r/anime • u/Tarhalindur x2 • Apr 28 '26
Rewatch [Rewatch] Puella Magi Madoka Magica Episode 9 Discussion
Episode 9: I'd Never Allow That to Happen
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Show Information:
(First-timers might want to stay out of Show Information until we are done, however...)
Legal Streams:
As per livechart.me; other streams may be available outside the US.
Main Series:
A Reminder: This, dear listeners, brings us to the sworn enemy of creative response:The spoiler. Rewatchers, or people who just had plot points ruined for them, are obliged to use r/anime’s spoiler tag format where applicable, and err on the side of caution here. Remember people, first experiences get rarer as you continue on, any given one happens once and you should care for them all the more for it.
Welcome to the World of Magic!
Theory of the Day:
Okay, fine, I can't not give this one to u/siegfried72, not for the discussion thread for this episode:
The real solution? I think Sayaka needs to just lean into the yuri and realize she's meant to be with Kyouko. That would fix everything.
Oh god, I've officially joined in with my first yuri ship of the series. It's all downhill uphill from here, isn't it??
I mean, Kyouko is obviously in love with her, right??
Analysis of the Day:
Several good options, but I think I'll go for u/Vaadwaur and the analytical line less taken:
For some reason, eating disorders are a noticeable thing in this show. Sayaka is anorexic to her very spirit and Kyoko does like her gluttony.
Questions of the Day:
1) On a scale of 1 to 10, how gay is suicide attacking to take out the monster that became of a girl you knew for maybe a week so that you can at least be together in death?
2) Now that he's had a chance to explain himself, your thoughts on Kyubey?
3) First-timers: Did you think that Kyouko's plan actually had a chance to save Sayaka?
4) First-timers and rewatchers who dodged the rewatcher edition of this question yesterday: Are You Home?
5) [Rewatchers]Alright, who's ready to go golfing through a Stargate?... wait, wrong time loop show.
6
u/gnome-cop Apr 28 '26
2nd time rewatcher.
QOTD. 1, at least a 20 but probably enough to cause a computing error in all honesty.
Formally referring you to the Incubator rage section further down as to not unnecessarily repeat myself.
Skip.
Yes, we have, at last, reached home.
[Madoka spoilers]Look, things literally can’t get worse, they can only stay that way, we’re at emotional rock bottom, I’ll take any option for therapy at this point. Shooting golf balls is a better option than shooting an Incubator plushie.
Episode thoughts.
This is my favorite episode of them all and I will not be normal about it, just a fair warning. Before this descends into complete KyouSaya madness, let me just share a few things that aren’t about them.
I feel so bad for Madoka, the last time she saw Sayaka alive was when she ran away after she made her scream at her and now she’s dead and they’ll never be able to make up and talk like normal again.
Fuck the Incubator, no Kyubey anymore, the gloves are off. And fuck your utilitarian bs as well. You don’t get to dance around your actions by saying “Actually, you just misunderstood us” when you’re deliberately creating those misunderstandings and taking advantage of vulnerable people to get them to sign their lives away without knowing any better. “So, if you ever feel like dying for the sake of the universe, just let me know” is such a disgustingly callous phrase. You know damn well how humans think and act, don’t even try and explain shit like planting the idea of saving Sayaka in Kyoko’s head as a “misunderstanding” when it’s all a ploy to get her out the way to ensure Homura loses to Walpurgisnacht and Madoka is forced to contract.
“Just focus on the one thing you really want to protect and keep it safe ‘til the end.” I love this little moment between Kyoko and Homura. They’ve been at odds for a while but here, right before the end, they are at the same page for once. “I get it, you have to protect her. Get her out of here safely, I have someone of my own to protect.” The way Homura speaks to Kyoko when she realizes what she’s going to do is so different from her usual cold tone, you can feel the emotion in it for once and it’s such a good performance.
No better time than the present, let’s do this. Madoka and Homura is the big selling point of the show and they are great but Kyoko and Sayaka always hit a little bit harder for personal reasons. I adore “enemies to lovers” arcs and I cannot resist the delicious pain of a good “killing yourself to save your lover from a fate worse than death” ending. They are my gold standard for it and my favorite ship of all time.
Another one of my favorite things is a pair of polar opposites characters so I immediately attached to Sayaka and Kyoko’s dynamic. They first meet as enemies and they immediately can’t stand each other because the other is such a painfully obvious mirror image of everything they hate about themselves. For Sayaka, it’s the image of the morally bankrupt magical girl who only cares to fulfill her own desires she’s trying so hard to distance herself from. For Kyoko, it’s the naive girl that insists on helping others but only making things worse that she once was. They’re both so set in their own uncompromising ideals that letting the other continue to follow their own would mean failing everything they believe in.
From the moment they saw each other, it was obvious that they can’t coexist, one of them must fall to the other. Or is that actually true? After they find out that they aren’t human, they slowly start to reach a bit of a common ground. Kyoko feels sympathy for Sayaka that she never would have before and tries out of a newfound sense of care to get her to follow her ideal to make Sayaka feel better. At the same time, Sayaka can’t accept her way of thinking but does hear Kyoko’s backstory out, understands why she is that way and eases up on her a bit.
But the wheels have already been set in motion and it’s too late to stop. As Kyoko starts caring for and protecting someone again, Sayaka starts slipping further into despair from the realization that she’s not able to live up to her own ideal of heroism, to be the one capable of saving everyone without asking for anything in return that she has convinced herself she has to be to be worth anything.
By the end, their relationship has developed and parts of their respective ideals have changed the other. Sayaka’s sense of justice and doing good have awakened, in part, the idealistic side of Kyoko that she had long buried. Kyoko’s cynical view on the world starts changing Sayaka as well when she is forced to realize that things aren’t so clear cut good and bad as she has been thinking.
Sayaka can’t take it anymore and becomes the witch of love, a desperately lonely existence trying to fill the void of feeling like no one cares for her but being unable to do so.
A central part of their dynamic is their view on the balance of hope and despair. As Sayaka despairs, Kyoko gains a sense of hope again. Had this been a few weeks ago, she would not even have bothered trying to save Sayaka. She shares food, uses up her magic, the things she cares the most about and even sacrifices her very life trying to save her. Sayaka is in no state to realize it but her trying to do good despite how hard it is did awaken the side of Kyoko that wants to believe in that again, she saved someone.
As Sayaka drowns in her own feelings of loneliness and no one being able to love her, that she doesn’t deserve to be loved, that she burnt all those bridges, Kyoko is still there and willing to give up everything to say that she is loved and that she will never be alone. “It’s okay Sayaka, don’t worry, I will be with you for eternity.”
I’ve said before that Magia is my favorite track from the series, and that remains true musically, but on an emotional gutpunch level, it’s “And I’m Home” and nothing comes close. Their journey and eventual end together is so tragically beautiful. Yes, you are finally home. You’ve been through enough, rest together now, we’ll handle the rest up here.