Series Review – Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica

Honestly speaking, I have to say I’m very impressed with how this show went about. Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica started off a slightly slow, uninteresting note, but it just continuously kept building up on top of it’s previous episodes, culminating in some breathtaking scenes in the final few episodes of the series. There are a ton of things this series does right, but it does have it’s fair share of flaws too. However, the flaws don’t really hurt the show as a whole, and it ends up as a great watch that always perks your interest and gets you speculating. Considering it was Shaft behind this series, I was very wary of this being a hit or miss series initially; obvious it turned out much more of a “hit” than a “miss”. And who in hell would have thought that a Magical Girl series could be this dark and chaotic.

What is nice here is the actual production values for the series. The animation is solid, and the art is really out there; the crazy Shinbo style witches really adds a unique flair to the atmosphere of this series, and does add a touch of that “bizarre, crazy” feeling that works so well here. There are the odd quirks to Shinbo’s animation style all over the place here, but if you could get over all of that, the artwork was surprisingly fitting for this series. The Hidamari sketch-styled character designs did feel a bit awkward at first, but after a few episodes it’s rather easy to adjust to. The music to this series was just as good, with Yuki Kajiura’s soundtrack here doing a great job at complementing some of the haunting scenes. I’ll admit that it’s not her best work, but some of the music adds much more depth to certain scenes here. The music also contributes greatly to the overall atmosphere, and I have to say, the music and animation fits the darker-toned story itself very well.

The story itself does have it’s flaws here and there, with a select few pacing issues early on. That pretty much got ironed out by the third or fourth episode, though, and the story just kept piling on the intrigue from there onwards. What was Kyuubey? What were the witches? What is Walpurgis nacht? All the questions that this show kept prompting, in combination with some stunningly haunting scenes and moments, created a compelling plot that was worth following through until the end. The mysteries here all kept the series gripping, always managing to perk curiosity. The finale, in all it’s grandiosity, was truly unique and unexpected. The scale at which it happens, and the huge implications of it all, was a pretty epic, bittersweet,  yet satisfying finale. Of course, the finale does feel too “convenient” and “happily ever after” in some ways, but I personally feel it is a fitting way to end such a depressing series with a bit of hope.

Now the biggest contributor here, yet also the biggest flaw, would be the characters. There were some pretty well fleshed out characters, such as Kyoko, and Sayaka, but there were also some rather odd twists to some of the cast. For one, while Akemi Homura was indeed one of my favorite characters here, the extremely sudden change in character around episode 9-10 felt very out of place. Yes, I do understand there are good reasons behind why she suddenly changed in personality (or perhaps the better description would be she stopped hiding her real personality), but her sudden change from stoic, cool-headed Akemi to “Madoka, Madoka!” crying Akemi was a huge shift that could have been transitioned into a bit better. What was lacking here was a sense of character development for the two main characters to this series, Akemi and Madoka, whereas Kyoko and Sayaka got much more development as characters. Don’t confuse character development with likability here; Akemi and Madoka both turned out to be very memorable characters, it’s just that they don’t get much of their character development until literally the last two or three episodes.

The big thing that must be noted here is that Kyuubei has to be one of the best villains we have seen in a long time. The way in which his intentions were slowly, but surely, revealed to Madoka and the others just heightened the tremendous impact his presence had in this show. For an evil white furball, Kyuubei was probably the most interesting, attention-captivating character in the entire series. Without his presence, the plot would have probably lost much of it’s compelling aspect, so I do have to give credit where credit it due.

All in all, Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica redefines the entire magical girl genre in many ways; it took the stereotypical “girls get magical powers” idea, and twists it into a compelling, dark plot that captivated audiences all over the world. It introduces the idea that not all magical girl shows need to be happy, sugary affairs. And in the end, this series introduces a breathtakingly original, very gripping human tale.

