Madoka Magica - General Discussion

[Shiroth]

Many stories have told me that the character who controls the tutorial either dies or turns out to be a bad guy. Let's see if one of them happens here.

[MeoTwister5]

I want at least someone to die, it doesn't have to be a main character, hell doesn't even have to be someone who gets named. I don't know why. Right now aside from perhaps the art style, I'm looking for something that will really set it apart from the rest of the pack.

[Von Himmel]

Now I an agree that this show = architect porn I just noticed the place where Madoke brushed her teeth is awesome. Her desk in the classroom is pretty unique too Seriously SHAFT, you never fail to amaze me in many ways

[klare]

just when i thought BRS's cannon is huge, Mami-san showed she has something bigger, her closure with the tea cup is a also nice idea

apart from the amazing background, i notice their faces are very wide...

[scr]

Originally Posted by fukarming

The most suspicious thing regarding Kyuubei is that I don't see how it can grant wishes to conflicting mahou shoujo. If Sayaka wish for a lesbian relationship with Madoka and Madoka want a perfect guy, how will that play out?

The answer is simple my friend: There Can Be Only One. Like in that grimdark magical girl anime Kajiura also did the music for.

Also, if Madoka actually want a perfect guy instead of a perfect girl, i'm going to apply overwhelming violence to someone.

(off-topic)
Man, if this were an Otome Game, Sayaka will be the "pure love" route while Homura will be the "Bastard Boyfriend" route.

[Haak]

Damn, I really love the soundtrack. Episode 2 was great. Things are already starting to seem not quite what they appear to be.

[MeoTwister5]

When I imagine Madoka and Homura finally getting it on, and when I say that I mean with beam and weapon spamming (duh), I imagine Kajiura's "Final Fight" track from Xenosaga II/III blazing in the background.

[Kismet-chan]

Originally Posted by MeoTwister5

I want at least someone to die, it doesn't have to be a main character, hell doesn't even have to be someone who gets named. I don't know why. Right now aside from perhaps the art style, I'm looking for something that will really set it apart from the rest of the pack.

^This. I dunno why, either, but I'll be mad if someone doesn't die. This is just one of those series that makes me go, "Yeah, somebody's gonna die. Wait for it...!"

And I also hope the story does something special to make it different from the rest.

[omimon]

Spoiler:

Cover for Magica.

Possible spoiler?

[FlavorOfLife]

Many anime series later, i have learnt an important lesson

Don't trust things with red eyes (at least until 80% of the series is done)

Oh and how many people can resist using powers like Mami did? Use it once and you will want to keep using it, relying on it, feed your ego with it, help others with it. Does that sound similar to anything else in real life?

[Seihai]

Originally Posted by omimon

Spoiler:

I knew it. Starlight Breaker in Levantin Bogenform.

[Malkuth]

LOL@telepathy as a means to reduce animation ... Nanoha employed it also ... remember

Also actually after ep.2, the combo of character designs and collage grows on me, though I'd rather have something more casual as in The merry dream-eater, still this is an asthetically interesting ... and satisfying approach

Now to the main point, which ... sorry, but I can not help ... Mami is Gilgamesh@Fate/StayNight + flintlocks:

• She is blond, and has generally a golden hew in her clothing
• She upgraded Gil's shackles to golden threads
• She used Enuma Elish ... giant flintlock to finish off the witch
• She can summon any (not so) mythical flintlock at whim
• She used Gate of Babylon in ep.1 ... damn! not UBW

Who by the way is my favourite character ... now his alter ego just needs an item/girl to obsess about

[Haak]

^ I felt is was more like UBW actually since those guns were sticking into the ground.

Unlimited Shotgun Works!

[Lord of Fire]

Just when I thought episode one gave us one hell of an acid trip, episode 2 just doubled that. I'm assuming that's just one form a witch can take.

Homura seems to be some sort of anti-hero type, given that she's definitely not evil, though not 'good' enough to work with the others. Of course, it's entirely possible that she actually has a good reason to handle things her way, so we'll see how this plays out.

And the telepathy thing is nothing new, we saw that in Nanoha as well, though to my knowledge, it was just limited to the girl and her familiar there.

Also, Kyuubey knows more than s/he is willing to say.

[Malkuth]

Originally Posted by Haak

^ I felt is was more like UBW actually since those guns were sticking into the ground.

Unlimited Shotgun Works!

Mate, that's because Gil ... ah! Mami ... stole Shirou's style of summoning his mythical trasures ... duh! flintlocks ... after beating his raping ass

[Kaoru Chujo]

Has anyone mentioned the fact that Madoka's drawings of her magical girl outfit were actually done by her seiyuu, Yuuki Aoi? From my own limited familiarity, I'd put Ao-chan in the second rank of seiyuu artists, just behind Inoue Marina and Kitamura Eri. Her best work is actually better than those drawings, I think.

(click to enlarge)

I'm not exactly blown away by Ao-chan's voice work yet, but the uniqueness of the small voice here is really interesting. And KitaEri (Sayaka) and Chiwa (Homura) are also really good. Mizuhashi Kaori's Mami is hit and miss, for me. It's also interesting that Gotou Yuuko has gone from Mikuru moe to playing the mother.

[Arabesque]

Spoiler for Episode 2:

-Apparently, Madoka was dreaming about the last episode's events. Normally I'd just say thats a means to save money, but the implications of that scene are interesting to say the least.

