Puella Magi Madoka Magica

My guess would be that a magical girl might be able to age her body if she knew she had to, but if they don't know they have to then they never do and get to angst about their apparent lack of aging. Tart Magica features two magical girls that contracted as teenagers but look like adults at the time of the story.

Magical girls' bodies do definitely seem to age normally. Yachiyo, for example, contracted when she was 12 but she definitely looks like a college student (by the game's standards). Hinano, unfortunately for her, just seems cursed by genetics.

I always saw it as dependent on their wish magic and knowledge of he lich bomb. Magical girls can magically age either instinctively or on purpose of their wish magic is appropriate, but can choose not to or lack the capability if their wish isn't appropriate.

I'm on the "magical girls age normally" side. Tsubaki "Doomed Mom Hairstyle" Mikoto from Suzune sure doesn't look the age Kyubey usually targets, and Suzune herself seems younger in flashback, though I'll acknowledge some of that could be due to present her's smile and optimism being gone for good. The former wished to have the power to beat witches and the latter wished to be a magical girl like her, and I don't see why either of those wishes would particularly encourage aging.

Do we have any data points besides Hinano for magical girls not aging normally? If it's just her I think that suggests she's just non-magically weird.

Wow, if My Diary With You showcased a healthy, adorable lesbian relationship, then And So, The Azaleas Bloom is an abusive lesbian relationship where the spouse is cheating and the daughter runs off with strange children and dies for the fifth time.

If you think Konoha and Hazuki are dysfunctional, wait until you see Kei and Yuu. They almost killed Homura, and Yuu proceed to do worse on someone else.

I just feel bad for Ayame. Her parents leave her in alley, she gets talked into using her wish to abandon the orphanage she loves rather than reviving the director that made it such a great place, and when she makes friends her own age she has to meet them behind Blue Mom's back. Really, my main takeaway from this first half is that Konoha shouldn't be listened to.

Hey now, half the children the daughter runs off with are perfectly normal!

Edited by rikalous on Jul 27th 2019 at 12:49:44 PM

Honestly, Konoha seems like she'd fit into the original show (where we're told that magical girls often fight each other for territory, and Kyoko is first presented as an antagonist in that vein) better than in Magia Record (where basically all the magical girls get along, with the worst conflict being "hey, you stole my kill!") despite Kamihama having like three dozen magical girls running around.

I wouldn't say all the magical girls get along

I mean, the main conflict of the game is a magical girl civil war

The civil war between east and west Kamihama is mostly because the social conflict inherent to the city, not because they're rubbing shoulders with each other. Even then, Yachiyo and Kanagi understand that they mostly maintain the sham civil war because Hinano wouldn't accept 'the attack between east and west is a false flag. A witch is spitting out clones that attack us all indiscriminately' excuse for brawls in her turf (then again, that's a very convenient excuse). The Magius are simply capitalizing this into a real civil war and Mifuyu did everything wrong.

Thing is, Konoha's on guard against some sneaky Machiavellian nonsense, and I don't think territory disputes are usually that subtle and long-game. Kyouko certainly wasn't.

And in one ending, Konoha's reflexive refusal of relationships with anyone outside their trio directly led to them getting involved in resource disputes, so that's a thing.

Territory disputes in the show are kinda weird. Like, Kyoko shows up to claim Mami's territory now that she's gone, but after her initial fight with Sayaka, she settles into just being a Magical Girl in the area and starts making nice with everyone. Well, tsundere-nice, anyway.

And then we see another timeline in Homura's time-travel episode where Mami's still alive but I guess Kyoko just came back of her own accord and decided to be bestest-best friends with everyone anyway.

Which Kyoko also does in the post-retcon world. That wouldn't be unusual - we could easily assume that territory disputes just aren't a thing in the new reality - except the scene after Sayaka dies is basically a mirror of the alternate-timeline scene where Sayaka turns into a Witch for the first time. The same people are there (minus Madokami) and instead of flipping her shit and trying to murder everyone, Mami calmly explains the Law of Cycles. This deliberate parallel in this scene shows us how much happier and less terrible the new reality is.

But. Like. It is a parallel. Kyoko came back to be everyone's best friend in the old reality's version of this scene too. So...?

