Puella Magi Madoka Magica/Fridge

Fridge Brilliance
"Kyubey (talking to Madoka): "If you give up it will be the end of everything. But you have the capacity to change fate. This unavoidable destruction, this sorrow - you can change it all. That's why you have this power."
 * I thought
 * No, they can
 * Homura has lived lifespans in the same month period and stayed sane. She's completely dedicated to Madoka in ways normal psychology cannot begin to describe. Even if she were to fight the good fight against the demons for centuries; this would be easy.
 * Take another look at the silhouettes in the ending-theme. Mami's silhouette is the only one sitting down, and Homura's can be seen turning after Madoka's and reaching for her as she walks past.
 * Kyoko's dad . As of Episode 8,.
 * He's definitely right, especially with the reveal that
 * As of Episode 8, Homura's magic power has been confirmed as Time Stands Still. Now consider the relevance of a wish for time to stand still in Goethe's Faust...
 * This is driven home further in a later rebroadcast of episode 10.
 * Homura's case is actually a vicious inversion:
 * The mysterious runes appear to be messages from the witch, or her familiars. Translated, they often seem to be like a Madness Mantra.
 * The runes are phrases in cryptic German. You know, like the original story of Faust.
 * So after Kyubey by Homura in episode 8, he suddenly seems to remember that she's done it once before. This seems a little incongruous at first, but the reality is: he didn't suddenly just remember. He always knew; he just isn't being coy any more. Why not? Because he's mad as Hell (no pun intended). His voice has barely changed, his expression (of course *shudder* ) hasn't changed, but nevertheless he's furious. He just doesn't show it in ways we easily recognize because he's an otherworldly creature; if he were human, he'd probably be frothing at the mouth right now. And can you blame him? He was . This troper would certainly be more than a little miffed if he'd just been denied that.
 * Alternatively, he's trolling her. "You just never learn, don't you?"
 * He can't be mad:.
 * Note though
 * But actually he might have dropped a hint here.
 * Episode 10 showed that . As for his reaction, given his nature, it's safe to assume that he just doesn't care.
 * Indeed.
 * For a long time, this troper thought that "Puella Magi" as a mistranslation, the product of someone at Shaft not brushing up on their dictionary skills enough. Given the Japanese title of the show, this troper still isn't certain that that isn't the case. But one thing that's starting to sway this troper away from that point of view is remembering that 'magus', the adjective in question, has a double-meaning - it may obviously be the root of 'magicus', whence we get our word 'magic' and all words related thereto, but it itself originally meant 'wise' i.e. the wise men of primitive tribes or of priesthoods, who naturally cultivated a certain air of mysticism around them and, thus, magic. Now to return to 'Puella Magi'. Given that 'Magi' is an adjective which doesn't agree with anything else in the title, it should be taken to mean 'of the Wise Man'. Or, alternatively, 'of Wiseman'. Now who does that remind you of...?
 * With the revelations of episode 9, the relative emotionlessness of Homura becomes Fridge Brilliance.
 * Episode 10 shows that
 * Kyubey says he wouldn't be surprised if Of course he wouldn't. He can't feel emotions, he just said so.
 * The Elsa Maria's barrier in episode 7 makes everything black and white. At a glance, this would seem to be a discretion shot so the viewers can't see Sayaka's insane expression. The Fridge Brilliance is that both Elsa Maria and Sayaka see the world in Black and White Morality.
 * Why are there no Magical BOYS?
 * Not really.
 * Boys might not be as desperate for things as girls are. Boys are generally raised to be the "man of the house" and girls are often raised to be somewhat dependent. So a boy might not be as quick to wish for something as girls are?
 * It's more likely that boys are taught to actually want concrete, direct things for themselves that they can use to benefit others, rather than being taught that they'll be rewarded for thinking of others ahead of themselves like girls are. The girls all wish for huge, largely vague and abstract things that benefit others, thinking that they'll reap the much simpler, indirect benefits they really want, but since Kyubey has no emotions and can only seek to profit by granting the wish in its most literal form, it's just that much more efficient to only use girls.
 * Kyoko suggests that wishes should be made for selfish things.
 * Suicide statistics also play a role. A teenage girl is more likely to commit suicide as a long drawn out attention seeking gambit(you could interpret Sayaka's breakdown as a cry for attention from Kyosuke). A teenage boy is less likely to try but more likely to succeed (a genuinely suicidal boy is more likely to just shoot his soul gem and be done with it). Considering witch transformations rely on the target's depression getting to dangerous rates the former is much more efficient.
 * Regardless of statistics, or what girls and boys are supposed to be like, everyone is different, so there should be some males with magical boy potential.
 * Kyoko is a constantly seen eating something and the food is her obsession.
 * Episode 10 reveals that
 * Episode 10 doesn't have an opening animation, instead diving straight into the plot and staying there.  Nice way to drive the point home, guys!
 * Look at the lyrics of the opening after watching Episode 10 and it clicks.
 * And look at them again after Episode 12:
 * This part of the opening strangely makes MUCH more sense with.
 * It also explains why Homura has been doing so well in school and gym class.
 * Also, go watch episode 1 and compare with episode 10, the part where, technically, Homura leads Madoka to the nurse's office . Shaft actually bothered to synchronize them. In episode 10 You can notice some other things Homura is not very amused with after watching episode 10. It just makes you feel bad for the poor girl...
 * Episode 3. After her nighttime conversation with Mami, Homura looks very pained, complete with Hidden Eyes.  Heck, most of Homura's interactions with Mami are this. Giving Mami back Gertrud's Grief Seed?   Saying that Madoka's talent is a problem?  . Her refusal to explain these things to Mami?
 * Madoka's doodles of everyone's magical girl outfits were astonishingly accurate,
 * Episode 10 reveals that the dream Madoka had in the first episode
 * Fate/Zero references. It is obvious due to Gen Urobuchi is the script-writer of this series (and author of Fate/Zero) and there are indirect references with some of the characters and abilities. The timing is perfect for this anime to begin as the Fate/Zero anime is still in the works; this is maybe considered a very indirect and distant preview despite Fate/Zero is worked on by a different studio.
 * On that subject, check out the excerpt from the afterword on the Quotes page. Now, considering the reference to, it's not that much of a leap to connect it to Madoka. But then consider the next part: he talks about how the only way you can get a really happy ending is via . This story has both.
 * In episode 8, Homura asks Madoka This takes on a whole new meaning in episode 10, when you see that in one of the previous timelines,.
 * In Episode 10,
 * As the first Drama CD reveals, her very first wish was to save the black cat she is holding in the opening after it was run over by a car. She is just that good-hearted. Of course, such a small wish does not give her much power.
 * Why does Kyubey, a, look like an adorable mutant cat thing with big floppy ears? (I mean in-universe, not just because Cute Is Evil) The main thing that makes him seem a bit creepy in the show is the way his voice and expression never change no matter what's happening; show a still screenshot of him to someone and they'll usually go "D'aww!"
 * Also, it does help that there are magical girl anime in Madoka's world too, which probably made it easier.
 * May or may not be unintentional, but Homura is under Madoka's thumb.
 * In fact, that makes complete sense. The reason why Homura is under Madoka's thumb is because Homura is doing all of this is because of Madoka. In short, Homura is driven by Madoka. This also explains why
 * Ever stop to think about Soul Gems and Grief Seeds and why they're called that?
