Halloween Anime Roundup: Puella Magi Madoka Magica
I'd just like to preface this by relating a bit of background here. Since Otakon 2011, which I volunteered at, I knew that the dark magical girl show “Puella Magi Madoka Magica” existed and was coming to the States. This past summer, at Otakon 2012, I went to a celebratory panel with Christine Marie Cabanos, Sarah Williams, and Lauren Landa, who provide the English voices of Madoka, Sayaka, and Kyoko, respectively. And although I hadn't actually started watching “Madoka Magica” at that point, I had such a great time at the panel and autograph session (where I was ecstatic to have Lauren Landa say two whole sentences to me that didn't have to do with the show) that I decided I just had to watch “Madoka Magica” this very Halloween.
Fortunately, “Madoka Magica” turned out to be fairly short, which meant it was easy to fit in-and, if anything, I found myself having to pace my viewings of it so that I wouldn't finish the entire thing in a single night (then “Shiki” came along...). This is a good show. It's compelling, it draws you in, and it really makes you feel for all the various characters. I'm not sure if I'd say it's quite as good as “Neon Genesis Evangelion,” or even that it's as groundbreaking as it's been made out to be-though more on that later. But there's a lot it does well.
WARNING: There's really no way to talk about the plot of “Madoka” without giving away the story, so if you haven't seen it yet (and you want to be surprised) DO NOT READ ON!!
“Madoka Magica” follows the story of our lead, whose name is Madoka, who lives a seemingly ordinary life until the day she runs into a mysterious transfer student named Homura (voiced by Christina Vee), who warns her not to change anything about herself or her life. Madoka is confused by this until she and her best friend Sayaka meet a mysterious creature known as Kyubey (voiced by Cassandra Lee) and a magical girl named Mami (voiced by Carrie Keranen). Kyubey wants Madoka and Sayaka (but especially Madoka) to become magical girls and fight enemies called witches, and promises to grant them any wish if they'll do so.
Unfortunately (this would be the SPOILERY part) it turns out that being a magical girl is not actually all that great. Three episodes in, Mami is killed; and down the road, it's revealed that magical girls eventually become witches, the very creatures they're supposed to be destroying. As her friends and associates get deeper and deeper into trouble, and as Kyubey pesters her to become a magical girl more and more, Madoka must decide if it's worth becoming a magical girl, and what, if any, wish could possibly be worth the trouble to make.
Although basically a magical-girl anime, albeit a dark one, “Madoka Magica” seems, at bottom, to be a unique spin on the story of the Faustian bargain, or “deal with the devil,” something which has almost certainly existed in lore, in one form or another, since pretty much forever. The way that the basic Faustian bargain works, an ambitious man (it's nearly always a man in the ancient traditions) makes a deal with the devil-he gets something which should be difficult or impossible to achieve, like immortality, in exchange for his soul. Certain versions of the Faustian story involve the person who made the deal trying to look for a loophole to get out of losing his soul-which, appropriately enough, is what Madoka ends up trying to do. The thing is that in “Madoka Magica,” it actually matters whether or not she can get out of it, because if she doesn't she'll eventually become a witch, which means that she'll become someone else's problem-as opposed to the original Faustian legends which concern whether or not one person who freely agreed to making a deal with the devil loses his one soul.
Of course, most Faustian bargain stories are morality tales, which warn against changing the way things “should be.” In “Madoka Magica,” Homura seems to think that contracts violate what in the olden days would have been considered God's grand design, and Kyubey basically says as much when in later episodes s/he talks of how being a magical girl defies logical explanation, and that Madoka has the power to rewrite the laws of the universe. Other than that, though, it doesn't seem like “Madoka” has a moral to tell-or at least not one that would be relevant to the show's target audience, which is almost certainly young men (more on that later). Rather, “Madoka” uses the Faustian bargain device because it's dark and that's how the show can stay nice and dark while not sacrificing the integrity of the magical-girl-familiar trope.
