puella magi madoka magica 3

Nothing Scares Me Anymore

(Except yet another season of Hidamari Sketch.)

“I’m not alone anymore!”

Yep. We all knew what was coming next. You do not make happy statements and get over trauma like that in episode three of an anime unless you’re going to die. Isn’t that right, Jiro Yamada– err– Gai Daigoji.

(Mami helping Kyubey in trying to recruit Madoka and her friend to become magical girls does make sense if you see it as Mami being alone and want friends to help ease her burden. Reminds me of Xavier banding together mutants to form the X-Men, except she’s doing it for completely selfish reasons. She knew she would be condemning the girls. More importantly, why are the girls condemned? Wouldn’t Homura be better able to dissuade the girls if she explained exactly how raw of a deal being a Puella Magi is? Isn’t this like your health teacher or parents telling you the hazards of drugs and dating girls with face tattoos? Like does Homura gain by withholding information? Oh that’s right, better to string along the plot with. Sigh. I think the best written shows are those where the writing makes the show interesting without silly tricks like these.

Kinda expected this. Kinda did not expect how the witch would then eat and defile her corpse om nom nom nom style. Needless to say, if there’s anything anime and movies have taught me, do not gloat after seemingly vanquishing your opponent. Do another kill shot. And another. Then another. Then eat and defile the corpse om nom nom nom style. Only way to guarantee victory. And takes care of dinner.

Shaft knows how to animate some magical girl beat downs. Mami and her flintlocks are quite stylish… makes me wonder what a Hanekawa vs. Senjougahara fight scene would look like. Oh gosh… brain overload!

(Makes me wonder if it is time for Kyoto to branch into the magical girl genre? Or does Haruhi count towards that? It is about magical girls… one clueless, one cowering, and one Yuki Nagato.)

That’s an interesting as hell CD player. How exactly is the disc spinning like that? More importantly, who uses a portable CD player anymore, especially in Japan? I guess the notion of “Kamijou-kun, I just dropdoxed that new London Symphony Orchestra release. You add it to your iPod app via the Dropbox app” just isn’t as romantic. But much more modernly accurate.

(Seriously, why is anime, a world filled with giant robots and magical girls wearing long socks, so oblivious to modern technology? Like Kuro Neko wouldn’t cam whore herself? I think anime needs a Technology Czar that goes around thinking things like, “We really need to get Shinji Ikari a Zune.”)

I like this new dungeon filled with sweets, treats, and, apparently, “delicious cookiee.” Definitely, avoid any “cookiee” found inside a magical lair created by a witch that is spawned from a Grief Seed. I don’t have a lot of rules in life, but this should be one of them, along with “don’t punt in the maroon zone and short!”

(I liked the scissors. Anything stationary-related by Shaft makes me happy for some reason, even if it is part of a Shaft being Shaft imagination orgy.)

Cookies, cherries, candy, marshmellows, cupcakes, whipped creme, cakii, strawberries, and syringes… Shaft being Shaft isn’t being subtle here, are they? When was Chris Hansen going to show up and question why the guy was bringing over a few joints and a few wine coolers?

Kyubey is such a fucking pusher. The way he keeps trying to convince Sayaka and Madoka to become magical girls vacillates between:

A. A drug dealer. Come on, it’s free*. You’ll feel great.
B. A horny high school guy trying to convince his girlfriend to have sex for the first time. What’s the big deal, everyone’s doing it? Besides, I’ve already seen your breasts, so we might as well continue…
C. TV makers trying to push 3D. You’ll just keep shoving it your face until you buy.
D. A little kid trying to get her mom to buy candy at the checkout at Safeway. Please! Please! Please! Wai!
E. Contract. With. The. Devil. (And not the adorably, clumsy type that can’t do anything right except fantasize about shiny, red fire trucks..)

* Only the first one.

(Needless to say, if choice “E” has the best intentions of all the possible choices, Kyubey should be drop kicked. He might end up being more sinister than Onsakumaru… and Onsakumaru wasn’t sinister. He just wanted to see underaged nakkid chix0rs.)

Okay, I’ll add one more:

F. TNT! We know drama!

Seeing Mami’s backstory about how Kyubey basically cornered her into being his magical girl slave made me wonder what Angel Beats would have been like if Shaft animated it. Definitely Chiwa Saitou would have voiced Tenshi, and the SSS Brigade would have been all moe girls. Every GalDeMo concert would be a Shaft being Shaft music video.

The architecture of this house continues to confound me. Like who has an upstairs to their master bedroom?! And that chair on the right looks really uncomfortable– oh my goodness, the only explanation is that Madoka’s parents are heavy into s&m, and their “dungeon” is upstairs. The design of the house makes more sense if you view it that way.

(I also like how this is a bedroom, yet there’s no dressers… or, more importantly, clothing laying around. Just seems too clean– is Madoka’s dad the male version of Belldandy?)

Also, did anyone else notice that when Madoka was talking to Kyubey about what dream she’d like fulfilled after he takes her magical girl virginity, she was wearing her hair down? But then when drunk mom returns home, Madoka put her hair into a single ponytail? Yep, this is the kind of insightful analysis that you’ve come to expect– no– demand from this blog.

