Two weeks later.
The heated discussion and craze about Madoka Magica reached its true peak after the broadcast of the twelfth episode, which symbolized the finale of the entire series.
At the end of the animation, Homura was unable to stop Madoka from becoming a magical girl - facing the Witch Night that was about to destroy the world, Madoka calmly convinced her mother and rushed to her destiny of becoming the light.
"Finish, sprinkle flowers!"
"I've never watched an anime about magical girls. After watching Madoka Magica, I probably won't watch one again."
"I have been following the series from the first episode until now. I have felt resentful, heartbroken, and upset. Sometimes I even wanted to go to Huaying Animation to comfort Gouzei in person... But when I saw the last episode, I suddenly felt relieved. This is indeed a high-quality animation. Thank you Huaying for bringing such a good work. P.S. When will Huaying be open to the public? I can't wait to see Gouzei in person:)"
"I cried my eyes out when I saw the ending. I've gotten used to the dark and tragic story step by step, but I was particularly moved when I saw the ending. Now when I look back at the shameless "healing theory" that Gou Zei had said, I actually feel that Madoka Magica is really a healing story..."
At the same time, the rating of "Magic Circle" was miraculously fixed at a high score of 9.5. The comments of the audience also underwent a dramatic reversal, and the comments under the rating were mostly positive.
Among them, the scene most nominated by the audience is naturally the scene after Madoka makes a wish at the end.
At the end of the story, Witch Night is about to destroy the shelter. In this animation called "Puella Magi Madoka Magica", the protagonist named Madoka finally signs a contract with Kyubey at the last moment and becomes a magical girl.
"I want to destroy all witches before they are born, all witches in all universes, past and future, with my own hands..."
"Kaneme-san, do you know how terrible that wish is?" In the nameless space, Tomoe Mami, who was supposed to be dead, lowered her head and made a cup of tea for her: "In the future, in the past, and in all time, you will fight forever. If that happens, you will definitely not be able to maintain your individuality, and that is not as simple as death."
"You will be forever fixed in this universe as a concept of a witch of destruction."
Being comforted like this, Xiao Yuan showed a light smile, and she said calmly: "If someone tells me that it is wrong to have hope, I will answer countless times 'not like that', and I will definitely hold on like this no matter what time it is."
It is not about being able to realize hope, but about becoming hope itself.
And so, under Madoka's wish, the Law of Circles was born, and Madoka's wish became a reality the moment she made a contract with Kyubey - her soul has since traveled back and forth through history, absorbing the filth on the soul gems of every magical girl before she is about to fall into a witch and fall into darkness, and leading them to a higher plane.
At this point, magical girls are no longer synonymous with despair as in the first eleven episodes. The girls who hold love and hope in their hearts are true to themselves in the end and close their eyes with a smile.
Why is Madoka Magica so popular
In this regard, not long after Puella Magi Madoka completed, many well-known comic critics gave certain answers to this question. Among them, the well-known film critic and comic critic Shen Tongfang gave his own analysis and thoughts on the relevant rating website of Blue Star.
"When it comes to the reason why Madoka Magica became so popular, many people may mention the incident in the third episode where the senior turned around. Of course, it is undeniable that this extremely impactful plot did become a driving force for many viewers to follow the show at the time, but it is obviously biased to attribute the reason for Madoka Magica's popularity to this anti-routine plot."
After a simple introduction of the topic, Shen Tongfang quickly got to the point.
"First of all, it must be pointed out that the success of Madoka Magica is not just the result of one aspect, but the result of a high-quality combination of multiple elements, including a well-structured storyline, a unique performance style, and wonderful animation music... It is precisely because Madoka Magica has reached an extremely high standard in every aspect, and these meticulous attention to every detail, in turn, have directed Madoka Magica's success."
"Let me start with the storyline—"
"The script of Madoka Magica is very, very, very good. Please forgive me for using three verys here, because in my opinion, only this can barely express the astonishment that Madoka Magica's script brings to me. In this animation, it is difficult to find even a single word of nonsense. In almost every plot in the later stage of the animation, we can find the traps carefully laid by the screenwriter at the beginning of the animation."
Speaking of this, he specially posted a screenshot.
The content of the picture is very simple. It is about the discussion about wishes that Mami had when she, Madoka, and Sayaka were walking home after the battle. When Mami learned that Sayaka wanted to make a wish for others, she objected in an uncharacteristic way.
"If you want to fulfill other people's wishes, you have to clarify your own wishes." The accompanying text on the picture hits the nail on the head: "Do you want to fulfill his wish, or do you want to be the benefactor who fulfills his wish?"
This sentence was placed in the third episode of the animation and was ignored by countless viewers in the early days. It simply summarized Sayaka's life when countless people were still confused and knew nothing.
"There are countless details like this in the entire animation. Friends who are interested can review it privately. I believe that Madoka Magica will definitely bring you new surprises."
