Hestia&theCourt
Turns out we're plural too.
- Location
- In transition
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Maybe he was being genuine about lying his ass off?
Let's Blind Watch Puella Magi Madoka Magica
- Thread starter Suzu
- Start date
- Anime
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- Tags
- anime in which i watch
Maybe he was being genuine about lying his ass off?
- Location
- America in all but name
I think you might be overestimating the level of darkness Madoka has.
I suggest that we stop here because it is impossible to make this discussion without spoilers and this is a Blind Watch.
Hestia&theCourt
Turns out we're plural too.
- Location
- In transition
- Pronouns
- She/Her
How many times can we wind up having to say something along those lines?
- Location
- Malaysia
I am questioning the fact that a fifteen year old girl was living alone. With no supervision whatsoever.
Considering modern society does not put much stock in acknowledging their neighbors, I doubt her disappearance will be noticed until months later, especially if she put rent payment as an auto payment. If she actually died in the house, at least the smell will notify other people but she's not, so...
Also, I acknowledge the first thing that made me took notice of PMMM when I watched the anime ages ago is the bleak colouring of the first scene and the amount of background violence happening. The music helps too.
Thing is, these type of introductory scene is not exactly atypical for anime... It's just that it is usually done in shonen anime. Not magical girl shows. Granted I don't exactly remember how Princess Tutu starts, though I think it starts with a duck being granted a wish... To be human. I think. It's bleak iirc, but it's not violent, not unlike Madoka Magica. Madoka's first scene is violent.
Considering modern society does not put much stock in acknowledging their neighbors, I doubt her disappearance will be noticed until months later, especially if she put rent payment as an auto payment. If she actually died in the house, at least the smell will notify other people but she's not, so...
Also, I acknowledge the first thing that made me took notice of PMMM when I watched the anime ages ago is the bleak colouring of the first scene and the amount of background violence happening. The music helps too.
Thing is, these type of introductory scene is not exactly atypical for anime... It's just that it is usually done in shonen anime. Not magical girl shows. Granted I don't exactly remember how Princess Tutu starts, though I think it starts with a duck being granted a wish... To be human. I think. It's bleak iirc, but it's not violent, not unlike Madoka Magica. Madoka's first scene is violent.
Baughn
Healing-type writer
- Location
- Dublin
That story got a lot bleaker towards the end, though.
I won't spoil Princess Tutu here, except to say that it's a great story and you all should think about watching it, but it's even less a standard magical girl story than Madoka is.
- Location
- Malaysia
When I watched Princess Tutu years and years ago (I was... eight? Ten maybe? I'm in my twenties now) not even once I thought it to be a magical girl anime. I watched Sailor Moon and Cardcaptor Sakura before Tutu and they are not the same at all.
Tutu is not, at first and second glance, a magical girl anime. The only similarity it has with the typical mahou shoujo genre is that its protagonist has a wish being granted in the first episode, that is to be a human. The show is too tonally different from the other mahou shoujo shows out there, including PMMM. The opening never ceases to make me sad too, for some reason.
Baughn
Healing-type writer
- Location
- Dublin
Fair enough. I guess, a better way to put it...
There is a magical girl story in Princess Tutu, of sorts, but Princess Tutu is not a magical girl story. It is, instead, a story.
- Location
- America in all but name
There's actually some distance we can go, though. The OP's already made it to Episode 3, after all, and this article was actually made only a day after that episode hit. Though sadly, I'm sure I won't be getting to yell at Tropers until at least Episode 8 or 9.
Entropy Judge
Recurring Bouts of Misanthropy
Schools in Japan (so I hear) are notorious about people attending. As in, will actually send people to see if something is wrong if you miss a day without explanation. Even if they were more relaxed about it, though, someone would probably say something by the time a week had passed.
obssesednuker
Commander of 10 Million Men
- Location
- In the Kremlin, activating Perimtr.
Well, I'd argue he was right given *spoilers*. Of course, then came Rebellion... to which I have to inquire whether our dear LWer is gonna watch or not.
Guderian2nd
Your (Future)Emperor
I was reading through this earlier, and I wanted to note that this is absolutely a Japanese thing and arguably an East Asian thing in general.
Not sure if this is a spoiler(pretty sure it isn't) but:
The phrase used there is kindan no koi(禁断の恋), which is 1) largely a literary term(almost formal) rarely used in oral speech(and if so, usually in a slightly tongue-in-cheek manner), something you usually see in novels, literary critics, etc. 2) describes the concept/literary trope of "forbidden love" ala Romeo and Juliet-style, the kind of romantic and passionate love that is shunned/frowned upon by society, which in Japan would include but not limited to(not necessarily limiting ourselves to modern Japan, but the usual contexts in which the concept/phrase gets used to describe when it appears in fiction): incest, adultery, inter-class(rich-poor or noble/royalty-peasant), inter-religional, inter-racial(not necessarily just RL skin-color races but sometimes in fantasy works, actual cross-species stuff; ex. Twilight would get described as kindan no koi type of story), inter-national, adult-teen and of course, homosexuality, 3) is usually paired with the other stuff that Hitomi just describes, like being able to communicate thoughts and feeling with each other with but naught a glance because TWUE LUV or something, and 4) in a modern context, is something you usually find executed and described as appearing in teenage romance novels, and usually speaking especially the more trashy/raunchy ones targeted towards a middle-to-upper class, young adult female-audience.
So what does this scene tells us? Well, it first tells us that by using the term unironically Hitomi likes speaking in this pseudo-formal high-class intellectual terms, telling us of a certain type of upbringing; and that she must also read a lot of trashy/raunchy teenage romance literature directed at rich young girls to immediately (mistakenly) pattern-match Sayaka and Madoka's interactions with the kindan no koi tropes commonly found in such works.
