If I recall, I started writing for this blog about four years ago.  In that time, there’s been a lot of ups and downs.  I wrote, got burned our, wrote again, and then blew up in the hanger.  Nevertheless, I’ve made a lot of memories and several good friends through this blog.  But with lvlln and Raph officially moving on, I think it’s high time I do the same.  It’s time to let go.

I’m starting from scratch and writing for myself.  I know at the very least, Space Brothers has ignited a spark that’s made me think about writing again.  Hanging out over at Metanorn has given me motivation as well.  I will hopefully continue writing under my new WordPress blog, Derivative Paradise.  Or I could be completely talking out my ass again.  Who knows?

To all of you, past, present, and future, who have read this blog, thank you for your time and participation.  Special thanks to those of you who still have this blog on your reader after all these years.  I wish you all the best.  I have no intention to allow any more posts here.  However, this blog will continue to exist as a testament to both successes and failures.  I think anything less would be a disservice to myself, my compatriots, and the readers who still continue to stumble into this space.

Until we meet again,
~Rakuen

I’ll make this short. I’ve joined the team over at Metanorn, and I’ll no longer be a part of Borderline Hikikomori. Thank you to all readers and commenters. It was a lot of fun being a part of this team, and it was gratifying to be able to reach and interact with so many people. I learned a lot about blogging and writing in my time here, and I thank Rakuen (and the now retired CJ) for taking a chance on me and giving me such an opportunity.

Anyway, since everyone’s been putting together lists, here’s my top list of all the anime I blogged in some capacity here:

1. FLCL (10 years later retrospectives)
2. Evangelion 2.22
3. The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya
4. Bakemonogatari
5. Magical Girl Madoka Magica (My last episodic here)
6. Durarara!! (Substituted in for Rakuen a few times)
7. Yet the Town Keeps Going
8. Arakawa Under the Bridge
9. Ookami-san and Seven Companions
10. Dance in the Vampire Bund (My first episodic here)
11. Amagami SS
12. Black Rock Shooter

Please pay me a visit at Metanorn some time. I’ll be active with a couple episodics this coming Winter 2012 season.

I’ll make this short. I’ve joined the team over at Metanorn, and I’ll no longer be a part of Borderline Hikikomori. Thank you to all readers and commenters. It was a lot of fun being a part of this team, and it was gratifying to be able to reach and interact with so many people. I learned a lot about blogging and writing in my time here, and I thank Rakuen (and the now retired CJ) for taking a chance on me and giving me such an opportunity.

Anyway, since everyone’s been putting together lists, here’s my top list of all the anime I blogged in some capacity here:

1. FLCL (10 years later retrospectives)

2. Evangelion 2.22

3. The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya

4. Bakemonogatari

5. Magical Girl Madoka Magica (My last episodic here)

6. Durarara!! (Substituted in for Rakuen a few times)

7. Yet the Town Keeps Going

8. Arakawa Under the Bridge

9. Ookami-san and Seven Companions

10. Dance in the Vampire Bund (My first episodic here)

11. Amagami SS

12. Black Rock Shooter

Please pay me a visit at Metanorn some time. I’ll be active with a couple episodics this coming Winter 2012 season.

So I watched Redline last week, and it is one fine film, definitely worth checking out. But this post is specifically about one of the plot points in the movie: that protagonist JP and his partner Frisbee fix races for the mafia, which they do by having JP hang back until the last quarter of the race, suddenly take the lead, before ultimately losing the race. There will be some minor spoilers.

I got to thinking what kind of scheme the mafia had going that allowed them to profit from this situation, and what they needed JP to do. And it made me realize that, given JP’s capabilities, they could have fixed it a different way which would have allowed them to profit regardless of whether or not JP lost the race.

First of all, what was the mafia’s business model in Redline? At first, I thought it was by being the house and enticing people to make many losing bets on JP by making him look like a sure thing at the end of the race. But towards the end of the Yellowline race that started the movie, the mafia boss’s underling came to him and said that “all their positions on JP” had been “unloaded.” This implies that, in fact, the mafia no longer had any bets for or against JP at that point, so they had no reason to care whether or not JP won. It also implies that there is an after-market for these bets that they could sell already-made bets to.

So I’m not sure what scheme they had going on (if anyone is, please let me know in the comments!). But it seemed like they were pretty dependent on JP’s capabilities: JP needed to be someone capable of both (a) convincingly being an underdog for most of the race and (b) convincingly being the favorite for some of the last part of the race. And, of course, the mafia was quite insistent that (c) JP lose the race.

The fact that JP is conning the spectators twice, first by pretending to be worse than he is, then by pretending to be about to win before losing, should set off an alarm; you only need to con someone once in order to make profit. Indeed, if JP is capable of (a) and (b), there is a pretty safe way for the mafia to fix the race, one that doesn’t care if JP wins or loses.

So here’s the new scheme:

1. Keep JP at or close to last place for most of the race. Make bets for JP as late as possible while he’s still behind.
2. In the last segment of the race, have JP suddenly take the lead. As late as possible, take all those bets you bought for JP and re-sell them in the after-market.
3. Profit! It doesn’t matter who wins the race, because you’ve sold all your bets, and all you’re holding is cash.

How does this work? The key lies in the fact that the bookie must adjust the odds of a bet in a predictable way. And this affects the price at which one can sell bets in the after-market.

First, a quick review of how one accurately determines the value (expected value) of a bet. If you have a ticket representing a $1 bet on JP, its value V is determined pretty simply:

V = Y*Z

where:
Y = payout of the bet.
Z = probability that JP will win.

Betting odds during the end of the Yellowline race

One thing bookies have to do is to try to keep that expected value V fixed, and under 1. Consistency is important so that you get an even distribution of bets for the racers and under 1 is important so that the house is likely to make a profit. Everyone knows this, so the bookie must follow this behavior so that there is no suspicion of foul play. As Z fluctuates throughout the race, the bookie must change Y in the opposite direction to keep V as close to constant as possible (of course, there is flexibility in real life, since no one truly knows the value of Z).

Here’s an example using dummy numbers. Let’s say the bookie wants to keep V at 0.9 throughout the race. During phase 1, when JP is far back in the pack, Z is very low, making Y very high. Let’s say that, when the mafia bets on JP, Z(1) = 1/10,000 – probability of JP winning is 1/10,000. Then the bookie sets Y(1) = 9,000 – the $1 ticket that the mafia bought will pay out $9,000 if JP should win.

But then enter phase 2: JP surges to take the lead. Now, Z(2) = 1/10. The bookie adjusts the odds accordingly so that Y(2) = 9. But the mafia has already bought a lot of bets that will pay out 9,000 instead of 9. So the mafia turns around to the bettors and offers to sell these bets to them, for a premium, of course. These bets are now worth Y(1) * Z(2) = 9,000 * 1/10 = $900.

If bettors were willing to purchase bets worth $0.90 for $1, then they should be willing to purchase a bet worth $900 for $1,000. Let’s say the mafia offers it to them for $900, to entice them with a better deal compared to what the house is offering. In fact, the expected value of the bet is 1 at the price of $900, so ignoring risk aversion, there is no reason NOT to take it (plus, gamblers tend not to be very risk averse people).

And then, the mafia walks away. It has “unloaded” all its “positions on JP” and is sitting on a pile of cash. It bought bets for $1 that it sold for $900, a nice 89,900% profit. Of course, these are dummy numbers, but as long as the bookie follows this predictable behavior, and as long as the after-market is liquid enough for the mafia to resell all their bets to bettors, the mafia will profit. Using more reasonable numbers, even if the jump between phases 1 and 2 of Z was from 1/50 to 1/10, and V was fixed at 0.5, the mafia would make a 150% profit.

This fix is almost exactly what insider trading is in the stock market. In this case, JP (or more specifically, the probability that JP will win) is the stock, and the non-public information is the knowledge that (as well as of when) JP’s probability of winning will skyrocket. It would be like an insider knowing that a company will soon be bought up by another company and buying lots of shares in that company’s stock before it happens.

Here, the mafia is in an even better situation than insiders, because they are actively manipulating the stock instead of just knowing how the stock will move. The incentives line up so that the mafia wants Z(1) to be as low as possible and Z(2) to be as high as possible. Both are accomplished by having the phases 1 and 2 end as late as possible in the race; as it gets closer to the finish, the odds tend to get more extreme: the probability that someone who’s behind will win gets lower, and the probability that someone who’s in the lead will win gets higher.

It will look awfully suspicious both to bettors and to law enforcement if you see one player buy and sell huge bets at such times. So the mafia would want to hire many bettors to do this, perhaps during slightly staggered times, and on much smaller scales as not to arouse suspicion. So the profit would be slightly variable, and the bettors would have to get their cut. It would also create more possible holes, more people who could talk to the police. Still, don’t you think the mafia boss would’ve preferred to take on that extra risk given to what happened?

This wouldn't have happened if the mafia had adopted this business model.

Of course, if the mafia had done this and hadn’t cared about whether or not JP would win or lose, we wouldn’t have gotten the awesome moment when Frisbee was saved, nor would we have gotten the epic finish with the planted bomb. So all in all, I guess it was for the best.

