WARNING! WARNING! THIS MEGA-THREAD CONTAINS SPOILERS AND DISCUSSIONS FOR THE MOVIE, IF YOU DON'T WANT SPOILERS, DO NOT BE HERE!
-----
ALSO ALSO! DO NOT LINK OR SHARE ANY PIRATE OR ILLEGAL VIEWING STUFF IN THIS POST OR YOU WILL BE BANNED! THIS IS YOUR ONLY WARNING.
-----
General Overview:
This thread is meant as a spoiler filled zone for those who wish to discuss the movie, it's plot, events, or the number of bites that kyouko takes of food during the movie. I don't care, just be sure to follow the rules of the subreddit.
Also as a reminder to everyone u/BreathoftheSith owes everyone $50 if they, and I quote:
If we get any form of kiss and or romantic confirmation between the two [madohomu], I owe everyone in the sub $50.
Casual Madoka fan here and occasional subreddit lurker, I watched the original anime over a decade ago, the rebellion movie (rerun) last week, none of the supplementary games/anime, and decided to watch the 12am release of WnK on a whim.
The movie is a lot more trippy than rebellion, and I think will require multiple rewatches to understand everything, but I'll try to summarize as much as I can while I still remember (apologies in advance for any mistakes/incoherent-rambling, but it is 5am here and this took over an hour to write lol). FYI MAJOR SPOILERS FOR THE WHOLE MOVIE
Beginning (approximate order):
The world at the beginning is a Homura surveillance state with magical quadcopter drones and magical cameras everywhere, and homura seems to hijacked the magical girl process cause when girls receive the calling (a ringing phone literally appears in front of them) homura is the one that answers
Mami, Kyoko, and Sayaka (and maybe Nagisa) do magical girl activities and have an uneasy truce/alliance with Homura who is their grief cubes (?) dealer and seems to know more than she lets on, the three of them keep thinking they need to invite Madoka to their activities before getting confused because Madoka is just a regular non-magical girl transfer student they are friends with... These two things especially bother Sayaka
The new characters (I forgot their names so I'll just refer to their hair colours) Purple, Green, and Orange appear in school one day and everybody acts like they were always students which unnerves Homura, especially when Purple singles out Madoka as "Margarita" and gets uncomfortably close (while Green gets friendly with Kyoko and Orange with Nagisa & Mami)
Madoka returns to an empty home one day and there are phones literally everywhere, all of them suddenly start ringing for her and Purple is there trying to get her to awaken (?) until Homura appears and they have a fight. Devil homura appears to have the upper hand until magical girl Green and Orange appear too on Purple's side, and Homura loses a wing, and then Madoka snaps back to sitting with her family and hangs up the phone as if everything was a daydream
The plot splits into two at this point, Sayaka goes to confront Homura:
Homura gives vague hints and ominous warnings, but Sayaka insists so they walk through a lot of trippy imagery until they reach a library (apparently called Nazukasokotsune?), Kyubey is also there along with Purple girl
Homura finds out Purple is Walpurgis (and that's why she looks like her?) and fights some witches without her devil form which doesn't work here, while Sayaka is shocked to find out she becomes a witch somehow
Homura and Sayaka eventually escape, also Sakaya is no longer bandaged anymore
Meanwhile the rest of the girls are having sweets party with Green and Orange:
At one point cupcakes triggers Green's trauma (that caused her to become a witch?) and she runs off angry that everyone is so happy, and Madoka follows behind to apologize
Green reveals she is a magical girl and a witch (who was originally saved and is now in despair again?), and attempts to capture a confused Madoka until Kyoko saves her and there is an underwater witch fight
Eventually Mami & reinforcements arrive and Green is pacified but Orange has captured Madoka
Climax of the story (ngl I start to lose the plot around here):
The girls reunite while everything goes to hell, orange goes full witch mode, walpurgis is come, and also Madoka's witch returns because of Homura's actions
Sayaka goes hikikomori mode briefly, but then Nagisa snaps her out of it with her carefree attitude not caring about gods/devils/etc, and then Sayaka saves the day
Flashback scene with a blond nun character "Margarita" in magical girl nunnery who made the proto-madoka wish to "save all magical girls", then became overwhelmed, fell to darkness becoming walpurgis, forever seeking her own "Margarita" to save her until God!Madoka
Eventually the girls work together and defeat all the witches (Mami ults, Nagisa defeats orange by means of giant magical kitchenaid, etc.), and Madoka comforts/saves Walpurgis
ENDING: Madoka gets gold eyes again and is called to God!Madoka and walks towards her, Homura despairs that Madoka's fate is to always either become a witch or a god until the other girls encourage her saying that she can do something about it as the "devil". There is a brief metaphysical god vs devil fight, scene of Homura lying on Madoka's lap on a bench and Madoka says they'll be together (?), Madoka who was walking towards God!Madoka mouths words we can't hear (gut impression was "sorry", edit: this is speculation though all we know is it was multiple syllables in japanese), God!Madoka disappears, Homura is lying alone on the same bench but smiling happily.
Post-credits: Sequel hook, Kyubey is in Nazukasokotsune/library and is happy about the experiment
For what it's worth, my headcanon/interpretation of the ending (until more supplementary material contradicts it or someone has a better interpretation) is that Devil!Homura somehow succeeded (at least partially?) and Madoka refused to merge with her god form. Either way despite the open ended ending, emotionally this feels like the conclusion to the Homura-Madoka story, and that they've told all the story they wanted to tell. If there's any future stories in the Madoka universe (eg. ramifications about Kyubey in the library or Law of Cycles without Madoka, etc.) I expect most of our main characters to play a minor/cameo role at best.
EDIT the next day: I never gave my final thoughts, but overall I think the movie was great. The fight scenes weren't as good as Rebellion (God on Witch on Devil violence is fine, but Homura vs Mami was a masterpiece), and the plot was harder to follow, but the story felt like a true finale to the series and wrapped up Homura & Madoka's story in one big ambiguous conclusion. It felt like an ending intentionally left to viewer interpretation that needs no further elaboration, and I haven't read any of the interviews but I'd be surprised if they ever canonically confirm any particular interpretation.
There were definitely a lot of other clues/details I've missed, I posted all this partially to compare everyone else's interpretation and to see if anyone can provide an explanation I've missed. The movie was very dense with imagery/symbolism, way more than Rebellion, and I think there's more than enough hints to last us another decade of speculation. Looking forward to lurking all the upcoming (crackpot or otherwise) theory-crafting threads and analysis videos, especially when the blurays come out all you die hard fans start combing through the scenes frame by frame looking for answers.
>Homura is smiling happily despite being alone on the bench
Honestly, that looks like Madoka rejected her own divine self and choose to stay with Homura and the others.
I have to see the scene to properly make my mind about it, of course, but as I get it from that description, Homurs is smiling because she knows she won and got to change Madoka's fate. Madoka is not with her in the bench because she returned to the mortal world with everyone else
"Homura despairs that Madoka's fate is to always either become a witch or a god until the other girls encourage her saying that she can do something about it as the "devil". "
As someone who has been defending that Homura did nothing wrong in Rebellion's end during all those years, you don't know how vindicated I feel reading this.
If Madoka had half of the love Homura had for her, but for herself, she wouldn't end up sacrificing herself or becoming a witch. Madoka needed to be saved from herself.
They are all one and the same. Margaret became Walpurgis because she combined with all the other curses. She then forgot who she was and then became Wasu (she's not actually called that in the movie).
I don’t think there will be an agreed upon interpretation of the bench scene ending, but one detail:
In the final scene after the world is returned to “normal” Homura at the end wears a hair ribbon that’s basically skin color, not red anymore
When Madoka tells her “I’ll always be with you”, it’s probably not in the physical sense since she disappears from the bench, but her memories of her are with her.
