So, wow. We’re 2/3 done with the show, which means it’s about time some questions start getting answered. And that’s exactly what happened this episode, with a couple of the most major reveals yet in the show. These were part of tightly paced and well directed package, making for one of the most tense and enjoyable episodes of the show yet, despite it having almost no action.
Where to begin? I guess the biggest revelation is that not only are witches former magical girls, in fact, magical girls are precursors to witches. This is an important distinction, as it means that magical girls don’t just fall and become witches, but rather, they have been being formed by Kyubey in order to become witches.
And of Kyubey, “or should I say, Incubator,” he’s been upgraded from simple sociopath to full on psychopath. Who knows if his end goal is good or evil, but he’s made it abundantly clear that, in order to reach his goal, he is willing to fool ordinary girls into becoming magical girls, and then witches. So regardless of his intent, he’s, as people have been shouting all along, “evil.”
So the two biggest conjectures, that witches are fallen magical girls, and that Kyubey is evil, came true this week. But, as any good reveal does, more questions have been raised. What is the meaning of “Incubator?” Is it a reference to Kyubey “incubating” magical girls in order to produce witches? Or does it tie into the grief seeds he was eating – after all, they’re called “seeds.” What did Kyubey mean when he said Homura came “from another time?” We’ve seen her mastery of time and space, but is she someone who traverses the multiverse? Is this the type of thing Madoka would be able to do with her massive potential if she ever became a magical girl?
A fine use of this meme. Shaft's previous work Bakemonogatari featured an in-show use of this meme.
All these conjectures and mysteries are fun to think about, but I’m the kind of person who prefers just to let the story unfold to me. It’s much more fun to see the creators tell the story at their own pace instead of trying to preempt them. The reason Magical Girl Madoka Magica has worked so well is that the execution of its story and reveal of the setting have been so good. The pacing and art are what have really stood out to me so far, and episode 8 hit all the high notes in both.
Pacing is, I think, the single most important thing to get right in telling a story, and though the show has had its issues, it has been, by and large, downright masterful. Has it really been 8 episodes? We’re done with the majority of the show, and Madoka is still not a magical girl. Kamina was introduced, had his triumph, and died in the span of 8 episodes. Yet this is not a criticism that the show has been too slow; on the contrary, every episode has been eventful. The show has been so engrossing on a moment to moment basis, it is only when we actively step back and look at the big picture that we realize that we’re already almost done.
Probably my favorite OH SHI- moment of the show so far. Wonderfully directed scene, showing us just enough to know what's going on.
Episode 8 made use of its time about as well as I’ve seen this show do. If Sayaka’s turning into a witch came as no surprise, what did surprise was just how quickly we saw it happen. Leaving off from her psychotic butchering of the witch from the end of episode 7, continuing with her fight with Madoka in the rain, her jealous stalking of Hitomi and Kyosuke, her encounter with Homura, her first murder on the train and her tearful transformation in front of Kyoko at the end, the show did not waste any time in showing us her descent. Interspersed in between were scenes that were just as important, teaching us more about the world, about Walpurgis Night, about Homura, and about Kyubey.
And the scenery porn certainly didn’t hurt, either. I commented on the background architecture in the first episode, and though it has been present throughout the show, episode 8 showed it off better than any other episode so far. Homura’s rather lonely but super high tech home was quite the sight, as was the sunset-lit waterfall where we got to see Hitomi confess to Kyosuke. That fountain in the scene of Kyubey’s reveal threatened to steal the spotlight. Given the sadness of the events going down, it was hard not to feel a sense of melancholy from these beautiful shots of parts of the city.
Hitomi couldn't have chosen a better place or time to confess.
And the super clean minimalist aesthetic was, of course, contrasted by the messy, busy, and downright dirty art style of the witches. The show has done a good job of establishing this contrast, to the point that it was immediately obvious that Sayaka was becoming a witch when the black spiral art passed over her while she confronted those 2 men on the train. The same could be said about the style of the background when Sayaka’s soul gem began turning into a grief seed at the train station. The show has trained us with its art style shifts, giving us the power of immediate recognition of plot elements merely by how something is shown before we even identify the contents.
