"I’m Mami Tomoe."

"I’m a ninth grader at Mitakihara Middle School."

And… once I made a contract with Kyubey, I became a Magical Girl." - Mami Tomoe, Episode 2.

Mami Tomoe is a magical girl who rescues Madoka and Sayaka from a witch in episode 1. She is already contracted to Kyubey and offers to act as a mentor to the pair should they choose to become magical girls. She is a powerful veteran who fights with summoned muskets and ribbons, as well as a ladylike older sister figure who enjoys tea. Mami, eager to acquire new friends, demonstrates the glory and heady thrill of magical heroism, but also shows Madoka and Sayaka the terrible danger inherent in going into the teeth of a witch's domain.

In the spin-off manga Puella Magi Madoka Magica: The Different Story, Mami serves as the main protagonist alongside Kyoko Sakura.

General Info

Physical features

Age: 15 (estimated)

15 (estimated) Height: 156-159 cm

156-159 cm Eye colour: Yellow

Yellow Hair colour: Yellow

Yellow Birthplace: Mitakihara City

Other

Soul Gem: Yellow flower on right side of her head

Yellow flower on right side of her head Weapon: Ribbons (Turned into Percussion-lock rifled muskets)

Ribbons (Turned into Percussion-lock rifled muskets) Wish: To connect to life / save herself (exact wording unknown)

To connect to life / save herself (exact wording unknown) Witch form: Candeloro

Candeloro Japanese pronoun: watashi ( 私 )

Known relatives: Father and/or Mother (deceased)

Father and/or Mother (deceased) School: Mitakihara Middle School (9th Grade)

She has characteristic Ojou Ringlets at the sides of her face. According to Ms. Aoki’s design notes:

"Her twisty, curly hair and floral hairpin make her seem like a big sister."

"Mami’s design was definitely centered around her image as a gunner."

"Her boots give her a western flavor which her cap accentuates."

Personality

Mami loves her tea parties, just as much as she loves the company.

Mami first appears as an older, more experienced girl, and is one of the first magical girls introduced in the series. She is shown to have feminine tastes, such as drinking tea and dressing with flower clips in her hair and bows on her shoes. Mami enjoys hosting tea parties. She has been shown to be a rather good cook, especially when it comes to dessert. A kind senior to Madoka, she’s the helpful, sisterly type. She lives alone in an apartment after her parents died in a car accident.

She has a strong sense of personal justice, which keeps her on the path of helping innocents despite gaining little reward for it. This sense of justice also makes it difficult for her to team up with other magical girls for more than short periods, as many will only fight witches for the chance of finding a Grief Seed or in self-defense, and many others are against teaming up with their "competition" in hunting witches. These circumstances compound with her lonely nature as an orphan who has trouble making friends at school due to her having little time for much outside of witch hunting, which has turned Mami into a very isolated person looking for friends. While she appears to be mentally strong, Mami is emotionally much frailer than she seems to be. In episode 3 Mami admits it openly to Madoka, and in the manga rendition of said scene she said that she cries a lot when on her own, declaring that she is not a good role model for anyone before Madoka tells her she's not alone.

She has been shown to take the harsh truths of the magical girl system quite badly depending on the circumstances, and at times has proven to be unstable and dangerous when confronted with them.

Mami always uses honorifics and calls people by their surname with the honorific '-san'. This shows her age and emotional distance to the other girls, who are younger than her and closer in age to each another.

Story

Each sub-section below contains major spoilers. Please refrain from reading if you are not yet familiar with the specific release. Please refrain from reading if you are not yet familiar with the specific release.

Mami in the Anime

At the end of Episode 1, Mami meets Madoka and Sayaka in the barrier of the witch Gertrud. She saves them from the familiars, chasing off the witch for the time being. Homura appears, and Mami advises her to chase after the witch to prevent an immediate conflict. Mami then introduces Madoka and Sayaka to Kyubey and explains the magical girl system, offering to bring them on her witch hunts to learn and experience the life of a magical girl. Acting as their mentor, she advises them to choose their wishes carefully. Mami searches for and defeats Gertrud upon their next encounter, saving the life of a woman committing suicide. She offers to share Gertrud's Grief Seed with Homura, but is rebuffed. Suspicious of Homura's motives in preventing Madoka from contracting, attempts to resolve differences with Homura fail.