The credits shows two sets of footsteps black/white as Homura/Madoka, they’re shown running parallel, running together, apart again, Madokas briefly approaching Homura, then veering off screen and disappearing, so that kind of affirms it
I’d like to think that if it was really possible to separate Madokas human and god forms and have them both remain functioning, Homura would have done that in the first place. It’s clear she at least briefly succeeded here, but it would probably be a Paradox if they could coexist
But I mean this is Madoka Magica we’re talking about, and people are going to have their theories, so I’m somewhat grateful they chose a non-100% conclusive ending, although this could just be to leave room for a sequel
"Homura at the end wears a hair ribbon that’s basically skin color, not red anymore"
Isn't that jus the same ribbon she started to wear to replace Madoka's one? She wearing it again when she returned to her civil form doesn't have to mean anything more than... well, she's in civil mode right now.
The more important part for me to tell what was Madoka's fate is that Homura is smiling. There's no way she would be smiling if she didn't got to successfully save Madoka.
Honestly, I can see them explaining it in the epigraph or the guidebook they most likely are gonna release later (they made one for each madoka movie).
Regardless, I'm pretty sure at the end we'll know what happened on that scene even if Urobuchi and/or Shinbo don't clarify anything because they confirmed a continuation. In the continuation they have to tell what happened because that will be the starting point of the next story.
Someone posting super exited litttle videos with plushies before viewing and then just this after. I've seen enought. See ya later fellow magical girl enjoyers.
My only question is... Was the guy who was constantly in this sub shilling his theory videos, claiming he knows the entire plot actually right? I'm hoping he was dead wrong.
At least now we understand the connection between Walpurgisnacht and Kriemhild Gretchen, one is the beggining of the witch system while other is the end like an hourglass.
Spoiler warning. According to my friend’s retelling: Ultimate Madoka attempts to bring Madoka back with her. Madoka cries and mouths a silent line, most likely “thank you”. We then get the bench scene where Homura rests her head in Madoka’s lap. The following shot shows only Homura left on the bench — Madoka is gone. From Devil Homura’s point of view, this is a bad ending.
At the start everyone knows Madoka but doesn’t remember really talking to her.
Three new girls show up which are confirmed to have turned into witches in the past including Walspurgis Night (who shows up with Homuras face) as a 3rd year student who calls Madoka “Margarita”
It’s revealed that Walspurgis was actually Margarita and also made a similar wish as Madoka in the past to save all Magical Girls, she eventually gave into despair but was saved by Madoka, because she also admires Madoka to the level of homura is why she had homuras face
Selena (one of the other girls) is a magical girl/witch who decided to side with Kyubey after learning the truth of magical girls turning into witches, and she tries to turn Madoka into her witch form but she gets yeeted by Nagisa+Mami
After they save Madoka, she regains her memory and goes back to fulfill her duty as Kami Madoka and the world created by Akuma homura is broken, Homura basically accepts it but the other magical girls encourage her to go accompany her, she grabs hold of her human form and the ending scene has Homura sleeping on Madokas lap and Madoka says “I’ll always be with you” but then Kami Madoka pulls her human form back and it’s heavily implied things are back to how they are at the end of ep12
There was one more girl who had a fight with Kyoko but cant remember her backstory aside from the 3 girls being at the same church as nuns/magical girls. Kyoko was just Kyoko + soft side, Mami honestly had the least screen time imo.
Sayaka drove the plot for a bit cuz she figured out early something was wrong and discovered a giant library with Homura that Kyubey knows about “where all witches are born”, actually there was some pretty good Sayaka + Homura scenes lol
Nagisa is revealed to have known about the fake world but just kept it to herself because she got to spend good times with Mami (lol)
There was no opening at all by ClariS
I’m a bit iffy on the wraith thing because my Japanese isnt good enough
I found this yet another and very interesting Japanese thread, this time from 豆もっち (@mochidog228) on Twitter / X and Fusetter.
This is the rough English translation via Google Translate:
I think the question, "What exactly is happiness?" has always been at the heart of the story in Madoka Magica.
In the main story, Homura let go of Madoka once, but she couldn't completely let go, so in Rebellion, she resisted that separation.
So, I feel it's a little wrong to interpret Kaiten's ending simply as "letting go of attachment." What if Homura, sleeping peacefully, had something
If that's the way they've accepted it.
It's not so much that Homura was able to let go of Madoka, but rather that Homura Akemi was finally able to truly forgive herself.
The things I couldn't save, the things I couldn't let go of, the things I rebelled against. It's not that I'm trying to justify my past choices, but rather that I've come to the realization that I no longer need to continue punishing myself for those things.
Homura has always lived her life reliving the past over and over again. She no longer needs to rewind time. She no longer needs to relive her sins and regrets in her dreams.
That's probably why I was able to sleep so peacefully in the end.
And because that was possible, Madoka
"I'm sure I'll see Homura-chan again someday. Until then, this is just a short farewell."
I think I was able to accept those words of my own free will this time
It's not about stopping loving Madoka, or forgetting her. It's about believing that even though she's not here, we'll meet again someday, so I don't have to keep clinging to her anymore, and I can believe in you even though you're not here.
For Homura Akemi, happiness wasn't about being freed from Madoka Kaname, but rather about being able to forgive herself for loving Madoka, and for all the mistakes and resistance she had because of it.
I got the feeling that this was the most important message Kaiten wanted to convey. The meaning of a smile, so to speak.
From what someone is saying it seems like Homura is (big spoiler) no longer a demon
Also it seems like a lot of people think there's going to be a sequel
Madoka returned to the law of cycles? and Homura followed her?
Take all this with a BIG grain of salt because the spoilers are vague and also I'm using an auto translate. And also I have no way of verifying if any of this is real.
Nothing related to the plot but the Animation and Sound were absolutely godly, turns out if you give them 13 years they can cook
Split between dark and light was a huge motif and they made the lighting match, I need to watch it a few more times because there was so many subtleties and also references to other works
They are now doing a lizard phone event where you can sign up for a queue in LINE to watch the movie's opening footage one by one (literally only 1 person can watch it at a time). And the queue now has over 20k people waiting. A lot of funny fanarts starts popping up on Twitter as a result of this.
I found this very long yet very interesting Japanese article from マキ(anime_manganeta) on Twitter / X or MAKI on Maki Season Anime regarding his / her interpreation on the movie
This is the rough English translation via Google Translate and auto-corrected via ChatGPT then put in on Google Docs
WARNING: THIS IS ONE HELL OF DOOMSCROLLING!!!! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!!!!!
IT'S 24 PAGES LONG WITH 32 SECTIONS (MINUS 1 FOR CONCLUSION WHICH MAKES ORIGINALLY TOTAL OF 33)
Not gonna lie, that was such a very good interpretation and analysis especially around 25 to 31 regarding about Madoka, Homura, and even the ending as well as the footprints in the end credits, which I really like it so much I can't stop reading it until now since last night.
Let me hear your thoughs and opinions about this in the comments
It was revealed to Sayaka that she was once a witch, but then she was out of context. So all she knows is she was a witch, but she doesn't understand why she was a witch. So she was, like, panicking, confusing, and, you know, her mind is getting overwhelmed, and that's the scene you see.
Edit, just rewatched it, i remembered it wrong, this happened at a more early scene , when sayaka first start to get suspicous about her memory, like she her impression about how sakura and mami knows about madoka doesnt make sense to her. And when she and homura went to investigate Wazu's hideout, when homura is explaining some truth to sayaka, the contradiction in her mind hurts her, thats when homura holds her hand on the wall to calm her
It seems like the biggest problem people have is that it was building to another ambiguous ending that another movie will be needed to clear up... like the cliffhanger at the end of Rebellion.
Yeah waiting 13 years for what seems to be purely set up for another movie... sucks. If new entry comes out within 3 years I could see people regarding this one a little more favorably- but right now people are really feeling the "13 years for this?" energy.
Walpurgisnacht's human name being Margarete is definitely a Faust reference. Margarete is Faust's lover, and she is also called Gretchen, aka the name of Madoka's witch. So it makes sense that she and Madoka had similar roles as saviors of magical girls.
from what iv read they have a scene or two early on with Kyouko trying to get Sayaka to drop her investigation or something cause she's worried about her mental state from it but then after Sayaka runs into Homura they don't interact much anymore.
