WARNING: The following post contains major spoilers for Puella Mahou Shoujo Madoka. If you haven't seen the end you might as well turn around now.
Normally, I would have waited to watch the finale of Madoka at my local BSUAC (insert anime club plug here), however being a seasoned veteran of the WEBZ and realizing that /a/ of 4chan is part of my daily rotation, I was turned on the notation that the conclusion may be spoiled for me. So, to prevent my fragile mind from experiencing the joys of emotional turmoil from a series finale, I decided to march on ahead and marathon it for myself in private. And I am very glad I did because shortly after completing the series I wandered over to the cesspool of the internet and found that the first three pages of /a/ were dedicated solely to Madoka spoilers and hate-fueled discussions. Good times.
To begin let's chat about my favorite half of this two-parter, which is the first half. Now, when I'm all excited to see the conclusion of a show I've been following like mad, the one thing I don't like is when writers jump right into the middle of the action with little to no explanation. Typically, this happens when there are two part endings and they save all the dialogue for the second episode. In Madoka's case it's a little half and half. They split up the story between the first half of episode 11 and the second half of episode 12, making for a sandwich that's easy to hold and delicious to chew.
We start with Homura and Kyubey discussing the whole system of energy that centers around the magical girls. Nice, but we already knew that. However, suddenly Kyubey brings up the point that Homura keeps going back into time for Madoka's sake, making Madoka the center of this time-space distortion. Leading Kyubey to believe that is the cause of Madoka's immense latent magical powers. I love these kinds of twists because they make for very enjoyable and natural feeling drama. There isn't just some mysterious reason why shit's going down, but instead it's the result of the character's previous actions. Feels good to me.
Then, perhaps the thing that most people had longingly awaited: Homura vs. Walpurgisnacht. In terms of animation quality alone, this is one of my favorite magical girl fights, rivaling the over the top Nanoha aerial battles even. Homura's epic all out assault on the Walpurgisnacht in terms of action is simply amazing and downright hilarious all at the same time. Watching the desperate Homura and her legion of rocket launchers as they try to chip away at the Walpurgisnacht is something akin to ants battling the sun (thanks to MvC3's Galactus for that quote). Homura tried dammit. She tried. Also, Homura surfing on trucks is pretty fucking sweet, though my favorite scene is the pit of explosives the Walpurgisnacht falls during the fight.
Now enough of the action, because we all know what happens next: Madoka wishes hax and saves the multiverse. Of course, it's time to talk of the epic round up. So, my verdict on the ending? I'll be honest, I feel disappointed. I expected to be crying, have something completely out of the blue occur, or even just fall upon a full on lesbian ending. Instead, it was a sort of bittersweet candy wrapped in gorgeous designer plastic. The kind that you enjoy all throughout, but then feel just a little let down as the very last of its sweet sugary essences slips through your throat. Now, don't get me wrong, the ending isn't actually all that bad and it certainly doesn't ruin the show. In fact, it felt very much in rhythm with the rest of the series. But still, with something as surprisingly awesome as Madoka was it required that extra awe-inspiring end to make it feel like a truly epic re-telling of the mahou shoujo genre.
Still, Madoka's wish certainly paints quite the new destiny for magical girls making them more like the heroines in Sailor Moon or Nanoha. In way, it's a clever nod to other shows within the genre and a fun experiment that is very successful on Shaft's part. The wish to erase every witch ever was very intense, going as far as to rewrite the very fabric of reality to suit a world better equipped at handling Madoka's demand. Also, she's an omnipotent goddess now. Cool. Following her wish, we get an awesome cascade of images depicting other magical girls just as they are about to turn into witches. Needless to say that Madoka appears before them and relieves them of their grief seeds. This scene has also sparked an interesting debate online as featured within it are multiple other magical girls including, but not limited to Cleopatra, Joan of Arc, and many others. Basically, all famous women were magical girls. Deal with it.
Also there's this chick whom fans have dubbed Mahou Shoujew Anne Frank:
So, Madoka does the impossible, sees the invisible, and row row fights the power, crafting a new world where magical girls don't become witches. In turn, however, it basically Lains her and she no longer exists in the current universe, only as this goddess thing. The only one left who remembers anything of her is Homura who keeps Madoka's hair tie as a momento. Things don't end there thankfully and we're given a bit more as to what this new plane of existence is like.
A new threat is born called demons, which magical girls must defeat instead. Interestingly, the whole system of energy circulation is kept in line as incubators now consume the leftovers of defeated demons to give energy to the universe. All this is explained in an eerie dialogue between Homura and a reformed Kyubey. Here, Homura also tells Kyubey about how witches worked in the old universe, the concept of which Kyubey finds fascinating. Still, nothing comes of this as the series wraps up. To me, that is a missed opportunity, though if ever an OVA series or some sort of conclusion movie is made the plot NEEDS to center around the fact that Kyubey feels it is easier to conserve energy with this whole 'witch' scenario and tries to revert the universe to that state.
Finally, we see that Homura has dedicated her existence to protecting the world that Madoka loved so dearly, In fact, we are even serviced with a badass walking scene as Homura marches towards an army of demons. She is whispered words of encouragement by an unseen Madoka and then leaps into battle.
Damn. That is a lot to process. Well, to wrap up my review gently I will say this: I love this anime. Puella Mahou Shoujo Madoka is the perfect example of a bait-and-switch anime. Initially, many will find themselves turned off by the moe art style and the moe moe vibes this series gives off. Certainly not for everyone, but if you've watched and enjoyed shows like Sailor Moon when you were younger you really have to give this trip a ride. Madoka feels like a fusion of mahou shoujo with a bit of Higurashi-style horror. It's a great series and so long as you enjoy the characters you'll find yourself powering to the end. Although I'm a slut for anything and everything made by Shaft studios, I gotta say that Madoka is definitely at the top of must-see shows.
Anyways, I'm out. Because I'm tired. And I want to not type for a while. But before I go consider the following: Eve was the first mahou shoujo and the snake was the first incubator.
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