Puella Magi Madoka Magica

Do we know for sure that Oriko is just 2 volumes long? I seem to recall that being an unsubstantiated rumour.

It says it here in the Synopsis section

Fun fact: That last sentence in the synopsis is not on the Amazon page

Ah, so you're just going by the wiki then. Ok, good. If that's the only evidence in favour of that, I can just use a 'I'll believe it when I see it' policy and concluded that we don't know how long Oriko's going to be.

I'm thinking that Yuuri (original) was a member of the Pleiades, since her silhouette can be seen with the other Pleiades in that one shot (it was definitely Yuuri not Kazumi).

Which makes me think that Kazumi or at least one other magical girl wasn't around at the time the Pleiades were formed, given that they wouldn't have named themselves the Pleiades unless they had 7. Either Kaoru and Umika are lying to Kazumi about having been their best friend, or...well whatever it is, there's something fishy.

Chapter 9 of the Madoka manga is up.

OH GOD DAMMIT WHY MUST THIS MANGA MAKE KYUUBEY 10 TIMES CREEPIER?!

Also, Oh God... T_T

edited 3rd Jun '11 4:55:57 PM by dmysta3000

Here's a theory I came up with:

After the Climactic Battle, the manga will reveal that "Yuuri" was actually one of a four-person group of magical girls contracted by Kyubey. All of them utilize the Evil Nuts, while the leader sees Witches as the pinnacle of human evolution.

That, or "Yuuri" had her emotions manipulated by a higher power other than Kyubey.

What do you think?

edited 3rd Jun '11 4:51:23 PM by SPDUDE48

Some very nice moments in that manga chapter. Oktavia was pleasingly surreal, Kyouko's sacrifice had just as emotion behind it, but for subtly different reasons, and manga!Kyuubey is really bringing the creepy.

The more expressive Kyuubey is really a very different, but equally valid take on the character.

I find him kind of narmy. And much of the manga in general. One of the things I liked about the anime was how understated it tended to be

edited 3rd Jun '11 5:36:32 PM by Hylarn

I kind of prefer the anime's take on Homura's shield.

Ugh. "Evil nuts" sounds plain stupid. I wish they'd rephrase that as "seeds of malice" or something else to give it the connotation of "growth/maturity" already carried by Grief Seeds and Soul Gems (being egg-shaped). "Nuts" is too light a word; I can't take it seriously.

Sidenote: Critics and Connoisseurs has just chosen Madoka★Magica for next week's anime spotlight (which means I'll have to finish my second revision of the review by today). Anyway, for those still interested in giving the show a more in-depth discussion, now would be a good time to join the club (provided that you meet its requirements).

I think an expressionless Kyubey is creepier than one like in the manga. It's just an opinion.

"Evil Nuts" is actually a literal translation of what Yuuri said, so...

I liked those two pages they put in of Kyouko and Sayaka, and mermaid Sayaka. Though they were pretty obviously pandering to Red x Blue.

Also, WMG I posted in the page for Kazumi:

Jubey is from a different, competing race from Kyubey.

Jubey and Kyubey both aim to save the universe through emotions. However, Jubey, wishing to help the humans (possibly because he may have emotions), decides to leave it up to the emotions of the girls to generate energy rather than forcing grief on them, and cleans their Soul Gems both to save them from becoming witches and gather more helpers to stop the witches (e.g. fighting things like Walpurgis Night). However Kyubey prefers the more energy-generating method of forcing girls to become witches; it's possible he may not even be able to clean gems. Both of them have struck a truce of sorts, seen by them standing by each other. Either Jubey is dead by the end of Kazumi or his work wasn't effective enough to stop Kyubey's witches.

edited 3rd Jun '11 5:56:55 PM by AsterSelene

I'm wondering if the Incubators could have their mental data corrupted by extended exposure to emotional humans. In this WMG, Juubey would have been "localized" by emotional corruption (They see emotions as an anomaly after all) into becoming something less of a jerk.

