Cake Song
A nursery rhyme game played in Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie: Rebellion.
Lyrics
Original Japanese lyrics
| Singer | Original | Romaji | English translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Madoka, Sayaka, Kyoko |
ケーキ、ケーキ、まぁるいケーキ |
Kēki, kēki, maarui kēki |
Cake, cake, a round cake |
| Bebe |
ケーキはさやか？ |
Kēki wa Sayaka? |
Is the cake Sayaka? |
| Sayaka |
ちーがーう |
Chi - ga - u |
No, you're wrong. |
| Kyoko |
ちーがーう |
Chi - ga - u |
No, you're wrong. |
| Mami |
ちーがーう |
Chi - ga - u |
No, you're wrong. |
| Homura |
ちがっ…います |
Chiga… imasu |
No, that's... wrong. |
| Madoka |
ちーがーう |
Chi - ga - u |
No, you're wrong. |
| Madoka, Sayaka, Kyoko |
今夜のお夢は苦い夢 |
Kon'ya no o yume wa nigai yume |
But the dream tonight is a bitter one indeed. |
English dub lyrics
| Singer | Lyrics |
|---|---|
| Madoka, Sayaka, Kyoko |
Big cake, round cake, right in front of me |
| Bebe |
Could the cake be Sayaka? |
| Sayaka |
No, it's not me. |
| Kyoko |
No, not me. |
| Mami |
No, it's not me. |
| Homura |
N-no, not me. |
| Madoka |
No, it's not me. |
| Madoka, Sayaka, Kyoko |
So why is the dream so bitter of late? |
Observations
- Why Sayaka used raspberry in particular when blueberry would fit her better is unknown. Perhaps as a lead-in to the "red" trait?
- One possibility is because the raspberry is known in Japan as the "healing fruit", with the choice of raspberry for Sayaka referring to her healing powers.
- Another possibility is that Sayaka's seiyuu also voiced Cure Berry in the magical girl show Fresh Pretty Cure!.
- One possibility is because the raspberry is known in Japan as the "healing fruit", with the choice of raspberry for Sayaka referring to her healing powers.
- One reason why Kyoko used apple is because, in Catholic religion, exerted by the father, it represents sin.
- On top of that, it does seem to be her trademark favorite food.
- Mami's line is cheese because of her theme colour (yellow like cheese), and because it is the favourite food of Nagisa, who (as Charlotte) ate Mami.
- Mami's line is a reference to Homura's time loops ("goes round in circles"); it could also be a reference to Homura's or Madoka Magica's repetitive nature.
- Madoka's line foreshadows the ending twists of Homura undermining Ultimate Madoka and ripping her in half ("when the melon splits") and rewriting the world so everyone is alive and happy ("a sweet dream is created").
- Bebe apparently likes melons.
- Sayaka uses the pronoun "watashi" when she instead uses "atashi" as her go-to pronoun. Kyoko, however, still uses "atashi", making her the only one to not use "watashi" in the song (minus Bebe, who does not use a self-referring pronoun).
- Homura referring to herself with "pumpkin" could be a hint to her being a witch, since traditionally people link pumpkins to Halloween and traditional witches. Pumpkins have also been a symbol for "the world", which fits, given they're in Homura's barrier — a world of her creation.
- Homura and Mami do not participate much in the song; Madoka, Kyoko and Sayaka combined sing most of the lyrics, whereas the other two do not. Homura could be explained by her not knowing what's going on or not knowing what to do, but Mami's reason is unknown — perhaps she's trying to keep Bebe down due to incidents in the starting sequence where Bebe gets close to a terrified Homura, or during Mami's turn where Bebe turns to Mami, hungry and mouth-gaping at the mention of cheese.
- No one's mouths are shown to actually move during the opening and closing lines.
- The dream is bitter because it is the cat's dream, possibly hinting at Kyubey's involvement.
- Cats are also familiars of witches... and Homura is the witch who created the dream... yet she is also the first to notice that something is wrong. The dream is 'bitter'.
Symbolic Analysis
Sayaka hides her face in this clip. In the series, after learning the truth about Soul Gems, Sayaka found herself to be an ugly monster and a disgrace. She refused to confess to Kyosuke because of this, as she considered herself too inhuman for his love. -"Watashi wa raspberry!" = I am the raspberry. Raspberries are both sweet and sour, referencing Sayaka's hot and cold mood changes. - raspberries are known as 'healing fruit' in japan, which could be a reference to sayaka's powers -
- Kyoko equates herself to an apple. Her color theme is red, and apples seem to be one of her favorite foods. The food she had with her when she brought Sayaka to the old church in Episode 7 was a sack full of red apples. Ringo (apples) are representative of fate in many Japanese myths. Kyoko's obsession with them mirrors her (original) belief system.
- "Watashi wa cheese!" = I am the cheese. The reason for this is her color theme is yellow/gold, and Bebe/Nagisa's favorite food is cheese. In fact, the reason Charlotte ate Mami in the series was because she thought she was cheese. - "The cake spins around in circles" = Homura's time travel.
- Homura equates herself to a pumpkin. Pumpkins are often associated with Halloween, witches, the fall and harvest, paganism, etc. This is foreshadowing Homura actually being within her own witch labyrinth. Homura's feet seem to move in a ballet-like manner. Considering her story is very similar to that of The Nutcracker Ballet, and that she did ballet in her transformation sequence...
- "The cake is sweet." Madoka is a sweet girl. - Madoka equates herself to a melon. The next line, "when a melon breaks, it creates a sweet dream", is foreshadowing the ending of the movie. When Homura splits Madoka's Magical Girl and human halves apart, she overshadows the universe in a demon labyrinth, making the world almost as sickeningly sweet and dream-like as the first part of the movie. - "But the dream tonight is a bitter one indeed." Underlying beneath all the happiness and idealism, the world they're in is bitter, because it's a creation of Homura's most desperate wishes. It's what she wanted but could never have. - "Atop the plate is the dream of the cat." a reference to madoka's first wish.
Rule interpretations
The song is sung in a Sprechgesang sort of style - the words are spoken rhythmically rather than sung melodically, accompanied by background music.
Cumulative description
A game of memory and improvisation, players take turn singing the nursery rhyme. On their turn, a player has to come up with and sing:
- An object with all the qualities previously mentioned
- A new quality that the object shares
- The next player to pass the song to
The player loses when they fail to sing their lines in time. In-universe, Madoka picked "melon" — which is "round", "red", "something Bebe likes", "goes round in circles", and "sweet" — but couldn't come up with a new quality for "melon".
Sequential description
Alternatively, the requirements could be the following:
- A food object that shares the previous quality.
- A quality that applies to the next player to pass the song to.
The "round" quality does not describe Sayaka because she comes first and Madoka does not have to supply a new quality because she is the last player. With these rules, the following character observations can be made:
- Sayaka is horrible at improvisation, since "red" is a dirt-simple observation. Or, she could be giving Kyoko an easy turn.
- Kyoko is similarly unimaginative; she uses "something Bebe likes" directed towards Mami, who is yellow like cheese, and good friends with Bebe. On the other hand, Kyoko's line on its own is very unspecific.
- Mami sees Homura as a clumsy child.
- Homura sees Madoka as sweet.
Gallery
Cake song lyrics and storyboard from Rebellion Production Note
