The Power of Feelings — Madoka ep. 09

Posted on March 4, 2011 by Ubu Roi

We’ve long known that feelings in anime are the most important and powerful force in the universe. If you only feel it enough, you can make it so.

Well now, we may have the the end-all and be-all of that in Puella Magi Madoka Magica. We get the “final” explanation (and I use that term advisedly, given Kyubey’s tendency to lie by omission.) Kyubey’s goal is quite noble — just ask him, and he’ll tell you. Feelings can save the universe!

Warning: MAJOR SERIES SPOILER. You see, Kyubey explains through some bad science mumbo-jumbo that the universe is losing entropy. Nobody’s stealing it; it’s just a design flaw. Eventually, this will cause Bad Things, so the race of beings that Kyubey belongs to searched the universe for an alternate energy source to boost the entropy back to stable levels. Lo and behold, they found that human emotional energy could supply that source through some hand-waved magical conversion ability, and of all the humans, the very best at it were females “in their second growth phase.” So the “Kyubeyans” set up a system whereby they would inject energy to change reality (grant a wish to a young girl), then harvest the emotional energies of the puella magi as they fought and fought and fought and eventually fell into PTSD, PMS, OCD, and a whole alphabet soup of despair. Then there’d be the big spike of emotional energy when they went over to the dark side and became witches. Finally, there would be another burst when the witch died.

And since all this was to prevent the destruction of the universe, and hey, there’s another ten humans born every four seconds to replace the puella magi, it’s not like this can be a bad thing, can it? In fact, it’s downright cool to be able to sacrifice oneself for the universe, isn’t it?

Darn humans, they just don’t get it.

I started to type a note about this the other day and had no time, but we are seeing the difference between a master and a pretender. Yamamato pitched a fit and said he was going to shake up the industry; he has produced a very pretty Miyazaki knock-off / road trip story so far. Shinbou has quietly assembled an all-star staff and turned out probably the best anime in years. Since Mami’s death
in ep.04, this show has been on rails (to borrow imagery from this episode). It may be a railroad to hell, but it knows where it’s going, and it’s going to carry the viewer through every last whistle-stop on the way there.

Definitely worth the ride; if it weren’t for this show, I’d probably be foolish enough to think thatFractale was living up to it’s hype.

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Victim of Success?

Posted on March 1, 2011 by Ubu Roi

I’m thinking Trion Worlds needs to get with character transfers, ASAP. A series of server splits would be an ideal solution though. Talk about being a victim of your own success! View this link about 7pm central. It looks like they added a few more servers, but is it enough?

Queues during early start have been upwards of 600-1000 players long. People have reported being given estimated queue times of 24 to 36 hours! Obviously unreal, but still, that’s insane. The first night of Head Start (available to those who pre-bought the game), my actual, observed queue time was TWO HOURS and FORTY MINUTES.

The second night, it was half that, but it has never been lower than 20 minutes unless I was trying to log on at 3am. Otherwise, my guild’s chosen server has just been impossible. I finally gave up (as did Dr. Heinous) and we moved to Perspice. Sucked to leave the guild, but we don’t have computers to look at loading screens.

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Kyubey: Is He Good or Evil?

Posted on February 25, 2011 by Ubu Roi

Ok, I’m not sure this has a point or is just rambling, but I needed to get some thoughts organized on electrons. The “magical mascot” of Kyubey, in Puella Magi Magical Madoka… is he good or evil? I’ve been all but convinced for the last few weeks that he’s actually evil, and is behind the creation of the witches as well as the puella magi, either to serve some sadistic sense of humor, or as a way to generate his own sustenance.