So the phenomenon that was Magical Girl Madoka Magica is finally over. From the start, many had compared it to Neon Genesis Evangelion with its genre subversion and psychological themes, and the ending provided plenty more fodder for this comparison. The final 2 episodes tried very hard to emulate great endings that had come before it, but, lacking the focus and cohesiveness of such works, it ended up merely stumbling its way across the finish line.

I was somewhat disappointed that Shaft didn’t take this opportunity to retool the 2 episode finale into a singular unit, as had been the case with the finale of Code Geass‘s first season. Episode 11 stood on its own with its own story arc, featuring some good action as Homura went all out against Walpurgis Night. And with the cliffhanger end, it was clear that these episodes were meant to be released a week apart.

But that’s not a knock against it. There’s nothing wrong with having the episodes structured like they were originally intended. It was just a missed chance for greatness. And so was the ending. Shaft was obviously swinging for the fences with this one, and though I wouldn’t say they struck out, at best, they managed a weak single.

A wholly unnecessary scene. This was about the point when Shaft's intentions became too transparent.

I have the belief that, for the most part, people are pretty good at telling when they’re being manipulated, and when one senses this, the compulsion is to push back. This is why people have a problem with melodrama – they don’t like it when they’re tricked into feeling things, instead of having the feelings come to them naturally. I know I don’t like it.

Instead of providing an ending that was simple and tightly held together, Shaft provided one that was a hodge podge of scenes clumsily thrown together, trying as best as it could to force its way to greatness. This is exactly what I meant when I wrote that Madoka Magica ran the risk of being crushed by the weight of its own narrative. Greatness comes effortlessly and naturally; it’s only after the fact that the viewer should be aware of how his emotions were toyed with.

A beautiful scene with which to close out the series. Homura's epilogue, I have absolutely no complaints about.

It was so obvious that Shaft was trying to make us feel a certain way, that, ironically, it achieved the exact opposite. This, despite that I liked most of what happened in the ending. Madoka’s wish of breaking the rules and going beyond the impossible (row row fight the power) was pretty cool. Was it a deus ex machina? Even though it literally introduced a god in order to tie things up, I don’t think it was, because it fit in well with the rest of the show. And the end result, with Madoka disappearing from existence, Homura the only one to remember her, still being a magical girl but fighting… things that aren’t witches, with the red ribbon in her hair and a bow as a weapon in remembrance of Madoka? Corny, yes, but also poignant and moving. Corny things became corny for a reason. The fact that the ending was not a perfect one, that magical girls still had to fight in order to save the universe from heat death, was much appreciated. It gave a happy but cynical end, by showing that Madoka couldn’t create a perfect world despite her godly power. She could only take away one specific source of despair in it. Yet destroying that one specific thing was something impossibly noble and beautiful.

But when it’s obvious that the events were there just to enable the Evangelion-esque conversation sequences, to bring back Kyoko and Mami for a final farewell, to bring back Sayaka to converse with Madoka, forgive Kamijou and Hitomi and to give her story closure, to have Madoka and Homura say goodbye half naked in the stars, there was an undeniable feeling of being manipulated. These scenes were supposed to be touching, but the smell of artificiality overwhelmed whatever goodness they had.

What a wonderfully moving scene... it would have been if it didn't seem completely forced. Again, unnecessary.

It certainly stole from the best, like Evangelion, Diebuster, and Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann had done so before it. But those works managed to take what they stole and seamlessly integrate with their own identities. Madoka Magica‘s ending threw together all the great things it stole, with little in the way of order or sense, forming a messy jumble of would-be great scenes. It was completely transparent in what it was doing, resulting in something that so clearly was meant to be great but wasn’t.

In fact, “thrown together” is an appropriate phrase to describe the entire last 3rd of the show. Whereas everything up to episode 8 had been carefully and lovingly constructed, forming a slow but exciting magical mystery thriller, the rest of the show was messy and cluttered, a collection of nicely done scenes and story elements in search for a common thread to tie them all together.

The ending could have achieved greatness by tying everything together, a pretty standard way for endings to do so. But many things were dropped and introduced at the convenience of the story. Madoka’s mother’s earlier advice about messing up was one of them, with the conversation they had in episode 11 serving no useful purpose (other than to show that’s Madoka’s mother is a really bad mother! You don’t let your kid run out into a supercell!). Same goes for shoehorning famous figures as being Magical Girls, as well as the 2001-esque aliens-made-humans-evolve plot element.

It was messy, it was all over the place, it was manipulative. I don’t want to go as far as to say that it was outright bad; I’ve seen plenty of bad endings, and this wasn’t one of them. Neither was it good, though. It was passable. And that’s alright. But certainly not up to the standard set by the show.

Series End

Now that it’s over, what exactly was Magical Girl Madoka Magica? At its best, it was a mystery/thriller that kept us hooked, pulling us along for an unforgettable, intense ride where every move mattered. At its worst, it was a jumble of great elements that didn’t tie together in a meaningful way. It was a show that peaked at the 2/3 way point and then stumbled the rest of the way, through the climax.

The common criticism that it suffered from underdeveloped characters was very true, and that was the issue that came to define the show’s success and failure. When it really delved into a character, her feelings, and her motivations, as in the case of Sayaka, it was a success, a sublime combination of writing, directing, and pacing into which you simply couldn’t help get sucked. But when it tried to force drama with characters with whom the show had not allowed you to form a connection, as in the case of Homura or the eponymous Madoka, it faltered.

At least the art was great throughout, even though even that weakened a bit in the last third, with the craziness of the witches’ realms not being as prominent or as crazy. The cinematography, though, I have no complaints with. Same goes for the music which, even though it took me a bit to warm up to, was perfect for setting the mood of this dark and somber show. Too bad Claris’s opening theme Connect and Kalafina’s ending theme Magia, along with their respective animation sequences, were just passable.

Now this was a good scene, both emotionally affecting and visually stunning.

Greatness, Manufactured

Perhaps it’s a shame that the end is so much more important than the middle or the start, but that’s simply the nature of the beast when it comes to fiction. And Madoka had a start and middle that was about as good as it comes in the world of TV anime. But it could only do so much in the face of the weight of the disappointing final third.

It will rightfully be remembered as the incredible phenomenon it was, and for the absolutely thrilling ride it provided. But, years from now, will it sit at the same table as the rest of the greats? Well, that sort of greatness must come naturally; it can’t be manufactured.

Though the show ended on a low note, it's hard not to feel emotional seeing this, knowing that it's all over. It certainly did many things very well.

Alright, so we’re pretty much on the eve of the start of the Spring 2011 season, which means it’s time for our previews. Below, you’ll read what each of the 4 of us think of the many many shows that are coming up. It seems that noitaminA is creating great anticipation again with its financial thriller [C] The Money of Soul and Possibility Control, and the much hyped urban fantasy/scifi thriller Steins;Gate has caught our attention. We fork in our interests quite a bit from there, which is expected given the huge number of shows next season, but studio Shaft’s works seem to be on all our radars, a sign of the respect it’s earned over the past 2 years.

Rakuen

I would like to start by saying there is entirely too much anime airing this season. This is both good and bad. On the positive side, with at least 48 series listed on the latest guide I found, there’s a little something for everyone. If you can’t find a show you’re remotely interested in here, anime might not be your thing. On the negative side, it also makes it very difficult for me to watch everything I want to see. Right now, I have 15 series on my list. I am a little enthusiastic about 7 of them, while I’m definitely ready to try out the remaining 8. I expect to see this number dwindle rapidly. 7.5 hours of anime viewing per week is almost impossible to keep up to date, let alone remembering all the characters, plots and so on. Enough of my kvetching. I should get into the meat of my little segment.

I decided to order my lists by airing date, starting with the series I have a little interest in watching. Dog Days occupies the earliest spot on the list. I expect this to quickly devolve into harem territory, but I’ll admit, I’m a sucker for the summoned hero bit. Next up is the new season of Kaiji. The titular character participates in a gambling event where the stakes are his life. Joojoobees piqued my interest in his post about the first season, but I haven’t gotten to it. So, this go on the Want to Watch list by default. Then, we have Hidan no Aria, which gets a first episode watch based solely on adorable girls with lethal weapons.

A Channel seems to be going with a typical four-girl band for a school comedy, but it is a school comedy, so I’ll give it a shot. The little one, Tooru, also has a baseball bat that shows up all over the promo art… so it could be interesting. Next, we have Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko, or in shorter terms, a new Shaft show. I loved Soredemo, but didn’t like Arakawa. This seems to lean more towards the latter, what with the main girl insisting she’s an alien. Ao no Exorcist continues the “son of Satan will fight his fate” trend. I wonder if this theme comes up because many people have a desire to fight their own fates. What better example is there than the son of evil trying to do good? Finally, The World God Only Knows rounds out this portion of the list. I went back to finish the first season, which means the series did hold some interest for me. I just don’t know if it can do it for another 12 episodes.

