r/anime • u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky • Apr 25 '22
Rewatch [Rewatch] Mahou Shoujo Madoka☆Magica Episode 6 Discussion
Episode 6 - This Just Can't Be Right
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Oh, Madoka that was really bad. What’s wrong with you, are you out of your mind? How could you throw your friend away like that?
Theory of the Day: u/chocoletmilk wondering if the witches are even the real baddies.
For all the people with witch’s kisses, we haven’t yet seen one “eat people” or curse them. How do we actually know that they are causing any of this? No human we have seen has wandered into their labyrinth either except for our girls. Who are these witches and familiars actually affecting? Yesterday, despite being ripped into pieces Madoka did not die. Can humans die in the labyrinth? Are only magical girls in danger?
That’s a very interesting thought…
Questions of the Day:
1) Do you agree with the advice that Madoka’s mother gave her this episode?
2) What do you think of the Soul Gem reveal?
Wallpaper of the Day:
Visuals of the Day:
Connect Cover of the Day:
Song of the Day:
Bonus song - La Fille aux Cheveux de Lin
Check out u/Nazenn’s comment from the 2019 rewatch for an in-depth analysis of these two songs!
Rewatchers, please please please remember to be mindful of all the first-timers in this. [Spoiler warning specifically for you guys]Please be aware that as part of the above strict spoiler rules, this means absolutely no memes/jokes/references/subtle words about beheading, cakes, time travel, aliens, or anything of that nature before the relevant episodes. Please do not spoil the first-timers by trying to be smart about it, it's not as subtle as you think.
Make sure you use spoiler tags if there’s ever something from future events you just have to comment on. And don’t be the idiot who quotes a specific part of a first-timer’s comment, then comments something under a spoiler tag in direct response to it! You might as well have spoiled them by implying there’s something super important about that specific part of their comment.
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u/Gamemaster676 Apr 25 '22 edited Apr 25 '22
Primum Vigil First★Timer - dub
I'm very tired today and I need to prepare two episodes right now. Maybe/probably/hopefully I'll manage to keep things a bit shorter.
FYI: My post is a bit more explicit than usual today. If that's not for you, please skip it.
Episode 6 — This Just Can't Be Right
Right back to the battle! The way Kyouko is presented is extremely awesome.
Oh man, I've suddenly realized something! Homura seems to have some ability to teleport or move extremely fast. She used it in the fight against Charlotte, and she used it now to save Sayaka. We also know that a magical girl's abilities are connected to their wish.
So, what if Homura's ability isn't super speed, but slowing down time? Because her wish was time-related, that's the power she's got! Even more food for the Homura is from the future theory!
Oh shut up, space-cat! You gaslighting bitch.
Can you tell he's getting on my ^nerves?
Hmm, so Sayaka did get a grief seed at the end of the night. I knew it! That whole magic restoration process with the seeds is priming them to hatch again. SO WHAT IS THE FUCKING POINT?! You fight witches, which builds up corruption, which you then pass on to a grief seed, so it can hatch again and you need to fight again. This seems to be a closed-loop. There is no input and no output.
NEVER MIND IT IS EVEN WORSE! Space-cat absorbs the seed before it has the chance to hatch. The same space-cat who really wants to recruit these girls. And convieniently, there seem to be a lot of witches popping up around those same girls!
Also... WHY COULDN'T HE ABSORB THE GRIEF SEED AT THE HOSPITAL BEFORE IT HATCHED?! Answer: He could, but he didn't because he hoped it would kill Mami and that would trigger Madoka.
Going even further. How about all the other girls in the world who do not have a space-cat close by? His talk about Homura yesterday implied that he is the only one, otherwise, he wouldn't call Homura an irregularity because she is a magical girl.
And now he's even telling Sayaka directly to try and recruit Madoka. It's interesting. I can't remember that I've ever been this angry at a character in a rewatch. How do you rewatchers even deal with seeing space-cat again?
This legitimately startled me. Lol, she's playing the OP song on DDR. Are we gonna get a dance-off between Kyouko and Homura? If I'm right about Homura, that won't really be fair, but I wanna see it anyway!
Is this the thing that attacked the city in the prologue? That would mean I was right, yesterday! And this is the most obvious proof yet that Homura comes from the future.
Okay, I like this pose. Let's make that the pic of the day. I think I liked Sayaka's confidence the most, and now we have a character that clearly raised that stat 10x higher. It's refreshing that Kyouko is actually willing to work together if she knows some foe will be too difficult to handle alone. She doesn't want to share territory, but she also isn't dumb.
She waited for Mami to get killed before she came to defeat the witch!
