Magic

Magic in the Madoka Magica Universe is a force created from fluctuation of emotion, unbounded by the First Law of Thermodynamics. When Kyubey's scientifically-advanced race discovered magic, they realized its capacity to create new energy can postpone maximum Entropy and delay the heat death of the Universe. However, Kyubey's race is incapable of emotions, thus they scoured the Universe for species with the most emotional potential. He found his answer in Earth's human females, especially those still developing secondary sex characteristics. Magical Girls and Witches, and thus the settings of the story, are the result of Kyubey's quest to harvest this energy.

Magical Creatures

Three types of naturally-occuring magical creatures exist in the Madoka Magica universe: Magical Girls, Witches, and Familiars. However, because both Familiars and Magical Girls can mature into Witches, all three may be considered stages of a single species. Souls of Magical Girls and Witches are separated from their bodies and reside in their Soul Gems and Grief Seeds respectively. Because of this, Magical Girls and Witches are highly invulnerable as long as their Soul Gems or Grief Seeds are intact and can recover in due time. Familiars do not have Grief Seeds so they are presumed dead when killed, however once they gather enough energy, usually by killing three or four people, they will turn into a Grief Seed and then hatch into a copy of their parent Witch. Both Soul Gems and Grief Seeds are adorned by the emblems of the holder.

As seen in Kazumi Magica, certain Magical Girls can summon magical animals, or other constructs to fight alongside them. The extent of their life or sentience is uncertain, but they can be considered to be similar to a Witch's Familiars.

In timelines governed by the Law of Cycles, instead of fighting Witches, Magical Girls fight beings known as Wraiths, as Magical Girls' souls are taken into the Law of Cycles right before they become Witches. So far, Wraiths are the only magical entities which come into existence naturally, excluding Kyubey.

Other magical beings created through unconventional means include "Pseudo-Witches," beings made of the flesh of Witches, Hyades, Nightmares, Uwasa, Kimochi and Homo magica.

Common Applications

These are magical abilities common to all magical girls. For Magical Girls, magic usage (inside and outside of battle) causes their Soul Gems to become tainted, which must be cleansed by a vanquished Witch's Grief Seed. With training, Magical Girls can become more proficient at these abilities and reduce magic usage. According to a magazine article, veteran Magical Girls will become very powerful in time as they gain experience. They can also develop different magical powers beyond those of their original abilities:

Transformation (Henshin): Magical Girls undergo a magical transformation that summons a costume based on their own imagination when they made their contract. Alongside the outfit, some transformations can also extend to bodily changes like their hair color, tattoos, eye color, or even more extreme changes like additional limbs, a mermaid tail, etc. Significant experiences, being coordinated by a Magical Girl Coordinator, or even certain types of magic from other Magical Girls (like Kazumi Subaru's Upgrade magic) can each change their transformed forms, whether temporarily or permanently.

Summon Weaponry: Magical Girls typically summon their signature weapon from thin air or their Soul Gem at will. Each girl has their own characteristic weaponry and fighting style that they gain increasing proficiency at upon making a contract. Magical Girls can summon numerous copies of their weapons, and sometimes in differing styles or sizes, and channel their unique or elemental magic through them. For a catalogue of weapons used in the series, see Weapons.

Magic Seals: Many girls have been shown to use their magic in various ways through their personal magic seals they conjure. These seals can sometimes be used to make floating platforms for them to stand on. Not all Magical Girls have been shown to need to use a magical seal, but it seems to be a common application of magic, as seen when Mami was preparing an exploding bullet to use against Kirika Kure.

