What could be more appropriate to show us the darker side of being a Puella Magi than a hollow, slightly discordant and melancholic arrangement of Sis puella magica!, the track which essentially serves as a theme to glorify them? And that’s exactly what Signum malum is. For this scene, the track fits Homura almost as well as it does Charlotte. The translation of the track title also bears a hidden meaning – ‘Army of Minions’ would obviously refer to the vast hordes of creatures the witches summon, but at the same time it could refer to the Puella Magi themselves. It works especially well in context of what we just witnessed – trying to add to the confusion of exactly what just happened. The constant percussion hits and frequent atonal screeches combined with the chaotic rhythms, repeatedly rising harmony line and heavy use of harmonics later in the track all contribute to putting us ill at ease. The dark touch to the Cello line at the very end of the track is especially effective in context.Īgmen clientum, played first during Homura’s battle with Charlotte, is a rather chaotic and tense track perfectly suited for the typically unsettling scenery presented by SHAFTs artwork within the domains of the witches. I guess if I had to put my finger on it, I’d say it’s a track that reeks of overconfidence. This is actually a very conflicting track for me – we have the constant repetitive beat which gives of an air of dependability but at the same time the merging of the multiple layers of musical elements creates a slightly disturbing and dissonant effect. In a sense, this suggests that something is out of place ( as it very obviously is given the proceeding events).

Like ceratin other track I spoke about recently, it seems to make use of the Spanish Gypsy scale, resulting in a rather exotic flavour, especially when combined with the middle-eastern vocals. Second to appear is Venari strigas, forming a backing for Mami’s one-sided battle with Charlotte’s first form. Had their meeting never occurred, Madoka would never have evolved into her final form as a saviour. And yet, the track is not entirely sad – with it’s slightly more hopeful B section, it hints at the more bittersweet outcomes. No matter how many times Homura has tried, she has yet to stop their fateful meeting. In this case, the inevitable event is likely Madoka’s predestined meeting with Kyuubei ( since this is the scene in which we first hear it) – in each timeline she has always made a contract and perished, leaving Homura behind. In most cases we never actually want to face the inevitable we drag our feet, we rail against fate, and we struggle futilely until we finally realise there can be no other outcome. It’s a very effective track – the rubato playing and the heavy use of the sustain pedal result in a slightly dragging and reluctant feeling. We start this time with a very melancholic solo piano piece titled Inevitabilis, or ‘Inevitable’ to use the English translation. Bittersweet on so many levels ( I’m sure you can guess why I picked this particular image for the banner, and why this is the cover). It’s definitely not an upbeat soundtrack either – of the twelve tracks, the majority are dark and discordant or melancholic and bittersweet. Though there is still noticeable deception in certain tracks ( Anima mala springs to mind), the focus this time around is far more on foreshadowing and influencing the direction of our feelings in each scene. While this remains true of the second OST to an extent, I find it to be far more transparent in nature than the first. Last time I spoke quite a bit about how the goal of the first Madoka Magica soundtrack was partially to deceive. That way I can skip straight over introductions ( and recommendations at the end) and focus entirely on the meat of the soundtrack – the music itself.

Since there’s no real point in me repeating what I had to say in my last post, I’ll instead suggest that if you haven’t already read it, you go back and do so. So once again I return to Kajiura Yuki and her typically unique soundtrack for Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica. Heck, this post will actually contain spoilers for that, if you know what I mean.

Mahou shoujo asuka ost