Puella Magi Madoka Magika

[InstrumentalityOne]

Of course, it´s of varying degrees of sad and awesome.
I could understand the rough outlines of the plot, but a few details kinda went missing(Mostly Kyubey talk).
Just gotta wait for the subs to come out and I´m set.

[soul.assassin]

This episode is damn fucking mad, an Everclear-fueled cocktail of joy and sorrow and rage, and it's gonna leave a so big a mark in the morning.

Christ, it's like watching bits and pieces of Battle Royale, Ultraviolet, Deja Vu and what else you have remembered.

[symbv]

I missed the timing as I overslept... Just wonder where you guys got the streaming of the live episode? PM me as I am not sure mods would allow posting of stream link here.

Anyway, this time I did not mind spoiler and I just checked 2chan for its response. My gosh, I have never seen such overwhelmingly positive feedback in such quantity!!! This is the narrative climax of the series and we finally knew why Homura became so cold and it even linked up with the OP and other characters! Even a lot were already expected, there are still unexpected details coming up, and the feedback on the execution and performance is that it was even better the raised expectation of the fans. The seiyuu's got particular applause (besides the usual list of animation, screenplay, directing and music)

I will definitely catch the live broadcast in Tokyo tomorrow night. And I will keep the summary of the episode with me when I watch it. I am no longer looking for plot surprises (if there are, all the better). I will just enjoy how well they act out this fantastic tale.

SPOILER: Show

Key points summary as taken from 2chan
- Homura's past
- Homura and Madoka both look super-cool
- Homura used to be weak and not a mahou shoujo. Saved by Madoka and Mami when she was attacked by a witch
- Both Madoka and Mami were already mahou shoujo in this back story
- Walpurgis Night's battle: Mami died; then Madoka also died
- Homura made contract with QB after seeing both girls die
- Homura at first used blunt weapon not bombs
- Homura went through the past in loops. Two of the loops were shown.
- Homura looked particularly cute in the 2nd loop shown
- Homura used a blunt weapon in the past
- Witch wears sailor suit uniform?
- Mami looked so cool (look at her chest)
- where are you putting the bomb?
- in one loop, Madoka became a witch
- Homura tried to tell the truth about QB but she was not believed
- Sayaka again became a witch. Truth revealed about QB
- we even got Kyouko! great!
- Mami got crazy, tried to kill every one.
- Madoka killed her wwww
- Countless loops and it never worked well...
- Homura got hopeless, but Madoka did not give up and asked Homura to do her best
- Homura got stronger with each loop
- and then we reached the prologue in Ep.1
- even Walpurgis Night was defeated, she will become a witch. QB did not know what would happen afterwards
- Homura keeps going througth loops, and will not give up until she could help and save Madoka
- in trailer, Madoka quietly got upset with QB
- OP back and we see the whole cast this time! God touch to put this OP as ED !!
- We now know the lyrics of the OP was written from Homura's point of view

Judging from the responses, I believe PMMM can really achieve the greatness of Bakemonogatari in terms of BD/DVD sales...

Again, I really love this:

[Xard]

Did GG just make a new record?

Torrent is already out

waiting for DDL...

[symbv]

Did GG just make a new record?

Torrent is already out

waiting for DDL...

God-level episode got God-level service

[InstrumentalityOne]

[gg]_Puella_Magi_Madoka_Magica_-_10_[1A588994].mkv
522.2 MiB
92 Seeders
1694 Leechers
126 Done.

God damn, gg is quick.

[Xard]

God-level episode got God-level service

yeah, this is sure sign they think this is BIG DEAL

They haven't been this quick except with Star Driver sometimes!

We’re almost down to Star Driver times now, feels p good. Also, pour out a 40 for your homie Homura, she needs it.

Gahh, still no DDL...

[symbv]

Just a quick question: DDL is something down load ?

The manga vol.2 will come out this weekend -- I expect feverish sales after this ep. The last volume sold >90000 volumes which broke the record for manga adapation of original tv anime.

more pics from manga vol.2

SPOILER: Show

I am now reading some interviews of Shinbo and he actually said originally QB was supposed to look as cute as in the manga, but the animation staff at the end changed its look which apparently Shinbo agreed only reluctantly...

[Azathoth]

Just a quick question: DDL is something down load ?

Direct DownLoad - generally used to refer to filesharing sites, as opposed to torrenting.

I am now reading some interviews of Shinbo and he actually said originally QB was supposed to look as cute as in the manga, but the animation staff at the end changed its look which apparently Shinbo agreed only reluctantly...

Kyubey's anime evil look seems appropriate to me now, but I feel like the manga look was preferable to begin with. His cheerful innocent look is reminiscent of the long proud tradition of animal sidekicks to mahou shoujo - I thought of Ferretboy from Nanoha, whatever his real name was, but I'm sure someone better experienced in the genre than me could cite other examples. He looks like something that a teenage girl might actually pick up and try to take care of, as opposed to a horrible little bug-eyed son-of-a-bitch with a demonic smirk plastered all over his doughy visage as he cannibalizes his own corpse.

[schismatics]

RE Episode 10 - WHOA.

[Xard]

this MAD is great

[symbv]

The latest Megami magazine has a feature of PMMM In it there are a couple of interviews. I picked one and translated it. Let me share it with you. (there is no Shinbo interview except a few of his comments, so don't ask :) )

Yukihiro Miyamoto - Series Director of PMMM
He started with participating in the animation team of Negima!? and since then he has worked for many Shaft anime. He was the chief animator for Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei and Zan Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, and the series director for MariaHolic and Arakawa under the bridge.

Q - Miyamoto-san, it is common to see you direct the first episode for Shaft works, including PMMM
A - They call me the bullet of Shaft lol. But since the first episode usually does not get compared with other episodes, so in a way this makes it easier for me to do lol.
Q - What did you think when you first read Urobuchi-san's screenplay?
A - I just read it quickly as usual, and finished it up in one go, but before I knew it tears just came out of me. I was so moved. I did not really keep in mind it was of mohou shoujo genre but I felt that "I would really want to animate this work as my next job".
Q - Anything you insisted for your directing?
A - I think it would be the fight scenes - how to make it more detailed. From the beginning I was a person who liked to ponder about the strategy that could match the opponent's style and weakness, so I think it would be great if the interactions in the fight scene can be developed from that. For PMMM, I also used this thinking for the fight scenes, although I think they are mostly on the part that is not shown in the anime.
Q - Is there any fight scene you particularly like?
A - The fight scene in Ep.5 is the best. Sayaka and Kyouko are similar in the sense that they both are the close combat type, but I want to make them a bit different. So if you know a bit about their characteristics it may make you enjoy watching that scene better. For example, Sayaka is the speed and power type but her skill level is low. Although Kyouko is also the speed and power type, she has better skills so her attack ability is higher than Sayaka. But Sayaka has better defense ability and recovery ability, while Kyouko has low defense ability. If she takes up hits from attack she can get weak pretty quickly. In fact she is not good at defense.. Something like that.
Q - And compared with Sayaka and Kyouko, what kind of mahou shoujo is Homura?
A - The design is that as a mahou shoujo, Homura is actually weak. Urobuchi said that she is not too different from an ordinary girl. Of course after transformation she becomes stronger than a normal human, but among mahou shoujo she can be put into absolutely the weakest category. So to make up with that, she got hold of other powers and fine-tuned what she already had. In Ep.8 when she was held by Kyouko and she could not escape, you know her power did not include teleportation. When she was chasing after Sayaka's soul gem, she only skipped over time and ran ahead. She is a special type of mahou shoujo.
Q - Mami's fight scene is very innovative. Is that your idea?
A - I cannot remember who came up with it, though I have memory of saying "let's put lots of gun in the space". But at that time it was not an idea that got much favorable view. Director (Shinbo) just said "Hmmmm..." I thought he was not going to take it up. But at the end it seems the result looked quite good lol.
Q - You worked with Director Shinbo in many works. From your point of view what kind of person is him?
A - He is a monster lol. He often said something like "You are saying this given the current schedule? You know we can't make it?" Obviously what he said was right. There is never much buffer in the schedule and we are doing the work at a very tight timing. And to create something that can be satisfactory to him is quite difficult.
Q - Besides the usual scenes, the anime also has witch scenes which InuCurry are responsible for. What are the steps for the animation operation?
A - It was very chaotic lol. First, InuCurry read the scenarios and came up with various witch designs. And then we put them into the storyboard, but the witches created by InuCurry could not move like the scenario asked for. For example in the scenario there may be words like "got tied up by tentacles" but then the witch design had no tentacles. In a few episodes we had to get Urobuchi-san to come back to the scenario annd adjusted the story to match the design by InuCurry.
Q - From an animation point of view, were there specific instructions from Shinbo or InuCurry?
A - Shinbo would say something on the drawings on the layout and the situation design, like "I want here to be like this". But he did not say much about the personality of the characters. He only said "A character that killed other people cannot get happy end". As for InuCurry, they kept explaining to me about the characteristics of the witches, and I thought "wow, that's really detailed!" lol
Q - You were at the same class with InuCurry back in vocational school. Did you bring them to work in Shinbo's works?
A - When we were working on the OAD of Zetsubou Sensei, Shinbo came and wanted to change the OP. At that time I thought "Not good. It would be my turn to take this thing." I had to come up with some "scarifice offering", so I introduced InuCurry to him lol. They had already worked as a team by then and I asked Shinbo "How about asking them to do this?", and he quickly said "OK" and gave the green light, so I gave them the full responsibility of the job... At that time I already knew the style of InuCurry, so I could generally predict what kind of thing they would come up with, but the video turned out to be much crazier than expected and even Shibo shouted "wow!". From then on Shinbo took a liking of InuCurry and got them more and more involvement in his anime.
Q - What do you think of the creation activities of InuCurry?
A - When I was a student, I thought "So genius means this kind of people..." I easily came to think "they are different from me" Very talented people may always be like that, but they are also different in day-to-day behavior. Actually the same can be said for Shinbo.
Q - By the way, do you have any particular memorable character for you in PMMM?
A - It'd be Kyubei. I think it looks cute when its expression does not change. It is also squishy. This is very much the right result.
Q - And fans would react to such dark characters...
A - That can't be helped. It may be a very rational creature but there is a side of its being overly so. But I tried to go for a change and did not make it give an evil face.
Q - The story development was not quite predictable and the feedback from the watchers was very strong. What do you think of that from the production staff point of view?
A - Of course I did not think a lot about it but I was really happy to see such reactions: So many were watching it carefully. It's just that at the time Kyubei came out, that "Kitaaaaaa!" antics of reaction was a bit strange to me lol. But the most important is everyone is enjoying it.
Q - Covering the general area of animation, is there any work you want to try your hands on in future?
A - I want to work on material that has fighting with a focus on the initial design. For example something like "Since this person has this character, so she cannot move" or "The protagonist could not do anything against the enemy but when he gets angry then he could do something against it" - Works that "had things turned this way because of the initial designs". It would be fun to work on such titles. Instead of the side with strong attack strength always winning without any reason, I want something that would say "oh, there is also this way!", a development that follow through the initial designs.
Q - Do you have any policy during your animating?
A - Never to mess up with the character design or initial background design. I for one am not an animator that has very flexible mind and I am not a very personally creative type of animator either. I like to make a clear direction and then studiously follow it in my work, so I want to produce animation that is loyal to the initial design.
Q - PMMM is now approaching the climactic stage. Is there anything to watch for at this final part?
A - Kyubei is still Kyubei at the end. And personally I am happy with that.

[Electric Sachiel]

Q - The story development was not quite predictable and the feedback from the watchers was very strong. What do you think of that from the production staff point of view?
A - Of course I did not think a lot about it but I was really happy to see such reactions: Some many were watching it carefully. It's just that at the time Kyubei came out, that "Kitaaaaaa!" antics of reaction was a bit strange to me lol. But the most important is everyone is enjoying it.

Thanks for translating that symbv. But yeah the above quote is such an understatement. Honestly from the onset if not for the numerous fan reports and reactions, i would never had guessed this anime would go into such dark territory.

Judging from the opening alone for Madoka Magica, did anyone here watching the show for the first time get tricked into thinking this would turn out to be one of those generic cliche moe magical girl shows? Honestly.....im glad its so much more than that! The lack of fanservice or rather the presence of more subtle fanservice is a plus for me.

[soul.assassin]

Last night after watching I went about checking the fan reactions -- everywhere, from 2ch to 4chan to AS... the reactions were thermonuclear. Chiwa Saito was right: this was a "wham" episode, but I never expect this one to be that GIANT WHAMMY.

@ES: yep, PMMM rocketed higher in the top posts in 2ch, and it's an achievement for a show that didn't rely on T&A, especially in such a very late timeslot.

Edit 1: gotta replay that heartbreak scene with the music used when Rei blew up Unit-00 and Almisael.

[Killer Bee]

Just finished the latest episode.

HOLY.

SHIT.

This is the best thing since NGE, hands-down. God, I was gonna go play video games or study or something afterwards, but I feel mentally and physically drained after watching that.

[Spud]

After reading a comment like that I have to watch it
I'll get to it this weekend

How many episodes are out currently?

[kuwisdelu]

Well it's certainly nothing new when it comes to plot twists.

BUT THAT EXECUTION.

Damn.

Ahhhhh why is next week so far away.

On another note, I think we've pretty much exhausted the important internet predictions. We have answers about Kyuubey and Homura now. And I have no idea where's it's going to go this Walpurgis Night.

@above, this is the 10th episode.

[Natsuka_Chie]

Just watched the 10th.
I...can't really describe my reaction to this, but I bet it's the same as yours. This is going to my top list, really.

Oh and something I remembered while watching, I don't remember when or where, but someone said that "Homura clenched her teeth in the 1st episode when Madoka called her Akemi, because that's her real first name."
Well, in this episode we learn

SPOILER: Show

that it was because Madoka used to call her Homura, and being called Akemi that time (by her best friend) was awkwards to her.

[Merridian]

Ah hah, so Homura was the protagonist all along! Forget Kyle Reese syndrome, the whole story is about her trying to get over the past! Oh man Shinbo, don't you dare fuck up these last episodes. As long as it keeps down the path of those that have gone before, this climax is bound to be intense.

How many episodes are out currently?

10th one just aired

[soul.assassin]

I loved what one guy said:

@Eniacc: Basically, #MadokaMagica achieved, in 10 episodes, what #Lost failed to do in 6 years / #Madoka #anime #MadokaMagika

Reactions here are comedy gold.

I'm buying, hi-res and low-res. :)