Tumblr post cannot be pinned, can they? Well, maybe I'll link it on a sidebar later.
Hello. Welcome for the first time to Lord Nashu's Writing Desk. Where I, Lord Nashu, will ever so often come to talk about a chapter I recently put out. I'm a webnovelist, you see, and for the past two years now, I've been sharing two of my stories to royalroad.com.
The Other Side of Myth
blends Portal Fantasy, Future Fantasy, and High Fantasy to tell an action packed tale of a girl whose fate ties two worlds together. Bound in a web of it, she must navigate the Magical World of Magdalea, to save both it and her home world of Nandaxia.
Dark Orange: Revive|Reborn
now in its second book, it is an urban fantasy post-apocalyptic tale about stopping the resurrection of the God Eternal, in the shrouded city of New York. Violent, Vicious, and Vile, history has shown that this God has nothing good planned for the world. Doesn't help that New York seems to have grown its own fangs in the mean time.
Occasionally, over on the former bird app, I'd talk about the mind that went into my writing, but that was a bit cumbersome. Thus, the Writing Desk. Where I can share these thoughts in fully typed out post.
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Letting yourself work on new project is the healthiest thing you can do.
There's a lot of bad advice you get when it comes to writing that always boils down to, "Don't do this." And "Don't do that." Which ultimately stops a lot of writers from just doing, and lately, I've been deciding to shoo those "don't do's" away.
One "Don't Do" I go stuck up in was not starting new projects until I finished current ones. It seemed like the responsible thing to do, except, as I went on and new story ideas came to me, I found myself resentful toward my current projects. Or at least burnt out.
I was treating them like I was a contract writer, working for a big time publisher instead of a hobbyist who hopes to make a living off of things I care about. One idea after another came and I just put a pin in them until I reached a level of burnout so intense that I didn't care anymore.
And, you know?
It's so much better. It's ALWAYS better to break the chains and let creation be freedom.
So, there's a "Do" for any writer who sees this. Do let yourself work on a new project, it's the healthiest thing you can do for yourself and your current stories.
The mirror crack'd from side to side;
'The curse is come upon me,' cried
The Lady of Shalott.
--Alfred Lord Tennyson
One thing that I appreciate about the ending of Rebellion is how reality literally splinters when Homura grabs Madokami's hands. It's such a visceral and compelling way to illustrate what is happening as everything that we took as "real" falls apart. This isn't quite what people mean by "breaking the fourth wall," but it's a similar effect, as it draws attention to an invisible barrier that we in the audience didn't even realize was there until it was broken. And of course it mirrors--pun 100% intended--the shattering of Homura's own soul gem moments earlier because any distinction between them no longer exists.
We often talk about a "mirrorverse" (thanks, Star Trek!) as a parallel universe where everything is reversed/inverted, but isn't that exactly what Homura has created here--a mirror universe?
And with the mirror come reflections. Lots of them. Everything is doubled, again and again.
It culminates with the tearing apart of Madoka from the Law of Cycles, complete with the sound of breaking glass.
What I hadn't quite realized before I watched this scene in slow motion is that as the glass continues to crack, it ends up forming a shape very similar to Homura's own soul gem--both have simultaneously broken and re-formed. (Note that even with all the "cracks", a series of nested diamonds--Homura's signature visual motif--are visible within it.) Only then do the "curses" come out and envelop everything...
...which leads to this fascinating series of everyone and their reflections being swallowed up.
I'm not quite sure how to interpret what happens next, but there's actually two parts: a crystalline structure that comes first, followed by the "curses" themselves.
Both end up covering the universe--but the "curses" end up forming a shield-like design while the mirror fragments/crystals remain in place.
Then, of course, Homura shatters her soul gem in her mouth, and it re-forms into Dark Orb (omg, I cannot write that with a straight face), which is basically the same thing that we already witnessed with a different set of symbols. At this point, the cracked glass imagery disappears, having fulfilled its purpose: the universe might be different now, a mirror version of what it once was, but it's no longer broken because it has been remade.
