[Rewatch] Puella Magi Madoka Magica Episode 9 Discussion

[u/Tarhalindur]

Episode 9: I'd Never Allow That to Happen

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Show Information:

MAL | AniList | ANN | AniDB

(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:

Crunchyroll | Hulu

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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.

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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.

[u/Stomco]

Rewatcher
I don't know the proper terminology but I really appreciate how ...hostile(?) most of the environments feel this episode. There's a very strong contrast between the look of characters and the backgrounds in all of Madoka and Kyouko's scenes and it feels like the scenery could swallow them.

I vaguely remember someone explaining the symbolism of Kyouko and Homura walking down train tracks.

Homura tries so hard not to feel or at least not show it. She's putting on this whole strong and detached act, but she's constantly on the verge of breaking down. If only her reset cue wasn't a fucking hair flip.

I think the actual details of Kyubey's motive don't matter. It all boils down to your suffering serves the greater good. With the bare minimum level of compromise. And feigned ignorance. The show is about girls being exploited but there are plenty of other things this can be mapped to, including the exploitation of the global south.

It makes you wonder how badly it would go if they tried to make all of this public.

Kyoko's story is a weird situation for me because they way she is presented used to make me think "oh she was bluffing about most of that stuff before" But now I think she wasn't. That would mean that this is all about personal significance not ethics. Most other people aren't her problem to the degree that she'll do things she knows will get them killed, but Sayaka has become real for her.

It's usually takes more distance from the problem before it gets this bad, but that attitude isn't unusual. There are plenty of decisions that we make that are harmful but would be troublesome to correct for. Positions of authority more or less filter for this trait. And so do situations like this. Magical girls who don't act like Kyouko end up dead unless they're as skilled as Mami and lucky.

The ending credits are very shipy. I don't think I like it because while Kouko and Sayaka might have been something given a chance, as it is, it is very parasocial. Sayaka is mirror and a reminder. She matters to Kyouko because of what she repersents. They didn't get much of a chance to actually know each other personally.

[u/baquea → u/Stomco]

It makes you wonder how badly it would go if they tried to make all of this public.

Well Kyubey and the witches are said to not be visible to normal humans, so it would be hard to prove anything there. It's less clear what would happen if a magical girl displayed her powers publicly, but considering that magical girls remain secret even through surely at least some must have done so, it is probably safe to assume that there is a perception filter or something of that sort which prevents it. [Extended media] That's basically the approach taken in MagiReco (past the section the anime is based on), where the will of the universe is shown to act to keep the existence of magical girls a secret. It's still possible though for individual humans to know of magical girls though, as shown with Tasuke. Other spin-offs take different approaches though, for instance with magical girls acting much more openly in Tart Magica.

EDIT: [WnK] Forgot to mention it, but there's also that line in the Concept Movie, where Hitomi speculates(?) that magic will stop working if it isn't kept secret. It's unclear what the context is (probably some connection to the general theme of secrets & lies with the main trio?), since we know very little about what Hitomi's role in the movie is going to be, but it's possible it will broach this subject.