Tracing the Japanese Gothic in Madoka Magika with Blood: The Estrangement, Abjection, and Sublime Erasure of the Spectralised Mahō Shōjo Exemplum

This essay is an in-depth analysis of the Japanese Gothic in anime. The two anime of examination and inter-textual comparison include the 2011 critically acclaimed series Mahō Shōjo Madoka Magika (Puella Magi Madoka Magika) by Urobuchi Gen and the 2000 film Blood: The Last Vampire by Kamiyami Kenji and Oshii Mamoro. The focus is to explore the Japanese Gothic or elements of fushigi in these two anime ? tracing, in particular, how Urobuchi dismantles the mahō shōjo as a genre by using the esthetic of his predecessor Oshii. Employing a deconstructive perspective, the author attempts to weave together the series and film through discursive analysis in hopes of unveiling the dialogic momentum hidden between the two works. As a piece of scholarship, this paper attempts to catapult discussion of anime from the realm of Japanese pulp fiction into sophisticated academic inquiry.