Mahou shoujo Madoka Magica 06, finally!
So, I finally sat down with Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica 06, which means SPOILERS as always!
(Thank god I waited until the weekend, because it means just THAT MUCH LESS TIME UNTIL THE NEXT EPISODE, too.)
Jesus, that was intense. I hardly even know where to begin!
I found it interesting that we saw a bit more of Homura's potential powers--she didn't seem to actually stop time (if she'd been able to do that, she wouldn't have had such trouble catching up to the truck) but she still has some kind of teleportation power that makes me think she might be able to do short bursts of time stopping, rather than for as long as she wants. Whatever her abilities, though, she's clearly somehow special.
Kyuubei continues to be creepy beyond belief. And I think it's pretty clear that the show is doing so deliberately, given his reaction to the girls' reactions to the soul gem explanations. I think it's less that he's evil and more that he's just completely not human and doesn't really care about human emotion any more than he cares about, say, a complex math equation--which is how I think he approaches human emotions.
It sounds almost simple on paper, the idea of Madoka throwing away Sayaka's soul gem because she doesn't know what it really is, just assumes its a power source that Sayaka needs to fight, but it's in the reactions to Sayaka's lifeless body crumpling to the ground as she's dead because Madoka threw her soul gem away. It's the way even Kyouko is shocked and horrified at what just happened, the idea that they could be so easily separated from their soul. Madoka's horrified cries, Sayaka's empty eyes, even Homura showing a bit of emotion! All of it built up this incredibly intense scene.
And it is rather horrifying. You can sort of understand why Kyuubei would think it was a good thing--this way, because your soul has been ripped out of your body, if your body gets damaged, all you have to do is heal the body!--but it's horrifying to someone who is only just realizing how important that soul gem is and how they can't go back. And I love that there's such an incredible meaning to the soul gem, because so many mahou shoujo series have talismans like this, but how many of them give such incredible meaning to them?
Kyuubei was also pretty damn creepy in the scene where he was talking with Sayaka about how Kyouko was more talented and more experienced, that the only way Sayaka could defeat her is if Madoka stepped in, because she had even more potential. Like, I think Kyuubei isn't doing it just to be evil, but honestly completely doesn't care even a little bit about these girls. It's such a subversion of the usual trope when it comes to the animals in mahou shoujo; usually they're mentor types who care greatly and are there for talking to when you have no one else! Kyuubei is there to talk to... but often times uses those times to put pressure on the girls to form a contract with him. It's rather chilling. And I can't imagine the way it eats grief seeds means anything good.
The other thing I loved about this episode is that I GENUINELY BELIEVED that Sayaka might have died this way. Homura managed to get her soul gem back (was there a time limit? as long as the soul gem was safe, Sayaka's body was basically a zombie that could be re-animated at any time, right?) but I half-expect Sayaka to die in some terrible way exactly like that. Not even a heroic death, not even protecting anyone, just... because someone made a stupid mistake.
Stray observations:
→ I read this reaction post to 06 and it had the greatest line ever about Madoka trying to talk Sayaka out of fighting Kyouko and it not working: Madoka is still tailing Sayaka on her (pretty fail) witch hunts. She tries to get her to stop, but Sayaka just gets pissed off and yells at her. Listen, it’s like yuri ShizuoxIzaya, how can they NOT fight each other when they meet up? GET REAL, MADOKA!
I laughed out loud for a good thirty seconds.
→ If you can heal a body over and over, so long as the soul gem is okay, why couldn't they heal Mami? Was her soul gem destroyed? I can't recall now.
→ Kyouko asked how Homura knew when the Walpurgisnacht was, which further feeds my wondering if Homura is from the near future, sent back with her own powers or with Madoka's powers.
→ Sayaka seems okay with having sacrified herself for Kamijou's happiness and wasn't devestated when she learned he had left the hospital. But she also went to his house and was going to go see him, so she might still come to regret her decision when it doesn't mean Kamijou is any more connected to her than before.
→ Another fantastic line: "It's not fair, but just because you do the right thing over and over, it doesn't mean you'll get a happy ending."
→ It's interesting that we're at the halfway point and Madoka is no closer to being a magical girl than when we started. There hasn't been a witch fight in the last two episodes and the plot itself has hardly moved forward at all. It's interesting to watch the way this series subverts these tropes and I'm wondering if we won't see Madoka become a magical girl until the final episode.
→ I never really thought about it much--or at least not in these specific terms--until this episode, where someone was theorizing about eternal youth (since Kyuubei was making your body just a container) and I'm not sure I buy that yet, but it got me thinking. When you form a contract, you become a magical girl for the rest of your life, right? So... why do we never see any adult magical girls? You'd think that they would be a lot stronger and faster and better fighters.
Is it that, when your soul is ripped from your body, that it stops aging? I assume it was just a separation of soul and body, that it was still the same body and would still continue to age, just that you weren't chained down to it anymore. Or is it that you stop being a magical girl once you reach a certain age? Do you get to stop if you live long enough? Or... is it that no one's ever made it that long?
I suspect the real answer is, "This is magical girl anime, adult women don't have a place in this genre!" from the writers/creators rather than there being a specific in-universe reason. It doesn't stop it from being creepy, though.
→ In that same vein, it's interesting that this episode highlighted Madoka's mother's speech about how you should make mistakes as a child so you learn how to fall, before you have adult responsibilities. Of course, this leads to near disaster and Madoka's mother has no idea that mistakes kill here, even if you're a child, but. It's interesting because the responsibilities of a magical girl aren't those of a girl, they're those of an adult.
