One of the most popular characters from Puella Magi Madoka Magica is Miki Sayaka. She is the best friend of the main character, Kaname Madoka, and is the girl who becomes a magical girl before Madoka. As a rookie magical girl in the story, she faces various worries and causes problems, but she is a lively girl who overcomes them with her natural cheerfulness and power. This time, we will introduce Miki Sayaka.
Sayaka is a lively girl
Source: Puella Magi Madoka Magica ©Magica Quartet/Aniplex・Magia Record Partners
Sayaka has a lively personality and is a bit of a joker, even calling herself a beautiful girl. She is best friends with the timid Madoka and the gentle, ladylike Shizuki Hitomi. At first, Sayaka is distrustful of Homura, who behaves suspiciously towards Madoka, and often clashes with other magical girls, such as getting into arguments with Kyoko due to differences in their ways of thinking. However, Sayaka herself has a strong sense of justice, and even after becoming a magical girl, she continues to fight witches every day in order to help people.
Sayaka's Magical Girl Appearance
Source: Puella Magi Madoka Magica ©Magica Quartet/Aniplex・Magia Record Partners
She wears blue-based clothing and a cape, wields a sword, and moves with great agility. She excels in close combat, and, in keeping with Sayaka's personality, she is the type to charge at the enemy first. She also performs tricky attacks, such as creating many swords with magic and throwing them. Furthermore, because Sayaka became a magical girl with the wish to heal injuries, she has a higher recovery rate than most people and can quickly heal even if her body is injured. She can also quickly heal the injuries of others. Incidentally, in the movie version she wears a hair ornament in the shape of the musical symbol "fortissimo."
Sayaka, a Rookie Magical Girl
Source: Puella Magi Madoka Magica ©Magica Quartet/Aniplex・Magia Record Partners
Sayaka's first encounter with magical girls was when Mami saved her and Madoka from a witch attack at a shopping mall. Sayaka became a magical girl inspired by Mami's fighting style and her secret fighting for peace, and just like Mami, she struggles every day to save people who are attacked by witches. She is always close to death and feels fear, but she is determined to fight for the peace of the people.
Sayaka's Girlish Side
A Girl in Love
Source: Puella Magi Madoka Magica ©Magica Quartet/Aniplex・Magia Record Partners
Sayaka is a girl in love with her childhood friend, Kamijo Kyosuke. She visits Kyosuke, who is hospitalized after an accident, and seems to enjoy spending time with him. She seems to be easily influenced by classical music, influenced by Kyosuke, who is also a violinist. Her reason for becoming a magical girl was to heal Kyosuke's injury so that he could play the violin again.
Sayaka's love rival?
Source: Puella Magi Madoka Magica ©Magica Quartet/Aniplex・Magia Record Partners
In love, Sayaka has a rival in addition to witches: her best friend, Hitomi. One day, while Sayaka was working as a magical girl, Hitomi confessed that she too had feelings for Kyosuke. Kyosuke gave Sayaka a chance to confess, but she couldn't. Later, Hitomi confessed her feelings to Sayaka and they began dating, shattering her love.
Sayaka's broken heart...
Source: Puella Magi Madoka Magica ©Magica Quartet/Aniplex・Magia Record Partners
Sayaka was given the chance to confess her feelings to Hitomi, but there's a reason why she couldn't. At this point, she realized the truth about being a magical girl - that her body was like that of a soulless doll. She gave up on expressing her feelings, knowing that she would never be able to fall in love with a body like that. Gradually, she began to regret ever becoming a magical girl.
Sayaka Falls into Darkness
Source: Puella Magi Madoka Magica ©Magica Quartet/Aniplex・Magia Record Partners
After learning the truth about magical girls and experiencing heartbreak, Sayaka gradually becomes desperate. She says she shouldn't have helped Hitomi when she was attacked by a witch, and her reckless fighting tactics leave her body in tatters. She continues to use magical power without purifying her soul gem, and the impurity continues to accumulate. She also yells at Madoka, who has always been worried about Sayaka. She regrets what she said to her best friend and pushes herself further into a corner.
The Fate of a Magical Girl
Source: Puella Magi Madoka Magica ©Magica Quartet/Aniplex・Magia Record Partners
Sayaka's Soul Gem itself generates a curse, becoming so corrupted that it cannot be purified. Having hurt even her best friend, Sayaka sinks into the depths of despair. "I'm such an idiot..." With these final words, Sayaka's soul gem gave birth to a witch, and Sayaka became one. If magical girls are born from the desire for hope, witches are born from despair.
Sayaka's Final Moments
Source: Puella Magi Madoka Magica ©Magica Quartet/Aniplex・Magia Record Partners
Kyoko, who had come to accept Sayaka and tried to become friends with her, witnessed her transform into a witch right before her eyes. Afterwards, believing that hearing her best friend's voice might help her return to normal, she fights Sayaka's witch, Octavia von Zeckendorf, alongside Madoka. However, she never returns to Sayaka, and a suicidal attack by Kyoko destroys Octavia von Zeckendorf, and therefore Sayaka's soul.
Sayaka Afterwards
Source: Puella Magi Madoka Magica ©Magica Quartet/Aniplex・Magia Record Partners
Although Sayaka disappears along with Kyoko at the end of the story, the final episode reveals that in the world altered by Madoka, she was guided by Madoka (the Law of Cycles) and disappeared peacefully without despair before becoming a witch. In the movie, she appears as a normal magical girl, but her true form is one guided by the Law of Cycles, and she has the ability to possess both the powers of a magical girl and a witch. She has already become something different from a normal magical girl, coming to pick up Homura, who has reached her soul gem's limit, alongside Madoka and Nagisa.
Sayaka's Tragic Life
Source: Puella Magi Madoka Magica ©Magica Quartet/Aniplex・Magia Record Partners
Sayaka was a rookie and had her ideal vision of what a magical girl should be. However, she leads a tragic life, tossed about by the gap between her ideals and reality, thrown into conflict with other magical girls, tormented by a love triangle, and sinking into despair. Although she meets a sad end when she becomes a witch and disappears, Sayaka's existence and life are connected to the core of the story, and she adds a unique spice to it compared to traditional magical girl stories. However, in the movie, it is somewhat reassuring to see that she has completely given up on Kyosuke and moved on, and that she is guided by Madoka (the Law of Cycles) to find happiness. I can only hope that the world will become one in which Sayaka can be at least a little satisfied.
