#FIGHTING WITCHES WITH HOMU

[ramenhue88]

Something about cheese 🧀

I love the designs of witches in Madoka Magica. Gekidan Inu Curry, the designer for the witches, is a GOAT. Witches all have that paper vibe going on with them. So, let's list all the witches that appeared in the anime so that you can see what I mean by, "Paper Vibe™" (Also note I'm going by the wiki) + Gertrud

+ H.N Elly (Kirsten)

(Side note for Elly is that we actually see her 2 different forms [Should I call it forms? Idk]. The picture above is when Sayaka killed her and the other one is when she's inside the television. Also, the picture above only shows up for about a second.)

+ Gisela

+ Elsa Maria (Poor her, got murdered by Sayaka)

+ Oktavia von Seckendorff (Seyiku.....)

+ Izabel

+ And of course, Walpurgis!

But wait a minute.... I feel like I'm forgetting someone.... OH RIGHT! + Charlotte!!

[Steppy steppy Homu] See those images? Now those are the #PaperVibes™ I'm looking for! Well except for Walpurgis who has 3D cog wheels instead of a paper vibe™. All witches look like this paper vibe™ but for the one I almost forgot; Charlotte, why is she the only exception to this rule? She's entirely animated like everyone else in the series. No other witch is drawn like this. She's the only exception when it comes to this rule. Well, the only NORMAL witch that is exempt from this rule. Ultimate Madoka's "witch" also doesn't follow the paper vibe™.

It's more drawn than paper bashed. And that's ok since Madoka is the most powerful magical girl thus making this one, the most powerful witch. So of course, it's gonna break the rules, same with Walpurgis. It's also drawn with its difference having 3D rendered cog wheels.

So why does a normal witch get the animated treatment? By Goddess Madoka, EVEN HOMURA has the paper bashed witch.

(Thank God Homura got the paper bashed witch treatment, I am gonna throw hands if she didn't. Look how beautiful that is...)

So why in Goddess Madoka's name does Bebe get the animated treatment, when we consider her, a normal witch? We can chalk this up to the animation team just wanting Bebe to stand out from the rest (Because she's the witch for the #IconicSceneAlert) and nothing more. Buuuuut... That's boring. So let me try to reason out why Bebe looks different from every other witch.

[Let me yoink this witch]

Ok, so about Bebe.... Well, what about her? We have nothing to go on if we're only talking about the main series. We don't know anything about her apart from her personality and design. Her wish? Nothing. Her past? Nothing. So how do we talk about someone who doesn't have anything? Well, we go to another universe silly! Magia!~ Record!~ (Cue the SONG)

Not that universe but another another one!

There we go. MAGIA~! RECORD~! (NOW cue the SONG) The game one.

In Magia Record they expanded much more on Nagisa, giving her an event titled: Nagisa's Wish! (If you want to watch it)

(Me and Nagisa have the same reaction after finding out the event is literally named Nagisa's Wish)

So, let's go back to her witch appearance for a moment. In Magia Record you fight her and EVEN in this game, they decide to make Charlotte look "normal".

Most, if not all, witches still look papery even in the game. I say most and not all because of the NA shutdown and I have no idea of anything past Arc 1 Magia Record (I'm still finding free time to catch up to Arc 2). Doppels and Rumours ALSO follow the papery rule.

There is one exception to Bebe's appearance and that is Nagisa's doppel.

[Now that's the papery vibe™ I'm looking for!]

So why does Bebe have a different art style than ALL of the other witches? Let's go to her MGS in Magia Record (Metal Gear Solid!? No, Magical Girl Story)

So, in her MGS we see that she's being followed by a Pink Kyubey which we can safely assume is Goddess Madoka. Why can we assume that? First, her transformation (when you get her in the gacha). It starts with the symbol of the law of cycles.

Second, it's literally Goddess Madoka pulling for her in her transformation.

[Go get that 5-star girl]

She's also putting make-up on Nagisa and making her look human.

Well not literally making her look human. You can read this as Goddess Madoka, preparing her to blend in because you know. She's half magical girl half witch already at this point. So of course, you gotta blend her in. So, we've made it clear that the Pink Kyubey is Goddess Madoka, watching Nagisa from afar. How important is Nagisa that THE Goddess Madoka, THE concept would get you to do work for her instead of another magical girl. Well firstly, she can't choose any of the 5, because Goddess Madoka is essentially killing the Magia Record version of them by putting another version in their body. Nagisa is the closest choice for Goddess Madoka because.... Because.....

[LMAOOOOO I HAVE NO IDEA WHY. SAME MAMI, SAME. Look I get that Bebe is the closest to them because she killed Mami?? I mean you could say that to Gertrud, Esla Maria, Gisella. Every other witch could have fit the Bebe position. But I'm not complaining that they used Nagisa btw.]

But this does bring up the fact that Nagisa is special in one way or another.

Ehemm... Back to the topic at hand.

So why does Bebe have a different art style than all the other witches. One theory I have is that Charlotte, the witch, has more control over their witch body compared to other magical girls. Like she's more accepting of what happened to her compared to other magical girls. She succumbed to despair, just like any other magical girl. But unlike the others, she chose to bathe in despair. Enjoy it.

[From Magia Record - Nagisa's Wish]

Other magical girls wallowed and grieved in despair. Not Nagisa no. She accepted this despair because there was nothing more she can do, there was nowhere for her to go anymore. She lost everything. So, when she became a witch, she was more in tune with it. She was more welcoming of her faith than other magical girls. (Ehem Homura, ehem...) Can you blame her though?

If everything in your life went wrong and then suddenly for a moment. Everything went your way. Would you not want to stay in that moment forever?

In her witch labyrinth she could eat all the cheese she wants.

For her, cheese was equivalent to her mother's love.

I mean, her mother loved cheese.

She on the other hand, didn't. After becoming a witch, she began to see cheese as a symbol of her mother. She loved chasing cheese; she loved eating cheese.

For her, chasing cheese began to symbolize her wanting to get her mother's love. That is why she's so obsessed with it. All she wanted was to go home with her mother.

Her life was a tragedy and she saved herself from it. By ending her tragedy of a life, she began a new and better life.

She could eat all the cheese she wants.

She could have all the snacks she wants.

She could choose from the varieties of cheese in the room!

This is the HapPiEst she has ever been!

Why would she deny herself this happiness?

The princess has finally found a place where she can happy! The End

Bonus!! So, while I was looking for a screenshot for the end of my post. I saw this happy Nagisa. And I thought to myself... "Wait a minutos, why is she happy? Shouldn't she have memories of everything that happened?" Well, for a fact she does. I mean, Sayaka remembers everything, she just forgot because Homura made her forget. Homura didn't do it to Nagisa. So, it's safe to assume she does remember. So, she's happy because Homura won? Not exactly. In rebellion the scene with Sayaka and Kyoko where she interrupted them, she said.

So, if we go by what she said. We can assume she doesn't care about the Rebellion event. She's just happy that she gets to exist again. Back in 2015, the Madoka concept trailer.

The happiness Nagisa wants is not in Heaven. It doesn't exist there. So, when Homura to dragged Madoka down, she destroyed Madoka's "Heaven" where Nagisa lives. She now lives in reality again. Where she can eat cheese again and experience all the things she never got to experience. So, for her, what Homura did is something that actually goes for her favor. We love a selfish cheese loving character.

[clarafell]

❝ It is a condition of monsters that they do not perceive themselves as such. ❞ (hey what if... witch/doppel robin vs homu)

DAUGHTER OF SMOKE & BONE STARTERS :  Accepting!

@wolfvirago

❝ I... I know what real monsters look like. You aren't one of them! ❞  Homura dodged yet another attack, noting how much slower she has become. She knew she should be using her shield, but she refuses to allow this scenario to become a fight. She should be aiming her gun straight at the witch⏤ Her mind screams that she should fight, fight, fight⏤ But Robin isn't a witch.

She only looks as terrifying as a real witch...

But Homura can still see Robin's hanging body.

Strange things happen in Kamihama City. She has kept up the routine of journaling in this timeline like all the previous times, but she notices that her journaling has increased tenfold since entering Kamihama City. She's kept her journals safe and sound within the depths of her shield to keep as much memories as possible alive, not forgotten. To remind herself of all the moments, both good and bad. Part of her longed to share the good moments with everyone once they finally defeat Walpurgisnacht for good. They won't remember any of these precious moments, but it still sounded like a nice thing to do⏤

But Homura can't do that without Robin.

Robin may see herself as a new person to their group, but Homura didn't see her that way. No, she knew Robin. She also knew that what she was seeing isn't precisely a Witch. What is happening right now is the result of a Doppel. The other side of the same coin. The Doppel system seems a lot more fair until you realize that relying too much on such a system can do damage.

But what Homura does know is that Doppels could be exhausted once they are finished with their violent tantrums. The Doppel takes over, edging closer to their darker fate... But the good thing is that the Doppel will eventually let go and crawl back away. All Homura had to do is keep up for as long as she can until she can finally reach to Robin. It's why she didn't have the heart to attack her. Robin can keep lashing out for as long as she wants, but Homura is ready to keep up the pace of dodging her attacks.

❝ You are not becoming a witch. No one within Kamihama City can turn into those monsters... Please, try to calm down! ❞ Did Robin know about the Doppel system yet? She couldn't tell, but she hopes that she can still try to get her to listen. All she knew is that she had to keep moving. She has already forced her gun back into her shield before her instincts to pull the trigger kicks in by accident. She lifts up her shield, preparing herself to block yet another blow.

❝ We have a real chance to change our fates in Kamihama City now, but I refuse to take another step unless you're right by my side again. By our side. I know you want to give up, but I refuse to give up on you! ❞

[dreamerwitches]

I love Iceberg memes so I decided to do my own for Madoka Magica~

Some of the rankings may be a little off cause I struggled with the order, and some may be biased towards my own knowledge

If you have anything good to add, please say! ^^

Right-o, we’re gonna do explanations under the cut so here we go!

Sky:

God and the Devil: This applies to Ultimate Madoka and Devil Homura and how they take on roles similar to God and The Devil/Lucifer from Christianity. Madoka’s all knowing, loving and seeing power as a concept mirrors the belief of God and Homura’s rebellion against Madoka and becoming a power of her own shares similarities to the Devil.

Magi become Witches: Shown officially in Episode 9. Magical girls become witches when they fall into despair. Every witch the magical girls fight once was a girl just like them.

Homura’s nicknames: Homura has many funny fan names based on her name such as HomuHomu, Homerun-chan and just Homu. The Homu nickname also appears in her Witch form, Homulilly (from Homu and red spider lily)

Episode 3: The episode where everything turns and its no longer a cutesy magical girl anime. Mami is brutally killed by a witch showing the other girls the reality of becoming a magical girl.

Sayaka has to die: Slightly explained by Madoka in episode 12. If Sayaka hadn’t wished to heal Kyosuke’s hand then he would never be able to play again. It was truly Sayaka’s one want so she always contracts in every timeline to have this wish granted. However, since Kyosuke is a dumb airhead (a-ah i mean... a bit clueless), Sayaka never gets the appreciation (or boyfriend) that she wants, meaning she always turns into a witch and dies. This is why Sayaka is not reborn in episode 12 like Homura, Mami and Kyoko.

Familiars grow into witches: Explained by Kyoko in the series and confirmed outside the series as well. Familiars can split off from their witch and grow into their respective witch, thus, you can let one eat humans and grow into a witch, giving yourself a grief seed. The Dengeki Playstation magazine suggests that Albertine from the Madoka Magica Portable PSP game came from the Anja from Episode 4.

Episode 12 magi: This refers to the magical girls Madoka is seen saving in episode 12. There are famous women as magical girls as well as unique girls. Some of these include Queen Himiko, Cleopatra, a viking girl and Joan of Arc. Aside from some Magia Record cameos and Joan of Arc’s own spin off, Tart Magica, these girls have not appeared since.

