The Wish to be Complete | Madoka Magica
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- Опубліковано 10 сер 2022
- We all have regret and nostalgia, we all make wishes and find despair, but can we become our true selves despite this all?
Madoka Magica is a 2011 classic anime from Gen Urobuchi, who also produced such animated greats like Psycho-Pass and Fate/Zero. The seemingly shoujo magical girl anime follows Madoka Kaname and Sayaka Miki as they struggle with what to wish for given the chance to have one desire come true. Following Mami, feuding with Kyoko, and unraveling the mystery of Homura, Madoka and Sayaka are forced to confront their own feelings, as the twisted nature of their dark world comes true, fit to form for Gen Urobuchi. Today, we’ll be looking at this great series to watch in a new philosophical context, and asking if wishes are the human desire to be complete; that is to be our most true and final self. With a psychological examination of the characters, what can we draw from their wishes, regrets, downfalls and more? Should we try to be our true selves, or do we have to live with who the world makes us? Could “magic” really fix it all? While it may be a stretch for anime, I think the series, and its great characters like Sayaka, Homura, Mami, and Kyoko, can give us a good platform for analysis.
#anime #madokamagica #pmmm #animeanalysis #professorviral #urobuchi - Розваги
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Even after 11 years, there's still videos being made about Madoka Magica. I truly believe it's one of the best anime ever made.
With this and Psycho-Pass, Urobuchi was on one hell of a roll in the early 2010s
Agree with you
Fr
Indeed it is, it is unique to its own design, it is influential, it is timeless. It is the ultimate dark anime.
@@ProfessorViraland fate/zero
I genuinely do wonder if there was a way to undo their wish or break their soul gem and no longer being a magical girl without you know becoming a witch or dying.
I wonder, but I don't think so. I think the cyclical nature of their universe makes it a sure thing
No, the point is choice has consequence.
The only way I can imagine to accomplish this is with another wish specifically worded to undo another's. My favourite Madoka fanfiction actually has a pair of Magical Girls in exactly this situation, one previously making her own wish, and the other wishing to bring back the other from before her wish. At the same time, even without her magic anymore, the former Magical Girl still seems to be loosely bound to an extent to the same contract she once made, even after growing up as a mortal woman.
Choice has consequence, yes, but when two choices contradict each other, whose gets priority?
The only way that you could stop being a magical girl would be if someone else makes a wish to make you become human again. Not everyone could make a wish like that, but Madoka can. In a Madoka magica game called "Madoka mágica portable" where they show more about the characters story that wasn't shown in the anime, Madoka ends up making a wish to make Sayaka become human again, at the cost of her becoming a magical girl.
@@angeldude101 Yo this sounds sick! Um May I ask what the name of this fanfiction is?
That's a good way to put Junko's arc, the way she trusted her daughter it's something we need to see more. Even if they're older, parents are still growing, just like their children.
Junko was one of the best side characters of the series! Her scenes are ESSENTIAL to the story!
That's one of the things I've slowly realized over a few watches. There's so much good stuff it's easy to miss some important details
@@ProfessorViral Same here! It is really well crafted and worth the rewatch. There are other details in your videos that you bring up that I never noticed!
Have you read Nagisa's backstory yet? It was revealed during an event in the Magia Record phone game but is a) canon and b) available to watch on UA-cam. I think it really sheds light on who she is as a character and why she becomes so attached to Mami
When you look at Madoka Magica from this perspective, I see a lot of parallels with the theme of Attack on Titan: "never tie yourself to a specific goal or an identity, be ready to sacrifice what you must--especially your certainties. Anything less than this will make you a prisoner". Difference is that Madoka is "heroic" (as in she "understands" the thematic viewpoint of the story, and gets to "win", so to speak), Eren is tragic (he rejects the thematic viewpoint, at least in the manga, and he pays the consequences).
Dude, I love this video. You are a bona fide philosopher. I especially like the scene were Madoka visits Mami's apartment after her death. It's very emotional and not something I'd expect from this type of show. The overall theme of wishes and desires you explain are really interesting.
