Madoka Magica - Movie 3 Spoilers and Speculations

[AuraTwilight]

I'd just like to point out that the after-credits scene is a LITERAL cliffhanger.

*drops the mic*

[KoiYuki]

Originally Posted by magnum12

Can we get some images regarding this "salamander" that appeared? Just want to see it for myself. Having studied ecology, I might be able to confirm if its a lizard or a salamander.

To be more specific, I'm looking for specific things, which I'll ask questions about.

1. How many toes on the front legs?

2. Does it have scales?

3. Does it have an external ear opening?

4. Does it have claws, talons, or nail like structures?

5. What's the relative length of its legs?

On a side note, if said symbolism is in fact being played straight, it could serve as further evidence foreshadowing the "Zero Approval" theory.

Well, since no on else posted it:


There's also a salamander(?) right after Homura turns into a witch, but it's hard to see and it's pretty much a silhouette, so I don't think it'd make much sense to post it. You can't see if it has ear holes, scales, or anything. I think it also had 3 toes though, but it was hard to see.

Basically, it turned to look at her and cried, iirc. Oh, and it was a much more realistic silhouette than that one, but again, hard to see. I'll take pics if you want them though.

[Triple_R]

I'm finally going to write a more comprehensive movie review.

I'm putting it in spoiler space to save space, and for the benefit of those who haven't seen the movie yet.

Spoiler for RRR MMM3 Review:

The movie basically has four sections. I'll label them "Moemura", "Moemura Becomes Homura", "The Fight Against Kyubey", and "The Rise of Homukami".


The "Moemura" section is incredibly charming, cheesy, and cutesy. It had very elegant stylistic sensibilities, and the colorful saccharine heart of PreCure. If you ever wondered what Madoka Magica would look like as a more conventional magical girl anime, then wonder no more, because the first quarter or so of the movie is precisely that.

I liked the shoutout to the first episode of the original TV series, given the Kaname family scenes here were just about identical to the ones in Episode 1 of the TV series.

The lighthearted, easy-going, camaraderie between the five main girls is pretty amazing. However, the characters still seemed very in-character except that Kyouko seemed much more feminine here than I recall her being in the TV series. It was amusing to watch the main cast really ham it up in the Nightmare fights. You can tell the main cast is having a lot of fun.

The dancing-based transformation scene was a neat twist on an old trope. Nicely creative job on the part of whoever came up with that.

I enjoyed the first quarter of the movie, and found it a pleasant and quirky watch. That being said, I was glad to see it transition into darker material, as a full movie like this would have been diabetes-inducing.


The "Moemura to Homura" section was pretty well-executed given how quickly Homura's character had to change to fit the plot. I liked how what tipped Homura off was almost everybody having generic faces (almost non-faces). It makes sense that Homura's dream world wouldn't necessarily have detailed faces for "the extras". The failed trip to Kyouko's old town had some very trippy visuals.

Homura confronting "BB" (i.e. Nagisa) since BB is the most unusual element here made good sense to me. It also provided a decent enough pretext for the best action scene of the movie - That being Mami vs. Homura. In addition to the sheer visual splendor of the scene, I really liked the tactics used by both sides. And I loved the final twist of Mami setting a trap that would activate if she was shot during Homura's time-freeze. That was an awesome moment for Mami.

Sayaka rescuing Homura, and the two confronting each other, was also very well-executed I felt. It's a real shame that this scene has lead to so much criticism of Sayaka's character, because I felt it was an excellent scene with some very cool and crisp dialogue. I really liked seeing Sayaka being so smooth and confident here.

Later on, we get a very touching scene between Homura and Madoka that was genuinely heart-warming and quite D'AAaawww.

On the whole this was probably my favorite section of the movie - It had the best one-on-one interactions of the film, as well as the best action scenes of the film. It's probably fair to say that for sheer spectacle, the Mami vs. Homura fight is the highlight of the film.


"The Fight Against Kyubey" was a largely pleasing section. They did a good job of building up to this by doing a couple ominous close-up shots on Kyubey's red beady eyes during the first two sections. Kyubey playacting as a more conventional cutesy critter that only voices his name (again, very clever parodying of PreCure ) made his eventual "villain reveal" that much sweeter and dramatic. Kyubey did a good job of explaining his plan to Homura, and Homura was very impressive in how she responded to that.

