Puella Magi Madoka Magika [2]

[CJD]

Perfect.

[Eliaskar]

I really want the new films to come out in the UK, especially the latest... but I doubt it at the moment. We haven't even got DVD/Bluray of the recap films.

[Nuclear Lunchbox]

I honestly really loved the film. I can see why people would be pissed with it, but I thought it was great. Lovely animation, and a great twist at the end. Much gusta. ;)

[LegionWrex]

Ok, so I saw the movie a while ago, but haven't had the time to talk about it here in detail.

SPOILER: Show

My feelings on the movie were mixed at first. I loved the production design, animation and fight scenes. They were incredibly well done and that gun battle.. oh man... feast for the eyes.

I was not a fan, however, of the twist at the end. I thought it basically destroyed Homura's character development and thought the idea of her becoming a villain was dumb.

But the more I thought about, the more I thought I loved it. Homura had good reason to do what she did: she was solely focused on saving Madoka, which she did. But in return it corrupted her, turning her into basically the opposite of Madoka: while she is God, Homura is Satan. And now, if Madoka ever becomes a magical girl again (and knowing since they plan to make more Madoka after the movie, so she will), they will be mortal enemies. I think it's a awesome concept that could executed possibly in a less confusing manner. Then again EoE was like that and I think that movie is a masterpiece of cinema and film in general.

But yeah. Great film. If you haven't seen it, go see now.

[Princess Asuka]

Madoka is awesome, Rebellion was awesome, but as much as I love it I don't wanna pay $40 a piece for a single DVD of the series. I never would have given Madoka a chance given my only magical girl anime is Sailor Moon, but I'm open to others as long as they're unique like Sailor Moon or Madoka. Shows like Eva, Sailor Moon, and Madoka are unique and I love them, because they're classics. I don't wanna see blatant ripoffs. Then again, I'd rather wait until Funimation gets the rights to redub/sub Sailor Moon. I want an official English release of the whole series, with all 200 episodes, the 3 movies, and 5 specials. I want my official Madoka and Sailor Moon DVDs for a good price, not some dumb bootleg. I support official releases even if they're out of print. Also, I did watch the camrip sub of Rebellion, but it was amazing and I'm happy I saw it.

[Nuclear Lunchbox]

Response to Legion  SPOILER: Show

That gun battle was AMAZING. I think they referred to it as a "Hollywood style" battle IIRC. And the ending really does make sense, especially considering:

"Do you value stability over desire?"

Very nice.

[LightDragonman]

I know right? That gun battle rivaled The Matrix as far as I'm concerned.

And I still stand by my opinion that Rebellion is everything that 3.0 tried, and failed to be.

[Giji Shinka]

I know right? That gun battle rivaled The Matrix as far as I'm concerned.

And I still stand by my opinion that Rebellion is everything that 3.0 tried, and failed to be.

Now that I've seen both films (Madoka Rebellion: 12 times) multiple times and I can safely say that there are hardly any things to compare, except then fact that both main characters do something unexpected and selfish*. (And dark atmosphere is another thing they have in common)
*IMO This part had better built up in 3.0. There isn't enough built up/hints to that unexpected/selfish moment in rebellion. (That's why it wasn't as great as in 3.0)

Even though the film has few flaws, (How Homura got her powers, and the thing I said in this post previously) I still consider rebellion as one of my top 5 anime films of all time.

[Dream]

And I still stand by my opinion that Rebellion is everything that 3.0 tried, and failed to be.

You know, in a way this line feels as pretty iconic of EGF.

[hui43210]

You know, in a way this line feels as pretty iconic of EGF.

3.0 was soooo much better I thought, but I think the fact that I don't really care much about the characters in Madoka has a lot to do with it.

[caragnafog dog]

It's unfair to compare it to something as good as 3.0 guys.

[Redtophat]

And I still stand by my opinion that Rebellion is everything that 3.0 tried, and failed to be.

