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


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Fencedude5609



Joined: 09 Nov 2006
Posts: 5088
PostPosted: Wed Jun 13, 2012 7:14 pm Reply with quote
Yeah yeah, I know that this has already been brought up, but since you nailed the understanding of Madoka's wish (and so few people coming in after the fact have managed to do so), its nice to have something else to argue against.

Quote:
and suddenly, after spending 8 episodes trying to kill her, Kyoko sacrifices herself during the fight in the hope of bringing her back. They didn't spend much time showing us this sudden turn; it feels a little cheap, like they wanted to kill off Kyoko for the emotion it might wring out of the audience but didn't have a particularly solid way to take her out, so we get this sort of quick reconciliation of her feelings toward Sayaka.


Kyouko's character development suffers the most from the limited amount of time available in the show. Her backstory was fleshed out with the Audio Drama included with volume 5, where we learned about her time with Mami, and the break the two suffered after the deaths of Kyouko's family.

At any rate, Kyouko's sacrifice. There are a few aspects of her character to consider for it. For one, she really did come to care for Sayaka, she'd found a kindred spirit, someone in whom she saw her younger, more idealistic self. She wanted to save Sayaka from making the same mistakes she had, though of course she ultimately failed in this. Also, and while this is more debatable, I do think that Kyouko loved Sayaka, even if she herself didn't realize it until the very end. Reading the lyrics of "and I'm Home" (the special ED song for episode 9) is instructive on this (as are the lyrics of "Connect" in regards to Homura and episode 10).

Secondly, Kyouko really, REALLY did not want to become a witch. Her family died because her father considered her no better than a demon. She, more than anything else, did not want to become the very thing she spent her life fighting. So when it became clear that Sayaka could not be saved, she sacrificed her Soul Gem to destroy them both. If she could not save Sayaka, at least she could make sure she didn't die alone. Logical? Not particularly, but Kyouko wasn't in a logical mood, she just wanted to make sure her life was not in vain, and that the one person left in the world she cared for didn't go into the afterlife by herself.
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Mad_Scientist
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 13, 2012 7:16 pm Reply with quote
dtm42 wrote:


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?


Well, I don't think it's ageist to point out that teenagers tend to have strong and intense emotions. As for it being girls specifically, and not boys... I guess I could see someone arguing that it's sexist. For myself, I just appreciated the mostly credible explanation as to "why only young girls" for the whole magical girl concept, and it was clear to me there wasn't any sexist intent.
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dtm42



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PostPosted: Wed Jun 13, 2012 7:17 pm Reply with quote
That's a really good explanation about Kyouko, Fencedude5609.
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EmbraceMe



Joined: 17 Dec 2010
Posts: 2013
Location: Growing old and jaded.
PostPosted: Wed Jun 13, 2012 7:21 pm Reply with quote
Zac's review wrote:
..it shows us just how terrifyingly deep the show's writers have delved into the very notion of empathy and what a complete lack of it would actually sound like...


This reminds me of the tweet Gen Urobuchi wrote when the show aired. I think it was the last tweet on this site. Iit opens my eyes to see how Gen put his feelings into Madoka Magica.

dtm42 wrote:
spoiler[At best Madoka has made the world a slightly better place. Magical Girls still die in combat, they just don't turn into Witches.]


That's why I enjoyed the ending. It didn't end on a super-duper happy note. The current system maintains just as much despair as the previous. I'm happy with the ending but it if ended more depressing, I would had loved it more. Only because I enjoy them more.

I guess I might spend some money on the DVDs/BDs. College alongside anime spending will kill my wallet.

[EDIT: Added spoiler tags. - Key]
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Fencedude5609



Joined: 09 Nov 2006
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 13, 2012 7:21 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 likespoiler[ '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.


Oh please, the ending is nothing like Lain's unless you reduce both down to that barest of description. Madoka and Lain's goals, motives, situations, basically everything about them was different. You can do this with all sorts of shows, and it renders criticism meaningless.

As for a darker ending, what did you want? Did you want everyone to fail and die? For Homura to give in to despair and become Homulily? Only for Madoka to contract, defeat both her and Walpurgis, and become the Final Witch Kriemhild Gretchen? What in the world would be the point of that? That would be despair for despair's sake.

Madoka spoiler[did not make the universe a perfect place. She made it a little better for a very small subset of humanity, she made it so that the girls who give their souls in exchange for a single wish do not live their lives in vain. Their fights have meaning, they are no longer damned to become the very thing they fought against. And in the end, when they fall in battle or at last give in to the despair corrupting their Soul Gems, they are visited by Hope herself, who takes them away to a place where they can be at peace.]

