(L) Madoka Magica Manga Discussion (may have anime spoilers)

[sirn]

Just finished the first volume of the manga:

• Story span from episode 1 to episode 4 of the anime in exactly the same storytelling sequence.
• Apart from visual styles and a bit of omission here and there, not much is different from the anime.
• Homura's intention is clearer, with some additional lines strongly implied the loop theory.

Overall satisfying adaptation, even though it's a digest of the anime.

Notices there's no Madoka Magica manga thread, so posted here instead.
[Mod edit: There is now! ]

Thread Guidelines

• Raw requests and offers are not permitted anywhere on this forum.
• Be polite to your fellow forum members.
• Please try to keep the discussion on-topic.
• Linking to scan sites or individual scanlating group sites are forbidden. An acceptable alternative is the series page on Mangaupdates.com.
• Speculation and what-not is welcome. To make it easier on your fellow forum members, please enclose such speculation in clearly marked spoiler tags.
• Do not post multiple times in a row. Please edit your existing post if you wish to add additional thoughts.

[FlavorOfLife]

What do those lines say?

[RedWing]

Originally Posted by sirn

• Homura's intention is clearer, with some additional lines strongly implied the loop theory.

Don't leave us hanging! What was clarified?

[Fishbait]

Originally Posted by RedWing

Don't leave us hanging! What was clarified?

In Episode 4, this exchange happened

Madoka: I won't forget Mami, blah blah
Homura: I'm sure that'll make her happy, I'm jealous
Madoka: I won't forget Homura either!
Homura: .....you're too kind blah blah

In the manga, the 2nd half of the conversation went like this

Madoka: I won't forget Homura either!
Homura: But you did...didn't you...
Madoka: ....?
Homura: Sorry, it's nothing. It's time for me to get going
Madoka: Huh...

[omimon]

Originally Posted by Fishbait

In Episode 4, this exchange happened

Madoka: I won't forget Mami, blah blah
Homura: I'm sure that'll make her happy, I'm jealous
Madoka: I won't forget Homura either!
Homura: .....you're too kind blah blah

In the manga, the 2nd half of the conversation went like this

Madoka: I won't forget Homura either!
Homura: But you did...didn't you...
Madoka: ....?
Homura: Sorry, it's nothing. It's time for me to get going
Madoka: Huh...

I think there should be some sort of warning in the thread name that it might lead to spoilers to the anime.

[totoum]

Originally Posted by Fishbait

In the manga, the 2nd half of the conversation went like this

Madoka: I won't forget Homura either!
Homura: But you did...didn't you...
Madoka: ....?
Homura: Sorry, it's nothing. It's time for me to get going
Madoka: Huh...

Oh boy,though doesn't that rule out time travel?
If Homura was from the future she wouldn't expect Madoka to remember her.Not sure if I'm making myself clear

edit:and how are we going to deal with manga info?Can we post them in the speculation thread or should they stay in this thread only?

[Dark Wing]

Originally Posted by totoum

edit:and how are we going to deal with manga info?Can we post them in the speculation thread or should they stay in this thread only?

well since the anime hasn't confirmed this yet...just to be safe lets keep the too separated for now at least until we get an okay from someone.

Also any news on translations for the manga?

[Fishbait]

Originally Posted by totoum

Oh boy,though doesn't that rule out time travel?
If Homura was from the future she wouldn't expect Madoka to remember her.Not sure if I'm making myself clear

edit:and how are we going to deal with manga info?Can we post them in the speculation thread or should they stay in this thread only?

Yea, it does rule out time travel. Some kind of reset or mass memory wipe happened, but Homura alone managed to avoid it somehow.

This also makes the scene in episode 1, where Homura gets upset when Madoka attempted to talk about her name, a lot more understandable.

[Dark Wing]

I tired to find a place to buy the manga and turns out it's sold out EVERYWHERE, and I mean EVERYWHERE. Some shops didn't even manage to get copies in stock at all....

[Vanish]

Originally Posted by totoum

Oh boy,though doesn't that rule out time travel?
If Homura was from the future she wouldn't expect Madoka to remember her.Not sure if I'm making myself clear

It can rule out the time travel theory (sadly), but it doesn't need to. Why not? Because she can still say "you forgot me" as in that Madoka lost her memories, from Homura's viewpoint. The difference to a complete memory wipe-out is that it's a memory deletion while a time reset would make her as if she never lived through said memories. So to say, she 'lost' them. And then she could in a way still say that Madoka forgot about her, from Homura's own view only of course in case she is the only "anomaly / irregularity". Which she seems to be.

edit:and how are we going to deal with manga info?Can we post them in the speculation thread or should they stay in this thread only?

