Madoka Magica - Episode 03 Discussion / Poll

[Kanon]

Originally Posted by applejuice

How can anyone call Homura 'Arrogant' and 'conceited', when she is possibly the only sensible one in the series, currently?

Himeji is taking everything we saw (and were told) at face value. Whereas we suspect Kyubey of being a deceiving bastard, Himeji trusts him and Mami completely, hence why she sees Homura as an antagonist even though it's painfully obvious she is well-intentioned.

[Kagayaki]

Originally Posted by Himeji

I don't think Kyuubee is evil as well. It would also be way too obvious the way he's set up.
I think the "evil red eyes" stuff was done intentionally to mislead people about his true nature (whatever that may be).

I agree with Himeji on this. We may not end up having any characters that are unambiguously good or evil. At least, that's what I hope will happen. It would be refreshing to see how that played out even though it might be difficult to execute well. I'm holding the staff of this show to a high standard (of unpredictability among other things), and that's a compliment to them.

My instinct is that Mami is in fact dead though, unless Madoka tries to revive her. (If she comes back as a witch, which I'm not expecting, it could be good or bad depending on how they handle it.) I'm really hoping they don't use plot-induced lack of creativity to handicap the power of the wishes.

I don't mind that the girls have been hesitant to use their wishes, since it makes sense that they would be hesitant to sign their lives away like that. I just hope that when they do use their wishes, they either try to get the most out of them or that there is some believable plot or character related reason why they don't.

Even though I was pretty much expecting something like Mami's death from Urobuchi/Shinbo (also from her newfound happiness), I was still surprised on some level when it did happen since I wasn't expecting it to be so sudden or come in this episode. I hope the show will continue trying to fake us out all the way through.

[MartianMage]

Shocking episode and I really like it. Easily my favorite show so far for this season.

[Key Board]

At this point the plot twist would be for Kyubei to NOT be evil

They're not being subtle at all. In fact, I'm starting to wonder if they are misleading the audience.

Then again, some there are people that are very capable of reading the subtle hints and there are people that
need everything to be explicitly spelled out for them. As a director you must reduce possible uncertainty and
accommodate all kinds of viewers.

[jeroz]

lol so that's where she is all the time

Spoiler:

[Mamma Aiuto]

Hey guys! Did you forget to say what?

Yeah! Gochisousamadeshita.

[ninryu]

OH. MY. GOD. That was awesome.

Spoiler for ep 3:

Oh my god, someone really died. Totally didn't see that coming. It's so different than any other mahou shoujo I saw. So not for children.
That thing which look like a 90s cartoon character actually ate Mami. It munched her head, f*ck it! So f*ckin' creepy!

It's not that I disliked Mami, but it was clear to me she's the bad guy. I mean, seriously, she tried to convince Madoka and Miki to be Mahou Shoujo all the time. Kyubey too, if we're talking. According to this episode you can say that she just wanted someone to be with her, but it's still too suspicious.
Akemi is the only one who warns Madoka and Miki, and though she acts and looks like the bad guy, she just really care about them. I wonder why she's so interested in Madoka.

Finally we saw the ED. Much more awesome and fitting than the OP.
I wonder what will happen next. Maybe Mami isn't really dead?

[Proto]

if any wish can come true, can Madoka just wish there are no more bad guys so she won't have to fight them when she becomes the magical girl??

Then Madoka and all the remaining magical girls become a witch since there's no one to replenish her seed her with, wash, rinse and repeat.

[DragoZERO]

Originally Posted by Solace

Yeah I saw the face at the end (it resembles the Faust mask slightly), and I have seen the other references. But I also understand that Japanese love to use foreign things and change it around for their own purposes. For example there are many anime that deal with and/or use Christianity, but it's almost always relegated to symbols, names, or practices/rituals that only bear a superficial resemblance, and there's usually an Eastern philosophy twist mixed in for good measure.

Take Evangelion. They threw all of the religious symbols in because they thought it looked cool.

Originally Posted by applejuice

How can anyone call Homura 'Arrogant' and 'conceited', when she is possibly the only sensible one in the series, currently?

I do agree. But because she is being cold, people will think ill against her. And you can be negative toward her because of that... but she is right.

[Tu101uk]

Methinks a lot of us were expecting the genre deconstruction, with the people involved in the production of this messed-up series. However, I am surprised at how early on in the series these events have unfolded, and shocked at how sudden it all happened.

Spoiler for Episode 3 stuff...:

What actually shocked me about Mami's death wasn't that someone actually died, or that it happened to her specifically (like people have said before me, the flags were being waved high in the sky all episode).

No, the real kicker was the manner in which they portrayed her death. No prolonged battle sequence where both combatants wore each other down. No build-up of tension. No heroic last stand. I was actually half expecting Homura to have escaped and rescued her overconfident arse all the way up to the part where the witch happily chomped on her head. It was instant, it was clinical, it was brutal.

It was the way Mami just transformed back into a normal (but dead) schoolgirl as Charlotte decapitated her, as well as the way her digested remains splattered onto a platform below as the witch exploded. The symbolism of the tea cup breaking from the witch's Grief Seed was a poignant, if somewhat redundant, touch (yes, we get it, she was gobbled up =_=), but this episode was there to show our two would-be heroines the harsh realities of being a Magical Girl in Madoka's world, something which was all too clearly there for all parties involved to see.

It was ever so slightly upsetting and distressing, perhaps even sickening. It was definitely one of the least dignified deaths I've seen from a (supposed) main character in a loooooong time.

