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Puella Magi Madoka Magica (TV + movies).


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momthemeatloaf



Joined: 06 Jan 2013
Posts: 47
PostPosted: Sun Jul 14, 2013 11:54 pm Reply with quote
ChibiKangaroo wrote:

Although DBZ is much more escapist in its fantastical environment, I would argue that its "mystical martial arts" aspect also makes it highly appealing to western audiences who LOVE to consume martial arts movies, shows, and games.


I agree with you on this point, and would also compare the over the top violence and villains in DBZ to many comic books. Superman vs. Darkseid is comparably grandiose to something like Goku vs. Frieza; two straightforward figures of good and evil duking it out for the big stakes.

What I'm curious about is, given how action-packed battles are certainly a big part of DBZ's appeal, do you think the action in Madoka could be similar to the other gateway shows you listed (GitS, Bebop, etc)? Madoka's fights are certainly not DBZ, but in their briefness and intensity, do you think they could draw people in similar to the way action is used in GitS? Personally, I loved the battle in episode 2, and I think that might appeal to action fans in general, not just prior-anime fans.

Separate from that, and playing devil's advocate, I'd agree with you that Madoka isn't a good gateway anime specifically because it's, at least on the surface, a magical girl series. To many people, anime fans included, that sounds childish, or reminiscent of something a lolicon would watch. What I'm saying is, the very nature of the genre might remind people too much of common stereotypes, and discourage them from watching.
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dtm42



Joined: 05 Feb 2008
Posts: 14084
Location: currently stalking my waifu
PostPosted: Mon Jul 15, 2013 12:05 am Reply with quote
However, familiarity with Magical Girl series does help the viewer a lot, even if they don't like series like Sailor Moon and Cardcaptor Sakura. While it certainly is hard to get people who aren't into Magical Girl shows to watch PMMM, should they do decide to watch it then they are able to appreciate it more. Knowing how the genre is being deconstructed - and then reconstructed in the final episode - helps a lot with understanding and appreciating the story and themes.
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Polycell



Joined: 16 Jan 2012
Posts: 4623
PostPosted: Sat Jul 12, 2014 1:19 pm Reply with quote
Since I'm not sure where else to put it, I'll revive this old thread.

Just watched my copy of the English-dubbed first movie and I've got to say I really don't like the change in direction. Mami's a little more... "muted" is the closest word I can think of, but she does come back to the same self seen in the series often enough. Homura's kind of off a touch, like they'd gotten a sound-alike; a little less "powerful", I guess, and a little less sure. Takes some getting used to, but it works about as well as the original styles did.


Kyouko is the big giant question mark. At first I was a little put off by them changing actresses and eventually learned to live with it, only to find out they didn't! Why, oh why, do you completely change the way a character sounds? The original voice had all that cocksure roughness down pat and this one... just doesn't.
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Crisha
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Joined: 21 Apr 2010
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 12, 2014 1:37 pm Reply with quote
Are you comparing the English dub of the movies to the English dub of the series? Also, how is the box? Is it similar to the Aniplex USA LEs of the series or is it sturdier?

I only have the import of movies 1 and 2, and decided to hold off on purchasing the new English dub until I found out more. This year is already expensive enough, so I'm unlikely to double dip... even less so now if the English dubbing isn't as good.
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Polycell



Joined: 16 Jan 2012
Posts: 4623
PostPosted: Sat Jul 12, 2014 2:17 pm Reply with quote
Yep. I honestly prefer the series's dub voices to the Japanese cast, but not really by all that much. This time around, though... WHAT DID YOU DO TO KYOKO!!!!! Aside from that and the delivery of the class teacher being a little weaker, I think the voices actually improved(though I remain neutral about the tweaks to Mami and Homura).

As for the box, it's a thinner version of the one the import came in(especially top and bottom), minus the hole in the front.
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TarsTarkas



Joined: 20 Dec 2007
Posts: 5821
Location: Virginia, United States
PostPosted: Sun Jul 13, 2014 2:53 am Reply with quote
I am also holding out on buying the English dubbed movies, as much as I love Madoka Magica, it is much too expensive to be double dipping for the slightly smaller box, with the same features, just for a dub. Don't get me wrong, I would love to have the dubbed version over the sub-titled version.
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thebeats42



Joined: 28 Jun 2014
Posts: 43
Location: Manila, Philippines
PostPosted: Wed Aug 27, 2014 9:34 am Reply with quote
I'm not much of a fan of magical girls but this is definitely different.
I got bored the first episodes, well actually more than bored, I lost interest in it since it the story is really slow. Episode 10 onward is almost like the real start of the story and where it suddenly got really interesting. From that episode to the last was really amazing. Its a good thing I didn't drop this when I got tired of it.
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Akane the Catgirl



Joined: 09 Oct 2013
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Location: LA, Baby!
PostPosted: Wed Aug 27, 2014 11:56 am Reply with quote
If you watch the first episode, you'll discover a whole lot of foreshadowing for later events. (The teacher's rant on eggs is a metaphorical reference to Kyubey's methods, Sayaka talking about Homura after school is more accurate than she thinks, etc.) Come and discuss at the ANN Book Club Madoka Magica thread! We need members like you to talk about a modern masterpiece!

