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tuchimuchibrainvomit · 7 years

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A Weekend of Emotions — A Review of Puella Magi Madoka Magica Rebellion ft. Philosophic Discussion

Last weekend, I hung out with my big brother and my best friends. This was always normal, we’d game, get drunk, eat good food, etc. However, something happened last weekend that I didn’t expect. A lot of emotions were expressed. Like A LOT... And I wanna talk about that and more in my Brain Vomit review for Puella Magi Madoka Magica Movie: Rebellion. Let me explain...

As you guys can PROBABLY tell by now, Puella Magi Madoka Magica Rebellion is my favorite anime movie. But, I’ll say it now, Rebellion is my favorite movie of all time. I believe it is the perfect film for me. Even with its flaws. Even with its pacing issues. Even knowing how controversial it is. In fact, that’s probably 60% of the reason I think the ending works so well. And while this isn’t a play by play of the movie and everything I liked...

What I want to talk about are emotions, philosophy and how Rebellion — and Madoka as a whole — tackles different responses based on one’s philosophical views. First, context: When “mah bois” and I were wrapping up the Madoka Series, we were going through Rebellion (I was the only one out of us who saw Rebellion and had a blast trying to deflect theories on the twists and turns) but then something caught me really off guard. And it was something I hadn’t expected...

SPOILERS AHEAD FOR THE ENTIRE PUELLA MAGI MADOKA MAGICA SERIES!

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At around the 2/3 of the way through, Homura realizes that the Magical Girls are all trapped in a false representation of their town, Mitakihara City. A good portion of the film is just figuring out what the fuck is going on. And it is a very compelling mystery. Revealing that it is a Witch’s Barrier, a distorted world created by a Witch.

(Tangent: I’m currently writing a case study on the Netflix’s Death Note Movie and writing a mystery. I recommend reading that when I finish it, as well to see these ideas come back in the forefront.)

The strength of the mystery comes down to the series’ ending. As in the series’ ending, titular character Madoka Kaname wished for a world where Witches — the antagonists and unfortunately the final stage of a Magical Girl’s life — could not exist. In this action she becomes a concept known as the Law of Cycles — where as a Magical Girl falls into despair, instead of becoming a Witch, The Magical Girl will be taken to Magical Girl Heaven. But in this wish and action, Madoka’s existence is erased, becoming a concept -- a God.

All except Time Turning Magical Girl Homura Akemi (and Madoka’s little brother for some reason) have forgotten about her... In Rebellion -- which takes place shortly after the series’ epilogue -- Homura realizes that the false Mitakihara City is the work of a Witch and realizes that the only person who could become a Witch because she knew about them as well as Madoka’s existence was Homura herself. In a powerful scene where her false Mitakihara City collapses, she pulls out a pistol and shoots her Soul Gem, realizing that she is the Witch —

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— And while that scene still shakes me, and we watched it in English and honestly, some of Cristina Vee’s best work (just sayin’).

In that moment, I look to my brother to see his response and for the first time in my life, I saw him cry. In fact, my best friend was also caught off guard by his reaction. We wondered if he was OK — I even brought over tissues from the bathroom. We thought something was wrong, but in reality, he was emotionally broken by the scene. The fact that Homura’s effort was for not and the crushing weight of that moment was powerful for him. And that’s when it really hit me just how powerful a philosophy can really bring out certain emotions. The feeling of failure, the pointlessness of effort was something real for him. And yet, from my perspective, it was something I couldn’t relate to.

In all honesty, I’ve never been disparaged by the idea of pointlessness in one’s actions — but I tend to be more of an Absurdist philosophically.

This is where the real meat begins...

In layman terms, the idea of Absurdism — a derivative of Existentialism — and states that the universe is SO illogical, that trying to find meaning and logic in it is a fruitless endeavor. The idea is that it is better to accept the absurdity of existence and find personal happiness in spite of it. embracing what life has to offer is the core theme of Absurdist theory. Similar to Existentialism, the idea is of taking one’s freedom in the universe to make something out of it.

