"I feel so light today. This is the first time I've felt so happy during a fight. I'm not afraid of anything anymore. Because... I'm not alone anymore!"

-Mami Tomoe, Episode 3, I'm Not Afraid of Anything Anymore

Before I go any further, let me just add that my friend DashForever has his own review of Mami, and it's quite excellent if I do say so myself, covers pretty much every corner with her character. Go check it out if you haven't already.

http://mlpforums.com/blog/448/entry-9753-fanboying-over-a-spring-haired-magical-girl/

The first magical girl of the show we get to see in action, Mami Tomoe is a surprisingly difficult character to decipher, largely because she only starred as a major character in 3 episodes of the show before her untimely demise. We learned some things about her character in later episodes, most notably Episode 10 and Episode 12, but beyond that most of what can be determined or at least reasonably guessed about her character is up to the viewers themselves. When first introduced to the show, Mami is a somewhat deceptive character in that she's probably the most difficult part of the show for first-time viewers, especially those with biases against the entire magical-girls genre, to swallow upon first glance. She's ridiculously cool-headed, completely nonchalant about her job as a magical girl, has some crazy good style in both her wardrobe and her apartment that she (a teenager no older than 16 or 17) lives in alone, and is a constant source of exposition for Madoka and Sayaka as they learn about magical girls and witches. With all this, it's easy to brush her off as a generic character-type, possibly even a satirical parody of the typical magical girl character type, even after Episode 3. But closer inspection shows that's really not the case, especially analysis of Mami's inner monologue in Episode 3. On the surface, Mami is everything that one would normally think of right away when they think magical girl, but that's because she is deliberately acting that way. Among the magical girls themselves, Mami is actually the most dishonest out of all the characters.

Now, she's not dishonest for malicious or antagonistic reasons, far from it. She's dishonest because she's actually quite insecure, and for good reason. From what I can tell, especially based on her behavior around the girls and initial reaction upon discovering the truth about magical girls and witches (as seen in Episode 10), Mami needs consistency. She does not handle change well, and even makes extraordinarily rash decisions when confronted with it. This has a lot to do with her background, for starters. First, from the flashback which briefly alludes to her wish, we see that Mami's parents died in a car crash that she herself survived thanks to her wish. We know that she has many regrets about her wish, namely that she didn't wish for her parents to live as well, and my guess is that in that traumatic moment, when everything in her world was crumbling around her and she was quite literally dying, Mami hastily wished for the most primal, basic thing that she could think of, her own survival. Granted, I think a lot of people would do the same in a situation like that, but there's no denying that that was an event that shattered Mami's previous existence. Secondly, tying in with my first point, I believe that Mami's need for consistency stems from her background. We see in the show that she lives by herself in a very stylish and well-kept apartment. On top of that, Mami has what are known in anime as Ojou Ringlets, the distinctive blonde ringlets at the side of her face. In Japanese media, this hairstyle denotes a character of wealth or upper class standing. Now, given that I previously said that Mami is the most dishonest character, one could make the argument that this is simply part of the act that she puts on, but I don't think that's the case. Taking this into account with the fact that Mami, a teenage girl who's always kept busy battling witches, somehow lives comfortably in a pretty nice apartment with no known source of steady income, I believe that her parents were actually quite wealthy to begin with and she is now living off of whatever inheritance they left her. If she came from a wealthy family, as a single child at that, there's a chance that they were quite personally conservative as well, content with a comfortable, consistent lifestyle without too many surprises. This in part would explain why Mami so desperately clings to living a consistent, unchanging lifestyle on her own as a magical girl.

Pegasisters, take notes: if you ever visit Japan and you want people to think you're rich, wear your hair with Ojou Ringlets. They'll think you're just rolling in the cash, cash, money!

Besides that, Mami's dishonesty and need for consistency can also be linked to her guilt over her parents' deaths. Mami is a genuinely good person, in fact that's probably the thing she's most honest about herself to others, and along with that, given that she was granted the chance to wish for anything, it's highly likely that she greatly blames herself for her parents' deaths. That blame has led her to relentlessly pursue her lifestyle as a magical girl, because in her mind, there's no way to make up for that failure other than saving as many other innocent lives as possible. By making that her only focus in her life as well, Mami was also able to regain consistency in her life, falling into a (strangely) safe routine that she was comfortable with (although not entirely content with, as we shall see).

This is where the dishonesty comes in. With her life revolving around witch-hunting, Mami soon found that she had little to no time to devote to anything else. As such, she became a loner, with really no friends or people in her life. All her life was was witch-hunting, and no matter how good she got at it or how committed she was to it, there was no denying that she still recognized it as a terrifying, deadly endeavor. She couldn't show that to anyone else because she had no one to share it with, so when she finally did get the chance to share her life with others when Madoka and Sayaka inadvertently stumbled upon the secret of magical girls and witches, Mami began putting on this facade as the "cool magical girl who loved hunting witches for the greater good". Now don't get me wrong, Mami was always very honest about how dangerous hunting witches was, and even tried to keep the girls from rushing in their decision to become magical girls (though in Episode 3 her feelings of loneliness kind of overcame her better judgment). Where she was dishonest was really herself. She didn't tell the girls much ever about who she was before she became a magical girl, and it was only in Episode 3 that it became apparent that she was extremely lonely when Madoka made it clear that she wanted to be just like Mami and become a magical girl. I think this dishonesty was partly because of her hesitancy to allow others to throw themselves in harms way just so she would have friends, partly because she wasn't used to socializing with others after so long and didn't want anyone to think she was pathetic (hence the cool girl act), and, going back to the consistency bit, partly because this was the most radical change to happen in Mami's life in some time and she didn't know how to deal with it.