[EDIT: Added spoiler tags. - Key]
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Cecilthedarkknight_234



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PostPosted: Wed Jun 13, 2012 7:25 pm Reply with quote
dragon695 wrote:
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 'Madoka sacrifices her earthly existence in order to save Homura and the rest of the world' was pretty much exactly like '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 homura herself is about to expire and the cycle continues to ruin some girls' lives.


The thing it ended a bit in a NGE way just on different note with spoiler[creating a world where she doesn't exist so people can live freely compared to everyone dying or becoming one in end of eva then resets in the new movies.]

However the similarities are there for both of these series, that have been discussed in countless other threads. I just hope the two madoka movies coming out are not labeled death and re-birth lol
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Zac
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 13, 2012 7:26 pm Reply with quote
One thing is for sure: I will never see the phrase "When you wish upon a star" in the same way ever again thanks to this show.
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Fencedude5609



Joined: 09 Nov 2006
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 13, 2012 7:31 pm Reply with quote
Zac wrote:
One thing is for sure: I will never see the phrase "When you wish upon a star" in the same way ever again thanks to this show.


Wishing upon a star is fine.

Just don't wish upon a small, white animal with ears coming out its ears.
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Julia-the-Great



Joined: 14 May 2005
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 13, 2012 7:34 pm Reply with quote
I like that the dub is there, even if it is "serviceable", just so I can take in all the little details in the animation and not miss anything. (My third time on this merry-go-round and still noticing new things)

There really is nothing like watching the BD on a big screen. So worth the $200+ I spent on it.
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Cryssoberyl



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PostPosted: Wed Jun 13, 2012 7:37 pm Reply with quote
I don't agree about Kyouko, but otherwise, well said.
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sailorsarah



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PostPosted: Wed Jun 13, 2012 7:38 pm Reply with quote
This review explains the show really well. I feel like I understand it even more!

I feel like the ending is like a nice balance between the endings of Evangelion and Sailor Moon, two of my favorites. It is the perfect balance between happy and dark in my opinion. You can really apply the ideas back to your own life if you want. Sure life sucks, but you should always have hope. If it had been happier, it wouldn't be as applicable. If it was darker, that would've just been depressing.
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Parsifal24





PostPosted: Wed Jun 13, 2012 7:38 pm Reply with quote
Good review although I don't think it ends up half as bleak as some would make it out as far asspoiler[Madoka becoming the embodiment of hope] I think it works sure things ar'nt perfect in the end but life isn't perfect.

and Homura is able to carry on also as an aside I'm surprised that supposed Yuri subtext didn't get mentioned. For the record I don't see any Yuri in the show and those that do I think have "issues" but I digress that's probably more of a fandom issue than sereis proper I guess.
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Cryssoberyl



Joined: 17 Jan 2009
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 13, 2012 7:42 pm Reply with quote
Parsifal24 wrote:
I'm surprised that supposed Yuri subtext didn't get mentioned. For the record I don't see any Yuri in the show and those that do I think have "issues" but I digress that's probably more of a fandom issue than sereis proper I guess.


It's very much a "there if you want it" type of situation. It would be very easy to define Homura's love for Madoka in those terms - and believe it or not, Kyouko/Sayaka is an even more popular pairing in the yuri fandom, it seems to me - but for somebody who wasn't actually looking for that, it probably wouldn't cross their mind, except maybe during Homura's final meeting with Madoka. That's certainly a compelling scene for us yuri fans, believe me...when I first watched it, I really was almost half-expecting them to kiss, but no such luck.


Last edited by Cryssoberyl on Wed Jun 13, 2012 7:51 pm; edited 1 time in total
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dragon695



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PostPosted: Wed Jun 13, 2012 7:45 pm Reply with quote
Cecilthedarkknight_234 wrote:
The thing it ended a bit in a NGE way just on different note with spoiler[creating a world where she doesn't exist so people can live freely compared to everyone dying or becoming one in end of eva then resets in the new movies.]

However the similarities are there for both of these series, that have been discussed in countless other threads. I just hope the two madoka movies coming out are not labeled death and re-birth lol

I can see why you are saying this. I don't want to get into an extended debate on NGE, much like our friend did with Princess Tutu on the other thread, so I'll just have to leave it at this. I can't say if it is because I am watching this being far older now, but I definitely did not feel the same frustration at the end of PMMM that I did at the end of NGE. Whether it is a case of being two sides of the same coin, I don't know, and granted I haven't watch NGE in a long, long time.

Who knows, but I do agree with you wrt the PMMM movies: certainly don't need those kind of titles. Rolling Eyes
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Crisha
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 13, 2012 7:50 pm Reply with quote
I thought the ending to Madoka Magica was perfect. I don't think I could have asked for a better ending. Some of my favorite endings tend to be like Madoka's - where the message is about hope. It acknowledges that the world/universe/rules/life sucks or isn't fair but that working for one's hopes and dreams isn't meaningless. Accepting the good and the bad, but not giving up the fight. I love those kind of messages.
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