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REVIEW: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Vol. 3 Blu-ray


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dragon695



Joined: 28 Nov 2008
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 13, 2012 6:39 pm Reply with quote
EDIT: See this post for an important notice about using spoiler tags in this thread. - Key]

I think Zac sums up perfectly: this show works on every level. I wholeheartedly agree.
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EnigmaticSky



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PostPosted: Wed Jun 13, 2012 6:42 pm Reply with quote
See, this is why I spent over $200 to get the limited edition sets. And this series really deserves the A+, though I have to admit that the ending made me ragequit when I first saw it. I had to come to terms with what all happened. I'm curious what my reaction will be when I rewatch it now that I have all of the sets. I may show it to my girlfriend.
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dtm42



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PostPosted: Wed Jun 13, 2012 6:43 pm Reply with quote
Never seen so many spoilers in a review before. I guess it's because you can't talk about how good it is without stating why it is good, and to do that you need to delve into the nitty-gritty of what happened.

And yes, episode ten was the best episode of the series, no doubt about that.
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Dorcas_Aurelia



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PostPosted: Wed Jun 13, 2012 6:46 pm Reply with quote
Kyoko doesn't spend 8 episodes trying to kill Sayaka; she spends 2. She's only introduced at the very end of episode 4, and she stops fighting her after the reveal in episode 6 about the nature of Soul Gems. Following that, she reexamines her philosophy as a magical girl, and was starting to connect with Sayaka.
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bhl88



Joined: 02 Oct 2011
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 13, 2012 6:48 pm Reply with quote
A+ lol, it did go up as I expect it to be.

Prices are still the same: $30/$40 (regular) $75 (limited).

Hope there'll be no trouble again (Yeah right).
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Zac
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 13, 2012 6:48 pm Reply with quote
dtm42 wrote:
Never seen so many spoilers in a review before. I guess it's because you can't talk about how good it is without stating why it is good, and to do that you need to delve into the nitty-gritty of what happened.

And yes, episode ten was the best episode of the series, no doubt about that.


Yeah, I decided that if I'm going to write about this, I'm going to actually write about it and not just tiptoe around everything. I couldn't say what I wanted to say without talking about what happens, so I just tossed in a bunch of spoiler warnings. It's all I could do.

Quote:
Kyoko doesn't spend 8 episodes trying to kill Sayaka; she spends 2. She's only introduced at the very end of episode 4, and she stops fighting her after the reveal in episode 6 about the nature of Soul Gems. Following that, she reexamines her philosophy as a magical girl, and was starting to connect with Sayaka.


Yeah, that was an exaggeration, but the turnaround felt hollow to me. It's the only thing in the show where I said "wait... hang on a sec there."
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Mad_Scientist
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 13, 2012 6:52 pm Reply with quote
Zac wrote:

Quote:
Kyoko doesn't spend 8 episodes trying to kill Sayaka; she spends 2. She's only introduced at the very end of episode 4, and she stops fighting her after the reveal in episode 6 about the nature of Soul Gems. Following that, she reexamines her philosophy as a magical girl, and was starting to connect with Sayaka.


Yeah, that was an exaggeration, but the turnaround felt hollow to me. It's the only thing in the show where I said "wait... hang on a sec there."


I thought Kyoko's development worked, but I can see someone finding it too abrupt. or not fully justified But even so, the main change in her character started last volume, so if it's a flaw, it's more a flaw of volume 2.

That's my only nitpick with the review
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bhl88



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PostPosted: Wed Jun 13, 2012 6:53 pm Reply with quote
Haven't written the pros and cons yet.
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dtm42



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PostPosted: Wed Jun 13, 2012 6:54 pm Reply with quote
Dorcas_Aurelia wrote:
Kyoko doesn't spend 8 episodes trying to kill Sayaka; she spends 2. She's only introduced at the very end of episode 4, and she stops fighting her after the reveal in episode 6 about the nature of Soul Gems. Following that, she reexamines her philosophy as a magical girl, and was starting to connect with Sayaka.


And even in those two episodes she wasn't all that serious about killing Sayaka. Kyouko was hostile yes, and hurt and fought and teased Sayaka, yes. But it was to drive Sayaka away and teach her a lesson about how weak her kindness was, not because Kyouko really wanted her dead.

Kyouko always struck me as someone who wanted to be like Sayaka and Mami but it backfired on her (cough*herfather*cough), and that's why she's bitter. And why she ultimately wanted to help Sayaka out when the latter became a Witch, because Sayaka represented the sort of person Kyouko wanted to be.

Zac wrote:
Yeah, that was an exaggeration, but the turnaround felt hollow to me. It's the only thing in the show where I said "wait... hang on a sec there."


