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| Part 10: Episode 9 - "I'll Never Allow That to Happen" |
Link to Intro
Links to Episode: One Two Three Four Five Six Seven Eight Ten Eleven Twelve
Summary if you don't get what happened:
Sayaka becomes a witch and Kyouko enters her maze, holding Sayaka's now soulless body. Homura saves Kyouko and while they are walking off, they meet Madoka, worried upon seeing Sayaka's body. Homura explains everything to Kyouko and Madoka.
When Madoka is crying alone in her room, Kyubey enters and explains everything in detail to her. He reveals that he is a member of an extraterrestial, emotionless society, worried about the total energy in the universe lowering due to entropy. Puella Magi and witches are a way to counter this, creating energy from wavering emotions of young girls. As Kyubey and his peers are emotionless, they are unable to produce such energy themselves. Because of this, they also don't understand the concept of human morals. Madoka is saddened and angry because of all those revelations she has just heard.
Kyouko is maintaining natural heat of Sayaka's body using her magic. She asks Kyubey whether it is possible to recover Sayaka's Soul Gem. He dodges the question, saying that nobody ever tried it before and due to the very existence of Puella Magi is contradictory, such achievement wouldn't surprise him.
The following day, Hitomi attempts to speak to Madoka but Madoka avoids her. Kyouko makes Madoka skip school, with a quest to rescue Sayaka instead. She explains her plan to ignite human emotions in the Oktavia Von Seckendorff, the witch whom Sayaka became, by having her best human friend talk to her. Madoka agrees, and they go to Oktavia's maze. Madoka tries talking with Kyouko protecting her, but with no effect. Kyouko commits suicide, also killing the witch, while Homura (who went out from school and entered the maze to protect Madoka) takes fainted Madoka out.
The episode ends with Homura and Kyubey talking in Homura's house, with Kyubey revealing that rescuing Sayaka was in fact impossible, but he didn't stop Kyouko from doing so to make Madoka become a Puella Magi, given that Homura alone will not be able to win against Walpurgis. Homura says that she won't allow it.
Questions I will answer:
q: Kyubey entropy sciency thing, how does it work?
a: ...
(I am an 9th grade girl like these magical girls, so I am understanding this to the best of my ability, with lots of help from the internet.)
These two videos are simple explanations of the concept of entropy. But basically, entropy is a measure of disorder or progressing towards thermodynamic equilibrium. The Second Law of Thermodynamics states that the total entropy of any closed system will increase, meaning it will become more disordered.
A blog post from another anime site says that Kyubey's explanation to Madoka about entropy is not that great (but then again, explaining science to eighth graders is difficult). "A good example of how entropy works has to involve heat. Imagine a glass of ice water sitting in a closed room. Over time, the ice will melt as the glass of ice water becomes warmer. In the same sense, the room will get very slightly colder. After a long time, the glass of water will be the same temperature as the room. Because everything is the same temperature, heat and energy can’t flow or do useful work. There’s heat in the room (the total amount of heat has not changed, actually), but it can’t do anything."
That "same temperature" part is thermodynamic equilibrium. There are no net flows of matter or of energy, no phase changes, and no unbalanced potentials (or driving forces), within the system. A system that is in thermodynamic equilibrium experiences no changes when it is isolated from its surroundings. And when the whole universe is like this, so begins the heat death of the universe. To elaborate, this term describes the point at which the universe has reached a state of maximum entropy -- when all available energy has moved to places of less energy. Once this has happened, no more work can be extracted from the universe. Since heat ceases to flow, no more work can be acquired from heat transfer. This same kind of equilibrium state will also happen with all other forms of energy. Since no more work can be extracted from the universe at that point, it is effectively dead.
