With each episode, it becomes increasingly clear that Sayaka is someone we the viewers need to be worried about. Normally, she’d be the one we’d be rooting for 100%. She’s selfless and she has a strong moral code regarding the work of a magical girl. At the other side of the spectrum is the new girl, Kyoko Sakura (Ai Nonaka), who’s clearly out for personal gain and attacks Sayaka simply because they don’t like the cut of each other’s jib. For all intents and purposes, Kyoko is pretty much the antagonist here, someone we ought to see Sayaka defeat.
Chances are however that you don’t feel that strongly for Sayaka to win. Aside from the fact that Kyoko is objectively the stronger and more experienced fighter out of the two, the girl is potentially right about a couple of things. With how integral Grief Seeds are with rejuvenating a Soul Gem and, by extension, a magical girl’s power, one kind of has to prioritize hunting witches over their familiars. Fighting the small fry may very well be a waste of time and resources as Kyoko argues. And as deplorable as it is for Kyoko to describe how Sayaka could emotionally and physically abuse Kyosuke and keep him wrapped around her finger, she’s not entirely wrong about that either. If Sayaka really wanted Kyosuke in her life, she could have wished for him to be dependent on her in some way. To make matters worse, we’re starting to see how curing Kyosuke might actually backfire on Sayaka. She can’t reliably see him like she could when he was hospitalized and it’s telling that Kyosuke didn’t tell her that he’s been discharged.
There is also the notion that Sayaka’s line of thinking is frankly pretty narrow. She considers Kyoko her enemy and yet, Kyoko has a legitimate point regarding their feud. She groups Homura with Kyoko as another one of the bad eggs and blames her for Mami’s death, jumping to the conclusion that Homura intentionally got Mami killed (which isn’t true at all). In her eyes, Mami is the only “good” magical girl she’s met so far. Much of her nobility even seems to be inspired by Mami’s. But while it’s true that Mami wasn’t selfish, she was also rather lonely and vain. Mami trying to be the model magical girl ultimately left her alienated and even led to her demise. All things considered, Sayaka comes across as pretty arrogant or stubborn. At the very least, it’s an interesting contrast to Madoka who has been present in enough events to see the big picture and is able to empathize with where Kyoko and Homura are possibly coming from.
While Homura initially intervenes between Kyoko and Sayaka’s fight, she later forms an alliance of sorts with the former. The deal is that Kyoko lets Homura handle Sayaka and that the two of them team up against an upcoming threat known only as Walpurgisnacht. You might be able to take a good guess as to what exactly this threat is before the show later confirms any suspicions. I’ll admit that it’s extremely out of the blue to announce a ticking time bomb of sorts though without spoiling, how it may fit into Madoka‘s narrative will make sense in due time.
Towards the end of the episode, Sayaka prepares to take on Kyoko once more. Madoka attempts to prevent any more violence by chucking Sayaka’s Soul Gem off the bridge they’re on. In doing so however, Sayaka suddenly collapses and to the shock of both Kyoko and Madoka, she’s completely lifeless. As Homura rushes to recover the Soul Gem, Kyubey reveals a disturbing truth: Soul Gems literally contain the souls of their owners while their physical bodies are now merely shells that the gems can control remotely within a 100 meter radius. This is to mitigate physical harm from interfering with a magical girl’s ability to fight witches.
I consider Episode 3 to have the most famous twist in Madoka, and it is a very good twist, but I have always found the truth surrounding Soul Gems to be more meaningful and more unnerving. Mami’s death is effective but it purely runs on shock value and it serves to establish the sense of danger that the characters are in. This twist doesn’t just set the tone, it’s a huge change to the show’s mythos. It isn’t just the life or death stakes now, there’s clearly something messed up about how magical girls operate and most of our characters are only now finding out about this. The foreshadowing for this twist has also been quite good. I mean, the objects are literally called “Soul Gems” and there’s a flashback from the last episode where you see Kyubey create Sayaka’s Soul Gem by extracting some form of energy from her body. Admittedly, they’re pretty dead giveaways but you don’t necessarily pick up on them until this episode provides you with some context.
The different reactions from the characters stand out to me. Madoka is rightfully horrified. It’s made even worse because her decision to throw Sayaka’s Soul Gem away comes from following advice she recently received from her mother, to help your friend even if said friend may not appreciate it at first. That’s good advice; a shame then that it backfires on her in the worst way possible. Meanwhile, you have Kyoko who, despite her jaded views on magical girls, is taken aback by the truth. She puts her beef with Sayaka aside, instead lashing out at Kyubey for turning their bodies into inanimate objects and for practically deceiving them. The same can’t necessarily be said about Homura. As soon as Madoka takes action, Homura immediately teleports away to recover Sayaka’s Soul Gem. It would seem that she already knows the truth surrounding them. If that’s the case however, one has to wonder how Homura found out in the first place.
As for Kyubey, his attitude here is very alarming. Rather than apologize for neglecting to mention the fine print, Kyubey instead comments on how every human he’s interacted with has the same reaction and objections our heroines do. More importantly, he doesn’t seem to understand why they object and why they don’t see eye to eye with him. He fails to recognize the disturbing nature that comes when separating one’s soul from their body. Instead, he keeps arguing the “practical” benefits of such an arrangement and even if that is true, he completely misses the point that the girls are arguing. Kyubey being nonhuman was obvious from Day 1 but now, that means more than just mascot character status. He doesn’t understand his companions’ reactions because he isn’t human and therefore doesn’t think and feel like them. When you think back on past scenes, you realize that Kyubey has always been like this. Pleading with Madoka and Sayaka to form a contract with him before they die alongside Mami. Telling Madoka that she could take a stance among her peers if she becomes a magical girl. Stating that Kyoko is much stronger than Sayaka. None of these weren’t actually out of concern but rather a matter of fact. The writing was playing tricks on you the whole time, making Kyubey appear to be a friend to some of the main characters before finally revealing his disconnect with everyone in a blunt, piercing fashion.
This post was originally published on February 12, 2021
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