Elemental Magic: Every Magical Girl has an element to their magic. The element can change with experience, usually matching their own personal journeys.
- Light: The magical energy attacks of Light-type Magical Girls have a general appearance of enhanced light, or lightning, and are usually colored white, yellow, or pink. Generally, these Magical Girls make wishes, or have personalities connected to their selflessness.
- Dark: The magical attacks from Dark-type Magical Girls are usually more faded when compared to other kinds of magic, or sometimes as a sort of corrosion. Generally, their magic takes the color purple.
- Flame: The magic of Flame-type girls appears as fire, explosions, or intense heat, which they can also apply for various purposes in small doses. It often has a matching color scheme of oranges and reds.
- Forest: Forest-type magic doesn't seem to have a typical aesthetic, or debatably even a set color spectrum attached to it. However, it is generally recognized by greens and yellows.
- Aqua: The energy attacks of Aqua-type girls are sometimes accompanied by the summoning of actual water and are usually shades of blue.
- Void: These girls' wishes often lead to great despair and regret on the girl's part after they've made their contracts, or they reflect an aspect of emptiness in some way. Girls with this kind of magic have the capacity to become Coordinators, and their magical attacks are often more harmful to other Magical Girls than Witches. This type of magic is more similar to curses, but it has been noted that girls can both mature into, and out of this magic type. Very big and powerful Witches often adapt to this class of magic to signify their incredible strength. Generally, Void-type girls' attacks don't have an accompanying energy at all, but they have been known to be signified by shades of black, white and gray.

Physical Enhancements: All Magical Girls exhibit superhuman strength, agility, and healing. They are also able to shut off their sense of pain during battle at will, though this hinders their reaction time. Magical Girls may also choose whether to use their magic to make themselves completely immune to mundane illnesses, and some choose not to so that they may retain some semblance of humanity. They are capable of healing physical ailments such as poor eyesight, weak constitutions or immune systems, or physical disabilities like paralysis. Great feats of magic may leave a Magical Girl disabled and unable to cure themselves, as was the case with Nemu Hiiragi and Mitsune Miwa. According to Kyubey, it is possible to keep fighting even with every drop of blood in their body drained by healing it with magic. These physical enhancements also include the ability to jump to incredible heights and survive immense falls. However, Magical Girls may still retain severe injuries from magical opponents that may leave them in a hospital for prolonged periods of time, comatose, or on the brink of death. Such injuries, if left unhealed by another Magical Girl and without unique healing magic, will continuously and rapidly darken the injured girl's Soul Gem to heal, and purifying it with Grief Seeds will not necessarily speed up their own healing or awaken them.

Magic Detection: Soul Gems are capable of detecting the magic of other magical beings, or even uses of magic, though some are less detectable than others. The gems glow when there are Witches or Familiars nearby, or if there have been any in a given area recently. Witches leave behind a trail of magic, each unique and distinguishable from each other, which Magical Girls can detect and follow. It is unclear whether a Witch's Familiar has the same energy signature as its master Witch, and whether Soul Gems can also detect victims of a Witch's Kiss. The magical signatures of Uwasa cannot be detected, even in the area it exists in, unless the rumor it embodies has been successfully invoked and it subsequently appears to fulfill or protect it. The magic of Uwasa is noted to feel very different from that of Witches.
- As depicted in Magia Record, the magic of a Magical Girl detected through another's Soul Gem is depicted as a glowing dot, the color of the detected girl's own gem. This dot will move around to mirror the detected girl's movement.
- Visually, the magic of Witches or Familiars will display markings attributed to them over the Soul Gem, as well as making it resonate.

Telepathy: Magical Girls are able to use telepathy to communicate with each other nonverbally and over large distances or through obstacles. Kyubey can use himself as a relay through which non-contracted girls with magical potential can communicate with each other and Magical Girls. Magical Girls do not require Kyubey to use this ability amongst themselves, but, as shown in Magia Record, telepathy can also be negated by some Witch Labyrinths. Telepathy is shown to have a maximum range in which it can be used, with Magical Girls having used it to communicate between each other at least a few hundred meters apart.

While most Magical girls who aren't transformed are unable to use their magic, they still use up a bit of it to sustain their body involuntarily in their daily lives. However, even without transforming they can still use their Soul Gems in a limited fashion to perform magic. For example, the Soul Gem can be used:

To summon a magical weapon still attached to the Soul Gem.
Imbue magic upon an object to enhance it.
To heal any form of injuries on themselves or others.
Adjust a body's ability.
Preserve a dead body from decomposition.

