Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica 09

OMFG…..these are the words to describe this episode, anything more would be too explicit. Tons of information is revealed with an epic conclusion to the episode and more food for speculation given too.

Artist: Namaniku ATK(nitro+)

Well as with what had happened previously in ep 08, it picks up from where it left off. With Miki now a witch, Kyoko gets sucked into Miki’s witch world. She then tries to save Miki’s now empty-shell-of-a-body, encountering some resistance from witch-Miki before getting some assitance from Homura. Homura activates her trump card,which is her shield that allows her to control time around her and anything she touches, and escapes with Kyoko.

In the next scene, Madoka bumps into Homura and Kyoko carrying Miki’s lifeless body and receives the shock of her life. Homura then proceed to explain the awful truth about being a Mahou Shoujo, explaining the grim details which devastates Madoka even further.

OMG not again?

She then explains the truth about the Soul Gems, in which Madoka rejects in disbelief as she is unable to control her grief. As the converstation goes on, Kyoko get irritated and angry at Homura questioning her all-knowing behaviour, ending with a tense standoff and a grieving Madoka.

After what has happened, Madoka proceeds to sulk in her bedroom in her anguish. Seemingly being able to sense her feelings, Kyube appears to her again and explains his reasoning and his actions. It seems that Kyube is an alien from a race that is incapable of emotion. He then proceeds to give the biggest revelation of the series, explaining the purpose of creating Mahou Shoujo. He explains that Mahou Shoujo are created to save the universe, which he say is collapsing due to the affect of the Second Law of Thermodynamics and entropy on it( for more info on it visit  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2nd_law_of_thermodynamics or read A Brief History of Time by Steven Hawking).

Hehe now i'm a pro Phycisist

They then proceeded to search for energy that was not bound by that law and discovered it in that of the Mahou Shoujo. It seems that they found out that what humans called emotions is an energy that grows with time which means that it is not bound by the thermodynamical laws and entropy, seeing this they developed the technology to convert the emotions of conscious life-forms into energy, creating an energy source to counter entropy. He also reveals that the emotional changes of girls in their second growth phase is the most effective. He explains it even further saying that when a Mahou Shoujo’s soul in the Soul Gem burns out and becomes a Grief Seed, it releases a enormous amount of energy which is in turn collected by Incubators like him. From this, it can be understood that the Mahou Shoujo are expendable and a means in which to prevent the collapse of the universe, a message in which Kyube tries to convey to Madoka. He tries to ask her to sacrifice herself for the Greater Good of the universe as if she became a Mahou Shoujo and then a Witch, she would be a very powerful one and the conversion would release immense amount of energy which would help their cause of preserving the Galaxy for later generations. This revelation devastates Madoka even more as she does not understand Kyube and his reasoning one bit.

OMG WTH was tht???

In the next scene, Kyoko still seems to be taking care of Miki’s body, trying to find a way to get back her Soul Gem, an act that even  Kyube is not sure of its possibility but he gives her a shard of hope by saying that Mahou Shoujo are not bound by reason and that he would not be suprised if it could be done.

The next day, Kyoko calls to Madoka, who is on her way to school as if nothing happened, to have a little talk. It seems that she called Madoka to ask her if she wants to save Miki. She thinks that Madoka is the only one capable of saving Miki due to her love for her best friend. Madoka accepts the idea and joins Kyoko on her quest to save Miki.

As they search for witch-Miki, Kyoko explains her relationship with Homura and about the Walpurgis night.

Witch hunt begins...

Finally they find the entrance to the witch realm and proceed to go in, and while inside Madoka does what she did with Mami, proceeding to discuss if she should become a Mahou Shoujo. Hearing her reasoning, Kyoko is against Madoka becoming one as she feels that only those that have no choice should be allowed to be a Mahou Shoujo or else it would be just a game for anyone else who would take it likely.

As they journey deeper, they finally encounter the witch-Miki. It seems that her realm and form is directly affected by her love of the violin and music, courtesy of Kamijou-kun, with leads to her realm appearing to be a concert hall with an orchestra playing with her conducting.

Miki Cantabile

Witch-Miki as Chiaki

Kyoko and Madoka then proceed to carry out their plan, with Kyoko defending Madoka as she calls out to Miki, but seems to have no effect after many repeated tries. While they are trying to call out to her, Kyoko reveals her true feelings about Miki, admitting that she understood her.

Miki X Kyoko

As time goes by, Kyoko receives a lot of damage protecting Madoka and ultimately fails to protect her allowing her to get caught. In the ensuing fight, the realm gets damaged and they all fall to another level.

Homura suddenly appears to save them, but before she can do anything other than saving Madoka from the fall, she gets sealed away by Kyoko together with Madoka. It seems that Kyoko realized that it is not possible to defeat witch-Miki with her current power and thus proceeds to release all her power in her Soul Gem ending in an apparent kamikaze strike to destroy witch-Miki together with her.

Bankai!

Hihio Zabimaru!

Divine Buster!

Katsu! Art is a Blast!

 

The episode ends with Kyube admitting to Homura that it was in fact impossible to reverse the change of a Soul Gem and that he mislead Kyoko so that she would sacrifice herself somewhat in a bid to save Miki. He then says that her sacrifice was worth it as now Homura is the only Mahou Shoujo left, and as the Walpurgis Night is too much for even her to undertake, he hints that he now has a trump card to turn Madoka into a Mahou Shoujo.

 

Overall, I feel this is the best episode of Madoka yet with all the bits and pieces of the puzzle finally coming together. Urobuchi Gen use of Physics to explain the justification of the Mahou Shoujo was terrific and it was completely unexpected, seldom is science used so well to explain or justify phenomenon in Anime. He also uses the irony of a young girl’s emotional state as the salvation of the universe for a higher purpose for good measure, making the choice to be a Mahou Shoujo even tougher. Seeing where the show is going, the next ep or two should be reverting to the scene in Madoka’s dream with Homura fighting a witch, which I think is the Walpurgis, and it would be the decisive point of the series with Madoka’s choice hanging in the balance.

-Arc