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Puella Magi Madoka Magica
So I mainlined Madoka in more or less two days. I had to, or I would have gone looking up spoilers, and that would have been awful because I think it really is one of those series where even if you know THE SLIGHTEST THING, it ruins it.
The only things I can say that aren't honking great spoilers is that you know that bit in the opening credits where Madoka is rolling about in her bed? That's me. That is SO TOTALLY me.
Also that I totally WAS NOT expecting to like this AT ALL. And I have the opening theme stuck in my head now.
Other than that: spoilers this way?! (p.s. this is really stream of consciousness, so it may not make much sense, but will explain why it jumps about all over the place. Please accept my apologies.
OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD.
Honestly all I knew about this going into it was that it was a deconstruction of the magical girl genre and, really, I wasn't expecting what I got. I also didn't think I'd like it because of the style but actually I think it was a good choice. I don't think it would've worked as well/been quite as shocking had the animation style matched the tone of the story. And it could've been quite a saccharinely told story, but I didn't find that at all.
Talking of the animation, I liked the shifts in style when they were in the witches' mazes. I really liked the way those were styled and designed (makes me wish I could draw stuff like that!)
OH BUT. WHAT A DICK KYUBEY IS! I half want to post a pic of him on tumblr just so I can tag it "YOU LITTLE SHIT". Because that's pretty much my opinion of him. (I think I am somewhat close to knowing how Waffles feels about Dio from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, heh).
Oh but also! This show totally makes you realise how dangerous being a magical girl is. I suppose nobody ever thinks about it, because of suspension of disbelief (it's certainly something that never crosses my mind, anyway. I'm just like, "Aw, yeah, cool! SUPERHEROES!")
And then there is time travel! (WHICH. I can't even tag this entry with "time travel is my secret love", which is my tag for such things, because it's a FREAKING SPOILER). And parallel universes! And stuff doomed to failure! And epic friendship! (I sobbed SO HARD during the last episode. Which I was not expecting. I mean yeah, I'd got into it by then, but surprise tears? Nope. Though I did want to laugh my ass off when Madoka's mum asked Homura if Madoka was a character in an anime because she didn't know of her existence any more. But I couldn't, because tears).
Oh, and I thought Madoka's doodling her costumes in her notebook were adorable :3
The soundtrack was awesome. As I said before, some of it reminded me somewhat of Yume Nikki's soundtrack, what with the weird, echoey, knocking sounds and bells (which I know, now I've listened to the soundtrack a bunch of times, is only present in Homura's track, which is called "Puella in Somnio", or "The Girl in the Dream". So that makes it kind of appropriate!) And I like the bits that sound like medieval type music. Hell, who am I kidding, I like the whole soundtrack.
Ohhhh, and the site I watched the series on has the first two movies as well, so I shall watch those! (And the third, when it becomes available. I know it's out already, but it's finding somewhere to stream it from. But we'll cross that bridge when we come to it, eh?)
I did love it that it turns out that Homura is just trying to save Madoka's life, and that they were pretty much instant best friends the first time they met, because Homura very much comes off as a bitchy aloof girl (which, in hindsight, must've been really hard for her to do. Or maybe not. Maybe she thought it was for the best, so that she wouldn't become as attached to Madoka). And I liked that Madoka thought she'd seen Homura somewhere before, but didn't know where (well, a previous iteration, obviously, but she's not aware of this at first). It's almost like some of this was pandering to some of the things I really love in stories, and I almost didn't watch it! But I'm really glad I did.
Oh god also I am having all the tears all over the place still. Which is kind of weird, because the only thing that's ever affected me on this sort of level before is Farscape (and maybe the first time I watched Serenity) and...I don't really know what to make of that. But, like, I can't listen to "Connect" without welling up - which made this morning's bus journey a bit weird, since it's many years since a song made me cry in public, and trying not was REALLY HARD, and I've now just been reading about changes in the freaking opening credits and I am a soggy mess all over again. WHAT THE FUCK, EMOTIONS?
