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[Clover Rider]

[The Hierophant]

Oh my god? After a year and three months there's a new Berserk chapter!



I can't hold back the tears.

[Clover Rider]

@Sim

 

His granddad was quite the looker in his day.

[Master Warder Z_]

And this gif is so full of freaking win!

 

 

This one is better

[Clover Rider]

Yeah #16 trying to help Son Gohan go SSJ2 so he can beat Cell makes for a great gif.

 

Tho that does not really look like Toei's animation? Meh they have had their crap days in the past so no big deal.

[Isichar]

Oh my god? After a year and three months there's a new Berserk chapter!



I can't hold back the tears.

OMG o_0

[Puzzlewell]

And now, I bring to you the product of Ani's super happy fun-time rewatch of PMMM and four days to put it all together! This is going to be long, fair warning. It goes all over the place too, gushing, idle thoughts, and most specifically how Rebellion has colored the series now. This was my first proper re-watch (as in not just watching specific scenes or singular episodes) since last December and now having Rebellion under my belt as well. For the sake of being somewhat organized, I'm breaking down my thoughts by movie. I'm so sorry in advance (or am I >_>).

 

The Beginning Story notes

Spoiler

Because it had been so long since I originally watched episode 1, I didn't pick up on how wonderfully delightful it is that TRS' first scene after the nightmare fight mimics episode 1's opening perfectly save for different dialogue. Madoka's 'I don't have any secret admirers...' made me just grin. Oh foreshadowing. Since I mentioned the opening of TBS before I'll go into a little more detail here. The SKU parallels that I keep mumbling about making me twitch are dependent on hand touching. https://www.youtube....h?v=fMLGTV_hDMU (That's SKU's opening) Out of context it probably doesn't mean much and it's probably strange that such a simple thing makes me get all stupid but in context with both series... It's funny that TBS' opening does kind of spoil some things visually, Godoka in all her glory most specifically. At the same time it's the usual Magica Quartet way of me picturing them sitting around a table giggling over how they can work so much imagery in that will later have a different context. The song is lovely though, even if I do miss Connect. Also THE NUZZLING. :') Oh Gen, I love the fact that you enjoy eating my heart for breakfast.

 

I've never thought about it before but considering the fact that she's reset over 100 times, Homura's apprehension about letting Mami fight Charlotte makes me strongly think that this timeline is not the first Mami was killed here. An effect I've always loved in the series is when Madoka and Mami have their talk before the Charlotte fight, the background behind them while Mami vents her loneliness is very lowkey and dulled. Once Madoka shares her sense of comradery, the whole screen lights up. Yes this isn't Mami's barrier but I always appreciated the fact that it almost connected with her own mental state.

 

Junko's line about doing something for a friend, even if they immediately don't understand that it's a good thing. Oh man. Rebellion is grey enough that this is up in the air but it puts an interesting spin on how Homura felt that Madoka wished she hadn't sacrificed herself at the end of the series.

 

J: Would you still want to resolve it if it isn't a neat and tidy solution?

M: Yes.

J: Then you should make a mistake for her.

M: A mistake for her?

J: Sometimes you tell an awful lie, or run away from something scary... and then later look back and realize that that was actually precisely the right thing to do, right? If you can see there's no way for your friend's problem to end but in despair, it'd be better for her to crash and burn sooner rather than later.

M: But do you think she'll understand that I'm doing it for her own good?

J: Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't- especially at first. But I warned you that it wouldn't be a pretty ending. So what seems better to you? To give up on your friend, or to be misunderstood by her?

 

Since they seemingly worked backwards on TRS, some of the dialogue between Madoka and Homura in the series really does make it hard to believe because it fits so perfectly. After the Sayaka and Kyouko duel, she flat out says that if reasoning with a fool won't work, she'll take more drastic measures. Come TRS and she is made to believe that Madoka is/could be unhappy with the wish to be separated from everyone like at the end of the series, and Homura finds her drastic measures. I have a hard time subscribing to the idea that she doesn't respect Madoka's descision because of the flower field scene. It could be a case of miscommunication, the thing that has gotten so many girls in trouble as far as their wishes are concerned in the past. In Madoka's mind series wise, she was perfectly clear with her wants and desires at the end to Kyubey and that remade the system as we know it. Come the flower field scene and Homura walks away from that conversation truly believing that Madoka didn't truly want to be separated from everyone.

