Madoka Magica Episode 6: This Just Can't Be Right

This is Definitely Odd こんなの絶対おかしいよ
First airing	10 February 2011
Script	Gen Urobuchi
Storyboard	Shinsaku Sasaki
Episode director	Fujiaki Asari
Animation Director	Jun'ichi Fukunaga Hitoshi Miyashima

Summary

As presented in the previous episode, Kyouko almost makes it to finish Sayaka, but realizes that her spear is stabbing the air and Homura has intervened, suggesting her ability's relation to spatial distortion. Sayaka gets knocked out by Homura. Annoyed, Kyouko asks Homura whose side she is on. Homura then states she is always with the cool-thinking people and against the troublemakers, demanding Kyouko to identify which group she belongs to as well. Kyouko complains, but retreats anyway. Madoka asks Homura if she came to save Sayaka, but Homura condemns Madoka for not following her advices at all. She warns that next time she may consider other (presumably brutal) options to let the fool listen, leaving Madoka horrified.

Sayaka uses a Grief Seed to clear her Soul Gem. Kyubey advises Sayaka get more Grief Seeds in order to be stronger, but Sayaka firmly denies the idea of involving Madoka. Homura later approaches Kyouko in an arcade and offers a deal that lets Kyouko have the city as her territory, but forbids her to attack Sayaka. Kyouko signals agreement by offering Homura the snacks she always keep.

Madoka, concerned that Sayaka is too focused on becoming stronger than Kyouko, tries to persuade Sayaka, arguing that she and Kyouko are both Puella Magis, supposed to battle the witches, not each other. Sayaka rejects the idea, pointing out that selfish Puella Magis such as Kyouko intentionally let familiars attack human, resulting in innocent human victims which, this time, may be Madoka's parents or Tatsuya.

The next evening, Sayaka is once again confronted by Kyouko who goads her into another fight on top of a highway bridge. However, before the battle starts, Madoka arrives and takes Sayaka's Soul Gem, the source of a Puella Magi's energy, throwing it off the bridge in the hope of stopping the fight. To Madoka and Kyouko's shock, this causes Sayaka to suddenly become lifeless. Kyubey says Madoka has just thrown Sayaka. It turns out that as part of the contract, the Soul Gem literally contains a Puella Magi's soul, with their body becoming a mere shell that becomes limp and lifeless if the Soul Gem is more than 100 metres away from them.

Appalled, Kyouko blasts, claiming that what Kyubey has done is practically turning girls into zombies. Kyubey expresses his difficulty to understand all girls' repulsion for the idea, discoursing how useful it is for protecting girls from witches' attacks. Meanwhile, Homura rushes to retrieve the Soul Gem and brings it back to Sayaka in order to revive her. Sayaka wakes up, not remembering anything that happened after Madoka threw her gem away.

Observations

• Madoka's homework is Hey diddle diddle!, an English rhyme.
• The game Kyouko is playing in the arcade, Dog Drug Reinforcement, is based on Konami's Dance Dance Revolution series.
  • Incidentally also the characters decorating the arcade cabinet seem to have a resemblance to Konami's pop'n music series of music games.
  • Kyouko is dancing to a remix like version of the opening theme "Connect" by ClariS.
  • The arcade cabinet also seems to feature a logotype that says "inudaruma" on its sides.
• The opening sequence in episode 6 changed once again. This time, the transformation sequence is more colorful than before, and the angle changed slightly
• Rabbit heads are seen twice during this episode, first on Sayaka's bedding and latter on the screen of the game Kyouko was playing in the arcade. When Kyouko finishes playing the game, the smiling rabbit heads on the screen change to a "dying" expression" and a halo and pair of wings float upwards from.
• During the arcade scene, Homura mentions something by the name of "Walpurgisnacht" (ワルプルギスの夜, Warupurugisu no Yoru, Night of Walpurgis). At this point in the story, little is known about "Walpurgisnacht" (is it an event? A witch? Something else?). You can find more information about the real-life event here, and the anime "thing" here (caution: mega-spoiler ahead).

Runes

No runes were featured in this episode.

Speculations

The theories below have not been proven yet.
Please keep in mind that they are fanmade theories, and not official material.

• If Mami's soul gem can be recovered, it may be possible to revive her. There is a catch, however: Mami's soul gem takes the form of a hairpin, and as you know it was the first thing to get crushed in episode 3.
• Kyubey appears to eat Grief Seeds. What this means has yet to be seen. For more speculation on the subject, please refer to Kyubey is Evil

Images

Screenshots

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  Madoka's homework is an English rhyme.

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  The dancing game Kyouko is playing, probably inspired by Dance Dance Revolution.

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Miscellaneous

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  The opening in episode 5 (top) versus episode 6. (bottom)

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  Madoka's keyboard is similar to this commercially available Laser Keyboard.

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  Elly's grief seed from episode 4 was used in this episode.

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  After flipping the original picture, Mahou Shoujos form the character "死" (death)

External links

• Madoka Magica Episode 6: This Just Can't Be Right summary at official website (Japanese)

Episodes
Previous episode	Current episode	Next episode
Episode 5 There's No Way I'd Regret This	Madoka Magica Episode 6: This Just Can't Be Right This is Definitely Odd	Episode 7 Can You Face Your True Feelings?