Let's Discuss Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Happiest Anime Ever

[nintendonut888]

Since there are too many spoilerific elements to safely talk about Madoka Magica in a general thread, it's been said that this series deserves its own discussion thread. So, here ya go.

Ahem...



Hey everyone! This is Puella Magi Madoka Magica, a pretty neat anime that just finished up this week! Let's discuss the mind-bending nature of the show. Be sure to take into consideration that not everyone has seen or finished the anime, and make prudent use of spoiler tags.

[Alfred F. Jones]

sweetest anime of the year y/y

[UncertainJakutten]

Definitely y. After episode 10, my like for Homura just kept skyrocketing. I feel VERY comfortable with my decision to cosplay her, particularly with the ending.

It's amazing how much she was developed at the end.

[Suikama]

meguka

[Solais]

Well, I dunno if it's too much a spoiler but,

Spoiler:

the ending.

It came up in a different convo of mine, but I think it is a really Grey Ending, and can be interpreted in ways depending to the person. I myself think it's a Happy Ending, and it kinda shows that this series is not a Deconstruction like everyone believed, but a very interesting Reconstruction.

Also the fact of Madoka becoming an existence I always wished for to become... it seems not I'm the only one thinking on concepts like that. I mean, being an emotion, feeling everything, being with everyone... I just cannot think of another thing as the greater wish of a good hearted human. Maybe that is the original concept of a God. A sentient emotion.

[Tengukami]

It was a beautiful 500 MPH tragedy. I loved it.

(And now what I said in the Talk thread:)

Spoiler:

The wish that Madoka chose to make really surprised me. There was a scene in ep 11 where Madoka does muse out loud something to the effect of "if only you Incubators had never come to Earth", which I totally thought was a set up for a wish-with-a-twist. Don't get me wrong. I'm glad that she made the wish she did, if for no other reason than it wasn't the obvious one. The wish she went with does make more sense, though, because by her nature she'd want to protect as many people as possible; wishing for the Incubators not to come to Earth would cover Earth, but not other planets. Altenatively, you could wish Incubators never existed. But that wouldn't have led to the rending of the fabric of the universe , which was a real pleasure to watch.

Her being her pre-universe-warping-family's invisible pal made me think we'd have a soft landing happy end. Instead, no more witches - so demons then. Despair will always win - probably the least likely message I'd expect from a magical girl anime. This series was a really tight, fast-paced tragedy.

I think what came across to me was this is the bargain you make with life; there's a universal balance between joy and sorrow. Nothing you do, no efforts you make, will ever keep despair from coming. Our struggle - whether through philosophy, technology or just working on our personal lives - to keep unhappiness of one form away will result in unhappiness in a new form arising. The point is to keep fighting, though, and not to give up against despair.

[Solais]

"Tragedy" in its purest, Greek roots, eh?

Also, the OST. WANT SO HARD!

[Sana]

I thought it was pretty cool beans!

I think this is the first time I didn't have a favourite character though, which is odd. :S

[Jana]

I like Mami's Mamis.

Seriously though, I don't think I have a favorite character either... But, like UK, the ending did keep me happy with my choice of Madoka cosplay, that being Madoka herself.

[Suikama]

[nsfw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qx35y901XtU&feature=related[/nsfw]

[Moerin]

I... Thought I'd have something to say, but words seem to fail me when I try to describe that last episode.  Suffice to say, it's probably the only thing that could rival the endgame of Magical Project S as my favourite moment in the magical girl genre.  Hell, I was even tempted to replace the Star Sapphire Oath in my sig with those last lines, but then I thought it was maybe too soon and would be an obvious spoiler. >.>

But, um... Oh wow, that was a great series, no doubt~  I'll have to say that my favourite characters ended up being Homura and Madoka herself, as they really both embody the traits that I actually think of when I think "magical girl".

[communist unity (comm-unity)]

Spoiler:

Homura is fucking Archer.

You cannot be more badass than Homura. She is simply the best there is.

[Stuffman]

Spoiler:

I loved episode 11. Homura fighting the final boss, and even the big lead-up with Walpurgis coming to town, was just incredible.

They could've been lazy about it and just showed Homura getting owned in some lame fashion, but no! We got to see her put out her absolute best effort to take Walpurgis down solo; I think it was very good for her character. I like to imagine her going "FUCKYOUFUCKYOUFUCKYOUFUCKYOUFUCKYOU" mentally while launching all those rockets and mortars

:V

Spoiler:

Also, her efforts weren't in vain; it was apparently her shenanigans that made Madoka important enough to pull off the hax that she did, which is nice.

Do we really have to spoiler everything in this thread? I would think you shouldn't be reading it if you haven't seen the last episode yet.