Thank you very much : ) I love that scene as well; it takes the pomp and flash Mami was known for and does the exact opposite with her memory. A great, sad moment
Oddly enough, this is one of the most optimistic videos I've seen in a while. I tend to fixate on the past and the choices I made, somehow wishing I did something different. But that will always hold me back. It's good to learn and reflect, but a big part in growing up as a person is also accepting that it happened and moving forward to grow as a person. That the past, while precious, cannot be the only thing we can rely on. We can make the future something even brighter. If anything, I felt the mother so much: Yeah, the job that I have might not be the best, but we work around it to make a situation better for ourselves.
Thats the ideal for sure. It's a tough balance of being aware of the past and regrets, of feeling nostalgia so we try to improve, but keeping those feelings aimed at the future. Being human is a hard and complex task!
Wake up babe another madoka magica analysis came out
🤣
I feel the exact way you do: I want to help people because seeing the hurt in others makes me feel so damn helpless when I can't do anything to relieve it. To fix it. To help. But you ARE helping, I believe. Through these videos, you're highlighting the pros and cons of certain ways of thinking and that can be very helpful when it comes to people who are stuck in some kind of rut.
Never stop being who you are, because I think you're plenty helpful 😊
That you so much : ) that's what I really want to do, not just with videos but with my being itself. Hearing that I'm able to do that means so much!
Indirectly, I feel like this essay shows the destruction of the magical girls in Madoka Magica.
Wish is at the core of them and the series shows us the price, the despair, and the brutality of that desire to completion, as you said.
Rebellion is my favorite part of the story and Homura my favorite character, being stuck in nostalgia for what feels like eternity, but descending into madness bit by bit, even as a resilient character.
in the movie, the whole world felt a bit weird, but the moment that I understood that Homura became a witch and that whole world is my made by her is even more beautiful in a way. Being more vast and dangerous than any Witch world we ever saw.
Her wish to have Madoka be the Madoke she first met made her capture and imprison her.
She found her completion at the end of the movie.
I really wish Gen Urobuchi is actually working on a sequel, so we see the end of it all.
I hope this wish won't bring me to despair. (Joking, I love Madoka Magica even there won't be any sequel)
I think she did find completion at the end of rebellion, but in an odd way. She's completely detached from who she once was. Her sense of self has almost complete dissolved, and so it becomes "easy" to complete; she only needs Madoka to define who she is, whether that's achieved through being good, evil, hateful, loving, etc means nothing anymore. She's taken her case to the absolute extreme
I take it you're not aware of the upcoming Rebellion sequel movie, Walpurgis no Kaiten?
@@KillMarnoc You're take is wrong, I know of the possible sequel to Rebellion for some time, even saw the new art of it a few months ago, but it doesn't have a definitive release date, until now.
Theres walpurgis no kaiten, but its not out yet so for now we just have to survive off of magia record.
I've come to accept that completion doesn't exist. When creating something, it is always possible to add more, to improve, but at some point it inevitably gets put down or shipped out. The only end is not completion, but abandonment. Applied to one's life, the closest one can get to completion is death.
This sort of philosophy I think plays into the wish I came up with were I offered one: for a stable future. In a way, the intention behind the wish is for the ability to put down the maintenance of my own life so that I can be free to observe the change in the world. In a way, the "nostalgia" would likely be from a belief of what the world could be, and I'd be abandoning my own humanity to keep myself static and "alive" as a passive observer, even if I don't believe that I am powerful enough to bring about that possible future myself. Is this really "living?" I think it's safe to say that it isn't, but wanting to see what comes next is effectively the main reason I continue to "live" and I'm scared of not being able to maintain my life and miss out on so much. This is also probably why I so easily fall for escapism.
Changing myself into a state that can remain static so that I can separate myself from the world to watch it change on its own. That would be my wish.
P.S. I will say that I think it would be significantly harder to know myself worse than I believe myself to... since I don't believe I know myself at all.
I've never seen someone else express such an intent before. I've been obsessed with the idea of an eternal observer since the first time I heard it. To me, I understand it would likely be a form of hell, but it's one I accept. I want to continue forever, to witness what this world has to offer and how it will change. I simply want to be, nothing more. It's somewhat comforting to finally see someone express such a thing; thank you for that
@@ProfessorViral That was far from the response I was expecting. Ultimately, much of what I want to do is that which is impossible with today's technology. It's likely part of why I spend so much time escaping into fantasy and sci-fi, thinking about what could be.
