Weapons: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 14:04, 8 January 2022

One of the typical "magical girl" anime characteristics that Madoka Magica stands out from is weaponry. While most such series feature weapons such as magical staffs and rods (when they show weapons at all), all heavily magic-related weaponry in Madoka is far more mundane, with the main characters using weapons such as bows, swords and spears.

Homura Akemi is particularly notable for using real-life firearms and explosives to great effect, lacking weapons of her own.

Appearance

Weapons listed by order of appearance in the episode: images do not necessarily follow this order.

Episode 1

Image	Name	Description
	High rise building	Walpurgis Night's favorite means of destruction involves lifting structures off their foundations as if they were weightless. While usually dispatching its familiars to deal with any opponent, it can also freely control these structures and toss them at an opponent.
	Fire extinguisher	A standard fire extinguisher, put to good use by Sayaka.
	Scissors	Sharp scissors wielded by Gertrud's familiar, Anthony. Running with them in hand is ill-advised.
	Percussion-lock rifled musket	Single-shot percussion-lock rifled musket, Mami's primary weapon. Easily summonable in numbers, fired by hand or remotely, and also usable as a melee weapon. Expended bullets can summon strings to ensnare the foe. Official artwork of this weapon has been released, and can be seen at the bottom of the page.

Episode 2

Image	Name	Description
	Baseball bat	A classic wooden baseball bat, used by Sayaka.
	Magic ribbons	Extending from her clothing or summoned out of the air, used by Mami. They can freely extend or constrict. Here seen used to save a woman, but can be used with offensive purposes, to trap an enemy.
	Enchanted bat	Sayaka's bat, infused with Mami's magic. Mostly for peace of mind, but useful against familiars. Grows spikes when swung and can extend a barrier if planted into the ground.
	Percussion-lock rifled musket	Single-shot percussion-lock rifled musket, Mami's primary weapon. Easily summonable in numbers, fired by hand or remotely, and also usable as a melee weapon. Expended bullets can summon strings to ensnare the foe.
	Scissors	Sharp scissors wielded by Gertrud's familiar, Anthony. Running with them in hand is ill-advised.
	Gertrud's throne	A couch-like throne in which Gertrud awaits her foes. Used here in an attempt to squash Mami.
	Scissors	A multitude of scissors Gertrud will use to cut the bad flowers that dare to harm her familiars.
	Bullet strings	Strings that grow from expended bullet casings of Mami's muskets, immobilizing enemies.
	"Finale Cannon"	An enormous percussion-lock cannon, produces a powerful blast. Used by Mami for her finisher, Tiro Finale.

Episode 3

Image	Name	Description
	"Finale Cannon #2"	An alternative weapon for Mami's Tiro Finale. An oversized cannon, though smaller than the one used in the previous episode. Uses a matchlock mechanism: Mami ignites the match cord by winking her right eye.
	Baseball bat	A classic wooden baseball bat, used by Sayaka.
	Magic ribbons	Extending from her clothing or summoned out of the air, used by Mami. They can freely extend or constrict. Here seen used to restrain Homura, reinforced with chains. Later used to form a protective cage around Madoka.
	Percussion-lock rifled musket	Single-shot percussion-lock rifled musket, Mami's primary weapon. Easily summonable in numbers, fired by hand or remotely, and also usable as a melee weapon. Expended bullets can summon strings to ensnare the foe.
	Twin cannons	A couple of large cannons, used by Mami in each hand.
	Bullet strings	Strings that grow from expended bullet casings of Mami's muskets, immobilizing enemies.
	"Finale Cannon #3"	A monstrous stationary cannon, used for yet another variation of Mami's Tiro Finale.
	Pipe bomb #2	A simple, yet powerful pipe bomb, assembled by hand by Homura from blueprints found on the internet. This is a different model than the most commonly used by Homura, adding a timer to the basic design.

Episode 4

Image	Name	Description
	Cutlass	Sayaka's weapon of choice, a cutlass, a short sword with a curved blade, best used for slashing, usually associated with sailors. Summonable in numbers. Most often used for close quarters, but can also be thrown. Very sharp. Official artwork of this weapon has been released, and can be seen at the bottom of the page.

Episode 5

Image	Name	Description
	Cutlass	Sayaka's weapon of choice, a cutlass, a short sword with a curved blade, best used for slashing, usually associated with sailors. Summonable in numbers. Most often used for close quarters, but can also be thrown. Very sharp.
	Modular spear	Kyoko's trademark weapon, a modular spear. While steel hard, it is extremely flexible, and can extend or bend easily. The handle can be broken down into numerous pieces, connected by a chain, allowing her to attack or defend over a wide area. The chain runs along the handle, ending in a heavy ball at the blunt side. The ball's weight is used to easily wrap the chain around foes, restricting them. Official artwork of this weapon has been released, and can be seen at the bottom of the page.

