puella magi madoka magica 8
Categories: episodic review, puella magi madoka magica
Tagged: madoka magica
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I’m Such An Idiot
(The memoirs of almost everyone alive on this earth…)
“Since you all grow into witches, it makes sense to call you ‘Puella Magi'”.
Oh Kyubey.
Or Incubator.
Wow, I predicted that the magical girls would eventually become witches… and… well… I am right. Not a bold prediction: once we realized that being a magical girl was not a good thing, there’s only so many possibilities to the ending. The only thing I couldn’t figure out was how Homura knew everything, and now I know: she’s done it before, like maybe even 15,531 times previously. Though part of me was hoping for this to turn more into a soap opera a la Skins (UK) or 90210. Also, watching MTV remake Skins is like watching any Hollywood studio try to remake anime. Just terrible idea, you know? I can only imagine backroom meetings for Evangelion… “Can we give this Shinji character a spin? Focus groups don’t like how he’s so whiny.” “Is Lindsay Lohan available to play Asuka?” “Kaoru would be Justin Bieber’s breakout role!”
(What could Incubas be possibly incubating? Mmm? I just like how totally evil he is. Greatest villain since, well, Sarah Palin. Cannot get past his evil. So evil. So illustriously evil. Best part of his evilness is that he believes he is right… which he might be! Reminds me of the alternate The Last Ring-bearer that portrays the side of Mordor as being the right side, and Gandalf as a war-monger intent on crushing the science and technology. In other words, Gandalf is from the far Christian right! Darwin is evil! Darwin is Kyubey!!!)
Oh gosh, Kyubey eating his own dead body… kinda wish the Vorta did for in Deep Space 9 now. I am pretty sure he is only eating it since his body consumes the husks from used grief seeds, which is what he is after. After all, grief seeds are just corrupted soul gems… and he wants the husks for some unknown purpose? I dunno. He’s just so sinister. Best part about it is that the familiar, typically, in magical girl shows are non-sinister. Compare Kyubey to Kero or Luna. Even Onsakumaru wasn’t evil– he was just a mastermind pervert. Kyubey? Making the familiar the evil one is a great twist on Shaft’s part. Needless to say, Puella Magi Madoka Magica is turning out to be a much, much better narrative than Munto. Pfft, Munto. Kyoto, you really need to step up your original animation game.
(Much better effort than This Ugly and Beautiful World, which Shaft/Gainax had to resort to Mahoro cameos like halfway in.)
(Also, I am beginning to like this shortening of names. Instead of calling someone Tiffany, “Fanny”. Instead of Senjougahara, “Ouga”. Instead of Gundam Meisters, “Mice”. Instead of BenJarvus Green-Ellis, “Law Firm”. Really, we should have guess this from how “Vaders” was a form of “Innovators.”)
Kyoko still can’t stop eating. Like how she chugs Pringles.
And slurps ramen. Needless to say, why isn’t there s a “Puella Magi Shoujo vs. Food” yet?! No brainer! Kyoko would be fabulous for this show… “In our next episode, Kyoko goes to enjoy spam on rice as she battles witches on Hawaii’s North Beach.” Would even be a cheap excuse to put Kyoko in an outfit that doesn’t not involve a hoodie.
Was I the only one starring at this thinking, “Wait, who prints out maps anymore?” Bad enough anime (and Japan) are completely whiffing on cell phone portrayal in anime, they are now whiffing on tablet usage. Sigh. Can’t wait for a magical girl anime about magical girls defeating evil hackers who try to reverse engineer their magical girl abilities… “Puella Magi Sony Magica.”
Gotta love Homura’s apartment with the floating Shaft being Shaft prints, the random furniture, the lack of walls, and the sword of Damascus overhead. Needless to say, Shaft modeled this after my bedroom.
“Kamijou, I have something to tell you…”
How long do you think before they go to a love hotel? 15 minutes? 30? An hour?! “Oh, Kamijou, you have such wonderful fingers~~”
So evil. So sinister. So Kyubey. Maybe I was wrong to compare him to a pimp… he’s a lot better than that. I would say he’s a Washington lobbyist.