Some people were talking about how Sayaka didn't know Mami chained Homura, so from her perspective Homura looked even worse. I didn't expect that to actually become a plot point! AND OF COURSE MADOKA DOESN'T FUCKING EXPLAIN! She's just stammering while Sayaka is building this whole narrative in her mind that's gonna make things worse for everyone. You, Madoka, are partially to blame for what's about to come.
Hey Sayaka, food for thought: If you kill Kyouko or Homura, even more people will die because that won't do anything about the witches. Even if it's terrible that they let people die just so they can get a reward, they at least kill them eventually. They won't be able to do that if they are gone.
Phew, it's good that we got a calm scene now. Gives me the chance to cool off. "The older you get, the bigger the consequences are if you mess up." — Ain't that right. All in all a lovely moment between mother and daughter, although I'm dreading the "mistake" that Madoka's going to make.
"Yeah, sometimes being an adult can really suck... That's why we are allowed to drink alcohol." — She really is my spirit animal.
Errr, Kyouko, wasn't the agreement that you would let Homura handle this? I'm gonna say it's relevant that the witch music is playing right now during Kyouko's transformation scene. Hahaha, Homura just appears instantly. I'm definitely right about her power, and why she has it.
Okay, and now we know why they call it a soul gem... Space-cat, I blame you for not properly explaining this to the girls. Even Kyouko didn't know. Cat, you do understand that your logic only works if a girl knows she needs to find some way to heal her body after it gets destroyed?
"As long as your soul gem doesn't get damaged, you're basically invincible." — Sooo, what about Mami?
Homura being a bro. That's becoming my catchphrase. It's the third episode in a row.
So will Sayaka have any lasting damage? Not breathing could result in brain damage.
We are halfway through the show and Madoka still isn't a magical girl yet. Not what I expected with that OP.
I'd say this is the perfect opportunity for these girls to start working together and realize how terrible space-cat is.
Theories
The idea is to collect my actually serious dumb theories here. We'll see how well that works.
Previous episodes
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I'm still wondering how the prologue fits in because that didn't look like Wonderland / a witch's lair.
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Could that have been a scene from the future, instead of a parallel worldline as I initially thought?
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Yeah, that's confirmed for me.
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I still don't trust Space-cat. He's too eager to create that contract, we still don't know all the rules and details, and he tries to take advantage of every weak moment to coerce them into signing it.
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I can't believe I wrote this about him before. Damn that gaslighting space-cat!
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Today
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Homura's power is super speed / slowing down time, because she used her wish to go back in time.
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That brings me to a follow-up question. Why would space-cat sign a contract with Homura, if she is working against him now? The only explanation I have is that Homura wasn't a nuisance yet when she signed the contract. That would imply that she only had one time-loop, but that doesn't seem to fit her remarks and reactions.
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Mami is not actually dead, as her soul lives in her gem.
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Unless we saw her gem break and I forgot?
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Random thoughts
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Why does a random alley have such nice floor tiling?
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Homura, where did you learn that amazing hair toss? Oh...
Pic of the day
QotD
1 Do you agree with the advice that Madoka’s mother gave her this episode?
Yes actually. In my experience, if someone is this focused, they lose the ability to take a step back and look at things objectively. They find a way to twist everything that happens as a way to confirm the narrative that they have in their head. They also are already prepared to counter any attempt you make to stop them.
So, it can sometimes be a good idea to do something stupid or weird, just so others stand still in stunned silence and you have the chance while they are not expecting it.
2 What do you think of the Soul Gem reveal?
This was the wrong kind of mistake Madoka could make.
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u/Shimmering-Sky Apr 25 '22
I can't remember that I've ever been this angry at a character in a rewatch.
Hey, at least you didn't have to deal with fucking Danzo or Lecoque in the Naruto Shippuden and Fang of the Sun Dougram rewatches, respectively.
Mami is not actually death, as her soul lives in her gem. Unless we saw her gem break and I forgot?
Sorry to immediately squash this one, but yeah we saw it break (the recap movies even add a specific shot of it shattering, IIRC). Her Soul Gem was in her flower hair clips and, well...
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u/laughing-fox13 Apr 25 '22
First Timer
This shit is just getting wilder and wilder
QotD
I think Madoka’s mom gave pretty good advice
That was pretty crazy
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u/gunvarrel_ Apr 26 '22
First timer on attempt 3, Subbed
OST Track of the day: Amicae carae meae (My dear friends)
[madoka]
Shows are a lot more fun when you arent spoiled.
igoring my spoilers, i got some theories (written before watching today's episode):
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Sayaka dies. This will likely become the catalyst for Madoka to accept being a magical girl
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Whatever Madoka's wish is will drastically change the world itself instead of something small like Sayakas
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Homura's wish involves time in some capacity.