Kyubey is an alien. He wants to offset entropy and delay the heat death of the universe. Kyubey's species then discovered Magic, forces created from fluctuation of emotion, unbounded by the First Law of Thermodynamics. However, his species is largely incapable of feeling emotion and they scoured the universe for species with the most emotional potential. He found Earth's human females, particularly the ones developing secondary sex characteristics (going through puberty). So Puella Magi and Witches are the result of his quest. When witches are defeated a high energy capsule of despair is dropped, a grief seed, which Kyubey harvests. Diagram here.
q: I am a scientist and I think that Kyubey's process isBS extremely convoluted.
a: Yes, I know. The wiki and lots of blogs on the internet see flaws in Kyubey's motivations. I have yet to understand why the wiki says "Kyubey's flawed solution to the entropy, explained with a no break.", but its probably because of its disregard of the First Law of Thermodynamics or the "negentropy" proof that "life is not a closed system".
So yes, I am fully aware that Madoka Magica isn't perfect and certain aspects of the show are not bulletproof in plot holes.
(I am an 9th grade girl like these magical girls, so I am understanding this to the best of my ability, with lots of help from the internet.)
These two videos are simple explanations of the concept of entropy. But basically, entropy is a measure of disorder or progressing towards thermodynamic equilibrium. The Second Law of Thermodynamics states that the total entropy of any closed system will increase, meaning it will become more disordered.
A blog post from another anime site says that Kyubey's explanation to Madoka about entropy is not that great (but then again, explaining science to eighth graders is difficult). "A good example of how entropy works has to involve heat. Imagine a glass of ice water sitting in a closed room. Over time, the ice will melt as the glass of ice water becomes warmer. In the same sense, the room will get very slightly colder. After a long time, the glass of water will be the same temperature as the room. Because everything is the same temperature, heat and energy can’t flow or do useful work. There’s heat in the room (the total amount of heat has not changed, actually), but it can’t do anything."
That "same temperature" part is thermodynamic equilibrium. There are no net flows of matter or of energy, no phase changes, and no unbalanced potentials (or driving forces), within the system. A system that is in thermodynamic equilibrium experiences no changes when it is isolated from its surroundings. And when the whole universe is like this, so begins the heat death of the universe. To elaborate, this term describes the point at which the universe has reached a state of maximum entropy -- when all available energy has moved to places of less energy. Once this has happened, no more work can be extracted from the universe. Since heat ceases to flow, no more work can be acquired from heat transfer. This same kind of equilibrium state will also happen with all other forms of energy. Since no more work can be extracted from the universe at that point, it is effectively dead.
Kyubey is an alien. He wants to offset entropy and delay the heat death of the universe. Kyubey's species then discovered Magic, forces created from fluctuation of emotion, unbounded by the First Law of Thermodynamics. However, his species is largely incapable of feeling emotion and they scoured the universe for species with the most emotional potential. He found Earth's human females, particularly the ones developing secondary sex characteristics (going through puberty). So Puella Magi and Witches are the result of his quest. When witches are defeated a high energy capsule of despair is dropped, a grief seed, which Kyubey harvests. Diagram here.
q: I am a scientist and I think that Kyubey's process is
a: Yes, I know. The wiki and lots of blogs on the internet see flaws in Kyubey's motivations. I have yet to understand why the wiki says "Kyubey's flawed solution to the entropy, explained with a no break.", but its probably because of its disregard of the First Law of Thermodynamics or the "negentropy" proof that "life is not a closed system".
So yes, I am fully aware that Madoka Magica isn't perfect and certain aspects of the show are not bulletproof in plot holes.
q: Kyouko has a nice place.
a: That's a hotel. She probably busted a lot of ATMs to rent that for a night.
q: What did Kyouko hand Madoka before going to fight Oktavia?
a: It's a snack called Umaibou. I used to eat the Chinese brands of this a lot, in which it was sweet and called something along the lines of "bean stick".
Kyoko's use of Umaibou as a sign of friendship with Madoka in this episode can be seen as baton passing, as her main role ended in this episode. It's also possible that she chose Umaibou due to its extremely low price (9 yen) being something that she can afford, since Sayaka didn't accept stolen goods back in episode 7.
