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Old 2012-12-26, 10:15   Link #168
Triple_R
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Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Newfoundland, Canada
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To get Makishima's character, I think it's important to remember who's writing this anime - Gen Urobuchi.

There are certain character types that Gen has a fondness for, and likes coming back to time and time again. I think this becomes clear if you compare Madoka Magica to Fate/Zero to Psycho-Pass (particularly at a character-to-character level).

One such character type is the guy that believes "The Ends Justify the Means". For one character, "The Ends" is combating entropy. For another, "The Ends" is achieving lasting, universal peace. For Makishima, "The Ends" is revealing the Sibyl system for the monstrous farce that it is (at least as Makishima views it).

At a surface level, what Makishima is doing is obviously harmful and horrible. Yuki just seemed to be a fairly normal girl for her age. There's certainly no indication that she deserved to die. She's a tragic casualty in Makishima's game against the Sibyl system, and so its understandable that we would think ill of Makishima for killing her. It's probably good that many here take great exception to Makishima's "means".

But we shouldn't lose sight of his "ends" - Of what is the primary motivation for him. Now, Makishima isn't a complete revolutionary. He doesn't seem to have any particular system that he wants to replace the Sibyl system with. But I do think he wants to tear down the Sibyl system as much as he possibly can. I think this goal motivates him, and pushes him onward.

Makishima probably thinks that what he is doing is right, in the "grander scheme of things". I think that's precisely why his crime coefficient is so low - Because he thinks that what he's doing is justified by the greater goal of ripping into an oppressive system that is deadening the spirit of humanity. Unlike most criminals, who at some level recognize the wrongness of their actions regardless of how they try to rationalize it, Makishima truly believes that the sacrifice of people like Yuki is morally justifiable.


It's fine to hate Makishima just as it's fine to hate a certain alien in Madoka Magica. But to understand such characters, you can't allow such hate to cloud your assessment of them. In their minds, what they're doing is right, and that's key to understanding these characters, imo.
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