As I see it, change is natural. The rock on the beach will be worn down, the tree will fall and decay, the ground will erupt with shoots and sprouts when winter ends. Should we not change as well? Are we forbidden to prepare for change, or initiate change when the universe changes around us? No. Having a desire is the brain working as intended; feeling a need or anticipation of change, having a guess as to what that might be a solution, and being given a boost of stimulation to try to see if thing X fits in hole Y. If Y is not satisfied, try thing Z. It is a simple brain program to get us to eat the food, and avoid the spikey plants. Could we be complete if we tested everything with every need to see what fills the need most efficiently and satisfactorily? Not without avoiding consequences, and as the Lion King put it, “There’s more to see, more than can ever be seen, more to do, than ever be done”.
Even if it would be possible to be complete, I think that would make us something else by nature. A painting becomes a “painted” when framed and sold. Excluding repair, it will likely never be painted on again. A used paper towel has completed its task when it cleans up a spill, but can it never be used in the same manner again. It looses its status as a paper towel and becomes trash. And would Layton be a puzzle master if he completed every puzzle? With no puzzles to figure out, his skills in puzzle solving could only benefit him to skills tangentially related to a skill he can no longer fully utilize.
heyyyy my favourite emotional trauma anime
100% 🤣🤣
this video highlights what is so incredibly vital to the story of Madoka Magica, that the strength to keep going is important and that there *is* hope, we are not bound by contracts and change is there for us
Madoka, Evangelion and serial experiment lain are probably the only animes to survive centuries to come and somehow still stay popular
Something I find really cool about your analysis is how closely it parallels Goethe's Faust, which is referenced and alluded to so many times in the series. Faust's bargain with the devil Mephistopheles is that if the devil can grant him a moment that he wishes to remain in forever, he can have his soul, which is basically exactly the sort of moment of completion you talk about in this video and that causes the girls' wishes to destroy their souls. Also, I really love how you covered Junko's role. I rewatch PMMM every year and Junko's arc has become one of my favorite character arcs.
Subscribed - thanks for posting this video! Great take on this anime series.
I always looked at Madoka Magica's main characters as sort of a representation of the five stages of grief:
Kyubey represents the void, the moment of sorrow taking form to consume the life as it is lost.
Mami represents denial, a death stopped and frozen in time until it catches up to her.
Sayaka represents anger, a friend injured by consequence and rebelled into resentment towards a cruel world.
Kyoko represents bargaining, a willingness to explore the options she has to avoid her own expense.
Homura represents sorrow, an endless cycle of revisiting a horrific moment that numbs her to the consequences of desire itself.
Madoka represents acceptance, knowing full well what the cycle is and what she has to do to break it.
But after I watched this video, I now also think of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse:
Kyubey represents the trumpeter, the misleading and disarming voice of the impending doom that is about to consume them all.
Mami represents pestilence, a flawed perspective that spreads and ultimately tempts others to follow in her disaster.
Sayaka represents famine, a desire given form that slowly starves her of the love she holds dear.
Kyoko represents war, a rebellion against the values of her own wish and hatred of the cycle that becomes a call to action.
Homura represents death, the collapse of the very values that give the cycle meaning and ultimately becoming an unavoidable fate.
Madoka represents the aftermath, the rebirth and necessary change of the human condition to rebuild and protect what remains.
If we keep these things in mind, the wish to be complete makes a lot more sense. They are all fighting the cycle, a destiny that appears unshakeable, incapable of change and infallible in its quest to claim their souls. But perhaps more importantly, they are all convinced - and then betrayed - by their own desires, into becoming unwilling participants in the cycle itself. They become what they desire to kill. They become the stages of grief to become the means to an end rejected by its meaning.
Another banger, for sure.
Something that really supports your idea of the search for nostalgia is found within the official descriptions of the characters' witches. Oktavia, most directly, is described as 'looking for the feeling that moved her so long ago.' Ophelia's description reads that 'she can no longer remember what the horse that always accompanies her was,' with Magia Record's doppel design giving the horse her sister's hair (perhaps suggesting she had mentally distanced herself from the very reason she contracted-- a sense of family). And, as you discuss, there's the entirety of Rebellion to attest to Homulilly.