When entering Charlotte's barrier, Mami and Madoka are confronted by Homura, who volunteers to take down Charlotte. Mami, still suspicious of Homura, ignores her warning that Charlotte is different from most witches and ties her up with Regale. After Madoka agrees to contract, she was overwhelmed by the realization that she would be no longer be fighting alone. Drunk on the "Power of Friendship", she is careless and reckless in her battle with Charlotte and is killed.

As revealed in episode 10, Mami has had multiple different demises in different timelines. Her death in the first timeline was when fighting Walpurgis Night. In the third timeline, upon learning about the fate of magical girls, Mami decides to kill her companions and herself before they can become witches, and Madoka kills her in order to save Homura and herself.



Mami's actions in Timeline 3

In episode 10, learning the awful truth about magical girls after fighting Sayaka/Oktavia makes Mami from Timeline 3 lose her mind, since her whole view of the world is shattered. She breaks down in tears, killing Kyoko by shooting her Soul Gem, then wraps Homura in ribbons and tries to kill her, genuinely thinking that she is saving them from a fate worse than death. Madoka, destroys Mami's Soul Gem with a beam arrow, killing her to stop her rampage.

In "Key Animation Note Volume 5, P194", Yukihiro Miyamoto (the series director of Puella Magi Madoka Magica) says that Mami binds Homura and kills Kyoko "in calm judgment." Mami thus may have been calmer than she first seemed, especially since she did not despair and turn into a witch immediately. Her method of attack was also strategic. She began by killing Kyoko, who is a close-range combat expert possessing high speed and agility, then tying up Homura to prevent her from using time manipulation and leaving Madoka, who is timid and held much admiration for her (and thus was not expected to react so quickly) to last. Thus it is likely that Mami of Timeline 3 doesn't actually lose her mind. Yukihiro Miyamoto's quote is "I like Mami's calm judgment. Firstly, she binds Homura who has the ability to manipulate time. Subsequently, she kills Kyoko who has the powerful offensive power. Mami's only miscalculation is that Madoka's mind is stronger than she assumed."



Mami's fate in Timeline 4

While Mami does not appear in Timeline 4, circumstance seems to imply that she was killed by Charlotte. In both Timeline 4 and Timeline 5, Madoka does not immediately contract with Kyubey, and Homura in Timeline 4 was determined to battle the witches by herself. Without any meaningful back-up, Mami failed to realize that Charlotte made use of a decoy doll until it was too late. This may have been what Homura meant when she tries to warn Mami in Episode 3 that Charlotte is different from the witches she'd dealt with so far.

New World



Mami's death is negated in Episode 12 when Madoka's wish changes the laws of the universe. She now works together with Homura and Kyoko to defeat demons.

Little is known about Mami in the new world created by Madoka's wish, but she is aware of something called the "Law of Cycles", suggesting that she is aware of the facts and consequences of becoming a magical girl. Gen Urobuchi explains that the "Law of Cycles" is a legend that is passed down orally among the magical girls. Urobuchi states that Mami would not be the only one who knew about it, Kyoko and perhaps Sayaka knew about it as well.