After talking about the overall script, Shen Tongfang praised the details in the animation:
"Not only is there a lot of foreshadowing in the script, but in fact, if we look carefully enough, there are many settings and scenes in Madoka Magica that have made metaphors from the very beginning. For example, Sayaka's name after she turned into a witch is Mermaid Witch, and the seemingly confusing text in the witch's barrier actually has meaning. Many of the text details on the screen are from the poem "Faust"."
"Speaking of witch's barrier, we have to mention the special way of expressing witch's barrier in Madoka Magica. This way of expression is equivalent to a kind of collage art. Simply put, it is to stick paper cuttings, ribbons, paint and other items on a piece of paper or canvas. I have to say that this way of expression is very interesting and complements the core of Madoka Magica. While retaining the weirdness of Madoka Magica itself, it also adds a kind of □□ atmosphere to the animation as a whole."
Finally, Shen Tongfang also gave his own evaluation of the popular online promotion of "Annual Healing Animation - Magical Girl Madoka Magica":
“Is Puella Magi Madoka Magica a healing anime? From the perspective of the anime itself, I think it is.”
"In Puella Magi Madoka Magica, an anime that can be said to have redefined magical girls, magical girls are isolated from hope from the very beginning. The greater the hope, the greater the despair that will eventually be carried. Every girl who holds on to the beautiful fantasy of becoming a magical girl will inevitably end up killing people."
"A magical girl who kills her familiars to save people will eventually run out of magic power and her soul gem will be completely contaminated, turning into a witch and killing humans. A magical girl who only hunts witches must let her familiars kill enough humans to kill the witches in order to avoid running out of magic power, so that she can obtain enough seeds of sorrow and survive."
“This should have been a hopeless cycle, but the magical girls at the end embraced hope again because of Madoka’s wish. The magical girls will no longer transform into witches, and the magical girls have finally become magical girls who can truly represent ‘love and hope’.”
“In general, this is indeed a rare phenomenal work. I suggest that those who haven’t seen it should hurry up and catch up. Those who have seen it can also recommend it to their friends. Don’t miss this best healing animation of the year.”
Once Shen Tongfang's comic review was published, it was immediately widely forwarded and hotly discussed on various social forums. At the same time, more viewers were either recommended or moved by the comic review and took the initiative to jump into the big pit of Magic Circle. It was under such circumstances that the number of subscriptions to Magic Circle on the entire network has exceeded 850,000, and it is already showing a trend of heading towards one million.
That’s not all.
Due to the peculiar plot of Madoka Magica, many viewers have expressed that after watching such a completely unconventional magical girl-themed anime like Madoka Magica, they simply could not watch other anime of the same period and with the same theme - it would be OK if the themes were different, but when your mind is still full of Madoka Magica, it would be strange if you didn't see frequent interruptions when watching a normal-style magical girl anime.
It is also for this reason that, as Madoka Magica's situation is booming, the number of views and subscriptions on the entire network has leaped upward visibly, while other magical girl animations of the same period have shown a downward trend. Even Yunsu's long-planned magical girl-themed game has seen a change in recent reviews.
Players who were originally looking forward to the game's launch have recently changed their tune and started giving serious suggestions to the official.
"To be honest, I personally really like this kind of dress-up mobile game, so I am looking forward to this game, but... can't the planner really consider changing the background of the game? After watching Madoka Magica, I really don't like magical girl themes anymore..."
"Please change the theme 1. After watching Madoka Magica, I feel out of place watching any clichéd magical girl drama. I still like the gameplay, but can't this main plot that can't be more clichéd really be changed?"
Fengling Studio, which has been paying close attention to the game reviews, was also helpless: "Aren't these players changing too fast? Last week they said they were looking forward to the combination of magical girls and dress-up games, but this week they can't accept magical girls?"
"So what should we do? Do we really have to replace the original main line?"
"It's definitely too late to change it now," the person in charge said with a headache: "I can only hope that these players are just talking and they don't really have any problems with this theme..."
"What about the promotion? Should the originally planned promotional animation continue?"
"Go ahead, let Yunsu Animation produce it as usual and make sure it plays before the game." The person in charge said. At this point, they actually didn't have any other options - whether it was game production or promotional animation, most of them had been completed in the past few days, and the arrow was on the string and had to be launched.
As for the specific situation after the game's public beta, they can only leave it to time and facts to prove.
Of course, the impact of Madoka Magica on other animations and games is not entirely negative.
When Madoka Magica began to attack the unprecedented 1 million subscribers, the online subscription of I Am Not a Magical Girl also broke through the 700,000 mark. It is still not comparable to Madoka Magica, but compared with other animations on Blue Planet, this result is excellent. Some people even found that after the popularity of Madoka Magica, not only did the growth rate of I Am Not a Magical Girl not decline, but it also increased with the surge of Madoka Magica.
Not only that—
It's another working day.
