[Elestia]

Originally Posted by fukarming

That is exactly the mindset of Mami. So what are you complaining about? Yes, her life is miserable, yet she fear death more than she hate her life. So her standard of living improve!

So if Mami can go back in time to talk to herself who is 2 minutes of dying, will she tell her not to take Kyube's wish and choose death?

Nothing. Cool, so we're in agreement in both our own views that the character herself personally felt her life as a magical girl was miserable. And not that when she said she was glad be alive, she was not automatically happy with her life. That's all I ever wanted.

Originally Posted by Kaijo

You're more than welcome to look up psychology if you like. And while it is speculation, psychology generally holds that people work up to a snapping point. I've posted above about the well known effects of poverty on a family, so what follows is simple extrapolation.

So speculation, yes, but based on the real world.

Ehhhh... that's the same line of arguing when gundam fans start applying "real world physics" to "gundam physics", it usually doesn't pan out very well, for obvious reasons.

Originally Posted by Kaijo

But then you'd have to ignore how much Mami was smiling and enjoying hanging out with the two. She even greeted them with a smile. Doesn't quite sound like a despairing, broken individual to me. She might be 100% happy, but she wasn't in the dumps, either. In other words, just like most people most of the time. =)

I'm mostly repeating a lot of my points here, but whatever.

Yes, she was enjoying her time with Madoka and Sayaka, but what about before that? From what Mami confessed to Madoka she was in the dumps. Before their arrival, she cried to herself, risked her life fighting witches, was completely isolated from everyone, couldn't find time for herself, had no one to talk to or provide emotional support, and suffered all alone being the only MG in the city. There was no one in the entire city, shouldering the same kind of burdens she had to carry.

From there, we could see that she was desperate to recruit Sayaka and Madoka into being MG best friends to relieve that loneliness. In order to ensure that, she put up a facade of being the cool and awe-inspiring hero, when in reality she really wanted friends that can relate to her own personal misery. She cried tears of joy when Madoka told her "she wasn't alone anymore", and went into happy mode from realizing that.

I really don't know how anyone can say in that situation her life wasn't miserable or she didn't consider herself miserable.

Originally Posted by Kaijo

As the rule shows us, he's bound by certain things as to what he can and cannot do. By even giving the advice he has, he might be walking the thin line.

And interestingly enough, he held back information so he would have happier, more fulfilled, and more motivated fighters.

The only problem is that we don't know what rules he is bound by explicitly. At the moment they are too ambiguous and vague to make any counters to my point.

Yes, until they found about it. Then the entire system just falls apart really, QB even states that many of the girls who found out had the same reaction of shock, meaning it affected their ability to fight witches properly. "Ignorance is bliss" is not the best form of method to ensure MG will keep them happy, motivated, fighters in the long run, which is how any system is designed to function. By not revealing relevant information to the MGs weaknesses and strengths in order to combat the threat of the witches, he is creating an expendable "meat grinder" of MGs, which ultimately undermines the system he claims to be supporting.