Mami Tomoe

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"Tomoe mami here."
"A senior at Mitakihara Middle School, just like you two."
"And... I'm a mahou shoujo that has made a contract with Kyubey." ~ Mami Tomoe in Episode 2

Mami Tomoe
Japanese Name	巴 マミ (Tomoe Mami)
Seiyū	Kaori Mizuhashi
Age	14-15 (estimated)
Weapon	Rifled Percussion-lock Muskets

Mami Tomoe is a magical girl who appears to Madoka and Sayaka as they are attacked by a Witch in episode 1. She is already contracted to Kyubey and offers to act as a mentor to the pair if they so chose to become magical girls themselves. She seemingly dies a gruesome death in the battle against the witch Charlotte in episode 3.

Official Info

A ninth-grader who attends Madoka’s school. A kind senior to Madoka, she’s the helpful, sisterly type. However, the gun she wields contrasts with that image.

• Ms. Aoki’s Design Check: Her twisty, curly hair and floral hairpin make her seem like a big sister. Also, I gave her pretty big boobs. {tl note: Never change, Ume-tentei.}
• Magical girl outfit: Mami’s design was definiely centered around her image as a gunner. The second thing that stands out are her breasts. (Aoki)
• Her bustier and boots give her a Western flavor which her cap accentuates.
• School uniform: Her style stands out even in uniform. Just as Ms. Aoki says, her breasts are the largest of the four. She wears pure white tights. (However, in the final design, she's seen wearing dark color tights.)
• As revealed in episode 10, Mami has had multiple demises. Her first demise was when fighting Walpurgis Night. In a later timeline, Madoka kills a Mami who has fallen into insanity and despair in order to protect Homura.
  • In Oriko Magica is different, where the possibly the only timeline Mami is alive and teams with Kyouko and Yuma against Oriko and Kirika.
• She was brought back to life due to Madoka's wish at the end of Episode 12. She now fights Demons with Kyoko and Homura.

Fun Facts

We suspect this is an accurate depiction

• The character for her last name (巴) literally means "comma design," a Japanese swirl pattern. More info here.
• Her last name can also be used as a first name.
• Her first name is written in katakana, which has no particular meaning. When written in kanji, it can be read as:
  • graceful jewel (雅珠)
  • light of love (愛光)
  • true heart (真心)
  • truth （真実）
  • sea of the heavens (天海)
  • dancing beauty (舞美)
  • dancing light (舞光)
  • polished beauty (磨美)
  • sparkling purple (晶紫)
  • magical beauty (魔美)
  • magical charm (魔魅)
  • intense hemp (麻深)
• She is the only character whose first name is written in katakana (contrasting with Madoka, Sayaka and Homura, whose names are written in Hiragana). This can have several implications: firstly, that "Mami" has foreign origins (in line with the "Western flavor" Ume Aoki gave to Mami's magical girl outfit); secondly, that Mami is much, much older than the other girls (an unlikely possibility, considering that katakana was used for girls' names prior to the Asia-Pacific War; the cars in Mami's flashback in Episode 3 look fairly modern)..
  • In Mami's case, it is not a traditional name, so that this discussion about naming rules prior to WW2 is not applicable directly.
  • Also, almost all the kanji examples above are not familiar for Japanese names.
  • Finally, the creators may simply have been referencing another "Mami" character whose name was written in katakana. For example, the protagonist of the famous magical-girl anime Creamy Mami, the Magic Angel has her name written in katakana rather than hiragana or kanji.
• The finishing move Mami used on the witch Gertrud and later Charlotte voiced out as "tiro finale" which means "final shot" in Italian.

