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Old 2012-10-25, 16:50   Link #820
Solace
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Join Date: Mar 2006
Quote:
Originally Posted by AuraTwilight View Post
We have a fairly good basis for speculation. We saw quite a lot and context clues provide even more information.

It's not really a grown-up thing to do to just write off someone's interpretation as baseless just because you disagree with it. I've provided multiple pieces of evidence that make my line of reasoning at least followable and valid.
I never said it was baseless, I said it was assumption. The show ends Madoka leaving to do her new duty and Homura mucking about without her. You can interpret it how you please, but your interpretation is just assumption and opinion based on breadcrumbs and extrapolation. It's not any different than mine.

Quote:
Alright, this one is my flub. That sentence is made from Homura's point of view on the situation, but I didn't make that clear enough.
Fair enough. It makes more sense that way, but I still think you're projecting a bit. I'm not convinced that Homura feels that way, or to put it another way, I don't think she has ultimately resigned or settled (I know I agreed a bit earlier, and I still do, but....) to her fate. There's just nothing she can do in the immediate future except do her duty as a Magical Girl.

Quote:
Pause Buttons don't cause real and definite changes. They're moments of statis. Madoka Won. She didn't aspire for her ultimate desire, but she got exactly what she wished for, and she made things undeniably better, even if not infinitely so. Her universe is a remarkable improvement on the one that came before, and she is satisfied with that until the next miracle. She got to help countless people just like she wanted to the whole series, and overcame the main conflict and obstacle of the anime. She won.
This gets to the heart of why I'm mystified. You two are looking at events in terms of characterization. I'm looking at events in terms of plot mechanics.

We know all five girls, plus Hitomi and likely others in the secondary cast, will play important roles in the story. We also know that the story will be Mado-Homu centric, because that's where the story ended and the movie will take place shortly after Madoka's wish.

I'm ultimately not concerned about the writing, Gen has proven himself capable. I'm more curious about plot mechanics. Is the Sayaka in the trailer a flashback, or is she alive again? What role will the other girls play? How will Homura's powers and the wings be explained? How did the Witches return?

When I said pause button, it's because Madoka didn't really win. Just like Homura, all she really ended up doing was putting a pause button on the doom scenario. Her wish defeats the immediate issues of Walpurgis and her own Witch from destroying everything, and it helps save the girls from the nasty fate of becoming Witches as well. However it still leaves the system, and all of the despair, and the most insidious element intact: Kyubey.

In my episode 10 speculation, I surmised that Homura had to meet certain criteria to win, and she hasn't done this yet. Madoka's state is a problem, actually, because she only treated the immediate problems, but the long term ones remain. She became hope, but hope is just an ideal. It's almost like she upgraded to becoming the ultimate passive player. Yeah she saved lives, but she's not really any closer to bringing anyone true happiness or a miracle than Homura is to her goals.

If anything will be explored as a premise in the movie, I suspect it will be that none of these characters have really achieved much despite their struggles. Perhaps that is a bit of Gen's own worldviews creeping in, that you cannot solve big problems by taking them upon yourself. It's too big of a burden/job for any one person to handle.
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