Warning, this section contains spoilers about the manga. Mami makes her first appearance in chapter 1 alongside Kyoko as they hunt down wraiths in the city, with Kyoko complaining about letting a large 'trophy' wraith get away from them earlier. After Sayaka encounters and is unsuccessful in capturing the giant wraith, Mami lectures her on not fighting alone as Kyoko taunts and teases her until the two girls end up in a small scuffle, in which Kyoko is victorious. Mami watches and while somewhat concerned about how well Sayaka and Kyoko get along, she decides to brush aside her worries. The next day at school, Mami telepathically communicates with Sayaka to check on her as well as to try to smooth things over between her and Kyoko. After more battles in the following days, Kyoko is seen coming to Sayaka's rescue against several wraiths. Sayaka has been distracted lately and it's effecting them in battle. Afterwards, Mami offers some grief cubes to Sayaka who declines them despite having been in the battle with them. Kyoko is angry and yells at Sayaka for being distracted lately, however Sayaka reassures Mami she'll do better in the future. Mami warns Sayaka about the nature of wraiths and heads for home. Some time later, Mami and Kyoko await at the station at the appointed time. Sayaka is late and as they wait, Mami asks Kyoko about the state of Sayaka's soul gem. Kyoko is surprised that Mami is aware of the second battle they had and Mami lectures Kyoko on being a bully. They discuss the state of Sayaka with Mami expressing concern over how quickly her soul gem became polluted. She tosses some grief cubes at Kyoko and tells her to give them to Sayaka and to apologize to her. As soon as Kyoko leaves, Mami is ambush by a number of wraiths. As the fight escalates, Kyoko and Sayaka appear at her side to help her. Mami comes up with a plan where her and Kyoko distract the wraiths while Sayaka closes in on the giant wraith. But the plan fails and Sayaka is captured by the wraiths instead. Mami and Kyoko yell encouraging words to Sayaka who manages to escape, but not before using up her magic and being led away by the Law of Cycles. The following day, Mami and Kyoko meet up with Homura on the school's roof, Kyoko having borrowed a school uniform to better blend in. They tell Homura about the giant wraith that has been seen lately and agree not to hunt it on their own. After several days of combing the city for the giant wraith and hunting down other more common wraiths, Homura encounters the giant wraith alone and attempts to defeat it herself. Mami and Kyoko run into the aftermath of the fight where they find Homura laying unconscious on the streets. Homura wakes up in Mami's apartment, with Mami bringing her a tray of tea and many lecturing words. She asks Homura to transform into a magical girl, which she does successfully, and then to summon her weapon, which she cannot. Mami concludes that the wraiths stole a portion of Homura's power but has no idea on how to retrieve it. Homura is impatient to go and retrieve her powers, but Mami cautions her to play it safe and leave everything up to her and Kyoko. Homura alters her memories slightly before thanking Mami and leaving. The next day, as Mami is coming home from school, she senses the miasma of wraiths before opening her apartment door and seeing her parents. That night, Mami meets with Kyoko at the station and asks her what she would do were she to meet with her dead family again. Kyoko has no answer for her and Mami leaves. As Mami walks through the park at night, Mami is talking to her parents and telling them of the hardships she went through when they died. She transforms into a magical girl and destroys the mutant wraiths that had transformed into her parents. In another part of the park, Mami fires at another mutant wraith that had taken on the form of Kyoko just as it was about to attack Homura. Mami summons several muskets and together her and Homura are able to hold off the wraiths but not for long. After a voice gives Homura advice, the two magical girls are able to overcome the wraiths' time-stopping ability and seemingly defeat the Wraith-Kyoko with her Tiro Finale. After, the real Kyoko appears and informs them of the fake Sayaka and they agree on rules in order to limit their ability to be taken by surprise by the mutant wraiths. After several weeks of searching for the giant wraith, the girls decide to begin their search from the beginning. Mami is upset to find that Homura had been searching for the giant wraith alone and worries that something may happen to her. Homura snaps at both Mami and Kyoko before taking off. Later, Mami and Kyoko run into Homura who has been searching alongside a mutant wraith in the form of Madoka. However, to Mami and Kyoko she looks nothing like Madoka and only has the form of a mutant wraith wrapped around Homura. They transform into magical girls and prepare to rescue Homura, but Homura instead begs the wraith to save her from being a magical girl. The wraith takes Homura's soul gem and teleports them from the area, leaving Mami and Kyoko behind. Some time later, Mami and Kyoko sit in the park at night as they discuss Homura's recent disappearance and lack of clues leading to the giant wraith. Kyoko comes up with the idea of reminding Homura what her wish was in order to bring her back to normal. As they talk, a parade of wraiths swarm around them, however the wraiths take no notice of the two girls. Mami and Kyoko transform into magical girls and follow after the wraiths, coming across a city full of dead people. They're suddenly ambushed by Wraith-Sayaka. Kyoko stays behind to fight her off and allow Mami to continue chasing after the other wraiths. However, Mami herself is soon ambushed by Wraith-Kyoko and another mutant wraith taking on Mami's form. Mami tries her best against the two wraiths but is soon overwhelmed. Before Wraith-Mami can unleash her own Tiro Finale on Mami, the Wraith-Madoka jumps into the battle and protects Mami, now looking more in appearance as Madoka to Mami thanks to the ribbon she took from Homura. Together the wraith and Mami are able to work together to take down the two imposters. By this time the giant wraith has been consumed by the power it took from Homura and transforms into a witch-like creature complete with familiars. As the familiars began to overrun the city, one of the witch's large braids swings at Mami, nearly killing her. However Kyoko has appeared just in time to pull Mami out of danger. Mami introduces to Kyoko the Wraith-Madoka and Kyoko hands to Mami the last grief cubes she has. Before Mami can finish using them, a braid has trapped Kyoko. Wraith-Madoka frees her with an arrow but it is too late: the witch has taken away her soul completely the moment it touched her. A familiar appears and looms over Mami, but Mami uses the last of the grief cubes and together with Wraith-Madoka destroys several of the familiars. They turn their efforts towards the witch but several of its braids fly straight at Mami, killing her. At the end of the story, after Madoka has reset this universe's timeline so the curses of the previous world don't interfere, Mami is shown alive and well with no memories of the previous timeline.

