After the last three episodes’ bombshells, Madoka Magica no longer has many secrets. As the endgame with Walpurgisnacht approaches, characters become unusually direct and honest in explaining their motivations and questioning the Magical Girl system. All that’s left is to … Continue reading The Madoka Project: The Only Thing I Have Left To Guide Me
Like everything about Madoka Magica, Homura Akemi defies simple analysis. Introduced as an antagonistic character, throughout the series she’s offered frequent, if fleeting glimpses behind her mask. She’s a mess of contradictions: claiming to be out for herself, she shows … Continue reading The Madoka Project: I Won’t Rely on Anyone Anymore
Spiro Agnew was a man of many talents. A modestly effective Baltimore County executive, he became a race-baiting Governor of Maryland and Richard Nixon’s alliteratively-insulting Vice President, raining hellfire on hippies, reporters, activists and “radiclibs.” As Vice President, he was … Continue reading History Thread: The Literary Genius of Spiro T. Agnew
After eight episodes of playing its cards close to the chest, Madoka Magica explodes in a burst of sudden clarity. Exposition clears up loose ends, character motivations are revealed, subtext becomes text. It’s the show’s emotional low point, but it … Continue reading The Madoka Project: I’d Never Allow That To Happen
As I languish in my exile with only beef jerky and books to keep me company, here is a History Thread. Enjoy yourself but be warned to wash your hands after every post lest you join the Legion of the … Continue reading A Plague-Ridden History Thread
One common criticism of Madoka Magica I’ve encountered is that it’s tragic to the point of cruelty, remorselessly meting out dreadful fates to characters who don’t really deserve it. (It is a Gen Urobuchi joint, after all; the man’s never … Continue reading The Madoka Project: I Was Stupid, So Stupid
On this date in 1904, the Japanese Imperial Navy launched a surprise attack on the Russian Pacific Fleet at Port Arthur (modern day Lushunkou, China), initiating the Russo-Japanese War. Admiral Togo Heihachiro, Japan’s brilliant naval leader, planned to incapacitate the … Continue reading The Surprise History Thread
Before plunging into The Fall of Sayaka Miki, let’s take a moment to appreciate Kyoko Sakura. She has the least screen time of the main cast, barring Mami. Aside from Sayaka, her conversations with Homura and Madoka up till now … Continue reading The Madoka Project: Can You Face Your True Feelings?
I didn’t make a thread in advance today because I had a doctor’s appointment. But it wrapped up sooner than expected, so accept this history thread. My one, my only weekly thread (that will last beyond this spring). If it’s … Continue reading The Persistence of the History Thread
Been reading a lot of biographies lately, so this seemed like a quick and easy prompt for the History Thread. What are some of your favorite biographies or memoirs? Least favorites? Looking for recommendations? This thread is for you. Continue reading The Biographical History Thread
Madoka Magica is a masterclass in character writing. If nothing else, Gen Urobuchi has a flare for creating casts whose traits clash and interlock in equal measure, allowing every interaction (if not every line) to have depth and meaning. It’s … Continue reading The Madoka Project: This Just Can’t Be Right
In the 1810s, the British Empire’s domain in Africa consisted of coastal enclaves on the continent’s west and south. Having previously profited off the Transatlantic Slave Trade, British officials of Sierra Leone and the Gold Coast (modern Ghana) were now … Continue reading History Thread: MacCarthy’s Macaroni Massacre
Crafting an ensemble cast within a limited series can be difficult. Madoka Magica pulls it off flawlessly by rotating focus among its main characters. Madoka is the ostensible protagonist, but she’s largely an observer for the balance of the series, … Continue reading The Madoka Project: There’s No Way I’ll Ever Regret It
If Episode 3 of Madoka proved shocking to viewers, Episode 4 is positively dour. This episode is a hard reset of the show that forces us to confront important questions about the show we’re watching. Questions like, “what’s the purpose … Continue reading The Madoka Project: Miracles and Magic Are Real
It’s only human to wonder how things might have gone differently. And historians, or history buffs, have spent an inordinate amount of time wondering how events from the distant past might have differed. From fictional works like The Man in … Continue reading The Alternate History Thread
While preparing this article, I read and watched several essays arguing that Mami Tomoe is, in fact, the most important character of the series. This claim overstates things a bit, but I found parts of it persuasive. After all, Mami … Continue reading The Madoka Project: I’m Not Afraid of Anything Anymore
I’m tackling the first two episodes at once for a reason that Madoka fans will appreciate and newcomers will soon discover. There’s worldbuilding and stage setting and establishing the main cast (with one key exception), sure. But mostly because it’s … Continue reading The Madoka Project: I First Met Her in a Dream…Or Something/That Would Be Truly Wonderful
It’s almost the end of another year. As America’s existential crisis continues and a pandemic rages across the world history can be, well, not always comforting but at the very least a welcome distraction from the horrors of our day-to-day … Continue reading The Year-End History Thread
Anime fans need no introduction to Puella Magi Madoka Magica. One of the most popular and acclaimed anime series of the 2010s, it proved an instant hit, reviving the largely moribund Magical Girl genre and showing how dark, female-driven stories … Continue reading The Madoka Project: Introduction to Puella Magi Madoka Magica
What could history possibly matter to someone who is forced to relive the same month of their life, over and over again? For those of us who haven’t contracted with an alien ferret, though, it remains a source of endless … Continue reading The Homura History Thread
Eleftherios Venizelos had a vision for Greece. As young man on Crete, he had led a rebellion against its Turkish rulers in 1897, triggering British intervention and the island’s union with Greece. As Foreign Minister in the 1910s, he engineered … Continue reading History Thread: The Glass General and the Burning City
