• Now, on to the analysis of the series itself. Well, as I said before, it is mainly meant as an homage to the '90s mind-screw anime, and as such it shares many of the same themes, such as loss, moral ambiguity, friendship, depression, tragedy, etc. But you guys don't want to hear about that, you want to hear about what I thought of the ending, don't you?

    As you know in the ending, the buildup for the past 12 episodes finally comes to a breaking point and Madoka makes her final decision: she becomes a Puella Magi and wishes for all witches and Puella Magi to disappear. In making this contradictory wish, she becomes the universe and restructures it (as much as she is able to) to her own liking, effectively rendering all Puella Magi invalid and rescuing them as a result. But because this is a Puella Magi wish, there has to be an equal amount of suffering and hope. Madoka is able to burden most of it, resulting in a mostly normal, happy world, but in this new world there are still consequences. Sayaka, Mami and Kyoko remain dead (apparently), while Homura, although having a normal life otherwise, loses Madoka and is forced to fight an endless amount of demons. She also inherits Madoka's ribbon and grows some badass wings. In addition, Madoka eliminates and rewrites the relationship between humans and Incubators, stating that they now feed off demon's souls rather than the entropy of suffering.

    Well, let's start with the most obvious thing: Madoka is definitely Jesus. She died for everyone's sins (suffering), and took all the burden upon herself, essentially crucifying her. Of course, she also becomes an omnipotent being that, according to the show, can “see both past and future”, and “saves” all of the downtrodden (although some believe that Madoka is saving the fallen Puella Magi by essentially killing them...I guess your mileage may vary). If you need any more evidence of this, look at the date that the final episode aired on: April 22, Good Friday. Coincidence? Most likely not.

    Before we make any more Judeo-Christian parallels in this universe however, we should hesitate—especially when it comes to Kyubey. One might think that because of this, Kyubey and the Incubator race in general personifies Satan. But it is shown clearly throughout the show that Kyubey is not evil, he is chaotic neutral. He doesn't understand human feelings and therefore cannot sympathize with them, while Lucifer is completely different, not to mention when he is restructured he has no reason to harm humans. (I do find it amusing that when that happens, Homura and Kyubey's relationship is that of a typical mahou shoujo and her sidekick, not unlike Precure or Cardcaptor Sakura.) Upon further inspection, Homura's wings in the final scene could indeed be an allusion to the Archangel Gabriel. And of course, from here I guess there is evidence to infer other parallels, like Sayaka being similar to Judas or all of Madoka's friends being her “disciples”. Really, though, I personally believe the Christian parallels end at Madoka and Homura, and that you shouldn't look too deep into it.

    The Faust references, though, you should look very deep into, as it comprises almost the whole series. The deal-making demonic character, the mask of Mephistopheles appearances, and even Walpurgis Night are all homages to Faust. Much of the runic witch language, when translated, are passages straight from Faust, and one could argue many other Faust references and allusions are present.

    So basically, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, like Neon Genesis Evangelion before it, is a series ripe for analysis. Plenty of people on 4chan have deduced ridiculous theories and parallels that I dare not mention here due to utter stupidity, but some of these may actually hold water. There are a lot more viable theories, easter eggs, and common threads of analysis that I have not discussed, and the series is new enough that there is plenty of discussion everywhere. If you see or notice something interesting, sound off about it in the comments on the next page!

    OMAKE:

    I have absolutely no idea what's going on here, but I love it.

    I have no idea what is going on here but I love it.


  • Sponsors Sponsors