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Kyosuke Kamijo (上条恭介?) is a supporting character in Puella Magi Madoka☆Magica anime and manga series. He's a violinist who got involved in an accident and became unable to play the violin.

Bio[]

Appearance[]

Kyosuke has short dirty gray hair and eyes. He is tall and is mostly seen in his hospital uniform and later in his school uniform.

Personality[]

Kyosuke is a passionate music lover and dedicated violinist, he is shown to be very popular at school especially with girls notably with Sayaka and Hitomi. Many of his actions can be seen as selfish, even cruel, he never let Sayaka know he had left the hospital despite her frequent visits to him, lashed out at her numerous while she was trying to cheer him up and most notably callously began dating Hitomi despite Sayaka's clear feelings for him. Even while dating Hitomi he is shown to put his violin first suggesting he doesn't particualry care about the relationship one way or the other

However, none of this is shown to be intentional but rather the result of him being a bit thick and not realizing the reason behind Sayaka's actions (he especially had no idea that Sayaka was the reason he could play violin again) he is also shown to cry and whisper Sayaka's name during The Rebellion Story showing that he did care for his friend deeply.

Kyousuke is not necessarily a bad guy, but rather someone who Sayaka romanticized to the point that she ignored his real personality. He makes it clear from the get go that his priority is violin, it would always come first, and that while Sayaka was his friend he did not have strong feelings for her. The reality was that Sayaka's relationship with him was inherently selfish in that she unknowingly had ignored his real feelings and tried to concript him to her romantic fantasy when he was indifferent love in the first place, as he went out with Hitomi simply because she asked rather than actually having feelings for her.

Kyousuke not being inherently bad or evil is crucial to Sayaka's realization that she not only wasted her wish, sold her soul and was no longer "human" and would have to fight witches till the end of her days for a man who didn't appreciate her (and had made it clear from day 1 that he didn't), but that she wasn't the noble hero she envisioned in her head, but rather one that selfish and petty drove her to despair and caused her to become witch. Sayaka was more upset of her realization that she was selfish and foolish instead of a pure hearted maiden of justice that she became consumed with self-loathing and despair.

Etymology

Kyosuke (恭介?): Kyo (?) means "respect" or "reverent"[1] and suke (?) means "mediate".[2]

Kamijo (上条?): Kami (?) means "above"[3] and jo (?) means "article".[4]

History[]

Kyosuke is mentioned for the first time in episode 1, when Madoka asks Sayaka if he's the reason Sayaka wants to visit the CD store.

In episode 2, he is shown bedridden in the hospital when Sayaka comments that there must be many who would trade their souls for a wish and that life has been too easy for her.

In episode 3, he makes his first major appearance. At the start of the episode, Sayaka gives Kyosuke a CD by Dawd Ostrakh (a reference to David Oistrakh), and they share her headphones and listen to Rachmaninoff's "Vocalise" together. Kyosuke fingers the notes as he listens and then he cries. Later, Sayaka tries to visit him but is turned away; the explanation given by Kyosuke's family is that he isn't in good shape.

In episode 4, Sayaka visits him in the hospital and brings him a CD to listen to, but he accuses her of mocking his inability to play the violin anymore. He reveals that the current state of medicine is incapable of healing his left hand, saying that it would take a miracle or magic for him to play again. It is revealed at the end of the episode that Sayaka used her wish to heal his left hand, in exchange becoming a Magical Girl for Kyubey.

In episode 5, Sayaka has prepared a surprise for him. He gets him to the roof of the hospital to meet his parents and some of the hospital's stuff and regains the ability to play the violin after Sayaka's wish repaired his hand. She claims it to be the happiest moment of her life.

In episode 6, Sayaka goes to visit him at the hospital, but is informed that he was discharged and didn't inform Sayaka. She goes to visit him at his house and she hears him practicing his violin. She is about to enter when she is confronted by Kyoko who criticizes her for making a selfless wish for his sake and speculate that she should've crippled him futher.

In episode 7, Kyosuke returns to school, but still needs crutches. Sayaka wants to talk to him, but doesn't have the mental courage, as she sees herself as a "zombie". In episode 8, Hitomi speaks to Kyosuke. It's still not known what she exactly told him. The manga adaption expands the scene by showing them holding hands.

In episode 11, Kyosuke is briefly seen at Sayaka's funeral next to Hitomi, who is mourning over her death.

In the new timeline of episode 12, created by Ultimate Madoka, Kyosuke appears while Sayaka and Madoka's souls watch over him (and Hitomi waits for him at the side) as he performs during an audition. As he plays Gounod's "Ave Maria", Sayaka and Madoka talk things over one last time, and are able to pass on. Later, Kyosuke performs as a professional, and once he finishes his recital he whispers Sayaka's name, remembering his days with her at the hospital.

In The Rebellion Story, Kyosuke is still in a relationship with Hitomi, although his music practice is causing difficulties to their relationship, at least from Hitomi's perspective. At the end of the movie, he's revealed to have been one of the few real humans trapped in Homulilly's Labyrinth.

Family and Relationships[]

Family[]

Parents
In episode 3, Sayaka has a chat with his parents before their major apearance in episode 5, during his dischargement from the hospital. Kyosuke asked his father to throw away his violin, but his father didn't want to and returned it to him in the same episode.

Relationships[]

  • Sayaka Miki: His childhood friend. Kyosuke sees her as a close friend and never realized that she had feelings for him. He is sometimes aggressive towards her but apologizes whenever he realizes he is rude to her. Despite that, he cares for her.
  • Hitomi Shizuki: A friend of his. Hitomi also has a crush on him and it was later revealed that he also likes her. Then, they started a happy relationship even though it slightly broke apart in The Rebellion Story.

Trivia[]

  • In Sayaka's flashback of Kyosuke in episode 2 and the opening that was used in the TV broadcasts depicts Kyosuke with white hair.
    • Ume Aoki, the character designer, confirms in the audio commentary for episode 2 that Kyosuke's hair is gray. Like most characters in the series, his eyes and hair color are the same.
  • Until episode 6, his surname is spelled as "上條" in the credits. Starting with episode 7, it's changed to "上条". Both are pronounced the same and have similar meanings.
  • Oktavia von Seckendorff's setting sheet for episode 10 indicates that Kyosuke was a guitarist sometime around the first timeline.[5]
    • Notably, in Madoka☆Magica Online he's a guitarist.
  • Megami July 2011 issue specifies that Kyosuke never considered Sayaka as his lover and never saw a potential in her being his lover but only a close friend.
  • In Dengeki G April 2012 issue, Eri Kitamura, Sayaka's voice actress explains that even if Sayaka started dating Kyosuke, it wouldn't necessarily be true happiness for Sayaka.
  • According to Animage May 2011 issue, Kyosuke's voice actress, Seiko Yoshida, wished for a happy ending for Sayaka and Kyosuke. She was heartbroken when she found out what was the real ending for their relationship.

Gallery[]

Concept Arts[]

Sprites[]

References[]

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