Interestingly, in “Madoka Magica” we see characters make contracts with Kyubey for just about any reason anyone might ever make a deal with the devil or any untrustworthy magic-giver. We see characters become magical girls as an alternative to dying (Mami), to reap a benefit that otherwise could not be (Sayaka), to save someone else at the cost of themselves (Homura), as well as wishes which fit none of these descriptions. Unfortunately, all such wishes must eventually backfire. Mami, who made a contract with Kyubey to keep from dying in a car crash, is the first magical girl we see die. Sayaka wished for her crush's arm to heal so he could play music again, but she was unable to pursue him romantically, which was what she really wanted. And of course there's Kyoko, who wished that people would listen to her father, but when he realized that they were obeying him because of magic he killed himself and she was left with no one.
Now, despite the inevitable comparisons made between “Madoka” and “Evangelion,” I actually think that for at least the first ten episodes or so, “Madoka” is closer to “Code Geass,” in terms of the “be careful what you wish for” subtext as well as the way everything seems coldly calculated to rain as much misery on the characters as possible. In “Code Geass,” a character's deepest desire can manifest itself in the form of Geass, but the power eventually gets out of control and does the character more harm than good-effectively becoming too much of a good thing. Somewhat interestingly, in “Madoka Magica” this isn't what happens, at least not in many cases. Presumably it could have happened (no doubt if Sayaka had wished Kamijou had fallen hopelessly in love with her, the rest of her arc would be dedicated to her dealing with his constantly sending her gifts and wedding invitations), but with the exception of Homura and Kyoko it seems like the characters' suffering comes from something not directly connected to their wishes. Mami's death happens not because of her wish but because she's simply in a dangerous profession. Sayaka's crush's arm does heal, and her despair comes from the idea that she's not human and thus unworthy of him, something unrelated to what he thinks of the whole business. The closest thing we see to a wish becoming “too much of a good thing” is Homura, who rewrote Madoka's past so many times she ended up with the potential to turn into a cosmically-destructive witch.
Awhile back, I was speaking to a friend of mine who does anime criticism. His belief about the magical girl genre is that it's being corrupted by the influence of moe and taken a turn away from its roots as fighting shows for girls and now tries too hard to appeal to a masculine audience. “Madoka” falls into all this because despite the fact that it's clearly a show about girls (in fact, there aren't really any male characters of much importance-Kyubey doesn't count since xe technically doesn't have a gender), it's likely aimed at least partly at a masculine audience. Going by that theory, it seems like “Madoka” draws a lot of inspiration, not so much from a show like “Sailor Moon” or “Tokyo Mew Mew” (the latter of which I watched for quite awhile back in the day) but from a show like “Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha,” in which, coincidentally, Christina Vee played the lead. My question is: if “Madoka” is indeed trying to emulate “Nanoha,” well, why do that? Why emulate a magical girl show that isn't even intended to be seen by girls per se? True, “Neon Genesis Evangelion” was aimed at a male audience, but humungous mecha in general is aimed at male audiences, and although “Nanoha” clearly marked a type of magical-girl show designed to appeal to a masculine audience, we haven't seen much in the way of mecha shows aimed at feminine audiences unless a show like “RideBack” counts.
Now, let's be fair, here. There's no reason why girls wouldn't enjoy “Madoka Magica” per se-certainly the show's got plenty of well-realized female characters, and enough trappings of the magical girl shows they know and love that they can probably appreciate the darker spin. The fact that everyone seems to treat “Madoka” as something aimed, as “Nanoha” was, at a masculine audience may have more to do with cultural constructs than with anything else, and there's plenty of ways in which “Madoka” isn't really that much like “Nanoha.” For one thing, in “Madoka” there's almost no fanservice of any kind. For another, in “Madoka” the characters are actually at about the right age that a young female audience could relate to them fairly successfully, and the story seems to fall into the trap of having kids act like little adults less frequently and less obviously than “Nanoha.” I feel like there's a cultural construct of dark, violent shows without a prominent romantic subplot being “male” entertainment by default, which I don't think is fair (since that's easily at least 50% of what I watch).