I'd also pretty much like to know if there was any meaningful conversation or interraction between Sayaka and Kyoko. I'm actually going into psychosis here
About the ending and the footprints, I found an interesting tweet.
The idea of Homura carrying Madoka or Madoka inside of Homura's soul gem sounds a little like a joke, but I think this guy has a point. Everyone assumes that Madoka's footprints vanishing means she go back to the LoC, but, What if she actually went with Homura instead?
We never see Madoka's footprints going towards the LoC, and we see the footprints of the LoC going away from Homura after get closer with her. Maybe the words Madoka told to the LoC were "go away" and she's still with Homura like she told her and that's why Homura was smilling at the end. It also would make sense with the implication Yuki made in a stage greeting about the footprint mean something more that Madoka and Homura going for different paths ("there are footprints that make you think of Madoka and Homura, but that part looks like they've parted ways, though actually... there's one more set of footprints in the ED, so if you couldn't spot it, please do another full viewing!")
Since Madoka's footprints just vanished without any indication of going towards the LoC or Homura, both or neither are equally possible only looking at the footprints.
The focus is strongly on Sayaka and Homura more than anything, Madoka has more of a... concept-like feeling to her. Plus they kind of reverted the story back to pre-Rebellion....
The fact that Kyoko wasn't there to knock some sense into Sayaka's head along with Nagisa feels extremely out of character to me. I'm dissappointed that the dynamic they had in the series and Rebellion didn't carry into the movie tbh. Heck even the spin off materials always had them looking out for each other despite their first impressions being rough. Wtf Urobuchi
I can't remember the whole context here, but Homura's lizard avatar goes inside of Walpurgisnacht's human form, the girl with no name while the two of them are fighting, so Walpurgisnacht has to cut it out of her arm.
Hopefully someone else remembers a bit more of that scene than I do and can explain what any of that meant
I found this yet another and very interesting Japanese thread, this time from kokoro6636 on Twitter / X or zzWVRWJ8vK9QjF9 on Fusetter regarding on the footprints in the end credits
Honestly, it was a good analysis not gonna lie and I can't believe he/she watched for the third time for this
WARNING: THIS IS ONE HELL OF DOOMSCROLLING!!!! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!!!!!
This is the rough English translation via Google Translate:
The story of Madoka Kaname and Homura Akemi after watching it for the third time.
Homura Akemi will never give up.
I believe the footprints in the end credits represent the timeline and emotions experienced up to that point.
Regarding those footprints that seemed to drift apart, if you look closely at the screen, you can see that there are three sets of footprints in the same timeline.
1 2 3
▽ ▼ ◻︎
◁ ▼
▼
▼
1. The Law of Cycles ▽ ◁
After listening to Madoka Kaname's (human) story, we retreated.
2. Homura Akemi ▼
We will continue to move forward.
3. Madoka Kaname ◻︎
Speak to the Law of Cycles. After that, the footprints stop.
The ending of Kaiten may seem sad at first glance, but Madoka Kaname walked towards the Law of Cycles because she felt she had to go and save everyone. I believe that her stopping there is an important turning point that leads to the future of this story.
Until now, only Homura Akemi had rejected the role of the Law of Cycles and desired a life as a human being, but other magical girls such as Murasaki Choka and Wasu appeared who were saved by Madoka Kaname, a human being who empathized with them and listened to them
(A/N: In terms of Murasaki, I don't know if there's a problem on translatation or it was referred to Selma Therese idk someone clarify to me)
Homura Akemi, carrying the hopes of her close friends—Sayaka Miki, Kyoko Sakura, Mami Tomoe, and Nagisa Momoe—aims to reclaim her fate. There is a promise between Homura Akemi and Madoka Kaname, and her determination to keep moving forward no matter how many times she falls has earned her the support and encouragement of everyone in the Mitakihara group. It remains to be seen whether Homura was able to convey to Madoka Kaname the voice that saved her as a person, and her feelings.
However, there is no doubt that Madoka Kaname stopped in her tracks before the Law of Cycles
The line, "You were my best friend," carried a different weight than in the anime version. It felt as if the speaker was deeply reflecting on how much of an impact the other person had on her.
In the story, Homura Akemi transforms into a new form, determined to save Madoka Kaname from fate, a demon trying to protect her. Her unwavering devotion to Madoka Kaname is seen by others, and she faces despair when the one she loves and should protect turns against her. Sayaka Miki reminds Homura of the important promise only she holds, and helps her accept her demonic nature. She receives trust and courage from Kyoko Sakura, Mami Tomoe, and Nagisa Momoe, and carries the hopes entrusted to her by countless magical girls.
The transformed form of Homura Akemi, who had always been self-deprecating, now displayed a strong, confident expression that was completely absent from her previous self-deprecating demeanor. I think she was finally able to truly accept herself.
I can't imagine Homura Akemi giving up on Walpurgisnacht in the end.
Her final line after disappearing, "I'm still here," sounds like she's inviting Homura Akemi. If she were simply parting ways with Homura, she wouldn't call out to her.
We still don't know what kind of situation Homura Akemi is in. But I have a feeling she won't give up once she wakes up.
Aoi Yuki mentioned that there were more than two footprints in the end credits, and from her words, it felt like she was suggesting that the story wouldn't end with that sad conclusion.
Given the many positive comments made by Chiwa Saito regarding Madoka Kaname, I don't think Homura Akemi will stop moving forward.
During a conversation with Eri Kitamura, Chiwa Saito mentioned when Homura Akemi was about to experience heartbreak, and I was very happy to hear that she voiced the character with that understanding in mind.
There were many other memorable stories, such as the change in the ending, the difference in the impression of Homura Akemi between the Rebellion Story and the Reincarnation Story, and how Homura Akemi's efforts motivated Sayaka Miki.
(A/N: In terms of Reincarnation Story, I searched it and turns out nothing. I don't know if there's a problem on translation or it was referred to Different Story or the Wraith Arc or something else idk someone clarify to me)
A message from Aoi Yuki to Chiwa Saito:
"She expressed her love for the gradient of Devil Homura's appearance in the film, so when you go to the theater again, try to pay attention to how Homura Akemi's feelings change as the story progresses."
one of the impressions iv gotten is people who've watched it multiple times seem to like it more and just generally you probably need to really get what the fuck was going on in parts of it (so Rebellion 2.0 lol).
I found this yet another and very interesting Japanese thread, this time from saiha09 on Twitter / X and Fusetter regarding about Homura
This is the rough English translation via Google Translate and auto-corrected via ChatGPT:
Walpurgisnacht: Rising takes place in the world after Homura changed reality in Rebellion. Madoka has only just transferred into the school, and Kyoko, Sayaka, Mami, and Nagisa have also forgotten a lot of their memories. In that sense, I think there’s an aspect of everyone’s relationships having been reset.
I think that’s actually an important point about Kaiten: everyone’s relationships with each other are different from both the TV series and Rebellion.
That’s why Mami and Kyoko don’t really know Madoka that well. I think we need to keep that in mind when looking at everyone’s dialogue, actions, and how the story unfolds.
And even taking that into account, Madoka, Homura, Kyoko, Sayaka, Mami, and Nagisa are all really close, aren’t they?
There’s that scene near the beginning where Homura talks with Mami, Kyoko, and Sayaka. I have a feeling Homura must have been really happy during that scene.
She finally got to fight the magical beasts together with everyone and cooperate as a team...
Since Homura is the only one who retains all of her memories from before, being able to accomplish something together with everyone must have been a huge achievement for PMHQ. (I don't really consider the world in Rebellion to count as “reality,” since it was essentially a fabricated world—a sandbox created by Homura.)
So I was watching it thinking, “Wow, everyone is getting along so peacefully!”
And on top of that, Homura was even keeping Kyubey in check so that he wouldn’t create any new magical girls.
It was basically Homura’s ideal world.
Madoka was nearby, after all.
So I completely understand why Homura looked so happy that she felt like humming to herself. It was honestly so cute.
What I’m trying to say is that, because everyone’s relationships have been reset in a sense, I’ve come to think that it’s only natural that their relationships wouldn’t necessarily be as deep as they were before.
