In Episode 2 when Madoka and Sayaka are with Mami looking for the Witch, after saving the Office Lady who had the "Witch's Kiss" they enter the building we see that there is text written on the wall at the entrance.
Now it looks English however i don't make out what it says, I am wondering if this text has any meaning and if it was in English in the original Japanese Version (the screenshot is from the English Dub)
The text on the wall are references to Faust, which foreshadows the plot for the anime.
Original Text:
Weh! Weh!
Du hast sie zerstört,
Die schöne Welt,
Mit mächtiger Faust;
Sie stürzt, sie zerfällt!
Ein Halbgott hat sie zerschlagen!
Wir tragen
Die Trümmern ins Nichts hinüber,
Und klagen
Über die verlorne Schöne.
Mächtiger
Der Erdensöhne,
Prächtiger
Baue sie wieder,
In deinem Busen baue sie auf!
Neuen Lebenslauf
Beginne,
Mit hellem Sinne,
Und neue Lieder
Tönen darauf!
On the screenshot, you can kinda see the "Neuen Lebenslauf" and some of the text.
Translation:
Woe! woe!
Thou hast it destroyed,
The beautiful world,
With powerful fist:
In ruin ’tis hurled,
By the blow of a demigod shattered!
The scattered
Fragments into the Void we carry,
Deploring
The beauty perished beyond restoring.
Mightier
For the children of men,
Brighter
Build it again,
In thine own bosom build it anew!
Bid the new career
Commence,
With clearer sense,
And the new songs of cheer
Be sung thereto!
The text on another wall, near Getrud's Barrier:
Verflucht voraus die hohe Meinung,
Womit der Geist sich selbst umfängt!
Verflucht das Blenden der Erscheinung,
Die sich an unsre Sinne drängt!
Verflucht was uns in Träumen heuchelt,
Des Ruhms, der Namensdauer Trug!
Verflucht was als Besitz uns schmeichelt,
Als Weib und Kind, als Knecht und Pflug!
Translation:
Cursed be, at once, the high ambition
Wherewith the mind itself deludes!
Cursed be the glare of apparition
That on the finer sense intrudes!
Cursed be the lying dream's impression
of name, and fame, and laureled brow!
Cursed, all that flatters as possession,
As wife and child, as knave and plow!
Spoiler:
It is referring to the Faustian bargain that magical girls make with Kyubei. In exchange for their wish and their powers, they give Kyubei their souls.
Source: http://wiki.puella-magi.net/Episode_2#References_to_Faust