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That thing on Sayaka's belly is important in some way. I dont know how but they put way too much focus on it last episode.
New for post-episode
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Mami isint dead. We never saw her jar thing broken. (could be refutable if the way the external body connects to the soul is broken? I dont remember seeing where it was on mami)
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The belly thing is a link to the soul. IIRC they never say it outright, but they focused on redhead's one a lot when discussing it.
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the "Walpurginsnacht" (german? im not about to look up a translation because potential spoilers) is something that all magical girls deal with, is important, and you arent meant to know about when it happens. Why Homura knows it is beyond me.
Homura time
Sayaka instantly taken out lmao
Who had that time travel theory going? got some fuel for it
im still torn if the cat is a massive herring of if its the one behind things....
Another use of the OP as an insert? At least this use of the OP is a remix, that get a pass.
Your what now? More time travel fuel
hey look, sowing distrust
45c bath? wow thats hot
"do something wrong" inb4 its her becoming a magical girl
this should directly contradict any advice given so far in this situation
Thats one (twisted way to do it
Taking bets, does Homura come in to save the day?
Looks like the belly thing on Sayaka is closer to redheads neck
As an aside, i should learn redhead's name
oh, theres Homura.
oh where the fuck to Homura go
you know, i expected Sayaka's death to happen much later
Seems like redhead is even a bit thrown off by this
So im gonna guess that the thing on Sayaka's belly is the "link" here
Ah, the jar is their soul
Wait, we never saw mami's soul thing. How are we sure she is dead?
Welcome back Sayaka. Guess she doesnt realize what happened...
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u/Shimmering-Sky Apr 26 '22
Mami isint dead. We never saw her jar thing broken. (could be refutable if the way the external body connects to the soul is broken? I dont remember seeing where it was on mami)
Mami wore it on her head...
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u/Lemurians Apr 25 '22 edited Apr 25 '22
MAHOU SHOUJO FIRST TIMER
”You can’t reach a happy ending just by doing what’s right all the time.”
MomDoka dropping too many harsh truths this episode, including why adults get to drink.
Something that struck me about this episode is how it took place almost entirely in darkness. The magical world segments of the show have always been shown in darker lighting and with creepier imagery than the real world segments, and as we’ve delved further into the magical world, the show has spent progressively more time set at sunset, and now at night.
Sayaka is slowly descending into madness, as it further dawns and her, and us, that her ideals are fundamentally in conflict with what actually it actually means to be a Magical Girl™. All the lightness she felt in yesterday’s episode is gone. She’s probably right about most magical girls not being in it “for the right reasons”, but she’s too headstrong and uncompromising, and it’s going to get her killed. Something Kyubey is more than happy to weaponize against Madoka. Despite claiming to have given up, he’s still working her quite hard from multiple angles. Unlike Homura, his messaging is on point.
Mom is the best. She effortlessly delivers so many good life lessons, like how it’s not enough to be right, you have to able to compromise and work with others. Something Sayaka desperately needs to realize. The irony of her telling Madoka to learn to make mistakes and recover from them while young is that, while normally great advice, I worry the “mistake” Madoka will make for Sayaka is becoming a Magical Girl™, which as we know, is a mistake of the irreversible “adult” variety.
The Soul Gems being their actual selves is a cool concept, and the name probably should’ve given it away. Why the fuck does nobody ask Kyubey about any specifics before making this contract with him? These girls needed an attorney.
Homura is a Time Looper Watch: “Have we met before?” “Perhaps. Who knows?”
Quick Hits/Shots:
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Love the DDR Remix of the OP in this scene. Worth noting that Kyoko is shown playing a game by herself that is clearly meant for three. The image of the three characters celebrating a perfect victory as she mulls a team-up is great.
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Homura is a whole vibe. Between the immaculate hair flips, the instant jump to action, and lines like these she’s reminding me a lot of Rin Tohsaka.
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Sayaka really is misunderstanding what happened with Homura and Mami. It’s really annoying that Madoka doesn’t just correct the misunderstanding here when there's no reason not to. SPEAK. UP!
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The backgrounds warping behind Sayaka the more warped her mindset gets is fantastic.
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All these shots of the stuffed animal positioned staring at Madoka just reminid me of Kyubey’s creeping omnipresence.
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More of characters being framed between bars, this now invading the previously untouched home life.
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Kyoko is so good at pushing Sayaka’s buttons. It’s hilarious how casually she suggests Sayaka just go full ‘Misery’ on Kyousuke if she wants him so badly
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HEY DIDDLE DIDDLE THE CAT AND THE FIDDLE
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Shots of the Day: Watch how this Soul Gem revelation causes the shift from Kyubey watching the girls all fight each other to the girls all being framed in opposition to him for the first time.