Learnable Magical Skills

In addition to the instinctual applications of magic, Magical Girls can learn to use their magic in various other techniques:

Physical Alterations: A different application of magic when compared to physical enhancements, or healing in the traditional sense, instead using it to modify a physical feature. For example, Homura was able to use her Soul Gem directly to her eyes to calibrate her eyesight so that she'd no longer need to use glasses.

Energy Blasts: Magical Girls may also instead fire blasts of pure magical energy in lieu of using an outwardly offensive weapon.

Protective Barriers: Magical Girls are able to learn to use protective magic in the form of barriers or shields. For example, in Kaoru Maki's side story, Natsuki Utsuho's desire to protect her created defensive magic that saved her from a Witch, a power she did not know she could use until then.

Concealed Messages: In the Magia Record Anime, many Wings of the Magius symbols were hidden in front of Alina's posters. They only became visible to those who'd apply magic to their sight, such as by looking through the Soul Gem ring, or by applying it directly in one's eyes or glasses. Madoka and Homura both sensed and knew how to view the messages, implying that the means to view them is easy to learn even if the means of creating them is not.

Magic Imbuement: Magical Girls are able to imbue ordinary objects with magic. This can enhance their original functions, change the object to a certain degree, or allow them to be used in combat.
- Transmission: Some Magical Girls have been shown to use imbued items to hold messages, and as direct methods of communication. Yuuri could imbue a message in one of her projectile arrows, and Mifuyu Azusa was able to imbue a piece of paper with a holographic map, and then use it as a direct method of vocal two-way communication between herself and the people in possession of the map.

Storage/Hammerspace: A seemingly easy skill for Magical Girls to learn is that they're able to store items in a personal hammerspace of theirs. Most of them do so through their Magical Girl costumes, or their weapons, but it seems they can learn to do it through any part of their body, or directly through magic seals. It is unknown what happens to the unseen stored items if the girl dies, or turns into a Witch, but seeing as anything abandoned in a Labyrinth also disappears when the Labyrinth fades, it is likely those items would also disappear.

Presence Concealment: Experienced Magical Girls can learn to conceal themselves, as well as traces of their magic, from the detection of others. They can even be trained to be undetectable to the point of not even Kyubey being able to detect their magic signature, as was the case with Suzune Amano.

Several girls have also been able to use their unique powers without the need to transform, and some of them have their effects remain even after the caster's death.

