@Randomanon The bookmark version of Kyubey is a legendary premium in the making! I hope it enters the market...
Clever and emotional art, especially when Madoka brings out her full kawaii potential. While the committed fanartist is making all possible combinations for the guidebook cover, I'm going to say that not mixing in a little NME is an opportunity wasted. Until next week!
The Madoka figure bewilders my imagination, if the petticoats were cast solid. That's master level by itself.
Otakon has a nice idea with the wish-board. In a way, a very loose adaptation of Japanese culture, done on a shoestring, and it is another way to make activity leading to happy memories. Cool. Finally, thanks for the vid links. The views count is a bit low, but it might be an interesting metric. A turnstile for serious fans, as it were.
@soul.assassin A nice link to a solid essay. Slight assumption, if one were to follow the ideas of "Otaku: Japan's Database Animals", but it's his choice to tweak the theory a bit.
Puella Magi Madoka Magika [2]
Moderators: Rebuild/OT Moderators, Board Staff
- Randomanon
- Ramiel
- Age: 39
- Posts: 317
- Joined: May 23, 2011
@soul.assassin The editorial was interesting and made some good points but I also found a few things that troubled me. First, the use of "Miki" instead of "Sayaka" was puzzling since all the other girls were addressed by their first names. That gave me an immediate feel that the writer is not familiar with ongoing character discussions or magazine translations where she is always addressed as "Sayaka." The descriptions of the end fates of the girls are also off-the-mark. For example, to characterize Kyouko's eating as reflecting some cattle-like demise neither properly captures her ending nor the true meaning behind the eating. Her obsession with food derives from her past where she was always hungry. You can extrapolate it further to say food is the comfort she uses to try and fill the emptiness left behind by the loss of her family. And, as we saw in anime scenes, her eating increases the more she needs comfort because of emotional upset about Sayaka. Kyouko may also be suffering from survivor's guilt as well, eating not only for herself, but on behalf of her family. As to her demise, unlike Mami and Sayaka, Kyouko's was notable in making the deliberate decision to fight to save Sayaka until the very end then choose her demise on her own terms. It is as human and noble an ending as possible for a magical girl in that universe, until Madoka changed the rules.
Speaking of Madoka, this is the part that I found most problematic, "Madoka is erased from existence, her memory as forgotten as her impact during life." I find this unfortunate because it seems to be a common misunderstanding among the western fan base on this subject. What fans seems to have missed is this is only a statement said by Kyubey and that he is an unreliable narrator. We know that he's wrong because shortly afterwards we see that Madoka is in fact remembered by Homura, Madoka's little brother, and is at least a vague recollection by others. There were hints along the way as well that Kyubey is not in fact all-knowing. He's stated he doesn't understand humans, that he can't predict what they're capable of and at the end, he doesn't even know the universe has changed the way Homura does. Yet there is a common tendency among fans to accept Kyubey's perspective as the truth rather than perceive him as an unreliable narrator. Consider from his perspective that humans and his kind are in symbiotic relationship, like cattles to humans, but instead of beef they generate energy. Now consider this: Kyubey's race is older and became scientifically advanced while humankind was still in its infancy. Yet, humans have an amazing potential that Kyubey's race lacks and will never possess...the ability to create miracles that can overturn the most fundamental laws of the universe, even the ability to extend life for everyone by countering entropy. If you think about it, does this not put humans in this framework closer to the position of gods than cattle? Does it not seem that it is only a matter of time before humans will gain the wisdom to match their potential and will eventually toss aside Kyubey's race? If you think about it, exactly who really holds the position of power, here?
But if there were any doubts, I think Urobuchi's multiple references of Madoka as a goddess in post-production interviews establishes her position. She is not erased, she is not an unthinking force of nature. Madoka Kaname is omnipresent and omniscient, the embodiment of Hope for magical girls. But someone like Kyubey could not understand what something like "Hope" can mean for humans, or all the feelings behind the actions of Homura and Madoka that made this miracle possible.
I also feel in many reviews that Homura is seen as merely the mechanism to Madoka's fate, if mentioned at all. Or sometimes the view has been it is Homura's story and Madoka is merely the deux machina. This is strikingly different from the impression given in interviews that the story is about the two of them, their relationship to one another, all their feelings and actions that combined together which changed the fate of the universe(s). Madoka may be the MC, but consider the cover of the production Guidebook where they discuss the ending of Madoka, post-production interviews and so on. They did not choose a cover where Madoka is alone, or Homura in a supporting role or all the magical girls in a group...no what we see is Homura and Madoka standing together in positions of equality, facing one another and conveying the impression of a strong emotional bond. This image I believe further confirms that the story we are suppose to understand when all is said and done, is that this story is about Homura and Madoka, whose interactions together created the outcome we see. It is not about an individual that determined fate, but a partnership of two individuals.
Speaking of Homura, Chiwa Saito's now has a seiyuu Data File:
Aoi Yuuki (Madoka) also had one recently that was translated - http://wiki.puella-magi.net/Animedia_2011-05
Here's the translations of a couple more seiyuu Data Files, but they're all older, before their Madoka roles. I could probably track down the actual files themselves if people are curious, but I'm feeling a bit lazy at the moment.
Eri Kitamura (Sayaka) http://j1m0ne.wikispaces.com/Kitamura+Eri
Ai Nonaka (Kyouko) http://j1m0ne.wikispaces.com/Nonaka+Ai
Updated photoshops collection of the Guidebook...Madoka and Kyubey what?!
Speaking of Madoka, this is the part that I found most problematic, "Madoka is erased from existence, her memory as forgotten as her impact during life." I find this unfortunate because it seems to be a common misunderstanding among the western fan base on this subject. What fans seems to have missed is this is only a statement said by Kyubey and that he is an unreliable narrator. We know that he's wrong because shortly afterwards we see that Madoka is in fact remembered by Homura, Madoka's little brother, and is at least a vague recollection by others. There were hints along the way as well that Kyubey is not in fact all-knowing. He's stated he doesn't understand humans, that he can't predict what they're capable of and at the end, he doesn't even know the universe has changed the way Homura does. Yet there is a common tendency among fans to accept Kyubey's perspective as the truth rather than perceive him as an unreliable narrator. Consider from his perspective that humans and his kind are in symbiotic relationship, like cattles to humans, but instead of beef they generate energy. Now consider this: Kyubey's race is older and became scientifically advanced while humankind was still in its infancy. Yet, humans have an amazing potential that Kyubey's race lacks and will never possess...the ability to create miracles that can overturn the most fundamental laws of the universe, even the ability to extend life for everyone by countering entropy. If you think about it, does this not put humans in this framework closer to the position of gods than cattle? Does it not seem that it is only a matter of time before humans will gain the wisdom to match their potential and will eventually toss aside Kyubey's race? If you think about it, exactly who really holds the position of power, here?
But if there were any doubts, I think Urobuchi's multiple references of Madoka as a goddess in post-production interviews establishes her position. She is not erased, she is not an unthinking force of nature. Madoka Kaname is omnipresent and omniscient, the embodiment of Hope for magical girls. But someone like Kyubey could not understand what something like "Hope" can mean for humans, or all the feelings behind the actions of Homura and Madoka that made this miracle possible.
I also feel in many reviews that Homura is seen as merely the mechanism to Madoka's fate, if mentioned at all. Or sometimes the view has been it is Homura's story and Madoka is merely the deux machina. This is strikingly different from the impression given in interviews that the story is about the two of them, their relationship to one another, all their feelings and actions that combined together which changed the fate of the universe(s). Madoka may be the MC, but consider the cover of the production Guidebook where they discuss the ending of Madoka, post-production interviews and so on. They did not choose a cover where Madoka is alone, or Homura in a supporting role or all the magical girls in a group...no what we see is Homura and Madoka standing together in positions of equality, facing one another and conveying the impression of a strong emotional bond. This image I believe further confirms that the story we are suppose to understand when all is said and done, is that this story is about Homura and Madoka, whose interactions together created the outcome we see. It is not about an individual that determined fate, but a partnership of two individuals.