Homura's transformation into a witch was very well-handled, coming close to even matching her earlier fight with Mami for "highlight of the film". I loved the look of Witch!Homura, I loved her army of hundreds of little Homuras all dressed up as goose-stepping nutcrackers. SHAFT's visual style really came through in flying colors here.

A lot of the symbolism of this section was very poignant. There's a bit where Homura imagines Madoka standing up on a white chair on a lush green field. Madoka then stretches out her arms to make a cross formation and falls over, going splat into what looks like a huge pinkish blood stain. I think this symbolism succinctly shows how deeply traumatizing it was to Homura to "lose" Madoka due to her Christ-like act of redeeming magical girls through a personal sacrifice. This symbolism would later serve as good foreshadowing for the big twist ending.

The final fight against Witch!Homura and Kyubey's barrier felt a bit anti-climatic. SHAFT visual style really made it look great, but it lacked suspense due to just how confident Sayaka was. Still, you had some very nice moments in the fight, meaning that the movie continued to be a wonderful feast for the eyes.


Finally, there's "The Rise of Homukami". You know, if I hadn't been spoiled on it, I probably would have been very shocked by it myself. Perhaps also a bit disturbed. But I honestly was surprised by how little I was disturbed by it, perhaps due to coming in prepared for very disturbing visuals given all the discussion we've had here.

It is true that Madokami briefly panics when she realizes exactly what Homura is doing, but it is briefly panics. In fact, the whole transformation to Homukami is so fast and furious that I found it hard to feel much of anything about it. Although I did grin at the way that Homukami teased Kyubey, I must admit.

Homura!World is kind of disturbing, given how you have a few of these creepy things running along like they're just other normal humans. Still, the final scenes between Homura and Madoka felt oddly nice to me. You could easily tell that Homura really is doing this out of a great love for Madoka.


On the whole, I'd probably rate the movie a 9/10. It was honestly much more well-balanced and entertaining than I thought it would be when it was first announced.

However, it is a very cliffhanger-esque and open-ended ending. If this series doesn't get a continuation, it's a very bad point to end on, in my view. So I'll readjust my rating for this movie downwards if we don't get a continuation at some point.

But as a standalone work offering hope for more story to come, I thought it was largely splendid. A bit controversial, yes, but probably just enough to be interesting and have a bit of "Oomph!" to it. While ending with Madoka successfully collecting Homura's spirit would have made for an emotionally fulfilling end to the entire series, it would also have been a bit anti-climatic for this movie alone, at least given how the fight against Kyubey was handled.


Well, those are my thoughts on the movie. I hope people here found it a decent review, and not overly rambling.

[Sayaka's sandbag]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

I'm finally going to write a more comprehensive movie review.

I'm putting it in spoiler space to save space, and for the benefit of those who haven't seen the movie yet.

Spoiler for RRR MMM3 Review:

The movie basically has four sections. I'll label them "Moemura", "Moemura Becomes Homura", "The Fight Against Kyubey", and "The Rise of Homukami".


The "Moemura" section is incredibly charming, cheesy, and cutesy. It had very elegant stylistic sensibilities, and the colorful saccharine heart of PreCure. If you ever wondered what Madoka Magica would look like as a more conventional magical girl anime, then wonder no more, because the first quarter or so of the movie is precisely that.

I liked the shoutout to the first episode of the original TV series, given the Kaname family scenes here were just about identical to the ones in Episode 1 of the TV series.

The lighthearted, easy-going, camaraderie between the five main girls is pretty amazing. However, the characters still seemed very in-character except that Kyouko seemed much more feminine here than I recall her being in the TV series. It was amusing to watch the main cast really ham it up in the Nightmare fights. You can tell the main cast is having a lot of fun.

The dancing-based transformation scene was a neat twist on an old trope. Nicely creative job on the part of whoever came up with that.

I enjoyed the first quarter of the movie, and found it a pleasant and quirky watch. That being said, I was glad to see it transition into darker material, as a full movie like this would have been diabetes-inducing.