Mami and Bebe: In Rebellion, Mami lives with Charlotte (a disguised Nagisa Momoe, Charlotte’s magical girl). Charlotte is renamed Bebe since none of the magical girls actually know her name. Their names together may be a play on words of ‘Mommy and Baby’ (Mami and Bebe)

Homura steals from mafia: In episode 10, it is revealed that Homura steals her guns and various firearms that she uses throughout the series from mafia bases and government facilities.

Kyubey is evil: An interesting topic. The simple answer is yes because they simply desire to use humans to create energy to prolong the life of the universe. Becoming a magical girl and becoming a witch create great amounts of energy for Kyubey’s race. Since they lack emotions to feel sadness for the ‘small amount’ of deaths they cause, they think what they are doing is good since their efforts will keep the universe living longer. However, to humans, they are evil as their wish is to kill girls for their own gain.

Prior lives of witches: A link to ‘magi become witches’. There is much speculation about who the witches magical girls where. Charlotte’s magical girl was revealed to be Nagisa Momoe - a Rebellion movie inclusion - and Uhrmann’s magical girl has simply been named in Magia Record as Inui Itsumi. Only the witches appearances, labyrinths and descriptions can really hint at who they once were.

Tip:

Amy: Amy is a cat that cameos many times in the Madoka series. She first appears in the anime opening where Madoka holds her. She is perhaps a red herring as to make the viewer think lightly of the series before watching. In some timelines, Madoka’s wish was to save Amy after she was hit by a car. She is also named after Madoka’s voice actor’s own cat.

Mirror Witch name: A recent discovery. The Mirror Witch from Magia Record was an elusive witch until her name was given not long ago as Sarah Mirabilis W. There are many ideas of where her name came from such as ‘Spira mirabilis’, a logarithmic spiral, ‘Mirabilis’ a latin name for different organisms, or ‘Sarah L Winchester’ a woman who made a confusing and maze-like house, similar to the witch.

Almost 100 loops: When asked about how many time loops Homura has gone through, the answer from a Q&A panel was ‘approaching 100′ meaning Homura has lived the same month almost 100 times to save Madoka.

Witch of Despair and Salvation: Also known as Kriemhild Gretchen, Madoka’s witch. The Witch of Salvation appears in episode 10 whereas the Witch of Despair appears in episode 12. Episode 12 Kriemhild is born from Madoka’s final wish as Ultimate Madoka. Despite both being Madoka’s witch, it has never been confirmed that they are the same witch or have the same name.

Drug Dog Reinforcement: The game Kyoko plays in the series, rebellion and in her Magia Record transformation. It stars the Inu Daruma brothers, more creatures designed by Gekidan Inu Curry. Their ‘witch card’ can be seen as a cameo on the witch cards section of the official website however they are not witches.

Concept Movie: A movie that isn’t really a movie. Only a trailer has ever been released and not even properly publicly. It seemed to be a sequel to rebellion that featured Mami as a main character. New magical girls could be seen in the trailer. The trailer was released at the Madogatari event in 2015 and it is unknown whether the project was scrapped or if it really is the new movie coming soon.

Movie & Blue-ray changes: The Blu-ray and Movie releases of the series and movies bear differences from original TV and cinema broadcasts. Some changes are Charlotte’s appearance (from pink cheeks and black eyes to yellow cheeks and blue eyes), the ‘girls cant love girls’ line and basic edits such as quality and incorrect lines.

Guitarist Kyosuke: In the timeline known as timeline 3 from episode 10, a different Oktavia appears. She has a different colour scheme as well as a more rock theme instead of the other Oktavia’s more classical theme. Notes from the Production Note say that this Oktavia is from when Kyosuke was a guitarist instead of a violinist.

Portable Witches: The game, Madoka Magica Portable for the PSP introduced a lot of witches absent from the anime. These include witches for Mami, Kyoko and Homura as well as new or mentioned but unseen witches. Albertine, Itzli, Quitterie, Motorbike Gisela, Candeloro and Ophelia (Mami and Kyoko’s witches) are new witches that can be fought.

Portable Homulilly: Linking to the Portable Witches point. Homura’s witch, Homulilly can first be seen in Portable. She can only be seen if Homura loses against Walpurgisnacht where the end screen will be different. Homura will give up hope and the game over will have the image of her witch, Homulilly. This Homulilly is different to the Homulilly that appears in the Rebellion Story. This is probably because the circumstances of the movie caused her to change appearance.

Pseudo Witches: Special witches from the manga spin off, Kazumi Magica. They are witches born from normal women using an ‘evil nut’. The nut is embedded into the head and the person becomes a witch. Unlike regular witches, these woman can be saved as they detach from the witch once defeated.

Shallows:

Questionable Rabi: A character from the Magia Record phone game, Rabi Himuro has a magical girl outfit that vaguely resembles traditional Native American clothing. However, her nationality is never stated so it may be culturally insensitive for her to wear such a thing.

Mobage: An old phone game called Madoka Magica Mobage, released in 2011. It featured unique stories including one for Homura and Sayaka individually, though it had a very simple style and seems primitive now. It also featured unique witches and magical girls that have not appeared in media since.

Charlotte pronunciation: Charlotte’s name is described as being pronounced the German way as ‘shar-lot-ah’. She is the only witch whose name’s pronunciation has been described.

Homura’s age: A link to the ‘over 100 loops’ point. If Homura has relived the same month almost 100 times, then that means she has still aged over that time. The calculations reveal she would have ages by 12 years, making her 26. Despite this, there are points to say that she hasn’t aged at all and she simply ages with memories and experiences.

Episode 3 Suleika: In episode 3 of the anime, Mami fights Suleika’s familiar, Ulla. Initially, she was meant to fight the witch Suleika however the fight was cut down for time convenience for the episode as a whole.

Small Candeloro: Mami’s witch, Candeloro appears as very small during her fight in Portable. Her doppel is also one of the smallest in Magia Record. Her bio from the Madogatari event actually reveals that she’s so small that she fits in a teacup.

Witch of Cheesecake: A very early version of Charlotte. Their wish is the same as Nagisa’s however. The early witch’s space was inspiration for Charlotte’s labyrinth as well as Anja’s. The early familiars resemble mice more-so than the final Pyotr who are a lot more cartoony.

Du Polignac Colours: Early screenshots of Candeloro’s familiars, Du Polignac, from gaming magazines show them with colours more like the magical girls they are based on. The Madoka familiar would wear all pink with yellow ribbons and the Kyoko familiar would wear all red with yellow-orange ribbons. The final designs have a dark blue dress and red ribbons for Madoka and a dark teal dress and light orange ribbons for Kyoko.

Manga differences: The manga versions of the original anime series and rebellion feature many differences. These include different story aspects or additions, witch designs and overall pacing (since the medium of anime and manga are very different). The reason this is is actually because the manga were written alongside the anime and movie. They both used the same production notes, but would stray away from them in their own ways.

Human-witch Isabeau: Isabeau is the main villain of the manga spin-off Tart Magica. She was once a magical girl but now, despite taking on the appearance of a human, is a witch. Once she turned into a witch from a regular magical girl, her adopted daughter, Lapin, wished for her to return to how she was. She lost her witch form and became human. However her witch desired to destroy all of France and she kept this desire because the witch process can’t be truly reversed in this story.

Charlotte is the doll: Its a common theory that Charlotte’s true form was the doll that sat opposite to her in her labyrinth. This is because her second form finally is defeated after Homura lands on the doll, squishing it. Despite this, it has been proven as false in an official magazine interview.

Madoka in Oriko death: In the spin-off manga Oriko Magica, the main character, Oriko Mikuni, is capable of seeing into the future. With this ability, she realises Madoka will become Kriemhild Gretchen and destroy the world so she must stop that. In the end, after realising Homura’s intent to protect Madoka. Oriko decides to kill Madoka. In a shocking twist, Oriko is able to kill Madoka as she dies herself, fulfilling her desires but also making Homura simply reset the timeline.

Inu Curry Doppels: In early screenshots and art of the phone game Magia Record, the doppels of Iroha, Yachiyo, Madoka and Mami are shown to be drawn fully in an Inu Curry style instead of using their usual game sprites. In the end, only the witch part of the doppel use this style. The use of the magical girls’ usual sprites instead is most likely for speed and ease.

Kenji Miyazawa: A japanese novelist and poet. Many aspects of Magia Record are inspired by his work such as doppels and story aspects. More about it here

Deep waters:

HIV Alina: Alina’s doppel, Old Dorothy, used to show the image of the HIV virus’ anatomy on it. Her doppel currently uses a non specific design instead. The reason for the change of this is unknown.

Love has yet to arrive: In Rebellion, Homulilly has a set of 15 familiars called the Clara Dolls. All but one appear in the movie. The last Clara doll is called Ai, Love, and it is stated that Ai is nowhere to be seen. It is hinted at throughout the film that Homura is actually Ai and they even share the same black dress. The runes on Ai’s doll packaging say ‘being alone suits her well’

Madogatari Event: An event from 2015 where the concept movie was shown as well as an exhibition showing off Studio SHAFT anime concept art, production drawings and more. Quite a few pieces of concept art of witches were shown that had never been seen before leading to some new discoveries.

Unused Du Polignac: Linked to the last point, Madogatari Event, in that event, all of Candeloro’s familiars were shown. Candeloro’s minions, Du Polignac, are based of Mami’s (the witch’s magical girl) friends. Only Kyoko and Madoka versions were shown in the game Candeloro debuted in, Portable, but designs for both Homuras, Sayaka and Hitomi were shown at this event - albeit in a low quality.

Train passengers are dead: In Episode 8 of the anime, Sayaka overhears two men on a train bad mouthing their girlfriends. At this time, Sayaka is in a terrible emotional state as she’s about to fall into despair and become a witch. She interrupts the men and transforms in front of them. The fate of the men is never shown however, the manga adaptation strongly hints that Sayaka murdered them as blood can be seen dripping from her sword afterwards. It was confirmed by the manga author that they were killed however an animator, Akiyuki Shinbo has stated than in the anime, they are still alive.

Rumor Tsuruno ep 20: A recent point. In Episode 20 of the Magia Record anime, Yachiyo attempts to save a Rumour controlled Tsuruno by using the skill Connect with her. This will save her from the Rumour as long as Yachiyo really understands Tsuruno. Yachiyo fails however and this causes dire consequences for Tsuruno. Every bone in her body breaks yet since a magical girl lives by their Soul and not their body, she can still move. With blood everywhere and Tsuruno twisting her skin in unnatural directions, she screams that she’s the strongest.

Niko’s Past: In the spin-off manga, Kazumi Magica, there is a character called Niko Kanna. It is revealed in the story that her wish was to create a clone with a happy life and no memory of her past. This is because when she was younger she accidentally killed two of her friends while playing with her father’s gun. Her witch Weiße Königin links to this theme as she is a shooting target.

Sudachi’s Wish: Sudachi is a character from the Magia Record phone game. At her school, a former student came in with a knife and gun, threatening the class. Before they left, they forced the class to choose a hostage to take with him. Because Sudachi was a loner with no friends, the whole class chose her to go. Sudachi makes her wish now, fuelled by anger, she wishes ‘help only me’. This causes the attacker to feel apathetic towards Sudachi and spares her, yet kills everyone else in the room.

Miscarriage Livia: Livia is a character from the Magia Record phone game, and one of the few adults. There are links and themes in her Doppel and Memoria that she may have suffered a miscarriage. Her doppel resembles a uterus and its name refers to a fetus. Her personal memoria speaks of a marriage that was ruined by a certain event.