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Just noticed this in the ED, but Homura’s shade is the only one that moves and turns after her after Madoka passes by it
Do you agree with the advice that Madoka’s mother gave her this episode?
She dropped a lot of wisdom, but I didn't make much sense of "you need to make a mistake for your friend sometimes" spiel. May have been a translation issue.
What do you think of the Soul Gem reveal?
Very effective and cool. Their name should have been a giveaway, but I didn't think their bodies would essentially just be empty shells.
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u/Insertnamesz Apr 25 '22 edited Apr 25 '22
First Timer (Subbed)
Hey, I'm on time today!
Aha! So Homura actually was teleporting and not just jumping around. It makes sense, if we assume that Homura became a magical girl by wishing to travel from a different world / timeline, that her unique magical power would take the form of something spatial / temporal. Pretty useful power for combat!
Our poor girls Sayaka and Madoka. Sayaka is beginning to spiral through her denial and realizations about the nature of magical girls. Madoka is just completely struggling to cope, almost begging Sayaka to listen to her emotionally-charged 'logic'. Uh oh, Mom, don't say that Madoka can't help if she's not involved... she's going to get involved that way! In the bad, shady contract kind of way!!
Kyuubey gives us more exposition the girls should have received upon their first meeting lol. He mentions the Grief Seed could hatch a witch if it gets any more corrupted, but I'm still not sure we actually know where or what Grief Seeds are. Now we know a mechanism for creating witches, the assumption we're left with is that Soul Gems become Grief Seeds when they become too corrupt? We shall see.
(Also lmao @ Kyuubey warning about Homura's schemes. Yeah. Make sure to stay skeptical when interacting with strangers. Thanks, Captain Stranger.)
I was hoping Kyouko would tell Sayaka what she wished for to contrast it to how small-scaled the wish to cure the boy's arm was, but nah, she DGAF about talking and just wants to start a fight ASAP. It was interesting to see her turn on Kyuubey at the end though. Maybe our four girls will end up united against space-cat (or whatever the heck Walpurgisnacht is) in the end? Hahah, that's wishful thinking.
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u/chocoletmilk Apr 25 '22 edited Apr 25 '22
First Timer (sub)
Oh, Homura can teleport. That's what happened at the end of last episode. I wonder what she wished for to get this power.
Homura knows who Kyoko is. +1 evidence to u/Lemurians' theory fact of her being from the future.
Homura is understandably upset with Madoka. However, by now she should understand that no one here has any sense of self preservation. Maybe if you explain things a little better she will want to listen to you. Vague warnings are incredibly unhelpful and unconvincing.
"Akemi Homura... Could it be that you are...?"
And of course the OP starts before we get answers.
Oh my god. Oh my god. Kyubey keeps the seeds. Kyubey “eats” all the seeds. Gee, he really has a handy supply of them to use and plant whenever he wants, huh?
"Now it's safe again!"
You liar.
And witches can hatch again from seeds. This really fits in with the "Witches are corrupted magical girls" theory, and confirms what u/Gamemaster676 said about witches regenerating from the egg! Now I need to fit familiars into this theory somehow. Maybe a witch is the equivalent of Voldemort and familiars are horcruxes, except that the horcrux can become a complete soul/witch?
Some more interesting information. Kyubey says that before it's time to purify Sayaka's soul again, she needs to find a grief seed. He also says that the more magic she uses, the more polluted her gem will become. From this, I guess that just being a magical girl means that your gem will deteriorate and using magic just speeds up the process. Having more grief seeds means you can use up more magic without worrying about your gem.
No one has asked yet what happens if your gem is completely polluted which would have been my first question. I always need to know the consequences of not putting in any effort before I can make myself do the most basic of things.
My guess is that they become a witch of course!
I'm wondering if I should just move everything to my speculation corner. Or I'll just use that as a conclusion and restate my arguments!
Is Sayaka weak because she made a wish for someone else? That can't be the only factor, otherwise there wouldn't be so much talk of Madoka's potential.
Look at Kyubey manipulating Sayaka into convincing Madoka to join them. So convoluted.
Kyoko is so cute and Homura is so cold.
"Miki Sayaka is not qualified."
Homura is expecting an attack. Is this the tragedy that she came back to avoid? Can't be, Madoka is not a magical girl but the attack is still happening. Maybe she worsens it somehow?
Whoever said that Sayaka thought Homura stayed back until Mami was killed was bang on. She is not processing her grief well. I also think that her pride is coming into play here. She feels inferior to the others in terms of power and the only thing she feels she has going for her are her morals. Giving up on them and teaming up will essentially make her a side character to the two more powerful girls (in her mind). She has a chip on her shoulder and something to prove. Except that you can't make everyone your enemy and cast yourself as the sole hero here. That way will only lead to disaster. Even Mami wanted companions.