Episode 6

Image	Name	Description
	Cutlass	Sayaka's weapon of choice, a cutlass, a short sword with a curved blade, best used for slashing, usually associated with sailors. Summonable in numbers. Most often used for close quarters, but can also be thrown. Very sharp.
	Modular spear	Kyoko's trademark weapon, a modular spear. While steel hard, it is extremely flexible, and can extend or bend easily. The handle can be broken down into numerous pieces, connected by a chain, allowing her to attack or defend over a wide area. The chain runs along the handle, ending in a heavy ball at the blunt side. The ball's weight is used to easily wrap the chain around foes, restricting them.

Episode 7

Image	Name	Description
	Modular spear	Kyoko's trademark weapon, a modular spear. While steel hard, it is extremely flexible, and can extend or bend easily. The handle can be broken down into numerous pieces, connected by a chain, allowing her to attack or defend over a wide area. The chain runs along the handle, ending in a heavy ball at the blunt side. The ball's weight is used to easily wrap the chain around foes, restricting them.
	Cutlass	Sayaka's weapon of choice, a cutlass, a short sword with a curved blade, best used for slashing, usually associated with sailors. Summonable in numbers. Most often used for close quarters, but can also be thrown. Very sharp.

Episode 8

Image	Name	Description
	Modular spear	Kyoko's trademark weapon, a modular spear. While steel hard, it is extremely flexible, and can extend or bend easily. The handle can be broken down into numerous pieces, connected by a chain, allowing her to attack or defend over a wide area. The chain runs along the handle, ending in a heavy ball at the blunt side. The ball's weight is used to easily wrap the chain around foes, restricting them.
	Cutlass	Sayaka's weapon of choice, a cutlass, a short sword with a curved blade, best used for slashing, usually associated with sailors. Summonable in numbers. Most often used for close quarters, but can also be thrown. Very sharp.
	"Impulse" spear	A spear summoned by Kyoko directly from her Soul Gem, without the need to transform. Very quick to summon, and therefore useful in emergencies. Flexible like her regular spear, but other properties are unknown.
	M26 grenade	A post-WW2 American fragmentation grenade, affectionately known as the "lemon grenade", due to its shape. However, the one used by Homura is apparently a flashbang. Likely stolen from a US base in Japan.
	Beretta 92FS	A 9mm, semi-automatic pistol from the famous Italian manufacturer, Beretta. Designed for sporting and law enforcement, it is reliable and accurate, making it a popular handgun worldwide. With it, Homura is pinpoint accurate: she connected exactly fifteen shots, a standard full magazine of the 92 series. As the 92FS was adopted by the US military as the M9 pistol, it led to speculation that it might have been stolen from a US base in Japan.

Episode 9

Image	Name	Description
	Modular spear	Kyoko's trademark weapon, a modular spear. While steel hard, it is extremely flexible, and can extend or bend easily. The handle can be broken down into numerous pieces, connected by a chain, allowing her to attack or defend over a wide area. The chain runs along the handle, ending in a heavy ball at the blunt side. The ball's weight is used to easily wrap the chain around foes, restricting them.
	M84 stun grenade	A non-lethal grenade, the current standard issue of the US Army. Upon detonation, it emits an intensely loud "bang" over 170dB and blinding flash of more than one million candela and within 1.5 meters, sufficient to cause immediate (but temporary) flash blindness, deafness, tinnitus, and inner ear disturbance. The one used by Homura apparently functions as an offensive explosive as opposed to a stunning weapon.
	Oktavia's cutlass	A very large sword wielded by Oktavia von Seckendorff. The blade is similar to Sayaka's cutlass, but the handle has a much different design, without the handguard.
	Ornamental swords	Four swords of classical design, attached to Oktavia's pedestal, with her coat of arms hanging from them. Mostly for ornamental purposes.
	Wheels of fate	Large wooden carriage wheels, summoned in large numbers by Oktavia von Seckendorff. Capable of fast movement, they carry sufficient force to send a person flying away.
	"Scorpion spear"	A gigantic, scorpion tail-like spear summoned by Kyoko as a last resort. Appears to possess the same properties as her regular spear, but the amount of effort needed to summon it is life-threatening.

