AnimeSuki Forum - View Single Post - Madoka Magica - Character Discussion

RedWing · 2011-03-03, 20:10

I definitely saw some strong Christian themes of redemption and sacrifice with her character, but it's possible I'm over thinking it.

You can definitely see what the show was trying to do with her character - she was to be the exact opposite of Sayaka, showing the two directions that one could take as a MG.

Her back story, and the things we see with her after that are certainly meant to redeem her, to make her out as a good person who has merely lost their way rather than the selfish, heartless animal we are first introduced to. I say for the most part it has worked - Kyoko never really loses the firery spark in her to the end, despite her heel face turn - which is the sign that her character was genuine and could be related to. Are we to learn something from her realisation of the things that she has thrown away?

We are not given a true explanation of Sayaka's sacrifice, but I do not believe it to be reaching to make implications from what we are shown. We definitely see that Kyoko's whole scale destruction of Sayaka and herself leaves no Grief seed, in a way we can say it is a solution to the system.

But in the end was her noble sacrifice merely a suicide? I can definitely see that the show doesn't want us to feel that way but it's hard not to understand why Sayaka's self destruction must mean hers too. But looking closely we can see a very big theme of loneliness with the character which is expounded by how much she felt her and Sayaka to be similar and therefore likely to be friends had she not have lost her way. This is exaggerated by the juxtaposition of the fact that she acknowledges she and Homura could never be friends and her line of how it is sad to be alone, a condition she herself has evidently been plagued with for quite some time.

All in all I am quite shocked at how good Kyoko's character actually is and it's a sign that with a small enough cast and good storytelling you can create a very good, deep character in just a few episodes.

2011-03-03, 20:10	Link #121
RedWing Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2007	I definitely saw some strong Christian themes of redemption and sacrifice with her character, but it's possible I'm over thinking it. You can definitely see what the show was trying to do with her character - she was to be the exact opposite of Sayaka, showing the two directions that one could take as a MG. Her back story, and the things we see with her after that are certainly meant to redeem her, to make her out as a good person who has merely lost their way rather than the selfish, heartless animal we are first introduced to. I say for the most part it has worked - Kyoko never really loses the firery spark in her to the end, despite her heel face turn - which is the sign that her character was genuine and could be related to. Are we to learn something from her realisation of the things that she has thrown away? We are not given a true explanation of Sayaka's sacrifice, but I do not believe it to be reaching to make implications from what we are shown. We definitely see that Kyoko's whole scale destruction of Sayaka and herself leaves no Grief seed, in a way we can say it is a solution to the system. But in the end was her noble sacrifice merely a suicide? I can definitely see that the show doesn't want us to feel that way but it's hard not to understand why Sayaka's self destruction must mean hers too. But looking closely we can see a very big theme of loneliness with the character which is expounded by how much she felt her and Sayaka to be similar and therefore likely to be friends had she not have lost her way. This is exaggerated by the juxtaposition of the fact that she acknowledges she and Homura could never be friends and her line of how it is sad to be alone, a condition she herself has evidently been plagued with for quite some time. All in all I am quite shocked at how good Kyoko's character actually is and it's a sign that with a small enough cast and good storytelling you can create a very good, deep character in just a few episodes.