Well, the thread is called Spoilers & Speculation. And they're only indirect spoilers as the changed lines are technically past information (except they're revealed in the same way at a later time in the anime but I have a personal doubt). If we used the info to work on theories and such, we'd still only speculate in the Spoilers & Speculation thread anyway.

[Fishbait]

Oh and in that same scene in the manga, after the conversation, Homura was walking away while wiping her face....most likely tears.

[Vanish]

Originally Posted by Fishbait

Oh and in that same scene in the manga, after the conversation, Homura was walking away while wiping her face....most likely tears.

Ahh... the facade falls that fast / clearly in the manga then? Dane, I'm totally gonna have extra sympathy for her now each time a new episode (and manga chapter for that matter if translation will be in progress in the future) comes out. In the end I will cry a river anyway.

[Fishbait]

Originally Posted by Vanish

Ahh... the facade falls that fast / clearly in the manga then? Dane, I'm totally gonna have extra sympathy for her now each time a new episode (and manga chapter for that matter if translation will be in progress in the future) comes out. In the end I will cry a river anyway.

I don't think we even have clean scans right now, I've only seen cam photos lol...

[sirn]

Originally Posted by Dark Wing

I tired to find a place to buy the manga and turns out it's sold out EVERYWHERE, and I mean EVERYWHERE. Some shops didn't even manage to get copies in stock at all....

Reprint is scheduled for 18th this month, I heard. But if you order today, chances are high that you'll get the March reprint instead since most of reprint stock are already reserved. Looks like Houbunsha totally miscalculate the popularity this time.

Thanks CrowKenobi for creating new thread!

[BaKaBaKaOtaKu]

ohgawd! so this means the manga might spoil what we are yet to see in the anime. i can't believe they so easily gave away those implications. man,homura's line in the manga and those tears are clearly huge hints that the show hasn't yet able to spill. and btw, so that overrules the time travel then?

[applejuice]

Originally Posted by sirn

Reprint is scheduled for 18th this month, I heard. But if you order today, chances are high that you'll get the March reprint instead since most of reprint stock are already reserved. Looks like Houbunsha totally miscalculate the popularity this time.

and suddenly, I remember what happened to the first volume sales of Bakemonogatari.

It seems houbunsha found another gold maker other than K-On~

[FlavorOfLife]

The fist clench in the anime already hinted that Madoka saying "I won't forget you"hit a nerve for Homura, hence some have pointed that as a sign they knew each other. The manga did spell it out straight.

[vdaysnowstorm]

Originally Posted by FlavorOfLife

The fist clench in the anime already hinted that Madoka saying "I won't forget you"hit a nerve for Homura, hence some have pointed that as a sign they knew each other. The manga did spell it out straight.

That reminds me.
Didn't Madoka's green haired friend (forgot her name) say something like
"Maybe you met her before and subconsciously it came out in your dream".
Foreshadowing?

[Vanish]

Originally Posted by vdaysnowstorm

That reminds me.
Didn't Madoka's green haired friend (forgot her name) say something like
"Maybe you met her before and subconsciously it came out in your dream".
Foreshadowing?

Yes, she did. And her name's Shizuki Hitomi.

Sayaka: "It's decided! You're friends, meeting each other again after having travelled through space and time!"
Hitomi: "What kind of dream was it?"
Madoka: "I don't really remember... I just know it was really strange."
Hitomi: "Then maybe you really have met her before."
Madoka: "Huh?"
Hitomi: "You might not remember her, but subconsciously, you know her from somewhere, and that may have come out in your dream."
Sayaka: "Isn't that too convenient? How much of a coincidence is that?" <- Coincidence, eh?

[totoum]

Originally Posted by Vanish

It can rule out the time travel theory (sadly), but it doesn't need to. Why not? Because she can still say "you forgot me" as in that Madoka lost her memories, from Homura's viewpoint. The difference to a complete memory wipe-out is that it's a memory deletion while a time reset would make her as if she never lived through said memories. So to say, she 'lost' them. And then she could in a way still say that Madoka forgot about her, from Homura's own view only of course in case she is the only "anomaly / irregularity". Which she seems to be

I find this a little twisted but then again Homura isn't exactly straighforward.So yes,I guess it's still possible

So here's another go at shooting down a theory using the manga info,can we really expect Homura to be Madoka from the future?Why would Madoka be sad over the fact her past self can't remember how she currently looks?