Madoka Kaname (鹿目まどか?) is one of the five main Magical Girls and the title character of Puella Magi Madoka☆Magica anime and manga series. She's a second-year student at Mitakihara Middle School and is in the same class as Sayaka and Homura.
In episode 12, she transformed into a goddess known as Ultimate Madoka (アルティメットまどか?).
Bio
Appearance
Madoka Kaname has pink hair tied in pigtails, and wide oval-shaped pink eyes. When down, her hair is shoulder length. She has choppy bangs that are pointed and chin-length, framing her face. Madoka also wears two red ribbons in her hair, which hold up her pigtails. In her civilian form, she is mostly seen in her school uniform.
As a Magical Girl, Madoka wears a puffy pink dress with two bows arranged at either side of her skirt. She sports two bows in her hair, supporting her twin-tails, as well as a red ribbon around her neck, which is tied in a bow in the back. The front of her torso has a pale yellow segment surrounded by white frills with a white placket running down the center, decorated by five red buttons. She has two small straps that connect from the front to the back of the dress over her shoulders, and short, puffy sleeves with frilly ends. In between her shoulder blades and just below her neck, there is a heart-shaped hole in the back of her dress. Her skirt's ends are akin to a flower's petals; there are seven separate petal-shaped segments of her dress, which are all decorated with a red edge and three white teardrop-shaped designs, lay atop a big, white petticoat, which is notably frilly underneath. She also wears a pair of white gloves with pink trims around the wrists, white, knee-high stockings with frills just below the knee, and red, heeled shoes with ribbons tied behind them.
As Ultimate Madoka, she has grown very long pink hair and kept her short pigtails on the sides, which are held up by large, white bows. Her eyes are now golden, and her pupils became lighter in color. She wears a long, white, three-layered, frilly dress, which is shorter in the front, and gets increasingly longer nearing its end. On its inside, a vision of the Law of Cycle can be seen. The first two layers are purely white, and the final layer beneath the two is a light purple-y pink hue. Her collar is wavy and wide-cut and splits down the middle all the way to just below where Madoka's ribs would be, and is kept together near the beginning of the split by Madoka's Soul Gem, accompanied by what looks to be two smaller Soul Gems on either side. Her sleeves go down to just above her elbow, and are airy and wavy. There are two layers to them, with the layer underneath it being purple-y pink. She also wears white gloves. Her stockings are baby pink and reach up to her thighs. She wears white pumps with a single wing on each side of the ankle.
Personality
Madoka is an 8th grader you can find anywhere. She cares about her friends and has a kind heart. She is always surrounded by friends thanks to her gentle and caring personality.
She always wants to help and comfort people to the best of her ability, even if it doesn't end well sometimes. After becoming a Magical Girl, she begins taking more confidence in her action as well as becoming less scared and anxious. Thanks to her family background, she has managed to develop a strong sense of courage and mental strength.
Etymology
Madoka (まどか?): Madoka's name is in hiragana, which does not have a specific meaning. When written in kanji, however, it can mean "round"[1], referencing to Magical Girls' cyclical nature.
Kaname (鹿目?): Kana (鹿?) means "deer"[2] but when it is combined with the kanji "馬鹿" it can be read as "fool" and me (目?) means "eye".[3]
Relationships
- Sayaka Miki: Madoka's childhood friend. They're best friends and classmates since a young age when Sayaka was protecting Madoka from a group of bullies during elementary school. Sayaka would do anything to protect Madoka and so would Madoka. They care deeply for each other and would stand for each other at all cost. Madoka would be truly hurt if something happened to Sayaka and was showing concern when Sayaka was despairing in the series' main timeline.
- Mami Tomoe: Madoka highly respects Mami, a veteran Magical Girl who acts like a mentor to her. Madoka cares for her and would do anything to save her.
- Kyoko Sakura: They seem to get along more than Sayaka, Mami or Homura do with the latter, but they don't seem to agree on most things. While Kyoko likes to battle things out, Madoka talks things out, making them contradicting opposites. When Sayaka became a Witch, the two shared the same concern and left their differences aside in hopes that they will bring the old Sayaka back.
- Homura Akemi: Initially, Homura appears as cold towards Madoka but Madoka is unaware of her motives. Despite that, she believes Homura has actually a good heart even though Homura refuses this. However, Homura cares deeply for Madoka and would do anything for her sake, as it's later proven that Homura went through all those timelines just to protect Madoka. Madoka is Homura's best friend and she appreciates Homura's relationship with her.
- Hitomi Shizuki: Hitomi is one of Madoka's childhood friends. Despite that Sayaka and Hitomi have both of a friendly and antagonistic relationship, with the latter one being more developed during the series' timeline, Madoka and Hitomi retain a friendly relationship until the end of the series. Madoka appears to care for Hitomi as she saved her from a Witch's Kiss in episode 4 and prevented Kyubey from making her a Magical Girl in the second audio drama CD.
