Madoka's 'uselessness' is pretty clearly because of Homura. In the timelines where Madoka is a magical girl, what little we see shows someone who's more confident and has a strong presences because she's able to help people as a magical girl. But when Homura makes her wish to go back in time and become Madoka's protector, she prevents Madoka from being able to do anything, and Madoka only gains back her 'usefulness' when she steps out from Homura's protection and makes her wish.

I've never seen Madoka as a bland or useless character. She embodies the love, kindness, and selflessness required to make the ultimate purely selfless wish. Madoka's character is basically a Christian allegory.

People who think passive characters = bad characters are stupid.

Great video, a lot of good points here. I love the Anime and I think Madoka is an great character and the perfect protagonist for the show. One aditional thing: I think the passiveness of her gives the audience the perfect linse to see trough to understand and get more sucked into this helpless and desperate feeling of the show.

I have myself also wondered, ever since I first saw this anime, why people think of Madoka as "useless" or "undecided" -- I can't think of a single episode in which it wasn't quite obvious that she knew very well what she wanted, but others (Homura, and especially Kyūbē) kept forcing her to do something other than what she wanted. My personal opinion is that Western viewers have a problem with characters who are both active/strong and simultaneously kind/nice. If you're kind, you must be defenseless, the West thinks...

I think madoka kaname is the reason the show ends up feeling inspiring. Through the sadistic cruelty of fate, theres madoka, who does incredibly important things. When sayaka deteriorates to the point of shutting off her pain, madoka feels it instead. When homura became more hardened, madoka became more tender. Shes the important contrast of the characters, the one who selflessly takes bears all of their struggles, while they continue to selfishly act, just so she doesnt feel like a burden. How she starts in this timeline as someone so weak, meager, indecisive and shy is extremely relateable. Right off the bat you can relate with this character, you can empathize, while with the others it can be harder to empathize purely because you wouldnt know how its like to constantly travel back through timeline after timeline over and over again, or to try and make your father happy only for him to kill the rest of your family and himself, etc. With madoka theres no deeprooted trauma. With sayaka, her circumstances get so extreme, we cant relate to her anymore, but we end up still being attached to these characters and feeling the same way madoka does while fate acts on them. In the end, her wish was what everything built up to. Her inaction felt like the death of her; so she took action. She took it in the only way that she, madoka kaname, could, by bearing everyone elses grief, just as she had been shown to do throughout the entire series.

"Madoka Kaname is not all useless" Ah yes, the floor here is made of floor.

Good video, I'm with you in personally really liking her as a character but I think you missed a key point in her being "useless". The whole plot of the show from Homura's perspective is to actively deny Madoka the opportunity to be active. In the first timeline she's already a magical girl and helping people. This results in her death and Homura's mission. From the point Madoka asked to be prevented from being tricked by Kyubey Homura has actively stopped Madoka from getting involved. There are several times Madoka is about to make a contract and Homura steps in at the last second. And multiply this by the hundred or so timelines that have happened. The whole reason the story happens is because she can't help but to get involved.

You're right, Madoka isn't useless at all. When I was a TA, I met so many people exactly Madoka's age who were just like Madoka. With the proper teaching, they were able to shine. I think what makes Madoka such an interesting protagonist is that she's so realistic, she has a big heart and while she doesn't make any grand, sweeping statements of love or friendship to progress the plot forward much (which is personally where I think people draw this notion that she's useless from) she reacts in nuanced and reflective ways to perfectly counter the antagonists of the story. In a way, Madoka reminded me not to give up on those shy kids because each one of them could probably be just as strong as she was given the right nurturing.

Really great video, it really changed how I viewed Madoka and gave a new perspective to a show I really love

Madoka Magica is my favorite Anime, I even got a japanese Blu Ray signed by Urobuchi Gen himself. You get my feelings on point bruh, keep doing awesome videos like that^^

The point of Madoka wasn't to be someone who took action at any opportunity they could, but to be an active listener and observer. It was only through her "passivity" in the majority of episodes that she was able to make her wish. If she had tried to act without listening, it would've been another doomed timeline, because she didn't know all the variables yet.

