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INTEREST: Madoka Magica Writer Urobuchi Compares Plot to Al-Qaeda


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ZakuAce



Joined: 06 Jan 2010
Posts: 525
Location: SE Wisconsin
PostPosted: Tue Aug 30, 2011 1:39 am Reply with quote
I just laugh thinking SHAFT is a terrorist network.
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Kouta6769



Joined: 07 Mar 2010
Posts: 63
PostPosted: Tue Aug 30, 2011 1:49 am Reply with quote
Hmm interesting stuff.
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GATSU



Joined: 03 Jan 2002
Posts: 15604
PostPosted: Tue Aug 30, 2011 1:58 am Reply with quote
Makes me want to see it less now. Not because I'm offended, but because that dude's pretentious as fark.
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Fronzel



Joined: 11 Sep 2003
Posts: 1906
PostPosted: Tue Aug 30, 2011 2:03 am Reply with quote
Why the heck did it take so long for a genre satire of magical girls to get made? There was Nanoha, but that was just a fighting anime in a magical girl skin. There was Dai Maou Touge, but that was just a silly parody. Magical Play seemed to try to do something like it, but never got past the pilot.
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Big Hed



Joined: 04 May 2006
Posts: 1607
Location: Melbourne, Australia
PostPosted: Tue Aug 30, 2011 2:16 am Reply with quote
Below, spoilers abound.

I'd argue that's a false analogy. Al Qaeda--and terrorists in general--deliberately perpetuate human suffering as a means to an end. PMMM's magical girls (I'd speak more broadly, but I don't know if I'd be accurate then), in contrast, regardless of their motivations, haven't got a clue that they're playing that game; Homura is an exception, but I still don't think she fits the bill.

Kyuubey's species, on the other hand, might be described as terrorists--though I think that's stretching the term. Their objective is more fundamental than securing an ideological hegemony, not to mention the lengths they go to to obfuscate the human suffering they are causing.

The magical girl clients are more like victims in Urobuchi's analogy... Unless he's taking the view that terrorist victims themselves become terrorists by way of overreaction, but then there's still the question of intent.
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maaya



Joined: 14 Oct 2007
Posts: 976
PostPosted: Tue Aug 30, 2011 2:17 am Reply with quote
Fronzel wrote:
Why the heck did it take so long for a genre satire of magical girls to get made?


It's not a satire. It's a more serious take on a usually childish, pink genre. And you should watch Princess Tutu and Tweeny Witches and maybe even Revolutionary Girl Utena, for some other, different takes on the genre.
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enurtsol



Joined: 01 May 2007
Posts: 14893
PostPosted: Tue Aug 30, 2011 2:58 am Reply with quote
Murder She wrote:

Urobuchi: For example, Al-Qaeda brought down the Twin Towers due to their self-righteousness. Justice for some people is an evil for others. Good intentions, kindness, and hope will not necessarily make people happy.


Awwwww....... hell's gonna break loose....... if he just compared Al-Qaeda's intentions as good intentions for some people............. Whether true or not, I can see people in the West vilifying him for that.......... After all, Adolf Hitler is not as vilified in ex-Axis Japan as he is in the West.............. As the saying goes, the path to hell is paved with good intentions! Laughing
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LaFreccia



Joined: 12 Apr 2006
Posts: 324
PostPosted: Tue Aug 30, 2011 3:05 am Reply with quote
Fronzel wrote:
Why the heck did it take so long for a genre satire of magical girls to get made?


You should check out Okusama wa Mahou Shoujo anime#4382
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Tomibiki



Joined: 08 Jul 2007
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 30, 2011 5:10 am Reply with quote
thaaaaaaat's a pretty big reach
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configspace



Joined: 16 Aug 2008
Posts: 3717
PostPosted: Tue Aug 30, 2011 5:25 am Reply with quote
enurtsol wrote:
Murder She wrote:

Urobuchi: For example, Al-Qaeda brought down the Twin Towers due to their self-righteousness. Justice for some people is an evil for others. Good intentions, kindness, and hope will not necessarily make people happy.


Awwwww....... hell's gonna break loose....... if he just compared Al-Qaeda's intentions as good intentions for some people............. Whether true or not, I can see people in the West vilifying him for that.......... After all, Adolf Hitler is not as vilified in ex-Axis Japan as he is in the West.............. As the saying goes, the path to hell is paved with good intentions! Laughing

which is certainly true. After all, terrorists never see themselves as terrorists. Remember, Hamas was elected by popular majority. To their credit, they have done favorable deeds for Palestinians, rebuilding and socially beneficial acts. Then again out of the same good intentions, due to complaint, they have banned male hair dressers for example.

But the same can be said about anyone willing to use force for they think is "doing the right thing", where they themselves are not aware of their oppressive actions. In fact, I'd say the state or parts of society in general would be better analogies.

