I just saw this over on Something Awful (spoilers):
My friends and I played the board game Arkham Horror for the first time today, and I got the thought that it actually wouldn't be difficult at all to make a Puella Magi conversion. A lot of the base gameplay of Arkham Horror is very similar to witch-hunting, and there's a cataclysmic event looming in the horizon that you have to prepare for or find a way to stop.
The one thing we realized after putting some thought into how a conversion would work is that in Arkham Horror, you win if you can prevent a great one from surfacing, but in Madoka, even if you defeat the Walpurgis Night, everyone inevitably dies and becomes a witch. So an intrinsic problem with making a conversion is that Madoka's world is more unforgiving than Lovecraft's.
I only have a passing familiarity with the Call of Cthulhu RPG, but I have a hunch that it wouldn't be too difficult to alter it so that it played more in line with Madoka Magica. Damage could be healed and spells could be cast by losing sanity (representing a Soul Gem's corruption), using Grief Seeds could replenish sanity, and learning something terrible about the nature of Puella Magi or having your worldview shaken could cause your total sanity score to be reduced permanently (making it easier to lose all your sanity and become a Witch).
Kyubey is a Vulcan. He's a Vulcan studying and exploiting creatures that are to him what amoeba are to us.
Can you even give the actions of such an individual any alignment? It's all perspective. If you were an amoeba, you might be very upset about being farmed and killed at a scientist's whims and label him a dick, or at the very least amoral. However, in the scientist's culture, his actions are perfectly moral and seen as furthering the greater good. In his world, he's a veritable paragon.
The two species are too different, removed by eons of technology, brain structure, and how they perceive the world, for either of them to apply a label to the other that isn't laughable.
Mage: The Awakening, with a little alteration, was the first thing that instantly popped to mind when I was watching Madoka. It could easily be reworked to the mechanics of Madoka, and I've been jotting down some notes to that effect to try and run a campaign.
Two things I thought of but forgot to post, after watching the last two episodes.
The weird conversation she has with her mom before running off is directly due to mom giving her that advice earlier. It didn't just apply to the scene in episode 6. She told her to lie, run away, or do the wrong thing. She lied to her mom, ran away from the safety of the shelter, and did the wrong thing according to Homura.
I also realized that the older/different Madoka that appears when she transforms in the opening is probably her when she goes back in time to prevent herself from turning into a witch. Separate from her destroying the giant witch form at the end. The other magical girls all saw her appear to them and comfort them in a similar way, at least.
The entire reasoning behind people being able to watch them ensures there will never be a clear answer on it. Japan probably isn't going to hunt down every fansubber and stop them, but they're also not going to legally and publicly declare they're fine with it either.
So apparently the Madoka manga (not Oriko, the retelling of the anime one) continues a little past the end of the anime.
It shows Homura being taken to be with Madoka in the higher plane for the rest of time. Apparently amps up the shipping stuff a lot too, but the manga's author is a big MadokaXHomura and KyokoXSakaya shipper, so take that how you will.
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No details yet besides the official website, but personally I'm really looking to this. Aniplex dubbed Gurren Lagann, so I'm positive they'll do a good job with Madoka.
A recent Q&A confirmed that Madoka Magica will be dubbed.
Another interesting bit of trivia: the witches were originally intended to be Lovecraftian abominations, but eventually became the more stylized, whimsical entities of the show.
An awesome looking, fan-made Madoka Magica side-scrolling beat em' up is coming out!
EDIT: I just now noticed how at the bottom of the screen each character has a "soul limit". I wonder if it measures how soon you have until you turn into a witch?
An awesome looking, fan-made Madoka Magica side-scrolling beat em' up is coming out!
EDIT: I just now noticed how at the bottom of the screen each character has a "soul limit". I wonder if it measures how soon you have until you turn into a witch?
A dub would be pretty nice, but anything besides a direct-to-DVD release is likely going to be heavily edited. The cast is to young for public TV to tolerate a lot of what goes down.