 * Not only that, but
 * Kyuubey has no concept of lying, and he can only tell the truth;
 * Remember Homura warning Sayaka she had seen the result of making a wish for someone else and it never turned out well? That Sayaka needed to know the difference between wanting him healed and wanting his thanks? She was referring to Sayaka's wish in the previous timelines.
 * That was Mami speaking. I assumed she was referring to Kyoko.
 * In the Grand Finale of the anime, Madoka  Because   Can be considered Fridge Depressing when you realize that
 * I thought it was a bit more than just that. Word of God stated that Sayaka is doomed to always become a Witch if she becomes a magic girl. So Sayaka staying alive means not becoming a magic girl, probably being estranged from Kyouko due to that, Kamijou still being injured without her wish, and being the third part of the triangle between her, Kamijou and Hitomi.
 * I think you're mis-reading things. Kyouko and Mami meet with Madoka, but they are not in the later scenes with Homura. Kyouko also pops literally out of nowhere. As far as our "main-line" goes, they are likely still dead (and Sayaka is gone in all lines). Their later appearance is from the world where Mami lost it (note how it's shot). Similarly, Homura is on her own in the "future" world as well. Madoka didn't collapse the multi-verses, she's just in all of them.
 * That's not at all the impression I got from that sequence, given that it specifically comes after the Madoka/Sayaka scene. What that sequence is showing is how Madoka's wish has changed the timeline, since her wish was retroactive, violating cause and effect itself, as Kyubey says. Basically, now instead of becoming Witches, Magical Girls that overuse their power or succumb to Grief simply disappear (Madoka comes and gets them). In addition, Madoka herself no longer exists in reality and anything she has done (other than her wish) no longer has happened. This results in, among other things:  Madoka even gives Sayaka the chance to undo her wish, which would also undo her death, but Sayaka chooses to stay dead because she wants Kamijou's hand to remain healed.
 * Sayaka couldn't have the chance to undo her wish, though, because it had nothing to do with Madoka. None of the girls who turn into witches have the chance to undo their wishes, they simply disappear instead of the alternative. Madoka was giving Sayaka a chance to say goodbye, not to undo anything.
 * On Madoka's finale and Faust.
 * After Episode 12, the scene in the opening where older Madoka transforms younger Madoka makes (a little more) sense.
 * Back when Kyubei's intentions were first revealed, I posted a Just Bugs Me entry about why, if he's trying to maximize efficiency, he didn't just make factory farms.
 * This is taken a step further when you consider Kyubei's speech about meat.
 * This also explains why he only showed Madoka images of free-range cattle
 * In episode 9, after explaining his motivations to Madoka and getting blown off, Kyubey leaves with a rather insensitive admonition, Cue episode 12:
 * For those who don't get the Incubator reference, this might count as Fridge Brilliance:
 * The day of the airing of the final episodes is on Good Friday.
 * Before the unpleasantness of what happened to Mami in Episode 3, she said Madoka should just wish for cake if she couldn't think of anything good. Seems harmless and counter to the gravitas of the other wishes/the push from Mami and QB to not take the wishes lightly. Now think back to the concept of equal hope bringing about equal despair and Episode 11, where QB actually explains what makes magical girl potential to Homura. Given that, wishing for cake is the best idea under the   system! Due to the circumstances, Madoka could do better, but for any normal would be magical girl, cake is the best choice. Might be Fridge Horror if you think about why QB was so stringent on the girls not making frivolous wishes.
 * It's shown that witch's runes only appear inside of their barrier, and whenever a witch is introduced, it is shown with its name, with the website being updated later. Thus it makes perfect sense to not know Walpurgis Night's name, she never had a barrier in the first place!
 * We never see Homura using a Grief Seed, even though she seems to carry a few of them around (and going by episode 3, she's definitely not giving them to Kyuubey). Seems like Fridge Logic, right?
 * Expanding on this, why didn't Kyouko ? Because she still believed in him to some extent. And because the despair must be equal to the wish, that's why Sayaka  ...and   She realized that
 * An alternate explanation is that Homura is just super-efficient:
 * Notice that in episode 12 and  in Episode 10 are both shooting stars. If you don't understand, what do people do when they see a shooting star? Make a wish.
 * In episode 11, Kyubey tells Madoka that he doesn't understand
 * Episode 1 starts with lines which
 * It's shown that witch's runes only appear inside of their barrier, and whenever a witch is introduced, it is shown with its name, with the website being updated later. Thus it makes perfect sense to not know Walpurgis Night's name, she never had a barrier in the first place!
 * We never see Homura using a Grief Seed, even though she seems to carry a few of them around (and going by episode 3, she's definitely not giving them to Kyuubey). Seems like Fridge Logic, right?
 * Expanding on this, why didn't Kyouko ? Because she still believed in him to some extent. And because the despair must be equal to the wish, that's why Sayaka  ...and   She realized that
 * An alternate explanation is that Homura is just super-efficient:
 * Notice that in episode 12 and  in Episode 10 are both shooting stars. If you don't understand, what do people do when they see a shooting star? Make a wish.
 * In episode 11, Kyubey tells Madoka that he doesn't understand
 * Episode 1 starts with lines which
 * Episode 1 starts with lines which

Madoka: "Are you telling the truth? Can someone like me really do something to stop this? Can I really prevent everything from turning out this way?"

Kyubey: "Of course you can! Form a contract with me and become a magical girl!""

-spinindiamond
 * Along with the many tropes this series deconstructs, it also deconstructs City of Adventure. Why would the city the main characters live in have so many witches for them to deal with?
 * Perhaps I'm overthinking it, but why is "Connect" used as the ending in the final episode, and why are the last two episodes missing the dark and scary ending theme?
 * In episode 12, most people seem to miss that
 * When Madoka offers Kyouko her hand to shake, Kyouko laughs and instead gives her a candy bar. At first this seems like Kyouko being.. Kyouko but when you consider Kyouko's attitude towards food you will realise that that giving Madoka that candy bar was Kyouko showing Madoka that she had her deepest respect.
 * In a huge tie to The Little Mermaid, Hitomi represents the princess that the prince goes for instead of the mermaid. This explains why she has feelings for him.
 * The meramid's and Sayaka's motivations for making their prospective Deal with the Devil are also inverted. In Anderson's tale, the meramid became human for the prince to fall in love with her in order for her to gain a soul so she could attain eternal salvation in Heaven since mermaids are soulless and undergo Cessation Of Existance when they die. Sayaka became a Magical Girl, giving up her soul (though she was unaware of this at the time)in order for her to attain Kyosouke's love.
 * In Episode 7, Kyouko gives Sayaka advice and tries to get her to see things her way. Sayaka refuses to listen and walks away, causing Kyouko to become extremely pissed off. Why does she get so mad?
 * Word of God (as seen here) reveals that Mami's wish was . Why did Mami lie to Madoka and Sayaka about her wish? It made them take the wish more seriously.
 * Actually no. The translation is ambiguous and can be read as "to connect to life" - ie her own.
 * Despite being a mistranslation, the phase "connect lives" can still apply to Mami given her role in the show. She was introduced saving Madoka and Sayaka from a witch.  Also she once acted as sempai to Kyoko before the latter became cynical according to the 3rd CD drama. The spinoff Kazumi Magica further expands this by showing that Mami saved Kazumi who would in turn save the other girls who would form the Pleaides Saints and even emulate Mami's attack style and habit of Calling Their Attacks.
 * In the, why did Mami ? Well, along with the Fridge Horror below, Mami probably knows that.
 * We learn at one point that Kyubey. What happened when Madoka and Kyubey ? That's right - . Oh so satisfying!
