The World Building of Madoka Magica
- Nguyen Nguyen
- 8 hours ago
- 6 min read
Introduction:
Madoka Magica, an anime that came out on January 7, 2011, was produced by SHAFT studio, responsible for the amazing animation that made the anime iconic. The anime takes place in the fictional city of Japan called Mitakihara, where our main character, Madoka Kaname, a second-year student, begins her new semester.
- - - MAJOR STORY SPOILER WARNING - - -
Brief-Summary:
Madoka is introduced to us as a somewhat shy, yet kind-hearted person. Accompanying her at school are her best friends, Sayaka Miki and Hitomi Shizuki. As they head to class, it was introduced by their teacher that they have a new transfer student. Homura is a girl with mysterious, long black hair that complements her light purple eyes. It’s no surprise that the new transfer girl gives off an air of intrigue, not to mention that Madoka saw the girl in her dream the day before. As Madoka kept staring at the new girl, questioning if they had met before, she coldly approached Madoka to ask her to walk to the nurse's office. They soon walked to a less crowded area, and Homura's energy suddenly shifted as she harshly asked Madoka: “Do you truly treasure your current life, friends, and family? If you do, if there’s a chance of change, approach you, never accept it.” Then Homura walked away. This not only left many viewers and Madoka confused, but it also created an ominous feeling for the rest of the show upon Homura’s appearance.
This ominous energy only worsened after school when Madoka was walking home with her friends. She accidentally wandered to the voice that called to her prior to her dream the day before. As the voice drew closer, she soon saw an injured, alien-looking cat, half dead. The person who injured it was revealed to be Homura, who was holding a gun, walking towards the light. We soon find out this cat's name is Kyubey, who he was rescued by a nearby magical girl, Mami, who’s in her 3rd year of middle school. Mami negotiated with Homura, and Kyubey was spared. Here, she accompanied the girls to her home to address the Magical Girl. We soon learn that Kyubey is a creature that gives ordinary girls a wish, and in exchange, they are expected to become magical girls who fight witches for the rest of their lives. Thus began the world of Magica Madoka.
The “Gain and Loss system”:
1. Mami
With the context of magical girls in the show, most audiences would think this is a fantasy show made for kids, such as the “Prettycure” franchise in Japan. However, we soon realize that it’s a fatally wrong assumption. In Episode 3 of Magica Madoka, the audience soon learns that behind Mami’s strong image, she often feels lonely, anxious, and has to force herself to calm down to reassure herself about being a magical girl. As Madoka accepted the offer to become a magical girl in exchange for never feeling lonely again, Mami was filled with joy and energy. At that moment, she described herself as “having the power to do anything” as she isn’t alone anymore. With this, Mami breezes through the Witches’ minions and quickly gets to the Witch. “
Charlotte the Dessert Witch”
Upon seeing the “Dessert Witch", with its appearance and size, Mami quickly overwhelmed it with her abilities. It didn’t take long for the witch, shown above, to be taken down to the floor. Seeing the Witch now immobilized, Mami let her guard down and turned her back against it. Unsure whether it was Mami’s overjoyed emotion or her destiny, as it was unusual for Mami to be this careless, Charlotte the Dessert Witch immediately transformed itself into its 2nd phase, launched at her, and bit off her head. Ending Mami’s journey as a Magical girl.
This is the first example where there’s hope and joy, but there will be immediate despair and loss that follows. In Mami's case, when she found company and reassurance, she immediately traded it for her life, becoming the first magical girl in the show to die.
2. Sayaka
After Mami’s death, Mitakihara is now missing its magical girl to protect the city, and with the girl witnessing her own upperclassmen's death, it’s seen that becoming a magical girl is now high risk, as no one is willing to trade their life for their wish. Despite initially being the case, Sayaka was seen to slowly have a change of heart as her involvement with Kyosuke intervened.
