Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica: The Different Story Chapter 12 Discussion

My interpretation is: (SPOILERS)

- Madoka used her wish to revive Sayaka, and Homura works with them to defeat Walpurgis.
- Because only Sayaka was revived, that means Kyouko remains dead *sob*, and we are also shown Mami to have destroyed her own soul gem, which means they are both dead
- So, we could say that the last scene with the tea party is in fact the 'afterworld' where Kyouko and Mami get together again as friends.
- Now, taking into account that its the 'afterworld', it would make sense for her parents to be there since they died in the car accident.

But then there's another problem. Why would they be waiting for Sayaka & co to be coming?
The simplest answer I can think of, is that...
All three of them, Homura, Madoka and Sayaka die in the fight against Walpurgis. From the anime we see that Homura herself is satisfied with dying together with Madoka, so she probably would not have repeated the time loop. OR, another possibility is that she DOES repeat the time loop and Mami and Kyouko are only waiting for Sayaka and Madoka to join them in the 'afterlife' while Homura goes onto the next timeline (HOMUUUU ;3; )

And with that, Mami's final wish is granted 'Afterlife' = no witches <3

*cries*

- Madoka used her wish to revive Sayaka, and Homura works with them to defeat Walpurgis.
- Because only Sayaka was revived, that means Kyouko remains dead *sob*, and we are also shown Mami to have destroyed her own soul gem, which means they are both dead
- So, we could say that the last scene with the tea party is in fact the 'afterworld' where Kyouko and Mami get together again as friends.
- Now, taking into account that its the 'afterworld', it would make sense for her parents to be there since they died in the car accident.

But then there's another problem. Why would they be waiting for Sayaka & co to be coming?
The simplest answer I can think of, is that...
All three of them, Homura, Madoka and Sayaka die in the fight against Walpurgis. From the anime we see that Homura herself is satisfied with dying together with Madoka, so she probably would not have repeated the time loop. OR, another possibility is that she DOES repeat the time loop and Mami and Kyouko are only waiting for Sayaka and Madoka to join them in the 'afterlife' while Homura goes onto the next timeline (HOMUUUU ;3; )
Read more at http://myanimelist.net/forum/?topicid=543638#qVPO2koCkAixTACP.99

Altonat said:
I just finished the Different Story a few days ago and I have to get this off my chest. Maybe I'm missing something here, but this manga smacks of a terrible mishandling of the franchise, both with the characters and with the setting. First off, let me say that the first volume was certainly good. It exposed Mami and Kyoko's relationship pre-show, which I was always curious about and seeing their relationship change after what happened to Kyoko's family was very intriguing and a good read. I genuinely felt bad for Mami when Kyoko left, because she had a taste of what it was like to have a friend who she could hold a long term relationship with. Losing Kyoko after having that taste would undoubtedly make life much harder for her. Their separation felt like it had weight and meaning to both characters.

My problem with this manga is the second and third volume. Right off the bat, this is a story about one of the timelines that Homura ends up negating anyway, which hangs a big fat question over the point of it all if it doesn't matter in the end. One of the show's strongest points was the fact that it never wastes your time. What information is necessary is given, what isn't necessary is held back, but is made available through other materials (interviews, mangas, drama CDs, etc). We see a grand total of 5 (6ish if you count the one after Madoka's ascension?) timelines in the show, as opposed to the hundred or so that Urobuchi states has taken place. Thank goodness they cut down episode 10 to 24 minutes because apparently the original script for it was actually 40 minutes long, but the one they released was succinct and told us the essentials. Namely, what timelines affected Homura the most and led to her personality and actions as we understand it in the show's main timeline.

Back to the different story, since Homura is going to revert this timeline anyway (and we know this because the only reason someone would read this is because they watched the show already) it ultimately makes the actions of everyone completely pointless. This could be countered if there was a significant event in this timeline that affected Homura in some way, an experience that she would bring with her into the other timelines if you will (after all she is the one who "flies against time"). Unfortunately, no major event occurs that would affect her in any significant way compared to the other dozens of timelines she's experienced already or will experience or any combination of the two. Now obviously, that alone isn't enough of a reason to not read it, but the fact that I'm just getting started is pretty shocking.

Then there's the fact that two very important points in the manga are flat out told to us as opposed to shown. TWO major characters die off-screen, something that the show would never be able to get away with. Kyoko dies to a witch because she ran out of magic and we have to be told this by Kyubey of all people as opposed to seeing her final moments ourselves. Then Mami commits suicide off-screen as well (despite both Madoka and Homura giving her reasons to not do so). The two characters that this manga is supposed to focus on die and we don't get to see it when it happens.

Then comes the final chapter. Homura resolves to fight Walpurgis with Sayaka and....Madoka. Why? We know for a fact that she would never allow Madoka to contract after the events of timeline 3 (after Madoka asks her to stop her before she makes a contract) and we know the Different Story takes place after that because Homura isn't wearing her glasses anymore, so why hasn't she negated the timeline yet? Why is she still wasting time in this hell? Even if they defeat Walpurgis, Madoka will turn into a witch anyway and everyone will be screwed. If Homura knows this, then why hasn't she gone back in time yet?

And then there's Madoka's wish. Another aspect that I loved about the show is the fact that death means something, or rather deaths of characters have weight and consequence in that they influence not only the setting but the characters as well. Different Story stomps all over that by saying that Madoka wished for Sayaka to be brought back to life. However, as people who have seen the show, we know that even if they win against Walpurgis, Sayaka will still turn into a witch again anyway, pointlessly increasing the pain and suffering of a character (I get the feeling that the author forgot that Sayaka would eventually turn into a witch, but that's just speculation on my part).

Adding on to the whole death with weight and consequence thing, Mami and Kyoko die and it doesn't seem to matter to the other characters that much. None of the remaining trio seem to be affected a whole lot by their passing (besides Homura, but only a little bit). If they were greatly affected, then fine. Why don't we see it? Madoka claiming to have been friends with Kyoko feels out of place at this point. While her friendship with Kyoko was a different and interesting perspective, especially since their relationship in the show was very brief, we don't see how Kyoko's passing affected Madoka in the slightest, because she goes on to fight Walpurgis as if their friendship never existed. Homura at the very least acknowledges Mami's death, but that's about it. Thus Mami and Kyoko's deaths are cheapened even more than they already were because the other major players don't appear to notice it.

I tried to like this manga in it's entirety with all my heart because I liked the first volume a lot, but it's mishandling of not only the characters, but the setting as well makes the last two volumes (third one especially) a joke to read. Frankly, if it were just the first volume on its own I would be all over it, but unfortunately it isn't and the manga as a whole has to drag the last two volumes around like a dead weight. Does the manga have it's strong points? Of course, but when an author misunderstands the characters and universe to this extent, then I can't help but hate it.

Well I suppose that's a load off my chest. Not that I want to hate on something just because everyone else likes it, but my love for the show only makes my dislike for this manga that much stronger. And I suppose it's rather cathartic to write about it.