[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by taofd

I don't think it's "Be careful what you wish for." I'm leaning more towards that this is about a young girls development into adulthood (as stated in previous posts). There is no "real" evidence, but IMO there are a few hints with the interaction between Madoka and her mother, QB's warnings about future and destiny, and a few of Homura's quotes as well.

You could very well be right here. If that is the theme, though, I'm having a hard time thinking up how that plays out in the climax. Unless, perhaps, the climax is about Madoka learning to be less idealistic and hard on herself, and succeeding by showing a willingness to compromise and settle for a flawed solution, perhaps.

What I mean is for people to not only give evidence, but to also be objective. I see a lot of statements like "Madoka feels" or "Homura feels X so she does Y." In reality, we don't know exactly how the characters actually "feel". We can only summarize their interactions by stating, "Homura does X action, Y is a likely reason for her motivation."

Ok, I see what you're saying here.

In this way, I have yet to be convinced that QB can be objectively defined as "evil". Every reason for his "evilness" I've seen so far, has been subjective evaluations as to his lack of "human" values.

I'm still leery of definitively calling Kyubey "evil" myself. Episode 8 does show that there might be an element of maliciousness to him. In this episode, he gives off a slight impression (to me, at least) of someone messing around with the girls for sheer shits and giggles. But this impression is slight enough that there may be nothing to it, of course.

This is why I think focusing on whether or not Kyubey is evil might be a form of misdirection itself. Whether or not he is evil, this magical girl system is utterly messed up, and is clearly counterproductive (to humanity) by how it creates the very same problems that on face value it exists to contain (i.e. witches). Teenage girls are being sacrificed in a system that now seems pointless at best, or a vicious intentional pyramid scheme at worst.

So, I'm convinced now that the ending to this anime (unless it's a "bad end") will probably involve this magical girl system being destroyed, fixed, or effectively rendered moot by Madoka bypassing it.

Beyond that, though, I am much less certain.

No, I agree. I'm not trying to discourage speculation. I'm just frustrated that I don't have the time or energy to point out all the flaws to any given theory. :/

I guess I'm just hoping for people to take a more scientific approach, to decrease the number of bogus theories out there (raise the quality bar).

http://wiki.puella-magi.net/Facts_and_Observations

I agree wholeheartedly with you here.

Well, in any event, taofd, we won't have to wait much longer for some speculations to drop by the wayside. Only 4 episodes to go, and the next one is coming up very soon! I'm pretty excited!