Puella Magi Madoka Magica

[Cravdraa]

[spoiler] Well wait, when he ate himself, he used his actual mouth, but when he ate the sorrow seed it just went into that symbol on his back. Did he actually eat it? Or maybe he's actually incubating them, inside of himself. If so, what would hatch out of something like that?[/spoiler]

[X-3]

[spoiler]I guess he's 'incubating' the Grief Seeds or something so he can unleash something horrible on Walpurgis Night.

I'm not entirely sure why he had to eat his corpse, though. Destroying evidence? Transferring power?
Something is really off about the corpse part, though: when it zooms into him eating, his old body is...fluff? Dust? What's up with that?

Who do you guys think Homura is? Future Madoka? Future 'other person'? Someone actually from the past? (perhaps that scene in ep1 was from the past; Madoka was asking how to avoid that happening to her) [/spoiler]

[Jere]

Do you feel chill? Cuz I feel chill. <_>

So this Comic is based on Jenoside now?

SGVY :: In the Beginning

[Ace Mercury]

Holy crap, I was looking up indie band names on Metafilter, and I stumbled upon this e2 site about Walpurgisnacht: [email protected]

It was believed that on this night every witch would fly on her broom to mountaintop gatherings where they would dance nude around bonfires till dawn.

[Cravdraa]

Incidentailly, the way it's worded in the show, the impression I got wasn't a holiday or date, but like something big and dangerous was coming. Sounds about right. A massive gathering of witches all converging on the same spot.
Whatever it is, I think it's what we saw in the opening scene.

[spoiler]I'm thinking Homura was a close friend of Madoka in a different timeline and that Madoka sacrificed herself to save her. I'm also thinking that the devil-weasel needs Madoka for something. Something far more than just making her a magical girl. She's a key point in his plan. If Walpurgisnacht is taking place in the city, he's the cause and it's because Madoka is there. [/spoiler]

[X-3]

Now, what makes Madoka special? Why does she have so much potential? That's one of the big questions, I think. Not even Kyubey, who managed to figure Homura out, knows. (Or does he!?)

I believe 'selfless wishes=not that great' was tossed around by the show earlier, but I'm not sure if that's entirely true. All the wishes we know so far have had some selfish thought under seemingly noble wishes: Sayaka's wish to heal Kamijou was made with hopes that he would return her affection, while Kyouko's wish to have her father heard probably was made with hopes she'd get food. Mami just probably wanted to live.
It's worth noting that they had no clue how the system 'worked' when they made their wishes; would they have gone through with their wishes had they known?

Perhaps Madoka will learn everything there is to know about magical girls and make her wish anyway. This self-sacrifice would be considered the ultimate selfless wish, giving her great power. Guess we'll just have to see.

Whatever happens, I'm pretty sure the ending will be bittersweet or worse. The writer of this show isn't particularly known for happy endings.

(I don't think any of that stuff needed to be spoiler-tagged, but if it does I'll put them up)

[Cravdraa]

well, It appears that her soul is powerful, for whatever reason, since that's the basis of their powers. You might be on to something, but then again Sayaka was fairly selfless, what with wanting to help and protect people, yet she was less powerful than average. I don't think it's the wish itself. Other people can see her potential already and she hasn't even gone through with it.

[Ace Mercury]

[spoiler]I just realized this this morning: Kyubey is inside of the word incubator (キュベエ fits inside of　インキューベター). That's kind of cute wordplay.[/spoiler]

[Kil'jaeden]

Walpurgisnacht is on the night before May 1st. Japanese schools start in April. Put them together and....

Also, with all the Faust references, in some versions, Faust attends the festivities on that night with his demon.

[X-3]

Kyubey: just as according to keiaku
Me: DAMN IT.

[spoiler]Also Sayaka is not the prologue witch. Her witch form is different, and well...she's dead now.
Maybe it's Madoka or something? The witch of Walpurgis is described as 'incredibly powerful', and Kyubey said that Madoka would be the most powerful witch, so...
EDIT: wait, no. Kyubey's plan was to have Homura be the only magical girl when Walpurgis Night csame, so Madoka would be forced to become a magical girl. So, Walpurgis Witch is probably just a random, powerful witch. Maybe the fusion of the Grief Seeds Kyubey has collected![/spoiler]

Kyubey's origins:
[spoiler]So, he's part of an alien race that is transforming human emotions into power for the universe which is falling apart? And said alien culture does not have emotions, thus is must use humans? I wonder how much of that is true.

