Review of Puella Hagi Madoka Magica

Written for Witch Awareness Month 
Puella Hagi Madoka Magica
The Complete Series
Episodes 1-12
2012 Magica Quartet/Manga Ariplex, Madoka Partners MBS
Original Story: Magica Quartet
Director: Akiyuki Shinbo
Screenplay: Gen Urobuchi (Nitroplus)
Character Concepts: aokiume
Character Design: Takahiro Kishida

DVD Description: Madoka Kaname is an average 14-year-old girl who loves her family and friends. One fateful day, this all changes when she has a very magical encounter with a strange creature called a Kyubey. Kyubey have the power to grant one wish to chosen girls. However, in exchange, those chosen must become magical girls and use their powers to fight against witches, evil creatures born from darkness and catalysts of despair.

First off, despite the Japanese schoolgirl costumes, Puella Hagi Madoka Magica is Dark. The story centers around a group of five girls – one of whom is Madoka Kaname, some of whom are confronted with the choice of becoming magical girls, and some who are already are.

Sayaka, Homura, Madoka, Kyoko, Mami

The anime itself is gorgeous, from the quality and sharpness of the animation to the rich colors and effective surrealism of some of the settings that fit well with the excellent soundtrack, music composed by Yuki Kajiura. That alone makes it a pleasure to watch. The DVD I own has the choice of English or Japanese with English subtitles. I think anime is only truly authentic viewed as the latter, at least for me. I did watch a couple of the episodes in English, and it just didn’t work for me. English is too tame a language for anime. There isn’t any graphic violence (rating of 15), but this may have been edited for North American sensibilities.

As implied by the description, magical girls are the good guys. Witches are the bad guys. They’re all female. In fact, the minimal male presence in the series is secondary except for possibly Kyubey, who looks like a white cat with gold-ringed pigtails coming out of his ears. There is a subliminal amount of girl love going on; it’s really not more than a hint and done very elegantly (it’s an implied rather than explicit form of yuri).

A Kyubey

Before meeting Kyubey, Madoka and her friend Sayaka Miki encounter a new transfer student at their school, Homura Akemi. She’s beautiful and mysterious with a strong Japanese-Goth vibe about her. Shortly thereafter, Madoka and Sayaka encounter Kyubey and are drawn into a surreal alternate reality landscape – a witch’s labyrinth – where they are in mortal danger until rescued by magical girl Mami Tohoe, who dispatches the witch.

Over cake and coffee, Mami explains the basics of being a magical girl. Witches have to be destroyed. It’s a full-time occupation and doesn’t leave time for any kind of normal life including boyfriends or careers or even growing up. It’s a non-reversible contract made with Kyubey. The contract is sealed by Kyubey granting the girl any wish she chooses. The physical contract manifests as a soul gem which contains the magical girls’ power and their soul. Witches are born when their despair manifests as a grief seed. What Mami – and Kyubey – don’t tell Madoka or Sanaka at this point is what’s hidden in the fine print. All magical girls are destined to become witches when their good magical energy turns dark. The magical girl can evade this fate for a time as long as she collects enough grief seeds to cleanse her soul gem. And magical girls who are not strong enough can be killed by witches and their familiars as well. Homura pits herself against Mami (and Kyubey) in an effort to prevent Madoka from becoming a magical girl. There’s also fierce rivalries and territorialism among the magical girls due to the necessity of obtaining enough grief seeds to keep themselves from turning into witches.

Mami Tohoe battling a witch

As the story progresses, magical girls die during the course of battling witches. These battles take place in the witch labyrinths which are really creepy manifestations of the witches’ power and are cool enough on their own to make another viewing of the anime worthwhile. It is unclear at first whether Kyubey is a force for good or evil and Homura, even though a magical girl, comes across as not-so-clearly on the side of the forces for good. This conflict would be enough to carry the story forward, but things become inordinately more complicated as the series progresses. I can best describe it without too many spoilers as a cross between Groundhog Day meets Highlander (substituting short schoolgirl skirts for kilts). It is a science fiction-magic mix, but I don’t want to reveal too much about that. Suffice to say that the plot turns interesting and even darker around the eighth episode; up until the final episode, the darkness seems unrelenting – there doesn’t seem to be any redemption possible for the magical girls.

