damned impulse to read spoiler.

Downloading, right fucking now!

If I'm sure of something it's that I'm not sure of anything.

The spoiler! My download was already at 90%, and I fucking read it.

I suck.

And of course it comes out right after I give in and watch the low quality raw.