I watched this whole series last night. It was actually quite wonderful. However the ending,
Can someone explain exactly what happened there? Madoka wishes to have the whole witch/magi girl thing stopped, which happens by having her just take the soulgems from each girl before they become witches. Does everything else in the world just happen normally with that new caveat?
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FFXIV: Tchel Fay
Nintendo ID: Tortalius
Steam: Tortalius
Stream: twitch.tv/tortalius
I watched this whole series last night. It was actually quite wonderful. However the ending,
Can someone explain exactly what happened there? Madoka wishes to have the whole witch/magi girl thing stopped, which happens by having her just take the soulgems from each girl before they become witches. Does everything else in the world just happen normally with that new caveat?
In a nutshell:
Madoka wishes to prevent all Puella Magi from becoming witches (which kinda breaks QB's whole system since that means there will be no grief seeds) in the past, present, and future. This causes something of a paradox because of the whole past thing (Joan of Arc was a Mahou Shoujo, Madoka would have to exist back then), plus Madoka herself would have eventually become a witch as well so she would have to prevent herself from becoming a witch. So she more or less ascends to some level of godhood/supernatural being capable of fulfulling her wish.
So in the present Puella Magi have to fight magical beasts instead of witches, they drop little fragments that the Puella Magi use to cleanse their soul gems and fight entropy, and Madoka will prevent them from ever turning into a watch. So things are things basically business as usual except QB isn't harvesting grief seeds from the Puella Magi...the stuff from the beasts replaces the grief seeds.
Rollers are red, chargers are blue....omae wa mou shindeiru
A trap is for fish: when you've got the fish, you can forget the trap. A snare is for rabbits: when you've got the rabbit, you can forget the snare. Words are for meaning: when you've got the meaning, you can forget the words.
So it's legal to watch/download unlicensed stuff? I can never get a clear answer on that.
No, technically it's still illegal. Copyrights are internationally protected, and pirating a book in German or a tv show in Japanese is still in violation. There's even been a couple of times where a particularly unsubtle fansub group gets a cease and desist from a Japanese company, although it's super rare.
That being said, American companies have traditionally had something of a gentleman's agreement with internet fans that shows are mostly fair game until they get licensed. Unlike our dear friends at the RIAA, they recognize - if only unofficially - that fansubs are a big part of why anime became so popular over here in the first place. Although these days there's just so many fansubbers that there's always someone willing to release copies of licensed series.
It's a similar story to AMVs and other fan works that use copyrighted material. The vast majority of companies ignore it because it really has either no effect on sales, or a positive effect. Princess Tutu's famously awesome amv has probably done more for sales of that series than anything else.
A trap is for fish: when you've got the fish, you can forget the trap. A snare is for rabbits: when you've got the rabbit, you can forget the snare. Words are for meaning: when you've got the meaning, you can forget the words.
American pre-orders are now up on the show's US website. Prices are slightly higher than folks may have grown accustomed to paying for their anime nowadays, but it was all around that price a few years ago.
The normal dvds are 29. They've got some big fancy collector's edition box that's selling for more. 30 bucks is pretty standard for a 4 episode dvd new.
A trap is for fish: when you've got the fish, you can forget the trap. A snare is for rabbits: when you've got the rabbit, you can forget the snare. Words are for meaning: when you've got the meaning, you can forget the words.
You can buy an entire season of most western TV shows and cartoons for $20. Charging $60 or so when you could go buy, say, every season of Avatar for about the same price is pretty silly. I know why they stubbornly keep prices that high, though, don't worry.
The normal dvds are 29. They've got some big fancy collector's edition box that's selling for more. 30 bucks is pretty standard for a 4 episode dvd new.
They don't want any Japanese people that are paying $60 for one disc to see it'd be noticeably cheaper, even with importing, to just buy the American subbed version.