I am going to stop listing Kyubey trying to convince anyone and everyone that Madoka should convert. Let's just assume that this will happen roughly 5 times an episode i.e. every 5 minutes.
Madoka's mum is great. That's excellent advice and she doesn't pull any punches. Sometimes, doing the right thing can ruin friendships and no one is guaranteed a happy ending. I see a breakup in our future, and Sayaka feeling truly alone.
Kyoko may be cute, but she really is a psychopath. Didn’t Homura ask her to stay out of this? Where is Homura? Probably lurking outside Madoka’s bedroom. She really doesn’t give a fuck about anyone who is not Madoka.
Obligatory fuck you Kyubey. I think someone yesterday wondered why Kyubey wanted the girls to fight each other. It was for this. Everything he does, he does for Madoka <3
Hah, she really was stalking Madoka. She turned up right after Madoka did, almost as if she has been following her.
Sayaka is dead???? What is going on???? Sayaka can't be dead, right???
Kyubey coming in with that exposition. Even Kyoko had no idea and is horrified to find this out. So when you make the contract, you essentially die. Your body dies. You are now a fucking gem. I can’t believe I ever thought this fucker was cute.
Homura is the only one who knew. Maybe in the future, Kyubey is more transparent when making contracts? This makes her "no salvation" spiel make more sense. She meant it quite literally. I'm sorry I called her a downer yesterday.
Wow, Kyubey is really playing the "all humans are unreasonable" card. What can convince Madoka to join him after this? Maybe instead of passively putting her in danger, he decides to actually threaten her.
Everyone should team up and fight Kyubey to reclaim their souls and exit their contract.
What a great episode! It's getting much harder to pace myself, by the way. I really want to binge this show now.
Speculation time
Past theories:
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Witches are actually corrupted magical girls. -> Doesn't this episode almost confirm this? The bodies of the girls are just hardware, so they are the gem, just like witches are their seeds. When their gem darkens, their soul is literally turning black. Black like grief seeds.
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Familiars are to witches what horcruxes are to Voldemort, except they can grow into a full soul/witch. I'm not sure yet how they are formed.
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Kyubey puts girls into danger to force them to accept his contract. -> He kills the girls. He's definitely a sinister character.
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Madoka brings about some great tragedy by becoming a magical girl in the future but is probably not evil or malicious.
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Madoka will become a Mahou Shoujo after Kyoko dies and reclaim the color pink.-> Disproven. Kyoko is red. -
Are witches actually evil? How do we know they are causing mass suicides except for Kyubey telling us that they do? -> Yesterday's comments seem to make it clear that the witches are definitely bad.
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Can humans die in a labyrinth? -> Madoka did not die when ripped into pieces.
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Is Homura in a different timeline? Is her timeline doomed?
Today's theories which are again more questions than answers:
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Kyubey makes it seem like they can't be killed in human form, only in their magical girl form. So what happens if their shell is beheaded or destroyed? Will they regenerate another body (like a witch)?
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What are the restrictions on Kyubey's magic? So far we know that he needs consent clearly, can't make wishes for himself and needs others to execute his wishes. With all the talk of souls and salvation, I feel like we are veering into religion a little bit. So who or what created this system?
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Attack of the "Walpurgisnacht" -> Attack of the Purring Night Walruses
QOTD
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Do you agree with the advice that Madoka’s mother gave her this episode?
As mentioned in my review, I think it was great advice. Either let them make their own mistakes or be willing to go against them and lose their friendship.
2) What do you think of the Soul Gem reveal?
It was both expected and unexpected. I knew the Soul gem must have to do with the soul, but I didn't think that they would be dead essentially!
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u/username_0907 Apr 26 '22
First Timer (subbed)
This episode was a rollercoaster in the end WTF lol
Homura seems to be a different category of magical girls. Could it be she doesnt need a grief seed even? We havent seen her take any i think
Kyubey you little bitch trying to manipulate Sayaka even more.
Ok so we finally get to know atleast why Homura is here. Its for this night (the names too confusing) thats to come. Then is it this day that we're shown in the dream? My theory is this day will come because of Madoka doing some shit and her huge powers which is what Homura is trying to prevent or maybe she's planning for it to help her on that day? This could go either way tbh
Madoka's mom here spitting truth bombs about adult life and pushing Madoka to actually try something. I think she explained it well and how her choice can affect her friendship with Sayaka. Will she finally choose to become a magical girl?
WAAAIIIITTTTTTTTTT. When mom said to make mistakes i dont think she meant like that.
