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Puella Magi Madoka Magica (TV + movies).

One of my stories (I'm a writer) became very Madoka-like when I changed the plot a little today. It starts off all bubbly and sweet....but it's actually holding a litany of dark secrets. Then again, the story was ALWAYS like that.

It's a deconstruction/subversion of fighting games: instead of fixing things with constant fighting, the main characters just end up f*cking everything up.

Being based around an inherently cartoonish subject like fighting games, I can't imagine it ending up as anything more literary than a light novel or online-fiction.

I just finished the show (almost, fell asleep before the last 7 minutes or so)

One thing that I wasn't totally pleased with though spoiler[was how Madoka's wish became kind of like a giant Deus ex Machina, reminiscent of the ending to the first season of Sailor Moon but not quite as super happy. I would have been more intrigued by her using her wish on something unexpected, like maybe wish that Kyuubey has emotions so he could feel the pain of the countless suffering he caused.]

Hey, someone new!

ChibiKangaroo wrote:

I just finished the show (almost, fell asleep before the last 7 minutes or so)

Was this because you were bored or do you mean you were just up later than usual watching it?

Quote:

One thing that I wasn't totally pleased with though spoiler[was how Madoka's wish became kind of like a giant Deus ex Machina, reminiscent of the ending to the first season of Sailor Moon but not quite as super happy. I would have been more intrigued by her using her wish on something unexpected, like maybe wish that Kyuubey has emotions so he could feel the pain of the countless suffering he caused.]

I recommend you read back through some of the last few pages of this thread where some of us have discussed the ending in detail. You may gain a new perspective

I am watching episode 8 right now and...wow, Sayaka has gone through more character development in 7 episodes than most anime characters do in their whole series.

Also, the OST is just plain amazing, as always. I need to find that song that plays when Sayaka is spoiler[going batshit insane while fighting that witch in Episode 7]. There's just so much....EMOTION in that one song. I haven't felt so much emotion from one song since Libera Me From Hell in TTGL.

I just finished the show (almost, fell asleep before the last 7 minutes or so) and I was pleasantly surprised by the depth and the twists on the magical girl genre. One thing that I wasn't totally pleased with though spoiler[was how Madoka's wish became kind of like a giant Deus ex Machina, reminiscent of the ending to the first season of Sailor Moon but not quite as super happy. I would have been more intrigued by her using her wish on something unexpected, like maybe wish that Kyuubey has emotions so he could feel the pain of the countless suffering he caused.]

That being said though, I really enjoyed the execution of the show and even the spoiler[time traveling aspect was very well done.] I hope they do another season.

You have to understand the purpose of her wish.

spoiler[Madoka wasn't trying to punish Kyubey, she was trying to help her friends and other Magical Girls. She wanted them to keep their hopes and dreams, and not let them fall to despair and regret.

She only gets one wish and it had to be worded correctly to achieve what she wanted. I think she did a pretty good job of it.]

TarsTarkas wrote:

You have to understand the purpose of her wish. spoiler[Madoka wasn't trying to punish Kyubey, she was trying to help her friends and other Magical Girls. She wanted them to keep their hopes and dreams, and not let them fall to despair and regret. She only gets one wish and it had to be worded correctly to achieve what she wanted. I think she did a pretty good job of it.]

Yea I understood that that was the purpose of her wish, but I just thought it was a little too easy of an ending. It's the type of an ending that you would completely expect in a magical girl show. I had been really loving how they turned so many tropes from magical girl shows on their heads, but the ending seemed kind of like a reversion back to the status quo. That's not to say that I didn't enjoy the show, but I just wish the ending had been more innovative or unexpected.

Chibikangaroo wrote:

Yea I understood that that was the purpose of her wish, but I just thought it was a little too easy of an ending. It's the type of an ending that you would completely expect in a magical girl show. I had been really loving how they turned so many tropes from magical girl shows on their heads, but the ending seemed kind of like a reversion back to the status quo. That's not to say that I didn't enjoy the show, but I just wish the ending had been more innovative or unexpected.

Don't know what Magical Girls shows you have been watching, spoiler[but there was no return to status quo.

Magical Girls no longer turn into witches. They no longer have to watch their hopes and dreams turn into nightmares and death.

Didn't see it as an easy ending. Madoka sacrificed much to achieve the end result of her wish. Don't think Homura would say it was easy either.]

When I say status quo I mean the status quo of what usually happens in magical girl shows (and other similar genres). spoiler[ What usually happens is we get a build up to some kind of climax in the final episode where it appears that all hope is lost and the villain is about to win - usually all of the magical girl's companions/friends have either fallen or are trapped or have sacrificed themselves to power up the magical girl. Usually, there's some impending darkness covering the entire earth and everything has gone to hell. Then the magical girl uses some kind of special power she never knew she had or couldn't use till that moment which is uber-powerful, and all of the evil and suffering gets rolled back and/or she "re-sets" the universe, all of her companions come back to life and go back to living their lives and all seems right again until the next threat shows itself. ]

spoiler[I thought maybe it would be more interesting this time if the suffering and remaining problems didn't all get magicked away, and maybe after Madoka's wish, Homura and Kyuubey would have to figure out how to deal with "witch" Madoka and also handle the remaining issues.]