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/人{{color|red|◕}}‿‿{{color|red|◕}}人\ Anything is possible, if you make a contract with me!
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<big> '''''[[Late Arrival Spoiler]] Warning:''''' ''Puella Magi Madoka Magica'' is one of the most popular anime franchises in the anime fandom as of the Winter 2011 season. It also has a [[Wham! Line]] [[Wham! Episode|roughly every episode]]. In other words, there are a great deal of '''''SPOILERS''''' below -- most marked, some unmarked, but ''all'' of which will ruin your enjoyment of the story. ''{{red|Avoiding these pages is highly suggested for those who have not seen the show.}}'' </big>
<!-- commentSimilar warning as the ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'' trope page. -->
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* [[Ascetic Aesthetic]]: For starters, the school building is about 90% glass. The utter sterility of the city itself makes a nice contrast against both the characters and the bizarre world of the Witches.
* [[Asshole Victim]]: In Episode 8, Sayaka encounters two rude misogynists on a train. {{spoiler|The context seems to imply that she killed them.}}
** [[Word of God]] on this is more like [[Flip -Flop of God]]: Shinbo says she '''didn't''', the manga author says she '''did''', and Urobuchi says he [[Take a Third Option|intentionally left it ambiguous]].
* [[Astral Checkerboard Decor]]:
** Many of the witches have this motif somewhere inside their closed off worlds. The first few minutes of the opening episode is nothing but this.
** The end of the manga takes place in a dungeon with a checkered floor. Acts as nice [[Book Ends]].
* [[Awful Truth]]: Coincides with [[Wham! Episode|Wham Episodes]].
** Episode 6, Kyubey reveals some disturbing tidbits about soul gems. {{spoiler|Soul gems literally are souls, as the process of becoming a magical girl causes the soul to be literally ripped out and placed in a gem. The human bodies are empty shells animated by the soul gem; the two must remain in close proximity. In other words, "magical girl" is just a fancy way of saying "lich".}}
** Episode 8 reveals witches' origins. {{spoiler|Magical girls whose soul gems are sufficiently corrupted become witches themselves.}}
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** Episode 11 reveals the reason why Madoka has so much power. {{spoiler|Time loops centered on her added to the power of each timelines' Madoka.}}
* [[Ax Crazy]]: A character becomes more and more [[Ax Crazy]] to show her descent into madness and despair. {{spoiler|Sayaka begins showing signs of this at the end of Episode 7.}}
* [[Bait and Switch Credits]]: The opening is something that would fit perfectly on any typical [[Magical Girl]] show, with [[Shout -Out|Shout Outs]] to [[Cardcaptor Sakura (Manga)|Cardcaptor Sakura]], [[Sailor Moon]], and [[Pretty Cure]]. The ending ... has distorted music, is nearly completely devoid of color, has creepy lyrics<ref> The song is Magia by the band Kalafina</ref>, and ends with Madoka floating in the fetal position in the eye socket of a giant skull. Prior to Episode 3, the anime avoids showing the ending, instead running the credits along the conclusion of the episode and using the song for fight scenes.
** [[Subverted]] later, when it becomes clear just whose perspective the opening song is from.
** The Blu-rays for the first two episodes have an ending theme which plays this trope straight as well.
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* [[Being Good Sucks]]:
** Sayaka's attempt at being a moral crusader backfires {{spoiler|and the strain of fighting as a magical girl while not getting what she wanted causes her sanity to start leaking down the drain}}.
** The ending also qualifies, {{spoiler|as Madoka's tradeoff for saving magical girls from their inevitable fate was being [[Ret -Gone|erased from physical existence]]}}.
* [[Berserk Button]]:
** Kyoko doesn't like it when people waste food.
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* [[Better to Die Than Be Killed]]: Arguably {{spoiler|Kyoko's [[Heroic Sacrifice]], because she had no intention of being transformed into a witch.}}
** In Episode 10, {{spoiler|after [[The Reveal]] in a previous timeline, Mami suffers a mental breakdown and tries to kill the other main characters and herself, following this logic. After the battle against Walpurgisnacht in the same timeline, Madoka asks Homura to [[Mercy Kill]] her before she turns into a witch.}}
* [[Beyond the Impossible]]: As noted above, [[Wham! Line|WhamLines]] lines are frequent and rules can be rewritten.
