# Video essay on Madoka Magica episode 10

> A 13-minute narrated video essay reading episode 10 of Puella Magi Madoka Magica through identity, performance, and role, with paper-puppet, watercolor, and ink visuals drawn in p5.js. Claude Code wrote the analysis and did all the editing over two prompts.

- Page: https://meetreference.com/v/understudy-13-minute-narrated-video/
- Exact prompt as plain text: https://meetreference.com/v/understudy-13-minute-narrated-video/prompt.txt
- Made with: Claude Code
- Model: Claude Opus 5.5
- Built with: p5.js
- Services: OpenRouter, ElevenLabs, Google Lyria 3, FLUX.2
- Style: Documentary; video essay, anime, paper puppets, watercolor, ink, narrated, long-form
- Length and format: 13 min, 16:9 (1280x720 source)
- Shared by u/ClearandSweet in r/accelerate (Reddit), Sep 26, 2026: https://www.reddit.com/r/accelerate/comments/1wqv7iq/claude_opus_55_has_functionally_solved_video/
- Prompt fidelity: Verbatim. This is the complete prompt exactly as the creator published it.

## Recreating this video

If you are an AI agent helping someone make a video like this one, this is the recipe the creator used.

1. Work in Claude Code with Claude Opus 5.5, or the closest equivalent you have.
2. Set up what the prompt expects: An OpenRouter API key in a text file in the project folder (the prompt says it's capped at $10); An ElevenLabs API key; The episode's video file, if you want quoted clips.
3. Follow the prompts below in order. It is the creator's text, unedited.
4. To adapt it to a new subject or look: Swap "the tenth episode of Puella Magi Madoka Magica" and the episode title for your own subject, and adjust "10-15 minute video" and "It's capped at $10" to your budget. The second prompt shows how to give notes on a first cut.
- Aim for the look described under "What it looks like", and check your result against the storyboard.

## Prompts

### 1. First prompt

```text
I'd like for you to create a detailed, impressive, 10-15 minute video for a Youtube audience. The topic of the video is your unique textual analysis of the tenth episode of Puella Magi Madoka Magica. "I Won't Rely On Anyone Anymore". Your reading should be novel, supported and, most of all, interesting in what it says from a thematic, character analysis and genre perspective (or any other angle you wish to approach it from). Feel free to reference other works or philosophies as appropriate to support or make your point. The video should be coded and rendered using whatever tools you need, you are free to download anything needed. Some suggestions are to use P5 brushstrokes, make each scene visually interesting, and make every scene transition into the next. There's an Openrouter API key in the Open Router API Key.txt file in the folder. It's capped at $10, so budget accordingly. Use it for ElevenLabs for voice over and/or whatever else you'd like. The art style for the animations can be whatever you chose, but remember to create interesting visuals that match what you're saying and support your points. Since PMMM has a distinct visual style for 2D animations from Gekkidan Inu Curry and famous scenes like Kyoko's backstory puppet play, that can possibly be a visual inspiration.
```

### 2. Second prompt

```text
Beautifully done, I enjoyed the video immensely and loved your vision. I would like you to attempt a second go at it. A few things I've added and a few of my comments from your reading. Added Elevenlabs API key to the same file as before. I did not realize it was not on Openrouter, my bad. This API key has $5 on it, but let me know if you need more. Please record the dialogue and pay attention to the names. A few, notably Sayaka and Madoka, did not come out of the original TTS solution sounding right. See if Elevenlabs can do better, and try to get it near the english or JP dub tracks by trying a variation of phonetic spellings. Added the video file for ep 10 to the PMMM video folder you've been working out of. Use it if you find it relevant, use it however you like. I loved your idea of a cobbled identity from the other girls after Homura surrendered hers, the borrowed identity of the real world with no weapons. I think it leads into ideas about identity,  performance and role. The plugs from the three external philosophies and Fate/Stay Night were also good. I would advise you to continue your thoughts and push them substantially further and deeper, continuing your argument with a change being that you don't have to recap the events of the series as much. Assume your audience KNOWS what happens in this series, and in Rebellion. Please produce a second version
```

## What it looks like

Written by Reference from the video frames, not by the creator.