 * Anyone else noticed that the way the characters interact with food is very telling? Sayaka is only seen taking a few bites here and there but never finishes anything, at one point she even throws uneaten food away. Mami who is a great cook but likes to over embellish the things she makes ect - Kazumi
 * Homura's quote from episode 1: "With kindness comes naïveté. Courage becomes foolhardiness. And dedication has no reward. If you can't accept any of that, you are not fit to be a magical girl."
 * At the end of episode 3 after defeating Charlotte who'd just killed, Homura states that 'This is the end of a Magical Girl. Cue a shot of a teacup smashed by a Grief Seed symbolizing   At first, it simply seems that Homura was refering to how MagicalGirls were bound to die horrible deaths by witches. Until   Looking at that scene again, this troper realized that Homura was subtly hinting at the darker nature of the Puella Magi system.
 * Homura's quote from episode 1: "With kindness comes naïveté. Courage becomes foolhardiness. And dedication has no reward. If you can't accept any of that, you are not fit to be a magical girl."
 * At the end of episode 3 after defeating Charlotte who'd just killed, Homura states that 'This is the end of a Magical Girl. Cue a shot of a teacup smashed by a Grief Seed symbolizing   At first, it simply seems that Homura was refering to how MagicalGirls were bound to die horrible deaths by witches. Until   Looking at that scene again, this troper realized that Homura was subtly hinting at the darker nature of the Puella Magi system.
 * At the end of episode 3 after defeating Charlotte who'd just killed, Homura states that 'This is the end of a Magical Girl. Cue a shot of a teacup smashed by a Grief Seed symbolizing   At first, it simply seems that Homura was refering to how MagicalGirls were bound to die horrible deaths by witches. Until   Looking at that scene again, this troper realized that Homura was subtly hinting at the darker nature of the Puella Magi system.
 * At the end of episode 3 after defeating Charlotte who'd just killed, Homura states that 'This is the end of a Magical Girl. Cue a shot of a teacup smashed by a Grief Seed symbolizing   At first, it simply seems that Homura was refering to how MagicalGirls were bound to die horrible deaths by witches. Until   Looking at that scene again, this troper realized that Homura was subtly hinting at the darker nature of the Puella Magi system.
 * At the end of episode 3 after defeating Charlotte who'd just killed, Homura states that 'This is the end of a Magical Girl. Cue a shot of a teacup smashed by a Grief Seed symbolizing   At first, it simply seems that Homura was refering to how MagicalGirls were bound to die horrible deaths by witches. Until   Looking at that scene again, this troper realized that Homura was subtly hinting at the darker nature of the Puella Magi system.
 * Kyousuke's song choice (Ave Maria) might be a bit odd, but then you realize that the song was in a short that also had Walpurgis Night as a plot device. In the finale, he plays it after Walpurgisnacht was taken care of, much like how the song was played after Chernabog hid away.
 * Fridge Brilliance/ Actor Allusion, This isn't the first time a Chiwa Saito character has been rescued by a powerful magical girl team with twin-tails, one with a pink theme and the other a yellow theme.
 * Next time you watch the series, check out Madoka's room, particularly the arrangement of stuffed animals and shelves. In episode 9 in particular, during her conversation with Kyubei, the arrangement of the room changes over the course of a single scene. Sloppy animating, or
 * Kyoko explained her wish and the downfall of her family to Sayaka using a little puppet show. In a dark Ironic Echo, she re-enacted the very wish that destroyed her past life in the first place.
 * Everything that happens in Episode 1 is important. Do not miss any part of it. For example:
 * Madoka's dream:
 * The chairs in Madoka's mother's room:
 * Madoka deciding what ribbons to wear:
 * Madoka's mom telling her to act like she has secret admirers:
 * Hitomi's bashfulness over Sayaka teasing Madoka:
 * Homura re-writing her name on the board:
 * Homura being good at everything:
 * The exact timing of Homura and Madoka's walk to the Nurse's office:
 * Sayaka wondering if Homura gets Moe off of how she treats Madoka:
 * Sayaka buying CDs for Kamijo.
 * Homura using purple energy bolts as an attack.
 * Homura trying to kill Kyuubey in the first place.
 * The list goes on.
 * The list goes on.


 * In 10 and 11, the ending isn't shown. This is symbolic, implying The End Is Nigh.
 * Homura uses her powers to correct her eyes, despite not having healing powers. How? By changing them in time to a state in the past where she had good eye sight.
 * In the original Japanese title, the styling of the logo makes the first character able to be read as "廃怯" or "wavering" instead of "魔法" or magic, making the title "Hesitant Girl Madoka Magica".
 * Likewise, much like mahou shojo, or magical girls, become majo, or witches, the hesitant girl or hai-kyo shojo will become a haijo, a girl who abolishes.
 * In Episode 7, after having her advice rejected by Sayaka, Kyoko is shown furiously taking bites out of an apple. Now, Kyoko's Berserk Button is wasting food, so she chooses to eat the apple to vent her frustration rather than crush it in her hand, which she would've accomplished given the way she was squeezing it as Sayaka walks away.
 * Related is, in Episode 9, we see her gobbling up lots and lots of food from her apartment[/]hotel room. She already figures she's going to die in the battle, so she's making sure none of her food stores go to waste - note that her fight against Oktavia and the buildup to it are the only scenes in which she's not eating anything.
 * Homura's given name is usually a surname, while her surname is usually a given name. This makes her name sound like it's being spoken in western order and gives her a foreign feel right from the get-go. Likewise, the other characters all have surnames that are usually given names, so they always sound like they're speaking informally to one another even when they're not
 * Walpurgis Night uses fire attacks and the holiday itself is associated with bonfires. Homura uses military-grade explosives and artillery. It suddenly makes a lot more sense other than just Super Weight for Walpurgis to be completely unfazed by anything Homura does.- g3m1n1

Fridge Horror
"Sayaka: What... happened?"
 * Compare the original opening to this fan-made video (MAJOR SPOILERS) of, well...Episode 3 in a nutshell. It makes complete sense in context up until...well, you have to see for yourself.
 * It is mentioned that those who die in a witch's barrier leave no bodies behind. Pondering this, it makes you wonder how many people killed by witches were presumed to be missing. Also,  Wow, the thought's really depressing.
 * The magical girls? The Genius Bonus about the writing (both the symbol font from the first episode when translated, and the Faust quotes in the second), too.
 * For those who haven't gotten the fridge horror about Faust references --
 * The presence of Faust references actually helped the Western fans to guess a significant portion of the plot ahead of the Japanese viewers.
 * One of the Puella Magi shown in the last episode is suspected to be Anne Frank.  but what if that didn't happen? Remember why Mami wanted to kill Charlotte? To prevent her from sucking out the life from already weakened people. Now, think of where that girl is going, and how many "weakened people" are going to be there.
 * Magical girls are powered by wishes. Mami comments to Homura on how much talent Madoka has...
 * Better yet,
 * Episode 6 reveals that
 * I have a question:
 * Another question. Suppose a Magical Girl's body were to be completely destroyed like say incinerated but her Soul Gem were to remain intact. Unless someone destroyed it, then their souls would be trapped within unable to pass onto the afterlife. Furthermore would their consciousness be in stasis or would they still be semi-aware of their surroundings yet unable to move or communicate.
