Madoka mode poll

Keep in mind I haven't seen Madoka yet, so I might be missing some stuff. I do have the basic idea of the Magical Girl thing though.

What first came to mind was the Witch role. Technically a witch can only be female, but I don't see what problem there would be in having "male Witches" in the game, which is how it is now. The role doesn't make a male character have to become/behave like a female or anything like that, and they can roleplay equally well without doing that.

I'd have to say that while this mode is being based on something else, I think we shouldn't limit it just because that's how it is in the original. We should instead think of what would be the best way to modify it, if necessary, to fit the game. Unless there's something that only a female character should be able to do and there's a good reason for it, I'd have to go against limiting it to females. As "silly" as some may think a "male magical girl" could be, I don't see why we couldn't try doing the same thing that was done (or simply ended up happening) with the Witch role, which is adapting it so it also can have a "legit male version" if you will.

That's without mentioning what was already mentioned above my post, which I also agree with.

Well, things are a little different in this case.
In Umineko there is a wide variety of magic characters of either gender. Essentially, gender was unimportant. It just so happened that the character the role is based off of was female.

However, in this case, the gender is important. Some spoilers for Madoka ahead here.
The "incubators" harvest energy from the emotions of teenaged girls who they've transformed into Puella Magi. This energy is drawn from the process of destroying "witches" which are what Puella Magi become after they succumb to their negative emotions and their soul gem is clouded with grief.
It's something established in-universe as an outright rule of the series and I think if we're portraying something I don't think we should just ignore that. It's not about the idea of a male being one being silly.

While obviously we don't need to follow the lore to a tee, I think that this is a detail that is essentially iconic of the source material and would help set the mode apart as having a unique little gimmick to it.
Remember that we now have a gender toggle so it wouldn't really be restricting anyone from getting the role, plus it's not the only role in the mode so it's not like males don't get to do anything fun.

As for needing a certain amount of each gender, it shouldn't be necessary. The plan I have would allow for the role to not exist if it can't be assigned and the round will function all the same.

I like the idea of this. The revamped code already has a button to disable roles, so it would be easy to set it so that the Puella Magi role is changed to a female upon spawning.
But then again, if someone didn't want to play as a girl but still wanted one of the other roles they would have to risk getting the role. So maybe not.

How about... You leave the option to the host? They could be able to decide whether they want magical gender equality (and possibly specific variations for guy in dress and some less embarrassing version), maybe?