And finally, NUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!! T.T I was just getting attached to Mami as well. I feel she was a repeat victim of circumstance, starting from her brink-of-death experience and all the way up to when she finally made one or two comrades...

...plus how can you say no to a multiple-flintlock-rifle-wielding magical girl who has (had?) enough time to drink a spot of tea? ^_^;;; Long Live Unlimited Gun Works!!! >.<

I also don't think that Kyuubey is the big-bad, per se, but is merely part of this really messed up system. There's still loads to find out about how witches are made, what the limits of a wish are, how Homura fits into the whole thing, and whether this "game" can really be stopped.

T.T I still really like this anime series, but I'll be slightly saddened and bitter about it 'til the next episode...

O-O~

[CrowKenobi]

Just a quick note: to help keep this episode discussion thread on topic, we do have a spoilers & speculation thread where all your theories about the anime can go.

[KaneDragon]

Finding a grief seed right after "I guess today wasn't a good day to see Kamijou" made me wonder if the seed was from Kamijou making a curse... like cursing Sayaka, just because you wouldn't expect it.

[ninryu]

lol, the show is rated R-17+ on MAL.

[Eisdrache]

Originally Posted by jeroz

lol so that's where she is all the time

Spoiler:

That just made my day.

[DragoZERO]

Originally Posted by ninryu

lol, the show is rated R-17+ on MAL.

For the disappointing lack of a decapitated body? I was expect the body to fall without the head.

[risingstar3110]

Originally Posted by Tu101uk

Spoiler for Episode 3 stuff...:

What actually shocked me about Mami's death wasn't that someone actually died, or that it happened to her specifically (like people have said before me, the flags were being waved high in the sky all episode).

No, the real kicker was the manner in which they portrayed her death. No prolonged battle sequence where both combatants wore each other down. No build-up of tension. No heroic last stand. I was actually half expecting Homura to have escaped and rescued her overconfident arse all the way up to the part where the witch happily chomped on her head. It was instant, it was clinical, it was brutal.

It was the way Mami just transformed back into a normal (but dead) schoolgirl as Charlotte decapitated her, as well as the way her digested remains splattered onto a platform below as the witch exploded. The symbolism of the tea cup breaking from the witch's Grief Seed was a poignant, if somewhat redundant, touch (yes, we get it, she was gobbled up =_=), but this episode was there to show our two would-be heroines the harsh realities of being a Magical Girl in Madoka's world, something which was all too clearly there for all parties involved to see.

It was ever so slightly upsetting and distressing, perhaps even sickening. It was definitely one of the least dignified deaths I've seen from a (supposed) main character in a loooooong time.

And finally, NUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!! T.T I was just getting attached to Mami as well. I feel she was a repeat victim of circumstance, starting from her brink-of-death experience and all the way up to when she finally made one or two comrades...

...plus how can you say no to a multiple-flintlock-rifle-wielding magical girl who has (had?) enough time to drink a spot of tea? ^_^;;; Long Live Unlimited Gun Works!!! >.<

I also don't think that Kyuubey is the big-bad, per se, but is merely part of this really messed up system. There's still loads to find out about how witches are made, what the limits of a wish are, how Homura fits into the whole thing, and whether this "game" can really be stopped.

T.T I still really like this anime series, but I'll be slightly saddened and bitter about it 'til the next episode...

O-O~

Agree there mate...

Spoiler for Ep 3 Just to be safe:

You said everything i want to say about the ending on Mami's death in this episode. To be fair, i was spoiled up a bit by the net's spoiler (Damn you!!). And Mami stacked on so many death flags for her to be able to escape this time.

But her death was brutal, no last standing, heroic sacrifice. It's just a simply brutal death. I swear that Aoki Ume probably was picked for the cutesy character designs, just to trick us on the real dark side of this anime.

And the stereotype message of the "magical girls genre", the one has been encouraging young kids to dream to be magical girls and fight off evils. This episode pretty much slapped it hard.

And i suspect Kyuubee gonna pull a "CIA argument" thingy on us. About how peace can only be sustained by sacrifices or suchs...

[dr_marronflower]

Just finished watching the episode.
Amazing... but, I wast expecting that outcome... yeah, the flags were all around, but. Was too fast, too brutal. Her face... Poor young lass, she will be missed.

[akei1]

Spoiler for Ep 3 Just to be safe:

Originally Posted by DragoZERO

For the disappointing lack of a decapitated body? I was expect the body to fall without the head.

If you freeze the frame right before Mami drops to the ground you can clearly see the decapitated body diving down

It's really a shame. They gave her so many awesome moves from other shows (Unlimited Musket Works from FSN, Gun Kata from Equilibrium, materializing a giant cannon from Death the Kid in Soul Eater) to die so suddenly.

[Hooves]

Originally Posted by akei1

Spoiler for Ep 3 Just to be safe:

If you freeze the frame right before Mami drops to the ground you can clearly see the decapitated body diving down

It's really a shame. They gave her so many awesome moves from other shows (Unlimited Musket Works from FSN, Gun Kata from Equilibrium, materializing a giant cannon from Death the Kid in Soul Eater) to die so suddenly.

Our only best bet is if Madoka uses her wish to bring Mami back. That's the only thing I'm going with for now.

[Cabrini6000]

Wow, this show is a lot darker then I thought it would be. I def did not except the ending.

Still, this is the best show of the season so far.