But, anyway, just who are the characters of “Madoka Magica?” The first thing to keep in mind is, as I've hinted before, “Madoka Magica” has about the same approach to constructing and working with a character that “Code Geass” has-take a character, give her personality and development, and then torture her until she's at the end of her rope to see what she's made of. Not every character suffers much within the actual plot but the only important character who escapes suffering, in the end, is Kyubey, and Kyubey doesn't have emotions as we know them to begin with. Apart from the magical girls and Kyubey, I actually didn't think any character in “Madoka Magica” was that well-defined.
There's not much to say about Madoka, really. She's just an ordinary girl, who's so far from being like Shinji Ikari that there's almost no comparison to be made at all. Although, I guess there's a slight similarity in how Shinji's “I mustn't run away” motto seems to be invoked in Madoka's utter refusal to run away from danger, no matter how nasty it is, when her friends are on the front line. But of course, we don't need to treat Madoka as a second Shinji-she is and should be her own character. So... what is there to say about her? Well, not much, really. Actually, Madoka, while likable and sympathetic, is probably the blandest of the magical girls. It's quite possible that this was intentional, since she essentially acts as a sounding board for the very-real issues of the other characters. Madoka's signature color is pink.
Madoka's friends, though, are a lot more interesting than she is. Her best friend is Sayaka. Sayaka starts off as a basically happy girl, who's into music and anime; but her character arc takes a turn for the darker once she becomes a magical girl. Sayaka is fairly keen on becoming a magical girl, and to become one she makes a wish that her crush, Kyosuke Kamijou, could have his arm healed, so he could play his violin again.
We learn a couple of interesting things through Sayaka over the course of the story. It's through her that we first see a soul gem be created and, if you're looking closely, the fact that Kyubey pulls the soul gem's capsule out of her heart may stand as evidence that it's literally made out of her soul (if the name didn't give it away, that is). It's also through Sayaka that we learn that a magical girl can't be injured unless her soul gem gets damaged, and that her capabilities relate to the wish she made (for instance, since her wish involved healing she heals easily). And of course, Sayaka is the first magical girl we see become a witch. Sayaka's signature color is blue.
Just a quick digression to talk about soul gems. Soul gems are the source of a magical girl's power, and will turn into grief seeds if they stop glowing and get completely dark. It's later that we learn that they're literally the manifestation of the magical girls' soul, with their body being replaced by something sturdier they can use to fight witches. In a sense, it seems like they're almost the opposite of the Eva units in “Evangelion.” In “Evangelion” the pilots sync with their mechs such that anything that happens to the mechs on the battlefield, the pilots feel as well (which is exactly what makes the dummy-plug incident so horrifying). In “Madoka,” though, the magical girls cannot be seriously hurt or damaged unless their soul gem gets interfered with somehow, and Sayaka makes a big deal of how she can completely shut out pain when she fights witches.
Homura is technically the first magical girl we encounter, though she isn't formally introduced until a bit later. Of all the magical girls, I suppose Homura could be thought of as the most Rei Ayanami-like, since she's stoic, knowledgeable, and in the magical-girl business so deeply it's become all there is to her. Homura, like Rei, clearly believes that to become a magical girl is to forsake everything. And of course, she'd be right. Somewhat ironically, while much of the latest Neon Genesis Evangelion remake has to do with Rei opening up to others, in “Madoka” it's Homura who initiates contact with Madoka, trying to stop her from becoming a magical girl and trying to get her to forget those who do since by that point it's too late to help them-effectively, shutting Madoka off from people.