Speaking of Homura, Chiwa Saito's now has a seiyuu Data File:
SPOILER: Show
Here's the translations of a couple more seiyuu Data Files, but they're all older, before their Madoka roles. I could probably track down the actual files themselves if people are curious, but I'm feeling a bit lazy at the moment.
Eri Kitamura (Sayaka) http://j1m0ne.wikispaces.com/Kitamura+Eri
Ai Nonaka (Kyouko) http://j1m0ne.wikispaces.com/Nonaka+Ai
Updated photoshops collection of the Guidebook...Madoka and Kyubey what?!
SPOILER: Show
The errors in fact as you list are quite factual. It may be reasonable to hold the author to lower standards, however. Despite the volume of references, this essay is not about PMMM, which is only in the role of an example to his argument. Whether the concern of 'chara vs character' ever gains any traction is open to interpretation. I hope they re-watch it, though.
Adding Kyubey to the mix is great! And the seiyu datafiles have nice flair. Are they documents that were sourced from the studio, or a fan-made assembly?
Adding Kyubey to the mix is great! And the seiyu datafiles have nice flair. Are they documents that were sourced from the studio, or a fan-made assembly?
- Randomanon
- Ramiel
- Age: 39
- Posts: 317
- Joined: May 23, 2011
The seiyuu Data File is published by Animedia magazine. The identical survey questions are sent out to the seiyuu who handwrite in their responses, often with little sketches and their signatures.
Edited to add:
Since we're on the topics of seiyuu, here's a little bit of interesting seiyuu related gossip. It hasn't failed the notice of fans how enamored Aoi Yuki is of Kyouko. Aoi Yuki is a bit of an otaku (just check out her website and you'll see what I mean) and it seems Kyouko is her waifu. This amusing vid remixes her comments on Kyouko from the BDs. http://video.niconico.com/watch/sm14889810
Listen to her voice when she say she loves her at 44 secs and that is exactly how she sounds on the audio commentary. Aoi Yuki is pretty enthusiastic and likes to gush over how cute and cool everyone is but there's no other character that she says she loves at least once in every episode, with that tone of voice. She likes to gush over Kyouko too, in her online diary -
"必ず杏子ちゃんとまどかのソウルジェムをゲットするのです(＞＜*)ノ
杏子ちゃんかわいいなぁどこかの次元でもっと杏子ちゃんとまどかも仲良くなれてますようにっ"
This seems to really amuse Chiwa Saito on the BDs. And interestingly enough, it's said that Chiwa Saito is good friends with Kyouko's seiyuu Ai Nonaka (http://forums.animesuki.com/showthread. ... ost3710528) "Ai Nonaka strikes up a really good friendship with Chiwa Saito (Homura). She had been dragged around by Saito for a while now to various eateries."
I think it's only a matter of time before some artist with seiyuu knowledge does some fanart with Madoka chasing after Kyouko, "Kyouko Daisukiii!!!" but then Kyouko crushes her hopes by picking Homura instead.
Homura's drawn gif is done. I understand there will be one for Mami as well and will post it when I see it. Oh and slowpoke add, the animate gifs are from this artist Buzama (http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?id=873834). Just seems like I see them on 2ch before they get to pixiv. This one is the quote from Homura from episode 12:
あけみほむらだからわたしはたたかいつづける - Akemi Homura: And so I can keep on fighting. Like the others, it's pretty remarkable that the hiragana is spelled out in red one by one to form the picture. Lots of creativity and artistry went into creating these gifs.
Otakon video in the US newspaper Washington Post - http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/ani ... video.html The part relevant to Madoka is from 40 secs to 1:30ish secs. You see comments from a 16 year old girl who cosplays as Madoka Kaname. It's a reflection of what I noted in a prior observation of a large base of female fans at the Madoka premiere--something also observed in Japan by the way--many of them as I noted in or around college age, give or take a few years.
Adding a Kyouko and Sayaka doujin that was recently translated. It feels realistic to the characters, like a possible depiction of what could have happened in a different timeline. Download is here - http://www.mediafire.com/?1s8bpi264wx9urz Or if you are lazy and prefer to see gallery of images - http://imgur.com/a/8BeQ1#PpfYa
Another seiyuu-related bit of trivia: Sayaka's seiyuu KitaEri has said in her twitters that she really likes KyouSaya doujins. Not Kyousuke, like you might think. Perhaps his slight of Sayaka annoyed her a bit too much?
Charlotte as mentioned previously is the only non-main Madoka character who made the Saimoe main tournament round by coming in 5th in her group. Some western fans explained her moe appeal backstory here -
And yes, there's doujins dedicated to her back story. Here's one "Story of a Certain Girl's Dream" http://www.mediafire.com/?fwfzazxeqtb4xvl with a text file translation included in English. And more of the dessert witch: 
Day 2 of Otakon wishes has just been published: http://www.facebook.com/notes/puella-magi-madoka-magica/madoka-magica-wish-board-otakon-day-2/215206698531167
Not sure what the game source is, if it's playeable or not, but here's a screenshot composite:
Edited to add:
Since we're on the topics of seiyuu, here's a little bit of interesting seiyuu related gossip. It hasn't failed the notice of fans how enamored Aoi Yuki is of Kyouko. Aoi Yuki is a bit of an otaku (just check out her website and you'll see what I mean) and it seems Kyouko is her waifu. This amusing vid remixes her comments on Kyouko from the BDs. http://video.niconico.com/watch/sm14889810
Listen to her voice when she say she loves her at 44 secs and that is exactly how she sounds on the audio commentary. Aoi Yuki is pretty enthusiastic and likes to gush over how cute and cool everyone is but there's no other character that she says she loves at least once in every episode, with that tone of voice. She likes to gush over Kyouko too, in her online diary -
"必ず杏子ちゃんとまどかのソウルジェムをゲットするのです(＞＜*)ノ
杏子ちゃんかわいいなぁどこかの次元でもっと杏子ちゃんとまどかも仲良くなれてますようにっ"
This seems to really amuse Chiwa Saito on the BDs. And interestingly enough, it's said that Chiwa Saito is good friends with Kyouko's seiyuu Ai Nonaka (http://forums.animesuki.com/showthread. ... ost3710528) "Ai Nonaka strikes up a really good friendship with Chiwa Saito (Homura). She had been dragged around by Saito for a while now to various eateries."
I think it's only a matter of time before some artist with seiyuu knowledge does some fanart with Madoka chasing after Kyouko, "Kyouko Daisukiii!!!" but then Kyouko crushes her hopes by picking Homura instead.
Homura's drawn gif is done. I understand there will be one for Mami as well and will post it when I see it. Oh and slowpoke add, the animate gifs are from this artist Buzama (http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?id=873834). Just seems like I see them on 2ch before they get to pixiv. This one is the quote from Homura from episode 12:
あけみほむらだからわたしはたたかいつづける - Akemi Homura: And so I can keep on fighting. Like the others, it's pretty remarkable that the hiragana is spelled out in red one by one to form the picture. Lots of creativity and artistry went into creating these gifs.
Otakon video in the US newspaper Washington Post - http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/ani ... video.html The part relevant to Madoka is from 40 secs to 1:30ish secs. You see comments from a 16 year old girl who cosplays as Madoka Kaname. It's a reflection of what I noted in a prior observation of a large base of female fans at the Madoka premiere--something also observed in Japan by the way--many of them as I noted in or around college age, give or take a few years.
Adding a Kyouko and Sayaka doujin that was recently translated. It feels realistic to the characters, like a possible depiction of what could have happened in a different timeline. Download is here - http://www.mediafire.com/?1s8bpi264wx9urz Or if you are lazy and prefer to see gallery of images - http://imgur.com/a/8BeQ1#PpfYa
Another seiyuu-related bit of trivia: Sayaka's seiyuu KitaEri has said in her twitters that she really likes KyouSaya doujins. Not Kyousuke, like you might think. Perhaps his slight of Sayaka annoyed her a bit too much?
