Talk:Madoka Kaname

memories of Madoka

It should be added that Tatsuya can see her while their parents think of her as imaginary friend.

• He cannot see her, only remembered her.Saluki.N 22:08, 29 June 2011 (UTC)
  • He draws her in her magical girl outfit, which he had never seen before Madoka reset the world. He probably both remembers and has seen her since her ascension. --CrownClown 22:28, 29 June 2011 (UTC)
    • I wonder if Madoka visits Tatsuya whenever she can, it would be like her if she did. --Mutopis 23:53, 29 June 2011 (UTC)

Madoka and Minding her Motive

During the series we notice that Madoka cant never make up her mind when it comes to making a wish or not. All she seems to be doing is crying and blaming herself for being so weak. But is that really what is happening? It is true, Madoka feels weak and small, powerless to do anything for anyone. She knows that by becoming a Puella Magi that feeling of worhtlessness would change. But she is also afraid of dying and becoming a witch, a monster that could destroy her world and even her family. Madoka feels trapped, like she has no choice. But there is also something happening behind her mind as well. Before Madoka can take any action, she needs to understand herself.

The intellectual philosopher Kant states that "If all human beings are worthy of respect, regardless of who they are or where they live, then it's wrong to treat them as mere instruments of the collective happiness." To Kant, utilitarianism (and Kyubey) is not only immoral but incorrect. One example is the shopkeer: "A chid goes to the store and buys a loaf of bread. The grocer could overchage the kid, charge him more than the usual price for a loaf of bread and the child would never know. But the grocer realizes that if his customers discovered that he took advantage of a child, word might spread out and hurt his business. For this reason, he decides not to overcharge the kid. So he charges him the usual price. So the shopkeeper does the right thing, but for the wrong reason. The only reason he deals honestly with the child is to protect his reputation. The shopkeeper acts honestly only for the sake of self interest; the shopkeer's action lacks moral worth." To Kant, what matters is the quaility of the will, the character of the motive."[1]

This example works the same way with Sayaka. Sayaka made a contract with Kyubey to heal Kyosuke. A selfless noble act to help a friend. But that is not Sayaka's true motive, regardless of whatever she says to defend her actions. Sayaka's true motive is that if Kyosuke is healed, then he would get better and then he would fall in love with Sayaka once he sees her sacrifice. But that wasn't Sayaka's wish nor that is what happened. And because Sayaka's wish went unfulfilled she felt into despair, not because she was selfish but because she failed to recognize her real motive behind her wish. Not only that but she used healing Kyosuke as a way to earn Kyosuke's love. Sayaka violated her own rights as an attempt to gain something in return, and she never consulted with Kyosuke if he would ever accept such deal (nor is he under any obligation to do so; and if Sayaka tried to force Kyosuke in such deal she would be violating his rights as well, since he never gave consent).

We need to understand Madoka's true motives regarding in becoming a Puella Magi prior to Episode 11 and her refusal during the series. It is easy to see why Madoka would refuse to make a wish, it means death (or a fate worst than death) so any rational person would refuse (as we saw during her conversation with Homura in Episode 4). But if that is the case then why is Madoka kept tempted to make a wish? This is where motive is important. In Episode 8 Sayaka has a fight with Madoka, this leads to Madoka to blame herself for being weak and terrified of helping her friend. Madoka hates herself for this. Now at first it seems like Madoka is regretting her lack of action and she is tempted to make a wish to help and save Sayaka from her suffering, but this is not so. Madoka's motive is not to help Sayaka, instead she is afraid of being hated by Sayaka, a completely different understanding lacking the true nobility of friendship. There is another observation that is equally important, Madoka scene with Kyubey in which he is trying to temp Madoka to make a wish. In this scene Kyubey is trying to convince Madoka that by making a wish she could become a god, he is trying to deceive Madoka into the belief that by becoming a powerful god she can fix everything. But what Kyubey doesnt tell her is that there are no guanratees nor he has any interest to fix anything. But let us look at Madoka's motive. At first glance it seems like Madoka is willing to become a sacrifice to the universe so she can fix everything, save everyone. But is that Madoka's true motive? As before, Madoka's motive is not to fix everything for the good, but to fix the wrongs so she would stop suffering and feeling sorry about herself (she wants to change Sayaka back to normal, perhaps as a way to atone her cowardly lack of action). It is during this scene that Madoka confesses to Kyubey that she always felt insignificant, useless, and she would never be able to do anything for anyone to create happiness for others and for herself. As you can see Madoka's motives at first seem noble but that is not her true motive; what we learn is that Madoka wishes she could be useful so she would stop being worthless (what Madoka desires is to stop feeling sorry about herself, she wants to avoid any more pain and suffering). Nothing has changed, Madoka continues to believe she is weak, that she is powerless, that if she fixes everything she can feel good about herself. If we watch the scene at first it seems like Kyubey is suggesting a noble sacrifice but in truth all Madoka wants to do is to end the suffering so she would stop her own suffering as well.

As the series continues, Madoka's thoughts are slowly changing, specially in Episode 11. Madoka learns an important lesson from Kyubey, a history of sacrifice and how it has affected humanity. Madoka realizes that it is not about her anymore, it is about the people around her and the puellae magi that came before her. The sacrifices of those girls, their suffering, and how mankind benefited all from it.

Madoka has gained a lot of information that allows her to reflect about herself, and about others. Madoka's motives changes from "I want to stop being weak and feeling bad about myself" to "I want to save everyone, not to feel good about myself, but to stop the suffering and save everyone" and that "everyone" includes her family, her friends, and Homura. That's Madoka's true motive. Madoka goes from wanting to be selfless for selfish reasons to wanting to be selfless for selflessness itself ("To act freely is not to choose the best means to a given end. It's to choose the end itself for its own sake"). By removing Madoka's selfish desire from her wish, she literally removes her self and her physical presence as a consequence. What Madoka is doing is trying to respect the humanity of others, she isnt using her own sacrifice to make herself good, she cast away that selfish idea ("being selfless for selfish reasons"). During her scene with her mother in Episode 11 Madoka has finally grown up, she knows that what she is doing will hurt her family but she also knows she is the only one who can save her family and her town. Not as a noble sacrifice, but as a moral duty as an adult. Madoka wants to do the right thing for the right reasons, she wants to stop the Puellae Magi's suffering, not to make Madoka powerful, not to make Madoka feel good about herself, but because she truly believes it is the right thing to do to stop the cycle of suffering.

Madoka's journey was long and painful and critics would like to say that Madoka was too indecisive. But I think the reason it was such a long journey for Madoka, it's because Madoka was just being a typical teenage girl trying to figure out herself.

As a final note, the concert scene with Sayaka is an indicator of how much Madoka has grown. Madoka admits that she could have changed Sayaka's fate, but to do so she would have stopped her from making her wish, so instead she allowed Sayaka's right to follow her decision. Sayaka agrees with Madoka's choice to respect her decision. This indicates that Madoka would respect puellae magi's wishes and their choices, giving them the dignity and respect that Kyubey never gave them. Then when their time was over, Madoka would come and help them pass so their sacrifice wouldnt be in vain and their suffering would end quietly with no regrets.

I never actually thought that reading someone else's philosophically-founded analysis could increase my understanding of an anime, but you've done it. This was very insightful for me. とっても素敵。Holycrap 21:16, 19 August 2011 (UTC)