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| Part 8: Episode Seven - "Can You Face Your True Feelings?" |
Link to Intro
Links to Episode: One Two Three Four Five Six Eight Nine Ten Eleven Twelve
Summary if you don't get what happened:
The episode begins with Sayaka in her room, outraged at the fact that Kyubey lied to her and Madoka about the relocation of a magical girl's soul upon making the contract. Kyubey explains that he offered her the contract, and she accepted: in return for a wish, Sayaka has dedicated her life to fighting witches. Because she never asked about the details, Kyubey saw no need to tell her. Kyubey adds that because a magical girl's consciousness is separated from her body, she is able to endure pain that would break a normal person. Touching her Soul Gem, he inflicts a pain on Sayaka equivalent to being stabbed by a spear, as a demonstration of what the pain would be like if her soul were not transferred into the soul gem. She collapses and contorts on the floor for several seconds. Ominously, he notes that although Sayaka can completely ignore any pain if she so chooses, doing so can drastically reduce reaction time to injuries.
The next day, Madoka notices that Sayaka is absent from school and begins to worry. During lunch break, Madoka meets with Homura on the roof of the school and questions her about why she told neither Madoka nor Sayaka about the true nature of the Soul Gem. Homura explains that she had tried to do so before with others, but that no one believed her. She again advises Madoka to avoid involving herself with Sayaka, and tells her that she should not confuse gratitude with responsibility; even though Sayaka has saved Madoka's life, Madoka is not in debt. Homura explains that when a magical girl makes a contract with Kyubey, they are receiving a miracle that may well be worth more than a life. Even if Sayaka had spent her entire life caring for Kyouske, there would have been no chance of him returning to playing the violin. Kyubey grants the impossible, and thus a magical girl's side of the contract is dedicating the rest of her life to fighting. Madoka asks if there's any way for it to end, and Homura bluntly tells Madoka to give up on her friend. Madoka wonders aloud how Homura can be so cold, and Homura responds introspectively, saying, "Perhaps it is because I am no longer human."
Meanwhile, as Sayaka is laying in her bed, tortured by her emotions over Kyouske, she receives a telepathic message from Kyouko who is outside her house, holding a bag of apples. Kyouko tells her that she wants to talk. Sayaka complies and the two head towards an abandoned church. When they arrive at the church, Sayaka asks why Kyouko brought her here. Kyouko offers Sayaka an apple but when Sayaka throws it away, Kyouko angrily walks over to her and lifts her up by the collar, telling her not to waste food. After Kyouko calms down, she starts telling Sayaka about her past and why she chose to become a magical girl as well as the wish she made. Back when Kyouko was younger, her father used to preach at a church. However, her father's preachings began to stray from the original church's teachings, and he was excommunicated. This left Kyouko and her family poor, and Kyouko hated that no one listened to her father's words, so she made her pact with Kyubey to become a magical girl. Her wish was for people to listen to her father. People came in droves to listen to his preaching, and Kyouko fought witches in return for her wish, believing idealistically that she and her father would change the world through this way. Somehow, her father found out about Kyouko's wish, and that the people who came to worship did not do so out of faith, but out of magic. Calling her a witch who tempted men's souls, Kyouko's father snapped under the realization, and one night drank himself into a rage, and forced the family into suicide. Only Kyouko was left alive.
After Kyouko finishes telling her tale, Sayaka asks why Kyouko bothered to tell her. Kyouko tells Sayaka that she is headed on the same path as she once was when she became a magical girl, and she wants her to avoid those mistakes, and live for herself instead of for others. Sayaka apologizes to Kyouko for misunderstanding her, but informs Kyouko that she will never regret making a wish for someone else. She believes strongly that she will use her powers to save others, and keep those around her safe. In a moment of self-righteousness, Sayaka asks Kyouko where she purchased her apples. Kyouko is unable to answer. Sayaka guesses that the apples were stolen, and turns away, telling Kyouko that she cannot accept stolen food, and cannot in good conscience be thankful for Kyouko's offer in the first place. She then leaves the church, secure in her morals, leaving Kyouko in frustration.
Sayaka attends school the next day, and is joined by Madoka and Hitomi. Madoka worries, but Sayaka assures her she's fine. Sayaka's close friend Kyouske is also in attendance for the first time after being discharged from the hospital. Madoka says that Sayaka should go and see him, but Sayaka declines. After school, Hitomi asks Sayaka to meet her at a cafe where Hitomi tells her that she has had a crush on Kyouske for a long time. This startles Sayaka, but Hitomi says that she will give her one day to confess, because she knows Sayaka has feelings for him too. Though if she cannot confess in one day, Hitomi will do so.
As night approaches, a depressed and confused Sayaka is heading out to hunt witches. She finds Madoka waiting outside. Madoka asks if she can come along, to keep Sayaka company, and this triggers Sayaka's held-back emotions. Sayaka begins to cry, saying that for a moment, she had regretted saving Hitomi's life before, and that she was no good as a moral figure of justice. She reveals that she feels as though she cannot ever face Kyouske with a shell of a body, and is emotionally torn and grieving over the apparent loss of both her humanity and her chance to be with the one she loves. After being comforted by Madoka, Sayaka appears to regain composure, and they head out.