It was fun to watch sure, but I've seen better written stuff on fanfiction.net, and I don't even frequent fanfiction.net.

[Fireball]

Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie Part III: The Rebellion Story on BD/DVD out in April 2.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqTcbgwqetk


here comes Shaft ruining my birthday

[caragnafog dog]

I wish rightstuf would offer it as an import like they did with the first 2 movies' boxset. Much as the ending ruffled my johnsons I'd still like to own it, especially considering it includes the OST.

[Giji Shinka]

Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie Part III: The Rebellion Story on BD/DVD out in April 2.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqTcbgwqetk


here comes Shaft ruining my birthday

[pwhodges]

Finally got round to watching Rebellion. Lots of very pretty imagery, as expected. But from the very start it didn't feel like a real sequel; Madoka's appearance seemed odd; the fights with the nightmares were unfocussed and appeared inconclusive; and while some of these things were explained, it seemed really forced. Homura's turn-around at the end didn't seem all that startling to me, because everything felt just wrong already.

Sometimes a series has come to a conclusion just so, and attempting to pick it up again is a mistake; but I can be persuaded I'm wrong sometimes. However, from my viewpoint, this was a mistake - though if it made them money, bully for them. OK, I didn't expect to like it, so loads of confirmation bias... [shrug].

[Paranoid]

Rebellion BDs are now up for pre-order at various sites. The standard edition costs 5500 yen. The limited edition costs 9500 yen, and contains fancier packaging, booklet, OST and an extra BD with a 2-hour Madoka special that aired on Japanese TV.
Like the first two movies, Rebellion comes with English subtitles.

[Redtophat]

2-hour Madoka special

Is there any information on what this 2-hour special entails?

[ElMariachi]

Okay, saw it, and...

SPOILER: Show

Wouah man, it's like EoTV's mindfuckery, but two hours long!

Sure it's interesting to see what it looks inside the mind of a magical girl when she transforms into a witch, but personally I think that was a tad too much. What I really liked in the series was the alternation between the trippy witch barriers and the grounded moments in the real world, counterbalancing the former mindfuckery with some realism, like the scenes at school, when they are wondering if making a contract is really worth it, Sayaka's funeral hammering the fact that yes, death is for good...

Here we got 98% of the film in Homura's mindfuck barrier, and the remaining 2% at the end of the movie are also altered by Demon Homura screwing with reality to subdue Sayaka and Madoka. On top of that, it made the action very difficult to follow at times, notable the Homura vs Mami and the final battles.
I really hope that the ongoing season 2 will be more grounded on reality, because I don't think I'll like twelve more episodes of this surrealism, the scarceness of the scenes in the witch's barriers was what made them memorable.

On the scenario itself, I absolutely loved it, but I think it's because I finished to see the series the day before, because there was already foreshadowing at the end scenes of the series of Homura's brittle mental state that would lead to the events of the movie and its end.

About my last phrase, more about it below, warning, long rant about a certain pivotal character ahead :

a certain character that raised a huge debate  SPOILER: Show

I think that letting Homura keeping her memories instead of only giving them back when she would be called by the Law of Cycles(like it happened with Sayaka) was Madoka's biggest mistake.

Look at it this way : Homura has gone through hell to try to save Madoka, witnessing all of her friends dying over and over and over again(according to Urobutchi, she made close to 100 time loops, which translate into approximately eight years) while failing to prevent it every time, to the point that she focused all her efforts on Madoka alone and changed to the point that the people who were her friends and sisters in arms in previous timelines are now distrustful, if not outright hostile.

And in the end, she failed, Urobutchi himself pointed it in an interview : for all her efforts to finally protect Madoka, in the end it's Madoka who ended protecting her, again. And worse : this last time, she became an higher being having to fight for eternity to do so, completely erasing her very existence in the process.
Sure Madoka chose to do so because she's that selfless, and she did made the Universe a better place, but on a personal level Homura made the situation worse for Madoka, and the end of the series implies that it made her absolutely miserable, look again at the last scenes of the series :

- first, when she's "transported" in the new world at the moment of Sayaka's death, she was part of a team with the later, Kyoko and Mami, she then start crying for Madoka.