Warning, this section contains spoilers about the movie. Prior to the events of the movie, the Incubators trapped Homura's Soul Gem in an Isolation Field that blocks the Law of Cycles. Homura creates a witch barrier inside her own Soul Gem, which is an idealized version of Mitakihara. Along with Kyoko and other characters, Mami is taken into the barrier and has her memories altered. Within the barrier, Mami is still a student at Mitakihara Middle School and fights with the other magical girls against Nightmares, monsters created by the barrier in order to provide the magical girls with opponents. However, Mami is now living with Bebe, a creature that resembles the witch Charlotte. Due to her altered memories, Mami believes that Bebe was the first friend she made after becoming a magical girl, and credits Bebe for keeping her from being lonely. While Bebe reciprocates Mami's friendship, in reality she is actually Nagisa Momoe, the magical girl who became Charlotte. Nagisa entered the barrier from the Law of Cycles and disguised herself as her witch form as part of Madoka's plan to stop the Incubators from achieving their goals. Eventually Homura begins to realize that the false Mitakihara is actually a witch's barrier (while unaware of being the witch in question). She immediately suspects Bebe, recognizing her as Charlotte. In order to question Bebe, Homura goes to Mami's house with Madoka and has tea with them. After talking with Mami for a little while, Homura contrives to get Mami to leave the room they're in by asking for more tea. However, Mami has become suspicious of Homura and ties her ribbon to Homura's leg, making her immune to Homura's time stops. Homura then stops time and questions Bebe, eventually leaving Mami's apartment to interrogate Bebe further. At this point Mami appears to confront Homura. In fact, it is later revealed that this is actually a ribbon duplicate under Mami's control. The duplicate rescues Bebe and questions Homura. Homura attempts to convince "Mami" that Bebe is tricking her, but isn't believed. Since the ribbon tied to Homura's leg vanishes when she tries to shoot it, Homura and the duplicate then proceed to have a gun duel with time alternately starting and stopping. Homura is eventually able to shoot a bullet through the ribbon while it is materialized, freezing the duplicate Mami in time. She aims to attack Mami's Soul Gem, but then decides to incapacitate her instead by shooting her leg. As this point the duplicate falls apart into ribbons and entraps Homura. Once again, Mami asks Homura about her motivations. Homura insists that Bebe is a witch. Mami responds by saying she doesn't know what a witch is, but begins remembering that the monster she fights are supposed to be wraiths, not Nightmares. At this point Sayaka rescues Homura by using the smoke from a fire hydrant; when Mami clears the smoke she finds Homura is gone. She then finds that Bebe has transformed back into Nagisa Momoe. Nagisa apologizes for deceiving Mami and explains to her the truth of the situation. Eventually Homura realizes she is the witch and transforms into Homulilly. In the ensuing battle, Mami fights off Homulilly's familiars so that Madoka and Nagisa can break through Homulilly's barrier and expose Kyubey's Isolation Field. Madoka then reaches out to Homura's remaining humanity and together they destroy the Field from within, causing the barrier to vanish. Back in the real world, Mami place Homura's Soul Gem on her body, and watches as Madoka, Sayaka and Nagisa descend from the sky to take Homura into the Law of Cycles. Just as Madoka is about to touch Homura's Soul Gem, Homura grabs onto her hands and begins altering the universe. Mami is engulfed by the colors that spill out of Homura's Soul Gem and spread out over the universe. Homura, now calling herself a demon, creates a new world. In this world, Mami is initially seen in her school uniform on the road to Mitakihara Middle School. She holds out her hand to catch falling cherry blossoms. Homura, who is sitting in a chair behind Mami, reaches her hand forward, pushing a tea cup out of the way. Mami turns around and see no-one there, and finds that she's caught a black feather instead of a cherry blossom. At the end of the movie Mami is shown rescuing Nagisa from falling packages of cheese, indicating that they will become friends again in Homura's new universe.