The "Moemura to Homura" section was pretty well-executed given how quickly Homura's character had to change to fit the plot. I liked how what tipped Homura off was almost everybody having generic faces (almost non-faces). It makes sense that Homura's dream world wouldn't necessarily have detailed faces for "the extras". The failed trip to Kyouko's old town had some very trippy visuals.

Homura confronting "BB" (i.e. Nagisa) since BB is the most unusual element here made good sense to me. It also provided a decent enough pretext for the best action scene of the movie - That being Mami vs. Homura. In addition to the sheer visual splendor of the scene, I really liked the tactics used by both sides. And I loved the final twist of Mami setting a trap that would activate if she was shot during Homura's time-freeze. That was an awesome moment for Mami.

Sayaka rescuing Homura, and the two confronting each other, was also very well-executed I felt. It's a real shame that this scene has lead to so much criticism of Sayaka's character, because I felt it was an excellent scene with some very cool and crisp dialogue. I really liked seeing Sayaka being so smooth and confident here.

Later on, we get a very touching scene between Homura and Madoka that was genuinely heart-warming and quite D'AAaawww.

On the whole this was probably my favorite section of the movie - It had the best one-on-one interactions of the film, as well as the best action scenes of the film. It's probably fair to say that for sheer spectacle, the Mami vs. Homura fight is the highlight of the film.


"The Fight Against Kyubey" was a largely pleasing section. They did a good job of building up to this by doing a couple ominous close-up shots on Kyubey's red beady eyes during the first two sections. Kyubey playacting as a more conventional cutesy critter that only voices his name (again, very clever parodying of PreCure ) made his eventual "villain reveal" that much sweeter and dramatic. Kyubey did a good job of explaining his plan to Homura, and Homura was very impressive in how she responded to that.

Homura's transformation into a witch was very well-handled, coming close to even matching her earlier fight with Mami for "highlight of the film". I loved the look of Witch!Homura, I loved her army of hundreds of little Homuras all dressed up as goose-stepping nutcrackers. SHAFT's visual style really came through in flying colors here.

A lot of the symbolism of this section was very poignant. There's a bit where Homura imagines Madoka standing up on a white chair on a lush green field. Madoka then stretches out her arms to make a cross formation and falls over, going splat into what looks like a huge pinkish blood stain. I think this symbolism succinctly shows how deeply traumatizing it was to Homura to "lose" Madoka due to her Christ-like act of redeeming magical girls through a personal sacrifice. This symbolism would later serve as good foreshadowing for the big twist ending.

The final fight against Witch!Homura and Kyubey's barrier felt a bit anti-climatic. SHAFT visual style really made it look great, but it lacked suspense due to just how confident Sayaka was. Still, you had some very nice moments in the fight, meaning that the movie continued to be a wonderful feast for the eyes.


Finally, there's "The Rise of Homukami". You know, if I hadn't been spoiled on it, I probably would have been very shocked by it myself. Perhaps also a bit disturbed. But I honestly was surprised by how little I was disturbed by it, perhaps due to coming in prepared for very disturbing visuals given all the discussion we've had here.

It is true that Madokami briefly panics when she realizes exactly what Homura is doing, but it is briefly panics. In fact, the whole transformation to Homukami is so fast and furious that I found it hard to feel much of anything about it. Although I did grin at the way that Homukami teased Kyubey, I must admit.

Homura!World is kind of disturbing, given how you have a few of these creepy things running along like they're just other normal humans. Still, the final scenes between Homura and Madoka felt oddly nice to me. You could easily tell that Homura really is doing this out of a great love for Madoka.


On the whole, I'd probably rate the movie a 9/10. It was honestly much more well-balanced and entertaining than I thought it would be when it was first announced.

However, it is a very cliffhanger-esque and open-ended ending. If this series doesn't get a continuation, it's a very bad point to end on, in my view. So I'll readjust my rating for this movie downwards if we don't get a continuation at some point.

But as a standalone work offering hope for more story to come, I thought it was largely splendid. A bit controversial, yes, but probably just enough to be interesting and have a bit of "Oomph!" to it. While ending with Madoka successfully collecting Homura's spirit would have made for an emotionally fulfilling end to the entire series, it would also have been a bit anti-climatic for this movie alone, at least given how the fight against Kyubey was handled.