Charlotte as mentioned previously is the only non-main Madoka character who made the Saimoe main tournament round by coming in 5th in her group. Some western fans explained her moe appeal backstory here -
SPOILER: Show
SPOILER: Show
Not sure what the game source is, if it's playeable or not, but here's a screenshot composite:
SPOILER: Show
@Randomanon
These nice mentions of the seiyuu involvement got me to wondering. Where it has become reasonably common for seiyuu to continue their roles in drama CD's, maybe the right direction for Shaft with PMMM is to produce and air some 45 second to two minute length clips of omake in their other air time. The many heartfull doujins lead directly to the proof that there is a great fan appetite for positive AU. Having more 'triangle' yuri could be comedic, and it's worked before. Go ahead, write the script...
"Lionheart" was solid fixfic, thanks so much. Though I had a mischievous notion that adding one more panel would deepen the experience. Simply inserting a sketch where Kyubey is ever so slightly redirecting Kyouske and Hitomi to walk where she will see them makes it complete.
The choice of Charlotte's backstory by InuCurry is pretty strong on it's own, isn't it? So very short, but gathering a following by itself. And her showing in Saimoe has been startling, for a girl wearing a candy wrapper on her head. Not all of this can be simply riding on the coattails of the rest of the cast. Perhaps it's amato-moe?
The '8 bit' Madoka RPG art is from a really serious fan! Clear choices for the scenes, combining relevance and graphic familiarity. Beyond that, having Kyouko on the rooftop is a proper statement.
These nice mentions of the seiyuu involvement got me to wondering. Where it has become reasonably common for seiyuu to continue their roles in drama CD's, maybe the right direction for Shaft with PMMM is to produce and air some 45 second to two minute length clips of omake in their other air time. The many heartfull doujins lead directly to the proof that there is a great fan appetite for positive AU. Having more 'triangle' yuri could be comedic, and it's worked before. Go ahead, write the script...
"Lionheart" was solid fixfic, thanks so much. Though I had a mischievous notion that adding one more panel would deepen the experience. Simply inserting a sketch where Kyubey is ever so slightly redirecting Kyouske and Hitomi to walk where she will see them makes it complete.
The choice of Charlotte's backstory by InuCurry is pretty strong on it's own, isn't it? So very short, but gathering a following by itself. And her showing in Saimoe has been startling, for a girl wearing a candy wrapper on her head. Not all of this can be simply riding on the coattails of the rest of the cast. Perhaps it's amato-moe?
The '8 bit' Madoka RPG art is from a really serious fan! Clear choices for the scenes, combining relevance and graphic familiarity. Beyond that, having Kyouko on the rooftop is a proper statement.
- Randomanon
- Ramiel
- Age: 39
- Posts: 317
- Joined: May 23, 2011
@Useri-iel
Broadcast time is very valuable and in any case I doubt Madoka will be rebroadcasting anytime in the near future, plus in a half-hour timeslot, it has no filler minutes to spare. However, Japan has many ways to connect seiyuu to fans. The first is the popularity of drama CDs which is common now to anime. Serious fans have no problem picking up these. Another is the voice commentaries, where Aoi Yuuki (Madoka) and Chiwa Saito (Homura) get very generous billing talking throughout every episode with a guest. Or in the case of episode 10, no guest and it's just the two of them. This was something of a surprise to fans by the way, to not have a production person there for episode 10 since it's a really amazing episode from a production standpoint. The anticipated fan response is that episode 10's voice commentary may instead provide some very good interaction from Chiwa Saito and Aoi Yuuki, likely some drama and tears. Aoi Yuuki has already cried a little in episode 8 over Sayaka's situation.
Another thing you sometimes see is a seiyuu chat CD bonus of some kind. Madoka had one that you could purchase in Japan with a specific package deal called "Mahou Shoujo-tachi no Ochakai" or "Magical Girl Tea Party" which is all the seiyuu gathered to talk about Madoka. It's somewhat chaotic but...if you are a seiyuu fan, it's enjoyable. Finally, there is seiyuu involvement that is quite common at official fan events where they will chat, answer questions, play games, sing, sketch and so on. Then of course there's the many interviews seiyuu do that discuss their character roles and so on. As actresses, albeit voice actresses, their thoughts and feelings on an anime is pretty accessible to fans. Quite often their thoughts are meaningful as well, especially for some who are noted to be thoughtful about their roles like Chiwa Saito, because they interact with key people like the writer and director to gain insight into their characters that they then act out. It's interesting stuff for someone who wants to learn more about the background on the anime characters.
Edited to add: Totally forgot to mention that popular seiyuu often have radio talk shows they're on...including the ones for Madoka. I know KitaEri has talked about Sayaka on hers. It's pretty common to see when there's something big to promote, like an OVA or movie, for seiyuu to play their characters on a radio segment to do greetings, answer fan questions etc. as promotion efforts. In some rare cases, seiyuu may even have an ongoing radio show playing their popular characters like Mai Kadowaki and Ayuru Oohashi as Sanya and Eila from Strike Witches.
On Charlotte's backstory: To my knowledge there isn't anything more official said except Ume's off-the-cuff remark in her doujin that she thinks Charlotte might have been cute as a magical girl. Her backstory as I posted was created by fan speculation and western fans in particular have run with making up ideas. No one on the production staff, including Gekidan Inu Curry, has told us anything about Charlotte's background. Japan thinks her design is cute and also agrees with Ume Aoki that she was likely a very cute girl. This and the incredible popularity of her scene with Mami has I think catapulted her to being a memorable minor character.
Not much happening today that's Madoka-related. We're in a lull-time right now before it gets interesting later this month with hopefully some production note and/or magazine scans, Nitro+ novel reviews, Saimoe main tournament votes, Comiket 80 and so on. Here's a couple more exceptional sketches from the Madoka cafe book...again hoping they'll make copies of it and sell it.
Also, a little more on that most recent Madoka fig I posted about from the Wonder Festival: http://ameblo.jp/gsc-mikatan/entry-10976355338.html 
Another Nobita doujin was translated and typeset. This one is about Sayaka - Puella Magi Sayaka Magica http://www.mediafire.com/?rfzqogsnes8g63h Gallery here - http://imgur.com/a/QLPaC#OZV28 The old Nobita one I had mentioned previously with Homura is here - Puella Magi Homura Magica http://www.mediafire.com/?z9ect710gj0z2er
I think it's likely we'll see one for each of the girls. The art is pretty good as well as Nobita's envisioning of the girls characters and their actions.
Broadcast time is very valuable and in any case I doubt Madoka will be rebroadcasting anytime in the near future, plus in a half-hour timeslot, it has no filler minutes to spare. However, Japan has many ways to connect seiyuu to fans. The first is the popularity of drama CDs which is common now to anime. Serious fans have no problem picking up these. Another is the voice commentaries, where Aoi Yuuki (Madoka) and Chiwa Saito (Homura) get very generous billing talking throughout every episode with a guest. Or in the case of episode 10, no guest and it's just the two of them. This was something of a surprise to fans by the way, to not have a production person there for episode 10 since it's a really amazing episode from a production standpoint. The anticipated fan response is that episode 10's voice commentary may instead provide some very good interaction from Chiwa Saito and Aoi Yuuki, likely some drama and tears. Aoi Yuuki has already cried a little in episode 8 over Sayaka's situation.
Another thing you sometimes see is a seiyuu chat CD bonus of some kind. Madoka had one that you could purchase in Japan with a specific package deal called "Mahou Shoujo-tachi no Ochakai" or "Magical Girl Tea Party" which is all the seiyuu gathered to talk about Madoka. It's somewhat chaotic but...if you are a seiyuu fan, it's enjoyable. Finally, there is seiyuu involvement that is quite common at official fan events where they will chat, answer questions, play games, sing, sketch and so on. Then of course there's the many interviews seiyuu do that discuss their character roles and so on. As actresses, albeit voice actresses, their thoughts and feelings on an anime is pretty accessible to fans. Quite often their thoughts are meaningful as well, especially for some who are noted to be thoughtful about their roles like Chiwa Saito, because they interact with key people like the writer and director to gain insight into their characters that they then act out. It's interesting stuff for someone who wants to learn more about the background on the anime characters.