The rest of my list comprises of shows I have stronger interest in, and Moshidora has the “earliest” airdate. Giant Killing got me into sports anime, and Big Windup has continued to strengthen my view of the genre. Like Big Windup, we have a female manager trying to lead a baseball club to victory. However, its airdate has been postponed, so it might have to wait for a later season. KyoAni’s Nichijou also airs this season, but I didn’t even realize they animated it until I started writing this. The synopsis itself got me hooked. A principal might wrestle a deer? This is a school comedy I’ve got to see! Hana-Saku Iroha kind of reminds me of Love Hina with the hot springs centric plot, but that’s where the similarities end. It looks like it completely lacks the male lead, meaning no harem, and the plot sounds more focused on drama. I think both of those aspects are Good Things. Showa Monogatari adds another drama to my list with its family orientation and historical setting. This is a more tentative entry on my list, but the Olympic setting piqued my interest.

Now we’re to two of my most anticipated shows. First, STEINS;GATE, which just looks phenomenally awesome in both the artwork and the synopsis. It has the whole time-travel thing, as well as the struggle for survival with the SERN organization on their tails. I get a little Persona vibe from it too, but it might only be me. Sket Dance is yet another school series, but this one stood out from the pack. The premise reminds me of Haruhi, except with less aliens, time travelers, and espers. Unlike the rest, this has the best chance of a strong overarching plot, which I’m really hoping happens. If someone who’s read the manga could confirm it, it’d be much appreciated. Returning to the outlier series on my list, there’s C, plus its long title. It’s got an economically crapsack Japan and a main character who gets sucked into the shuffle. Sounds interesting, and with its noitaminA slot, I’ve got hopes for it. Last, but not least, is Deadman Wonderland. The fight for survival premise fittingly relates to the old Coliseum. It could have a bit too much violence for my tastes, but want to give it a good shot.

Looking back at my list, there’s plenty of comedy, action, and drama with a variety of premises. This could very well be my most anticipated season since I first got into currently airing shows. I hope school and work don’t kick my ass too hard, so I can have the time to watch all these shows.

Top 3: Steins;Gate, Sket Dance, C

lvlln

There sure are a lot of shows coming out next season, but somehow the only ones I’m looking forward to are the sequels: The World God Only Knows, Maria+Holic Alive, and the Kampfer specials.

Just kidding; besides those 3, We Still Don’t Know the Name of the Flower We Saw That Day (AnoHana) on noitaminA’s block sounds like it has potential, simply for being a real-life drama on noitaminA. Oh, and it also contains a character type that’s near and dear to the hearts of everyone here on this site, a hikikomori. Then again, noitaminA has been really hit or miss lately, with the trainwreck that is Fractale and the hugely disappointing Kuragehime, even if AIC’s Wandering Son is absolutely knocking it out of the park this season. AnoHana is being made by A-1 Pictures, which is responsible for some pretty poor shows such as Kannagi and last year’s Anime no Chikara duo Sora no Woto and Occult Academy, so I’m very prepared to be disappointed. Still, the director has A Certain Scientific Railgun on his resume, and that didn’t suck too much, and I’ve heard his Toradora! did drama well.

Besides that, only 2 other non-sequels have caught my eye: Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko and Steins;Gate. Denpa Onna because it’s Shaft, even if it sounds just like another version of Arakawa Under the Bridge, which turned out… alright. Steins;Gate because I’ve read some other people really excited about it. Plus, I like modern-day scifi stories.

But really, the sequels are what I’m looking forward to.

The World God Only Knows was a surprisingly entertaining show for which didn’t have a bit of faith in going in. But Keima’s cynical, almost nihilistic personality combined with his occasional outbursts made for good comedy. A show that was as meta as that could have been a lot more meaningful, sure, but it was a fine source of dumb laughs. The 1st season ended on a planned cliffhanger, and though I doubt the pickle Keima got into will last more than an episode, I look forward to seeing how he will continue to add to his transient harem.

What I liked about Maria+Holic was Asami Sanada‘s Kanako, the perverted lesbian man hating protagonist. Her smooth, soft voice is unique, and seeing her character constantly abused somehow didn’t get old. Didn’t hurt that it was Yuu Kobayashi as Maria doing the abusing. She plays male characters well, and she does crazy well, too. Then there’s Marina Inoue as Matsurika. I like to think of it as a gay Stalker-tan being forced to live with an abusive Kaere and her snarky maid Symmetrical-tan. What more whacky antics will these 3 and the rest of the cast get into?

And bottom of the sequel list is Kampfer. Now here’s a show that was pure guilty pleasure. Looking for things like action, plot, character development, or meaningful relationships was a fruitless endeavor. I just loved seeing Natsuru and his/her thick head be dragged around by his psychotic harem. And this show’s cast is pretty much a who’s who list of female voice actors right now. I wish they’d do a 2nd season instead of just a couple episodes, but I suppose they’ll do.

Top 3: The World God Only Knows, Maria+Holic Alive, We Still Don’t Know the Name of the Flower We Saw That Day

Raphael

Pleasantly, there’s a good bit of original anime in this crop. Tiger & Bunny is among them and has received more press for the large amount of product placement it’ll employ than for the fact that Sunrise is doing a superhero show. I’m hoping it will be fun and won’t drag. Another of these original shows is Dog Days by the team behind Nanoha. The setting and premise don’t appeal to me, but I may well give it a whirl; it’ll probably at least look nice. The most promising of this lot in my eyes is C. Strong staff, very interesting premise, noitaminA. Unfortunately, the trailer didn’t meet my expectations, with the wonderful character designs not translating as well as I’d hoped and the animation looking a tad under par. It’s still the season’s series I’m most eagerly awaiting. The last two original anime, Hana-saku Iroha (which, judging by trailers, will look stunning) and AnoHana seem to fall squarely into the slice of life/drama genre zone. They also have the same head writer in Mari Okada. Both could be enjoyable if done well, but I feel like both could also try my patience, especially given that Hana-saku Iroha is reportedly 26 episodes. I’ll give them a go.

Moving onto the adaptations, we have manga-based slice-of-life comedies in A Channel and Nichijou. I’ve read the source of the former, and I was expecting to discard it quickly… but I found myself really enjoying it. It’s nothing new, but the humor has a slightly mean bent and I got several good laughs out of it. I’m curious to see how it translates to anime, as there’s a fairly new studio on board but also the director and series composition guy who did Saki. The latter is Kyoto Animation’s spring offering and, like Hana-saku Iroha, is supposedly two-cour. I found the prequel OVA nowhere near as funny as I do A Channel’s manga, but I definitely felt it had charm to it. I’ll give both of these series a try. Other comedies include Xebec’s entries Hen Zemi and Softenni. I’ll be watching Hen Zemi because I liked its OVA for its disgusting humor, but I do wonder if things will get cleaned up for TV. In addition, the OVA’s director will not be returning for the series; instead he’s been replaced by the director who did Rio – Rainbow Gate! and To Love-Ru. Meanwhile, the man behind the OVA will be working on Softenni, which I get big Saki vibes from. I’m also a massive tennis fan, so – though I’m sure I’ll feel silly for thinking there might be actual tennis-playing involved – while I really, really doubt I’ll enjoy it anywhere near as much as Saki, I’ll give it a shot. Hopefully I won’t want to be shot because of it/need several shots of something to get through it. (Punning is hard, give me a break (ha!).) Shaft will also have two comedies airing: the sequel to Maria+Holic, and the bizarre enough for me to check out Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko.

To the action/adventure side of things, Steins;Gate stands out as having potential to be very entertaining and entertainingly technobabble-filled. Premise sounds great, art looks great, and Jukki Hanada is at the writing helm. Really looking forward to this. We also have Ao no Exorcist, Deadman Wonderland, and Hidan no Aria. The first has good buzz and the director of Darker than Black going for it, and it could be interesting. As for the latter two, I’m up to date with what’s been translated of the manga of both. Deadman Wonderland is packed full of gore, action, good characters, and plot twists, and I love it. I’m unsure whether it’ll get the treatment it deserves, though, as Manglobe will be dividing its efforts between it and the second season of The World God Only Knows. But I’m hoping for the best. Hidan no Aria has been less fun for me to get through. I would’ve dropped it very quickly (for its mix of mostly-loli fanservice, poor art, and storm of cliches) if I hadn’t found the concept of a school for armed detectives so enticing. I plan to be watching the anime too, even though Rie Kugimiya as yet another flat-chested tsundere should’ve deterred me, and – despite my grumbling – I’m sure I’ll have some fun. Interestingly, this (along with Gosick) will make two shows airing simultaneously that focus on a foreign-loli-Holmes/Japanese-high-school-boy-Watson duo.

As for the rest? Moshidora‘s unusual premise has piqued my interest, and I plan to check it out; Hyouge Mono, Toriko, Sket Dance, and Showa Monogatari don’t appeal to me; OreTsuba (We Don’t Have Wings) and HoshiKaka (A Bridge to the Starry Skies) look very similar and similarly uninteresting; and Astarotte no Omocha! does not exist. And finally, though I’m almost certain I’ll be unable to get through an episode, I feel obligated to check out Sekaiichi Hatsukoi because BL anime adaptations are just so rare.

