Madoka Magica - General Discussion

[octoberasian]

Originally Posted by bigdeath

Her mother seems like quite the ruthless corporate shark. She even scared poor Madoka. At least that explains why their bathroom is so huge. They must be rich. I wonder if we are going to get a "bathroom scene" every episode.

Even with all the explanation I was still complete absorbed by the show. A first time for a magical girl show to have this effect on me. Maybe its because theres an air of creepyness about the show.

I feel the same way.

I'm impressed with the animes this season, especially with Merry and Madoka both in terms of artwork, story and music the most.

Spoiler:

Madoka's mom is pretty cool, as well as scarily honest about what she'd do with her wish. I really feel nostalgic watching this anime though. It's like I'm watching CCS or Nanoha (1st season) all over again. I like that feeling even if the anime is rather dark and foreboding. It's got that same feeling when I watched Uta Kata as well seeing that anime was unique in its own way just like how Madoka is now. I can't wait to see Madoka's henshin animation though I think the OP sequence hinted at it.

Also, it was rather cute seeing her pull out a sketchbook about what she wants to transform into and how her best friend pulled out a bat. XD

This is one of the few animes I didn't mind watching over and over again. I already saw Ep 1 five times already.

Oh, lastly, lest not forget Hitomi's misunderstanding of Madoka and Sayaka having a forbidden love.

Also, I would like these two please ^^

Originally Posted by mikoo

Ep 01 & 02 freebies:

One for this forum, the other for another forum.

[Asterisk]

I liked this episode more than the last, only cause it gave me a further grasp on the concepts in this show, for example the labyrinth scene made more sense to me this time.

While last episode when I watched the labyrinth scene I was like "Woah wut is dus?"

A lot of foreshadowing as well.

[Maceart]

This show has an identity crisis. On one hand, it tries to deal with themes such as isolation, wishes, desires. On the other hand, we've got a magical girl mascot, Ume's character design, and a hella evil mom.

Damnit Shaft, pick one side and stick with it. It's already episode 2 and yet you haven't revealed much about your main character, let alone a clear protagonist and antagonist. "Witch of the week" isn't going to cut it.

And goddamnit, don't suddenly show the characters saving people from suicide; it cheapens the effect when everything can be pointed to "heh, a witch did it."

So far the only good thing I have to say about this show is the awesome Yuki Kujuira music and the interesting architecture.

At least Suite Precure will be much better scripted than this "magical girl" show.

[Fishbait]

Originally Posted by Horse

Magia cover

That is absolutely gorgeous.

[Asterisk]

Originally Posted by Maceart

This show has an identity crisis. On one hand, it tries to deal with themes such as isolation, wishes, desires. On the other hand, we've got a magical girl mascot, Ume's character design, and a hella evil mom.

Damnit Shaft, pick one side and stick with it. It's already episode 2 and yet you haven't revealed much about your main character, let alone a clear protagonist and antagonist. "Witch of the week" isn't going to cut it.

And goddamnit, don't suddenly show the characters saving people from suicide; it cheapens the effect when everything can be pointed to "heh, a witch did it."

So far the only good thing I have to say about this show is the awesome Yuki Kujuira music and the interesting architecture.

At least Suite Precure will be much better scripted than this "magical girl" show.

1. Well firstly you should put your trust in Shinbou/Shaft that this series won't devolve into a MOTW boredom.


2. I don't see how blending dark themes with "mahou shoujo" concept is a bad thing, they're breaking conventions and adding an extra dimension to the show, and so far they've done a pretty good job at it.


3. Why is the ambiguity between who's the "goody" and "baddie" a bad thing? Only makes the show more interesting

[Fishbait]

Originally Posted by Asterisk

3. Why is the ambiguity between who's the "goody" and "baddie" a bad thing? Only makes the show more interesting

Some people just need everything spelled out and spoonfed I guess.

[bigdeath]

The ambiguity is whats keeping me interested in this show, since again, I usually detest magical girl shows. Of course, it helps that nothing is overly cutesy about the show either, not even the transformation scenes.

