Entropy's Dark Gleam (Puella Magi Madoka Magica) [Part 2]

(Continued from Part 1)

(TW: suicide)

Part 2: Crimson's Conflict


Right then. So that's the truth at the heart of Madoka Magica. It strung you along for three episodes with a typical magical girl-like structure, a status quo totally familiar to anyone with passing knowledge of Sailor Moon. It then just killed one of its main cast, letting the veil drop. There are other dark and terrible truths to be learned, but we must tread carefully in this grim world of despair. As this section suggests, we're going to get some good old-fashioned magical girl ideological conflict in a bit. Before we can get there, we have to set things up and try to cope with the loss of our friend Mami. How do Madoka and Sayaka take that?

Entropy's Dark Gleam (Puella Magi Madoka Magica) [Part 1]

(Hello there! This is not a new Harmony Of Hope post on the third Symphogear season, but I am Douglas Adams-ing my way through the deadline on that one. Considering October is spooky month here, I've got to bang out Harmony Of Hope 3 in the next few weeks. What we've got here instead over the next week is exactly what it says on the tin: a deep dive essay on the magical girl show, Puella Magi Madoka Magica. Why are we doing this? Promises and Patreons. This is a stretch goal of sorts I set in support of Christine Kelley's Patreon reaching the $300 mark. Christine is an amazingly talented writer who runs the blog Dreams Of Orgonon, looking at the career of Kate Bush song by song. I adore Kate Bush, and I adore Christine's writing about Kate Bush. She deserves your support! Perhaps in the future, if my creative writing circle rallies together more stretch goals for Christine's Patreon, we'll do other work in the Madoka Magica series. Perhaps I'll do it of my own volition. No promises as of yet. For now, I'll be hard at work on the new Symphogear post... but please enjoy a different flavor of magical girl exegesis.

Oh, right. There's spoilers for Puella Magi Madoka Magica all over this, even after the Read More. It's almost a decade old and they're infamous twists, but if you've not seen the show, give it a go. Right. On with it.)


Well then. Let's get the ball rolling on this one with some personal recollection. As I said two years ago (which might as well be a thousand years ago now, considering the year we've all had), in 2003 I had a brief yet memorable fling of watching Sailor Moon on TV. I did this in my own private solitude, and got caught once or twice doing it and thus a little mocked for it. We've got an interesting bit of recursion here; watching Sailor Moon in 2003 made me want to be a writer. Rewatching Sailor Moon in 2018 turned me into some sort of magical girl critical analysis type, and between that and my still-ongoing deep dive into Symphogear? I've written a literal book on this stuff, and now I will do that again. Before any of that happened, though, in 2011 I encountered this show. Puella Magi Madoka Magica (hereafter referred to as Madoka Magica). I don't remember the exact circumstances which drew me to it, unlike the vivid memory of encountering Sailor Moon, but I do know that I knew the big dark twists going in. It didn't ruin it for me, and I remembered it being an emotional gut punch.


More than that, I remember revisiting Madoka Magica, even back then. Over time, friends of mine visited the show and I got to experience it with them. Whether it was dodgy livestreams of the episodes with their reactions, or just text chats as they reacted and screamed, I got to watch them go through this journey. Unlike my solitary Sailor Moon screenings, Madoka Magica is this very shared thing for me. Beyond that, though, I hadn't really thought of the series in years. It got a sequel movie in 2013 which I watched once, and is a whole other can of worms that we won't be covering at the moment. I did consider it again, briefly, back in January. In introducing my Symphogear writeup series, I framed its title character as one of the "Eternals" and gave a brief little summary of what I took from the show, and how it fit into my broader magical girl experience and expectations. That's a remarkable bit of brevity for me, and I'm honestly impressed looking back at it that I managed to nail it down so succinctly despite not seeing the show in several years.


Now let's fuck it all up and go into 10,000 words of excessive detail and plot summary about how good this goddamned show is.

The Harmony Of Hope And The Dirge Of Despair: Part 2 (Senki Zesshou Symphogear G) [2.5]

(Continued from 2.4)

Part 5: Hymn Of Heroism


Finally, after 8800 words (yes, I counted) of calling this guy the worst piece of shit, I get to properly delve into his words and deeds. Dr. Ver is, without a doubt, one of the most despicable antagonists I have ever experienced in media. I haven't felt this righteous fury for someone since [REDACTED] from the [REDACTED] books by [REDACTED]. Unlike [REDACTED] though, Dr. Ver isn't a huge racist. No,  there's one driving force beyond everything Dr. Ver says and does over the course of Symphogear G. He actually told us at the beginning of the show, after Hibiki and Chris saved him from the Noise attack on the train (that he orchestrated, the PRICK). It's right there.