Top 3: C, Steins;Gate, Deadman Wonderland

CPAnime

Despite the overwhelming amount of new anime coming out, it feels like most of the stuff out there is either for teens or a generic (adult) drama. Thankfully, there are enough shows out there that choosing which anime I will be watching will still be a difficult task. The following are a few of the anime that I have the most interest in for varying reasons.

It has been about two years since I started watching anime on a season by season basis, and one of the first shows I watched in this way was Maria+Holic. So, with the benefit of two years of full time anime watching experience, it will be interesting for me to see if I find Alive anywhere as interesting as the original was in 2009. Sometimes I wonder if the only reason I tuned in on a week to week basis was to see the OP and ED, so it will be interesting to see if my tastes have changed, or if this show is actually as awesome as I remembered.

I am also pretty interested in the other Shaft show, Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko, but mainly because I don’t know anything about it. Shaft has built up some serious street cred over the past few months with Madoka Magica, but there is also the possibility that this could turn into an Arakawa under the Bridge 2 situation, especially given the synopsis. Another thing that worries me is that Shaft is doing two shows this season, and seeing as how they can barely manage one most of the time, I think the quality is inevitably going to suffer. Still, girls with mysterious pasts are kind of one my things, so I’ll be checking this one out for sure.

C is another interesting show for me, but for some different reasons. It reminds me a lot of Madoka in that there is a contract being made, though I doubt that the main character will be naive as some of the characters in Madoka, as the show doesn’t seem to be hiding its cards. From the previews I’ve read up to this point, it seems like the show might have a difficult time with its first few episodes as there looks to be a lot going on. Hopefully, a deeper understanding of economics or business won’t be needed for this show, as that could turn off some viewers. Personally, I have confidence that this shouldn’t be a problem as it is part of the noitaminA time slot, but even that is no longer a guarantee.

Staying on the business end of things, the one show I am looking forward to the most this season is Moshidora. While its broadcast schedule kind of seems up in the air, I’m looking forward to watching this during the baseball season. Since I’m a business student and a baseball fan, this show is kind of a no brainer for me, and I can potentially see myself blogging this. Still, I do have my doubts as to whether this will work, despite its popularity in Japan. Mainly, I am concerned that the translation of the material into an anime will fail to jump off the page, if you will, and just become another boring class lesson, though I doubt it.

Finally, the one show that will undoubtedly be my guilty pleasure is Hen Zemi. I recently watched the first episode of the OVA and was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it. The only real criticism I could levy against it, besides the obvious, was that it took too long to get to its punch lines. I am a bit concerned that the TV broadcast will be impeded by those god forsaken censors (Kiss X Sis‘s OVAs, for example, were and are infinitely better than the censored TV broadcast), but as long as the staff is witty enough, it can probably work around this. Though, it is XEBEC. So… that could be good or bad, depending on your preferences (btw, where is my LxB sequel?).

Top 3: C, Moshidora, A Channel

And that about wraps it up. Which of the dozens and dozens of shows are you looking forward to this spring?

So Magical Girl Madoka Magica has been delayed indefinitely (a Shaft show being delayed near its finish? Say it ain’t so!), or at least until some time in April. But no hard dates as of yet. Which I guess gives us some extra time to step back and reflect upon the ride it has provided us so far.

Below is a chart of my reactions to each episode. Bigger is obviously more positive.

I remember going into the show with cautious optimism, which I guess is the way I go into any show that has so many big names behind it and receives so much hype. As you can see, the first 2 episodes didn’t wow me, but neither did they disappoint me. They just… were. Typical urban fantasy stuff, with a distinctive and compelling art style.

Obviously, then episode 3 happened. Killing off Mami was a move that I greatly respected. As I wrote in my post, it put a serious tone on the rest of the show. And the moment of Mami’s death was wonderfully directed, fully conveying the horror of what had occurred.

I'd buy it. Seriously, someone make this thing so that I can give them my money.

Episodes 4 and 5 were a bit slow, but Kyoko was a welcome and surprising addition to the cast. The reveal at episode 6 was well done, and though it lacked the power of Mami’s death, it made the setting feel even more stark. Getting one’s soul removed and becoming a zombie is no laughing matter.

Episodes 7 and 8 played on that to great effect. Sayaka’s downfall was the most well done part of the show. It was handled in a believable and entertaining manner, with each step in her downward spiral lovingly laid out in front of us to enjoy. The insanity at the end of episode 7 was beautiful, and the double reveal at the end of episode 8 capped off what was the best episode of the show so far.

Then we had episode 9, for which I guess it was just unfair to try to follow up 8. It could have been done much better. Kyoko’s death wasn’t handled poorly, but it did feel forced at times. It was a convenient way to get rid of two of our favorite characters in one shot, but it paled in comparison to Mami’s death 6 episodes back.

At least episode 9 gave us plenty of Sayaka/Kyoko fanart. Hopefully they're together where they are now. ;_;

And speaking of convenience, that’s pretty much exactly what episode 10 was for. Its reveal, the biggest reveal of them all, may have been telegraphed since the 1st episode, but it was handled appropriately, making it pretty impactful. In fact, perhaps it had too much impact. Anime has never been known for being subtle, and this surely wasn’t. It was beating us over the head with how Homura had been beaten over the head by fate.

I do like having Homura as the gun-toting badass magical girl.

To the show’s credit, none of the reveals have been twists. That is, they didn’t achieve their impact mainly through shock value or surprise. Rather, if there’s anything to criticize about them, it’s that they were too obvious. Everything fell too neatly into place. It’s just that the execution has been so top class that it’s been a joy to watch. Even when I think some things should have been done better.

And that’s been the story of Magical Girl Madoka Magica so far. When you dig into the details, things start to break down. Kyubey’s explanation about entropy just falls flat and gives a needlessly physics based explanation to a fantasy story. Kyoko’s death seemed wholly unnecessary, even if it had been telegraphed like crazy in the episodes leading up to it. And the introduction of the Groundhog Day time loop for Homura was jus as unnecessary.

Always read the fine print. Always.

But it all managed to work. It’s a testament to the overall direction of the show. Cinematography and music have been top notch throughout (even if it took me a while to warm up to the music). The radical shifts in art style have been used very well with the story itself, besides just looking pretty. Every scene has felt purposeful and deliberate. It has created a work that has the pacing just right, a mystery story that has kept us hooked step by step, baiting us with little bits here and there, steadily building up to… well, where we are now. Only the climax and ending are to follow.

And so we enter the final sixth of the show, the last 2 episodes. I don’t know how the whole release schedule deal will pan out, but I’m kind of hoping that this delay gives Shaft a chance to retool the episodes to fit as one 2-episode unit that are released quickly back to back. It’s a trick a lot of US TV shows use, and Code Geass‘s first season used it to good effect. Neon Genesis Evangelion‘s final 2 episodes also went together, though they weren’t released back to back. As I’ve said before, Magical Girl Madoka Magica has been a fun, gripping, tight ride so far. It hasn’t been without its missteps, but with the final bits to go, thanks to the strength of its direction and narrative, this is a show that genuinely has the opportunity to be one of the best, as long as it doesn’t get crushed by the weight of its own narrative. And there aren’t enough shows like that.

And I leave you off with a scene much sweeter than we're likely to see in the episodes to come.

So the the anime-based music video for Perfect Day the top track to their latest album Today is a Beautiful Day was released a few weeks ago, and it’s pretty phenomenal. Telling the story of two girl friends who somehow grew apart, I couldn’t help but be reminded of another anime work based on a Supercell song. And it simply puts Black Rock Shooter to shame.

First of all, look at the art. Just look at it! It’s beautiful. The sparkles and feathers, the bloom and lighting give everything an almost angelic feeling. The shakycam effect is overused a bit, but for the most part it works, because the moving camera adds just a touch of reality to this world. Some of the backdrops are gorgeous, with the crisp detail and lighting reminding me of Makoto Shinkai’s works.

Like Supercell’s song’s tend to do, it captures perfectly the emotions without necessarily going into the details of what happened. The innocence of childhood friendship. The pain of having to say good bye. The shock, and then gratitude at the sudden encounter. These emotions feels stronger and more genuine than whatever Black Rock Shooter had to offer with its story about Yomi getting jealous of Mato.

And I absolutely love the blue haired girl’s design! The hard angles, especially in the hair, remind me a bit of the characters from Shiki, but they’re not nearly as harsh. I could get lost in those wondrous round blue eyes. The simplicity of her clothing is appealing, and the little flourishes like her boots or the tight loops of her necklace stand out well against them.

But what I love most are the bandages on her legs. They’re not wrapped bandages like the kind you see on Abiru or Rei, but rather the rectangular stick on kind. And they’re just plastered all over the place around her knees, as if willy nilly. Instead of giving the image of weakness as bandages tend to do, they give her a tough and masculine one, like Lark with her chipped tooth.

Anyway, Today is a Beautiful Day came out a couple of days ago, and I highly recommend it. 6 of the 13 tracks are songs that were released on singles before – most of which I talked about in my 12 Days of Christmas post – but the new tracks are great. And the final track, Watashi e (To Me) is a follow up to Kimi no Shiranai Monogatari, the Bakemonogatari ED, providing some concluding remarks to that song. You can find translations to most of the new songs on Words of My Life.