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I only have a passing familiarity with the Call of Cthulhu RPG, but I have a hunch that it wouldn't be too difficult to alter it so that it played more in line with Madoka Magica. Damage could be healed and spells could be cast by losing sanity (representing a Soul Gem's corruption), using Grief Seeds could replenish sanity, and learning something terrible about the nature of Puella Magi or having your worldview shaken could cause your total sanity score to be reduced permanently (making it easier to lose all your sanity and become a Witch).
Can you even give the actions of such an individual any alignment? It's all perspective. If you were an amoeba, you might be very upset about being farmed and killed at a scientist's whims and label him a dick, or at the very least amoral. However, in the scientist's culture, his actions are perfectly moral and seen as furthering the greater good. In his world, he's a veritable paragon.
The two species are too different, removed by eons of technology, brain structure, and how they perceive the world, for either of them to apply a label to the other that isn't laughable.
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Alternatively, Princess: The Hopeful.
Cause it can be fun (when you're not playing a game whose rules make alignment important).
I also realized that the older/different Madoka that appears when she transforms in the opening is probably her when she goes back in time to prevent herself from turning into a witch. Separate from her destroying the giant witch form at the end. The other magical girls all saw her appear to them and comfort them in a similar way, at least.
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http://www.google.com/#sclient=psy&hl=en&source=hp&q=madoka+magica+1&aq=f&aqi=g5&aql=&oq=&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=6af0f014ae16db6c
Steam Profile | Signature art by Alexandra 'Lexxy' Douglass
i don't think the franchise has been licensed
and it probably never will be given how much $$$ SHAFT will be asking for
Steam Profile | Signature art by Alexandra 'Lexxy' Douglass
Also, this makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside:
I literally have no idea who could have sent it.
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
Oriko Magica's already over (wasn't expecting it to be so short; only 7 chapters).
The good news about the ending?
The bad news?
Then Madoka gets impaled.
No details yet besides the official website, but personally I'm really looking to this. Aniplex dubbed Gurren Lagann, so I'm positive they'll do a good job with Madoka.
Another interesting bit of trivia: the witches were originally intended to be Lovecraftian abominations, but eventually became the more stylized, whimsical entities of the show.
EDIT: I just now noticed how at the bottom of the screen each character has a "soul limit". I wonder if it measures how soon you have until you turn into a witch?
No links or anything?
Thanks a lot....
FFXIV: Tchel Fay
Nintendo ID: Tortalius
Steam: Tortalius
Stream: twitch.tv/tortalius
In a nutshell:
So in the present Puella Magi have to fight magical beasts instead of witches, they drop little fragments that the Puella Magi use to cleanse their soul gems and fight entropy, and Madoka will prevent them from ever turning into a watch. So things are things basically business as usual except QB isn't harvesting grief seeds from the Puella Magi...the stuff from the beasts replaces the grief seeds.
FFXIV: Tchel Fay
Nintendo ID: Tortalius
Steam: Tortalius
Stream: twitch.tv/tortalius
And on an unrelated anime topic, Kizumonogatari has a positively hilarious trailer
No, technically it's still illegal. Copyrights are internationally protected, and pirating a book in German or a tv show in Japanese is still in violation. There's even been a couple of times where a particularly unsubtle fansub group gets a cease and desist from a Japanese company, although it's super rare.
That being said, American companies have traditionally had something of a gentleman's agreement with internet fans that shows are mostly fair game until they get licensed. Unlike our dear friends at the RIAA, they recognize - if only unofficially - that fansubs are a big part of why anime became so popular over here in the first place. Although these days there's just so many fansubbers that there's always someone willing to release copies of licensed series.
It's a similar story to AMVs and other fan works that use copyrighted material. The vast majority of companies ignore it because it really has either no effect on sales, or a positive effect. Princess Tutu's famously awesome amv has probably done more for sales of that series than anything else.
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
You can buy an entire season of most western TV shows and cartoons for $20. Charging $60 or so when you could go buy, say, every season of Avatar for about the same price is pretty silly. I know why they stubbornly keep prices that high, though, don't worry.
Yeah, the Japanese companies keep licensing prices high regardless of what a normal volume/season would cost for a native (licensee's country) series.
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar