Puella Magi Madoka Magica

Yeah the whole thing is Madoka solves the Witch problem and not really much else upon the creation of the new universe. The Heath Deah of the Universe and emotions circumventing it works the same as before, just with a different target to gather energy from.

Which is very Buddhist/Hindu. As the world being destroyed and remade with a slightly better one with each cycle is a thing.

Except that isn't even a problem. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Madoka was actively shown time traveling, including to the future, actively shown to be in multiple places at once, actively shown to be in places where there are no magical girls (or people at all), Mami said she's "becoming hope" (meaning she'll be everywhere hope is felt), she claimed to know everything that will ever happen, to always be with everyone, to exist in every universe ( including ones that may never even exist), Kyuubey says she has no beginning or end (making her acausal, and thus able towwitness every point in time at will)

Becoming Hope doesn't say much. Nor do any of those abilities. There are numerous non-Biblical angels and gods with those abilities and they can range from low tier to decently powerful but not the biggest or baddest.

If someone feels. Hope and she isn't there, it means she didn't become hope. Similarly, all those other abilities require her to have known what Homura would do. Otherwise she never had those abilities. Similarly? In absolutely an religion, or any thing else, if someone cannot perform similar feats, then, by definition, they don't have those abilities. Otherwise, it's as inherently nonsensical as claiming, "I can do something, except I can't"

Madoka isn't the nonsensical all powerful being you deluded yourself into thinking she was and was comparable to a Buddha. That's it. Because that right there is something an enlightened Buddha can do easily.

You can say otherwise every time it won't change a thing.

Edited by OmegaRadiance on Aug 28th 2018 at 4:32:35 AM

Madoka was presented as a being as powerful as I claimed (and that is what elevated it to the greatest piece of fiction. I've ever come across, instead of the lower quality story you describe). The low power level you describe is utterly incompatible with what we were shown and you repeating yourself doesn't change that. If Urobuchi intended to write her as weak as a Buddha, he completely failed to do so, and therefore, his claims have as little weight as if he insisted that Homura's hair is bright green

I don't think that Madoka is ever depicted as being omniscient. Her platform, such as it is, is actually pretty limited. She shows up the exact moment that a magical girl becomes a witch, destroys the witch nigh-instantly (so quickly that the Incubators can't even detect the witch's existence), and that's about it.

Most of the rest of it can be chalked up to flowery language.

The situation in Rebellion is different only because the Incubators put up a barrier specifically to keep Madoka out.

That's something people have repeatedly said, except it is repeatedly shown to not be true in Tue anime. She appears to her brother, travels through the skies? Stands on s galaxy, makes multiple copies of herself around Homura, takes Sayaka's soul. To two separate concerts, travels via multiple arrows at once. All of which would be impossible if she had such a limitation.

She is clearly being represented ad being able to travel to any point in space-time she wants at. Will. Kyuubey confirms she's acausal and she tells him he's underestimating her power, before proving it. Again, she literally says she knows everything that will ever happen. While discussing her omniscience, scenes from the show play I'm the background to confirm she really does have supernatural knowledge.

It's all extremely I'm your face. What moredo you want before you believe her? She says she is always with everyone. Wesas her travel to further I'm the future than Rebellion. She says she's on every Universe, including ones that don't even exist. Mami says she's becoming hope, so hope I'd another word for Madoka, and where one is, by definition, the other is too, as they're the same thing

Madoka has already proven such a limited understanding of her powers wrong. Why do people still cling to it?

The point is that people interpret those scenes differently than you. You're talking them literally, we are not. I don't think that Mami saying that Madoka is becoming hope means that Madoka and hope are literally synonymous terms — it's figurative language, Mami is saying that Madoka is a Hope Bringer to magical girls by offering another fate besides "inevitable witchdom".

You're interesting that your own interpretation is objective fact. It's not. Reasonable people can disagree on this point. I'm not saying that your take is unreasonable, just that it's not the only reasonable way to look at it.