Edited to add: Totally forgot to mention that popular seiyuu often have radio talk shows they're on...including the ones for Madoka. I know KitaEri has talked about Sayaka on hers. It's pretty common to see when there's something big to promote, like an OVA or movie, for seiyuu to play their characters on a radio segment to do greetings, answer fan questions etc. as promotion efforts. In some rare cases, seiyuu may even have an ongoing radio show playing their popular characters like Mai Kadowaki and Ayuru Oohashi as Sanya and Eila from Strike Witches.
On Charlotte's backstory: To my knowledge there isn't anything more official said except Ume's off-the-cuff remark in her doujin that she thinks Charlotte might have been cute as a magical girl. Her backstory as I posted was created by fan speculation and western fans in particular have run with making up ideas. No one on the production staff, including Gekidan Inu Curry, has told us anything about Charlotte's background. Japan thinks her design is cute and also agrees with Ume Aoki that she was likely a very cute girl. This and the incredible popularity of her scene with Mami has I think catapulted her to being a memorable minor character.
Not much happening today that's Madoka-related. We're in a lull-time right now before it gets interesting later this month with hopefully some production note and/or magazine scans, Nitro+ novel reviews, Saimoe main tournament votes, Comiket 80 and so on. Here's a couple more exceptional sketches from the Madoka cafe book...again hoping they'll make copies of it and sell it.
SPOILER: Show
SPOILER: Show
I think it's likely we'll see one for each of the girls. The art is pretty good as well as Nobita's envisioning of the girls characters and their actions.
@Randomanon
The idea that a broadcaster would "break the rules" in the context of owning something like Madoka Magica is what seems to me the reasonable course. Whether Shaft and company choose to press their advantage or not is 'how history gets decided.' Certainly there is the possibility of more cours with big, popular titles - "Fate Zero" might be as popular as "Bakemonogatari." The strongest team of talent is present, apparently. But "Madoka" is special for the wide appeal it gathers, and the general idea of deciding to wait for heaven's mandate to come around again after ignoring it the first time? The history of that idea isn't so appealing.
It's amazing how many side projects and promotions a seiyuu must participate in when popularity strikes. Like all of their peers, they really don't get paid enough. Next, I predict you will tell us there will be a costumed ribbon cutting ceremony for the newest Lawson store....
What do you think of the comparison of Charlotte's "type B" appearance with the (hypothetical, since I haven't seen one) style of a medical children's picture book designed to explain cancer to a young patient? This seems to makes too much sense to ignore. It would apply the same kind of metaphors that were repeated in the design and barriers of the other witches, to the extent that details were directly stated on the cards. Proof is simply not internet-friendly in this case.
The 1/8 GoodSmile figure is just amazingly refined. The bows in her hair are the worst element, and those are nice. The amount of flowing undercuts and overall great sculpting make it look more like a doll in cloth than a casting. This is Reeaally going to cost, isn't it?
Thanks for the further links, Nobita does it right! Interestingly enough, the artistic Kyouko sketch PMMM cafes's guest book is cleverly a little off-model to me. It's almost as if some Ghibli influence is creeping in. I wish they would make a few more poses to see where that goes.
The idea that a broadcaster would "break the rules" in the context of owning something like Madoka Magica is what seems to me the reasonable course. Whether Shaft and company choose to press their advantage or not is 'how history gets decided.' Certainly there is the possibility of more cours with big, popular titles - "Fate Zero" might be as popular as "Bakemonogatari." The strongest team of talent is present, apparently. But "Madoka" is special for the wide appeal it gathers, and the general idea of deciding to wait for heaven's mandate to come around again after ignoring it the first time? The history of that idea isn't so appealing.
It's amazing how many side projects and promotions a seiyuu must participate in when popularity strikes. Like all of their peers, they really don't get paid enough. Next, I predict you will tell us there will be a costumed ribbon cutting ceremony for the newest Lawson store....
What do you think of the comparison of Charlotte's "type B" appearance with the (hypothetical, since I haven't seen one) style of a medical children's picture book designed to explain cancer to a young patient? This seems to makes too much sense to ignore. It would apply the same kind of metaphors that were repeated in the design and barriers of the other witches, to the extent that details were directly stated on the cards. Proof is simply not internet-friendly in this case.
The 1/8 GoodSmile figure is just amazingly refined. The bows in her hair are the worst element, and those are nice. The amount of flowing undercuts and overall great sculpting make it look more like a doll in cloth than a casting. This is Reeaally going to cost, isn't it?
Thanks for the further links, Nobita does it right! Interestingly enough, the artistic Kyouko sketch PMMM cafes's guest book is cleverly a little off-model to me. It's almost as if some Ghibli influence is creeping in. I wish they would make a few more poses to see where that goes.
- Randomanon
- Ramiel
- Age: 39
- Posts: 317
- Joined: May 23, 2011
@User-iel I think you're overestimating the significance of late night anime to broadcasting. Late night anime never does all that well in ratings due to the time slot. Madoka wasn't a particular stand-out either with around 2.3% avg rating. Contrast that to the daytime equivalent of magical girl anime, Pretty Cure, which is usually around 4%. http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2011-08-01/japan-animation-tv-ranking-july-18-24 You can see how little influence Madoka had with broadcasters in having to wait for a timeslot to air episode 11 and 12 after the delay, and then ended up with a time slot later than the usual time and having them air back-to-back...I'm pretty sure having your finale air at 4am is I'm sure not what they would ideally have wanted.
Fortunately, ratings mean nothing to Madoka's business model. It's sales of BD/DVDs that determine success. However, that said, I feel that SHAFT and Aniplex are underestimating the financial potential for Madoka. While they understand that the kind of BD sales they're seeing means the audience far surpasses the usual otaku buyers, they have never managed a magical girl franchise and I think do not fully understand the mix of the fan base and the financial potential. For instance, I was surprised by the lack of quantity and quality of official goods available for purchase. It's pretty good if you compare to say something like Bake where you see a common otaku purchase pattern. However, Madoka has far surpassed Bake in sales of products and even with the great variety and quantity of third parties making both official and unofficial products, you constantly see things sold out at the pre-order stage, indicating the demand outstripping supply. I believe this has much to do with it attracting magical girl anime fans who, both adult men and girls alike, have developed this mentality that buying goods is a very common and expected thing, much more so than you would see with fans for say a harem anime. I would bet Aniplex/Shaft would be very surprised if they issued say a pretty well-crafted Mami rifle replica for adult men and also a cheap plastic watergun replica of her rifle, how much they'd sell of each...and how common it would be to see male buyer names for the waterguns and female ones for the higher-priced replica.
I think much of it is the influence of daytime shoujo magical girl anime where they make their money by products (not caring about ratings or BD/DVD sales) and they don't shy at all on product advertising. You may say well that would explain the girls but how many male otaku are watching it? Well I see a high proportion of product discussion in the Pretty Cure threads compared to other anime, the industry stats I noted where adult men are seen as the major secondary target after the girls and even something like say Saimoe. The voters for it are pretty much male otaku. Yet we see Sakura of CCS won the first tournament and Pretty Cure has always had a decent representation as one of the few shoujo that make the tournament, even with it being so catered to girls they even hid the midriff (or in Suite's case, they got rid of the bellybutton!) of magical girls because parents thought it was too risque.