Mami Tomoe can still use her ribbons, as seen when she attached one of them to Homura in Rebellion.
Nagisa Momoe's magic passively makes her more assertive and greedy, as well as breaking her out of trances.
Mabayu Aki has used many of her abilities without being transformed, including her seeing into the future unintentionally, as well as her connection to Homura's time loops.
Kazumi Subaru has used many of her abilities without being transformed, even though they weren't originally her abilities. She has transformed items from one thing to another, as well as enhanced the speed of her body. She has also used her own power of Destruction as magical seals which would activate once they detected the use of magic.
Saki Asami used her ability to speed up, and slow down the processes of her body, giving herself super-speed, but also having side-effects on her body.
Niko Kanna's different abilities were used by others without them being transformed, so it can be surmised that she herself can use her powers of Rebuilding and Reforming without transforming.
Satomi Usagi used both her power of talking to animals, as well as remotely controlling the bodies of others without being transformed.
Kanna Hijiri has used many abilities, both her own power of Connect, as well as ones she copied without being transformed.
Oriko Mikuni has received many involuntary visions of the future without being transformed, usually for emergencies, such as Kirika being in danger.
Matsuri Hinata, while unable to use her power to its full extent, she was the only one who was able to break free from Kagari's magic, likely attributed to her own detection magic.
Arisa Narumi's strength and overall physical capabilities are higher than that of a normal human, as shown when she was immediately able to single-handedly beat up all her bullies after having made her wish.
Kagari Hinata was shown to have rewritten Matsuri's memories as a child, even when she wasn't transformed and had just contracted.
Elisa Celjska is constantly seen as more favorably than she would normally as part of her power.
Tsuruno Yui's good luck power notably allows Banbanzai to stay open despite their mediocre food quality.
Sana Futaba is always imperceptible to normal people as a result of her wish.
Rena Minami is able to transform into other people. It is unknown if she would be able to transform into her Magical Girl form without her Soul Gem.
Ryo Midori's photography is always reliable no matter her state.
Kuroe's magic makes it so that people passively focus on her while she is present.
Hikaru Kirari is able to focus on any task, even when she's not in a transformed state.
Miyuri Yukari can enter her sleepwalking state even during her day-to-day life, even winning an entire tournament and not remembering it due to how anxious she was.
Livia Medeiros' magic passively causes harm upon those she helps even when she isn't transformed.
Konomi Haruna's magic passively works to place her in situations where she can be helpful to others, as well as making those she's helping take centerstage, and sometimes backfiring on her when she tries to take it herself.
Nanaka Tokiwa has a constant knowledge of whether someone is her enemy, or her ally, even having a sense of the kind of danger they may pose.
Yukika Nanase generally always finds herself in dangerous situations, while also getting a boost from it.
Mitsuru Inami's able to often reliably avoid dangerous situations due to her luck, and she was even able to reliably live a normal life because of it.
Sae Kirino can alter the way others view her, and have them believe her impersonations. While she cannot change her appearance in a physical sense, she can make them believe she is someone of authority, play dead, that she isn't a Magical Girl, etc.
Kush Irina is unable to stay awake during the day, but she gets a boost in all her abilities during the night. This applies not just to her fighting abilities, but also her productivity in general.
Yu's many abilities are active even when she's in her civilian form. Those around her are susceptible to her "Mental Pollution," and Yu herself is in her chronic state of sedation, as well as enhanced healing constantly.
Shi originally had the power to experience other people's pain without having been a Magical Girl. However, in the present, her power of complete Synchronization requires her to be transformed.
Mel Anna's predictions always make themselves be true, even the ones she makes when she's not transformed.

Unique Abilities

Wishes and Unique Magic

Magical Girls are granted unique, personalized powers (regularly referred to as "unique magic") based on the wish they made to become Magical Girls. As with the way wishes may be granted, the powers bestowed by them can be interpreted in many different ways.

In the original series and most manga adaptations, the unique magic a girl's wish grants was always based on some interpretation of the wish and its wording, creating a mostly direct parallel between the two: for example, Homura Akemi's wish to redo her first meeting with Madoka Kaname gave her the ability to stop and rewind time; Kirika Kure's wish to become a "different" Kirika, one Oriko Mikuni would like, granted her the ability to change to match Oriko's preferences; Riz Hawkwood's wish to become the one from which a hero (who, in turn, wished to be the "light" that saved France) would emerge, gave her the ability to manipulate shadows.

With the introduction of Magia Record, however, girls' unique magic is shown to be able to differ rather significantly from the wording of their wish, and can now be based on the intent or background of the wish: Kanoko Yayoi wished for her parents to be healthy enough to work for decades, but instead of any powers relating to healing, strength, or longevity, she gained the ability of "Sewing", allowing her to create threads and needles to sew things together, stemming from her desire to become a fashion designer instead of work at her parents' steel mill; Tsukuyo and Tsukasa Amane wished that they would never fight each other, and gained the ability to manipulate sound waves, stemming from them being reunited by their flutes.

In some cases in both the manga adaptations and Magia Record, though, a girl's unique magic seemingly has nothing to do with the wishes they made. A notable example of this was Melissa de Vignolles' wish to heal her father's and Tart's injuries; rather than grant her any healing magic, she gained destructive anti-matter powers (presumably tied to her anger that she inherited from her father); Seika Kumi wished to revive a dead friend, and gained the ability to travel between bodies of water; Masara Kagami wished for money, and gained the ability to become transparent (invisible).

In some cases, when a Magical Girl subconsciously rejects her wish, she loses the ability to use whatever power her wish granted her, as was the case with Kyoko Sakura losing access to her illusion magic. However, this may not always be the case, as multiple magical girls in Magia Record have been shown to reject their wishes (consciously or otherwise) and still retain their unique abilities.

