Hey everybody, I just beat Dead Space 2 on Zealot. Seeker rifle, pulse rifle, and plasma cutter master race here. Definitely don’t recommend the javelin gun. Looks like I’m getting snowed in here, so since I can’t go outside (an activity I do so often) and I lost my hardcore account on chapter 5 (died on the part after the crypt) I thought I’d make a post here.

Wanted to talk a bit about the coming weeks in anime club, as well as share a few theories I’ve read/heard about Madoka. I’ve also got an update on Wasabi Con. The club will be busy and active, I hope. For one thing, expect a lot more pictures like the one above. I’ve got a whole folder, after all.

Anime Club and the Coming Weeks

Man, I sure do love housekeeping. This week will be the last week we’ll be in Alderson 151 then we’ll be moving back to Hill Hall 202. The showing is going to be not that great, have to admit. We’re mostly stalling for time until the movie showings. I’m sure you’ve all got exams to look forward to in February (I know I do) so we’ll have movie showings leading up until E-days, when we’ll have our first special showing. We’ll have one more movie showing after that then its basically the homestretch to the end of the semester. Sure does seem short when I put it that way, right?

Next week is Star Driver, Otome Youkai Zero, and Gosick. We’re featuring such a mediocre show because it was replacing Madoka, which we were originally going to show this week. I promise nothing! The week after that is Ore Imo and Eden of the East movie 2. You will probably want to get the first EotE movie off the hard drive before then if you haven’t seen it yet. In fact, you will probably just want to watch Eden of the East first. It’s just 12 episodes and we have it in glorious 1080p.

We’ll also start doing Ore Imo recurring episodes at that time. I will be making a post breaking them down, because I really want to make a case for the show. In any case, this is my way of discussing it without filling your unwilling ears with my analyses during showings. Having a blog sure is wonderful!

Madoka Theories

If you missed the showing this past week when we had 4 episodes of Puella Magi Madoka Magica, you probably shouldn’t read the rest of this.

First and foremost, the show mirrors “Faust,” and many of the same themes in the show can be compared to those in “Der Steppenwolf.” Faust gets referenced almost exclusively throughout the show, with the major reference taking place after the woman’s attempted suicide. The writing on the wall is taken straight from Goethe’s Faust and talks about the end of the world and possible rebuilding in a more favorable world. This is the first part in support of the timeskip theory, which will get mentioned below.

Der Steppenwolf is a story about a shy, introverted man named Harry Haller, who lives a very basic and relaxing life. He has three friends, who basically mirror aspects of his personality. This is drawn between Madoka’s three friends Mami, Sayaka, and probably even Homura. This is where the theory gets a little complicated (I haven’t read Der Steppenwolf) but as I understand it, Harry’s drug-induced state bears many resemblances to the alternate universe in Madoka. Particularly the writing on the walls and the amount of introspection that occurs in this alternate universe is mirrored from the book here.

The major theory about the direction of the show is the time reset or world reset theory. Long story short, Homura is a time traveller trying to stop the end of the world. There’s a disgusting amount of evidence supporting this, starting right at the beginning of episode 1 when Homura is fighting some strange unknown enemy (this is assumed to be witch-form Sayaka) and losing. Then we see Madoka wake and assume its a dream. Then, when Homura is first introduced, she knows everything about Madoka (“Aren’t you the class nurse?”) including her name (“How did you know my name?”). All of these things could be explained away if one assumes that magical girls just know everything because they’re awesome, but based on the other magical girls seen thus far (Mami in particular) this isn’t some sort of inherent ability, and is specific to just Homura. In fact, Homura’s agenda seems to be almost exclusively about stopping something from happening, with her attack on Kyubey, her insistence that Madoka not become a Puella Magi, and dire mission to keep Mami from fighting witches.

It only gets worse from here, especially when we find out a Puella Magi’s abilities reflect what sort of wish she makes (episode 5). Homura’s ability appears to be teleportation, and one can really only assume that she had some sort of regret from long ago, and this allows here to move in and out of space. It gets a little far-fetched here, because it seems almost Higurashi-esque. Homura is trying to make the perfect timeline such that she gets a good ending for everybody, but I’m thinking she’s accepted at this point that some things are inevitable (Mami dying, Sayaka making a wish, etc).

The direction of the series according to some speculah is to be that Madoka will likely wish Mami back to life. This may or may not give her control over life and death, so its reasonable to assume that Homura doesn’t want this to happen because it probably brings about the end of the world. This whole expectation seems a little far-fetched to me.

What I think happened is this: Let’s pretend we’re in an alternate reality where Homura is a new student at Madoka’s school. Being a new student sucks, and Madoka, in her infinite kindness, takes in Homura into her group of friends. They have a baller time, Homura’s kind of shy but really respects Madoka for helping her out at a new school. This is around the time Kyubey shows up and offers them a contract to be these awesome magical girls. Enter Mami, a total kick-awesome Puella Magi and a role model for the three of them. Madoka likes Mami, Sayaka sees an opportunity to save her buddy, and Homura sees a way to return the favor to Madoka. Obviously, things get out of hand when Mami loses her head (lol) and every single one of them grasps the seriousness of becoming a magical girl. I’m not sure what sort of wish Homura would make, but I’m assuming it has something to do with protecting Madoka. Sayaka’s wish stays the same, and she just turns evil when she finds out her boyfriend is a massive tool.

Fast-forward to the fight at the beginning of episode 1. Madoka doesn’t appear to be a Puella Magi at this point in time, and Homura is fighting a losing battle against something. Kyubey is talking to Madoka about how this could all be avoided, etc. At this point, I think that Madoka actually wishes that Homura goes back in time to stop this whole nonsense from happening. So, why Homura? Obviously because she’s a badass and Madoka doesn’t ever think too highly of herself and figures Homura has a better chance of fixing things so they don’t turn out so crappy down the line. Things get really confusing here, because how can someone make a timeskip wish when they still have to serve as a Puella Magi (take THAT kyubey!). I do like to think it has something to do with Madoka kissing… herself on the forehead in the OP. There’s probably some sort of interdimensional explanation for this involving lots of SCIENCE but I can’t even try to explain it away.

There are other theories of course, none of which I feel like typing right now, but you can read about them on the Puella Magi Madoka Magica wiki. There you can check out awesome analyses of the show and German literature. Expect more posts on this as we continue through the show. Feel free to get the latest eps off my hard drive at showings, I’ll be keeping it up to date. I’ve been getting both nutbladder and gg’s subs, so you can take your pick. gg’s subs just have MORNING RESCUE and really only have a bad episode 2, and nutbladder is just consistently pretty good even though their QA sucks. Releases are every Thursday, and I guarantee I’ll be watching them as soon as they go online at my place that evening. Feel free to join in.