Holy crow.
This show...
This show...
This show.
I love this show.
I love this show for the same reasons you do. But I want to talk about the ending, because it is one of my favorite things in animation, right up with the Avatar finale, which is my standard for animated excellence, full stop.
The ending of Madoka made me cry, but not because it was sad. Parts of it were, sure, but that wasn't why I cried.
I had spent the previous ten-ish episodes following Sayaka down her path of tragedy and grief and rage, right there with her the entire time. I had begun the series with just as much hope and confidence and goodwill as she'd had, only to find death and despair and a world where magical girls never got happy endings to their wishes. Watching her become a witch, and be slowly destroyed from the inside out, was one of the most heartbreaking, soul-breaking things I will ever witness. I had been steeped in Homura's backstory, which felt like the same cycle, only so much worse since Homura witnessed every version of the same ending. She can go back and try to save Madoka and again and again and again and again, but all it will lead to is the same time loop of destruction and heartbreak, until she loses hope, her wish becomes a curse, and she turns into the very thing she was trying to save her best friend from.
Everything is bleak, and there is no end in sight for either cycle, until Madoka makes her wish.
She becomes a magical girl, the very fate Homura was actively preventing her from realizing, but instead of joining the cycle of magical girls and witches-- wishes and curses, hope and despair, birth and destruction-- Madoka breaks it. By rewriting the laws of the universe, Madoka can make sure that all magical girls who ever were or are or will be do not become the very thing they set out to defeat; instead, they die in peace, having given their lives to kill wraiths, never having to fear that the next witch will be the one that corrupts their soul gem for good. Madoka, in short, is given the power of happy endings, and the ability to ensure that they come to fruition.
The most powerful scene comes when Madoka looks out at her own grief seed, at labyrinth she is destined to create, according to Kyubey, and declares that she "Wished for the power to erase all witches. And if what I wished for really did come true, then even I don't have a thing to worry about. Ever!" I'm tearing up just writing this; because Madoka was not only able to give happy endings to others, but to herself as well, with the power to destroy any possibility that even she will become a witch. Her power-- her hope-- was so great that even she did not have to sacrifice her soul, that even she could be spared from the cycle.
I love this show, and I love this episode, and I love this scene, with all my heart.
That's what it did to me, at least. And for that, Madoka, I will always be grateful.
Thank you.
xoxo,
Amazing Grace