* [[Big Damn Heroes]]: Is done frequently, usually by Homura. It's eventually subverted when Kyoko tries to step in for {{spoiler|Sayaka}}, who refuses Kyoko's help, gets back up and defeats the witch she was fighting.
* [[Big Eater]]: Kyoko rarely appears without some kind of snack food in hand.
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* [[Blessed With Suck]]: In exchange for putting their life on the line, a magical girl will have any wish of theirs granted. Of course, there are a few things in the fine print Kyubey "forgets" to mention. Like {{spoiler|having to experience despair equal to the happiness gained from that wish, and spending the rest of their life as a lich fighting witches that may or may not be evil. [[And Then John Was a Zombie|And possibly becoming a witch themselves]].}}
** {{spoiler|[[Cursed With Awesome]]: This is the final fate of magical girls in Madoka's reconstructed universe. A wish is granted to the girls at the cost of fighting the demons until the girls exhaust their soul gems and die. It's kind of like the whole [[Dragon Age|Grey Wardens schtick.]] However, as long as they keep fighting the demons, their soul gems keep replenishing -- so it's very much a willpower thing.}}
* [[Blonde, Brunette, Redhead]]: Mami, Homura, and Kyoko {{spoiler|are the only main magical girls still existing in the rewritten universe.}}
* [[Bloodier and Gorier]]: Where the anime avoids depicting gore, the manga revels in it. [[Gory Discretion Shot|Gory Discretion Shots]] are frequently averted. Blood is added to scenes that didn't originally have it, and characters are drawn with [[Nightmare Face]] expressions that give [[Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni]] a run for its money.
** Strangely, the mangas reads like a bastard child of ''[[Elfen Lied]]'': extremely cute characters with a [[Fan Service]] [[Covers Always Lie|cover]], but [[Gorn]] all over the place. All we need now is an [[R-Rated Opening]]...[[Les Yay|oh wait]], that already happened in the original anime and ''[[Oriko Magica]]''.
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* [[Canis Latinicus]]: Though the song titles are real Latin, the lyrics to songs such as "Sis puella magica!" and "Credens justitam" are not (composer Yuki Kaijura apparently does this often enough that fans call the "language" Kaijuran). Latin with Italian pronunciation and word construction, with Japanese grammar, would be as good a guess as any.
* [[Can't Catch Up]]: In every {{spoiler|timeline}} shown, Sayaka is the weakest [[Magical Girl]] shown. {{spoiler|Even in the best-possible-timeline ending, she still dies, despite being partnered with Kyoko and Mami.}}
* [[Cash Cow Franchise]]: ''[[Wham! Episode|One episode]]'' was all it took for this series' (and the company's) popularity to go through the roof. Now [[Studio Shaft]] [[Bakemonogatari (Light Novel)|is rolling in money]]. [http://imgur.com/0j7Vkl Maybe]. (NSFW?)
* [[Cast From Lifespan]]/[[The Corruption]]: Using magic of any kind, as well as experiencing negative emotions (''especially'' despair and [[Angst]]) dims your soul gem. When it's completely dark, {{spoiler|the '''魔'''法少'''女''' ('''Ma'''hou Shou'''jo''') - magical girls - turn into '''魔女''' (Majo) - witches.}}
** {{spoiler|In the new universe, this is even more true -- when the soul gem runs out of power, Ultimate Madoka takes the despair -- and the soul gem -- away to the afterlife.}}
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* [[Guns Akimbo]]/[[Gun Kata]]:[http://sadpanda.us/images/423480-M5O6NMA.gif And how.]
** {{spoiler|Not that it helps...}}
* [[Gut Punch]]: {{spoiler|Mami's death}} in [[Wham! Episode|episode 3]] is something of a shock to the system. Every episode after that is arguably more of a [[Gut Punch]].
* [[Hair Decorations]]: All of the magical girls have some form of this.
