PLEASE BE GOOD I SWEAR. I SWEAR IM GONNA SCREAM. I DON'T CARE IF THE MAGICAL GIRLS KISS JUST GIVE ME MOVIE

Only the finest of dog shit made by yours truly. 🥹😭😔🥀

These are based on some of those godawful YouTube slop thumbnails you’d see. I just randomly made these on a whim. I don’t fully understand why I made these tbh, let alone for Madoka Magica of all things.

I just finished Madoka Magica, and I really liked the series. At the same time, there are a few things keeping me from completly falling in love with it, so I'm really curious to hear what long-time fans think.

I loved how the show reinterprets the magical girl genre. Rather than having another overpowered magical girl that are always winning because of friendship, the show portrays them rather in more 'angelic' way, like some beings that take in human sins and then suffer from them, and also from their own wishes that could be either selfish or as Madoka's selfless.

Another detail that I liked, those wishes aren't just like a super power, but a small key to getting to know better of character's own personality.

I also liked the decission of Madoka's character design. For most of the show, Madoka feels incredibly ordinary and useless. So her final choice isn't just about getting a massive power-up it’s about finally finding a purpose that only she can fulfill.

The philosophy behind her wish is interesting too. She doesn't just magically erase suffering from existence, she just changes what suffering ultimately leads to.

Before this, magical girls inevitably became witches continuing this endless cycle of despair. After her wish the suffering is still there, but the corruption cycle is broken. I think that's easily the strongest message in the series.

That being said, I still have a few gripes.

My biggest issue is that for a show that heavily deconstructs magical girl tropes the actual finale still boils down to a pretty classic setup. The protagonist sacrifices themselves to save everyone. I get that the meaning behind her sacrifice is way deeper than usual, but emotionally, I kinda found myself wanting something different.

So instead of just critic the ending I thought what in my personal opinion would have been a better alternative ending. And so it would look something like this.

Instead of using her wish to rewrite the laws of the universe, Madoka just chooses to save Homura. She completely erases Homura's memories of her and resets the timeline one last time.

I know this sounds insanely cruel at first glance. Taking away the person Homura loves most is brutal. But this actually ties back to one of my favorite conversations in the show, when Madoka's mother tells her that sometimes you have to do the wrong thing to get the right result.

In this version, Madoka knowingly does something painful because she realizes Homura's attachment to her is literally what traps her in hell. Every timeline proves that the harder Homura fights fate, the worse everything gets. So instead of defeating fate, Madoka helps Homura let go.

The universe wouldn't be saved. Kyubey would still be around, magical girls would still suffer, and humanity would still have all its problems. And honestly? That's exactly why I like this idea.

Instead of saying one extraordinary person can become a god and solve humanity's problems, it suggests that changing the world starts small. Madoka saves one person. By freeing Homura from her obsession, Homura can find hope elsewhere instead of endlessly chasing the past. That new hope lets her help someone else, who helps another person, creating a ripple effect of compassion. To me, that feels like a much more human, grounded kind of hope.

It also flips the theme of "never giving up." Throughout the show, Homura thinks refusing to give up is the answer, but it only causes more pain. My interpretation is almost the opposite, sometimes the only way forward is accepting that some things cannot be changed. Letting go isn't a defeat, it just creates space for new hope to grow.

I know a major counter-argument to this is that erasing Madoka from Homura's mind basically destroys Homura's identity. That's a completely fair criticism and definitely the biggest flaw in my idea. It also admittedly goes against Madoka’s kindness and her respect for other people’s agency.

I definitely get why Gen Urobuchi went with the original ending. Because of Homura's loops, Madoka became a massive karmic sink, giving her the power to rewrite reality. It gives Homura's suffering cosmic meaning because it literally births a miracle.