Re: Charlotte well here is the thing, we have indications of their being backstories to the witches before they became magical girls, but we don't know what they are or who exactly is coming up with their stories (Inu Curry? Urobuchi?) Plus we've seen in interviews things like Urobuchi envisioned the witch design one way (Walpurgis is Godzilla-like), Inu Curry comes up with a completely different design (Upside-down ballerina), then somehow during the process, it's never said how, Walpurgis unexpectedly goes against design plans and ends up flying, causing the storyboarders to go back and retcon to accommodate the change. So how Charlotte's witch barrier came to be and how it really relates to any backstory could also be somewhat chaotic in its forming and have unexpected meanings (or lack thereof) that fans can't predict. For all we know, Charlotte might like cheese because Inu Curry thought it'd be a cute explanation for why Charlotte wanted to eat Mami (because she's yellow like cheese!) and not because of some sad ill girl's deprivation of not being allowed to eat cheese. Until they tell us, we just don't know the official back story.
Months after the airing, fans still come up with things to analysis. In ep. 10, how many bombs would you guess Homura planted on Octavia before blowing her up?
If you thought the review of BD to broadcast changes was extensive before, apparently there are still things to discover: 
For more indepth look at the changes, I put them in this gallery http://imgur.com/a/d65Wp#CsnR6 (you probably want to download them to view them properly). Someone really went all out.
Ai Nonaka (Kyouko) in Taiwan with some Madoka cosplayers...quite popular there by the looks of it.
Fans have noticed the resemblance of Idolm@ster Hibiki and Makoto to Madoka's Kyouko and Sayaka, and did a photoshop from Idolm@ster episode 5 to show it. 
A really nice photoshop montage of all the girls in their official bikini shots. They chose to replace the Madoka one with a different, more flattering but still official bikini shot. 
WOW. This time, Buzama went all out and did an amazing group drawn gif of Ume Aok's end card. It's their names written out and their memorable quotes, like Mami's "Not afraid of anything anymore" or Sayaka's "I'm really an idiot," etc. http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=manga&illust_id=20877693 - 200 pages! This is really ingenious.
Fortunately, ratings mean nothing to Madoka's business model. It's sales of BD/DVDs that determine success. However, that said, I feel that SHAFT and Aniplex are underestimating the financial potential for Madoka. While they understand that the kind of BD sales they're seeing means the audience far surpasses the usual otaku buyers, they have never managed a magical girl franchise and I think do not fully understand the mix of the fan base and the financial potential. For instance, I was surprised by the lack of quantity and quality of official goods available for purchase. It's pretty good if you compare to say something like Bake where you see a common otaku purchase pattern. However, Madoka has far surpassed Bake in sales of products and even with the great variety and quantity of third parties making both official and unofficial products, you constantly see things sold out at the pre-order stage, indicating the demand outstripping supply. I believe this has much to do with it attracting magical girl anime fans who, both adult men and girls alike, have developed this mentality that buying goods is a very common and expected thing, much more so than you would see with fans for say a harem anime. I would bet Aniplex/Shaft would be very surprised if they issued say a pretty well-crafted Mami rifle replica for adult men and also a cheap plastic watergun replica of her rifle, how much they'd sell of each...and how common it would be to see male buyer names for the waterguns and female ones for the higher-priced replica.
I think much of it is the influence of daytime shoujo magical girl anime where they make their money by products (not caring about ratings or BD/DVD sales) and they don't shy at all on product advertising. You may say well that would explain the girls but how many male otaku are watching it? Well I see a high proportion of product discussion in the Pretty Cure threads compared to other anime, the industry stats I noted where adult men are seen as the major secondary target after the girls and even something like say Saimoe. The voters for it are pretty much male otaku. Yet we see Sakura of CCS won the first tournament and Pretty Cure has always had a decent representation as one of the few shoujo that make the tournament, even with it being so catered to girls they even hid the midriff (or in Suite's case, they got rid of the bellybutton!) of magical girls because parents thought it was too risque.
Re: Charlotte well here is the thing, we have indications of their being backstories to the witches before they became magical girls, but we don't know what they are or who exactly is coming up with their stories (Inu Curry? Urobuchi?) Plus we've seen in interviews things like Urobuchi envisioned the witch design one way (Walpurgis is Godzilla-like), Inu Curry comes up with a completely different design (Upside-down ballerina), then somehow during the process, it's never said how, Walpurgis unexpectedly goes against design plans and ends up flying, causing the storyboarders to go back and retcon to accommodate the change. So how Charlotte's witch barrier came to be and how it really relates to any backstory could also be somewhat chaotic in its forming and have unexpected meanings (or lack thereof) that fans can't predict. For all we know, Charlotte might like cheese because Inu Curry thought it'd be a cute explanation for why Charlotte wanted to eat Mami (because she's yellow like cheese!) and not because of some sad ill girl's deprivation of not being allowed to eat cheese. Until they tell us, we just don't know the official back story.
Months after the airing, fans still come up with things to analysis. In ep. 10, how many bombs would you guess Homura planted on Octavia before blowing her up?
SPOILER: Show
SPOILER: Show
Ai Nonaka (Kyouko) in Taiwan with some Madoka cosplayers...quite popular there by the looks of it.
SPOILER: Show
SPOILER: Show
SPOILER: Show
WOW. This time, Buzama went all out and did an amazing group drawn gif of Ume Aok's end card. It's their names written out and their memorable quotes, like Mami's "Not afraid of anything anymore" or Sayaka's "I'm really an idiot," etc. http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=manga&illust_id=20877693 - 200 pages! This is really ingenious.
- Killer Bee
- Eva Technician
- Age: 33
- Posts: 1428
- Joined: May 16, 2010
- Location: United States
- Gender: Male
Does that mean I get a harem too?
Randomanon wrote:
That's really ingenious. I can't stop watching it.
Shinbo and his harem
We have the same terrible hair.
- Randomanon
- Ramiel
- Age: 39
- Posts: 317
- Joined: May 23, 2011
That's Emiri Kato (Kyubey) in the middle and Ai Nonaka (Kyoko) to the far right.
So some decent images of the Precious Memories cards advertised in the latest Megami:
And more creativity in the bikini redrawing/photoshop. This is a well-done ribbon Homura in Kyoko's bikini stance. 
Side-by-side with the original Kyoko one for comparison:
This belongs better somewhere else but ran across this pro NGE cosplay.
That beautiful Madoka fig has updated photos: http://ameblo.jp/gsc-mikatan/day-20110808.html Edited to add purchase info: http://www.hobbystock.jp/item/view/hby-gcf-00004465
Edited to add:
Japan's come up with some new Madoka bikini redraws/photoshops like the Homura one posted earlier:
More:
Also tri 4 (http://tri4.net/subs/articles/14/mahou-shoujo-madoka-magika) just released the English translation for the audio commentary for ep. 3, which features guest Kaori Mizuhashi talking about her voicing the role of Mami. Along with Chiwa Saito (Homura) and Aoi Yuuki (Madoka) who are on every audio commentary. I personally think the audio commentary is a great choice for fans that like to learn about behind-the-scenes things like the interview translations. There's some interesting trivia that you learn like how unusual they approached the seiyuu try-outs and how popular it turns out Kyubey was to all the seiyuu as a voice role part. Turns out Chiwa Saito was too much of a "dummy" or just didn't give enough of an intellectual feel to play the role (which is unexpected as she's a highly intelligent person) and Aoi Yuuki was too naive and cute for the role. There's interesting discussion on characters in general and Chiwa Saito had some interesting insights from talking to fans from an event, a portion of the screenshots which I posted here:
One thing I like about the PMMM audio commentaries is the seiyuu seem to be very engaged and passionate about discussing the anime. Even when they're trying to downplay scenes with humor, you can hear them moved by the drama of it. Not in the episode, but in a later one, you can even hear them moved to tears over it. And we haven't even gotten to BD 4 and 5 with ep. 9 - 12, which are easily the most emotional ones.
Some game-related links. Not really a gamer but these looked interesting enough to post about...I forget if I posted screenshots about it in this thread before. Oh well.
http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/2011/08, http://yaraon.blog109.fc2.com/blog-entr ... onversion/
http://kalfisquine.com/blog/?p=1399
http://www.4gamer.net/games/125/G012510/20110808035/
A fun little test. How well do you know your rune translations for all these Homu Homus?
Another book in progress on PMMM, this one focused on its popularity. Due for release at the end of September.
http://www.e-hon.ne.jp/bec/SA/Detail?refBook=978-4-7966-8525-2&Sza_id=MM One of the things Japan noticed from the book is Ghost in the Shell's director Mamoru Oshii very complimentary view of Madoka. http://yaraon.blog109.fc2.com/blog-entry-3278.html
Out of curiosity, I took a look some other books to see how they were doing on Amazon. The Guidebook in its category is completely owning in rankings (http://tinyurl.com/3cv87ss) and the one written about Madoka isn't doing that bad for a dry non-fictional analysis, ranking around the 200-300 mark (http://tinyurl.com/3z3zmj2).
Product "toy" sales per the usual for Madoka items are doing extremely well. I've sometimes looked at an item, checked rankings, and seen all 10 out of the top 10 toys are Madoka items...and much of the sales are occurring on other sites, like directly from the vendor. This is happening without any serious official effort to promote merchandise. That's partly why I really think there's untapped merchandising opportunity that Aniplex & Shaft aren't taking advantage of here...although to be fair, that's completely out of their business model. Examples of toy sales - http://tinyurl.com/4y2aj5c, http://tinyurl.com/437g2mv
You can say one sign of an anime becoming part of pop culture is when Microsoft starts using quotes from it as voice samples in their products characters (http://b.hatena.ne.jp/articles/201108/4926). Microsoft is using two PMMM quotes out of their 40 samples. One is #6, a play on Madoka's "best friends" line in ep. 12 and #7 is a riff on Sayaka's famous line of "There's no way I'd regret this." You can DL here (#6 and #7) - http://download.microsoft.com/download/ ... ample1.zip
(This post is getting rather long and I do see people are still viewing the thread...if someone would kindly bump it, I'd like to do a fresh new post to post a few new things. Thanks.)
So some decent images of the Precious Memories cards advertised in the latest Megami:
SPOILER: Show
SPOILER: Show
Side-by-side with the original Kyoko one for comparison:
SPOILER: Show
This belongs better somewhere else but ran across this pro NGE cosplay.
SPOILER: Show
SPOILER: Show
Edited to add:
Japan's come up with some new Madoka bikini redraws/photoshops like the Homura one posted earlier:
More:
SPOILER: Show
SPOILER: Show
Some game-related links. Not really a gamer but these looked interesting enough to post about...I forget if I posted screenshots about it in this thread before. Oh well.
http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/2011/08, http://yaraon.blog109.fc2.com/blog-entr ... onversion/
http://kalfisquine.com/blog/?p=1399
http://www.4gamer.net/games/125/G012510/20110808035/
A fun little test. How well do you know your rune translations for all these Homu Homus?
Another book in progress on PMMM, this one focused on its popularity. Due for release at the end of September.
http://www.e-hon.ne.jp/bec/SA/Detail?refBook=978-4-7966-8525-2&Sza_id=MM One of the things Japan noticed from the book is Ghost in the Shell's director Mamoru Oshii very complimentary view of Madoka. http://yaraon.blog109.fc2.com/blog-entry-3278.html
Out of curiosity, I took a look some other books to see how they were doing on Amazon. The Guidebook in its category is completely owning in rankings (http://tinyurl.com/3cv87ss) and the one written about Madoka isn't doing that bad for a dry non-fictional analysis, ranking around the 200-300 mark (http://tinyurl.com/3z3zmj2).
Product "toy" sales per the usual for Madoka items are doing extremely well. I've sometimes looked at an item, checked rankings, and seen all 10 out of the top 10 toys are Madoka items...and much of the sales are occurring on other sites, like directly from the vendor. This is happening without any serious official effort to promote merchandise. That's partly why I really think there's untapped merchandising opportunity that Aniplex & Shaft aren't taking advantage of here...although to be fair, that's completely out of their business model. Examples of toy sales - http://tinyurl.com/4y2aj5c, http://tinyurl.com/437g2mv
You can say one sign of an anime becoming part of pop culture is when Microsoft starts using quotes from it as voice samples in their products characters (http://b.hatena.ne.jp/articles/201108/4926). Microsoft is using two PMMM quotes out of their 40 samples. One is #6, a play on Madoka's "best friends" line in ep. 12 and #7 is a riff on Sayaka's famous line of "There's no way I'd regret this." You can DL here (#6 and #7) - http://download.microsoft.com/download/ ... ample1.zip
(This post is getting rather long and I do see people are still viewing the thread...if someone would kindly bump it, I'd like to do a fresh new post to post a few new things. Thanks.)
BUMPED.
It was posted onto seiyuu Fuchigami Mai's blog in a celebration gathering for the completion of Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko. Fuchigami voiced Maekawa in Denpa and is 2nd from the right. Kato Emiri voiced Ryuko Mifune and Nonaka Ai voiced Meme. The other seiyuu in the photo include Nagata Yoriko at the left-most (who voiced Mikki, friend of Ryuko, in Denpa) and 2nd from left is Oogame Eriko (who voiced Erio the female protagonist). The photo is now removed from Fuchigami's blog. 2ch wondered if it was because somebody (Shinbo?) wanted to protect his/her privacy. We do not usually see Shinbo in photo very often anyway.
The audio commentaries of PMMM are very good. Saito Chiwa has particularly good insight to her characters - her comments on Senjogahara in Bakemonogatari are particularly insightful for example when she commented that she is the most realistic female character she had ever voiced.
http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/2011/08,
http://yaraon.blog109.fc2.com/blog-entr ... onversion/
I got errors when I clicked the above two links.
For the PSP portable game of PMMM to be released on Mar 15 2012, some details:
Urobuchi participated in the scenario design.
New witches by Inu-Curry.
Animation by Shaft
Pre-orders come with films of Madoka transformation scene or Homura (eyeglasses version) transformation scene.
Regular "contract pack" costs 6480 yen; Premium "contract pack" costs 11990 yen.
Premium package includes a figma Madoka school uniform version that is not available anywhere else, Blu-ray disc with special footage, QB pouch for PSP, HomuHomu handkerchief, special clear card, special Shaft-illustrated box case etc etc
There is an "adventure part" where characters go about their daily life and you can hear seiyuu with new dialogues.
There is a "dungeon part" which is inside the bewitched space. You can control only one character but you can switch the character in the middle.
The suggestion of having a game designed was around half year ago after the end of Ep.2.
Answers available?
http://www.e-hon.ne.jp/bec/SA/Detail?refBook=978-4-7966-8525-2&Sza_id=MM One of the things Japan noticed from the book is Ghost in the Shell's director Mamoru Oshii very complimentary view of Madoka. http://yaraon.blog109.fc2.com/blog-entry-3278.html
It came from the book description from the publisher:
おすすめコメント２０１１年のアニメの目玉はＭＢＳ『魔法少女まどか☆マギカ』でした。
最終回の放映前には読売新聞に全面広告まで打たれて、ファンの期待はいやが上にも高まりました。
本書は『エヴァンゲリオン』以来の「神アニメ」とまで熱狂するファン（押井守ほか）
の声を編集したものです。ファンタジーアニメでありながら、日本人の心の現実をつかんだ「まどかマギカ」のすべて！ ３．１１以後のエンタメ潮流の中心がここにある！といっても過言ではありません。
In Recommended corners everywhere the key anime in 2011 to watch is MBS' "Puella Magi Madoka Magica"
It even got a full-page advertisement campaign in Yomiuri Shinbun just before the broadcast of the last episode and the expectation of the fans was raised to a level never seen before.
This book is a collection of all the voices from the fervent fans (including Mamoru Oshii) who called it is a God-Tier Anime that was last seen in Evangelion. Everything about Madoka Magica, which despite being a fantasy anime managed to catch the real feel of the hearts of the Japanese! It is not an exaggeration to say this is the center of the currents of entertainment after Mar-11 !
Even Pullip has PMMM dolls released now
http://www.hobbystock.jp/item/view/hby-dol-00001970
http://www.hobbystock.jp/item/view/hby-dol-00001971
http://www.hobbystock.jp/item/view/hby-dol-00001972
Do not look too much like in the anime though.
OMAKE
UROBUCHI finally went to Madoka Cafe and tweeted this!!
And his signature on the guest book in Madoka Cafe looks so cool.... Particularly the artistic impression of the middle kanji of his name 淵 was amazing. (2ch agreed too)
Insensitive handling by authority should never be tolerated nor forgotten.
It should not be buried in the trash pile of history.
Last edited by symbv on Wed Aug 10, 2011 10:56 am, edited 1 time in total.
I never thought I would come back to Evangelion after EoE,
But I discovered Re-Take (or it found me?) and
now here I am.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Asuka FAN FOREVER
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
But I discovered Re-Take (or it found me?) and
now here I am.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Asuka FAN FOREVER
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- Randomanon
- Ramiel
- Age: 39
- Posts: 317
- Joined: May 23, 2011
Thanks, symbv. I'm glad, I was starting to get lonely in this thread here.
First to fix the links...was a copy/paste error:
http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/2011/0 ... onversion/
http://yaraon.blog109.fc2.com/blog-entry-3279.html
Answer to the Homu Homu runes: http://danbooru.donmai.us/post/show/971139
Couple new Madoka cafe sketches/block art:
Also, symbv, 2ch really liked that Urobuchi pose of attacking Mami and made an ascii art from it (and also included Ume Aoki in it). 
Link to an amusing 5pg. translated Madoka doujin, based around the idea of what would Goddess Madoka do in her free time, and references back to how much she liked "Moemura" on first meeting. http://imgur.com/a/se0Ti#RswwR
Speaking of doujins, Milk Moranga, the yuri mangaka known for Girl Friends, will be doing one for Madoka http://milmilm.blog32.fc2.com/blog-entry-91.html
DL to 44 photoshops of the "You are Not Alone" Guidebook (http://www.mediafire.com/?slcmzotr9g1ddbl). Posted a couple pics that amused me from it...I think you'll see why.
A creative person uploaded on Nico, sketches to accompany most of the second drama CD "Sunny Day Life" with probably one more video expected to finish it. Probably due to licensing issues, they don't have the Drama CD playing with it, but it's timed so you can play it along with the Nico vids.
http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/nm15055576
http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm15120556 (starts around 5:05 mark for Drama CD - need to fiddle to match it exactly)
http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm15261793 (around 10:40 start)
Drama CD English translation - http://nagumo19.livejournal.com/48310.html#comment
Saimoe prelims are over and the drawings were done. PMMM got incredibly lucky with their draw, with nearly ideal conditions.
None of the girls are set up against one another and some of the toughest candidates are in different groups than them or set up to eliminate each other before encountering someone from PMMM. Homura really only has a challenge in her first round and easy time of it after and Madoka has really no challenges at all in her group. The other girls have a much tougher time of it and will probably not make it, but I will go into detail on that in the spoilers. The main thing is to watch Homura's first round against Mikoto from Index. If she loses or it's very close with Biribiri, then that's a sign that people are really targeting her and also the PMMM girls in general. Homura is lucky there's not really other very popular girls in her bracket, so only the really long-range thinkers would think of sniping in the first round. However, that's not to say it won't be dangerous again for the QF and so on. More thoughts:
First to fix the links...was a copy/paste error:
http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/2011/0 ... onversion/
http://yaraon.blog109.fc2.com/blog-entry-3279.html
Answer to the Homu Homu runes: http://danbooru.donmai.us/post/show/971139
Couple new Madoka cafe sketches/block art:
SPOILER: Show
SPOILER: Show
Speaking of doujins, Milk Moranga, the yuri mangaka known for Girl Friends, will be doing one for Madoka http://milmilm.blog32.fc2.com/blog-entry-91.html
DL to 44 photoshops of the "You are Not Alone" Guidebook (http://www.mediafire.com/?slcmzotr9g1ddbl). Posted a couple pics that amused me from it...I think you'll see why.
SPOILER: Show
A creative person uploaded on Nico, sketches to accompany most of the second drama CD "Sunny Day Life" with probably one more video expected to finish it. Probably due to licensing issues, they don't have the Drama CD playing with it, but it's timed so you can play it along with the Nico vids.
http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/nm15055576
http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm15120556 (starts around 5:05 mark for Drama CD - need to fiddle to match it exactly)
http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm15261793 (around 10:40 start)
Drama CD English translation - http://nagumo19.livejournal.com/48310.html#comment
Saimoe prelims are over and the drawings were done. PMMM got incredibly lucky with their draw, with nearly ideal conditions.
SPOILER: Show
SPOILER: Show
Homura's Group A - The only real challenge is in the first round against Biribiri where I suspect Index fans will show more strength than we saw in the prelims. After that, there's a few girls who aren't pushovers, like Tooru from A-Channel, Victorique from Gosick, and Kurisu Makise from Steins;Gate. However, none of them have the popularity of Homura or the backing of strong fanbases that would make them ideal foils even to set Homura up for sniping. If Homura can weather Index's loyality to Biribiri, I think she'll be fine.
Group B - Charlotte is in this group but since she was included for amusement, she will lose to a serious candidate, so I didn't bother analyzing this. Ditto for Groups D and H which have interesting races but without Madoka candidates in them, I'm not including an analysis in this thread.
Madoka's Group C - I had to look long and hard to find a remotely plausible candidate. The only one was Elsea from Kaminomi who won her prelim group decisively. But, it was a weak prelim group and frankly, Madoka is well beyond her league in popularity as a character and anime popularity. This is a cakewalk for Madoka
Sayaka's Group E - I just don't see Sayaka surviving this group. The biggest reason is IS's Charlotte who as a front-lead contender ought to trounce one of PMMM's weakest girls. There's also popular secondary tier girls in this group as well, like Erio Touwa from Denpa, Ohana from Hanairo, Uihara and Saten from Index, Naruko of Ano Hana and Asuza and Yui from K-ON. While some would be eliminated before contesting Sayaka, all could end up being serious threats to Sayaka. Ironically, the only way I see Sayaka winning is if she ends up being used to set up Charlotte for sniping. But that's doubtful as I think Madoka will be seen as the main target.
Mami's Group F - Another tough race where I give Mami a slim possibility of winning. Shana's stopped more popular characters than Mami in past Saimoes and Milhiore of Dog Days looks like a really strong candidate. There's also a few strong second-tier candidates like Nako of Hanairo, Nano of Nichijou and Cecilia Alcott from IS who could pose a challenge.
Kyouko's Group G - It didn't seem so bad at first glance, with only Kokoro from Milky Holmes giving a tough challenge. But then I saw Kirino of Oreimo in there and I don't think Kyouko's going to get past her. So, like with Sayaka, I believe she'll lose to a first-tier candidate.
Based on the draw, I think tentatively I'd say only Homura and Madoka make it past their groups, with a small chance for Mami. Unless of course people get very tactical with their sniping then who knows for certain. I do feel the odds right now are very good for PMMM, positioning them well to win it. But we'll know better after we see how the main tournament votes go.
Group B - Charlotte is in this group but since she was included for amusement, she will lose to a serious candidate, so I didn't bother analyzing this. Ditto for Groups D and H which have interesting races but without Madoka candidates in them, I'm not including an analysis in this thread.
Madoka's Group C - I had to look long and hard to find a remotely plausible candidate. The only one was Elsea from Kaminomi who won her prelim group decisively. But, it was a weak prelim group and frankly, Madoka is well beyond her league in popularity as a character and anime popularity. This is a cakewalk for Madoka
Sayaka's Group E - I just don't see Sayaka surviving this group. The biggest reason is IS's Charlotte who as a front-lead contender ought to trounce one of PMMM's weakest girls. There's also popular secondary tier girls in this group as well, like Erio Touwa from Denpa, Ohana from Hanairo, Uihara and Saten from Index, Naruko of Ano Hana and Asuza and Yui from K-ON. While some would be eliminated before contesting Sayaka, all could end up being serious threats to Sayaka. Ironically, the only way I see Sayaka winning is if she ends up being used to set up Charlotte for sniping. But that's doubtful as I think Madoka will be seen as the main target.
Mami's Group F - Another tough race where I give Mami a slim possibility of winning. Shana's stopped more popular characters than Mami in past Saimoes and Milhiore of Dog Days looks like a really strong candidate. There's also a few strong second-tier candidates like Nako of Hanairo, Nano of Nichijou and Cecilia Alcott from IS who could pose a challenge.
Kyouko's Group G - It didn't seem so bad at first glance, with only Kokoro from Milky Holmes giving a tough challenge. But then I saw Kirino of Oreimo in there and I don't think Kyouko's going to get past her. So, like with Sayaka, I believe she'll lose to a first-tier candidate.
Based on the draw, I think tentatively I'd say only Homura and Madoka make it past their groups, with a small chance for Mami. Unless of course people get very tactical with their sniping then who knows for certain. I do feel the odds right now are very good for PMMM, positioning them well to win it. But we'll know better after we see how the main tournament votes go.
Last edited by Randomanon on Wed Aug 10, 2011 10:14 am, edited 1 time in total.
[Someone strange happened just a while ago. I found here a post from myself quoting my last post in this thread without anything else. I did not make that post. Later the whole thread disappeared and later the thread re-appeared and the phantom post was gone. I wonder if some mods could provide an explanation of what happened.]
====
I agree with the analyses. Homura meeting Misaka so soon can be tough. Madoka's path is the easiest. A non-human Charlotte witch meeting a senior citizen from Hana Iroha in the first round makes it one of stranger contests in Saimoe tournament.
One doujin SD design of PMMM cast
2ch design for PMMM character move if there is a game on a portable game console
OMAKE
Never deserved to be sent
to where "all the useless craps go"
====
I agree with the analyses. Homura meeting Misaka so soon can be tough. Madoka's path is the easiest. A non-human Charlotte witch meeting a senior citizen from Hana Iroha in the first round makes it one of stranger contests in Saimoe tournament.
One doujin SD design of PMMM cast
2ch design for PMMM character move if there is a game on a portable game console
SPOILER: Show
OMAKE
SPOILER: Show
Puella Magi Sayaka Magica
Puella Magi Mami Magica
Puella Magi Mami Magica
Never deserved to be sent
to where "all the useless craps go"
I never thought I would come back to Evangelion after EoE,
But I discovered Re-Take (or it found me?) and
now here I am.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Asuka FAN FOREVER
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
But I discovered Re-Take (or it found me?) and
now here I am.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Asuka FAN FOREVER
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Mr. Tines
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I make no hypotheses about how the spurious post appeared, but on seeing the obvious request for deletion, deleted it.
Didn't notice the thread vanishing at all.
Reminder: Play nicely <<>> My vanity publishing:- NGE|blog|Photos|retro-blog|Fanfics &c.|MAL|𝕏|🐸|🦣
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symbv: Did you accidentally hit "quote" instead of "edit"? It's happened to me before.
さらば、全てのEvaGeeks。
「滅びの運命は新生の喜びでもある」
Departure Message | The Arqa Apocrypha: An Evangelion Analysis Blog
「滅びの運命は新生の喜びでもある」
Departure Message | The Arqa Apocrypha: An Evangelion Analysis Blog
I did try "edit" that post once. Think I must have pressed "quote" instead of "edit" and then did not check after submission. Mystery solved. Thanks Tine and Reichu for helping and shedding light.
As for thread disappearing, perhaps it happened when a post inside was being deleted? I am sure it disappeared for at least a minute or so and then it came back out of sudden.
======
Doujin imagination of a PMMM game:
Mami chapter
Sayaka chapter (after hearing from Hitomi about Kyousuke, she called herself baka)
Kyouko chapter
Homura chapter (this one is strangest, with Homura taking Madoka's panty and adding it to her possession of guns, black ribbon and socks and a bunch of "golden sacred water")
Final Episode (actually more about Ep.10)
Should not be left buried
in a place where it does not belong
As for thread disappearing, perhaps it happened when a post inside was being deleted? I am sure it disappeared for at least a minute or so and then it came back out of sudden.
======
Doujin imagination of a PMMM game:
SPOILER: Show
Mami chapter
Sayaka chapter (after hearing from Hitomi about Kyousuke, she called herself baka)
Kyouko chapter
Homura chapter (this one is strangest, with Homura taking Madoka's panty and adding it to her possession of guns, black ribbon and socks and a bunch of "golden sacred water")
Final Episode (actually more about Ep.10)
Should not be left buried
in a place where it does not belong
I never thought I would come back to Evangelion after EoE,
But I discovered Re-Take (or it found me?) and
now here I am.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Asuka FAN FOREVER
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
But I discovered Re-Take (or it found me?) and
now here I am.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Asuka FAN FOREVER
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Killer Bee
- Eva Technician
- Age: 33
- Posts: 1428
- Joined: May 16, 2010
- Location: United States
- Gender: Male
That's too expensive even for me, but... damn...
Premium package includes a figma Madoka school uniform version that is not available anywhere else
Goddammit.
- Randomanon
- Ramiel
- Age: 39
- Posts: 317
- Joined: May 23, 2011
After seeing the activity on this thread, I thought about starting this post with Mami's quote of "I'm not alone anymore, etc." but then I thought well maybe that's not the best omen to start the day! Charlotte is cute but not if she's so close you can see her tonsils....
Over a dozen great sketches from the Madoka cafe book here - [url]http://imgur.com/a/8gfX0#OfumZ[/url] Here's one example:
Also posted another gallery of pics of that book on Madoka, "Cage Named Maturity," [url]http://imgur.com/a/pYjEA#RydBn[/url] The translation from symbv on the summary description for it - [url]http://wiki.puella-magi.net/Literature_on_Madoka[/url] Here's a close-up of the cover. 
Not sure on the details, but I think this is probably some kind of official item...either way, I was amused by the added logo to it. 
Also, noted QB sketches...posted in the past before but now in one image. Left is Urobuchi's, middle is Emiri Kato (Kyubey) and right is Aoi Yuuki (Madoka).
More Madoka cosplayers...pretty good but what struck me is they look younger than most I've seen, more like school age like some of those at Otakon. Although to be fair, I'm terrible at judging ages of people.
Then of course there's a different kind of cosplay out there, from a more "adult" segment...this image is work-safe though: 
JAV actors This image is NSFW, so I'm only going to link to it - [url]http://imgur.com/zJ9yK[/url] I'm not familiar with the people behind it as this isn't exactly my area of expertise, but I'm told it doesn't get that much more explicit than the images on the cover.
Over a dozen great sketches from the Madoka cafe book here - [url]http://imgur.com/a/8gfX0#OfumZ[/url] Here's one example:
SPOILER: Show
SPOILER: Show
SPOILER: Show
Also, noted QB sketches...posted in the past before but now in one image. Left is Urobuchi's, middle is Emiri Kato (Kyubey) and right is Aoi Yuuki (Madoka).
SPOILER: Show
SPOILER: Show
SPOILER: Show
JAV actors
SPOILER: Show
How do you make these?
Link to an amusing 5pg. translated Madoka doujin, based around the idea of what would Goddess Madoka do in her free time, and references back to how much she liked "Moemura" on first meeting.
It's particularly funny that Kyouko just doesn't care about the food on her face
Also: http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=manga&illust_id=20954053
Last edited by Arkanis on Wed Aug 10, 2011 7:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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