Gisela

Gisela (GISELA) is a witch who battles Kyoko within the flashback scene in Episode 7. She makes a reappearance in Madoka Magica Portable and Madoka Magica Online. Dora briefly appears in The Rebellion Story and Magia Record.

Witch Card

銀の魔女。その性質は自由。高速で移動する結界の中に潜んでいるが魔女自身は非常に愚鈍。残念ながら科学的な力は一切使えない。かつては全身目も眩むほどの銀色であったが、海岸線の夕日を眺めているうちにずいぶんと錆びてしまった。

Gisela (Rust Form)
Runes	GISELA
Type	Silver witch
Nature	Freedom
Episodes	Episode 7, Madoka Mobage, Madoka Portable, Madoka Online, Madoka Plus, Magia Record

The silver witch, with a free nature. She dwells in a barrier where everything moves at high speed, but the witch herself is dull. She unfortunately can not use any sort of scientific power. Her body was once dazzling with silver, but she has tarnished gazing upon the coastal sunset.

銀の魔女。その性質は自由。高速で移動する結界の中に潜んでいるが魔女自身は非常に愚鈍。残念ながら科学的な力は一切使えない。かつては全身目も眩むほどの銀色であったが、海岸線の夕日を眺めているうちにずいぶんと錆びてしまった。

Gisela (Motorcycle Form)
Runes	GISELA
Type	Silver witch
Nature	Freedom
Episodes	Puella Magi Madoka Magica Portable

The silver witch, with a free nature. She dwells in a barrier where everything moves at high speed, but the witch herself is dull. She unfortunately can not use any sort of scientific power. Her body was once dazzling with silver, but she has tarnished gazing upon the coastal sunset.

Minions

銀の魔女の手下。その役割は主張。体についたパイプから近所迷惑な爆音を撒き散らし気まぐれな砂嵐のように移動する。嫌いなものは磁石。

Dora
Runes	DORA
Type	Silver witch's minion
Duty	Declaring opinions
Episodes	Episode 7, Madoka Mobage, Madoka Portable, The Rebellion Story, Madoka Online, Madoka Plus, Magia Record

The silver witch's minion, whose duty is to declare her opinion. She makes a nuisance of herself with the roaring from the pipes extending from her body as she moves about like a freak sandstorm. She hates magnets.

History

Original Anime

Gisela and her familiars appear in Episode 7 in a flashback scene. She appears fighting Kyoko as she describes how her father would protect the world up front, and she would do so in the shadows, defeating witches. Gisela isn't shown being defeated though, and her Grief Seed is never shown in the anime.

Madoka Magica Portable

Gisela and her familiars make a reappearance in Madoka Magica Portable with an arguably more fleshed out appearance than their anime debut. A second form for Gisela is now shown: her Motorcycle form. This seems to be her dazzling silver form before she became tarnished (most likely her Rust form) as described in her witch card. Gisela can be fought in Mami's Route and Kyoko's Route and Dora can be fought in any mysterious witches barriers.

The Rebellion Story

While Gisela doesn't make an appearance in The Rebellion Story, her familiars do briefly. One appears as a part of Sayaka's orchestra.

Madogatari

Gisela

The witch of silver. Her nature is freedom. Her Labyrinth moves along the top of overpasses at high speed. She has a gigantic body, and her personality is particularly violent even for a witch. If she sees anything that moves, she tries to smash it flat with her giant hands. During the time before her body became rusty, she was able to transform into a bicycle mode.

Song

Rollin' Tire Rollin' (ローリング・タイヤ・ローリング)

Original text

Translation

パリラ　パラペレ　（＊擬音）
「避けろ！」　ニンジン　オイルがたぎる
「轢けよ！」　ルッコラ　ホーンは吠える
どかないキャペツは　道連れだ

パレラ　ペレパレ
パララ　パリラレ　（＊擬音）
響く銀河はアスファルト
銀の回転　休みを知らぬ

模範とセロリは　すりおろせ！

Pa-ri-ra, pa-ra-pe-re (*Onomatopoeia)^[1]
"Outta the way!" Carrots! Our oil is a-boiling
"Run 'em over!" Rucola! Our horns are a-howling
Any cabbages who don't scram will get dragged along for the ride!

Pa-re-ra pe-re-pa-re
Pa-ra-ra pa-ri-ra-re (*Onomatopoeia)
An echoing galaxy of asphalt!^[2]
The whirling silver knows no rest!
Grate all model examples and celeries to dust!

↑ Probably honking noises.
↑ "Canal of asphalt" according to some sources

Observation

In the anime version of the events, it is assumed that Gisela was defeated at the hands of Kyoko in her flashback for the timeline of the anime where Madoka makes her wish to destroy all witches. However, in the Madoka PSP game, Gisela can be defeated at two different times. One, by Kyoko in her route in the past, to protect her family. Or two, she can be defeated by Mami in her route, during a time period after Madoka has contracted, with or without Madoka's assistance. Both routes are clearly different timelines, as events unfold in a completely different manner, such as Mami dying to Charlotte before the start of Kyoko's route. Since game events differ from the anime, e.g. it's impossible to exactly recreate the events of the main timeline of the anime, discrepancies can easily be attributed to differing timelines. In the anime, there are examples of differences across timelines such as Oktavia having different familiars or Kyousuke playing violin in one and the guitar in another. The same logic seems to apply with the game. Fans have generated speculation on two different appearances by Gisela in the game.

While Kyoko has an impressive fight against Gisela, the flashback doesn't show the outcome of the battle, making it ambiguous enough to determine with certainty if Kyoko did kill her after all. In the game it is unambiguous as Kyoko kills her in her route.

The events are taking place in an alternative universe, a world where Gisela never fought Kyoko. There is precedent for this: (see: Speculah: Parallel Universes)

It is possible that Gisela was actually defeated, but her Grief Seed hatched again at a later time.

It is suggested that one of Gisela's familiars survived and became a Witch, becoming a new Gisela in its place. Or, the witch Kyoko defeated might be even a grown-up of another familiar. However, we don't know if familiars turn into the same witch or if they become their own witches.

A more likely explanation is that for pragmatic and development reasons, they chose to re-use existing witches rather than make more witches, or they didn't care about continuity between game routes. It is possible the developers wanted to give players the experience of fighting the known witches from the Madoka universe

Gisela may be named after Gisela von Armin, a prominent writer whose mother was close friends with and held unrequited feelings for Goethe.
- Dora may be named after Alexis and Dora, an elegy by Goethe about a man on a ship who, in the final moments before departure, remembers the woman he loves and laments both their separation and the possibility that she may find another love
- Dora may instead be named after Dora Stock, a German portrait artist whose home frequently made guests of notable contemporary artists, musicians, and writers, including Goethe. A teenage Goethe visited Stock's home frequently when she was a child, and was given art lessons by her father. Goethe in turn taught young Stock about theater and held household performances in which she took part. However, his presence was typically disruptive and upsetting, he had Stock and her sister serve as lookouts while he entertained female company, and (to the family's concerns) took Stock's father out drinking in Auerbachs Keller, a scene that would later be immortalized in Faust

Trivia

According to commentary from Inu Curry in the official Guidebook, the Doras play the Godfather theme from their exhaust pipes
Dora in the original tv broadcast shared the same arms as Gisela. In the BD and movie version she has newly designed arms and the addition of trumpet shaped parts

Gallery

Official Art

Art of Gisela from the Puella Magi Production Note
Witch Kisses from the Production Note
Art from the Puella Magi Madoka Magica Official Guidebook "You Are Not Alone"
Art featuring Gisela from the Key Animation Note volume 6