Well, those are my thoughts on the movie. I hope people here found it a decent review, and not overly rambling.

That was great review, and I agree with you on all points.

That being said I'm sure we have nothing to worry about with it having a sequel, it's pretty much guaranteed. Hopefully a second season rather than a sequel though as I feel from watching it (and from reading it before) that it feels as though it'd be a link or bridge type of story.

[magnum12]

Originally Posted by KoiYuki

Well, since no on else posted it:


There's also a salamander(?) right after Homura turns into a witch, but it's hard to see and it's pretty much a silhouette, so I don't think it'd make much sense to post it. You can't see if it has ear holes, scales, or anything. I think it also had 3 toes though, but it was hard to see.

Basically, it turned to look at her and cried, iirc. Oh, and it was a much more realistic silhouette than that one, but again, hard to see. I'll take pics if you want them though.

Looking at that picture, I can say with pretty high certainty that the pic is of a salamander.

Salamanders have no more than 4 toes on their front feet and no more than 5 on their back feet. Some species have less. Compare with lizards, which have five toes on their front and back feet.

The lack of ear openings could be a silhouette effect, but since salamanders have no external ear openings (not like lizards do), that's potentially a clue that what we're dealing with is a salamander. The lack of claws indicates salamander. The only thing that's off is leg length. Salamanders have stubbier legs than lizards, but I blame this more on artistic license, but other than that, SHAFT seems to have done their homework.

The more realistic looking image would be a nice challenge to decipher, but I don't mind either way.

[GDB]

Okay... whoever wrote this movie was tripping balls. Hard. Especially the first half hour or so. To be extra specific, the cake scene. My god. And how the hell did Homura become strong enough to become Homucifer?

I did enjoy all the Kyoko x Sayaka scenes, though. Especially the hand holding in the battle to save Homura.

[Vegard Aune]

Originally Posted by GDB

Okay... whoever wrote this movie was tripping balls. Hard. Especially the first half hour or so. To be extra specific, the cake scene. My god.

You know, one of my teachers (who is a massive anime-fan himself... Heck, the one class I've got him in is literally about analyzing various genres and authors within the anime medium) said a few days ago that he'd been watching Madoka, and in his eyes it seemed to be a parody of the Magical Girl genre. Now I completely disagree with that statement even after he went and explained what he meant (and revised his statement after I challenged him on his defintion on the term and pointed out that even if one does find Madoka to be a humorous show, it's very obviously not trying to be humorous), but... The first 30 minutes of this movie are totally a parody of the Magical Girl genre.

Originally Posted by GDB

And how the hell did Homura become strong enough to become Homucifer?

Total Deus Ex Machina brought about by Shinbo's request that the movie leave the door open for a sequel. I've seen plenty of speculation as to what caused it in-universe, but I've yet to see any theory where I can honestly say "Yeah, that makes sense".

[sailorcrisp]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

I'm finally going to write a more comprehensive movie review.

I'm putting it in spoiler space to save space, and for the benefit of those who haven't seen the movie yet.

Spoiler for RRR MMM3 Review:

The movie basically has four sections. I'll label them "Moemura", "Moemura Becomes Homura", "The Fight Against Kyubey", and "The Rise of Homukami".


The "Moemura" section is incredibly charming, cheesy, and cutesy. It had very elegant stylistic sensibilities, and the colorful saccharine heart of PreCure. If you ever wondered what Madoka Magica would look like as a more conventional magical girl anime, then wonder no more, because the first quarter or so of the movie is precisely that.

I liked the shoutout to the first episode of the original TV series, given the Kaname family scenes here were just about identical to the ones in Episode 1 of the TV series.

The lighthearted, easy-going, camaraderie between the five main girls is pretty amazing. However, the characters still seemed very in-character except that Kyouko seemed much more feminine here than I recall her being in the TV series. It was amusing to watch the main cast really ham it up in the Nightmare fights. You can tell the main cast is having a lot of fun.

