See? So anyway, first I watched the opening credits. I have to admit, it was clearly a blend of cardcaptor sakura, sailormoon, and the white rabbit creature reminded me of some pokemon/ digimon. I watched the first 10 seconds, couldn't take it anymore, and fast forwarded. Plot aside, I noticed immediately that the cinematography was top notch. But a show needs more than just smooth animation. I watched another ten minutes filled with frilly fighting outfits and magical wands that shot out sparkles. I had a rage-quit moment.
So a few days after I closed youtube (the flowers, sparkles and pink was really starting to get to me) I decided to read up on the Japanese earthquake (the new one. 7.4). And something interesting caught my eye. " ... Madoka Magica too dark to continue airing. It has been momentarily suspended. Resume date unannounced." wait...WHAT? Too dark? I reflected back on what I had seen a few days ago. No, that can't be right...
I went and satisfied my curiosity by watching the entire first episode. Eerily enough, as the episode continued, a suppressing, ominous atmosphere started to collect. This one part, what looked like paper cut-outs of tralfamadorians appeared except it was a mouth accompanied by an eye. It was drawn VERY realistically, and therefore hellishly scary. What made me realize that the anime might actually have substance, however, was when they made reference to the little white rabbit/cat thing as a human-faced carp. Which I soon found out was a real creature.
\So anyway, by the 3rd episode one of the main characters is killed. What's more interesting though, is the way that she dies. In most television shows, there's a dramatic moment in which the character is brutally wounded, then some inspirational speech about not giving up, then a sequence about the main character finding some inner, hidden strength and then defeating the evil being. In Madoka Magica, the girl simply gets her head bitten off. In the previous frame was an epic sword stance, then -boom- dead. There wasn't even a struggle, and only one of the girls watching cried. The other one said, "she had it coming. Kindness to a naivete."
This really made me think about the deaths in Slaughterhouse five, except darker in the sense that they don't come back. Yet the anime brings a message: treasure life. This bothered me all throughout SH5. Billy gets on the plane even though he knew it would crash and he also still spoke in public even though he knew he was going to get shot. It was as if he had adopted an indifference to the events happening around him because he was powerless to change it.
Even though acceptance is sometimes a good thing, we should always think about taking it a step further. Perhaps accept the inevitable, but continue living your life to the fullest every moment that you still have a beating heart and a working mind.
edit: April 17 th
omigosh xD I watched the most current episode of madoka magica and one of the main girls, homura, revealed that her magical ability is to travel through time! Not onyl that, but she does it to save her best friend who is doomed to die in the near future. Homura's been sending herself back in time in order to save this girl but each time she fails and the anime is airing her most recent attempt. This really got me thinking about Billy! -i'm so excited about this xD- What if Billy tried to change things at first??? What if, he was like the main character in The Time Machine by H.D. Wells? Everytime he tried to, let's say...save his wife, she died of some unforeseen circumstance? Then after the nth atempt, Billy got so depressed that he was subjected to watching death while being utterly powerless to stop any of it that he simply gave up and let it be? The again, what takes more courage? Simply accepting it or telling yourself that they were alive in some other dimension of time, or trying to fight time itself?
Poor Billy T.T
p.s. this almost completely contradicts my views in my pokemon post, but I feel like leaving the post their is amusing in the sense that even the tiniest influences can alter my mind state so much.
~ceci
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