Pokemon, Madoka Magica 10
► POKEMON:
Current Team:
Janovy (lv24)
Shimama (lv21)
Hatoubou (lv22)
Churine (lv16)
Kurumiru (lv15)
Current Game Time: 7:10
Friend Code: 0733 4259 5919
→ I mostly bummed around the second half of the Yaguruma Forest for a couple of hours to level grind for awhile, since the second gym had me kind of terrified of what worse things could happen. And, ugh, bug Pokemon. They're never cute. However, they are weak to flying types, so my Mamepato leveled like you wouldn't fucking believe and now I have a Hatoubou which looks fucking awesome. I LOVE IT SO MUCH. I swear, even more than I remember previous games, waiting for the right area to level up a particular Pokemon has really been paying off.
→ I did fight a bunch of Trainers (well, Rangers) in the Yaguruma Forest and a;sldkjfaslkj jesus christ, that ranger with the grown yorkie dog can go diaf. I hate normal types sooooo muuuuuch right now.
→ So, I got the dragon skull back and Team Plasma is like, well, that's okay! Whatever! It's not like it had anything to do with the legendary Pokemon we're looking for anyway! a) Lolling at giving your plan away and b) lolling even harder that, NO, THE DRAGON SKULL REALLY DIDN'T HAVE MUCH TO DO WITH ANYTHING. Awesome.
→ Skyarrow bridge was really beautiful, but you can totally tell it was there just to show off their fancy new camera work and to make you go ooh and aah at the pretty scenery. (Which I kind of totally did.)
→ Hiun City is so huge, jesus. How the hell am I going to get through every nook and cranny in that place!? WHAT IF I MISS SOMETHING!? But it also looks really gorgeous and I'm curious to start exploring it! So long as I don't forget what I have and haven't explored already.
→ At least I got a water stone for my Hiyappu? Now I need a sun stone for Churine because it's evolved state is soooo prettttyyyy and I WANT IT. Despite that I already have a grass type and, christ, I really don't need two. BUT THE GRASS TYPES ARE ALWAYS SO CUTE--!!
→ I am totally going to drop Kurumiru because I'm never very fond of bug types and its evolutions aren't that pretty and, yes, I am that shallow. But I snagged it and will bring it along for awhile in case I need it.
► ANIME:
Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica episode 10: All the usual warnings, especially SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS. (This was shorter than I expected, given how mind-blowing this episode was, but I just can't put anything into words! COHERENCY IS NEVER GUARANTEED, BUT ESPECIALLY NOW.)
If I thought that the previous episode was a bit of a let down after episode 08, then this one just came back around and left me knocked flat on my ass with how incredible it was. I have a hell of a time even knowing where to begin with this episode because it was just so goddamned flawless, intense, and emotional.
It was a hell of a rollercoaster--the sweetness of Homura just beginning to find herself, the joy at seeing Mami alive again (not gonna lie, I thought I might tear up a little), the heartbreak of Homura losing all of them over and over and over, always waking up and always having to try again, always becoming a little more cold and jaded to cover how incredibly hurt she is, how much she's suffering through this time loop. Which is indeed a time loop and is her own wish, rather than someone else having sent her back in time.
Like the previous episodes, not much was genuinely a surprise (aside from, maybe, Madoka being a competent magical girl in Homura's original timeline) but the way Shaft carried it off, it was all the more brilliant for it, all the more like an inevitable slide towards the crash you knew was coming. It was obvious where this episode was headed, that we would see Madoka's dream play out, that it would be the prologue to the series, that this was Homura's flashbacks. We knew she had to end up as the reserved, distant girl we've seen all along, rather than the shy, awkward girl we saw here. And you knew bad things had to happen to get her there.
Watching her friends die over and over, feeling like she was useless and couldn't do anything, wanting to protect them instead, unable to stop any of this horror, forced to relive it over and over? It's heartbreaking. Especially the final time she woke up anew, the traumatized look on her face, having had to kill Madoka before she became a witch, because Madoka had lied, she still had one grief seed left and could clean up Homura's soul gem. Having just been willing to become a witch with Madoka, to just finally give up, but instead she has to go through all of it again.
It was breathtaking. Every time Madoka died, you could feel Homura being devestated all over again.
There wasn't a second wasted here, each moment showed Homura's journey to where she is now, how she struggled with her powers, which weren't really an offensive type, how she had to get creative with them (by stealing guns from the mob, apparently?? god, I love her), how she had to work even harder to not be a drag on them. How Madoka protected her, drew her out of her shell, became this incredibly important person to her.
Which I wonder if that's not connected to Madoka's potential for whatever reason? It seemed like, every time Homura went back in time, Madoka got stronger and stronger as a magical girl--is that why she's got so much potential in her? Because she's at the center of Homura's wish? Certainly, she was getting up there in power, when one of the more recent timelines had them going up against Walpurgisnacht, Madoka defeated it in one blow, but apparently that was still enough to send her over the edge towards being a witch, I think? Certainly, there was an ominous sense to the clouds circling overhead.