Seriously, though, I put a lot of effort into my answers and I don't want this to get canceled.
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thebeats42



Joined: 28 Jun 2014
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PostPosted: Wed Sep 03, 2014 6:58 am Reply with quote
Akane the Catgirl wrote:
If you watch the first episode, you'll discover a whole lot of foreshadowing for later events. (The teacher's rant on eggs is a metaphorical reference to Kyubey's methods, Sayaka talking about Homura after school is more accurate than she thinks, etc.) Come and discuss at the ANN Book Club Madoka Magica thread! We need members like you to talk about a modern masterpiece!

Seriously, though, I put a lot of effort into my answers and I don't want this to get canceled.


I watched the part about the eggs on the first episode and I totally didn't get it. Can you please explain how it is a reference on Kyubey's method?
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Akane the Catgirl



Joined: 09 Oct 2013
Posts: 1091
Location: LA, Baby!
PostPosted: Wed Sep 03, 2014 7:36 am Reply with quote
^ It's more of a pun/metaphor, but I'll try and explain.

That weird shape on Kyubey's back? An egg.

Kyubey's full name is Incubator.

Incubators keep eggs warm until they hatch, just like Kyubey monitors Soul Gems until they hatch into Grief Seeds.

In regards to the teacher's rants, you could interpret the magical girl system to be a metaphor for the sex industry. Hence, men (Kyubey) dating women (magical girls) for their eggs (energy from their Soul Gems and emotions).

Seriously, there's a whole lot of second meanings to everything in this show.
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thebeats42



Joined: 28 Jun 2014
Posts: 43
Location: Manila, Philippines
PostPosted: Thu Sep 04, 2014 4:03 am Reply with quote
Wow. I didn't give it much thought or maybe I'm just not observant enough.
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Ambehr79



Joined: 14 Oct 2014
Posts: 16
PostPosted: Tue Oct 14, 2014 11:34 pm Reply with quote
"Knock Knock."
"Who's there?"
"Kyuube."
"Kyuube-who?"
"Kyuubetter make a contract with me."

Sooooo -- that evil little fuzzy thing just seriously makes me wary of all cute things now. Anime hyper I mean, I UNDERSTAND the need to power another world with that source of rawness [et tu, mother earth?], not to mention it goes on about sacrifice -- there was just a lot of dark subtext behind all of this.

Animation WAS top-notch, and since it was filed under horror, poor little me ventured in and got what I asked for. Anime hyper Nothing too life-scarring.

Thanks to a recommendation and mirror-reviewing back and forth with my ex, I've come to understand I'm the type to make light of things, while it hit her in a more personal state.

To me, this anime was more about the characters and even saving the world -- it was more like how you dealt with yourself under an invisible pressure.
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DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15433
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Mon Dec 21, 2015 9:22 am Reply with quote
I am a bit slow, I bought all the movies a while back, got BD release of the first two movies, which I watched when I got them months back. But right now I got myself to sit down and watch the third movie, something I also got months back and was kind of too afraid to watch it, I was afraid that it would sully my opinions of the series to have more content after how final the rest of the series. And after now doing so I have comments on it.

Movie 3 (Rebellion)

WHAT THE HELL!
That is my initial response, and I don't really mean that in a bad way. I took a quick look at a critic review, and saw it described as 3 different plots, and while that was seem as negative by the reviewer, I think rather fondly of it. This has some rather strong fanservice, but that is in the totally not sexual way at all.

"What if?" such a horrifying sentence, because it can come in a dream like scenario that ignores what was accomplished before, and yes it tells us that it is disturbing. The second is that it can be awesome, magical girl hybrids are awesome with Sayaka/Octavia and Nagisa/Bebe/Charlotte. Hey I happen to really like Charlotte so her large role in the movie is pretty awesome.

And third it can kind of blow my mind. Really the main series finished on such a hopeful note that when the idea of where there is hope there is equal despair returns, it shocks you. Is this the end, or was it the balance that was truly required with what was accomplished. Madoka was a magical girl born from a power that tied timelines together, but what did that make Homura who was a magical girl who already defied the rules of time and space? Was this a downer ending? I can't tell, Homura pretty much becomes the devil, the piece of the goddess her prisoner. Although there are things mentioned earlier the incubators intended to mess with her, and maybe an equal darkness was needed to protect the light.