Even C.S. Lewis, religious yet self-aware of such intentions had said
Quote:
Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.
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Jessica Hart



Joined: 12 Aug 2010
Posts: 219
PostPosted: Tue Aug 30, 2011 5:41 am Reply with quote
enurtsol wrote:
Murder She wrote:

Urobuchi: For example, Al-Qaeda brought down the Twin Towers due to their self-righteousness. Justice for some people is an evil for others. Good intentions, kindness, and hope will not necessarily make people happy.


Awwwww....... hell's gonna break loose....... if he just compared Al-Qaeda's intentions as good intentions for some people............. Whether true or not, I can see people in the West vilifying him for that.......... After all, Adolf Hitler is not as vilified in ex-Axis Japan as he is in the West.............. As the saying goes, the path to hell is paved with good intentions! Laughing

Well... Hitler did pretty much get Germany's economy out of the crapper and fixed the unemployment problem in his country by creating a ton of new jobs and stuff Very Happy There's always good along with the bad.

But yeah.. pretty gutsy of him to do that. *hands Urobuchi a flame shield*
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scchan



Joined: 05 Oct 2009
Posts: 143
Location: Exeter, UK
PostPosted: Tue Aug 30, 2011 6:52 am Reply with quote
configspace wrote:
enurtsol wrote:
Murder She wrote:

Urobuchi: For example, Al-Qaeda brought down the Twin Towers due to their self-righteousness. Justice for some people is an evil for others. Good intentions, kindness, and hope will not necessarily make people happy.


Awwwww....... hell's gonna break loose....... if he just compared Al-Qaeda's intentions as good intentions for some people............. Whether true or not, I can see people in the West vilifying him for that.......... After all, Adolf Hitler is not as vilified in ex-Axis Japan as he is in the West.............. As the saying goes, the path to hell is paved with good intentions! Laughing

which is certainly true. After all, terrorists never see themselves as terrorists. Remember, Hamas was elected by popular majority. To their credit, they have done favorable deeds for Palestinians, rebuilding and socially beneficial acts. Then again out of the same good intentions, due to complaint, they have banned male hair dressers for example.

But the same can be said about anyone willing to use force for they think is "doing the right thing", where they themselves are not aware of their oppressive actions. In fact, I'd say the state or parts of society in general would be better analogies.

Even C.S. Lewis, religious yet self-aware of such intentions had said
Quote:
Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.


In Madoka Magica, QB's action is completely sensible for himself - he is doing what needs for the survival of his kind. While I am not sure the comparison with Al Qaeda is perfect, but I like the comparison with Hamas. Hamas while brutal and violent in many ways, they are indeed fighting for the survival against someone who has treated them just as brutally (just that someone is quite good in presenting themselves in the international arena...).

The world has never been black and white. I do believe there are common values across all cultures and religion. But ethical values are only an ideal. But more often, the world works according to intrigue, deception, competition, and adaptation. History has shown not only such competition and adaptation are unavoidable, they have lead to progress.

I think the punch line is - never forget the ideals, but also not to live in delusion from the true state of affairs. Life is often not fair, and do not expect having faith on some ideal will give you a free lunch to everything.
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Ringking



Joined: 14 Sep 2009
Posts: 338
PostPosted: Tue Aug 30, 2011 7:32 am Reply with quote


Wow, so Madoka was inspired by terrorism. I never really made the connection but it does make spoiler[kyubey's race] seem somewhat like terrorists, the way they kind of spoiler[force their own ideals onto others (although in this case its through deception as opposed to force.]

And yes, that was a 2 minute MS paint job.
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Lockgor



Joined: 09 Aug 2011
Posts: 7
PostPosted: Tue Aug 30, 2011 11:04 am Reply with quote
I think people are reading a little too much into this. He used an action (a single action) of Al-Qaeda as an example of how good intentions don't necessarily lead to peoples happiness. That in doing what one believes to be the right thing, someone else may have to pay for it. Nor will it necessarily even bring positive consequences to the those who carry out the act. Its an example, he's not comparing his work to Al-Qaeda, nor he is saying his work was in any way inspired by it. He drew a parallel of one aspect, of one action. But with such a sensationalist title to the article, I guess its not hard to see why some people are getting a little carried away.

Last edited by Lockgor on Tue Aug 30, 2011 11:05 am; edited 1 time in total
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DarkHunter6523



Joined: 27 Jun 2005
Posts: 96
PostPosted: Tue Aug 30, 2011 11:05 am Reply with quote
GATSU wrote:
Makes me want to see it less now. Not because I'm offended, but because that dude's pretentious as fark.


Urobuchi Gen, pretentious? Really?

The man's shy as hell and rarely makes public appearances, let alone interviews. He's been writing for the past decade and nearly gave it up until he was approached by a close friend with a pretty good story offer, and only recently achieved some notoriety for all of his years at Nitro+, and you call him pretentious?
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