Sayaka and Kyosuke are childhood best friends. From a young age, Sayaka remembers being mesmerized by Kyosuke’s violin performance; however, he soon went through an accident that caused the young, passionate boy to lose his ability to walk and play the violin. Seeing her crush slowly losing his mind, passion, and hope, Sayaka began to consider Kyubey’s offer.
It doesn’t take long for Sayaka to sign a contract with Kyubey to become a magical girl to heal Kyousuke’s body. Before this decision, however, Sayaka also often reminds herself about Mami’s words regarding her wish, where she needs to make sure she’s not doing this to manipulate Kyousuke, nor hoping to earn anything out of it. This wish is simply her wanting her friend to feel better.
Kyousuke’s hand was then healed along with his body, and on his final day in the hospital, Sayaka brought in his violin for him to play once again. This moment gave joy to Sayaka’s heart as she mentioned that this was her happiest day.
After Sayaka becomes a magical girl, she often refers to Mami as her biggest role model and source of ideology in becoming a magical girl, where Sayaka strongly believes in fighting for justice and protecting others. In addition to that, Kyubey is now back in contact with Madoka and tries to manipulate and sway her into becoming a magical girl for her “potential”. As Sayaka's days as a magical girl increase, we slowly see her breaking down and realize the world she’s fighting for isn’t worth protecting. Cracks in her belief began when she realized her soul leaves her body if she stays away from her “soul jam."
This made Sayaka feel extremely disgusted and shocked by her own body, realizing she isn’t a normal person anymore. She called herself a “zombie” and started to doubt whether she would even deserve Kyuosuke in this type of situation. To add more fuel to the fire, we later see that one of her best friends, Hitomi Shizuki, confronted Sayaka about her crush on Kyousuke. Out of respect for Sayaka, Hitomi told her she would confess a day later, so if Sayaka likes him, she should confess before her. This devastated Sayaka, as the day before, she felt disgusted with herself, and now her friend is about to take the person she holds precious. Sayaka soon got into an argument with Madoka and skipped school. Her breaking point was then reached when her soul jam was fully corrupted without cleansing, as she realized the world isn’t worth protecting.
It was in episode 8 that we learned about witches coming from corrupted magical girls, and it was at that moment that Sayaka turned into a witch, where she has no consciousness or way back to return to her human self.
Sayaka’s story was one of the most devastating stories that the audience witnessed in Madoka Magica. The bright, passionate girl who believed strongly in justice slowly crumbles away as she realizes what she got herself into. After episode 8, the anime revealed that the amount of “joy” and “happiness” you receive is pre-determined, and as much sadness and despair will be gained back. In Sayaka's case, in contrast to the joy and confidence she had initially, she later betrayed her own morals and beliefs. In the end, her soul jam was filled with despair, setting up her witch transformation.
3. Homura
It’s not until near the end of the series that we learn the magical power of this mysterious girl revolves around time. It seems that she was originally a shy girl who was able to appreciate life as she became friends with Madoka. Unfortunately however, in every timeline, it’s seen that Madoka always stops her magical journey as she faces “Walpurgisnacht”.
Timeline after timeline passes, Homura witnesses her beloved friend sacrificing her life, unable to defeat the final boss. As a result, Homura continuously reversed time, with each reenactment slowly bringing her apart from Madoka. Yet, despite that, she’s determined to prevent Madoka from becoming a magical girl, ready to attempt to take on Walpurgisnacht by herself in each timeline.
This constant timeloop shows the irony of this world-building. The more Homura tries to prevent Madoka from becoming a magical girl by using her reverse time ability, the more it builds up Madoka’s potential and magical power, making her a bigger target for Kyubey. Eventually, Madoka always succumbs to her destiny, becoming a magical girl and disappearing from Homura’s life. Showing that as the more hope and belief she gains from her ability, by thinking that she will be able to save Madoka eventually, the more Madoka’s karmanic power will build up, essentially establishing Madoka's destiny as a magical girl.
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