Poor Madoka. She misses Mami so much, that - of all things - eating eggs at breakfast makes her think of Mami and cry. I think it was because Mami's Magical Girl outfit was white and yellow. Or, it was because of Charlotte's love of cheese. Then again, eggs could remind Madoka of anything - Homer Simpson, Beedrills, Mami-san... Wait... Yep, Mami-san.
Let's have a moment of silence for Mami. Silence over, let's give a big hug to Madoka.
Anyway, Madoka and Sayaka are sad at school, because nobody knows what happened to Mami. Then, Kyuubey decides to leave because he needs to find new Magical Girls to replace Mami. What a Jerkass. Madoka and Sayaka CLEARLY need emotional support, and Kyuubey just leaves. Is his job that important or is he just taking a Busman's Holiday, Kyuubey-style? I'll let you guys figure that out, since that question was open-ended.
While Madoka and Homura have a nice chat about their feelings (and what happens when Puella Magis die in combat; They disappear), Sayaka visits Kyosuke, again. But, while listening to Debussy, Kyosuke gets all angsty that he can't play music anymore and whatnot. So, Sayaka says the defining line of the episode - "Miracles and Magic Exist."
Anyway, Madoka runs into Hitomi, who is now part of a suicide cult. All the members plan to kill themselves by inhaling dangerous chemical fumes, all while under the influence of this episode's witch. I'm sure there's a message about not getting high off of chemical fumes and peer pressure in there, and i'm sure it goes like this - "Don't have sex. You will get pregnant and -" Wrong moral. I'm sure the moral of this episode is "Don't give into peer pressure and you won't end up inhaling chemicals to get high or die." (That rhymes)
Anyway, since Madoka is helpful, she throws the chemicals out of the window (which is pretty BAMF for her in this part of the series), and we meet our new witch. I think this witch is either Elly or Kirsten, since they didn't give the name of the witch. *Checks TV Tropes pages for Madoka Magica*. Yep, it's Elly AND Kirsten, since there are apparently two names for her, but I will go with Kirsten for continuity's sake and the sake of others. Here's some notable points about Kirsten's world.
1. Hey, look, Mami's on T.V.! This is actually showing Madoka her regrets, in T.V. show form.
2. Also, there's carousels. I have no clue how this relates to televisions. Maybe Kirsten wanted to be a T.V. actress, and she made her contract with Kyuubey on a carousel. Or, she became a witch on the carousel.
3. I actually got a bit dizzy watching this part of the episode. I don't know if anybody else experienced it, but I think it may be because Kirsten's familiars are spinning around.
So, all seems lost for Madoka, until a girl in a cape and a female Musketeer outfit appears. She also looks like Sayaka. Wait... The Musketeer girl IS Sayaka!
After the battle, Sayaka tells Madoka that she made her wish to heal Kyosuke so he could play music again. This is an indicator that something WILL happen to Sayaka, no doubt about it. Before we end the episode, we are introduced to Kyouko, another Magical Girl.
I absolutely hate Kyouko's voice. Given her backstory and her personality, her voice should've been more tomboyish. Instead, they made her sound like a Tsundere when she wasn't supposed to. Whoever hired the voice actress that did Kyouko needs to be fired, or at least be given a pay cut. But, I guess I have to live with it, since I have eight more episodes to go.
On a happier note, the website I was watching this episode on left me a treat - They put in a commerical for Morning Rescue - THE beverage of Puella Magi Madoka Magica - in, and it made me laugh. If you end up seeing a Morning Rescue commercial anytime during your viewing of this anime, watch it. It will make you laugh after the anime makes you cry.
Next episode will have more of Kyouko and her un-fitting voice and maybe some more Morning Rescue.