Homura, as I discussed earlier, actually has the wish that comes closest to the traditional Faustian bargain, since by going back in time to stop Madoka from becoming a magical girl, she's managed to turn Madoka into the worst witch ever because sooner or later Madoka would have to become a magical girl anyway (at least according to Kyubey). As such, Homura's story seems to be a new twist on the notion that you “can't fight fate.” One interesting thing in the episode I noticed from Homura's backstory is that initially, Homura was useless at school since she had been in the hospital so long, whereas in the timeline where most of the story takes place she is the best at everything. It begs the question of whether her resetting time so many times makes her more capable as it does Madoka.
I personally really like Homura because I love how calculating and smart she is (seriously-her power is non-offensive and so she builds her own bombs so she can still be of use!). Homura's signature colors are black and purple.
Mami is the most minor of the magical girls but she still serves a pretty important role. After all, she's the first magical girl to die, and in doing so, she shows how serious and dangerous being a magical girl is. Others have pointed out that before Mami dies the show is essentially a slice-of-life comedy, whereas after her death things take a really dark turn, so I'm not going to belabor that point. I will say, though, that I feel like she essentially got off easy compared to the other magical girls because she died before she got a chance to become a witch or see her friends do so (and she gets a much easier fate compared to Casca in “Berserk,” Carrie Keranen's other big role). In some respects, Mami seems to be the most like a “traditional” magical girl, since she names her attacks, uses ribbons in her transformation sequence and combat, and since she never freely agreed to become a magical girl per se, with Kyubey essentially turning her as an alternative to her dying (in the likes of a show like “Tokyo Mew Mew,” for example, the protagonist Ichigo becomes a magical girl against her will and it's only later on that she comes to accept and appreciate the responsibility). Mami's signature color is yellow.
The final magical girl we meet in the story is Kyoko. Kyoko could be considered the most Asuka-like of the magical girls, since she's an incredibly strong fighter, feisty and abrasive, and she has a dark and troubled past involving lots of murder and suicide (also, her signature color is red). Kyoko is a street urchin who spends most of her time fighting witches and stealing and consuming tremendous amounts of food. The reason why she lives like this is because her father was a poor preacher whom nobody listened to, and who later killed himself and most of the rest of his family after Kyoko used Kyubey's wish to make people listen to him.
One thing that I find puzzling about Kyoko is exactly what inspired her to turn around and help Sayaka. Because the first couple of times the girls meet one another, they try to kill each other. There's a scene a bit later in which Kyoko tells Sayaka her story and tries to convince Sayaka to live only for herself, Sayaka walks away; and then later she becomes a witch and Kyoko suddenly decides to team up with Madoka to try to save Sayaka. Now, it's a fairly well-accepted interpretation of things that Kyoko had a crush on Sayaka, and if that's so, well, that would I guess go a long way toward explaining it. Especially since we see Sayaka go a little crazy because she couldn't have the boy she was crushing on (true, this was partly because she believed that she was no longer human, but still). Perhaps this is simply the show's way of illustrating for us that these are young, hormonal girls who will act on their feelings, and so if Kyoko gets a crush on Sayaka that becomes the most important thing? I fail to see what other explanation there could be, really, since while I can totally understand Kyoko wanting to convince Sayaka to think selfishly (as per her own personal experience) that alone isn't enough to explain why Kyoko would want to prevent her from becoming a witch, especially since she's previously been shown not to care if familiars harm humans since they don't leave grief seeds.
And finally we have Kyubey. Now, Kyubey is the one who makes the girls into magical girls in the first place, and as you might expect, while xe is very cute, xe's also kind of creepy, owing to the big red eyes and the lack of emotional affect. This is, of course, entirely intentional. I must confess, it was only until the last few episodes that I really began to take Kyubey seriously, simply because of xir voice. Xe sounded like a cutesy little girl, to the point I half-expected xir to start saying “OMG!” and “Like, totally!”