* [[Hammerspace]]: One of Homura's abilities. It's shown that she's got an entire armory hidden literally up her sleeve. Mami also has the ability to summon muskets from under her hat and skirt and Sayaka once summons swords from her cape. It's not entirely apparent where Kyoko stores her spear because it sometimes vanishes between shots with no evidence of her dispersing it (episode 8).
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** {{spoiler|If what Kyubey told Madoka in episode 9 is true, becoming a magical girl can be viewed as such, with delayed consequences though.}}
** {{spoiler|In another timeline, after both of them suffered mortal wounds from failing to defeat Walpurgisnacht, Madoka brightens Homura's soul gem with her only remaining grief seed, giving the latter the chance to go back again and try to save everyone but at the same time dooming her own self to become a witch. Cue the request for and subsequent [[Mercy Kill]].}}
** {{spoiler|Madoka pulls this ''again'' in the end, by using her wish as a [[Reset Button]] that prevents witches from being born (and gives the already witchified magical girls peaceful send-offs) ... but while doing so, pretty much [[Ret -Gone|erases herself out of existence]] ... or possibly ''[[Ascended to A Higher Plane of Existence|above]]'' existence. Bonus, the finale aired on Good Friday. Significant? With her last words to Kyubey ordering him to fulfill her wish, it's made clear that she doesn't care what she becomes as long as the world is saved.}}
* [[He Who Fights Monsters]]: {{spoiler|Witches are magical girls who let their soul gems become too corrupted}}. {{spoiler|Sayaka}} is a more specific example.
* {{spoiler|[[Hive Mind]]: Kyubey, according to an interview with Urobuchi.}}
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** At the end of the anime, {{spoiler|Madoka}} gets Type I.
* [[I'm a Humanitarian]]: {{spoiler|Taken [[Up to Eleven]] with Kyubey, who ''eats himself.'' Or rather, [[Body Surf|the corpse that used to be him.]]}}
* [[Improbably -Female Cast]]: [[Darker and Edgier|Considering]] [[Deconstruction|the]] [[Cosmic Horror Story|storyline...]]
* [[In Medias Res]]: Depending on how you view the anime, it can either be [[Double Subverted]] or [[Played Straight]]. {{spoiler|Episode 10 explains the alternate timelines, [[Reset Button|but every timeline has technically the same start]], due to being parallels of each other. However, the [[Start of Darkness]] for the anime actually is explained in Episode 10, which explains Homura's intentions that were not explained in the first two episodes. In other words, the anime starts at the ''how many times is it now'' parallel timeline, but we learn of the beginning in episode 10.}}
* [[In Spite of a Nail]]: {{spoiler|Homura has used her power to reset time to try and approach the series a countless number of ways, but the outcome is always that Madoka becomes a magical girl and either dies or turns into a witch.}}
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** [[Jerkass Has a Point]]: Both Homura and Kyoko tried to snap Sayaka out of her [[Sanity Slippage]]--Homura violently so--in Episode 8. {{spoiler|They failed}}.
* {{spoiler|[[Killed Off for Real]]}}: {{spoiler|Mami Tomoe (Episode 3, which got bumped into [[Memetic Mutation|some really meme-tastic territory]]), then Kyoko Sakura and Sayaka Miki in Episode 9 (the former sacrificed herself to [[Fate Worse Than Death|"save"]] the latter).}}
** {{spoiler|Due to a massive [[Cosmic Retcon]] at the end of the anime, Madoka [[Ascended to A Higher Plane of Existence]] and [[Ret -Gone|technically no longer exists]]. Mami and Kyoko [[Back From the Dead|come back to life]] , thanks to never having died in the first place. However, Sayaka dies in the new timeline "using up her power" fighting demons, though she may have also [[Ascended to A Higher Plane of Existence]] with Madoka.}}
* {{spoiler|[[Kill Them All]]: In all the timelines she has gone through, Homura has always been the only survivor. Only time will tell this will change in the current one. For now, it doesn't seem probable...}}
** {{spoiler|At the end of the anime, Madoka creates a new timeline where she [[Ret -Gone|no longer exists]], while Homura, Mami, and Kyoko are still alive. Sayaka still dies in the new system.}}
* [[Killer Rabbit]]: The witch Charlotte starts off looking like an adorable little stuffed doll.
