2020 Reflection: Puella Magi Madoka Magica

 

Puella Magi Madoka Magica was written in January 2011 by Gen Urobuchi. By a rather odd coincedence, PMMM is one of the only pair of series on my favorites list to come out in the same month and it happens to be a series with the word "Magicka" in the title that being the video game series "Magicka". Puella Magi Madoka Magicka is about middle schoolers Madoka Kaname and Sayaka Miki finding an odd catlike creature called Kyubey and becoming aware of the secret existence of witches and magical girls. The two are offered the chance to get a wish in exchange for agreeing to becoming magical girls and fighting witches, who threaten humanity. The series, and serious spoiler warning here, from this point on things will be very spoiler-y, is rather famous for the ensuing story being far darker then most magical girl anime, and subverting audience expectations dramatically. For the longest time in the magical girl fandom there were two really big magical girl series; Sailor Moon and Cardcaptor Sakura and while other magical girl series did get serious popularity, it was not until Madoka that a series would rise to the point that it could seriously challenge the other two in terms of global recognition. I have a particular chip on my shoulder for being called Madoka a magical girl deconstruction, especially when this is used to try and explain why it is good. To me this seems to be an insult to both the magical girl genre and to Madoka; to say that the magical girl genre is inherently so light and frivolous that to be good means one must be somehow different like a deconstruction or to say that Madoka is good only because it is different from other things is faint praise. While Madoka is relatively dark for a magical girl series, it's darkness is not unheard off in the genre. I don't think Madoka is good because it deconstructs magical girls, I think it is good because it is a very well written magical girl series. 

3 Reasons I love it:

As a long time fan of magical girls, my views on Madoka reflect how I've heard long time fans of Batman view the Nolan Batman Trilogy. That is to say it is a grittier and realistic take on the concept that I think is very well written and gives a really good example of the heights the genre can reach, and is the definitive modern example of the genre that is the main influence for other works in the genre within our time, save works deliberately trying to harken to a past time. 

1: Madoka is really good at utilizing elegance and conservation of detail to invoke the idea or spirit of something without being too specific or taking too much time. The original anime is a relatively short series, one that I've on multiple ocassions just watched all the way through, something I almost never do. It can do this because there is no filler or time wasted. The pacing is phenomenal with every scene serving to move the plot of that episode along, put in hidden information that will become important later, and usually add extra material that will only become apparent on a rewatch. That by itself would be hard but something other series could do, though it would be clunky. One of the things that makes Madoka special however is it's ability to all this with grace such that it feels wholly natural. It does this primarily via implication and by things that seem mysterious to the characters and first time audience, driving them, but give more meaning to someone whose seen it before.

2: The thing that I think gives Madoka such incredible emotional power, is that it's magic system's ambiguity is used so that the magic can act as a representation of the characters inner conflicts at a time, which is brilliantly realized. One scene I think does this exceptionally well for instance is the fight of Kyoko and Sayaka vs Elsa Maria. Due to the framing of the scene as well as Elsa Maria's dimension, almost everything in the scene is black and white, symbolizing Sayaka's black and white notions that is emotionally tormenting her inside. Elsa Maria stabs Sayaka over and over who laughs in a creepy manner stating she really doesn't have to feel anything, a reference to how she is pushing her through suffering, not healing herself by hunting witches, numbing her emotional pain at realizing she has consigned herself to fighting witches forever and the boy she loves will never even realize what she did for him so that she doesn't have to feel anything. This is just one example but the series is filled with what I really want series with magic to do; use the magic to reflect the psyche of the character so the world of the series can be used as a canvas to show an exaggerated form of the human condition. 

3:  I really adore the message of Madoka, and how it is conveyed. Madoka touches on many themes, but I believe it's central theme are conveyed by Madoka upon her ascension in the last episode. I was deeply moved by the line "Don't forget. Always, somewhere, someone is fighting for you." Loneliness has been a major difficulty I've struggled with and it's been something that has helped me to remember, that beyond this immediate empirical existence I know, there are those who care for me. I know this reason may not be the most universal, it's not talking about the series amazing visuals or music or foreshadowing or realism which I considered for this last point, but being honest with myself this was the point I cared about more then any. 

3 Flaws:

1: I'm not sure how fair this is, but I am not a big fan of a lot of the spin-offs to Madoka. I really adore the main series. While controversial I actually liked Rebellion and I really liked the Puella Magi Tart Magica manga. On the other hand a lot of the series I just feel kind of neutral about. There's a manga connecting the main anime to Rebellion that I honestly found kind of confusing. A lot of the spin off material are either about characters that weren't in the original anime that I don't feel as strong a connection too or alternate versions of the characters that feel off. I don't know how common a perception this is although I've found at least some people seem to agree.

2: While I really liked the Madoka cast, very often the point I came to really like their characters was right before we never got to see them again. My favorite character is Mami and I got really invested in her character and then she died. I started to get invested in Kyoko's character and she died. Homura's most interesting point for me was when she is showing her emotions more openly which only happened during the earlier timelines we see in one episode and at the end of t he series. You might think then that I should be really happy with the amount of material in the spin-offs, but it felt relatively off to me. One of the reasons I liked Rebellion as much as I did despite it's controversial ending was I was just really happy to see the main universe girls again, feeling as I remembered them just developed. 

3: Within the main story of Madoka they follow the trope where a bunch of bad things that happened didn't neccesarily have to happen if the characters had stopped and listened to each other and worked together. A lot of the character deaths were kind of unnecesary in-universe. This is partially because of the trope I don't really like where teenagers are portrayed as irrational and hormonal gits with Kyubey even saying that the emotions of teenage girls are the most potent energetic force in the universe (although I do like that particular line). Now yes, I remember being a teenager, being a weep-y, hormonal, irrational mess, however even at the time and even if Kyubey was manipulating me, I would think I would have enough good sense to band together for protection with other people if my life was in danger. Madoka in being realistic shows it's magical girls as being undeniably more flawed and suspectible to the pain and trauma of fighting monsters of the week, however I think it a bit too far to the other side. In real life, people do things like band together for security and can somewhat adapt to being put in horrific situations. Even granting that what is depicting is completely realistic, it's still somewhat frustrating to rewatch the series and see Homura not just say to the other magical girls "Hey I'm a Time Traveler, something I can legitimately prove by predicting the future and telling you secrets about yourself the other timeline yous told me. Don't trust Kyubey, Magical Girls always die, he just wants your energy!"

My Favorite Part:

Again, not at all a very unconventional pick, but my favorite part is the climax of the series and Madoka saving the souls of all the other magical girls. In both an intra-universal sense, and in a meta context, it always moves me to tears. To be a magical girl is suffering, contextualized in Madoka as being a girl with dreams that transcend the physical, with a desire for something beyond this empirical world, showing the girls of history who fell to tragic fates who nontheless dreamed of something greater. In a broader meta context magical girls are a representation of society's feminine ideal, a celebration of the loving heart and the willingness to embody the virtues of such regardless of the cruel we find ourselves born into. Madoka will not let them die alone and in pain, will not let their prayers fall to despair. We are never alone, always remember that there are those out there fighting for you.