 

Homura calling Madoka out for the fact that her kindness could bring about more tragedy really is an almost gutwrenching moment with TRS so fresh in my mind. Yes all those resets damaged her, there's no question about it but the true scarring more than likely wasn't done until Madoka became a god and was completely removed from the equation in a tangible sense. In TRS Homura started to doubt her own memories up until the pieces started falling into place. Depression based out of the loss of an important individual can do that quite easily, be it through physical death or a parting of ways. Once enough time has passed, there can come a point where the person suffering questions their own memories, both good and bad. That's where the Godoka relief in her barrier comes back into play. It's like a hidden away photo or something of that sort, a visual reminder of the most important thing.

 

The alley scene with Sayaka and Homura in TRS is such a fantastic call back to their 'first' meeting after Sayaka makes her contract. Right down to Sayaka still calling her transfer student, except this time the roles are reversed. It's these little details that really do drive me up a wall in a good way. I can never seem to get my feelings out about such a simple scene but Sayaka's character growth throughout the series is such a wonderful thing to me.

 

Regret is such a decidedly difficult emotion. It's a theme that comes up so many times in the series and while in hindsight of TRS the conversation between Madoka and Sayaka on whether or not the latter has any regrets after first becoming a magical girl is almost generally smile worthy, thinking in context of the series alone it's very painful with knowing what comes later. Sometimes I worry that I talk about these characters with too much of a bias and if that is the case, I apologize. I do see a lot of myself in Sayaka and Homura as I've mentioned before so my own personal bias might get in the way. That in no way means I can't see their faults. If anything, it makes me notice them more easily because I do register my own personal character flaws. Sayaka's decline is almost excruciating at times for me because of that. Good intentions screwing you over. It's easier to say it's something that hits Kyouko on a far grander scale, but Sayaka's feels more personal in that we are allowed to see her own decline play out in full first hand.

 

I vaguely mentioned before that Sayaka in the beginning is very much the sort that bases her own self worth on those around her's opinions. I still can't help but wonder if she was given some sort of positive reinforcement along the way, if it would have slowed or even all but stopped her eventual witching point. Yes Kyosuke and Hitomi were part of that breaking point but I've always kind of felt like it was the sort of last straw sort of thing. Her wish could be called selfish in that she fixed Kyosuke almost for her own gain but even that is a very grey point. She healed him to make him happy again and in that make herself happy out of a purely empathetic outlook. Kyouko does call her on it later with the suggestion that she made the wish in order to push Kyousuke into the mindset of being eternally grateful to her and that she should have gone the far more direct route if she wanted him to be indebted to her. It comes back around to the idea of selfish love that I meant to expand upon earlier.

 

For as whiny as I was on learning that they replaced Decretum during the Elsa Maria fight, adding it over Sayaka watching Hitomi telling Kyosuke her feelings and the fight bit before the train scene to further show her decline really made me shut my mouth on the matter. While the series used a more music box sort of version to it, the movie chose to use the version I normally connect to the Elsa Maria fight, so good job on punching my feels there. Really confused as to why they decided to cut out the almost fight between Sayaka and Homura though since it dropped the bigger hint about Madoka being Homura's motivation, the lengths she's willing to go for her, put in clear words how apathetic Sayaka had become and pushed the fact that Kyouko cares for Sayaka a bit further, I suppose it was for pacing sake though since in TBS it cuts from seeing Hitomi and Kyousuke together to the almost desperate fight scene and ending on the train. I do really like that train scene a lot personally, always have and the fact that the movie increased the contrast in the scene from the series really helped for me to serve as a visual idea that Sayaka currently sees the world in such black and white terms.

