„[…] In order to write a perfect ending for a story you have to twist the laws of cause and effect, reverse black and white, and even possess a power to move in the opposite direction from the rule of the universe. Only a heavenly and chaste soul that can sing carols of praise towards humanity can save the story. To write a story with a perfect ending is a double challenge to the author’s body and soul.“ – Urobuchi Gen, Fate/Zero afterword

(spoilers for the Madoka TV series and Psycho Pass up to episode 11 may be closer than the moon)

There are two very different technological systems governing the worlds of Madoka Magica and Psycho Pass. One is basically an extension of MRI scans, while the other is alien technology so advanced that it looks like magic. What they both include is a way of measuring the mental disturbance of people, and that letting it go too high is fatal.

Both series are centered around a character with the potential to give the story a good end. Madoka has a huge reserve of magical power, and she uses is to take up all the grief from the other magical girls. Akane has a clean enough psycho pass to be able to choose her own job, and she has shown the will to go against the system to save someone.

Now in episode 11 we’re shown that Makishima’s psycho pass is even cleaner than Akane’s. It seems even that he can nudge it into whichever direction he wants to. By itself that makes him a good foil to Akane, but if you consider it in light of the quote above, it gets really interesting.

Urobuchi seems to have found the hero who can turn the universe upside down in Madoka. Then he writes Psycho Pass, and gives us two people who could do that, but one of them clearly doesn’t want to. Is Urobuchi taking his own perfect hero apart? To bigword it, is he deconstructing Madoka?

There’s another way to look at it: Madoka is the discovery of his perfect hero, and Psycho Pass is a closer examination of how that hero should be. In this light Makishima is not a deconstrucion, the difference between him and Akane is a differentiation. Urobuchi’s perfect hero needs great power, but that power could easily be abused. The difference between Akane and Makishima is between using and abusing their power.