What about the entropy business? The best source of energy in the universe comes from teenage girls? Although I don't hold it against the writing, it has always struck me as being a bit strange.
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Megiddo



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PostPosted: Wed Jun 13, 2012 7:03 pm Reply with quote
As much as I enjoyed Madoka Magica, I really feel that the ending was, well, terrible. And not only terrible, it was pretty much lifted from Serial Experiments Lain and probably many other things. Writing a conclusion is certainly one of the most difficult parts of a story (and many writers for this reason make sure to write the ending first or very early on in the process), but I felt that thespoiler[ 'Madoka sacrifices her earthly existence in order to save Homura and the rest of the world'] was pretty much exactly like spoiler['Lain sacrifices her earthly existence in order to save Arisu and the rest of the world'.]

A very good show, but the ending personally let me down. I would have loved a much darker conclusion personally.

[EDIT: Added spoiler tags. Really, people. - Key]
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Jadress



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PostPosted: Wed Jun 13, 2012 7:04 pm Reply with quote
So happy to see this review. I'm currently debating blowing my money on the limited edition or not.
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Zac
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 13, 2012 7:06 pm Reply with quote
dtm42 wrote:


What about the entropy business? The best source of energy in the universe comes from teenage girls? Although I don't hold it against the writing, it has always struck me as being a bit strange.


The concept that intense emotion can be used as a power source is at the very least a nifty concept and I bought into it 100%. I really liked that story reveal, actually. Harvesting the emotional energy that comes with the fundamental shift from optimism to pessimism and despair is literally keeping the universe alive. That's cool shit, man.


Last edited by Zac on Wed Jun 13, 2012 7:07 pm; edited 1 time in total
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walw6pK4Alo



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PostPosted: Wed Jun 13, 2012 7:07 pm Reply with quote
dtm42 wrote:
Zac wrote:
Yeah, that was an exaggeration, but the turnaround felt hollow to me. It's the only thing in the show where I said "wait... hang on a sec there."


What about the entropy business? The best source of energy in the universe comes from teenage girls? Although I don't hold it against the writing, it has always struck me as being a bit strange.


Some things you just have to accept because it works in-universe, and it's also a jab at all of the magical girl shows where only little girls can fight evil. Why not magical boys or magical 30 year olds? I guess you can accept entropy as a thematic element to represent a lot more than just unraveling of the universe, but I hope it stops getting tossed around in these shows so easily. Or at least call it by some other name, make it another kind of force.
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dragon695



Joined: 28 Nov 2008
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 13, 2012 7:08 pm Reply with quote
Megiddo wrote:
As much as I enjoyed Madoka Magica, I really feel that the ending was, well, terrible. And not only terrible, it was pretty much lifted from Serial Experiments Lain and probably many other things. Writing a conclusion is certainly one of the most difficult parts of a story (and many writers for this reason make sure to write the ending first or very early on in the process), but I felt that the spoiler['Madoka sacrifices her earthly existence in order to save Homura and the rest of the world'] was pretty much exactly like spoiler['Lain sacrifices her earthly existence in order to save Arisu and the rest of the world'].

A very good show, but the ending personally let me down. I would have loved a much darker conclusion personally.

I disagree, I feel like a darker ending would have resulted in yet another NGE-esque disappointment. Also, it wasn't like it was super happy anyhow, since we are basically being told that spoiler[homura herself is about to expire and the cycle continues to ruin some girls' lives.]

[EDIT: Ugh. Spoilers! - Key]
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dtm42



Joined: 05 Feb 2008
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 13, 2012 7:08 pm Reply with quote
Megiddo wrote:
A very good show, but the ending personally let me down. I would have loved a much darker conclusion personally.


It was plenty dark. Madoka changes the Laws of Reality to stop Witches from being born but that just means a new enemy appears. She hasn't solved anything outside of ending Homura's burden. At best spoiler[Madoka has made the world a slightly better place. Magical Girls still die in combat, they just don't turn into Witches.]

In fact, spoiler[she arguably made the universe worse, because now the Incubators have to turn more girls into Magical Girls than before because they lost their gravy train which were the Witches. Kyubey even mentions to Homura that it would be wonderful if such an efficient system were to exist in the 'new' world.]

Zac wrote:
The concept that intense emotion can be used as a power source is at the very least a nifty concept and I bought into it 100%. I really liked that story reveal, actually. Harvesting the emotional energy that comes with the fundamental shift from optimism to pessimism and despair is literally keeping the universe alive. That's cool shit, man.


Oh sure, I like that part of the entropy explanation. But teenage girls? Isn't that a bit sexist and ageist? Like I said I don't hold it against the writers, but it doesn't sit fully right with me.

[EDIT: Added spoiler tags. - Key]
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