I forgot to look at the witches directly again 😭 I even said I would this time! I'm glad you added that detail, it's something which really helps support this and add great additional detail!
"Say where is my shame
When I call your name
So please
Don't set me free !
I'm as heavy,
As can be
I will do you harm
I will break my arm
I'm a victim
Of your charms
I want to be dead
When I'm in bed.
I can be so mean
You can beat me
I would like to shame you.
I would like to blame you !
Just because of my love
For you !"
But seriously now, I hope in Homura's world, the girls understand they need to talk things through in order to truly be free from themselves.
Also, I think some of them (cough Nagisa cough) need to be punished for their actions when the Hellish version of Homura's Purgatory shows itself.
I think that's what I love most about Rebellion, is that Sayaka has really matured to where it feels like she could avoid the mistakes of her past. She really grows, and trys to teach Homura that lesson
@@ProfessorViral but she still has her own lesson to learn. Kyosuke and Hitomi. Not only she must learn actually talk to Hitomi... but to trust her. This is something some members of the fandom, including myself, have been talking about for a while. Ever since they got involved in the whole Magical Girl business, they kinda started ignoring her. And, I think she's been suffering because of that.
why do you want nagisa to be punished?? she already got threatened by homura in rebellion
Boogiepop vs imaginator had a bit to do with this but from the perspective that people are born incomplete and the "villain" basically takes parts from one person and swaps them with another, and as such has this sort of element that deals with innate human flaws and how they affect relationships.
I should go back and read it to compare and contrast to this essay.
Within the context of madoka, this take feels like a stretch. The witches, dreams being crushed, etc.... Madoka is definitely more of a Peter Pan parable, and becoming a witch is entering adulthood, and happens upon crushing childhood wishes/dreams.
If I recall correctly, Madoka's wish is one for others, but in the framework of regrets, Madoka's wish isn't one of nostalgia and thus not of regret. She also transitions into "adulthood" through acceptance, which also lessens the pain of the wish because disillusionment isn't accompanying the crisis that is that transition for others. She's fully aware. (And perhaps in that "complete", but not really, because it has nothing really to do with completion)
Madoka breaks the mold for sure, but thats what makes her the ideal case to me. The further from the core concept a wish is, the more ideal it is. So, by wishing for the future, she avoids these pitfalls. I should have done some more clarification on the overall scope, because you're very much right. I'm trying to work on applying specific terms, so I appreciate the feedback!
Meanwhile - my BPD ass watching this with a limited sense of self only being driven by hedonistic desires 🙃
On the plus side I don't really have regrets but... I never really have a "completion" to work towards.
I feel like I'm just permanently going forward chasing new excitement and new change without really having anywhere to settle into once that change has happened.
I think that's a healthier way to live at times. It feels more realistic to what we are, constantly changing and forming a new self. The struggle to settle may be something we feel due to society, and as something unnatural it leads us to odd feelings, with or without it, depending on the person
This is pretty close to how I live, though with the added caveat of wanting to see what comes next and worrying about whether or not I'll be able to live to see it. I am absolutely terrible at taking care of myself, doing pretty much the minimum for self-preservation.
I love looking into the characters design and how it links to the characters stories. The problem with kuybey's system is that every life is different thus every soul is. Meaning that the hardships and joys are in constant conflicting levels and amounts. No two souls are the same so the amount of joy and sorrow isn't either.
I love your video. It clearly is a work of passion. Your voice is very pleasing and your choice of words just stunning. Keep going.
Thank you, I will : )
Professor Viral your a genius. You mentioned both entropy and the heat death of the universe in an anime video; how sacrificing a few decreases entropy. Amazing.
Hey, that stuff is all from Urobuchi, he's the genius!
@@ProfessorViral I learned about entropy and heat death of the universe by watching kurgesagt videos. Check them about, they do beautiful animated videos about life, death, and the universe.
I love your Madoka Magica videos!!! :)
Thank you, glad they're still holding up! : D
Bro became a therapist in one video.
I'm just trying to help people think through whatever they're feeling. So, I guess to some degree 🤣
@@ProfessorViral LOL. Hey have you heard of the new movie walpurgis no kaiten?
This is one of the most thoughtful pieces of Madoka I think I've ever seen. Your ruminations are incredibly intriguing, thanks for the vid!!!
