View source for Madoka Magica Episode 6: This Just Can't Be Right

<blockquote>
''"Just because you keep trying to do the right thing doesn’t mean you’re guaranteed a happy ending."''<br />
''"If she's so focused on what she thinks is right, try doing something wrong to snap her out of it.''<br />
''"You never know, sometimes doing the wrong thing for someone is exactly the right thing to do."'' ~ [[Junko Kaname]]
</blockquote>

{{Infobox_episode
|name       = This Just Can't Be Right
|jname      = こんなの絶対おかしいよ
|date       = 10 February 2011 
|script     = Gen Urobuchi
|storyboard = Shinsaku Sasaki
|director   = Fujiaki Asari
|adirector  = Jun'ichi Fukunaga<br />Hitoshi Miyashima
}}

==Summary==
[[File:E6-Sayakacleaning.jpg|300px|right]]
[[File:E6-KuuKai.jpg|300px|right]]
[[File:E6-MadokaTheMagicalGirlSlayer.jpg|300px|right]]
As presented in the [[Episode 5|previous episode]], [[Kyoko Sakura]] almost finishes off [[Sayaka Miki|Sayaka]], only to discover that her spear is stabbing thin air and [[Homura Akemi|Homura]] has intervened. Sayaka is quickly knocked out by Homura. Annoyed, Kyoko asks Homura whose side she is on. Homura then states she is always with the cool-thinking people and against the troublemakers, demanding that Kyoko identify which group she belongs to. Kyoko complains, but retreats. [[Madoka Kaname|Madoka]] asks Homura if she came to save Sayaka, but Homura berates Madoka for not following her advice at all. She warns that next time she may consider other (presumably brutal) options to make the fool listen, leaving Madoka horrified.

Sayaka uses a [[Grief Seed]] to clean her [[Soul gem|Soul Gem]], and asks Kyubey how important it is to do so. [[Kyubey]] answers that it's needed to strengthen her magic. He advises Sayaka to get more Grief Seeds in order to become stronger, but also tells her that if Madoka contracted, she'd have the power to defeat rivals like Kyoko. However, Sayaka firmly rejects the idea of involving Madoka. 

Homura approaches Kyoko in an arcade and proposes a deal to let Kyoko have [[Mitakihara Town|the city]] as her territory, but forbids her to attack Sayaka. Kyoko offers Homura a snack in a gesture of cooperation.

Madoka, concerned about the violence between Sayaka and Kyoko, tries to persuade Sayaka to seek a truce. She argues that Sayaka and Kyoko are both Magical Girls, who are supposed to battle Witches, not each other. Sayaka rejects the idea, pointing out that selfish Magical Girls such as Kyoko (and Homura) intentionally let familiars attack humans, resulting in the deaths of innocent victims. Next time, it may even be Madoka's parents or [[Tatsuya Kaname|Tatsuya]].

Madoka, deeply worried about Sayaka, asks her mother for advice. She tells Madoka that people sometimes need to make mistakes. If there's no right answer, it's necessary to be wrong - something she believes Madoka must learn how to do gracefully in order to become an adult.

The next evening, Sayaka is once again confronted by Kyoko, who goads her into another fight on top of a highway bridge. However, before the battle starts, Madoka arrives and seizes Sayaka's Soul Gem, the source of a Magical Girl's energy, throwing it off the bridge in the hope of stopping the fight. To Madoka and Kyoko's shock, this causes Sayaka to suddenly collapse, lifeless. Kyubey says Madoka has just thrown away Sayaka. It turns out that as part of the contract, the Soul Gem literally contains a Magical Girl's soul, with their body becoming a mere shell that turns limp and lifeless if the Soul Gem is more than 100 meters away from them.

Appalled, Kyoko explodes, claiming that what Kyubey has done is practically turning girls into zombies. Kyubey expresses his difficulty in understanding all girls' repulsion towards the idea, describing how useful the arrangement is for enabling them to survive Witches' attacks. Meanwhile, Homura rushes to retrieve the Soul Gem and brings it back to Sayaka in order to revive her. Sayaka wakes up, not remembering anything that happened after Madoka threw her Soul Gem away.

==Runes==
No runes were featured in this episode.

==Audio Commentary==

<blockquote>See Also: ''[[Guidebook#episode 6|Guidebook staff commentary]] from the '''[[Main Page/About|Magica Quartet]]'''''</blockquote>