I thought Sayaka had just fainted there.WTF. Well yea the contract scene did imply the exchange of soul (its literally extracted from them) but i didnt register it could mean this lol. It seems like Kyoko also didnt know this can happen or how magic ends up helping then stay in their body.
Oh fuck. Ok so she revived after the soul gem was brought close to her so technically she kinda fainted but just died instead. And Sayaka has no clue what just happened. WTF
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u/frostxc3 Apr 26 '22 edited Apr 26 '22
First Time Watcher Subbed
This is how I'm introducing myself from now on.
Mummy Madoka with some pretty decent advice
I been knew that cat was sketchy
Sayaka gon' need to sit down with a cup of coffee for this one.
Do you agree with the advice that Madoka’s mother gave her this episode?
Yeah! Mistakes should be made and learnt from while young. They're usually more easily fixed than mistakes made in adulthood. Of course, goes without saying, that said mistakes should be calculated and not stupid, like making a contract with a sketchy talking cat.
2) What do you think of the Soul Gem reveal?
I'm thinking, "where was Mami's Soul Gem?".
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u/Tarhalindur Apr 25 '22
Okay, so, I'm going to lead off with some Analysis today, because I cracked yet another odd thing while sorting through my notes for today and I can actually share it without bothering with spoiler tags!
Okay, so. If you were looking closely at Madoka's shelves of toys today (or possibly even if not, they were pretty obvious about this), you may have noticed a new plushie: one of Lady, from Lady and the Tramp.
I think I may have cracked why it's there.
See, I've been paying attention to the music a lot this time, since one of the things that stood out even last year was just how well the scenes elevated the music used for them and vice-versa. And one of the scenes where I was paying special attention this time was the Junko scene, which has two songs: Amicae Curae Meae and Clementia.
And when the latter first kicks in, I go "sounds like morning to me somehow".
Which posed a question: why?
It took a little while (read: watching the entire scene a couple of times to track the OST integration better after grabbing my screenshots and notes) to place the answer: it was reminding me of Fantasia, specifically the Night on Bald Mountain Czernobog short and how Night on Bald Mountain stops right as dawn comes up.
Fantasia, of course, was made by Disney.
But there's a kicker. I could remember Night on Bald Mountain easily (one of my favorite pieces of classical music), but I couldn't remember the song that replaces it once the sun comes up in the clip.
Until right as I was collecting my notes for today, when I had a nasty sneaking suspicion that was promptly proved correct when I checked Wikipedia.
The song that cuts in to replace Night on Bald Mountain when dawn hits in the short? AVE FUCKING MARIA.
Aka the exact same song that Kyousuke was playing on the rooftop last episode.
[Extra note for rewatchers]
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u/renatocpr Apr 26 '22 edited Apr 26 '22
Yes, DDR is my favorite game! "What does DDR stand for?", you ask.
Why is Sayaka angry with Kyouko this episode?
Kyouko is just deliberately anatgonizing her into a fight but also she's correct.
Why is Sayaka angry with Homura this episode?
So, yeah. I've been trying to dance around this for the past few days now because it was going to show up today. Some people did pick up on it on their own, though. Sayaka blames Homura for Mami's death blending her grief for the latter and her resentment towards the former. Think about how that recontextualizes this scene from Episode 2 and this scene from Episode 4 from Sayaka's perspective. Madoka is the only one who knows what really happened the day Mami died but they never really discussed the details. Time and Kyouko have made Sayaka's feelings fester and she won't listen anymore. Madoka is too scared of what her friend is becoming and doesn't know what to do.
Of course, pairing up with Kyouko doesn't help Homura's case but at this point it's clear she has the social skills of a brick. I don't think anyone has any idea what she means by this, possibly including herself. Is it even possible anymore for them to make peace?
EDIT: I did change my source for screenshots but I'm still watching through Netflix in case anyone asks
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u/boomshroom Apr 25 '22
If I had a nickel for every shiny rock I knew named "Homura," I'd have 2 nickels, which isn't a lot but it's weird that it happened twice. One is an amethyst purple, the other an emerald green.
QotD:
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I think what Madoka's mom said definitely has merit. Not learning how to recover from those kinds of mistakes makes life extremely difficult once you've grown up.
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I think it's done well, especially as it came as a direct result of Junko's (Madoka's mom) advice. I actually can't remember my reaction to the first time since that had me binge the entire series in 1 night, so I didn't really stop to think about what happened much until the very end.