Kyuubei was creepy as ever in this episode, when he didn't care that Madoka would destroy the planet, because they'd gotten more than their quota of energy from this planet anyway~. Seems like a waste, that there could have been even more energy harvested, but maybe that's how major Madoka's transformation was? That it would be worth losing the future of all those potential magical girls?
This episode didn't really raise a lot of questions (at least not vs those that it answered, given the usual ratio of the previous episodes), but one big one was: In the previous time loops, Madoka was already a magical girl when Homura started, wasn't she? How did that change? Or did she wake up well before the storyline got moving, so there was actually more time between her waking up and moving to the new school than we saw? That'd be my guess, otherwise how could she affect things that happened before the starting point of her time loop? (But it seemed like she was awfully close to the say she would be going back to school, given the calendar? Idk.)
And I honestly do not know where this is all going. How can this timeline possibly be saved? Kyouko and Sayaka are already dead, their soul gems are destroyed even if you could purify them back, it's down to just Madoka and Homura again. Homura can't defeat Walpurgisnacht by herself and, even if she finds some loophole, is she just going to leave Sayaka and Kyouko as dead? But how could we head into another timeline? There are only two episodes left and we're invested in these versions of the characters, to have a reset here would be terribly unsatisfying, I fear. (Not that I would put anything past Urobuchi at this point.)
There was a comment on one of the animesuki threads that summed up a lot of the problems with getting a "perfect happy ending" as:
Stray observations:
» As someone pointed out, one reason Kyuubei might have granted Homura's wish (aside from that being the terms of the contract) is that, in the original timeline, Madoka died without becoming a witch, so Kyuubei would have wanted another chance at her energy. *brr*
» Homura to Madoka as they're both dying: "How about we turn into monsters together... and turn this world upside down?" If I hadn't OTP'd them before, I certainly would have then.
» So the cute antics in the OP could have actutally happened now! I am kind of in love with the DOUBLE TROLLING there, that's impressive! I really like that it wound up being the ED in this episode, which is a neat little tie in to the way this episode is basically the prologue of the series.
» The animesuki forums said that Madoka's witch form was Brocken spectre, which is really interesting.
» Oh, another question raised: If Madoka was a magical girl before Homura in the original timeline... what did she wish for?
Current Team:
Janovy (lv24)
Shimama (lv21)
Hatoubou (lv22)
Churine (lv16)
Kurumiru (lv15)
Current Game Time: 7:10
Friend Code: 0733 4259 5919
→ I mostly bummed around the second half of the Yaguruma Forest for a couple of hours to level grind for awhile, since the second gym had me kind of terrified of what worse things could happen. And, ugh, bug Pokemon. They're never cute. However, they are weak to flying types, so my Mamepato leveled like you wouldn't fucking believe and now I have a Hatoubou which looks fucking awesome. I LOVE IT SO MUCH. I swear, even more than I remember previous games, waiting for the right area to level up a particular Pokemon has really been paying off.
→ I did fight a bunch of Trainers (well, Rangers) in the Yaguruma Forest and a;sldkjfaslkj jesus christ, that ranger with the grown yorkie dog can go diaf. I hate normal types sooooo muuuuuch right now.
→ So, I got the dragon skull back and Team Plasma is like, well, that's okay! Whatever! It's not like it had anything to do with the legendary Pokemon we're looking for anyway! a) Lolling at giving your plan away and b) lolling even harder that, NO, THE DRAGON SKULL REALLY DIDN'T HAVE MUCH TO DO WITH ANYTHING. Awesome.
→ Skyarrow bridge was really beautiful, but you can totally tell it was there just to show off their fancy new camera work and to make you go ooh and aah at the pretty scenery. (Which I kind of totally did.)
→ Hiun City is so huge, jesus. How the hell am I going to get through every nook and cranny in that place!? WHAT IF I MISS SOMETHING!? But it also looks really gorgeous and I'm curious to start exploring it! So long as I don't forget what I have and haven't explored already.
→ At least I got a water stone for my Hiyappu? Now I need a sun stone for Churine because it's evolved state is soooo prettttyyyy and I WANT IT. Despite that I already have a grass type and, christ, I really don't need two. BUT THE GRASS TYPES ARE ALWAYS SO CUTE--!!
→ I am totally going to drop Kurumiru because I'm never very fond of bug types and its evolutions aren't that pretty and, yes, I am that shallow. But I snagged it and will bring it along for awhile in case I need it.
► ANIME:
Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica episode 10: All the usual warnings, especially SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS. (This was shorter than I expected, given how mind-blowing this episode was, but I just can't put anything into words! COHERENCY IS NEVER GUARANTEED, BUT ESPECIALLY NOW.)
If I thought that the previous episode was a bit of a let down after episode 08, then this one just came back around and left me knocked flat on my ass with how incredible it was. I have a hell of a time even knowing where to begin with this episode because it was just so goddamned flawless, intense, and emotional.