 * Halfway Jossed: Sayaka's first words after re-activation prove that a deactivated Puella Magi is not conscious and aware inside the Soul Gem:
 * I have a question:
 * Another question. Suppose a Magical Girl's body were to be completely destroyed like say incinerated but her Soul Gem were to remain intact. Unless someone destroyed it, then their souls would be trapped within unable to pass onto the afterlife. Furthermore would their consciousness be in stasis or would they still be semi-aware of their surroundings yet unable to move or communicate.
 * Halfway Jossed: Sayaka's first words after re-activation prove that a deactivated Puella Magi is not conscious and aware inside the Soul Gem:
 * I have a question:
 * Another question. Suppose a Magical Girl's body were to be completely destroyed like say incinerated but her Soul Gem were to remain intact. Unless someone destroyed it, then their souls would be trapped within unable to pass onto the afterlife. Furthermore would their consciousness be in stasis or would they still be semi-aware of their surroundings yet unable to move or communicate.
 * Halfway Jossed: Sayaka's first words after re-activation prove that a deactivated Puella Magi is not conscious and aware inside the Soul Gem:
 * Another question. Suppose a Magical Girl's body were to be completely destroyed like say incinerated but her Soul Gem were to remain intact. Unless someone destroyed it, then their souls would be trapped within unable to pass onto the afterlife. Furthermore would their consciousness be in stasis or would they still be semi-aware of their surroundings yet unable to move or communicate.
 * Halfway Jossed: Sayaka's first words after re-activation prove that a deactivated Puella Magi is not conscious and aware inside the Soul Gem:
 * Halfway Jossed: Sayaka's first words after re-activation prove that a deactivated Puella Magi is not conscious and aware inside the Soul Gem:

"Homura: Walpurgis Night will begin here (pointing to a location on the map)
 * It's likely Soul Jars work like batteries. Your toy/clock/remote whatever won't be active without one, and batteries can't really do anything just by being a battery, both parts are pretty useless on their own.
 * That's not really fridge horror, though given that Kyoko admits to doing this
 * So, it turns out that Kyoko's father, meaning that Kyoko is now completely alone... Wait a minute... Mami is also alone because ... And we know nothing about Homura, but she surely looks like a loner... SAYAAAAAKAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
 * Episode 8: . Combine that with the implications that destroying Witches to cleanse your gem will net a profit (at any rate, this seems to work for Kyoko), that effectively means that the only way is for the Puella to let it happen. In other words, . How many Witches have we seen so far? Yep.
 * In fairness, Cloning Blues, perhaps?
 * Don't forget, it's been stated that familiars have to kill someone (possibly consume their soul?) to become full Witches...
 * Grief Seeds are . Kyubey consumes Grief Seeds.
 * Even better: Grief Seeds are . This makes Kyubey even MORE satanic.
 * I think you ignored one important detail: You can net a profit killing a witch if you're an experienced witch killer. If you're inexperienced, alone and with no grief seeds to your name, good luck even winning your first fight... or figuring out how to track them down... or getting it through your head that you need to save your strength for a witch rather than waste it on familiars... I bet most never even make it to their first kill.
 * Even more vicious when you realize that
 * This hits home even harder considering how
 * Episode 8 we have the following exchange between Kyoko and Homura
 * Episode 8 we have the following exchange between Kyoko and Homura
 * Episode 8 we have the following exchange between Kyoko and Homura

Kyoko: How do you know?

Homura: Statistics."


 * How many time loops do you have to experience to form STATISTICS??
 * Perhaps 15,532 times?
 * Apparently only
 * That have been SHOWN in the anime/manga... she might have gone through more.
 * The spin-off series Oriko Magica appears to be an example of a timeline that wasnt in the anime.
 * would be proud.
 * Episode 7. breakdown. Elsa Maria's silhouette looks like Hitomi...
 * Alternatively, the symbolism surrounding Elsa Maria is very Christian-like, specially in regards to prayer and roots.
 * I think Kyoko would know if
 * Ahh, but
 * Has it been specified HOW We don't really know much of the specifics to really say it could or couldn't happen, but it's still possible.
 * After Homu-Homu QB, QB   You would think this was done just to emphasize the creepiness, but fridge horror hits when you realize
 * Another Fridge Brilliance in that scene:
 * Familiars become Witches themselves after consuming people. Homura already knew that Charlotte was different from what Mami was used to, and how to defeat her... implying that she had faced at least one Charlotte before (though this may be explained away through .) How can we be sure that there aren't any more Charlottes, Elsas, et al lurking around?
 * Homura most likely knew how to defeat Charlotte due to . But yes; Familiars mature into Witches identical to the one they "budded" from. Multiple Charlottes is a very realistic notion.
 * Kyubey's explanation in episode 9.
 * Walpurgis, the greatest of known witches, who has Walpurgisnacht named after her, can be practically one-shot by Madoka, or so Kyubey claims. And what happens after that? Madoka herself
 * The interaction of Puella Magi and Witches with their feeding habits is a long-established system. Now, think about how the first witches came into existence.
 * Episode 10 reveals that
 * Also, if you look carefully in episode 10, you'll notice that
 * Even more Fridge Horror. What if Homura is the one making Madoka stronger each time
 * Could just be situational though. First time she fights with Mami, then Mami and an inexperienced Homura, then a battle-hardened Homura. The fourth timeline's obviously situational because she wished for power, probably for the power to kill WPN. Also note that Madoka survives to corrupt into a witch in all but the first timeline, but Homura cuts her off in the third.
 * In Episode 10, Homura decides to handle everything by herself.
 * It's highly doubtful that she really managed to get all the witches.
 * Uh, what part of Homura's ability to time-stop did you miss? Especially if you subscribe to the theory that the four timelines shown aren't the only ones, Homura could easily track down and kill all of them in a single night if it weren't for the whole "humans (even ) need sleep" thing...
 * This explains why Oriko, Kirika, and Yuma are absent. But then think about that for a bit.
 * Actually, if, all she'd have to do is
 * Actually, not only is it impossible to prove whether Homura killed them or if they died in battle, but a wish like know the meaning of my life could have thousands of different meanings and consequences. Also, Homura repeatedly states Oriko's timeline was full of irregularities.
 * In episode 6, Homura approaches Kyoko and tells her that she wants What was Homura's plan that never happened  because of Kyoko's impatience?
 * One of the Episode 10 Witches is apparently based off school uniforms. Thanks to the tone of episode (at that point in time), it looks pretty damn ridiculous, but when you stop to think about it...
 * , usually due to them falling to despair about life.
 * Witches always have some way of stealing the souls of those who enter their Labyrinth; be it eating them (Charlotte), dragging them into themselves (Elsa Maria) or more exotic methods (such as Oktavia, for instance, who steals souls via her music). Up this Witch's skirt appears to be some sort of infinite orifice.
 * Given the uniforms,, take note of the odd position the Witch appears to be in...  . Still finding that sequence funny?
 * Someone thought that was funny? It's a freaking monster made of arms!
 * To make things even worse, remember how Homura killed her....
 * In an early episode, Kyubey suggests to Sayaka that she can get stronger by collecting more grief seeds. Seems like nothing to be concerned about, until you watch episode 10  We don't see the details of what happened before then, but it can be assumed that   If that's the case than one can assume that the stronger a Puella Magi's magic gets, the faster their soul gem corrupts, so it's only a matter of time before they become witches themselves.
 * Or it doesn't matter.
 * Each mahou shoujo's wish comes with
 * In episode 10, Kyubei mentions  This would imply that
 * Wait a minute...
 * Which actually makes a certain amount of sense.