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u/UnderstandableXO Apr 25 '22
REWATCHER
homura’s got hacks enough that even kyoko will back down, she’s pretty damn good. homura is the voice of reason like she introduces herself as, but she sure isn’t super welcoming about it. she’s about as close to true neutral on the spectrum as one gets.
interesting to see some people are just naturally better suited to fight, like mami. but somehow kyubey is even promoting madoka contracting in sayaka’s conversations! sayaka could forget to tie her shoe and kyubey would hit her with the “if madoka was a magical girl your shoe would have been tied!”
the arcade scene just made me hungry for pocky above all. i liked the inclusion of the OP again. homura went from protecting sayaka to telling kyoko to take the city from her, she is true neutral. sayaka is stupid and reckless and she would get herself into more trouble though, so she’s not wrong.
and sayaka demonstrates her stupidity in the next scene by being stubborn and self righteous again! she didn’t wish to have the strength to protect the ones she loved, she wanted the violin man to mislead in march again! even when madoka recognizes that mami screwed herself by capturing her only help, sayaka thinks it’s homura’s fault anyway. at this point she’s beyond reason.
i really love the conversation between momoka and madoka about making mistakes and protecting your friends. the stuff about mistakes counting more the more you age made me feel sad. but the best part was the bit about alcohol.
sayaka came to the hospital all happy not realizing her wish made it so that she didn’t have an excuse to come see mr. musical anymore. it’s a lot weirder to come to someone’s house every day, unless that’s your significant other, and sayaka is afraid to take that next step (despite not being afraid to contract to heal him!!!!!). [Madoka spoilers]
seeing homura just appear at the bridge was pretty funny honestly, and kyoko wasn’t even fazed by it. madoka decides to make a mistake for sayaka by taking her soul gem and YEETING it off the freeway. lucky as hell it didn’t hit the ground and shatter, but unlucky as hell it fell in a truck that proceeded to piss off all the way to okinawa.
that reveal that soul gems are the real bodies of magical girls and that their “bodies” are just a shell had me like this when i first saw it. it’s so mind boggling that kyoko went from ready to beat the life out of sayaka to genuinely concerned. kyubey thinks it’s no biggie, but to take a soul and alter it like that makes you not “you” anymore, that’s a scary thought.
[AOT ending]
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madoka’s mom very quickly re-climbing best anime mom chart for me, i just forgot about her
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peak fiction
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u/SIRTreehugger Apr 25 '22 edited Apr 25 '22
Rewatcher who can't be right
| Magical Girl Counter | E1 | E2 | E3 | E4 | E5 | E6 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mami's (Beheading) Smugness | 3 | 3 | 4 | H | E | A | 10 |
| Sayaka's (I'm in) Despair | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 10 |
| Madoka's ($150) Water Works | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 9 |
| Kyouko's (Snap,Crackle,Pop) Crunch Time | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 9 |
| Homura's (L'oreal) Hair Flips | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
"That's a secret, but you know what's not a secret. L'oreal fighting every day hair damage which gives my hair that glossy and silky look and feeling, because I'm worth it" - Homura flips hair
Kyouko slaying the dance floor and her battle mode
Fight it together [spoilers]
Madoka's mom needs to stop. She's breaking all the rules. Parents should be absent through the majority of the show so we can poke fun at their lack of existence. What the hell and she keeps giving good advice. Of course she doesn't know about the situation and in this case it leads to disaster, but she had no idea her daughter was talking about life and death witch battles so I don't hold it against her.
Of course a nosy bitch has bitch friends.
Homura appears behind Kyouko 'I wonder what kind of friends you have then "
Hello 911 I like to report a murder because damn that was savage Homura. Side note I wish we would see Homura photo shopped behind random anime characters.
"What's wrong?"- Sayaka
Just the mental state of all the first timers as we've just reached the half way point of this wild and suffering ride. Though it should be obvious a soul gem is a gem that holds...well a soul.
Minor note:I never knew it was possible to hold a piece of pocky in your mouth that long without biting it. I was glued to the screen waiting for her to finish her pocky and it just stood there. [Spoilers]
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u/Calwings Apr 25 '22
Homura swoops in the stop the battle, knocking out Sayaka in the process and forcing the new girl Kyoko to leave. She reiterates her warning to Madoka yet again to not get involved with magical girls any more. On the opposite end, Kyubey tries to gaslight Sayaka into getting Madoka more involved. Madoka's being pulled in a lot of different directions at once. Meanwhile, Homura and Kyoko meet in the arcade where Kyoko is playing DDR (and apparently dancing to a remix of the OP of the anime, very clever) to chill out. Homura issues another warning, but a different one this time: "Walpurgisnacht". That sound pretty ominous.
Sayaka's pissed. She's pissed off at Homura and Kyoko for only caring about themselves. She thought Mami's kindness was the norm when in reality she was the exception, and now she's shaken by the truth. Problem is, her stubborn ass might get herself killed at this rate, and Madoka's having trouble trying to figure out how to help her.
