I am incredibly late in catching up to these two latest episodes. There have certainly been some major and very interesting revelations. Damn, though, if Hyperborealis hasn't in this thread put forward everything I wanted to say and more much more eloquently than I think I could've managed.
As far as the new revelations about things like "entropy" and "aliens". Other posters have already made good arguments about how they add to the show's thematic coherency. Not that I can claim to have predicted either of these at all, and neither do I wish to claim that the following is especially meaningful, but I am amused and gratified that circumstantially, coincidentally, and somehow presciently I seem to have brought up
both those precise words in my episode 8 commentary. In no way were they applied explicitly to predictions or plot analysis of course--but again I am talking about the show's thematic consistency
.
Hyperborealis has expressed just dazzlingly my conception of this show as a reflection of "reality's morals", the nature of gain and intentions and self-accountability, and my hopes for this story to touch upon our lives in the
real world as a tale of living with hope and integrity even in a world where grief and joy come to all humans, good and bad alike. It is a hopeful ending in even a universe where 'evils' like Kyuubey
can't be defeated, where 'evil' (or 'grief' or 'sadness' as a part of life and nature) is a fate or inevitability, that I am looking for this show's true catharsis, as a reflection of the real lives and world we all confront and live in. Kyuubey's 'evil' is merely a reflection of the suffering and misinformation and helplessness that does or will exist in our
own lives, and it is the girls' and especially Madoka's ability to move beyond that--which will be the real moral of the story.
To go back to thematic consistency. Kyuubey as an 'alien' represents the cold, objective perspective of the natural world, where, against all our ideals of faith and justice and good intentions and genuine meaning, our feelings of self-entitlement to happiness can be turned against us. 'Entropy' reinforces a fundamental truth of our world, where nothing can actually be got from nothing, where everything has a cost, and a gain in one place equates to a loss elsewhere. As Kyuubey harvests energy for the good of the universe, this 'free' emotional energy from humans is really not arising from nowhere--that good, in fact, is being paid in direct proportion by the suffering of these young girls we have come to follow. And
this, as well, is simply life/reality. Our own comforts, livelihoods, freedoms right now are also most definately being paid on the backs of others; and we too, in this vast universe, may at some point in our existences also have our joy trampled for someone else's sake. How then do we live? Selfishly, hoarding for our own gain, and striking out at anything that threatens us? Or blindly, clinging to our idealism, hurtling headlong into the earth as reality catches up with us? This is the question Madoka Magica is confronting, in more direct and strongly a manner than I have almost ever seen in a piece of entertainment media.
Kyouko in this episode offers a poignant and relevant answer. Discard your hindrances: live--and die, then--by the one thing you truly care for. Powerful as this idea is, it has merely trapped Homura in an endless recursion of suffering and sent Kyouko to die at the hands of a witch which cannot even recognize her. In the end, it will probably be Madoka who shows us the answer; that is if I and Hyperborealis are right about this show's themes, and I hope we are. If I may speculate, furthermore, the thought has just occurred to me that that answer may lie in the words Madoka's mother gave to her: to learn to let go, make mistakes, and let something wrong happen. Perhaps, indeed, to be an adult means to accept loss, be resilient, and move on, allowing necessary evils to pass by for things more important. Indeed, we might have even already received an answer, inasmuch as it has been said (by the series director, I believe) that Kyuubey as he is now survives through the end of the series.
Quote:
Originally Posted by guuchan
Before I start, let me state my take on Kyuubee's words: I was pretty sure Kyuubee didn't lie till last episode, but in this episode he has gone beyond "clever choice of words". He can say something then say another thing to make that something interpreted in a totally different way, so good job Kyuubee, you manage to kill your credibility in one episode (I think I'm hearing someone says "did he have any to begin with?"  ). Well, I'm not calling him a liar just yet, but I really can care less what he says anymore.
Having that said, if you would like to continue the subject of entropy/sci-fi Mahou Shoujo/Kyuubee is evil or not, then the following might be a good reference to what you are really discussing on:
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On a separate note, I just wanted to draw out an idea which arose from this translation of Kyuubey/Madoka's conversation: it seems that it is the transition of hope to despair which generates a magical girl's energy. Perhaps, as a container, a Soul Gem forms representing a person's capacity for hope; this hope energy is then expended as Puella Magi's do positive work casting magic. As the Soul Gem empties, and the consumed hope is slowly converted to despair, grief begins to fill up the container. Eventually, as the Soul Gem is entirely filled with darkness, it becomes instead a container for grief, i.e. a Grief Seed. In such a case, a Grief Seeds capacity is directly related to how much hope the Soul Gem could hold, which is in turn related to the initial hope of the magical girl. Madoka's strength, then, arises from the hope she can place behind a wish she makes--the extent of her desire for happiness. The greater the happiness she dares to wish into the world, the greater the hope and despair the Soul Gem will eventually generate.
(I think it is indeed the Grief Seed, and not the transformation itself, which contains Kyuubey's desired energy. This idea seems somewhat dubious going on the information from this and the next episode. I will wait until episodes 11 and 12 to confirm, though, as this would currently give the show more conceptual consistency.)
:P Maybe I will repost the latter parts of this post to the speculation thread.
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