Madoka Magica

[b0mb3r]

finally. finally I finished this show. what can i say about it?

it revived my hope. my hope of being a better person despite where this world is going. I find it funny they show this episode the day jesus died (oh shaft u sly dogs). the ending just wraps all theories and conclusions up. I felt no confusion as I understood everything that needs to be understood. I only wish to be by Homura side but hey we all got madoka with us don't we?

the only downside not from the show is my poor state of watching this as I didn't get the emotional impact I wanted like I did with Clannad After-Story. Maybe when finals are done and I ain't so worrying and busy i can enjoy this show peacefully and slowly. this show deserve highly on my top 50 anime list. so far shaft you got:

ef tales series
bakemonogatari
arakawa under the bridge
sayonara zetsubou sensei
mahoromatic
negima

and now madoka on my top 50 list.

[ainsoph9]

It sounds like you enjoyed it overall. I am going to finish in a couple of weeks due to my own personal circumstances.

Anyhow, the Japanese really do not have any clue for the most part about Christianity. Many treat it is a "novelty," kind of how people in the United States do the same for say...Hinduism or other religions not "native" to the United States. If you were to try to argue that Christmas is a religious holiday to them, I would easily counter that it is Valentine's Day part 3.

On another note, the whole thing about when Jesus died is up to whose calendar one goes by. There are different Christian calendars, but none of them follow what the text says. I am not saying this to pick on Christians or Christianity or bring up a religious debate or anything of that sort. Rather, I am only looking at this from a scholarly perspective. When one reads the Gospels as they are called, one will see that Jesus (FYI, his Hebrew name would have been Yeshua, which is derived from Y'hoshua, meaning, "salvation") was killed, it was just before Passover or Pesach in Hebrew. Passover is distinctly a Jewish observance, which, Jesus being a good observant Jewish boy, was observing with his disciples in the "Upper Room" with the Seder (lit. order), which is a religious meal remembering the Jewish Exodus from Egypt. Going back to my original point, Passover "floats" around according to the Gregorian calendar that most of the Western world follows because the Jewish calendar is based on 29 or 30 day months, not 28-31 day months. A leap year is called every so often with the insertion of an additional month called Adar Sheini (Second Adar), not an additional day every four years. The Jewish calendar's months are lunar-based while the years are solar-based. Kind of cool, huh? Anyhow, given that the Christian calendar (depending on your denomination, it will vary) is based on a solar Gregorian or Julian calendar, Passover and Easter will NOT always coincide with one another; in fact, they usually do not. However, for the past two years, this year and last year, they have. This is kind of rare. The implication is that Ash Wednesday, Lent, Good Friday, and Easter are not based on the Jewish calendar and Passover, which would make Jesus's crucifixion not always fall out on a Friday. Just to be cute, this year, it would have been a Good Tuesday, and Easter would have not been Resurrection Sunday but Resurrection Thursday. Anyway, enough of my rant.

Go Madoka!

[Kinny Riddle]

Shinbo ought to have shown the finale yesterday, for April 30th was Walpurgisnacht. Though showing it on Easter weekend also had its symbolism, but try not look into this too much folks. Japanese people are mostly secular folk, and draw their inspiration from various religious and mythologies when crafting their stories. They were never meant to be allegories about whether these religions or myths are good or bad.

On the series itself:

Shinbo Akiyuki is known for his distinct art style in series he has directed.

Urobochu Gen is known for his depressing stories.

Kajiura Yuki is known for her mesmerizing music.

Aoki Ume is known for her cute character designs, notably in Hidamari Sketch.

Together this "Magica Quartet" forms one of the most impressive anime series I've seen in years, and this is not a statement I use lightly. It has been ages when I found I have suffered from withdrawal symptoms just by finishing a series.

Though I've come mainly for Kajiura's music. The ominous ED she composed and performed by her group Kalafina totally won me over. The OP by ClariS was also good, an upbeat contrast to the ED.


It's not often I change my avatar either, but HomuHomu has mesmerized me. <3 I specifically allowed myself to be spoiled a bit, and then marathoned the whole series watching from just her POV, and it was an eye-opener, seeing her go through so much.

[ainsoph9]

I think a lot of the chemistry of this series comes from the fact that many of the four have worked together in the past on such things like Hidamari Sketch. When I saw Tomoe Mami's design though, I could not help thinking of Miyako for some reason. (Oddly enough, I have had this crazy notion of Miyako's seiyuu, Mizuhashi Kaori, doing the voice for Kirisame Marisa of Touhou fame for some reason as of late.) It was the same with Nori and Sayaka.

I do think that this series might have been more appropriately named "Puella Magi Homura Magica" or something like that. The series seems to revolve much more around her than Madoka in a lot of senses. However, it occurs to me that doing so would give away too much of the plot.

[b0mb3r]

^ kind of like how we focus on sasuke alot than naruto in his own-name show. or how Index is all about Touma. since I have never seen Hidamari Sketch i wasn't put off by the show too much beside the cute design. i thought madoka's school was awesome, with the digi chalkboard and all.

[b0mb3r]

Inception & Madoka = Funny

Spoiler! :

[Kinny Riddle]

Something's been driving me crazy for sometime:

Just how do you pronounce the series' bloody Latin name? Most notably the words "Magi" and "Magica".