It was a hell of a rollercoaster--the sweetness of Homura just beginning to find herself, the joy at seeing Mami alive again (not gonna lie, I thought I might tear up a little), the heartbreak of Homura losing all of them over and over and over, always waking up and always having to try again, always becoming a little more cold and jaded to cover how incredibly hurt she is, how much she's suffering through this time loop. Which is indeed a time loop and is her own wish, rather than someone else having sent her back in time.
Like the previous episodes, not much was genuinely a surprise (aside from, maybe, Madoka being a competent magical girl in Homura's original timeline) but the way Shaft carried it off, it was all the more brilliant for it, all the more like an inevitable slide towards the crash you knew was coming. It was obvious where this episode was headed, that we would see Madoka's dream play out, that it would be the prologue to the series, that this was Homura's flashbacks. We knew she had to end up as the reserved, distant girl we've seen all along, rather than the shy, awkward girl we saw here. And you knew bad things had to happen to get her there.
Watching her friends die over and over, feeling like she was useless and couldn't do anything, wanting to protect them instead, unable to stop any of this horror, forced to relive it over and over? It's heartbreaking. Especially the final time she woke up anew, the traumatized look on her face, having had to kill Madoka before she became a witch, because Madoka had lied, she still had one grief seed left and could clean up Homura's soul gem. Having just been willing to become a witch with Madoka, to just finally give up, but instead she has to go through all of it again.
It was breathtaking. Every time Madoka died, you could feel Homura being devestated all over again.
There wasn't a second wasted here, each moment showed Homura's journey to where she is now, how she struggled with her powers, which weren't really an offensive type, how she had to get creative with them (by stealing guns from the mob, apparently?? god, I love her), how she had to work even harder to not be a drag on them. How Madoka protected her, drew her out of her shell, became this incredibly important person to her.
Which I wonder if that's not connected to Madoka's potential for whatever reason? It seemed like, every time Homura went back in time, Madoka got stronger and stronger as a magical girl--is that why she's got so much potential in her? Because she's at the center of Homura's wish? Certainly, she was getting up there in power, when one of the more recent timelines had them going up against Walpurgisnacht, Madoka defeated it in one blow, but apparently that was still enough to send her over the edge towards being a witch, I think? Certainly, there was an ominous sense to the clouds circling overhead.
Kyuubei was creepy as ever in this episode, when he didn't care that Madoka would destroy the planet, because they'd gotten more than their quota of energy from this planet anyway~. Seems like a waste, that there could have been even more energy harvested, but maybe that's how major Madoka's transformation was? That it would be worth losing the future of all those potential magical girls?
This episode didn't really raise a lot of questions (at least not vs those that it answered, given the usual ratio of the previous episodes), but one big one was: In the previous time loops, Madoka was already a magical girl when Homura started, wasn't she? How did that change? Or did she wake up well before the storyline got moving, so there was actually more time between her waking up and moving to the new school than we saw? That'd be my guess, otherwise how could she affect things that happened before the starting point of her time loop? (But it seemed like she was awfully close to the say she would be going back to school, given the calendar? Idk.)
And I honestly do not know where this is all going. How can this timeline possibly be saved? Kyouko and Sayaka are already dead, their soul gems are destroyed even if you could purify them back, it's down to just Madoka and Homura again. Homura can't defeat Walpurgisnacht by herself and, even if she finds some loophole, is she just going to leave Sayaka and Kyouko as dead? But how could we head into another timeline? There are only two episodes left and we're invested in these versions of the characters, to have a reset here would be terribly unsatisfying, I fear. (Not that I would put anything past Urobuchi at this point.)
There was a comment on one of the animesuki threads that summed up a lot of the problems with getting a "perfect happy ending" as:
- If the "best end" resolution involves everyone surviving, it's not going to happen by Homura's doing. So far she hasn't even managed to save Madoka from her fate, let alone adding 3 other MGs to the mix. Nevermind that her wish is only with regards to protecting Madoka. That does not implicitly include Mami, Sayaka, and Kyoko. You could infer that saving Madoka means saving them as well, but Homura has very clearly shown us over the course of the series that she would rather try to convince Madoka to sever her ties to them entirely rather than waste her time and energy trying to keep them alive.
Stray observations:
» As someone pointed out, one reason Kyuubei might have granted Homura's wish (aside from that being the terms of the contract) is that, in the original timeline, Madoka died without becoming a witch, so Kyuubei would have wanted another chance at her energy. *brr*
» Homura to Madoka as they're both dying: "How about we turn into monsters together... and turn this world upside down?" If I hadn't OTP'd them before, I certainly would have then.
» So the cute antics in the OP could have actutally happened now! I am kind of in love with the DOUBLE TROLLING there, that's impressive! I really like that it wound up being the ED in this episode, which is a neat little tie in to the way this episode is basically the prologue of the series.
» The animesuki forums said that Madoka's witch form was Brocken spectre, which is really interesting.
» Oh, another question raised: If Madoka was a magical girl before Homura in the original timeline... what did she wish for?