Episode 10

Image	Name	Description
	Rose branch bow	A bow resembling a rose branch (detail of the design), Madoka's trusted weapon. Fires magical arrows that home in on the foe, and is also capable of firing multiple arrows in one shot.
	Bullet strings	Strings that grow from expended bullet casings of Mami's muskets, immobilizing enemies.
	Golf driver	A driver, also known as wood (though not necessarily made of wood), a golf club for long distance shots, used to move the ball closer to the green. Given its size, it's most likely a 1-wood, the club with the largest range in any golfer's bag, generally with a 460cc head. This is the largest head size for a golf club, thus making it the most adequate for literal clubbing.
	Ice skates	Ice skates worn by Patricia's familiar, Mathieu. The blades are quite sharp, making them very dangerous.
	Magic ribbons	Extending from her clothing or summoned out of the air, used by Mami. They can freely extend or constrict.
	Pipe bomb	A simple, yet powerful pipe bomb, assembled by hand by Homura from blueprints found on the internet. Activated by a large button at the top.
	Katana	A katana found at a Shafuto Industries. Suspected to be a message from the producers, Studio Shaft, to possible licensers outside of Japan: a fellow animation studio, Studio Ghibli, is known to, when Miramax co-chairman Harvey Weinstein suggested editing Princess Mononoke to make it more marketable, have sent him an authentic katana with a simple message: "No cuts".
	Desert Eagle Mark XIX	A very large caliber handgun, chambered for .50AE. It rose to fame by its use in roughly 500 motion pictures and television broadcasts, most notably as The Agents' weapon in the Matrix triology. It is very powerful, on par with most magnum revolvers, but possesses little value on the battlefield: it is very unwieldy, being exceedingly large and heavy, and its magazine hold only seven rounds, due to their large size. Furthermore, it produces a monstrous recoil, making it very difficult to control. Homura's switch from this to the Beretta 92 can be seen as a sign of maturity and weapon expertise. Stolen from Shafuto Industries.
	Remington Model 870	A popular pump-action shotgun. Introduced in 1955 as a modern, streamlined, rugged, reliable, and relatively inexpensive shotgun, it has sold over ten million pieces by 2009, making it the best-selling shotgun in history. Its popularity is proven by its use in military and law enforcement in a dozen countries. Stolen from Shafuto Industries.
	9mm ammunition	A box of 9x19mm Parabellum ammo, containing 50 bullets. The NATO standard for handguns and submachine guns, it is among the most common cartridges in the world. Stolen from Shafuto Industries. Note the fact that neither weapon stolen from the locker is chambered for this round: the only weapon in the series that uses it is the Beretta 92, which Homura likely did not possess yet.
	Oktavia's cutlass	A very large sword wielded by Oktavia von Seckendorff. The blade is similar to Sayaka's cutlass, but the handle has a much different design, without the handguard. Dual wielded by Oktavia, in this timeline.
	Ornamental swords	Four swords of classical design, attached to Oktavia's pedestal, with her coat of arms hanging from them. Mostly for ornamental purposes.
	Wheels of fate	Large wooden carriage wheels, summoned in large numbers by Oktavia von Seckendorff. Capable of fast movement, they carry sufficient force to send a person flying away.
	Modular spear	Kyoko's trademark weapon, a modular spear. While steel hard, it is extremely flexible, and can extend or bend easily. The handle can be broken down into numerous pieces, connected by a chain, allowing her to attack or defend over a wide area. The chain runs along the handle, ending in a heavy ball at the blunt side. The ball's weight is used to easily wrap the chain around foes, restricting them.
	Percussion-lock rifled musket	Single-shot percussion-lock rifled musket, Mami's primary weapon. Easily summonable in numbers, fired by hand or remotely, and also usable as a melee weapon. Expended bullets can summon strings to ensnare the foe.
	Howa Type 89	A Japanese assault rifle, chambered for 5.56x45mm NATO, the most common assault rifle ammo. Introduced in 1989 as the standard-issue rifle of the Japan Self-Defense Forces, it is solely used by Japan due to its strict anti-military hardware export laws. It's affectionately known as "Buddy". Stolen from a JSDF base.
	FN Minimi	A Belgian 5.56mm light machine gun developed by the venerable manufacturer FN Herstal. Best known by the designation for its American variety, the M249 light machine gun (previously known as Squad Automatic Weapon (SAW)), it is in widespread use across the western world, and has been present in nearly every conflict since its inception. It provides infantry squads with the heavy volume of fire of a machine gun combined with accuracy and portability approaching that of a rifle, while also useful as a mounted weapon both in structures and in vehicles. Homura's particular weapon appears to be a paratrooper version with a 200 round drum. Stolen from a JSDF base.
	M26 grenade	A post-WW2 American fragmentation grenade, affectionately known as the "lemon grenade", due to its shape. However, the one used by Homura against Roberta appears to be a high explosive (HE) version, due to its large blast. Likely stolen from a US base in Japan. Interestingly, the homonymous Roberta from Black Lagoon is known to use exactly this model, being able to deploy several of them from her skirt.
	High rise building	Walpurgis Night's favorite means of destruction involves lifting structures off their foundations as if they were weightless. While usually dispatching its familiars to deal with any opponent, it can also freely control these structures and toss them at an opponent.

