I was actually fairly unimpressed by the ending of Madoka. I was a little more impressed when I watched the movie. Ultimately the best part of the entire series was Homura explaining herself. Homura does an amazing thing, Madoka does not.
There are just so many bad decisions and things that don't make sense that by the time the ending came around it just didn't seem like much of a resolution. I dunno, does someone wanna help me with this?
Here's a question I thought of this morning (No I don't just think about this sort of thing, I was prompted)
I mostly agree with you, I was unimpressed with Madoka's character for most of the series just because she was so useless. But upon further consideration, and especially upon reading A Different Story, I've started to come around.
Anime spoilers follow; manga spoilers are marked as such, as vol. 3 of A Different Story just came out.The other four may be smarter, stronger, more outwardly confident and decisive. That much is true. But all four are also deeply conflicted; they present facades to others or to themselves. Whether out of pride, fear, or whatever other reason, all four retain these delusions until they forget how to live any other way--and that's what ultimately engineers their destruction.
Homura refuses to tell others when she's hurting and when she needs help; she deludes herself into thinking she can handle everything alone. Result-- She alienates everyone else, puts herself through a lot of emotional pain, and plays into QB's hands.
Mami puts on the image of a perfect heroine when really she's just lonely and needy. Result-- She gives Sayaka unrealistic expectations, and she doesn't have Homura's help in the fight against Charlotte, with predictable results. Furthermore, she
Sayaka wants to be a shining ray of justice like she thinks Mami was. She doesn't realize that ideal is unrealistic, and in fact Mami didn't live up to it either. She doesn't realize it's okay to want to be with Kyosuke. She doesn't realize that heroes have failings too. Result--she blames herself for everything, and succumbs to despair. Her descent is all the sharper in the manga where
Kyouko thinks she's happy just eating and playing and fighting. She doesn't realize until too late that she wants to be friends with Sayaka--and with Mami, in the manga. Result-- a lot of needless fighting, and
Contrast Madoka. Unlike Mami and Homura, she's not afraid to admit when she's hurting. Unlike Sayaka, she doesn't tie her self-worth into an external, unattainable ideal. Unlike Kyouko, she's always willing and ready to approach others. For these reasons, she makes friends very easily. This is especially so in the manga--
Of course, it's easy for her to be honest when she doesn't have any skin in the game. She's powerless to affect the horrible things that are happening around her. For much of the show, she doesn't even know what she wants for herself. But, I submit, that's better than having the wrong idea what you want for yourself. She is warm, open, and selfless to her core, and because of that, she's willing to give Homura and Kyouko a chance, she's willing to keep calling out to Sayaka at great personal risk, and she's willing to be friends with the shy, sad new transfer student--which starts the chain of events that lead to the story in the first place.
Magical girls turning into Witches is a powerful metaphor because it's ultimately what's
inside the girls--their own emotional blocks, their own excuses for not getting along better with others--that destroys them. No amount of fighting prowess will overcome that. And so in the end, it's Madoka--poor, weak, naive, useless, honest, kind, genuine Madoka--who turns the tide.