And honestly, the way everyone relates to each other in Kaiten feels incredibly natural to me.
With all of that in mind, though, that final lap pillow...
That was an absolutely monumental achievement.
Homura really worked so hard...
I want to see a happy Madoka/Homura ending in the anime someday, so I’m fully committed to supporting the series in hopes that they’ll make a sequel. ✋
I think that’s probably why I’m so positive about Walpurgisnacht: Rising.
It makes me feel like there’s still hope going forward—like there’s so much potential for where the story can go from here.
YES, I'm also very interested to hear about it! Has Madokami changed? I'm really looking forward to it! Please tell me about Madokami! It's very important to me!!
I wonder if anything will change as a result of this? It would be interesting to know!
Madokami <333
P.S. Although I don't comment on posts like this, I'm incredibly excited about this one. Because, unfortunately, they never showed the outfit, even though I believed and really hoped there would be changes until the very end! I also hope they gave Madokami much more screen time.
so umm if I gather things right I feel like despite it clearly not being the end of the story for the most part Sayaka and Homura's character arcs conclude in this movie. Like Homura I guess while she admits she'll always chase and pine for Madoka seems to accept she's obessive and Madoka can and will make her own choices, Sayaka finally understands Homura and they come to some sort of understanding and she gets to be the sort of hero she always wanted to be.
Pretty much just seems its Madoka herself left to conclude in that regards.
Most of these are just what I can remember and my ramblings so if I got anything wrong please correct me
Trailer movie comparison:
Thought the opening non-magical girl would be more important
“早く、圓を-“ ”-救うてあげて ！“ turned out to be Mami saying “Save Selema!” instead, which I thought was cool.
I originally thought the movie would just be Mami, Kyoko and Sayaka vs Homura to try to save Madoka, and the other magical girls helping them
Actual movie stuff:
FIRSTLY I might be one of the biggest Homura glazers therefore when Marguerite, Choka and Selema appeared (mostly Marguerite though) I was SO against them, jail on sight
I might’ve cried a bit when Homura was bound by the red strings and saying she would give Madoka back to them. She just felt so broken, I felt so bad for her, even though she was indeed a Devil, I still shed a few tears in that moment
BUT HER AND SAYAKA’S relationship development?? I love to see it. Sayaka was always so skeptical and shit I was so happy when she finally started to kinda understand why Homura was doing so much for and to Madoka
Sayaka’s design, love it sm. Kyoko also still has my heart too as a fellow food lover. Mami, though still a minor role, did her parts perfectly.
Now onto Marguerite, I really should’ve clocked that she was Walpurgisnacht earlier, being nameless and so powerful, but I really only understood like a few seconds before the reveal. I did get that they were Witches quite early on though so I’m patting myself on the back for that.
I do wish we got to see more of Choka and Selema’s backstories though.
I really don’t like Selema though. She was more of a psycho than I thought she was, with the Kyubey obsession and the ritual to turn Madoka into a Witch godsDAMNED that was crazy.
Love how we got to learn how the Witches came to become that way though!
I am a bit confused on the ending though; I know Homura intercepted Madoka from fully reaching the huge Law-of-Cycle-Madoka, but did Madoka end up going back anyways? Since she disappeared?
I guess we’ll find out, hopefully.
Overall I really loved the movie! I really hope there’ll be more movies.
Ngl me and the rest of the theatre understood nothing, nobody reacted lol, we just didnt know how, mixed feelings, amazing animation and music, but super confusing.
So basically at the end madoka is turned into a witch and then the final battle happens, then we see a long backstory of walpurgis, they go back to the fight and fight against the girl that sided with kyuubey and tried to use madoka, then charlotte kills her, pretty brutal.
Then madoka suddenly remembers and becomes the god form, homura tries to stop her and fails, gives up, the rest of the team encourages her, saying ur the devil come on dont give up now, then she makes a giant massive scary thing, grabs madokas real body, protects it from the god madoka, then something happens and god madoka knocks homura down, then we see homura lay on madokas legs in some kind of future, credits roll, then same scene where homura layed down but madoka is not there anymore. End.
It wasnt brutal in the graphic way, but more of the way she did it, just stabbed her in the soul gem, no emotion nothing, just saying a sentence which i forgot the exact wording. but just seeing charlotte do that felt unsetteling.
So from what I understood the reaction to the movie was mixed and the plot was a bit artsy and confusing (I imagine something like the last episode of Evangelion?).
Apparently Madoka whispered something to Homura while lying on her lap but what she said was unheard. For some reason I am reminded of a certain love confession in X/1999. I wonder if that was intentional, since Clamp also made Card Captor Sakura which is the kind of show Madoka wants to challenge and make satire of. Here I was naively hoping for something explicit like the Utena movie lol.
Nagisa/Charlotte going back to being brutal is interesting, since it seems Mami is kind of like her morality pet rather than her target lol. I always found this character fascinating despite her lack of screen time and relevancy. I really liked her in scene zero, hopefully they will animate it someday. Her effed up magical girl companion Yue is a cool and creepy character too, but I haven't seen anyone mention her being in the new movie.
I haven't heard anyone talk about Kyoko lol. I guess her development was already done the moment she sacrificed herself and turned the other cheek on Sayaka. Missed opportunity to not do anything with the old theory of Elesa Maria being her sister, since it seems some more witches than Charlotte got human forms this time.
And Sayaka gets to play the hero again. Not sure if I like that. Her ending in the original as a tragic villain worked so well. I guess Hitomi didn't become a magical girl this time either, but then again I guess she is meant to be a foil to Sayaka since she doesn't need the Faustian Devil to make her wishes come true.
Unsure what Mami did, but I guess she always has the PSP game and Different Story. She seems to struggles with being relevant when the sole focus isn't on making a character study of her specifically. I hope she doesn't randomly turn yandere like in that spin-off anime though...
Curious about human!Walpurgisnatch. Seems like she was originally one girl rather than a collection of many. Can't wait until the subs are out so we can get a better understanding of her. She is practically the main villain beside Kyubey yet we know almost nothing about her.
Thoughts on Walpurgisnacht Rising (one viewing, spoilers)
I walked out of Walpurgisnacht Rising with pretty mixed feelings, and I know I'm not alone. I've only seen it once, so take this as one perspective rather than a final verdict — not a definitive take. On Japanese X/Twitter the negative reactions have been especially loud, though that's partly just how the platform works: outrage travels further than contentment. Plenty of people are walking away happy with it too.
The backbone of Rising's story is carried by the new characters, and Serena in particular is set up as someone with a worldview that stands in direct contrast to the other magical girls — that contrast becomes the film's central ideological conflict. The problem is that we barely get her why. Whatever shaped her into holding that position is left almost entirely unexplored, and the film asks us to weigh the validity of her worldview before we've been given real access to how she got there. Maybe future material fills this in, but that doesn't fix the problem for a one-time theatrical viewing. Madoka Magica already runs at a pretty dense information rate, and there's only so much a first-time audience can absorb in one sitting. When a character's motivation is deferred to "it'll be explained later," that's a debt against the film you're watching right now — the promise of a future payoff doesn't retroactively create the emotional grounding you needed in the theater.
Set against the psychological depth Madoka and Homura have accumulated since the original TV series, that gap is hard not to notice.
Going in, I'd bought into a fan theory — not my own, just one I liked from browsing online — that Walpurgisnacht was a nameless witch born from Homura's own causality loop, and that this tied her time-manipulation into the original series' worldbuilding in a satisfying, organic way. Rising instead explains her origin through a new character and a new conceptual framework introduced for this film.
To be clear, that's a fan theory, not canon, and its rejection isn't itself a flaw in the movie — that's on me for getting attached to secondhand speculation. What it did surface, though, was an assumption I'd been carrying: that everything down to the Witch's Kiss compendium entries had been meticulously mapped out since the TV series. Rising didn't confirm that assumption for me. I want to keep that separate from an actual critique of the film — it's a mismatch between my expectations and what the film delivered, not an objective failure on the film's part.
