Clicking into the ninth episode of "Madoka Magica," many people's attitudes had completely changed.
At the end of the eighth episode, the Porter used Saya's transformation into a witch to reveal a brutal truth to everyone watching the show—the witches were actually transformed from magical girls.
So, how would the story unfold next?
This question had kept many readers in suspense for a week.
In this new episode, the reason behind Kyubey's actions was revealed.
The early part of the episode explained what entropy is and revealed Kyubey's species.
It turns out that Kyubey, whose species is known as Incubators, is a race devoid of emotions except for a few individuals. They possess the technology to convert emotions into energy.
In order to meet the energy consumption needs of countless species in the universe and prevent the universe from falling into a state of heat death, they searched for energy sources. They discovered that energy converted from human emotions could surpass entropy, so they decided to sacrifice a small portion of human individuals to provide energy for the entire universe.
They made contracts with girls who had potential, granting their wishes and turning them into magical girls.
When their souls, contained in soul gems, were exhausted and transformed into grief seeds, a vast amount of energy was released.
Kyubey's job was to trigger and collect this energy to meet the energy consumption needs of countless species in the universe.
Yes, this is the cruel and cold truth about magical girls and witches!
In fact, for the entire universe, this might be the best choice.
If one day, humanity discovered that their race was on the brink of extinction but found a way to save themselves by sacrificing a small portion of another race, would humanity do it?
They probably would, right?
It's similar to what Ren saw in "Avengers" in his previous life. The choice Thanos made and the choice of the Incubators in "Puella Magi Madoka Magica" are very similar.
Both sacrificed a part of the population for the sake of the entire universe.
Of course, this is from a god-like perspective, but if you put yourself in the shoes of those being sacrificed, it is too cruel for them.
"To be honest, I think Kyubey's choice isn't wrong, right? If it were us humans, we'd probably do the same?"
"Shut up! Really acting all saintly?"
"Hehe, saintly jerk!"
"Kyubey is the most disgusting creature in the world!"
Although there were similar comments online, they were quickly drowned out by other comments.
By now, no one liked creatures like Kyubey anymore.
However, the angry readers found a glimmer of hope in the following plot!
Kyouko, who had targeted the senior's territory, was a magical girl from another city. Most of the time, she was eating and indifferent to the surrounding victims, a selfish person.
At first, her relationship with Saya was like fire and water, but she actually had the deepest feelings for Saya.
Although their ideologies didn't align—Saya believed in selflessness, while Kyouko was a selfish person.
But looking at it from another angle, Kyouko believed that using magic on others would bring misfortune to them. If she only used magic for herself, she would bear the misfortune alone. Isn't that also a form of selflessness?
"Maybe if we cut the witch in half, the thing that rolls out won't be a grief seed but Saya's soul gem."
Kyouko's serious gaze at Madoka made the readers excited.
Even though Kyubey had said, "There is no precedent for a witch turning back into a magical girl," Kyouko didn't give up any hope and took Madoka to Saya's witch barrier, hoping that Madoka's voice could wake Saya up.
Although many readers felt that the dog author, the Porter, was unlikely to revive Saya, maybe, just maybe? Many stories follow this pattern, right?
The protagonist uses their love and courage to call back the deceased, the memory-lost, and the controlled person.
Maybe this plot would follow that pattern too?
Even though the trope is old, for the first time, readers hoped it would appear in this story.
Because this story had been full of despair from start to finish, the readers hoped for a miracle!
Unfortunately, a miracle was just a dream. No matter how hard Kyouko and Madoka tried, they couldn't wake Saya.
Moreover, something happened that made many readers curse the dog author!
"Don't worry, Saya. Being alone is lonely, right? It's okay, I'll accompany you, Saya..." In utter despair, Kyouko chose to accompany Saya on her final journey.
With a 'boom,' Kyouko activated her hidden energy source and perished alongside Saya, who had turned into a witch.
Though she didn't save Saya, dying together was another form of happiness, right?
Of course, the story didn't end there.
At Homura's house, Homura confronted Kyubey, asking why it didn't stop Kyouko from trying the impossible task of reviving Saya.
What Kyubey said next made the readers even more furious.
"If it were a pointless sacrifice, I would have stopped it."
"But her exit is significant. Now, you're the only magical girl left to face the 'Walpurgisnacht.'"
"Of course, one person has no chance of winning. To protect this city, Madoka must become a magical girl."
Yes, this was Kyubey's cunning plan all along!
It had always hoped for one thing: for Madoka to become a magical girl!
This concluded the episode's plot.
Discussions about magical girls dominated the forums.
"Damn the Porter! He killed my Kyouko!!!"
"I finally understand, Kyubey is the Porter, right? Damn author!!"
"Looking back, a few weeks ago I didn't think much of this work, but now I see, I was too naive."
Glancing through, many comments were cursing the Porter, or wishing Kyouko well, hoping she and Saya could be together.
At the same time, trending searches included '100 ways to cook rabbit' and 'Porter, the sister-abusing demon,' and so on.
This created a strange phenomenon online.
The comment section was filled with "damn author!" "Trash manga, trash author" "What is this nonsense?" and similar comments.
Yet, the work's rating was astonishingly high, reaching a score of 9.1, which intrigued many curious people to buy Picca Comics to find out why the ratings and comments were so polarized.
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