Madoka Magica
This has got to be the best episode this season; I was so stunned after watching it that I had to rewatch it again...and, along with it, the first couple episodes of the series. It shines a different light on the first episode, one that makes it much more enjoyable with it being in context. To show how awesome this episode was: the 4chan boards are racking up about 300+ replies in the general thread every 30min, which is roughly a post every 6sec. So, if you haven't watched, watch it now before hitting that read more button. XD
With this, we learn the truth. The real main character is Homura, not Madoka. I really, really like how this was done, though. People just don't just appear in the school being a superstar, knowing everything, and doing everything kool. I would have loved if they expanded on these timeline hops more on a spinoff or OVA, or something. They had to skip over it pretty fast to cover the amount of time skips. Here is a quick reference to the timelines compiled.
Time to get to one of the big news: MAMI REAPPEARS!?!?!??!?! I WAS LIKE ZOMGZ!?!??!? Mami was probably my favourite in this show, followed by Homura - up until this episode. Homura is clearly superior to Mami now, after this. I was like WTF when she was taken out again, literally minutes after seeing her again.
This scene was really what broke it for Mami. She was the level-headed one (pun intended, too much 4chan for me). She's degraded so much from learning the truth. What made this funny was that Mami is the most popular character in this anime, and so you had people mass-spamming a picture reading "If only Mami was here" before. Now we know EXACTLY what Mami would do, and it clearly doesn't make things better. XD
I didn't have too much problem with the time skipping in this series, mainly 'cause of the way they portrayed Homura; she was more...normal. You see her slowly build up her weapon stash and become more athletic. She didn't just appear already pro out of nowhere, like so many other anime/manga portray. Just that feel she gave off in ep1 and ep10 was amazing when compared; I just loved rewatching ep1.
Theorycraft time: clearly, an episode like this sprouted theories like wildfires. Here are three that I think are the most plausible.
The Infinite Loop Theory
The belief that this anime will have no end. In ep12, Homura fails and ends with her resetting everything again to try once more in Season 2. This opens up a Season 2 for one of the biggest hits, also allowing for more moniez. Also to support this theory: if you look at the calender shown a few times when Homura is in the hospital, there are dates that are circled. The last episode of Madoka = same day as the first day of school for Homura. That can't just be coincidence, since clearly there are no coincidences in this anime and everything is well planned out. A slight off-shoot of this is the idea of a butterfly effect on the timelines. Each time, it gets a bit worse off and the original history was actually, so far, the best outcome.
Madoka's Wish Theory
This one is actually a very, very interesting one. We know that the dream sequence in the first episode wasn't just a dream and actually occurred one timeline ago for Homura. The theory is that Madoka wished for something similar to Homura and somehow retained memories from that timeline. This stemmed from a couple of things. Clearly, from watching the first episode, she does have memories of Homura. She also has the same awakening as Homura when she jumps back in time. In the next two episodes, this will be revealed, and together they can beat Walpurgis Night - thus, we get our "happy end".
Homura is Witch-fied
The only huge consistency so far for witches is Walpurgis Night. The theory is that the witch is Homura. Combined with her time travelling ability, she also exists in every timeline. The theory stems from the cogs that are the same as the cogs that churn in her shield every time she stops time. This also allows for the "bittersweet" ending that might happen. Madoka forms the contract and kills Homura. In the end, Homura's failed to protect her.
In the end, this turned out to be one of the biggest episodes of the season, leaving everyone that watched it just wanting more. It definitely puts Madoka clearly ahead for my favourite anime of the season. I'm really interested to see how this plays out.
~Pearz
