Charlotte
This section may contain major spoilers!
Please refrain from reading if you are not yet familiar with all the latest media released.Charlotte (CHARLOTTE) is a witch appearing in episode 3 of the anime. She is the witch form of Nagisa Momoe.
Charlotte reappears in Rebellion, though she has a slightly different appearance. The other characters call her "Bebe", and she is helping the magical girls in their fight against the Nightmares.
Cards
お菓子の魔女。その性質は執着。欲しいものは全部。絶対に諦めない。お菓子を無限に生み出せるが大好物のチーズだけは自分で作ることができない。チーズさえ持っていれば簡単に隙をつくことが出来ただろう。
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The dessert witch, with a tenacious nature. She desires everything. She will never give up. Though she is capable of creating infinite amounts of any dessert she desires, she is unable to make the cheese that she loves most. One could easily catch her off-guard with a piece of cheese. | ||||||||||
お菓子の魔女。その性質は執着。欲しいものは全部。絶対に諦めない。お菓子を無限に生み出せるが大好物のチーズだけは自分で作ることができない。チーズさえ持っていれば簡単に隙をつくことが出来ただろう。
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The dessert witch, with a tenacious nature. She desires everything. She will never give up. Though she is capable of creating infinite amounts of any dessert she desires, she is unable to make the cheese that she loves most. One could easily catch her off-guard with a piece of cheese. | ||||||||||
お菓子の魔女。かつて執着の夢を見た。マミの家に突如現れた謎の生き物。「ベベ」と名づけられるが、その正体は円環の理からやって来たお菓子の魔女。出会った当初はかなり無口で無表情だったが、いつの間にか今のような有様に。ちょっとうるさい。新しい服はマミのお手製。巴マミは、この魔女が最後に見たこわい夢に出てくる人に似ている。
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The Dessert Witch. Once dreamt of tenacity. A mysterious creature who suddenly appeared in Mami's home. Was christened "Bebe," but it is actually the Dessert Witch who arrived from the Law of Cycles. She was expressionless and silent when she was first encountered, but took on its current appearance out of the blue. A bit loud. Mami made its clothes by hand. Mami resembles someone who appeared in the final nightmare the witch saw. | ||||||||||
Minions
お菓子の魔女の手下。その役割はチーズを探すこと。しかし過度な期待は禁物。
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逃走中のお菓子の魔女とお菓子の魔女の手下達。その役割はチーズの探索とチーズの看病。ほむら救出時、看護師姿の手下はマミの空中ブランコの移動を手伝い、ネズミ型の手下はなぎさの周囲をとにかく回っていた。
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The fleeing Dessert Witch and her servants. Their roles are to search for cheese and to nurse the cheese. When saving Homura, the Nurse-like servant helped with Mami's trapezes, while the mouse-like servants generally ran circles around Nagisa's position. | ||||||||||
Trivia
- A charlotte is a type of dessert.
- The name Charlotte could also refer to Charlotte Buff, a woman Goethe unrequitedly loved and that deeply influenced him. The central and homonym character from Goethe's The Sorrows of Young Werther was based on her.
- Runes in Charlotte's card are styled like biscuits.
- On the official website, mousing over Charlotte's card changes the image from the first to the second using JavaScript.
- Although official pronunciations of almost all witches' names are undisclosed, "Charlotte" is pronounced "シャルロッテ" (Sharurotte) like a German name (Shar-lot-teh) according to an official product's document.
- Pyotr is the Russian form of the given name Peter.
- Charlotte makes a brief appearance in Puella Magi Oriko Magica.
- The runes reading "MAMI MOGU MOGU GONBO" in Charlotte's barrier describe Mami's death, as mogu mogu is onomatopoeia for chewing, but also likely reference to a famous educational cooking TV show called Mogu Mogu Gombo.
- There is no significant difference between the Japanese pronunciations of gonbo and gombo, so gonbo is an alternate romanization.
- Mogu Mogu Gombo aired from 1993 until 2003 and was hosted by two famous comedians (Kobuhei Hayashiya and HIROMI). The main target audience was children, but many adults also enjoyed it.
- The cooking and eating themes of the show match Charlotte's themes of sweets and eating Mami. A children's show matches other aspects of the barrier: Charlotte looks like a doll in one form and a clown in the other, she has a tea party setup like what a little girl might arrange, and she fills her barrier with candy.
Charlotte in Rebellion
- According to the Movie 3 Brochure, Charlotte is called "Bebe" in Rebellion because the other characters can't actually read the runes.
- It's possible that Bebe's name was meant to contrast with Mami's name ("Baby" and "Mommy").
- It is suggested that Charlotte's design was changed to make her more expressive.
- According to Witches Guide, Mami found Bebe in her original appearance (looking as Charlotte does) and was quiet. Mami sews Bebe new clothes and over time her appearance continues to change and she becomes even more interactive.