Took me some googling to finally figure out: "Magi" is pronounced MAY-JYE, while "Magica" is pronounced MAGIC-A, similar to the English word "magic"

The reason this is hair-rippingly frustrating is that pronouncing it based on its Japanese katakana name is totally unreliable, for Magica is transliterated into マギカ - Ma-Gi-Ka, while seemingly "spelled" correctly in English, as anyone who knows Japanese, ギ is pronounced with a hard G, as in "geese". If they had wanted to be absolutely accurate, they would have transliterated it to マジカ - Ma-Ji-Ka, as they do have the term マジカル - Ma-Ji-Ka-Ru - for "magical".

To make things even more confusing, for centuries, the Christian term Magi was erroneously transliterated into マギ - Ma-Gi, and Japanese biblical texts still use that translation to this day.

The moral of this story: NEVER, EVER assume that a katakana transliteration of a foreign name or term is the correct pronounciation. The many Chinese characters in anime and manga with their various pronounciations will attest to that.

[b0mb3r]

^ I do get a bit weird out when i see chinese characters in anime since I know the chinese words but not its japanese pronunciation and meaning.

[Doraneko]

The reason this is hair-rippingly frustrating is that pronouncing it based on its Japanese katakana name is totally unreliable, for Magica is transliterated into マギカ - Ma-Gi-Ka, while seemingly "spelled" correctly in English, as anyone who knows Japanese, ギ is pronounced with a hard G, as in "geese". If they had wanted to be absolutely accurate, they would have transliterated it to マジカ - Ma-Ji-Ka, as they do have the term マジカル - Ma-Ji-Ka-Ru - for "magical".

To make things even more confusing, for centuries, the Christian term Magi was erroneously transliterated into マギ - Ma-Gi, and Japanese biblical texts still use that translation to this day.

Yea they should name it like this. Looks perfect isn't it.

まさか☆マジカ

Spoiler! :

NOOOOOOOO!

"まどか☆マジカ" means "madoka ☆ REALLY!?"

From EDICT:
まじ; マジ (adj-na,n) (1) (sl) serious (not capricious or flirtatious); (aux-v) (2) (まじ only) (See まい) cannot; should not; will not; must not [Edit][Ex][L][G][GI][S][A] [L][G][GI][S][A]
(1) 「・・・おい・・・おい、先生！」「え？・・・あ、ああ」「マジだいじょうぶ？休講にしたら？」 "...Hey...Hey, teacher!" "Eh? Oh." "Are you really OK? Shouldn't you cancel the lesson?"

If you have to be absolute accurate, then マジカル is your only option. It however breaks the balance of the the title...

リリカル☆マジカル
リリカル☆マギカ

まどか☆マギカ
まどか☆マジカル
まどか☆マジカ

(Bonus)
"まさか☆マジカ" means "never ☆ REALLY!?"

[Kinny Riddle]

The reason this is hair-rippingly frustrating is that pronouncing it based on its Japanese katakana name is totally unreliable, for Magica is transliterated into マギカ - Ma-Gi-Ka, while seemingly "spelled" correctly in English, as anyone who knows Japanese, ギ is pronounced with a hard G, as in "geese". If they had wanted to be absolutely accurate, they would have transliterated it to マジカ - Ma-Ji-Ka, as they do have the term マジカル - Ma-Ji-Ka-Ru - for "magical".

To make things even more confusing, for centuries, the Christian term Magi was erroneously transliterated into マギ - Ma-Gi, and Japanese biblical texts still use that translation to this day.

Yea they should name it like this. Looks perfect isn't it.

まさか☆マジカ

Spoiler! :

NOOOOOOOO!

"まどか☆マジカ" means "madoka ☆ REALLY!?"

From EDICT:
まじ; マジ (adj-na,n) (1) (sl) serious (not capricious or flirtatious); (aux-v) (2) (まじ only) (See まい) cannot; should not; will not; must not [Edit][Ex][L][G][GI][S][A] [L][G][GI][S][A]
(1) 「・・・おい・・・おい、先生！」「え？・・・あ、ああ」「マジだいじょうぶ？休講にしたら？」 "...Hey...Hey, teacher!" "Eh? Oh." "Are you really OK? Shouldn't you cancel the lesson?"

If you have to be absolute accurate, then マジカル is your only option. It however breaks the balance of the the title...

リリカル☆マジカル
リリカル☆マギカ

まどか☆マギカ
まどか☆マジカル
まどか☆マジカ

(Bonus)
"まさか☆マジカ" means "never ☆ REALLY!?"

I had a feeling someone would eventually get the pun I'm alluding to.

Actually, it's more like madoka ☆ SRSLY!? lol



Oh, besides some amazing futuristic looking architecture and design styles, an oft overlooked but more subtle futuristic aspect of the series, in social terms, is shown in Madoka's dad - a househusband, something more common in Western countries nowadays than in Asian countries like Japan. Madoka's mom is the breadwinner instead while her dad stays at home to look after her and her brother and does all the chores. Now that's attention to detail.

[ainsoph9]

Determining katakana is always a real treat (insert sarcasm here). It becomes quite the nightmarish puzzle half of the time, and you do not always get what you see. False cognates will kill you.

[b0mb3r]

I always dreamt being a house-husband and getting myself a sugar momma ever since I saw Mr. Mom.

[ainsoph9]

I just finished Misaki Chronicles and discovered a interesting and kind of sickening fact. Madoka is basically a mahou shoujo rip-off of Misaki Chronicles with some polishing and rather small alterations. If you have not seen Misaki Chronicles, watch it, and you will see what I mean.

[MerrickXasis]

Not sure if mentioned, but these are some hard problems