Warning: The following post may contain material that may be considered spoilers for the anime Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica. The opinions and views expressed here are just that, opinions. If you have not seen the anime, now is a perfect time to stop reading this post and go watch unless you have no inclination to see it. Otherwise, enjoy the rest of this post.

Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, there really isn’t any way to talk about Madoka without revealing some spoilers that can effectively ruin the suspense aspect of the show. Even attempting to give a description can reveal too much of the story and give you a bias before even seeing the show.
Granted it came out during a season where the quality of shows being presented was not what is has been in previous seasons. And the added bonus of a natural disaster didn’t help it any either as most shows were postponed or even outright cancelled (such as this show) following the disaster that befell Japan.

It has taken me a while to watch because of a number of factors. I just recently decided to marathon the series and although I am happy I got through it, I did feel like I was enduing some kind of torture going through it. I’ll say it outright: Madoka is not to my taste. And although I do appreciate the effort put into it, I don’t foresee myself watching this series again in the future. Typically, series that make me rewatch are those in which a lot happens and I need to take a step back and rewatch to catch any missing details. Unfortunately for this particular series, all the details were laid bare and everything is explained to the audience. I will be outlining a few things about the show that I thought were interesting, and the associated reactions to those things.

One of those is the outright mood of the story. It is a dark tale. This isn’t your average magical girl show where the heroine gains magical powers and can do whatever she can/wants without consequences. The overall premise of the show, “cause and effect”, is one that is often overlooked and this show brings it face forward. How many of us in our lives have ever wanted to have powers that defy human understanding? Have we ever thought how they would affect others? What about the consequences of losing? What if self-confidence and pride are just not enough to overcome the obstacle in front of you? What happens then?

Madoka also brings to light the things that we as humans know to be true, but often lie to ourselves about. The character of Kyubey perfectly outlines what the cold calculating world is really like. It does not understand concepts of right or wrong, and it is not a fault of the character that we place our own emphasis on our emotional attachment to things. He even outright says that humans are strange creatures in that respect. Many have called him evil because he may have been perceived to have been deceptive in getting the girls to become Magical Girls, but he does say something that later reveals the truth of the matter: if you don’t ask, I won’t tell you. He lets them know the consequences of their actions and also the fundamental law of the universe: for every action, there is an opposite reaction. For every decision taken, there will be a consequence. The characters and the audience illogically get angry at Kyubey for what seems like deception, but again, the character has no concept of deception, which is heavily rooted in emotion, which confuses Kyubey to no end.

The concept that you can do anything you want without a care in the world is thrown back at the character’s faces with violent consequences. The deaths of the characters at first seem unfortunate, but as the series progresses, you realize it is inevitable. Well, not so much inevitable, in as much as already ordained. The characters also come to a realization of what they really are after one character performs an act that sadly makes matters much worse in the long run. In an attempt to save one person, many are affected, and that is exactly the point of the story. Is there really something that you wish for that you would be willing to sacrifice your life in order to obtain? Can you live with the consequence of having affected every living creature for your own selfish desire?

Let’s take the bedridden boy in the hospital, Kyousuke Kamijou, for instance. His story is a tragic one, but not fully explained. How he got there is of no consequence, and thus no mention is made. All that matters is how he is now, and what one of the girl characters feels about it. She goes out of her way to make him, as she perceives, comfortable and happy, only to find out that she makes matters worse by giving a false hope to the boy that will never be able to play music again. She is given an opportunity to perform a miracle and believes that he will benefit from it more than she would. She in turns makes the contract to become a magical girl to cure the boy of his ailments, and he fully recovers. The end result: He doesn’t even acknowledge her and ends up in a relationship with her best friend. Some would say she should have taken the chance and confess, but he would have shunned her for it. The reason being that she would show her true self: selfishness. She realized that in pursuing him, she would be seen as a selfish person whose sole purpose for even seeing him through the hospital was not only to make herself feel better, but also as a “reward” for putting up with his tantrums. In the end she realizes that she must continue saving people in order to feel better about herself, and comes to the realization that those she are saving don’t care to be saved, and in fact may be adversely affected by being saved. As with the boy, he becomes a virtuoso and plays for a large orchestra house, but what happened to the person that was supposed to be there? What was his or her outcome? How much has the world shifted now that this boy has changed the order of things?