The story thus far has been absolutely gripping, and it was somewhat cathartic to finally get some confirmations regarding some of the major mysteries of the characters and mythos. At the same time, this show continues to impress not with its plot but with its sublime pacing in its reveals, along with use of art that is both beautiful and meaningful. With the final third of this show left, I’m eagerly looking forward to more reveals that are sure to come at a steady stream, and how the final act will be set up… and resolved.
One of my favorite shots of Sayaka. Looks dead, empty. If only she had embraced her feelings during her little bouts of emotion throughout the episode...
Miki, come baaaaaacccccckkkkk!!!!!!
I agree; this was the most stunning episode to me so far, not only because of the revelations, but also because of Sayaka’s transformation. As much as it pains me to say it, seeing her change from innocent, Madoka-like beliefs of fighting evil, to accepting her despair was truly enjoyable and terrifying to watch.
On another note, nice meme use there :3
I rather liked the “dead inside” Sayaka and would have liked to see more of her, but her fall to becoming a witch was handled so well that I don’t mind that it happened so quickly. Sayaka is indeed the most developed character so far (or rather, the ONLY developed character so far) and her fall from innocence has been terrifyingly enjoyable to watch.
It’s this kind of stress and suffering of characters that makes stories fun. And meaningful.
people who are “dead inside” don’t usually have a lot of time before something happens to them, whether it be something that is analogous to what happened to Sayaka or they get out of it, as could have happened to Sayaka if she had opened herself up. I would have really hated for the show to drag that demise out longer as that would have seemed really unrealistic, everything else being equal. The relatively quick pace with which the show handled her demise is what made it meaningful, as you mentioned.
That’s a good point, though I would argue that Sayaka could have gone much longer if she hadn’t been so self destructive as to refuse grief seeds. I think a character like Kara no Kyoukai’s Shiki shows that a character who’s dead inside can remain that way and still make for a decent narrative. In the case of Sayaka, I thought she might take a back seat for a bit, abandoning Madoka and going on her slaughters while Madoka’s story unfolded a bit more.
And the roller-coaster to hell continues its descent, and we’re all enjoying watching the cast ride it down. Will there be a light for them at the end? Perhaps, perhaps not. It might be that Madoka Magica won’t resolve anything, and we’ll just see the aftermath in Oriko Magica. I hope not, but if it does happen it’ll seem like Madoka Magica just became not the Magical Girl equivalent to Evangelion, but rather Fate/ZERO, the prelude to Fate/Stay Night.
Also, this is just me, but I seriously hope that Kyoko does NOT die in episode 9, but given her total 180-degree turn with her need to save Sayaka, the portents are grim.
I could see Kyoko going down heroically next episode, but I agree, I hope she sticks around. She’s just too likable and important a character. Surprising, because she was one not even mentioned in the promos before the show aired.
Of course, the fact that she’s so likable now means her death would be all that much more impactful. So I could see the show doing that, as with Mami.
The pacing really is good, it doesn’t feel drawn out at all and isn’t crammed up either. Now that I think about it, it surprises me that Sayaka going over to the dark side and the Evil Kyuubey Reveal are in the same episode.
I wonder who else is going to die – this show clearly isn’t pulling any punches. Maybe Madoka will never become a mahou shoujo – the OP is already a huge troll in the fact that Mami isn’t here anymore (sad Fennec TT^TT). I want to see Kyuubey suffer and PERMANENTLY die.
I think Shaft is setting up for Madoka to become a magical girl close to the end to use her immense power to finally take down Kyubey and end the cycle of girls becoming magical girls, then witches. Now, how she will do that if Kyubey is her enemy, I don’t know. Perhaps Homura will step in, as she didn’t need Kyubey, but she’s pretty gung ho about not letting Madoka become a magical girl.
We’ll have to wait and see!
This might sound kind of terrible, but I didn’t feel bad at all that Sayaka became a witch. Her self-pity really got on my nerves as the series went on. She plays the noble victim who sacrificed all for unrequited love, but she never even confesses.
Duuuuude why is my name on your banner, lol I totally came up with that for my tumblr like three years ago >.>