While Existentialism focuses on creating one’s own personal meaning, Absurdism focuses on rebelling against the universe — taking Existentialism to an extreme where personal freedom and agency trumps the search for any meaning. Living life for the sake of living life and enjoying it to the fullest, even if no meaning needs to be conjured. It can be compared to Anti-Nihilism, but they share many key differences. I won’t get into that now though. And yes, to an outsider looking in sounds depressing, but if anything the closest thing I could compare it to is a controlled hedonism — awareness of personal agency. To me personally, it gave me back my personal agency when I believed I had none. Absurdism, philosophically, is the innate reaction to the enlightenment of the universal absurdity of life. Noted by Absurdist and Existential philosophers Albert Camus and Søren Kierkegaard. Absurdity being the fact that the universe works on a logic outside of human comprehension and is thus illogical — hence the term “Absurd”. Enlightenment of this existential crisis in Absurdism leads to three possible theorized actions for humanity:

Committing Suicide — Which is in itself absurd and pointlessly ironic. Extremely deterred by Absurdist philosophy. Turning to God — also defined as the “Leap of Faith”, by Kierkegaard. Which can work and Kierkegaard agrued leads to authentic human life. But to Camus, it is attributed to resolving one’s own philosophical agency or “philosophical suicide”. Acceptance of Absurdity — Which is what Absurdist Camus states is the best action. As you both retain agency and a desire to do as you need to to be happy, dealing with the strive of life without wallowing in despair. The key idea is finding happiness in an imperfect, illogical universe.

(I recommend reading the Myth of Sisyphus, written by Albert Camus — which is one of the first insights and expressions of Absurdist theory.) A good way to think about philosophy in Madoka is like this: Kyubey asks you to make a contract, and this is hypothetically that you understand WHAT being a magical girl meant, what would you choose based on philosophical viewpoints?

For example: Rationalism: “No. Being a Witch is inevitable and I don’t wanna die like that.” Empiricism: “From what I’ve seen, No. Waiting for the mental scarring to heal!” Atheistic Existentialism: “Maybe. Depends on how I want to be.” Theistic Existentialism: “Learned the lesson from Kyoko Sakura, enough said.” Absurdism: “Why not? You only live once, right? Better think of a good wish.” Nihilism: “What’s it matter? Find someone who cares about universal entropy.” Anti-Nihilism: “It’s better than wallowing, right. Do it!” Skepticism: “How do I even know all you’ve said and what I’ve seen is even true? Isn’t this an anime? If it’s not, prove it. Then I’ll make a choice.” Macchivelianism: “If that means the universe can continue, my sacrifice is worth it, I suppose.” Or “Who would be crazy enough to do it, and how can I get them to do it to further my gain?” That’s a wide array of answers, but it kind of depends on the person when asked realistically. But I hope that this is a good insight to the line of thinking I want to approach Rebellion with.

And now I want to talk about the Madoka series and its writing thematically, as well as the Philosophies and the relationship they share.

Madoka is a story that is fueled by Nihilism in it’s nature. Gen Urobuchi is a nihilistic writer, even if as a person he may be joyful. One’s philosophy does not always equate to one’s emotions on the outward glance. Nihilism is the philosophy that everything is hopeless. There is nothing to be found in yearning for meaning, so it’s better to do nothing but succumb to the despair and wallow. And yet, Puella Magi Madoka Magica ends with a hopeful message, with Madoka becoming a benevolent god. I found it interesting that the series decided to end it’s 12 episode run with that message. But then again, it could be taken another way. Let’s examine Kyubey — Incubator, as an incubator for the energy created by Witches to return to the universe as a means of preventing entropy and the universe can stay alive.— as a character especially in his action is from a Machiavellianistic perspective. He looks for logical solutions to problems and has only his own end goal in mind, and the consequences are more of a means to justify an end goal more than anything else. Remember his conversation with Madoka, he outright states the needs of the universe outweigh the few teenage girls whose lives are lost. Which in itself is not a “bad” philosophy when taken to a smaller scale, for example as he describes — Livestock. Humans eat them and need them to survive, and by comparison livestock live a better life in captivity than in the wild and thus are able to breed healthier and thrive as well, even if a few die to become food. Technically, it’s a mutual benefit, even if humanity is the one holding the power — a means to an end of survival. That’s Machiavellionism in a nutshell. Of course, it’s more complicated and a lot more corruptible based on context but I need to keep this train rolling... Anyway, back to Madoka... Then there is Rebellion — which title makes a lot of sense when thought about. Many people reacted to Rebellion wondering why the message of hope was so drastically toyed with in Homura’s action — Her Rebellion. However, I find that questioning flawed when the series was NEVER about hope, Kyoko’s death is proof of that. Listen to the conversation Homura and Kyubey have after her death — he gave Kyoko false hope as a means to his end — backing Madoka into a corner to become a Magical Girl. His motives are never hopeful and hope should not be sought after, that’s what I found to be the underlying message of the series. Even if Madoka’s action was just, Homura still failed in her mission — and I saw Rebellion as her having to deal with that. I like to view Homura’s actions in the final act of the film as a turn to Absurdism, rather than Nihilism — If she did, she’d despair and die — and a rejecting Kyubey’s Machiavellianism — He’s her enemy after all. Remember, the basic principle of Absurdism is rebelling against the absurd universe for one’s own happiness. Let’s talk about why Nihilism is often first attributed to Homura and points towards it. Firstly, the familiars: In a scene of Homura kneeling and basking to a stonewall of Goddess Madoka during the revelation of her transformation, her familiars are seen throwing tomatoes whilst chanting “Gott is tot”, which is a concept related to Nihilism uttered by Fredrick Nietzsche which translates to “God is dead” or to better articulate “There is no salvation in God.” The Law of Cycles is a god and a salvation to Magical Girls, but in Homura turning into a witch, the Law of Cycles has failed in its duty as an omniscient and thus salvation is not an absolute. While personally, Kyubey’s a little shit for blocking off Madoka’s omniscience, it did reveal that she is NOT omniscient or all knowing. Often that revelation to man leads one down the path of Nihilism, thrusting the concept of God aside as it is not true and believing in such is illogical. However see this concept both played straight and lampshaded in Kyoko Sakura, a Christian, whom in her death — asks God to give her a happy dream. Even if her outward persona would tell you otherwise, and the tragedy of her history, she still never rejected God — God was still a part of her, but her relationship with the concept was rocky, to say the least. She more so adopts a narcissistic realist’s — yet not Nihilistic — outlook on life for Magical Girls because they are alien, they are territorial and they are dangerous to those unaware. They have immense power, but are not tied down by a singular moral figure or responsiblity besides killing Witches — which is more for survival than a duty to Kyoko. That in itself was a defensive mechanism for her. And in that, while she tried to enlighten Sayaka, it was not something that Sayaka could follow behind due to her pursuit of being a selfless paragon. Sayaka represented the Idealist, who knew not of the unfairness of reality. A hero of justice who was loved for the things she did, was not realistic. Hence, why this I stated her character arc was deconstructive of the Paragon. And just like in her death, all of Kyoko’s attempts were also in vain. Ironically enough, Kyoko and Sayaka represented to halves of Buddhism. The one that knew the truth and desired to enlighten, and the one who upon enlightenment, could not bare it, fell to despair and died. Kyoko, the figurative Bodhisattva — sacrificed herself for the sake of Sayaka, and ultimately died fulfilling nothing. Yet, was at peace with herself — being arguably, the most progressed of the Magical Girls. In Buddhist philosophy, the idea of enlightenment is focusing on the self and fully expanding one’s knowledge of the self to better understand the world. And upon enlightenment, they transcend their mortal desires. Siddhartha Buddha did the same becoming a higher being because of it, thus entering Nirvana. Those who followed suit but decided to stay on earth would be responsible for passing the lessons onto others — these people titled Bodhisattvas. You can see now why Kyoko’s transformation sequence involves a combination of Buddhist and Christian imagery.

With that out of the way, I’d like to summarize the events of the finale to the movie. In the final act after Kyubey’s Isolation Field is destroyed and Homura’s soul gem returned to her. The audience witnesses the Law of Cycles — Madoka Kaname as a concept — come to purify and take Homura to Magical Girl Heaven. But in a twisted move, Homura splits Madoka’s God-like Entity back into the physical exist of Madoka Kaname (it makes a bit more sense in context) and becomes a Demon, restructuring the universe and becoming the concept of “Evil” through her love for Madoka. And although she creates a rather negative world from a viewer’s standpoint, it is closer to human concepts of reality, religion and Dualism — In fact, it’s more ideal to what the girls had been fighting since the beginning. Quickly defining Dualism: It is a concept that two pieces in nature exist, a yin and a yang. Both are in constant battle for victory, but often they are more of a check and balance, thus working in harmony with the universe. This concept can be observed in the final moments of the film, Madoka attempts to awaken her God-like power and Homura stopping her — bringing back balance, where Madoka cannot gain control over the universe and erase her existence. This can be seen as one of two things: 1.) Homura (The Devil) is keeping Madoka (God) away from helping people and re-rewriting the universe again. 2.) Homura is creating a balance for this new world. It is a happy one, where the only tortured soul is Homura herself and she is content with that. Thus nothing needs radical change. Now if Homura actively tried to eliminate Madoka entirely, then this would be a problem. But that is not the case. This second observation is more where I fall in line with to interpret, and that’s where I thought about Homura and Absurdism. In creating a Dualistic System, Homura indeed creates a happy world. Madoka didn’t need to be a Magical Girl, whilst Sayaka, Kyoko, Mami and Nagisa are alive — leading happy lives with their friends and loved ones. I'd like to argue that Homura created her world in spite of the absurd universe that tormented her and Madoka. Her view on this could be influenced by her words with Madoka during the flower field scene, which is often pointed as the birth of Homura’s main crisis throughout the film. But in that, she created a world where they both can exist and in revolting the cruel universe, basically said “Fuck you” to Kyubey’s Machiavellian tactics. It can also be argued as well that she was corrupted by her experience as a Witch inside of her own soul, which I identify as valid. But I prefer interpreting it more in her actions being in spite of the hopelessness she felt. And since there is no one way to interpret the series, as the creators have not said anything on how to interpret it from my knowledge, it is free reign. Like Sisyphus, in being able to create a world where Madoka would be happy, Homura could “push the boulder up the hill” or survive in her personal hell and be satisfied with it. She takes Absurdism to an even further extreme, which realistically should be thought of with more than a grain of salt. But for the sake of this being an anime, I’ll let it slide. And satisfied she appears to be, as seen in her “victory dance” at the end of the movie. Sure, she fell off a cliff (which I can be 100% certain didn’t kill her as she’s been through much worse and it’s more metaphorical to show her fall from God [Madoka] into a new entity), and familiars do represent the true feelings of the Witch, and they are seen committing suicide — that does not matter in Absurdist philosophy, since Homura does not kill herself and finds happiness in saving Madoka’s existence. Even in an absurdist hell, Homura continues to be satisfied and she doesn’t really care what happens to the status quo of Magical Girls and their relationship with her — as seen when she says Sayaka and her may become enemies when the Wraiths are extinct, but so long as Madoka is happy, Homura can live in spite of her personal hell. She has, for all intents and purposes, accepted the absurdity of EVERY universe and performed the ultimate defiance -- her Rebellion. She got what she wanted — Madoka is happy — her wish fulfilled and Kyubey got the just desserts that Homura had wanted to give him for years. This can even be interpreted in that no could understand her reasons for rewriting the universe and her love for Madoka. Though this could also be her being egocentric and her “Love” is definitely more selfish than selfless, but she IS doing it for Madoka. But can it even be defined as “Love”? Sayaka questions if it is more “Obsession” or “Desire”, compare to “Love”.

Thoughts for days... I’d love to hear some more interpretations on the matter.

Ugh, I love this movie! It makes me think!! And with that, I’d like to segue into the conclusion with Kyubey’s words and direct them to reactions to the film as a whole: “Why are [feeling the way you do]? [The movie] has served its purpose and has concluded its existence as necessary.” This very much comes to mind every time I see a new reaction to it.That in itself cannot be answered by just one philosophy or person to collectively represent the whole. It can be answered in as many ways as there are reactions and explanations for the film. And this where I believe Puella Magi Madoka Magica Rebellion is one of the most successful and outright fantastic films of all time. Akiyuki Shinbou and Studio Shaft really outdid themselves with this one. I’ll address the bias that I could be reading too much into it. And yes, Shaft is known for ridiculous amounts of metaphorical imagery and often are chastised as “pretentiously artsy” or “throwing symbols around without meaning” but there are TOO many incidences in Rebellion for that to be “Just coincidence” in my eyes. Gen Urobuchi did say in interviews that the ending to Rebellion would be divisive: From the community’s general hatred of the ending and Nihilism. To my satisfaction with it due to the nature of Absurdism. To my brother’s tragic feelings with it due to the nature of his relationship with God. To my best friend’s questioning of the pragmatism of the ending in being a Logical Skeptic. To my boyfriend’s sympathy towards Kyubey’s desire to preserve the world, even if his methods could be seen as inhumane. And even my sister, who couldn’t finish it and became Existentially depressive. This has certainly held true.

In the end, philosophy is not black and white, nor good or bad. It is more of a way that one articulates the world around them. Whether seeing it as an optimist, a pessimist, or somewhere in-between — to order or to chaos. Philosophy should be thought of with different strokes and philosophical arguments, debates and revelations are always changing with the modern world. I think Rebellion, and Madoka Magica as a whole works as a philosophical piece. A dive into how philosophy in art can be articulated and represented, but also in all the reactions, reasonings and people who have come to interact with it. To finally wrap up this LONG essay, I’ll restate that Puella Magi Madoka Magica Rebellion is my favorite film of all time. I hold the series itself in similar high regards — but I think the series is far less thought provoking compared to the movie (except for Sayaka character arc and Kyoko). (Before you ask: My favorite anime of all time is The Slayers. I love it for more nostalgic reasons than it making me existential. Sometimes, dumb campy fun is just as necessary are thought-provoking introspection and artistic expression.) But in Puellla Magi Madoka Magica Rebellion’s case: I believe a perfect movie doesn’t need a score of 100% on Metacritic. I believe a perfect film needs to be so provocative and thought-provoking that I never get tired of watching it. Rebellion is that movie to me. Flaws and all. Pacing issues of the first act and all. Even in this still rampant dub vs subs debate in anime communities — I don’t care enough to weight in, I watched it dubbed and subbed, both were of good quality. The dub may have lacked the moe-inspired voices, but at the same time, I hate moe — so them speaking in english was fine by me. Neither one takes away from this wonderful experience. I could compare it to the ideas brought about in Bojack Horseman — My favorite TV show of all time. But taken to an absolute absurd level that requires viewing.

I recommend giving the series multiple watches and come up with your own opinions and ideas. Share your reactions and really learn something about other people by how they react to the series as a whole. You can find the entire series and all the movies for Madoka Magica on Netflix.

I’d like to say if you have any other series you’d like me to cover or analyze, send me a question to my Ask box! Or if you want to support me, check out my other case studies and analyses and follow me! I hope you all enjoyed my rambling and have yourselves a fantastic rest of the day. I’ve been Tuchi, This is my Brain Vomit, And I hope you always bloom proudly!

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-- TUCHI OUT!!

References:

Aronson, Ronald, "Albert Camus", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2017 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = <https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2017/entries/camus/>. Simpson, David, “Albert Camus (1913-1960)” The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, URL = <http://www.iep.utm.edu/camus/>. Crowell, Steven, "Existentialism", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2016 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = <https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2016/entries/existentialism/>. Markie, Peter, "Rationalism vs. Empiricism", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2017 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = <https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2017/entries/rationalism-empiricism/>. Nederman, Cary, "Niccolò Machiavelli", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2014 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = <https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2014/entries/machiavelli/>.

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