(And I really like the background. Go Shaft go! Almost makes me wish Shaft had an entry for Ground Zero proposals…)
Maybe good idea to listen to Homura. Maybe bad idea to listen to Kyubey. Yet… no one seems to listen to Homura. Grrrr. Kyubey has lied and deceived, yet he’s the truthworthy one? Mmmm. More importantly, the first scene wasn’t the end? Or was the end of the previous world? A world wrought by Kyubey? Is this like Mirai Nikki where we’re not in the first world but a subsequent world with players from the previous world? In any case, if Madoka had any sense in her, she would think, “Wait, maybe I should stop and take five minutes to listen to Homura right now instead of running off to find Sayaka, which will turn out worse than when Luke left Yoda to find Han and Leia at Bespin.”
Just like how Chiwa Saito just completely made Homura into magical girl Senjougahara. With less spite. Honestly, I would have loved it if Homura had some spite in her as well, at least when talking to Kyubey. Maybe some comments like, “Why don’t you go play with your other whores, Incubator?” Definitely would have loved it if Homura had all stationary-based attacks… but time manipulation as well as good old grenades and guns ain’t bad either. I eagerly await a mash-up of Homura doing Arnold’s big battle at the end of Commando.
“I want to be a different type of magical girl.”
I think Kelly said the same thing before she left Brandon and turned into a crack whore. Let’s just say spurning people who care about you is probably not a good way to a good end. On the bright side, the stage is set for Madoka to become a magical girl to try to undo the mess. I don’t think Madoka can resist becoming one just because, well, there’s four episodes left. Though if she does not become one, where would that rank in terms of anime plot cockteases? On a scale of Belldandy almost kissing K1 to Endless Eight, where would Madoka not becoming a magical girl rank? I think between Heero and Duo not unleashing their mutual passion and Reito passing up a Mai buffet in Mai Hime.
(Disappointed that since Code Geass left the scene, no show really picked up the unintentional train wreck banner. Star Driver is the closest, but I think they’re trying for intentional unintentional comedy at this point. The nipple tassles just took it beyond my normal comfort level. Needless to say, I may have to start watching Mai Hime again. Getting my train wreck withdrawals.)
(And, yeah, about 2005-2008 would be Golden Age of Train Wreck as evidenced by the Mai, Code Geass, Seed, and Higurashi franchises. Damn, feels like another post idea… the Golden Age of Anime Train Wrecks.)
I like how Sayaka claims to be different from everyone else, yet she is using everyone else. Gotta love how she becomes what she hates and is slightly obvious to that fact.
I kinda want to see what Shaft could do with Gundam.
“It’s so easy once you figure it out.”
Is she talking about how to beat the Miami Heat? Not hard… basically, don’t let them fast break and punish LBJ or Wade if they enter the paint. Also, send plenty of hookers and booze to their hotel suite the night before the game.
(Like how her wounds repair a la musical notes… nod to Kamijou? Also, if you play the notes, you’ll find out it’s actually the muzak version of Shoujo Q. True! *wink wink*)
This image… such a lie.
20 Responses to “puella magi madoka magica 8”
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Somehow, that scene where QB ate his old body made me hungry. He looks delicious. Somewhat. Now, if only I had some cotton candy, two cherries and a short, pliable piece of a liquorice wheel—why, I’d be all ready to feast.
The show has become terminator. Homura is Kyle Reese, coming back in time to save (and impregnate) Madoka. Though Kyuubey seems to resemble the T-1000 more.
When has QB ever lied? I mean, sure, he omitted a slight detail, but she did get her wish. No strings attached, even!
IN-KYUBEY-TOR.
Disappointed by the twitter link with the vanilla CCS opening. I was expecting Madoka Magica footage synced to it.
I think you mean Sword of Damocles
Way to go Sayaka. Rejecting those grief seeds to spite Kyoko and Homura seems like a really good idea now, right?
Homura’s apartment is crazy. Especially the scythe pendulum shadows.
I can’t really blame Madoka for deserting Homura, she’s just giving her a taste of her own medicine, cold shouldering her when she’s being sincere and emotional, just like she’s done to Madoka on multiple occasions.
I miss Code Geass too. Prime writing material for this blog.
The life cycle of the magical girl.
Girl contracts with Kyubei for a wish, and her soul is transformed into a soul gem. The soul gem become tainted with darkness (sin? negative feelings?). Too much darkness triggers the transformation where the false body is cast aside and the newly born witch begins her life. Unclear period involving preying on humans and spawning familiars. The witch is subdued by a magical girl. (Not killed. The grief seed is a soul gem, and as long as it remains intact the witch is still alive.) The captured witch is fed even more darkness by the magical girl. When the grief seed has reached full capacity (completed?) it’s turned over to Kyubei to bring us full circle.