I consider literally to be the only reasonable interpretation of fiction in general. Otherwise you end up with nonsense like "the Harry Potter series is a dream Harry had to deal with his abuse". If you don't take the story literally, it effectively doesn't exist as you're picking and choosing what happened.

A presentation is also inherently literal Anf insisting it wasn't I'd inherently a retcon.

Of course, I'm grateful for your explanation, as it means those scenes are at least acknowledged, if treated as "not real".

I guess I shouldn't be surprised. This is partly why I disagree with others about Kyouko. I take what she says at face value, while others don't (of course, I think there's plenty to condemn her with without her words)

Some series tend to be flowery and metaphorical with imagery and statements. In fact taken things literally can be deterimental when in something like Japanese which has loads of wordplay and double meaning for words so they get pretty out there with the meaning.

The Japanese saying "I love you," with "The moon is beautiful," and answer it with "I could die happy," is a thing, after all. Taking everything Japanese at face-value is missing a lot of its wishy-washy symbolism.

I always take that Mami is just being dramatic (as she often does) with the entire 'Madoka becomes hope' as an allegory because she gives magical girls hope by being the Law of Cycle against their fate of turning into witches, just like how Porky Mitch is the embodiment of human flaws because he was born in the middle of abusive household and grew up into a dictator that corrupts the last bastion of humanity.

Edited by AlaAlba on Aug 28th 2018 at 10:43:45 PM

You do remember Mami said "you are NOT just bringing hope" in order to deny that she's speaking figuratively? And if you always assume figurative, how will you ever recognise literal?

Eh, I guess it's just different approaches. The point is that it being figurative was never confirmed in the anime, which is why I call it a retcon ( and I consider it being literal to make a far superior story)

Magia Record anime coming 2019.

So this is a side story about a different group of Magical girls? Is that the idea?

Previous timeloop where the girls go to a city where magical girls don't turn into witches, but instead summon and control their witch forms. Mami and Homura are hoping this will solve the witch problem. As it's a previous timeloop, it obviously doesn't turn out well. (Also, different protagonist who is looking for her sister)

I don't know too much as I don't play the game, but it'll be nice to see an anime of it (but yeah, a sequel to Rebellion would be even better. Some of the manga being adapted to anime could also be cool.)

EDIT: The nature of the city means it can support a huge magical girl population and magical girls flood to it when they hear about it. The Pleidies Saints and Oriko and Kirika visit the place too (So I'll at least see them animated. Oriko and I have a bit of a bond I'm infamous for on another forum)

Edited by Sereg on Sep 1st 2018 at 9:19:54 AM

Knowing Kyubey he cucks it up.

Its neat that the Kazumi team gets to show up in the game. I hope we see them and Juubey in the anime. I have no real hopes for the cell phone game adaptation to be worth anything, but it could show off some characters that don't fit in the main narrative.

Yeah, I really hope the Saints and Oriko and Kirika show up in the anime, considering their importance in other spinoffs. (Plus, Kazumi is adorable and as I said, Oriko and I have a connection)

After all this time, they finally out of nowhere announce a new Madoka anime... and it's... Magia Record? I'm not even sure what it means to make an anime based on a mobile game based on an anime, but honestly this is pretty disappointing. No continuation, no backstory, no spinoff manga adaptation, just a big advertisement for a gacha-game.

I guess it's purely a Cash-Cow Franchise now, and won't be taking any more risks.

Given that Magia Record has an actual story, I don't see much of a difference between adapting it or adapting any other spinoff.

It's a previous timeloop, so it actually is backstory. Also, the premise is actually pretty intense for the verse. A city where mgs don't become witches? Also, Mami is apparently an extremely major player in the plot.

Yes, I'd prefer a continuation, and still think we need one, but this is still nice to tide US over, especially if it gives us anime appearances of manga characters, as it is likely to do

I'd have much preferred a Kazumi, Oriko, or Tart adaptation. Won't lie, this is pretty disappointing.

Hell, even Different Story or Wraith Arc would have been nice to see.