Additionally, a Magical Girl may still retain access to her unique magic even if she does not remember her wish, partially or entirely. Iroha Tamaki forgot she had a sister and that she had wished to cure her disease, yet was still able to use her healing magic (in the anime, this was used to determine that she had in fact wished to heal someone's injury or ailment). Felicia Mitsuki's memory of her parents' death was modified due to her confusion when she had made her wish, and yet retained knowledge and usage of the ability to make others forget things.

For information on wishes that are more like curses, see Adjustment below.

Karma/Karmic Destiny

According to Kyubey, a Magical Girl's power is tied to her "karmic destiny." From his explanation regarding people like queens and messiahs having greater karmic weight than average girls, it can be surmised that karmic destiny relates to how much influence a girl has on the world and people around her. Because Homura's repeated time loops centered around Madoka Kaname, Madoka's karmic destiny (and subsequently, power) was increased with each loop. Naturally, this strength also applies to the strength of a Magical Girl's Witch form.

Further, as Kyubey says in Magia Record, some wishes may be "impossible" to grant if they outweigh the karmic weight of the girl making the wish; such a wish can still be granted, but will come at a significant cost to the girl.

In the case of Ui Tamaki, wishing for one of Kyubey's abilities seems to have resulted in her being unable to handle her power and quickly become overwhelmed by the absorption of impurities. Touka Satomi and Nemu Hiiragi may have also been affected by this cost, as the use of Touka's Doppel's wish-granting power and Nemu's creation of Uwasa both use up their life force and take years off their lives.

In a more explicit instance, Rion Yuzuki wished to in some way undo an event that led to the death of her sister Hotori. However, because she lacked the necessary karmic destiny to completely undo a fixed point in time, her wish instead created two split timelines (one where Rion never made a wish and Hotori died, and one where the incident that killed her never occurred, which also resulted in their memories being modified so they believed they had both been Magical Girls together for the same amount of time and without any knowledge of the other timeline's events). Over time, these two timelines began to merge and overlap with each other, until the inciting incident that ultimately led to Rion making her wish was resolved and the timelines could merge peacefully, once more erasing the knowledge of the entire incident from everyone involved.

This, coupled with Homura Akemi's wish, which was said to "surpass entropy" indicates that the alteration of time and creation of multiple timelines may actually be relatively simple for an average wish to accomplish, but that there exist certain moments in time that are fixed points, and thus are more difficult if not impossible to change without sufficient karmic power. It is possible, but unconfirmed, that what constitutes a "fixed point" in time, or at least how much karmic weight is required to modify it, may be tied to how much karma is involved in that moment (eg. a moment that affects a great number of people would have a lot of karma, and thus require a girl with equal or greater karmic power to modify or undo it).

In Tart Magica, Tart's incredible power was the result of Riz Hawkwood's wish for the existence of a great hero, resulting in the entire karmic weight of all of France centering on her. The manga, as well as various descriptions in Magia Record, make frequent mention of threads of fate/karma being added to Tart's destiny, such as Melissa making her wish to save both Tart and her father's lives. Because her karmic destiny is so great, Tart lacks control over her magic and expends a lot of it at once.

It seems that making a wish for someone else increases that persons own karmic destiny, as seen in Tart Magica and in Madoka Magica where Homura's repeated time loops began to center the world around Madoka, thereby increasing her innate karmic destiny.

Elemental Magic

As initially established in Magia Record and briefly shown in its anime adaptation, Magical Girls and their magic fall in one of six "elemental" categories: Light, Dark, Fire, Forest, Water, and Void.

In the game, these elements have strengths and weakness against each other: Light and Dark are equally strong and weak against each other; Fire is strong against Forest, Forest is strong against Water, and Water is strong against Fire; Void is neither weak or strong against any other element.