It was love, I could see that coming, and although appeared as good, it was also scary. I still don't know what to really think here, maybe people think that is a cop out, I think I will give this a Masterpiece rating. Even when you think it is lulling, it is all very deliberate. With the past season has been some Monogatari, and these similar equal dark, hopeful, and deep themes are really a common theme. Funnily enough the extras included chibi like shorts of Monogatari characters, the best being the first which was done by Ougi, that surrealism is a real treat with both these series.
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Juno016



Joined: 09 Jan 2012
Posts: 2377
PostPosted: Mon Dec 21, 2015 3:29 pm Reply with quote
Rebellion was a very deliberately dynamic film meant to truly change how you viewed the series as a whole without straying too far from the storytelling that made the series popular in the first place. I'm a fan of the film, but I don't blame people who found it a whiplash of disappointment or anger. It's polarized for a reason, and it was obvious the creators knew this would happen. To me, that's pretty neat. To some people, that more or less adds fuel to the fire. Anime hyper

I'm curious how the next iteration of the series will play out, now that we know it is in development for sure. Rebellion does have a pretty solid conclusion, but there are too many hints of it not being the end added in that I think a lot of us, satisfied or not with Rebellion's conclusion, suspected it wouldn't end there anyway.

Also, to add to the discussion and interest people who may be unaware, the Wraith arc manga by Hanokage is playing out with some unexpected twists, as well as some metaphysical clarification on the series that I'm pretty sure is canon (otherwise, it'd be over-stepping its own boundaries as a spin-off, which is something Hanokage went to great lengths to avoid doing in The Different Story). Urobuchi and the Madoka staff in general probably had some input. Here's what we've learned thus far in it (manga spoilers):

Wraiths:
spoiler[--The wraiths we see in the anime aren't the only wraiths out there. The ones we saw are common fodder, but it seems there are others that differ in appearance, depending on their level or strength.
--Wraiths suck emotional energy from people. For magical girls, this can basically mean death if too much is stolen, since magical girls' magical capacity is often dependent on their emotional stability.
--If a magical girl does get her emotional energy sucked out, she can seemingly lose the ability to transform or, in less severe cases, lose their ability to use some of their magic or summon some weapons. This magic must be replenished gradually by the magical girl herself through unknown methods, likely involving their will. It will not just return upon the defeat of the wraith.
--It's not clear, but there are hints that the wraiths have some sort of objective they are working toward. They may have intelligence or can work under something more intelligent than them. Either that, or their actions in this manga are based on some sort of unexplained instinct.]


Homura and the new world:
spoiler[--While it is unsure if the post-Madoka's wish world came into existence at the point Homura entered it, Homura has no memories of the new world upon entering it. She retains all the memories of the old world instead.
--Supported by both Rebellion and the original show's script, Homura has indeed lost her time-manipulation ability in the new world. It's not clarified if the magic is gone for good (until it comes back in Homura's hypothetical soul gem world in Rebellion) or just laying dormant again, but it has been replaced by...
--Memory manipulation magic, Homura's new magical ability. She doesn't use it and doesn't understand it that well, but she knows she has it. This means she had the ability to manipulate memories before she started doing it as a pseudo-witch in Rebellion.]


Misc. info:
spoiler[--Sayaka didn't defeat the wraith she disappeared trying to fight. She lost to it and used the rest of her power to eliminate the lackeys that were overpowering the group together.
--This super powerful wraith steals Homura's ribbons from her and steals some of her magic, causing her to lose her bow and arrow offensive magic, though she retains her secret memory manipulation magic.
--Mami's parents come back from the dead, though this is heavily hinted as a trick by the wraiths.
--Sayaka also comes back, and there are some hints that she, too, is a trick by the wraiths... but she acts convincingly real. She could actually be the real Sayaka sent back to earth (beginning her involvement in Rebellion) or, speculatively, there could be both a fake Sayaka and the real Sayaka on earth at the same time.]


Neat stuff, I'd say.
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DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15433
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Mon Dec 21, 2015 6:16 pm Reply with quote
I just wanted to add that a few hours later, it is certain powerful scenes that really stick to you. One from the original series that has always done it is the whole Charlotte scene, the land of cheery sweets where Mami shows off her power but then lets her guard down.

That scene was beautifully echoed in Rebellion with the spoiler[Cake Song]. Looking at both scenes, they share a strong connection where the it is like Charlotte's theme, It feels sweet on the outside, but kind of sickeningly so. The words in charlotte's theme translate to "where is the cheese?", which makes such an emphasis on Mami saying that she is the cheese, showing that the dark undertones really are not gone. More than that the song actually has one huge piece of foreshadowing, Madoka says she is the spoiler[melon, and when it breaks it creates sweet dreams.] And in general was Homura saying she was the spoiler[pumpkin] one big piece of foreshadowing too? spoiler[Pumpkins and witches] do after all hold a connection in pop culture.
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