Atop a scaffolding, Kyouko is watching a witch's barrier while eating an popsicle. Homura appears silently behind her, and asks her if she is going to allow Sayaka to take her kill. Kyouko at first brushes this off, telling Homura that since it's an actual witch and will drop a Grief Seed, that it isn't a waste like before. However, she notices strange behavior in the barrier, muttering that Sayaka is losing the fight. The scene switches to Sayaka and Madoka within the barrier where the witch, Elsa Maria, is seated in a prayerlike position. Sayaka then charges forth at the witch, which defends itself with snakelike animals and and vines. It fends off Sayaka, injuring her, and Kyouko soon comes to her rescue. Kyouko is about to attack the witch when Sayaka gets up and tells her to stay out of it. Sayaka again rushes forward, this time cutting past the vines, and reaches the witch. She slashes at the witch repeatedly, and begins to laugh insanely while blood splatters on her face. "He was right. If I don't want it to, it doesn't hurt at all," are Sayaka's closing lines before she bisects the witch, referring to Kyubey's comment in the beginning of the episode about purposely numbing pain. The scene fades to black, and Madoka's voice is heard pleading, "Stop. Please stop."
Questions I will answer:
q: What exactly was Kyouko's father teaching that was different to the doctrine?
a: We don't know exactly. Kyoko's father could be an Anglican priest since he is married with children, also his clergy outfit is similar to their style. Another evidence is that his cathedral shares some architectural similarities to the Canterbury Cathedral.
According to Kyoko, her father was an extremely kind and sensitive man. So sensitive that he was in constant worry due to the state of the world's affairs. In her own words: "He was too honest. Too kind. Every morning reading the paper, the worries of the world brought him to tears". As a result of this he started preaching new ideas born more from his convoluted (idealistic) emotions rather than continue to preach the acceptable doctrine, which got him and his family to become destitute and hungry.
q: How did Kyouko's father find out about Kyouko's wish?
a: According to supplementary info (The Different Story manga), there was a witch fight near the church that led to the revelation. In the PSP game, he then went to a shopping outlet (as seen in where Hitomi is walking around in Episode 4) and told everyone there to believe the exact opposite of what he'd been telling them... and they swallowed it as cheerfully as what he taught them before. Imagine how horrifying to realize your followers were there because of magic, not because of their own will.
q: You said earlier that you were going to reveal Kyouko's power, the one that related to her wish.
a: First, you gotta listen to Farewell Story, a Drama CD included with the Madoka BD disk set. Find it in the "Coool Stuff!" section below.
q: What is Elsa Maria praying to in her barrier?
a: A monstrance.
Coool Stuff!
Farewell Story Drama CD:
We find out here that when Mami was talking about how wishing for others doesn't always end well, she was talking about Kyouko. We also see that her special magical ability was Rosso Fantasma, or the ability to create decoys. Rosso Fantasma is "red phantom" in Italian and is another cute attack name by Mami.
From an interview: "Kyouko's magic is actually rather unique. Due to her wish for 'people to listen', her true magic is something like charming or illusions. That's the kind of magic she had. However, after losing her family she began to subconsciously reject that magic, and thus by the time of the events in the anime she had already lost those powers. That's why she only fought with the magic she learned after that. We had that all set up behind the scenes, but were never able to work it into the story to explain it explicitly."
Once Kyouko rejected her wish, she also rejected her powers.
SF Debris' Analysis
Mark Watches
Matt High's Review
Changes made in the Blu-Ray versions
Elsa Maria
Type: Shadow Witch
Nature: Self-righteousness
She continually prays for all of creation and drags all life equally into her shadow without breaking her posture. One hoping to defeat her must know the blackest anguish.
Sebastian
Type: Shadow Witch's minion
Nature: Blind belief
They are an aggregate of the lives who have found salvation thanks to the shadow witch. They continually seek out companions.
Gisela [Fought by Kyouko in her flashback]
Type: Silver Witch
Nature: Liberal
She dwells in a barrier where everything moves at high speed, but the witch herself is dull. She unfortunately can not use any sort of scientific power. Her body was once dazzling with silver, but she has tarnished gazing upon the coastal sunset.
Dora
Type: Silver Witch's minion
Duty: Declaring opinions
She makes a nuisance of herself with the roaring from the pipes extending from her body as she moves about like a freak sandstorm. She hates magnets.
Tiffany talks about some things:
The Elsa Maria fight is mind-blowingly more improved in the Blu-Ray version.
In the Blu-Ray ending credits roll, 龍輪直征 (Naoyuki Tatsuwa) and 岩崎良明 (Yoshiaki Iwasaki) are newly joined as コンテ協力 (cooperative storyboard artists). Some fans are guessing they revised the storyboard for the battle with Elsa Maria.
Also, we figure out why Kyouko eats so much. She eats gratuitously because her family never had enough to eat before she made her wish. It is also possible that Kyouko is suffering from an eating disorder brought by the traumatic death of her family, or to erase the memories of hunger, as those emotions are tied to her traumatic past.
Questions to think about:
- What is Sayaka's fate now?
Answer the previous questions that haven't been answered yet.
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