You haven't watch Puella Magi Madoka Magica yet? Then I suggest you start watching the show, and I believe you too will slowly start to hate this guy. Also, don't blame me if you have the urge to kill this cute beast after eps 6.
makkun said: You haven't watch Puella Magi Madoka Magica yet? Then I suggest you start watching the show
I suggest you avoid it like the fucking Black Death unless you like watching little girls be emotionally tortured to death. Go watch Yumekui Merry or something.
I don't think Kyuubee is a jerk. I just think he's incapable of understanding human morals.
Though...am I the only one who thought the whole soul gem thing actually made sense? I mean it was surprising at first, but when you really think about it, it IS convenient.
Yeah, it IS convenient. If you don't mind living as a lich does.... In my opinion, Kyuubee is just so alien a creature that it does not understand or care about human moral, it doesn't make any sense to it.
From the way QB talked about it, it has come up before, so he is aware of how human girls will react to it. His indifference towards their feelings is why I called him a jerk. I don't think it's evil exactly, but it's not very nice.
DOCoSPADEo said: Is there a particular reason why there's soo many pictures of this character getting beaten up or something of that nature?
Kyubei is one of the most wonderfully written characters I've ever seen in media, and possibly one of the most polarizing characters there is since Argus. He is cruel, he is manipulative, he is completely amoral, no one knows what his true intentions are or whether he's an antagonist or not, and he has entire pages of speculation devoted to him.
Overall, he's written to completely mortify the audience with his view of cruel practicality beyond even most antagonists, which is why he is hated to the death by many Madoka viewers. Consider it a tribute to how great of a character he is :).
Anoninja said: Kyubei is one of the most wonderfully written characters I've ever seen in media, and possibly one of the most polarizing characters there is since Argus. He is cruel, he is manipulative, he is completely amoral, no one knows what his true intentions are or whether he's an antagonist or not, and he has entire pages of speculation devoted to him.
Overall, he's written to completely mortify the audience with his view of cruel practicality beyond even most antagonists, which is why he is hated to the death by many Madoka viewers. Consider it a tribute to how great of a character he is :).
(Also, watch the anime.)
THIS. Is why I'm starting to watch this anime now. Greatest presentation ever.
I don't know that I'd call Kyubey "cruel," really. Over-practical, sure, but that sort of comes with the whole non-human aspect of things. It's only cruel if you look at it from a human standpoint. Kyubey is a being completely devoid of emotions; he cannot learn to empathize with the Puella Magi he works with lest others of his planet should shun him. After all, where he comes from, emotion is a "mental illness." Telling him to try to empathize with humans would be like telling another human being to go catch leprosy in order to understand what a leper feels like.
He even flat-out tells Madoka that from his perspective, his race is being a whole lot kinder to humans than human beings are to other animals, namely to livestock. Rather than rounding all pubescent girls up and FORCING them to become Puella Magi, Kyubey and others of his kind instead bargain with them, offer them a payment in return for their services (he never promises that that payment won't completely backfire, but come on, anyone who's read "The Monkey's Paw" knows that most wishes wind up backfiring from a realistic viewpoint), and, overall, treat them as sentient creatures. He probably doesn't know what a "lich" is, either; to him, setting aside a girl's soul from her body is mere practicality. He's lowering the probability that that girl will be killed in battle, considering the dangers that witches and their familiars pose. It's no wonder he avoids telling the girls up front what their soul gem is and what sort of a contract they're really getting themselves into. His main goal is to save the universe from heat-death; if all his targeted sources of energy are too busy crying over an emotional concept he can never bring himself to understand, why should he even bother?
So Kyubey is amoral, certainly, but I don't think I can call him cruel. He's manipulative, but that manipulation doesn't stem from a sense of pure sadism or mustache-twirling evil, just his incessant need to make his quota so he and his race can help save the universe in the end.
...Wow, though. I don't even like Kyubey and I just defended him pretty heartily.
angelsinflight14 said: I don't know that I'd call Kyubey "cruel," really. Over-practical, sure, but that sort of comes with the whole non-human aspect of things. It's only cruel if you look at it from a human standpoint. Kyubey is a being completely devoid of emotions; he cannot learn to empathize with the Puella Magi he works with lest others of his planet should shun him. After all, where he comes from, emotion is a "mental illness." Telling him to try to empathize with humans would be like telling another human being to go catch leprosy in order to understand what a leper feels like.
He even flat-out tells Madoka that from his perspective, his race is being a whole lot kinder to humans than human beings are to other animals, namely to livestock. Rather than rounding all pubescent girls up and FORCING them to become Puella Magi, Kyubey and others of his kind instead bargain with them, offer them a payment in return for their services (he never promises that that payment won't completely backfire, but come on, anyone who's read "The Monkey's Paw" knows that most wishes wind up backfiring from a realistic viewpoint), and, overall, treat them as sentient creatures. He probably doesn't know what a "lich" is, either; to him, setting aside a girl's soul from her body is mere practicality. He's lowering the probability that that girl will be killed in battle, considering the dangers that witches and their familiars pose. It's no wonder he avoids telling the girls up front what their soul gem is and what sort of a contract they're really getting themselves into. His main goal is to save the universe from heat-death; if all his targeted sources of energy are too busy crying over an emotional concept he can never bring himself to understand, why should he even bother?
So Kyubey is amoral, certainly, but I don't think I can call him cruel. He's manipulative, but that manipulation doesn't stem from a sense of pure sadism or mustache-twirling evil, just his incessant need to make his quota so he and his race can help save the universe in the end.
...Wow, though. I don't even like Kyubey and I just defended him pretty heartily.
I saw it more as clarification.
I haven't watched the series but from what I've heard of it... I'm... kind of on Kyubey's side on this.
I mean... think about this. If what Kyubey says is true and that this is the only current way to stop the universe from destroying itself then it doesn't matter that these girls will die, objectively, because if he doesn't do this then they'll all die anyway. What'd be interesting is if a magical girl after hearing all this actually decided to go with it at the end because her family could live, and perhaps a twist would be her having a little sister that eventually gets convinced to become a magical girl as well.
SpecterVonBaren said: I saw it more as clarification.
*snip*
The heat death of the universe isn't happening for trillions and trillions of years from now at the earliest estimate. It's of no concern whatsoever to the human race, never mind these individual girls. Especially when QB is perfectly alright with letting Gretchen destroy humanity anyways.
Comartemis said: The heat death of the universe isn't happening for trillions and trillions of years from now at the earliest estimate. It's of no concern whatsoever to the human race, never mind these individual girls. Especially when QB is perfectly alright with letting Gretchen destroy humanity anyways.
Given that its a choice between the destruction of the universe and the destruction of a species that is unlikely to live very long, in Qb's eyes, I don't see how he can justify sacrificing the universe for the sake of our happiness. If nothing else, selfishness and the pursuit of happiness are shown to be futile and dangerous motivations, so us being selfish dicks isn't going to solve anything. It may not be a direct concern to humanity, any more than anything is a direct concern to many of those who are involved with humanitarian aid. And as far as QBs concerned, he doesn't feel any sadder about us dying than we would about sacrificing an ant colony to save Earth.