Nagisa’s meaning of her wish: Nagisa’s event story in the game Magia Record tells of the time before she became a magical girl. The story shows how Nagisa leads a sad life with an absent father and an abusive mother. Her mother is in the hospital because of an illness and Kyubey is bugging her to make a contract. In the hospital, Nagisa’s mother says to Nagisa that the reason she is ill is because Nagisa was born. Nagisa then wishes for a cheesecake for her mother. Instead of wishing to heal her mother, she chooses something else just to spite her for treating her so poorly.

Different Story Mami death: The spin-off manga The Different Story, tells of a story revolving around Mami and Kyoko. Throughout the story, it is revealed how scared and alone Mami is. Near the end, Mami breaks down in front of Madoka, saying how she regrets her wish not to save her parents and wishes she wasn’t a magical girl. Madoka comforts Mami, saying she will become a magical girl and defeat Walpurgisnacht. During the fight scene, a brief image is shown of Mami in her apartment, laying on the ground and smiling. The ribbon of a previously deceased Kyoko is in her hand and her Soul Gem shattered as she chose to take her own life.

Lisa: In the Rebellion Story movie, giant blimps are shown around the city. Although never stated in most official media, these creatures are actually Homulilly’s familiars, Lisa. They are not included in the book Witches Artwork that shows all witches and familiars from the movie and are only named and mentioned as familiars in the Rebellion Production Note.

Shin’s lost baby: Shin is a witch from Magia Record. Her bio describes that she has lost a baby and treats humans as her lost baby, holding them tight to never lose them again. The thought of the witch’s magical girl being someone who perhaps wished something about a baby is a dark thought. Perhaps the girl lost or killed a baby in her previous life, or even wished for one to die and be lost forever.

Depths:

Concept Movie Sayaka’s bones: From the small art we saw from the Concept Movie, one piece is of Sayaka in a golden mask, seemingly sealed away. At first glance, her arms seem to be outstretched and her cloak covering it. However, there are adornments hanging from the cloak. These are bones, her own bones, detached so there was no way she could fight back.

Kyosuke suicide: In Sayaka’s route of Portable, Sayaka visits Kyosuke one day but finds he isn’t there. Kyubey has been bugging her to make a contract and suggests that Kyosuke might choose to die because many talented artists have killed themselves when they can’t improve their work or carry on. Sayaka denies that Kyosuke but finds him on the hospital roof, preparing to jump off. Sayaka stops him and wishes to heal his arm, becoming a magical girl.

Itzli’s clovers: In SLOT Puella Magi Madoka Magica 2, Kyubey explains Itzli to Homura. They mention how strange the witch is and one point they say is that Itzli can watch anything through any clover in the world. She is able to watch Homura over every timeline and perhaps learn from her. Clovers appear in her witch kiss and on her design.

Sayaka rotting: Another point from Sayaka’s route in Portable. Because she finds herself weak, Sayaka throws away her Soul Gem, deciding not to continue to be a magical girl. At this point she was unaware that doing so causes her to fall unconscious. Madoka and Homura search for her Soul Gem and if they can’t find it in time, Kyoko does but falls unconscious because she uses up too much energy finding it. Sayaka awakes as the Soul Gem is close enough to her and goes to see Kyosuke. At this point, Kyoko had run out of energy to keep Sayaka’s body fresh and it had begun to decay. Sayaka sees Kyosuke and is unaware of the state of her body. Kyosuke calls Sayaka a monster and she turns into a witch.

Oshiti and Suzugamori meanings: A recent witch from Magia Record is Oshiti. Her and her familiar share quite darkly themed names. Her witch type, Gokumon is the name of an execution method from Japan where the victim is beheaded and the head is gibbeted. The familiars, Suzugamori, are the name of an execution grounds where burning, crucifixions and Gokumon were carried out. Oshiti is speculated to be based off Yaoya Oshichi, a young girl who was executed quite wrongfully.

Michaela are made from humans: Izabel’s familiars, Michaela are walking pieces of art made by the witch. Their bio states that they are made of body parts. Their light beige and red colouring hint at this as well as their rigid and frantic animations that look like someone flailing in agony.

[goji-pilled]

welcome to part two of "Like a Magical Girl" where Oktavia tells her son how her wife beat her up in a fast food parking lot. or in front of one, at least.

also aint it weird that none of the civies have any clue that magic exists despite living in Mitakihara? i'unno, i think it's a bit weird.

---

"So... Mom went out of her way to bully you? How does that make you stronger?"

"Well Anthony, your mom had what she thought to be a very sound and very logical explanation for her nonsense. Remember how I said this was after Walpurgisnatch?"

"Yeah, the big nightmare Witch that was always sad! Auntie Madoka always looks sad when talkimg about her."

"Yep, that's the Witch. Well... we were pretty sloppy and let too many things get past us whenever we shouldn't have. Kyouko is... she worries, in her own way."

"Like how she taught Yuma-nee how to rough it like her? Or how she always tries to be there for Auntie Homu and Nagi-nee?"

"Exactly. In her own way, this was how she was going to take care of me, to help me and make sure nothing bad happens in the future."

"By harassing you in broad daylight?"

"... It wasn't always harassment. There was this time where-"

...

...

Oktavia von Seckemdorff was, at this exact moment, regretting all her life choices in the past four or so hours.

The Mermaid Witch had been kicked out of the Tomoe Apartment due to a series of unfortunate events that led to a (once again) destroyed kitchen and a very, very angry Mami. Oktavia knew that deep down Mami would always love her, but she knew that she often tested that devotion more than usual - she is somehow worse than Kyouko and boy does that revelation destroy her self confidence.

It was after a few hours of walking through the streets of the commercial districts that she found herself hungry for people food. The Witch made her way to the nearest fast food joint - a burger place that had the cutest smiling chibi burger as its mascot - and stood in the fairly empty burgeria. The tall girl stood still as she looked up at the menu, deciding whether or not to get the full combo or just a burger and drink, when she felt it. That menacing aura of fear-inducing dread.

"Tavi-chan~!"

"Oh god, here we go again."

Turning around Oktavia found the country outfitted Saki-chan staring right at her, a feral grin poorly holding back the fang that peaked out. The Mermaid tried to send a message out to the Red Oni but found that music invaded her mind once more. This time it was a jaunty tune that seemed to scream "I don't give a darn 'bout nothin'" which honestly fit her partner.

"What a coincidence that we happen ta run into each otha' here! Ya wanna side of Saki-chan with ya order? Or would ya like some paunch to give with yer meal?" She was doing the voice too. Just... why?

"Listen Saki-chan, it's been a bit of a rough morning for me. I'd really appreciate if we did this some other day." Honestly she was not looking forward to fighting her sparring buddy again. Last time the ludacricy of the situation left her too befuddled to stand a chance. Running on fumes after being kicked out of her home and currently trying to not go in a hangry rage? Yeah, no not putting up with this shit right now.

"Izzat so, Tavi-chan? Well, ya know what pick's me up after a god awful day?" Don't say it please don't say it. "A good ol' value meal with a fight on the side! So whaddya say,  put them up and slam yer troubles away!" Saki-chan had riased her arms to the sky, her voice picking up volume as she kept trying to instigate a fight.

"Saki-chan I really, really do not want to do this now. Could we not do whatever this is?"

"Huh?! What's this?! The Tavi-chan I know would never turn down a scuffle, maybe a kerfuffle and even a brawl, but never any roughhousin'!" Wow, Kyouko is actually getting worked up from this... Not Oktavia's problem though! "Has the great Tavi-chan became a wuss since she left home, or has she gotta to cozy in the big city!?"

... Nevermind, now her honor is on the line.

Oktavia may also kinda want to deck Kyouko in the face at the moment. Slug that stupid look off of Kyouko's stupid face.

Besides, it'd probably be better to just get this out of the way now than try to put up with this nonsense. Didn't want to cause any problems for the staff and lone customer here. Who was giving them a look for some reason... Wait, isn't that the guy from last time?

...

...

Oktavia didn't know how, but in the span of the five minutes she and Kyouko took to stretch and distance themselves, an entire crowd circled an entire arena for the two of them. The citizens of Mitakihara suddenly flooded the street and people of all ages stood around the burger place.

... Okay then. Oktavia suppossed the West were right about them being weird.

Music started to play once the two of them fell into their stances, Oktavia glancing out of her periphery to see that same dude from inside blasting his phone.

Apparantly Kyouko didn't see anything wrong with this as she took a running leap to try and drop kick Oktavia. The Mermaid reacted accordingly and grabbed onto the flying legs, clamping down onto those jean clad thighs and began to spin! The Red Oni let out a startled yelp, feeling the cold hands of her partner clasp her legs, then she let out a groan as the world blurred in front of her face.

The Mermaid let go of her opponent, the street rat returning to her roots in a pile of garbage that had been left out for the following trash day. Kyouko snapped her head to face Oktavia and launched herself back up to her feet. The redhead glanced down to the pile around her and quickly snatched up-

A very intact and very sturdy pummel bat. Who just throws away a- Focus Tavi! Think about how weird your city is later! Kick Kyouko's ass right now!

Oktavia focused on evading the wide strikes Kyouko swung at her, the short range and little weight disorienting the Lancer too much for the weapon to actually be useful. Perfect.

The Crimson Lancer attempted to swing down the bat on the Witch's head but Oktavia took the moment slam the palm of her hand into the barrel of the weapon. The sudden knockback caused the bat to slam inbetween Kyouko's eyes, her grip lost at the suddeness of the betrayal of her weapon. The bat flew in the air for a moment before Oktavia caught it mid-air, without ever looking at the bat like a badass.

Cheering roared around them an- Oh yeah, there was an audience to their melee. Someone whistled out to them and tossed something into the ring. Oktavia didn't attempt to catch the object but she wished she had when Kyouko caught.

The Red Oni was now holding a very long pole arm in her hands, almost exactly the same length as her signature spear.

Well, thanfully Oktavia wouldn't have to worry about any dismemberment or new lacerations today. She rose to her old Mahou Shoujo stance just as Kyouko did with her weapon. The two of them locked eyes and launched themselves at the other.

Oktavia swung the bat in her hands like one of her own cutlasses, parrying strikes and thrusts from her opponent's pole. Their blocks and parries launched themselves further back and higher in the air than any normal person should've been able to. They were... They were using their magic in this spar! In front of an enitre crowd of civilians!

But... even though they were doing this... even if they would expose their hidden society of Mahou Shoujo and Witches... Oktavia couldn't find herself caring. She found herself lost in her opponent's eyes, lost in their violent dance as the pop music faded away and was replaced with a symphany in her head.

Alas, all things must come to an end. As Oktavia lost herself to the flow of battle - something to bring up with Charlotte, another day for Witch-ism discussion - she grew sloppy and left herself open for a blow to the chest. Kyouko thrust her pole right into the space where Oktavia's heart would be and blasted her back, the Mermaid flopping on her back as the wind was blown from her sails once more.

"Ha... Ha ha, ha! Now that's what I call a satisfying luncheon! Come on, Tavi-chan, get back up! Let me treat ya to a value meal, fer showin' me that ya ain't goin' all soft yet!" Kyouko lowered a hand down to Oktavia, sending down a smirk to the fallen opponent. The crowd slowly disperses into the city, letting out cheers and applause for the show they bore witness to.

Oktavia reaches out and grabs onto her partner's hand, her face morphing into a loopy smile as her previous frustrations faded away. The melody continued to play in her heart, the last of the adrenaline fading away as Kyouko lifted her off the ground. The Crimson Lancer had done what she does best and turned Oktavia's bad mood into an enjoyable one. These little shenanigans of hers... Even if Oktavia doesn't find out the whole truth to these sudden moments, she wouldn't mind experiencing them ever so often.

Wait a second...

"Uh... Saki-chan, can you afford to treat us both?"

"Wha- Whatta ya sayin' Tavi-chan!? That I'm too poor for ya city folk?! Ya tryin' ta stir shit up again?!"

Ugh, nevermind. The sooner this ends the better.

