October Magica - 'The Very Soil: An Unauthorized Critical Study of Puella Magi Madoka Magica'

'[Puella Magi Madoka Magica] is about sacrifice and selfishness, despair and hope, love and death, decay and life, and how all of these seeming opposites are really one and the same.'

WELCOME TO OCTOBER MAGICA!

Where it, inevitably, comes to an end.

Whether it is a satisfactory, better off, hopeful, or bittersweet end - its breaking conclusion to a entropic hope-and-despair, love-and-death, decay-and-life cycle - or none of the above, is subjective and up to the people reading.

Like the whole of 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica'; where the fan discussions and debates - originating from the 2011 anime at its inception, its subsequent manga adaptations and spinoffs, and other media - oh, and fanfiction - will continue on, never truly ending.

And that is the truest hope - that people will keep on loving the magical girl series that quickly became a classic; time after time, generation after generation.

Click here for my rereview of 'The Very Soil: An Unauthorized Critical Study of Puella Magi Madoka Magica', for more. Oh, so much more.

To conclude October Magica:

It has been great, revisiting this amazing, revolutionary, cosmic and epic series, that transcends the magical girl genre - even its own deconstruction - and transforms into something much, much more: a new genre, a new story, and a new mythology of its own.

At the risk of sounding hyperbolic and madly overdramatic, it is a work of fiction that manages to transcend fiction, in its bold reflection of humanity, and go beyond time and space (within its own context this makes sense). It is a magical media series that is almost universally beloved, which for a franchise starring, and majorly populated by, female characters, in a patriarchal world and system, is a miracle in of itself.

'Puella Magi Madoka Magica' is a goddess of a series.

Because of series like 'Madoka Magica', 'Revolutionary Girl Utena', 'Princess Tutu', 'Sailor Moon', and the celestial, fairy tale, girl power ilk, I am happy and proud to be a magical girl fan. I feel honoured to be part of the fandom.

Blessed be the power of the feminine to save and help the world.

Blessed be, Madoka Kaname. Aka, Godoka. Aka, Madokami.

Aka, Madokanon.

And Homura Akemi...?

'The projector winds to a stop.' ('The Very Soil', page 74)

for now

'[...] this is a series about entropy and decay, depression and despair, [...] But it's easy to forget that it's about other things, too, and by turning us against ourselves it reminds us of those other things.

This isn't just about Buddhism, or German literature, or the magical girl genre. It isn't just about entropy and suffering, or just about thematic complexity or the possible psychological issues of its implied, gestalt author [Gen Urobuchi]. It isn't even just about characters, blobs of light and color created by animators and voiced by actors. It's also about us, our fears and hopes, our wishes and despair, our capacity for empathy.

In the end, as in the beginning, Puella Magi Madoka Magica is a story about people.' ('The Very Soil', page 136)

Happy October Magica, everyone.

Thank you for reading.

And goodbye.

For now.

Stay safe, kind, compassionate, and loving.

Don't let the Kyubeys of the world win.

Oh, and one final thing:

A list of my favourite magical girls of 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica' - the main five from the original anime and manga, I mean - starting from most to least fave, but are nonetheless equally beloved:

1. Madoka Kaname

2. Homura Akemi

3. Mami Tomoe

4. Sayaka Miki

5. Kyouko Sakura

Honoured, happy and proud to be part of the stardust fandom!