assorted PMMM musings 2: universal boogaloo

[a_flyleaf]

Uh.

Hm.

I’m not satisfied with that ending, but I don’t think I’m supposed to be…?

Writing this, as I more or less did the first post, as I scroll back through my chatlogs—so before I get to the end, a Thing that came up? about Kyoredhead’s furious apple-biting? Obviously apples have association with Sin (the archetypal Forbidden Fruit), and that can equal Lust. I didn’t get how that tied into the rest of the scene, though.

Well, I can now say pretty solidly that I’m like 80% sure it was in fact an indication of desire. Y’know, enemies to oh-shit-I-think-I-love-you-but-it’s-too-late-for-you-and-I-might-as-well-corrupt-myself-while-I’m-at-it. Girl talk!!! I was right but at what cost!!!!!

Also reflecting on my first-half viewing: thought not seeing Mami as a witch was a missed opportunity, even if it wasn’t Necessary to the plot. Still sitting on the idea she was pigtails-familiar, but ultimately, big F. It does seem conspicuous she’s the only one who doesn’t turn into a witch when she dies. (later-day edit: whoops my bad, I was conflating magical girl death with witch transformations. I make the same mistake later wrt redhead, ah well)

Also also, ages are a bastard and a lie. You’re telling me Madoka is the same age as Utena is the same age as Steven fucking Quartz Universe????? A while ago someone in a server linked a post about how casting 20-somethings in young teen roles skews your whole perception of the character (and just how fucked-up the stuff that happens to them is); I gotta dig that up again, because this is basically an art style equivalent. I could ramble about this on its own for ages, actually, so I’ll cut the thought here. (Anyone got style swap fanart recs?)

Anyway, the Thoughts that came up while actually watching the show:

• Homura’s room with all the screens is on so many levels of weird I initially thought it was another witch zone. Said screens kinda reminded me of Madoka’s bathroom/mirror room?
• I didn’t make any particular note of it, but I saw quite a few dual towers. Split paths, split timelines? Parallel lines are the same but never touch, something like that.
• All things considered Sayaka’s actual corruption scene was underwhelming. The aftermath, and actual “fight”? Cool as hell. Almost thought redhead would be the one calling out to her instead, but then she decides to stay to keep Sayaka company(!) and intentionally kills/corrupts herself after Homura and Madoka leave(!!?). On an object level I don’t really understand why she had to fuck herself up, but maybe there’s some kind of parallel being set up with Homura and Madoka there. Something something “I destroyed you, we have much in common, therefore I destroy myself”? Redhead overall is minor enough that I wonder if she’s mostly here to serve as a mirror to other characters (primarily Sayaka, who herself mirrors Madoka)…
  • Oh yeah, and the buildup to that scene, where she warned Madoka about the magical girl path just like Mami did. Love that parallel; it’s extremely subtle (to the point where I’m not 100% sure it’s intentional? less visual more “this thing sure does happen twice”), but still added that nice little sense of “oh fuck she’s not gonna make it out alive is she” dread.
• See, like, I knew magical girls turned into witches, but that being relevant to the growing up theme flew completely over my head somehow. Also, I’m just gonna flagrantly quote myself: “kyubey aka “incubator” aka targets insecure girls and wants them to grow up so he can use their power and devour their souls, what a nice kitty :)”
• On which note, basically every word out of Kyubey’s unmoving mouth is sketchy as hell. I’m hesitant to take his story about incubators at face value, never mind the part where the magical girls’ suffering is “necessary” to have shaped human society where it is today. (“Incubators don’t understand manipulation” my ass. It’s too intentional not to be, and the ending basically confirms they are more than capable of Not Doing That if they want to.) But I’ll dig into this later. For now suffice it to say I’m less interested in the literal implications of meta-universe aliens and a lot more intrigued by what this is Saying in thematic terms, what with Kyubey being a predator and the entire magical girl system being inherently exploitative…
• Oh, and before leaving the Kyubey point: the part where the girls can only speak telekinetically with each other when he’s around? Genius. It makes seemingly innocuous things, like Kyoredhead calling Madoka away from school so they can talk (and go try to save Sayaka), inherently framed by Kyubey’s influence.
• Madoka spends like 90% of this story feeling absolutely worthless and passive and her penultimate decision is to make herself Jesus a non-person and it makes me go very :(
• As for the flashback episode… it kinda left me with more questions than answers? Not necessarily in a bad way, although it was kinda annoying to learn Madoka’s original wish wouldn’t be answered in the show itself (apparently it was to save that real-life black cat in the intro). I’m mainly curious about whether Sayaka corrupting is inevitable, in every single timeline; the circumstances seem different, based on that one fight scene having very different witch imagery. It seems somehow relevant to her parallels with Madoka—“I’ll be invincible!” is not a particularly good thing for either of them.
• Also, okay, I take back the thing about witches not doing real-world damage (although I’m not sure we really see them interacting directly with non-magical people at any point; if muggles can’t see Kyubey, I wonder if Walspurgermanname appears as a fuckin nuke or something). But!! Why do they appear/attack? Although on further thought, they do still very much Manifest Things, on that sweet psychological/thematic level; the biggest witch of all shows up in a timeline where Homura’s this close to giving up.
• Last point on the flashback ep: everything about the girls being driven to kill each other, not wanting to be corrupted, reminded me of zombie apocalypse media. Like, I am not a zombie buff (I’ve only really watched a playthrough of The Last of Us, and seen sporadic Walking Dead clips & comic scenes; zombies fascinate me as a Concept anyway), but… man?? It’s right there???
  • I actually originally wrote “I don’t think this was intentional, since nothing else in the series points at the undead,” but… it does, actually? Not so much visually, but: witches are magical girls’ shambling, monstrous remains, and all the soul gem exposition was loaded with “your body is but a corpse-puppet” talk. It’s vague and not really alluded to visually (zombies also tend to come with gore, vacant eye sockets, pop culture outstretched arms mummy walk—buncha stuff I never saw here), but still. It’s enough I’m not 100% sure I can dismiss it as pure coincidence, but not enough to say it Means anything. What was I writing about again?
• Oh I got to another comment about Kyubey so it’s time to bitch about the cat again: he frames the “your time loops are making Madoka stronger” thing as being Homura’s fault. You’re the one who gave her that power in the first place, asshat. (Also, this scene uses a nearly back-to-back parallel of Homura and Madoka being crucified, in the context of being stuck in time loops. At the end, magical Madoka strikes a similar pose at some point; I’d need to rewatch for context, but yeah hello that is not reassuring.)
• Madoka herself, just, in general. It’s interesting that the intro seems to feature her more lighthearted misadventures in other timelines, real and imagined—but even so, she’s still miserable for a good amount of it, up to (and not including) the weird naked-selfcest-fusion part! And like, who bargains their soul to save a cat? (I get the long-term stakes weren’t clear at that point, but still. Look at how Kyubey approached Mami. If there’s not an immediate insecurity he preys on, he takes full advantage of people in distress.) Girl You Have Depression
• I liked how she cut into Kyubey’s “this is necessary for mankind actually” spiel twice though, both times seeing through the BS (though still being obviously upset by it) and interrogating why he was being so callous. I feel like I’ve been talking about Sayaka a lot but Madoka. Madokaaaaaaaa
• Again, weird framing with the mom, this time with her conversation in the bar with the teacher (lol @them being drinking buddies, I have no thematic commentary but what a coincidence). “I don’t know my daughter well anymore… I have to accept she’s growing up without me” would be nice and bittersweet, but like, does she actually know Madoka that well? And uh, I don’t even know what to make of their scene towards the end, where she actually has to let Madoka go—again, seems nice and pat in a “parent needs to let their kid grow up” context, but what Madoka’s actually doing is going out with a sense of finality during a catastrophic storm??? She gets slapped at one point????? Honestly this mother-daughter relationship is just inexplicable to me and I feel like I need a compilation of all their scenes together, start to finish. Calling the mom abusive would be a stretch but there is something off with this dynamic that the show doesn’t explicitly acknowledge, and I’m not sure if that’s intentional (all scenes from Madoka’s perspective, she’s fine with it) or it’s an actual narrative case of values dissonance.
• Another thematic thing I’m squinting at: protection as a form of dehumanization and ownership, which is a path I’m under the impression RGU takes. Homura is really determined to “save” Madoka, and her means of doing that (eventually, granted, after filling her in doesn’t work) means keeping Madoka in the dark for as long as possible and then some. I feel like this goes unexplored? but maybe the movie has some thematic answers—but again, I’ll get there.
• During the climactic fight, there was a fleeting shot of Homura’s bombs with a pointed red light—a cue I’d previously associated with Kyubey, from that early chase scene. But hmm, I think red as Kyubey influence still tracks? I’d have to rewatch.
• Another short comment I’m just gonna copypaste (minor edit for clarity): “extremely fucked up that despite all the clear-as-day manipulation[, the girls] still don't have much of a choice but to keep turning to this damn cat”
• Okay, now we’re getting to the ending commentary. And one of the first things I noted is that the way Madoka phrases her wish is really weird? I almost took it as like, erasing the witches from existence via the girls themselves having never been born—but again, something I’d have to rewatch/cross-reference to know if that’s on me misinterpreting.
• Something I’m more certain of: “I don’t want them to ever be upset” is very Sayaka of her. That’s the only one I quoted but iirc Madoka has a bunch of little lines that could easily have come from just-made-the-contract!Sayaka, which Concerns Me Deeply. (More on this later.)
• There’s a brief scene before Madoka’s transformation where she talks with Mami and KyocanyoutellI’mnotcrossreferencinganything—it seemed weirdly pleasant. I read it as Madoka psyching herself up about the scenario—yeah, she’s basically becoming a non-person, but it’s worth it or even necessary in the long run! (Necessary, y’know, like Kyubey framed the “sacrifices” of magical witches throughout history.) Again, not a direction I’m sure the show was intentionally pointing in? I’m still giving it the benefit of a doubt, though.
• …I did not say a whole lot from that point on, actually.

So.

The ending.

That was fucked? I think that was fucked up. I feel like it was being played as bittersweet, but I got a hell of a lot more bitter than sweet (so to speak; I’m not bitter about it, personally), and I am baffled by interpretations to the contrary. Part of this is a question of ethics and religion—I tend to lean away from “it’s Good and Right for one person to sacrifice themselves for the greater good” ideas, and I’m not crazy about Christianity so the Madoka Has Become Jesus stuff just seemed messed up to me in a similar vein. Like, “heroic” sacrifices make nice tragic stories, but I don’t like the implication they’re totally 100% nice and heroic and said hero doesn’t have any subconscious death wish at all or anything! Dying for humanity’s sins is… fucked up, actually! No one should have to do that! Please value your own life more!!

But anyway. You’re free to disagree, obviously; mentioning all that because it contextualizes my knee-jerk “no????” reaction. There’s more to it, though, and I can roughly divide that into two major points: Kyubey Bad, and Hero Issues. And both of those, plus some meta-knowledge, lead me to my third point: is it intentional? (I’m gonna go ahead and slap subheaders on these, but for the record, I’m still thoughtdumping. If I made a Properly-Revised Analysis Post it’d probably have screenshots and such.)

Kyubey Bad™

callout post for the evil owo cat

No, but. Okay. Here’s the thing.

In the reborn universe, Kyubey seems to be on much friendlier terms with Homura; she casually throws him souls treats, they talk about the wraiths (who… still seem to be manifestations of human issues, just based on the humanoid forms, less gendered and aggressive) and other timeline discrepancies all casual, Kyubey says something along the lines of “well it’s a good thing we’re out here and not in there because your universe sounds like a shitstorm, and we’d have a different strategy.” It’s that last bit that gets me: it’s not like he thinks the other universe is horrible or anything, he would simply have been less nice. Which he was. #JustFunnyAnimalSidekickThings!!

The ethical issues outlined above, plus Kyubey having been likened to a predator, make me extremely hesitant to take his narrative about the incubator-human relationship at face value. To the point where I don’t really care much about the in-world specifics, about aliens and efficiency—the key idea is that incubators (and again: What A Fucking Name) exploit humans, specifically young girls, and this is inherent to the magical girl system.

I mean, whatever, no more witches, maybe Wraiths spawn from anyone now and not just girls—still sure didn’t see any magical boys around, but I’m inclined to think that’s all besides the point. You’re smoothing down the spikes but it’s still a baseball bat, y’feel? Why can’t the incubators go after some other ambiguous interstellar species (that at no point is the audience invited to care about, F to them ig)? I mean, damn, use that grand wish-granting power to spawn your own food. Heck if I know. The System Is Bad And Fucked. I did not expect to see Kyubey back again at the end and his presence filled me with immediate dread.

Madoka has a line about how magical girls are supposed to make people feel hopeful and strong or something, but like… are they? Are they really?

hero issues

So, yeah, Madoka Is Kidding Herself And Here’s Why.

