Madoka Magica - General Discussion

[Fishbait]

Originally Posted by Himeji

As was said above already, they may all be various shades of grey. As it seems now, the magical girls are competing for the energy gained from grief seeds. Homura didn't want any more competition from other magical girls over the grief seeds, that why she tried to scare Madoka out of it.

Another possibility is that there are several contractors for magical girls besides Kyuubee. The contractors themselves are neutral (neither good nor evil), and the magical girls from one contractor help each other, but they fight the magical girls from other contractors over the grief seeds. Homura didn't want Madoka to become a magical girl because she has a different contractor and doesn't want another contractor (Kyuubee) become stronger and thus more serious competition for her contractor.

That is completely ridiculous

We know Homura is on Madoka's side. The hints are everywhere and the covers for the OP/ED confirm this.

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by Fishbait

That is completely ridiculous

We know Homura is on Madoka's side. The hints are everywhere and the covers for the OP/ED confirm this.

Well, in a roundabout way, Himeji could very well be correct. At least on the first part you bolded (I myself doubt that contractor feuds are at play here).

Homura could legitimately fear that there's not enough grief seeds to go around if two new magical girls are added to the total number, and that this will ultimately result in one or more of the magical girls lacking the necessary degree of grief seed captures to continue on.

Also... is it not possible that the anime makers are intentionally giving the audience false hints? In order to make an eventual plot twist that much more surprising?

[totoum]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

Also... is it not possible that the anime makers are intentionally giving the audience false hints? In order to make an eventual plot twist that much more surprising?

They definatly are,on one hand you've got the ED cover showing Madoka getting help from Homura,on the other the OP animation has them both in "face off" position at the end,so that's 2 pretty different signals the makers are sending.

At first you'd think both can't be right,but somehow I think they'll both be

[Taufiq91]

For all i know,

let's hope this anime won't have a terrible Gainax ending.

Remember that other SHAFT anime, Mahoromatic? Yeah, i don't want that to happen here.

[jeroz]

*looks up mahoromatic, sees GAINAX in the production team*

there

[Gladi]

Originally Posted by Himeji

As was said above already, they may all be various shades of grey. As it seems now, the magical girls are competing for the energy gained from grief seeds. Homura didn't want any more competition from other magical girls over the grief seeds, that why she tried to scare Madoka out of it.

But they (magical girls) do not gain energy from GS. Instead they shift pollution from SG onto GS. Further we do not know if GS is the only receptable for pollution. Part of action in episode 2 can be seen as the witch trying to shunt her own pollution on that salary woman.

Indeed the whole system is extremely far fatched and unstable if you take out normal humans, who certainly do belong to the equation.

PS: Idea, what if magical girls cannot help it, but vent their pollution on normal humans they spend a lot of time around?

[Hypernova]

From writer's twitter conversation

The context
ホントですよ！きゅうべえだってあんなにウサンクサ・・可愛いのに！ RT @Butch_Gen: @k_hiroriro まだ今んとこ流血シーンなんてないのに、ひどいよね！


Basically Urobuchi and someone else talking, that guy says that Kyuube is too suspicious, Urobuchi says "but Kyuube is so cute" then "even though there any scenes with bloodshed yet, you are cruel(to the other guy)"

[Belgaesh]

It's Urobuchi we are talking, we can't expect that the story will be easygoing for ever.

[Saturn Beaver]

Originally Posted by Hypernova

From writer's twitter conversation

You know, from the way he writes that, it makes Kyuubey seems more suspicious to me. For one, he didn't really give any reasons why Kyuubey shouldn't be suspected (aside from being cute), in fact the way he writes it seems to suggest that Kyuubey shouldn't be suspected too early/this soon, as opposed to not at all. So yeah, expecting a bloody betrayal of sorts to come later.

[rocket]

Originally Posted by Belgaesh

It's Urobuchi we are talking, we can't expect that the story will be easygoing for ever.

Well seeing as how we've started with the end of the world, have had cute fuzzy animals cruelly tortured, crazy stalker girls, suicide attempts, and magical contract offers which require risking one's life... well I can't wait for it to stop being easy going! (^_-)

[rocket]

Originally Posted by Voinic

Better watch out for Madoka's father and the "bean counter" that her mother was talking about..

Well if you're going to count them, you shouldn't forget Madoka's little brother either... the point is that the males in this series get less attention than the background architecture. It's a show about girls, their relationships, they choices they make, and the types of power they can get.

Remember Madoka's mother is not only seen as a successful business woman, she's also considered a beauty by her classmates. When she pursues her dreams of board room conquest will she still have the same time with Madoka in the morning to give Madoka confidence in herself? The opportunity for parallels between the two are too good for SHAFT to pass up!

Hmmm... perhaps Kubey is less malevolent than we imagine and functions more like Madoka did in simply triggering her mother's quest for power? The idea being that there is a latent possibility in all of us to be consumed by our desires for one dream/wish?

Spoiler for speculation:

As was pointed out in the Sayak thread there are some hints that maybe Sayaka will turn dark. Which supports my earlier speculation that Sayaka will undertake the contract 'at all costs' because of some selfless motives.

If that comes to pass then there will be three layers of parallel developments each of which can reflect different perspectives on the same question of what motivates your desires/what cost are you willing to pay for them:
- Madoka's Mother - power / success for her family / role model for her daughter even at the cost of her family
- Sayaka - helping someone dear to her who is ill - even though she has no needs she is willing to risk her life
- Madoka - Since she's a Magical Girl she has to have protecting her friends and family as her greatest desire right? At what cost?
-

All in all I can't think of more relevant themes for an anime about girls in a society that is (like ours) struggling to define a role for women in a modern world which balances both career and family.

[Himeji]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

Well, in a roundabout way, Himeji could very well be correct. At least on the first part you bolded (I myself doubt that contractor feuds are at play here).

If we should assume that Homura isn't evil (which hasn't been proven yet), then contracor feuds, with Homura fighting for a different contractor, would be the most likely cause for Homura not wanting Kyuubee to gather two more magical girls.

There could be actual feuds with the magical girls of various contractors savagely fighting each other. Homura trying to kill Kyuubee so he doesn't get any more magical girls would hint at this.

It could however also be a sort of competition, maybe olympics for magical girls, with the magical girls of various contractors competing with each other over a prize. However, Homura trying to kill Kyuubee so that Kyuubee's team doesn't get any stronger would be very unsporting then.

[redgrnbluylw]

Originally Posted by Himeji

If we should assume that Homura isn't evil (which hasn't been proven yet), then contracor feuds, with Homura fighting for a different contractor, would be the most likely cause for Homura not wanting Kyuubee to gather two more magical girls.

I don't think this one would work out right. If there really was some sort of competition among the girls and their contractors, Homura would probably be more more headset on getting rid of Kyuubey. But in the second episode, she said she would not try to kill Kyuubey any more because he has slready contacted Madoka. I think she would still try to get rid of him if this theory was true, since Madoka hasn't made up her mind up yet.

[Random Wanderer]

Originally Posted by Belgaesh

It's Urobuchi we are talking, we can't expect that the story will be easygoing for ever.

Eaygoing sounds perfectly fine to me. 1 vote for easygoing!

[ChronoReverse]

There's not even that much indication that Homura is evil except for her trying to shoot down an ambiguous creature who has all the warning lights flashing.

[Kazu-kun]

Originally Posted by ChronoReverse

has all the warning lights flashing.

Literally, if you pay attention when he's (is it a he?) talking to Madoka in the first scene from episode 1.

[Himeji]

Originally Posted by redgrnbluylw

I don't think this one would work out right. If there really was some sort of competition among the girls and their contractors, Homura would probably be more more headset on getting rid of Kyuubey.

How can you get more headset on getting rid of him than trying to kill him?

Originally Posted by redgrnbluylw

But in the second episode, she said she would not try to kill Kyuubey any more because he has slready contacted Madoka. I think she would still try to get rid of him if this theory was true, since Madoka hasn't made up her mind up yet.

I'd say that Mado is already quite certain about wanting to become a magical girl. Homura realised that Madoka had pretty much made up her mind, and thus she saw that it would be pointless to try to kill Kyuubee now anymore. Besides, as Kyuubee is now strictly guarded by Mami, trying to kill him would be really difficult for Homura.

[scr]

I've been wondering; if using magic causes your Soul Gem to darken (and you can only shove that darkness to someone else to deal with it), ain't that means that magic is EEEEVIIILLL? That's not a position that (normal) mahou shoujo anime take regarding the inherent morality of magic.

Of course, Madoka Magika is far from normal...

[Hypernova]

Originally Posted by scr

I've been wondering; if using magic causes your Soul Gem to darken (and you can only shove that darkness to someone else to deal with it), ain't that means that magic is EEEEVIIILLL? That's not a position that (normal) mahou shoujo anime take regarding the inherent morality of magic.

Of course, Madoka Magika is far from normal...

Well mahou (魔法 in kanji and mandarin) literally means "demonic craft", we (and yours truly) asians just tend to forget that little cultural leftover these days.

[M.Marangio]

The homepage was updated today:

• Synopsis of episode 2
• Two new monster cards and some additional keywords in the glossary. Translations can be found here.