- then we cut to Homura meeting Madoka's family who doesn't remember her, except the little brother who'll probably forget her when he grew up, that just hammers more the fact that Madoka as a person is gone for good.

- after that, we have Homura telling her story of the old system to Kyubey of all people. Why would she do something that risky?(and which ultimately bite her hard back in the ass?)
Well maybe because she desperately needs to talk to someone about it, about who is this Madoka and what she meant for her, and Kyubey is the only one who wouldn't judge her and think she's insane. That's how desperate to talk she's. Also, this time she's hunting Wraiths alone instead of with the team, which could mean that she drifted apart from them because of her memories that she can't share with the others.

- finally, we have Homura, alone in the middle of a desert situated God knows where fighting Wraiths alone with wigs which looks like made from a witch barrier. Here again the implication is that the memories brought by everything in Mitakihara become too painful for her to bear, and she started drifting all around the world in a perpetual crusade against the Wraiths.(interesting fact, the place where Homura's real body is resting in Rebellion looks like being in the middle of a desert, so Kyubey might had acted on is plan to observe and interfere with Madokami right after the fight during the epilogue, probably just before Homura had the time to purify her Soul Gem with the Grief Cubes)

Hell, in her final line in the series she even said that for her the world is without salvation and full of repeating sadness and hatred, but that since Madoka once tried to protect it, she'll continue the fight and remember her, pretty much confirming that honoring Madoka is Homura's only reason for living and what keep her going forward!


Now come the events of Rebellion : Homura is trapped in her own mental world where she's tortured by her self-loathing and sense of failure even before it's revealed that she's a Witch(see the moment the 5 magical girls do their transformation dance? You see the runes which flashes rapidly on the screen? For the other Magical Girl, they spell their name, in Homura's case, it spells "Kill me"! And that's just the beginning!) meaning that her corruption don't come only for exhaustion from the battles, but from despair and (self-)hatred, discovers that someone is "making light of Madoka's sacrifice", probably her biggest Berserk Button now, have a conversation with Madoka which can be interpreted as her not really being thrilled by the prospect of disappearing for the sake of others even if her selflessness will make her do it(and Homura certainly interpreted it that way, adding even more to her despair, self-loathing and feeling of failure), culminating by discovering that she's the witch that "made light of Madoka's sacrifice" and Kyubey revealing to her that everything that happened is basically her fault by telling him about Madoka in episode 12, meaning that she made Madoka's situation worse again... but also that there exists means to observe and interact with Madokami, and that the tools and circumstances to do so(Isolation Field, a corrupted Soul Gem, Madoka back in human form) are all around at Homura's grasp.

So when the critical moment happens, when everyone is back on the real world, the Incubators defeated and Madokami appears but still in a human body(that's why Mami and Kyoko could see her), what would Homura chose : accept her salvation, and spend the rest of eternity with Madoka doing a task that she never really wanted for a sacrifice she accepted out of obligation, or will she seize the opportunity that will never present itself again and finally, finally, fulfill her wish and hold her promise to protect Madoka and ensure her happiness, even if Madoka would be against it and Homura herself will have to do and become something despicable for it?

Well, Homura already compromised herself during the time loops to the point that she "cherishes the pain as much as the happy memories"... she already sacrificed so much that sacrificing even more don't stop her anymore, so her final decision isn't that surprising.

In the end Madoka is the messianic absolute selflessness, while Homura is the human selfishness born from selflessness(she knows that she made herself an enemy of Madoka and probably forsake the possibility to be happy with her so Madoka could be happy by herself and her family), that's where the true opposition between the two are, and that's what I found so fascinating with this movie.

That and the fact that this fucking sack of white fur finally got what was coming to him!

[Giji Shinka]

^