(I think the mom needs a cami secret. Or get a plunge bra and embrace the side boob. Just don’t stay in the middle. Wait, am I thinking out loud again?)

A younger Shaft would have placed Mesousa in a jar here. Still, Shaft being Shaft visuals are striking enough that I want them to continue with Pani Poni Dash… in 3D! We need Mesousa back in our lives, much like how we need LOL FANG-TAN back in our lives.

Gotta enjoy how Homura defeats the witch so effortlessly, even without undergoing a magical girl transformation sequence. Definitely one of those, “I’m too cool for school” coupled with “Lemme show you how mistaken everyone else is” sequences.

21 Responses to “puella magi madoka magica 3”

  1. No, Mami, no!!!!!!
    Why, why you took the mentor role!? You should have read [url=http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MentorOccupationalHazard]TVTropes article[/url].

  2. Please allow me to introduce myself
    I’m a cat of wealth and taste
    I’ve been around for a long, long year
    Stole many a maidens soul and faith

    Pleased to meet you
    Hope you guess my name
    But what’s puzzling you
    Is the nature of my game
    (woo woo, who who)

  3. And Madoka’s mom is voiced by Mikuru Prime. :D

    I was expecting more comments about Mami’s thighhighs, given this is Jason, but… ah well. I’m hoping Mami stays dead, or else comes back wrong – Gen Urobuchi does NOT do ‘happy endings’ very well. Unless you mean ‘humanity dies’ is happy.

  4. That’s an interesting as hell CD player.

    I noticed this too. My first thought was, wait, how are you going to play a CD in an MP3 player. 2nd thought: WTF? At any rate, it definitely doesn’t comply to laser radiation protection/general safety standards.

    Mami will be back next week, she was wearing a space bullet-proof vest she’s guaranteed Madoka’s wish due to that “Let’s fight evil together” scene.

    Also I’m addicted to the ED/battle song. Whatever else this show is or isn’t, I am liking the soundtrack.

  5. The CD player is cool, and definitely proves the show takes place in the future: http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/mp3.....287740.php

    Normally, I think I’d have to make some snide comment as to why you have the cami secret and plunge bra commercials handy, but then I realized which blog I was reading…

  6. For what it’s worth, I thought Homura did transform… into blue-gray Homura. The most restrained, under-the-top transformation ever for a magical girl.

  7. Stationery! With an E! Arrgh! (I probably wouldn’t care so much if Mika-tan’s blog at Good Smile hadn’t been making this same mistake all last week in posts about their Senjougahara figurine.)

  8. I also think Madoka will wish for Mami’s return. She basically said she had no wish in mind.

  9. @ Zisbou… 1998, Sony D-88. Cost $299 dollars, it had no buffer so if you bumped the exposed CD you lost your place.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbfrsoAqFPI

  10. The seasonal preview is a trap, I didn’t know I was getting into this kind of shit. The opening is also a trap, I thought Mami is part of the trio. What could happen next?

    1.) Anything can be accomplished with magic. Mami is brought back by Madoka’s magic. Meruru style cop-out.
    2.) Mami wished for immortality and can’t die. C.C style cop-out
    3.) Mami doesn’t come back. So everyone becomes mahou shoujo and protect the world. Cliche style.
    4.) Kyubey turns out to be a demon that fools young girls into killing good witches by showing them illusions. He killed off Mami so he can corner Madoka and Sayaka to become mahou shoujo. THE WIN STYLE.

  11. Oh and also, I believe Homura did transform. Her magic girl outfit just kinda looks like the school uniform.

  12. What the… so they fight inside a K-ON dungeon?

  13. Firestarter, I think Jason means Homura didn’t get a long drawn out stock-footage transformation scene.

  14. Something wrong with me when I only started watching this series after hearing about Mami’s death just to watch said death? Reminds me of Mai Hime where it was a meh series until the dying started and then I watched Mai Otome for more death (and got stuff entirely different).
    On Mami’s death…wouldn’t the witch have just bit her head clean off? It was odd how her body was hanging in the air for so long.

  15. jounin: It was chewing, and its lips kept her body suspended? ;)

    Mind you, I personally feel this IS the next season of Hidamari Sketch for SHAFT – albeit with more murderous monsters and magical girls, and no Kana Asami…

  16. >> What the… so they fight inside a K-ON dungeon?

    So, in Persona 4 terms, Charlotte WAS Mugi’s Shadow.

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  18. (Makes me wonder if it is time for Kyoto to branch into the magical girl genre?

    Didn’t they do Nurse Witch Komugi? Granted, I think that was back before even Fumoffu.

  19. Up until this episode I had wondered if Mami’s wish had been to have a larger bust.

  20. The way Kyoto has been lately, they won’t be able to pull off the seemingly require amounts of fanservice for a magical girl show.

    But then there is always the chance for a second Adventures of Mikuru project. Just add in a seemingly random musical magical girl group with two guitar, a bass, and keyboard, and drums

    …And a toilet seat cover.

  21. Makes me wonder if it is time for Kyoto to branch into the magical girl genre?

    Does this count: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46qZk8rXSXU ?

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