She'd miss those moments between them though, in their battles...

---

Mata ne, Tavi-chan~!

i love the idea that deep down Oktavia/Sayaka really wants to let loose and beat the shit outta everyone and get into fights 24/7. and she feels some sense of euphoria whenever she's in a battle against other MGs or Witches and Familiars.

this was also lowkey how these two dorks flirt and say "I love you" to each other. tune in next time where Saki-chan climbs outta a man hole or jumps off a building. See y'all~!

／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼

Honestly you're not even wrong, Sayaka "I'm gonna punch her" Miki as a witch is honestly no better in that regard 💀💀💀

[automatic-purification-system]

Hopes/Wishes for Magia Record season 2

(spoilers for all of season 1 and arc 1 of the game)

Uwasa Tsuruno to be just as awesome and terrifying as she deserves

More doppels

more holy mami

I think it’d be cool if they started season 2 like the game, with Homura, Madoka and Mami fighting the clothesline witch. it’d be a good way to tie it back to both the original anime and the game

following that, they could do a quick recap of the “another story” version of events, or what the holy quintet were doing all this time before catching up with the present

Sayaka and Yachiyo interactions

Homu homu

Kuroe as main character plz

Hotel Fenthope!!!!!

Bring Sana and Felicia back to the side of good more convincingly than just “mifuyu did a thing”

and make Mifuyu less wishy-washy. like I know that’s a big part of her character, that she can’t bring herself to decide to either condemn or go along with the magius completely, but the anime’s been making her much more sure of herself so I hope that translates over, at least a little bit

Holy Alina!

Eve!

WALLY!

fix the plothole from ep.3 with the perpetual motion machine plz, like just say that it wasn’t really a perpetual motion machine and she overestimated herself while underestimating others, until it all blew up in her face. it’d be a good parallel for her current actions too

Eternal Sakura!

can’t wait to see what they’re doing with the KMR trio

include songs from the game. they’re so good just put them in there (magical artist, be terrified, calculated future, etc.)

chapter 7 and possibly 8 without iroha will be so interesting, I kind of hope they wait a bit before bringing her back (i’m like 99% sure she’s still alive since nobody else would be able to know about the eternal sakura)

an epic 5-person transformation with team mikazuki villa

if they do plan on making an anime for arc 2, then end it with the formation of Kamihama Magical Union and the other magical girls coming into the city (basically, the end of the Iroha + Yachiyo event)

if they don’t, then just end it so everything’s tied up well.

Yachiyo v Mami 2 better be incredible, and I hope they include mami’s internal monologue after connecting with Yachiyo. that’s like my favorite part of the whole story.

also explain what’s up with those masks. I’m pretty sure it’s just the anime equivalent of the “shadow-self” that appears in various training stories, but they should still be more clear with it.

Nigredo as ed?

Include bits of stories that weren’t part of the main story but are crucial to understanding it (looking at you, alina’s mss)

Karin plz

madokami cameo after defeating wally plz

a reference to the game’s op or ed would be great, particularly the ed since it really feels like the end of a journey and reaffirms the message of community and working together with all the text messages

Eternal Sakura at the end of the op or ed would also be really cool, particularly if it’s withered until eve appears, where it blooms

and last but not least, more game character cameos! as many as will fit!

feel free to add on your own!

[takerfoxx]

Here, have some more of the WN girls watch The Rebellion Story, this time stretching from Moemura turning back into classic Homura while monologuing to herself to when she shoots herself in the head!

Yes, this is the one with the gunfight.

Reminder:

G=Gretchen

H=Homulilly

Op=Ophelia

Ok=Oktavia

Ca=Candeloro/Mami

Ch=Charlotte

...

Op: Dramatic transformation!

H: All I did was take off my glasses and ribbons.

Op: And you did so dramatically! Complete with a slo-mo hair flick while framed by the full moon!

Ch: Which is apparently about to crash into the city, given how close it is.

Ok: “This is a witch’s labyrinth.” Gee, yah think?!

…

Ok: Okay, where exactly are you headed?

H: Deep into the bowels of the earth, apparently.

Op: Quick! To the Homu-Cave!

G: So, uh, can you see all those windows with the witches, or…?

H: Probably not. It probably still looks normal to me.

Op: Now that just sucks! If you’re going to monologue dramatically you at least ought to be able to appreciate the accompanying visuals!

Ch: “Previously, on Homura Magica…”

G: We probably should have watched the show first. Maybe then all of this would make sense.

Ch: I sincerely doubt it.

…

Ch: Why do all of my scenes have me looking like some brand of idiot?

Ok: Have you seen yourself whenever you get within sniffing distance of a piece of mozzarella? If anything, the doll you is way more composed!

Ch: Oh, so I stick teacups on top of my head, is that what you’re saying?

Op: No, usually you smash them and anything else that’s between you and that sweet, sweet cheesy goodness.

…

Ok: Oh, exposition!

Ch: About my idiot counterpart. I really hope I am the villain and this is all some kind of clever ruse, because otherwise, my God.

G: This is really cute, though. And at least you two are close in this universe too!

Ch: I’m basically a pet.

Ca: Well, if I must have a pet, I’m glad that it’s you.

Ch: Woof-woof.

=from outside, Cheese starts screeching=

Che: Bitch-ass cayennnnnne!

Ca: Whoops. He heard.

…

Ch: …Candy? Are you okay?

Ca: I’m…fine. Just memories.

G: You mean it was really like that?

Ca: Well, Charlotte obviously wasn’t a doll, we weren’t trapped in a bizarre facsimile of the city, and there were no Nightmares, but yes. It was a lonely time.

Op: Because of me, wasn’t it?

Ca: Ophelia, you had literally just lost your family, and I…wasn’t as sympathetic as I ought to have been. So no. It wasn’t because of you. Besides, we did make up later. Had a long conversation and everything. There were even tears.

Op: Well, that’s good to hear.

Ca: Actually, it was pretty close to how it is in the movie, once everyone had shown up. The five of us spending all our time together. Fighting together, training together, celebrating together, and just being girls together. For me, it was probably the happiest I had ever been.

Ok: Right up until my love life went sour.

Ca: Oh, there was so much more to it than just that. Besides, it was all just a temporary thing, a staving off the inevitable. What we have now might be much less exciting but is so much better.

Op: I dunno. Fighting demonic teddy-bears every night sounds like my idea of a good time.

Ca: We didn’t have teddy-bears, remember?

Op: Well, we should have.

…

Ok: Um…Homulilly?

H: Well, this has gotten interesting.

Op: You know, there are a lot of jokes I could be making about you freezing time right next to your crush, but I won’t.

H: Thank you.

G: I don’t get it...Actually, I do. Never mind.

Ok: Shoot the rat! He’s right there!

Ch: Oh, no. She’s going after me. Huh.

H: Huh indeed.

=Charlotte and Homulilly shoot each other an odd look=

Op: So…are we gonna get Homulilly vs. Charlotte?

H: More of Homura vs. Bebe, it seems.

Ch: So…I am the villain.

Op: If you’re lucky, you’ll get an overly dramatic and campy solo number, complete with a pipe organ!

…

G: This is getting a little hard to watch.

Ch: It’s not me.

G: It kind ofis.

H: Charlotte, I would like to take this moment to say that you are a dear friend of mine, and the actions of my counterpart do not reflect my feelings.

Ch: Thanks. Same.

=pause=

Ch: Though could your other self please stop choking me? It is getting kind of weird.

…

Op: Okay, that cinches it! Homura can definitely see the weird!

Ok: How do you figure?

Op: The fact that she’s leaping from dessert tray on a stick to dessert tray on a stick! Why would she be doing that unless she could see them?

Ok: I don’t know. Maybe they just look like telephone poles to her.

H: No, the illusion has clearly dropped, at least for me.

Ch: I’m about to get executed and that’s what you choose to focus on?

Op: For all you know you’re about to snap and bite Homura’s head off.

Ch: I…seriously doubt that. I mean, she is kind of the main character.

Ok: Though hey, wouldn’t that be such a wicked twist? To build up someone as a super-important character only to kill them off like a quarter of the way through?

=Candeloro frowns, a puzzled look on her face=

…

Op: Erm…

H: Well, this is certainly condescending.

Ca: It’s not inaccurate, though. I did struggle with many doubts and insecurities, and often found it difficult to put on a brave face.

Ch: That’s just called being human, babe.

Op: Most humans never went through what we went through.

Ca: That’s also true. Like I said, Homura isn’t wrong. I often felt like I was on the edge of cracking. There was more than one time when one of you would get hurt during a fight, and I would make a big show of being calm and unbothered. I’d encourage you and maybe lightly scold you for letting your guard down, and when you were all healed up I’d reassure everyone that I knew everything would be fine and try my best to carry on as normal. And then, when everyone was gone, I’d spend the rest of the night crying. You were right to assume I would react badly if you accused my close companion of being some kind of nefarious villain.

=long, uncomfortable pause=

H: Maybe so, but I think that my other self here wasn’t in the habit of giving people the benefit of the doubt. I think that her frequent failures might cause her to assume the worst of everyone, and act accordingly. I don’t think that she is giving you a fair shake.

Ca: That’s sweet of you to say so, Homulilly. But realistically speaking, she had reason not to trust me with this information.

…

Ch: Yeesh.

H: It’s okay. You can say it.

Ch: Say what?

H: That this alternate version of myself is kind of…shall we say…

Ok: Incredibly terrifying?

H: Just a little psychotic, yes.

G: Well, I mean, considering what she went through. You were lucky to stop after four loops. How many times did she have to relive my death over and over?

Ch: Still doesn’t make watching me get shoved up against a wall and the life choked out of me any more fun to watch.

…

Ch: Hold up!

Op: Well, hey! Wife to the rescue!

Ca: But…how…?

G: Oh. That is…a long ribbon.

Op: Did you have that attached to her foot the whole time?

Ca: I mean, I guess…

Ok: How did she even know you were up to something?

Ca: Intuition, I suppose. Maybe the lack of glasses and the new hairstyle tipped me off?

Ok: Why would that-

Ca: I don’t know, I’m just throwing guesses out.

H: Well, consider me impressed. Clearly, this other me underestimated you.

Ca: Thank you.

Ch: OKAY! If having my stupid doll face on every billboard in town doesn’t tip you off, then nothing will!

G: Homura’s probably the only one that can see it like that. Mami probably just sees a shoe advertisement or something.

Ch: You know what? That’s actually kind of a relief.

…

Ok: Oh, shit!

Ch: Could you stop trying to kill me? Please?

H: Believe me, if I could stop me, I would.

Op, suddenly sitting up straighter: Hold on, is this going where I think it’s going?

Ok: I think it is! I think it is!

Ca: Oh, here we go.

G: What?

Ok: Homura and Mami are going to fight!

G: Oh. Oh!

H: Candeloro, just like I said with Charlotte, the actions and beliefs of this alternate self of mine-

Ca: Homulilly, relax. It’s fine. These other versions of ourselves took different paths than we did. I don’t hold any of this against you.

H: Likewise.

Ca: Good.

=pause=

Op: Fifty talents on Mami.

Ch: Oh, good Lord.

Ok: You’re on! Time stop, Fee! That’s so overpowered!

Op: Which our girl neutralized without Little Miss Sleuth even knowing.

H: Is this really-

Op: Plus Mami’s the veteran fighter, remember? The tanky heavy?

Ok: Uh, Homura’s got multiple timeloops of experience, okay. That trumps Mami’s couple of years.

Ca: It was more like three…

G: I’m in! I’m betting on Lilly!

H: On Homura. I’m not fighting anyone.

Ok: Same diff! You better win, though. We’ve got money riding on this.

Ch: Well, I’m joining Fee and betting on Mami. I think you’ll find her more of a handful than you’re bargaining for.

