Madoka Kaname
Madoka Kaname | |
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Puella Magi Madoka Magica character | |
First appearance | "As If I Met Her in My Dream..." |
Created by | |
Voiced by |
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In-universe information | |
Alias |
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Species |
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Gender | Female |
Relatives |
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Weapon | Bow |
Madoka Kaname (
In developing the character, writer Gen Urobuchi imagined the series' protagonist as being a girl with a "cheerful and idealistic" personality, in contrast to his usual writing style. Madoka was designed by Ume Aoki, who used the character Yuno from her manga Hidamari Sketch as an initial basis. Although her theme color was intended to be white, it was changed to pink. Aoki also noted the difficulty of drawing Madoka due to her double ponytail hair. Madoka Kaname is voiced by Aoi Yūki in Japanese, and Christine Marie Cabanos in English.
Madoka has ranked highly in various polls, placing second in the Best Female Category at the 1st
Creation and development
In the initial planning meeting of the Puella Magi Madoka Magica franchise, which began as a 2011 anime television series, writer Gen Urobuchi imagined that the heroine of the series would be a girl with a "cheerful and idealistic" personality. Madoka is an unusual character for Urobuchi's writing style, and fits more closely to character designer Ume Aoki's worldview. In order to incorporate a "foreign character that did not exist inside [himself]," Urobuchi wrote the initial script as if Yuno, the main character of Aoki's manga series Hidamari Sketch, was the protagonist. During this phase, Urobuchi even intended Kana Asumi to take on the voice acting role for Madoka. The personality of Madoka was specifically designed as an "Ume Aoki character", while other characters of the cast, such as Homura Akemi and Sayaka Miki, are more typical for Urobuchi's style.[1][2] Urobuchi said that at the beginning, there was an idea to write the story as "Homura strives to save Madoka", therefore, he created the characteristics of Madoka and Homura as a contrast to each other.[3] Madoka's birthday, October 3, was chosen as it was the file creation date of the series' initial project proposal.[4]
Design
Madoka was designed by Ume Aoki,[5] who initially used the protagonist of her manga Hidamari Sketch, Yuno, as a prototype to design Madoka; she created Madoka's design after exaggerating part of its image.[6] Although Madoka's theme color was initially intended to be white as suggested by Urobuchi in the series' draft, Aoki forgot this when designing the character, and changed the main color of Madoka to pink.[7] Aoki said that in terms of character design, the difficulty of drawing Madoka was more difficult than that of Sayaka Miki and Kyoko Sakura, particularly because of the double ponytail design of Madoka's hair, stating that once the size and painting of the ponytail are different, "it looks like a completely different role".[8] Another difference with other magical girls is that in the story, when Madoka transforms into her magical girl outfit, is the result of the appearance of the magical girl in her dream.[9] For this reason, the dress design especially added ruffles and several decorative elements.[10] Overall, Aoki incorporated fairy tale elements and designed a very "cute" magical girl costume. However, Aoki also stated that Madoka's dress is not suitable for fighting.[11]
After seeing the character design, the president of the series' animation studio SHAFT, Mitsutoshi Kubota, thought that it was a good that the production team to got in touch with a new style, but it also brought challenges to the animation production. Recalling this, Aoki did not expect that her style would be adapted directly, although it could bring the feeling of the character Madoka.[12] In addition, the animation production team also tried to avoid some exaggerated expressions, such as broken clothes, huge sweat beads or emoticons.[13]
Her Ultimate Magical girl form, was also designed by Aoki. She designed her costume based on white theme color and cherry blossoms, and designed her hair to be longer and her eyes to change from pink to gold, suggesting Madoka's new form of magical girl.[14] Ultimate Madoka's form has been described as "the ultimate form that has undergone a super evolution by fighting infinite space-time"; according to the Puella Magi Madoka Magica The Beginning Story guidebook, the form was originally called "Hyper Ultimate Madoka" in the series draft, but was later changed to "Ultimate Madoka".[15]
Voice actresses
Madoka is portrayed in Japanese by Aoi Yūki.[5] In an interview with Animate, Yūki reminisced about the series' early production and how she aimed to do her best in playing the role. She also felt from the start that the series would be one that would be enjoyed by many people.[16]
In the English
Appearances
In Puella Magi Madoka Magica
Madoka is a kind and gentle 14-year-old girl who comes from a loving family.[18] A second-year at middle school, her life changes when she encounters the messenger of magic, Kyubey, who offers to transform her into a magical girl.[18] She sees herself as a person without special qualities or talents, and after seeing her schoolmate Mami Tomoe fighting against witches, aspires to become a magical girl like her.[19] Averse to fighting, she hopes that the magical girls will support each other, sometimes even putting her own life at risk to help them, and is distressed by the infighting they often engage in.[20] After witnessing Mami's death, she grows uncertain about becoming a magical girl, growing ever more hesitant as the true cost of the role is revealed to her.[21][22] Kyubey claims that Madoka has an impossibly large amount of potential for magic, going so far as to claim that she could become the savor of all the magical girls. The reason for this is unclear, since her life so far has been relatively average and free of tragedies.[22] This is later revealed to be due to her accumulated misfortune, which was caused as a result of her classmate Homura Akemi repeatedly resetting time, with Madoka's fate getting worse with each timeline, making her magic power grow exponentially with each reset.[23]