- Bebe actually talks to the other characters. When she speaks, bubbles with katakana appear from her mouth, though the noises she makes are just gibberish. The other characters appear to understand her just fine, and subtitles appear to let the viewer know what she's saying.
- Bebe is shown to be extremely close to Mami. Mami even says that if she didn't meet Bebe she would have fallen into despair long ago.
- She is called the Witch of Sweets in Rebellion.
Observations
- The head of her first form is shaped like a piece of candy in wrap.
- Watching carefully one can see that when Charlotte's second form gets injured a new Charlotte comes out of the mouth replacing the old as if the layers are being blown away.
- Charlotte reveals witches' kisses differ from witch to witch.
- A line in the design for Charlotte's labyrinth in the Official Guidebook says "It's really a delicious cheese cake. My dying mother wanted to eat it, but maybe I should have cured her disease instead. However, that surely wasn't appropriate."
- A description in the Production Note reveals that Charlotte obtained "one single cheesecake" in strict accordance with her wish.
Speculation
- Her second form may have been inspired by The Very Hungry Caterpillar.
- Her second form seems to be visually based on - or inspired by Japanese modern artist Takashi Murakami's art.
- Charlotte might have been a cancer patient. Patients undergoing chemotherapy are unable to eat certain foods such as cheese. This would explain her hospital-based labyrinth theme and the location of her grief seed. Kyubey is likely to target terminally ill girls.
- In that case, her caterpillar-like second form would represent unlimited reproduction of cancer cells.
- A fan theory about Charlotte's life as a magical girl has a number of similarities to Airi, from Kazumi Magica. Like Airi, she was a hospital patient and she wished to live and enjoy eating, just like Charlotte's obsession with cheese. Plus, both become witches.
- It is possible that she was designed around the theme of bulimia nervosa, which involves restrained food intake, periodic binge-eating, and frequently the purging of consumed foods through vomit. Issues of self-image may be involved.
- Charlotte might have another true body separately and be immortal without its destruction. (See the gallery)
- Assuming the cancer patient theory, she could have wished herself able to eat sweets without consequences. Such a wish would have likely cured her, but the selfishness of it -- compared to, for instance, wishing cancer didn't exist saving tons of people -- could have driven her toward becoming a witch. Her double form would then represent the guilt eating away at her: though she looked like an innocent girl, she felt like she was a selfish monster.
- Although it is also possible, that her magic potential wasn't enough for a wish of such magnitude.
- The Guidebook line on Charlotte indicates that it was Charlotte's mother who was ill. One speculation is that her mother loved food, especially cheese and sweets, and often shared them with Charlotte. When Kyubey approached during an emotional moment, Charlotte wished to share a cake with her mother one last time. After they ate the cake and the mother died, Charlotte realized that she could have wished to cure her mother, and quickly became a witch. Cheese, which Charlotte cannot create in her labyrinth, represents her mother.
- Since the shock of such a realization could darken a soul gem very quickly (much like the speed with which Homura's darkened in Episode 11), this theory allows for the possibility that Kyubey contracted Charlotte while Madoka and Sayaka were visiting the hospital in Episode 3.
- Perhaps Kyubey was hanging around on Madoka's shoulder, telepathically eavesdropping on people in the hospital, and heard Charlotte and her mother. "Charlotte, I wish I could eat cake with you one last time before I die." Kyubey sent one of his other bodies to make a contract. Once the cake was finished and they said their goodbyes, the wording of the wish caused the mother to die on the spot, and then Kyubey wondered out loud why Charlotte didn't wish to cure the disease instead. Instant witch, and he stuck the new grief seed into the wall where Madoka and Sayaka were headed to pressure them into contracting.
- Alternatively, Charlotte was an existing witch that was defeated and the grief seed was either overused or, perhaps, Kyubey planted it there after receiving it from the magical girl that used it.
- Perhaps Kyubey was hanging around on Madoka's shoulder, telepathically eavesdropping on people in the hospital, and heard Charlotte and her mother. "Charlotte, I wish I could eat cake with you one last time before I die." Kyubey sent one of his other bodies to make a contract. Once the cake was finished and they said their goodbyes, the wording of the wish caused the mother to die on the spot, and then Kyubey wondered out loud why Charlotte didn't wish to cure the disease instead. Instant witch, and he stuck the new grief seed into the wall where Madoka and Sayaka were headed to pressure them into contracting.
- The last two lines from the guidebook seem to imply that Charlotte had actually considered wishing for her mother to be healed, but simply never made said wish on the grounds of "But that wish is impossible, isn't it?" It seems very likely that once QB had actually granted said wish and made her into a magical girl, she saw that impossible things really could happen and was either driven into immediate regret and despair or she slowly broke down and destroyed herself with never ending questions and doubts.