Only thinking over episodes 6-8, I’m not so sure now. I’m coming around to the point of view that Kyubey is neither good nor evil. Those are merely human philosophies that we apply to him in an attempt to classify and understand his actions. I suppose I’m being a bit of a solipsist, but it seems to me that for an entity to be evil, it has to understand evil, even if it disagrees over use of the label. For instance, the Nazis gassed six million Jews — they thought it was the right thing to do (!), but they knew it would be considered an evil act, which is why they tried to hide the evidence and kept so few records of the orders. In other words, even if their value system was so different as to be sickening, it still encompassed an understanding of the base concepts of good and evil. Why try to cover up their actions if they didn’t even understand the concept of evil? Why try to excuse it by saying “I was only following orders,” if good and evil are totally alien?

Kyubey, on the other hand, professes bewilderment at why puella magi are upset to learn that he’s sucked their souls out and rendered their bodies into automata
. He appears to hold no malice when Homura kills him for the second time
. He doesn’t even seem to be malicious or uncaring when subjecting Sayaka to intense pain, to demonstrate that removing her soul was a good idea.

Is it because he’s playing a much larger game, to which such trifles are irrelevant? Or is the reality that he is what he is, with zero concept of what we consider right and wrong? Have we just assumed he’s the good guy because he was helping against something we consider evil, and now we think he’s evil because his methods are questionable? Is he on one side just from convenience? Conviction? Personal advantage? Or has he gone ’round the far bend of “the ends justify the means?” Everything he does seems to have expediency at it’s core — if he acts friendly to puella magi, it’s because that works better than being indifferent. If he’s helpful, its because it works better than ignoring the puella magi. Is looking like a “good guy” is just a tool that he’s developed by years or even centuries of trial and error? (All this leaves aside the questions: where does Kyubey come from? Are there any more like him? Someone making witches, perhaps?)

Another question, not directly related: Does he make girls into magi because of some inherent sex-based restriction, or is it because they are more trusting and less likely to ask inconvenient questions?

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Past the Midpoint (updated)

Posted on February 24, 2011 by Ubu Roi

So, before I disappear into my RIFT-imposed exile from blogging tonight (it’s Head Start for those who pre-bought) I thought I’d post a quick update on what I’m thinking of the season.

Fractale: Still the winner, but I’m annoyed with all the skipped weeks, so it’s holding position by a hair — mainly because I don’t know where it’s going. I’m hoping that’s not a bad sign. The final score for both it and Madoka will both be made or broken by their endings.

Madoka: After the last few episodes, I’m just about convinced that Kyubey is the bad guy. If he’s not, he’s the most clueless “good” guy ever. Or perhaps the concept of good and bad don’t apply to him; he’s just a semi-random force that appears on the side we think of as good, and the mannerisms/appearance/actions that we interpret as “good” are simply things he’s learned to do over the years to obtain the willing cooperation of the puella magi. This is a deep enough show that it’s entirely possible.

Gosick: After several mediocre mysteries in a row, they’re on to the one surrounding Victorique’s origin, and it’s a humdinger. Creepy village leader is creepy, especially when foreseeing the future. Interesting thing is that he seems to be fortelling that they’ll be separated by WWII.

Koreha wa Zombie: It’s still a bloody horror flick, and I never thought I’d see the show that would make me cheer for a crossdressing guy brutally and repeatedly murdering a cute defenseless girl. Well, mostly defenseless; she made a bloody mess out of him first. After that episode, they decided to turn up the quirky comedy and introduce a new haremette. It made the episode seem kind of scattered, but it needed to unwind and let some hair down after two heavy episodes. And boy, did Sera let her hair down in that costume, hubba, hubba! It really wasn’t on-screen long enough.

Freezing: I can’t believe I’m getting tired of the tits. Or maybe it’s just that whenever they show, the girl in question is getting the crap kicked out of her. Next episode looks like an anime original…a pandora beauty contest? Oh, God, it’s starting to smell like Ikkitousen in here. Just don’t get any on me!

Dragon Crisis: It’s mediocrity is beginning to show. Odd Eye was cute, but her story arc was so sub-par as to put it on the bubble. Wait… did I say “beginning to show?” How sloppy.

