Miki Sayaka; The fighter of justice; The hidden warrior.She fought from the shadows solely for the purpose of saving the lives of others. With sheer will power, she struggled to defeat not only witches, but their familiars as well. Since familiars do not drop grief seeds, killing meant that more dirt would be added to Sayaka's soul gem without compensation. This neglect for herself in order to save others, which most would say is a result of her naivete, eventually led to her death.
Is her naivete proof of her innocence and purity of her heart, or is it proof of her selfishness?
Based on the answer to this question, would you say that Urobuchi, (writer of Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica), presented Miki Sayaka as a true heroine?
The uncertainty of this question is proof of the depth of Miki Sayaka's character.
One thing is clear however, that Sayaka was a character to be reprented as the tragic hero, and therefore as a foil, which I will explain shortly. Of course, whether or not you think what Sayaka did was good or evil is completely up to you.
To begin, I would like to define Aristotle's tragic hero, in which Sayaka was used by Urobuchi to represent.
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"A tragic hero is a character in a tragedy, who usually has one major flaw that results in the character's pitiful death. The function of a tragic hero is usually to invoke pity from the audience."
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There are 3 major things that generally make up a tragic hero:
1) The character must possess an nobility to be removed.
2) The character's fortune must reverse due to his/her virtues.
3) The character must recognize his/her follies.
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Let's look at #1; Sayaka's nobility to be removed.
"I, Puella Magi Sayaka Miki, will protect the people of Mitakihara Town, until the very end!" - Sayaka Miki, Episode 5.
Sayaka makes this promise before the girls learn of the true fate of all Mahou Shoujo. Such a promise is undoubtedly considered to be noble within society, for this promise meant that Sayaka will lay her life on the line in order to save others for the rest of her life.
However, the true fate of all Mahou Shoujo shatters her reality, which was based on her nobility. Thus, her nobility was destroyed, and thus removed, as well. Although it is not directly made obvious in the story line, the truth that she would eventually become a witch and kill others must have obliterated a huge chunk of her sanity, because her original reason for fighting was to save others, not to eventually kill them. We should probably be surprised she kept her sanity for as long as she did in order to continue fighting, regardless of her eventual fate.
Even though her reality was shattered, she pursued not only to fight for the town, but for the name of justice as well as in the name of Mami and in the memory of her. Could this fact be the thing that we should be calling nobility?
Sayaka's willpower to do this in spite of the truth is unmatched when it comes to many characters. But is this will something to admire? Is it a flaw, or is it something that is truly good?
Regardless of your answer to the above question, Sayaka undoubtedly fought in the name of others, excluding herself. But Urobuchi understands that such heroes (if you wish to call her one) do not receive what they are generally expected to deserve in this forsaken world. This is a prevalent theme in many stories which Urobuchi has incorperated into one of his minor characters.
The tragic downfall of Sayaka Miki came for three major reasons.
1) She was neglected by the one she loves. Even after she used her one and only wish to make the one she loved happy, never did she receive a word of thanks from him. In fact, he even questioned her asking if she was seriously trying to hurt him and make fun of him by being by his side giving him music. What's more, he was taken away from one of her closest friends. This made her feel like she was just a body, a tool in this world that attempted to make others happy. But in the end, no one cared for her feelings.
Not only did she feel like a zombie, she eventually came to believe it. It can be said that the moment she began to lose her sanity was when she found out that her body actually did not contain her soul after all. Obviously she created a misconception by herself in thinking that she was still a zombie even though her soul still existed. But she felt like a zombie due to the neglectfulness of the one she loved anyway. Such is the first folly that led to her downfall, which she will perhaps recognize later in order to fill the 3rd requirement.
2) The two men on the train as well as Kyoko (ironically and even more tragically) showed Sayaka another reality-shredding truth; that the people of this world, including the people she was fighting for of her town, were mostly composed of unhonorable, arrogant, and selfish sinners who did not even think of the people who were fighting for their sake like Sayaka was. Of course, the depression that Sayaka fell in because of this truth is another mistake on Sayaka's part, since she did not fully realize that she was fighting as a hidden warrior, and therefore one who would never receive any gratitude or honorable recognition. Yet, due to the tragedy of the first reason above and as well as her immaturity, (she is a middle schooler fighting for justice after all), she made this second folly nonetheless.
2.5) I would like to also mention one other thing as minor as it may seem. The main character are all young middle school students. Female middle school students. After all, Kyubey stated that human females of their age contain the most emotion on average. And, (if you were paying attention in your life so far...) emotions usually lead to instability. It can be said that it is already amazing that Sayaka kept her sanity for as long as she did.
3) She could not come to terms with her wish. Whether or not her wish was good or bad does not matter in this reason, because in the end, she could not come to accept her decision, and therefore, her past. This is called regret. It does not need to be said that regret leads to depression, which led to the ever-increasing amount of dirt in her soul gem. Eventually, there was no turning back.
The 3rd requirement of a tragic hero was completely filled in episode 10 the moment before Sayaka's life as a human being ended. Just before she transformed, she said to Kyouko, "I'm such an idiot." Whether or not she really understood the mistakes I mentioned above doesn't even matter. The point is, she realized to some extent or at least felt that she made some mistakes as a warrior. After all, Urobuchi entitled the chapter as "I'm an Idiot".
"Wishing for someone else's happiness means someone has to be cursed to suffer as much. That's what it means to be a Puella Magi." - Sayaka Miki, Episode 8.
This is the philosophy Sayaka Miki held at her last moment of sanity. Whether or not this philosophy is true, Sayaka accepted this curse onto herself in order to give happiness to others. Basically, Sayaka sacrificed her life and perhaps even her existence for the sake of others.
I say existence because Sayaka Miki is the hidden warrior, a fighter among the shadows who fights solely for the happiness of others. However, it is because of this fact that she dies without recognition or thanks.
The question is this: Is such an act an act of stupidity or great nobility?
We at least know this; that Miki Sayaka was indeed naive because she fought from the shadows without fully understanding the fact that such an act wouldn't necessarily mean that the people she was fighting for would change or even recognize her wish. (This was proven in episode 10 when she lost all hope and care for the people she was fighting for upon seeing the 2 men on the train and the way they were acting despite what she was doing for them.)
But what did this naivete mean? Is it something noble to admire or is it something to despise because of its possible basis on selfishness?
There is a saying that there is no such thing as a selfless wish, since such a thing would be a self-contradictory statement.
But would that mean that Miki Sayaka's nobility was indeed selfish and therefore foolish and stupid? Or is it something to admire because it was a weapon against the evils of the world that cause harm onto others? After all, Sayaka's actions meant that lives would be saved, and people would remain happy.
It is possible however, that if her naivete was a result of her pure heart, then she was indeed innocent. However, what if innocence was the basis of selfishness? After all, a baby is always considered to be innocent. Yet, the only thing a baby knows is that it must survive. Is this not selfish?
Now we are presented with a paradox, if her nobility was selfish, then that means she should have just regretted her wish and focused on survival. But isn't that selfish as well?
Urobuchi, through the character of Miki Sayaka, has presented us with a never-ending paradox spiral.
Such is the tragedy of Sayaka Miki. If you would like to comment or argue, I would be more than happy to respond below.
If you would like to take part in a discussion with myself and others about this topic, please direct yourself to my forum thread @ http://myanimelist.net/forum/?topicid=445341
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**Special thanks to the following Anime List users who helped me improve this article:
- Thalos
- notsureifsrs
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