Breaking soul gems/glass is a major visual theme in Rebellion--Homura shatters her own soul gem with a bullet (doesn't take, because it was never real to begin with) and she and Madoka shattered the soul-gem shaped glass "bell jar" the Incubators have put her in--and here it reaches its apotheosis along with Homura, in a compact and striking sequence. On first watch, this scene feels like it comes out of nowhere, but on reflection (sorry not sorry), it's clear the entire movie was building towards this moment from the beginning.
I initially didn't read too much into the first key visual for Walpurgis no Kaiten because I assumed it was a placeholder from footage already on hand because they hadn't actually made the movie yet, but looking at it again in light of this discussion makes me reconsider my stance. This is not to say that I think this particular image will necessarily appear in the movie, but it does tie into the themes established in Rebellion of broken reality symbolized by a cracked mirror, and of Devil Homura reaching out to Madoka (hands again!) but being unable to connect because of a barrier between them, one that Homura no longer can control. However, my guess is that Walpurgis no Kaiten will express these same themes with unique and different imagery rather than completely re-hashing that of Rebellion.
That said, we're clearly not done with this theme entirely, because the second key visual has Homura facing off against a mirror version (mirrorverse?) of herself.
(in light of this discussion of cracked glass re-forming, that salamander head on the phone starts to make a lot more sense)
Furthermore, the trailer heavily features inverted/backwards writing, which also ties into Tarot symbolism and the concept of "reversed" cards--again emphasizing mirrors and mirror images. If Rebellion had echoes of Alice in Wonderland, it sure seems like Walpurgis no Kaiten is going for Through the Looking-Glass!
All the mirror/double imagery in Walpurgis no Kaiten didn't come out of nowhere--like so much of the movie, it appears to have been subtly foreshadowed in Rebellion, and is almost certainly a direct consequence of Homura's actions in this particular scene. All actions have consequences, and we'll find out what they are in the next movie.
@atamascolily one thing I realized about this image is that it echoes the image of OUR observable universe
The observable universe
Funny how the post I was finding with that image has the mirror symbolism because mirrors are best known to be an orb/oval/circular/round shape, which is basically what PMMM is about
The similarities between the orb universe that Devil Homura made and the observable universe image feels weirdly alike that it's hard to ignore, in my case, it gives me the idea of PMMM being the only observable universe diegetically and that the new remade world of Homura is her new version of the observable universe, she only remake her own and not all of other adjacent universes, as the theory of the unobservable universes, being that besides our universe there are more universes that are entirely unreachable to us, go anyway. It's the sentiment that PMMM gives this feeling of endlessness but really the entire thing is only contained in one huge bubble, being limitless in their own limits
These two posts are fantastic additions to the cosmological framing of Madoka's storytelling.
And throwing my Hobbyist Physicist hat into the ring, I can say they're doing some fantastic work together.
To start, the @atamascolily's broken mirrors perfectly reflect(no pun intended) @bernkastel11's observation about the known universe because when we think about how we interpret the universe, despite the scale of it, our interpretations are personal. They, in a way, reflect us and our desires and we become devils (WINK) when we rebel against the established order. PMMM would also say we become gods when we act in accordance with that established order, i.e, Entropy must happen so Madoka's wish doesn't erase it, it just redefines it. Even though it's multiversal still, Madoka's universe matches the fundamental laws of her universe. She's still looking in a mirror.
Contrasting her, Homura is constantly turning a way from the mirrors. She doesn't want to live in (see) a universe where she's not with Madoka, so she uses her power to break those mirrors constantly. Her "known universe" is never truly known until after she has broken Madoka's universe/mirror.
There's something mythopoeic about it all, even.
"In all the heavens she could not see herself with Madoka, thus she shattered the heavens to make it so."
I also chose a flower symbolism for Walpurgisnacht btw, it's Sorbaria
Lengthy info dump about the flower searched by an AI engine below:
Sorbaria sorbifolia, commonly known as false spirea or Ural false spirea, is a deciduous shrub known for its coarse, spreading growth, fern-like foliage, and plumes of white flowers. It is a hardy, fast-growing plant that spreads aggressively by root suckers and is useful for erosion control, although more contained cultivars are available for gardeners.
