Puella Magi Madoka Magica

• Episode 6: And there's twist number 2. The Soul Gems are soul gems. Yeah, that one got me, my mouth dropped when I heard it.

Clearly the problem was not trusting Kyubey enough.

Didn't expect it to be Exactly What It Says on the Tin? XD

Nope. I was not looking at the Soul Gems as being the source of a dark twist (well, on their own, I'm pretty sure a Soul Gem that isn't cleansed becomes a Grief Seed, but that's not confirmed yet).

Soul gems being phylacteries got me the first time I saw it too.

That's a really clever gut-punch. You get through Mami's decapitation and you think, this is it, this is the big dark sucker-punch. And then Kyubey's like, "Oh no, there's more."

I remember coming out of episode 3 just sort of figuring we were settling into a particularly gruesome status quo but that all the establishing details were done.

Edited by TobiasDrake on Aug 28th 2023 at 5:08:24 AM

• Episode 7: Geez, and the Soul Gems are painkillers, too. Sayaka probably had several broken ribs and didn't even know. I wonder if this is where Steven Universe Future got their similar idea. Lots of delicious angst to be had between red girl's backstory and Sayaka feeling like a zombie.

I find myself wondering if Madoka will ever make a contract. At this point, I don't want her to, but it'd be a really bizarre Magical Girl show if the main character never becomes a Magical Girl, especially with all the talk of her immense potential. I feel like she's probably going to use her wish to completely change how the whole Magical Girl system works.

• Episode 8: Wow, this episode was just twist after twist. Homura confirmed time traveler, Madoka has enough latent potential to become God, Kyubey is short for "Incubator", and Magical Girls become Witches. Didn't expect all of those reveals all at once, back to back. And now Sayaka has transformed into a Witch.

• Episode 9: Hoo... Trying to save a friend, even when it's impossible and pointless, and both dying in the process. With the custom ED. Man. And the truth of Magical Girls is that they're just anti-entropy batteries for aliens is so bleak. There's not even a greater plan or purpose behind it all.

I've been reading through the thread, keeping up with the episode releases. I'm surprised no-one has brought up the idea of Walpugisnacht being Madoka as a witch. There is time-travel, so it seems plausible to me. Obviously, don't spoil that if I'm right.

Edited by PushoverMediaCritic on Aug 29th 2023 at 3:24:11 AM

• Episode 10: Damn, I was really hoping for a Whole Episode Flashback showing Homura's story, and I got it. Guess that kinda of disproves my theory about Walpurgisnacht, since Madoka's Witch form is a gargantuan pyramid and looks way bigger and more powerful than it. Curious what Walpurgisnacht's origin is now. I love Homura's character evolution, and it even made the OP retroactively canon!

So, there were a few months between this episode and the next one, from what I've heard?

Edited by PushoverMediaCritic on Aug 29th 2023 at 4:48:09 AM

IIRC, Walpurgisnacht's origin has only ever been revealed in interviews and supplemental materials; It's never been brought up in the show proper. Spoilering so you can decide at your leisure when to read it.

Walpurgisnacht is a Witch that has, multiple times, collided with and absorbed other witches. The show's creator compared her to a tornado absorbing other tornadoes and growing larger. The original Witch was a theater kid which informs much of her presentation.

Edited by TobiasDrake on Aug 29th 2023 at 6:18:56 AM

I like how the Witches' personalities as humans inform what they become. Mine would probably be a Crazy Cat Lady.

Anyway, I'm not waiting 2 months.

• Episode 11: Ah, so Homura placing so much fated weight on Madoka's survival is why she has so much potential power, it's been increasing every timeloop. I was suspecting something like that, since Madoka seemed average strength in Loop 1, Witch Madoka in Loop 2 was strong, but Witch Madoka in Loop 4 was apocalyptic. And now this is Loop 5. Some great scenes with Homura vs Walpugisnacht (which is a woman in a dress upside-down!) and Madoka's conversation with her mom. Very curious how Madoka's going to wrap all of this up, with all that power Homura has given her.

• Episode 12: And the wish was to end the entire concept of witches, across all of time, space, and reality. All Witches: dead. All dying Magical Girls about to become Witches: purified and able to die in peace. All Magical Girls who were doing okay: purified and given hope. Such a colossal wish immediately creates a universe-destroying Witch from Madoka herself, but the wish's loophole allows Madoka to destroy even that, killing herself and ascending Madoka to a higher plane of existence while retconning her out of ever existing in the normal universe.

