Puella Magi Madoka Magica is a much talked about work that overturned previous concepts of "magical girl" anime with its cute illustrations and dark story. This anime also featured a mascot-like character, a common feature of magical girl anime: Kyubey. Despite his cute appearance, his true identity was surprising, and many viewers were likely fooled. Today, we would like to introduce Kyubey.
Kyubey is the mascot character for magical girls.
Source: Puella Magi Madoka Magica ©Magica Quartet/Aniplex・Magia Record Partners
In the world of Puella Magi Madoka Magica, magical girls gain their powers through a "contract" with ordinary girls, granting them one wish in exchange for becoming magical girls. The person they make that contract with is Kyubey. Kyubey discovers those with the potential to become magical girls, encourages them to make a contract, and works alongside magical girls to help them defeat witches, making him truly what you'd call a "mascot character for magical girls."
Kyubey's Cute Appearance
Source: Puella Magi Madoka Magica ©Magica Quartet/Aniplex・Magia Record Partners
With a pure white body, red eyes, a large tail, and long fur-like ears, Kyubey resembles a cat or a rabbit. Since it's not a real-life creature, this also adds to its mascot-like feel. Also, although it's not usually obvious, there are depictions of him having fluffy fur. At the beginning of the story, he's cute when he's being held by Madoka and when he eats the bento and french fries he receives. However, it's strange that his facial expressions are so blank that they don't change much (though the comic version has more facial expressions).
Kyubey's Work
Source: Puella Magi Madoka Magica ©Magica Quartet/Aniplex・Magia Record Partners
As mentioned above, Kyubey's role is to find girls with potential to become magical girls and recruit them. Once a contract is made, he will grant any wish, generate a Soul Gem from the girl, and transform her into a magical girl. Kyubey's other role is to dispose of Grief Seeds (Witch Eggs), which are tools used to purify Soul Gems, before the witches are born. When doing so, he displays a unique method of disposal in which a red circular pattern on his back opens up and the Grief Seed is thrown into it.
Kyubey's true nature gradually emerges
Source: Puella Magi Madoka Magica ©Magica Quartet/Aniplex・Magia Record Partners
As the story progresses, Kyubey's true nature and motives are gradually revealed, surprising and frustrating not only Madoka and her friends, but viewers as well. Kyubey is actually an extraterrestrial life form known as an "Incubator," whose goal is to use the relationships and mechanisms between magical girls and witches to recover energy and efficiently run the entire universe. What dark side does Kyubey have?
The truth about Soul Gems isn't explained.
Source: Puella Magi Madoka Magica ©Magica Quartet/Aniplex・Magia Record Partners
Midway through the story, it's revealed that a magical girl's Soul Gem is actually her own soul. When Kyoko is later told the truth that magical girls' bodies are like dolls with their souls removed, she becomes furious, but Kyubey dismisses it, saying, "Why are humans so obsessed with where the soul is?", and goes so far as to say that separating the soul from the body makes it possible to ignore the sensation of pain, making it more effective in battle. When pressed about why he didn't explain, he calmly replies, "Because no one asked."
An Extraterrestrial Lifeform that Exploits Magical Girls
Source: Puella Magi Madoka Magica ©Magica Quartet/Aniplex・Magia Record Partners
As mentioned above, Kyubey is an extraterrestrial lifeform known as an "incubator." The Incubators developed technology to convert the emotions of living things into energy, and attempted to use the energy obtained to maintain normal entropy in the universe (preventing the universe from collapsing). However, since the Incubators themselves did not have emotions, they turned their attention to the emotions of teenage girls on Earth and created a system of magical girls and witches. They then used magical girls to recover the enormous amount of energy that was generated when magical girls became witches.
Why He's Relentlessly Targeting Madoka
Source: Puella Magi Madoka Magica ©Magica Quartet/Aniplex・Magia Record Partners
Kyubey is particularly persistent in urging Madoka to sign a contract. Madoka has the potential to become an extremely powerful magical girl, and if she becomes a witch, she will be able to recover an incomparably greater amount of energy than ever before.
Unbridgeable Gaps
Source: Puella Magi Madoka Magica ©Magica Quartet/Aniplex・Magia Record Partners
From the middle of the story onwards, Kyubey's dark side gradually becomes more apparent. As Madoka becomes depressed after losing Sayaka, he tells her things he cannot understand at all, such as "There are so many humans, so why do you get depressed over the life or death of one?" and "It's unreasonable to be sad when a person dies, yet turn a blind eye to the reality that livestock are killed and eaten." As he leaves, he even says, "If you ever feel like dying for the universe, just call me anytime." He is a creature that does not understand human feelings at all.
The Fate of Kyubey and Homura
Source: Puella Magi Madoka Magica ©Magica Quartet/Aniplex・Magia Record Partners
In episode 1, there's a scene where Homura chases Kyubey and tries to defeat him. Homura, who is repeating time, now knows Kyubey's purpose and true identity, and so tries to defeat him before he comes into contact with Madoka. The cat-and-mouse game between Kyubey and Homura continues after this. However, many Kyubeys have come to Earth, and no matter how many are defeated, replacements keep appearing. The moment in episode 8 when Homura turns Kyubey into a beehive was thrilling, but when a replacement appeared afterwards, I couldn't help but scream, "Why!?"
A beautiful Kyubey?
Source: Puella Magi Madoka Magica ©Magica Quartet/Aniplex・Magia Record Partners
In the final episode, Madoka alters the world, transforming it into a world without witches. This means Kyubey loses his previous method of recovering energy using the mechanisms of magical girls and witches, and he can only recover energy by steadily defeating magical beasts. As a result, Kyubey became an entity that could transform people into magical girls in exchange for miracles, and he worked alongside Homura to help her defeat magical beasts. At first glance, it seemed like he had finally become a mascot character, but when Homura, who had memories from before, told him about the existence of witches, he said, "That's a fascinating way." It seems Kyubey's true nature has not changed.
Kyubey Becomes the Enemy Again
Source: Puella Magi Madoka Magica ©Magica Quartet/Aniplex・Magia Record Partners
After learning of the existence of witches in the altered world, Kyubey uses Homura to conduct experiments to create a witch from a soul gem. They hid Homura's corrupted Soul Gem within a barrier that was unaffected by the Law of Cycles, and attempted to create a witch within the barrier. Things went well until Madoka and the other magical girls destroyed the barrier, and Homura was finally able to receive the Law of Cycles and Madoka's salvation.
Kyubey's Complete Defeat
Source: Puella Magi Madoka Magica ©Magica Quartet/Aniplex・Magia Record Partners
At the end of the new movie, Rebellion, Homura once again changes the world. At the time, Kyubey felt that exploiting human emotions was too dangerous and tried to distance himself from humanity, but he was captured by Homura, who had turned into a demon, and forced to cooperate, saying it was necessary to "purify the curse that is rampant throughout the universe." The final scene shows a battered and bruised Kyubey trembling as if in fear (despite not being capable of emotion). This could also be seen as the moment Homura finally triumphed over Kyubey.
Can you fall in love with Kyubey? Or not?
Source: Puella Magi Madoka Magica ©Magica Quartet/Aniplex・Magia Record Partners
In this anime, "Kyubey" is a mascot character, a must-have for magical girl anime. However, contrary to his appearance, his true identity is shocking: an extraterrestrial life form with a dark personality. However, Kyubey's actions are also based on a macro perspective of the universe as a whole, and he has his own sense of justice. Whether or not you can like Kyubey will change your perspective on this anime. He is certainly an annoying character, but he also occasionally shows a cute, lovable side, making him perhaps a character with a mysterious charm.