I bought the limited edition with the DVD on YesAsia, but the regular edition is there as well.

And it all came to an end. 10 years ago today, on March 16, 2001, the grand finale, and the longest episode of FLCL, FLCLimax (originally Furi Kura) was released on DVD. It brought forth the 3rd amazing episode in a row and also provided a worthy finish to this great series, one that left me speechless and sad that it was over. But it didn’t leave me wanting more. Rather, it made me happy that the work was so complete, so well constructed from start to finish.

This is the last post in a series of posts I’ve made celebrating the 10th anniversary of the release of each of the episodes of FLCL. As for all the posts before this, I did not rewatch the episode before writing this and instead chose to write based on my memories. The last time I watched the series was in the summer of 2009. You can read the previous posts here: (1 & 2: Fooly Cooly and Firestarter) (3: Marquis de Carabas) (4: Full Swing) (5: Brittle Bullet).

I don’t know if it came to me upon first viewing or later on, but what stayed with me was how well this final and the 1st episode bookended the series (indeed, there was a symmetry to the whole 6 episode series in some aspect). The most obvious thing the 2 episodes had in common was the manga dinner scene, which was an exact copy of the one in the 1st episode, at least at the start. There was also the title of the episode, Furi Kura, just 1 letter away from Furi Kuri, the title of the 1st episode. The use of The Pillows’s One Life right before the halfway cut as Naota bemoaned the boring life in this town while crying into Haruko’s bosom was similar to the series’s cold open leading to the title shot, in which he was being held by Mamimi. Right down to the overhead view of the iron-shaped Medical Mechanica factory. On a higher level, the episode started off with a slow, melancholy, almost dejected mood before Haruko entered and brought life to the setting, much like the 1st episode. And there was the epilogue as well, showing Ninamori taking Naota’s, a much more appropriate girl for him than Mamimi in the 1st episode.

These couple frames in which Naota became doe eyed somehow felt so significant.

Of course, to get to the epilogue this episode provided the climax proper. The yellow saturated finale, starting with The Pillows’s Last Dinosaur, followed by I Think I Can when Naota took Atomsk’s power remains one of my favorite scenes in anime. It lacked the raw emotional magic of the episode 4 climax or the high octane action of the episode 5 climax, but it was a worthy finish to this chain of 3 incredible episode climaxes. Seeing Haruko really upset for the 1st time was a bit jarring, and it would be some time later that I realized its significance in the series as a whole.

And it delivered the single most powerful moment in the series, when Naota, having beaten Haruko handily, dove at her and… said, “I like you” before stealing a kiss from her (the fansub I had translated the “suki” as “I’m in love with you,” which sounded even more powerful to me, though I’d learn later it wasn’t the best translation). There was something amazing about this simple moment, when our hero finally got the guts to say what he said and do what he did. It was an ultimate moment of catharsis, when all the emotional tension and pressure that had been building up throughout the series was released, with a simple, “I like you” and a kiss. The first one he initiated, one he had wanted so badly from the start.

This image was my wallpaper for a long time after I watched this.

In typical FLCL fashion, it was followed by a literal explosion, but all that was just the aftermath, the falling action before the denouement. I remember being heavily moved by the ending. Some of it was the sadness from watching the series end. Some of it was that it was a bittersweet ending, in which both Haruko and Mamimi left Naota. But more than anything, the ending was one of hope, showing Naota go on with his life, moving on to middle school, with a girl who genuinely liked him, not one who just wanted to use him. Mamimi’s story ended with hope as well, as she moved on from her stuck crush on Tasuku and left the town that had been nothing but abusive to her, to discover her own path (she likely learned a lesson about the futility of revenge as well, seeing what her “Ta-kun” this time ended up doing).

Certainly, life would not be easy for any of our protagonists. But life isn’t supposed to be. It’s about moving forward with what you have, making the best of it. This was how the most mature characters in this series – Haruko and, as this episode revealed during his conversation with Naota’s teacher Miyaji, Naota’s father – approached their lives. By the end, Naota and Mamimi had learned it as well.

Mamimi Samejima. She knew how to make smoking look cool.

Of course, this being FLCL, it was technically and artistically excellent throughout. One scene that stood out to me was Mamimi’s first meeting with the Terminal Core under the bridge, when she nonchalantly took a giant step towards it and shuffled over next to it discreetly before calmly turning to it and blowing smoke on it. There’s also a shot of her that has stayed with me, when she was enacting revenge on the scooter that had splashed her earlier in the episode, her dead eyes calmly watching the robot devour the scooter, her face only illuminated by the cigarette in her mouth.

Another memorable scene was the aforementioned hug between Naota and Haruko. When Haruko went from playfully poking fun at Naota to seriously asking him if he wanted to run away with her, when Naota’s usual barrier dropped down, his eyes swelled, and he cried into her bosom. The slow pan up to Haruko’s bored eyes as the sensor on her wrist started to clang once again, and The Pillows’s One Life fading in. It was a perfectly directed scene.

"Good bye, Naota-kun." A beautiful transition into the epilogue, Mamimi finally letting go and calling Naota by his real name.

I don’t know if or how watching the entire last half of the series in a row affected my initial reaction to it. As I’ve written before, I consider the final 3 episodes of FLCL to be a set, each a great episode in its own right with a powerful, exciting climax set to a rocking energetic song by The Pillows. The reason that they’re a set is that they worked together to form the final half of this series. Episode 4 saw Naota triumph over his fears of swinging the bat, episode 5 saw his downfall as he learned that he wasn’t “all that,” that the women around him were just using him. And episode 6 saw him triumph again, but differently. As amazing as he had been once he turned against Haruko, he wasn’t filled with joy or excitement afterward. He looked calm, almost serene, as Haruko sarcastically blamed him for losing Atomsk and said good bye.

It was as if he had finally learned that important fact, perhaps the most important fact about being an adult: there is nothing amazing or special about it. The path to adulthood isn’t one with leaps and bounds, it’s one defined by its gradual progression, of growing accustomed to new things little by little.

Naota wasn’t there yet, but he learned what it meant to grow up. And that was all I needed to see.

And as one story ends, another begins. However, it is not FLCL's role to tell that story. This is how it should end.

The reveals are coming hard and fast now, and the one in this episode somehow managed to top everything else so far. It was a move that many had predicted from the start, and a perhaps disappointingly convenient tool for explaining Homura’s story up to now. Still, the episode was filled with solid action and moving stand alone scenes and did its job of teaching us Homura’s story and letting us feel for her.

So this little twist gave Shaft carte blanche to do anything it wanted with the characters and story (in fact, I’d bet that that was one of the main reasons that the twist was used in the first place), and at the very least, it made for some good fanservice. Much like in doujin, we got to see various “what if” scenarios play out starring our favorite characters, without worrying about the continuity of the main story. Plus, there was something deeply satisfying about finally seeing Madoka as a magical girl, fighting and protecting as she had longed to do throughout the show.

So her weapon was the bow and arrow, after all. Now, will we get to see her use it in "our" timeline?

One thing I liked was the brevity with which each loop was shown, and how much variety there was in them. Homura woke up, she fought along with some of the girls, failed on Walpurgis Night, tried again. There was no dilly dallying around. And Shaft clearly had a lot of fun with what they were allowed to do in the loops. One of my favorite moments was Homura shooting Madoka after Walpurgis Night. The shaded zoom out followed by a simple flash as her gun went off, with Homura’s pained screaming going on the whole time. The scene leading up to it would have fit well as the ending to a separate story about the two girls. Of course, that part was the only glimpse we saw, but the Groundhog Day loop let us forgive the lack of development up to that powerful climax and just accept the moment for what it was.

Another thing I really liked seeing was Mami losing her head in the loop in which they had to kill the witch Sayaka. Who would have thought that she would turn out to be so unstable and suicidal? I mean, her magical girl wish was to live, so of all of the girls, you’d think she would want to keep going. But that’s what’s convenient about the Groundhog Day loop, isn’t it? You’re allowed to have crazy, out-there situations that don’t necessarily jive with what’s been shown thus far.

The progression of Homura's facial expression during each reset. She flinches in the 1st 2, is just plain distraught in the 3rd, and isn't even shown awakening in the last.

Maybe I sound very positive about this reveal, but I’m actually not. Introducing the time loop is a cheap way of explaining everything up to now. Again, it gives Shaft carte blanche, and that power is a double edged sword. It’s just too powerful a tool and can result in a deus ex machina. So that they decided to use it annoys me somewhat. I would have preferred a more typical back story for Homura, in which her cynicism slowly crept into her over time in a linear progression, instead of it bashing her over the head through the loops. Alternatively, since Shaft decided to go the route of the Groundhog Day loop, I wish they had really run with it as is the norm for uses of the loop, that is, that Homura had to suffer through hundreds, thousands, or even millions of loops to get to where we are now, instead of just 5.