That day, Jiang Yucheng just stood in front of his company and before he pushed the door open, the employees cheered in surprise. He put his backpack on his seat and asked casually, "What happened? Why are you so happy?"
As soon as he finished speaking, Tang Shuchang stood in front of him and asked excitedly: "Guess how many reservations our otome game has received?"
Jiang Yucheng looked at the two fingers raised by Tang Shuchang and nodded with satisfaction: "200,000? There are not many popular otome games on the market at present, and the specific audience is not obvious. Jingzhi Interactive Entertainment has not started to officially promote PV. It is quite good to have 200,000 reservations."
"Not 200,000!" Tang Shuchang suppressed his inner excitement and corrected: "Now the number of reservations has exceeded 1.2 million!"
For mobile romance games, which currently occupy a very small market share and have an uncertain future, this number of reservations can no longer be described as a simple surprise - it is no exaggeration to say that it is a miracle.
"Are you serious?" Jiang Yucheng asked subconsciously.
As he spoke, his body moved subconsciously. Without turning on the computer, Jiang Yucheng directly used his mobile phone to open the pre-order list on the game platform. There was no need to scroll down. The game ranked first on the pre-order list was the love mobile game "Orange Soda" that their company was about to produce.
Number of reservations, 120,0000
Jiang Yucheng was really stunned this time.
According to his prior expectations, given that Thorn Interactive Entertainment has not yet charged authors any publicity fees, the game was able to attract 200,000 players to make reservations based on its own quality, which is already a very good result.
So, where did this extra one million come from
Thinking of this, Jiang Yucheng opened the game review section in the mobile app.
"I saw that some dog thieves dubbed it at the speed of light, so what is the general plot of this game?"
"I'm a man with normal sexual orientation. Just one question. I heard that Gouzei is one of the voice actors? Can I pick him up in the game and cheat on him? (friendly smile)"
"??? Are you a monster upstairs? Everyone calm down, talk things over nicely, don't be impulsive. If things really don't work out, we can all invest together to help this bastard open a blade store. Why do you have to vent your anger on games? The paper man is innocent!"
"I've been depressed for almost a week after watching Madoka Magica. Now I've finally found a new target. Don't stop me. I'm going to capture this bastard and then ruthlessly abandon him! I want him to know what it feels like to lose someone you love! (violent words)"
Jiang Yucheng: … … … Is this even possible
During the time he was in a daze, Tang Shuchang also saw the various comments in the comment section. He sighed with regret as he read them: "It's a good idea, but it's a pity that they will probably be greatly disappointed in the future."
Jiang Yucheng knew what Tang Shuchang meant.
In fact, at the beginning, the character voiced by Mu Suxing was indeed a hidden and playable character, but there are always surprises - for example, the actual person in charge of Jingzhi Interactive Entertainment, the executive president of Gebi Tengkong Entertainment, calmly made a suggestion after reading the script:
“If the production team hopes that this character can leave an indelible plan for the players in the main storyline as much as possible, then I suggest that it is better not to list this character as a hidden character.”
"This character is the final villain boss. No matter what, the damage this character has done to the player's character is a fact, and there is basically no possibility of a happy ending. In comparison, it is better to treat it as a tragic plot from the beginning, but without opening a strategy guide."
He calmly concluded: "After all, what you can't get is always the best."
Little did he know that his fantasy of revenge had been aborted before it even began. When the fans who had flocked in from Madoka Magica generally began to look forward to the public beta of the game, Mu Suxing, who was completely unaware of the turmoil behind the scenes, had already focused on the next stage of Huaying's mission—
"Main comic?"
"Yes." Dai Yuyan looked down at the information in her hand and explained: "The quality of the manuscripts we have received so far is generally good, but it would be difficult to rely on them to support the sales of the comic magazine. If we want "Huaying Comics" to be successfully sold, it would be best if we had a masterpiece of high quality."
"Continue to collect manuscripts, and hire a few more professional editors," Mu Suxing said. Noticing the other party's hesitant expression, he pondered: "Don't worry about promoting comics. I have already decided on this - it should be a mystery comic, written by me personally."
“Huh?!”
Without any extra explanation, Mu Suxing smiled lightly, took out a few drafts from the drawer of his desk and pushed them in front of Dai Yuyan.
"This is… "
It can be seen that what Mu Suxing drew were just a few simple character sketches.
The man in the picture is leaning back on the sofa with his head tilted back, as if he is thinking about something. His long legs are casually placed on the floor, creating an illusion of crampedness in the not-so-small space.
The environment in the second picture has not changed, it is still the ordinary sofa drawn casually, but the difference is that the man has sat up straight, holding a dark brown briar pipe in one hand, and gently pressing the edge of the bowler hat with the other hand, revealing a pair of indifferent gray eyes, and the curve of his mouth is not sure whether to smile or not.
Cold, aloof... and arrogant.
Looking at the final version of his character that he had finally finalized after several revisions, Mu Xiuxing smiled faintly: "His name is Sherlock Holmes."