She chose to walk the path of self-sacrifice rather than let Kyousuke stay a broken dude?

edited 3rd Jun '11 6:13:47 PM by AceOfScarabs

Unrelated and random, but I'm really not getting why so many people are saying Madoka gave Sayaka, Kyouko, and Mami conscious choices to undo their wishes. I don't even think this is in her power registry and it doesn't even make sense. Sayaka died because she died, and I'm not seeing any hints of "she chose not to undo her wish".

I think that if there's going to be a third Oriko volume, it would be mentioned sometime next week.

^^Madoka had a conscious choice whether to undo Sayaka's wish or not, it seems. She apologizes to Sayaka while they're watching Kyousuke play, saying that Sayaka had to make the wish (and subsequently die) for Kyousuke to stay healed, which Sayaka said she was okay with.

edited 3rd Jun '11 8:04:27 PM by RedSavant

Art, danbooru, ads, nsfw

Divine intervention (Red x Blue)
Homura
Neko Madoka
Homura
Sayaka
...Interesting choice for the hair

I was also somewhat confused by that bit, actually. It certainly does seem that Madoka's offering Sayaka the chance to undo her wish, but I don't quite understand why she would need to give up her life to keep the wish active. In the new universe, wishes are still granted in exchange for the contract, right? Presumably Mami's and Kyouko's wishes are still active, and they're still alive. So why does this only seem to affect Sayaka? (I know I'm probably missing something here though.)

Also: Gertrud added. Easiest to beat with Madoka or Mami (even with the whole glass cannon thing she has going on), because their shots clear out the familiars quickly. (Heck, with Mami you don't even need to care about the familiars; her shots have such wide spread they can't get near her if you keep her right at the bottom of the screen.)

And the graze box is reasonably large now! Edit: Only marginally larger. Gertrud's scissors are just that huge

I actually find Kyouko the easiest, even if she's horrible at killing minions. Bullets with oversized hitboxes don't matter with her. Definitely Madoka on Hard, though

edited 4th Jun '11 12:30:42 AM by Hylarn

It's because Sayaka will always destroy herself if allowed to become a magical girl, whether by turning into a Witch or disappearing like in the new system: Kamijou's recovery triggers the Hitomi love triangle, which is the straw that breaks the camel's back for her, and Madokami can't change that.

So it comes down to a choice between crippled Kamijou and alive normal girl Sayaka, or healed Kamijou and Witch/disappeared Sayaka. She chose the latter.

So, I finally completed the series (and there really isn't anything I want to comment that isn't already explained here; definitely worth the watch though), but I'm a little late for the afterparty/shitstorm that followed the conclusion.

Well that sucks.

Ace Of Scarabs: You have Kazumi volume 1, right? Can you explain what changes there are between the collected edition and the individual chapters? I'd be happy to put them on the Puella Magi wiki, if you'd like.

I discovered YKK only two months before the series ended — after 12 years of publication. Yeah, I know how it feels like.

Still, better late than never.

edited 4th Jun '11 6:56:38 AM by Yuunagi

@Hylarn: Yeah, I was fooled by that at first too...I thought the graze box had become larger; but no, it's the scissors. I don't think the graze box has changed at all. (Kyouko is good against Gertrud up to Medium or so because she just needs to dodge the familiars; but on Hard those buggers spawn so fast it becomes really hard to dodge them while moving at that speed. I'd rather use Mami and just dodge the scissors, which is actually really easy if you don't have to care about the familiars.)

Also, just managed to defeat (not merely survive) Oktavia on Hard, using Madoka. Whoo! That makes all witches defeated on Hard...but still no Walpurgisnight. Maybe we really do have to wait for version 1.0.

@LO Rd: Okay, I guess that makes a certain degree of sense. There's still something bugging me a bit there though...but I can't quite grasp what it is.