At the same time, I always say, it’s never the concept, always the execution. And this episode was executed very well. Not amazing, mind you, but it did its job of letting us see Homura’s character development, and it had some awesome action and heartfelt scenes, to boot. It convincingly presented Homura as a gun toting badass magical girl, and that’s pretty cool. The cinematography, art, and music were top notch as usual. I can’t take anything away from that.

Homura performs the quintessential badass move, walking away from an explosion calmly without looking.

So, and I’m repeating what I wrote last week, the stage is set for the finale, to defeat Walpurgis Night and save Madoka. We know that this will be the last loop Homura has to suffer, because this is the loop that this show has followed. I’m really pulling for a happy end, because that would be just so unexpected at this point. And it would be darn hard to pull off well, which would make it all the more satisfying if it did. There are a lot of traps the story can fall into in these next 2 episodes, and it will be fun to see how Shaft navigates around them.

What made this scene for me was Homura's unending scream. So much pain.

After last week’s intense reveals and Sayaka’s quick spiral into despair, we were treated to an episode that was decidedly more relaxed in its pacing. The reveals came calmly this time instead of as big hits, with Kyubey finally explaining his motivations to Madoka and Kyoko rediscovering herself in the face of Sayaka’s transformation. As usual, the pacing was spot on, and the development of Kyoko’s character was handled wonderfully, but the way the climax played out left a bad taste in my mouth, ending an otherwise good episode on such a sour note that this may be the worst episode in the show so far.

It’s not that Kyoko’s sacrifice was too predictable. It was predictable, but that in itself is not a problem, as the show wasn’t playing it as a twist. Nor was her decision to do it unbelievable. The show did a fine job of turning villain into heroine through bits of character development in the past 3 episodes. Her wistful comment this episode about why she became a magical girl to begin with – and how Sayaka reminded her of that – had impact. It was just as clear to her as it was to us, the audience, that she was Sayaka’s foil, and seeing that girl’s downfall made her regret the loss of her innocence. Her desire to find redemption by saving Sayaka felt genuine.

Rather, the trouble was that what should have been a crowning moment of glory turned not to be, due to the poorly directed action of the climax. The necessary sense of danger and urgency just wasn’t there. I was ready to believe that Kyoko would give her life in this battle, but it should have been done under a truly dire situation, when no other option presented itself. Though the battle did a good enough job of showing Sayaka as dominating over Kyoko, there was no immediate sense of danger at her moment of sacrifice. It could have been a dramatic, powerful moment, capping off Kyoko’s journey for redemption with a truly selfless and needed sacrifice. Instead, we got a bit of yuri subtext which (though pretty damn cool) framed her death as one out of romantic love for Sayaka rather than of out of a desire to redeem herself for her crimes by aiding Sayaka. As I mentioned above, the latter was very well developed over the past few episodes. The former was jarring and, more importantly, unnecessary for justifying her sacrifice. There was a perfectly good reason to have Kyoko sacrifice her life! Why not use it!?

First of all, HAWT. Second of all, was that really necessary?

As for Kyubey’s reveal of his origin, I don’t like it, but I’ll allow it. I’m wary of stories using science fiction mumbo jumbo – especially “fancy” things like quantum mechanics, chaos theory, or, in this case, thermodynamics – to explain its fantasy. It’s just magic; by watching this show, we’ve already accepted a certain level of suspense of disbelief, and trying to rationalize it further just takes away from the mystique. And, as was the case here, when the science is wrong, it flat out sounds stupid.

To be fair, the science wasn’t completely wrong. Kyubey was conflating entropy (loss of usable energy) with the actual loss of energy (which is impossible), but perhaps he was simplifying things to explain to a middle schooler. Even so, the time scale he’s talking about – the point at which the universe will be so dominated by entropy that energy might as well not exist – is just too damn long to care about. Even if Kyubey’s race is as old as the universe, the time it would take for this to happen is several orders of magnitude longer than that. It’s a bit ridiculous to accept that his race thinks in that long a time scale.

Looking very predator there, Kyubey.

Of course, Kyubey’s race is supposed to be unfathomable to us. Their inability to have emotion, I thought was good enough to explain his manipulative and disattached personality up to now. I don’t think the show was trying to use it as an excuse to forgive him for his actions, because it doesn’t. He’s still a psychopath. It merely served as an explanation of his reasoning, which will help us understand his moves in the future.

For example, his manipulation of Kyoko to kill her and Sayaka at the same time. His giving Kyoko false hope was a really clever move to set up the situation to force Madoka to become a magical girl. The kind of cold and calculated move fitting for such a villain. Given that he’s the villain, of course, it’s also probably a good idea to take what he says with a grain of salt. He might not state outright lies, but there are ways to lie without doing that.

"Are you human!?" "No. And neither are you." Fucking badass.

So with 3 out of our 5 heroines disposed of, all of the pieces are in place. Walpurgis night looms ahead, which will be a challenge too much for Homura to handle alone, and the only possible source of help being Madoka. This should remind you of Madoka’s dream in the very first episode, in which Homura was shown fighting alone against… something, with Kyubey telling Madoka she could help her by becoming a magical girl. Was that dream indeed a glimpse into her future? I didn’t like that conjecture from the beginning, and I still don’t, but it seems quite likely to come true. But excepting the little misstep at the climax of this episode, this show has proven that it can execute on its story very well, regardless of its contents. After all, 2 very early conjectures came true in the previous episode in a truly awesome way. And when the show finally got around to character development the last few episodes, it has done it incredibly well. We’re entering the final act now. Madoka is still not a magical girl. I wait anxiously to see what comes.

Going out with a smile, that's so typical, Kyoko. You and your sugary voice will be missed ;_;

So, wow. We’re 2/3 done with the show, which means it’s about time some questions start getting answered. And that’s exactly what happened this episode, with a couple of the most major reveals yet in the show. These were part of tightly paced and well directed package, making for one of the most tense and enjoyable episodes of the show yet, despite it having almost no action.

Where to begin? I guess the biggest revelation is that not only are witches former magical girls, in fact, magical girls are precursors to witches. This is an important distinction, as it means that magical girls don’t just fall and become witches, but rather, they have been being formed by Kyubey in order to become witches.

And of Kyubey, “or should I say, Incubator,” he’s been upgraded from simple sociopath to full on psychopath. Who knows if his end goal is good or evil, but he’s made it abundantly clear that, in order to reach his goal, he is willing to fool ordinary girls into becoming magical girls, and then witches. So regardless of his intent, he’s, as people have been shouting all along, “evil.”

So the two biggest conjectures, that witches are fallen magical girls, and that Kyubey is evil, came true this week. But, as any good reveal does, more questions have been raised. What is the meaning of “Incubator?” Is it a reference to Kyubey “incubating” magical girls in order to produce witches? Or does it tie into the grief seeds he was eating – after all, they’re called “seeds.” What did Kyubey mean when he said Homura came “from another time?” We’ve seen her mastery of time and space, but is she someone who traverses the multiverse? Is this the type of thing Madoka would be able to do with her massive potential if she ever became a magical girl?

A fine use of this meme. Shaft's previous work Bakemonogatari featured an in-show use of this meme.

All these conjectures and mysteries are fun to think about, but I’m the kind of person who prefers just to let the story unfold to me. It’s much more fun to see the creators tell the story at their own pace instead of trying to preempt them. The reason Magical Girl Madoka Magica has worked so well is that the execution of its story and reveal of the setting have been so good. The pacing and art are what have really stood out to me so far, and episode 8 hit all the high notes in both.

Pacing is, I think, the single most important thing to get right in telling a story, and though the show has had its issues, it has been, by and large, downright masterful. Has it really been 8 episodes? We’re done with the majority of the show, and Madoka is still not a magical girl. Kamina was introduced, had his triumph, and died in the span of 8 episodes. Yet this is not a criticism that the show has been too slow; on the contrary, every episode has been eventful. The show has been so engrossing on a moment to moment basis, it is only when we actively step back and look at the big picture that we realize that we’re already almost done.

Probably my favorite OH SHI- moment of the show so far. Wonderfully directed scene, showing us just enough to know what's going on.

Episode 8 made use of its time about as well as I’ve seen this show do. If Sayaka’s turning into a witch came as no surprise, what did surprise was just how quickly we saw it happen. Leaving off from her psychotic butchering of the witch from the end of episode 7, continuing with her fight with Madoka in the rain, her jealous stalking of Hitomi and Kyosuke, her encounter with Homura, her first murder on the train and her tearful transformation in front of Kyoko at the end, the show did not waste any time in showing us her descent. Interspersed in between were scenes that were just as important, teaching us more about the world, about Walpurgis Night, about Homura, and about Kyubey.

And the scenery porn certainly didn’t hurt, either. I commented on the background architecture in the first episode, and though it has been present throughout the show, episode 8 showed it off better than any other episode so far. Homura’s rather lonely but super high tech home was quite the sight, as was the sunset-lit waterfall where we got to see Hitomi confess to Kyosuke. That fountain in the scene of Kyubey’s reveal threatened to steal the spotlight. Given the sadness of the events going down, it was hard not to feel a sense of melancholy from these beautiful shots of parts of the city.

Hitomi couldn't have chosen a better place or time to confess.