{{:Audio Commentary/Episode 6}}

==Observations==

*[[:File:Hey diddle diddle.jpg|Madoka's homework]] is [[wikipedia:Hey_Diddle_Diddle|Hey diddle diddle!]], an English rhyme.
*The game Kyoko is playing in the arcade, [[Inu_Daruma_Brothers|Dog Drug Reinforcement]], is based on Konami's [[wikipedia:Dance Dance Revolution|DanceDanceRevolution]] series.
**The characters decorating the arcade cabinet seem to have a resemblance to Konami's [[wikipedia:pop'n music|pop'n music]] series of music games.
**Kyoko is dancing to a remix of the show's opening theme, "[[Connect]]" by ClariS.
**Ironically, a licensed cover of Connect would later appear in both of the titles mentioned above. [https://remywiki.com/Connect Article on RemyWiki].
**The arcade cabinet features a logo that says "inudaruma" on its sides.
*The opening sequence in episode 6 changed once again. This time, the transformation sequence is more colorful than before, and the angle changed slightly.
*Rabbit heads are seen twice during this episode, first on Sayaka's bedding and latter on the screen of the game Kyoko was playing in the arcade.  When Kyoko finishes playing the game, the smiling rabbit heads on the screen change to a "dying" expression" and a halo and pair of wings float upwards from them.
*During the arcade scene, Homura mentions something by the name of {{nihongo|"[[wikipedia:Walpurgis_Night|Walpurgisnacht]]"|ワルプルギスの夜|Warupurugisu no Yoru|Night of Walpurgis}}. At this point in the story, little is known about "Walpurgisnacht" (is it an event? A Witch? Something else?). You can find more information about the real-life event [[Walpurgis Night In Real Life|here]], and the anime "thing" [[Walpurgis Night|here]] (caution: mega-spoiler ahead).
**In the English dub, "Walpurgisnacht" is specifically referred to by Homura as a "Witch"
*The grief Seed that Sayaka used and Kyubey consumed was [[Elly]]'s.
*Junko's speech with Madoka is interpreted as moral relativism. Just because you think you are doing the right thing doesn’t mean that you will make others or yourself happy. However, ''“the desire to lead the world in the right direction is not wrong in itself,”'' as illustrated by the ending.

==Madoka's and Junko's Conversation==
Madoka: "There’s this friend of mine. She’s in trouble. I don’t think she’s doing or saying anything wrong, but… She keeps trying to do the right thing. But the harder she tries, the worse things get for her…"

Junko: "Sure, that happens a lot."

Madoka: "Really?"

Junko: "Yes. Sad but true. Just because you keep trying to do the right thing doesn’t mean you’re guaranteed a happy ending. In fact, the more stubborn a person gets about what they think is right, the less happy they are going to be. It’s like they stop being rational all together."

Madoka: "It’s not fair to be unhappy. Especially if you’re not doing anything wrong."

Junko: "Uh-huh."

Madoka: "So then, what do you think I should do?"

Junko: "Well, at this point, I doubt that it’d end on a happy note no matter what anyone did."

Madoka: "Huh…"

Junko: "If the only way to help was to do something drastic, would you do it?"

Madoka: "Yeah…"

Junko: "Then ''you'' should do something wrong."

Madoka: "Huh?"

Junko: "If she's so focused on what she thinks is right, try doing something wrong to snap her out of it."

Madoka: "I don’t get it. How?"

Junko: "You could tell a big fat lie, or chicken out when the going gets tough. You never know, sometimes doing the wrong thing for someone is exactly the right thing to do. If you find yourself at the dead end and there’s no other options left, doing something the wrong way might do the most good."

Madoka: "But, will she understand that I’m doing it for her sake? That I’m just trying to help her?"

Junko: "Well, she might not get it right away. She might even hate you. See what I mean? We’re talking some drastic stuff here. But ask yourself this; what’s better, doing nothing or doing something?"

Madoka: "Huh."

Junko: "I have to say I did a good job raising you. You don’t do anything bad. You’ve never told a lie. You always try to do the right thing no matter what. You passed childhood with flying colors. Here’s the thing though, before you grow up, you should learn how to make the right kind of mistakes."

Madoka: "How can I? I don’t get it."

Junko: "You are still young, so it’s easy to bounce back after getting hurt. If you learn how to take life’s little hits now, it’ll help you later on. See, the older you get, the bigger the consequences are if you mess up. The more responsibilities you have, the less mistakes you’re allowed to make."

Madoka: "Hmm… That sounds really hard."

==Speculations==

{{Theory/Header|status=unknown}}
*If Mami's Soul Gem can be recovered, it may be possible to revive her. There is a catch, however:  Mami's Soul Gem takes the form of a hairpin, and as you know it was the first thing to get crushed in episode 3.
*Kyubey appears to eat Grief Seeds. What this means has yet to be seen. For more speculation on the subject, please refer to [[Speculah:Kyubey_is_Evil_Theory|Kyubey is Evil]]
{{Theory/Footer}}

==Images==

=== Screenshots ===
<gallery position="center" captionalign="left">
File:Hey diddle diddle.jpg|Madoka's homework is an English rhyme.
File:Ep6-DDR.jpg|The dancing game Kyoko is playing, probably inspired by Dance Dance Revolution.
File:QB eating grief seed.jpg|
</gallery>

=== Miscellaneous ===
<gallery position="center" captionalign="left">
File:Op ep6 vs ep5.jpg|The opening in episode 5 (top) versus episode 6. (bottom)
File:Ep06 Laser keyboard.jpg|Madoka's keyboard is similar to this commercially available Laser Keyboard.
File:Speculah Elly's seed.jpg|[[Elly]]'s Grief Seed from episode 4 was used in this episode.
File:Ep6_Endcard_Death.jpg| After flipping the original picture, Mahou Shoujos form the character "死" (death)
</gallery>

==See Also==
*Live watching threads featuring reactions to the episode as it aired: [http://archive.foolz.us/a/thread/45797027] and [http://archive.foolz.us/a/thread/45797109]
*[[Episode revisions#Episode 6|Revisions made in the BD version of this episode.]]
*The [[Inu Daruma Brothers]] appeared on the Dog Drug Reinforcement arcade game.

==External links==
*{{summary_link|06}}

{{Episode navigation
|title            = This Just Can't Be Right
|previous_episode = 5
|previous_title   = There's No Way I'll Ever Regret It
|next_episode     = 7
|next_title       = Can You Face Your True Feelings?
}}

[[Category:Episodes]]