Puella Magi Madoka Magika

[soul.assassin]

Madokafe.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stationyam ... 3/sizes/l/




Well... Thank you, ladies.

[cramergamer]

/a/ is angering me right now. a lot of people are hating on the ending. I guess it wasnt dark enough for them.

[soul.assassin]

/a/ is angering me right now. a lot of people are hating on the ending. I guess it wasnt dark enough for them.

They got Anno'd.

[IrkenEvangelion]

Gonna watch them this weekend. I've been busy the past few weeks and this is the first time posting :( I feel like I'm missing out...

[symbv]

Well... Thank you, ladies.

Let me put up the bigger pic too :)

Click to get the bigger image:



And of course: (click for bigger image)

/a/ is angering me right now. a lot of people are hating on the ending. I guess it wasnt dark enough for them.

At least these people are mostly not going to buy the BD/DVD anyway~~~

In 2chan the response are overwhelmingly positive. There were particularly huge praises for the animation quality (except the 6 fingers ha ha) and direction. Some people thought the ending was too grand -- some joked Madoka is now Madoka-sama; some joked it is Madoka Gurren Lagann -- but they mostly found the ending as it was is convincing and reasonable, satisfactorily wrapping up the plot lines and closing the story at a suitable point. Most agree that it is much better than a full bad end because it highlighted hope, love and friendship while did not shy away from the fact that there is a price for making all the changes and the truth that as long as human exists there is always negative, dark or evil feeling/being that needs to be dealt with. And more than one 2-chan-er pointed out that the current ending is much easier for a broader range of audience to understand and empathize. The main gripe is more about an existing sense of unease and the lingering feeling of "things not really get fully resolved", and then there is the complaint about how Sayaka was not treated as nicely as other mahou shoujo :-|

And there was disagreement over whether it was better to air 2 episodes in one go or do it separately. Some thought it would generate discussion and talks if there was some time between ep.11 and ep.12 but of course many thought it would be hard for them to just wait for ep.12 after watching ep.11.

And everyone agreed that whoever leaked out the screenplay for the last 2 episodes should be severely punished

The last volume (vol.6) of PMMM BD/DVD started to be available for pre-ordering from yesterday and it jumped straight into no.1 in Amazon JP anime BD sales ranking, followed by vol.1,5,3,2,4 and only after that is Harry Potter's latest film.... All 2-chan, regardless of gripes or not, agreed the airing of the endings would help sales enormously. The question is only: Can it beat Bakemonogatari in the total sales figure?

[Killer Bee]

Just finished. My mind was thoroughly fucked. Apart from Madoka appearing by every mahou shoujo's side to put them out of their misery (like Rei in EoE when she turned everyone into LCL), I didn't think it was very Eva-like, which was simultaneously refreshing and a little disappointing. It certainly was amazing, though.

At this point I'm not sure whether I'd like to see a season 2 or not. More questions would be answered (and there are more of them now than ever), but I don't really see where they could go from here.

They got Anno'd.

Yeah. For a good portion of /a/ who either had the ending of NGE spoiled for them before they watched it or haven't seen it at all, this will be their first big mindfuck. That and they would complain about the ending no matter what it was, just because it's /a/.

[soul.assassin]

Yeah. For a good portion of /a/ who either had the ending of NGE spoiled for them before they watched it or haven't seen it at all, this will be their first big mindfuck. That and they would complain about the ending no matter what it was, just because it's /a/.

Shit, after being stunned for several hours... now I can laugh! It's like they've been dropped a MOAB over their heads.

Hey, I can't help but notice the Lady of Jugs closely:

Damn, Mami, you're Number 1!



OBTW, I'm setting one of my fics on hold, and planning an Eva/Madoka crossover. No kidding on this one, my brain's on fire.

[symbv]

At this point I'm not sure whether I'd like to see a season 2 or not. More questions would be answered (and there are more of them now than ever), but I don't really see where they could go from here.

Opinion from 2chan is that the ending is a clear signal that season 2 is possible, because now the whole setting is shifted back to what you usually see in the mahou shoujo genre -- no witch, mahou shoujo stays as mahou shoujo, QB is a partner not a manipulator.... Most of the cast can do the usual slice-of-life things in this mahou shoujo world. And from the interviews with Shimbo and other staff, if there is a season 2 it will be a happier and more slice-of-life one... If this is what season 2 is about, I am definitely in...

[Killer Bee]

...from the interviews with Shimbo and other staff, if there is a season 2 it will be a happier and more slice-of-life one...

Shinbo was talking about a PMMM slice-of-life spinoff series (similar to the slice-of-life Eva spinoffs). I think you're mixing up the interviews where he was talking about that with the ones where he was talking about a possible second season. Correct me if I'm wrong.

A happier, more slice-of-life second season seems impossible; at the end of episode 12 Homura was beginning to develop hypotheses about how their current world came to be and was discussing it with Kyubey. I don't see the girls forgetting about such major things as that so they can go spend a day goofing off at the hot springs.