Animation/Art: 8.5/10

Music: 8.5/10

Characters: 9.0/10

Story/setting: 8.5/10

Overall Enjoyment: 8.7/10

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

Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica – 11

Episode 11 –

The first half to this episode was all just buildup towards the epic second half where, yes, the infamous walpurgis nacht finally makes it’s appearance. And my god, what a beastly powerful witch it is. Now that I’ve seen it, I wonder how in the hell would Kyoko have made a difference in this fight? I would think you need several dozen Mahou Shoujo to take down this beast of a witch.

Anyways, the first half of the episode pretty much just further solidifies Kyuubei’s status as a heartless little alien, with him practically equating humanity to the status of cows and cattle. His little chat with Akemi certainly wasn’t nice either. All of this is after Sayaka’s funeral, which is pretty much just adding salt to the wounds, insult to injury, etc al.

The interesting twist here is that Akemi finally reveals to Madoka that she is a time traveler, and that Akemi knows Madoka from an alternative time plane. Of course, Madoka can’t understand too well because she didn’t retain her memories between time changes, whereas Akemi has.

I am pretty sure that the big revelation of Walpurgis nacht is actually a tribute to the original walpurgis night in the work this series is based off of, Faust. Aside from that opening scene with the odd green elephants, the witch itself was revealed to be gigantic. It’s absurdly strong too, taking hits from at least several dozen RPGs (Rocket Propelled Grenades), missiles, an exploding gas tractor, and huge number of preset bombs. Might as well had a nuclear missile used on it. Seriously, where in the world did Akemi get all this firepower?

In the end, though, Akemi’s fight was in vain (as expected). The sheer amount of firepower Homura unleashed upon it is absurd, but the fact that the walpurgis witch survived it like nothing  just shows how dreadful it really is.

Madoka finally stepped in and decided to do something about all of this, which means **drumroll** Madoka FINALLY decides to become a Mahou Shoujo. It’s been pretty obvious that Madoka will somehow make the difference, and the wish that comes with the contract is still around. Woo awesome buildup!

Overall Enjoyment: 4.3/5

Screenshots are later in the post.

Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica – 10

Episode 10 – I Can’t Depend on Anyone Anymore – もう誰にも頼らない (Mou Dare ni mo Tayoranai)

Oh hell yes, this is exactly what I’ve been waiting for, and with top notch production quality to boot. For the longest time, we’ve known almost nothing about Homura’s past, which is why I’m so glad this episode went into a lot of detail regarding how she became who we know her as today. Homura’s background info explains a lot about both why she cares for Madoka so much, as well as why Akemi desparately trying to rescue her. This episode does a great job with setting the tension for the final stage that will be Walpurgis night with a solo Akemi and a powerless Madoka.

This episode finally lays to rest a lot of the speculation amongst fans in the past few weeks, with a confirmation that Akemi, indeed, is traveling backwards in time to try and save Madoka. The interesting little revelation that I found interesting is that Akemi originally met Madoka as a Mahou Shoujo originally, which means that Akemi actually prevented Madoka from turning into a Mahou Shoujo whenever she went back in time. Madoka’s powers seem strangely inconsistent though; some times, she becomes a witch after defeating the Walpurgis night, sometimes, she just dies, other times she contracts with Kyuubei and literally blows up the opposing witch with one shot. Her powers seem a little inconsistent here, though I guess that’s just what changes with each successive time loop.

Aside from that, this episode went into explicit detail describing the path Akemi followed, slowly changing from a pure-minded, innocent girl, to the very serious and melancholic Akemi that we know today. Seeing just how futile things kept turning out for her easily explains why she no longer trusts anybody, with the tragic fact here being that she no longer even trusts Madoka, the very reason why she was fighting so hard in the first place.

Each timeline repeat just keeps emphasizing how the Walpurgis night is one beastly existence that just keeps terrorizing our main cast. This just makes the final few episodes seem even more ominous, knowing that Madoka and Akemi will be up against one tremendously overpowering enemy. The buildup and tension here is great, and definitely sets a much darker tone to the upcoming final episodes for this series.