Ca: Out of all the childish-

Ch: Buck up! You’ve got fifty talents to win me!

=Homulilly extends her hand across the couch=

H: Hey. May the best fighter win.

=pause, then Candeloro sighs and shakes her hand=

Ca: Oh, why not. You’re on!

…

Ch: Well, that ribbon ain’t going nowhere. Time stop, still neutralized.

Op: Ha! What I say?

Ca: My Bebe’s life is in danger. My will is resolute.

Ch: You are not turning Bebe into a pet name.

Ok: Come on, come on. Get with the fighting already!

=long pause as Mami and Homura have their staredown, and then they leap…=

Op: Oh, yeah! Here we go!

…

Op: Holy shit!

Ok: Go! Go!

G: Wow. That is a lot of guns.

…

Ch: Come on, babe. You can do this.

Ok: THIS! IS! SO! FREAKING! COOL!

G: Look at their faces! They still don’t want to hurt each other.

Ch: Oh, come on, doll-me! Get out of there already!

…

Op and Ch: Let’s go, Mami!

Ok and G: Ho-Mu-Ra!

Op: Let’s go, Mami!

Ok and G: Ho-Mu-Ra!

H: This is easily the weirdest thing we’ve ever done.

Ok: Oh, what? The thing with the sea-monster wasn’t weirder?

H: That was just…messy! We’re watching me and Candeloro’s alternate future selves in a fight to the death and you four are treating it like a pro-wrestling event!

Ca: Yeah. And I’m going to win.

=pause=

H: Did I say you could stop chanting?

Ok and G: Ho-Mu-Ra!

…

Op: Downtown is getting fuuuucked uuuup!

Ch: Just wait until she unfreezes time.

G: Jeez, I can’t tell if you’re both terrible shots or just extremely good at dodging!

H: Definitely the second.

Ok: And now we come to the stand-off.

Op: Nowhere to go, barely any room to breathe. Hey, Lilly, is the kinetic force of those bullets maintained?

H: What?

Op: I know they’re stuck in time, but can you just pluck them out of the air, or would you still be damaged by the heat and contained momentum?

H: I…have no idea.

Op: Best not to touch them then.

H: Probably smart.

…

Op: And time starts up…now.

G: Oh, that looks so unsafe.

Ok: Yeah! I mean, sure, if they hold still they won’t get hit with the bullets right next to them. But the freaking air was full of them! What’s keeping a spray of bullets from raining down from above and turning their heads into swiss cheese? Oh, sorry Char.

Ch: Y’know, unlike my moronic counterpart, I can hear the word “cheese” without freaking out.

Op: And that’s not getting into ricochets. They ought to be perforated right now.

Ca: My bullets were magic. They only ricocheted when I wanted them to. Most times they’d either pierce right through or exploded on impact.

Op: Homura’s aren’t.

Ca: True.

…

Ok: So much for your surroundings. Where the hell are you guys anyway?

H: Looks like some kind of cathedral. Only a very…eccentric one.

Ok: City’s getting weirder by the minute.

G: It could be symbolic for something. Like, I don’t know, violence in a place of sanctuary or…something?

Ch: Or gothic architecture just makes for an awesome place to stage an action scene and the animators and directors know it.

Ok: Stop killing the magic!

Op: Though, hell, speaking of which, would they actually die if they got shot? I mean, I know it would hurt, but…

Ca: Hypothetically? No. So long as the soul gem itself was unharmed, any damage would eventually heal.

G: Like we do?

Ca: Er, sort of, but not in the same way. Their bodies are still flesh and blood. Injuries back then tended to be…messy. And healing used up magic, and if those injuries were too great…

Ok: Witch time?

Ca: Bingo.

…

Ch: “Not getting anywhere.” Now there’s the understatement of the year.

G: So who won? Was it a draw?

Ca: So far, but I don’t think it’s over yet.

H: Indeed. I seem to be…up to something.

Op: Okay, if none of those big honkin’ rifles and machine-guns weren’t working, what good is that little peashooter, gonna…hold on!

=Homura puts the gun to her head. Half-a-second of stunned silence, and then everyone starts yelling at once=

G: Oh, no. Oh, no.

Ch: Oh, my God. They are going there.

Op: Okay. OKAY!

Ok: What the hell is she doing?!

Ca: No, no, no, no, no, no, no…

H: What is wrong with you?! Why are you like this?!

=bang=

=collective scream=

[analyzing-the-rebellion-story]

The Rebellion Story Analysis Addendum

It’s been four years since I finished the analysis, and a lot of my views have changed! Here are my revised opinions!

In italics is something I said in the analysis.

In plain font is my updated interpretation.

I highly doubt that Kyubey has a biological need for sleep, so I guess that means he’s just been lying there all night. Contemplating.

Another possibility is that he’s communicating telepathically with the other Incubators. After all, what better time would there be to discuss their plans?

Sayaka is a raspberry. Raspberries are soft, but have a strong and distinct flavor. That describes Sayaka pretty well, I think.

Kyoko is an apple. Apples are sweet and wholesome, but their seeds have traces of cyanide. This suits Kyoko well because, while she’s generally nice nowadays, she can be kind of a jerk sometimes.

Homura is a pumpkin. The pumpkin is a delicious and fulfilling produce, but it can be twisted into something frightening (like a Jack-o-Lantern). Considering Homura’s mutation later in the film…

Mami is cheese, a dairy product made from milk. The purpose of milk is to nurture young, and Mami is easily the most nurturing of the girls, so the cheese is referencing her motherly personality.

I wasn’t very serious about these interpretations to begin with, but in hindsight, there are far more straightforward connections between the girls and their respective foods:

1) According to the Madoka Wiki, raspberries are known as “healing fruit” in Japan. I couldn’t find a source for this, but if it’s true, then the connection to Sayaka should be obvious.

2) Kyoko being an apple is probably an allusion to her religious background (think forbidden fruit). This is reinforced by the fact that she stole a bag of apples in the original series.

3) The pumpkin is another one of Homura’s witch symbols, like the newts and owls.

4) Mami is cheese because Bebe eats cheese, and… well…

…Yeah.

This part makes no sense. The figures start crowding around Homura and Kyoko, and don’t leave until Kyoko agrees to keep a lid on things. Homura’s emotions influence the Gemworld, but all she wants is for Kyoko to keep a low profile. This would mean that Homura wants Kyoko to avoid drawing attention to herself, but at the same time is unconsciously willing attention towards Kyoko. What?

The figures surrounding them probably reflect Homura’s fear of causing too much of a disruption. When Kyoko agrees to keep her head down, the fear is assuaged and the figures leave them alone as a result.

The Incubators should’ve spent more time beta testing their memory-altering tech, because it’s proven to be very easy to awaken the girls’ memories of the real world.

Originally I assumed that the Incubators had wiped the girls’ memories so that they wouldn’t catch on to their plan. However, there’s a distinct possibility that it was Homura altering everyone’s memories, which would explain how she recovered her own so readily (and this is supported by the fact that her new world ability is memory manipulation). Kyubey does explicitly state that he wants Madoka to remember her purpose, so unless he thought that her amnesia was some sort of technical failure, I’m gonna place my bets on Homura.

WHAT THE-?!

This... This thing randomly appears behind Mami and displays a walnut, presumably for cracking purposes. I honestly haven't the tiniest clue what this is supposed to represent. Is it symbolic of Mami's dormant memories "cracking open"? Is it foreshadowing Homura's transformation into the Nutcracker Witch? Just... what the heck?!

Since this happens immediately before Bebe is ruled out as the witch, it’s probably just vague foreshadowing without any real symbolism. It could be argued that the uncracked nut represents the unsolved mystery, but since Homulilly is incapable of cracking nuts to begin with, that feels like a stretch.

A rune briefly flashes. It translates into, “you”. As in Homura.

This is supposed to be an answer to the question, “Who is dreaming?” from earlier. I’m sure most of you already knew that, but I feel as though I should’ve pointed it out anyway.

(If you don’t remember this part, it happens right before Homura does her witch test)

The pink spool reappears, only to be kicked away by the Clara Dolls. Not even Madoka’s influence can save Homura from this despair.

Another possibility is that, in her mind, Homura deliberately defied the Law of Cycles (hence the spool getting kicked). It isn’t until Kyubey opens his telepathic mouth that she realizes this isn’t the case.

Shouldn’t Homura’s parents be wondering where she is? Does she even have parents?! I’ve been wondering that since the original series…

I can’t believe it never occurred to me that Homura didn’t invite her own parents into the labyrinth. That’s pretty strong evidence that they’re either dead, or put her up for adoption at a very young age.

Seeing Kyoko at a diner makes me wish there was a spinoff series exploring the personal lives of the girls (preferably with drama-comedy themes). Also, those familiars are giving me chills.

Another thing that flew over my head is that those familiars were sent to kidnap her. Same with Mama, Hitomi and Kyousuke.

Mami summons a train, and unsurprisingly, it has a teacup motif. The deer are kind of random, though…

Since Mami primarily fights with guns, the deer are most likely a reference to trophy hunting.

The runes translate into, “The Eternal Feminine”. This is probably a reference to Faust, a poem that apparently served as an inspiration for Madoka Magica (it’s about a man who trades his soul for unlimited power. Sound familiar?). Here’s a snippet for context:

“Everything that can be perceived is only a symbol; the imperfect, which cannot be realized, here makes itself reality; that which cannot be described, here finally completes itself. It is the eternal feminine, always attracting us to the higher.”

Homura is definitely drawn to “the higher”, though the underlying theme of salvation kind of gets subverted in the end…

While I still agree with this interpretation, I don’t think I did a very good job at describing/contextualizing it. At the end of Faust, the main character’s soul is saved from damnation and guided to Heaven by Gretchen*. This achievement is attributed to the Eternal Feminine, a female essence that draws humans to salvation. This is precisely what Madoka accomplishes at the end of the TV show and is attempting to do with Homura in this very scene.

*The namesake of Madoka’s witch form.

When the explosion the over, the magic forms this symbol. I’m not sure what it’s supposed to be, though? It vaguely resembles the portal to Magical Heaven, but the color effects make it hard to tell. It might also be a wheel, but the contours are very crystal-like.

Don’t know if this was intentional, but the symbol bears a loose resemblance to a dreamcatcher. “Who is dreaming?” is a recurring question throughout the movie, and at this point in time, the world Homura “dreamed” inside her soul gem is becoming a reality. From her perspective, she’s also preventing a “nightmare” by relieving Madoka of her duties and returning everything she sacrificed.

I’m not sure where else they would go, Homu. You didn’t make a new world, you just rebuilt the old one.

She’s probably talking about the Law of Cycles Dimension/Magical Heaven/Land Without Cheese/whatever you want to call it. Homura only took the part of the Law that contained Madoka’s original identity, but since it was the original Madoka that wished for the Law in the first place, her removal caused the entire system to collapse and expel her angels, too. This is why she says that Sayaka and Nagisa “somehow” got dragged along too even though she only wanted Madoka.

In other words, Homura pulled the wrong block from a Jenga stack.

Lastly, I want to point out an observation I made about Demon Homura’s world. When she unravels the Law of Cycles and renders it inaccessible, but also forces the Incubators to shoulder humanity’s curses, the end result is a “middle ground” between the previous two worlds. Think about it: In the first world, Magical Girls are doomed to become witches, while in the second world, they’re ultimately saved by Madoka. In Homura’s world, however, neither of these things can happen, which means she essentially created a world where there is neither salvation nor damnation. I really hope the eventual sequel explores this concept further; it’s very interesting.

Aaaaaaand that wraps it up! I hope you enjoyed this little bonus round as much as I did!

[mistbornthefinal]

Madoka Magica Aniversary Analysis: Part 9

Can Love and Courage Still Triumph?

