[Vegard Aune]

Originally Posted by Kazu-kun

As it should be. If they made a reference to a dream they didn't show in the first place, it would have confused the new viewers who didn't watch the tv series.

Which is... exactly what they did. Madoka still goes all "OMG I KNOW HER!!!" when Homura first shows up, she still mentions having seen her before in a dream, she still questions whether they've met before during Homura's emotional breakdown from episode 8... Everything relating to the dream was still there... but the actual dream was not. Or, the fight was obviously shown in Homura's flashback in movie 2, but that's it.


EDIT: Also, to lazily copy-paste my thoughts on these movies from a different forum...
Okay, I got the BluRay for these movies yesterday, and I just finished watching the second one. So, slightly disjointed thoughts on the two films...

-Cutting out the opening dream sequence. NOT COOL, GUYS. Really, I distinctly remember being taught that the first scene in any given story should give the audience some idea of what sort of story they're in for. The TV-series did just that. The movie did not.
-New opening sequence is nice, albeit somewhat spoilery. Can't say the song left much of an impression on me though. (Not that Connect did either, mind you.)
-Damn those are some epic transformation-sequences.
-Farewell Mami's characterization, we hardly knew ye.
-I'm sure this was also in the TV-series, but... How did I never notice the way Homura keeps using her powers during her first meeting with Kyouko? I mean, there are several points in this scene where she just abruptly changes locations and I never even took notice of this. Weird.
-Is that a choir-version of Sayaka's theme I hear during her psycho-moment against the Shadowy Christian Witch? Nice...
-Sayaka's brief confrontation with Homura was removed... Somehow that was a scene I hardly ever even took notice of in the TV-series, so I can't say I mind too much.
-Oh my god that witch transformation. Oh sure, the angles and animation and all that don't seem to have any changes that I immediately noticed, but... THAT MUSIC. THAT FRIGGIN' MUSIC YOU GUYS.
-MAGIA FULL VERSION FUCK YEAH.

So this concludes my disjointed feelings on movie 1... It was 8 episodes of the TV-series with roughly two episodes worth of run-time cut out. Considering how it is my opinion that the TV-series is the ultimate example of a perfectly paced story, I can not say I approve much of them doing so, but really, only two missing scenes actually seemed conspicuous in their absence. So, not bad. Though I think I would sooner recommend the series for those missing details.


On to movie 2...
-Nothing worth mentioning for the first 20 minutes or so...
-THAT SCENE AT THE GRAVEYARD. Oh sure, the dialog is taken verbatim from the show, but merely that change of setting did a lot to make it a much more powerful moment. Two thumbs up for that.
-Some pretty awesome transitions during Homura's flashback there. Other than that... Nothing particularly worth mentioning that can't also be said for the TV-series. (Don't get me wrong, it is absolutely fantastic... but it was just as fantastic in the TV-series as it is here.)
-How come they took a scene that had a unique piece of BGM in the TV-series, and then replaced this unique piece of BGM with the same piece that played in the scene immediately prior to it? (Referring to Homura losing to Walpurgis Night BTW) That just strikes me as an exceptionally nonsensical thing to do.
-Wait, this is Madoka's big moment where she makes her wish to Kyubey. Why am I hearing Sayaka's theme?
-Madoka's big "Saving every magical girl ever"-moment is pretty much identical to the show... So why do I suddenly feel as though I'm seeing this for the first time? Them feels, man...
-OH MY GOD THAT FAREWELL-SCENE. OH MY GOD THAT TRANSITION BACK TO THE NEWLY CREATED BETTER WORLD. JUST... OH MY GOD THAT WAS SO PERFECT I HAVE NO WORDS.
-Ooh, remix of Connect with orchestral backing. Nice...
-Kalafina, have I ever mentioned how your presence automatically makes everything better? Though I must say... why is there absolutely no visuals for this ending-sequence? I was hoping for some absolutely beautiful imagery to go with the absolutely beautiful song!
-Preview for the third movie... I am still not convinced that there is merit to there even being a continuation for this story. That said, I will still be in Japan when it comes out in theaters, so of course I'll go see it. But I can't pretend that I'm not somewhat worried.

Well. They just took the ending to what I have long considered to be a perfect series, and made it even better. Excuse me, I have to go buy a hat just so I can tip my hat off to them for how spectacularly amazingly beautiful that all was.