Albertine

Albertine (ALBERTINE) is a witch that does not appear in the anime but does in the Madoka Magica Portable game. Her familiar Anja makes a brief appearance at the end of Episode 5 as well as quickly appearing in The Rebellion Story. She finally makes her anime debut at the end of Episode 5 of Magia Record.

Witch Card

落書きの魔女。その性質は無知。かくれんぼが大好き。けれど彼女の手下達はあまり賢くないため誰も彼女のことを探してくれない。

Albertine
Runes	ALBERTINE
Type	Scribbling witch
Nature	Ignorance
Episodes	Madoka Portable, Madoka Plus, Magia Record Game Magia Record Episode 5, Magia Exedra

The scribbling witch, with an ignorant nature. She loves Hide and Seek. However, because none of her minions are very intelligent, none of them seek her out.

Minions

落書きの魔女の手下。その役割は童心。ひとり遊びに夢中になっているうち魔女とはぐれてしまった迷子の手下。人間をボールに変えてしまう力を使い、ボールに変えられた人間は今までについた嘘の数だけ地面を跳ねなくてはもとの姿に戻ることが出来ない。

Anja
Runes	ANJA
Type	Scribbling witch's minion
Duty	Being naïve
Episodes	Episode 5, The Rebellion Story, Madoka Mobage, Madoka Portable, Madoka Online, Madoka Plus, Madoka Mobcast, Magia Record Game, Magia Record Episode 5

The scribbling witch's minion, whose duty is to be naïve. She is a lost familiar who was separated from the witch while playing alone, absorbed in her daydreams. She possesses the ability to transform humans into balls; a human who has been transformed into a ball cannot revert to human form until he bounces against the ground once for each lie that he has ever uttered.

History

Madoka Magica Portable

Albertine makes her first appearance in Madoka Magica Portable. An official article from Dengeki Playstation suggests that she could have come from the Anja familiar from Episode 5. While her Anja appear in numerous routes along with her barrier, she only makes an appearance in the mysterious witches barrier "Fool's Barrier," which is unlocked by completing Sayaka's route.

During her boss fight she is shown to be able to create different Anja by drawing them on the ground. She occasionally hides herself in building blocks. To make her reappear, just attack the building blocks in her barrier. She may begin to cry when suffered attack. Your magical girl can't attack her when she cries without Negate Spec. Stat Effects(精神系異常状態無効) ability.

Her barrier resembles Anja's barrier from Episode 5 however the boss room has an entirely new design. Information from the Madogatari event describe her barrier in greater detail: Once you enter, you become smaller while everything around you seems big. This is shown during Albertine's boss fight and is shown again in the Magia Record anime. The boss room is described as a planetarium-like space with eyes, eyebrows and mouths on the ceiling. Only the eyes seem to appear in the final version however.

Magia Record

Albertine makes an appearance in Magia Record after her appearance in the anime. Her description stays the same as her original anime description.

Magia Record Anime

Albertine appears in Episode 5 against Momoko Togame, Rena Minami and Kaede Akino. She grows to an enormous size to fight Kaede, however Kaede defeats her with her doppel attack. She appears to have black and rainbow coloured blood.

Madogatari

Albertine

"The witch of scribbles. Her nature is ignorance. She loves hide-and-seek. Her minions strive to play hide-and-seek every day, but because none of her minions are very intelligent, none of them seek her out. When this solitary witch sees a human, she runs up to them and tries to invite them to play. If you're unwise enough to humor her, she'll playfully pull your heart out, but if you ignore her, she'll try to get your attention by stealing something precious of yours."

Barrier

Some notes on her barrier were shared during the exhibition. A summary is presented below:
-Things that enter her Labyrinth become tiny.
-This causes her minions to look large, and the witch to look gigantic, which cancels out the "little girl" impression you'd otherwise get.
-The deepest part is a "planetarium-like area," with the bottom part resembling the minions' corridor areas.
-Big, fluffy yellow blobs move around on the walls. Bouncy balls (like Anja's?) come out of them.
-There's eyes, eyebrows and mouths on the ceiling.

