User:Momoism/Madoka

Madoka Kaname
Japanese Name	鹿目まどか (Kaname Madoka)
Seiyū	Aoi Yuuki
Age	14
Weapon	Rose Branch Bow

Description

The main character of the anime series Puella Magi Madoka Magica, described as "an average eighth-grader -- the kind you could find anywhere." She lives a comfortable life with her mother, father, and little brother, and attends Mitakihara Middle School with her friend Sayaka Miki.

Browsing a music store with Sayaka one day, Madoka hears a strange voice in her head calling for help, and seeks it out. The voice turns out to belong to Kyubey, an alien seeking to grant the wishes of young girls and transform them into Puella Magi, "magical girls" who combat beings known as Witches. After meeting Mami Tomoe, an upperclassman at Mitakihara Middle School and a veteran Puella Magi, Madoka begins to consider contracting herself, but is stopped by the mysterious Homura Akemi, a transfer student to her class. Homura appears to be dedicated to preventing Madoka from becoming a Puella Magi, while Kyubey is equally dedicated to contracting with her: for reasons unknown, she has the potential to become the most powerful magical girl that has ever lived.

The series revolves around Madoka's decision to become a magical girl, and the wish she shall make.

Personality

Madoka is overall a kind, well-behaved, and outgoing girl who deeply wants to help others; as her official description on the series' website states, "even her bow-wielding magical girl form projects an air of kind friendliness." Perhaps because of this desire, she is also plagued by self-doubt: she feels that she doesn't excel at anything in particular, and thus won't achieve anything of worth in her life.

In school, Madoka's interests appear to veer toward the arts: Art is her favorite subject, she enjoys sketching, and is a member of both the Gardening and Crafts clubs. She doesn't perform as well in the natural sciences and Phys. Ed., but tries to be a good student nonetheless; she never "borrows" her friends' notes without permission, and always arrives at school on time.

History

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Powers, Weapons & Abilities

Madoka firing one of her magical arrows.

Madoka's main weapon is a bow shaped like a rose branch; the rose at its tip "blooms" whenever she fires an arrow. She can fire multiple arrows at once, and the arrows are capable of homing in on enemies, making her a powerful and versatile Puella Magi.

While she initially does not seem to be any more powerful than Mami or Sayaka, Madoka's power seems to increase exponentially within each timeline. In the first timeline she was merely an ordinary magical girl; in the last timeline, she already had enough power to defeat Walpurgis with one shot, then in her witch form was capable of destroying the entire Earth. She also satisfied all of Kyubey's energy quotas for the entire planet. In the current timeline Kyubey claims that Madoka's power could be called godlike. She is said to be capable of even changing the laws of the universe if she wished for it.

Confirmed as of Episode 11, due to a Puella Magi's power being linked to the level of causality they would effect on their world (e.g. a queen whose actions could decide the fate of a nation would make a more powerful Puella Magi than a common schoolgirl whose area of effect is considerably smaller). Homura's resets link multiple parallel universes together with Madoka's fate as their center, augmenting the amount of effect she would have on them. Also, with every reset, Homura would force yet another parallel universe to be centered around Madoka, thus further adding to her potential power.
Confirmed as of Episode 12, Madoka's magic is powerful enough to create a parallel universe; this is destroyed by her witch transformation at the end of time.

Trivia

Ume Aoki's design notes for Madoka are as follows:
- I drew her keeping in mind that as the main character she needs to be average, but also an exceptionally good girl. Hence her puffy, high-placed twin tails. The design and color of her ribbons took a lot of work, but in the end calmed down to something simple.
- On her magical girl outfit: Madoka was drawn to be the very image of a magical girl. I added an almost fairytale-ish hints, so hopefully female viewers will be charmed by her as well.
- On her school uniform: Designed to convey the classy image of a private girls’ school, while not being -too- normal. Its distinguishing point is the small hole at the nape of the neck.
The first character of her last name (鹿) means "deer". The last character (目) means "eye."
Her last name can also be used as a first name.
Her last name sounds the same as (要), which means "keystone" or "hub". In the eleventh episode of the anime, Kyubey reveals that Madoka's great magic power has developed due to her becoming the "hub" of multiple universes, all of which were created due to Homura's wish to save her.
Her first name is written in hiragana, which has no particular meaning. However, when written in kanji, it can mean "round" or "tranquil" (円).
Madoka has many stuffed animals similar in appearance to Kyubey in her room.

Speculation

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Warning: this section contains spoilers for the anime.

Madoka and Mami 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.
- Madoka is also never seen with her Soul Gem in a ring form.