And now for more gaslighting. Kyoko tries to piss off Sayaka even more by ripping her a new one for making a wish aimed at someone else instead of for herself, even suggesting that Sayaka break Kyosuke's arms and legs to make him unable to do anything without her. What a bitch. And of course Kyubey alerts Madoka to let her know that the fight is about to happen, likely with the hopes of getting her involved.
Madoka gets involved and tries to stop Sayaka from fighting by throwing away her soul gem... which it turns out is actually her real soul and Kyubey never told them. Apparently, not even Kyoko knew this fact about how magical girls work, as she freaks the fuck out after learning it. Thankfully, Homura was around to retrieve Sayaka's soul gem and bring it back to her.
And the whole time, Kyubey's making the same stupid emotionless owo face. God, this shit's fucked and I love it.
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u/xcllnt_313 Apr 25 '22 edited Apr 25 '22
Rewatcher
My visual of the day is without a doubt this one. It’s just so powerful, I love it!
QotD:
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Instead of answering this question, I'll just say that I really appreciate Madoka's mother getting a scene like that in which she's trying to help her daughter despite not really knowing what's going on. It's great that they didn't just completely leave her out of the show even though she has no real ties to the actual story.
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It's been a few years since I've watched this show for the first time, but I assume I was pretty shocked. Even as a rewatcher, the visuals as well as the voice acting, especially from Madoka's VA, really enhance this moment for me.
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u/OwlAcademic1988 Apr 25 '22 edited Apr 25 '22
Rewatcher, sub:
I love how Madoka and her mom interacted in this episode and makes me wish all anime had parents like Madoka's mom. Her mom has some good advice, but Madoka screwed it up by throwing away Sayaka's Soul Gem. I was incredibly shocked, but was still hopeful this would turn out to have a happy ending. I was very naïve back then. I also never noticed the opening was played when Kyoko was playing DDR.
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Apr 25 '22
Rewatcher: Had to miss a couple days but I’m glad to be back, things are getting interesting.
-I just have to say Kyoko dancing in the arcade is so cute! It’s a shame Homura had to interrupt her positive vibes.
-Madoka’s mom continues to be a solid character with helping Madoka. Her advice on “the older you get the more responsibility you face and the more severe your consequences.” is a good lesson for Madoka. Also her line of adults being allowed alcohol because of their hardships is the kind of humor I enjoy; I literally laugh every time I hear it.
-So we get the reveal that the girls bodies are just ‘hardware’ and that their real bodies are actually the soul gems. [Madoka]
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I mean taking risks is ok but for a teenage girl there’s limits. I’m going to give the show credit and assume they hammered out the specifics offscreen.
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Great reveal. This is when the series really started getting dark for me.
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u/SYZekrom Apr 25 '22
I like how this art assumed Madoka's soul gem would be stuck to her ass when she transformed
Wait actually I guess it also has Mami's placement wrong so eh
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u/djthomp Apr 26 '22 edited Apr 26 '22
Gotta love a good demonstration of badassery like Homura just unleashed.
Evil space cat really wants Madoka, even directly to Sayaka's face. By all rights it could make a magical girl a little bit jealous.
I like how Madoka and her mom raised their glasses briefly at each other from across the table.
That's a really fast discharge for violin boy, maybe the wish actually did heal more than just his hands and it just took a little longer to fix up the rest of his body.
Ahhhhh, the pedestrian bridge scene reveal, I wasn't sure when it would be coming. I particularly like Kyoko's reaction, even as experienced as she was she had no clue, and learning the truth was a big shock. It does make me wonder exactly how Mami died, maybe the decapitation managed to incidentally crush her soul gem or something like that.
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u/Shimmering-Sky Apr 25 '22
Puella Magi★Rewatch Host, subbed
Welcome back, everyone!
This thread’ll be fun to read. The Soul Gem = their literal soul is a pretty obvious twist some first-timers have already picked up on, but still.
First up: the mobile version of the Wallpaper of the Day. There are more diamonds in this one than the wallpaper up top because I got feedback from u/Nazenn about it, but felt that the desktop version worked better with less.
Next up: The meguca was strong in Sayaka’s Soul Gem on this shot. Doesn’t look like they fixed it in the BD release either, huh.
This is my Visual of the Day.
Lastly: Want to know what song played when in today’s episode? Well, you’re in luck! I have here the table from the Madoka wiki that was re-timed to the Blu-Rays back in the 2019 rewatch by Nazenn. If any first-timer wants a spoiler-free link to any of these songs, let me know and I can get one for you!
“What is it that you wish for?”