Ok So The Good News Is I Finally Got The AAAA Batteries!! The Bad News Is That I Have Become Violently

Ok so the good news is I finally got the AAAA batteries!! The bad news is that I have become violently ill to the point I cannot eat nor breathe, and my skin is purple. I'll do the art as soon as I get better!!!

Feeling motivated and cheerful today, I think I'll work on some PMMM/MagiaRecord OCs.

Thank you for the additions!

I haven't heard of any of these shows (minus "Revue Starlight" sounding pretty familiar) so thank you for the recommendations!

Absolutely not all post-Madoka dark magical girl animes are bad (and some not even trying to bounce off the success of PMMM), but "Magical Girl Site" in particular inspired this rant lol.

Shortly after Madoka Magica released (to great success), everyone started trying to make the next big "magical girl misery" anime. I think the reason those ones didn't really take off is because they missed the point of Madoka: the love of others and self-sacrifice is center stage, and we only really feel bad for the characters of Madoka Magica because we see them happy.

Madoka Magica isn't just a misery fest; Mami's death matters because we understand Mami's dreams and struggles, Sayaka becoming Oktavia is impactful because we see her downfall that isn't her fault (or anyone's for that matter). Madoka (and to a secondary extent, Homura) never give up hope or trying.

Madoka isn't constantly victimised and abused (unlike some over-the-top edgy magical girl animes I know) she's in tragic circumstances and still tries her best; still WANTS the best for the world around her.

Making something sad isn't about how much we see a character suffer and struggle; it's about making the struggles and suffering they go through impactful through their story. Wants, relationships, traits, and flaws... That's what makes a character's pain painful for an audience.

(Still on anon I'm sorry to be shy still qwq) Do you get the feeling that maybe in saving Sayaka, Kyoko looked for closure for her own pains? If she could save her, it would be easy to pretend she also saved herself in a way, if that makes sense. I always had the feeling she needed to help her due how similar their situations are, she would hate to see her own story unfold before her own eyes again, she sees too much of herself in Sayaka and, she became the person that would had helped her younger self in a time of need. But Kyoko can't turn time like Homura can, nor be young again, Sayaka is the closest match. In turn, this is the mix of selfish/selfless Sayaka also posseses that ties them together further.

Oh absolutely!

I think part of Kyoko's "obsession" with Sayaka and saving Sayaka has a lot to do with her own past and wishing someone would have saved her. I think you described it all really well, but yeah, there's definitely a lot going on in Kyoko's head in relation to Sayaka.

The fact that Mami is only 15 screws me up a little. She's barely older than Madoka and the rest of the girls and yet she forces herself into the "mature responsible caretaker" role. I get that magical girls don't live long, but I expected the 16-18 age range for her.

I'm betting my PMMM Tumblr posting permissions that Mabayu is Itzli.

Although Itzli definitely wasn't designed with the intent to be Mabayu's witch (because that was many years ago and they definitely weren't planning Scene 0 that far back), Mabayu seems like she was designed with the intent to be Itzli's magical girl.

Mabayu's dress pattern (and most official art depicting her with film rolls), matches well with the trim of Itzli's film roll (specifically the side edges of the film). This prominent film roll theme sticks out to me, as Team Madoka/MagiaRecord is good at avoiding unintentional similar themes between witches and magical girls to avoid confusion on their true magical girl/witch forms. Unless the film stuff is a BIG BIG COINCIDENCE, they are intented to look similar through the film reel themeing.

Itzli's description (from the wiki):

"The witch of oblivion, with a vengeful nature. A witch who is said to have originally been a magical girl who came from the end of the galaxy. She has shown herself now in order to forget about all the magical girls from this universe."

Itzli's description implies she wishes to be killed to finally forget about something. What could she be trying to forget? Homura's timeloops.

Mabayu has the unique ability to remember past timelines as well as move around when Homura stops time. Mabayu knows of what happens to magical girls. Mabayu sees everytime her friends die and/or become witches and has no goal to distract herself like Homura does. Mabayu becomes erased from existence; presumably only remaining in the incubator's memories (hence the far reaches of the galaxy) and being erased by Madokami's witch annihilation. Mabayu wants to forget the pain of the timeloop, and by extension, herself as a magical girl and her friends as magical girls ("she has shown herself now in order to forget about all the magical girls from this universe").

ALSO Itzli is the oblivion witch. Oblivion is the void, the void is nonexistence, IT'S ALL CONNECTED

ALSO ALSO The "vengeful nature" could possibly be towards Homura (or even Madoka) because of the timeloop taking away Mabayu's sanity, daily life, friends, and even existence.

It's not to hard for me to believe that Mabayu became Itzli at some point due to the stress of the timeloop; her sanity would decay and she'd be powerless to stop it. Even Homura, with all her time magic, eventually succumbed to being a witch simply because she couldn't hold on anymore. Mabayu, with no goal to hold onto, and no way to end the timeloop or at least to stop herself from remembering, would crack too (if not sooner and/or worse).

The connection to Walpurgisnacht exists both in Itzli and Mabayu. Itzli's familiars are nearly identical to Walpurgisnacht's, and Itzli is said to only show herself after Walpurgisnacht. Mabayu being in the timeloop is a direct result of Walpurgisnacht (since that's when/what starts Homura on her time shenanigans), and it can be presumed that Mabayu would have fought against Walpurgisnacht at some point.

The final point I'll talk about (at least for now) is the appearances: Mabayu's hair tips look like Itzli's roots, and her green moppy hair evokes the feeling of Itzli's surrounding brain goo(?). They both have a primarily green + purple palette (again, BIG COINCIDENCE if unintended). The ribbons on Mabayu also remind me of the stem and head(?) accessory on Itzli. (The brain shape is heavily connected to the concept of memory; with memories of Homura and other magical girls depicted on the side rolls.)

It's not hard for me to believe that they would give an interesting witch a magical girl in a movie because it's already happened before; Nagisa was only created for Rebellion after fans loved Charlotte. Itzli being one of the most interesting and lore-filled witches more than gives the chance that her magical girl could be featured in a movie.

In conclusion, if Mabayu isn't confirmed/revealed to be Itzli I. will. RIOT. They are perfect matches for eachother, and it will be extremely irrational to not have them be the same. (I will only accept Mabayu not being Itzli if she is instead revealed to be Walpurgisnacht).

Finally, I understand that Itzli is implied to be an alien magical girl, so please do not reblog/comment about the alien implications. I think that's pretty interesting, but Mabayu seems like such a perfect fit and my theorist brainrot must be fed.

I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU WOULD HIDE THIS IN TAGS!

The apple scene between Kyoko and Sayaka feels both like "a proper introduction between enemies who no longer wish to fight" and "a final invitation to connect with someone and pull yourself back from the edge".

Sayaka tossing aside Kyoko's gifted apple feels like her making a conscious choice to fully go crazy and a denial of Kyoko's attempt to reach out to her.

Additionally, Kyoko giving away to Sayaka something that holds significance for her (food, which she considers incredibly precious) without any expectation of something in return aside from "connection" is an interesting moment for a character previously depicted as "selfish" and constantly against Sayaka.

Kyoko sharing her story TO Sayaka is a moment of vulnerability, later matched by her sharing her story WITH Sayaka by sacrificing herself when she likely could've defeated Oktavia without dying in a effort to ensure Sayaka wouldn't be alone anymore.