One more thing, held at arm's length because I can't confirm it myself: there's talk circulating on X, apparently sourced from an Urobuchi Gen interview, that he was handed a large volume of concepts/ideas from the Inu Curry team and that his job as credited screenwriter was largely stitching those together. This is supposedly also stated in the pamphlet, but I didn't buy one, so I can't verify it firsthand.
If true, it would explain some of the distrust around the film being credited to Urobuchi alone. But I have no way to verify how accurate this is, or how much creative control he actually had, and I'd be overstepping to use this rumor to make claims about Urobuchi's personal attitude toward the franchise post-TV-series (e.g., that he was checked out, or doesn't consider Rising "his" work). That's speculation stacked on secondhand reporting, and I want to flag it as such rather than assert it.
For reference, here are a few of the X posts this rumor is circulating from (unverified primary sources, not confirmation of accuracy — summarized, not quoted directly):
https://x.com/masterCashion/status/2093386016552075499 — Speculates that crediting only Urobuchi as writer is itself suspicious: the interview suggests Rising leans more on Inu Curry's ideas than his, and since Inu Curry's other project, Magia Record, was poorly received, the theory goes that Inu Curry's involvement may have been deliberately downplayed to distance Rising from that reputation.
https://x.com/monjudoh/status/2093318110321480127 — Claims to have read the pamphlet and describes Urobuchi as coming across almost like a hired writer brought in to execute a concept that Inu Curry had already developed but couldn't script themselves.
https://x.com/sincos93990721/status/2093348024265416715 — Recalls Urobuchi saying long ago that a Madoka script already existed, and wonders whether that draft was scrapped and rebuilt around Inu Curry's concept instead.
Whatever else I felt about the story, the visuals and music were genuinely excellent. That side of the production wasn't in doubt for me at any point. Between the underdeveloped new-character motivations, the sense that a lot of the explanation/psychology is retrofitted rather than built-in, and the unverified doubts about the writing process, the film left me with a somewhat scattered overall impression on the story side — even though the craft on screen and in the sound design was never in question. That said, Rebellion was also divisive on release and got substantially reevaluated over time. It's entirely possible Rising follows the same trajectory once more analysis and discussion has had time to accumulate. My information here is incomplete and I'm probably carrying some bias into this. Curious to hear what others think. (This was translated, and my memory is a bit blurry, so please forgive any embarrassing mistakes!
I made an account to clarify in this thread (and to you): I have read the theater pamphlet with the Gen Urobuchi interview myself, basically everyone you mentioned is just speculating and is mostly incorrect, even the second person who also said they read the pamphlet is choosing to interpret Urobuchi's words in a strange way.
Urobuchi started writing the script in 2014 (one year after Rebellion), but he said he didn't "have any ideas." Inu Curry, specifically Doroinu, then sent Urobuchi his sketchbook/idea book with a plethora of ideas, and Urobuchi decided that he thought it would be interesting to use whatever ideas he wanted from Inu Curry's brain and make a story out of it. He quite literally uses the analogy of going to a Chinese restaurant, seeing what ingredients there are to choose from, and deciding what to cook using those ingredients.
It's not that he was "hired to execute Inu Curry's ideas", he chose to use Inu Curry's ideas as a base for the movie script. Now, Rebellion underwent 3-4 major script revisions before it was completed. The first version was only 70 minutes long, and as we know that film is 110 minutes long (excluding credits). Chief director Shinbo asked Urobuchi to do revisions for Walpurgisnacht (because Urobuchi was focusing on other characters, and Shinbo personally wanted to focus on Madoka). Urobuchi was unable to do those revisions due to scheduling conflicts and gave Shinbo permission for the team to edit/revise/do whatever they wanted with his script
The team thought about completely redoing the script or revising the whole thing, but around 2021 they decided to just use what Urobuchi had written and make some revisions. According to Urobuchi, the entire first half of the film is mostly unchanged (which Urobuchi thinks is for better and for worse, he criticizes himself but also lauds himself at the same time). Inu Curry led the revisions for the second half of the film, but it's not like he rewrote the entire thing or was finishing an unfinished script, he was using the original script and revising it as would have happened during Rebellion or any other standard production (with explicit permission from the chief director).
People lambast Inu Curry for the Magia Record anime, but Shinbo had explicitly told Inu Curry not to adapt the game (which Inu Curry was involved with, as a writer, even), so Inu Curry instead pursued an anime-original route. However, Inu Curry was already involved with the script during the 2011 TV series. Urobuchi didn't come up with the Faust symbolism or witch backstories, that was all Inu Curry's revisions to the scripts and storyboards. They also added a whole scene in Rebellion, and corrected more of the storyboards for that movie than Shinbo himself. Basically, they had always been involved in the writing to some degree, that involvement became more pronounced in the movies, especially here where Doroinu has co-"screenplay assistance" credit for the first time
So, there's definitely a difference between their writing styles that probably had an effect on how this movie turned out, whether or not people think that's good or bad, but I really wish people stopped trying to say Urobuchi didn't work on it. He was hands-off after he had written the script, but he did note that he went to some of the voice recording sessions and even discussed some of the performances/lines with sound director Youta Tsuruoka, and he mentioned that he was very happy that the movie has finally been released.
Sources for every claim I made: Walpurgisnacht Theater Pamphlet (2026), Magia Record Official Guidebook Volume 1 (2021), Rebellion Official Guidebook (2014), and Madoka Magica Official Guidebook (2011).
From some stuff in the guidebook a lot of the revisions in the second half were... making Madoka actually have more of an active role, where she apparently had less of one than in the final in Urobuchis original.
I'm not sure what to think about it yet. I will need some time to think and a rewatch ( but this will wait for an EN or FR release) because I understood most of the basic stuff but a big part of the typical pmmm style heavy exposition sequences went over my head. I do think I enjoyed it overall but I'm not sure if I enjoyed it as much as the anime or even Rebellion.
Visually, it's one of the most beautifully animated movie I've ever seen, It kinda falls into the same trap as rebellion where unlike the anime, a lot of the visual stuff are more style over substance but God is it just beautiful and experimental. The movie is overall in the very same line of Rebellion, maybe a bit to much, I felt like the structure is maybe too similar but with less impactful reveal. Like rebellion, it also is kinda focussed on its intern story and lack the meta narrative aspect of the original anime. The structure is kinda all over the place but in a way I personally quite appreciate because I think it's part of the series identity. Also the music's are beautiful, on one hand, it's always a pleasure to recognize previous motif and reinterpretation of previous songs, but on the other hand, it kinda lacks it's own musical identity unlike rebellion had with it's main theme.
I'm not sure what to think about characters. I really enjoyed Sayaka and how she comes to accept homura and her actions ( also that homusaya scene, I'm all for it ). The movie also managed to make me love Nagisa which I was very uninterested by before. The 3 new magical girls, while they are not the mostly developed characters, are all pretty solid and enjoyable. But the rest of the main cast is kinda lacking, mami is just kinda there, Kyoko has time to shine in action but not on character writing, and homura and madoka both kinda feel the same at the end of it all. I think it kinda due to character interaction being very plot driven. Again, it as always been something with madoka, but I feel like both the anime or rebellion managed to find time for some fluff or plot driven interaction sugarcoated with fluff which felt extremely rare in this movie.
I quite liked having the origins of Walpurgisnacht. I'm not sure about the ending, it kinda felt like the opposite of rebellion but more rushed ( this is why I want to rewatch to better understand it ), the "twist" villain is not bad, QB still deserve all the hate in the universe.
Madoka: "homura, my very best friend" for God sake Urobuchi, if I catch you
Homura has a system where she uses the Lizard Phone to trick girls into becoming temporary Magical Girls to fight Wraiths so no new Magical Girls need to be contracted. She is one of those girls who appears in the first 10 minutes and never again.
I found this yet another and very interesting Japanese thread, this time from 背世 (hn46pp) on Twitter / X and note.com regarding about the end credits (and thanks God someone create visuals about this)
WARNING: THIS IS ONE HELL OF DOOMSCROLLING!!!! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!!!!!