The intriguing thing to speculate about, though, is that how Madoka and Akemi will pull through this time around. Based on the time repeats we saw so far, the main differentiating factor between “those Madokas” and the one we see now is that “our” Madoka is aware of everything about Mahou Shoujo (including the Mahou shoujo – witch connection) before she even contracted with Kyuubei. That main difference will probably be the big factor in determining how Madoka and Akemi end up fighting against the Walpurgis Night.

Overall Enjoyment: 4.6/5

Screenshots are later in the post.

Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica – 09

Episode 09 – I Can’t Forgive That Kind of Thing – そんなの、私がゆるさない (Sonnano, Atashi ga Yurusanai)

We finally learn what in the world Kyuubei is, and while I am a little disappointed in what he turned out to be, it was still a rather intriguing turn of events. Either ways, with Kyuubei’s revelation comes with quite a few other plot twists that involve Kyoko and Sayaka. While I can’t say the plot twists were unexpected, it still left things off on a rather saddening yet tense note, and makes me wonder what will happen during the Walpurgis night in the next few episodes. In the end, this episode was all buildup; it simply supplied some information about Kyuubei, as well as built up tension to what looks like will be one horrifyingly despair-filled future.

Kyuubei reveals himself as a being not from Earth, and pretty much explains why he is called an “incubator”. As some speculations have said, Kyuubei is an alien that has been “incubating” mahou shoujo and witches in order to harness energy from them. The reasoning behind this energy collection is to prevent the heat death of the universe, which was a rather interesting reason on Kyuubei’s part. The heat death of the universe would hurt humanity too, so you could actually say that Kyuubei is helping out humanity (though this would be help for something that happens in a long, long, long time). Of course, to Madoka this would just sound like Kyuubei is an enemy, and quite frankly I’d agree.

The only real thing that matters here is that Kyuubei and his alien buddies treat humans like cattle and the Earth itself as a farm; they think of people as a resource for to produce energy, and nothing more. While Kyuubei’s intentions may not be evil in the purest sense, they certainly do seem evil to humanity as a whole. With this in mind, Madoka hopefully will finally begin to trust Akemi more, especially now that Madoka knows for sure that Kyuubei is not to be trusted.

After all the hints at Kyoko’s death for the past two or three episodes, it was rather obvious that she would die sooner or later (which would explain why I wasn’t really surprised when she died). The fact that Kyoko tried so hard to save Sayaka just showed how much Kyoko came to admire Sayaka’s naive ideals, even if Kyoko didn’t believe all those ideals herself. Kyoko’s final moments (praying to what I assume is her Soul Gem) fits in with her past about her father, and was a suitable, yet sad and admirable, ending for her. Also, it turns out that it’s impossible to revert back to a mahou shoujo state from a witch, which just adds to the dark atmosphere to this show.

In the end, everything fits into Kyuubei’s plans; now that Kyoko is gone, Homura will be alone when she faces off against the forces of Walpurgis night. Based on the descriptions of Walpurgis night in this episode, it’s rather obvious that it’s virtually impossible to fight against alone. The only way for her to stand a chance in the Walpurgis night is if Akemi gets help, and we all know the only way for that to happen is if Madoka becomes a Mahou Shoujo. In other words, it’s a lose-lose situation; fight alone, and the entire town gets destroyed. Fight with Madoka once she becomes a Mahou Shoujo, and that just plays right into Kyuubei’s energy harvesting plans.

To be honest, this episode was much more calm than I had expected it to be. We pretty much got a confirmation of the situation that, yea, Kyuubei isn’t really a good guy, and yes, Sayaka is a witch and she won’t be turning back to normal.  Not to mention, we were kind of expecting Kyoko’s death for like 2-3 episodes, so that didn’t really come as much of a shock either. Like I mentioned earlier, this episode was just meant to iron out the details about what Kyuubei’s intentions were, and hint at what dire situations Akemi and Madoka will be facing in the near future. The final few episodes should prove to be the critical turning point to the entire series, mainly because the only people left at this point are Madoka, Akemi, and Kyuubei. We’ll probably start seeing the Madoka and Akemi relationship come into focus, and how their character dynamic plays out will definitely have a huge effect on what happens in the finale for this show.