The beginning of The Different Story follows the drama CD Farewell Story rather faithfully until the end of the first volume, where it begins a new timeline. In this timeline, Mami survives her battle with Charlotte, and intervenes in the fight where Kyoko and Sayaka first meet.

Sayaka made a contract just in time to save Mami from being killed by Charlotte, and from then on, the two partner up to battle witches. When Sayaka is distracted during a fight, causing Mami to get hurt, Sayaka begins to lose confidence in herself as a "defender of justice".

Sayaka feels guilty over letting Mami's refusal to blame her, and Sayaka tells her that she want to quit. She doesn't think she's worthy of being Mami's partner after ignoring Hitomi and her odd behavior, which she didn't realize at the time was caused because of a witch's kiss. Mami tries to reason with her, but Sayaka responds that she won't respect Mami anymore if she still wants to partner with Sayaka.

When Mami catches up to Sayaka and saves her from the witch Elsa Maria, admitting to her junior that she is a selfish and lonely girl who can't stand being alone. Mami decides to quit being "a champion of justice" for Sayaka. She wants Sayaka back as her partner, which Sayaka claims makes her happy, just as her Soul Gem explodes and she becomes the witch Oktavia von Seckendorff. Mami escapes the barrier, and Kyubey reveals to her that it's the fault of Kyoko, Homura and Mami herself that Sayaka became a witch.

When Mami learns the truth of the magical girl system, she spends a while thinking on her past interactions with other magical girls. Reference is made to her encounter with Michiru Kazusa from Kazumi Magica, the new magical girls from the fist volume, and Kyoko's past with Mami in this flashback. Mami is so badly shaken that she decides to die with Oktavia. When Kyoko comes to stop her, she fights Kyoko without reserving her magic. It seems that she ties up Kyoko and kills her.

When Mami opens Oktavia's barrier, her magic is exhausted and she is knocked to the ground. Her Soul Gem is rapidly darkening and she has little strength left. Mami flashbacks again to her past with Kyoko, which morphs into a hallucination where a younger version of herself (implied to be Candeloro) comes to her with visions of a witch's barrier and familiars that look like Kyoko and Sayaka. She thinks, "If I become a witch, I'll be able to make everyone stay by me always."

When Mami wakes up from this dream, Kyoko appears, showing that the Kyoko that was killed by Mami was just an illusion created with magic. Mami requests Kyoko to kill her since she is about to become a witch. Kyoko confesses to her that she think Mami as her sister. Mami sees Kyoko using a Grief Seed to cleanse her Soul Gem before leaving to fight Oktavia.

Mami next wakes up in her apartment, where she is greeted with a hug by Madoka and sees Homura. Homura was the one to find Mami on the street and take her home. Madoka leaves, and Homura and Mami talk about what happened. Kyubey comes to tell them that Kyoko is dead. He also admit that it is beneficial to him if both Mami and Kyoko become witches. Hearing that, Mami summons a piston from her Soul Gem, pointing it at Kyubey, ready to shoot him. But Kyubey depresses her, and then Homura slaps her, saying that she is too easy to be provoked. Then Homura seeks her help to fight Walpurgis.

