Magical Mondays: Madoka, Magic, and Misery

Anime magical girls and witches seem to fill a similar niche in their respective media. Both are centered around the inherent powers of women—whether they are feared or not because of it–and the idea of gathering power from what one wants is vital in the use of their powers. Though a witch may be more apt to use a love potion or other more unsavory methods in popular media, and magical girls typically want peace and love, the similarities aren’t difficult to see. Moreover, while these character types are stereotypically feminine, their real strength comes from how the magic they’re given only serves to build up the inner strength of the character in a way more easily understood by younger audiences. Sailor Moon doesn’t start caring about her loved ones extra hard because of her magic, it just helps her defend her friends and family in a way she wouldn’t be able to otherwise. Similarly, Marnie in Halloweentown doesn’t seek new challenges just because she found out she’s a witch, but being a witch offers her a whole new set of obstacles she’s excited to test her mettle against. In both cases, the girls are allowed to try and fail and embrace all the feelings that come with that. 

Expanding on the overlap between witches and anime magical girls at some point really only makes sense; however, I will always be disappointed that the most prominent example of this to date is in Madoka. I watched the series a while ago, and while I liked some parts of it, the series as a whole never sat right with me. While, yes, part of it was because of the torture porn-y aspect of all of it, my main problem with it was how eager the series was to deny the safety of this power fantasy and how that tried to enforce a narrative where powerful women and girls are punished for wanting things.

via Anime News Network

Spoilers for Puella Magi Madoka Magica and Rebellion under the cut. 

Magical Mondays: Really, Do Not Sign That Contract

Although the idea of a contract in real life is ostensibly meant to protect both parties’ interests and hold both parties accountable, this is almost never the case in fiction. When a contract shows up, you know it’s bad news, and if it’s a magical contract, just, like, don’t even read it. Instead of reading it, run.

In day to day life, dealing with the fine print of agreements ranges from irrelevant to frustrating—maybe the paid membership you signed up for auto-renews and you didn’t realize it, or you agreed to an EULA that said you promised not to use that software to create nuclear weapons. Generally a bummer, but nothing life-altering. This mild sort of badness isn’t always the worst case, and plenty of historical examples of people passing off misleading or unfair contract terms exist. History is full of corporations and other people (#zing) who use their power to manipulate. That’s why we have laws about things like monopolies, and Native Americans are still fighting to make the U.S. honor its agreements regarding tribal lands.

Stories based on contract-signings or otherwise magically binding agreements are often reflective of power differences and discrimination in real life. In fiction, people who write contracts are evil, and want you to sign off on that shitty contract they wrote without ever reading the fine print. Then later, when you protest that you didn’t sign up for this, they can pull it out and say yes, you literally signed up for exactly this. The contract’s author is usually a wealthy villain—whether that wealth is financial or some other sort (magical ability, political power) is irrelevant. The point is, they have ultimate control over an ability or commodity, and they can dictate the terms by which that commodity is distributed. And since these contracts have magic behind them, breaking them isn’t as easy as just going back on your word.

Anime Review: Puella Magi Madoka Magica

So I missed Madoka fever when Madoka fever was all the rage. (That is, last summer.) But seeing as I’ll be at Otakon in a week, and basically every industry guest at Otakon is there because of their role in the Puella Magi Madoka Magica Japanese or English cast/production staff, I figured I’d give it a look-see. It is only twelve episodes, after all.

The plot of Madoka revolves around the character of Kyubey.  Kyubey is an extraterrestrial creature called an Incubator, who will grant you one wish—any wish—if you agree to let him turn you into a magical girl (mahou shoujo, a la Sailor Moon) and fight witches the rest of your life.

The deal is, quite obviously, rigged in Kyubey’s favor. The life of a magical girl is a twisted pyramid-scheme-slash-vicious-cycle that ultimately ends in despair and violent death.

Kaname Madoka (the cute pink-haired one below) is one of the girls Kyubey has chosen to take up the magical girl mantle, and the story of the anime follows her as she sees the effects of magical-girl life and makes her decision.

A friend once referred to Madoka as ‘the most fucked-up anime’ he’s ever seen. I wouldn’t go so far. I think Madoka is a pretty standard horror anime, and really a lightweight one at that, since the show ends on a happy note. The real horror of this show comes from the juxtaposition of the magical girl genre into an anime that is clearly horror. Everything about the peppy opening theme by ClariS, the bright and happy promotional art, and the cutesy character designs screams that this will be an adorable moe escapade, which is why it is all the more harsh and gruesome when the truths of magical girl life are one by one revealed.

This isn’t the be-all end-all of mindfuck anime. But it is actually really good (albeit depressing and horrific at times), and it’s so short that there’s really no reason to not watch it. Check it out!