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

swienke wrote:

EDIT: Whoops, amagee beat me to it. Dang, this thread moves fast.

I know. It's almost as if there's something new with every refresh.

And just so that my comment is not a one liner:

Since no one else mentioned it -- not even Zac -- one of the things I really like about Puella Magi Madoka Magica is the presence of technology in it. You can see it so much in the background; the whiteboards the students use, the buttons Sayaka presses to go into a lift, the windmills in the background when Sayaka and Madoka are talking to each other, the huge modern houses. I don't know how true to life the background of technology is, but I really like it; it's a fresh appearance from the small homes with sliding doors that we've gotten used to in anime.

ChibiKangaroo wrote:

From what I recall, Kyuubey at one point in the show statedspoiler[ that his people came up with the system itself because it was the most efficient way to gather energy. So, if they found another way to gather energy which was even more efficient and also involved some kind of human sacrifice, they could (and given their complete lack of emotion or sympathy, would) do it immediately. Remember, when the girl makes the contract, Kyuubey then pulls her soul out of her body and puts it in the gem. He then grants the wish. He is not just a vessel through which the "magic" happens. He is the one in control of the whole process.] There is every indication that given the control his people have over the process, they could change it if they wanted to.

Then why did he let Madoka change the entire universe even though it would hurt his race's ability to counteract entropy in the universe?

When I talk about "control" i'm just speaking about it in the context of Kyuubey's people making a new system of contracting

....

That has no bearing on his ability to create a new type of magical girl with new type of contract though.

In fast threads, I don't even worry about accidentally saying something again if it was written while I was writing.

The technology was always really interesting. I think it gave it a more full depth. It was a believable yet cool world in which to experience this impeccable story.

If she really wanted to spoiler[be the embodiment of hope, she should have found the power within herself without asking for Kyubey's help and then used that power to return the magical girls who use soul gems back to their original state (within their bodies) and then the problem would be solved. If she's as powerful as Kyubey says she is, then she could have found a way to do this on her own. Instead, she just relied on the person who started the entire mess to begin with, which, IMO, gives Kyubey the "last laugh" anyway, no matter what she wished for.]

Another thing I don't get is...how did witches come to be in the first place? spoiler[I know in order to become a witch, one must become a magical girl. To become a magical girl, one must make a wish in exchange. So going by that, why would the very "first" girls become magical girls in the first place? There's no witches to fight, no need to have the powers to defeat the "evil witches" which only magical girls can defeat....where's the explanation for that? I highly doubt that the first girls would become magical girls just to get their wishes granted and be in an ever lasting contract back in the old days.

Now if Kyubey had planted some evil on the planet that only magical girls could defeat, then it would make sense on how the cycle started...but the overall concept of just "wanting their wishes granted, in exchange, becoming a magical girl" is a bit weak.]

I also found Sayaka's character overall weak too. She continues to whine and cry about spoiler[how she isn't human anymore even though she can laugh, feel, eat, sleep and do everything she can normally do before she made a contract and then went into a pitty pot without even trying to talk to the guy she liked. She just gave up, even though she had friends who supported her.]

Because he made the contract with her and he didn't know what her wish was going to be before she made it. When I talk about "control" i'm just speaking about it in the context of Kyuubey's people making a new system of contracting, its not a commentary on whether or not they could refuse to carry out a contract they already made. As far as we know, when it comes to the current process they created, once the contract is "signed" he has to grant the wish. That has no bearing on his ability to create a new type of magical girl with new type of contract though.

P.S. going to sleep now. Maybe will comment more on my alternate ending concept later.

Just watched the last bit. She says her wish and then makes Kyubey grant it. If he controlled these things, he could've refused.

In Sayaka's case, she breaks down the most this time because she believes that she cannot love now that she is a "zombie". And even though that's not true, she doesn't have to be logical. In fact, it is part of her character that she is not logical but instead follows her heart. I thought that this breakdown was believable, and showed that even though they have super powers these are still young girls who lack proper perspective on things. Sayaka believed it to be true even though it wasn't, and that was enough to cause the breakdown. When you're freaking out and everyone else is also freaking out so they can't help you, it can be a nasty downward spiral.

I don't think it's illogical at all on Sayaka's part. She was 100% right in that whatever she is now, she was essentially no longer really human. And she obviously values that as she definitely should.

Fencedude5609 wrote:

ikillchicken wrote: That's an interesting point. I don't know if I interpreted this as sexist though. If I thought they'd come up with the whole entropy premise first and then decided it should only be girls then I would see that as a sexist implication. However, it seems pretty apparent to me that this project started, at the most basic level, as a magical girl show. Hence, it only being girls seems like a more of a leftover from that than anything else. I always figured the answer was "because". I don't think the Incubators know, or even really care, why only pubescent females can serve this role, thats just the way it is.

Kyubey says something along the lines of "female humans in their second stage of development exhibit the most / a great deal of emotional energy" ... or something like that. So pubescent girls = emotional roller coasters. I guess you could say it's sexist or ageist, but it's probably true.

I mean, I remember when crying over magazine photos of Leonardo DiCaprio when I was 12 or 13 because I would never meet and marry him ... after speaking with many female friends about their early teen days, this experience was not an aberration.

SPOILER NOTICE!

I was working on something else all evening so I wasn't paying attention when this threat first started. That means we've had now 16 pages of what basically amounts to a "let's ignore the existence of spoiler tags" free-for-all. Apparently some of you seem to think that, just because Zac dealt with some spoilers in the review, you don't have to use spoiler tags at all in the response thread.

Shippoyasha wrote:

I don't think it's illogical at all on Sayaka's part. She was 100% right in that whatever she is now, she was essentially no longer really human. And she obviously values that as she definitely should.

The PSP game has an event, where if you don't recover Sayaka's Soul Gem fast enough after the "Madoka tosses it off the bridge" event,spoiler[ Sayaka's body starts to decompose. When her Soul Gem is returned, she's unaware of the condition of her body, and she goes to see Kyousuke.]

...it does not end well.

Sayaka's fears are not entirely unfounded.

You complain about the dub then still give an A+ ...what?

Anyway, it IS a great series and the review is mostly well done other than what I just pointed out. The dub is pretty terrible and doesnt do the characters any justice. The Japanese audio is just top tier and unmatchable.

The show is amazing, HOWEVER..that doesn't change the fact that Aniplex is insane for charging anything higher than 20 dollars for 4 episodes. INSANE. Biggest rip-offs in the American anime market.

I personally cannot wait for the movies to expand on the story. The first movie might even go into better details about some things and make the franchise even more enjoyable.