Description and characteristics
Growth: It is a coarse, suckering shrub that can grow 5 to 10 feet tall and as wide, forming colonies through its root suckers.
Foliage: The leaves are compound with 13 to 25 sharply-toothed leaflets that resemble mountain ash.
Flowers: In early summer, it produces dense, pyramidal panicles of tiny white flowers.
Habitat: It thrives in full sun to partial shade and prefers average, medium-moisture, well-drained soil, though it can tolerate poorer soils.
Hardiness: It is extremely cold-hardy, suitable for temperate and boreal climates.
Common uses and considerations
Erosion control: Its spreading roots make it an effective plant for stabilizing slopes and riverbanks.
Screens and borders: It can be planted in masses for screens or borders due to its dense foliage.
Maintenance: It is a fast-growing and aggressive plant that requires management to control its spread, such as removing root suckers or pruning it back to the ground for rejuvenation.
Cultivars: The cultivar 'Sem' is a more well-behaved and slower-growing dwarf variety that is often preferred for home gardens
Yes, Sorbaria sorbifolia, or False Spirea, is considered invasive because it spreads aggressively by root suckers to form dense colonies. Its rapid and vigorous growth can allow it to take over landscapes and natural ecosystems, making it difficult to control. While it has attractive flowers, it is an aggressive plant that requires persistent effort to manage.
Why Sorbaria sorbifolia is invasive
Aggressive root suckering: The plant spreads rapidly by sending up new shoots from its root system, especially in loose soils.
Forms dense colonies: This suckering habit can quickly lead to the formation of large, dense thickets that dominate the area.
Spreads into ecosystems: It can escape cultivation and take over native ecosystems like forest edges and meadows near human settlement.
Difficult to suppress: Even with weed barriers, the strong rhizomes can eventually find a way to emerge, and control can require persistent management.
Managing False Spirea
Regular pruning: Pruning root suckers promptly with a shovel can help control its spread.
Persistent removal: It may take several years of persistent effort to remove all the suckers and keep the plant under control.
Consider alternatives: For those who want to avoid its invasive nature, native alternatives with showy flowers include Meadowsweet (Spiraea alba), Staghorn Sumac (Rhus typhina), or Elderberry (Sambucus canadensis).
Plant in heavy clay soil: This can somewhat hinder its tendency to sucker.
Plant in a container: Planting in a container can contain its root system, although roots can still escape through drainage holes.
The general description and the biology of this plant reminds me so much of Walpy, that while it's helpful, it's also extremely dangerous if left unchecked, similarly to how witches are in a sense, they're also part of the efforts to stagnate the progress of the heat death of the universe even when we know well their existence is proof of how unethical and cruel it is to try to stop the inevitable ending cuz in doing so, the end is pretty much already there because instead of making most of the time until the end, we basically all squandered it to as not to reach the end by practically destroying everything simultaneously, they had a real usefulness, not just bad byproducts of the energy gathering process even technically that's what they also are, I don't like the treatment but I can say that the witches are ought to be credited for the so-called noble cause Kyubey was doing but it's still so very cruel to do that to them and ofc I'm pretty sure dangerous if left unchecked is a fitting description of Witches and so are Walpy, a great portion of the point of their characterization is one that is basically that since barely anyone cares or notices them long enough (considering how until Puella Magi Madoka Magica happens, majorly no one stops to even think about where exactly they come from and the point of their story has always been that they were born to be killed, as it's supposed to be so for magical girls' enemies of the genre, but what makes it hurt is that they force people and the characters in story, besides Kyubey obviously, to face the immorality that all this time, the monster was just the soul of a young girl being demonized for her deformed appearance because she has been cursed unwillingly), they ended up worse and worse the more we go on all until it all comes together as Walpurgisnacht, I don't even blame her for practically making everything a play or as atamscolily puts it, mixing fake and real together to bring a sense of happiness even when it's all fake, because her, Walpy's reasoning is that if everything is fake, so will the pain and despair of it all, which isn't exactly wrong when you think about it but it's also a tragedy in itself, even she was aware of that, truly she's the doom of the PMMM show itself but it does feel like not all of us see that, her being so obscure yet so relevant is why I'm obsessed with this gal
Fair obsession. There's a lot one can draw out of Walpurg that makes the upcoming movie exciting. Reading this, I hope that whatever we see gives you more food for thought.
The flower imagery in particular is clever. I'm not big on botany or err, flower arrangement (that's what it's called!) but I know that flowers are great symbolic tools, both in terms of how they act in nature and in terms of how we see them.
If you ever wanted to do a magical girl story with those type of elements, I think you'd kill it.
I read your cosmology/planetology/astrology post about PMMM and I love it
My contribution is the Walpurgis interpretative fanon! You see my envisioned of her humanized form is that she has galaxy themes
For example: This Gacha Nebula design of her I made, ironically the name of this Gacha mod has Nebula in it (Hope you like it)
The nails are actually painted like a chessboard, based on this art from the Production Notes, apparently Walpy actually had pedicures under those giant sleeves
Look at the hand on the left
Her blue eyes are my attempt to give her the blue galaxy eyes, her orbs meant to resemble the cosmos
Even her hair and outfit are a more direct preference to Homura but you can see the motives with other girls of the Holy Quintet. I actually opted for a less white shade, like pale silver but can't find the one good enough in the game so I opted for white
Also the Black Hole Homura symbolism you mentioned reminded me of how in planetary terms, Walpurgisnacht is a Black Hole, she absorbs all the curses and despair, which is a form of energy and only grows larger, she only falls short compared to Kriemhild is because Madoka's higher potential of her being a witch outweighs even an already magnificent witch like Walpurgisnacht AND we can't remember that for Kriemhild to be born, Walpurgis must die first for Kriem to take her place so Walpy basically passed all her curses to Madoka/Kriem at the very end and the same with Madokami. It reminds me of a Kriem and Walpy hourglass art that as a pair, Walpy pours all her curses, as the upper bulb down to the bottom, into Kriem as part of their mechanism as an hourglass, that is the only way that they work, it's the natural order in that sense, Kriem and as well as Laws of Cycles, cannot exist without Walpurgisnacht existing. It's basically the Ouroboro, the snake eats its own tail, there's no ends in sight but the start cannot be seen when you look back, thus that is Walpurgisnacht
How very interesting. It lends itself to the idea that Thermodynamics is at the heart of PMMM's storytelling, or at least the scaffolding of it. Which gives it the energy (no pun intended) to be as radiant a series as it is.
I do like how your Walpurg design pulls from those cosmic idea too. Looking at it from the same physics lens as I looked at the rest of the series, it serves as a great allusion to her potential.
And there can be no denial that Walpurg is a black hole. Especially when you think about how all the timelines tend to collapse into her, even the current one. She embodies the death (loss) of energy, without erasure. She's where it all goes and has no choice but to embody destruction.
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You know, Yaoi side of Tumblr, I never really got it.
I'm a Bi man! And I have never gotten the appeal of yaoi, because everybody has been too afraid letting it be real! One way or another!
And then I listened to Six of Crows, and while I don't remember a lot about that series besides it's amazing world build, I DO remember Jesper and Wylan!
I REMEMBER IT SO HARD IT HURTS.
I've been chasing that HIGH FOR A FEW YEARS NOW AND UNFORTUNATELY. AS IS OFTEN THE CASE. I HAVE TO WRITE IT!
I have too many stories I want to read that I have to write.
What Madoka Magica says about Surviving Entropy: An Essay
Introductions
Hello, you probably don't know me because I'm new around here, but I'm Lord Nashu—a writer—and I loooooove highly conceptual fiction.
There's telling a story, and then there's telling the story: of the heart, the mind, the soul, and the cosmos.
I love a story that says there's more to the world than the surface. So, it should come as no surprise that I love Puella Magi Madoka Magica.
I love it like I love Evangelion, Cowboy Bebop, and Monster, which is to say I love it in a way few things can compare.