The beginning of this episode replays the end of the last, Sayaka’s transformation into a witch. As Oktavia von Seckendorff looms over her Kyouko is initially uncomprehending or perhaps in denial of what just happened happened. Kyouko grabs Sayaka’s body as it falls and is forced to dodge a barrage of Okatavia’s signature wheels. Homura arrives on the scene and sets off another flashbang and the offers Kyouko her hand.

Kyouko takes it and we get our first look and Homura’s timestop from an inside perspective. Within the stopped time Kyouko demands to know where that witch came from and what happened to Sayaka, Homura reiterates the truth that Kyouko is unwilling to internalize, Sayaka has become a witch. Homura then says that unless Kyouko is unwilling to discard Sayaka’s body then they will have to run. Kyouko can not do that so they exit the barrier. (cue connect)

We find Madoka walking morosely along the railroad tracks only to run into Kyouko and Homura walking in the opposite direction. Seeing Sayaka’s lifeless body Madoka tearfully asks what happened to her friend. Homura lays it out her Soul Gem shattered and became a Grief Seed, Sayaka is gone. That is the final secret of the Soul Gem when they fully darken they become Grief Seeds and a girl is reborn as a witch. This is the inescapable fate of those who become magical girls. In payment for the number of people Sayaka has saved Oktavia will curse and equal number of people.

Of course this sort of law karmic balancing that the girls have been claiming for the past few episodes doesn’t really hold up if you think about it. Mami saved a large number of people and cursed no one due to dying before she became a Witch. Heck Kyubey’s whole operation sort of requires a certain amount of unfair exchange to be possible given they use magic to extent the life of the universe and leave other species with the bill.  That said it’s easy to buy equivalent exchange as something the characters believe,(especially Homura who at this point want’s to resolve her wish as “a life for a life”) but it’s something that Madoka’s wish ultimately rejects. 

Kyouko is angered by Homura’s cold words in the face of Madoka’s grief grabbing her by the collar, but Homura simply continues her monologue telling Madoka that this is the truth of what she aspired to become. Homura then tell Kyouko that there will be trouble if she isn’t cautious about disposing of the body. Kyouko similar to Madoka in episode 7 asks Homura how she can call herself human.

“I can’t, of course. And neither can you.”

We find Madoka sitting on her bed when Kyubey come for a visit. Madoka is unsurprised to find him alive, and he confirms that nothing that Homura said is wrong enough to require further explanation. He then lays out the reasoning behind the system his kind have inflicted on humanity. When the Soul Gem undergoes phase change a tremendous amount of energy is released and that energy is their ultimate goal. It is a source of power unbounded by thermodynamics that they can use to stave off the heat death of the universe. 

While he implies that this is ultimately for the benefit of humanity as well (and that humanity will eventually join the interstellar community) the next episode proves he is full of shit. That they have a fixed quota of energy that they expect each planet to produce and express no regret at humanities immanent extinction strongly implies that the extinction of the client species is the expected end state of their operation. In which case the relationship is purely predatory regardless of what he might claim in episode 11. 

He also gives the fig leaf that the girls all consented but that’s a weak dodge. Like forget informed consent this is maliciously and deliberately misinformed consent, he may claim that his species doesn’t understand the concept of deception that doesn’t seem to stop him from doing it constantly. Also while it’s not brought up I can’t help but feel then need to point towards all the normal humans who never consented to anything and are being eaten by witches regardless. 

Kyubey then says that given that there are billions of human’s he doesn’t understand why the death of a single human has her bent out of shape. 

you tell ‘em Madoka

Kyubey gives yet another sales pitch this time stressing the vas amounts of delicious energy she will produce when she becomes a horrible monster. Leaving with.

“So, if you ever feel like dying for the sake of the universe, just let me know.”

We check in on Kyouko who is using her magic to stop Sayaka’s gem from decaying. Kyubey shows himself to ask why and Sayaka answers his question with another question. “Can Sayaka be brought back.” Kyubey uses ambiguous phrasing to give Kyouko false hope like the dick he is. We leave this scene with Kyouko stuffing her face making it pretty clear that her eating habits are less “endearing character quirk” and more “worrying coping mechanism.”

As Madoka is walking to school with Hitomi (who tragically unaware of what has happened), Kyouko calls out to her with telepathy asking her if she’s really just going to go to school after what happened yesterday? Realizing that the fate of her friends soul is probably more important than compulsory education Madoka ditches Hitomi runs off. 

Kyouko tells Madoka that she can’t abandon Sayaka so long as there hope she can be saved. (and potentially even if there isn’t) He friends voice might still be able to reach her, might bring her back to humanity. Madoka asks if that will really work to which Kyouko replies that she has no idea. She want’s to do this because she doesn’t know, because that uncertainty allows room for hope

“Maybe if we slice that witch in half, Sayaka’s Soul Gem will fall out instead of a Grief Seed. Wouldn’t that be something? It’d be like one of those stories where love and courage triumph over all. Come to think about it, I probably became a magical girl in the first place because I loved stories like that. I’d totally forgotten about it, but Sayaka reminded me again.”

You did it Kyouko, you boiled your character arc down to the bare essentials. Kyouko asks Madoka if she is willing to help even if Kyouko can’t promise her safety or success. Madoka cinnamon roll that she is accepts immediately offers  her hand into which Kyouko places a piece of candy in lieu of a handshake. 

Back at school Homura decides to dich as soon as it’s clear that Madoka isn’t coming. 

As the two of them search for Oktavia’s labyrinth, Madoka asks if Homura is going to help them. Kyouko says no and denies that Homura is her friend, they simply share a common goal, to defeat Walpurgisnact an enemy neither of them could face alone. 

Within the barrier Madoka asks Kyouko if she is a coward for always leaving the fighting to others. Kyouko flips the script her life is happy one, to abandon that, to become a Puella Magi for a mere whim is the height of stupidity. Kyouko won’t allow it, if Madoka did she would be the first to kick her ass. 

“The only people who should put their lives in danger are those who’ve got no other choice. Anyone else is just playing around.”

Kyouko then says there might be a time when Madoka has no choice but to fight, she should only consider the contract then.

We then arrive at the center of the labyrinth, or rather Oktavia realizes that she has intruders and they are pulled to the center. Oktavia’s familiars supply the background music as Madoka glimpses the remnant of her friend for the first time. She calls out to Sayaka but Oktavia’s only reply is to summon her wheels.

Kyouko raises her barrier and perpares herself to intercept the Witches attacks. As Madoka calls out to Sayaka Kyouko deflects a barrage of wheels with her spear. However Oktavia only steps up her attacks and Kyouko seems to be struggling to fight a purely defensive battle. 

As Kyouko starts to take hits she reminisces about her first encounter with Sayaka. She had dismissed the girl a first but she kept getting up no matter what. As she recalls that day red and blue flows across the screen froming the silhouette of Kyouko and Sayaka before resolving as flowing blood. Several wheels hit Kyouko and she is thrown backward. As Madoka moves to help Kyouko to her feet Oktavia seizes her in a massive armored gauntlet and begins to squeeze. 

Kyouko finally strikes severing the Witches limb and berating Sayaka. Oktavia brings her sword down shattering the floor and reveling an inverse of the concert hall they were in presided over by a familiar that resembles a certain boy.

Homura is there to catch Madoka. Kyouko apologises to Homura for dragging Madoka into her idiocy and the creates another of her barriers between her and Homura. The message there is clear. Kyouko acknowledges Homura’s mission focusing on the one thing she wants to protect above all else, Kyouko used to think that was what she was doing as well. She undoes her ponytail to reveal the symbol of her fathers faith that she had hidden in her hair, she never truly stopped believing. 

As Homura flees Kyouko summons spears from the earth in massive numbers including on large enough for her to ride. From her clasped hand she draws her Soul Gem that she has fused with the symbol of old faith.

“Don’t worry, Sayaka I know you don’t what to be alone. It’s ok. I’ll be here with you Sayaka.”

She then unleashes a massive attack through her own Soul Gem killing both her and Oktavia.

Back at the Homu-home Homura asks an interloping Kyubey if there was any chance for Kyouko’s plan to succeed. Kyubey admits that it was impossible and that he basically manipulated Kyouko to her death so Homura would have to face Walpurgisnact alone, and thus Madoka has no choice but to contract in order to save the city. Homura says that she will never let that happen.

For this episode Magia does not make it’s usual appearance instead replaced by “and I’m home” sing by Ai Nonaka and Eri Kitamura (VA’s for Kyouko and Sayaka respectively.)

And that’s Episode 9, when you get down to this Kyouko’s episode as much as Episode 10 is Homura’s episode. Kyouko what had come into the narrative preaching selfishness stakes it all on trying to save the girl who remined her of her old ideals. Now that the full weight of Kyubey’s system is reveled Kyouko tries to find a way out and in bittersweet way she does, choosing to expend her Soul Gem in a heroic sacrifice rather than fall into despair and become a Witch.

That said now there’s only one person standing in the way of Kyubey’s plans, though to a certain extent that’s how it’s always been.

[notarealwelder]

As N Approaches Infinity, ch. 23

—ok, it'd be monumentarilly silly to lecture Homu that guilt is not really useful after you figured what you should have done differently and resolved to do that next time and started figuring out how to act differently if it's nontrivial

— or decided that no, terrible luck or terrible calculated costs do not mean there's anything you should've done differently

But Homu have been doing that for chapters, that's not new and surprising

The new thing is that....it's as if Homu has a role to play, a role she's kind of aware of but could not separate herself from, a role embedded deeply in her self-image

A role that I think does not intend for Homu to consider whether she wants to occupy that role; nor to act against the role in order to get something she wants or would benefit from

It's kind of existentially horrifying

A role that definitely calls for setting yourself up to fail making a mistake and.....taking mistakes as burdens to bear and never react to, not as useful information for a postmortem

For letting the sisters fight the witch because that's what a ruthless mastermind does, right, risk people for information, and she must be one or else

For being angry and miserable and going for overkill as narratively appropriate, because that's what a Homu does, a Homu must be guilty of her friends' deaths and then one-shot whatever killed them

[viviotakamachi-old]

So much shit has happened since the old days for Homu in private discord RP like,

she’s:

adopted four children

had one of those children die while fighting a massive evil force

had that child become a goddess in her own right and have children of her own

given up her divine powers for a short time after a complete breakdown

regained her divine powers and decided to try and do better

assisted in killing the Lifemaker (in at least one timeline)

reconnected with Asami, the evil daughter she never knew, and helped her on a path to Good

come to terms with her own Witch

watched her soft, soft sofa be destroyed another 80 times

become a great-grandmother (great-great-grandmother if you count Edelgard, more if you count my Sims 2 playthrough)

watched Mizuki be consumed by her Magia Erebea and then come back from that completely immortal

done more things that don’t come to mind at the moment

basically she’s grown A Lot

[thegospelofnagisa]

Chapter 10 final summary

Remember that discussion you had with anon about how f4 never revealed all the magical girls personal magic? lol

Summary so far on Walpy Raid Story - Area 1

- everyone’s hella exhausted - suddenly pink feathers (not the magius lemmings) fall from sky - everyone’s cured - fighting walpy (Feathers accompanied by sagitta luminis to make it super obvious)

Summary so far on Walpy Raid Story - Area 2   - Momoko and Natsuki uses her encouraging magic to buff everyone  - Felicia uses her oblivion magic to forget where walpy was heading for - Ria uses her hiding magic to hide walpy’s heading location - Chun uses her magic to let Walpy believe a lie as a truth (no detail was explained) - Rika uses her magic to change Walpy’s mind to head toward the sea instead of the city