Infinite Stratos: Oh, of course Ichika picks “Charles” for his partner in the 2v2 tourney, to stop all the (overt) women from begging to pair up with him to make war (and a little love on the side, no doubt). Meanwhile Houki gets partnered with, who else, Laura the club founder, president, and sole member of the “IH8ICHIKA Club.” At least we found out a little bit about why Houki is such a touchy/cold bitch at times; she’s just beginning to realize that she has issues thanks to her sister. After that worthy announced the creation of the IS cores, they had to move repeatedly, as the government put them into hiding — and Houki took it out on everyone around her. Apparently she’ll succeed in bringing Laura around, since I went back and re-watched the opening fight, in which Laura is clearly taking direction from Ichika without hesitation. I finally realized that it wasn’t a 2v2 battle, but a 5-on-1 in which Ichika and the entire harem is taking on another IS, possibly also robotic. Judging from their tension, it may be a real battle. Unfortunately, I jumped ahead in the translation (Baka-Tsukai has part of Vol. 7) and it’s jut more of the same. Charles/Charli may now be public as a female but is still his rommie. Ichika is being so dense it’s GOT to be on purpose, or someone removed his testicles. (My guess: Houki has them in a jar beside her bed.) Then there’s the mystery IS attacking an American base and stealing one of their 3rd gen models. Based on my reading, I was wrong — it’s a mecha show with harem elements, not the other way around, at least in the original form.

Index II: Well, it’s concentrating on Last Order, and Accelerator, who are big parts of the story. Mikoto, Mikasa 10032, Index, and Touma have had some light-hearted moments, but we’re now in the deep, dark parts, and it’s going to stay there for a few episodes, as the attention will soon center on Touma again. Especially given that the Pope has signed a fatwa for his assassination. Despite that, there is still going to be a lot of Accelerator, Index, Last Order, and Mikasa… and one other character returning from the past….

Update: Puella Magi Madoka ep; #8. Oh. My. God. What we have here is an f’ing EPIC. And it looks like one of Steven’s theories was right….

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Puella Magica, Ep. 07

Posted on February 18, 2011 by Ubu Roi

I don’t have the time to say much, so just…. Damn. I mean, damn. I just don’t know where it’s going.

It turned out backwards from what I’d have thought in the last episode… Sayaka is crushed, and no longer considers herself even human. She won’t even pursue the violin playing boy she loves. Kyoko, on the other hand, decides she’s cool with it. It does seem to shake her out of her formerly nihilistic, self-centered view, and she does – mostly – make peace with Sayaka. Homura is, as usual, cold, but I sense that’s just her outward mien; frankly I think it gives her the same heebie-jeebies as Madoka.

Sayaka on the other hand….goes clear ’round the bend. It’s not pretty.

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Puella Magi Madoka, ep. 06

Posted on February 11, 2011 by Ubu Roi

Ok, I’m certain now. Kyubey IS the actual villain. Come on, the use (by a puella magi) of the grief seed is to absorb “impurity” from the Witch magical girl (sorry, I had that backwards and just noticed)… impurity generated by casting magic (edit: to defeat the witches). And when the grief seed has absorbed so much impurity from the puella magi that it’s totally black, it will generate a witch — except Kyubey absorbs it first.

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Infinite Stratos, ep. 06

Posted on February 11, 2011 by Ubu Roi

Note: my articles will have no pictures until I get a graphics program reinstalled.

Way to get off the bubble.

So, after episode 5, with an obvious trap, and a new girl (Laura Bodewig, the German) who hates Ichika, but presumably will want to have his babies by end of the next episode, I was fairly “enh” about this show. I downloaded it today, but didn’t get in any hurry to watch it. Then I ended up with a lot of time to kill, for reasons that will have to remain unexplained. So, what the hell, let’s fire it up and see if we can find a good reason to drop another show this season.

Did I ever get a surprise. First off, lets get it out of the way — yes, Charles is a girl. I don’t consider that a spoiler, because they were dropping hints with all the subtlety of a 16-ton weight in a Monty Python skit. The rest… well that’s different. Below the fold, folks.

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