History Recap / PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaEpisode01AsIfIMetHerInMyDream

* SynchronizedMorningRoutine: Madoka and her mother do this as a way to show their close relationship and their difference in maturity --Junko wears makeup while Madoka ties her hair in GirlishPigtails, Junko is a night owl because of her job (and stress) while Madoka is an early riser. This part becomes important later in the anime, as [[spoiler:the Incubators]] target teenage girls because they are more gullible and emotional and overall less experienced than adult women.

Madoka Kaname is your average, pink-haired middle school with a happy family, good friends, and a normal, everyday life. But everything changes after the arrival of a cool but cryptic transfer student followed by the appearance of a talking white creature.

Madoka Kaname is you're average, pink-haired middle school with a happy family, good friends, and a normal, everyday life. But everything changes after the arrival of a cool but cryptic transfer student followed by the appearance of a talking white creature.

* BigDamnHeroes: When Madoka and Sayaka end up what would be identified in the next episode as a Labyrinth, they are saved from the attacking Familiars by Mami Tomoe.

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: While plenty of characters show HiddenDepths later in the series, the entirety of the first episode gives us an accurate first impression of Madoka's kindness and her desire to help people. Her dream at the beginning shows that she wants to help Homura in the hopeless battle she's facing desperately to the point of considering becoming a Magical Girl, and later she also goes out of her way to save Kyubey when he's being attacked by Homura. She is also shown having a happy life with her family and her friends, greeting kindly and wishing them good morning.

** When Homura asks Madoka to take her to the Nurse's Office, Madoka is confused about how she knew she was the nurse's aide until Homura tells her that their teacher told her. But then she becomes confused when Homura starts leading ''her'' to the nurse's office instead of the other way, despite this supposedly being Homura's first day at their school...
*** During this moment, also take note of how when the scene focuses on Homura's face [[HiddenEyes her eyes become hidden]] as her mouth twitches in anguish, hinting that Homura is in a lot of emotional pain.
** When Madoka tells Sayaka and Hitomi of how she first saw Homura in a dream, Sayaka jokes that Homura and Madoka met in a past life and fate has reached across time and space to bring them back together, while Hitomi theorizes that Madoka had met Homura before and her subconscious simply brought up an image of her in the dream. Later episodes would show that in a sense, both theories are right.

*** Earlier when Madoka tells her friends about how Homura told her to never change or she would lose everything she cared about, Sayaka says "I hope she doesn't think acting like a weird transfer student is cool. That's so ''{{moe}}'', it makes me sick!"

** When Madoka tells Sayaka and Hitomi of how she first saw Homura in a dream, Sayaka jokes that Homura and Madoka met in a past life and fate has reached across time and space to bring them back together.

** When Madoka tells her mother about how Hitomi received another love letter, Junko tells her that if the writer of the love letter can't say he loves Hitomi to her face, then he's not worth the girl's time. This will become important later regarding Sayaka's character arc and her crush on Kyosuke.

* BookEnds: An episode example anyway. Madoka's dream has her talk to Kyubey, who tells her she can make things better for Homura if she makes a contract with him and becomes a Magical Girl. The ending of the episode has Madoka meet Kyubey personally, where he requests her and Sayaka to become Magical Girls.

* AmbiguousSituation: It's not clear at the time why Homura is attacking Kyubey, and when Madoka demands an explanation on why she's trying to hurt a cute creature begging for help, Homura refuses to answer.

** When Homura asks Madoka to take her to the Nurse's Office, Madoka becomes confused on how she knew she was the nurse's aide until Homura clarifies that their teacher told her. But then she becomes confused when Homura starts leading ''her'' to the nurse's office instead of the other way, despite this supposedly being Homura's first day at their school...

* TheAce: Homura shows herself to be quite an excellent student in class and proves herself to be an excellent when she breaks the track record for every school in the city.
* AmbigiousSituation: It's not clear at the time why Homura is attacking Kyubey, and when Madoka demands an explanation on why she's trying to hurt a cute creature begging for help, Homura refuses to answer.
* BookEnds: An episode example anyway. Madoka's dream has her talk to Kyubey, who tells her she can things better for Homura if she makes a contract with him and becomes a Magical Girl. The ending of the episode has Madoka meet Kyubey personally, where requests her to become a Magical Girl.

*** During this moment, also take note of how when the scene focuses on Homura's face [[HiddenEyes her eyes become hidden]] as her mouth twitches in anguish, hinting that Homura is in a lot of emotional pain.