[Kaijo]

No, he hasn't lied. In fact, he's been downright truthful when asked, having been right twice. First time when he told them about the soul gem, and his reasons for not doing so. The first time during Sayaka's fight with Kyoko, where he said only one MG could come between two others; he was right, because it took Homura. And the second time about the soul gem: If Sayaka were never told, she'd be fine now and she never would have become a witch.

Anyway, onto episode 8 of "Clueless Whiner Madoka Angstyka (and her dumb-as-a-doormat friends)"

Going lite on the review here, since I'll want to get into these points more in other threads. But suffice it to say, this plot seems to really be able to advance only due to conveniences and character stupidity.

Homura just happened to be right there to fill Kyube full of holes, so incredibly, just when Madoka was once more going to actually make a hard decision to do the right thing. That's rather convenient; Homura can't watch Madoka 24/7, and is obviously off doing other stuff, so it's just nice she's right there, eh? You know, if Homura could take out Kyube that easily, why did she have an issue in episode 1? She should have been able to take him out just as easily. Of course, that way was needed in order to attract Madoka and Sayaka into it. Sloppy writing or subtle plot?

Madoka finally gets around to asking whether a wish can return Sayaka to normal (so why hasn't she asked about bringing Mami back from the dead? Or will that remain a plot hole?) and we find out that if wishes can bring people back through time and return MG's to normal, then there isn't much they can't do.

That's right; we could have solved the entire problem in episode 2... but then we wouldn't have had a series. "Gosh, Mami, your work is so dangerous... but wouldn't it be easier to just wish all the witches away?"

However, the series relies on the girls not asking the obvious questions. And it continues to be predictable. If the majority of the audience can see where you're going from episode 2/3 onwards, then it's way too predictable. And if the audience can see it with the same information the characters can, and yet the characters don't see it... what does that say about them?

There is some interesting stuff in Madoka, and I suppose a lot of my feelings were in hoping there were some major plot twists. But so far, there hasn't been any. And there's still been too many things that just haven't been explained that need to be. Why only girls? Why do they actually have to fight and use magic at all? Why does Kyube attempt to protect the girls and yet somehow the show is trying to tell us he doesn't? What we're being told isn't matching up with what is being shown.

Anyway, all dramatic tension is now gone, since if a wish can't take care of things, then Madoka's god-like reality altering powers can take of it. But we'll have to sit through four more episodes before she realizes that.

Sayaka, continuing to act stupidly. I understand her self-destructiveness, because she wants to die on some level. But it really comes across as overacting.

Homura is almost yandere like in her stupidity: "I just need to destroy everything Madoka loves in order to protect her. Oh, and I won't tell her things that would help my obviously stated goal, because we need a plot." Perhaps I've had many close friends of both genders, but I don't see love there yet. Two people can be really close without romantic love being present.

However, given what we know about Madoka's powers, it's quite obvious now who created Kyube and the system: Madoka herself. If she can rewrite reality once, she can do it again. However, if she deliberately sacrificed herself to end the system, then I understand Homura's true goal. Who cares about ending the system, as long as Madoka remains alive and/or not an MG? Which would almost make Homura more villainous than Kyube, who just seems to want to see Madoka's power, even if that ends the system. If Kyube is just a part of the system and doesn't have enough free will or emotions to decide whether he wants it to stay or go, then he's hardly the villain here.

It's interesting that he doesn't know where Madoka's power comes from. If he understood anything about a girl's magical power, he should have some idea, so he couldn't have been behind the creation of the system. He's as much part of it as everyone else.

Ironically enough, it's our lovable sociopath Kyoko who seems the most sane. Ironic, given she went through watching her entire family killed, and yet didn't despair enough to turn into a witch.

However, I hold out some hope for some possible twists, that I will detail in another thread.