Inside the recording studio.
"Knowledge is infinite, repetitive, and ascending. So I will always think of you, every day, and miss you more and more." In the quiet recording studio, the young man's voice was calm and solemn. Although it was a tone without any emotion, the obvious seriousness in the words gave off an indescribable feeling of excitement.
There was silence in the venue.
After a pause of about five seconds, Tang Shuchang finally regained herself from her brief trance. She looked up at the dubbing director opposite her, and after the other party nodded at her with excitement, she quickly stood up and said, "Okay, then this part of the dubbing ends here."
This was said to other staff members.
After announcing that the work on the scene was over, without waiting for the assistant to start, Tang Shuchang quickly took a cup of warm water from the water dispenser and handed it to the young man - his boss - with great discernment, praising him endlessly: "Boss, the level of your dubbing just now is probably the best in the entire dubbing industry of Blue Star!"
Having long been accustomed to the other party's exaggerated way of speaking, Mu Suxing said "hmm" and without being polite, he took the warm water handed over by the other party and drank it in small sips.
Now that My Hero Academia has been serialized to the ninth episode, the overall situation can be said to be on the rise. In addition, the last three episodes had been edited two months ago. With nothing to do, Mu Suxing simply went to Thorn Interactive Entertainment to discuss the copyright of the game "My Hero Academia" with Jiang Yucheng and others.
As early as last week when the eighth episode of Magic Circle was broadcast, "Expedition Girls" completely surpassed Yunsu Games' "Empire Expedition" in the rankings. Since the two games are of the same type, the player users can be said to be in complete conflict. In this case, when "Expedition Girls" climbed up the best-selling list, the chain reaction it brought about was naturally the continuous decline in the ranking of "Empire Expedition".
According to Mu Xiuxing's original idea, now that "Expedition Girls" has trampled "Imperial Expedition" under its feet, it is naturally time for him to fulfill his promise and hand over the copyright of my English game.
The contract negotiations between the two parties went smoothly.
While Huaying's legal department's specially hired lawyer and copyright manager sat on the sofas on either side, seriously discussing the game copyright fees with Jingzhi Interactive Entertainment, Mu Suxing lazily sat on the single sofa on the other side. However, he had not sat there for two minutes before he was pulled away by the excited Tang Shuchang to serve as a soldier.
"Dubbing?" Mu Suxing repeated Tang Shuchang's request.
Tang Shuchang cleared his throat and tried to make himself look completely businesslike: "It's like this, our newly developed otome game is still missing a CV for a hidden male protagonist. This male protagonist doesn't appear much in the main storyline, and is like a movie easter egg..."
At this point, she paused for a moment before continuing, "Then I did some research and found that many fans of the animation studio really want you to play a more attractive and charming character, rather than the perverted villains in various animations—such as the few passers-by on the subway who made Sayaka completely collapse and despair in the recently aired "Puella Magi Madoka Magica."
Muxiuxing: …
He didn’t know if it was his illusion, but Mu Xuxing always felt that there was a bit of gnashing of teeth in the other party’s tone when he gave the last example.
He recalled the corresponding Madoka Magica plot in the other party's words and decided to pretend that he didn't hear the last sentence: "I will be very busy in the next period of time, I am afraid I may not have time to cooperate with the subsequent dubbing work of your game plot."
Tang Shuchang explained: "There are very few parts of this character that need dubbing, and there will be no more parts that need dubbing later. He only has a dozen or so lines in total. Boss, you can finish dubbing now, and you don't have to worry about it in the future."
As she spoke, she handed the printed paper with the lines to Mu Suxing. The latter took the information, glanced at it, and quickly determined the general situation.
This character does not have many parts, but his presence is very strong in the entire game, because he is both the villain boss in the main storyline of the game and a hidden and conquerable character. It seems that he does not have many parts and is only mentioned in other people's chats, but in fact he is always in control of the overall situation, and the series of actions of the heroine are all within his expectations.
Mu Suxing did not agree to the other party immediately.
Strictly speaking, he is actually quite interested in dubbing itself, but after all, animation director is his main job, so at most he only occasionally dubs some passers-by characters in anime - for example, most of the extras in Madoka Magica with very few lines were basically dubbed by him alone.
He looked carefully and found that this character did not have many lines, so he simply agreed.
This is indeed the case.
With the top dubbing skills produced by the system, Mu Suxing got into the role very quickly. In addition, the lines given by Tang Shuchang were only a dozen or so. In less than an hour, Mu Suxing finished his short dubbing job neatly and sat back on his sofa with the cup of water that Tang Shuchang handed over to him attentively.
Probably realizing that Mu Suxing was not in the mood to chat at the moment, Tang Shuchang gave him a few compliments, then stood up and went back to his work.
Mu Suxing raised his head and glanced at the few people not far away who were still arguing about the details of the contract. After thinking for a while, he took out his mobile phone from his pocket and took the time to read the comments online.