 * Also, what do you mean 'unintentionally?'
 * Witches have to come from somewhere, if there's to be Magical Girls to "harvest" their Seeds. While the story focuses itself on Madoka's tight inner group, for all we know there are many other Magical Girls elsewhere in the city, the country, the world, Just what exactly is Kyubey up to when he's not on camera? How many contracts has he made that we're not aware of? Maybe he's approaching the girl next to you right now...
 * Say, your sister has been acting a little odd lately, hasn't she? I believe she was nattering away making a wish about something or other until about three days ago, hmmm? Let's hope she hasn't made a wish that way yet.
 * Entropy. Kyubey kind of fudges the explanation in order to simplify it for Madoka, but the concept is very real. While there are at least a dozen ways for the universe to end before that, according to everything we've learned until now, entropy is what will eventually and inevitably do us in, even if all else fails. So, unless we can hop over to another universe - one with less sucky laws of thermodynamics preferably - we're all screwed in the long run.
 * As of December 2011, Wikipedia on entropy states: "The role of entropy in cosmology remains a controversial subject. Recent work has cast some doubt on the heat death hypothesis and the applicability of any simple thermodynamic model to the universe in general. Although entropy does increase in the model of an expanding universe, the maximum possible entropy rises much more rapidly, moving the universe further from the heat death with time, not closer."
 * People are complaining about Kyubey having facial expressions in the manga, arguing that the reason Kyubey is so scary is because of his Frozen Face showing his Lack of Empathy. On the other hand, being able to show facial expressions makes Kyubey's job easier. After all, a girl might be wary of a creature whose face never changes. Kyubey's inability to feel emotions probably hasn't changed. Now he just knows how to fake them.
 * I thought it was more of a pragmatic thing. A lot of the impact of his (lack of) tone of voice and absolutely still expression (even most characters with a Frozen Face move their mouth when they talk) is lost in the transition to a print medium. As mentioned earlier under Fridge Brilliance, he tends to look much cuter in still screenshots than he actually does in context, so the manga had to try to compensate for that.
 * Episode 11 Kyubey states that "emotion is a mental disorder on our world." Individuality Is Illegal on the Incubators' homeworld, so not only are there probably thousands of fully sentient Incubators trapped in asylums for "feeling", but the Incubators as a whole will never evolve emotion and thus have to keep leeching off the despair of other worlds.
 * Actually it's also very likely that they're leeching off the despair of their own mentally ill. /人◕ ‿‿ ◕人\
 * Remember that one familiar Kyoko let escape in episode 5? The childlike scribble playing with hundreds of rubber balls? The official website labels her Anja, a minion of the witch Albertine, whose ability is...transforming humans into rubber balls. And making them bounce for every lie they've told in their lives. How long can someone survive being bashed against the ground like that? How many people died because Anja escaped, just so Kyoko could get a Grief Seed?
 * It Got Worse. Anja attacked Sayaka using the rubber balls, and Sayaka cut them in half.
 * According to her witch card, due to Kriemheld Gretchen's goal of ridding the world of misfortune, "The only way to defeat this witch is to make the world free of misfortune. If there's no grief in this world, she will believe this world is already a heaven." The only plausible way to do this is to make a wish to that effect... but Kyubey, if he even knows this would work, is not allowed to suggest wishes. He couldn't stop her even if he wanted.
 * Even worse, what if
 * During the fight with, a sort of melting shadow appears. Is that what's left of her soul trapped inside, being corroded by the despair of a witch?
 * In nearly every timeline
 * Fridge Depressing, maybe. Why is Homura becoming so cold and standoffish, even to Madoka, after  It's because
 * More Fridge Depressing: It has been established by Word of God that
 * When a Magical Girl's, and her body detransforms almost immediately. However, in Episode 3, it takes a small while for . Meaning, she was still Brr.
 * is basically the same as dying, however. Which is inevitable for everyone, including nonmagical girls.
 * Even, becoming a Magical Girl dooms a girl to a violent and probably short life. I hope that wish was worth it...
 * Although, given Madoka's strong feelings about the way contracts in the past were made, it's very likely that the Incubators  won't force as many girls into unfair contracts (such as Kyuubey waiting for Mami to be in the car crash, or setting up  ). And given that Madoka,   she can probably do the same for all the other Puella Magi so that they'll be happiest in the end. In fact, she probably lets them know exactly what they're getting into. It may not be easy, but if that's what they wish for more than anything else, she's going to help them do it.
 * It is almost entirely a sure fact that Madoka is not Omniscient, she didn't wish to be the Christian god, and whether you have faith in him or not, it's probably a good thing. Since every incompatibility from wishes results in distortion, the contradictory omni everything classical god would probably not work. In short It's likely Madoka's only supreme capability is omni-presence, And witch busting.
 * Does Madoka
 * Nope. They die/disappear after Madoka wishes the Soul Gem away.
 * They might also go to a heaven, In the manga, it's depicted more along this manner.
 * Word of God confirms that there is a new universe that Madoka takes the souls of dead Magical Girls to so Cessation Of Existance is not a problem for them. Right before disappearing Madoka tells Homura that she is going to meet everyone presumably those girls that have ascended to her heaven.
 * Demons everywhere!
 * On a happier note,
 * No, he doesn't.
 * When Kyubey tells Madoka about  Almost makes you feel guilty about hating the little critter.
 * While this is mostly true, we're hardly worse, the problem in this case is our emotions and empathy are imperfect, so Cows etc are not often granted the same level of value or emotional investment as other humans, so in a way, it's not that incubators are more human, it's that when it comes to food, humans are like incubators.
 * Take a close look at Mami's thighs during the  scenes and you'll see what appears to be liquid staining her stockings. Blood right? Nope.
 * Actually, nothing runs down there. You might be thinking of
 * So Kazuko says that Hitomi feels bad about Sayaka's 'death'. What did Hitomi do right before that? Confess to Kyosuke, of course. The girl probably believes she accidentally drove Sayaka to suicide by doing that.
 * Worse, when you consider that her confessing to Kyosuke was the accidental catalyst for
 * The Manga's changes show some unsettling ideas. For one, look at the scene where Sayaka attacks Hitomi and Kyousuke. Consider that one, the author of the manga supports the theory that Sayaka killed those two men in the train, and two, you never see Kyousuke and Hitomi until the new timeline.
 * Oh, and no funeral scene would mean that in the Mangaverse, Weekend At Sayaka's is possible.
 * Another disturbing scene occurs when Homura is fighting against Walpurgisnacht and gets attacked by three familiars that take the shapes of Mami, Kyouko, and Sayaka. When you consider that Walpurginacht is an amalagation of the spirits of dead MagicalGirls, its possible that those werent familiars but the three other main characters under the control of Walpurgisnacht. To add to that nightnarish scenario, remember that Madoka also fought against the same witch in other timelines and may have also been treated to the same experience.
 * 's last moments in Episode 10.
 * So according to Kyubey, putting too much corruption into a Grief Seed can revive a witch which is why he eats used up Grief Seeds. This is bad enough in that it means Puella Magi have to continually battle witches to keep The Corruption at bay with new Grief Seeds
 * Listen to the song "Nux Walpurgis" from OST volume 3. While it plays in episode . But in the OST there is a longer version, and it perfectly fits the.
 * When Kyoko's father went nuts, he must have gone after Kyoko and killed her first, otherwise her Puella Magi would have allowed her to restrain him. With either multiple bullet or stab wounds to disable her (it's not made clear which way it happened) but her soul gem preventing her from dying, Kyoko would be conscious but unable to move as she witnessed her father killing the rest of her family. And I Must Scream.