I love Madoka Magica because it cut me open, and what poured out (besides concern for those poor girls) was an awareness of what this story was ultimately about.
Surviving Entropy.
But before I go any further, let me warn you. We're about to get real technical in these parts!
Are you ready for that? Got your theoretical physics bachelor? Your Astrophysics masters? Your thermodynamic Ph.D?
May I recommend another Ph.D in relativistics? Electromagnetism?
No, no you're right. Let us begin.
The very idea I'm about to touch on is cleverly explained to us by Kyubey’s horrific but efficient plan.
Simplified: the universe disperses more energy than it makes, so one day it'll be over.
Not even the fabric of our reality is immortal, so, to solve that problem, we're just going to farm the devastatingly traumatic transformation of emotionally vulnerable girls.
YOU KNOW, AS ONE DOES!
Spoilers, but that's the big twist behind this predatory system. Entropy: bad, yet inevitable!
"Whatever do we do?"
However...did you know entropy turns soul gems into grief seeds?
You might think I'm reaching here, but Puella Magi Madoka Magica teaches us clearly:
Emotions are Energy
Let me start you with a brief aside:
I have grieved a lot in life. I have lost a lot in life. During one major period of loss, I said to a former friend that my emotions feel like collapsing stars.
Each condensed... because in my grief they would be too much for the world to handle!
She didn't quite get it—perhaps because of the thermodynamic metaphor,—but Madoka Magica implies that this is the nature of emotions.
And it's exceptionally so for girls halfway to adulthood.
The world is not fair to our daughters, and an unfair world makes us unfair to ourselves. The inability to offer yourself kindness leaves you vulnerable, and exploited vulnerability turns hope into grief.
We need only look at Sayaka Miki to see proof of this concept, because Sayaka is hope and grief in their most volatile state.
She almost reveals that every other line, but she especially reveals it when she tells a lie... or tells a truth.
>“Kamijo and I are just friends.”
>“I almost regret saving Hitomi.”
The most honest we see Sayaka is when she's talking to Kamijo about Classical music:
>“I probably don't look like a girl who listens to this kind of music.”
She's not honest for what she said but the spirit behind her words.
She's saying, ultimately, that she wants Kamijo to see and accept her—to see that there's something to her.
To see that she can be good. Perhaps for him. Perhaps in general.
So, of course she decides to make her wish after he accuses her of trying to hurt him.
Sayaki Miki—The Red Giant
Sayaka is already grieving, but at that moment, she starts grieving what she could be for him and what they can be together.
She's grieving because she's in love, and she does not yet know that love must be honest in its selfishness.
The most deceptive we see Sayaka is after she made the wish, where she's lying to herself.
Mami cautioned her about making a wish just to get praise, and now, she's not allowed to admit that's what she did.
She has to tell Madoka... and herself... that she became a magical girl to take up Mami's mantle.
She's doing it for the greater good, you see? Not for what desperately calls out from her heart.
That is to say...Hope.
Hope, that maybe Kamijo in particular will accept her.
If she never says it.
If she just leaves it good.
Maybe all the time she's spent with him will speak the truth for her.
Except... he never runs into her arms, does he?
He doesn't know.
He can't know after all, lest she reveals the painful truth.
So for Kamijo, it is just a miracle.
In no small part, Sayaka's wish comes from a selfish hope.
So... when anything threatens it, grief creeps in.
Kamijo doesn't return her affections?
Grief.
Hitomi dares to confess to him?
Grief.
The terrible truth of being a magical girl?
Not just grief, but proof she can never have him.
She gave up everything!
Yet can't get what she wants for it.
It leaves her feeling betrayed, and I think that's part of why Kyoko connects with her.
She's also made a wish for someone else, and the beautiful story she told herself didn't stop her father's cruelty.
The only way to keep going was to live for herself, but that's a big ask for our dear Sayaka.
Hers is a story of the noble knight—the ally of what is right.
Some of it might be true, but it all becomes a lie if she drops the facade.
But she does have to drop the facade.
She's burning through her hope like the sun through its hydrogen, but her timeline is... far shorter.
Sayaka Miki is turning into a red giant now.
