Headless Mami

File:Jiggle.jpg

At least something still jiggles.

Headless Mami refers to a community joke spawning after the conclusion of episode 3, in which the witch Charlotte decapitated Mami by biting her head off. Originally, Mami had thought that she had already slain the witch in its "plushie" form but was surprised to discover that the witch had another, caterpillar-like form (its true form). The end of episode three itself was met with predominantly startled reactions from fans, as the the previous two episodes brought forth an illusion that the series was a typical shoujo anime.

Official Info

Episode three, featuring Mami.

Charlotte's "innocent" initial form.

• Episode three aired on January 20th, 2011.
• Episode three was also the first episode to feature the Magia ending theme. Combined with the sudden, gory, and horrifying nature of Mami's death at the end, the song instantly revealed series' true nature as ominous, twisted, and dark. This was a stark contrast to the previous two episodes, which featured Mata Ashita due to its light tone and "carefree" tune (though the lyrics in this song are also quite sad, but most English-speaking viewers would not be able to understand the Japanese to notice).

Reactions

File:Frozen in fear.jpg

Mami frozen in fear.

• Since previous two episodes made the audience believe that the Madoka Magica series was likely going to be like a regular magical girl anime - with themes of love, friendship, and spirit in abundance - the shock value that the scene provided was much more powerful. As a result, episode three has gained a massive notoriety among the fandom largely due to the deceptively innocent nature of the series.
• Current Puella Magi fans usually find that the conclusion of the episode is uniquely humorous, as it is now often used as the subject for tricking/trolling newcomers into believing the show is indeed one of love and friendship. Once the infamous battle scene featuring Mami and Charlotte plays, however, they immediately realize that they have been fooled or eventually come to gripes with the realistic tone of the anime.
• The actual headless jokes spawned shortly thereafter. The jokes themselves manifested themselves in many different ways, ranging from small puns (i.e; "Don't get ahead of yourself, Mami!"), USB flash-drives featuring her head as a removable cap (found in the gallery below), to official tickets for movies.

Gallery

• USB.jpg

  Being a flash drive is suffering.

• Ticket.jpg

  The first movie's official ticket. Urobuchi loves to bully his own characters.

• Swag.jpg

  Who needs a head when you've swag?

• Lego.jpg

  Lego Batman? Pffft.