Episode 11

Image	Name	Description
	Rose branch bow	A bow resembling a rose branch (detail of the design), Madoka's trusted weapon. Fires magical arrows that home in on the foe, and is also capable of firing multiple arrows in one shot, as seen in the picture.
	Wood club	Cavemen's favorite weapon, according to Hollywood.
	Longbow	A typical medieval longbow. Tall and with a fairly long draw, it allows for greater range and power, at the cost of firing speed.
	Standard and sword	The standard and sword of the French hero, Joan of Arc. She wielded both, the standard as a symbol of leadership and hope, and the sword as a symbol of struggle.
	Siege ladder	The siege ladder, also known as escalade, was a vital component of medieval siege warfare. It is a high-risk, high-reward attack option, allowing quick insertion of troops in the core of the enemy's defense, but making the soldiers extremely vulnerable during the climb.
	Swords	Common medieval swords, for eons used to settle quells between men. Across the ages, their blades soaked the land red.
	Stuka dive bomber	The Junkers Ju 87, better known as Stuka (from Sturzkampfflugzeug, "dive bomber"), is a famous German aircraft that struck fear across the world. Before the development of guided munitions, diving towards the target was the most accurate way to deliver precision strikes. The Stuka was developed around that principle. Easily recognizable by its inverted gull wings, spatted undercarriage, and the infamous Jericho-Trompete, an extremely loud siren, whose sound stuck panic into civilians and soldiers alike, and soon became a propaganda tool for the Luftwaffe's air power.
	Heavy jet	An heavy aircraft with four jet engines, possibly a bomber or transport aircraft. Indiscernible model.
	Wheels of fate	Large wooden carriage wheels, summoned in large numbers by Oktavia von Seckendorff. Capable of fast movement, they carry sufficient force to send a person flying away. Seen on the top left corner.
	Desert Eagle Mark XIX	A very large caliber handgun, chambered for .50AE. It rose to fame by its use in roughly 500 motion pictures and television broadcasts, most notably as The Agents' weapon in the Matrix triology. It is very powerful, on par with most magnum revolvers, but possesses little value on the battlefield: it is very unwieldy, being exceedingly large and heavy, and its magazine hold only seven rounds, due to their large size. Furthermore, it produces a monstrous recoil, making it very difficult to control. Homura's switch from this to the Beretta 92 can be seen as a sign of maturity and weapon expertise. Stolen from Shafuto Industries.
	Magic ribbons	Extending from her clothing or summoned out of the air, used by Mami. They can freely extend or constrict.
	Percussion-lock rifled musket	Single-shot percussion-lock rifled musket, Mami's primary weapon. Easily summonable in numbers, fired by hand or remotely, and also usable as a melee weapon. Expended bullets can summon strings to ensnare the foe.
	Pipe bomb	A simple, yet powerful pipe bomb, assembled by hand by Homura from blueprints found on the internet. Activated by a large button at the top.
	AT-4	A Swedish anti tank 84-mm unguided, portable, single-shot smoothbore weapon. It is recoilless: however, it produces a large back blast that can cause severe burns. The launcher and projectile are manufactured prepacked and issued as a single unit of ammunition with the launcher discarded after a single use. The AT4 requires little training and is quite simple to use, making it suitable for general issue. In use in over 20 countries.
	RPG-7	The Ruchnoy Protivotankovyy Granatomyot 7, or RPG-7, is a famous Russian anti-tank shoulder launched RPG. The favorite heavy weapon of the east, it is arguably one of the most recognizable weapons in the world and a poster-child of war worldwide, on par with the fellow Russian AK-47, having been used in nearly every conflict from the Vietnam War until today.
	L16 mortar	A British smoothbore 81mm mortar. Usable on ground or vehicle-mounted, although the first is falling in disuse, due to the unpleasantness for a squad to carry a 35.3kg piece of equipment, plus ammunition. Likely stolen from a JSDF base.
	Twin towers	A couple of large structures used by Homura to land a massive blunt hit on Walpurgis Night. Imploded by the use of explosives, detonated remotely.
	Tanker truck	A typical large tanker truck, with a capacity of more than 20000 liters of liquid or gas fuel. Given a rather creative (and explosive) use by Homura.
	Type 88 Surface-to-Ship Missile	A truck-mounted battery of 6 anti-ship missiles, in use by the JSDF. Anti-ship missiles are quite large, with long range (usually over 100Km) carrying powerful warheads, but are also designed to carry as much kinetic energy as possible: the purpose of these missiles is not to completely destroy a ship, but to cause critical damage by rupturing the hull near water-level. This is shown by how Walpurgis Night was overwhelmingly pushed away by them.
	Unknown missiles	A couple of launchers with very large missiles exposed. Unknown model, possibly Harpoon anti-ship missiles.
	C-4	High-yield explosives used by Homura, most likely C-4 charges, used to line the entire wall of a large building, resulting in a massive explosion.
	Crown scepter	A royal-like scepter wielded by one of Walpurgis's familiars.
	Candy wand	A candy-shaped wand wielded by one of Walpurgis's familiars. Given that Walpurgis uses former magical girls as likeness for her familiars, the candy theme, and the overall body shape, it is suspected this is a representation Charlotte's magical girl form, and thus, that this was her weapon.
	Howa Type 89	A Japanese assault rifle, chambered for 5.56x45mm NATO, the most common assault rifle ammo. Introduced in 1989 as the standard-issue rifle of the Japan Self-Defense Forces, it is solely used by Japan due to its strict anti-military hardware export laws. It's affectionately known as "Buddy". Stolen from a JSDF base.
	High rise building	Walpurgis Night's favorite means of destruction involves lifting structures off their foundations as if they were weightless. While usually dispatching its familiars to deal with any opponent, it can also freely control these structures and toss them at an opponent.