[lightbringer]

This genre is not known for moral ambiguity, so that's definitely a good, refreshing direction for the show to take.

[aeriolewinters]

At least Suite Precure will be much better scripted than this "magical girl" show.

If you want to go to norms than go to your old shows... Oh and did you read the disclaimer that says, 'giving a whole new spin to the genre' if you want something tried and tested, better go to the Pre-cure thread now.

[ttdestroy]

I didn't think it was possible but I actually left this episode more satisfied than the first ep.

[night_sentinel]

Speaking of ambiguity, episode 2 muddled it a bit more. Lol ...

I think we can agree that Homura is not really a bad guy but, she clearly has some personal agenda and it involves Madoka somehow. : heh The possible reason that Mami gave on why Homura does not want Madoka to be an ally because she might want to hog the grief seeds took a beating at the end. Homura gave back the grief seed without a second thought showing that she does not want it that badly to actually stop someone from being a mahou shoujo. Heck, she gave an impression that she is completely uninterested with it.

Another reason why Homura can't simply be the bad guy is well beside attacking Kyubey, Homura has not done a single bad thing from my perspective. The warning is just that a warning and it seemed Homura is not going to take the a villainous role and try to attack Madoka if she does not follow it. Besides, even if Sayaka assumed that Homura will attack Madoka when Madoka is protecting Kyubey and her timely actions prevented that we don't really know if that will happen. Homura stopped attacking Kyubey the moment Madoka showed up.

Besides, we must remember that Homura tried to kill Kyubey before he even called out to Madoka. In fact, Kyubey called to Madoka because Homura is trying to kill him. Last, Homura gave the warning to Madoka before all this happened. This opens an interesting avenue of thought of how the hell Homura knew that Madoka will be asked to be a mahou shojo? I think that dream is not really a dream at all ...

On the other hand, Homura not being the bad guy does not make Mami one. On this episode she showed that she actually care for the victims of the witches and well she is actively watching for her underclassman. In fact, despite ep 1 rough meeting with Homura she seemed to want to make amends and be allies.

Of the main cast, Kyubey is actually the one who I'm most suspicious of but, I'll be operating on the basis of innocent until proven guilty. I really don't like this granting wishes with just a simple catch of being a magical girl. It sounds like a devil's deal and I think there is a fine print that we are not seeing somewhere beside risking your life. The reference to faust is not helping either.

[totoum]

Originally Posted by Maceart

Damnit Shaft, pick one side and stick with it. (...)"Witch of the week" isn't going to cut it.

Shaft has pretty much come out and said they wouldn't pick a side,that's the shows identy:the mix of both.
In an interview the producer said this wouldn't be a "monster of the week" show.

[Kanon]

Rather than asking Homerun-chan what her wish was, Madoka should have asked what Mami's was. It might have shed some light on her true personality (I can't help but be very suspicious of her). Random thought: Could it be that Mami's wish was to get rid of her parents? It's not at all strange for a middle schooler to live alone in anime, but it's still something that crossed my mind.

Magical girls need to use witch's eggs to replenish their powers. What happens if they don't? The fact that the witch's egg absorbed "dark matter" from Mami's egg is very odd. Rather than replenishing Mami's egg, it seemed more like it was purifying it, removing darkness from it. Based on this, I speculate that the more a magical girl use her powers, the darker her egg become, and if she can't purify it before it becomes pitch black... she will eventually turn into a witch. Which would mean that witches are former magical girls, most likely created by Kyuube himself. It would be some sort of vicious circle: magical girls are created to fight witches, once there are no more witches to fight, they turn into witches themselves, and more magical girls are created to fight them. Furthermore, similar to k//eternal's speculation, it's possible that when there are no more witches left, magical girls are forced to turn on one another to avoid turning into witches. That'd be sick.

[creb]

Originally Posted by Random Wanderer

Some folks have theorized that the Soul Gems would turn into Grief Seeds if they went too long without being "cleansed" like Mami's was this time. If so, then that creature we saw was likely an ordinary girl, once.

Ah, well, if true, that would open up all sorts of moral ambiguity that we sort of expect from this show (I don't know that anyone actually expects it to be a light-hearted magical girl show).