And the super clean minimalist aesthetic was, of course, contrasted by the messy, busy, and downright dirty art style of the witches. The show has done a good job of establishing this contrast, to the point that it was immediately obvious that Sayaka was becoming a witch when the black spiral art passed over her while she confronted those 2 men on the train. The same could be said about the style of the background when Sayaka’s soul gem began turning into a grief seed at the train station. The show has trained us with its art style shifts, giving us the power of immediate recognition of plot elements merely by how something is shown before we even identify the contents.

The story thus far has been absolutely gripping, and it was somewhat cathartic to finally get some confirmations regarding some of the major mysteries of the characters and mythos. At the same time, this show continues to impress not with its plot but with its sublime pacing in its reveals, along with use of art that is both beautiful and meaningful. With the final third of this show left, I’m eagerly looking forward to more reveals that are sure to come at a steady stream, and how the final act will be set up… and resolved.

One of my favorite shots of Sayaka. Looks dead, empty. If only she had embraced her feelings during her little bouts of emotion throughout the episode...

Very exposition heavy episode this week, but that doesn’t mean we didn’t see some epic shit go down. Kyoko’s back story went into Key territory in its forced drama, but the way it was told was visually entertaining, and it added depth to her character. And we were finally served with some genuine character development in Sayaka as she came to terms with the fact that she’s a “zombie.”

The stars this week? Kyoko, Sayaka, and… Hitomi? You know, the girl who’s hanging around Madoka and Sayaka? Her crush on Kyosuke came out of left field, but still wholly believable given the middle school setting. What was unbelievable was the maturity with which she handled it, telling Sayaka outright that she was willing to give Sayaka the 1st chance. Now, I’ve talked with someone on SCCSAV who thinks maybe this was a ruse by her to play matchmaker for Sayaka and Kyosuke, but I think that’s overthinking it. It’s just a straight up love triangle.

At least, it would be, if Sayaka believed she was capable of being loved. Nameless’s post comparing magical girls to child abuse victims painted the scene in which Sayaka cried in Madoka’s arms in an even darker light than it initially appeared. It’s a painful catch-22, isn’t it? Because she got her wish for Kyosuke granted, she no longer feels that she can have his love.

The pain that a magical girl has to bear... it's too much for one person. Also, I like that Sayaka used the z-word to describe herself.

Meanwhile, Kyubey offers her no consolation. In fact, the cold open showed him to be a sociopath, unable to sympathize with the girls’ horror at getting their souls sucked out. And literally torturing Sayaka to make his point. I feel that this might be Kyubey’s true nature; he’s not malicious, but he just can’t understand humans. His motivation is something that’s still up in the air, and his obsession with Madoka comes off far too strong, but hey, maybe he just wants a really powerful magical girl to take down witches. Still no reason to suspect him of ill intent.

Who does step in as a sort of a mentor to Sayaka is, surprisingly enough, Kyoko. Her explaining her back story was another thing that came out of left field given what we’ve seen of her so far, but it humanized her, letting us see her as more than just a villain but a victim as well. In fact, she’s the girl of whom Kyubey and Mami spoke when referring to a magical girl who wished for someone else only to have the wish backfire. And boy did it backfire! To the point that it had me rolling my eyes a bit, but hey, it wasn’t as overtly trying to manipulate our feelings as some of the shit we saw in Angel Beats! And the presentation really helped.

No fourth wall? In a Shaft show? Say it ain't so!

The paper cutouts during Kyoko’s flashback should remind you of the flashbacks from Bakemonogatari – Mayoi’s and Tsubasa’s back stories used this technique. But this show played with it by showing Kyoko actually holding the cutouts as she spoke, a visual metaphor for her verbal recounting of her past. It’s not a new trick, but it worked well in delivering the feeling of Kyoko telling her story to us. Also, the rundown church in which the scene took place was flat out gorgeous and fit in with the music by Yuki Kajiura better than any other setting in the show so far. The view of the dilapidated beauty served as a metaphor for the magical girls of this show and also reminded of the haunting settings from the Kara no Kyoukai movies.

Speaking of hauntingly beautiful, how about that final fight scene? Shaft is notorious for hiding cheap animation with its artistic style, and the silhouetted fighting did that quite well. We finally got to see Sayaka kick some ass, and the choreography and action direction overall were great! Beyond hiding the money-saving animation, the silhouetted fighting fit with the theme of the fight, which was Sayaka finally accepting her situation as a “zombie” and going mad. I had thought Kyoko was the one who had gone mad from the horrors of being a magical girl, but it looks like it was Sayaka! Then again, Kyoko is clearly Sayaka’s foil, and perhaps Sayaka has simply taken a step toward becoming another Kyoko.

Flat out badass and beautiful. This is the type of action scene I wanted to see Sayaka in.

It seems that each of the girls we’ve seen represents a different stage in the life of the magical girl. At one end of the spectrum, there’s Hitomi, who’s unaware of the existence of magical girls, and our heroine Madoka, who knows, but hasn’t become one yet. Then there’s Mami, who became a magical girl, didn’t know all the details fully and was still fairly idealistic, but got killed before she could progress any further. Sayaka, on the other hand, survived, and discovered the true horrors, and we got to see her go mad. Kyoko seemingly went through that phase as well, and now she’s a cynical, narcissistic, self-serving jerk. And at the end, we arrive at Homura, who has fully accepted her role, completely jaded by what she’s seen, but also fully committed to making sure that others don’t have to go through what she has. It’s a very sad progression, and so far, we’ve gotten to see Sayaka go from start to, well, where she is now.

Will Madoka be the one to break this seemingly inevitable downfall of magical girls? That’s the question in my mind, as we cross the halfway point in the show with our title character still not a magical girl. And showing no signs of wanting to become one, being present to both Mami’s death and Sayaka’s descent into madness. What will finally drive her into becoming one? What is the wish that she will deem so precious that she would be willing to go through what she knows is the hellish life of a magical girl? Part of me hopes that we will enter the final episode with her still not having turned, because the anticipation will have built to epic proportions by then. It’s still far too early to pass judgment on this show, but I haven’t had this much fun watching a TV anime episode to episode since The Tatami Galaxy last year. Which won our best TV Show (traditional) award for that year if you’ll recall.

Speaking of badass, Kyoko was that in this scene. Holding up another girl entirely by her collar? Awesome.

Another couple weeks, another worldview changing revelation. What else is new in Magical Girl Madoka Magica? Episode 5 wasn’t really inspiring, despite having some solid action, but combined with episode 6, it has been a solid pair of episodes in this show. The fantasy set up stage seems to be coming to a close here with conflict against our first major villain in Sakura Kyoko, and new questions join old ones as we see hints of what’s to come.

One question that has been present since the beginning and whose answer gets more and more intriguing as we learn more is, what’s the little fella’s motivation? At this point, with how Shaft has portrayed Kyubey’s actions, without his pleasant voice and reassuring words, he would clearly be a self serving, villainous figure. Hanging out with Kyoko before she gets into a (potentially) lethal fight with Sayaka? Pushing Madoka to make a wish during said fight? Then pushing Sayaka to perform some peer pressure on Madoka to achieve the same thing? One thing’s for sure: he really, very badly wants Madoka to become a magical girl.

That’s even without mentioning the creepy cold open to episode 5 in which he sucks out Sayaka’s soul through her breasts using his extended ears and puts it in her soul gem. Or his unnecessarily pulling Madoka into the fight between Sayaka and Kyoko at the end of episode 6. Then there’s his consumption of the grief seeds via that red mark, which he hand waves as just “being one of his functions.” He just purifies the evil dark power contained within? It’s hard to buy that he’s not getting some benefit out of this, given that magical girls have been shown to consume power from similar sources.

His unchanging smile gets creepier and creepier as we dig deeper and deeper into this world.

What is Kyubey after here? I stress time and again, there is no reason not to take Kyubey at his word. But with it being so obvious that Shaft is showing Kyubey as being overly pushy and depicting him with demonic imagery, I think it’s safe to say that Shaft wants us to think that there’s more behind Kyubey. Is he just after more grief seeds for himself, and he sees an incredibly powerful magical girl such as Madoka as a good means? Or is he after something more sinister?

A simple twist would be far too obvious, and a red herring would be far too easy. I want to think that our opinion of Kyubey will change at least a couple times before all is said and done.

Certainly, Kyubey’s off-hand comment about magical girls “always being surprised” at the discovery that they’ve been separated from their bodies makes him seem at least callous and insensitive. Like the type to use magical girls and throw them away, cycle after cycle. It was a bit of a surprise to me that Kyoko was taken aback, since she’s made out to be the hardened, cynical veteran, same as Homura, who already knew about the gems holding the magical girls’ souls. I wanted to think that Kyoko was someone so horrified by discovering the world of magical girls that she went psychotic. I guess she’s just a plain old power hungry bad guy. Oh well, at least she makes for quite the villain. Her threat to disable Kyosuke’s limbs permanently was wicked, exactly the kind of speech we want coming from a villain. Plus, she has fire in her eyes (yes, she – and the show – reminds me a lot of Shakugan no Shana. I’ll keep using that joke).

