Alright, so we just suffered another Wham Episode as we find out that Soul Gems are Soul Jars. Let's find out how horribly scarred Sayaka is!
OH SHIT! SAYAKA'S PISSED! She's calling out Kyubey for tricking her. Yet why the hell am I agreeing with him? I mean, he says it like it's very convenient! Yet people hate him so much that they made an image pool on Danbooru that shows people from all over beating the shit out of Kyubey! Hell, he even shows her what would happen if she was to fight with her soul in her body and even uses this as the reason why she survived her fight with Kyouko instead of the "wishes grant you powers related to said wish!" Why didn't you say that before? So Sayaka asks Kyubey why they have to endure this, and he pretty much goes "Because you accepted it!" Okay. Now I know why people want to kick his ass. Because of that fucking smug grin he has each time he fools someone. LET ME AT THAT FUCKER!
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Okay... moving on... Kyouko pops up! Ah, wonder if she has even more sickening advice on how to get Kyousuke crawling to Sayaka. No, she says that not feeling guilty for others means having no regrets. Oh, she offers Sayaka an apple, she throws it away and gets throttled by Kyouko. WOW! I know wasting food is her Berserk Button, but when you're trying to get along with someone, it's not wise to try and hurt them. Especially when you tried to kill them before. Okay, so they break and enter in Kyouko's Father's church. TIME FOR BACK STORY!
So Kyouko's father was a priest who, after reading in the papers how crappy their world is, decides that he's gonna make his own religion. With blackjack. and hookers. You know what, forget it. Since he lacked doctrines (or because people thought he was whack) he was ex-comunicated from the church. Sigh, if only Harold Camping got that treatment. This somehow puts him in poverty. I'm pretty sure someone would look for a job, unless being ex-comunicated means disgraced from society and not being able to get a job. Kyouko crosses the Despair Event Horizon and makes a Deal with the Devil that somehow ends in her entire family getting killed. And no, the Godhand had nothing to do with it. No, it was Kyubey. Her wish is pretty much to give her father a Compelling Voice. Hm... Wonder what would happen if the story was about her father ala Code Geass? Both shows involve deals with devils, witches, and the main power being a Compelling Voice. That would be epic. But I digress.
Oh, I should talk about Gisela, but they have her off panel so I don't think I should. I might anyways. Her barrier sounds interesting enough to make a Mega Man style level out of. Kyouko points out how like Sayaka, she was an idiot brimming with euphemism. However, his father somehow caught wind that he has a Compelling Voice and that was the reason why everyone came to his church. He snaps and tells Kyouko that she is a Witch. Uh, not yet buddy. He then commands his family to die- I mean stabs them all and kills himself. And I liked that little "u mad" face she has after she's done telling it. The point of the story isn't to give her sympathy points (thank God) but to tell Sayaka why it was stupid to wish for someone else's benefit. Oh, and she tells Sayaka about the Hope + Despair = 0 theory. This manages to convince Sayaka to think differently about her, but she decides to stick to her own style of fighting. She even points out the Fridge Logic of where Kyouko got that bag of apples. Sayaka looks so different compared to other scenes. I don't know why... Oh, and NOT-SO-EPIC APPLE EATING!
So Sayaka and Kyousuke go back to school, and this is the first time in the manga that we see Hitomi seeing Kyousuke. However she tells Sayaka that she likes Kyousuke. What. The. Hell. Okay, she said she had been keeping it a secret for a while, but nothing foreshadowed that she had the hots for him. Okay sure the whole "OMG! Sayaka and Madoka are lesbians!" thing was foreshadowing, but it was the kind that requires the readers to think really hard. The only other bit of Foreshadowing was her leaving early in chapter one, but that was to her violin lessons... unless she didn't go to those lessons and talked to Kyousuke instead. Other than these two tidbits, nothing clearly hinted Hitomi's love towards Kyousuke. It's like Akiko and Ryu's relationship. Only a few bits foreshadowed early on that Akiko likes Ryu, but they didn't suffice enough and then near the end, they are not only the Official Couple, but they get married in the epilogue movie. This is what TV Tropes calls a Last-Minute Hookup. Oh, and Hitomi just told Sayaka that she as more connection with Kyousuke than Hitomi does. This is just derailment for the sake of angst. That's all there is to it. Hitomi gives Sayaka 24 hours to confess her feelings to Kyousuke or she will confess hers. You know what I just realized? She's pretty much filling the role of the woman the prince goes after instead of The Little Mermaid.
Think about it. Sayaka's the Little Mermaid, Kyousuke's the prince, and Hitomi is the princess that Kyousuke marries. In the fairy tale, The Little Mermaid sells her tongue to the Sea Witch to marry someone she truly loves and take part of their soul with her, guaranteeing her a spot in Heaven. However, said person she loves is arranged to marry someone else, Hitomi in this case. The condition is that if the person marries another woman, the Mermaid would turn to sea foam on the dawn of the first day after marriage. Replace sea foam with Witch, and you got a good representation of Sayaka's fate. I like that they are going for this idea quite a bit, but it's still an Ass Pull. I would have foreshadowed quite a bit more.
As you might expect, Sayaka has a breakdown and cries in Madoka's arms as she was thinking of not saving Hitomi a few chapters back. However, I bet that if she didn't she would still regret not saving her. I don't know, I think it's because that when she was a Witch in the Mami Snaps Timeline, her minions were representations of Hitomi rather than Kyousuke. Anyways, her thinking of not saving Hitomi makes her think that she is a failure as an ally of justice. This is another heartwarming "I can't believe it's not Key Visual Arts" moment. I'm gonna ruin it by playing this clip
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Alright, let's move to the fight with Elsa Maria! And for once, it's not a OHKO! It's a Curb-Stomp Battle! And Sayandere has another epic breakdown as she kicks Elsa Maria's ass. Suddenly, Kotomi has been dethroned for most scary breakdown ever. At least Elsa Maria looks cool. Tune in next time to see the third Wham Episode!