Madoka comes to visit Mami, and tells Mami her decision. She wants to help Sayaka, and is willing to protect the city for Mami. Mami cries and tells Madoka that she doesn't want to fight any more.

Walpurgis comes. When Madoka, Sayaka and Homura is on the way, Madoka remembers something about Mami. Finally Mami's ideal is shown, and she is lying on the sofa, died with her broken soul gem.

Mami in Farewell Story

Some time before the start of the anime, Mami made her wish after she was in a car accident with her parents. She was most likely very badly wounded, as her parents died on the scene, and Mami only survived due to making a wish with Kyubey, who appeared at just that moment, leaving Mami little time to consider her wish. For some time after that, Mami fought to save people from witches by herself.

It is established in the prequel drama CD Farewell Story that approximately a year later, she meets Kyoko Sakura, a girl who had made her wish at about the same time as Mami, but is far less experienced. Mami saves her from a powerful witch that was too much for Kyoko to defeat alone. Kyoko admires Mami's skill and ideals, and she is the first one Mami has met who thought in a similar way as she did. They become a team, fighting witches and saving people together. Mami meets Kyoko's family, and the two girls become very close.

Some time after they begin working together, Kyoko's father discovers that Kyoko had made her wish to give him followers for his church, which caused him to have a mental breakdown in which he killed himself and everyone in the family, except Kyoko. This event causes Kyoko to change idealistically, and she breaks her alliance with Mami, saying she will fight only for herself from now on. Mami thinks that she can change Kyoko's mind and refuses to let her go off alone, which leads to a clash between them in which they battle using their magic. Kyoko finishes the battle by forcing Mami to give up or seriously hurt her junior, and they separate for good. Mami is alone again except for Kyubey until the anime series starts.

Mami in the PSP Game

In Mami's route, Madoka becomes a magical girl. We also see information about Mami's past, extending as far back as her time with her family, before the accident that left Mami an orphan.

Mami can become the witch Candeloro.

It is possible to save Mami in the Homura route of the PSP Game.

In the Bonus Route, Mami becomes a magical girl idol.

"It's just tough being a magical girl, huh?" - Mami, Puella Magi Kazumi Magica, Chapter 11.

Mami made a brief appearance in chapter 11 of Kazumi Magica. She saved Michiru Kazusa from a Witch's attack's while apparently on vacation in Asunaro city. Mami protects Michiru with her magical ribbons, attacking the witch with her smaller guns and finishing it off with Tiro Finale. The reasons are unknown, but she was with Jubey instead of Kyubey at the time, and consequently was the reason Jubey met Michiru. Later chapter revealed that Mami was with Kyubey, but the memories of that encounter were modified by Umika.

Mami made a brief, one-panel cameo in chapter 12, showing that her daring rescue inspired Michiru to name all the Pleiades' attacks in Italian.

"That was close... A person could get killed letting her guard down." - Mami, Puella Magi Oriko Magica, Chapter 3.

Mami first appears in the third chapter of Oriko Magica.

In Orika Magica, Mami does not die, unlike in the anime. In the third chapter, she fights Charlotte again, this time surviving the battle. She learns of the recent deaths of magical girls from Kyubey, who tells her that these deaths were caused by a black magical girl, not a witch. Mami decides to investigate, and she asks Kyoko for information. Kyoko doesn't know much more than Mami, but asks her about a white magical girl named Oriko. Mami doesn't know her, but when she probes for more information, Kyoko rebuffs her. Yuma believes the blonde is bullying Kyoko, and flips her skirt in retaliation, making Mami cry. Mami later crosses paths with Homura and tries to warn her about murders, but Homura tells her to stay away from "us" (presumably Homura, Madoka and Sayaka). She then meets Kirika Kure, who has lost a precious stuffed toy given to her by someone important. Mami finds the toy and returns it to Kirika, who claims that Mami is her savior and treats her to crepes. Mami accidentally sets Kirika off by saying that she must "be affectionate" towards the person who gave Kirika the doll. A witch appears, surrounding Kirika. As Mami is contemplating how to kill it without hurting Kirika, the girl destroys the witch herself. Kirika, who turns out to be the black magical girl, attacks Mami to prove her devotion to her love.