Physics lesson!
>Depending on the mass of a star, it dies in different ways.
>Our Sun, for example, will burn up all of its hydrogen until it only has helium left to sustain it.
>As it burns helium it becomes unstable—so to speak—expanding into a red giant as the principles of its own gravity fail to contain its energy.
>Entropy is the loss of order, and in the sun’s case, that order is maintained by hydrogen fusion. Without it, equilibrium shatters! The core collapses while the outer layers swell outward, becoming a red giant. It looks like expansion—but it’s the breakdown of balance. A massive star might end in a supernova, but our sun will just shed its skin, leaving behind a white-hot ghost.
Not unlike how magical girls become witches.
This is their inevitable lifespan. All the incubators do is turn this into something they can harvest.
And for our dear Sayaka, we're seeing what they're exploiting in real time.
She can't escape her emotional entropy.
She can't survive it.
She's at too vulnerable a stage in her lifespan to know how, and like so many of us, she doesn't want the help that's offered to her because it doesn't restore her equilibrium.
Worse for Sayaka is that she burns through all of her hope exceptionally fast, left only with her Ego, which is in a way, the hopes she has for herself.
The reason the train scene acts as her collapse is because it feels like her ego is under attack.
Neither of those dudes are Kamijo.
Neither are talking about her.
But her equilibrium is so shot that she can't separate ego from heartache.
She hears of trust and love being exploited and sees herself, partly because that could have been her at some point in a non-magical girl's future.
That's it. That burns what's left. And if hope represents a state of order, grief—naturally—represents disorder.
Regrettably, we also see that Sayaka can't avoid this fate.
The next time we see her in one of Homura's loops, she's mad she's learning the truth.
When we see her again after Madoka's wish, she's claiming she only wanted to see Kamijo play again, and then that he's not good enough for Hitomi.
When we last see her, she is once again undone by her own entropy.
The red giant that is Sayaka’s witch is a form of betrayal, and no betrayal against her is crueler than the one she commits against herself.
That is what's left after her hope burns out, the grief of betrayal expanding her into something destructive.
Experiencing Entropy
While Sayaka gives us the clearest reflection of emotional entropy, she isn't by far the only character we see it through.
The teacher shows it as she grieves her failed relationship.
Kamijo shows it whenever he looks at his hands.
More than anyone, Homura lives it. And interestingly, because Homura lives it, we almost miss Madoka's.
But she experiences too, all from her desire to matter.
Nobody escapes entropy!
In conclusion: So, How do we survive?
So, what does Puella Magi Madoka Magica teach us about Surviving Entropy then? That it is perverse to think you can.
Like I said before, even the fabric of our reality isn't immortal.
The incubators are perverse because they exploit magical girls to make it so.
The transformation into a witch is born from the fact that wishes also try to deny entropy.
It is inevitable, but what Puella Magi Madoka Magica teaches us is that we must live honestly despite it.
Energy once spent cannot be regained.
We will grieve. We will change. We may well feel pain in the process. But as painful as it feels. Entropy is not bad.
Post Rebellion
I originally wrote this essay before I watched Rebellion, but having finished it, I think the takeaway is more concrete!
Sayaka—our Red Giant—is best able to talk to Homura, our neutron star.
At this point, Sayaka has accepted her entropy. She and her witch are no longer in opposition. She has acknowledged what she's become.
Homura... my dear, sweet, Homura... is collapsing into a black hole.
To get Madoka back, she becomes something it takes immense energy to escape.
In becoming a Black Hole, all Homura can do is consume the energy around her.
Golly gee, though!
I should let you go.
But, you know?
I would be delighted if you were to join me once again.
It made me realize something I haven't articulated before. Some anime are shows. Others are dramas.
In this distinction, a show would be any motion media that contains itself in certain tropes or narratives. The Harem anime, for example, is a show. Even when it's deconstructed.
A drama then is an anime whose tropes and genre are more a byproduct of what's been told rather than indication of what it is.
Beastars is a drama because, while it starts as one part murder mystery, one part high school romance. It quickly reveals that the high school is a microcosm of the greater setting, and once you to be invested in the social politics more so than Legoshi and Haru's will they won't they.
And, in case it needs to be said, this doesn't mean that one is better than the other. It's just a taxonomy that strikes me. I still love Evangelion, but it's very clearly a "show" in this taxonomy.
Someone I once knew said Beastars Season 2 wasn't good, but now I'm sitting here watching it going, "What the hell?"
This season is good. I like the light/dark parallel of Legoshi and Louis. It's probably the best part of this. The season itself is more social commentary than high school drama, but the main selling point of season 1 was what is equivocably an interracial relationship! Of course, it's going to focus on social commentary. Especially when one of the main characters is a survivor of trafficking, and a vulnerable group is still trafficked to this day.
Season 2 is adding more texture to the Beastars world. If you wanted the high school drama of season one to stay the focus, I could see how it disappointed you. But receiving it as it is, I have been enthralled.
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Y'know the Walpurgisnacht character lore I've been brewing since 4 years ago but never really fully solidified into long posts on my blog, regrettably only wrote one fic for her, that's what I wanna do with her
I have a knack for seeing the characters most don't see, I mean there's nothing wrong with seeing witches as mindless monsters that shouldn't exist but we can't forget the symbolism packed rich behind their veneers, definitely not the monster of the week kind in most superhero series like Power Rangers and Magical Girls, no these things are threats, they kill without mercy, they're even literally embodiments of realistic disasters, things like suicide, accidents and natural disasters are a part of nature even two are technically manmade, I don't think suicidal tendencies exist in PMMM cuz it was all the witches' doing and not the fact that afflicted already had such tendencies to begin with, the witches just amplified that, PMMM is nothing like the kind of belief that your misfortune isn't your own doing and it's something else in a different form so removing it is the solution, it's far from the saying of "God has forsake me/The Devil made me do it" where they blame some unknown forces for their own disasters, not saying they deserve it ofc but definitely it's not always the fault of some hypothetical demon in Hell
I mean as much as I hate Kyubey, he was sorta right when he said the phrase that means "Why does humans blame the other party when they got into troubles caused by their own hands" I don't like how he's also saying "You magical girls are gonna meet your terrible ending by your own hands, ain't my fault", but his words also point to the fact that everything has its flaws as well nothing has a fault
The story tried to show us continuously that the witches were never truly at fault for anything, they cannot control who they are, they act as they're intended and just served as slaughters for the Magical Girls, it would be really narrow thinking to blame it all on them when most of the tragedies of the characters are caused by their own actions or others', with minor witch influences: A witch didn't force Sayaka to make her wish, a witch didn't kill Kyoko's family or was the reason why her father got zero followers, maybe a witch did cause the accident of Mami's family, the emotional turmoil and trauma of Homura and Madoka are definitely caused by witches (Walpurgisnacht) but going into it were their choices, again I'm not blaming them, in my rewatches, I'm actually astonished by Madoka's resilience to go into things she could have no business of going into considering how the strong Magical Girl Mami she admired literally broke down and tried to murder other Magical Girls the moment she learned the truth of her heroic sacrifices, it really shows how strong Madoka is, and as bad as it is, none of them deserved it, I don't like to be the fan who like to blame characters for all the problems in the narrative when even them don't want it, y'know PMMM is one of the rare works that not only show peak feminism in a generally girly but also reek of sexism genre but it's not afraid to show how life can fuck you up and you can't blame anything or anyone for it cause it "just happens"
That's what I want to do with Walpurgisnacht, I want to show she's not just a final boss monster the hero of the story kills just to save the universe, but also someone who was just the embodiment of Tragedies itself and just as much of a victim of circumstances like anyone else in the story even when she would be depicted as not exactly a person you can sympathize since I don't want her to be just a victim considering that's not all she is, as much of a plot device she is, she's literally one giant symbolism of the story's complex philosophies
I think you have a good grasp on one of PMMM's root themes--The Inevitability of Entropy. It's actually something I touched on in the essay sitting in my draft, but suffice it to say that what it tries to say is that tragedy is an inherent part of life.