 * Right after, a distressed Madoka asks how many people Homura has seen die. Homura pauses, then says that she's seen more deaths than she could count.
 * The bizarre creatures at the end of the first episode (flying scissors and everything) say things like "Let's just cut them off" and "We present the roses to our queen" in their weird, screechy voices. Now think of what would've happened if Mami hadn't been there to save them.]]
 * Seems like a lot of witches or their minions like to eat or mutilate corpses. That means
 * Which even has precedence, considering
 * In episode three how does Homura know Mami is dead? Her ribbon she bound Homura with disapeared. Homura probably recognised this from the
 * I kind of wondered why Hitomi, arguably one of the most happiest girls in the show, got a witch's kiss so easily. Doesn't having a witch's kiss mean that you were depressed enough to be vulnerable to it, or at least have depressing thoughts? But then I remembered that Kyousuke's hand was healed in the same episode, the episode that Sayaka became a magical girl. Considering that Hitomi wanted Sayaka to confess to Kyousuke first, did she somehow hear about Kyousuke getting better (maybe from Sayaka herself before she saved the day?) and, not only thought about but feared of the consequences of the Love Triangle, thinking it would harm their friendship? Given how she decided that Sayaka should take the initiative when she got better, probably because she wanted her friend to be happy, what was she planning originally? Was she thinking that if she 'got out of the way', her friend could have their crush all to herself and then everybody would be happy...?
 * In one of the  in Episode 10, Mami  . This implies that Mami.
 * A girl who wins a fight but gets a serious injury may be already dead. Her fighting ability is severely downgraded, lowering the ceiling on the strength of witches she can fight. She'll use up more power compensating. If another girl is interested in her territory, they'll lunge at the opportunity. If the injury is serious enough, she may be forced to get medical treatment. And imagine if she's trying to keep a civilian life! "No big deal, Mom and Dad, I just tripped and ripped my arm off." This logic applies to a lot of settings, but it seems more depressing for this one;
 * So according to Kyubey, putting too much corruption into a Grief Seed can revive a witch which is why he eats used up Grief Seeds. This is bad enough in that it means Puella Magi have to continually battle witches to keep The Corruption at bay with new Grief Seeds
 * Listen to the song "Nux Walpurgis" from OST volume 3. While it plays in episode . But in the OST there is a longer version, and it perfectly fits the.
 * When Kyoko's father went nuts, he must have gone after Kyoko and killed her first, otherwise her Puella Magi would have allowed her to restrain him. With either multiple bullet or stab wounds to disable her (it's not made clear which way it happened) but her soul gem preventing her from dying, Kyoko would be conscious but unable to move as she witnessed her father killing the rest of her family. And I Must Scream.
 * Right after, a distressed Madoka asks how many people Homura has seen die. Homura pauses, then says that she's seen more deaths than she could count.
 * The bizarre creatures at the end of the first episode (flying scissors and everything) say things like "Let's just cut them off" and "We present the roses to our queen" in their weird, screechy voices. Now think of what would've happened if Mami hadn't been there to save them.]]
 * Seems like a lot of witches or their minions like to eat or mutilate corpses. That means
 * Which even has precedence, considering
 * In episode three how does Homura know Mami is dead? Her ribbon she bound Homura with disapeared. Homura probably recognised this from the
 * I kind of wondered why Hitomi, arguably one of the most happiest girls in the show, got a witch's kiss so easily. Doesn't having a witch's kiss mean that you were depressed enough to be vulnerable to it, or at least have depressing thoughts? But then I remembered that Kyousuke's hand was healed in the same episode, the episode that Sayaka became a magical girl. Considering that Hitomi wanted Sayaka to confess to Kyousuke first, did she somehow hear about Kyousuke getting better (maybe from Sayaka herself before she saved the day?) and, not only thought about but feared of the consequences of the Love Triangle, thinking it would harm their friendship? Given how she decided that Sayaka should take the initiative when she got better, probably because she wanted her friend to be happy, what was she planning originally? Was she thinking that if she 'got out of the way', her friend could have their crush all to herself and then everybody would be happy...?
 * In one of the  in Episode 10, Mami  . This implies that Mami.
 * A girl who wins a fight but gets a serious injury may be already dead. Her fighting ability is severely downgraded, lowering the ceiling on the strength of witches she can fight. She'll use up more power compensating. If another girl is interested in her territory, they'll lunge at the opportunity. If the injury is serious enough, she may be forced to get medical treatment. And imagine if she's trying to keep a civilian life! "No big deal, Mom and Dad, I just tripped and ripped my arm off." This logic applies to a lot of settings, but it seems more depressing for this one;
 * A girl who wins a fight but gets a serious injury may be already dead. Her fighting ability is severely downgraded, lowering the ceiling on the strength of witches she can fight. She'll use up more power compensating. If another girl is interested in her territory, they'll lunge at the opportunity. If the injury is serious enough, she may be forced to get medical treatment. And imagine if she's trying to keep a civilian life! "No big deal, Mom and Dad, I just tripped and ripped my arm off." This logic applies to a lot of settings, but it seems more depressing for this one;

Fridge Logic
Magical Girl or not, one would assume that Cleopatra still seduced Mark Anthony and produced Caesarion, Alexander Helios, Cleopatra the Second and Ptomley the 16th. Now, as we all know, becoming a Magical Girl turns you a corpse. So even though she could most certainly have sex (sucks to be the accidental necrophile, eh Anthony?), how in the name of Madoka would Cleopatra be able to give birth to ONE, much less FOUR children when her body is incapable of sustaining and producing life anymore? "Kyumina: "Go beyond the impossible and kick entropy to the curb! That's the Puella Magi way!""
 * Wait a second, just realized:
 * Who said anything about not being able to produce life? All that was stated about the Magical Girls was that they're liches.
 * Why didn't any of the girls think of using their wishes to or warping realities to something like "Erase negative emotions forever for everyone" or simply asking for a thousand more wishes. But then again that would remove any conflicts in the story and we wouldn't have this awesome show we are watching now. But QB wouldn't agree to it anyway.
 * Episode 12 shows that he can't actually refuse to grant a wish as Madoka essentially wishes for Witches to have never existed. He doesn't like it, but he's unable to actually tell her she can't do that. All he can do is point out the potential consequences.
 * Additionally, your magic has to be strong enough to grant the wish. Madoka was essentially powerful enough to get away with a wish to rewrite reality.
 * With recent revelations in Episode 8, one has to wonder the following: Where did Charlotte's Grief Seed in episode 3 come from?
 * Charlotte lost/discarded her Soul Gem in that area, and it built up negativity over time?
 * Alternatively, maybe the Grief Seed was disposed of there after another Puella Magi
 * Maybe put it there? Incorporating the WMG "It was all part of 's plan for ", The whole thing may have been a setup to force Madoka into a position where she had no other choice but to become a magical girl.
 * We know that familiar separated from original witch can grow grief seed of their own and become witches themselves. Maybe in the transition process, there's dormant stage, when new grief seed accumulates negativity to power familiar's new form.
 * A common theory holds that.
 * , as well as the witch Mami tracked down in episode 2, show that Witches can 'relocate' their mazes. For all we know, it's possible that once a witch has drained an area, it turns back into a Grief Seed, transports somewhere else, sits dormant for a while, and then hatches after absorbing enough grief from the area.