However, what makes a Magical Girl a given elemental type is questionable. Light, Dark, and Void are not tangible types and there is nothing that defines them. Fire, Forest, and Water, while being more tangible, apply to Magical Girls who seemingly don't have any related abilities, such as Mami Tomoe being catergorized as a Forest Magical Girl despite not having any kind of plant-related powers. It also implies that some girls may be weaker to each other because of a type difference that does not actually end up applying in battle. (Sayaka Miki's supposed Water magic does not seem to present any extra challenge in battles against Kyoko Sakura's supposed Fire magic, despite in theory being able to do so.) Because it is arbitrary, it is reasonable to assume that this system was mainly intended as a game mechanic and was simply a cameo in the anime.

Personal Abilities

See Personal Abilities for a detailed list.

Connect

Connect is a magical skill introduced in Magia Record and expanded upon in its anime adaptation. It is only accessible to magical girls who have been adjusted by a Coordinator like Mitama Yakumo, who describes it as a power "(Magical Girls) never knew (they) had before" that is brought to the fore, implying it is an innate ability of Magical Girls, but one that lies dormant within their souls for some reason.

Through Connect magic, activated by direct contact, Magical Girls are able to share their elemental magic with one another to perform powerful magical attacks with a lot of variety even for the same two participants (such as Momoko Togame, who has fire magic, utilizing Rena Minami's water magic, or Rena utilizing Kaede Akino's forest magic). It is also applied by mixing and manipulating both participants' weapons, sometimes in very unconventional fusions. If a Magical Girl is inexperienced at using Connect, their partner may become overwhelmed or underwhelmed, presumably either because of its strength or some lack of control over the sharing.

As shown in Episode 4, it is worth noting that, as Iroha's Light magic is not tied to a tangible element (such as Fire, Water, or Forest), and Tsuruno's Connect attack did not seem to involve any sort of Iroha's healing magic, it is unknown whether this means not all Connect attacks equally combine both girls' elements; if both girls must willingly combine their magic or must concentrate in order to do so; or if Light and Dark magic are simply less visible or mostly invisible in Connect attacks.

It is worth clarifying that Connect does not let Magical Girls use each other's unique magic, only their elemental magic and weapons. Sharing unique magic is only possible if one's own unique magic allows for it, such is the case for Himena Aika.

The concept of Connect was inspired by the Holy Quintet combining their magical attacks in Rebellion, and Mami was said to have used it often when fighting alongside other members.

Connect can also be used to free a Magical Girl from the control of outside forces, such as an Uwasa, or from their own inner darkness in the form of a Doppel. However, if the one using Connect doesn't know the person they're using it on, the process will be unsuccessful, as this application of Connect requires to help them in a much more intimate and sincere fashion.

Puella Magi Madoka Magica

Madoka's and Mami's first Connect "Tiro Duet"
In the manga.
Madoka's and Mami's second Connect
Madoka's and Homura's Connect
In the manga

Magia Record

Momoko's and Rena's Connect
Rena's and Kaede's first Connect "Mixed Poseidon"
In Rena's (Anime ver.) 5 star card
Tsuruno's and Iroha's Connect
Felicia's and Iroha's Connect
Felicia's and Tsuruno's Connect
Yachiyo's and Kuroe's Connect
Iroha's and Kuroe's Connect "Strada Fede"
In Iroha's and Kuroe's 5 star card
Iroha's and Kyoko's Connect
Felicia's and Sana's first Connect
Felicia's and Sana's second Connect
Yachiyo's and Iroha's first Connect "Liberare cuore"
In Iroha's (Anime ver.) 5 star card
Sayaka's and Madoka's Connect
Madoka's and Iroha's Connect
Yachiyo's and Mifuyu's Connect
Mikazuki Villa's Connect
Rena's and Kaede's second Connect (Rena is using Kaede's powers)
Iroha's and Yachiyo's second Connect

Adjustment

Adjustment, known as Coordination in English, is a magical skill used by Adjustors (Coordinators) that allows them to directly affect a Magical Girl's Soul Gem. This is usually done to enhance a customer's magic and make them stronger, but can be used adversely, to simply stabilize them or even more minimal acts such as changing their magic signature. This power grants Adjustors direct access to their customer's memories as well as entering their psyche even without meaning to. It is also possible to coordinate many girls at once, which results in them having their minds share a common mindscape. Parts of Witches are often used in Adjustment as well, however this may result in the Witch whose parts were used to become difficult to detect by the Magical Girls who were Adjusted with them.