The dancing-based transformation scene was a neat twist on an old trope. Nicely creative job on the part of whoever came up with that.

I enjoyed the first quarter of the movie, and found it a pleasant and quirky watch. That being said, I was glad to see it transition into darker material, as a full movie like this would have been diabetes-inducing.


The "Moemura to Homura" section was pretty well-executed given how quickly Homura's character had to change to fit the plot. I liked how what tipped Homura off was almost everybody having generic faces (almost non-faces). It makes sense that Homura's dream world wouldn't necessarily have detailed faces for "the extras". The failed trip to Kyouko's old town had some very trippy visuals.

Homura confronting "BB" (i.e. Nagisa) since BB is the most unusual element here made good sense to me. It also provided a decent enough pretext for the best action scene of the movie - That being Mami vs. Homura. In addition to the sheer visual splendor of the scene, I really liked the tactics used by both sides. And I loved the final twist of Mami setting a trap that would activate if she was shot during Homura's time-freeze. That was an awesome moment for Mami.

Sayaka rescuing Homura, and the two confronting each other, was also very well-executed I felt. It's a real shame that this scene has lead to so much criticism of Sayaka's character, because I felt it was an excellent scene with some very cool and crisp dialogue. I really liked seeing Sayaka being so smooth and confident here.

Later on, we get a very touching scene between Homura and Madoka that was genuinely heart-warming and quite D'AAaawww.

On the whole this was probably my favorite section of the movie - It had the best one-on-one interactions of the film, as well as the best action scenes of the film. It's probably fair to say that for sheer spectacle, the Mami vs. Homura fight is the highlight of the film.


"The Fight Against Kyubey" was a largely pleasing section. They did a good job of building up to this by doing a couple ominous close-up shots on Kyubey's red beady eyes during the first two sections. Kyubey playacting as a more conventional cutesy critter that only voices his name (again, very clever parodying of PreCure ) made his eventual "villain reveal" that much sweeter and dramatic. Kyubey did a good job of explaining his plan to Homura, and Homura was very impressive in how she responded to that.

Homura's transformation into a witch was very well-handled, coming close to even matching her earlier fight with Mami for "highlight of the film". I loved the look of Witch!Homura, I loved her army of hundreds of little Homuras all dressed up as goose-stepping nutcrackers. SHAFT's visual style really came through in flying colors here.

A lot of the symbolism of this section was very poignant. There's a bit where Homura imagines Madoka standing up on a white chair on a lush green field. Madoka then stretches out her arms to make a cross formation and falls over, going splat into what looks like a huge pinkish blood stain. I think this symbolism succinctly shows how deeply traumatizing it was to Homura to "lose" Madoka due to her Christ-like act of redeeming magical girls through a personal sacrifice. This symbolism would later serve as good foreshadowing for the big twist ending.

The final fight against Witch!Homura and Kyubey's barrier felt a bit anti-climatic. SHAFT visual style really made it look great, but it lacked suspense due to just how confident Sayaka was. Still, you had some very nice moments in the fight, meaning that the movie continued to be a wonderful feast for the eyes.


Finally, there's "The Rise of Homukami". You know, if I hadn't been spoiled on it, I probably would have been very shocked by it myself. Perhaps also a bit disturbed. But I honestly was surprised by how little I was disturbed by it, perhaps due to coming in prepared for very disturbing visuals given all the discussion we've had here.

It is true that Madokami briefly panics when she realizes exactly what Homura is doing, but it is briefly panics. In fact, the whole transformation to Homukami is so fast and furious that I found it hard to feel much of anything about it. Although I did grin at the way that Homukami teased Kyubey, I must admit.

Homura!World is kind of disturbing, given how you have a few of these creepy things running along like they're just other normal humans. Still, the final scenes between Homura and Madoka felt oddly nice to me. You could easily tell that Homura really is doing this out of a great love for Madoka.


On the whole, I'd probably rate the movie a 9/10. It was honestly much more well-balanced and entertaining than I thought it would be when it was first announced.

However, it is a very cliffhanger-esque and open-ended ending. If this series doesn't get a continuation, it's a very bad point to end on, in my view. So I'll readjust my rating for this movie downwards if we don't get a continuation at some point.

But as a standalone work offering hope for more story to come, I thought it was largely splendid. A bit controversial, yes, but probably just enough to be interesting and have a bit of "Oomph!" to it. While ending with Madoka successfully collecting Homura's spirit would have made for an emotionally fulfilling end to the entire series, it would also have been a bit anti-climatic for this movie alone, at least given how the fight against Kyubey was handled.


Well, those are my thoughts on the movie. I hope people here found it a decent review, and not overly rambling.

Thankyou for the review!!!

On another note, I hope the final scene isn't set in stone... (whether it be symbolic or not in regards to Homura being alone) I hope Homura doesn't stay alone forever... With all those timelines and sacrifices she made for so long... It's just not fair....
As Kyoko says "...for once, let me have a happy dream"

BRING ON THE SECOND SEASONNNNNNNN!

[bhl88]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

I'm finally going to write a more comprehensive movie review.

I'm putting it in spoiler space to save space, and for the benefit of those who haven't seen the movie yet.

Spoiler for RRR MMM3 Review:

The movie basically has four sections. I'll label them "Moemura", "Moemura Becomes Homura", "The Fight Against Kyubey", and "The Rise of Homukami".


The "Moemura" section is incredibly charming, cheesy, and cutesy. It had very elegant stylistic sensibilities, and the colorful saccharine heart of PreCure. If you ever wondered what Madoka Magica would look like as a more conventional magical girl anime, then wonder no more, because the first quarter or so of the movie is precisely that.

I liked the shoutout to the first episode of the original TV series, given the Kaname family scenes here were just about identical to the ones in Episode 1 of the TV series.

The lighthearted, easy-going, camaraderie between the five main girls is pretty amazing. However, the characters still seemed very in-character except that Kyouko seemed much more feminine here than I recall her being in the TV series. It was amusing to watch the main cast really ham it up in the Nightmare fights. You can tell the main cast is having a lot of fun.

The dancing-based transformation scene was a neat twist on an old trope. Nicely creative job on the part of whoever came up with that.

I enjoyed the first quarter of the movie, and found it a pleasant and quirky watch. That being said, I was glad to see it transition into darker material, as a full movie like this would have been diabetes-inducing.


The "Moemura to Homura" section was pretty well-executed given how quickly Homura's character had to change to fit the plot. I liked how what tipped Homura off was almost everybody having generic faces (almost non-faces). It makes sense that Homura's dream world wouldn't necessarily have detailed faces for "the extras". The failed trip to Kyouko's old town had some very trippy visuals.

Homura confronting "BB" (i.e. Nagisa) since BB is the most unusual element here made good sense to me. It also provided a decent enough pretext for the best action scene of the movie - That being Mami vs. Homura. In addition to the sheer visual splendor of the scene, I really liked the tactics used by both sides. And I loved the final twist of Mami setting a trap that would activate if she was shot during Homura's time-freeze. That was an awesome moment for Mami.

Sayaka rescuing Homura, and the two confronting each other, was also very well-executed I felt. It's a real shame that this scene has lead to so much criticism of Sayaka's character, because I felt it was an excellent scene with some very cool and crisp dialogue. I really liked seeing Sayaka being so smooth and confident here.

Later on, we get a very touching scene between Homura and Madoka that was genuinely heart-warming and quite D'AAaawww.

On the whole this was probably my favorite section of the movie - It had the best one-on-one interactions of the film, as well as the best action scenes of the film. It's probably fair to say that for sheer spectacle, the Mami vs. Homura fight is the highlight of the film.


"The Fight Against Kyubey" was a largely pleasing section. They did a good job of building up to this by doing a couple ominous close-up shots on Kyubey's red beady eyes during the first two sections. Kyubey playacting as a more conventional cutesy critter that only voices his name (again, very clever parodying of PreCure ) made his eventual "villain reveal" that much sweeter and dramatic. Kyubey did a good job of explaining his plan to Homura, and Homura was very impressive in how she responded to that.

Homura's transformation into a witch was very well-handled, coming close to even matching her earlier fight with Mami for "highlight of the film". I loved the look of Witch!Homura, I loved her army of hundreds of little Homuras all dressed up as goose-stepping nutcrackers. SHAFT's visual style really came through in flying colors here.

