Episode #205 – Bite Of Life

Old cohost here (back when we reviewed the show) and I can’t say how much I loved this movie. Like your current cohost I am a sucker for a show that makes me think and oh boy did this one do that. Your cohost should go back and watch the first 40 minutes as it does give the wait what effect so much and they do such a good job of trolling you. Like in the TV series they start out as great beautiful normal magical girl show before deconstructing and here in ONE SHOW they do both the reconstruction and then deconstruct the reconstruction IT IS AMAZING. I mean by the time they got to the “bread” song I was going wait what is this dang it they ruined it. I should have had more faith but they expertly played with my expectations giving me what I didn’t expect before giving me what I expected which is why it worked as by the time they gave me what I expected it was surprising again and so had the effect like the original turn which it wouldn’t have had before. Then they go completly down a buddhist christian fusion where we do have a devil who separates madoka into two (at least) parts (shade of the trinity) and keeps part of her in her own little world. While the rest still holds onto all the souls of the witches in the rest of the universe. Like the Christian devil though she is doing it all out of selfish love. She loves madoka so much that she can not share her with anyone else she literally wants to deny Madoka’s love to the rest of the universe and cares not that she would doom the universe in the process. This show is right up there with Eva and ghost in the shell and arguably surpasses both. Only Hanibai Renmei is I think a better show, and I can guarantee you the vast majority of the visual symbolism the wikia mentions was most certainly intended. This is anime on the level of the best classic literature and elevates the form to incredibly new levels.