** {{spoiler|Kyubey is starting to look a lot like this as his behavior becomes more and more sinister.}}
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* [[Late Arrival Spoiler]]: {{spoiler|Mami being [[Killed Off for Real]]}} seems to be one now, due to fan-reactions, blogs, and especially 4chan mentioning it ''everywhere.''
** {{spoiler|Sayaka's transformation into a witch is also the quickest one ''ever''!}}
** The reason why the headline at the top exists. If you did not know that Episode 3 was a [[Wham! Episode]] and did not decide to look at the spoilers ([[Snark Bait|there's a lot of them]]), you've seen the series properly. Otherwise, good luck.
* [[Laughing Mad]]: {{spoiler|Sayaka, at the end of Episode 7 and the beginning of Episode 8.}}
* [[The Law of Conservation of Detail]]: Done straight, but with consequences. This trope was one reason why the storyline was predicted [[First Episode Spoiler|ahead of time]], mostly due to the numerous [[Faust]] references ([[Snark Bait|again, there's a lot of them]]). Lists are on [[The Wiki Rule]] ([http://wiki.puella-magi.net/Main_Page here]), [[Puella Magi Madoka Magica (Anime)/Trivia|the Trivia page]], [[Puella Magi Madoka Magica (Anime)/Fridge|and the Fridge page]]. There is, however, [[Sequel Hook|one notable one]] that is very easy to pass off: {{spoiler|Homura, near the end of the anime, is shown with only one of Madoka's hair ribbons. Madoka gave Homura both.}}
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* '''[[Mind Rape]]''': This happens to Madoka, when she {{spoiler|got caught in the witch Kirsten's barrier. The witch then uses her powers to torture Madoka by re-playing Mami's death over and over while subjecting her to [[Body Horror]].}}
** {{spoiler|Kyubey}} is not above doing this. {{spoiler|He shows Madoka how the world has been affected by his [[Deal With the Devil|contracts]], and how if it wasn't for the Incubators humanity would probably still be in caves.}} [[Captain Obvious|She did not enjoy it.]]
* [[Mini -Dress of Power]]
* [[Mistaken for Gay]]: Madoka and Sayaka in the second episode by Hitomi, since Sayaka did spend some time flirting with Madoka in Episode 1.
* [[Mood Whiplash]]: People were trying desperately to figure out where exactly the Deconstruction lay in this series. Episodes 1 and 2 were fairly tame, although ominous. Then came [[Wham! Episode|Episode 3]], complete with new ending.
* [[Monster of the Week]]: The witches. Subverted in that they're ''not'' harmless mooks, and that fighting them is actually an emotionally scarring experience. [[It Got Worse|It is even more scarring when]] {{spoiler|[[Fallen Hero|the witches themselves were once magical girls like the protagonists]]}}.
* [[More Dakka]]: In one scene, Mami briefly manages to achieve this trope using only an unlikely number of single-shot rifles. Also, in Episode 11 {{spoiler|when Homura attempts to take on Walpurgisnacht alone, there is a long one-sided battle consisting of Homura expending a small army's worth of weaponry against Walpurgisnacht, including rockets, mortars, and a ''naval barrage''. Unfortunately, it merely serves as [[The Worf Barrage]].}}
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** {{spoiler|Rewind time, making Madoka more powerful.}}
* [[Mundane Wish]]
* {{spoiler|[[Murder -Suicide]]: Mami}} of all people attempts this {{spoiler|in episode 10. In one of the alternate timelines, she completely snaps}} when she finds out {{spoiler|magical girls eventually become witches. She succeeds in killing Kyoko, but is killed by Madoka before she could kill Homura}}.