Protect and defend my Madoka Kaname with all (my) costs!

This video is very suitable for all the people and fans who think Madoka is useless. I'm a male who loves this character after I have watched the original anime and 'Rebellion' movie. For the fans who think Madoka is useless, dislike or even hate Madoka, they are required to re-watch all the 12 episodes or the 2 Recap movies, Madoka Magica 'Rebellion' movie, Magia Record Season 2 - Eve of Awakening and Magia Record Season 3 - Dawn of the Shallow Dream again. Don't point out the bad points and weak points of my Madoka anymore.

Excellent video, mah dude. Underrated channel.

*Look at Yugi Muto from Yugioh. Atem/Yami Yugi did more than Yugi. But that doesn't mean I find Yugi useless. Same rules apply to Madoka herself.*

I wouldn't be surprised if your average anime fan expects a badass.

Meh, it seems only girls in anime are called useless, like Sakura, Hinata, Madoka etc but not guys. There are useless guys in anime as well like: Yukiteru from Mirai Nikki, Kouta from Elfen Lied, Raki from Claymore, Konohamaru from Naruto, Yamcha from Dragon Ball, Mr. Satan from DBZ, Grape Juice from My Hero Academia, Sai from Naruto, Makoto from School Days, Kon from Bleach, Excalibur from Soul Eater, Chad from Bleach etc etc

Kyubei: I'm the most powerful creature in the universe Madoka: pathetic

How could anyone think she was stuid for making the wish she did, or that it was not fitting cause a better one could be made? The whole show is about choices and consequences for those choices. About how people don't always do he right or best thing. That wish makes perfect sense and fits right in.

When Madoka first saved Homura from Izabel, Homura saw her as nothing short of an angel; divine. While Homura's wish was supposed to make them trade places, in the end it did nothing short of proving the divinity Homura first saw in her by granting her true divinity as a goddess.

Fantheory: If madoka had picked the yellow ribbon, homura wouldn't have fallen for her. Therefore homura would never have wished to travel through time and never set the whole story in motion

I don't know if I am convinced that she's a great character or anything, however I do think you brought up some interesting points and demonstrated that there is certainly much more thought put into her character than most people give her credit for.

while she's not my favourite I still really like her. I see her character as us as the viewer and our jouney into what becoming a magical girl and what it really means in this world.

2:09 SAME TBH I LOVE MADOKA SM SHES A QUEEN HATE ME IDC-

I don't think Madoka is useless, I think she is like a side of Homura that Homura cares and probably also wants to be since before she was a magical girl, Homura hated her life and when she met Madoka she wanted to be with her. She had to reverse time so she can save Madoka and her wish was selfish, unlike Madoka her wish in the last timeline was selfless. Madoka became a god and Homura became a witch and split Madoka in two. Homuras world is all about Madoka and Madoka knows nothing in this world. Madoka is selfless while Homura is selfish, Madokas last wish was to save every magical girl while Homuras is for one magical girl.

The reasonings behind why people don't like Madoka remind me somewhat of the reasonings people didn't like Raiden and Rosemary in Metal Gear Solid 2. Obiviously there's some big differences. But a analysis I watched showed that the creator wanted to use Raiden as a commentary on how some gamer's immerse themselves in games to escape reality. Rosemary was the one pulling Raiden out of the mission (AKA the game) and Raiden was throwing himself into the mission to escape the reality of his past. People had a similar reaction the Raiden as they did with Madoka, because it wasn't as cool or awesome as they wanted it to be.

she's someone I find myself relate 2 since I was someone who was shy and don't stand up as much. and I like this change in this anime bcuz of how she witness the reality of magical girls. but is actually emotionally strong regardless of what she saw and witness. that's emotional strength.

13 people who clicked the dislike button still think Madoka is useless? Or they have no taste at all.

The anime community, never a good thing and ever so toxic. Now we're getting stuff like "a character is useless" and posts like this had to be made. It's also why we can't have nice things.