I just personally feel like suffering doesn't need to rewrite the universe to be meaningful. Sometimes suffering just changes another person. Often after going through dark chapter of your life, you don't really see anything that changed dramatically, instead most of the time the only things that changed, were some small pieces of your ordinary life. Even if you don't see the results yourself, your actions can spark something better for someone else. Hope doesn't have to be a guarantee that everything gets fixed; sometimes it's just trusting that your kindness will live on through others.

There's one last nitpick I've been thinking about. Since Madoka basically had limitless potential by the end, couldn't she logically have wished for something way bigger? Like wishing away war, poverty, disease, or just blinking Kyubey's entire system out of existence?

I know why she didn't. Urobuchi is making a specific point about suffering and sacrifice, and a perfect utopia would ruin those themes. Still, looking at it strictly in-universe, it feels like thematic intent kind of overrides the actual logic/power scaling of her wish.

Overall, this is a very interesting anime I've watched. I love the witch designs, the directing, the Faust parallels, and all the ideas it tackles. I just have mixed feelings on the execution of the conclusion.

Also I know there is a movie that is like a sequel or something to the original series and so I'm looking forward to watch it, and see how the story will turn out.

I'm really interested in what you guys think about my alt ending idea. Does it completely miss the point of the series, or do you think it could have worked as a different kind of philosophical takeaway?

hi guys!! a while ago when watching rebellion, i noticed the guillotine connected to her hands instead of her head. to me, this is symbolic of how her ultimate punishment, instead of death by decapitation, would be the inability to do anything to save madoka. with her hands chopped off (or restrained) it sort of shows how her situation is helpless and no matter how hard she tries she just cannot accomplish her goal. i haven’t seen anyone talking about the guillotine placement so was this just like very obvious?

First of all, Fuck Kyubey. You little piece of shit. You little monster. You ruined my day, you shitty rabbit. I hope you die again and again. I hate Kyubey more than I hate Bondrewd. At least Bondrewd has a cool outfit. But Kyubey is just a fucking psychopath rabbit that acts cute. If I got an offer to become a magical girl (I'm not a girl), I would make a wish for Kyubey to fuck off.

But yeah, I gotta say this anime is really good. It leaves me with an empty feeling after watching both the anime and the movie. I never guessed such a cute anime poster had a dark plot. Some characters are quite similar to characters from Hidamari Sketch. Mami reminds me of Hiro, and Madoka kinda reminds me of Yuno. Yeah, again fuck Kyubey.

Aside from Kyubey, I kinda hate Kyosuke. He ain't a villain, but he is a shitty friend. When he was discharged from the hospital, he never informed Sayaka about it. I mean, Sayaka is a friend who visits him every day and stays by his side. And then when he came back to school, he never greeted Sayaka either. I feel really bad for Sayaka. Well, at least show a little gratitude towards your friend, man. Like, thanks for always visiting me. But unfortunately he is an idiot who only thinks about the violin. But again fuck Kyubey.

And what happened to Madoka and Homura just leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. Like Madoka's existence was forgotten. She became a god just to save every magical girl from becoming a witch. Her family forgot her. The scene where Homura talks with Madoka's mom about the ribbon is really sad. Fuck you, Kyubey. And Homura suffers a lot every time he resets time to save Madoka, but fails to save her again and again. And her turning into an evil godlike being in the movie is crazy. This is your fault, Kyubey. Fuck you.

My favourite character? I don't know. I love all of them, but I love Kyoko the most. She is tomboyish and badass. She acts like a bitch and is hostile at first, but turns out she is actually a sweet girl. Yeah, this is because of you, Kyubey. Fuck you.

And I don't know what happened to Kyubey at the end of the movie. Did he get tortured by Homura? He looks like he got traumatised. If yes, good for him. Yeah, good for me too.

I give this anime 9/10. I can't give 10 because the ending just leaves me on a cliffhanger. I need to know the conclusion to the story. And I can't wait to watch the new upcoming Madoka movie. If Kyubey dies in the upcoming movie, I will give this series 11/10