The Harmony Of Hope And The Dirge Of Despair: Part 2 (Senki Zesshou Symphogear G) [2.4]

(Continued from 2.3)

Part 4: Upbeat Of Understanding

Whew.  We can't rest easy yet, as we left things on a massive and huge betrayal cliffhanger. Hibiki and Miku got blasted by a giant corrupt mirror beam, and oh yeah, what the shit did Chris just do? Because it sure looks like, as episode 11 gets going, Chris has defected to FIS. Her lingering guilt and self-doubt over having let the Noise out with the Staff of Solomon for Finè to begin with has gnawed at her, and she's gone over to their side to help them in exchange for getting it back so she can make things right. A grim and practical noble act, cutting ties with her own friendships and happy life to make things right. That's how low we seem to have sunk. Hibiki and Miku are fine, at least, but the cost was heavy. Miku's no longer controlled by Shenshoujin, and Hibiki has no more corruptive influence in her body. The mirror beam burned both relics away. Hibiki isn't a magical girl any more. For now, she is just glad Miku is okay, and more worried about Chris. Hold on tight, because salvation already came. I told you it happened in episode 9, but we were dealing with Miku so I put a pin in it. Let's pull that pin out. Behold. The way back to utopic idealism.

The Harmony Of Hope And The Dirge Of Despair: Part 2 (Senki Zesshou Symphogear G) [2.3]

(Continued from 2.2)

Part 3: Bolero Of Betrayal


Having made a case for Nephilim's bite creating both a literal and extra-narrative infection, we now have to explore what that infection enables to threaten the narrative beyond just the corruption. Indeed, Nephilim's bite isn't the sole cause of this, as we have seen (and will see) the whiffs of conflict before the big chomp. I actually want to start by talking about a scene that happens earlier, in episode 3. We've not talked about Chris that much, and that's a shame since I quite like Chris. She's now a student at the new Lydian Academy, and isn't the best at being friendly... as is evident by the scene in which she's actively running away from friendly classmates trying to rope her into school festival duty. She and Tsubasa do get roped into it, but it's not all bad. Their fellow classmates have a lovely bit of reflection where they talk about how they felt Tsubasa was this solitary idol, but once they talked to her they found she was just like them. It's understanding by talking, and Chris sighs and says she should try a little harder herself. It's a sweet moment, and the show is full of these. Episode 4's ending has Chris actively recruited as a last-minute entrant in a singing contest, and her song is absolutely beautiful. A heartfelt well-sung narrative about learning to love to sing, and finding a new place to belong. You love to see it. Of course, Nephilim's bite is going to threaten all that, but let's rewind. Before we talk about Chris more, I want to talk about Maria and Finè.

The Harmony Of Hope And The Dirge Of Despair: Part 2 (Senki Zesshou Symphogear G) [2.2]

(Continued from 2.1)

Part 2: Canon Of Corruption

(TW: blood)

In order to define the threat of corruption at the heart of Symphogear G, we must first define what threatens to be corrupted. At first glance, it may seem to just be the utopic ideal that's in danger, and while there's a new set of tensions to threaten that, there are some very specific ideals and ideologies to lay down before we can get into how they are threatened. It's best to start with the group we've been talking about, Maria and her allies. She, Kirika, and Shirabe are led by their "mama", Professor Nastassja (the mystery lady in the wheelchair we've been speaking of). and the enigmatic Dr. Ver has also defected to their side. It's eventually revealed that the Professor and Maria are ex-members of an American Symphogear research group called FIS, which was likely formed in secret by Finè back when she was in her Ryoko body. (As such, for simplicity's sake we'll refer to these five antagonists together as FIS.) Their goal, as is revealed over the course of the series, is simple enough. They're out to save the world. As it turns out, the business with the moon at the end of the last season has decayed its orbit, and now the thing is going to crash into the planet. While government officials either deny such a thing will happen, or plot behind the scenes to ensure that only they survive the apocalypse, FIS is determined to serve the needs of the many, doing whatever it takes to create a safe haven for some of humanity to survive the impending disaster.

The Harmony Of Hope And The Dirge Of Despair: Part 2 (Senki Zesshou Symphogear G) [2.1]

(All my love and eternal thanks to Sean, Alina, Christa, Juli, and Danta for keeping the fires of hope burning in my heart when I doubted the validity of these words. I hope they move everyone, but I hope they move you especially.

Special apologies to Rhete for this taking so goddamned long.

As always, this massive writeup will contain spoilers for the Symphogear series, so watch it beforehand if you care about that. It's well worth it, as my gushing hopefully demonstrates.)

(Continued from 1.4)

Well then. Here we are, at last and yet again. When we left Senki Zesshou Symphogear previously, what we got was a show about holding on to hope in the darkest of times, in a world that seemed ruled by despair. We got a show where utopic idealism won out over grim determination, and even made those grim determined people warm their hearts and turn towards the light of redemption. We got a show that stood steadfast in its belief that people can understand each other, if they earnestly talk to one another. It was brilliant, it was beautiful, and it was exactly the right escalation that I needed as someone who came to it from a watchthrough of Sailor Moon. In many ways the second season, Senki Zesshou Symphogear G (hereafter referred to as simply Symphogear G) is a further escalation of this. Throughout 13 more episodes of magical girl action, this show builds its own new ideological conflicts while also offering new challenges to its hopeful idealism. We're here to break those down, analyze them, and see just what makes them tick... but let's not get too heavy from the get-go. Remember our coffee shop analogy. It's been a while, we need to catch up. You and I, we're just going to take it easy here, and start by laying out how Symphogear G kicks things off. Once we have a proper framework, then we can delve into those heady themes and their detailed subject matter. Get a refill on your latte, dear... and let me tell you about Symphogear G.