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elabyI said I'd post about Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica, and so I shall! Incidentally, this is the first anime I've watched as it comes out in Japan, and I have to say that I love the experience XD It's so nice to only have to wait a week between episodes instead of several months for the next DVD. Nowadays I tend to lose interest or forget about a series I liked if I have to wait for the next set of episodes to come out (sorry about that, Baccano.) Not so with Madoka; although, if I hadn't seen up to episode 3 in one sitting, I'm not sure I would have continued watching it. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica is the Japanese name of the series. It translates to Magical Girl Madoka Magica ("magica" meaning "of the mage", I've read somewhere?), but, like Utena "La Fillette Revolutionnaire", the series' title has an official non-Japanese alternate title: Puella Magi Madoka Magica. I think this is Italian? And, I presume from my limited knowledge of Latinate languages, it means approximately the same thing as the Japanese.
I came across this series in an interesting way. I was on Safebooru, which is (I think) a mirror of the fanart site Danbooru, only, um, apparently not so full of pr0n. There's a list of tags on the side of each page, and while looking through Vocaloids fanart, I came upon the tag "hug". I like hugs! So I clicked on this tag just to see what cuteness might exist there. If you're familiar with this site, there are usually about... I dunno... 30 thumbnails displayed on each page. I clicked through maybe five of these pages, and 90% of the art was from Madoka Magica. Considering the pace at which I'd noticed Vocaloid art piling up on the new pages, the fact that so much art came from this one series told me it had to be popular. And if it engendered this many pictures involving hugging, I knew I had to see it.
At first glance, Madoka Magica is your standard magical girl show. The protagonist has pink hair in adorable pigtails and wears a fluffy fluffy pink dress and shiny Sakura-esque shoes in the opening. Throughout the first two episodes, I was like "Okay, here's the usual mahou shoujo beginning, girl meets magical talking animal... interesting animation choices when it comes to monster battles, but nothing too surprising." Then certain events in episode 3 had me diving behind the couch.
This is not your standard magical girl show. It reminds me of Evangelion in the same way that you'd start watching that, going "All right, mecha, big battles, girls in tight suits, oka--WHATOWMYBRAIN." Except that I'm like a zillion times more attached to the characters in Madoka. It turns all of the usual magical girl cliché's and standards upside down in quite disturbing ways, while still retaining the heart of what I love about shows like Sailor Moon. If you're looking for happy fluffy funtimes, this is not the show for you. But if you like drama and horror and unfailing love and existential crises, and you don't mind being a little traumatized (in a good way! XD) on occasion, I highly recommend Madoka Magica.
I've heard people say that the opening sequence is misleading, and while I didn't think of that until I heard someone point it out, I can totally see what they mean. A good part of the opening sequence is comprised of "hilarious" scenes of Madoka's tribulations while trying to become a magical girl (flying into lampposts, etc.), whereas... you know... in reality (for a given value of the term) she doesn't actually become one until the last freaking episode. The feel of the opening is pretty accurate, though, I think, especially the last half. It's hectic and bittersweet and features a lot of determined!Madoka. Not to mention that the first time you see her at all, she's crying - I think that says a lot about what viewers should expect from the show. (As opposed to Saionji in the Utena opening, which is stealth and kind of inexplicable until you get to know him a lot better. And even then, it's still somewhat O_o)
Mami getting her head bitten off gave me the biggest double-take of my life. I was slightly distracted while it was happening, and I went "WAIT, WHAT?" and had to rewind. I never in a million years expected that to happen. Also, I have this squick fear thing about decapitation, so, uh, thanks for that, SHAFT. (SHAFT is the production studio.) That was when I knew I had to keep watching, when she stayed dead and Madoka and Sayaka were forced to deal with what had happened. Main characters staying dead is not normal for mahou shoujo anime in my experience.
I have to confess that I'm not a big fan of Mami. She just didn't grow on me. I don't think she was alive long enough O_o I'm not really sure why. Maybe it was because I immediately felt for Homura, could tell that there was something up with her, and Mami was kind of belligerent toward her (which I can still understand, of course).
I love Madoka. I just love her. I love her the same way I love Usagi. She's just so good, and even though she thinks she's useless, she's never annoying or in the way. I think her inability to decide whether to contract with Kyuubey makes her one of the more realistic characters. She doesn't just make a decision so the plot can move along; she weighs her choices and can't decide, because really, most people don't have anything to wish for that's worth trading their life. The more she finds out about what being a magical girl really means, the less she's able to easily make up her mind. I think most people would find it hard, knowing what she ends up knowing.
Sayaka is another character who surprised me with her realism. She's probably how I'd turn out if I were approached by Kyuubey with this choice ^^;; She doesn't have any wishes of her own, but she wants to make someone else happy, so she uses her wish for someone else's benefit and it totally backfires on her. Even though she accomplished what she set out to do, the price of becoming a magical girl and her inherent honor and sense of morality ended up making everything much worse for her than the others. Kyoko is the flip side of her coin, doing everything "for her own sake" (even if her original wish was for somebody else, and backfired even more horrifically than Sayaka's). Kyoko and Sayaka make an interesting pair, because while Sayaka spirals into despair trying to uphold her ideals of selflessness, Kyoko embraces selfishness and seems to get by pretty well.
Homura, HNGH. I just. Homura. I can't express how much I adore her and her motives and her transformation over the course of her timelines and her inherent tragedy and her awesomeness at overcoming it all. She seemed like the standard chilly aloof cooler-than-thou sempai type when she first appeared, but even then, there were these little flashes of emotion, clues that made you wonder about her. And oh boy, did we ever wonder for a good reason. She's the eternal protector who ends up as the protected. And Madoka, who Homura has spent lifetimes trying and failing to protect, takes on the role of the protector at the end, and I can't think of many dynamics I love more than that. I love how we see all ranges from Homura, too. I'm a sucker for characters who are established as cold and unemotional being broken down over the course of a story XD
You know what else I'm a sucker for? Super besty best friend relationships with an abundance of love that can be interpreted as romantic or not. (SURPRISE, you're all shocked, I'm sure.) Madoka Magica does not disappoint. Madoka and Homura have taken their place among my favorite pairs.
And gosh, how could I have forgotten Kyuubeythat little motherfucker? Even really early on he gave me the creeps, although I never put two and two together about why Homura might be trying to kill him in the first episode. I didn't ever quite trust him, and then - well, yeah. Turns out my instincts were better than I thought. I can't for the life of me figure out how they managed to make something with such an innocuous, cute character design so freaking CREEPY... no, wait, I do. It's the way he never changes expression. Ever. *shudder* They certainly do a fantastic job making his thought processes absolutely alien. What makes him even scarier is that it's pretty easy to understand why he does what he does. The salvation of the universe is of course more important than the lives and happiness of pre-teen girls on one dinky little planet (or, for that matter, the existence of said dinky little planet, since I think he was aiming for destroying it all along), but since when have humans accepted that? When Spock tried to pull that one they had to make an entire movie to rectify it.
As for the ending: I didn't see it coming at all, which was pretty awesome. Especially Madoka's ascension to godhood. Holy cow. The very thought of her reaching back through time to take on the corrupted soul gems of every other magical girl in history still gives me goosebumps. When I finished watching it, I was a little bit disappointed, although I thought the end was perfectly fitting and very creative. It made sense, and it really worked, and I should have expected something like that to happen. But what I really wanted was for everybody to be alive again and happy and going to cafes together after school or some such ridiculous schmoop like that. *dork* When I thought about it, after getting over the initial braindeath that watching the finale caused, I really couldn't imagine an ending that made more sense or was fitting enough. The only way Madoka could understand what Homura went through during all those timelines was for her to ascend and become all-knowing, which would kind of make it hard to lead a normal schoolgirl life ^^;; I would have liked Madoka to be able to interact with the other people left in reality, but it makes sense that she can't, since the whole purpose of her wish was to make it so that everything that happened so she could make her wish hadn't happened in the first place. Uh. Ow, the paradox @_@
The whole ending was so much like Utena that I wondered whether the production team were fans or whether it's a more common story conclusion in Japanese culture than I know. Everyone forgot about Madoka just like everyone forgot about Utena, although with Madoka it was much more drastic. People who knew Utena were just kind of like "Oh, right, her... didn't she do something cool once?" Except for Anthy and Akio, who are... well, whatever they are. Architects of the universe or whatever. And Homura was the only one to know that Madoka had ever existed at all, although Madoka's little brother remembered her too, which I thought was AWESOME. While Anthy and Akio remembered Utena because they kind of orchestrated everything that went on at Ohtori and probably Akio had something to do with the memory-tampering of the rest of the student population (or the very nature of the school did), Homura wasn't supposed to remember Madoka, but she did because of the strength of her love. I got the impression that it was some kind of miraculous fluke that Homura actually remembered all that had gone on. And Madoka can still communicate with Homura through her giant... dimension-ripping wing things, which gave me the kind of hope that the end of Utena gave me when Anthy set off to find her. I mean, come on, you know she will.
Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica is the Japanese name of the series. It translates to Magical Girl Madoka Magica ("magica" meaning "of the mage", I've read somewhere?), but, like Utena "La Fillette Revolutionnaire", the series' title has an official non-Japanese alternate title: Puella Magi Madoka Magica. I think this is Italian? And, I presume from my limited knowledge of Latinate languages, it means approximately the same thing as the Japanese.
I came across this series in an interesting way. I was on Safebooru, which is (I think) a mirror of the fanart site Danbooru, only, um, apparently not so full of pr0n. There's a list of tags on the side of each page, and while looking through Vocaloids fanart, I came upon the tag "hug". I like hugs! So I clicked on this tag just to see what cuteness might exist there. If you're familiar with this site, there are usually about... I dunno... 30 thumbnails displayed on each page. I clicked through maybe five of these pages, and 90% of the art was from Madoka Magica. Considering the pace at which I'd noticed Vocaloid art piling up on the new pages, the fact that so much art came from this one series told me it had to be popular. And if it engendered this many pictures involving hugging, I knew I had to see it.
At first glance, Madoka Magica is your standard magical girl show. The protagonist has pink hair in adorable pigtails and wears a fluffy fluffy pink dress and shiny Sakura-esque shoes in the opening. Throughout the first two episodes, I was like "Okay, here's the usual mahou shoujo beginning, girl meets magical talking animal... interesting animation choices when it comes to monster battles, but nothing too surprising." Then certain events in episode 3 had me diving behind the couch.
This is not your standard magical girl show. It reminds me of Evangelion in the same way that you'd start watching that, going "All right, mecha, big battles, girls in tight suits, oka--WHATOWMYBRAIN." Except that I'm like a zillion times more attached to the characters in Madoka. It turns all of the usual magical girl cliché's and standards upside down in quite disturbing ways, while still retaining the heart of what I love about shows like Sailor Moon. If you're looking for happy fluffy funtimes, this is not the show for you. But if you like drama and horror and unfailing love and existential crises, and you don't mind being a little traumatized (in a good way! XD) on occasion, I highly recommend Madoka Magica.
I've heard people say that the opening sequence is misleading, and while I didn't think of that until I heard someone point it out, I can totally see what they mean. A good part of the opening sequence is comprised of "hilarious" scenes of Madoka's tribulations while trying to become a magical girl (flying into lampposts, etc.), whereas... you know... in reality (for a given value of the term) she doesn't actually become one until the last freaking episode. The feel of the opening is pretty accurate, though, I think, especially the last half. It's hectic and bittersweet and features a lot of determined!Madoka. Not to mention that the first time you see her at all, she's crying - I think that says a lot about what viewers should expect from the show. (As opposed to Saionji in the Utena opening, which is stealth and kind of inexplicable until you get to know him a lot better. And even then, it's still somewhat O_o)
Mami getting her head bitten off gave me the biggest double-take of my life. I was slightly distracted while it was happening, and I went "WAIT, WHAT?" and had to rewind. I never in a million years expected that to happen. Also, I have this squick fear thing about decapitation, so, uh, thanks for that, SHAFT. (SHAFT is the production studio.) That was when I knew I had to keep watching, when she stayed dead and Madoka and Sayaka were forced to deal with what had happened. Main characters staying dead is not normal for mahou shoujo anime in my experience.
I have to confess that I'm not a big fan of Mami. She just didn't grow on me. I don't think she was alive long enough O_o I'm not really sure why. Maybe it was because I immediately felt for Homura, could tell that there was something up with her, and Mami was kind of belligerent toward her (which I can still understand, of course).
I love Madoka. I just love her. I love her the same way I love Usagi. She's just so good, and even though she thinks she's useless, she's never annoying or in the way. I think her inability to decide whether to contract with Kyuubey makes her one of the more realistic characters. She doesn't just make a decision so the plot can move along; she weighs her choices and can't decide, because really, most people don't have anything to wish for that's worth trading their life. The more she finds out about what being a magical girl really means, the less she's able to easily make up her mind. I think most people would find it hard, knowing what she ends up knowing.
Sayaka is another character who surprised me with her realism. She's probably how I'd turn out if I were approached by Kyuubey with this choice ^^;; She doesn't have any wishes of her own, but she wants to make someone else happy, so she uses her wish for someone else's benefit and it totally backfires on her. Even though she accomplished what she set out to do, the price of becoming a magical girl and her inherent honor and sense of morality ended up making everything much worse for her than the others. Kyoko is the flip side of her coin, doing everything "for her own sake" (even if her original wish was for somebody else, and backfired even more horrifically than Sayaka's). Kyoko and Sayaka make an interesting pair, because while Sayaka spirals into despair trying to uphold her ideals of selflessness, Kyoko embraces selfishness and seems to get by pretty well.
Homura, HNGH. I just. Homura. I can't express how much I adore her and her motives and her transformation over the course of her timelines and her inherent tragedy and her awesomeness at overcoming it all. She seemed like the standard chilly aloof cooler-than-thou sempai type when she first appeared, but even then, there were these little flashes of emotion, clues that made you wonder about her. And oh boy, did we ever wonder for a good reason. She's the eternal protector who ends up as the protected. And Madoka, who Homura has spent lifetimes trying and failing to protect, takes on the role of the protector at the end, and I can't think of many dynamics I love more than that. I love how we see all ranges from Homura, too. I'm a sucker for characters who are established as cold and unemotional being broken down over the course of a story XD
You know what else I'm a sucker for? Super besty best friend relationships with an abundance of love that can be interpreted as romantic or not. (SURPRISE, you're all shocked, I'm sure.) Madoka Magica does not disappoint. Madoka and Homura have taken their place among my favorite pairs.
And gosh, how could I have forgotten Kyuubey
As for the ending: I didn't see it coming at all, which was pretty awesome. Especially Madoka's ascension to godhood. Holy cow. The very thought of her reaching back through time to take on the corrupted soul gems of every other magical girl in history still gives me goosebumps. When I finished watching it, I was a little bit disappointed, although I thought the end was perfectly fitting and very creative. It made sense, and it really worked, and I should have expected something like that to happen. But what I really wanted was for everybody to be alive again and happy and going to cafes together after school or some such ridiculous schmoop like that. *dork* When I thought about it, after getting over the initial braindeath that watching the finale caused, I really couldn't imagine an ending that made more sense or was fitting enough. The only way Madoka could understand what Homura went through during all those timelines was for her to ascend and become all-knowing, which would kind of make it hard to lead a normal schoolgirl life ^^;; I would have liked Madoka to be able to interact with the other people left in reality, but it makes sense that she can't, since the whole purpose of her wish was to make it so that everything that happened so she could make her wish hadn't happened in the first place. Uh. Ow, the paradox @_@
The whole ending was so much like Utena that I wondered whether the production team were fans or whether it's a more common story conclusion in Japanese culture than I know. Everyone forgot about Madoka just like everyone forgot about Utena, although with Madoka it was much more drastic. People who knew Utena were just kind of like "Oh, right, her... didn't she do something cool once?" Except for Anthy and Akio, who are... well, whatever they are. Architects of the universe or whatever. And Homura was the only one to know that Madoka had ever existed at all, although Madoka's little brother remembered her too, which I thought was AWESOME. While Anthy and Akio remembered Utena because they kind of orchestrated everything that went on at Ohtori and probably Akio had something to do with the memory-tampering of the rest of the student population (or the very nature of the school did), Homura wasn't supposed to remember Madoka, but she did because of the strength of her love. I got the impression that it was some kind of miraculous fluke that Homura actually remembered all that had gone on. And Madoka can still communicate with Homura through her giant... dimension-ripping wing things, which gave me the kind of hope that the end of Utena gave me when Anthy set off to find her. I mean, come on, you know she will.
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Date: 2011-05-15 04:57 pm (UTC)The events of episode three scarred everyone I think xD
Sorry you don't like Mami too much. I love her~ Partially because I love drawing her, haha. Sayaka's intense self righteousness got on my nerves a bit, but I still love her. Insane characters are love.
I love Kyubei. He's a bastard, but he's one of the best antagonists I've ever seen in an anime.
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Date: 2011-05-15 05:03 pm (UTC)I bet Mami will grow on me with additional viewings ^_^ I can't really figure out why I don't love her like I love everyone else, because I don't find her annoying or anything.
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Date: 2011-05-15 10:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-16 02:26 am (UTC)