The stories that offer us a Big Bad to beat before the Happily Ever After are more or less the wishes we as people make to escape the inevitability. We look for escapes, and nothing lets us escape more than fiction. However, entropy is inevitable; an escape here is a dispersal of energy there... but I'll touch on that more in the essay.
You have something interesting cooking, especially since up to this point, Walpurgisnacht is more of a force of nature than any true big bad. Humanizing or characterizing her won't be easy, but I think you're off to a good start.
I'm in the first movie and funny enough, I watched the Mami vs Charlotte scene while eating a dried leftover piece of birthday cake left in the fridge LOL
I gotta say, Madoka and Sayaka's grieving scene and how they said everything felt like a different world now that Mami is gone is more or less a parallel to Homura's plight all this time and the background being very church-like is reminiscent of Homura's religious motifs, cuz Homura used to go to a Catholic school therefore she has a religious upbringing, PMMM is the kind of works where you can watch and rewatch endlessly in a cycle and can still pick up all kinds of details
Also I'm rewatching this for materials to write my Walpurgisnacht character lore cuz she's gonna get a movie with her name and I was in a Walpurgisnacht crazy phase like 4 years ago and brewed a lot of stuff but didn't organize much of it into concrete stories yet at least, have to do some stuff so others can see what I have in mind about her character
Brilliant observation with the grieving scene and the parallels with Homura. Her personal transformation shows us just how much her world changed, but that moment with Sayaka and Madoka? That's a good narrative echo. Also speaks to how hard Homura tried to protect them and even Mami.
She knows how grief changes and besides desperately trying to save Madoka she's trying to keep them away from ever seeing that side of things—preserve their innocence if you will.
Here's another parallel for you too. From a meta perspective, we also see the world change. PMMM stops being your typical magical girl show (Precure, Sailor Moon) the moment Mami dies. The same type Madoka and Sayaka lose their innocence the show loses its own.
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Chapter 19—The Exclave
The city of glass and gold circled a lake of clouds. Even for a domain, it was hard to imagine, but it all seemed
Hello Writing and Reading Community of Tumblr.
It has been a looooooong time since I've done one of these, but I have to talk about one of the key elements in this chapter of Dark Orange: Reborn
Creation Myths!
We all know the story of Adam and Eve (whether we want to or not) and I'm sure a large number of us have called the science of it in question.
How is there now 8 billion people on this wet rock of ours if we were born from only two? Dark Orange: Reborn says we weren't—but we'll get back into that in a bit—because Adam and Eve were not people.
In Dark Orange, humanity has seen its end a few times, and each one has changed the state of the world. The most recent one was our most devastating end, resulting in a cleansing and the lost of all human life.
Still, we walk this Earth again. But how?
Well, a certain story would tell you that Adam and Eve were the first and only, under one particular divine fellow, and so on and so on until we get to the modern day. But the Abrahamic faith isn't the only one with a creation myth.
In Greek Mythology, Prometheus made man from clay, and Athena breathed in life.
In Yoruba it was Obatala and Olorun—the supreme deity—who breathed life.
In Shintoism humans were not made; they descended from the Gods.
I could sit here and keep listing human origins throughout the various myths of the world, but the point is that Dark Orange says that all Creation Myths are real.
And for it to matter, you have to ask where yours started.
But don't get it twisted, this isn't about racial purity, it's about spiritual diversity:
Dark Orange is a story about identity after all, and what this chapter does is ask the question, regardless of what your lineage is, how does that make you human today?
Behind your humanity is spiritual strength and transformation. Who your spiritual ancestors were only matter insofar as it tells you who you are today. They do not define your identity; they contribute to it.
You're not better than your neighbor because you know the answer. You just know the answer, which only tells you that there's so much more inside you than you know.
This chapter lays down the idea of refining those spiritual elements. Is Tomoe more Amaterasu, Tsukuyomi, or Susano'o? Maybe, but the real question is what does being of Sun, Moon, or Storm make you in conjunction with all the other spirits and demons that led to you?
Creation Myths are just the start.
If you read Dark Orange you'll find out where you should go from there.