Overall Enjoyment: 4.0/5

Screenshots are later in the post.

／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼ Madoka will soon be a Mahou Shoujo… hehe ／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼

Mahou Shoujo Madoka☆Magica – 08

Episode 08 – I’m Such a Fool – あたしって、ほんとバカ (Atashitte, Honto Baka)

Wow, I knew that Sayaka would end up with a corrupted Soul Gem some time in the future (and I did suspect the Mahou Shoujo – Witch connection for a while now), but I did NOT expect it to happen this early on; I thought the show would save the “Sayaka going insane” moment until the last episode or so, but that wasn’t the case here. Either ways, we get a lot more information about Kyuubei and Akemi, whom were the biggest anomalies in this series up until now. We finally get a confirmation that, yes, Akemi is indeed on the good side, and Kyuubei is evil in some way or form. We still don’t quite know what Kyuubei is up to, but we do know that Akemi is working like crazy to try and prevent whatever Kyuubei is trying to accomplish, and considering Akemi already knows what the little furball is planning and is desperately trying to stop it, I’m extremely curious as to exactly what Kyuubei is trying to do. Seriously, though, this was a pretty awesome buildup episode; all signs are pointing to one hell of a finale, and I hope Shinbo and Urobuchi don’t disappoint.

There are a ton of major events and key details we learn about in this episode. While Sayaka’s eventual descent into insanity (and becoming a member of the witch community) was compelling to watch unfold, the more important issues revolved around everything we learn with regards to Akemi and Kyuubei. For one, we learn that Akemi is actually a time manipulator; this explains why she knew her way around the school in episode 1, and how she knows when and where Walpurgis night will be. Second, we learn that Akemi must have been really friendly/close to the Madoka of her own timeline, because her emotional outburst this week seemed pretty darn genuine; either that, or Akemi is an amazing actor.

Either ways, it’s now clear that Akemi’s sole purpose as of now is to prevent Madoka from contracting with Kyuubei, mainly to prevent Kyuubei, aka the “incubator (in”kyuubei”tor)”, from accomplishing his plans. I mean, Akemi even blew like 12 holes into Kyuubei to prevent him from contracting with a now wavering Madoka. What his plans are, I don’t really know, but based on how Kyuubei says that “all mahou shoujo grow up into witches”, I do have a few theories. My main theory would be that Kyuubei wants Madoka to become a Mahou Shoujo mainly because if Madoka will become as powerful of a Mahou shoujo as  Kyuubei says she would be, imagine how powerful a witch born from Madoka would be. Perhaps Kyuubei’s original goal is to harvest Madoka’s soul as a grief seed, which makes a lot of sense in my eyes.

That being said, the fact that Akemi is trying to prevent Madoka from contracting with Kyuubei means that Akemi knows that something horrible happens to Madoka, which Akemi is trying to prevent. What exactly is Akemi trying to protect Madoka from? Is she simply trying to protect Madoka from the horrors of being a Mahou Shoujo, or is there something we don’t quite know yet here? And what does being the “incubator” imply? There may have been a ton of revelations this episode, but they all also lead up to questions, which really makes me wonder what in the world the walpurgis night will entail.

Either ways, from Sayaka drowning in the abyss called insanity, to Kyuubei eating up his own corpse, this episode had a ton of stuff going on, all while continuously building up to some sort of major conflict in the future. More likely than not, the major conflict where everything is revealed will probably be the Walpurgis night, and my hunch is that the walpurgis night is when Madoka becomes a Mahou Shoujo. The buildup of the main conflict between Kyuubei and Akemi is starting to heat up quite a bit, all while Madoka is slowly starting to loose that innocence she had towards the beginning of this show.

Overall Enjoyment: 4.4/5

Screenshots are later in the post.

