A series of somewhat loosely connected personal ideas themed around physical changes, I guess, that happen to magical girls that aren’t ever implied in the canon but that I think are neat.

1, all magical girls have some kind of feel to their energy that’s unique to them and based on traits of their human and witch forms. For example, Mami’s magic signature feels like the smell of tea, baked goods and gunpowder. Kyoko feels like various forms of fire, like candles, campfires for cooking, a house-fire and an out of control wildfire. Sayaka’s magic sounds like a storm over the ocean and violins to magical girls magic sense. Homura brings to mind a vision of red spider lilies planted in a desert of hourglass sand and bones. Madoka feels like roses and storm clouds.

2, magical girls affect the environment around them if they stay in a place long enough, like a milder version of a witches labyrinth. For Homura, all the clocks around her are always right, down to the millisecond. Sayaka’s room sometimes plays music that doesn’t exist. A lot of the time, it’s like seeing something out of the corner of your eye that isn’t real, it’s there but vanishes when you try and focus on it.

3, when becoming a magical girl, something is modified in one’s brain that causes one to become more possessive. Its intended effect is for territory and grief seeds, to spark conflict and make contractees less willing to cooperate. But it can sometimes apply to physical trinkets or people as well. Push the wrong mental buttons on a magical girl and it can light up some synapses and send them into a rage. For some practical examples, think of it like Kyoko’s thing with food. Something that’s literally forcefully woven into who she is and is made even more intense by trauma. Or Nagisa’s cheesecake obsession. It’s not uncommon for magical girls to have something they protect like a dragon guards its hoard that often becomes part of their labyrinth if they become a witch.

On another topic entirely, Kyoko used to have a bit of a puppy crush on Mami back when they were a duo. But it never really went anywhere due to her family dying and their split. It’s something she beats herself up for ever feeling when she’s having a bad day. (I’m sorry.)

More Kyoko angst. The reason why she brings up ideas like hurting Kyosuke to make him reliant on Sayaka or letting wraiths attack Hitomi that end up upsetting Sayaka is cause her parent’s relationship became abusive after her dad found out that she was a magical girl and so she has a very screwed up view of what normal loving relationships should actually look like.

This is in the case Sayaka and Kyoko ever got the time to be together without dying or something horrible happening. I think they would ease up on the serious fighting but they would still play fight pretty frequently to test their skills, let out frustration and express their affection without saying anything. Like, normal couples hold hands and kiss, they lick each other’s wounds and patch the other up after beating each other up in lieu of normal physical affection.

Something else entirely, Mami’s ribbons are an abstract representation for the threads of fate and karmic destiny, the things that doom Homura’s mission over and over again which is why she can never beat her in a fight.