Reflection and Analysis

Madoka - Hitomi's Treatment of Sayaka and Kyosuke (10/1/21)

One of the things which always rubbed me the wrong way about Puella Magi Madoka Magica were the Hitomi appologists.

No, it's not actually Hitomi herself that rubs me the wrong way, but her fanbase who claims she did nothing wrong and even blame Kyosuke for the things Hitomi, but I'm reminded of this as I'm taking a look at the fandom wiki page for his character. Here is a direct quote from one of her fans—a Hitomi apologist.

"...we have to notice how she says that she had a big crush on him since a lot, she gave a whole day to Sayaka to be honest and confess to him or she would then understand that she doesn't like him and confess herself."

Apparently, we're supposed to empathize with Hitomi simply because she has a crush on this guy, and she deserves to have the guy she wants to the point giving Sayaka only a day makes her a good friend, but she even insists that would mean Sayaka doesn't like Kyosuke.

Okay, so the last part I don't remember, but this is a load of bull.

For starters, one can not logically come to the conclusion Hitomi is wanting to come to, but the reason she's coming to said conclusion stems from selfish reasons, yet this means she's not a good friend contrary to what Hitomi apologists claim. Coming to that kind of conclusion is wishful thinking on her part, but also denial, majorly.

She also thinks that only a day is enough for Sayaka to confess her feelings, yet when Puella Magi Madoka Magica first aired I saw quite a few fans nodding their head claiming she was right—that only a day was enough, but as someone does in fact point out to Hitomi in another universe this isn't okay, but thinking it is okay is not.

Which, I can't fault Hitomi for having her flaws.

Fans of her brushed it off at the time by claiming she was just acting as girls her age act, but also a proper Japanese lady. The thing is—

Well, I do admit that Western society does in fact teach girls that their lives should revolve around men and that they shouldn't aspire to be anything more, but in that same regard we shouldn't be enforcing this behavior among girls—that being mean to your friends over a boy is okay, and it can possibly lead to problems when that girl becomes an adult, seeing relationships with boys as some form of competition when it's not.

As for her being a proper Japanese lady, perhaps from the Western point of view she is, but that's one of the major points to her character, in that she is a wannabe Japanese lady who is highly influenced by the Western point of view to the point her actions lead to not one, not two, but three people becoming hurt, for as the Anime shows, Kyosuke does utter Sayaka's name and there is a reason their relationship is strained.

More importantly, when a character has flaws, they should grow as a character, learning their behavior is wrong, but one of the things that draws me to her character is her learning that her behavior is wrong rather than being in denial.

Of course, said fans blame Kyosuke.

"Meanwhile, this boy is so ungrateful to Sayaka, the person that is his childhood friend and the only one frequently visiting him in hospital and even caring to buy him music disks. When Sayaka shares the music with him, he starts not caring about how considerate was Sayaka for buying that for him, he doesn't even make eye contact, he even says that she is TORTURING him and breaks the device she bough, harming himself in the process and victimizing himself in front of the person that he knows that cares about him the most, when he gets out of the hospital, he never informed Sayaka about it, she is the person who spends more time with him and he doesn't even care to send her a message of "hey, I'm already out of the hospital, you don't need to come", and when they saw each other on school, he didn't even cared to say hi to her, he gave more attention to the other random students who never went to visit him."

Is Kyosuke in the wrong?

For breaking the device, yes.

However, what interests me here is the fact Hitomi's fans don't focus on him breaking the device, but on the fact he told Sayaka that the music she brings him is a form of torture for him, as if his feeling don't matter simply because Sayaka was being nice to him. This reminds me of the times I've seen fans of certain ships claim that Character A should get with Character B to spare Character B from getting their feelings hurt without regarding the feelings of Character A.

Kyosuke's feelings do in fact matter as does the fact Sayaka did cross a line by not considering his feelings in the first place. Sure, she thought she was helping, but thinking you're helping someone is not the same as actually helping them. Attempting to be nice to someone isn't the same as actually being nice to them, but if you stop and think of Kyosuke's situation carefully, while her heart was in the right place, her actions did not have his best interests at heart.

In this regard, blaming Kyosuke shows a major lack of understanding regarding mental health issues, as Kyosuke is suffering from having lost the ability to use his hand, but this is further exasperated because he was once a child genius when it came to his music. His music was his future, and he's faced at this point in time of not knowing what his future is like, yet there might be an inkling in the back of his head that Sayaka is doing it out of pity.

Sure, it's not pity, but this is one of the thoughts which worries those with disabilities, of someone treating them with pity, of what their disability means and how people will react to them. And Japan, particularly when this Anime first aired, wasn't as accepting of individuals with disabilities as they are here in the United States, but I'd argue even over here that needs work.

I mean, you've an entire fanbase who blames him because they think he was "mean" to someone who was nice to him, yet he wasn't mean except for the smashing of the device for playing music, but her attempt at kindness ended up hurting him rather than helping him. This is completely ignored, as is the fact he smashed the device, but I think there is a reason for this and it is a hell of a thing to forget in the grand scheme of things.

Why do I say this?

Hitomi apologists conveniently forget that Kyosuke had in that moment an episode of mental breakdown in front of Sayaka.

What Hitomi's fanbase remember is that he told Sayaka that the music she brought was torture to him, but that he didn't tell her he was getting out of the hospital and then ignored her when he got back to school. What they forget is that he had that episode in front of her, but think about it.

Wouldn't he want to avoid her after such an episode?

In other words, his behavior actually does make sense, nor is there any ill intent in what he is doing. In fact, one could argue he's just as nervous about approaching Sayaka as Sayaka is approaching him, possibly even having the same doubts at her which means—

—it means Hitomi took advantage of the mental state two individuals were in. Of course, Kyosuke's state of mind wouldn't be something she would have been aware of, yet she should have been aware of the state of mind that Sayaka was in. That in turn makes it a major flaw to her character.

This said, this doesn't mean she's not redeemable. It's actually one of the things I love about her character—the fact she is a redeemable character and I want to see that redemtion happen. Of course, in my book that means she doesn't end up with Kyosuke, but Sayaka does.

That's why it's the fans that rub me the wrong way, because they're claiming that she did nothing wrong when she did, yet also blaming the guy with obvious mental health problems who isn't in control of his behavior like Hitomi is instead.

Like, what?