Mahou Shoujo Madoka☆Magica – 07

Episode 07 – Can you Face your True Feelings? – 本当の気持ちと向き合えますか？ (Hontou no Kimochi to Mukiaemasu ka?)

Man, this series just keeps building up and up on top of previous episodes. The character development in this episode was pretty awesome, mainly referring to Sayaka and Kyouko this time around. There was a lot of rather intense buildup this episode with regards to Sayaka’s struggle with her feelings, and it really did manefest itself in a very dark way. The pacing here was excellent, and did a good job with showcasing both Kyouko’s persona, as well as Sayaka’s eventual decline.

That being said, Kyouko’s revelation about her past was surprisingly heartfelt yet tragic. It definitely changed my impressions of her, where before she seemed to be more of a hostile selfish Mahou Shoujo, but after hearing her backstory I can defintely see why she acts the way she does. That being said, the fact that Kyouko seems to be genuinely trying to look out for Sayaka certainly spoke volumes about her character, and in a way reminds me of how Mami was trying to protect the girls earlier on.

When Sayaka outright refused to follow Kyouko’s advice, and instead decided to “follow her own path”, I do get the feeling that Kyouko developed some level of respect towards Sayaka in the sense that Sayaka seems much more stable and strong willed than she might seem. Unfortunately, that “strong will” was certainly short lived throughout the episode.

Sayaka’s rollercoaster of emotions did not help with Kyuubei’s revelation about the soul gems, but to make matters worse, she now feels like she doesn’t have the right to be with Kamijou anymore (though that doesn’t make sense in my eyes). You can clearly see how her fears are slowly, but surely, pushing her down the path of insanity, especially with Hitomi revealing that she will confess to Kamijou the next day.

Either ways, the fact that Sayaka is now conscious of how her body is essentially a “soulless shell”, is really putting some strain on Sayaka’s mind. Sayaka is finally starting to crack under all the pressure, which is rather obvious by the end of the episode. Shaft so far has done an amazing job with this series, which certainly deserves kudos.

Now for those that didn’t catch the death flag in episode 6’s ending card, I am definitely extremely curious about what the foreshadowing is pointing to. My guess would be that Kyouko has a high chance of dying, especially with her “selfish” attitude starting to show some protective feelings towards Sayaka. Somehow I get the feeling that Kyouko’s newfound sense of responsibility towards Sayaka may backfire in the future.

Overall Enjoyment: 4.4/5

Screenshots are later in the post.

Mahou Shoujo ★Madoka Magica – 06

Episode 06 – This is Definitely Strange – こんなの絶対おかしいよ (konnano zettai okashii yo)

There were some rather interesting revelations this episode, mainly the one about the nature of the Soul Gem. There are some other points of intrigue though, such as Akemi’s mentioning of the “walpurgis night” as well as how the Mahou Shoujo themselves don’t seem to be aware of how their Soul Gems work. It’s only after Madoka’s recklessness that we learn more about the Soul gems, and while she might’ve acted a little too rash, this new turn of events gives an entirely new meaning to the significance of Soul Gems. A bunch of questions are still lingering around with regards to this show, and not to mention, Akemi remains as mysterious as ever.

One thing worth mentioning is how Akemi’s ability as a Mahou Shoujo seems to be extremely fast movement. More likely than not, though, her super fast speed is probably not the true extent of her abilities. Abilities aside, Akemi’s presence in this show is truly a mystery; we still know virtually nothing about her background or past, have absolutely no idea why she wants to prevent Madoka from becoming a Mahou Shoujo, and the big question here, how in the world does she know about the “walpurgis night” that is supposed to happen in the future? Does her abilities encompass predicting the future or time travel or something? And what exactly does she have planned for both Madoka and Sayaka, especially where she implies that she will personally take care of Sayaka’s meddling in her plans. Without a doubt, Akemi will probably end up as Madoka’s ally in some way or form, but there is still no indication at all as to what her true intentions are, which makes her rather suspicious in a way.