Summary so far on Walpy Raid Story - Area 3 - Rikas succeeded in directing Walpy toward the sea - Next plan is to lure her to seaside park - Walpy throws a building at megucas - Tsuruno stands in front of everyone and made the building miss with her luck magic - Sasara uses power to lure evil to lure walpy - Riko uses power to “call something” to call Walpy - Emiri uses her power to charm to lure Walpy - Walpy attacks - Mayu uses her power to stop attack to stop attack :derpdoka:   - Walpy is lured to the seaside park - Amanes use the usual power to stop Walpy - Asuka uses her power to enforce a rule (she can only enfore one rule at a time) to stop Walpy - Himika throws a coin to lure Walpy’s attention - Kanagi is useless cuz she can’t read a witch’s mind - Mitama uses her adjusting power to boost everyone

  Summary so far on Walpy Raid Story - Area 4 - Kanagi manages to stop Walpy with boost by Mitama - Mami tries to bind Walpy - Kanoko uses her power of sewing stuffs to bind Walpy as well - Kaede uses her power to tie Walpy with her vines - Rena transforms to Kaede to do the same   - They managed to do so - Hazuki (power to scan) and Akira (power to find witch’s weakness) found Walpy’s weak point - Nanaka is useless cuz we already know Walpy is an enemy - Hazuki and Akira reveal that Walpy’s gear is the weakness, not the body - Nanaka, Kyouko, Sayaka, Iroha, Touka, Ui, Hinano, Hazuki, and Akira try to attack Walpy now

Summary so far on Walpy Raid Story - Area 5  - Hinano attacks Walpy with chemical explosion - Aimi has precognition power and predicts Walpy’s gonna attack soon - Kokoro tries to protect others (her power? is endurance) - Masara hides with Aimi - Ayame tries to compete with Kokoro in protecting others (her power is keeping things safe) - Konoha and Hazuki need to hide so Sana hides them  

- Kokoro and Ayame managed to protect others - Walpy tries to be released from the restraints - Kokoro team and Konoha team retreats - Seika, Reira, Mito come outta water (probably Seika’s personal magic) - Reira heals others using her cleansing flame - Mito links everyone’s mind

Summary so far on Walpy Raid Story - Part 6   - now everyone’s mind is connected - since everyone knows what each other can do now, they realized what they can do to kill Walpy - Yachiyo admists her personal power is to succeed megucas’ hope (refering to chapter 8 ghost spook) - However, if Yachiyo uses this final power, she will get weaker just like Mifuyu (:hinanono:) - She’s fine since there are meguca kouhais - Now with they’re ready  

- Ayaka stops Walpy by making Walpy’s will to get out of restraint a joke (yes literally they said so. a joke) - Konomi supports everyone by buffing them - Manaka spreads everyones power to surroundings to wipe minions out - Kako uses her power to repetition to repeat manaka’s aoe attack - Ren uses her power to heal walpy’s soul that she won’t revive again - Ui collects everyone’s magical power with her power to collect and tosses it to Touka - Touka converts this collection of everyone’s power to one single compressed power using her power of conversion and hands it to Yachiyo - Yachiyo can control this power cuz she’s literally having power to succeed everyone’s hope - Yachiyo makes the energy as an arrow

Summary so far on Walpy Raid Story - F - Yachiyo makes a big spear outta energy and hands it to Iroha - Iroha can’t hold it so Touka converts into a spear for iroha   - Iroha try to shoot a bigshot at Walpy - Walpy tried to escape - Homura stops time with Iroha - Iroha shoots the bigshot yelling Strada Futuro - Walpy’s dead - Homu: “Sayonara Walpy”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GciAdqoMM_M&t=5s

- Iroha wonders what the heck the feathers were

(Rip Alina)

(lol, just kidding, she ain’t dead, YET)  

- Everyone’s happy yay - Felicia’s hungry - Everyone go to adjustor’s to check mifuyu - Ui somehow knows mikazuki and others cuz Mokyuu gave her memory - Iroha thinks Mokyuu repaired Iroha memory in Chapter 1 in order to give Ui memory back - Iroha wonders if she can meet the sacrificed Mokyuu again

Summary on Magireco Arc 1 Epilogue - iroha and Ui are living in mikazuki manor cuz their parents got another flight to foreign country - (ui goes to kamihama school btw - the one where iroha goes) - mifuyu appears - (reminiscing in adjustor’s) yachiyo is sad seeing almost dead mifuyu - iroha felt sorry for yachiyo that was seeking for whatever she could do for her - iroha’s heal magic could recover mifuyu’s soul gem’s crack - now they’re heading toward Magius’s revelation - Touka and Nemu (yes Nemu’s alive but her legs are paralyzed) set up a session to explain what they were doing so far in Kamihama to all Kamihama Magical girls and PMHQ - Touka says sorry to Mami for the brainwash thing - Mami accepts her apology and admits that she herself has grown in mental after this incident. She hopes they can help each other to be stronger from now on - Homura asks Nemu about the Ui she has seen in the prologue - Touka and Nemu tells that it was one of method (showing magical girl-shaped illusion) for Magius to lure megucas into Kamihama but is surprised that one of such shape was Ui - Now everyone arrives and listen to Magius’s revelation session (fades out and madokami appears) - madokami’s still worried about her action would break this record. that she could only do the feathers sent down to heal megucas in Walpy fight - she says she won’t do something like this anymore cuz it may break the record this time (fades out and fades in with Magius after the session) - All megucas understood the situation but still didn’t fully forgive Magius - Iroha says that since now everyone are aware of the fate, they can work together to find a a way to get away from the fate (at Sakura Rumor’s barrier) - Iroha, Ui, Touka, Nemu came together that the cherry blossom blooms - Sakura Rumor congratulates them and blesses them be happy from now on - Sakura Rumor points ground. There’s Mokyuu alive - Iroha cries for meeting Mokyuu again

[itsbenedict]

No Driver’s License: Session 35

No Driver’s License is a Madoka Magica game I’m running for five players, using a homebrew of Yaruki Zero’s Magical Burst system. It follows five magical girls as they deal with an upheaval in the world’s magic system caused by some strange new three-eyed Incubators. They have to figure out what’s going on, who to trust, and how to put a stop to the cycle of despair.

I post session logs and omakes weekly sporadically, both as a reference for the players and for anyone who wants to follow along with the party’s misadventures.

[adventure log- read from the beginning]

[session 34]

Last time, the girls started in on dealing with the second witch barrier of the day. Or, the... I mean, they’re on the moon, so timezones don’t really apply, do they? Anyway, the barrier was a big desert with a really hot sun and a bunch of huge statues, and they had to steal items from inside the statues to get powered up to fight the sun. 

(art by zero, arranged by me, of a bunch of characters from his old megucaquest, who were in this continuity killed by honoka so she could steal their weapons.)

This time... sun-fighting ensues! On the moon! Because at this point, fuck astronomy, I guess.

So, between sessions, it is assumed that the party goes around and does a bunch of repetitive dungeon-crawling, which would ordinarily be very tense and difficult. Except, whoops, they have a ridiculous magical arsenal and also a head-start on powerups. So... by the time the last statue falls, they’ve got an 80x damage multiplier and damage reduction (except Cho, who showed a little late and only has a 40x multiplier.)

Turns out all that power, though, is just an illusion of the witch barrier- with some good Real rolls, they’re able to notice that the massive force multipliers they’re working with are some fake bullshit that only applies in this barrier. LAME.

Anyway, they do it fast enough that the Honoka shrivels don’t make much headway. And now that they’re like, a thousand feet tall or whateever, the Honokas don’t pose much of a threat.

Whoops, hey, remember you guys recruited the Devil? Yeah, she’s here now. And, she’s not happy about what’s happening. She chews out the party for being foolhardy, which they... make a few excuses for.

She’s not happy that they took the time to go check on Orino, who is in the Devil’s eyes irrelevant to Madoka existing. Yukari attempts to apologize and placate the Devil, more or less successfully, though everyone is unsettled to varying degrees at the Devil’s total ambivalence towards people suffering if they’re not Madoka.

Anyway, she points out her care package- a rocket she stole from NASA. She figured, fuck, my new henchpeople are fighting some dangerous things up on the moon with very little preparation, so I should bring all their allies up there too. So, she froze time, kidnapped them, put them on a rocket, and shot them up to the moon with minimal explanation.

The landing doesn’t go excellently, but in a “broken space shuttle” way and not in a “giant fireball that kills all the passengers” way. 

The first person out of the space shuttle when the time-freeze wears off is Rikimaru Reiko, who was listed as an ally, and therefore, as far as the Devil was concerned, was fair game for being kidnapped to the moon to fight a witch without notice.

Tama-chan, Nishi (in MG form), Sakura’s army of Peeps, the Grounding Gorillas, and Hekima are also aboard... but they’re all very very small, as is the Devil, because they haven’t been grinding powerups like the core party. Plus, apart from Reiko, who is not negatively affected by being on fire in any way, they can’t be out in the sun without taking damage.

Now- I have a problem, which is that there are too many NPCs here and I can’t juggle that many. I also have another problem- a ton of Honoka familiars attacking. One problem is solved with another, as the reinforcements break from the main fight to take on the waves of incoming shrivels.

So- there’s the sun. Time to kill it.

i mean, it’s entirely appropriate for the witch of someone whose driving pathology was a need to prove she was stronger and better than everyone else, so

Yukari opens the fight by Shooting Gun. This does 160 damage, taking it down to 4840. You... see why they needed the damage multipliers first.

Anyway- rather than pass the turn to the next teammate... the sun takes a turn. And, in turn, pops off a Ranged Attack on Yukari. It misses, thanks to those amulets that mess with your aim, and when it does, a new counter shows up and increments to 1.

And then it’s Sakura’s turn! She candy-shapeshifts into a horrifying eight-legged gelatinous blob monster to try and taffy the witch.

Anyway, much like with Yukari’s ranged attack, Kagutsuchi copies Sakura’s taffy ability. It pops off a hit on her- which is a crit- and applies congealed lava “taffy” to Sakura, Yukari, Emiko, and Cho.

Makoto camouflages herself rather than attacking, to avoid a counterattack. Seina and Ibara unload ranged attacks into it, and take ranged attacks in turn. (Well, Ibara uses a water-based Gloo Gun to try and restrain it, which does damage where it normally wouldn’t because it’s made of fire.)

Fine, Then I’ll Avert Them For Thou, Fuckwit is paying dividends! In terms of actual defense, this time, and not sacrificing it for a damage bonus!

That is... the worst roll anyone has ever had in the entire campaign. Without penalties, it’s normally impossible to roll a one. Kagutsuchi’s Fuckup Count goes up to 4.

Not too much is happening with the NPCs fighting the witch familiars down below- except, uh, one notable thing:

Where do you think Nishi-chan got all those summoned monsters for her fake murder attempts? She plays Pokémon with witch familiars!

Emiko is full-size like the rest of the party, and punches the sun, baby. And she uses her holo-gauntlet thing- which means I finally get to use its secondary effect, which it’s had this whole time but has never been relevant:

Oh, and the Devil is here. ♪ Homu was mad, she knew she’d been had, so she shot at the sun with a gun / shot at the sun with a gun ♪... but, uh, she has not received any powerups. So her attack does... 3 damage. Against a boss with thousands of hit points. And who automatically retaliates with attacks that are much deadlier when you don’t have 80x damage reduction.

Not smart, most powerful being in the universe! Thankfully, she has the presence of mind to turn into an incorporeal force of pure existence and get the hell out of there before she can fry.

Anyway, back to the top of the order- Yukari goes again! And... Yukari’s usual thing is to use Prophecy to generate extra actions, and then use those to shoot lots of undodgable bullets. Which she does, for some heavy damage, but...

WHOOPS

Yukari is now contending with several spears of fire ready to skewer her, which is fun. Kind of all it can do, since it has no moves of its own it can use. (...Or does it?)

Makoto summons some whales, Cho summons some butterflies, Sakura does some healing (by pulling out her teeth and using them as armor, super fun, not at all mega gross), and Seina... oh, boy.

Seina made an item called a Leech Seed, earlier. What it does is deal 1 damage to an enemy every time they take a turn, and restore that much health to the user.

