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 – 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.

Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica – 03

Episode 03 – Not Afraid of Anything Anymore – もう何も怖くない (Mou Nani mo Kowakunai)

Oh wow, what an intense episode. I had a bad feeling when we started to see Mami’s past in this episode, but oh my god, what happened to her was stunningly shocking. And to add insult to injury, this happened to Mami right after she had just gotten an assurance of friendship from Madoka. Not to mention, this episode does increase my suspicions of our dear little furball Kyuubei, whom is speculated to actually be a bad guy in this show (and I’m increasingly starting to believe this theory more). Kyuubei just seems to be very manipulative of everything going around him, which always points in the direction of him trying to recruit new Mahou shoujo. Not to mention, a few other theories I’ve heard about this show have gotten some more credibility, and certainly has gotten me much more intrigued with this show. I do appreciate how this show portrays Mahou shoujo as something much more realistic and dangerous than magical girl shows we’ve seen before, whereas previous magical girl shows are much more optimistic and creates very ideal, cute situations.

*warning, spoilers of this episode in this post* The major event in this episode is, no question, the fight between Mami and the new witch. While at first, Mami seemed to be doing extremely well (her musket fighting style was actually pretty awesome to see in action), but I did NOT expect the witch to launch a surprise attack in the way it did. Seriously, the shocked face Mami had was probably exactly how my face looked while watching the scene, where Mami’s head was brutally bitten off. Safe to say, seeing her death in such a unabashed, straightforward way really did a good job of cementing the notion that becoming a Mahou shoujo is truly a extremely dangerous role, and something you should seriously consider beforehand.

Another thing that really stuck out this episode was how Kyuubei, our supposedly “innocent” mascot character, seems to portrayed in a much more negative light. It’s quite easy to see how he seems to be manipulating everything around him to try and produce more Mahou Shoujo. Seriously, why is it that he conveniently popped up when Mami was about to die? It seems like he just planned it so that he would trap Mami into being a mahou shoujo, which just increases my suspicions of it more. Another notable thing here is how after Mami gets brutally killed, Kyuubei literally acts as if he didn’t care for Mami at all, and instead he just tries to pressure Madoka and Mimi to become Mahou Shoujo. I guess you could say that it felt like he was very cold and heartless towards Mami, especially considering they were supposed to be “partners’. Not to mention, it seems like his main goal is to produce Mahou Shoujo. Why in the world is he trying so hard to get more Mahou Shoujo? Does it benefit him in any sort of way?

What’s throwing me off here, though, is that Mami also seemed to be plotting something in the shadows. For one, Mami revealed her intentions for to coerce Madoka into becoming a Mahou Shoujo, much to Akemi’s dismay. My guess here is that Mami intended on having Madoka replace her duties as a Mahou Shoujo, though that obviously didn’t happen because Mami died. If this is true, I do understand why she wanted to get out of her Mahou Shoujo duties; Mami was practically forced into become a Mahou Shoujo and she didn’t even get to make a proper wish. On top of that, based on the car crash she was in when she was younger, it’s pretty safe to assume all of her relatives and/or family was killed. In other words, Mami was stuck as a Mahou shoujo while there was literally nobody that cared about her left, which is a rather tragic situation to say the least. Even so, Mami was a little suspicious for most of the episode, with her only truly seemingly innocent moment when she had a heartfelt chat with Madoka. I can’t say for sure that the “chat” was actually a sly way of getting Madoka to become a Mahou shoujo on Mami’s part, but I’d like to hope that (at least in the end) Mami wasn’t as manipulative as I’m speculating her to be.

In the end, though, throughout the entire episode I was constantly questioning potential hidden motives Kyuubei might have, especially after hearing Kyuubei mention that Madoka will probably become the most powerful Mahou Shoujo around. Seriously, there is a ton of tiny little hints and usages of shadows to really emphasize how Kyuubei might not be all that he may seem to be, and definitely has me speculating how this all relates to clues from previous episodes, such as the Faust poem in the last episode. And the thing here is that we can’t even say for sure as to whether if Kyuubei actually has evil intentions; as of now, everything is just simple speculation, so anything can happen from here on out. This series has turned out surprisingly more interesting so far, and I’m certainly looking forward to the next episode.

Overall Enjoyment: 4.4/5

Screenshots and ED theme are later in the post.

Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica – 02

Episode 02 – That Sounds Wonderful – それはとっても嬉しい (Sore wa totemo ureshii)

This episode would be the world building episode, with a lot of emphasis on how the mahou shoujo (magical girl) world works, showing how the witches are involved, the battles, the dangers, and everything else that encompasses being a mahou shoujo. So, in a sense, there isn’t really any progress plotwise, but we do get to to see Mami in action with her ability to summon muskets out of thin air. The battles had a very dynamic feel to them, with Shaft’s contributions to the animation definitely playing a huge role here. While I do wish that we got to see whether Madoka actually decides on becoming a mahou shoujo (and exactly why she chooses to do so), I don’t really mind how this episode provided some solid background info and buildup for the rest of the series to work with.

The plot pretty much just focuses in on Mami trying to warn Madoka and Miki about the inherent dangers of being a mahou shoujo. What I found very interesting is how Mami emphasizes that they are fighting “witches”, which look very convoluted and twisted. It’s not revealed exactly who or what these witches are, but I’m guessing that they are not human. This does make me curious as to what the witches’ origins are, but that’s something for another time most likely.

The fact that Mahou shoujo work on the basis that “their wish will be granted” is rather interesting, and can prove to be quite an important plot device in future episodes. I mean, it could even lead to conflict amongst our main characters Madoka, Mami, and Miki (assuming the first two become mahou shoujo), and seems to be the primary reason behind the tension between Madoka and Akemi. I could definitely see some potential plot and character developments revolving around this single “wish”, and I’m certainly curious to see the repercussions to this.

The characters don’t really get much development here, mainly because we just see them pondering as to what their response to Kyuubei’s request will be. We do get to see some interesting interactions between the main cast though, with the “reduce the competition” logic putting an interesting little twist on the complexity of the relationships here.

The highlight to this episode, though, was definitely the battle between Mami and the witch. The witches world that they enter has some very unique visuals, once again courtesy of Shinbo and Shaft’s unique style. I did like seeing Mami’s fighting style, where she uses all the muskets in an interesting fashion (or at least, she seems to have quite a bit of combat experience). Interestingly enough, during parts of the episode there was some German text inscribed on the walls. Apparently the text has lines straight out of Goethe’s Faust; the creators are quite obviously trying to draw some sort of parallel to Faust, though I’m not quite aware of what that may exactly be.

In the end, there isn’t really too much worth notable that happens this episode (concerning the main plot, that is). We do get a ton of relevant background info for the series to build upon, and get a rather interesting battle sequence, but besides that nothing significant changes. We still have our uncertain Madoka and Miki, who’ve yet to decide on becoming mahou shoujo, as well as the same awkward relationship between Akemi and Madoka. The music, as usual, does an excellent job at complementing the somewhat heavy atmosphere to this series, and hopefully it continues to do so. There are still plenty of mysteries and unexplained details to this show that could use some clarification, which I’m hoping to see as this series unfolds.

Overall Enjoyment: 3.7/5

Screenshots are later in the post.