Tag Archives: Puella Magi Madoka Magica

[Interpost] Yet another anime character design by Kantoku

  By Halfey Halphstein | August 2, 2012 - 11:30 pm | ,
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Original Anime Project “Prism Nana” by SHAFT

http://0taku.livedoor.biz/archives/4259665.html

Yes! It’s just a few days ago that I discovered the news about a light novel “Hentai Ouji to Warawaranai Neko” will become an anime where the light novel is illustrated by Kantoku. Now another good news popped up, which is SHAFT, the studio behind Madoka Magica is making another original mahou shoujo anime named “Prism Nana” with Kantoku doing the character design. Take note that by ‘original’ here it means this is not an adaptation from any existing source material.

I have nothing against this, in fact I welcome it because I have always wished to see more Kantoku’s works in anime form. I might have a problem with SHAFT in the past, mainly because I don’t like their animation style, however with good character design and story, like what they did with Madoka Magica, I would easily forget that. Not much is known about this anime project so far and they will only announce it in the upcoming Comiket 82 but I hope Urobuchi will write for this show too.

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[Interpost] Derpressing

  By Halfey Halphstein | February 18, 2012 - 9:16 pm | ,
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“Seeing my favorite characters turning evil or doing evil things is very depressing, you know?

Yes, there’s nothing more depressing than seeing your favorite characters turning evil or doing evil things. There are reasons to why people like certain characters in anime. For me the reason has always been something related to innocence, purity and clean reputation.

If, the character I like suddenly turned into evil for whatever reasons out there (actually I would not accept whatever reason for them to become evil) it would be very very depressing to me. In most cases that kind of even would make me feel like being betrayed as a fan of the character.

When I said about being a ‘fan’ it doesn’t mean I’m talking in a position of being a big fan of a certain character. I am talking about characters that I ‘LIKE” but not necessarily a character I’m being a fan of. Let’s take Madoka and Mami-san (from Madoka Magica) for example. I’m a big fan of Mami-san but for Madoka, she is the character that I like. Although there are differences it doesn’t mean I would allow any of them turned evil.

That said below are a few characters that I’m not a fan of but I like them that it made me depressed upon seeing them turning evil and/or doing evil things.

"Legalized piracy" is bullshit. There's no such thing. There's no excuse to 'pirate' any shipment to begin with.

In Mouretsu pirates, if what they’re doing is not a crime then why would they need weapons and firearms? Isn’t it a crime is there’s a criminal-victim relationship here?

Multiple personality disorder is something I've grown bored of.

In Guilty Crown, Inori who always bear an innocent looking face is actually a dangerous person who could kill at her will.

I know Shuu is wrong but now you're no better than him bitch!

Also Arisa Kohouin, a women from a ‘noble’ family who is supposed to be pure, respectable and full of dignity, has cracked under pressure, broken and submitted to fear that she has sold her virginity for the sake of survival, although the survival achieved that way would be pointless. I hope she’ll get pregnant next week because I don’t think they used any protection (not to mention she might have “taken it all in” so that Nanba could do her a favor).

And this woman looks like she's going to sacrifice her son.

There’s also a possibility that the woman in the pic above might be the one who caused the death of her own husband. I mean she’s willing to become a ‘bad’ mother for his son so it would still make sense if she is already a ‘bad’ wife long before that.

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[Anniversary] Madoka Magica revisited, one year later

  By Halfey Halphstein | January 7, 2012 - 12:30 am |
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まどかマギカ | ちび丸

Exactly one year ago (07/01/2011) the first episode of this anime was aired. Unlike any other mahou shoujo anime before it, this anime is deemed as legendary and being a better “genre deconstruction” than the classic Utena (the one Madoka Magica has always being compared with by classicfags). It feels even better than Gen Urobuchi’s previous work, the Nanoha series because it’s unusual for you to see characters die in a mahou shoujo series, especially when the dead characters are main characters! Usually this only happens in shounen or mecha series like the Gundam franchises but for a mahou shoujo series, this is quite refreshing (and depressing) though it might not the first one to feature this kind of development.