Another theme that is prevalent: you can’t change the past and expect a different outcome. Paradoxes, in their very nature, cannot exist. The paradox of a particular outcome being prevented in of itself causes the outcome to occur anyways, as then there would have been no reason to go back in the first place, which would have allowed the outcome to occur anyways. Attempts are made to change the fate and destinies of the characters, but in each attempt, the deaths are more gruesome, or the relationships are more splintered. In the end, the very thing that was supposed to be avoided is created, and another attempt is made. Eventually it turns on itself and, like a Mobius strip, can no longer be determined where the beginning started, and where the end will come. Even Madoka’s supposed attempt to end the infinite loop continually perpetuates the loop. The end result is a universe that is constantly looping on itself, forever locked in a struggle to reach a balance that will never come. Madoka is shown to remain immature even in her omnipotence as she believes that getting rid of the bad will only leave the good, but this begets worse to replace the last. To be able to strike a balance, you can’t have all of side A without an equal amount of side B, otherwise there is no balance. Madoka wishes to eradicate side B, but doesn’t realize that side A is just as bad. Attempting to remove the effect from the cause only causes another effect. Another loop…

The reactions that I have heard about this series bring to light another aspect of humanity: objectiveness. We get from this series what we bring to it, and when we bring our baggage along and are shown what’s in that baggage, we become despondent. The fact that people view Kyubey as an evil entity solely for revealing the truth when is asked the right questions, is something I find interesting. We all want to hear things that make us feel better about ourselves, no matter how dire the situation, or how utterly opposite the truth may be. We are a species that thrives our own emotional well-being and it is shown that when we are emotionally compromised, we no longer have the desire to continue being human. This is played out multiple times, both in the suicide attempts, and when Sayaka Miki gives up her humanity and becomes a witch. The thought of self-sacrifice for the greater good is a concept that humans have come up with. It is a noble thought that is often played out, but the results of which do not make any sort of impact in the grand scheme of things. To prevent one person from dying, you may have killed another. I’m not saying that making the attempt is not something that should not be done, as we humans define our character in how we do things, not what is done. In life, there is death, and in death, there is life. In between that is up to you how you live your life.

Now on to the aesthetics of the series. The choice of differing animation style to represent the opposing natures of the characters was both confusing as it was interesting. From a distance, the characters look whole, like what we would expect to see at a glance. But as we get into closer views of the character’s faces, we see the pencil drawing, showing that although we perceive them as complete, they are pretty much still concepts being drawn. No solid lines are really defined on the characters and that gives them the appearance they themselves are incomplete. The use of light and shadows also plays an important role as it shows the change of demeanor of the character, and the emotions drawn on the character while shown in darkness shows that in reality, the deception is being done by the character, not to them.

The use of surreal landscapes in the witch’s domains also shows the fragmented realties that often accompany those who are emotionally compromised. The indiscernible visage of the witches and the inability to really pick out what is the witch and what is nothing more than a familiar really brings home the fact that we do not understand ourselves enough to really see the other person. It is only through trial and error do we find the target, and by then, we have cause massive damage. Also, the possibility of being sucked into someone else’s fragmentation is shown when Madoka is sucked into Sayaka Miki’s domain and herself becomes almost surreal.

The eeriness of the sounds and music, none of which is cheery or upbeat, only adds to the disparity, and makes it so the viewer feels the despair as well. They want you to feel the pain and the suffering. Why? Because you stood idly by and watched it unfold and did nothing to prevent it. So as a consequence, you are given the same treatment. Some will say, “Well what could I do to prevent it? What can be done?” This is the despair that is conveyed using sight and sound. There really is nothing you can do, and you have to live with that fact.

The series is very much an attack on our inability to see beyond our emotions, and that we base our lives on how we feel rather than what needs to be done. Some have been emotionally distressed by the series darkness and others have been unaffected. There are those that feel the need to be emotional for those that cannot afford to be, and then there are those who do not want to be compromised, so they build a wall around their own emotions to prevent contamination. Overall, the series was very well thought out and made. I would recommend it to be seen at least once, if at all. The psychology involved portraying how frail our emotions are and what happens we don’t have control of them was well thought out. I do, however, see a trend where this concept is overlooked, very much like what the series is charging to being with. Maybe, in the subconscious, the details and the meaning is cleared for all to see, but if we don’t look beyond ourselves, the meaning behind it all is easy to miss.