This is something that, like the mom thing, could probably use its own dedicated and well-researched analysis post. My unreferenced points amount to like: Sayaka parallels + Madoka’s insecurities + Kyubey (the exploiter) not actually going away whatsoever (+ sequel hook!!) = oh god, everything about this is bad news.

Sayaka parallels: When Sayaka first makes her contract, she hypes it up like this big heroic thing where she’s gonna help/save everyone. We all know what happens to her. She’s trying to make herself feel better anyway; it’s clear her chief motivation is helping her crush. And I think a lot of what Madoka says towards the end, about this being a Grand and Noble Thing (that finally gives her purpose, use, helpfulness! Intention!), could easily have come from self-justifying!Sayaka’s mouth, and subsequently I Have Doubts.

Madoka’s insecurities: It’s not like the parallel is the only thing pointing towards Madoka’s grand declarations being less-than-heartwarming, either. Multiple times she refers to herself as some form of useless, a burden, weak… survivor guilt over Mami is at the crux, but I can’t help but wonder if this stems from her relationship with her mother, looking up to the woman (and blithely accepting her dysfunction). At any rate, all this makes her eventual fate as a non-person deeply troubling. What is self-sacrifice but a shiny gleam over self-destruction? I’m not sure this godlike non-personhood is something she really wants, either, at least before she finally succumbs to it being the only choice that has a chance of not getting her and the rest of the world killed; again, I read that brief scene with Mami and Kyo as some type of internal self-assurance. It’s fine! It’s fine. Your super mega hell dead friends think this is a necessary and good decision you’re making. (Sayaka’s absence here is intriguing, in that light.) You’re fine.

Kyubey is still here: See section above. Between the way he framed the incubator/human story and Madoka’s own limited perspective, I’m not blaming Madoka for not being like “actually there is a parallel universe where this is all anime and those people got along just fine without you, I wish for something that could have irreconcilable consequences on the entire existence of humanity as I know it.” This is a prod at the narrative. I’m not going to watch the helldevil cat chomping up souls and think “oh hey, that’s nice and heartwarming now because we slapped a Not Magical Girls This Time sticker on it!”, sorry.

Sequel hook: Which brings me to the final point.

intentionality roulette

Here’s what gets me: I’m not sure to what degree this tonal dissonance is intentional.

To be clear, I do not expect narrative handholding with a neon Moral of the Story complete with a Theme Monologue at the end. Fine and great in kids’ shows, not particularly what I want in other media! But even in ambiguous endings, I expect some degree of (and I recognize this is super subjective) tonal acknowledgment, that even if the characters think a fucked-up hell ending is all sweet and fine and good, It Is Not.

What confuses me about the ending of PMMM is that, by and large, I didn’t get that vibe at all—until the very very end, with the sequel hook wraith fight. I also happened to notice some meta floating around that posits the ending as bittersweet, with more sweet than bitter, and I just end up sitting there like “????????????? are we watching the same show???”; of course, fandoms gonna fandom, Majority Opinion Is Wrong Actually is a media analysis rite of passage—but I’m still baffled.

Now. I hear there is a sequel. Particularly, there is a film, Rebellion, with a focus on Homura and very controversial ending. My gut instinct is that, when a series tie-in is controversial, it’s not just “oh this was made by someone who didn’t Get the source material, they butchered it”—it has that reputation because something about it ruined, or threatens to ruin, something that people loved about the main series.

So like… Connect Dots. Do people hate Rebellion because it undoes an ending they think is sweet, much more sweet and hopeful than I did? And also, I have approximately zero context for the film’s development—was it always going to be the series’ continuation, or was the series a standalone and the film came later? Hell, I hear there’s going to be another series or film or what have you (10 years later!!), but I haven’t looked into it.

Or maybe the film’s controversial for entirely unrelated reasons! You can’t have controversy if some subset of fans don’t also love it, for balance! (Unless this is one of those instances where “controversial” is used as shorthand for “there’s nothing Objectively Wrong with this but also most people detest it so we’re just gonna say ‘controversial’ as a way around ‘thing bad,’” but that is getting way way way off-topic. I digress.)

In any case: if the 99%-bitter-1%-sweet ending tonal dissonance is intended then I’m not 100% sure it works, in the series’ own context, but I respect what it’s going for. If said dissonance is a Me Thing then what the fuck honestly.

I enjoyed it nonetheless! I keep getting sidetracked so it is now several hours later than when I started this post, but I probably didn’t have a solid conclusion in mind to begin with!! I really like the idea of PMMM as a critique of patriarchal ideas! What a ride!!!