That makes some people to doubt the validity of this anime being a mahou shoujo series, argued that it’s about drama, not about mahou shoujo, though that kind of argument implies that Gundam also is a drama anime, not a mecha anime. Some others even blatantly oppose the ideas (as if to disapprove all kind of genre deconstruction) and prefer to stick to the old “all sparkling” retro style mahou shoujo. I must say those people are the “static-type” where they refuse to move forward and would not accept new things but prefer the good old ways. *Sigh* If only everybody was like them we might still live in caves today.

I’ve observed many reviews on the net but none so far have noticed these flaws. Although I’m a big fan of the series there are a couple of things been bugging me.

You know I’m also a fan of Steins;Gate. In Steins;Gate we saw tempering with the past always have a direct result to the present and the future. In other words altering the past will resulting in creation of a new future. That however seems to be not the case with Madoka Magica. Although Moemura turned back time repeatedly, the result is always the same.

One more thing that irritates me is even after she (Moemura) made up her mind to become stronger, all that she wanted to save and protect is Madoka only. She didn’t care about Mami-San and others although I think she is capable of doing that.

Well I might be doing the same thing too if I was in her shoes (like saving Mami-san alone and let the others die) but from an audience point of view I still think it is unacceptable. There’s nothing more evil than being able to do something helpful but decided not to do it just because you don’t feel like doing it.

No, I’m not really complaining, and I don’t hate Moemura either (and for Madoka’s sake I’m not favoring Mami-san). I love this show the way it is, and I might love it more now than I was last year. That’s why I’ve kept the above criticisms only to myself for one year-long. I wanted to see whether other people also noticed the above or maybe they did but choose not to say it out loud. Maybe it’s not something worth to write about after all. Looking forward to see the continuation (prequel, sequel, spin-off, whatever) and yeah Mami-san is ♥

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[Interpost] The reason(s) I love Mami-san so much

  By Halfey Halphstein | November 5, 2011 - 5:49 pm | , , , ,
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The dude who draw the doujin above seems to share similar taste with me. What he wrote above is pretty much explains why I love Mami-san so much. I don’t mind if you don’t, and I wouldn’t mind if you insult her either but there are also times I might retaliate over what you say about her. That said sometimes it’s better if you could just shut your mouth (or hand) if you have nothing nice to say. I’m not saying that I tell nice things all the time but for whatever action you committed, always be prepared for the consequences.

After giving enough thoughts about it (and being asked about it countless times) I decided to write this “long overdue” article about the reasons behind my unlimited love towards Mami-san. I’ve never explicitly tell anybody about this before but let me ‘warn you this article is not going to explain/answer much of the question because you can say I don’t need real reason to love her. Even with her limited screentime is enough to make me crazy for her like this, what other reasons do you think I would need then? BTW for those who hadn’t noticed, Kyouko actually have less screentime than Mami-san if those flashbacks are included. Just saying.

Back to Mami-san, I found one ‘argument’ at MyAnimeList.net that I think is kinda belittling Mami-san to me. Not that it matters but reading it once was enough to bug me. I quoted the ‘argument’ below:

As for Mami, I always thought she was too perfect and that she merely acted cool to impress others. Maybe she just got killed too quickly to develop properly, but either way, the only impressive thing about her were her battle skills, but even in that department, she ultimately fell short (which led to her demise).

The above ‘argument’ is contradicting by itself. First it says about Mami-san being “too perfect” but then it says she “fell short” in her battle skills, of which makes me wonder which is it actually? Mami-san being perfect or not?