"Ahhh, I'm really convinced by this bastard. Other people's five-color teams don't make people think of death at all, but his five-color team is lining up to die one by one, and each one is more miserable than the other. What do people do?"
"I didn't feel it was that sad in the beginning, at most I just felt a little upset. But in the ninth episode I couldn't control myself anymore, when Kyoko and Sayaka kissed the Soul Stone before they died together, and the line 'It's lonely to be alone, right? Okay, I'm with you.' The tone was so gentle that I burst into tears on the spot. Who can stand this?"
"I'm sorry, I lost. You're still the same bastard you are. Mr. Hong's wife said she was killed in action."
"This bastard is too cruel. I really can't beat him. Ka-chan's girlfriend said she died in the battle..."
Amidst the many sobbing comments, there were also lucky survivors who tenaciously expressed their feelings about survival: "I have watched many tear-jerking movies and I think Madoka Magica is not that sad. If I must give a comment, I think Madoka Magica is not sad, but depressing."
"It is different from the kind of grief caused by the death of a loved one in general anime. Although the former makes people sad, from another perspective, it is also a perfect exit for the character. However, Madoka Magica is different. The grief in it is not the kind that will make people cry bitterly, but a kind of uncomfortable feeling that makes people feel blocked in the heart."
Having said that, the tenacious survivor also took out two animated pictures for comparative analysis.
The first animated picture is the first confrontation between Sayaka and Kyoko. The red-haired girl holding the long wooden cannon lowered her head slightly, looking down at Sayaka lying at her feet, and said in a casual and contemptuous tone: "Although I think it's unlikely, you didn't make a contract with this guy for the sake of saving people or justice, or some ridiculous joke?"
Sayaka gritted her teeth. Even though she was clearly at a disadvantage in the previous confrontation, her firm expression did not waver at all: "So what?"
Let the person she loves recover his hands so that he can pick up the violin he is good at again, and she will replace the dead Mami and continue to protect the city, instead of letting other magical girls who despise human life do whatever they want.
This is what Sayaka thought at first.
What happened next
She signed a contract with Kyubey at the cost of giving up everything, allowing the person she loved to have a healthy body and saving her friends from the danger of the witch. But it was these two people who sat side by side on the bench at dusk, like a normal couple, sometimes chatting and sometimes smiling at each other.
And she had nothing left.
In the gloomy subway at night, the vicious and wanton words of a passerby were like a sharp knife, which easily crushed the last straw in her heart.
"Oh, come on, women can't be treated like human beings. They should be disciplined like dogs or something, and that guy will be happy about it. Threaten her and say 'I'll hit you in the face', and she will basically shut up."
"You're just trying to be nice to her and keep pestering her to get married. Really? A hostess like her will only make the same amount of money in 10 years. Think about whether you can handle it. It'll be very troublesome to dump her. Xiang, you're really good at this. I envy you. I have to learn from you."
The man's cold and heartless words came to an abrupt end when the girl interrupted him. The short-haired girl had empty eyes, as if she was looking at them, but also as if she was not.
"That person values you very much and works hard to make you happy, right? You know that, right? But you are just like a dog? Don't you know how to say thank you? Do you just throw him away when he is no longer useful to you?"
The subway rubbed against the track, making a harsh sound. The girl's voice sounded without any emotion, as if she was asking the men in front of her, or as if she was asking herself: "Hey, is this world worth protecting? What am I fighting for... Tell me."
In this way, the magical girl who had a beautiful dream of saving people and achieving justice met her own end - she regretted the wish she had made so easily, and her heart was completely occupied by despair, and she became a witch.
In the twisted barrier, there was a faint shadow of the boy she had a crush on playing the violin.
"Why do I say that Madoka Magica is a thoroughly depressing masterpiece? Because from the beginning to the end, every detail of the design of this animation reveals the scriptwriter's 'good intentions'. It is obviously not enough for him to simply have a magical girl turn evil into a witch."
"The so-called tragedy is to destroy all beautiful things for people to see. And in the plot of Madoka Magica, is there anything more tragic than letting a righteous partner be led into the abyss of despair by the human he saved, and then become the witch he once hated the most?"
This analysis is of course written by Luo Gaofeng.
Adhering to the mentality of "Although I have held on, I just don't want you to have an easy time", Luo Gaofeng wiped his face and stopped being lazy. He happily left one sharp analysis after another in the comment section, and at the end he left a sentence proudly: "The expedition girl commander has been confirmed to be alive. I look forward to your next challenge."
Just when the audience was tortured to death by the ninth episode of Madoka Magica, some people who had watched Madoka Magica and some who had not watched Madoka Magica all focused their attention on the data network of the next day.