A lot of the symbolism of this section was very poignant. There's a bit where Homura imagines Madoka standing up on a white chair on a lush green field. Madoka then stretches out her arms to make a cross formation and falls over, going splat into what looks like a huge pinkish blood stain. I think this symbolism succinctly shows how deeply traumatizing it was to Homura to "lose" Madoka due to her Christ-like act of redeeming magical girls through a personal sacrifice. This symbolism would later serve as good foreshadowing for the big twist ending.

The final fight against Witch!Homura and Kyubey's barrier felt a bit anti-climatic. SHAFT visual style really made it look great, but it lacked suspense due to just how confident Sayaka was. Still, you had some very nice moments in the fight, meaning that the movie continued to be a wonderful feast for the eyes.


Finally, there's "The Rise of Homukami". You know, if I hadn't been spoiled on it, I probably would have been very shocked by it myself. Perhaps also a bit disturbed. But I honestly was surprised by how little I was disturbed by it, perhaps due to coming in prepared for very disturbing visuals given all the discussion we've had here.

It is true that Madokami briefly panics when she realizes exactly what Homura is doing, but it is briefly panics. In fact, the whole transformation to Homukami is so fast and furious that I found it hard to feel much of anything about it. Although I did grin at the way that Homukami teased Kyubey, I must admit.

Homura!World is kind of disturbing, given how you have a few of these creepy things running along like they're just other normal humans. Still, the final scenes between Homura and Madoka felt oddly nice to me. You could easily tell that Homura really is doing this out of a great love for Madoka.


On the whole, I'd probably rate the movie a 9/10. It was honestly much more well-balanced and entertaining than I thought it would be when it was first announced.

However, it is a very cliffhanger-esque and open-ended ending. If this series doesn't get a continuation, it's a very bad point to end on, in my view. So I'll readjust my rating for this movie downwards if we don't get a continuation at some point.

But as a standalone work offering hope for more story to come, I thought it was largely splendid. A bit controversial, yes, but probably just enough to be interesting and have a bit of "Oomph!" to it. While ending with Madoka successfully collecting Homura's spirit would have made for an emotionally fulfilling end to the entire series, it would also have been a bit anti-climatic for this movie alone, at least given how the fight against Kyubey was handled.


Well, those are my thoughts on the movie. I hope people here found it a decent review, and not overly rambling.

Spoiler for It's not Kami:

It's Homucifer.

[Kazu-kun]

Originally Posted by bhl88

Spoiler for It's not Kami:

It's Homucifer.

Either is fine. She calls herself the Devil just because she opposes Madoka, who is regarded as God. But they're just magical beings with god-like powers, so if someone wants to call her Homukami, that's just fine.

[Von Himmel]

Total Deus Ex Machina brought about by Shinbo's request that the movie leave the door open for a sequel. I've seen plenty of speculation as to what caused it in-universe, but I've yet to see any theory where I can honestly say "Yeah, that makes sense".

My best bet would probably because of her wish where she wants to 'save' Madoka

So if someone wants to call her Homukami, that's just fine.

B-but Homucifer is cooler Speaking of which, the quality of Homura's fanart that I found after the movie was pretty outstanding

[Wanderer]

A little thing regarding Homura and the salamander earring: Homura's name means "flame" or "blaze".

Also, I'm about to watch the movie in the theater for my second time.

[TruthsWraith]

Originally Posted by Vegard Aune

Total Deus Ex Machina brought about by Shinbo's request that the movie leave the door open for a sequel. I've seen plenty of speculation as to what caused it in-universe, but I've yet to see any theory where I can honestly say "Yeah, that makes sense".

I always laugh at that. Mainly because the interview pretty much says. "I during the design phase had this one ending in mind before Shinbo requested a different one. While thinking about it I got a breakthrough."

Keyword there is design phase and he already told Shinbo to go away before when he requested Sayaka be revived. So it isn't like Gen had to do it or anything nor does he dislike the ending.

Originally Posted by Von Himmel

My best bet would probably because of her wish where she wants to 'save' Madoka

If I had to make a guess it's the interaction with Madoka. In a way Homura could be said as the one who made Goddess!Madoka. So I keep getting the idea that what happened is her going witch let her use all the karmic weight from doing so. Basically it reset her because she was shifting forms causing her to get strong.

Though it's also very likely to Homura turning into a witch may have gave her a perspective we can't really understand. Letting her abuse a loophole or something. Speculation everywhere right now.

[Wanderer]

Because a lot of things are left unexplained in the movie.

[woxx]

Everything is explained. And this explanation is not worse than explanation how Madoka could become god in original series.
Homura was able to do it, because she cursed her soulgem with love to Madoka instead of despair (all other soulgems are corrupted by despair before turning into grief seeds). As Madokami collects only despair from soulgems, she wasn't able to deal with Homura's one. So it was second trap for Madokami made by Homura. That's how Homura(as completely abnormal witch) captured her, took part of her law of cycles and only THEN she became Devil.

[Vegard Aune]

Originally Posted by TruthsWraith

I always laugh at that. Mainly because the interview pretty much says. "I during the design phase had this one ending in mind before Shinbo requested a different one. While thinking about it I got a breakthrough."

...So it wasn't a deus ex machina ending brought about at Shinbo's request, it was an ending different from the one that Urobuchi first thought of which he wrote in because Shinbo asked him to.


How are these even remotely different, exactly? The only thing in my post that wasn't in yours was the "deus ex machina"-bit... And the only hints at Homura's Devilification I can think of prior to it actually happening... would be in the opening credits. Prior to the exact moment when Homura grabs Madoka, I did not notice a single line of dialogue even vaguely alluding to the idea that Homura would be able to do such a thing. Again, not talking about character-motivations here, I've long since accepted that Homura is totally obsessed enough with saving Madoka that she'd go to this extreme, I'm specifically saying that nowhere in the film is the idea of it being possible to do brought up. Then it happens anyway. Then she says it's because of "love". After the fact. And I believe I've already said that I don't think that's an adequate explanation, especially considering how the series has been running on pure cynicism since day one.

[woxx]

Originally Posted by Vegard Aune

...So it wasn't a deus ex machina ending brought about at Shinbo's request, it was an ending different from the one that Urobuchi first thought of which he wrote in because Shinbo asked him to.


How are these even remotely different, exactly? The only thing in my post that wasn't in yours was the "deus ex machina"-bit... And the only hints at Homura's Devilification I can think of prior to it actually happening... would be in the opening credits. Prior to the exact moment when Homura grabs Madoka, I did not notice a single line of dialogue even vaguely alluding to the idea that Homura would be able to do such a thing. Again, not talking about character-motivations here, I've long since accepted that Homura is totally obsessed enough with saving Madoka that she'd go to this extreme, I'm specifically saying that nowhere in the film is the idea of it being possible to do brought up. Then it happens anyway. Then she says it's because of "love". After the fact. And I believe I've already said that I don't think that's an adequate explanation, especially considering how the series has been running on pure cynicism since day one.

It's pretty much explained even with bad subs in Homura's speech, Homura/QB and Homura/Sayaka dialogues.
And this deus ex machina which allowed Madoka become God in original series is much more huge than in Rebellion.

[Wanderer]

Just finished my second watch. It was a very different experience. Since I wasn't so shocked this time I could empathize with Homura a lot more.

Her suffering never ends.

[Triple_R]

The only thing that makes some sense to me for why Homura was able to overwhelm Madokami is that her wish enabled it.

Homura wished to "protect" Madoka. Since it's Homura's wish, it would make sense that what constitutes "protection" is determined by her. Hence, Homura needs to be more powerful than even Madokami is in order to "protect" her from herself.

But then, Homura's actions are now negating Madoka's wish, so you essentially have two wishes in direct conflict with each other. I think this is why Homura is having to struggle a bit to hold back Madokami. It's also why I doubt that the current situation is sustainable.

[GDB]

Oh, it definitely isn't sustainable. When (let's face it, there's no if) they do another movie/season, I'm sure that will be the central plot of it (even if the focal point is the much wanted Shinbo-daily-lives setting).