To be honest, it’s because she was “too perfect” that makes me love her. I mean who wouldn’t want perfection or something perfect to have? At least I’m not that hypocrite to say “not me” to that question. Speaking of Mami-san’s good points (and fanboy points), I managed to compile some of them below:

  • She’s calm and clear/particular about what she wants/needs (though too bad she went mad in the other timeline after finding out the truth about the Puella Magi system).
  • She has this “motherly” and/or “big sister” aura with her. She’s so reliable that I think I’d feel safe being with her (at least Madoka and Sayaka did feel like that).
  • Lovely, well-done designed, has the best outfit and “likeable by default”. Even Moemura is only likeable to me after went through half of the series.
  • Awesome fighting style (don’t give me the “but her head was bitten off anyway” crap. It’s necessary or otherwise the series won’t progress the way it was).
  • She’s the coolest female character I’ve ever seen in my 2 decades history of watching anime. If she was a guy she’d be the GAR-est I must say.
  • The strong faceade, while being scared and lonely made me want to hug her so bad.
  • She has this classiness, elegant and demure nature.
  • She’s like Obiwan to Madoka, if you know what I mean (being a good and irreplaceable mentor/adviser. That’s why Madoka was a bit ‘lost’ after she dies).
  • Unlimited Musket Works!
  • Has my most favorite theme Credens Justitiam.
  • Tiro Finale! Nuff’ said!
  • Last but not least, those ‘drills’ and ‘zettai ryouiki’! Mami-san is now ‘absolutely’ my official ambassador for zettai ryouiki (>_<)

These points may sound like I’m exaggerating but let me tell you, this is anime and anything that is impossible in real life should make sense and can happen in the 2D world. Therefore you should not complain too much about that. Don’t argue, just accept it :P

(This article is written in conjunction with the announcement of Mami-san being the winner of Saimoe Tournament 2011. She did pretty well for a non-loli and ‘dead’ character. For me that’s a solid proof that she’s the most loved character from Madoka Magica, surpassing even Moemura! More info at Moetron.)

[Cosplay] Mami Tomoe from Puella Magi Madoka Magica

  By Halfey Halphstein | October 8, 2011 - 5:39 pm | , ,
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It’s been a while since the last time I write a “full-fledged” cosplay review. This is only the second review I made. I rarely review any cosplay not because there is no cosplay worth reviewing but because I’m suck at reviewing cosplay. Therefore apologies if you found any of my words below sounds bad.

The above pics are ripped from here. The website is in Russian and I found no ‘proper’ review there except some descriptive texts therefore I decided to write my own.

From Google Translate it appears that the girl goes under a pseudonym “Giro Gohan” (or “Jiro Gohan” according to my Russian friend). Her face reminds me of this one ero cosplayer I don’t know her name whose have cosplayed half-naked, topless Miku Hatsune. I’m not sure if they’re the same person or not (of which I hope not so not to taint the image of my beloved Mami-san). A Google search didn’t return positive result either so I gave up. Maybe she’s still new to this after all, unlike the more established names like Kipi or the late Saya (RIP).

First look at the headgear. The size is just right if referred to the anime but quite unrealistic for real life. And it appears to be made from vinyl instead of what I suspected to be a balmoral. I really love the hair though. While most other Mami cosplayer chose to use a way too unrealistic ‘drill hair’, this girl used a more natural looking ‘drill hair’ instead. The muskets, although may not well made but I can ignore that.

Then my concern is on the corset. It looks like it didn’t fit well as if she’s wearing the one that’s not of her size, but it’s well made nonetheless. I have issues with the skirt though. It’s too long, not to my liking but if you compare to the one Mami-san is wearing in the anime, the anime version is shorter. And I can’t accept the underskirt either because AFAIK Mami-san, in the anime didn’t wear it.

Since the skirt is too long, it looks like she had to wear shorter kneesocks too in order to keep the “zettai ryouiki” remain visible. For me Mami-san’s zettai ryouiki is important in her mahou shoujo mode like it’s her trademark or something. Also look at those kneesocks. In the anime they appear to be the one with plain stripes but this girl wore the one with some patterns. Here, instead of saying them as a “breach” to the actual image, I’d say it as an “improvement”.

