Madoka Magica Episode 9: I'd Never Allow That to Happen
"I know this sounds kinda crazy but the thing is we don’t know she can be saved yet or not. So if there’s still hope for that, I’m not gonna give up." ~ Kyoko Sakura
| I'd Never Allow That to Happen そんなの、あたしが許さない | |
|---|---|
| First airing | 3 March 2011 |
| Script | Gen Urobuchi |
| Storyboard | Noriko Shichishima |
| Episode director | Masahiro Mukai |
| Animation Director | Miyuki Katayama |
Summary
Sayaka becomes a Witch and Kyoko enters her Labyrinth, holding Sayaka's now soulless body. Homura saves Kyoko and while they are walking off, they meet Madoka, worried upon seeing Sayaka's body. Homura explains everything to Kyoko and Madoka.
When Madoka is crying alone in her room, Kyubey enters and explains everything in detail to her. He reveals that he is a member of an extraterrestrial, emotionless society, worried about the total energy in the universe lowering due to entropy[1]. Magical Girls and Witches are a way to counter this, creating energy from the wavering emotions of young girls. As Kyubey and his peers lack emotion, they are unable to produce such energy themselves. Because of this, they also don't understand the concept of human morals. Madoka is saddened and angry because of all these revelations she has just heard.
Kyoko is maintaining natural heat of Sayaka's body using her magic. She asks Kyubey if it is possible to recover Sayaka's Soul Gem. He dodges the question, saying that nobody ever tried it before and due to the very existence of Magical Girls being contradictory, such an achievement wouldn't surprise him.
The following day, Hitomi attempts to speak to Madoka but Madoka avoids her. Kyoko makes Madoka skip school, with a quest to rescue Sayaka instead. She explains her plan to ignite human emotions within the Witch whom Sayaka became, by having her best human friend talk to her. Madoka agrees, and they go to witch-Sayaka's Labyrinth. Madoka tries talking with Kyoko protecting her, but with no effect. Kyoko commits suicide, also killing the Witch, while Homura (who left the school and entered the Labyrinth to protect Madoka) takes the fainted Madoka out.
The episode ends with Homura and Kyubey talking in Homura's house, with Kyubey revealing that rescuing Sayaka was in fact impossible, but he didn't stop Kyoko from trying so as to make Madoka become a Magical Girl, given that Homura alone will not be able to defeat Walpurgis. Homura swears that it won't happen.
Runes
Audio Commentary
See Also: Guidebook staff commentary from the Magica Quartet
| I'd Never Allow That to Happen そんなの、あたしが許さない | |
|---|---|
| Commentary | Aoi Yuuki Chiwa Saitou Emiri Katou |
The ninth commentary features not just Aoi Yuuki (Madoka) and Chiwa Saitou (Homura), but the seiyuu of our favorite character Kyubey, Emiri Katou. She's also known for Hachikuji Mayoi from the Monogatari franchise.
They start out with auditions again. At the beginning, when she tried Kyubey, she didn't expect him to be such a deceptive character, trying to force people into contracts. She was told to do a cute animal character, with some human-like qualities. Then when she got the role, she was like "Cute mascot character GETTO DAZE!" (pokemon fans might recognize that as the original phrase behind 'Gotta catch'em all!', but it's not exactly the same meaning). And then Mami died, and she was like "Isn't this a bit strange?" Then as a character he started talking a lot more.
At the time, she didn't actually know that he doesn't have emotions. When she found out, she thought "So that's why" [he behaved like he did]. She thought his treatment of Homura was intentional.
They then talk about how uniquely Kyubey talks. It doesn't really come across as well in subs (and I have no clue about the dubs), but it's really weird. He doesn't really say anything really wrong, either. He believes everything is obvious. "Why are you saying that? I don't understand!" One of his lines, wake ga wakaranai yo which means "I don't understand" was kinda popular in the Japanese fandom. Yuuki also noticed that Kyubey was popular among the public too. There would be decorated emails saying "Make a contract with me and go shopping!" or things like that. Her club at college (she was ~19 at the time it was airing) had an entry sign saying "Make a contract with me and join our club." In Akihabara, Kyubey was everywhere, and there were even tours that went around looking for funny examples. For example, Yuuki saw one where there was a mannequin 'dressed up' as Kyubey, with a piece of paper over his crotch labeled 'Soul Gem'.