 

I read before that Gen has stated that he has no idea how to write 'proper' love because the emotion alone is just insane to him. That's just the thing though. In saying he can't write love, the line I'm using as my signature feels like it encapsulates the emotion above platonic and familial love perfectly. Maybe I sound jaded, I don't know but I've come to believe that love in and of itself is selfish. I don't feel that's a bad thing per se, in my mind there is absolutely nothing wrong with a bit of selfishness within reason. The idea of giving yourself over to another person is very selfless on first thought but at the same time, it's supposed to be a mutual thing. Give and get back. So there are the selfless thoughts but at the same time, the selfish desires to get the same in return. Balance. Their teacher can easily be taken as comic relief because of how out of sorts about her relationships she gets but taking the flipside of that and looking at the things Junko says to her in their talk at the bar and even just looking at the Kaname family in general serves to show the other half of the coin. It's human nature to search for love and try to make things work. Sometimes sacrifices will be made and it's often a question of whether or not that sacrifice is worth it. Sayaka felt that rush after her wish and seeing Kyousuke play on the roof because it was a visual acknowledgment that she did something good for the person she cares about. As her decline goes on and she starts get hit repeatedly with negative reinforcement from the other girls, seeing the general negative to apathetic outlooks of those around her, finding out the truth about soul gems and what the contract means to the girls' bodies, so the revelation that she made a sacrifice for something that isn't going to 'work' just feels like the tip of the iceberg. A lot of the fandom seems to focus solely on the stuff with Kyousuke amd Hitomi as being Sayaka's personal hell and while yes, it is such an unfortunate visual reminder on why love is such an insane emotion in general, I've never been able to place the blame solely there for why she lets despair in. It basically becomes a steady chain of negative happenings in seemingly a short amount of time. Of course the potential insanity of love plays out on a much larger scale in TRS.

 

The Eternal Story notes

Spoiler

Kyouko's wish before her sacrifice is made increasingly painful thanks to things that happen in TRS K: Please God. Look at the life I've lived. Please, let me have a happy dream, for once in my life. Think later to Rebellion and well, one could say she got her happy dream. The new music for her sacrifice and the fact that they added in a scene of the two of them looking at each other and Kyouko smiles almost reassuringly before dying is just rip my heart out and eat it whole. I love it. During the 'Protect what's most important to you' scene, we're flat out told the truth about Homura's motivations just by watching her eyes during Kyouko's speech. It's something I've loved whenever rewatching the fight because one episode later, we're told what's most important to her. I've always kind of pondered what the images on the screens that show up in a few of labyrinths really are supposed to symbolize. In the sake of Oktavia, one could say they are looming important thoughts that the human behind the witch had, or perhaps just idle thoughts as in this case, the screens blank out once Oktavia realizes she isn't alone and pulls them to her. In the case of Elly though, the screens show Mami and Madoka takes it on herself to interpret the situation that she's being shown these things to further the guilt she feels.

 

I'm trying to keep my gushing over Oktavia to be as short as possible for the sake of it not just turning into me going aiufhsoiahfiahsfi . Between the series and TES, they did change some things, most notably the colored silhouettes of Sayaka and Kyouko that I mumbled about before and the little story they tell. Curious why they decided to take that out but at the same time, the shots that roll in the background kind of serve the same purpose. They certainly did upgrade how beaten Kyouko gets during the fight. Madoka's presence there and the role she's supposed to fill has always been something that I love about the fight because it highlights so well the idea that Sayaka was well beyond even the true voice of reason in her life, her best friend. Despair is a truly difficult thing to walk away from without burning a few bridges, because being in one's right mind just doesn't enter the equation. Even then, points made to attempt to bring a person back around can be viewed as attacks, thus Oktavia snapping and attempting to crush Madoka just makes sense in a very dark sort of way.

 

I like to personally rename episode 10 "HAHA. GROSS SOBBING. HAVE FUUUUN" because that's pretty much the effect it has on me regardless of how many times I watch it. The amusing part came with the another TRS punch in the face this time around. I don't know if it's just UTW's translation for the series or if the official subs were the same but in their version of episode 10 when Madoka and Homura have their first meeting in timeline 1, Madoka doesn't say what Homura's name translates to, only that it's cool. Come TES and the line of "It means 'flame', so it's like you're supposed to flare up passionately!" and I pretty much just sat here with my jaw on the floor making stupid noises because oh god, what happens later. As much as I do love current timeline and TRS Homura, I will admit that I do still adore her not broken state because oh geez, so socially derp that it melts my heart. The bridge scene where she first leans about Madoka and Mami being magical girls, holy hell is that another mentally intense scene once you think about Homulilly, her actions in the barrier and the main goal she has (her witch card's blurb gets me every time: The Nutcracker Witch. Its nature is self-sufficiency. Its gallant form, which once split many nuts, is now useless. Without any other purpose, this witch's last wish is her own execution. However, a mere decapitation will not clear away the witch's sins. This foolish witch will forever remain in this realm, repeating the procession to her execution). While the series as a whole becomes a series of minor twitches here and there once you know what comes later, episode 10 could basically be a mental convulsion of 'Oh my gooooooood.' There really is a boatload of amusement for me when it comes to how many role reversals the show throws at you. Timeline 1 highlights it so nicely because before she contracted, Homura sat in the current timeline Madoka role, the tag-along. In light of so much of the fanbase absolutely losing their **** over Rebellion, I couldn't help but chuckle that in her very own words, she clearly states that she doesn't need anyone to understand her. The Nutcracker witch was self sufficient. One of the only complaints I will make about the recuts is that it does ruin the In Medias Res opening that the series gave us. Getting the rest of the pieces of Madoka's 'dream' in 10 has always been one of my favorite moments in the whole series (full circle storytelling and my adoration of it, yet again). Remember when I whined about missing Connect as the opening? Good on them for keeping it in the movie. The new animations made me scream though, because it hammers the meaning of the lyrics home even further than what's used in the series opening.