My main critique is that the middle four episodes are relatively action-poor compared to the first four and the last four with backstory as filler and too few witch battles. Some reviewers have called PHMM a deconstruction of the magical girl genre, but I found it more of a creative reconstruction, fully self-aware and with sly asides about anime and cosplay from the characters themselves. Taken as a whole, the series is completely satisfying. I viewed all twelve episodes in one go, jet-lagged and armed only with a few glasses of wine and tomato sandwiches, and was not bored in the least. What surprised me in a good way was the brief but interesting tie-in with global witch history. The final witch battle is even with an über witch with the name of Walpurgisnacht. Although I would have enjoyed a bit more background about this witch, it was a nice touch.

Highly recommended.

Shaky Ground has arrived!

They're here.

Even though it's irritating to have to get the books through customs, it worked quite seamlessly.

Five Ways to Make Spring Arrive Faster

Meteorological Winter is officially over. Here in middle Europe we had two gorgeous days of Spring weather last week after a record amount of sunshine deficit since, oh, The Little Ice Age (the real deficit is not so bad, but it feels that way). Now we've been plunged into near-freezing temps again for the for the next few days, if not centuries (time for that Vitamin D supplement and a brisk walk around the block).

In addition to getting off the couch and going outside, there are other things we can do to offset the winter blues. Here are the ones that always work for me.

1. Plant something. Put some tomato or pepper seeds in a small plastic pot. You don't need anything fancy. Just clean out a plastic yoghurt container and punch a hole in the bottom. Fill it with store-bought dirt. A small bag of seedling or germinating soil and a packet of seeds won't set you back much. Drop in a seed or three, push them just a wee bit into the soil with a finger, and gently add water. Put the pot in a south- or west-facing window. For tomato seeds, they'll usually stick up their heads in a week or ten days. Peppers may need a little longer. If there's a radiator underneath the window supplying them with a temperature boost, it may go quicker. (Here's an elaborate planting video!) Planting the seeds is an immediate mood booster. Watching the seedlings grow is just delicious anticipation. Even the smallest balcony can fit in a tomato plant or two. If you don't want to mess with seeds, just buy a seedling from the garden center. They'll be available now for you to take home and nurture.

2. Gather supplies for the coming garden season and make lists of jobs to tackle. On days with a few bleak rays of sunshine, go out and snip a few branches or rake some leaves. If you live in a flat, get last year's pots and flower boxes cleaned and in place and lug in all the dirt you'll need for your spring and summer containers. That way, when Spring does hit, you'll be ready to go. Buy a cheery garden magazine to get new ideas for flower combinations and how to make the most of the space you've got. A small balcony can house a lovely theme garden with herbs and/or a couple of pots of leaf lettuce interplanted with a marigold plant or two. Many specialty garden magazines have ideas to spark the imagination. Designing a flower bed or a balcony area can make a dismal Sunday afternoon fly by.

2. Closet cleaning. Time to dump those clothes you can't fit into or don't want to. Get ready for spring wardrobe additions by making room. Decluttering drawers, cabinets, dressers and pantries is also a good way to hurry Spring along. Make a family project of cleaning the basement or the garage. There might be treasures! At least a few good laughs from finding and proudly wearing Dad's sombrero or Mom's stupid garden hat.

3. Stock up the bird feeders. The birds know Spring is on the way. They're busy building nests and cultivating relationships. Give them a nice grease ball (some homemade recipes are here) or a plate with some sunflower seeds, and they'll stop by often and cheer up even the most dreary day. We've had visits from an outrageously-yellow finch the past few days.

4. Plan a few outings to those places you want to visit during nice weather. For me, it's always research for a book or story idea (like here or here), but it can be to a local botanical garden, the zoo, an outdoor museum or an interesting town or village you've been meaning to visit. Getting all the details organized in advance means as soon as the weather allows, you can be spontaneous - just hop in the car and go.

 5. Get your outdoors sport equipment in good shape now: change those bicycle tires, get new pads for your Nordic walking poles, retire the worn-out running shoes for a new pair. Locate all of your clothing and have it ready. Then, when the good weather arrives, you won't spend the first few weekends with good weather retrofitting.

photo credit: gr8dnes via photopin cc