Make of that what you will, but I think it fits Hitomi's character perfectly, organically, and fleshes it out with very little exposition. My reaction to this scene was to chuckle a bit and say "Ah, so Hitomi is that type of girl"
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obssesednuker
Commander of 10 Million Men
- Location
- In the Kremlin, activating Perimtr.
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- Location
- America in all but name
You made a few hundred word essay out of the "Forbidden Love" meme. That's amazing.I was reading through this earlier, and I wanted to note that this is absolutely a Japanese thing and arguably an East Asian thing in general.
Not sure if this is a spoiler(pretty sure it isn't) but:
The phrase used there is kindan no koi(禁断の恋), which is 1) largely a literary term(almost formal) rarely used in oral speech(and if so, usually in a slightly tongue-in-cheek manner), something you usually see in novels, literary critics, etc. 2) describes the concept/literary trope of "forbidden love" ala Romeo and Juliet-style, the kind of romantic and passionate love that is shunned/frowned upon by society, which in Japan would include but not limited to(not necessarily limiting ourselves to modern Japan, but the usual contexts in which the concept/phrase gets used to describe when it appears in fiction): incest, adultery, inter-class(rich-poor or noble/royalty-peasant), inter-religional, inter-racial(not necessarily just RL skin-color races but sometimes in fantasy works, actual cross-species stuff; ex. Twilight would get described as kindan no koi type of story), inter-national, adult-teen and of course, homosexuality, 3) is usually paired with the other stuff that Hitomi just describes, like being able to communicate thoughts and feeling with each other with but naught a glance because TWUE LUV or something, and 4) in a modern context, is something you usually find executed and described as appearing in teenage romance novels, and usually speaking especially the more trashy/raunchy ones targeted towards a middle-to-upper class, young adult female-audience.
So what does this scene tells us? Well, it first tells us that by using the term unironically Hitomi likes speaking in this pseudo-formal high-class intellectual terms, telling us of a certain type of upbringing; and that she must also read a lot of trashy/raunchy teenage romance literature directed at rich young girls to immediately (mistakenly) pattern-match Sayaka and Madoka's interactions with the kindan no koi tropes commonly found in such works.
Make of that what you will, but I think it fits Hitomi's character perfectly, organically, and fleshes it out with very little exposition. My reaction to this scene was to chuckle a bit and say "Ah, so Hitomi is that type of girl"
Does it mean anything if I tell you the dub changed it to "Girls can't love girls! Girls can't love girls!"?
Hestia&theCourt
Turns out we're plural too.
- Location
- In transition
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Yes, and honestly, now that I know the original context, I feel robbed... I like the Japanese context to it a lot better.
Baughn
Healing-type writer
- Location
- Dublin
The sub I watched had it as "But that's forbidden love!", which at least gets some of the feeling across. I found it obvious from her mannerisms that she wasn't serious, not to mention that she's their best friend.
Guderian2nd
Your (Future)Emperor
You know I didn't use a particular word that can sum up the whole thing in a single sentence because I wasn't sure if the English fandom would actually know what it means, but after some googling the phrase comes up on urban dictionary so I'm assuming western weebs will "get it" when I tl;dr my post to the following:
That scene basically tells us Hitomi is a rich fujoshi.
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- Pronouns
- She/Her
Was under the impression that applied to more male x male stuff.
- Location
- The Great Beyond
- Pronouns
- He/She/They
... Can we. Can we not have a compass that asserts stuff about the overarching themes of Madoka in a blind let's watch thread?
Like. Spoilers. Dude. Remove that crap. This is not the thread.
ColdGoldLazarus
Contrary Quester, Spreadsheet Queen, Pink Flamingo
- Location
- Challenger Deep
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Though that also has amusing implications of its own, given the VA's delivery; maybe it's just me, but the way she says it there seems to strongly imply Hitomi is deep in a certain egyptian river.
obssesednuker
Commander of 10 Million Men
- Location
- In the Kremlin, activating Perimtr.
I'm not sure how it's spoilers, given that the assertion of overarching themes in said compass is such a gigantic generalization the you can't really glean any spoiler is information from it. There's also the fact one could argue that the chart is wrong, but to discuss why would be getting into spoiler territory.
In the dub, her second line on that (when Sayaka and Madoka inform her they'll be doing something after class) is changed to something like "I guess there's no room for a third wheel!" But I'm 87.47% sure in both versions she simply isn't being serious at all, given the tone of voice, some stuff already covered about indications of her being some kinda fujoshi, and stuff I can't talk about yet because spoilers.
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- Location
- somewhere hot
More common than you might think in the bigger cities in Japan. If a kid gets accepted to a prestigious school and it's too long of a commute from the family's house (especially considering the hellish sort of traffic that develops during rush hour), it's not unheard of for the family to rent a small apartment closer to the school for the kid's use. Of course there are still some other objections to the whole scenario that this doesn't answer, but still.
Shanejayell
Yuri Fan without a Pause
- Pronouns
- He
It's not EXACTLY the same but Karen in Gun Gale Online is living in a seperate apartment in Tokyo to attend her school. So it's a thing in other series too.
- Location
- America in all but name
Was the same thing with (Shino? Carne?) Asada, too.
I'd note its one of Japan's points of pride in their low crime rate that middleschoolers(and even some elementary students) can commute to school, to cram school, to music(or insert fine arts here) lessons, and then go home on their own.
That they have to...also links to Japan having a lot of cases where both parents are wageslaves doing compulsory overtime + mandatory after work socializing.
A mature middle school student living alone in one of the better neighborhoods would get few comments, though they'd not be expected to cook beyond buying and heating convenience store meals. Would be very surprised if the neighbors even realized they were really living alone rather than having parents with brutal work hours.
You can see the same thing happening in Singapore as well.