Observations

• She lives alone in an apartment after her parents died in a car accident. She used her wish to save her own life from the accident and feels guilty for forgetting about her parents in that moment of desperation.
• Mami does not regret making her wish, preferring life as a lonely magical girl to death. What she does seem to regret, however, is not having had more time to think over it. She tells Madoka to think carefully of her wish, as she wasn't able to; she also chastises Sayaka when she asks if the wish has to be for herself or someone else, asking her outright if she truly wants to help the other person (Kamijou) or wants him to be in debt with her instead.
• When assaulting Gertrud's barrier, Mami fights in a very focused and disciplined manner, choosing her shots carefully and reacting quickly when she gets into trouble. When hyped up on the Power of Friendship in Charlotte's barrier, she jumps recklessly into battle and freezes up when Charlotte transforms, leading to her getting eaten.
• It's implied in the series that she knew Kyouko, and may have learned what her wish was. In Episode 2, Mami talks about how magical girls can view each other as competition. She displays hidden eyes when saying this, suggesting she had a very bad personal experience. In Episode 3, after Kyubey says someone had previously made a wish for someone else, Mami claims that the wish didn't have a happy ending and again seems to have a pained expression. It seems in both cases she is talking about Kyouko, who views other magical girls as competition and who also made a wish for someone else. The unreleased prequel manga Oriko Magica is likely to explicitly confirm this, as it stars Kyouko and Mami.
• Her fighting style while fighting Charlotte's minions resembles the gun kata from the movie Equilibrium. Gen Urobuchi is a fan of the movie and has written a fanfic about it, called Jouka no Monshou.
• The magic that Mami uses to summon muskets inside her skirt during her curtsy visually resembles the manner in which Roberta the Maid unloads grenades from her skirt in the manga/anime series Black Lagoon. In Bakemonogatari -- another anime by director Akiyuki Shinbo -- the heroine, Hitagi Senjōgahara, unloads office supplies from her skirt for use as weapons in much the same way.
• In episode 10, Mami from Timeline 1 seems to know that Walpurgis Night is coming. In episode 6, Kyouko implied that Walpurgis Night's approach cannot be predicted.
• While she appears to be mentally strong, Mami is much more emotionally frail than she seems to. In episode 3 Mami admits it openly in front of Madoka, and in the manga rendition of said scene she even says that she cries a lot when on her own, thus declaring that she is no real role model for anyone before Madoka tells her she's not alone.
• In episode 10, learning the awful truth about the Puella Magi after fighting Sayaka/Oktavia makes Mami from Timeline 3 lose her mind, since her whole view of the world is shattered. She breaks down in tears, kills Kyouko by shooting her Soul Gem, then wraps Homura in vines and tries to kill her in a similar manner, genuinely thinking that she is saving them from a fate worse than death. Madoka, however, destroys Mami's Soul Gem with a beam arrow and kills her to stop her rampage, before she and Homura go fight in Walpurgis Night.
• Episode 10 and, even further, the Blu-ray edition of Episode 2, radically modify Mami's apartment. At first her apartment looked quite spartan reinforcing the idea that she is by herself with no one to support her (emphasizing her loneliness). Later revisions instead fill up her room with several items, beautifully decorated with nice furniture; the reason for this may be to display that she may come from a wealthy background.
  • It is possible she inherited her family's assets and probably insurance money. The way she dresses and talks indicates that she comes from a wealthy family. The decorations at her place are consistent with that image.
• Mami and Madoka are the only Puellae Magi known who are never seen having a mark on any of their fingernails (see a picture below). Homura, Kyouko and Sayaka all have marks on their left middle fingers, matching the shape of the emblem of their respective Soul Gem. The meaning of that is unknown, speculations range from a production error to a connection to their wishes.
  • It's a production error. Homura, Kyoko and Sayaka don't have their marks in every single shots showing that finger. Reading into it any more than that is silly.
• One of Mami's special abilities is her power to link and tie up things, she uses ribbons as special tools to capture her targets and restrain them.

Speculation

• The exact phrasing of Mami's wish is currently unknown. It's possible that she wished not to "die alone", and thus died in episode three because the terms of her contract/wish were fulfilled. According to the manga, she simply asked Kyubey to "save her" during her car accident, but whether this is canonical for the anime is unknown. However, this is theory is called into question when she is shown alive and well in Time Line 3, when all of Madoka, Sayaka, Homura and Kyouko are her Puella Magi colleagues.

• It is possible that Mami may be able to be brought back to life without a wish. This is due to the body of a magical girl merely being the "husk" and that the soul is what keeps them alive; as long as her Soul Gem can be found, her life may be able to be restored. There is a catch, however: Mami's soul gem takes the form of a hairpin, and it was the first thing to be crushed in episode 3.

• While Mami does not appear in Timeline 4, circumstance seems to imply that she was killed by Charlotte. In both Timeline 4 and Timeline 5, Madoka does not immediately contract with Kyubey, and Homura in Timeline 4 was determined to battle the witches by herself. Without any meaningful back-up, Mami failed to realize that Charlotte made use of a decoy doll until it was too late. This may have been what Homura meant when she tries to warn Mami in Episode 3 that Charlotte is different from the witches she'd dealt with so far.

• Because Mami's death has such a big impact on Madoka and Sayaka, many fans speculate that Kyubey intended to have Mami killed in order to force Madoka and/or Sayaka to become Puellae Magi. This is somewhat evidenced by the fact that Kyubey is later demonstrated as having a longer range of communication than Madoka and Sayaka originally think. That Kyubey figures Homura out so quickly (but never tells about it) reinforces this theory, as it is quite possible that Kyubey created a false rivalry between Mami and Homura to this specific end.
  • It is therefore possible (though not probable) that he may have done this to Mami from the very beginning. We never see the details of the car crash that almost killed her, and therefore the possibility arises that Kyubey deliberately left a Grief Seed somewhere close enough to the car to create the accident.

Mami in Oriko Magica

Mami appears in the third chapter of Oriko Magica.