Speaking of, I finally ended up reading Wraith Arc. I liked that it tried to at least explain some things about wraiths and Homura's powers. Mami had a larger role than usual in the story too, which was pretty nice to see.

This show has been one of my favourites, and for good reason. It not only deconstructs the "magical girl" genre, but also has authentic emotion whenever the show needs it. So without further ado, I will count down my top 5 saddest moments. This will cover not only the original 12-episode anime, but also the sequel movie, "Rebellion".

BE WARNED, AS THERE ARE UNMARKED SPOILERS AHEAD.

5. Mami's mind snapping like a Twix bar. An underrated moment, this was a tearjerking character death. Although she already died (Which will be elaborated later), it was a happy sight to see her return as her prim and proper self in previous timelines. But when the timeline where Homura told her friends about the truth of witches came, it ended up sending Mami on a mental downward spiral. She kills Kyoko and tries to murder the others, all out of her twisted desire to spare everyone from their witch fate. This forces Madoka to shoot her. Not only does this have one of the quickest chain of anime deaths (Body count of 2 in EXACTLY TWENTY SECONDS, just my opinion), but it also neatly, devastatingly and horrifyingly cleans up the plot hole of why Homura didn't tell anyone about witches' real forms sooner. And to make this worse, this may have been why Homura was more antagonistic to Mami in the original timeline.

4. The entire third act of "Rebellion". This film may have divided viewers, but in all honesty, I loved it. And the ending proved no different for me, despite the need for multiple rewatches. Homura's witch form just screams the motifs of depression and suicidal tendencies. When Madoka got to her, Homura was veering towards darkess, a hint towards the controversial act she would commit minutes later. When the infamous moment came, it was a gut punch that I didn't see coming. And the consequences erupting from that were gripping, as Homura's rewriting of the universe alienates her from not only her potential friends, but also the one she she made her wish for. The ending not only shocked me, but also changed my understanding on the film, and the entire series as a whole. This wasn't just a sequel to an acclaimed anime series, but it was essentially the darker reimagining of a stoic, no-nonsense badass who is psychologically broken down with every moment of horror.

3. Mami's death (And the fallout that ensues from it). This shifted the entire show from a typical, cutesy magical girl anime to a deconstruction of magical girl tropes. Killing her off in the third episode, in an anticlimatical way, and when the intro portrayed her as a main character, was a gutsy move. And, oh man, did it pay off well. It sold the tragedy of this entire series, as Madoka and Sayaka ended up mentor-less, and processing this unknown world they were thrown into with sheer difficulty. It was also the one thing holding Madoka back from making a wish, which introduced to us the important theme of choosing to make selfish wishes.

2. Sayaka's descent into madness. Being Meguca is suffering. Her development was equal parts intriguing and devastating. At first, we saw her as a typical girl who follows the archetypes of a classic hero: someone who wants to protect the world from any evil, and wins in the end. But then, this is completely turned on its head when we see her love story play out, as she fails to receive affections from the one she loved. And this is a gigantic catalyst in her increased despair and madness, eventually turning her into a witch. From this, we see that her entire arc was the embodiment of a Tragic Hero, and was all the more effective for it. The Japanese and English voice actors for Sayaka really let loose in episodes 7 & 8, especially her final lines as a human.

"I was stupid... so stupid."

1. The third timeline's ending. Jesus Christ, I did not expect this scene to almost make me cry. Long story short, Homura has to perform a Mercy Kill on Madoka's Soul Gem to prevent her from becoming a witch. Chiwa Saito and Aoi Yuki (As well as Christine Marie Cabanos and Cristina Vee for the English dub) sold their sadness well, and the detailed animation for their pained facial expressions contributed as such. But the kicker is Homura's Death Wail as she finally pulled the trigger, and the aversion of a Sound-Only Death in favour of seeing only the gun's orange flash from far away. That was the capper to this perfectly crafted scene, which caused me to pause the episode at that point out of utter emptiness.

I would also like to ask readers on your top 5. You can include reasons if you want.

New anime starting up.

Soon we will have content again that isn't just an untranslated phone game and a shitposty comic about it.