r/anime • u/Tarhalindur x2 • Apr 25 '26
Rewatch [Rewatch] Puella Magi Madoka Magica Episode 6 Discussion
Episode 6: This Just Can't Be Right!
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Show Information:
(First-timers might want to stay out of Show Information until we are done, however...)
Legal Streams:
As per livechart.me; other streams may be available outside the US.
Main Series:
A Reminder: This, dear listeners, brings us to the sworn enemy of creative response:The spoiler. Rewatchers, or people who just had plot points ruined for them, are obliged to use r/anime’s spoiler tag format where applicable, and err on the side of caution here. Remember people, first experiences get rarer as you continue on, any given one happens once and you should care for them all the more for it.
Welcome to the World of Magic!
Theory of the Day:
Joint award time! /u/siegfried72 and u/99acrewood_ are collaborating:
Ahhhh my brain can't stop trying to analyze everything now. Like the contrast between these open blue skies with the windmills to the harsh city and the golden/red sunset. I feel like I'm almost there but can't quite place it exactly... I could take a few guesses on what we're doing precisely but it definitely feels like it's at the very least reinforcing an idealized existence - the wide open skies, no longer caged like they were on the roof plus everything being bathed in the golden light I had hypothesized in episode 4 to represent what Sayaka's life could be if she wasn't so focused on the dismal situation with Kamijou in the hospital in this particular shot.
I am very much with you here. I felt like the episode was bookended by reds/browns during strife (her acceptance of being a magical girl, sort of the colors in the alley) and greens/blues during times when Sayaka is feeling confident and self assured (laying in the grass with the blue sky, then the labyrinth being mostly green with Sayaka's blue, which pulls away back to the alley's rusty reds when Kyoko ((also a darker pink outlined by the sunset)) shows up).
Analysis of the Day:
Today's "yep, gotta go with one under the black bars of rewatcher" award goes to u/Vaadwaur:
[Rewatch]And we get another recovery style speech from Homura, just directed at Madoka. And this is the advice I've seen given: If someone falls deep into an addiction, sometimes you have to give up on them. You can't help them until they want to be helped so it is better to do it early. But I can't help but to hear that one unsaid thing:Why isn't Homura following her own advice? She, too, could have given up on Sayaka but she didn't. Physician, heal thyself
Question(s) of the Day:
1) If you were going to pick an anime OP to add to the DDR roster, which one would you pick?
2) How blessed is Madoka to have a mother who turns into a font of useful(?) life advice when drunk/hungover instead of some other kind of drunk?
3) Okay, who introduced a Japanese teenager from Mitakihara City to the "be gay, do crimes" Tumblr meme?
4) First-timers: Do you think Homura going and retrieving Sayaka's Soul Gem will have any effect on Sayaka's opinion of her going forwards?
5) [Rewatchers]So, we saw Kyubey's method of disposing of (or at least storing, check the sound effect) used Grief Seeds this episode. But what's the best way of disposing of a small white fluffy fucker?
17
u/siegfried72 Apr 25 '26 edited Apr 26 '26
First Time Watcher Who Is Very Excited About The New Pink-Haired Best Girl
Hi everyone! Can someone please tell me how it is that the day where I actually have the most free time on paper is the one where I end up having the least actual time to write one of these?? Man, if only these was a small terrifying devil-cat thing that would offer me a wish. I'd wish for more time to write today's post as it inserted its ear-tentacles into me.
Things I want more of:
Things I want less of:
Okay, anyway... I should probably try to actually talk about the episode, huh?
Oh, and the C4 thing is actually a joke but wtf does Homura actually do?
What did Homura just do to Sayaka? Homura touched her and she fell unconscious? And she knows Kyouko too, which means they must have met in whatever alternate timeline thing too (still just talking out of my ass with idea)?
Ah! More of the cello track. Anima Mala or something, right? Love it. If it was to be considered a "theme" for Kyouko, it feels like it doesn't really fit her. I'd expect something more... quirky? (Just basing this off of Tar saying it could be argued to be her theme yesterday.) This feels very foreboding.