But, anyway, as a cute-but-creepy character, Kyubey works; but I will say that I wasn't overly impressed by Kyubey's simply being cute and creepy at the same time. I've seen tons of characters that fit that description, including some pokemon, and the idea of a character whose cuteness and creepiness is a plot point is something I'd argue Satoshi Kon did much better with Maromi the dog in “Paranoia Agent” several years ago. In that show, Maromi was actually creepier and more interesting for not being malevolent in any noticeable way (though I'm biased because the cute characters interspersed with graphic gore in “Elfen Lied” left sort of a bad taste in my mouth).
On the other hand, I may be one of the few people who doesn't really see Kyubey as being evil per se. Not that I think xir behavior is good, or that I don't get why other people would see xir as evil; but at the same time I can see why xe would not consider xirself or xir kind to be evil. My interpretation is that Kyubey is genuinely working toward the greater good, but that the greater good xe speaks of is so difficult a concept for any human to comprehend that xe mostly just seems like a villain. One thing that I had trouble buying was the notion that if Madoka became a witch, that would automatically provide all the power that Kyubey's kind would ever need. I mean, they're trying to prevent the heat death of the entire universe. Would one magical girl, however powerful, really have that much energy?
Later on in the story, there's a segment in which Kyubey tries to tell Madoka that actually, there's nothing wrong with what xir kind does because it's no worse than humans killing livestock for food (given that this is a plot point in “Shiki” as well I've had a very livestock-analogy-heavy Halloween). To be quite honest, I found Madoka too damn naïve in that scene to take seriously. I mean, Madoka isn't exactly a little girl; she's a teenager. You'd think she'd know that food animals have to be butchered and that lots of women have died throughout history in lots of horrible ways.
On that note, one thing that really did bug me about this show was how it seemed to be suggesting that everything ever is the result of a magical girl or a witch. If someone is having suicidal thoughts, it must be because a witch made them do it. Kyubey goes so far as to say that if it weren't for magical girls, humanity would still be living in caves; and it's strongly implied that pretty much every woman of any historical accomplishment whatsoever had to have been a magical girl. What, do the authors think so poorly of women that they think every woman who made history must have been inherently “better” than ordinary women?
One other uncomfortable implication I encountered in “Madoka Magica” is the notion that young girls make the best grief seeds because they have such a wide range of emotions. But this strikes me as being a bit unfair, since young boys have a wide range of emotions as well, and it goes back to the notion that all little girls are moody and controlled by their emotions (with the corollary that little boys are more stoic and rational, which isn't true).
Another, more positive interpretation of the whole business, though, might be that “Madoka Magica” speaks to girls (or maybe even boys) as they depart from childhood-when they begin to let go of the notion that their private fantasy worlds (here represented as the allure of being an all-powerful magical girl) are the most important ones, and begin to come to the realization that actually, the best thing they can do is live in the real world and that being constantly wrapped up in magic and fantasy might not necessarily be all that great. And that message is genuinely rather refreshing, especially considering the sheer volume of media in which characters descend into the underworld and then never come back (as, somewhat ironically, happened in “Nanoha”).
I'll just leave by saying that although “Madoka Magica” gets a lot of comparisons to “Neon Genesis Evangelion,” I actually don't think it's got quite the same technique or level of staying power. The point of “Evangelion,” remember, was to take the tropes of the humungous-mecha genre and examine them realistically-because realistically a child asked to pilot a mech would probably react much worse than they typically do in super robot shows-with an extra dose of mental illness and apocalypse to keep things trippy. On the other hand, “Madoka,” while it does that to a degree, seems to be less concerned with examining the magical-girl genre realistically than with simply taking the various tropes and making them as dark as possible. While this isn't a failure formula by any means, I don't think it's going to be as groundbreaking, in the end, as “Evangelion” was-I don't think it's going to define the genre in the same way, and I don't think people will create remakes or any other sort of revivals more than ten years after the franchise loses steam.
That said, there's no sense denying the fact that I enjoyed the hell out of this show, and that it's got more than enough to offer anyone who likes magical girls, horror, or any combination of the two.
Normally I'd include the show's OP, just to round this off; but since I couldn't find the OP, have the ED instead.
Click to view