• Now, Magical Girls disappear instead of turning into Witches when the karmic scales balance themselves. And now they fight Wraiths, which seem to spawn completely unrelated to a Magical Girl's death, and they seem weaker in exchange for having to kill more of them to sate Kyubei. So, still an overall improvement. Uh, except at the very end, it looks like Homura is fighting with Witch powers...

Basically, Madoka pulled a Jesus, dying to forgive the sins of all Magical Girls so that she could go to Heaven and become God.

Edited by PushoverMediaCritic on Aug 29th 2023 at 8:36:12 AM

Congrats.

Next stop: Rebellion or Magireco?

I dunno, you tell me. Is one of those the movie?

Rebellion is the movie. It also came out before Magireco.

Magireco is the anime adaptation of a Gacha game, which serves as a kinda-sorta interquel to the main series but was made well after Rebellion.

Edited by TobiasDrake on Aug 29th 2023 at 8:57:47 AM

For reference, here is the descriptions of the main quartet's witch forms

Madoka: Kriemhild Gretchen - The witch of salvation, with a merciful nature. She absorbs any life on the planet into her newly created heaven—her barrier. The only way to defeat this witch is to make the world free of misfortune. If there's no grief in this world, she will believe this world is already a heaven.

Homura: Homulilly - The nutcracker witch, with a self-sufficient nature. Her gallant form, which once split many nuts, is now useless. Without any other purpose, this witch's last wish is her own execution. However, a mere decapitation will not clear away her sins. This foolish witch will forever remain in this realm, repeating the procession to the gallows.

Sayaka: Oktavia von Seckendorff - The mermaid witch, whose nature is to fall in love. Looking for the feeling that moved her so long ago, she moves with the entire concert hall. Her fortune only turns under the weight of memories and no longer moves toward the future. Nothing will reach her any longer. She will come to know nothing more. She simply allows no one to disturb her minions' playing.

Mami: Candeloro - The dressing-up witch, with an inviting nature. A kind-hearted witch who dreams of ideal things. She can't stand being lonely, and never lets visitors to her barrier escape. She hosts a tea party every day within her home at the depths of her labyrinth, but eating the food there will remove one's soul. Her body is so small, it could fit in a tea cup. She mainly transports herself by hanging onto her familiars' bodies like a keychain.

Kyoko: Ophelia - The warrior witch, whose nature is self-abandonment. A witch who eternally wanders with hollow footsteps within the fog. She can no longer remember what the horse that always accompanies her was. She holds a will-o'-wisp within her body, always quietly burning herself away.

Edited by asterism on Aug 29th 2023 at 3:01:41 PM

Maybe don't spoil Rebellion's third act directly to someone that hast watched it yet?

Edited by Zeromaeus on Aug 29th 2023 at 9:43:05 AM

the only way anyone would realize there’s a spoiler for Rebellion there is by someone specifically saying that something there pops up in Rebellion.

I think I misinterpreted the new world a bit. It's not that Magical Girls DON'T become Witches in the new universe, it's that every time a Magical Girl is about to become a Witch, Madoka purifies them and lets them die in peace and happiness (presumably also allowing their soul to go to the afterlife). That's what they meant by "you'll be fighting forever".

Thats exactly it. Madoka appears whenever a witch is about to manifest to stop it. Madoka also appears to any magical girl that's ready to stop, allowing them a peaceful exit.

Edited by Zeromaeus on Aug 29th 2023 at 2:07:40 PM

Based on her convo with Ghost Sayaka during the final episode of the first series, there does seem to be some sort of. Like. Magical Girl Heaven that Madokami now presides over.

Edited by TobiasDrake on Aug 30th 2023 at 12:37:59 PM

Madokami, in a probable Coincidence, looks eerily identical to the final form of the HeartCatch Pretty Cure!, Mugen Silhoutte◊, which appeared around 2 months earlier, and this fanart of the two makes it clear how similar they are:

Urobuchi even commented on it in a post series interview that had he watched Heartcatch while writing Madoka, it would have been more optimistic from the start rather than saving the optimism for a Bittersweet Ending.

Edited by Demongodofchaos2 on Aug 31st 2023 at 11:12:14 AM

Was it just me, or did anyone else worry about every time the scene cut back to the boy's hospital room? Because the window was always open, and they always showed the curtains blowing before they showed his bed, whether he was in it or not. It always gave me a pang of worry that he committed suicide.

That never crossed my mind. Come to think of it, they way they were trying to show that Kyouske was 'gone', could be interpreted that he was a different 'gone'.

It's coming Winter 2024.

Looks like they're going full on Evangelion here.

And by that you mean...

In atmosphere, visuals, and given everything that they are hinting at, themes as well.

Take that how you will.