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Nanoha A's deconstructing its genre: "What would you do if to prevent someone you loved dearly from dying you had to attack innocent people? At what point do you draw the line between heroes and villains?"
Madoka deconstructing its genre: "Why can magical girls transform?"
Madoka deconstructing its genre: "Why can magical girls transform?"
I love Madoka but its fame as a magical girl deconstruction never sits right with me because it doesn't do anything that's *inherent* or *specific* to magical girl stories so the epithet feels like it falls a bit flat when measured as such.
It's still one of my favorite things and I've binged it beginning to end more times than I'm willing to admit, but just ask yourself: What does it do to put magical girls specifically in new light that can't also be applied to a Kamen Rider show?
In contrast even OG Nanoha went into painstaking detail about the tried and true "Dark Magical Girl" archetype. What upbringing makes a girl turn into that sort of rival? What makes her stay? What happens afterwards? Can she be helped? How?
The Magical Girl genre is one where the focus is on personal growth, where any plot beat has the intention of furthering a character first and furthering a plot second.
It's the difference between overcoming a fear because you wanna and because you need a new superpower.
It's the difference between overcoming a fear because you wanna and because you need a new superpower.
In Madoka any personal development, positive or negative (mainly negative because of course) is in service of furthering the plot. And that's if it's there at all, the characters barely move development-wise and if they do they're about to die. meaning nobody grew onscreen.
Mami not being afraid? To further the tragedy of her death
Sayaka "overcoming" her asshole crush? To further the tragedy of her death
Kyoko finally being selfless for once? To further the tragedy of her death
Madoka becoming useful for once? To further the tragedy of her "death"
Sayaka "overcoming" her asshole crush? To further the tragedy of her death
Kyoko finally being selfless for once? To further the tragedy of her death
Madoka becoming useful for once? To further the tragedy of her "death"
What did anybody learn? How did anybody grow? Madoka is too impersonal to be considered an analysis of a genre that historically started being about little girls learning about the world as they grow up and about their feelings about other people or things.
Now watch it with the same hat with which you watch an early Heisei Kamen Rider season like Ryuki or 555 and now we talkin'.
This thread brought to you just because I rewatched the second Nanoha movie and I'm having STRONG FEELINGS about the genre in general.