It also allows Adjustors to modify or entirely change a Magical Girl's outfit, such as when Mitama Yakumo changed Homura Akemi's and Kyoko Sakura's outfits into swimsuits; in the latter case, it was noted that Mitama was the only one capable of returning Kyoko's outfit to its original form. Also in Kyoko's case, Mitama was able to bestow Kyoko with the ability to swim, which she otherwise completely lacked. The results of Coordination depend both on the Coordinator and the one being Coordinated, most clearly seen and acknowledged when Kuroe's swimsuit was similar to Iroha's due to her adoration. When a Magical Girl who is Adjusted has a strong sense of purpose, it will also change her unique magic accordingly, whereas when the Adjustment is only superficial, the unique magic won't be affected.

As said in the Scattered Flowers Melancholy Chapter event, Mitama was unable to initially Adjust Magical Girls who had been made comatose by Hanna Sarasa's Suggestion magic, as their minds were "closed." Additionally, Coordination can't necessarily be made inoperable by simply being unconscious, as seen with Kyoko herself being coordinated while asleep.

As explained by Livia Medeiros, a Magical Girl can only learn Adjustment if her wish was one out of or that causes despair/ruin, rather than for or out of hope — in essence, a wish that was more like a curse. Such "wishes" bestow destructive powers that are mostly or entirely ineffective against Witches, but can weaken the power of other Magical Girls; thus Adjustment is purposefully using this destructive magic wrong, so that it strengthens Magical Girls instead. Doing so is described as difficult and consumes much more magic than using it properly so those who survive to learn Adjustment offer their services in exchange for Grief Seeds collected by their customers. Due to the similarities of their magic to that of Witches, is noted that Adjustors have a lower rate of effectiveness when fighting against witches compared to other Magical Girls.

As noted by Livia, however, there remains a mystery as to why some wishes create Adjustor Magical Girls while others don't (several magical girls like Kanae Yukino and Hanna Sarasa have wished for the complete erasure of someone, yet displayed no abilities of Adjustment), as Livia states that all Magical Girls make wishes rooted in hope no matter how despicable they may be, and yet have normal magic. While all Adjustors are Void-type, not all Void-type are Adjustors and it is unknown if they all have the capacity to learn Adjustment, or even if Magical Girls of other elements can. It should be noted however, that many Magical Girls have powers which allow them to perform many of the things an Adjustor can do, such as strengthen Magical Girls, weaken them, view their memories or even change their outfits.

Known Adjustors include:

Labyrinths (Magical Realm)

Witches and Familiars reside in magical Labyrinths of another dimension. These labyrinths interface with the real world at specific locations, but can be entered by Magical Girls through ripping open Barriers, or by stumbling into them. To attract normal people to their locations to feed upon, Witches infest unhappy people with a Witch's Kiss, which either attract them to these locations to commit suicide (if unhindered) or kill them off with diseases or accidents. For this reason, Witches tend to gather around violence-prone areas and hospitals.

The labyrinths consist both of elements from their locations in reality and of allusions to the Witches that created them. Deeper within the Labyrinth, more references to the witch will be seen and fewer elements from reality show up. For example, in Episode 1, the Labyrinth is set in a floor waiting for refurbishing, and it was fulfilled with 'under construction' signs and barriers of a construction site. In episode two, the labyrinth is set in an abandoned concrete building, thus the rooms in the labyrinth are made of solid concrete, making its appearance differ from Episode 1 even though it's the same Labyrinth. As the girls approach the the final room, elements of a rose garden start to dominate the construction elements. In Episode 3, the Labyrinth is set in a hospital, therefore surgery signs, needles, gallipots, and wards are presented first, but deeper in, those are replaced by various kinds of desserts. The barrier can also be somewhat influenced by the strong emotions of the people within them, as seen in Episode 3 when Mami and Madoka make their promise, or the many Labyrinths directly showing their victims visions of their own memories.