Madoka Kaname

"If someone ever tells me it's a mistake to have hope, well, then I'll just tell them they're wrong and I'll keep telling them 'till they believe. No matter how many times it takes."

- Madoka Kaname

Madoka Kaname is the titular protagonist of the anime series Puella Magi Madoka Magica, as well as the deuteragonist of the sequel movie Rebellion. She is a gentle and friendly 14-year-old girl. Living an ordinary life, Madoka has a loving family and is surrounded by good friends. One day, she had a dream of a mysterious girl who was fighting an ominous creature. The next day, Homura Akemi, the girl from her dream, came to her class as a transfer student.

She is voiced by Aoi Yuuki in the Japanese version and Christine Marie Cabanos in the English version, the latter of whom also voices Shiemi Moriyama.

Personality
Madoka first appears to a naive, gentle girl from a kind family. Though sometimes shy, she makes friends without much difficulty and treats others gently and with respect.

She has low self-confidence, and she believes she does not have much to offer the world unless she is helping people, which makes becoming a magical girl appealing to her. She has been known to become flustered easily, and in certain circumstances, she can be easily manipulated by others playing on her insecurity and desire to help. As a magical girl, she is more obviously confident in herself than before her wish.

She calls most girls she knows by their given name with the suffix "-chan" or "-san" at the end, and boys by their family name with the suffix "-kun", showing that she is closer to the girls than boys.

Plot
Madoka is a 14-year-old girl who comes from a loving family. Her life changes when she encounters the magical girl Homura and the familiar Kyubey, who offers to transform her into a magical girl. She sees herself as a person without special qualities or talents, and after seeing Mami fighting against witches, aspires to become a magical girl like her. She is a kind and gentle person that is averse to fighting. She hopes that the magical girls will support each other, sometimes even putting her own life at risk to help them. After witnessing Mami's death, she grows uncertain about becoming a magical girl, growing ever more hesitant as the true cost of the role is revealed to her.

In previous timelines, Madoka became a magical girl in a pink dress wielding a rose-topped bow and arrow. However, every time, she was either killed or transformed into a witch named Kriemhild Gretchen, one that became ever more powerful with each time reset centered around her fate. After being shown the suffering of magical girls throughout history, Madoka decides upon her wish: she contracts to prevent them from becoming witches when they are at their limits. The laws of the universe are rewritten such that at the moment that a soul gem becomes black with anguish, Madoka appears and purifies it before the magical girl passes on. As a result of this wish, she becomes an omniscient savior that exists for all time, leaving only Homura with the memory of her human existence.

Trivia

 * The characters of her last name mean "deer" (鹿) and "eye"(目), respectively.
 * Her last name can also be used as a first name.
 * Her last name sounds the same as (要), a word which means "keystone" or "hub".
 * Her first name is written in hiragana which has no particular meaning. However, when written in kanji, it can mean "round" or "tranquil" (円).
 * Madoka owns many stuffed animals in her room.
 * Madoka and Mami are the only Magical Girls known who are never seen having a mark on any of their fingernails. Homura, Kyoko and Sayaka all have marks on their left middle fingers, matching the shape of the emblem of their respective Soul Gem.
 * Madoka is never seen with her Soul Gem in a ring form.
 * Madoka loves cats like Homura.
 * Urobuchi in his audio commentary on BD/DVD 3 explains that he felt like Aoi Yuki was born for the role of Madoka. What he means is that she doesn't force herself into the role of becoming her character and she leaves the impression of being a natural airhead, but in a good way.
 * 408.5.jpga's last form is known as Ultimate Madoka. Prior to this information, fans called her form "MadoKami", Godoka, or Goddess Madoka.
 * In one of the original artwork designs, it is noted that Madoka is holding a shinai sword or a bow.
 * Madoka is a Grade A Zettai Ryouiki in her school uniform
 * Official information indicates that Madoka was born in October 3, making her a Libra.
 * Wehihihi ♥ "ウェヒヒヒヒ" is an onomatopoeia for Madoka's trademark laughter.
 * Gen Urobuchi tweeted that he chose October 3 as Madoka's birthday, because that was the day when the ‘Mahou Shoujo Apocalypse Madoka☆Magica Project’ document was created.
 * The project was developed under the working title "Mahō Shōjo Mokushiroku Madoka☆Magica", ("Magical Girl Revelation Madoka☆Magica" or "Maho Shojo Apocalypse Madoka☆Magica"), a reference to the Bible.
 * 黙示録 specifically refers to the Book of Revelation.
 * There is a petition to change the official name of the NGC 6357 nebula to the "Madokami nebula".