Especially, as another poster commented, if one can also clean their gems using other magical girls' gems. That also opens up the possibility that the only reason Mami is being so "helpful" is to later cannibalize them so to speak.

Then that would open up the possibility that Homura is keeping an eye out to intervene when Mami ends up revealing herself to be the ruthless person she really is. Not necessarily evil, but someone who's come to realize she doesn't want to become a witch, and will do what it takes not to become one. Whether that means saving some woman trying to commit suicide, or if it means seducing two innocent girls into becoming magical girls just to kill them to continue to prolong one's own life.

Or, none of that is right and there's a completely other direction they're going.

Anyways, I never thought I'd say the words, "I'm interested in a magical girl show". But, I am.

[Asterisk]

Originally Posted by Kanon

Rather than asking Homerun-chan what her wish was, Madoka should have asked what Mami's was. It might have shed some light on her true personality (I can't help but be very suspicious of her). Random thought: Could it be that Mami's wish was to get rid of her parents? It's not at all strange for a middle schooler to live alone in anime, but it's still something that crossed my mind.

Magical girls need to use witch's eggs to replenish their powers. What happens if they don't? The fact that the witch's egg absorbed "dark matter" from Mami's egg is very odd. Rather than replenishing Mami's egg, it seemed more like it was purifying it, removing darkness from it. Based on this, I speculate that the more a magical girl use her powers, the darker her egg become, and if she can't purify it before it becomes pitch black... she will eventually turn into a witch. Which would mean that witches are former magical girls, most likely created by Kyuube himself. It would be some sort of vicious circle: magical girls are created to fight witches, once there are no more witches to fight, they turn into witches themselves, and more magical girls are created to fight them. Furthermore, similar to k//eternal's speculation, it's possible that when there are no more witches left, magical girls are forced to turn on one another to avoid turning into witches. That'd be sick.

If there are no witches, there's no need to use your powers, thus no need to replenish your egg.

So I don't see how the cannibalism theory would work, unless your egg corrupts even if you don't use your powers.

[Kanon]

Originally Posted by Asterisk

If there are no witches, there's no need to use your powers, thus no need to replenish your egg.

So I don't see how the cannibalism theory would work, unless your egg corrupts even if you don't use your powers.

You found the answer

[wormspeaker]

Originally Posted by k//eternal

I think you're responding on autopilot due to other people complaining about the visuals of those scenes, haha.

No. I think the difference in the animation speed was intentional. The main characters were still animated at the proper speed. The rest of the environment was not. I believe it was done intentionally to enhance the "otherness" of the Labyrinth. If that's the case, it worked for me. I think it was a very bold style choice.

[HitoriTomoyo]

Witches weren't what I expected. Kind of hoped SHAFT would have some unique design ready to bust out for the occasion where they had to face a main antagonist, but I guess that sort of expectation of SHAFT is inherently flawed.

I'm loving how multi-dimensional and flexible this series is being so far. It keeps things interesting and unpredictable and overall capable of just about accomplishing anything at this point. I'm personally surprised at how serious Sayaka was in this episode given that I had written her off as a flat personality but she definitely proved me wrong with her serious considerations for Kyuubey's proposal; she will most likely be key in making Madoka's final decision in all of this.

Spoiler:

Although given from what I hear about the script writer for this series, I've personally already wrote her off as someone that's going to die, potentially either killed by Mami or Madoka.

[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.

[fukarming]

From what we know from the first 2 episode:

If Madoka becomes Mahou Shoujo, the apocalyptic world in the dream will happen.

Kyuubei grants any wishes to mahou shoujo.

Kyuubei did not specify how the wishes are achieved.

Madoka is not a bad person, thus she will not hope for an apocalyptic world.

My take, is that Madoka wish for world peace, or something like everyone in the world be happy. Kyuubei take is as "if no human exist, world peace is accomplished/ everyone in the world be happy -> only happy people live in the world-> no one is truly happy - > kill everyone that is unhappy -> no one live in the new apocalyptic world"

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?