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RLinksoul Magical Girl
Posts : 1052 Coffee Beans : 2094 Join date : 2013-10-20
| Subject: The Magical Girl Climax Fri Oct 25, 2013 8:56 pm | |
| No, get the dirty thoughts out of your head and hear me out first. I've seen many a time on Madoka related discussions that people feel it would make no sense for Madoka to become a Magical Girl at the beginning of the series. Some feel that becoming a Magical Girl is the climax of the series. The road to becoming one, basically. Others however feel that becoming a Magical Girl should only happen at the beginning, as becoming one is the start of the journey to maturity. It's a story about how the girls use their magic to help others, themselves growing and maturing along the way. Madoka meanwhile just cries and wavers until the last minute then it's like "Oh! It's time!" And she puts on her game face, ready to become a magical girl with the kind of fearless confidence a Magical Girl usually has at the end of their journey. Mystlord at ThatAnimeBlog puts it best. - Quote :
- Then can Madoka Magica truly be a subversion of the mahou shoujo genre? Probably not. Because as numerous people have pointed out, mahou shoujo genres exist as something like a bildungsroman. The Sakura that we meet in episode 1 of Cardcaptor Sakura is not the same one that we see at the end of episode 70, and it’s because of the adventures that she had with her powers.
Madoka Magica's way makes sense in the context of the story, but I can't see it as any sort of growth of character, especially when she instantly changes from one personality set to another. I have to go with the latter opinion. The climax of a Magical Girl story is long after they've become a Magical Girl, and they've grown and matured because of their experiences as Magical Girls. |
| | | Mew Ami Cafe Owner
Posts : 5807 Coffee Beans : 13009 Join date : 2012-06-30 Age : 33 Location : La La Land
| Subject: Re: The Magical Girl Climax Fri Oct 25, 2013 9:03 pm | |
| Even though I have never seen this series (I like watch half of the first episode and pretty much seen people's opinions on it through tumblr) I agree with Mystlord. The the point of the magical girl genre to is to watch a character grow and mature. Not only does the character grow and mature, but you do as the viewer! The shows inspire people to become better a person. This is why I cant watch this series because to me it misses the point of the genre. |
| | | BunnyBelle Magical Girl
Posts : 565 Coffee Beans : 698 Join date : 2013-11-24 Age : 34 Location : The Moon (plz send air!)
| Subject: Re: The Magical Girl Climax Tue Nov 26, 2013 12:26 pm | |
| Well first of all, character growth is not exclusive to just the Magical Girl genre. Pretty much any show will have the character evolve into a different person by the last act. Unless you're watching something with no ongoing plot or where characters are meant to stay the same, like Spongebob or Sazae-san.
There's more to it than that. The magical girl transformation is meant to symbolize a girls transition to adulthood. Using Kiki's Delivery Service as an example - Through the course of the movie Kiki reaches a roadblock where she doesn't know what her powers are good for and then is unable to use them. She becomes disillusioned and is no longer able to speak to her childhood-friend/cat Jiji. She then has an epiphany "to believe in herself and to find your own path and inspiration". When her friend is in danger, she is able to realize what she needs to do and how to use her magic. However she is still unable to speak to Jiji, as Jiji represents her immaturity (according to Miyazaki)
Now. With all of that. I think Madoka's end transformation is perfectly acceptable approach to the "becoming an adult" part of Magical Girl Progression 101. Sometimes as an adult you do have to swallow your tears and put on your game face to get things done (Everyone here is an adult so I'm sure you've done this before yourselves) I have to do it for work everyday now as a matter of fact. To me I think her sudden unwavering attitude is completely understandable.
Kyubey's space alien magic is just her method of getting things done, its not really needed for Madoka's character to grow. She's already realized what's important and what she has to do. |
| | | mysteryloveandjustice Magical Girl
Posts : 143 Coffee Beans : 297 Join date : 2013-10-06 Age : 29 Location : Lost in the labyrinth of my mind.
| Subject: Re: The Magical Girl Climax Tue Nov 26, 2013 4:42 pm | |
| I agree with both points but if I was forced to choose one I would have to say that Madoka Magica doesn't exactly fall into the category of the "magical girl" show, because of the simple fact that Madoka isn't growing with her powers.
I think the point behind the whole magical girl genre is to show our young protagonist grow up to be a mature young adult even with the great responsibility of powers and using them for good thrust upon them. Our girls could very very easily use their new powers for their own selfish wants and needs but instead they decide to use them to protect friends/earth/family/etc. And that's the point, is to show how these girls grow up because they know in their hearts that they have a responsibility to protect the world with their powers.
With Madoka Magica, Madoka does her growing up before she gets her powers as a magical girl. Therefore technically putting the show/manga out of the "magical girl" genre.
With that being said we still include the show because it does include girls and magic and fighting for justice under the pale moonlight ^^ And it's still no doubt a beautiful show ^^ |
| | | RLinksoul Magical Girl
Posts : 1052 Coffee Beans : 2094 Join date : 2013-10-20
| Subject: Re: The Magical Girl Climax Thu Nov 28, 2013 6:30 pm | |
| Usagi is another great example of why I think the climax of a Magical Girl show should be AFTER they've obtained their powers.
Let's look at her early episodes. She starts out as a lazy, incompetent crybaby. She gains these fantastic powers and what happens? She's still largely the same person, often failing to make proper use of them because she's afraid. She doesn't suddenly become a hero just because she gained her powers.
This is one of the reasons I think Nostalgia Critic's review of the show was unfair. He questioned why Sailor Moon is such an influential character, why she's a simple of female empowerment... but he only watched like... the first half of the first season.
He didn't see the end result of the long struggle Usagi goes through, where she becomes a mature, noble young woman whose love and courage allows her to make miracles come true.
Even when the end is near any given Magical Girl may not have the power necessary to take on the final villain. It's only after she proves just how far she's willing to go to protect her loved ones that she achieves the highest level of power, and even then it can be a struggle that requires a little more, like the combined efforts of her comrades.
I kinda felt like I was cheated out of an epic final battle watching Madoka. All along Madoka had the potential to overcome any obstacle. The hardest thing she had to do personally was stand there and wish for it.
It wasn't even her own love and courage that gave her the immense potential, it was all Homura's time-looping and some silly theory about how much suffering a person goes through. She basically gets a miracle for free and even if she hadn't suddenly developed a backbone midway through episode 11 it wouldn't have made a difference. |
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