And, like, if I had burst into floods of tears, and someone asked me what was going on, or even my mum, I would've been all, "Some stupid, dumb anime made me cry!" (except that I don't think it's stupid, or dumb, I would've been trying to joke about it. But the point I'm trying make is that how many of your average joes get that? (My mum would've expected it; she knows stuff makes me cry. But most people would've been like, "Oh, a kids' cartoon* made you cry?" or they just wouldn't have known what to say, and thought I was weird as all heck).
*I know and you know that just because it's an animation, that doesn't mean it's for kids. But most people think that. Hell, whoever is responsible for labelling the animated films at the library thinks that (although they are getting a bit better. At least the anime is definite section from the kids' stuff now). But I digress!
(And it spilled over into Adventure Time! I don't know if you have seen the episode called The Jiggler, but honestly if you're in the wrong mood watching that, it's like a tragedy with a small, cute thing involved and OMG I honestly was really upset (even though everything turned out OK in the end) ).
ARGLE BLARGLE ~FEELINGS~
Which is honestly the last thing I was expecting. I was all: "oh, magical girls = frilly dresses and spells and shit!" not "bwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh". But I'm still glad I watched it. I am even thinking about buying the DVD when I have enough spare cash :)
If anyone wants to talk with me about it, go for it! I am all for sharing my squee :D
The only things I can say that aren't honking great spoilers is that you know that bit in the opening credits where Madoka is rolling about in her bed? That's me. That is SO TOTALLY me.
Also that I totally WAS NOT expecting to like this AT ALL. And I have the opening theme stuck in my head now.
Other than that: spoilers this way?! (p.s. this is really stream of consciousness, so it may not make much sense, but will explain why it jumps about all over the place. Please accept my apologies.
OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD.
Honestly all I knew about this going into it was that it was a deconstruction of the magical girl genre and, really, I wasn't expecting what I got. I also didn't think I'd like it because of the style but actually I think it was a good choice. I don't think it would've worked as well/been quite as shocking had the animation style matched the tone of the story. And it could've been quite a saccharinely told story, but I didn't find that at all.
Talking of the animation, I liked the shifts in style when they were in the witches' mazes. I really liked the way those were styled and designed (makes me wish I could draw stuff like that!)
OH BUT. WHAT A DICK KYUBEY IS! I half want to post a pic of him on tumblr just so I can tag it "YOU LITTLE SHIT". Because that's pretty much my opinion of him. (I think I am somewhat close to knowing how Waffles feels about Dio from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, heh).
Oh but also! This show totally makes you realise how dangerous being a magical girl is. I suppose nobody ever thinks about it, because of suspension of disbelief (it's certainly something that never crosses my mind, anyway. I'm just like, "Aw, yeah, cool! SUPERHEROES!")
And then there is time travel! (WHICH. I can't even tag this entry with "time travel is my secret love", which is my tag for such things, because it's a FREAKING SPOILER). And parallel universes! And stuff doomed to failure! And epic friendship! (I sobbed SO HARD during the last episode. Which I was not expecting. I mean yeah, I'd got into it by then, but surprise tears? Nope. Though I did want to laugh my ass off when Madoka's mum asked Homura if Madoka was a character in an anime because she didn't know of her existence any more. But I couldn't, because tears).
Oh, and I thought Madoka's doodling her costumes in her notebook were adorable :3
The soundtrack was awesome. As I said before, some of it reminded me somewhat of Yume Nikki's soundtrack, what with the weird, echoey, knocking sounds and bells (which I know, now I've listened to the soundtrack a bunch of times, is only present in Homura's track, which is called "Puella in Somnio", or "The Girl in the Dream". So that makes it kind of appropriate!) And I like the bits that sound like medieval type music. Hell, who am I kidding, I like the whole soundtrack.
Ohhhh, and the site I watched the series on has the first two movies as well, so I shall watch those! (And the third, when it becomes available. I know it's out already, but it's finding somewhere to stream it from. But we'll cross that bridge when we come to it, eh?)
