Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica – 12 (Final)

Episode 12 Final –

Oh boy, what a totally unexpected final episode. I was expecting Madoka to change things up, but the way in which things unfolded took me by surprise. Personally speaking, I liked this ending a lot. However, at the same time I can easily say that this will probably turn out as a very disappointing ending amongst many members of the fanbase, or at least it will be considered controversial.

At the end of the last episode, Madoka pretty much declared that she would become a Mahou Shoujo. The big significance of this is not the fact that she is becoming a Mahou Shoujo, but because she gets a single wish that Kyuubei must grant. And oh boy, what a grand wish does Madoka ask for; the sheer scale of the wish is pretty enormous, with some tremendous implications for the entire foundation of this show.

Her wish essentially removes all witches from have ever existing, and can no longer ever exist in the past, present, and future. The sheer level of changes that wish induces would almost be equivalent to something like changing one of the laws of physics. Changing the laws of physics from the beginning of time itself would change the world in a huge way, which is pretty much what happens here.

Madoka’s wish makes it so that Mahou Shoujo in the past actually have never existed, or at least didn’t have to suffer from their status as a Mahou Shoujo. She literally took everything upon her self, all the evils and suffering of Mahou Shoujo, and made it her duty to get rid of it all. Put simply, Madoka sacrificed herself for the greater good of all of humanity (thus all the “god” references you’ll be seeing around when talking about this episode).  The ironic timing of the episode (good Friday in Japan, which probably isn’t a coincidence) does add a bit more significance to the events of this episode, which is an interesting touch on Shaft’s part.

I personally thought it was a bold, courageous yet at the same time tragic move on Madoka’s part. The fact that she took everybody onto herself was saddening in a sense, even if her transformed form was lovely to see.

The changes to the universe itself from the wish produced several effects; for one, Mahou Shoujo can no longer turn into witches, and witches themselves no longer exist. Instead, different apparitions roam the Earth, and Akemi is now hunting those apparitions out instead of witches. The most significant effect from the wish, though, was how Madoka pretty much disappeared from existence in every sense of the word. Nobody could remember her except for Akemi (who turned out to be an exception somehow), and there were changes to time itself that made it so that Madoka never even existed in the first place.

The general feeling I get for this episode is that the series was a giant “prologue” to a much grander story, almost like watching the story of the creation of an entire world, and that things are just beginning. The grandiosity and scale of everything going on actually leaves a feeling of awe in my eyes, and Madoka’s contribution to it all is extraordinary considering how useless she was only a few episodes ago.

Anyways, aside from the huge focus on Madoka and Akemi, this episode also did wrap up the stories for other characters, such as Sayaka, Mami, and Kyoko. Sayaka got a rather sad, melancholy finale with her crying while lovingly saying goodbye to a Kamijou that is almost no longer aware of her. Kyoko and Mami had a nice chat with Madoka regarding her motivations before they, too, disappeared for good. If you honestly think about it, the entire ending is depressing in the sense that virtually everyone in the main cast dies.

The ending felt bittersweet, yet satisfying in my eyes. There is some fairly decent conclusions for most of the characters, though they all leave a rather melancholy taste behind. Personally I found how everything unfolded rather satisfying, but my opinion is very subjective here. I do know that the ending was pretty over the top, so I do expect a lot of people to be disappointed with this ending. All in all, Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica was one heck of a fun show to follow, with a rather intriguing finale. I really do hope my feeling that this series was a “giant prologue” is at least somewhat correct, because I would find it really cool to watch an anime set in the future, and they reference the times “before the wish”.

Overall Enjoyment: 4.8/5

Edit: Typo on the score. Had to fix it 🙂

Screenshots are later in the post.

P.S. What’s up with the part at the very end with Akemi and the black wings? I’m not quite sure what the significance of the scene is…

Also, this post turned out wayyy too long…. x_x