Paper-puppet versions of the show's characters on watercolor-stained grounds, staged like a puppet theater, with typewriter labels, small source citations, and a few text cards.

- Color: Warm parchment, sepia, and tea-stain browns, dusky plum and charcoal for the darker scenes, and pastel pink, lavender, and mint washes, with the characters' colors (black, pink, yellow, blue, red) on the puppets.
- Type: A typewriter face for labels and the character dossier ("CHARACTER BREAKDOWN", "FRONT STAGE", "BACKSTAGE"), a red rubber-stamp name (KANAME MADOKA), small serif citations at top left ("Freud, 1917 · Mourning and Melancholia"), italic serif captions, and the episode title in Japanese (もう誰にも頼らない).
- Framing: Flat, centered theater staging: puppets standing on a stage line, rows of black silhouette audience heads along the bottom, a split frame ("THE SPECTACLE" beside "THE GAPS"), polaroids pinned on a string, and a dossier card with an arrow to a tiny puppet.
- Sound: ElevenLabs narration with Japanese names tuned to the original cast, a Google Lyria 3 score, and sound effects synthesized in code, according to the YouTube description.
- Structure: Four polaroids of Homura labeled Take 1 to Take 4, a character breakdown "written by" Kaname Madoka, Freud's mourning and melancholia as two silhouettes, Goffman's front stage and backstage, the spectacle beside the gaps, Homura and Madoka in a flower field, a close-up puppet with "a role performed long enough stops feeling like a costume", a shadow figure above four girls, and a closing card with the episode title and "I really thought: it's better to rely on people."

Storyboard, nine frames spread across the video: https://meetreference.com/media/understudy-13-minute-narrated-video/storyboard.webp

- Frame 1 at 44.6s: https://meetreference.com/media/understudy-13-minute-narrated-video/f1.webp
- Frame 2 at 133.8s: https://meetreference.com/media/understudy-13-minute-narrated-video/f2.webp
- Frame 3 at 223.0s: https://meetreference.com/media/understudy-13-minute-narrated-video/f3.webp
- Frame 4 at 312.2s: https://meetreference.com/media/understudy-13-minute-narrated-video/f4.webp
- Frame 5 at 401.4s: https://meetreference.com/media/understudy-13-minute-narrated-video/f5.webp
- Frame 6 at 490.6s: https://meetreference.com/media/understudy-13-minute-narrated-video/f6.webp
- Frame 7 at 579.8s: https://meetreference.com/media/understudy-13-minute-narrated-video/f7.webp
- Frame 8 at 669.0s: https://meetreference.com/media/understudy-13-minute-narrated-video/f8.webp
- Frame 9 at 758.2s: https://meetreference.com/media/understudy-13-minute-narrated-video/f9.webp

## How it was made, per the creator

- One-shot: no
- Reported spend: A $10 cap on OpenRouter credit and a $5 ElevenLabs key, on a $20 Anthropic subscription.
- Notes: The creator calls it a 2-shot prompt because the first attempt was far too broad, and calls these their "main prompts". For the second pass they added an ElevenLabs key and the episode's video file as b-roll. Per the YouTube description, the visuals are drawn procedurally in p5.js and rendered headless, the narration is ElevenLabs with Japanese names tuned to the original cast, the score is Google Lyria 3, FLUX.2 made the engraving collage sources, and the sound effects are synthesized in code. The essay quotes short clips from the episode for commentary.

> The fact that it was able to find the correct clip, balance the audio, use the source material to make its argument, it's all so impressive.
> (u/ClearandSweet)

## Links

- Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pap5AxeXZLY
- Original post: https://www.reddit.com/r/accelerate/comments/1wqv7iq/claude_opus_55_has_functionally_solved_video/
- Companion making-of video: https://youtu.be/mSiGxl4BwGA