Episode 12

Image	Name	Description
	Rose branch bow	A bow resembling a rose branch (detail of the design), Madoka's trusted weapon. Fires magical arrows that home in on the foe, and is also capable of firing multiple arrows in one shot.
	Viking sword and shield	A broken set of Viking Age sword and shield. The sword, in partiular, resembles the Cawood sword, the best preserved piece of the age in existence. Swords of the age were quite long, measuring almost one meter in length, yet were single-handed, and not two-handed as modern legends state.
	Viking battle axe	A broken axe. Although with a design reminiscent from Viking Age battle axes, the double-bitted axes depicted in modern "Viking" art are likely pure fantasy.
	Armored combat vehicle	A tracked vehicle with a main gun and possibly explosive reactive armor. Probably an MBT of unknown model, but might also be a piece of self-propelled artillery.
	Pike	A very long pole weapon, used for defense against cavalry and for attacking over and through enemy formations. Experienced soldiers may used them in "hedgehog" formation, presenting a menacing forest of pikeheads to the enemy. However, due to their length, they are extremely unwieldy for close combat, and thus pikemen usually carried a secondary weapon, such as a sword. Here used by several pikemen, guarding Joan of Arc's execution by burning at the stake.
	Holy bow	Madoka's bow in her "Goddess" form. The design is similar to her regular bow, but it is longer and the extremities are immaterial.
	Desert Eagle Mark XIX	A very large caliber handgun, chambered for .50AE. It rose to fame by its use in roughly 500 motion pictures and television broadcasts, most notably as The Agents' weapon in the Matrix triology. It is very powerful, on par with most magnum revolvers, but possesses little value on the battlefield: it is very unwieldy, being exceedingly large and heavy, and its magazine hold only seven rounds, due to their large size. Furthermore, it produces a monstrous recoil, making it very difficult to control. Homura's switch from this to the Beretta 92 can be seen as a sign of maturity and weapon expertise. Stolen from Shafuto Industries.
	Modular spear	Kyoko's trademark weapon, a modular spear. While steel hard, it is extremely flexible, and can extend or bend easily. The handle can be broken down into numerous pieces, connected by a chain, allowing her to attack or defend over a wide area. The chain runs along the handle, ending in a heavy ball at the blunt side. The ball's weight is used to easily wrap the chain around foes, restricting them.
	Ebony bow	A bow wielded by Homura, in the new universe. Bears a great similarity to Madoka's bow, but the shaft is made of much darker wood, and the gems are purple, akin to her Soul Gem. The shaft is also symmetric, with no adornments, such as Madoka's rose.