[Moerin]

Spoiler:

Homura is fucking Archer.

Spoiler:

On the contrary, I'd say Homura is the Anti-Archer.  Archer's ideals ended up crushing him and he descended into despair which led to him trying to kill Shirou so he didn't have to deal with it.  Homura, on the other hand, stuck to her ideals to the very end, no matter how much it hurt her, as she tried to save the one person she truly cared about.  The only real comparisons between them would be that they're both time travellers who really on trickery more than overwhelming power.

...At least, that's how I see it. >.>

[Kasu]

I can't really say much that hasn't already been said except...

Spoiler:

They made Joan of Arc a magical girl? :3

The ending was more or less perfect though.  I don't think I could asked for a better one.

Spoiler:

I loved episode 11. Homura fighting the final boss, and even the big lead-up with Walpurgis coming to town, was just incredible.

They could've been lazy about it and just showed Homura getting owned in some lame fashion, but no! We got to see her put out her absolute best effort to take Walpurgis down solo; I think it was very good for her character. I like to imagine her going "FUCKYOUFUCKYOUFUCKYOUFUCKYOUFUCKYOU" mentally while launching all those rockets and mortars

:V

Spoiler:

That was pretty awesome.  Especially the part where she was using the tower as a ramp for the bloody oil tanker.  Also it seems that Sayaka was destined to die the whole time...

[atoms2ashes]

Spoiler:

Witches come from Magical Girls.

Where do Demons come from?

Magical Boys.

Madoka is secretly a feminist.

[Nine West]

Ah, what a memorable experience~

Spoiler:

After all the talk of bad ends, the ending was surprisingly mild. But no matter how it ends, I feel that it's an anime that people will love for what it is, and for the way it did end, I respect it. Though since the revelation of the time loop, I feel it somewhat softens the impact of the many deaths throughout the course of the story, knowing that they are barely final, but at the very least it did resolve.

Now, my favorite character is still Ms. Tomoe all the way, but special mentions go to Homura, who grew on me exponentially in the second half of the story, culminating as, who in my opinion is, the real star of the show, and Madoka, who was truly wonderful in her last few moments.

Also, is that Bach's Prelude No. 1 from The Well-Tempered Clavier backing Ave Maria, or is it just me? :V

[Wisp]

Just finished ep11 and 12, it was mind-blowing. I would talk about it, but then I would be repeating what you guys have said. XD
Also, I like Mami's mammies, too! http://wiki.puella-magi.net/Mami's_mammies

[Suikama]

Just finished ep11 and 12, it was mind-blowing. I would talk about it, but then I would be repeating what you guys have said. XD
Also, I like Mami's mammies, too! http://wiki.puella-magi.net/Mami's_mammies

yep (nsfw)

[Drake]

Spoiler:

Where do Demons come from?

Spoiler:

Human distortion i.e. emotion, grief, anger, etc.

Also, both Mami and Kyouko died from entirely witch-related origins. In the fifth timeline Mami didn't trust Homura due to her distant demeanor, and so she had no help fighting Charlotte. It's unknown whether or not Sayaka was with Mami at the time as well. However it's pretty easy to see that Charlotte was defeated easily once both Homura and Mami teamed up. Kyouko died because purely because of Sayaka turning witch. Originally, Kyouko arrived to the city without Mami, Homura wasn't a threat and Sayaka wanted to beat her up. Even if Sayaka was still cautious in the beginning, the presence of Homura and Mami would have easily integrated her into the team. Sayaka doesn't turn witch and so Kyouko doesn't die. Sayaka however, died completely due to her own recklessness and grief. Even if she didn't turn into a witch, the revelation that she wasted her wish and the likes pushed her over the edge and she recklessly used all of her energy to kill a demon (a la Kyouko). Because of this, the eradication of witches had nothing to do with her death, so she died. The other three kept going, which was demonstrated in the ending.

[lumber_of_the_beast]

where's that "please let me squeeze your boobs" pic when I need it

[Tamer Anode/Cathode]

This was one of the best series I've watched in a long time. The year's not even a third over, but the bar has been set pretty high; I don't think anything is going to top this for 2011. The visuals, the story, the character development, the buildup... it's all spectacularly done.

Spoiler:

My only real complaint about the series WAS going to be about how they forgot about side characters like Junko and Kamijou, but that got resolved in the last few episodes. The only thing I'm really left hanging on is the meaning of the post-credits scene in the finale.

[Silent Harmony]

So tired....

Watched episode 11 and 12 earlier today, and really enjoyed the ending.

Spoiler:

I admit it was a lot milder than I thought; I was sure somehow, someway, Homura was going to die. Not complaining though, especially after she launched a freaking gas truck at Walpurgis Night.