The territory dispute plot point exists to set up Kyoko and foreshadow the conflict to come with her arrival. But after she's made her dramatic entrance and fought Sayaka, it basically ceases to exist and never comes up again - even in alternate timelines.

Edited by TobiasDrake on Aug 1st 2019 at 8:25:48 AM

Sayaka made it sound like in that timeline they weren't on good terms with Kyouko once she showed up in that timeline. It was only after she Witched that they worked together from what we can tell IIRC.

It seems as though territory disputes aren't a problem unless there's a lack of witches. Spinoffs do explain this a little more though - In Oriko Magica Sadness Prayer they show that Kazamino City was completely devoid of magical girls because of a dispute that took place between Sasa Yuuki and the other girls, and Kyoko only came in after they were all dead. It's less of a problem in Wraith Arc, it seemed like Mami and Kyoko were on slightly better terms and Mami actually asked Kyoko to come because of the abundance of wraiths, only for her and Sayaka to butt heads a lot.

Edited by PhiSat on Aug 1st 2019 at 9:45:47 AM

Yeah, Wraith Arc elaborates that they were definitely allies working together under Mami-senpai, they were just, you know, Sayaka and Kyouko◊ about it.

Over in Magia Record land, I've come to a realization about Konoha's role in the Azalea family. Her only real contribution is putting bread on the table. Beyond that she basically sucks at life, especially at cooking. She nonetheless keeps trying to take charge, despite the fact that Hazuki is more sensible, more emotionally intelligent, and much more successful when she does her own thing.

In short, Konoha is the sitcom dad.

Konoha is the Walter White of her family.

The first part of the event made it seem like Konoha made the big picture decisions and Hazuki handles the little-picture details. It's a pretty decent partnership, as those are different skill sets. (Ayame is baby so she gets her input on major decisions but otherwise just does what she's told.)

Part two just makes it look like Konoha is a crazy person and Hazuki is the only functional human being out of the three.

Azalea event downplays this because the 'conflict of the week' spotlight is on Konoha but Hazuki is basically the kind of person who micromanage everything because she doesn't trust anyone, not even the other two, to do even the simplest things. Like the instance with her lobbying alliances with other groups. To get the result that she wants, she'll do anything that would appease any side she sucks up to. Because of that, she's two-faced by default.

After the event, Konoha's sanity is pretty stable and she shows that other than being paranoid (which isn't really her fault either), she's actually really straight-forward, honest, and easily attached to new people like Yachiyo. Hazuki, on the other hand, get caught up by her consistently-exuded shadiness that nobody really sure what is in her head, and the bad guy exploits this. Her side-story is just the beginning of it.

Oh good, spreading around the flaws like that should do wonders for my issues with the writing in this event. Still wish they could have made it clearer now instead of however many months later the next one is.

Sayaka hated Kyouko so much in Wraith arc, she only tolerated her presence out of respect for Mami and demanded that Kyouko never speak to her. That isn't exactly getting along.

Edited by Sereg on Aug 4th 2019 at 10:40:30 AM

Oh, hey Sereg and Tobias, I've jumped onto the Madoka bandwagon too. From what I gather Madoka is basically to the Magical Girl genre as Apocalypse Now is to Rambo. So who's going to burn the village to go surfing while saying "I love the smell of napalm in the morning"?

I'm calling it now, Kyubey's going to turn out to be Cthulhu or something, and Homura was the Only Sane Woman who's trying to stop the girls from whatever horrid fate awaits them.

I always joke to myself about why Magical Girls don't shoot the villain of the week or something. Seeing Tomoe Mami shoot the Witches with a gun was, therefore, quite amusing.◊ (Although if I were Kyubey I'd probably give her something more modern like a Browning Automatic Rifle)

Edited by SantosLHalper on Aug 10th 2019 at 11:20:47 AM

Trivia: Mami's actual magic is making ribbons, those guns of hers are actually made from the ribbons.

Well, I've actually finished the manga (the main story, anyway). I will make a commentary after I crawl in a corner and sob.

Your heartbreak has decreased entropy.

(Meanwhile, the mobile game is wrapping up an event about girls going on a hiking date.)

Edited by rikalous on Aug 12th 2019 at 10:12:14 AM

I recommend reading Tart Magica next.