-This is important for the ''Time travel/loop theory'' if Madoka is constantly dreaming of past events, this could be a hint as to her dream in episode one being one that actually happened in the past (i.e. it's wasn't a premonition, but she was recaping th events at the end of the previous loop)

-Sayaka appears to have more to her than what first appears. She really did look like she was tormented(?) by the fact that she couldn't think of a wish due to how fortunate she was

-Hitomi's got a really wild imagination

-Throughout this episode, I really couldn't help but flashback to how Bokurano started out. the way Kyubei and Miami talked all sweet about the prospect of fighting witches and defending people, having one wish granted, the overall suspicious behavior. I really can't help but think something very bad is going to happen here.

Originally Posted by Skyfall

While the overall grim mood and surreal atmosphere is very much appreciated (Kajiura's soundtrack deserves a lot of credit here for setting the tone), i have a much bigger bone to pick with Shaft's WTF visuals this time - to put it plainly, i found the "witch" jarring, off-putting and completely tension-breaking. While i can accept the argument that Shinbo's WTF visuals add a sense of surreality to the 'other world' (even if i wouldn't particularly agree with their usage at all, but that's nothing new), they simply took it too far with the "witch". What we got was a result that looked like the bastard child of Shinbo's visuals and an attempt at budget saving - a cardboard wannabe tentacle monster with half the framerate it should have had. At that point the music was the only thing holding the scene together, because it was awfully hard not to facepalm. Bleh.

If this is how confrontations with "witches" are going to look, i can only hope they will be kept to a bare minimum.

I wanted to comment on this and a few other comments about how this was similar to how Shinbo goes wild whenever he wants to do something um artsy (similar to bakemonogatari episode 1) and I've got to say, I thought these past 2 episode Shinbo had been holding back or at least, he had a more focused direction this time round, with actual reason for using these otherwordly visuals (as opposed to not having a good reason to add someone having a salad brain for no reason) I actually thought that the witches look fit the world quite well. Now mind you while I did enjoy how Miami used her UMW, the music was really the glue that kept the action together. Like you said, and as much as I liked the witches design, the choreography wasn't really that great :/

Originally Posted by MeoTwister5

I want at least someone to die, it doesn't have to be a main character, hell doesn't even have to be someone who gets named. I don't know why. Right now aside from perhaps the art style, I'm looking for something that will really set it apart from the rest of the pack.

I do expect someone to die here through the mid-point of the show. If only because I expect Madoka to go through the people-can-die-so-Im-scared phase.

Originally Posted by Gladi

Bright day
I am not invested in the designs or their authoress, I did not like the designs in the anime, but I think the contrast really makes them work. Sometimes you want to establish a disconnect between characters and the world around them and the 1st episode of Madoka seems to fit the bill. So moar pancake faces I say! MOAR!!

Nice Night.

I actually felt this way about the second episode actually. The contrast in battle was really the thing that helped keep things from getting confusing and made it easy to follow the action.

Originally Posted by Haak

^ I felt is was more like UBW actually since those guns were sticking into the ground.

Unlimited Shotgun Works!

Pretty sure their Muskets though :P

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

Has anyone mentioned the fact that Madoka's drawings of her magical girl outfit were actually done by her seiyuu, Yuuki Aoi?.

Thats interesting trivia. How'd you manage to figure that out?

I'm really impressed by the range Yuuki Aoi has. Just in the other show she's staring in this season, Gosick, and this one she is really covering a wide range between two different characters.

[Maceart]

Originally Posted by gecd

- 2 episodes and madoka still not henshin
- could it be that they planned to use MAGIA as an insert song not ending?
- mami's way to use her flintlocks is just like what i have imagined

Exactly. If SHAFT is any indication, this show is most likely 13-14 episodes. It doesn't have the liberty of slowly prodding along with its plot unlike Pretty Cure.

Unless this isn't even a magical girl show, then Shinbo's messing with the wrong genre here.

[Kaoru Chujo]

Originally Posted by Arabesque

That's interesting trivia. How'd you manage to figure that out? (that Ao-chan did the drawings)

I'm really impressed by the range Yuuki Aoi has. Just in the other show she's staring in this season, Gosick, and this one she is really covering a wide range between two different characters.

Yuuki Aoi is in the end credits as having done "Madoka's drawing." At the bottom right of this screen (click to enlarge):



I think her acting can be good, and some of her voices are good, and she is great at various sounds like sighs, etc., but I can understand it when some Japanese otaku criticize her acting. However, no-one can deny that she has unbelievable range. Last season she did Juubei and Tatsun, two other voices that are wildly different from each other and from either of this season's.

[Kanon]

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

Has anyone mentioned the fact that Madoka's drawings of her magical girl outfit were actually done by her seiyuu, Yuuki Aoi? From my own limited familiarity, I'd put Ao-chan in the second rank of seiyuu artists, just behind Inoue Marina and Kitamura Eri. Her best work is actually better than those drawings, I think.

(click to enlarge)

Oh, I had no idea about that. That's a very nice touch! Makes me wonder if they got Kobayashi Yuu to draw the monsters and the witch... it would explain a lot of things

I have to admit I was also disappointed by the witch's design and the way she was animated. I couldn't help but laugh when I saw that, which kind of ruined the mood. Likewise, Mami sipping some tea right after killing her was way too over-the-top