* [[Musicalis Interruptus]]: In episode 8, Kyubey finally manage to convince Madoka to make her wish while the overly optimistic music is building up in the background. However, {{spoiler|Homura shows up to put a stop to not only the [[Big Damn Heroes|proceedings]], but the [[Musicalis Interruptus|music]], [[Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?|Kyubey]] ([[Expendable Clone|for the moment at least]]) and [[Time Lord|time itself.]]}}
* [[My God, What Have I Done?]]: Several examples:
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** Kyoko perhaps felt this way due to her telling Sayaka her backstory, and why she's such a [[Jerkass]] who only cared about herself. Which helps explain why Sayaka began to care less and less about the reason why she became a magical girl in the first place. As well as finding out more about their roles and the [[Soul Jar|gems]]. This may be one reason why she seemed to be trying to hard to help Madoka save her later on.
* [[My Greatest Second Chance]]: {{spoiler|Homura has gotten ''many'' second chances to undo her [[My Greatest Failure|greatest failure]]. Four of those were seen in episode 10, and it's strongly implied there were more. Unfortunately, [[Failure Is the Only Option]].}}
* [[Mythology Gag]]: That black cat that keeps on popping up in the opening? [[Faux Symbolism|Okay, it doesn't show up in the anime proper,]] but you can interpret it entirely differently. A black cat is normally associated with witches ([[Puella Magi Kazumi Magica|you know]], [[Sabrina the Teenage Witch|the one on a broomstick, casting spells,]] [[Harry Potter|wearing a pointy hat, and so on]]). Now think about this for a moment: what was one of the biggest [[Wham! Line|Wham Lines]] that Kyubey mentioned?
* [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast]]: {{spoiler|Walpurgisnacht, Kriemhild Gretchen, Incubator.}}
* [[Negative Space Wedgie]]: When you stop to think about it, a witch's maze is nothing but a big entropy sphere that houses an alternate dimension, something that wouldn't be too unfitting in a sci-fi series.
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** A single episode later, {{spoiler|Sayaka realises Kyoko was right when her own wish blows up in her face, she decides the world isn't worth saving, and [[And Then John Was a Zombie|becomes a witch herself.]]}}
** [[Friend to All Living Things|Madoka]] is nauseated by this system and {{spoiler|wishes to destroy all witches, removing this trope from the status of a physical law}}.
* [[No -Holds -Barred Beatdown]]: {{spoiler|Sayaka}} goes into one of these against a witch to show how badly she's been [[Break the Cutie|broken]].
* [[No Ontological Inertia]]: {{spoiler|Mami's bindings on Homura dissolve as soon as the former dies.}}
* [[Non -Indicative First Episode|Non-Indicative First Two-and-a-Half Episodes]]: Be careful of these episodes, as they make the series billed as a [[Magical Girl]] series with [[Slice of Life]]. That's [[Genre Deconstruction|half-correct]], as the second half of Episode 3 demonstrates.
* [[Normally I Would Be Dead Now]]: Subverted with {{spoiler|Kyubey. The multiple bullets he takes does kill that particular body, but unfortunately, [[Expendable Clone|he has spares.]]}}
* [[Not So Different]]: {{spoiler|Episode 7 implies this between Sayaka and Kyoko.}}
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* [[One-Winged Angel]]: Charlotte in Episode 3. {{spoiler|Starts off as a shout-out of [[Tastes Like Diabetes|Pukka]], ends as a supremely creepy Takashi Murakami-style thing that looks like what you'd get if you mated a clown with a [[Sand Worm]].}}
** {{spoiler|Witches are [[One-Winged Angel]] forms of magical girls}}
* [[Origins Episode]]: {{spoiler|Episode 10, for Homura. Doubles as a [[Whole -Episode Flashback]].}}
* [[Our Liches Are Different]]: {{spoiler|You see, in this series, they're called "magical girls."}}
* [[Our Souls Are Different]]
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* [[Pink Girl, Blue Boy|Pink]] [[Tomboy and Girly Girl|Girly Girl]] And [[Pink Girl, Blue Boy|Blue]] [[Tomboy and Girly Girl|Tomboy]]: [[The Chick|Madoka Kaname]] and [[Plucky Girl|Sayaka Miki]].
