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Puella Magi Adfligo Systema

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Here's that citation on Mami using connections in her enchanting.

Firnagzen said:
"How does your magic work, anyway?" you ask. "It's... connections, right?"

"Mmm," she agrees.

"Can you see connections between people?" you ask.

"Not really," she says, snuggling closer into your side. "But I have a good feel for them, I guess. It's good for enchantment, too."

"Oh?" you prompt.

"I didn't really realise it at first," she says. "So I learned enchantment the hard way, but I realised that I could project my magic and... connect it in more easily."

"Huh," you say. "You mean you use it to anchor your enchantments?"

"No," Mami says, frowning without opening her eyes. She looks absolutely adorable like that, and you can't resist the urge to smooth your palm gently over her forehead. "Mmmnm. I... connect the concepts together. Does that make sense?"
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Raiseth said:
With understanding, mostly.

Like, you don't necessarily have to agree with the core tenets, but looking it up is certainly interesting and probably useful.

Behind every religion first stands a philosophy. Philosophy of Buddhism is perfection through self-contemplation, more or less.

From Buddhist perspective canon Mami's problem isn't that she is too "attached" to life, it's that she's mentally scarred by her experiences and her connections mostly cause her to suffer existential pain, because she clings to everyone who would have her possessively and without regard for goings on. Re; Kyubey, Madoka, Kyouko, etc.
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So it was more like her connections were killing her? Or rather, she became absolutely obsessed with connections. I'm trying to wrap my mind around this.
 
Angrygenius said:
So it was more like her connections were killing her? Or rather, she became absolutely obsessed with connections. I'm trying to wrap my mind around this.
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Well that's the darker side of Mami, as represented by her witch, Candeloro, which, well:

Witch
Candeloro: The witch of dress-up. She has an inviting nature. A kind-hearted witch who dreams of ideal things. This witch can't stand being lonely, and never lets visitors to her barrier escape.
Familiars
Du Polignac: The dress-up witch's minions, whose task is to guide visitors. They invite humans who enter the witch's barrier to her tea party. When they try to run away from her, the witch ties their hands and feet together. They are precious friends of the witch.
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Which isn't to say that Mami would actually do that under normal circumstances, but under extreme stress, well... when she breaks down, she'll wrap you up with ribbons and make you stay.
 
Angrygenius said:
So it was more like her connections were killing her? Or rather, she became absolutely obsessed with connections. I'm trying to wrap my mind around this.
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Like, she was trying to find her self-worth in other people because she didn't believe she had worth in and by herself. That's why she was was fighting Witches alone for years without ever stopping: because protecting people made her existence have objective value she could ( try to ) prove to herself.

Homura and Mami aren't that different, it's just Homura finds her worth exclusively in Madoka, while Mami branches out faster than a chain of fast-food restaurants in hopes of someone(s) who would stay with her.

Mmm, I'm hungry.
 
Look, if you really want to go meta on this shit, PMMM is sorta social commentary on problems adolescent girls from various social strata and backgrounds face in their life on their way to adulthood.

Madoka's problem is the crushing feeling of powerlessness and inability to change the world for the better.
Sayaka's problem is that she deals in absolutes and idealizes things a lot.
Kyouko's problem is that she lives on the streets and her family is dead because her dad was an asshat.
Mami's problem is crippling loneliness.
Homura's problem is, well, everything. Tbh, all of the above works for Homura, lol. An uncharitable interpretation is that Homura's problem is an obsessive need to save Madoka at all cost. Boundless love without constraints, limitations, sanity checks...
 
@Angrygenius

For some decent discussion on Buddhist themes in PMMM/PMAS, here's one of the better effortposts on the subject.

(I only quoted a snippet, but the whole post is good, as is the followup discussion afterwards.)

AuraTwilight said:
"Hope and Despair Balance out to Zero" is Urobuchi rephrasing the Buddhist Noble Truth of "All Desire leads to Suffering." Every hope for something the world isn't naturally providing is a rejection of the world that exists, and so there's going to be resistance to getting what you want and it's going to be temporary or distorted at best.

Sayaka healing Kyousuke and then not confessing her feelings to him opens him up to be stolen by Hitomi. Kyouko wishing for her father to be successful without respecting his values caused him to lose his mind. Mami wishing to save herself but regretting not saving her parents causes her to crave something she can't have. Homura wishing to protect Madoka leads to Homura having to deny Madoka her agency and self-actualization.

Every hope, every desire and wish, is a demand for something, and even if you receive that thing, the butterfly effect kicks in and causes shit you don't want that you wouldn't of otherwise had to deal with. There's nothing in the world that's pure evil or pure good, and the things that appear as such usually have a causal relationship.

In your desire for a sustainable way of life, you need to get a job and put up with assholes. In your desire for a living wife, you need to compromise on your lifestyle and restrict your behavior to keep them.

There is no one in this world who yearns for absolutely nothing, from the beginning to the end of their lives. There is no one who is utterly satisfied with every card they've ever been dealt, and never regretted their decisions or actions.

This is the Law of Hope and Despair equalling Zero. This is the Noble Truth of Desire not truly satisfying the human soul.

This is a law of the universe. An inescapable truth that exists anywhere that thought and yearning intersect with the interplay of cause and effect.
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Redshirt Army said:
@Angrygenius

For some decent discussion on Buddhist themes in PMMM/PMAS, here's one of the better effortposts on the subject.

(I only quoted a snippet, but the whole post is good, as is the followup discussion afterwards.)
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...So, basically: "for every wish, the universe reacts to that wish in unpredictable ways that are often not good for the mecuga making the wish.", or in other words, "For every wish granted, the universe creates an equal and opposite reaction to that wish that creates suffering."
 
Angrygenius said:
...So what would our "equal and opposite universal reaction" be?
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Pretty sure this is a case of "delayed reaction" generally refering to our potential Witch Out. Unless it's not that, in which case, I am not sure. Maybe we are the Equal, opposite reaction to Kyubeey's System, and all the wishes it let's happen.
 
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