• In the third chapter, Mami fights Charlotte again, this time surviving the battle. She learns of the recent deaths of Puellae Magi from Kyubey. He tells her that these deaths were caused by a black Puella Magi, not a witch. Mami decides to investigate, and she asks Kyouko for information. Kyouko doesn't know much more than Mami, but asks her about a white Puella Magi named Oriko. Mami doesn't know her, but when she probes for more information, Kyouko rebuffs her. Yuma believes the blonde is bullying Kyouko, and flips her skirt in retaliation, making Mami cry. Mami later crosses paths with Homura and tries to warn her about murders, but Homura tells her to stay away from "us" (presumably Homura, Madoka and Sayaka). She then meets Kirika Kure, who has lost a precious stuffed toy given to her by someone important. Mami finds the toy and returns it to Kirika, who claims that Mami is her savior and treats her to crepes. Mami accidentally sets Kirika off by saying that she must "be affectionate" towards the person who gave Kirika the doll. A witch appears, surrounding Kirika. As Mami is contemplating how to kill it without hurting Kirika, the girl destroys the witch herself. Kirika, who turns out to be the black Puella Magi, attacks Mami to prove her devotion to her love.

Gallery

Official art

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  Original character design by Ume Aoki

• Mami Tomoe.jpg

  Screenshot

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  Mami's muskets design

• Homura ring.png

  Mami's Soul Gem as a ring

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  Translated Ume 4koma from Madoka BD volume 1

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  Ume Aoki's 4koma from the Madoka BD 2 fanbook

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  Ume Aoki doujin "RKGKMDK" from COMIC1☆5, under Apricot+ alias

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  Ume seems to support Mamilotte in doujin artwork.

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  Mami is "..." while Homura and Kyouko calls out and goes running after Madoka and Sayaka. Mami is all alone. By Hanokage.

Mami as a Puella Magi

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  Tiro Finale!

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  Mami's unlimited rifles work

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  A proper lady should always curtsy.

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  Her Gun fu is strong.

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  Mami's soul gem

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  Closeup of Mami's hands (and Soul Gem) in Episode 2's BD version. Note the lack of mark on any of her fingernails.

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  Another closeup of Mami's left hand, this time with her Soul Gem as a ring. Also no mark on her fingernails.

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  Charlotte's grief seed and Mami's cup.

Blu-Ray versus TV broadcast

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  Regular broadcast gives Mami's apt. the appearance of a spartan atmosphere. Blu-ray edition decorates Mami's place with so many nice things that would make anyone envious. It even has a second floor!

• Mami soul gem tv vs bd.jpg

Analysis

• Madokapine.jpg

  Coincidence, or something... DEEPER?

Fanart

This section contains fanart images

Everything in the following fan gallery is created, or the comments accompanying them are created, for entertainment value and should not be confused with actual canon events of the Puella Magi franchise.

• Madoka1296141803171.png

  An early 4-koma speculating on Mami's wish.

• Madoka1296219874638.png

  A 4-koma speculating on Mami and Homura's relationship.

• Let me think about it.jpg

  Exaggeration of Mami's desperation for friends

• Mami lonely.jpg

  Being a Puella Magi is a solitary job.

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  Fan coloring of Ume's work

• Mamilotte fanart.jpg

  Mamilotte fanart. Charlotte looks suspiciously like Madoka.

• CharlottexMamixMadoka or the CMM Sammitch.jpg

  The Mammi Sandwitch. Get it?

• Tomoe Mami ordinary day.jpg

  A fan illustration with Mami's hair down

• Mami's dreams.jpg

  Mami suffered quietly in isolation, Kyuoko was a lonewolf, Sayaka fought with friends, and Homura lost her friends to death. Clearly Urobuchi's idea of friendship.

• Mami 2.0.jpg

  Mami, forget magic. It's time for you to join the 21st century.

• Tiro Finale 2.0.jpg
• WMD Mami.jpg

  "Gentlemen, we can rebuild her. We have the technology. We have the capability to build the world's first bionic mahou shoujo. Mami Tomoe will be that girl. Better than she was before. Better...stronger...faster."

Other

• Mami-musket-1.jpg

  A faithful musket replica created by a fan

• Mami-musket-2.jpg

  Even the firing mechanism's design is replicated

• Mami-musket-3.jpg

  Insert compress gas

• Mami-musket-4.jpg

  Nice details.

• Fan creation Mami Soul Gem Flower.jpg

  Fan creation of Mami's Jewelry

• Fan creation Mami hairpin.jpg

  Fan creation of Mami's hairpin

• Fan creation Soul Gem Mami.jpg

  Fan creation of Mami's Soul Gem with a flower design.

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  Homura isn't the only character favored in the military

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  Mami on a Stryker. Befriending inbound.

Videos regarding Mami's musket replicas:

• Video one
• Video two

External links

• Mami Tomoe at Pixiv image repository (Japanese)
• Mami Tomoe at Danbooru image repository (NSFW)