- It should be mentioned the guidebooks clearly indicate prototype witches, and that there were significant differences between what was described in the guidebook and in the anime (see the Witch of cheesecake, below).
- Since the shock of such a realization could darken a soul gem very quickly (much like the speed with which Homura's darkened in Episode 11), this theory allows for the possibility that Kyubey contracted Charlotte while Madoka and Sayaka were visiting the hospital in Episode 3.
- Charlotte and Mami Tomoe could also be linked to the story “Hansel and Gretel". The witch in Hansel and Gretel lives in a house made of gingerbread, cake and candy, similar to Charlotte's barrier. The witch's intent is to eat the children, which is also like Charlotte's behavior.
- Charlotte's head also bears strong resemblance to a Charlotte Mold, a cooking vessel used exclusively for the baking and forming of desserts.
Gallery
Official art
Charlotte in the manga.
- Charlotte's Nurse Familiars.jpg
Sketches for Charlotte's nurse familiars.
Sketches from production notes.
- Production note Charlotte 4.jpg
- Production note Charlotte storyboard 1.jpg
- Production note Charlotte storyboard 2.jpg
Puella Magi Madoka Magica Official Guidebook "You Are Not Alone"
Charlotte Grief Seed from Puella Magi Madoka Magica Portable
Screenshots
Charlotte's grief seed on the hospital wall
The seed glows as it begins to activate
A close-up of the seed's emblem just before Charlotte appears
Charlotte as she first appeared.
One can see a bomb stuck to Charlotte's tongue, which she then swallows. This and other bombs Homura laid down during her game of leapfrog made the series of explosions which killed Charlotte.
Mami shoot Charlotte
Charlotte hit by Mami's Tiro Finale
Homura versus Charlotte Second Form
A picture of Charlotte appears on a piece of candy in the background before they fight her in episode 3.
Speculation
A comparison chart showing one of Walpurgis familiar's silhouette matching with Charlotte. Notice that the Witch's nose has the same shape as the silhouette's tail, similar hair, and a resemblance to the wand.
This sketch from the production notes shows the Walpurgis familiar suspected to be Charlotte with bangs similar to Charlotte's and polka-dotted tights.
Charlotte's true body ?
Fanart
Awesome cosplay
- Charlotte sick fanart.jpg
Fanart depiction of Charlotte as a hospital patient.
- Charlotte close up smiling avatar fanart.jpg
Charlotte's grief seed.
- Heart-warming.gif
- MadoKami Charlotte final wish cheese.jpg
Happy Ending.
- Mamilotte big love.jpg
Ume Aoki doujin "RKGKMDK"
- A world full of charlottes.jpg
nightmare fuel just before bedtime.
- Charlottewithcake.jpg
Charlotte in human form. She is crying because she wanted cheese and all she got was cake.
- My wish by yunare-d3jv9oy.jpg
- Charlotte as a normal girl.jpg
- Charlotte yellow pancake.png
Mmmm... taste like Mami.
- Charlotte mami execution style.jpg
It was self-defense, your honor.
- Charlotte kyoko not so different after all.jpg
- Charlotte familiars cookies cupcakes sweets.jpg
- Charlotte loves cheese.jpg
- Charlotte pacman game.gif
Charlotte pacman game
- Charlotte wins eat mamicakes.png
Charlotte: 1
Mami: 0 - Charlotte human puella magi wings fanart.jpg
- Hungry hungry charlotte ready to eat fanart.jpg
- Charlotte to eat mami fanart.jpg
- Charlotte like a bossu fanart.png
- Charlotte human form smile fanart.jpg
- Charlotte daily activity fanart.png
Charlotte's daily activities
- Charlotte v sign for cheese fanart.jpg
- Genderbender charlotte magical boy fanart.png
Charlotte as a magical…boy?
- Mami charlotte kill me baby cheese fanart.png
- CHARLOTTE black white fanart work.jpg
- 18471637 p6.jpg
- Mami and charlotte nice chair fanart.png
- Mami and Charlotte slumber.jpg
- Charlotte by Xaien.jpg
Other
- And-then--black-mr-dob-takashi-murakami.jpg
And Then, And Then, And Then, And Then, And Then (Black Mr. DOB) by Takashi Murakami: This style of "superflat" might have been applied to the design of Charlotte's second form.
Comparison of Charlotte's grief seed and Mami's soul gem
Not even Charlotte can defeat Gen Urobuchi.
See also
External links
- Charlotte card at official website (Japanese)
- Pyotr card at official website (Japanese)
- Ask Charlotte! (a fan blog)
- Charlotte pixiv fanart
- How to make your own Charlotte!
- Käse, Käse, wo ist die Käse? ("der Käse" would be correct here)
- 【MMD】Charlotte is sleeping /Puella Magi Madoka Magica 魔法少女まどか☆マギカ