 

As much as I carry on about how the fight with Oktavia is my favorite in the series, the Homura vs Walpurgis fight that we get in episode 11 is easily second best. Visually I love it so much, musically it has one of the best songs in the whole series for me. She's been built up in the series to be the second greatest witch aside from Gretchen and everything about their battle lives up to that. It's still another failed state though... That calls up more interesting thoughts regarding TRS. Madoka is basically told by Kyubey that because Homura is so single minded in her goal, if she came to believe that all her actions were for nothing, she'd immediately fall to despair. In a sense it's almost scary how close we came to having Homulilly manifest there near the end of the series. Had Madoka faltered any longer and we'd have had an entirely different ending. It's amusing in the sense that again it's another role reversal but more properly it's full circle. In timeline 1, Madoka saved Homura, in timeline 100+, she does it again.

 

I do see a lot of the fandom toy with the idea that Homura holds Madoka back because in the current timeline, she doesn't have a lot of the confidence we see her have in previous timelines where she contracted. I have a hard time getting fully on board with this idea mainly because in the last of the series timelines, Madoka is going to the Walpurgis table with a full deck of cards. She has every answer unlike every other timeline where she contracted for a different reason (the cat...). So yes, for a portion of the series she may seem a bit... stunted compared to what we see of later timelines but by the end of it, I'd say she grew even further than any other timeline. Madoka herself says this right before the final contract. As I mentioned before, sometimes negative character development is needed in order to gain positive development.

 

Unfortunately we still don't have the answer as to why Madoka didn't see Homura's later actions in TRS as a possibility after becoming god. I mean yes, it's easier to just write it off that TRS' ending wasn't even thought of at that point so they couldn't have foolproofed the end of the series for it. Even before TRS makes a full point of it further though with the flower field scene, their parting at the end of the series highlights the fact that Homura doesn't believe that Madoka will be happy with her choice.

 

The Rebellion Story notes

Spoiler

A good portion of the movie becomes exceedingly hilarious if one believes that it truly is Gen calling out the sorts of fan fictions that set to make PMMM your typical Magical Girl series. While the dance transformations are kind of bizarre and almost amusing when you take this into consideration, I will admit that I really like Mami's and Kyouko's. The cake song is catchy, there's no denying it. It's bizarre as hell in that it feels so wrong because this sort of thing was never done before but there's a line that sticks out so much once you've seen the whole movie. I am the melon. When a melon breaks, it creates a sweet dream. The caught you scene and its aftermath come to mind, in regards to 'splitting a melon'. Since I already five hour speeched about the voice acting before, I'll note that my first viewing I played a bit of a game. It was basically see how long it took Homura to drop the Moemura tone. Of course when her theme finally kicks in, I knew the time had finally come.

 

I think part of the true greyness with Homura's choice is that we never actually get any sort of an idea of what so called Magical Girl heaven is like. Do they remain in their own forms? Is it just a collection of former Magical Girls spending their time in the afterlife together with Madoka? Are they absorbed into her? We have absolutely no idea. I mean yes, you could say they must retain their forms because of Bebe and Sayaka but the details there are just blurry enough for it to still be incomprehensible. So, sitting in Homura's shoes. Having no idea what Magical Girl heaven is like, unsure if she's going to have her own thought processes or even the ability to appreciate the fact that she's by Madoka's side again. I think the move to bring Madoka back, even if for initially selfish means works so fully along the lines of her beliving Madoka wasn't happy with her choice and that after everything she herself has done, she deserved some happiness. It the heat of the moment, choices are made and the end of the movie so nicely shows that the highs of those choices can become shaken with just a few simple words. I'll also say to anyone that is set on calling Homura an antagonist now, even after becoming the devil, she's still set on making sure Madoka is happy above all things.