Edit: After reading a comment, I would just like to clarify here that I am not suspicious of Akemi in the same way as I am of Kyuubei. A better way to describe it would be that I am curious as to exacly how Akemi fits into the “bigger picture” here, especially considering what little info we know about her.

Either ways, about the “walpurgis night”, if you look it up the walpurgis night is actually a festival in Europe. It is said that on walpurgis night that witches gather together in a big festival, and if that is what will be happening here in this show, there are some tremendous implications here.

However, I suspect this may have more to do with the “Walpurgisnacht” chapter of Faust (a German tragic play that was briefly referred to in an earlier episode). If this is truly the case, the implications for the next few episodes are huge. In the Walpurgisnacht chapter of Faust, somebody is “lured into the arms of a young witch”, and another is “awaiting her execution” after seeing the image of their loved one, all at the celebrations where Witches meet the devil. Whom the “somebody” and “another” are isn’t quite known, but there is a ton of speculation about who correlates to whom in terms of Faust characters (for instance, I believe Kyuubei is suspected to correlate with Mephistopheles). I am certainly no expert on literary analysis or anything, but considering how there have been some very uncanny similarities between the Faust tragic play and this series, Walpurgis night will be without a doubt an extremely important event in this show that will change things up entirely.

As to the revelations about the Soul Gems, this show does have a rather unique take on the items that enable Mahou Shoujo to transform. I would’ve never suspected that Soul Gems were actually a Mahou Shoujo’s “new body”. It does explain the healing abilities and extraordinary capabilities of Mahou Shoujo much more, and keeps things more down to earth in a way. What this also means that using magic actually corrupts a Mahou Shoujo’s actually “body”, which might add fuel to the theory that has been lurking around which says that Grief Seeds are actually corrupted Soul Gems. For Mahou shoujo, now cleansing their Soul Gems is equivalent to keeping themselves alive, which certainly holds much more significant meaning in their witch hunt.

Either ways, this episode brings up a ton of new information and details to ponder over, all while building up towards what I feel will be one hell of a climax. One thing I forgot to mention; as usual, Kyuubei just makes himself even more suspicious with his very nonchalant attitude towards his revelations about the Soul Gem. It was a revelation that now confirms that he really doesn’t seem to care for Mahou Shoujo at all; rather, he is just trying to recruit as many Mahou Shoujo as possible. That, and considering how he seems to eat up the Witch’s seeds, Kyuubei certainly is a big question mark here in terms of what in the world he is trying to accomplish.

Overall Enjoyment: 4.2/5

P.S.    DEATH FLAG TRIGGERED!!

Screenshots are later in the post.

Mahou Shoujo★Madoka Magica – 05

Episode 05 – There’s no way I would regret it – 後悔なんて、あるわけない (koukai nante aru wakenai)

We finally get a proper introduction to the new Mahou Shoujo in this show, who turns out to be very evil (or at least, towards Sayaka she is). The thing is, this episode is emphasizing how being a Mahou Shoujo in itself is not some sort of magical, heroic existence, but instead it’s just about collecting witch’s seeds; in other words, it’s practically just a job. That being said, there are some very interesting revelations made this episode that brings up quite a few questions, such as the revelation as to how grief seeds come into existence. Being a Mahou Shoujo certainly isn’t sugar and rainbows, and I’m enjoying how this show is exploring the complexity of being a Mahou Shoujo.

As expected, Sayaka’s wish gets granted and the guy in the hospital recovers. Seeing him recover definitely gave Sayaka some confidence in her wish, but I do wonder if she will ever start to regret making that wish. Sayaka still seems to have a rather naive perspective on the Mahou Shoujo idea, which could turn out devastating in the long term for her.

That being said, I do find it interesting how being a Mahou Shoujo is just like having any old job, just with a ton of risks. In that sense, I can see why the new girl looks down on those who become mahou shoujo to “be a ally of justice”. For one, to protect as many people as you can, you must kill both witches and familiars.