Ngl the first time i watched madoka i didn't like madoka and found her to be annoying until she made that wish and looking back now that i completed the series i appreciate her character way more than when i was watching the series

I fully agree with your points about Madoka not being useless-I love her character and her arc. However, I disagree with the idea that the narrative is punishing Sayaka for making a selfish wish. It seems to me more like a representation of burnout and a critique of the attitudes that make girls feel like they must be giving their all for others 100% of the time.

Anime is like meme they died in popularity

and that gets into a underlying problem with homura’s character beyond her overwhelming abilities what is there actually homura’s character what gives Homura to be in rebellion or even to be a part of the magical girls to begin with? What makes Homura the character she actually is and what is the source of her transformation it seems like puella Madoka doesn’t really have the best villains none of them have the complexity like magneto or darts Vader have however each of them still possess them distinct strength from one another Kyoko was a magical girl with a strong sense of pride and nobility witches are genocide all sociopathic from different realms who dominated the universe and couldn’t stand up against the magical girls the familiar were cold killing machines who were born into the strongest realm by the witches (if not) their realm timeline from apart the witches to destroy for their own pleasure now kyubey was similar this way however he also posses the distinction traits of contracts and grants wishes for the remain user but over time his character became more and more of his own and he actually evolves he may have not have been the best of these villains maybe neither the bosses however his childlike mentality abilities in the humorous ways he would use allowed him to stand out amongst the crowd Now compare all these villains to Homura and there’s a pretty clear difference what is really distinct or different about Homura? Her design is a cross between a black hair girl and koan black moon from sailor moon she’s a time traveler she’s really strong she has some sort of motive to go to time and time to safe and fail against saving Madoka she wants Madoka’a soul gem for some reason rewind the universe and she’s the main antagonist of rebellion that’s literally it that is all the character development she’s been given and This doesn’t make for an interesting or compelling antagonist instead what we get is a character with little to no personality whose past we may understand dominating a bunch of characters we do card about using seemingly angelus powers that has yet to be explained and despite her motive and what she did was wrong or right in episode which goes out of their way to push Homura as a badass the end result is ultimately ‘’boring’’ because if you strip away that animation and score and you just look at Homura from a character standpoint it becomes apparent that Homura herself is a boring character she’s just a big strong Heel with ultimate plot power who stands in the way of Homura and friends survival she’s just an obstacle someone to change time and then to keep moving on to the next part we’re Madoka goes to the next Law of cycle ego is even stronger the Homura and the cycle continues like a dragon ball z movie and so far Homura hasn’t shown much of differentiate her from a movie villain in the first place

So why is Madoka altruistic? Comparing her to a similar named character Medaka you have to keep in mind Medaka is an idealized character. What does that say about Madoka? That's the problem with her. You acknowledge the criticism of bland, but go on to say her character doesn't feel imposed. That's exactly what she is. Hardly a character you'll find urobuchi's characters are more so a mouth piece than human. Her wish is the worst thing about her character because that's her only purpose. And isn't the idea that in a separate timeline she does become a magical girl go against what you said about how Madoka not getting screwed because she made a selfish wish? She dies. The mom was pretty boss though. Given just the right amount of screentime.

The video was amazing ❤️

Great video! :D

Madoka is absolutely not useless!

I don't think Sayaka's deterioration shows what could have happened to Madoka. I don't think Madoka would've made a flawed, selfish wish to begin with. I don't think she did in any timeline. Homura's words aren't similar to Junko's at all. Those are two different pieces of advice.

May the fourth be with you

It's the yandere girl...AHHHHHHHH WRONG MADOKA!!!!

aint mami like 15? ( 7:50 )

Not that she was useless but Boring Madoka is really dull as a character. She even said it self that she's not good at something particular and has no goals. And she's desprete to be useful

Mudaka

She kind of is useless if she can't think to make better use of Kuubey giving her ANY one wish she wants. Like... what the fuck. That's like asking a wish upon Shenron, asking for eternal youth, when you should have asked for immortality.

She is not useless but still is worst girl.