Is Madoka Magica a good anime
The answer is of course yes. Just as Mu Suxing said, this is an animation that requires people to think seriously and savor it carefully. It does not serve you a full banquet at the beginning, but is like the snow accumulating bit by bit on the mountain. When the audience follows the pace of the plot, explores, empathizes, and goes deep into the top of the peak step by step, when countless clues from the previous text are intertwined and combined together, the sudden outbreak of the snow mountain avalanche is enough to drown every audience who is deeply involved in it.
But in commercial animation, oftentimes, so-called "excellence" does not mean that the animation can achieve results that match its quality.
What about the magic circle
Will it advance rapidly, as Huaying did in the past, and crush other animations, or will it suffer a setback in subscriptions, gaining a high reputation but losing the support of the masses
The next day, eight o'clock in the morning.
The data on the website has just been updated, and countless people's eyes immediately fell on the latest ranking - among them, "I'm Not a Magical Girl" has held its position for a month, but has now been replaced by "Puella Magi Madoka Magica", topping the list with 600,000 online subscriptions.
It's not that I haven't thought about the possibility that Huaying will continue to achieve great success in both word-of-mouth and box office, but the style and subject matter of Madoka Magica are there. Logically speaking, it is a question whether the audience, who are accustomed to entertainment, can accept this so-called "depth".
But even in this impossible situation, such an animation that couldn't be more heartbreaking almost unbelievably surpassed "I'm Not a Magical Girl", which was originally at the top of the list, and the gap of more than 100,000 made Luofeng Animation's catch-up a delusion.
Why
Why
With the shocking online subscription of Madoka Magica, the original number of fans not only did not drop, but increased day by day, and more and more viewers recommended (cheated) it, and some of them were even animation directors.
They want to know why the magic circle is successful.
In such an atmosphere of national anticipation, Madoka Magica also ushered in its final reversal and ending—
Just as most viewers have guessed, Homura Akemi comes from another parallel world, and the ability she possesses is time.
In the original parallel world's timeline, when Homura Akemi transferred in, Madoka and senior schoolmate Mami Tomoe had already become magical girls - and at this time, Homura Akemi was no longer a beautiful lady with a strong aura, but a shy and introverted child with twin ponytails.
The timid and incompetent girl was saved by her classmate Madoka Kaname - it was she who pulled her out of the world where she was alone, it was she who rescued her from the witch at the critical moment, and it was also she who, during the Witch's Night when her senior Mami Tomoe had died in the battle, resolutely went there even though she knew she was defeated, and finally lay soundlessly on the ground in the rain.
In the midst of heavy rain, Kyubey's voice seemed to come from a very far away place: "Akami Homura, are you willing to bet your soul for that wish?"
"I want to meet Kaname-san again, not as the one she protects, but as the one who protects her!"
The magical girl's wish was officially fulfilled from this moment on. The girl who gained the power to control time turned the time forward to a month ago.
But that’s not enough.
In order to avoid being a drag on Madoka and Tomoe, Homura began to learn how to fight step by step. They gradually got along well and even understood Kyubey's secrets and goals, but they ultimately could not escape the fate of death.
Homura Akemi once again returned to the time before she returned to school.
This time, she chose to tell her friends what she knew as soon as possible, but no one believed her and regarded all her words as provocations. When Sayaka really turned into a witch, Mami and Kyoko, who could not accept the truth, died one after another.
The two of them stood together in front of Witch Night again.
The magic power in the Soul Gem was exhausted, but Madoka smiled and gave the last Seed of Sorrow to Homura Akemi.
"Humura, you can go back to the past, right?" She opened her eyes with difficulty, and said with hope: "Can you save the fool me in the past who had not been deceived by Kyubey?"
The difference is that this time, because she doesn't want to become a witch, Madoka asks Homura to end her life.
When time went back again and the girl with long black hair jumped off the bed again, her eyes were no longer confused.
Her long, soft black hair cascaded down as she pulled off her hairband, with a graceful flow like flowing water. From that moment on, the once timid and cowardly girl gradually became calm, strong and independent.
"I won't rely on anyone anymore."
The screen went dark from then on, and at this moment, the original OP strangely appeared in the position of ed.
All the scattered fragments of the previous article were pieced together into a complete and beautiful puzzle at this moment, but it was these details that seemed insignificant at the time that have now become a weapon for fans to abuse themselves -
"I cried. I finished watching the tenth episode and now I'm starting over from the first episode. Everything I see now looks like a knife. The screenwriter of this animation is so cruel. He has been sharpening his knife secretly since the first episode. I guess he is just waiting for us to slaughter him!"
"Stop talking, I give up. After watching episode 10, my eyes are swollen from crying. It's too cruel, really too cruel. Who the hell can stand this?"
"Honestly, this is my first time following an anime and I feel so hopeless for the characters. It seems like no matter what Madoka and the others do, there's no solution. It seems like once you become a magical girl, your fate is basically a dead end. I mean, is there really a happy ending in this anime?"