The big issue here is that if you kill familiars, they don’t drop grief seeds, but if you let the familiars eat people and grow into witches, then they drop the seeds. There is an inherent contradiction here for those that are “fighting for others” like Sayaka claims; in order for to purify your soul gem and continue using magic to hunt witches, you need a grief seed. However, the only way to get a grief seed in the first place is to let familiars kill people anyways.

This contradiction certainly emphasizes how Sayaka is being very naive, and the world doesn’t quite tick the way she would like it too.

On a side note, a curious little point made here is how even Kyubei doesn’t know much about Akemi as a Mahou Shoujo. She serves as an enigma in this series, and does make me wonder what her relationship to Madoka is (well, it certainly isn’t normal that’s for sure).

Either ways, at this point I feel as if anything could happen. We’ve already gotten a death of one of the main cast, and now we’ve even got infighting amongst the Mahou Shoujo. Not to mention, Kyubei is staying quiet about how HE KNEW that the new girl would try and attack Sayaka. And not to mention, Madoka still hasn’t turned into a Mahou Shoujo. This certainly could prove to get even more interesting from here on out, which sure as hell should be something to look forward to.

Overall Enjoyment: 4.1/5

Screenshots are later in the post.

Mahou Shoujo★Madoka Magica – 04

Episode 04 – Both Miracles and Magic Exists – 奇跡も、魔法も、あるんだよ　(Kiseki mo, mahou mo, arun da yo)

Mahou Shoujo Madoka just keeps building up with every episode, with everything that’s been happening in the past few episodes having a visible effect on our main characters. This show has continuously been becoming darker and darker in tone, which I can now say is a rather surprising outcome in retrospect. We get to see a hint as to just how complex the Mahou Shoujo world actually is, with what seems to be power plays (akin to political power struggles) in between respective Mahou Shoujo of different territories. Not to mention, the deeper involvement of both Kyubei and now Sayaka should spice things up quite a bit, with Madoka’s presense still an uncertainty here. In a way, this episode was just focused on fleshing out Sayaka a little, as well as get some little details straightened out for later episodes; in other words, pretty much everything is just buildup for stuff that is to come.

It’s quite easy to see how Mami’s death impacted both Madoka and Sayaka, with her death shaking their faith in becoming a Mahou Shoujo. Her death did a great job with reinforcing the notion that not everything about a Mahou Shoujo is glamorous and pretty; rather, I found it rather interesting to see how this show emphasizes how when Mahou Shoujo die, nobody really realizes it. Instead, the world just continues on, with scarely anybody remembering the magi in question. That in itself is a very realistic, yet very cold attitude that I find very interesting in context of a “magical girl” type show like this.

That being said, this episode does a rather good job with delving a bit deeper into Sayaka’s personality and such. The few moments in this episode focusing on her really shows how she is, deep down, your average slightly selfish, emotional teenage girl. Her monologue about how she wonders whether she should grant Kamijou his ability to play violin, but at the same wonders if she’ll get some praise (or perhaps even more, like a relationship) from him. In the end, I guess you could say that she feels guilty about trying to take advantage of Kyousuke’s injury to try and get close to him, which she herself realizes.

At the same time though, it’s this very same sense of guilt that binds her to a kind of “obligation” to become a Mahou Shoujo and help Kamijou recover from his injuries. The entire situation just feels like Sayaka was pressured into a contract with Kyubei, a coersion if you will. Now I don’t know if Kyubei really did plan it out that way or not, but his association with other Mahou Shoujo besides Mami do make me wonder what his true motives may be. Or perhaps, Kyubei takes a more neutral stance on everything, and tries to act as an uninvolved observer, which would explain why he seems suspicious at times.

With more Mahou Shoujo set to be involved in the next few episodes, along with what looks like will be a rather nasty power struggle between Mahou shoujo, this show is certainly building up rather well. The one thing that’s noticable about these episodes is that Madoka has yet to become fully involved in all this, and not to mention, Akemi is still an enigma in the entire affair of things. The fact that witches are not the only enemy really complicates things, and definitely has kept things rather interesting.

Overall Enjoyment: 4.2/5

Screenshots are later in the post.