Overall I give this cosplay an ‘A’. In fact I might love this better than the anime version. I also personally think that a cosplay does not always has to be too strict and cosplayers should have some freedom too to ‘improve’ the character image as long as it’s still recognizable. Anyways for those who are curious to read my first ever “full-fledged” cosplay review, you may find it here.

[Interpost] Pairing two anime (Steins;Gate x Madoka Magica)

  By Halfey Halphstein | May 19, 2011 - 4:12 pm | , , ,
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Madoka Magica is my best anime of the year. Then I wonder if two anime titles were to be paired (this has nothing to do with character pairing) what would be the best anime to be paired with Madoka Magica? I’ve been thinking about it and I came to the point where the pairing doesn’t have to be two anime titles of the same greatness level (I prefer not to use the word epicness here).

Then I heard about the sponsorship collaboration between Madoka Magica and Steins;Gate, my other favorite anime? Is this coincidence? I mean I love Steins;Gate too, and now that I look at it, both of them look really good together. I may be late but don’t blame me. When Madoka Magica was ‘down’ I did my best to avoid it because looking forward to it while it’s ‘down’ would only make me more depressed. Even the ‘downtime’ itself was enough to make me crazy, let alone to face anything related to it while it has stopped airing. Anyways look at the official collaboration images below:

They’re interesting, don’t you agree with me? ;P The best part about it is time-traveling is featured in both anime. I’m having a hard time translating the Japanese texts but in the second pic, but the way Okarin look at Homura is funny, as if he’s interested in an underage girl. And Christina is probably jealous of it, thus the word hentai. Well, if you think I’m wrong then provide me a proper translation. Thank you.

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The possibility of Kaminomi & Madoka Magica games

  By Halfey Halphstein | May 4, 2011 - 3:19 pm | , , ,
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I’ve always thought, wouldn’t it be cool if there’s a Kaminomi dating sim game? That would be ironic for it to be a dating sim about a boy who is also into a dating sim, but that would just make it unique and interesting. Certainly I don’t hate that.

Then I think Madoka Magica should be made into dating sim as well. So how would that possible with all the main characters are female? Those who can’t think of a solution clearly never played enough dating sim before. You might not buy the idea of “to introduce a boy as a main character (you) and you’ll try to capture the heart of one or all mahou shoujos (harem route)” but unfortunately that is the most common, acceptable settings for a game like this. I could also accept it if the alternate gameplay is for you to play the role as one of those mahou shoujos and trying to capture the heart of the other mahou shoujo. Yes, you guessed it, the altrenate gameplay is yuri route, but that’s all there is to it. No “harem route” in yuri mode as harem and yuri doesn’t mix.

p/s: Take a look at Mami-san’s awesome racks above ;P

[Poll-cum-gallery] Let’s take a peek under Mami-san’s skirt (slightly NSFW) ;P

  By Halfey Halphstein | May 2, 2011 - 4:52 pm | , ,
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Guess what’s the color of Mami-san’s pantsu?

Recent;y questions have been flying around about what is the color of the pantsu Mami-san might be wearing? From her appearance and manner, the most viable answer should be white, as suggested by many fanart.

However, given the “dark” nature of the anime Puella Magi Madoka Magica, as well as the EGL (Elegant-Gothic-Lolita) style of Mami-san’s magical battle costume, a black pantsu may be a matching color too.

And that is not the end. Everybody knows Mami-san’s magical theme color is yellow, or gold some might say, so it does make sense too if she goes with golden-yellow color pantsu.

Anyways, despite this it doesn’t mean Mami-san can’t go with colors other than those stereotyped/associated with her. We all know from her “drill” hairstyle, Mami-san is quite a fashionable person, and she’s a girl too, which means she may as well wearing ‘generic’ color pantsu such as like pink, gray, or even shimapan, etc.

So do you think you know Mami-san well enough that you know exactly the color of her pantsu? Cast your vote now. BTW if you choose ‘others’ please state what color it is in your mind (by replying here of course).