In previous timelines, Madoka became a magical girl in a pink dress wielding a rose branch bow and arrow.[24] In the drama CD, "Memories of You", it is revealed that the wish in the first timeline was to save a cat named Amy from death. However, every time, she was either killed or transformed into a witch named Kriemhild Gretchen, the Witch of Salvation, one that became ever more powerful with each time reset, as Madoka's power also increased and if created would, by the end of that same week, consume all life on Earth in order to create a paradise where there is no free will or individuality to cause strife or conflict. In the first timeline, she still possesses a high amount of power, being able to defeat Walpurgisnacht (ワルプルギスの夜, Warupurugisu no Yoru), though dying in the process.[24] Subsequently, by the current timeline, she has the potential to be the most powerful magical girl to date.[23] Towards the end, she learns of this and Homura's efforts to save her.[23] After seeing the suffering of magical girls throughout history, Madoka decides to make her wish: to prevent all magical girls from the past, present, future and all other timelines, from ever becoming witches. The laws of the universe are rewritten such that at the moment that a soul gem becomes black with anguish, Madoka appears and purifies it before the magical girl passes on. As a result of this wish, she becomes an omnipotent being named Ultimate Madoka (アルティメット・まどか, Arutimetto Madoka), that exists for all time, erasing her pre-ascension existence from the world; leaving only Homura – and to some extent her little brother – with the memory of her. Madoka becomes only a concept in the new world, one named the Law of Cycles (円環の理, Enkan no Kotowari). Magical girls absorbed into the Law of Cycles regain knowledge of their lives in previous timelines.[25]
At the end of Rebellion, Ultimate Madoka was usurped by Homura and had her human selves split, with her role as a martyr being forced onto the Incubators. Homura places human Madoka in a new universe where she and her friends can live normal lives unaware of their pasts, though Madoka almost regains her memories at the last second and her final conversation with Homura implies that it is only a matter of time before Madoka merges with her self once more and must face her friend in battle.[26]
Madoka will return in Puella Magi Madoka Magica The Movie - Walpurgisnacht: Rising.[27][28]
Appearances in other media
A
Being the protagonist of the franchise, Madoka has almost appeared in all manga's related to Puella Magi Madoka Magica. She is a supporting character in the manga spin-off
Madoka is a
Madoka is also a playable character in numerous games outside the Puella Magi Madoka Magica video games, such as
Cultural impact
Popularity
In 2011, Madoka took second place in the Best Female Character category at the 1st
Critical response
Madoka's character has been well-received by critics. Rachael Verret of
Madoka's relationship with Homura has also been met with positive critical response. Jacob Hope Chapman from Anime News Network noted how more powerful became Madoka and Homura's relationship which he also considered one of the film's greatest strengths.[72] Geoff Berkshire from Variety described Madoka and Homura's friendship as "deep" and "loving".[73] David West of Neo said that Urobuchi "takes their friendship and flips it inside-out." West wrote; "Far more complicated than merely turning friends into enemies, Rebellion takes their relationship and stands it in front of a funhouse mirror."[74] Writing for A Cycle, Not a Phase: Love Between Magical Girls Amidst the Trauma of Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Kevin Cooley argues that Homura's powers are not merely a "metaphor for love between magical girls," but "literally are the love between magical girls" and that Madoka's actions create a world "where love between women can prosper free from Kyubey’s policing."[75] Kory Cerjak from The Fandom Post praised the work of Christine Marie Cabanos, Madoka's voice actress, noting that while it felt like "an adult playing a junior high school student" in the series' beginning, by the movies, it had become more appealing and suitable.[76]
Analysis
Japanese critic
Critic Ryōta Fujitsu believes that the series should be analyzed from the context of beautiful girl games and sci-fi literature, and described the story as "understanding mother's lifestyle and taking it as a decision in life", and the coming of age story of Madoka. Fujitsu also believes that in episode 11, Madoka's determination to confront her mother until her mother watched Madoka leave was the most exciting part of the plot of the series.[80] According to comments in SPA magazine, the deep friendship and bond of Madoka and Homura caused a miracle to happen, with Madoka developing into a realized person due to learning about Homura's sufferings and the support of her mother Junko.[79]
Writing for The Very Soil: An Unauthorized Critical Study of Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Jed A. Blue said that Madoka resembles the Bodhisattva
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{{cite magazine}}
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{{cite magazine}}
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