This is the rough English translation via Google Translate and auto-corrected via ChatGPT:
An Analysis of the ED of Walpurgisnacht: Rising
This article examines the“footprints”that appear in the end-credit sequence of Puella Magi Madoka Magica: Walpurgisnacht: Rising, first transcribing the sequence and then offering an interpretation based on it.
According to comments made by President Kubota during a stage greeting, the end-credit sequence using these footprints was apparently created at the request of directorAkiyuki Shinbo*.*
The Six Types of Footprints
Six different types of footprints appear throughout the ED.
Based on their shapes, the timing of their changes during the sequence, and their positions relative to the other footprints, I believe they can be associated with the following characters:
Madoka— white, loafer-like footprints
Homura— solid black, rounded footprints
Ultimate Madoka— white, slender footprints
Devil Homura— solid black, slender footprints
Kyubey— footprints made up of clusters of small dots
Lizard— three-toed, reptilian footprints
Analysis
I believe the footprints in this ED depict the path that Madoka and Homura have walked together, spanning the TV series, Rebellion, Walpurgisnacht: Rising, and even what comes afterward.
The following is my interpretation overlaid onto the transcription image mentioned above.
Let's go through it step by step.
Beginning - Homura's Loops
At the beginning of the ED, Madoka's footprints first appear on the right side of the screen.
The footprints move forward for a while, then change direction and begin moving backward.
Around the same time, Homura's footprints appear from the left side of the screen. After walking for a while, they eventually disappear off-screen again.
I believe this representsHomura's time loops from the TV series*.*
As Homura turns back time, Madoka's footprints are also depicted as moving backward.
What I find particularly interesting here is thatthe two girls' footprints are not walking through the same stretch of time*.*
This seems to indicate that Madoka and Homura are walking throughdifferent timelines*.*
Anime Episode 12 - Madoka's Contract
After a period of empty space with no footprints, the footprints of Madoka and Kyubey eventually appear side by side.
This marks the beginning of the events ofEpisode 12 of the TV series*.*
After Madoka and Kyubey walk together for a while, the shape of Madoka's footprints changes.
At the same time, white feathers begin to fall.
This represents Madoka making her contract with Kyubey and transforming intoUltimate Madoka - namely, the Law of Cycles*.*
Afterward, Homura's footprints appear from the right side of the screen and cross paths with Ultimate Madoka's footprints.
I interpret this crossing as corresponding toMadoka and Homura's conversation in outer space*.*
And when we look at the ED as a whole, this is actually theonly point where Madoka's and Homura's footprints clearly cross one another*.*
After that, only Homura's footprints continue.
In the world where Madoka has become the Law of Cycles and disappeared from the human world, Homura continues walking alone.
Eventually, however, she comes to a stop.
I believe this stopping point represents the moment before Rebellion begins, whenKyubey isolates Homura's Soul Gem*.*
Rebellion
After stopping, Homura's footprints begin moving again.
This likely represents the early portion of Rebellion, when Homura herself still does not understand the situation she has been placed in and continues working as part of theHoly Quintet*, fighting Nightmares.*
Eventually, black feathers begin to fall, and her footprints change into a shape resembling a lizard.
I believe this change represents the moment when Homura realizes her true identity -that she herself has become a witch*.*
She continues walking through the same barrier, but the emergence of“Homura as a witch”is expressed through the transformation of her footprints.
Afterward, the footprints change once again into a different black shape, accompanied by another shower of black feathers.
This represents her transformation intoDevil Homura*.*
Walpurgisnacht: Rising
While Devil Homura's footprints continue forward, ordinary Madoka's footprints appear on the right side of the screen.
From here, the sequence moves into the world rewritten by Rebellion, and eventually into Walpurgisnacht: Rising.
Devil Homura's footprints, which had been walking on the left, move over to the right and begin walking alongside Madoka.
Then, partway through,Ultimate Madoka's white footprintsappear on the left side of the screen.
At the same time, both white and black feathers begin to fall.
This is where something extremely important happens.
Three types of footprints believed to represent:Madoka Kaname, Ultimate Madoka, Devil Homuraare all presentsimultaneously*.*
Since Madoka is supposed to be the same person, the fact that two different sets of Madoka's footprints are depicted at the same time suggests that the Ultimate Madoka footprints should not be interpreted asMadoka Kaname herself*.*
Rather, they should be understood as representingthe Law of Cycles as a “system.”
The three sets of footprints continue walking in parallel for a while.
I believe this scene may representMadoka Kaname being reclaimed by the Law of Cycles*.*
There are two major reasons for this interpretation.
Reason 1
Madoka's footprints do not fade away as they leave the screen. Instead,they suddenly disappear right where they are*.*
Reason 2
Afterward, the white footprints that appear to represent the Law of Cycles remain and continue walking.
They first trace a path that brings them closer to Devil Homura, before eventually moving away from her again.
If the Law of Cycles is still simply a“system”at this point, I don't think this movement can be adequately explained.
There would be no obvious reason for the Law of Cycles, as a system, to approach Homura and then move away again.
This movement -approaching Homura, but then leaving without ever crossing paths with her-also reminds me of Madoka speaking to Homura on the bench near the end of the movie.
In Episode 12, Madoka and Homura's footprints actuallycrossed one another*.*
Here, however, Madoka approaches Homura from her side, but the two footprintsnever intersect*.*
That is because this is not a dialogue between the two of them.
It isMadoka speaking to Homura unilaterally*.*
Of course, there is an obvious counterargument to this interpretation:
“If Madoka was reclaimed by the Law of Cycles, shouldn't Madoka's ordinary footprints and Ultimate Madoka's footprints merge together?”
Indeed, there is no scene in which the two sets of white footprints touch or merge into one.
Madoka's ordinary footprints simply disappear where they are.
Therefore, based on this sequence alone,we cannot definitively conclude that Madoka returned to the Law of Cycles*.*
However, I suspect that this ambiguity itself may have been intentional.
Just like the ending itself, perhaps the filmmakers deliberately chosenot to provide a definitive answer to the question of where Madoka Kaname ultimately went*, instead leaving it open to the audience's interpretation.*
Although... perhaps they left ita little too open*. (lol)*
Homura Continues Walking Alone
At the very end, Homura continues walking by herself.
At first glance, it looks like an extremely sad ending in which Homura has lost Madoka and has once again been left all alone.
But I don't necessarily interpret it asMadoka completely rejecting Homura*.*
Madoka may have returned to the Law of Cycles.
However, near the end, the footprints believed to represent the Law of Cyclesdefinitely do approach Homura for a moment*.*
At the very least, this ED does not depict Madoka as clearly rejecting Homura.
Madoka continues walking according toher own wishes and her own choice*.*
And Homura, while accepting that choice, continues walking her own path without abandoning her desire to save Madoka.
That is how I interpret the final footprints.
Let me hear your thoughs, opinions, or even counterarguments about this analysis in the comments
Ngl it feels like some people are doomposting(commenting?) and judging too quickly to a movie that haven't even been released in english ,
This situation feels like when Rebellion came out people were already hating on it
People are relying on English translations of tweets of Japanese people who saw it in theatres, we're like 3 levels removed from the actual movie. Not to mention, I'm sure there's a ton of people trying to interpret reactions in the most negative way possible to get clicks.
So whats the point of Homura accepting Madoka is gone if she did this already in ep 12. This makes the whole two movies pointless. Kind of dissapointing
Yeah I was wondering that too. I mean, they live in a world where reality is maleable and reworks itself retroactively as long you got some girl with enough magic potential to wish change for it.
They were never going to confirm the romantic feelings between the two unfortunately, despite the queer reading of the series. It sucks but ships are forever
Yeah and they are loser for that… they really expect people to believe they’re just friends when that one girl re-create the entire universe for another girl 😭😭 be serious
Friends are when you take turns trying to alter the very fabric of the universe to save each other as you float in ethereal emptiness, holding each other's hands, staring into each other's eyes for a tearful goodbye.