* [[Plot-Based Voice Cancellation]]: Homura yells some things to Madoka in the prologue scene in episode 1, but we don't hear it -- and neither, apparently, does Madoka. We learn in episode 10 that {{spoiler|she was begging her not to make the contract again}}.
* [[Post Modernism]]: The witch barriers include many references to both [[Faust]] with the runes and writing, and classical artwork. Meanwhile the plot bears many similarities and even several [[Shout -Out|Shout Outs]] to other anime such as "[[Evangelion]]", "[[Utena]]", and "[[Bokurano]]".
* [[Power Crystal]]: Soul gems.
* [[Power Dyes Your Hair]]: More or less. While the color doesn't change, the cast's hair colors become more vibrant in their [[Magical Girl]] forms (in Homura's case, it gets darker).
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** {{spoiler|That's because [[You Didn't Ask]].}}
* [[Real Place Background]]: Madoka's town is basically a [http://wiki.puella-magi.net/Mitakihara_Town#Architecture_in_the_Anime_versus_Real-Life_Architecture hodgepodge of famous architecture.]
* {{spoiler|[[Reconstruction]]:}} {{spoiler|[[Gainax Ending|Effectively]], the [[Cosmic Retcon]] Madoka unleashes in the [[Bittersweet Ending]] [[Beyond the Impossible|rewrites the rules]] into those of a more traditional [[Magical Girl]] 'verse. Monsters still exist in the form of demons and magical girls exist to fight them, but in the recreated universe they no longer turn into witches, which no longer exist at all (not even Kyubey remembers them, and he scoffs at Homura when she suggests that they did exist). Kyubey becomes a [[Deadpan Snarker]] assistant to Homura, who can now transfer her grief directly to him without using grief seeds (which no longer exist), while Madoka has [[Ascended to A Higher Plane of Existence]], having effectively become the patron goddess of all magical girls. On the other hand, the reason magical girls don't become witches is because Madoka causes them to vanish instead, while Kyubey's motivations and methods are basically unchanged ... creating a world that's less of a deconstruction, but not entirely back to the tropes that the show picked apart. Despite all this, Madoka is considered nonexistent in this new universe due to the extreme levels of the [[Retcon]] and because she is [[Ret -Gone|retconned recursively]], but made herself into the [[Abstract Apotheosis|hope of the Magical Girls in this universe]].}}
* [[Red Eyes, Take Warning]]: Kyubey. {{spoiler|Played up in Episode 8 to [[Irisu Syndrome]] levels.}}
** {{spoiler|[http://images.puella-magi.net/3/3f/Kyuubey_aaah.PNG Like this?] }}
* [[Red Oni, Blue Oni]]: initially it seemed Madoka and Sayaka, but later episodes have clearly made it Kyoko and Sayaka. Madoka and Homura fit the bill as well.
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** Deconstructed as well. {{spoiler|In the first timeline only Madoka and Mami die heroic deaths, Madoka more or less accepts her fate and there are no uberwitches left to wreak havoc upon the world. Every following restart gets more and more tragic and horrible, culminating in [[Endofthe World As We Know It]] in the timeline right before the current one. This is because, due to Homura's meddling, the universe basically revolves around Madoka more and more with each iteration. This is not good when you are in [[Crapsack World|this]] universe.}}
** {{spoiler|Then reconstructed in Episode 12. It was this very power-up that allowed Madoka to recreate reality, even though it was at the cost of her own existence.}}
* [[Serial Escalation]]: While the whole anime decides to do this from the get-go, especially after the first [[Wham! Episode]], a specific mention should go to the first Drama CD: [http://wiki.puella-magi.net/Drama_CD_1 The wiki's page on it] ([[Captain Obvious|has spoilers]]) decides to explain that '''[[Start of Darkness|Episode 10]] was ''light''''' when comparing the versions of Homura's [[Dark and Troubled Past]]. This is extremely appalling after you have watched said episode and [[Lighter and Softer]] would be the ''last'' thing you would ever want to describe it, since it was ''[[Darker and Edgier|one of the Darkest ones in the entire series]].''
