Don't let the cuteness and the virtual age of the character delude you into thinking this is one of those "happy go lucky magical girl" anime , it a dark psychological torture, which will have you crying out of grief for what these girls are feeling , it will also leave you mind fuck in some episode.
Mahou Shoujo Madoka completely caught me off guard;
-it's dark brooding atmosphere was the first shock i received
- the blood gut and gore was the second
-and the whole confusing psychological aspect was the third .
it's been a while since an anime infused my brain with some massive amount of steroid and made every neuron of my central nervous system working. Now that it finally came into its conclusion, I'm still left mind fucked , so I'm trying to decipher this anime as i write this review so if i start contradicting myself ,just accept that the theory can go both way.
The anime explores the Human nature :
Keyword : 'Death drive' - to find oneself grappling with the difficulties inherent in the topic of repetition. It is the drive to self-destruction and the return to the inorganic and inanimate state. Further, it suggests that every person has an unconscious wish to die and goes beyond the pleasure principle by means of reiteration: “the death drive is only the mask of the symbolic order.”
Trauma in 'death drive' tells us that the subjects often tended to repeat or re-enact disturbing experiences to reminisce a painful situation. As we have witnessed, of all the characters, Homura is the most fully explored for this definition. She has a strong driving factor to search for the timeline where she can save and change Madoka’s fate. In order to do this, countless times she negated time despite the fact that every reiteration she does is giving her some pain and numerous times she wakes from her nightmare in the hospital room. Hence, through such a compulsion to reiterate, Homura attempts to ‘bind’ the trauma, thus allowing her to return to a state of quiescence.
Freud capitalized on the concept of ‘narcissism’ and realized that the ego is not simply a kill-joy, concerned solely with the suppression of libido, but is itself an erotically-charged figure within the individual’s economy of desire.
It is apparent that Homura’s ego is not only the ‘headquarters’ of her libido but is also liable to become—itself—an object of her own desire. For instance, Homura always claims that she’s fine alone and can triumph the Walpurgis Night unaided. She also keeps on saying that there’s no way that Madoka can understand—her feelings. Hence, this narcissistic act has been deeply rooted from Homura’s intensely repressed but yet extremely sexually desire to Madoka, and as a result she was able to transform herself from being lame into a badass heroine.
Sayaka Miki Hero complex eventually destroy her as she end up regretting her decision as Tomoe mami say's "If you use your wish to grant someone Else's sake , you should be careful to know exactly why you're doing it. Are you doing it for someone Else's benefit, or the opposite? Your doing it for someone Else's everlasting gratitude. The motive behind a wish is what matters most, you know. If you're not 100% sure why you're doing it, you'll most defiantly regret it later. "
I'm not going to lie i kinda knew Sayaka was going to regret her decision later on if she wished on somebody Else's happiness since the price she going to have to pay for that wish will defiantly wont be worth it - the wish for curing your friend incurable hands and legs for the cost of your life doesn't seem worth it to me .
Tomoe mami it was her stubbornness that constantly course her to die in every time line , she may seem completely selfless person who try's to save everybody but in reality she selfish and willing to put innocent in danger so she doesn't feel alone anymore. she got too big headed and didn't heed Homura Akemi warning and thus ended up dead .
I still can’t understand why some people think that Kyubey is evil. The example of treating human as cattle clearly tells us the terror of humanism. We humans tend to think that we are the center of the universe. We question right from wrong when things don’t go on our way, and most of all we define morality when in fact we couldn’t even accurately discern the exact boundaries of morality and immorality.
Unlike what human do with cattle , Kyubey doesn't force anyone to do anything. he may lure them in with the flowery idea of a wish and then hit them with the hard cold reality that you're no longer human and you're going to turn into a witch and die inevitably.
He has the ability to grant ANY of YOUR WISHES , the price in return is not going to be cheap , but with the whole system it doesnt matter how small your wish is your still going to get the same price of everyone else - your inevitable death . so your going to have a strong resolve to wish for something .
in miki case : her wish to repair her friend hand the price in the end was her life (kinda a waste of a wish if i say so)
in Madoka case :to eradicate witches from the past ,present and future ,in the end cost her ,her life (she became a goddess) wish spent wisely .
Kyubey doesn't have emotion so he not going to understand the whole concept of his action , he like a child in a way - they can destroy something a still feel okay because they don't understand good from bad .you can say he doesnt know the concept of life and death either .
his action do not arise out of disrespect for Humans or out of a desire to hurt or to do injury. Rather eager to discover what would happen if it took a particular action. he really unable to shift perspectives and the human's point of view. so you cant blame him if he seem a bit heartless
Mahou shoujo madoka has a childlike innocence to it . apart from the fact that the children .
for example , when they're fight the witches in their domain it almost like it drawn by a child , it chaotic and some of the familiar is what you expect to find in a nursery book .
funny even after all this thinking i still feel mind fucked ...
I have seen other SHAFT anime, and what I can say is that they have a very… unique way of presenting materials. Their intricate, abstract artwork is both famous and notorious among anime fans. SHAFT is also infamous for their cost-cutting measures, such as overuse of Kanji frames, animation frame reduction among some other things, which is the reason that SHAFT tries to stick with animating writing-driven works with less frames to work with, thus, less costly to animate and i have to say i wasn't particularly amazed by the art.
the story was a masterpiece one of the few i voted a 10
the art was not amazing but it was bearable so i voted a 7
sound hmm ... i kinda forgot the soundtrack but i think it perfectly set the mood so i voted a 8
character were realistic and fitted their role perfectly so i voted a 10
i genuinely enjoyed this when i wasnt in a state of ambivalence so i gave this a 9
overall it was truly a masterpiece a well deserve of my 10