Now I wonder, if Kyubei is the Incubator, does that refer to his role in incubating magical girls until they hatch into witches. Or does it refer to what he does with the grief seeds after he collects them back. What do the seeds grow into when planted?
@Kurotowa: It grows a Lovecraftian abomination.
The initial speculations about this, I recall, rose during the second episode when Mami showed how to transfer taint from soul gem to grief seed (so the inevitable question “what happens when soul gem becomes dark?”) and the eerie similarity between their designs.Further episodes only added more water to the mill, like the sixth where we learn puella magi’s body is just a puppet – which makes their transformation into freaky witch-bodies easy. And of course the Faust references littered around.
One thing that spoke against this theory was the origins idea. If a witch is born of a fallen puella magi, how come they existed if there were no witches to hunt? QB’s revelation sets this straight, telling us there’s no two sides to the war, they are merely an evolutionary step on the path to witch-hood.
Homerun-chan’s furniture is not random, it all is according to her theme. The chairs are arranged like a clock face. The gears are clock gears. And the pendulum is used in many big old-style clocks for timekeeping.
I predicted this way back when we first saw them in Ep 1-2… and people laughed at me. Who’s laughign now? ;)
Also, I can’t wait for Madoka to watch Homura die after she gets rejected, Sayaka goes batshit insane and eats Madoka’s family… and then after contracting, Kyubey tells her wishes don’t work that way, so you can’t bring back the dead. And THEN watch Madoka break.
Jason, look at those images on Homura’s walls — she’s got a collection of levitating iPads.
And those aren’t printed maps, she’s got a table that’s a giant touch-screen.
@Northernshadows: I thought “clocktower” when I saw the pendulum and gears, but hadn’t noticed the furniture arrangement. Good catch. I wonder what time the show airs — the clock of Homura’s furniture seems to read 1:10.
Given the intense amount of speculation that surrounded the series from the start, it’s not surprising that SOME of the initial theories turned, well, correct. Either that, or Gen Urobuchi and Shaft have really been canvassing blogs and forums, picked the best theories they found, then animated them.
Kidding aside, this show is definitely a roller-coaster to Hell, and we’re all enjoying watching the cast ride down into the hellfire. Will there be a light at the end of the tunnel though? Who knows. Gen Urobuchi writes bittersweet endings, and it might be we might not see ANY conclusion at the end of the show, and instead just witness its fallout in the follow-up Oriko Magica (details of which I might add are SERIOUSLY under wraps right now). In that sense Madoka Magica might be Fate/ZERO to Oriko Magica’s Fate/Stay Night.
In order to save her lover and vowing to save even more lives, she contracted with Kyubey to become Puella Magi SAYAKA. Although she desperately fought witches for her beliefs and ideals, after being shown the truth of Puella Magi, she began to deny her own ideals, becoming the thing she despised the most. Soon after, breaking down to the last tear, she unleashes her Reality Marble.
Unlimited Bla—
Kurotowa asks “What do the seeds grow into when planted?” I would imagine that they are what powers up the miracles that are requested by the magical girls and which initiates their transformation in the first place. If the whole point of this is balance, then grief cannot be the end result without there being some corresponding hope, right? Kind of like how the blood and carcasses of dead animals and plants feed the soil and make it fertile for new plants to grow.
I am now hoping madoka would make a petty wish like save a cat, and turn into a weak mahou shoujo. then watch kyubey go bat shit insane.
Homura’s finisher is summoning a F-22 Raptor jet fighter. MAKE IT HAPPEN SHAFT!
If Madoka becomes a Magical Girl, she’s going to be one hell of a witch in time. It’s obviously what QB is aiming for, and obviously what Homura is trying to prevent.
It’s a good thing she can do time manipulation, because that’s probably what already happened.
Heck, that’s probably what she wished for to become a Magical Girl in her future where the Madoka witch was wreaking havoc or something
Walpurgis night is a time when a terribly powerful witch shows up.
Madoka is “destined” to become a terribly powerful witch.
The dream in the beginning shows Homura fighting a battle she can’t win while a powerless Madoka watches on.
I can see the ending.
@Beowulf Lee
Naaah… how about a megaton-class strategic thermonuclear weapon? It has much more of a “punch” to it :P