No problem, thank you for the kind words!
YEAAAAH madoka magica video hell yes thank u. i love these so much
Thank you! Happy to keep providing!
Why tf didn't anyone tell Madoka to just wish for the incubators to not exist?
Wouldn't that erase the concept of witches and magical girls and stops the shit before it even starts?
That is exactly why Hitomi never makes a wish. The Incubators know that she'd do that. This was stated by the staff in a Q&A once. Pretty hilarious that despite all the slander, she's the only smart girl in the anime.
@@jouheikisaragi6075 maaaaannnnnn if I was Madoka and had watched all that shit go down because of Kyuubey, coupled with someone telling me to avoid Kyuubey, I’d be like “oh really? Bet, I wish Kyuubey and the entire race of incubators never existed, thereby making the concept of magical girls and wishes nonexistent so that no one has to endure suffering at your hands”.
Bingo bango bongo, over and done.
But like you said, if the Incubators knew Hitomi was that smart, there’s no way Madoka or any others just as smart would have gotten the chance
I think kyubey's priority is to save the Galaxy and create Magical Girls and wouldn't allow that. As an example, Sana Futaba has wished not to exist but still lives on as a Magical Girl or still exists. If someone wished that Kyubey or the incubator no longer existed, then she will forget the existence of the incubators and they will no longer be able to see them like Sana Futaba no longer sees in the "human world". Her explanation is probably manipulated so that she has always been a Magical Girl.
The universe is vast. It’s very possible that some other species that are very aware of the power of the incubators would take over where the Incubators left off. Whether that species is more benevolent (good) or more malevolent (bad) than when the Incubators were in control is whether Madoka Magica chooses to be more idealistic or cynical.
@@BriChuhime-sama I gave you my answer as to why Kyubey STAYS alive in post rebellion comics. It may has began as torture but then kept going as more is revealed in the universe (in Homura’s mind).
Yo this video deep keep it up.
Another masterpiece
Great video!!! :D
Nostalgia probably not the best word to use......
Off! You offed me every time you place nostalgia near regret..... I say this prob wasn't the best but, you do make bangers plus eseying isn't easy.
This is why I always wish to be happy
I wonder how that would happen in their world, if it would just break Kyubey
I can see you have great taste in anime. Madoka Magica is my all time favourite, I couldn't find anything better than this.
I would recommend an anime to you, you will definitely love it. I put it almost upto Madoka level. It's Mononoke. A story collection about a medicine seller who is actually an exorcist. Please give it a watch. It's highly underrated.
This makes me relate to Kyoko in a new way.
Glad I could provide that!
now you've covered the letter M, I recommend you to watch Narutaru as one of the candidates for the letter N. Narutaru was a manga series written and illustrated by Mohiro Kitoh, who also created Bokurano, and the anime was 'written' by Chiaki J.Konaka. It's a Mon deconstruction but it's extremely darker than Chiaki Konaka's previous work from the same subgenre, Digimon Tamers. It's as deceiving as Madoka Magica because it has a cheery op with cute girls doing stuff that later on becomes bleaker once you have enough context of the show... Unfortunately, the anime ended abruptly with a cliffhanger but a lot of people seem to agree that it's somewhat a faithful adaptation of the manga (the anime covers until volume 7 out of 12). Personally, I think Narutaru is far bleaker than Madoka and I still have yet to recover from reading the manga but the story overall is not as great as the latter.
This is me once again asking you to watch Mushishi.
Can you make a video about kyoko? She’s my favorite character.
Sorry for being so late to the party - I don't expect you to read this, but I do have something to say. While I love the video overall, I don't agree with the idea that Madoka's wish is the perfect good or her way of reaching true completion... Although she does an objectively good thing, it's a move that's entirely self-destructive and a manifestation of all her flaws. Madoka's biggest problem throughout the entire series is how little confidence she has in herself, her total lack of worth in her own eyes and her self-sacrificial nature. In isolation and moderation, self-sacrifice is a virtue unto itself, but in Madoka's case it blows past normal behavior into being plainly harmful to both herself and others (mainly Homura, but generally anyone who values her). She never gets to grow and change, she never learns to love herself before loving others, because she's able to make a contract and simply stop changing.