Then they talk about how in the first episode recording they had lip flaps for Kyubey and Emiri tried hard to match but in airing it turned out his mouth didn't move at all. They next go onto the emotional aspect. Even though he has no emotions, he does project different faces for different people. He's nicer to Madoka, for example. "Madoka" "You really are..." (kimi wa yappari) in a kind voice. On the other hand, he's very curt with Homura. "Akemi Homura" "You really are..." (kimi wa yappari*). (you really have to listen to the commentary yourself, because the words are the same but it sounds COMPLETELY different despite it actually being the same voice... it's sooooo good)
And then for Sayaka and Kyouko, he's very businesslike, since they've contracted with him. They next ask Emiri who she likes most other than Kyubey. Obviously, she likes Kyouko. She has different values for everything, but actually is a really nice person.
Next they mention that the three of them are the only voice actors who were in every episode... In the scene with Kyubey talking to Madoka in her room, Yuuki was talking with the Sound Director Yota Tsuruoka about how to behave. He told her to not regard Kyubey as an enemy, but rather as an internal conflict. The problem was that she personally was getting angry with Kyubey, so Yuuki Aoi (not Madoka) was having her own internal conflict between trying to act and getting angry at the character.
They also talk about how complicated the things that Kyubey says are. Even Emiri herself couldn't understand what she was saying. "I don't get it! What does this mean? Entropy?" It seems that as the series got darker, the atmosphere when recording got more and more fun. Every time they would say "Ok, recording over" the mood would instantly change. They felt like there was a lot of unity among the cast and staff.
They also talk about how you don't really hate anyone in the story, at all. They hate Kyubey, but at the same time they love Kyubey. Kyouko is a rival, but then she's a friend. Nobody is really pointless.
Kyouko always has food, various different things. Always eating. Nonaka Ai is pretty good at pretending to talk with food in her mouth. (I'm not sure whether she actually was eating in the recording booth or not though; they're not very clear about that.) Then they start talking about the backgrounds. Not only are the creatures weird in the witch labyrinths, but the environments. Just like how Gertrud in the second episode contrasted vividly with the Aoki Ume widefaces, the nearly photorealistic backgrounds (though far more intricate and awesome than real life) contrast strongly with the crazy backgrounds in the witch labyrinths.
.jpg)
They also talk about how fun it is trying to imagine what the witch labyrinths are before going in. The "Love me do (-3-)/" really reminded Katou of Sayaka, for example. Yuuki also talks about how the fanbase decoded the witch letter code. She had read the Japanese translations, but apparently online in discussions of the commentary all of the Japanese fans were correcting her by giving credit to the English wiki (You're on it!) for actually doing the decoding into English, though that process was begun on 4Chan.
They really love how the voice of the viewers reached so far; the Western fanbase feeding back into the Japanese fanbase, and into the anime industry. Saitou talks about how whenever she'd be recording for another show, they'd always be asking her what would happen next. Same with Katou: she'd be told "Ahh, Madoka is amazing" and such, and they'd ask Yuuki for spoilers. It's not your everyday show that excites a whole industry so much.
It starts out by normal girls becoming magical girls, and then witches, and now that we know the process, it's really sad. Imagining how every single witch we've seen so far, every single one has also started out as a little girl with big hopes for the future, a wish to be granted... Charlotte for example, (who ate Mami), was a hospitalized girl who just wanted cheese.
At this point, it devolves into all three seiyuu literally crying over how sad it is. Kyouko really believed in justice, and she's trying to save Sayaka who never gave up until the very end but at the expense of her own life... And then Homura shows up to catch Madoka, but they're all like "Ahhh save Kyouko too, not just Madoka..."
And then, all three of them are sitting there actually crying in the booth. It's really cute.
Finally, Katou talks about how the series has a lot of impact for her because when recording as Kyubey, she'd be turning her emotions off but afterward, when watching the show it would all spill out
Trivia
- In the Audio Commentary for Episode 11, Chiwa Saito (Homura) confesses that when she saw Kyoko's sacrifice scene with Aoi Yuuki (Madoka) and Emiri Kato (Kyubey), they all cried. They found the scene moving.
- Near the end of the episode, Kyoko asks Madoka if she "wants to become a Magical Girl on some stupid whim". Noting the consequences and inherent dangers of the Magical Girl lifestyle, Kyoko states that she would punch Madoka's face in before she had the chance to do that. However, in an ironic twist, Madoka indeed became a Magical Girl on the same whim in the original timeline by saving a black cat from being hit by a car, according to Drama CD 1.