I can't wait until he goes, "yeah, the universe has fallen apart because my GLORIOUS EMPIRE isn't it control! Now, with this emotions-turned-energy, we can take over the universe and restore it to it's former glory![/spoiler]

Oh, and this episode has some pretty depressing runes.

[Kil'jaeden]

You'd figure no one would be on speaking terms with Kyuubey at that point. Listening to anything he says so far has been bad.

[Ace Mercury]

It's just that being a magical girl is bad. Listening to him just lets you know how bad it is.

[spoiler]So lots of exposition in this episode. With two more characters out of the picture, it's just QB, Madoka, Homuhomu, and a bunch of side characters.

I think it's kind of funny that they're harnessing the power of girls going through puberty. For those who have sisters (or, I guess are women), you'll know it really is a perpetually roiling maelstrom of fire and ice. Guys don't really have the same thing; it's more of a simmering pot which boils over into occasional Jackass stunts.[/spoiler]

[ edit: Behold, your new power source: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v51/C ... 1ce38c.png ]

[Kil'jaeden]

I've got 4 sisters. I have seen such that could power a galaxy of civilizations.

[Ace Mercury]

I'm doing my post-Madoka sweep of the internet, and I'm only now finding out about Morning Rescue. (Apparently [gg] left it in their subs, so I missed out.)

Imagine seeing this just as episode three ended:
[video]PD-_oLjmCGY[/video]

[X-3]

Madoka's wish will be to have her story told with happy commercials.

[video]HtSWHQrkta8&feature=player_embedded[/video]
Here's, uh, something.

[video]SDNKIWKslhE[/video]
Someone at SHAFT leaked EP12's OP.

[Kil'jaeden]

^ For some reason, I find that opening to be disturbing.

[X-3]

I think people will like this week's episode. I know I did!

[spoiler]It has:
-Mami
-Madoka as a magical girl
-Kyubey getting shot
-Shy Homura
-Homura's past
-Homura's training with a gold club and time stop!
-Homura creating a bomb!
-Explanation for where Homura got all those weapons!
-Witch-Sayaka's minions! They look like puppet versions of Hitomi!
-The reappearance of Madoka's dream; now with Homura audio!
-Witch-Madoka, who will apparently destroy the world![/spoiler]
..seriously though, that was pretty depressing. Damn.
[spoiler]It's interesting to note that Sayaka and Kyouko were absent for the first two iterations. Kinda makes sense. Kyouko has no reason to go to the city until Mami dies, and Sayaka probably wouldn't meet Kyubey as Homura wasn't actively trying to off him.
EDIT: wait, not entirely true on the Kyouko part. Iteration 3 had her around even though Mami was alive. [/spoiler]

Also Kyouko and Homura have been added to the last shot of the OP. :lol: Not the 'direction' I was expecting.

Oh, and here's Kyubey from the manga. As you can see, he's quite, uh, expressive.

[Kil'jaeden]

[spoiler] From the past attempts, it looks like Homura is already doomed. She Always made it to the last boss without a full party, and things never worked out. Even if she does, everyone is doomed. It's almost a no win situation that she has to repeat. [/spoiler]

[Cravdraa]

[spoiler] Did anyone else notice Madoka's power seems to vary greatly depending on the timeline? The first one, she didn't seem like anything special at all. She ends up dead. The second one she transforms into a witch, her powers exahausted. The third one, they win and they're both exhausted, buth neither immediately transform into witches because they're not as far gone. Madoka even managed to hold onto an extra grief seed. The forth try, Madoka one-shots Walpurgisnacht alone, what?
Now in this timeline, QB is telling her she'd have the power of a goddess and be able to do things even he can't do. Now it's quite possible that he's full of ****, but even so, it would appear that Madoka has been getting stronger with each new version of the time line.[/spoiler]

[X-3]

That's...a good point.
[spoiler]Was Walpurgis even stopped in the first iteration? I forgot.
I think it's worth noting that I've read theories stating that the Walpurgis Witch has been getting stronger with each iteration. If Madoka and her ultimate foe are both getting stronger, we've got something interesting going behind the scenes...[/spoiler]

There will be no Madoka this week for obvious reasons.
...and delayed again. I guess having a disaster like Walpurgis Night might not go so well after what's happened in Japan.