Seina has an 80x damage multiplier right now.

So, Seina is completely fucking invincible now, since every time the boss takes a turn she gets healed for like eight times her max HP, and the boss takes a turn every time a teammate takes a turn. Great! That’s great. This is fine.

...But wait! The boss gets to counterattack!

Great. Faaaantastic. Super useful. Oh, and what’s that? I said items don’t count as powers it can copy, and that doesn’t work either? COOL. 

(Really, this is all my fault. I let the players do things.)

Ibara attacks, normally, and the boss counterattacks, and... remember the worst roll anyone has had in the entire campaign, like twenty minutes ago?

zero, jesus christ, i managed to roll a zero...

There’s a little more whacking away with normal melee and ranged attacks, and it ends up pretty low on health. Tama-chan breaks Ibara free of the lava-taffy, and...

After a little more hammering, and some bullets from Yukari, this thing is real low on health. And... wouldn’t know know it, it’s Finishing-Move-chan’s turn.

And now... everyone gets a few last words with Honoka Midarezaki. Ibara:

Seina:

Sakura:

Makoto:

Yukari:

With that... everyone’s on the moon again! And as usual, when a witch is defeated, a Soul Seed drops. And... it takes a moment for it to register, but this is the point at which the interest of the party and the interests of Eguchi Emiko are no longer aligned.

It all comes down to this- it’s time for a contest of Fury to see who can dive for the seed first!

Ibara gets a crit! Nice. So that’s all taken care o-

Emiko gets a bigger crit! Not so nice! Not so taken care of!

AND CLIFFHANGER! Next time on No Driver’s License, the team has to deal with Emiko, being on the moon, and the fallout of this whole clusterfuck generally. Tune in next wee... next whenever I do a recap, to find out how it goes!

[dreamerwitches]

Glasses Homura transformation - Magia Record game

The dual sides is interesting, perhaps referring to regular and glasses homura. The first pic makes me think of the duality of a magical girl and witch, kinda referring to how Rebellion Homura is still a witch. Doesn’t really fit with this Homura since I believe she’s very different/hasn’t got there yet

The multiple homus are definitely meant to represent all the timelines and the dancing homus are very similar to Homura’s rebellion transformation (also glasses homura)

Lots of gears/time symbolism too

The fake homu loading screen is a very nice fourth wall break

The birds make me think of Homulilly’s familiar, Liese. I feel it could also represent freedom or a lack of it. The black colour also makes me think of Devil Homura since she has black feathers as a theme

The countdown is the same kind used before Walpurgis and Homulilly’s fights in the anime. The link to Walpurgis could be because Homura has met her so many times.

I find the sprout growing from the Soul Gem really interesting. The glasses Homura link could be her growing from a dead soul gem/starting a new timeline. Though my first thought was the growth from a broken soul gem just like how Rebellion Homura could live on even after breaking her Soul Gem. I know she’s different to rebellion homura but there just seem to be a lot of links XD

The Glasses Homura with her hair down is meant to be an older Homura, she’s cute :)

[goji-pilled]

Tbh Homulily is a part of rebellion that makes me smile a lot for homura. Homulily is the more truthful part of our favorite time traveler but at the same time even more stubborn on her feelings (Executing herself instead of trying to find a different way with the help of her friends) Even in the end i personally see Homu and Lily are together in Homu's body. Not fighting for control, but aware and talking to each other to be interrupted by Madokami. Then the whole funny haha Demura thing happens and Homu and Lily basically become Homura again as one person - as Homura knows she couldn't exist in this world with Madoka again without Lily's help. Without nearly being a witch herself. while Lily isn't there to *talk* anymore, Homu knows that they'd agree on the course of action. Anyways these are my HC's after being here for a while so <3 - 2.0

Honestly this reminds me lmhow Homulilly's plan is lowkey really funny like talking to Sayaka who clearly knows whats going? Sit down and think? No no no, executing herself is clearly the perfect plan.

[mistbornthefinal]

Madoka Magica Aniversary Analysis: Part 8

Song of Sayaka

We begin the episode where the last one ended with Sayaka hacking away at the Witch. As the labyrinth fades we se glimpses of Sayaka’s injuries but her magic quickly erases them. With the witch defeated Sayaka gives Kyouko a very unnerving dose of the Shaft Head Tilt.

The she throws Kyouko Else Maria’s Grief Seed telling Kyouko that she doesn’t want to owe her anything. As she releases her transformation though she nearly collapses and has to leave the scene heavily supported by Madoka. (cue connect)

Rain falls on Mitakihara, Madoka and Sayaka have taken shelter in a bus stop. Madoka asks Sayaka not to keep fighting the way she did against Else Maria, recognizing it as being more self-harm than battle-strategy. Sayaka says that she couldn’t have won otherwise. Madoka says that even if she wins that way it won’t help her in the end (which is true a battle strategy built around dehumanizing yourself and taking punishment is going to hold out over the long term. Not when you’re a meguca and thus have a very fragile critical hit location and a fatal allergy to despair)

Sayaka brandishes her soul gem. “Now that I’ve been turned into this thing how can anything help me?” She continues this line saying that she’s just a rock that pretends to be alive by puppeting a corpse. Madoka says she just wants Sayaka to be happy again, and Sayaka attempts to guilt Madoka into making a contract. Madoka says she can’t but is unable to articulate why. Sayaka indicts Madoka for remaining on the sidelines when she could be all powerful and storms off into the rain telling Madoka not to follow her. As she runs she calls herself an idiot and says that she can not be save now.

As the scene transitions we get a shot of Sayaka’s Soul Gem and the curse growing inside it.

We then get our first glimpse of the Homu-home which is Magia Record anime levels of cursed architecture. Kyouko and Homura are having a meeting and as always Kyouko is chowing down. Homura indicates a location on a map and says that Walpurgisnact will appear in this area. Kyouko asks how she knows that Homura replies “statistics.” Kyouko is knowledgeable enough to realize that is a non-answer but before she can inquire further they are interrupted by an unwelcome guest. 

(seriously why is this place like this Homura was in the hospital less than a month ago)

Kyubey has stopped by to inform them that “there is a curse growing within Miki Sayaka”. When Kyouko asks for clarification Kyubey passes the buck onto Homura saying that she already knows the answer. When Homura does not dispute it Kyubey wonders where she got that particular piece of info. Homura dismisses him, he leaves, and Kyouko wonders why she just let him go. Homura replies that killing him would be pointless. 

At school the next day Sayaka is once again absent with Madoka regretting not following her the previous night. We then cut to Hitomi walking alongside Kyousuke as the sun sets, Kyousuke being neutronium dense only just realizes that Hitomi house isn’t this direction. Back with Madoka we find out that Sayaka didn’t come home the pervious night. We see that Sayaka is behind a pillar looking on while Hitomi and Kyousuke talk, though we don’t get to hear the conversation.

Regardless we see Sakaya drift through a dark blue background before we cut to her venting her emotions on a gaggle of Familiars. Homura steps from the shadows to confront her saying that she can’t afford to waste any more magic. She tosses Sayaka a Grief Seed saying that she must purify her Gem but Sayaka kicks it away. Sayaka makes it clear that what she’s doing, recklessly rushing into battle and refusing Grief Seeds is a suicide attempt. She intends to burn up all her magic fighting and expects to die when it is exhausted. 

Homura ask why Sayaka won’t accept her help Saying all she wants it to save her. Why won’t can’t she believe her? Sayaka says that she can’t trust Homura because her words fell empty to her and it’s clear from her eyes that she’s given up on everything. Homura showing her yandere side claims that she only cares about Sayaka in so far as her suffering causes Madoka to suffer. And then says the if she keeps causing Madoka pain she intends to

Given how long she takes to make her move and how little she resists when Kyouko grabs her from behind I’m not sure how committed to that course of action she was. Kyouko notes that Homura’s “weird technique” can’t be used if she’s being grappled. Homura responds by pulling a flashbang grenade which dissuades Kyouko enough for her to make an escape. 

We find Sayaka listlessly riding a train and sharing a car with a pair of assholes boasting about how they abuse their girlfriends. Needless to say this is exactly what she didn’t need right now. She feels like she’s tried to do the right thing only to be used and abused and now she has to hear these shitheels gloat about how they treat the women in their life. She confronts them and doesn’t so much talk too them as at them. She openly wonders if the world is even worth fighting for and then a labyrinth-like texture over takes her body and scenes cuts implying but not showing some serious violence.

Meanwhile Madoka is wandering the city trying to find her friend when Kyubey steps from the shadows. He asks if Madoka hates him as well. “If I said yes would you turn Sayaka back?” Madoka asks in turn. Kyubey claims that such a thing is beyond his abilities. Madoka then asks that if she accepted Kyubeys offer would Sayaka still have become a magical girl. Kyubey says that was Sayaka’s own decision. That said Kyubey reiterates that Madoka has enormous potential something that confuses her as much as him, if she wished for it even the laws of the universe could bend she could be an all-powerful god. Madoka asks if she could do what Kyubey couldn’t and return Sayaka to normal. Kyubey says that this would be childs play for her and as Madoka is about to accept the contract... 

It’s interrupted by Homura filling the bunnycat with lead. Initially Madoka is shocked by Kyubey’s death but as distress becomes evident that come to occupy her focus. Homura’s façade finally breaks and she grabs Madoka by the shoulders with tears in her eyes. 

“Why are you always sacrificing yourself? Don’t demean yourself by saying that you can’t help anyone of that you’re useless. Think about all the people who care about you! Just cut it out! Why don’t you understand that there are people who would grieve if you died?! Why don’t you consider the people who try so hard to protect you?!”

Homura’s tearful plea seems to trigger some kind of timeless recollection in Madoka but ultimately she rushes off to look for Sayaka, despite Homura’s pleas.

“You knew that was pointless but you did it anyway”

Another of Kyubey’s bodies is perched on a nearby fence. It hops down to the bench and eats his corpse. He notes that this is the second time Homura has killed him, but he’s starting to understand how Homura fights. Homura’s power is time manipulation and she is not from this timeline. Homura fires back that she knows what he is and his true plan. The Incubator asks if she is that determined to change Madoka’s fate

We find Sayaka experiencing that post murder depression when Kyouko finally catches up to her. Kyouko asks how long Sayaka is going to sulk and Sayaka simply apologizes for wasting her time. Sayaka has given up she can’t even remeber what was so important to her what she was protecting. She reveals her Gem.

It’s almost completely dark. Sayaka repeats Kyouko’s line that the balance of hope and despair always zeros out.

“Sure I managed to save a few people but in exchange hatred and jealousy filled my heart. I even hurt my best friend. Whenever we prey for someone else’s happiness someone else must be cursed in exchange. Turns out that’s how we magical girls work.”

As her teardrop hit’s the Soul Gem it releases a wave of force that throws Kyouko back and then it shatters becoming a Grief Seed. Just like that the last secret if revealed and a sketchy Oktavia rises from the dark blue depths.

In the last scene Kyubey seems to address the audience. In the world women who are not yet fully grown are called “girls”(”shoujo”). Thus should those who will become Witches (”Majou”) not be called Magical Girls (”Mahou Shoujo”)

This episode is one of the big episodes of Madoka Magic we get the two revelations that we’ve been building up too for most of the show, and the culmination of one of it’s longer character arcs of Sayaka’s fall. Though we get to see Homura’s backstory in full in EP 10 the core details are pretty much laid out in this one. Homura has gone back in time to try to save Madoka from contracting. We also learn the dark truth of magical girls and witches, just as a Soul Gem is born from a girls wish and hopes a Grief Seed and it’s Witch are born when that Gem is overtaken by her curses and despair. It’s clear now the “protecting humanity” is not the goal of Kyubey’s system though we’ll have to wait for the next episode to find out what it actually is.