Chapters 4 details the fight between the two further, with Mami coming out the victor.

In chapters 5 to 7, Oriko and Kirika set familiars in Mitakihara Middle School. Mami tried to stop them to save students but got into their trap. Fortunately Kyoko and Yuma saved her. The three then fight against Kirika. The fact that a magical girl will become a witch made her despair, but Yuma's words unite them again and they finally defeat Kirika 's witch form .

See Mami Tomoe in Magia Record

Weapons, Abilities and Fighting Style

Tiro Volley!

Tiro Finale!

Mami is a veteran and is the most experienced magical girl in Madoka Magica, with Kyubey claiming in Episode 4 that that was the reason why she could afford to battle familiars as well as witches. However, whether she is the most powerful magical girl (discounting Ultimate Madoka), is up to debate. Mami names her attacks in Italian and announces them when she uses them. Her friends and fellow magical girls like to make fun of this habit.



Mami uses ribbons which she can use to bind and restrain enemies, called "Regale" ("Royal"). She extends them from her clothing or summons them out of the air. Both Mami's guns and bullets are made of ribbons, her original magical ability. The name of the attack was first mentioned in the PSP game, and was later mentioned again in the Drama CD 4, "Summer Magical Girl Training Camp!!" In The Different Story Mami hardens the threads enough so that they are capable of cutting, much like piano wire. She then lays the hardened ribbons out as a trap.

Mami's primary weapons are percussion-lock rifled muskets, which she can summon in large numbers and are fired by hand, remotely or are used as a melee weapon. Expended bullets can summon strings to ensnare the foe. The term "musket" usually refers only to smooth-bore firearms, however an exception to this is the rifled musket developed after the invention of the Minié ball. This makes it highly likely she's using a form of the Minié rifle. Mami's guns can only shoot one bullet, but the type of the bullet can also vary so it can shoot shotgun shells too.

Mami's weapon which she uses for her finishing move, Tiro Finale ("Final Shot"), is an enormous percussion lock cannon. The cannon and the method of use seems to vary each time she summmons it, implying that she probably creates it to match what she has in mind at the time.

For more details on Mami's weapons and their use, see Weapons

Fighting style

As when she assaulted Gertrud's barrier, Mami fights in a very focused and disciplined manner, choosing her shots carefully and reacting quickly when she gets into trouble. Presumably, this is her normal fighting style. When hyped up on the "Power of Friendship" in Charlotte's barrier, she jumps recklessly into battle and freezes up when Charlotte transforms, leading to her getting eaten. In the interviews, it was stated that Mami is "Extremely powerful when she is alone".

Her fighting style while fighting Charlotte's minions resembles the gun kata from the movie Equilibrium. Gen Urobuchi is a fan of the movie and has written a fanfic about it, called Jouka no Monshou.

Mami's fatal weakness is that she can be taken down if she is not paying attention.

Observations

Given her status as a senior student and magical girl, both Madoka and Sayaka use a respectful tone when talking to Mami, and the honorific '-san' with her first name (which is attributed to their close but respectful relationship). Both Kyoko and Homura did the same in the past.

It was implied in the series that she knew Kyoko and learnt what her wish was. In Episode 2, Mami talks about how magical girls can view each other as competition. She displays hidden eyes when saying this, suggesting she had a very bad personal experience. In Episode 3, after Kyubey said that someone had previously made a wish for someone else, Mami claims that the wish didn't have a happy ending and has a pained expression. It seems that she is talking about Kyoko in both cases, who views other magical girls as competition and who also made a wish for someone else. The drama CD "Farewell Story" confirmed this with Kyoko and Mami having had a master-disciple relationship prior to the events of the anime.

In episode 6, Kyoko implied that Walpurgis Night's approach cannot be predicted. However, in episode 10, Mami from Timeline 1 seems to know that Walpurgis Night is coming.