In this sense, her wish isn't as much an upset to the natural path of magical girls as it is a continuation of it - she gains her desire of feeling useful and helping others, and in exchange transforms into something inhuman. Her wish isn't a complete fix either, with magical girls still fighting, dying, and falling to despair in the shadows. She simply stops their transformation into witches. Her wish at the end of the series is, past the surface level, simply a pretty suicide that Madoka can feel happy about. I feel strongly about this mainly because I used to be someone a lot like her - to an extent I still am - and I know how this mindset can slowly erode you from the inside. When your existence becomes about helping others, you eventually lose yourself.
This is why I love Rebellion and Homura so much, and why I believe a follow-up was completely necessary. Homura loves Madoka enough (however abnormal her feelings may be) to see the good that resides in Madoka, absent of any sacrifice or self-inflicted pain, and does her absolute damnedest to save Madoka from herself after the famous flowerbed scene. Sometimes love doesn't always mean being nice or letting the other person do whatever they want - and this is why Homura is the best friend someone like Madoka could ever ask for, their opposing loves of humanity and of the other balancing each other out and letting each other finally live in peace.
Man the music in this is so calming, anyone know the name?
I resonate with your inability to be able to stomach another person's suffering, but that is not a weakness. That is a strength only humans can have. As a famous Dante from Devil May Cry would say:
"Tears are something only humans can have."
Its obviously not 1:1 true for all species, I'm sure there are other animals with tear ducts, but that quote is more about empathy and the strength empathy is, rather than a weakness. Do not view your strength as a weakness.
animals are capable of feeling empathy too btw,
and human is part of the animal kingdom anyway
mans is better the my therapist thanks for these videos i watch them when they show up on my suggested your vids help me understand myself better😁
Hmm I wonder why you say in the video that Madoka came out in 2012 while the caption says it came out in 2011?
That's just me misspeaking slightly, I always mix up 2011 and 2012 releases
What’s the anime at 7:30?
That one is Kiznaiver, from Trigger
maguka is pain
I recommend you watch Monster... It's deep and philosophical... Trust me you'll love it professor viral ☺️
It's one I'll watch one day for sure! Since it's longer I just need to get ahead to account for the extra time it'll take
@@ProfessorViral thanks for replying... Trust me you won't regret
Nice haircut
I am still not sure about Madoka Magic. Is it worth the watch?
For sure, it's a 9/10 for me and a fantastic series overall
I also recommend reading the mangas. They're as good and sometimes better than the animes(Oriko GOAT). That said: I cannot recommend the anime for the semi sequel Magia Record.
Hell yeah I loved it
Low quality madoka plushie
The spin off manga Kazumi magica is better. Just sayin.
HOLY SHIT SOMEONE ACKNOWLEDGES KAZUMI! I prefer Oriko, but I love Kaz so much. I'm still salty we never got a Kazumi anime but we had that god awful Magia Record one.
@@jouheikisaragi6075 Magia record did have a second Kazumi event. The Cuddly Despairs. Which is so much better than Another Daze was.
@@robertkovarna8294 the second Kazumi event. In which Kaz further flexes that she's the only MadoMagi MC allowed to have happy endings(until Madoka fucks her over anyway)
@@jouheikisaragi6075 I really don't think Madoka would be doing such a thing. Wouldn't that invalidate her own existence as a person different from Michiru if she did?
@@robertkovarna8294 yeah. You *can* say that Kaz and Michi are different souls thus they're both in the LoC(though for Kazumi this is still tragic as she's in a similar boat to post anime Homura but without even getting a chance to exist). Other theories include that Kaz is living her own life as Kazumi Subaru, a different person from Michiru Kazusa in the Wraith Worlds with a wholly different background or that Kazumi caused a glitch in reality due to being a walking paradox for the LoC that Madoka locks her up in some part of the LoC but sepparate from everyone else.
Goddamn, you be watching the dub eh? Geez... Worse yet... well, you lumping in old philoshophers with... well, tomato sauce with vanilla ice cream is probably the best way to describe how I feel about old man philosophers being mentioned alongside cute anime girls who, while their stories do perhaps cross over philosophically, they don't aesthetically or... timewise?
The same odd revoltion comes from expressing emotion in the real world for me, as it seemingly does not belong... its... unnatural, and confined to the television or the internet where nothing is... within my reach...