* [[Shoot the Dog]]: In Episode 10, {{spoiler|in one of the previous timelines, Madoka asks Homura to kill her to prevent her from turning into a witch. [[Tear Jerker|She does it]].}}
* [[Shout -Out]]:
** Episode 12: {{spoiler|Madoka gives Homura her hair ribbons.}} This has also been used as symbolic bonding between magical girls in [[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]].
** Another one in 12 -- {{spoiler|Madoka's speech as she tells off Kyubey for trying to renege out of fulfilling her wish ends with three sentences that are almost word-for-word from [[Thousand Origami Cranes|Sadako Sasaki's Memorial Statue]].}}
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** Kyoko's {{spoiler|sacrifice in Episode 9 for Sayaka's sake could very well be considered a form of Agape love. It's fitting considering the worldview she originally lived by and was brought up in. }} That, and {{spoiler|her [[Selfless Wish]] regarding help for her father so he could gain followers and support the Sakura family was born from Storge love.}}
** Episode 10 reveals that phileos love is Homura{{spoiler|'s ''entire motivation'' for everything she does.}}
* [[Throw -Away Guns]]: Part of Mami's modus operandi.
* [[Throwing Your Sword Always Works]]: Tried in Episode 5 by Sayaka. Hard to tell if it would be really successful because the fight got interrupted.
** It worked against the witch in the previous episode.
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{{quote| {{spoiler|'''Kyubey:''' Your population is six billion nine hundred million right now, so why do you make such a big fuss over the loss of just one of you?}}}}
* [[Weird Moon]]: The moon phases consist of either dramatic crescent or completely full moons.
* [[Wham! Episode]]: Episode 3. '''You will NOT be ready.'''
** To recap -- the first few episodes were ominous, but mostly standard [[Magical Girl]] show fare, leading to ''lots'' of fan theories. They had no ending credits montage nor ending theme, relying on the credits showing as the story continued. After the events of Episode 3, we have a fairly good idea where the [[Reality Ensues|deconstruction]] [[Not So Harmless|elements]] [[Anyone Can Die|lay]], and the show now officially has an closing-credits sequence. ''It's creepy as hell.''
** Another one happens in Episode 6. {{spoiler|Not only Sayaka is getting more and more hyped up in her rivalry with Kyoko, but when Madoka tries to stop her from fighting via throwing her soul gem away and hoping to strip her off her powers ... it's shown that if a [[Magical Girl]] loses said soul gem, she will become an [[Empty Shell]]. So no, there's literally ''no'' way to get the fuck out of the contract, until she dies.}} Ouch.
** '''[[Serial Escalation|Another]]''' one happens in Episode 8. {{spoiler|Homura is confirmed to be from an alternate timeline. Sayaka's soul gem goes fully dark, turning into a grief seed, which then explodes and turns her into a witch. This is how all "true witches" are created. Kyubey knew this from the beginning, ending the episode with the [[Wham! Line]] below.}}
** Why don't we just go ahead and call this a Wham Series while we're at it?
** In episode 9 {{spoiler|it is revealed that Kyubey is an alien who is using the massive amounts of energy released from magical girls and witches to prevent the universe from dying. Also, Kyoko sacrifices her life to kill Sayaka.}}
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** Episode 11 sees {{spoiler|Kyubey point out that all the time traveling has inadvertently given Madoka all the magical power of ''all'' her previous incarnations, which due to Homura's [[Groundhog Day Loop]], are legion, meaning she's destined to be the most powerful witch ever, and every time Homura tries to fix it, she makes it ''worse.'' Speaking of Madoka, she shows up at the very end, causing divergence from the foreshadowing of episode one, and announces her intent to make a wish.}}
** And in Episode 12, we see {{spoiler|what she wishes for--and it's big enough to [[Reality Warper|completely rewrite the laws of physics]]. [[Apocalypse How|Even]] [[The Stoic|Kyubey]] [[Oh Crap|freaks out.]]}}
* [[Wham! Line]]:
{{quote| '''Kyubey:''' That was very bad, Madoka.<br />
'''Madoka:''' What?<br />
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** {{spoiler|Heavens no, she's a ''lich'', which is [[Comically Missing the Point|much better than just a zombie.]]}}
* [[What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic]]: [[Suspiciously Specific Denial|There is no way that]] Homura could be {{spoiler|[[Faust]]}}, Madoka couldn't possibly be {{spoiler|Gretchen}}, and Kyubey representing {{spoiler|Mephistopheles/Satan}}? [[Sarcasm Mode|Patently absurd.]]