[symbv]

Shinbo was talking about a PMMM slice-of-life spinoff series (similar to the slice-of-life Eva spinoffs). I think you're mixing up the interviews where he was talking about that with the ones where he was talking about a possible second season. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Well, I translated the Shimbo interview and posted here so I think I know what I am talking about

It may not be the continuation from end of Ep.12 but Shimbo seems to be keen on using the existing cast for some happy stories. First task: Take Butch Gen from screenplay role

[rhfxz1s]

I got a bit of an EoE feel from the ending, especially regarding the message of the story. Particuarly, Homura's line "this world is filled with pain and yet she chose to protect it" sounded a lot like Shinji rejecting instrumentality and choosing the barren world of One More Final. Also, Madoka essentially becoming an omnipresent being reminded be of instrumentality, though it's not quite the same when only one person gets the treatment.

But anyway, I really liked the ending. It was pretty positive and they did a good job given how the story had progressed up until that point.

[child of Lilith]

Madoka was awesome. I'm really glad my expectations were surpassed. I also love what they did with Mami. Her talk with Madoka around the coffee table was one of my favorite parts of the ending. It really felt like it washed away a lot of the mud crazy Mami dumped on her.

[soul.assassin]

From where this scan came from? It's full of coming-soon figurines.

[Oz]

FUCK YES SHINBO YOU DID THE IMPOSSIBLE

A perfect ending to a brilliant, brilliant series.

[kuwisdelu]

Awesome ending. I'm definitely feeling the Eva+Lain vibes. Madoka essentially erasing herself from the world to become a god is very Lain-like, and the transcendence and visiting of the other puella magi in all the other worlds felt very Instrumentality-like.

I think the more hopeful ending fit best for the TV show format. Even EoTV felt hopeful and uplifting compared to EoE.

I'm extremely happy with how everything turned out, but I have to admit, I'm left wishing Ep 12 was two episodes, with more drawn-out mindfuckery and Madoka/Homura introspection, EoTV-style.

[InstrumentalityOne]

Has anybody here already figured out the last few seconds of episode 12?

Homura´s black wings look kinda Witch-ish and her laugh was kinda half-hearted after Madoka said "Do your best!/Ganbatte".

[child of Lilith]

I think her soul gem was about reach its limit and then she would finally get to be with Madoka again.

[Oz]

As far as I can see, the last few seconds of the final episode reminded of what was Homura's situation as the series ended. She is still fighting alone, but Madoka is supporting her. It's a struggle, but all is well. I interpret the laugh more as relief than anything else. But what child of lilith says is quite plausible as well.

[soul.assassin]

FUCK YES SHINBO YOU DID THE IMPOSSIBLE

A perfect ending to a brilliant, brilliant series.

Let's get some vodka and celebrate all this. The best shitstorm ever since EoTV 25-26.

OBTW, ratings:
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/20 ... osaka-area

Update: I'm getting the remaining episodes, and then archive it before the big 'Plex dogs could put a big red L on Madoka.

[User-iel]

@soul.assassin I marked well what you said back there - off into the wilderness with you, and come back bearing your inspired fanfic! Hey, it could work.

@symbv Once more, my gratitude for your fanatical support. And your anticipation did very well. What do you suppose your sync rating is for Urobuchi-san? I think it's close to where you could pilot him ; )

@InstrumentalityOne If I might interpret, the 'dark wings of Homura' mean that in the new world, a Puella Magi can live with their grief, and resolve it, instead of collapsing. In her case, forever, since it seems that this is how she has to pay for what she did from the karmic perspective. Oh, and uhh... tell all your friends - she's Batman.

@Killer Bee Definitely a more TTGL vibe, if we compare to Gainax standards. Lain is also a good fit. There is more than a bit of CLAMP circular logic also. Mix in the Lime and the Coconut, drink a bowl up. Just for good measure.

I was satisfied by the nature of the ending. It is a complete enough statement. Animation quality held up for me, I think that this may be a new option for scheduling future ending arcs. In terms of success for Shinbo and Shaft, they obviously have a monster on their hands.
And I have criticism. In a lot of ways, Gen chose to cut the ending from cheaper cloth. The mechanic of 'wish system buffer overflow attack' was a least-common denominator effort to get to this point. Afterlife cameos for Mami and Kyouko seemed to be misplaced, or excessive deux-ex-machina to me. Well, it'll help sell some swag, anyway. I will have to carry on, mourning all the better, more literate endings that were possible.

Universal applause for - viewers like you! If you read and carefully evaluate the predictions in the past 73 pages, there is an almost eerie tendency for everyone to 'get it right.' From the constraints of the large plot events, down to individual graphics sequences and characters, almost everything is - correct, just slightly displaced. If I may point to Merridian's statement on Feb 16th: "Mami was lonely and had her share of emptiness, Homura surely has her mysterious FUTURISTIC demons to battle, Miki suffers from what appears to be unrequited love, etc."
Yes, that wish was also granted.
- KYUUUBEEYYY! ! ! -
This seems to extend to Pixiv as well. The green themed MS that is saved by Madoka has some strong designs in common with one of the "Hitomi Magica" artworks. And we get to see Homura use a (sub based) missile attack. There are Many points of tangency... don't you wonder how this could be? I wanted Urobuchi to finish playing out his story on 'hard' difficulty, as many of the fans were engaging the plot that way. But it seems to stop at 'medium.'

Waiting for season two, with an author who will build upon his successes, and bury his failures.