Episode 10, the Bonus CD and the Blu-ray edition of Episode 2 radically modify Mami's apartment. In the early episodes, her apartment looked rather desolate, reinforcing the idea that she lives by herself with no one to support her, emphasizing her loneliness. The later revisions fill her room with beautifully decorated objects and very nice furniture (and it's also implied that it is a two-story accommodation with an internal staircase). This may be to reinforce her rich background Mami's apartment appears to be rather large, and is clearly a maisonette in subsequent revisions. Japan, being a very densely populated nation has some of the highest real estate prices in the world. To own and mantain such a large flat in Japan, let alone in a downtown zone of a large city, means the Tomoes must have had quite a bit of money. On the other hand, every person in the anime seems to have large houses.

It is likely that Mami inherited her family's assets and probably insurance money. The way she dresses and talks, as well as her Ojou Ringlets, indicates that she comes from a wealthy family. The decorations at her place are consistent with that image.

She feels the most "traditional" of the girls in terms of femininity and being a Magical Girl. She's the only girl in the series (before Rebellion) to call out her attack names, while taking out enemies with style and grace. While at home she cooks and puts a lot of effort into presentation of both her home and herself. This more traditional style might be used because Mami fights as a Magical Girl before Madoka becomes a Magical Girl. Just like Magical Girls of course existed before Madoka Magica. From this viewpoint, Mami being killed by the Witch Charlotte signifies the death of the traditional view of a Magical Girl within the series. With Madoka leaving her notebook at Mami's home symbolically representing her burying this dream. Only for it to be later returned by Mami in episode 12 as she offers her approval of Madoka's choice.



Etymology

Her first name is written in katakana, which has no particular meaning. No official kanji of her name exists. When written in kanji, it can be read hundreds of ways. The official Chinese translation uses one of the most commonly and traditionally used kanji (麻美), "beautiful hemp", as the hanzi for her first name. Her name itself has been thought to be a play on the word "mommy". Considering her innate role as a motherly figure towards Madoka, it would be logical to call her "Mami". In Rebellion she has a companion named "Bebe" - "baby". An anagram for "Mami" is "maim", meaning to mutilate. In episode three, she had her head severed by Charlotte.

The character for her last name (巴) literally means "comma design," a Japanese swirl pattern. More info here. Her last name can also be used as a first name.



Trivia

Mami's drinking tea from a teacup after her fight with Gertrud was an original idea added by Inu Curry.

Mami Tomoe and Charlotte could be linked to the story “Hansel and Gretel". In most versions of this story, Gretel is portrayed as a girl with blonde hair in two braids or curls, similar to Mami’s. The witch in Hansel and Gretel lives in a house made of gingerbread, cake and candy, similar to Charlotte’s barrier. The witch’s intent is to eat the children, which is also like Charlotte’s behavior.

Mami won the 2011 Anime Saimoe.

Mami is one of two characters who have speaking roles in all three series in the franchise (the second being Kyubey).

In her short appearance in Kazumi Magica, Mami is shown wearing white tights instead of dark brown tights. This matches her original design by Ume Aoki, but not her finalized one from the anime.

In "The Rebellion Story" movie, immediately prior to the second fight, Mami is seen brushing her hair in her apartment, while humming the first few notes of her character theme music , which is usually played during her transformation sequences, when battling witches, or sometimes in a dual attack with Madoka.

, which is usually played during her transformation sequences, when battling witches, or sometimes in a dual attack with Madoka. She is the only character whose first name is written in katakana (contrasting with Madoka, Sayaka and Homura, whose names are written in Hiragana). This could imply that "Mami" has foreign origins, in line with the "Western flavor" Ume Aoki gave to Mami's magical girl outfit.

One possible explanation with regards to Mami's ribbon powers is that it is related to Mami's original wish and its relation to Buddhist beliefs. One of the ideas in Buddhism is that the life we are living right now is just a temporary phase. Death is not the end, instead it is the time for your soul to begin a new journey. And thus "wanting to live" equates to "have a lot of attachment to this world" under the Buddhist philosophy, rather than "fear of dying". Mami's wish was generated from her strong attachment to life, and her power took the form of a literal interpretation: to be able to tie things together.

See Also

Gallery

See Gallery:Mami