Kyoko's use of Umaibou as a sign of friendship with Madoka in this episode can be seen as baton passing, as her main role ended in this episode. It's also possible that she chose Umaibou due to its extremely low price (9 yen) being something that she can afford, since Sayaka didn't accept stolen goods back in episode 7.
q: What is the significance of the name "Oktavia Von Seckendorff"?
a: Sayaka's witch name is Oktavia von Seckendorff. Karl Siegmund von Seckendorff was a German poet who wrote a book called "The Wheel of Fate" (Das Rad des Schicksals), and could explain Sayaka's wheel attack.
Seckendorff was also the name of a Frankish knight from a noble family.
Oktavia is the German form of the latin name Octavia which means "the eighth" (child, month or musical interval) or "from the family Octavia". It is the direct root of octave in English (an octave being the eight interval of a scale). The name was most likely chosen because of the link between Sayaka and music.
It might also reflect how her first appearance was in episode eight.
Seckendorff was also the name of a Frankish knight from a noble family.
Oktavia is the German form of the latin name Octavia which means "the eighth" (child, month or musical interval) or "from the family Octavia". It is the direct root of octave in English (an octave being the eight interval of a scale). The name was most likely chosen because of the link between Sayaka and music.
It might also reflect how her first appearance was in episode eight.
q: Why does Oktavia attack with wheels?
a: "The Wheel of Fate" thing above, and also it may also symbolize the Wheel of Fortune from tarot, whose popular interpretations include "possibilities, opportunities, new developments, sudden changes", which fit Sayaka's life from when she encountered Kyubey to when she became a Witch. Wheels are also commonly used as a symbol of martyrs in Christian art, as many martyrs were tortured to death by them.
q: Why did Kyouko sacrifice herself?
a: So Sayaka wouldn't have died alone.
q: Madoka gonna contract?
a: You'll see her as a magical girl soon.
Coool Stuff! :
SF Debris' Analysis
Mark Watches
Matt High's Review
More Information on Oktavia Von Seckendorff
Changes made in the Blu-Ray versions.
If you like Vocaloid like I do, may I also point out the composer of this song is wowaka!
Since they couldn't splice in the song in the movie, they added a hidden frame of the song's picture when Kyouko blows up her soul gem.
More examples of incredible directing
The chairs in that scene are shoutouts to the anime Bokurano.
Kyubey "lying" to Kyouko further reading
Tiffany talks about some things:
Okay, I know a couple of you reading and a good chunk of people that watched the show in 2011 are yuri fans. Now, I'm not entirely into that stuff myself, but you can look at the yuri undertones in the Sayaka/Kyouko pairing, they do present a lot of good observation.
But we're pretty sure Sayaka ain't a lesbian.
Questions to think about:
- What is Homura going to do once Walpurgis Night comes?
Okay, tomorrow's episode is going to be awesome.
Guess things about Homura's backstory until then.
a: So Sayaka wouldn't have died alone.
q: Madoka gonna contract?
a: You'll see her as a magical girl soon.
Coool Stuff! :
SF Debris' Analysis
Mark Watches
Matt High's Review
More Information on Oktavia Von Seckendorff
Changes made in the Blu-Ray versions.
and i'm home
If you like Vocaloid like I do, may I also point out the composer of this song is wowaka!
Since they couldn't splice in the song in the movie, they added a hidden frame of the song's picture when Kyouko blows up her soul gem.
The chairs in that scene are shoutouts to the anime Bokurano.
Kyubey "lying" to Kyouko further reading
Tiffany talks about some things:
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| Kyouko and Sayaka in the afterlife together as illustrated in the manga. Animated here. |
But we're pretty sure Sayaka ain't a lesbian.
Questions to think about:
- What is Homura going to do once Walpurgis Night comes?
Okay, tomorrow's episode is going to be awesome.
Guess things about Homura's backstory until then.
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