* [[What Is One MansMan's Life in Comparison?]]: {{spoiler|Kyubey's rationalization of the events. Witch energy is used to prevent, or slow down, the universe's entropy. Those that meet the requirement to provide a good amount of energy in exchange for a wish should not really object to it as they would be helping all the other lifeforms in the universe. Kyubey even insinuates all of human history has revolved around magical girls and their wishes, and later falling.}}
** [[A Million Is a Statistic]]: It gets worse. {{spoiler|Kyubey's have energy quotas per ''planet''. As long as they fulfill their quotas, they don't care if a whole civilization, along with their planet, perishes}}.
* [[Where the Hell Is Springfield?|Where On Earth Is Mitakihara?]]: The city has a German shopping mall, the school building is an Austrian [[Environmental Symbolism|prison(!)]], and the tallest man-made structure is ''the'' Burj Khalifa; there is even an oil refinery. [[Studio Shaft|Yeah]].
* [[White Void Room]]: Homura's room; she puts holograms of her memories over the walls.
** Also in the manga {{spoiler|This is where Ultimate Madoka and Homura talk, instead of the starry cosmos.}}
* [[Whole -Episode Flashback]]: {{spoiler|Episode 10. Doubles as an [[Origins Episode]]}}.
* [[Whole-Plot Reference]]: While it isn't obvious at first, the plot is essentially {{spoiler|that of Goethe's ''[[Faust|Faust: Eine Tragödie]]'', with Homura as Faust, Madoka as Gretchen (her witch form's name even references this) and perhaps a bit of Helen-of-Troy (& [[A God Am I|Euphorion]]), and Kyubey as Mephistopheles. We just don't see it in full until late in the series because the plot is basically being told from "''Gretchen's''" point of view.}}
** [[Call Back|To an extent]], {{spoiler|the plot is also a reference to Episode 10, said [[Whole -Episode Flashback]]. Since Episode 10 is considered the beginning of the [[Alternate Timelines]], this plotline shows how some of the timelines Homura performed in is similar to the last. Cue [[Ironic Echo]].}}
* [[The Wiki Rule]]: Includes an enormous amount of speculation, a translation of the weird runes, as well as translations of [[All There in the Manual]] and [[Word of God]]. Can be found [http://wiki.puella-magi.net/Main_Page here].
* [[Wind Turbine Power]]
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** {{spoiler|Mami, who had been played up as being rather powerful if not experienced, goes up against the witch at Homura's express warnings against doing so, and gets her ass kicked in the most horrific manner possible.}}
** The second example is Homura, showing up seconds later (Mami had used magic to subdue her) and beating the witch effortlessly.]] Justified in a later episode when it's revealed that {{spoiler|Homura's time stopping ability is useless if she's restrained before she activates it, which is logical considering she would still be restrained with time stopped.}}
* [[The Worf Barrage|Worf Barrage]]: Mami's [[Big Fucking Gun|Tiro Finale]] easily finishes {{spoiler|Gertrude in episode 2}}. When [[Wham! Episode|Episode 3]] comes along, it did little outside of making {{spoiler|Charlotte go [[One-Winged Angel]] and kill her}}.
** Episode 11 shows Homura hammering Walpurgisnacht using [[More Dakka|rocket launchers, artillery, a couple towers being collapsed on top of her, a lit tanker truck to the face,]] ''[[More Dakka|getting hit by a guided missile]]'', and ''[[More Dakka|landing in a pit with a few thousand bombs]]''. Walpurgis just gets right back up as if nothing ever happened.
* [[The World Tree]]: [http://images.puella-magi.net/7/72/Ep10_Tree.png An enormous tree] appears post-{{spoiler|Walpurgisnacht}} in the Niconico stream of episode 10.
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