(Thank god I waited until the weekend, because it means just THAT MUCH LESS TIME UNTIL THE NEXT EPISODE, too.)
Jesus, that was intense. I hardly even know where to begin!
I found it interesting that we saw a bit more of Homura's potential powers--she didn't seem to actually stop time (if she'd been able to do that, she wouldn't have had such trouble catching up to the truck) but she still has some kind of teleportation power that makes me think she might be able to do short bursts of time stopping, rather than for as long as she wants. Whatever her abilities, though, she's clearly somehow special.
Kyuubei continues to be creepy beyond belief. And I think it's pretty clear that the show is doing so deliberately, given his reaction to the girls' reactions to the soul gem explanations. I think it's less that he's evil and more that he's just completely not human and doesn't really care about human emotion any more than he cares about, say, a complex math equation--which is how I think he approaches human emotions.
It sounds almost simple on paper, the idea of Madoka throwing away Sayaka's soul gem because she doesn't know what it really is, just assumes its a power source that Sayaka needs to fight, but it's in the reactions to Sayaka's lifeless body crumpling to the ground as she's dead because Madoka threw her soul gem away. It's the way even Kyouko is shocked and horrified at what just happened, the idea that they could be so easily separated from their soul. Madoka's horrified cries, Sayaka's empty eyes, even Homura showing a bit of emotion! All of it built up this incredibly intense scene.
And it is rather horrifying. You can sort of understand why Kyuubei would think it was a good thing--this way, because your soul has been ripped out of your body, if your body gets damaged, all you have to do is heal the body!--but it's horrifying to someone who is only just realizing how important that soul gem is and how they can't go back. And I love that there's such an incredible meaning to the soul gem, because so many mahou shoujo series have talismans like this, but how many of them give such incredible meaning to them?
Kyuubei was also pretty damn creepy in the scene where he was talking with Sayaka about how Kyouko was more talented and more experienced, that the only way Sayaka could defeat her is if Madoka stepped in, because she had even more potential. Like, I think Kyuubei isn't doing it just to be evil, but honestly completely doesn't care even a little bit about these girls. It's such a subversion of the usual trope when it comes to the animals in mahou shoujo; usually they're mentor types who care greatly and are there for talking to when you have no one else! Kyuubei is there to talk to... but often times uses those times to put pressure on the girls to form a contract with him. It's rather chilling. And I can't imagine the way it eats grief seeds means anything good.
The other thing I loved about this episode is that I GENUINELY BELIEVED that Sayaka might have died this way. Homura managed to get her soul gem back (was there a time limit? as long as the soul gem was safe, Sayaka's body was basically a zombie that could be re-animated at any time, right?) but I half-expect Sayaka to die in some terrible way exactly like that. Not even a heroic death, not even protecting anyone, just... because someone made a stupid mistake.
Stray observations:
→ I read this reaction post to 06 and it had the greatest line ever about Madoka trying to talk Sayaka out of fighting Kyouko and it not working: Madoka is still tailing Sayaka on her (pretty fail) witch hunts. She tries to get her to stop, but Sayaka just gets pissed off and yells at her. Listen, it’s like yuri ShizuoxIzaya, how can they NOT fight each other when they meet up? GET REAL, MADOKA!
I laughed out loud for a good thirty seconds.
→ If you can heal a body over and over, so long as the soul gem is okay, why couldn't they heal Mami? Was her soul gem destroyed? I can't recall now.
→ Kyouko asked how Homura knew when the Walpurgisnacht was, which further feeds my wondering if Homura is from the near future, sent back with her own powers or with Madoka's powers.
→ Sayaka seems okay with having sacrified herself for Kamijou's happiness and wasn't devestated when she learned he had left the hospital. But she also went to his house and was going to go see him, so she might still come to regret her decision when it doesn't mean Kamijou is any more connected to her than before.
→ Another fantastic line: "It's not fair, but just because you do the right thing over and over, it doesn't mean you'll get a happy ending."
→ It's interesting that we're at the halfway point and Madoka is no closer to being a magical girl than when we started. There hasn't been a witch fight in the last two episodes and the plot itself has hardly moved forward at all. It's interesting to watch the way this series subverts these tropes and I'm wondering if we won't see Madoka become a magical girl until the final episode.
→ I never really thought about it much--or at least not in these specific terms--until this episode, where someone was theorizing about eternal youth (since Kyuubei was making your body just a container) and I'm not sure I buy that yet, but it got me thinking. When you form a contract, you become a magical girl for the rest of your life, right? So... why do we never see any adult magical girls? You'd think that they would be a lot stronger and faster and better fighters.
Is it that, when your soul is ripped from your body, that it stops aging? I assume it was just a separation of soul and body, that it was still the same body and would still continue to age, just that you weren't chained down to it anymore. Or is it that you stop being a magical girl once you reach a certain age? Do you get to stop if you live long enough? Or... is it that no one's ever made it that long?
I suspect the real answer is, "This is magical girl anime, adult women don't have a place in this genre!" from the writers/creators rather than there being a specific in-universe reason. It doesn't stop it from being creepy, though.
→ In that same vein, it's interesting that this episode highlighted Madoka's mother's speech about how you should make mistakes as a child so you learn how to fall, before you have adult responsibilities. Of course, this leads to near disaster and Madoka's mother has no idea that mistakes kill here, even if you're a child, but. It's interesting because the responsibilities of a magical girl aren't those of a girl, they're those of an adult.