Song

Crayon Rainbow (クレヨンのにじ)

Original text

Translation

＊機嫌よく適当な節で叫びましょう
「ルゥ・Rot！」（赤）
Rot Rot Rot Rot　ざくろ！
「ルゥ・Gelb！」（黄）
Gelb Gelb Gelb Gelb　ハチミツ！
「ルゥ・Grün！」（緑）
Grün Grün Grün Grün　アオムシ！
「ルゥ・Blau！」（青）
Blau Blau Blau Blau　猫！
「ルゥ・Violet！」（紫）
Violet Violet Violet Violet　窒息！
私たちは　「Regenbogen!!」（虹）

＊To be cheerfully screamed in some tune or another
"Ruu~ Rot!" (Red)
Rot Rot Rot Rot... Pomegranate!
"Ruu~ Gelb!" (Yellow)
Gelb Gelb Gelb Gelb... Honey!
"Ruu~ Grün!" (Green)
Grün Grün Grün Grün... Caterpillar!
"Ruu~ Blau!" (Blue)
Blau Blau Blau Blau... Cat!
"Ruu~ Violet!" (Purple)
"Violet Violet Violet Violet... Asphyxia!
Together we are "Regenbogen!!" (Rainbows)

Observations

It is highly likely Albertine was a young child, judging by her mannerisms and how she is a scribbling witch as scribbling is something commonly associated with children all the same.
Albertine's name may come from Charlotte Albertine Ernestine von Stein, a close friend of Goethe who inspired several of his works, or Therese Albertine Luise Robinson, with whom Goethe shared many correspondences about translating Serbian folk songs.
Anja may be named after a titular character of the play Anja und Esther by writer Klaus Mann, whose most famous work was Mephisto, an adaptation of the legend of Faust. In the play, Anja and Esther along with two men live in a strange house, where they "indulge in melancholy thoughs, projects, and hopes". When a male dancer arrives at the home, Esther falls in love and leaves with him, while Anja stays behind and "remains 'trapped and safe in the place of the old'." Anja and Esther's intimate, homoerotic relationship before Esther leaves caused a sensation when the play was first released.
Albertine's minion Anja has a crown on it's head whilst the name Anja comes from German origin meaning 'grace' which may fit its royal imagery.
- The name Albertine is also of German origin. Meaning 'bright' or 'noble' it is an ironic name for the witch. As she is someone who feeds off despair instead of being someone noble.
After Walpurgisnacht, she is the second witch featured in an anime whose name was not introduced in runes at her debut.
Her crayons read "Anja" (ANJA) and "wachsmalstift" (WACHSMALSTIFT). Wachsmalstift is German for crayon.

Trivia

In BD commentary for Episode 5, it was explained that Anja was voiced by Aoi Yuuki (the voice actor for Madoka)
Albertine has two different designs, with one coming from Madoka Magica Portable and the other from Magia Record (which takes inspiration from her concept art in Portable).
In the Divine Gate Collaboration Event Albertine was present, however her design was a question mark.

Gallery

Official Art

Art of Anja from the Puella Magi Production Note
Art of Anja's labyrinth from Key Animation Note 3
Art featuring Anja from the Key Animation Note volume 6
Art from the Puella Magi Madoka Magica Official Guidebook "You Are Not Alone"
Art featuring Albertine and Anja by Gekidan Inu Curry's S from the Rakugaki Note
New art of Albertine from the Madogatari event
Art of Albertine's Grief Seed from the 10th Anniversary Exhibition

Screenshots

Original Anime

Anja from Episode 5 with a plane body
With a boat
With a car
Anja's Labyrinth
Movie version
The blocks in the BD version spell out ANJA (Anja)
Anja escapes
Movie version
Anja's brief appearance in The Rebellion Story

Magia Record Anime

Albertine's labyrinth from Episode 5
Albertine's death
Albertine's cameo as multiple witches in Episode 19

Walpurgisnacht: Rising

Anja
Anja
Anja
Albertine
Albertine
Albertine
Albertine

Manga

Anja in the manga
Anja's plane turns into a car
Anja's brief appearance in the Rebellion Manga
Anja in the reprint manga