 

I have a feeling it might come off like I'm glorifying things. I'll be perfectly honest in saying that I'm of the mind that love can make you do some stupid or downright crazy things when it's felt with a certain intensity. Does it make sense to me that it would be the driving force in Homucifer's world? Oh yes. See, for my money Gen does an amazing job of looking at both the light and dark sides of things. In essence, TRS is like an incredibly dark love letter but at the same time, so much good potentially comes from it. Looking at the two main pairings for the series and how they can fall with love: Both tend to balance out at grey but still. We have Sayaka coming back from magical girl heaven and being one of Madoka's memory holders all because she regretted leaving Kyouko behind, the darkness there lies in the fact that it happens in a witch's barrier. On the flipside we have Homura dethroning Godoka and remaking the world yet again, but her main motivations was because she was sure that Madoka was unhappy with her choice. None of it is pure and sugar coated and I just love it.

 

Misc stuff that doesn't really make full paragraphs from each movie:

Spoiler

I could probably go on a five hour speech about how I love everything about the moment Homulilly finally manifests and all of the rescue sequence. I've rambled about it before though but still, one of the best sequences in the whole of the series for me. Even before that though, TRS truly becomes a masterpiece once the reveal finally hits. Far too many points for me to name all of them

 

I've always found it fascinating and at the same time all too fitting that Madoka's ultimate attack basically paints the tree of life in the sky.

 

Minor tidbit that I've never mentioned before but because of this series, I can't handle hearing the Japanese term for 'I'm sorry' without twitching. I say that with utmost affection

 

Five hour speech about Homucifer cause well, perfect.

 

I vaguely pondered the after credits scene in TRS a bit more and if we're going off the idea that Homura's soul gem became a physical manifestation of her love for Madoka, the scene gets rather bittersweet. It opens on a scene that could easily be considered her thinking over her actions in a disheartened manner (going by her seating stance) and it isn't til another Incubator shows up that she produces that reminder of love and her spirits are back on high.

 

TL;DR: Homura is my spirit animal and I ****** adore the fact that in just one scene, she polarized the fanbase hard. If that isn't perfection, I don't know what is. Also, Rebellion changed everything.

[Isichar]

Why am I always at work when you post these >_<

I want to start reading now but I'll wait until I can sit down and go though it properly with a cup of coffee.

[Puzzlewell]

There's way too many words there and I'd feel pretty terrible for killing your productivity just because I'm gushing!

[Kaiser Arian XVII]

And this gif is so full of freaking win!

 

 

*kills buzz* Not really. Yamucha isn't anything near a win and is still much better than that.

 

[Isichar]

There's way too many words there and I'd feel pretty terrible for killing your productivity just because I'm gushing!

Hah! "Productivity" right... I guess you could call it that

I just don't want to scroll through it on my phone.

And you should feel terrible! Making me all excited well I still got half my day left, now it's going by so much slower cause I just want to go home >_<

[Gravisanimi]

Started Watamote just because.

 

It's gloriously cringy.

[Mr.House]

And this gif is so full of freaking win!

 

This is cuter.

[CrazyRah]

Mako and Ryuuko care so much about each other it's adorable 

 

[Mr.House]

I'm jelly of Makos chopstick skills.

[Clover Rider]

[Isichar]

 

P.SS Totally loving Isi and Animus' discussion/romance/PMMM mutual love thing going on some of the stuff you're coming up with I would have totally missed in the show.

 

That's good, cause I don't get the impression mine and Ani's PMMM discussion's are ending anytime soon

[Clover Rider]

[Isichar]

Continue then! And I shall read on the sidelines for PMMM analytic goodness!

 

Just got through reading it. My thoughts are as follows:

 

nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnngh

 

....

 

(I think I may need some time to piece my thoughts back together. Excuse me well I go crawl up in a fetal position and make some weird noises for a bit.)