I did love it that it turns out that Homura is just trying to save Madoka's life, and that they were pretty much instant best friends the first time they met, because Homura very much comes off as a bitchy aloof girl (which, in hindsight, must've been really hard for her to do. Or maybe not. Maybe she thought it was for the best, so that she wouldn't become as attached to Madoka). And I liked that Madoka thought she'd seen Homura somewhere before, but didn't know where (well, a previous iteration, obviously, but she's not aware of this at first). It's almost like some of this was pandering to some of the things I really love in stories, and I almost didn't watch it! But I'm really glad I did.
Oh god also I am having all the tears all over the place still. Which is kind of weird, because the only thing that's ever affected me on this sort of level before is Farscape (and maybe the first time I watched Serenity) and...I don't really know what to make of that. But, like, I can't listen to "Connect" without welling up - which made this morning's bus journey a bit weird, since it's many years since a song made me cry in public, and trying not was REALLY HARD, and I've now just been reading about changes in the freaking opening credits and I am a soggy mess all over again. WHAT THE FUCK, EMOTIONS?
And, like, if I had burst into floods of tears, and someone asked me what was going on, or even my mum, I would've been all, "Some stupid, dumb anime made me cry!" (except that I don't think it's stupid, or dumb, I would've been trying to joke about it. But the point I'm trying make is that how many of your average joes get that? (My mum would've expected it; she knows stuff makes me cry. But most people would've been like, "Oh, a kids' cartoon* made you cry?" or they just wouldn't have known what to say, and thought I was weird as all heck).
*I know and you know that just because it's an animation, that doesn't mean it's for kids. But most people think that. Hell, whoever is responsible for labelling the animated films at the library thinks that (although they are getting a bit better. At least the anime is definite section from the kids' stuff now). But I digress!
(And it spilled over into Adventure Time! I don't know if you have seen the episode called The Jiggler, but honestly if you're in the wrong mood watching that, it's like a tragedy with a small, cute thing involved and OMG I honestly was really upset (even though everything turned out OK in the end) ).
ARGLE BLARGLE ~FEELINGS~
Which is honestly the last thing I was expecting. I was all: "oh, magical girls = frilly dresses and spells and shit!" not "bwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh". But I'm still glad I watched it. I am even thinking about buying the DVD when I have enough spare cash :)
If anyone wants to talk with me about it, go for it! I am all for sharing my squee :D
no subject
I've actually heard theories of Kyubey actually being the Devil, which in a twisted way wouldn't be far off. Things like his abilities to shapeshift into something cute and admirable to lure fragile, mortal people into a tempting pact that 'only' costs their soul. LIKE REALLY, I FAIL TO SEE A DIFFERENCE OTHERWISE.
I haven't watched the movies but I really should. It's something that I'll do with my husband though ^^
The witch scenes are totally awesome, if not really disturbing. In an RPG I was doing I was in line to host a plotline that was going to involve witches as bad guys and I was going to very loosely base it off of Madoka XD;
Also, not sure how much of a gamer you are but apparently there is a game called "Saigon" or "Saya" or something that this fella who did Madoka also created? And it, too, is apparently an AWESOME game but not for the faint of heart. I'm not sure if I'm willing to stomach it but again, same creator. If you're a fan of this work of his, anyway, thought I'd put it out there that there's more from him in a different form ^^
no subject
Yes, I've been reading about how it's essentially Faust with magical girls. I don't know Faust very well, but I know the basic idea, and I can see how that works. But yes, I mean that's how the Devil works, isn't it? By tempting in the form most suitable for his purpose (I'm not in the slightest bit religious, but the Devil intrigues me, so I think about this a lot, heh).
OH OH MY WORD. THAT WOULD'VE BEEN AN AWESOME RPG. OH OH OH. I would SO play that.
Oh yes, Saya no Uta! I have read a little bit about it, but not really a lot. It does sound interesting (and more like the writer's usual works, as I understand it). I would definitely like to experience some more of his stuff, though I might leave Saya for a while (well, I'd need to get hold of a copy anyway). Though I do dread to think what anything he's done will do to me since Madoka traumatised me, and that's his idea of a happy story!