- Chief Director Akiyuki Shinbo storyboarded this episode under the Noriko Shichishima pseudonym.
Observations
- Per the image at the right, the chairs seen in Madoka's bedroom may be a homage to Bokurano, a manga and anime series that deconstructed a children's mecha anime called Zettai Muteki Raijin-Oh. In Bokurano, children are called by a strange man and an evil-looking mascot character to pilot a giant robot in to fight with another robot, piloted by another group of people, in an alternative universe. The fight ends with the pilot's death, and the losers have their universe destroyed. They are also told by the mascot only after the first battle that the robot's is fueled by the life of the person who pilots -- in other words, they inevitably die after piloting once. The chairs in Bokurano are reflections of the personalities of the selected pilots, drawn from their memories and manifested in the robot's cockpit. After a pilot dies, their vacant seat remains. The similarities to Madoka Magica are striking:
- Magical Girls and pilots both agree to a binding contract with a mascot character
- Mascot character only reveals the truth little by little to the contractees
- Those selected have different reactions to learning those truths, some accepting better than others
- Both note that younger contractees are better candidates for their role
- Contractees are told they are fighting evil at first, and only realize later that they are fighting their own, e.g. other people who also contracted, usually unknowingly.
- Magical Girls each have a unique appearance based on their personalities
- Like the Bokurano robots, the "shell" for Magical Girls is very powerful and difficult to destroy, but have one vulnerable point which will destroy them even if the body's undamaged, e.g. the soul housed in the Soul Gem or the pilot operating the robot. If the Soul Gem or pilot is separated from their respective shell, it will lay dormant.
- In both works, after they die in combat, it's possible their body can "disappear," so they are forever seen as missing persons by the rest of the world.
- In Bokurano, when a pilot runs away, there is a 48hr limit to kill or return to the robot. In the Portable game, there is also a two day limit to return a Soul Gem back to the body.
- Revealed in episode 10, Madoka Magica also has alternative worlds, some of which are presumably destroyed after a loss, e.g. Kriemhild Gretchen end.
- The Blu-ray version of Episode 5 added chairs in the hospital scene with Sayaka and Kyousuke.
- The movie version has chairs inside of Sayaka's room.
- Sayaka's Witch name is Oktavia von Seckendorff. In real life, Karl Siegmund von Seckendorff was a German poet who wrote a novel called Das Rad des Schicksals = The Wheel of Fate (which explains the wheels, there was also mention of fate in her Labyrinth). He also put 'The King in Thule' (a poem by Goethe, part of Faust) to music.
- In Episode 7 the Witch Elsa Maria was praying with her back turned (as if ignoring Sayaka) facing a monstrance. In Episode 9, Kyoko almost looks like she is praying while facing Oktavia von Seckendorff, as if the prayer is for Sayaka's soul. See the gallery below for a visual comparison.
- Some suggest that Kyubey's solution for entropy is just flawed and downright impossible. Defenders like to point out that Kyubey is from an advanced alien civilization, so maybe their understanding of the universe is far superior than that of humans. See Thermodynamics to see why this is inaccurate.
- This blog explains why Kyubey's solution regarding entropy is just downright irrational[2].
- The musical score seen in the beginning of the episode is the beginning of the background music playing during the scene in Oktavia's Labyrinth.
- A hidden hairpin on Kyoko merges with her Soul Gem kept on her chest before she unleashes her suicide attack.
- This episode reverted back to no ending sequence like in episodes 1 and 2.
- In the BD/DVD version, the extra song and I'm home plays as the ending.
- According to production notes, the extent of Kyoko's injuries in Episode 9 indicates that her entire right torso is damaged and bleeding.
Speculation
Please keep in mind that they are fanmade theories, and not official material.
- During the fight with Kyoko, Sayaka's lower body turns into that of a mermaid. Many speculate that Sayaka's tragedy is similar to that of the Little Mermaid's story. You can read a summary of the story here.
- The mermaid tail may also be referencing the story of Melusine. Goethe wrote a version of Melusine titled Die Neue Melusine or The New Melusina.
- Changes during the Blu-ray version added wind-chimes with the figures of a mermaid and a unicorn. For more information about its symbolic significance, see The Legend of Unicorns and Magical Horns.
