Ask John: Did the Madoka Conclusion Live Up to Expectations?

Question:
Now that the last two episodes of Madoka have aired, what are your initial impressions of the ending and the series as a whole? Do you think the delay hurt or helped anticipation for the finale? Also, do you think the show is as big a game-changer as many fans make it out to be?

Answer:
Spoilers to follow. Proceed with caution.

Like many avid followers, I eagerly anticipated the conclusion to Puella Magica Madoka Magica, and watched the series’ final two episodes as soon as I could. To be honest rather than self-serving, I’ll admit that my initial, instinctive reaction to the series’ finale was a bit of mild confusion. As anime is sometimes prone to do, the series climaxes with a rather abstract, philosophical, and somewhat arbitrary conclusion. However, after a night’s sleep to process the series’ finale, I awoke fresh and convinced that the conclusion is a masterful ending to an exceptional series.

Since Madoka Magica’s pivotal third episode I’ve perceived the series as the Evangelion of magical girl anime. Evangelion applied a psychologically incisive and ruthlessly pragmatic perspective to established genre tropes. Evangelion took the concept of a boy piloting a robot built by an elder relative – a concept from Mazinger Z and Gundam – and examined how the pressure of that responsibility would physically and psychologically affect the teen. Evangelion also applied a realistic pragmatism to its convention. Instead of glorifying giant robots engaged in epic struggles, Evangelion presented its battles as dangerous, risky challenges against time, technology, and the threat of catastrophic failure. Madoka Magica did the same thing. The series retained the characteristic tropes of magical girl anime – transforming schoolgirls, a talking animal mascot, a weekly monster threat – but extended the tropes beyond whimsical and entertaining fantasy into the realm of harsh, rational pragmatism. Teenage girls simply can’t physically or emotionally hold up to repeated life-and-death struggles against monsters. An alien being is indeed likely to have an alien perspective and philosophy, as well as a personal agenda that may not coincide with human morality. So since Madoka Magica is based on the principle of borrowing established anime conventions, it’s little surprise that its conclusion seems similar to the conclusion of the End of Evangelion movie, and the conclusions of the earlier Akira movie and the later Serial Experiments Lain television series. So just as Madoka Magica reinterprets established tropes, its climax does the same.

The Akira movie concludes with Tetsuo evolving into a new universe because his power grows incontainable. Tetsuo becomes a god by unavoidable necessity. The End of Evangelion and Lain both end with their protagonists recreating the universe to suit their own interests. The alienated and self-pitying Shinji rejects everything except what he perceives as his. Lain Iwakura similarly resets the world to both spite the “god of the wired” and satisfy her own desire for discommunication. Madoka Kaname, unlike her predecessors, doesn’t become godlike due to uncontrollable circumstance or self-satisfying desire. Madoka wishes to rescue all of the girls like her who have ever existed or ever will exist. Hers is an altruistic wish that’s so epic that it can only be achieved through her own effort and sacrifice. The idea of a single Japanese girl willfully accepting an eternity of incorporeal alienation in order to save others, her ultimate act of self-sacrifice for the greater good, is very Japanese and particularly respectful to the show’s tone. From its early episodes onward, the series offers the possibility that Madoka may either surpass impossibility and create a happy ending or succumb to evil and cause an apocalypse. The former option may be expected. It’s also predictable and even if foreshadowed, still deus ex machina. The later option may be more honest to the show’s narrative, but it’s also an unhappy and unsatisfying end to characters and a show that viewers want to cheer. So the bittersweet compromise ending is ideal because it provides the “happy” ending that viewers want while still not disregarding the inevitability of tragedy that the series is founded upon. The idea that Madoka is now a godlike entity forever isolated and separated from her family, friends, and former life is tragic but warmed by Madoka’s own happiness with her decision and fate, and the tiny but significant fact that she’s not entirely forgotten. Even with Madoka’s godlike capacity, conflict cannot be entirely erased from existance. Evil still exists. Magical girls must still exist to combat “demons.” But Madoka has achieved her wish.

The vague recollection preserved by Homura Akemi and Tatsuya Kaname is a heartwarming touch. The fact that someone remembers that Madoka existed, and remembers the sacrifice she made, even if it’s only one person among millions, feels like it justifies the tremendous sacrifice. Junko’s musing on the daughter she “never had” further underscores the angst-ridden lovliness of the series’ climax. With nothing to gain and no reason to be any less that totally honest, Junko expresses her deeply rooted love for Madoka. Even though she’s forgotten that Madoka even existed, Junko still deeply cares for her daughter. The quiet, simple conversation between Junko and Homura about a red hair ribbon is deeply affecting because it implies so much meaning.

Periodically anime come along that set new mile-markers along the historical path of anime. Some of these anime are seminal and revolutionary. Historically significant anime like Mahotsukai Sally, Tetsujin 28, Mobile Suit Gundam, Superdimensional Fortress Macross, Sailor Moon, Tenchi Muyo, and Evangelion have changed the face of anime. Anime like Kyoujin no Hoshi, Hokuto no Ken, Nausicaa, Akira, Secret of Blue Water, Cowboy Bebop, Gundam Wing, Naruto, Suzumiya Haruhi, and Gurren Lagann are the landmarks by which otaku measure generations. At this point in time, I’m not qualified nor confident to say which company Madoka Magica will fall within, but I am absolutely positive that it is a show that has earned a place among distinguished company. From start to finish, Puella Magica Madoka Magica is a program that exhibited and maintained a spirit of devoted creativity and excellence. The show’s spectacular final two episodes are unforgettable and original while paying homage to the anime that have come before. Unlike so many anime that falter at the finish line, Madoka Magica is a show that sustains and even excels in its final leg, a show that fans will long remember and long refer back to as a high-water mark and a waypoint on the otaku’s collective journey through anime.