Now, I won't go so far as to say that Mami's biggest weakness is her dishonesty about herself, because that's just a trait of hers in that particular timeline. As other timelines show, when she has comfortable, steady relationships with the other magical girls, she's completely comfortable around them about who she is (even if she does still convey a sense of calm and cool-headedness). No, I think her biggest weakness is her inability to handle change well and her need for consistency in her life. As I mentioned earlier, when Kyubey first approached her, Mami, basically in as bad a situation as anyone could be in, still made a hasty, panicked wish that she later regretted, at the very least because she didn't wish for her parents to be saved as well. When Madoka says she wants to be a magical girl, Mami's spirit flies high as a kite more or less and, in the minutes between Madoka's decision and her final confrontation with a witch, she completely drops her guard, leading in no small part to her untimely demise. In another timeline, when she learns the truth of the witches and magical girls, Mami completely loses it, killing Kyoko and almost killing Homura in a fit of despair. Some might say that her naivety and ignorance is her greatest weakness, but I disagree because, while certainly a weakness of hers, Mami's ignorance is, in some ways, a willful ignorance (if only a subconscious willful ignorance) tied to her need for consistency. She's happy living in a black-and-white world where magical girls are forces of good and witches are forces of evil, and that helps her rationalize and justify what she is doing and keep her going in her endeavors as a magical girl. As far as she's concerned, she doesn't need to know any more about witches and magical girls than she already does, ergo, she doesn't WANT to know any more. In conclusion, Mami's greatest weakness as a magical girl is, in my opinion, her need for consistency and struggle to adapt to change around her, especially rapid changes (a weakness that I myself can, to an extent, relate to, and I think most of us can).

Now, these are not bad traits about Mami that I've been discussing, they're simply what make her human and far more of a 3-dimensional character than some people might be inclined to measure her as. Besides those I've already discussed, there are plenty of other things that I love about Mami's character. As I mentioned before, she does genuinely have a good heart and believes more firmly than any of the other girls in the show in the goodness of the magical girls' mission (besides possibly Madoka). Most of the magical girls admire her to some degree, even Homura of all things, mostly for her sincere devotion to her mission for the sake of others rather than for herself. Heck, one reason I think that Madoka decides so quickly to become a magical girl after spending time with Mami is because she reminds her very much of her mother; her perfectionist tendencies, her style, her cool-headedness and desire to do the best job she possibly can (which makes me wonder if Kyubey took those characteristics into account when he brought Mami and Madoka together, though I kinda doubt it just because he doesn't understand emotions at all). Some people have even compared her to John the Baptist, and while I agree, I'll get more into that analogy when I cover the religious and spiritual aspects of the show. Besides these personal characteristics, Mami's calming presence and the confidence with which she carries herself is undeniably likable, if only because she never comes across as cocky. She really does come across as a veteran who knows exactly what she's doing, so I never found myself hoping something bad would happen to her. Heck, she's actually one of the most mature characters of the show, despite the personal flaws I listed earlier. Besides her final days, she really doesn't like dragging anyone into harms way if she can avoid it, she's very insistent that Madoka and Sayaka take their time making their wishes since they can put thought into it (if they choose to become magical girls that is), and has very much accepted and embraced that her fate is to fight witches, because otherwise she'd be dead already. Besides her need for consistency, inability to handle change well, shyness, and veiled loneliness, Mami overall has a very good head on her shoulders (pun NOT intended, I SWEAR!!!), strong moral convictions, and a good heart.

What the buck else are you hiding under there? Wait... nevermind.

Besides that, there's plenty of other things to love about Mami Tomoe. She's got GREAT style as I mentioned, seriously, very chic character. Sayaka may have my favorite costume, but Mami has the most stylish costume for sure, not to mention her apartment. The decor, the seemingly infinite supply of cake, the awesome triangle-table and classy-and-casual as buck afternoon tea sessions, this girl is just oozing with class and style (further reinforcing my theory that she comes from a wealthy background)! Her fighting style in itself is very stylish. Despite the ridiculous size of those single-shot muskets, Mami somehow makes them not only work, but look cool as heck, as she somehow flows around the battlefield while a dozen muskets float all around her. To top it all off, she even has... A NAME FOR HER FINISHING MOVE! THAT, MY FRIENDS, IS BUCKING AMAZING AND WHAT WE CALL BEING A BOSS!!!

SO MUCH SWAGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!

Overall, Mami works great as the introductory magical girl, despite only starring in 3 episodes, for 3 reasons: (1) she helped maintain the illusion that this would be a typical magical girls show better than most other elements of the first 3 episodes (with the possible exception of Kyubey), (2) she helped dispel with that illusion as well, most notably in her final moments up until her death, which pretty much punched any first-time viewer or audience in the gut and jarringly showed quite clearly that this would not be a typical magical girl show, and (3) she turned out to be a very complex 3-dimensional character in her own right who it was largely left up to the audience to decipher, especially following her departure. Goodhearted, admirable, and extremely stylish, there's a lot to like about Mami Tomoe, and while I am sad that we didn't get to learn more about her character than we did, ultimately for what she was used in, she served as good a purpose as she possibly could have in the show.