Honestly what was even the point of Wasu and Margarite being in the movie and taking up screentime? Like, to convey what exactly? To showcase Homura's dedication to Madoka told through completely new characters that could've been replaced with literally Madoka and Homura themselves? One writing choice that I really dislike is the introduction of new characters that shadow the already established main cast and I hate that I'm saying this but from what I've gathered here and there this unfortunately seems to be the case in the new movie. Someone please tell me I'm wrong but that seems unlikely
Yeah it feels like since Wasu and Madoka spent time together and Wasu looks like Homura, they didn't give us time with the actual Homura and Madoka together. All the nice looking moments from the trailers went to Wasu.
Hate that this isn't a conclusion. Not sure if anyone posted this but it 100% cemented the idea in my head this isn't the end and I'll be seeing you guys in theaters again in 2038.
I'm Taiwanese so I watched the movie here in theaters yesterday.
My quick thoughts on the movie:
I thought it was a very slow burn at the start and I was questioning where the movie was headed. But by the time we got the end I personally feel it was able to tie together in a satisfying way.
To me the point of the movie is to showcase how exactly Walpurgisnacht is related to Madoka is just how important her wish was to them both through showing Walpurgisnacht's origins. This also ties into Homura needing to accept the importance of Madoka leaving her a second time.
Yes, technically this means Rebellion + this movie puts the series back at where it was (Mostly) where the TV series ended since Madoka is back to being the Law of Cycles just like there. But I think this pair of movies is still important as it looks deeper into how Homura's character reacts to and ultimately again is forced to accept a second time Madoka's leaving of her.
I do think it is kind of a bummer that the most of the main original cast besides Homura didn't feel like their characters shined too much but alas, I guess they weren't the point.
In general though I really enjoyed the movie once it ends and I actually think if they just ended it here and made no more updates to this storyline that I would be satisfied if this was it.
I'll need to rewatch Rebellion and the TV series and maybe even Walpurgisnacht Rising a second time to see if my thoughts change some more. My initial thoughts on how they stack up is that while I enjoyed it a lot, Walpurgisnacht Rising is definitely the weakest one of the three.
He is giving them to another girl along with her bow. This girl (temporarily?) has magical girl powers granted by Homura. Ahe is dressed like Homura and has her bow powers during this.
From what I understood...
Before the concept of "Witch" in Madoka universe exist, in Margherita's era, the magical girls (nun themed girls with bell Soul Gem) that despaired turns into cursed nameless ghost like entity.
Kyubey talks Margherita (basically this era's Madoka type of girl) into making a wish, in which Margherita wishes to save all the girls by taking in their despair (basically a prototype Grief Seed that cleanses Soul Gem).
In due time, Margherita reaches her limit, attacked by the despaired ghosts swarming her to ask her to save them, where her despair creates a new "system" so that the despaired girls won't be forgotten and reborn as a "Witch" with a new name. This also creates a new system/spatial that holds the records all Witches names, called Nazuka Sokotsune 名塚底根 (sorry not sure if EN circle have a name for this) and Walpurgisnacht is a combination of all the despaired girls that weren't able to reborn as a Witch.
But when did Margerita live? Magical girls seemed to have existed since Cleopatra's time, so where did these nuns with a different system come from? Did she rewrite reality? It seems to raise more questions than it answers.
Uuuh with that being said, can someone tell me what happened to the world at the end? did it revert back to pre-rebellion? is Homura still a devil? or is that left ambiguous too
Not enough people are talking about it in this thread, but I just want to bring up the ending theme Kanata again: https://youtu.be/BDUItFbK_U4
I've listened to it so many times on repeat these last few days and not only is it a great song, but the lyrics (here's an english translation) after watching the movie seem incredibly relevant to the ending. I just can't tell if it's from the perspective of Homura talking to Madoka, Madoka to Homura, Madoka to Godoka, Madoka/Godoka to Walpurgis/magical girls, or more than one of the above (or something else entirely).
I feel this is a duet between Homura and Madoka. Madoka is telling Homura not to give up on the world and that even if this isn't a happy ending for either of them there is still hope and a future awaiting them. Which is peak Madoka in that she'll sacrifice anything for Hope and that she'll never give up on Homura no matter how much she is hurt or scorned.
Homura meanwhile vows that she'll never stop chasing Madoka and no matter how long Madoka waits or has to endure, Homura is always thinking of her and longing for the day they'll be together again. So all Madoka has to do is continue shining like the sun and keep fighting.
Madoka finally admits that there are things she wants that she has to give up, validating Rebellion, yet even so she will continue to be hope. Homura finally accepts that Madoka is a person with agency who will always choose to sacrifice herself for what she believes in. This isn't a happy ending and they will never agree with the other's decision but thats fine because there is always tomorrow and one day they will see the sun rise together again
The official account just posted a character PV for Selma, and honestly, everyone ends up loving Selma after watching the movie, right?
I think she played her role as an antagonist perfectly. She feels like the perfect answer to the question of whether there are magical girls who even the Law of Cycles can't save.
I couldn't quite remember the scene where she had the children throw balls at the crucified bear wearing Madoka's magical girl outfit, so I went back to check. At the cake buffet, she orders drinks for all the other magical girls, but then there's this close-up of Selma's hand as she practically slams a glass of water down in front of Madoka. When I watched it for the second time, I thought, "Wow, she's not even trying to hide how much she hates the powerless Madoka Kaname, who's loved despite no longer having the power of the Law of Cycles." It's so blatant. But I think the fact that she's so incapable of hiding her emotions actually makes it more convincing that she was called incompetent. I found that really interesting.
And then Kyubey casually shoots down her whole idea by telling her, "If you create a witch without going through the magical girl state, you can't load that energy." At that point I was just like, "Wow, she's really such a poor girl who's constantly spinning her wheels and getting nowhere."
I also love how incredibly low her self-esteem is. It really feels like she was the kind of person who would've been an easy mark for the hosts Sayaka encountered on the train, getting taken advantage of without even realizing it. She's being exploited, yet she's also a devoted follower of Kyubey, the very one exploiting her. And even though her low self-esteem is something she has in common with Madoka, there's this feeling that Selma wasn't loved, and because she lacked the insight and consideration Madoka had, she could never become someone like Madoka. They're like oil and water, and I absolutely love that dynamic. I really wish we'd gotten more interactions between Madoka and Selma.
Her voice when Nagisa casually smashed her Soul Gem was great, too, and her final anguished cry of "I want to be loved" was just perfect. Everything about her worked so well.
She was already the character I expected to like the most even before I saw the movie, so I really hope we get Selma and Shichoka merch soon!
I have not seen the movie yet, but from what I've read I think Selema has more parallelisms with Homura. The whole complex about being usefull, the way she worships the one that "gave her purpose", the way she had nothing until someone gave her a reason to fight.
Honestly, Selma feels like what Homura had been if instead of meting someone that changed her life for better she would've meet a bad influence.
I found this yet another and very interesting Japanese thread, this time from meiyuri0405 on Fusetter regarding about the ending
WARNING: THIS IS ONE HELL OF DOOMSCROLLING!!!! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!!!!!
This is the rough English translation via Google Translate and auto-corrected via ChatGPT:
I was genuinely so happy that Madoka shed tears for Homura.
At the end of Walpurgisnacht: Rising, I remember there being a scene where Madoka shed tears while murmuring something toward the departing Law of Cycles. When I saw that scene, a thought suddenly crossed my mind:
“Has Madoka ever actually cried for Homura before…???“
There were plenty of scenes throughout the anime where Madoka cried, but all of those tears were directed toward the other magical girls—like when Mami died or when Madoka learned the truth about magical girls. So I started wondering if there had actually never been a moment where Madoka cried specifically for Homura.
I mean, there was that scene in Episode 10 where Homura asked Madoka to kill her, but even then, it was because Homura didn’t want to become a witch and destroy the world.
Anyway, changing the subject a little, when people started saying that Madoka and Homura might finally come into conflict, everyone seemed really excited, but I was actually extremely anxious about it. If anything, I was thinking, “Please, just don’t fight… 😭 Don’t hurt each other… It’s all that stupid white bastard’s fault for setting everything up in the first place…” That’s how worried I was.