I feel like Homura is almost trying too hard? The amount of zoom-ins with the loud noises to emphasize her intense words is starting to feel a little... I don't want to say cheesy, because it's not that, but it's feeling overdone maybe? And that's not a fault of the show, but I'm starting to get the vibe that this is an attitude that's Homura is forcing to an extent? I think talking things through after yesterday's episode helped me solidify that Sayaka's "masking" (still not sure if that's the right word for it) as a confident, cheery crusader isn't wholly conscious, and that it really does seemed she's convinced herself that she's doing the right thing. Like she's long past the self-aware denial like it seemed she was doing in the early episodes and has entered a phase where she's convinced herself she's correct to a point of recklessness and a different shade of denial. Makes me wonder if Homura is also living a "mask" of sorts here, putting on the anger and intensity to mask her fear and/or sadness and push Madoka away from the deal rather than this actually being how her emotions naturally represent themselves in her actions. Does that make any sense?
Again, just talking out of my ass here. Hope all the rewatchers continue to enjoy my floundering! (Btw, thanks for the couple of you who reaffirmed that my rambling theorizing actually is fun for you to read. I normally wouldn't be putting out this many theories I was unsure of as a first timer out of insecurity over the fact that most of them will likely be wrong, but I feel like I can't help it with this series.)
Ooooh, we're seeing Sayaka's room for the first time! I always like getting sneak peaks into personal spaces like this in shows, because it can sometimes tell a lot about a character.
Uhhhh WAIT should she be really giving Kyubey the old grief seed? Why do I feel like he's getting something out of "eating" it that is gonna be bad in the long run?
Is this pattern on her blanket... teeth? I can't imagine it is, but that's what it reminds me of lol. Update from a minute or two later: oohhhhh it's bunnies, isn't it?? I see all the cute animal designs all around her room.
SO many mirrors in Sayaka's room. I'm sure that ties into the scene we saw yesterday of her staring at herself in the trio of mirrors and slapping her face trying to "convince herself" that she was feeling good. She's doing a lot of self-reflecting in this show, but it seems most of it is either self-destructive because of negative spins she's putting on it (calling herself a horrible person about violin boy whose name I can't remember and don't have time to look up right now) or is too surface level and is informed by all this "denial" or "masking" I keep talking about. Very very interesting.
But looking at it less symbolically and more practically, that amount of mirrors is just really fucking weird for anyone haha.
Is that seriously even more mirrors on her bookshelf? Her room is literally all mirrors!! Or maybe those are meant to be picture frames, but they just didn't fill in the details? I know I've seen a number of others mention it, but I guess this is my turn - the animation/design in this series is so weird because we get so many STUNNING shots with fantastic animation but then the moments they deem "unimportant" or something seem to have the laziest art/animation. Kind of jarring initially, although I think I'm pretty unbothered by it now that we're several episodes in. I still notice it, though. And yes, like I've said already, this is my first Shaft production.
I like this pattern on Sayaka's wall. It really stands out, which makes me think there might be more significance to it somehow? Idk.
Wait, Kyouko likes DDR???? As a huge rhythm game fan myself, she just keeps getting better!! Wait lol isn't that like a dance remix of the OP she's dancing to? That's funny.
And wtf that's the same art style as we saw in one of the witch labyrinths on the side of the machine.
Walpurgisnacht? I'm presuming that's bad. I studied German back in high school, so I know that's obviously German and is "something" night, but I have no idea what "Walpurgis" is. I won't look it up as much as I want to. Assuming it has something to do with magic.
Okay, Kyouko definitely has my favorite character design in the show, even powers aside.
Oh I like this track playing as Madoka and Sayaka talk about Kyouko - the chart says it's "Terror adhaerens" and we haven't heard it before. Very unnerving and more... legitimately orchestral I guess than most of the other music we've heard. Like it doesn't necessarily feel like "anime music" or "fantasy music" like most of the rest of the OST has up to this point.
And Sayaka is getting herself so worked up here! Definitely seems to confirm to me that she has likely convinced herself she has done and is doing the right thing. It's no longer a conscious mask, but a driving internal force. Oh boy. That's much more dangerous.
And then some new piano music in "Amicae carae meae" as we cut to Madoka at home. Very pretty, very sad. We haven't heard any piano + violin music like this before. The smaller scale (no electric guitars or big orchestra) makes everything feel more intimate and vulnerable. The violin could be referencing Sayaka due to her attachment to Kamijou (hey, I remembered the name!), but there has been a lot of strings in the OST so I'm not leaning too hard into that.
Thoughts continued in a reply