Indefinite Madoka-less Thursdays: A Look at Entropy

I wish I did this post at home; more Madoka pics!

So, there has finally been a pretty useless small update about Madoka, after a grand 3 weeks. It has been pretty much confirmed that the delay in the last two episodes is due to MBS (station airing) and not Shaft (production company) [source material] [translation of source material]. This post contains a bit of spoilers up until episode 10, so go watch that first (I mean, seriously, it aired three weeks ago D:). I decided to tackle the entropy argument for fun, since it is the biggest argument against Madoka.

This is exactly how I''m feeling
Pretty much the reason why MBS refuses to air Madoka is because of the earthquake, feeling that they will take backlash from drawing the two together. Now, of the two different networks that air Madoka, the problem is that MBS had sponsored part of the production of Madoka. Part of the contract was that they would get first airing rights - so, when they don't air it, no one can. It doesn't help that Japan got hit by another earthquake today (7.1 magnitude, I believe). With an initial earthquake so large, the aftershocks will be around for a while, so no Madoka for a while.


Pearz Paranoia: It is QB conspiring against us. Clearly, the earthquakes were caused by him to delay revealing any more of his true nature. MBS is getting their hands tied by Mahou Shoujo through blackmail. Don't believe that science mumble jumble about tectonic plates! It is all just propaganda that science has spread, kind of like the Earth being round. I've been to the edge of the Earth; trust me, it's flat.


It is speculated that the final two episodes won't air until the 6th BD goes on sale in September, leading them to pull a Bakemonogatari. Clearly, Bakemonogatari sales did extremely well, so such a method works (by the way, Shaft did the production for both of these). It just hurts to wait so long to see the conclusion (not to mention, cost for a Japanese BD...). It probably won't come to this, but I'm certain we won't be seeing Madoka until the reactor issues/aftershocks die down.

I would so watch this
Being without Madoka (more specifically, Homura-chan) for 3 weeks and with no end in sight leaves me feeling empty. As such, I'll randomly tackle the biggest controversial plot point in Madoka, just to ease my pain. This is the Entropy Effect that QB speaks of, which is the reason for all of this. This is a nice counter-argument regarding how it is flawed. I'll break up this post into the two major points: the loli farm idea and that they should be advanced enough to fix entropy themselves (through time travel or "cleaner" energy).


I guess I'll do the easier one first: the loli farm. For all we know, Earth in itself is a farm. This is why, by the time Madoka is being "bred", our race has still not gained the ability to leave the planet (at least, not effectively). Out there might be many more planets with the same species, all  being bred to supply emo-ness to reverse entropy. The breakpoint for the farm becoming less useful would be when humans actually reach outside their own solar system, thus killing off the race would be genocide. As long as Madoka destroys it, they get a huge energy source and maybe a cleared-off planet for another farm. It could explain why, in the 4th timeline, QB didn't care that the witch Madoka would kill everyone. He had met the quota for his farm and he was ready for it to be cleansed for the next generation, much like a farmer harvesting his crops in fall for the next spring season.


Onto the other big counter point: time travelling to fix the entropy problem themselves. Now this one is a bit...complex. It would depend on how you would perceive time or which theory you believe in. One thing so far that's noticeable is that when Homura "travels back", it is her conscience that moves and not her physical body since you don't see 2+ copies of her. This, combined with the fact that she has her soul gem/magic powers still intact, is proof that time was not "rewinded". If time was turned back, she would need to redo her contract with QB every time to regain her powers, so it is more like she is shifting to an alternate timeline with each "jump" that she makes. As such, the entropy problem would not be solved by time travelling because you would only effectively be reducing entropy in the new reality whereas the old one would just get worse. The overall entropy across all the realities would still be increasing since it would just be shifted from one reality to the next. This kind of "time travel" is insinuated when Homura claims that the 4th timeline was not hers and left.

Just for you, Aaro, and your Pokemon insanity.

The third argument, which is almost an offshoot of the other two, is of "cleaner" energy. I say "cleaner" because what QB is doing with magic girls for entropy is much like what we do on Earth for electricity. There are much much "cleaner" solutions as opposed to oil and coal, like hydro and solar (wind still has a lot of issues to be considered "clean"; go read up on it yourself since that is a totally different rant). I'll focus on one that's both cleaner and viable: solar. The panels exist, and some places even use them already to generate electricity. With enough of them, we could reduce usage of much dirtier energy sources, like nuclear or fossil fuel. Yet, here we are, barely using solar power for anything. Why? Simply put: money. The cost and return of solar power is too high; it isn't profitable to change, so no one does it other than to appear like a "greener" company for advertisement purposes. Before I get too off-topic: I see using magic girls in the same sense. Sow the seeds of a civilization and harvest it with little to no maintenance. The "cleaner" alternatives might be much more tedious and this method is still an easy "quick fix" for the solution. We are still decades away from converting to a cleaner energy source, knowing it is better in every way, so maybe it is the same for QB and their intergalactic race of furballs.

Large rant aside, the last two episodes of Madoka won't be coming anytime soon. The entropy explanation isn't perfect, but it is still far from causing the plot to become hole-ridden. Bring up any other inconsistencies you see, and I'll see if you can change your mind.

~Pearz