- The mermaid tail may also be referencing the story of Melusine. Goethe wrote a version of Melusine titled Die Neue Melusine or The New Melusina.
- The wheels used in Oktavia's attacks may also symbolize the Wheel of Fortune from tarot, whose popular interpretations include "possibilities, opportunities, new developments, sudden changes", which fit Sayaka's life from when she encountered Kyubey to when she became a Witch.
- Alternatively, Sayaka was at a train station when she transformed. Her attacks may be inspired by train wheels.
- Oktavia suddenly ceases her attack when Kyoko begins to pray. It seems to be possible that Kyoko and Madoka finally manage to call back Sayaka's (remnant of) self. However, Oktavia's card says "nothing will reach her any longer. She will come to know nothing more. She simply allows no one to disturb her minions' playing." Remember that Madoka had fainted and stopped calling her just before Oktavia went still. She is quite likely to do nothing as long as you keep quiet.
- Kyoko's use of Umaibou as a sign of friendship with Madoka in this episode can be seen as baton passing, as her main role ended in this episode. It's also possible that she chose Umaibou due to its extremely low price (9 yen) being something that she can afford, since Sayaka didn't accept stolen goods back in episode 7.
- It is suspected that Homura knows Kyoko's feelings with Sayaka (so that she won't throw her body and kill the Witch first). However, she doesn't expect Kyoko even wanting to revive Sayaka after becoming a Witch in this timeline. When asking Kyubey, she might also have a little hope to make Madoka survive even when she contracts. But the answer from Kyubey denies such possibility. (If Kyubey agreed that there was a possibility for Kyoko to revive Sayaka, then Madoka might also be saved in the same way.)
Images
Official art
Screenshots
The image reads: ＬＯＶＥ ＭＥ ＤＯ！！ ＼(*´3｀*)／ "Love me Do" could be a reference to a Beatles song or a h-manga by Kensoh Ogawa (aka Fukudahda). "Do" may have been intended to be "too", going along with Sayaka's theme of longing.
Sayaka's Witch form. The armor could be a reference to the von Seckendorff family's knightly heritage.
Kyoko's Soul Gem is dimmed prior to fighting with Oktavia presumably due to using her power to maintain Sayaka's body.
Miscellaneous
References and crossovers
Some information regarding images and symbols in Episode 9
The Blu-ray version depicts wind-chimes with the figure of a Mermaid and a Unicorn. For more information see here.
comparison between Sayaka's coat of arms and the Seckendorff family coats of arm
The image on the left is from Revolutionary Girl Utena, the image on the right is from Episode 9 with Sayaka and Kyoko
Sayaka's witch name is Oktavia von Seckendorff, a possible reference to the poet Karl von Seckendorff (see above).
Comparison and analyses
a silhouette of what looks like Kamijou with his back turned holding a violin
Parallel between Elsa Maria (episode 7) and Kyoko (episode 9)
Others
Transcript of the musical sheets seen in the episode; link to MIDI on file page
Annotations & References
- ↑ What Kyubey is describing is called the Heat Death of the Universe: To elaborate, this term describes the point at which the universe has reached a state of maximum entropy -- when all available energy has moved to places of less energy. Once this has happened, no more work can be extracted from the universe. Since heat ceases to flow, no more work can be acquired from heat transfer. This same kind of equilibrium state will also happen with all other forms of energy. Since no more work can be extracted from the universe at that point, it is effectively dead.
- ↑ At this point some fans suspect that Kyubey is actually lying just as his explanation that he can not understand how to trick humans sounds spurious (or the time he tricked Kyoko that Sayaka could be saved so she would die in the process), but it is to be seen in future episodes where the truth lies. There is speculation that Urobuchi got the entropy idea from another show (Star Driver) as a way to mislead his fans. It is believed that Urobuchi introduced the changes at the last minute for Episode 9.
See also
- Madoka Magica and Science
- Live Reactions http://archive.moe/a/thread/46627637/ and http://archive.moe/a/thread/46628761/
External links
| Episodes | ||
|---|---|---|
| Previous episode | Current episode | Next episode |
| Episode 8 I Was Stupid… So Stupid | Madoka Magica Episode 9: I'd Never Allow That to Happen I'd Never Allow That to Happen | Episode 10 I Won't Rely On Anyone Anymore |