 * Okay, so as of Episode 10
 * Her wish would most likely be voided, since
 * A time-traveling witch?
 * And Walpurgisnacht is speculated to be, and it does make sence considering that for as long as witches exist, if she were to stay in one reality for long enough, she would change into a witch. And since Walpurgisnacht always arrives on the time of Walpurgisnacht, which is time of real despair, I wouldn't be surprised if this were true.
 * So,
 * The only power she habitually displays is stopping time, and before the reveal that could've simply been believed to be a teleportation-based power -- she does have a Hammerspace buckler, after all -- the time travel only comes up at a point wherein after its use no one else is going to remember it anyway. Also, remember that what wish a Puella Magi made is a key aspect that informs some of their powers. Without knowing what she wished for it's harder to extrapolate what she can do. Besides, he's done plenty to stop her from saving Madoka -- he's put Homura in a Morton's Fork by letting Kyoko think she could save Sayaka and consequently sacrificing herself to help Homura escape with Madoka. Now either Homura faces down Walpurgis on her own -- when that worked so well the last time -- or she lets Madoka form a contract with Kyubey. And there is nothing about the former that actually prevents the latter.
 * Woah, I totally forgot about the Morton's Fork - my bad. But in previous timelines, he must must have seen Homura use her time-stop powers to place bombs and stuff, assuming Kyubey follewed them around like he sometimes did in the current timeline. I guess I assumed he would put two and two together (no memory of making her a Puella Magi and time related powers) and instead of being shocked, he'd be all, "Go ahead and try again, see how it works out for you. You'll become a witch eventually". Of course, he might have been bluffing, and this is another part of his horrible scheme.
 * Well, again, time-related is not an assumed given -- from an outside perspective there's very little difference between Time Stands Still and teleportation powers. And before Episode 8 I don't think he really had as much solid evidence to go on; she'd been fairly careful about not mentioning the other timeline, and most of his previous interactions with her didn't exactly put him in a prime position to observe, what with him running or her keeping a low profile.
 * Why would Kyubey want to stop her? The more powerful the Puella Magi the more powerful their witch. He may very well see it as Homura looping again and again, getting stronger each time until finally she falls into despair at the futility of it after too many failures, at this time she is unusually powerful, mmm, delicious witch energy. So long as he thinks she'll never succeed it's actually beneficial for him if she keeps looping.
 * Homura's looping also made Madoka stronger if I'm understanding this right.
 * Short answer:
 * Long answer:
 * So now that the episode 10 witch cards are out, it seems that alternate!Oktavia's barrier is based around guitar and not violin. That makes very little sense.
 * Maybe in that timeline she made a different wish?
 * Or Kyosuke played the guitar in that timeline.
 * But the backup dancers were all based on Hitomi while the orchestra was full of... Oh. Oh. Are you trying to say something, Urobuchi?
 * Or it was alternate!Oktavia's way of screwing over the person who screwed her over, so to speak. Apparently, Hitomi wins in every timeline and alternate!Oktavia would prefer if she dance in the background, unimportant, while she takes center stage.
 * Most likely, considering Oktavia's Madness Mantra: "LOOK AT ME!"
 * The whole "Entropy is lowering the amount of energy in the universe so we're tormenting little girls to make more" thing, while holding the plot reasonably well and functioning as an artistic subversion of the usual "power of love" or "harvesting energy" angles many Magical Girl series rely on.... is STILL a complete and utter load, simply because neither matter nor energy can be destroyed. The amount lost during conversion from one state to another doesn't just vanish, it simply isn't converted to the same state. What Kyuubey's doing is somehow adding more energy to the equation. Whether that would be a bad thing or a good thing notwithstanding, it's a bit jarring to hear that his race can warp reality but it can't understand basic physical laws.
 * What the magic is doing is healing the universe; the inevitable increase in entropy is rotting it. Energy is changing form without overall increasing or decreasing, as outlined by the First Law of Thermodynamics (Equivalent Exchange); according the Second Law of Thermodynamics (Entropy), it will never be a 100% perfect conversion into work, with some energy changing from being localized to randomly dispersed (mostly as heat). It might make more sense if you replace "the universe is losing energy" with "the universe is ageing/decaying/degenerating until it becomes too old and inefficient to sustain life" (which is pretty much what the Heat Death is about), and "adding more energy" with "the souls of magical girls (who can of course symbolize youth and fertility) reverse the process of energy decay, returning energy to a better, less entropic form, and provide some sort of Philosopher's Stone for this universe in order to rejuvenate itself". Finally, the laws of Thermodynamics don't matter too much, because Magic could break whatever natural laws it wanted, which is why it's so valuable. It's basically Spiral Power.
 * It may be a bit of Fridge Horror, but isn't the Kyubeians' plan eventually leading up to the Spiral Nemesis? That was the first thing I thought of with the whole entropy speech.
 * It may be a bit of Fridge Horror, but isn't the Kyubeians' plan eventually leading up to the Spiral Nemesis? That was the first thing I thought of with the whole entropy speech.


 * Incubators are basically how Anti-Spirals would behave if the end of the universe involved Heat Death instead of a Big Crunch. By the way, both entities' agenda for saving the universe involve putting humans into absolute despair (in TTGL despair restricts Spiral Power, in PMMM despair enhances Magical Power).
 * Well, if they can warp reality, why would they need to understand basic physical laws? Though the explanation above is probably far closer to canon.
 * Eh, his explanation was likely dumbed down for Madoka. Enough to probably hide more truths.
 * Or maybe they needed to understand basic physical laws precisely for explaining it to us humans. Which makes sense since Kyubey's explanation could have come from a guy who just skimmed through a physics textbook; the gist is there, but it's not quite right.
 * The most likely theory is that the magic is capable of breaking the laws of thermodynamics, and Kyubey's Magical Girl system is simply the most efficient way to generate energy. I'm pretty sure that even Kyubey isn't sure how the magic works, but I don't think he cares as long as he gets energy out of it.
 * This point was actually Fridge Brilliance for this troper. Think about it: Kyuubey's race are Sufficiently Advanced Aliens. Their reality-warping powers are essentially just very fancy technology. This means that they're centuries, maybe even millennia, ahead of us scientifically. Given that, it's incredibly likely that their understanding of entropy is very different from ours; or, to put it another way, even explaining it in such a manner that the most advanced physicists of our day and age would judge to be correct would be dumbing it down as far as they're concerned. Given this, why make a fuss about simplifying it just a little further to ease its consumption by little girls?
 * I think the correctness of it is unimportant. The main point of it is to drive home the idea: Kyubey is utterly alien, in a way seldom seen in fiction. He's not only emotionless, relentless in pursuing his goal, and a hive mind that cares nothing for one body, but even the thing he's doing in the story is incomprehensibly alien to any human being: the heat death of the universe is an event that's somewhere around 10^100 years away. In that time the solar system could be fully recreated, humans to re-evolve and the Sun to die more than 10^80 times. Yet he's here, today, working on postponing that date, and working personally with humans on their timescale. Just try to figure out how something like THAT thinks. Either that, or he's just a minor servant or the extension of an even greater eldritch horror. Alternatively, maybe the heat death is much closer than we think, and his race might be the only one that realized it. Now there's a scary prospect.


 * Can Charlotte create cheesecake?
 * Isn't cheesecake just cheese shaped like a cake?
 * No. Cheesecake is more like custard in a pie crust, made with a lot of cream cheese or ricotta cheese.
 * It's just that she desires cheese, but can only make desserts (i.e. her description makes it sound like the two are mutually exclusive when they're not). Maybe she can't actually make cheese-based desserts. Or maybe she can, but sweet cheeses don't satisfy her cheese cravings. Either way, I'm going to guess that this is one of those things that one isn't supposed to think too hard about.
 * She's a witch. In despair. She doesn't think of these things.
 * Kyubey claims its species is emotionless. Yet, they obviously care enough about their own existence to go through such great lengths to prevent entropy. Caring, even if it is only for your own survival, is technically an emotion.
 * Wanting to protect your own existence can also be derived from many logical means. Using some outer-world logic, he may have formulated it was more beneficial to exist than to not, or at least "most people would prefer to exist, so we shall cater to them".
 * Could just be instinct. Also,
 * It is quite possible to have goals, and work to pursue them, without having emotions. Think artificial intelligence--an AI you program to strive for some goal will pursue that goal relentlessly, in fact relentlessly isn't even an applicable word because it won't even consider that ceasing to pursue it is an option, only changes in strategy. It'll pursue that goal with more vigor than any human. The incubators have the goal of prolonging the universe, presumably as a means of achieving the deeper goal of "keep ourselves and/or our creators and/or all life in the universe from being destroyed for as long as possible". The only way to make them give up would be to convince them that their approach will not work or that another will work better or possibly that some goal they hold even higher is mutually exclusive (not likely); any other appeal or factor of any kind will be useless. THAT is what a lack of emotions gets you.
 * In episode 8, when Homura turns Kyubey into swiss cheese, he is shown to have been shot at least fifteen times. The largest magazine clips for handheld pistols only carry twelve bullets. Unless she used two guns or reloaded partway through, fifteen shots isn't possible, unless there's a recently made clip with greater carrying capacity that I don't know about.
 * It's a Beretta M9, which has 15 rounds (meaning she used every single one). Might actually count as a Shown Their Work, given the exactness.
 * So if all 15 bullets pierced Kyubey, then why isn't there any bullet-holes on the park bench?
 * Because they were all fired parallel to the bench.
 * This is explained. In episode 10 and 11, we see Homura using her Time powers to group her shots. She'll stop time; then fire, reload, then fire again however many times she has ammo; then start time again. To the outside world; all of her shots go off at the same time. It doesn't matter how many rounds she has per clip.
 * In episode 11, Madoka wants to go out into the storm to help Homura. Her mom, very realistically doesn't allow her, saying she should let the police or rescue workers deal with it. Madoka defends that they couldn't handle it. That right there would normally be a red flag, but one encouraging speech later, Madoka's mom seems to think a fourteen year old girl is more capable than an entire squad of adult men with rescue vehicles.
 * Junko is by this point aware of the fact that Madoka is hiding something important from her that likely caused Sayaka's death and has been causing her mood swings. Given Madoka's cryptic explanation of what she has to do, she rightly assumes that it's related to the same thing she doesn't know about.
 * Still, the cryptic explanation would make any realistic parent (deconstruction = realistic, not just Darker and Edgier) even more reluctant to let their children go off into danger. The only reason this kind of thing works in any other anime is because at this point the parent is aware of the child's powers or Mon traveling companions, so they know their child will be protected. Madoka on the other hand is still a normal fourteen year old and her mom doesn't know any different.
 * To quote the Puella Magi Wiki, "In Episode 6, Junko and Madoka had a conversation on how difficult it is to do the right thing, even when no one is in the wrong (per say). Junko's advice was for Madoka to be on the wrong against her friend to solve the problem, even if it means that her friend would hate her for it. In Episode 11 Junko confronts Madoka to stop her from getting into the danger of the storm, Madoka reminds her mother that she is a good girl and never does anything wrong but she tells her she needs to do this, a throwback to their earlier conversation. Madoka knows that what she is doing will worry her family, but she also knows that she must disobey her mother to save her family and her town. This conversation between Junko and Madoka earns her mother's trust."
 * We don't know how much the average muggle knows about Puella Magi. Considering the fact that many important historical figures have been contractees, it can be assumed that there's some general idea about something or other that happens with teenage girls and/or a general social rule that teenage girls should be left to their own devices. Junko knows Madoka's hiding something.
 * It's also been theorized that Roberta is the witch form of the School Teacher, which could give Junko even more reasonable suspicion that Madoka is a Puella Magi or is planning to become one.
 * Episode 6: The major Wham! Line of the episode.  Seems reasonable until you realize that he KNOWS she doesn't know the truth, as he never told her. There's no reason for him to seem so surprised, or pose this statement this way, other than it being the most shocking way to reveal
 * Kyubey may not have told the girls the truth, but the girls know that at least. He probably didn't think Madoka would actually.
 * Being a creature, he's likely to have some problems keeping in mind that unless he's actually told other people about certain things, they just won't know them.
 * So, we know that no matter what, regardless of whether Madoka has made her Abstract Apotheosis wish yet or not, it is inevitable that a soul gem will either be destroyed or go dark. This applies to every single magical girl. Madoka, in the new system, is preventing darkened soul gems from becoming witches by bringing them to her magical afterlife instead. But she's a magical girl too, so won't her soul gem go dark eventually too? She wouldn't be able to save herself...
 * Except she does save herself. It's shown in the montage before the new world is created that her witch form engulfs the Earth, and an even bigger Madoka comes along to defeat her, so it can be assumed that she will be able to save herself at the end of time. There's also the fact she becomes the anthropomorphic personification of hope by the end. Wouldn't be a very useful personification of hope if she could feel despair.
 * I'm not necessarily saying she'd become a witch or fall into despair. But she does have only a finite amount of magic she could expend, right? And with no direct contact with incubators, she could still run out.
 * Magic in this universe doesn't seem to have a limit for anyone. The only thing that seems to quallify as a limiter is the speed at which a Magical Girl's Soul Gem darkens. That itself has a few factors behind it, such as a Magical Girl's power potential (which is just ) and their current state of mind (being depressed seems to speed up the darkening, as demonstrated by ). Also, the Incubators don't give them magic; that's something that they just unlock for the Magical Girls, and the Incubators are just there for questions, advice, Magical Girl candidate scouting, and Grief Seed collecting.
 * So, in each alternate timeline, there is a different Madoka, Sayaka, Kyoko, Mami, etc. Does this mean there's a different Homura too? Since it's mostly Mental Time Travel, it can be assumed that it's largely just her Soul Gem traveling. does the presence of the soul gem suffocate the consciousness of the alternate universe Moemura who wakes up to the aftermath of the battle with Walpurgisnacht? Especially considering the alternate universes don't seem to cease existing when Homura leaves them... (The scene of her "walking" back to the beginning of a timeline is probably artistic licence, regardless of whether the rest of this Fridge Horror is valid.) On a less horrifying note, does she need to re-heal her eyes each timeline?
 * So, in each alternate timeline, there is a different Madoka, Sayaka, Kyoko, Mami, etc. Does this mean there's a different Homura too? Since it's mostly Mental Time Travel, it can be assumed that it's largely just her Soul Gem traveling. does the presence of the soul gem suffocate the consciousness of the alternate universe Moemura who wakes up to the aftermath of the battle with Walpurgisnacht? Especially considering the alternate universes don't seem to cease existing when Homura leaves them... (The scene of her "walking" back to the beginning of a timeline is probably artistic licence, regardless of whether the rest of this Fridge Horror is valid.) On a less horrifying note, does she need to re-heal her eyes each timeline?