I agree with the idea that the ending was saying that despair will always be there, no matter how hard to get rid of it. You just need to keep on fighting and never let it conquer you, like Madoka did in the end to her witch form. Being a magical girl still sucks to an extent and there are still risks (as Sayaka demonstrated). But you can't let that stop you. Whatever path we as humans choose to follow, we should do so with our heads up high and fighting spirit strong. Or something.

Speaking of Sayaka, I'm trying to understand Drake's post but I'm too tired to properly weave it all together. What I'm wondering though, beyond her death being non-witch related, is why did she appear to Madoka when she did? At "Mami's Apartment," only Mami and Kyoko were there (died as magic girls) but Sayaka didn't appear until later at Kyosuke's audition. She says she has no regrets about wishing for healing him and goes with Madoka, but still ends up being in the new world and dies again. That entire sequence just left me confused.

[Dead Princess Sakana]

Very pleased with the series, it was a really good watch~

Spoiler:

Very nice ending as well. A sunshine-and-rainbows ending would have been a bad choice, so seeing it done this way was good. A situation that is rather similar to that of other magical girl series, and yet it still has the dark parts that make Madoka Magica so special. The girls can still die, the demons still come from human emotions, Kyubey is still working only for his own peoples' benefit and needs to use the girls for that.

Homura vs. Walpurgis was one of the best scenes I have ever seen. The creativity with which she used her powers and surroundings was awesome.

It's also nice that despite the time-travel plot nothing that happened was ever useless. Everything that happened was necessary to lead to the final outcome, none of it existed without meaning.

[Drake]

Spoiler:

Speaking of Sayaka, I'm trying to understand Drake's post but I'm too tired to properly weave it all together. What I'm wondering though, beyond her death being non-witch related, is why did she appear to Madoka when she did? At "Mami's Apartment," only Mami and Kyoko were there (died as magic girls) but Sayaka didn't appear until later at Kyosuke's audition. She says she has no regrets about wishing for healing him and goes with Madoka, but still ends up being in the new world and dies again. That entire sequence just left me confused.

Spoiler:

Both Mami's house and the theater were pre-rewrite, since everyone still remembers Madoka. Mami's house was more of a "at the crossroads" sort of dream-esque scene before Madoka transforms. Mami doesn't actually physically give Madoka back her book or anything, it's just a contemplation kind of thing. The theater was more of a "it's time to go" scene, and somewhat actually took place: it was about Madoka eliminating Sayaka turning into a witch. The instant in which Kamijou goes from auditioning to performing is the cue for the universe switch. The way I see it, Kamijou exclaimed "Sayaka?" because he was looking for her amidst the crowd. But she kind of died.

[Bias Bus]

Very nice, I'd have to say. Course, those who were around me know I really only watched it because it wasn't like most of it's kind and was pretty dark...which is something I always love seeing.

I thought it was pretty cool beans!

I think this is the first time I didn't have a favourite character though, which is odd. :S

It's funny you say that, being I thought I didn't have a favorite character either...and then this happened.

<Okashii> I notice you like hot blooded girls who kick ass and take names.
<Sawaguchi_Iyo> Oh ho, caught me red handed. Yeah, it's a bit of a soft spot of mine.
<Sawaguchi_Iyo> I like that in most female characters, it's a nice break from the typical ones we see.
 <Okashii> I assume Kyoko has to be one of your favorite girls in Magica then. :V
<Sawaguchi_Iyo> Even though I didn't watch Magica for the characters, I'd have to say that I had a soft spot for her.

[Wisp]

Spoiler:

Mami got ahead in life, Sayaka needs a shrink, Kyouko's a fat kid, and Homura needs to get laid.

Badly.

[Youkai of Tea]

Spoiler:

I'm a bit unsure how to react to the ending. It feels slightly cheap considering all Madoka did was chose her wish carefully but at the same time it seems like everything that happened in the last timeline was required to force Madoka to think her wish through really carefully before accepting.

Spoiler:

Homura's battle against Walpurgis Night more than made up for that though.

:V

[Polttopallo]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ag-KSS_gcU

skip to 1:39  :]

[ふとくていなねこじょおう]

I still love the fact that

Spoiler:

Walpurgis Nacht is the carnival from hell. And the theories that she might be HomuHomu's witch are actually plausible. Her being a Puella that can control time, Walpurgis might be a time paradox. A Homura from a timeline in which she became a witch from the grief that her time-traveling was all in vain, and all she did was give Madoka a greater amount of grief to carry.

Not to mention

Spoiler:

the appearance of several famous female figures, like Anne Frank, Joan of Arc and Cleopatra as having been Puella Magi themselves.

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