- Tatsuya Kaname: Madoka's younger brother who she adores, even though he is sometimes troublesome. Tatsuya was the only one to remember Madoka during the finale, though seemingly only as an imaginary friend.
- Iroha Tamaki: Madoka meets Iroha in Kamihama City when Holy Quintet pays a visit to this city in order to save Mami. They quickly become friends and team up very well to defeat their enemies. They share a lot of things in common and have a friendly relationship. When they're together, the time passes quickly and are always telling each other what's on their mind.
Family
Tomohisa Kaname
Her father who she adores very much because she cares for him and treats her very well. Madoka loves her dad's special hot chocolate.
Junko Kaname
Her mother who she adores very much and is close with. She cares for Madoka and often gives her advice which Madoka cherishes. Madoka loves her mother's personality.
Tatsuya Kaname
Her younger brother who she loves even if he is naughty and causes her trouble and Madoka always looks after him to make sure he is nice.
Powers and Abilities
Wishes
- Throughout the entire series, revealed by various pieces of story. Madoka has made various wishes throughout the timelines:
- Her original wish, was to save a black cat named Amy from dying.
- In The Different Story, she wished to save Sayaka.
- In one of her routes in Portable, she wishes: "If I make a contract with you, can Sayaka's body return to normal?"
- Her final wish: "I want to erase all witches before they are even born. I will erase every single witch in every universe, past and future with my own hands... I don't care what you call it. All those Magical Girls who held onto their hopes and fought against witches I don't want to see them cry. I want them to stay smiling until the end. If any rule or law stands in my way, I will destroy it. I will rewrite it. That is my prayer. That is my wish. Now grant it, Incubator!"
Abilities
- Madoka's main ability is unknown. However, it has been explained that Madoka and Iroha have a similar magic.
- With her bow, she can fire arrows of energy to attack with and even fire several at once to attack several enemies.
- As Ultimate Madoka, she can remove the corruptions of Soul Gems just by touching them.
- Not only as Ultimate Madoka but in episode 14 of Magia Record, when Madoka transforms into a Magical Girl, the impurities from her Soul Gem magically disappear.
Attacks
- Tiro Duet (ティロデュエット?): A dual attack Madoka performs with Mami in The Rebellion Story. It is a variant of Mami's Tiro Finale.
- Connect (コネクト?): A technique used by Magical Girls in Magia Record. By joining hands, they are able to fuse their weapons and make a strong variant based on them.
Trivia
- Madoka's birthday fall on October 3rd, making her zodiac sign Libra.
- Her birthday is given to her in honor of Magica Quartet's first meeting for the anime.[4]
- She's the one of the three character in the entire franchise who has their birthday canonically confirmed. The other two are Jeanne d'Arc and Iroha Tamaki.
- In aniplexs “Ani-Com magazine” there was a thing where madoka answers 100 questions [1]
- Madoka's bloodtype is A.
- Her shoe size is 22 JP/Women's 5.5 US/Children's 4 US/36 EU/3 UK.
- Madoka loves cats, as explained in the first audio drama CD.
- Madoka shares her voice actress with Anja, Albertine's Familiar, as explained in the audio commentary for episode 5.
- Her favourite drink is her dad's special hot chocolate.
- Her favourite colors are pink and white, which are also her theme colors.
- Madoka was originally going to be given her own finisher attack named Finitora Freccia (フイニトラ・フレテイア lit. Finisher Arrow?) in the first audio drama CD, but it was scrapped in the final script.
References
- ↑ https://www.nihongomaster.com/japanese/dictionary/word/16494/madoka-%E5%86%86%E3%81%8B-%E3%81%BE%E3%81%A9%E3%81%8B
- ↑ https://www.nihongomaster.com/japanese/dictionary/kanji/1143/%E9%B9%BF
- ↑ https://www.nihongomaster.com/japanese/dictionary/kanji/2692/%E7%9B%AE
- ↑ https://twitter.com/Butch_Gen/status/253300831032582144
| V • E Puella Magi Madoka☆Magica characters | ||
|---|---|---|
| Magical Girls | Madoka Kaname • Sayaka Miki • Mami Tomoe • Kyoko Sakura • Homura Akemi • Nagisa Momoe | |
| Incubators | Kyubey | |
| Witches | Gertrud • Suleika • H.N. Elly (Kirsten) • Albertine • Gisela • Elsa Maria • Uhrmann • Oktavia von Seckendorff • Izabel • Patricia • Kriemhild Gretchen • Roberta • Walpurgisnacht • Homulilly | |
| Others | Junko Kaname • Tatsuya Kaname • Tomohisa Kaname • Kazuko Saotome • Hitomi Shizuki • Momo Sakura • Minor Characters | |