Madoka Magica - General Discussion

[Kanon]

Originally Posted by scr

My theory is that Homura is stuck in some kind of perpetual loop, ala Higurashi or Umineko. Something invades from the Other World, Homura fights it, she loses, the world is restarted at some point before invasion (most likely at the point right before she transfers school). Some loops before this one Madoka became aware of the whole struggle and she promised to become a magical girl to fight alongside Homura. That's a light of hope for Homura. But then Homura AND Madoka died a messy death. And then in the loops after that, Madoka didn't awaken anymore. Homura felt betrayed, and began telling the Madoka of each loop that she shouldn't change anymore... if she will only end up leaving her.

This theory seems so crack... except that Homura's name means "phoenix".
Also Mami is Bernkatroll

I like this theory. Then the reason she tries to kill Kyuube is to end the loop, and die once and for all.

[totoum]

Wonder if the OP's lyrics have some clues in them:

"So that I never forget the promise we made,I look back on it every time I close my eyes"
"There's a future I've lost,when can I hope to rediscover it here?'

[Isako]

Just watched it. Really well put together anime, and very impressive. It matched every expectation I had of it going in to it. Really can't wait for episode 2.

[Miraluka]

Originally Posted by serenade_beta

Ah~ I see... I thought so...
I wonder if that alligator thing will appear.

It wasn't a catepillar?

Originally Posted by zato_1one

I lol at gg description. "This show is about little girls being attacked by the Zan SZS opening"

I think is "Hidamari's girls being attacked by GSZS .

[klare]

eps 1 feels like Nanoha + Black Rock Shooter + Alice in Wonderland

expecting Nanoha, oops i mean Madoka to befriend the quiet cool girl soon

overall interesting enough for me to continue

[Saturn Beaver]

Originally Posted by scr

My theory is that Homura is stuck in some kind of perpetual loop, ala Higurashi or Umineko. Something invades from the Other World, Homura fights it, she loses, the world is restarted at some point before invasion (most likely at the point right before she transfers school). Some loops before this one Madoka became aware of the whole struggle and she promised to become a magical girl to fight alongside Homura. That's a light of hope for Homura. But then Homura AND Madoka died a messy death. And then in the loops after that, Madoka didn't awaken anymore. Homura felt betrayed, and began telling the Madoka of each loop that she shouldn't change anymore... if she will only end up leaving her.

This theory seems so crack... except that Homura's name means "phoenix".
Also Mami is Bernkatroll

Originally Posted by Arabesque

@orion The theory is mostly based on Fate/Stay Night knowledge, and since we barely know anything about the show (it's only been one episode) it's mostly seeing how many similarities there are between the two works. That being said, I think from the way Homura treated Madoka, that she is trying to stop her from becoming a magical girl to protect her due to Homura's own experience and knowing the hardships that come with the job. It could be that Madoka dream was one where she never made the contract with Kyuube, and when things started going really bad, she made the contract and we looped to the current time./speculation

but we'll see.

I think a conjunction between these two theories is possible...about the loops going back before everything is destroyed to try again (which would explain Homura's knowledge), and the fact that for some reason, Homura is the only one who remembers this. Like scr said, when Madoka tried to help before she died a messy death, so Homura want to prevent Madoka to be a magical girl to avoid the hardships and the early death. However, in the dream is the loop just before, when Madoka sees Homura struggling on her own. She then wishes that she can get the magical girl powerup earlier, so that they can work together earlier to prevent the destruction as opposed to fighting it later. Homura still think it's inevitable, and wants to avoid that future for Madoka...yeah, this theory still has a lot of holes in it, it fails to take other things like Mami into account as well.

But yeah, although I clearly see the similarities with F/SN that makes it possible that it's similar to Archer, I think the fact that the writer used to work on Fate Zero makes it impossible that it'll be exactly the same. I mean, inspired/influenced is one thing, but a direct lift is another thing entirely, it would be too obvious and I don't believe he can't come up with something else more creative anyway.

[kache]

The architecture of Madoka's house, of the city and of the school is simply amazing.
I would love to live in a house like that.

[Kaoru Chujo]

Great Shinbou. I love his "architecture porn." And Madoka's knock-kneed running at the beginning -- especially with Yuuki Aoi's panting -- was moe to the tenth power.

Liked her mother. Liked Homura a lot (Chiwa!)

Loved the glass cages at school. Trapped and exposed at the same time.

[Soviet]

For some reason I got a "we are secretly the bad guys"- vibe from that furry thing and the blond mahou shoujo.

This was awesome btw

[Nina.Wolken]

Originally Posted by Soviet

For some reason I got a "we are secretly the bad guys"- vibe from that furry thing and the blond mahou shoujo.

You're certainly not the only one in that case.
What kind of good guy would threaten to kill another character in the very first episode of a magical-girl show? Especially while wearing this creepy smile : Σ(　□|||).
As for Kyubey, he is certainly very pushy and makes tons of promises to the point he sounds quite suspicious too.

[Von Himmel]

Am I the only one who is in love with Sayaka here ? Love her voice, it sounds cute and naughty and the same time =3

The design of houses, schools, faucets etc is a bit weird for me though. I'm not an expert in an architect department but....while all of them looks pretty unique, I still think that they're pretty...awkward. I don't like the faucet design and the classroom design. Strangely though, I like the animation when the monster appeared. Just like somoene said in here before, it greatly describes the mystical feeling of magic, something that nowadays anime usually lack.

[Miraluka]

Originally Posted by Nina.Wolken

You're certainly not the only one in that case.
What kind of good guy would threaten to kill another character in the very first episode of a magical-girl show? Especially while wearing this creepy smile : Σ(　□|||).
As for Kyubey, he is certainly very pushy and makes tons of promises to the point he sounds quite suspicious too.

Too cute to be good?
Yeah, I have the same feeling, scary/creepy, isn't?

P.S: LoL, Mami looks like a Aoki's version of Oriana (my avatar character).

[Triple_R]

Very nice first episode.

Most of the characters made a strong, positive first impression, and I liked the brisk pacing here.

I love SHAFT's distinctive approach to architecture, and backgrounds in general. SHAFT's overall trippy visual style makes for an intriguing contrast with the overall brightness and feel of magical girl anime.


That being said... on many anime message boards through out the internet, I keep reading lots and lots of people writing more or less the following about this anime: "I really don't like the magical girl genre, but this show looks very fun and interesting".

I find this a bit odd, because aside from SHAFT's visual style and perhaps the brisk pacing, this is almost prototype magical girl content. For example, the similarities between this and Nanoha, or even this and Card Captor Sakura, are significant and many.

Makes me wonder if magical girl anime has a bit of an unwarranted negative stigma attached to it.

I say that because if you like Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magika, there's other magical girl shows out there that you'll probably like as well.

[Arabesque]

Originally Posted by Saturn Beaver

-snip-

That does sound plausible for the time being, yes, though I suspect that the actual reason would be much different (otherwise we will have a doctor lose his eyes ) and that the lack of any info on the plot is making everyone reach out for other Gen Urobuchi to help feel the way for the moment, so most of these early theories might end being debunked as early as well, next episode. Regardless my money is on time travel being involved here in some way (be it even some sort of premonitions)

Originally Posted by Triple_R

Makes me wonder if magical girl anime has a bit of an unwarranted negative stigma attached to it.

Pretty much.

I mean let's face it, when someone says Magical Girl Show, the kneejerk reaction is going to be ''ew lolicon bait''

It's somewhat unfortunate, but it's something that got attached the genre and it can't shake off (as it's not entirely false. I had read an article that said that the primary audience for these shows were little girls and 20+ business men -_-; I wish I could find where I read it)

That being said, even without taking a look at the creative force behind Madoka one can see that this is something special. The knowledge of who worked on it only helps reinforce that.

Hopefully it wont fall to the negative stigma and people actually give the show a chance to show it's own metal (even Zac Bertschy, despite his views, admitted that the show at least visually was excellent, and the rest of the reviewers on ANN seem to agree with him, which might be a good indicator for the future)

I think it's certian there are other well made magical girl shows out there (Princess Tutu springs to mind) but for every good show, there is the at least a few that end up being bad and giving the genre its bad name.

I'm curious, but how many places did you see people give these sort of comment?

[FireChick]

Okay...is it just me, or did this first episode literally blow all my expectations!?

Kajiura's music is as sublime as ever! Madoka is adorable (though at first I didn't think her voice was really Yuki Aoi since she didn't sound much like Ichigo from Yumeiro Patissiere, the only voice from Yuki I ever really heard), Sayaka reminds me of Erika from Heartcatch Precure (in a good way), and the crazy schizophrenic imagery literally scared the living daylights outta me. But...wow! Just...WOW!

[Kanon]

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

Liked her mother. Liked Homura a lot (Chiwa!)

Madoka's mother was seriously awesome. I'm sure she kicks ass at work. I was amused that the children had to wake her up. Usually, it's the other way around.

Originally Posted by Arabesque

I mean let's face it, when someone says Magical Girl Show, the kneejerk reaction is going to be ''ew lolicon bait''

It's somewhat unfortunate, but it's something that got attached the genre and it can't shake off (as it's not entirely false. I had read an article that said that the primary audience for these shows were little girls and 20+ business men -_-; I wish I could find where I read it)

You, me, and a lot of people in this thread are above 20, what do you make of that?

[vaden]

Wow, I was so busy staring at the building designs that I almost forgot to watch the rest of the show. That is some seriously amazing stuff. The Bakemonogatari-esque angular CG backgrounds in the dream sequence were a nice touch.

Loved the characters, too, and the little human touches of scenes like Madoka and her brother trying to wake their mother up. As a non-morning person myself, I can totally sympathize with her reaction there....

Definitely a great first impression. Keep it up, guys.

[Silverwyrm]

Great first ep for me, really gave me the sense this story is going to be deep, I felt like there were a lot of hints for its future placed in this ep.

[Blaat]

I loved the first episode, especially the architecture porn, the family scene and the character design especially the pencil stripes on the eye, I haven't seen that in Hidamari

Originally Posted by Arabesque

I mean let's face it, when someone says Magical Girl Show, the kneejerk reaction is going to be ''ew lolicon bait''

Honestly, besides the first season of Nanoha I haven't seen a Magical Girl Show which I thought was a lolicon bait.
Personally the reason why I have a prejudice against magical girl shows because I don't feel like I'm the intended audience of said genre. Most normal Magical Girs Shows are aimed at young girls and I'm not one of them.
Having said that there are some Magical Girl Shows I've enjoyed such as Utena, Sakura and this series will be added to the list for the time being (there is still a chance it could epically fail, but I certainly hope not )

[Hooves]

Originally Posted by Blaat

Personally the reason why I have a prejudice against magical girl shows because I don't feel like I'm the intended audience of said genre. Most normal Magical Girs Shows are aimed at young girls and I'm not one of them.
Having said that there are some Magical Girl Shows I've enjoyed such as Utena, Sakura and this series will be added to the list for the time being (there is still a chance it could epically fail, but I certainly hope not )

Basically took the words out of my mouth Blaat there are some Magical Girl Shows that are enjoyable, they are all different in their own way to me atleast. So might as well give this a shot as well, so far its looking promising.