Flame Eyed... Kyoko? Ai Nonaka's voice is a pleasure to listen to, and combined with the art and writing, creates a great villain in Kyoko.

Besides Kyubey, Kyoko really was the star of the past couple episodes. I loved the DDR scene with her and Homura, starting with the shout out to the show’s OP and ending with her getting a perfect score before offering Homura a Pocky in the style of a cigarette (with how this show is playing out like a crime thriller, it was very appropriate). And there was one of Shaft’s favorite tools, the bullet time head tilt, in the middle, when she asked what Homura’s story was without missing a beat. Kyoko was being made to look really cool here, and it worked.

Her fight scene against Sayaka at the end of episode 5 was excellent as well. The use of recycled clips was distracting, especially since there was enough unique content in there to make a good fight scene! But, well, there was enough content in there to make a good fight scene. Kyoko’s oversized spear/multi-sectioned staff is badass, full stop. Such things are what I love about animated martial arts violence: the ability to have crazy, physically impossible, beautiful weapons. Unfortunately, Sayaka was a pushover, and her fighting hasn’t been much fun to look at. She needs to get in close with her sword instead of throwing them.

When combined with the knowledge gained at the end of episode 6, this image from the cold open to episode 5 becomes more... wicked.

What about the big reveal at the end of episode 6? So magical girls can theoretically move from body to body. That solves the whole aging problem. But that raises some major questions. How old is Kyubey anyway? How old is Homura, for that matter? How many bodies has she been through? Are magical girls like Roa, jumping from body to body as need arises? Maybe her first body was Joan of Arc? Mary Magdalene? Cassandra? Eve? More importantly, how will this new information come into play later in the show? In a fantasy work such as this, the writer doesn’t throw in such an element without the intent of using it. I would welcome some body switching hijinks. I could use something light hearted in this show (hey, Shakugan no Shana did that too!).

While on the topic of Homura, we finally got to see her teleportation powers clearly and in action, and that was pretty cool. Don’t get me started on why she did the whole “teleport a few meters at a time while running” bit instead of landing right on the truck (or why she painstakingly climbed the truck after catching up instead of, again, landing on top of it). For all the cool action in this show, some scenes test my suspense of disbelief with their stupidity. Sayaka pushing against Kyoko’s spear in episode 5 was also one of those.

This clash kind of pissed me off. Just tilt the sword 30 degrees and stab her instead of needlessly pushing against the spear, you twit!

Then there’s our eponymous (non) magical girl, Madoka. Hard to believe that we’ve almost reached the halfway point, and she’s still not a magical girl. Whodathunkit? The way she keeps getting hyped by Kyubey and Homura as a game breaker, I wonder if we won’t see her as a magical girl until the very end, under duress like Mami, in order to save something or someone. Or what if she never turns? Maybe the lesson is that by simply being herself, she was magical all along and just needed to click her heels 3 times! Yeah, that would suck.

Given everything Madoka has seen up to this point, who would blame her for not wanting to set foot into the monstrous world of magical girls? Yet she continues to do so despite lacking powers, because she cares about the safety of her friends. So like you’d expect a magical girl show to be, this is about the power of FRIENDSHIP and LOVE. Her nighttime conversation with her mother makes it clear that that’s what this show is going to go for. And to its credit, by putting these girls in tough situations and giving them life-altering and life threatening challenges, the show manages to make this boring message compelling.

It’s never the idea, it’s always the execution. So far, Magical Girl Madoka Magica has taken a very tired old premise and has executed wonderfully, especially with its consistently impressive art and pacing that provides slow burn punctuated by significant, memorable events. Again, because I don’t know much about magical girl shows, I’m staying away from the word “deconstruction.” But all that and the enormous amount of speculation aside, this is simply a fun, intriguing fantasy action show that tells its story very well. I can’t wait to see how the story will run its course and am eagerly looking forward to what else Shaft has in stock for when the Walpurgis Night that Homura mentioned comes.

Great end title card by Hajime Ueda, he of FLCL manga fame. He was also responsible for the ED art in Shaft's previous hit, Bakemonogatari.

There was plenty that happened in this episode that could be used to fuel speculation. At the same time, I’m not much of one for speculation; I prefer to let the work come to me at its own pace. Guessing and coming up with outlandish theories to fit what we know so far is not the game for me. Still, this episode gave lots of indications and hints that are worth at least mentioning.

As I had figured last week, Sayaka’s route to becoming a magical girl was the next thing to get focus, though it happened much faster than I had expected. I had expected Homura to play Sayaka’s foil as an example of someone who wished for someone else’s wellbeing only to have it backfire. That didn’t happen. In fact, it seems that Homura going to play mentor to Madoka, what with their sunset conversation while walking from Mami’s now abandoned room. If you have yuri goggles on, that scene provided plenty of service, particularly with Homura seeming to care just a bit too much about Madoka’s wellbeing. I’m looking forward to seeing all the fanart that will pop up.

The backdrop, other than being beautiful, reminded me a lot of the city at the start of Diebuster. That was another "magical girl" show with heavy girl-love undertones...

It’s noteworthy that Kyubey showed up exactly as Kyosuke was throwing his tantrum and Sayaka was revealing to him the world of magic. And that during the rooftop scene before, Kyubey only said good bye to Madoka. Shaft sure is laying it thick with hints that there is more to Kyubey than meets the eye. Again, I don’t think it’s going to be the simple bad-guy-all-along twist, but that looks to be at least part of the story. Either that or just a subtle red herring, which I wouldn’t put past this show at this point.

As for how Sayaka’s wish will turn out, the dreary music playing in the background during Kyosuke’s discovery hints that, indeed, not everything will go as planned. The next episode’s title is “I Have No Regrets,” and I’d like to think that it refers to Sayaka, who will see the wish blow up in her face, but still be happy (or maybe it will be a line for someone else entirely). Will Kyosuke abandon her but still have Sayaka be happy that she was able to help him? Maybe he’ll die, but Sayaka won’t regret making the wish for him? Or, perhaps the darkest result of all, Sayaka will have to face her own death, but happily and without regret, because she was at least able to give Kyosuke what he wanted? I think I like the sound of that last one, since it would have an impact on Madoka as well.

Though I hope that doesn’t happen for a few episodes, since I want to see more of Sayaka in action. Her moment of glory was rather short in this episode, certainly not comparable to what Mami displayed the past two episodes. But as a swordswoman, she’s sure to pull off some badass stuff in the future.

This was a pretty good OH SHI- moment, as we didn't find out until after the fact that this was how Madoka was sucked into the witch's realm.

Actually, the action overall was much weaker in this episode compared to the last 2, but the continuing evolution of the trippy other world made up for that. I’ve been impressed at Shaft’s ability to keep these segments fresh. The paper cutout collage art in the 1st couple episodes had clearly been taken right out of their Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei OPs and bits of Bakemonogatari, but since then, the realms have evolved while still keeping that paper cutout aesthetic. The way Madoka was sucked into this one was gruesome and awesome, and the world itself, in which Madoka was falling endlessly while surrounded by TV screens showing Mami was appropriately surreal. The way her rendering changed as she was pulled in all directions before being saved by Sayaka was a nice touch and showed a character changing art style along with the background for the first time. I hope to see more of that.

Of course, I have to mention Kyoko, who made her introduction at the very end. Is she another magical girl, or something else entirely? If the former, why is she so hostile to other magical girls? What’s her relationship with Kyubey? If Homura is one who has become jaded from all the death she’s seen, is Kyoko someone who’s gone mad and power hungry from it? Or maybe she, not Homura, is the girl Mami and Kyubey were talking about who wished for someone else’s benefit only to have it backfire, and she’s absolutely pissed because of it?

I think the most important part of her to keep in mind is that she’s voices by Ai Nonaka (FUCK YEAH)! That came out of left field even moreso than Mami’s death last episode. Her sugary sweet voice is is quite literally a pleasure to hear, and I’ve missed her since she hasn’t taken on any major roles since the 2nd season of Natsu no Arashi. Now, her roles in Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei and as Ichijou in Pani Poni Dash had been somewhat psychopathic, but in a deceptive way. Kyoko is more blatant about it, and you can tell she’s playing her a lot darker than her other roles, but she can’t hide the cuteness in her voice.

This girl has FIRE IN HER EYES. And is that a melon bread? Wait, wrong show.

I really hope Kyoko will be around for a while, which maybe hoping for too much, since she wasn’t one of the 5 named major characters in the pre-airing promotion material, and the show has established that anyone can die at any time. I’m quite a bit surprised as to how much I’m enjoying this show, as I tend to have an aversion to things that receive a lot of hype beforehand (see: Black Rock Shooter). Then again, there are cases when the hype is justified (see: Evangelion 2.22, The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya). In a way, Magical Girl Madoka Magica seems to fit more into a regular fantasy action genre, a la Shakugan no Shana, than the magical girl genre from which it derives its title. Perhaps it’s a reflection of the fact that the latter is merely a subgenre of the former, just sugarified. Is Madoka Magica what you call a deconstruction? I’m not really equipped to throw around that word, since I’ve never seen a magical girl show, but it sure seems to be trying to do something like it. And that’s proving to be very fun to watch.