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REVIEW: Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie Part 3: Rebellion

You expected Homura to go.
Ok Madoka, I give up who cares.

Quote:

No one saw it coming because it's ludicrous and out-of-character, and there is little to no foreshadowing or support for the change..

Except it was foreshadowed in the scene where Homura tells Madoka of her sacrifice and Madoka responds that she would never want to have to do such a thing, leaving behind her family and loved ones. That scene set Homura off.

I have to say, I'm skeptical of the idea that you supposedly saw this coming.

Fundamentally, I don't think Homura has really "turned evil." She talks the talk but doesn't walk the walk, so to speak. Everything she does is kind of extreme, but doesn't seem especially bad or tragic for anyone but herself. She becomes a horrible Lovecraftian abomination, who commits the mindless evilness of...dragging all her friends into a magical girl paradise? How terrible! And when she physically becomes a witch, she only tries to kill herself. Then she becomes Demon-Homura, and cackling evilly, she...gives everyone happy, peaceful lives? It may not be exactly what they wanted, but it's a less band-aid-on-a-severed-leg solution than Madoka's.

I think the idea that this is a deconstruction of the series is accurate. It sort of found a couple tiny cracks in the original ending, stuck its claws in there, ripped the whole thing open, and turned it inside-out. But as you said, the ending is a twist even more dramatic than Mami's death, and the show didn't end when Mami died, because that would have been stupid.

I also find it really silly that she calls the movie 'unnecessary'. Do you expect Kyubey, well known for his underhanded scheming and manipulation, to just sit there and let things go by? This movie finally sealed his fate. That's important.

I think the idea that this is a deconstruction of the series is accurate. It sort of found a couple tiny cracks in the original ending, stuck its claws in there, ripped the whole thing open, and turned it inside-out. But as you said, the ending is a twist even more dramatic than Mami's death, and the show didn't end when Mami died, because that would have been stupid.

She becomes a horrible Lovecraftian abomination, who commits the mindless evilness of...trapping all her friends in a false, forced magical girl paradise where they have no agency and are expected to behave a certain way, playing along with Homura's fake world? How terrible! And when she physically becomes a witch, she only tries to kill herself. Then she becomes Demon-Homura, and cackling evilly, she...gives everyone happy, peaceful lives that at least one of them knows is totally false and only plays along under threat, while Madoka, who retains some memory of what she's meant to be and the role she's supposed to be playing in the universe, is effectively now an unwilling prisoner of Homura's twisted, controlling love? It may not be exactly what they wanted, but it's a less band-aid-on-a-severed-leg solution than Madoka's.

She's also negated all evil beings from the world and some of the symbolism suggests she instead took them into herself instead. That was Homura's sacrifice, to shoulder the burden of evil in the world so Madoka wouldn't have to even though it would destroy any possibility of them being together.

And oh, that last shot of Kyubey in the movie: if I ever decide to give up my current avatar, that shot would be the replacement.

Fundamentally, I don't think Homura has really "turned evil." She talks the talk but doesn't walk the walk, so to speak. Everything she does is kind of extreme, but doesn't seem especially bad or tragic for anyone but herself. She becomes a horrible Lovecraftian abomination, who commits the mindless evilness of...dragging all her friends into a magical girl paradise? How terrible! And when she physically becomes a witch, she only tries to kill herself. Then she becomes Demon-Homura, and cackling evilly, she...gives everyone happy, peaceful lives? It may not be exactly what they wanted, but it's a less band-aid-on-a-severed-leg solution than Madoka's.

One could also debate that Homura's love for Madoka is borderline abusive as she is using her powers to strip Madoka of her free will. The relationship is, obviously, unhealthy. That may be the most jarring part: their love for one another no longer resembles the cute and cuddly scene from the anthology movies.

Lynzee had a really nice post with similar thoughts on her Tumblr.

She decided, out of love for Madoka, that she would negate her sacrifice in what she believes is best for her: to be able to be a normal girl. Homura always thought that was what was best for Madoka and was her primary motivation in the television series. For that reason, I don't find her choice out of character at all. Whether her decision for "what is best" is accurate, is debatable.

octopodpie wrote:

She decided, out of love for Madoka, that she would negate her sacrifice in what she believes is best for her: to be able to be a normal girl. Homura always thought that was what was best for Madoka and was her primary motivation in the television series. For that reason, I don't find her choice out of character at all. Whether her decision for "what is best" is accurate, is debatable.

Well, except for at the end of the TV series she lets go of that, accepts and understands Madoka's choice and decides to live her life protecting that choice.

They had to find a way to walk all of that back in order to write any of this. Which is why people call it out-of-character.

I agree Homura's actions in the film are justified - not particularly elegantly - by the narrative, but they are basically rewriting her reaction to Madoka's wish, taking it all back and flipping it around.

Which comes across like a real desperate move, writing wise, when you're trying to continue from an ending as relatively airtight as Madoka Magica's was.

Isn't she stuffing Kyubey full of curses to keep all that shit at bay? He gets to act as an unwilling container for all the enroaching evil/entropy in Homura World?

Disappointed, but not shocked, that this franchise was going to be ruined by cash-milking it.

angelmcazares wrote:

Disappointed, but not shocked, that this franchise was going to be ruined by cash-milking it.

Ambivalent (or, actually, uncertain) as I am about the ending of the film, I don't think this is true. I'd say they're earning their cash honestly, and in a way that isn't "ruining the franchise".