So I finally got around to watching Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica–I thought the timing was appropriate. Given that it’s the second highest grossing anime series–and now I understand why–Madoka has been thoroughly discussed since its release 6 years ago. Well, here’s what I thought from my experience today. Spoilers below:
Even right now, I can’t believe how perfectly executed and paced Madoka Magica’s plot was. The ending’s grandness easily rivaled The End of Evangelion, but Madoka was even more beautiful. And what was so profound about Madoka was that it left me overflowing with hope. And for a show that was saturated with darkness and despair, this was an incredible feat.
When Madoka sacrificed herself and changed the universe on a fundamental level, I couldn’t help but see Christ in her actions. The concept of her becoming hope itself and claiming victory over despair… that’s who Jesus is for Christians. But the most notable difference between who Jesus is to Christians and who Madoka was to Homura is in the active relationship we have with Jesus, who is our source of joy, hope, love, and peace. Our God has made Himself known to us, and we know the depth of His love through His sacrifice. Despite many portrayals of Christianity, it all comes down to having a relationship with God with faith that He loves us and that He won over death. That’s seriously all there is to it. And so, even though Good Friday marks the death of Jesus, there is no need to be sad like Homura, because we know that hope exists, and not just as a concept but as a relationship.
[Source]
Image is a screenshot from Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica
Moonlight Mixtape 
I’m guessing you didn’t see rebellion (movie 3)
I spotted the paradox first time I watch the series full (guess that’s why the move made load of sense to me).
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I haven’t seen it yet! What paradox are you talking about or is that a spoiler?
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You can spot it watching the TV series.
Madoka’s wish only exist because of Homura’s wish.
Meaning you have a soul gem within a soul gem.
Homura can’t exist if Madoka doesn’t exist and vice versa.
In theory Madoka’s wish should’t exist outside the confines of Homura’s wish, unfortunately madoka’s wish requiters to be outside to function.
Do you see the problem?
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Oh good catch! So if I’m understanding you correctly, you’re saying the problem is that: Madoka was able to make her universe-altering wish because of Homura’s ability, which came from her wish after seeing Madoka die. And if Madoka wished to “erase every single witch in the universe, past and future”, this means that in the original timeline, Madoka would not have died and Homura would not have made that wish. I think this paradox can be alleviated because Madoka’s wish didn’t just change a sequence of events, it effectively changed the laws of the universe. This idea is reinforced by Kyubey saying, “if [the] wish were to come true, it wouldn’t just be on the scale of temporal manipulation”. As an analogy, think of it as applying a patch to a game you’ve already been playing. It changes everything in the game but what you’ve completed so far doesn’t change. Having said that, I’m very excited to see the movie!
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XD The problem is Homura is not effected by the laws of entropy meaning she is not effect by Madoka.
Homura change the laws of the universe before Madoka did.
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Homura is like perpetual motion machine, once you start it will use its own energy to keep itself going.
This goes ageist the laws of thermodynamics.
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It does go against the laws of thermodynamics, but isn’t that the whole point of the incubators wanting to perpetuate magical girls to begin with? The wishes are miracles, after all. Could you clarify what you meant by Homura changing the laws of the universe?
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Homura exist in a time bubble.
energy builds up insides and doesn’t get dispersed however, as a byproduct of the wish all the energy building up in the bubble is connecting itself to the closes souse of disposal (madoka).
o-o In theory if the incubators could harness this endless energy, then universe would not be dyeing and there would be no use for magical girls.
Maybe the incubators knew madoka would be the leak to endless energy.
Most people just ignore it *elephant in the room*.
I heard a rumour that the original ending to the tv series was change and believe them.
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Wait, I still don’t understand your perspective. See if my understanding of the show makes sense:
1) We are told that the incubators knew about the karmic energy potential of Madoka, as a result of Homura going back in time so much. But a) this is not a byproduct of Homura’s wish but the result of Homura choosing to go back in time. And Homura doesn’t exist in a time bubble, she just repeatedly chooses to go back in time. And b) this isn’t energy, it’s only a energy potential if and only if Madoka turns into a witch (there’s no energy from just turning into a magical girl).
2) The incubators did in fact want to harness that karmic energy, in order to meet the universe saving energy requirements all at once, and that’s why they targeted Madoka so much. But they also didn’t know for sure why Madoka had so much energy potential, so they wouldn’t have been able to create this situation from the beginning.
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XD that’s because they forgot they made the wish.
Homura doesn’t go back in time (hope this doesn’t add more to the confusion).
She jump to a different world where Madoka isn’t dead.
It’s the many madoka’s that make god madoka.
The only thing that remains constant is Homura (she is a displacement in time).
XD The fact kyubey made that wish show a huge plothole.
“there’s no energy from just turning into a magical girl”
^-o magical girls make the energy with there emotions (aka dirt).
when witches hatch they use up all there energy meaning you have to subdue them and refill the grief seed.
madoka is collecting the dirt before they hatch into witches (no one has to die in grief).
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XD might be good for me to just write a post trying to simplify it (I already have done many over the years).
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Yeah that might be good! Feel free to link to any past discussions. As it seems, I think we have different understandings of the show. If I’m not mistaken, magical girls do not get their energy from their emotions, but that massive amount of energy is released (which the incubators want) when the change from hope to despair hits the activation energy (little bit of chemistry). And I’d also argue that Homura does go back in time, since her powers pertain to temporal manipulation. And displacement in time is still moving through time right? (getting into physics and space and time) Finally, the wishes aren’t related to the ability of incubators, they simply facilitate wishes–they are miracles afterall–so it’s not like they could manipulate time even if they wanted to (someone else has to realize such a wish first).
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^_^ I think I came up with a good way of explaining while I was at work.
O_O It involve pigs and apples (I can get my drawing easel out).
*It’s way more simple then how I’m wording it.*
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Amen, our Jesus is still alive and sitting on the right hand of our Father. Madoka was a great anime, thanks for writing this. Will be sharing this on our Something More column at Beneath The Tangles 🙂 Blessings.
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Yes, wow! Thanks Samuru! 😊
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I’m so glad you saw the same Christian themes that I did when I first watched Madoka In fact, I became so inspired after watching the show that I had her drawn on the front of my Bible! Jesus Christ is our hope similar to Madoka and that always encourages me.
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Hello! Thanks for commenting 🙂 You know what, I’m in the process of verifying the source but apparently, the author intentionally used Christianity as a model in order to derive at the happy ending given that people can’t save themselves!
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