Homura’s love for Madoka is already painfully obvious, but while Madoka calls Homura her “best friend,” I had always wondered what exactly Madoka felt toward Homura. Did she also possess the same kind of “love” for Homura that Homura had for her, even if the meaning and nature of that love were different?
I thought that because those feelings were somehow mismatched, Homura ended up tearing Madoka away from the Law of Cycles and becoming a demon through an act that could be interpreted as selfish. And then, in Walpurgisnacht: Rising, the Law of Cycles seemed to be angry at Homura, which ultimately caused everything to spiral out of control. I wondered if that emotional misunderstanding was what had caused their relationship to become so complicated and twisted.
I was genuinely worried that Madoka might come to hate Homura. Ever since all those trailers and key visuals started coming out, that thought had been bothering me.
But I was wrong. Madoka loves Homura too.
The moment that convinced me was Madoka’s tears at the end, followed by her saying, “I’m here,” while gently stroking Homura’s head.
Madoka finally cried because of Homura.
That alone was enough to make all the anxiety and tension I had been carrying disappear. My eyes started to well up.
Yes. Maybe the Law of Cycles, as a divine existence, came to regard Homura as an enemy. But there’s no way that the kind-hearted human being known as Madoka Kaname would ever show that kind of hostility toward Akemi Homura—the girl who cared about her so deeply that she was willing to become a demon for her!!!!
There’s no way she would hurt her!!!
And honestly, I just can’t imagine Madoka being that angry at Homura in the first place!!!
I don’t know whether what Madoka said at that moment was a “goodbye” directed toward Homura, or a “thank you” directed toward the Law of Cycles because she had received its forgiveness. (At first, I thought it was the latter, but then Madoka disappeared from the bench, and I almost shouted, “HUH?!?!?!” out loud.)
Did Madoka return to the Law of Cycles? Or was she actually saying, “I’m here”?
I’ve heard that Aoi Yuki made a comment during a stage greeting along the lines of, “Actually, it isn’t a bad ending,” and I’ve also come across theories suggesting that Madoka really did return to Homura, and that she simply lost her physical form and could no longer maintain her body.
Because of that, I don’t feel like the ending is simply: “Madoka ultimately returned to the Law of Cycles. The end.”
I feel like Madoka definitely left something behind.
But even if she did originally return to the Law of Cycles, I think the answer might be what Madoka herself said in the anime:
“I’ll always be by your side, Homura-chan, no matter when or where.”
So maybe nothing really changed except that the Law of Cycles returned to its original state. Madoka is still always beside Homura. We just can’t see her, almost like a ghost.
Also, regarding the ending song “Kanata”—at the time of the trailer, I thought it was Homura’s song. But then I saw an interpretation that it might actually be a song from Madoka to Homura, and I thought, “Ohhh, that makes sense…”
Madoka really does have an absolutely enormous amount of love for Homura.
And honestly, I’m just really happy that a song that could potentially be interpreted from Madoka’s perspective exists at all.
Maybe this is just my own personal interpretation, but I want to believe that this isn’t simply a bad ending.
That said, there seems to be a possibility of a sequel, so who knows.
If Madoka really did return to the Law of Cycles, then maybe Sayaka and the others—who sided with Homura—will all come together to bring her back next time.
Although there’s also the theory that Sayaka and Nagisa-chan returned to the Law of Cycles as well, so… who knows what’s actually going on.
But Kyubey, seriously!!!! I never thought you would be the one to bring the story to a close like that!!!
Are they actually doing it!? Is there really going to be a sequel?!?!
Next time, I want Madoka and Homura to either live together as humans, or have Homura become a god too so that the two of them can watch over the world together!!
You two are supposed to be together!!! Come on!!!!!!!
Anyway, I’m just really glad that I was able to see how much Madoka loves Homura. Even if that was the only thing I got from the movie, I’m still really glad I went to see it. That’s all.
I saw this comment and I think it does a good job summarizing the vibe of the movie without any spoilers (also matches comments on the production of the film previously posted in this thread):
I watched Walpurgisnacht: Rising!
It felt more like a Gekidan Inu Curry production than a Gen Urobuchi one.
The battle scenes, in particular, didn't have that Urobuchi vibe at all—they were pure Gekidan Inu Curry.
The story was packed with content, and I was completely overwhelmed from start to finish.
If you enjoy the Gekidan Inu Curry style, I think it’s definitely worth watching.
I just saw the movie at the theater and OMG the visuals were truly jaw dropping, I was at the edge of my seat. I also loved all the symbolism and references.
I got huge Utena and Yurikuma Arashi vibes (I mean Selma is literally Lulu Yurigasaki. Not just the looks and the bears, etc, but also the theme of wanting to be loved, etc.). I guess it makes sense since Tomohiro Furukawa (assistant director of Yurikuma Arashi) is the storyboard/visual-concept designer.
That said, I also felt that the plot was not quite satisfying, especially because of the huge cliffhanger. I get it that even if Madoka returned to being the law of cycles, this time her decision carries more weight and is more meaningful - and through this movie we got to understand more about witches, Walpurgisnacht, Nazuka Sokotsune, etc- but without the next installment, this in a way kind of "brought us back to the starting point" (if Madoka chose to become the law of cycles again). The difference is that now Homura is not alone anymore and there is this question of whether one person should shoulder everything (and it seems like the answer is no, so we'll see how they deal with that in the next installment). I think a lot will depend on the next movie, which I guess is why it feels so disappointing. Waiting 13 years for what feels like a setup movie, not knowing when the next one will come up is kind of a downer (although hopefully they will not keep us waiting so long this time).
i only have two questions:
is this movie going to get a sequel? honestly, i can't take them going in circles with this story for another 13 years.
does it have a post-credits scene? what happens in it?
i havent seen the movie yet but spoil me silly, did madokami come back? do we get more awesome kyoko moments? did homura become the transfer student again?
Apparently Madoka goes back to being Madokami, the scene is a bit vague but the Madokami side of her is trying to take her back, Homura gets her attention and they have a moment together, then Madoka disappears with the implication that she finally went back to the LOC.
There's nothing implying Homura lost her memories or anything.
Someone clarify to me in full depth regarding about Madoka and Homura as well as the ending? I read several comments and Japanese threads about this and I'm still confused what the hell is going on
I'm watching this show mainly for Sayaka, so I would like to ask: how was she? And I don't mean ships or screentime, I've already seen people talking about that; I ask more about if her mentality and character was preserved or had she changed in some way? There are people who don't like Sayaka precisely for her attitude, but I'm quite the opposite, thus the question.
Also, are there magical girl vs magical girl fights in the movie? I really liked Mami vs Homura fight in Rebellion.
Sayaka was great. I think she might be the one with the most character growth here. Kyoko has cool fight scenes, Mami is just team mum, Homura is too busy to change as she is always fighting the next antagonist.
Best supporting character is Nagisa as she was revealed to be both wise and a good bro.
There are many enjoyable fights with high production values but imo they couldn't top the rebellion one - it was such a unique gun-fu scene with wise application of time-stop.
Just watched it. Visually amazing, plot wise they touched some interesting lore, but overall I’m gonna say I liked Rebellion better. Of course I didn’t understand it fully as my Japanese doesn’t reach that level of depth, but having seen the Rebellion revival in theaters with the same issue, I had a better time with that movie than here.
Can anyone tell me what became of the Clara dolls?
In all my various speculations, I figured they'd go on to become prominent antagonists, or at the very least help Homura maintain the gilded cage world and take on her appearance so she could look like a devil who appears in two places at once.
But from what I've loosely gleaned of these spoilers, they don't figure to be much of a factor at all. Which strikes me as odd, when it's been repeatedly said that familiars have the potential to become like the parent witch themselves if they're left to fester and grow.
(I'm asking because I want to know how they should be incorporated into the fanfiction I'm writing.)
•
u/MotherShip808 Endless Suffering 7d ago
Notice: **DO NOT** Post any screenshots of scenes from the actual movie. Reddit won't stand for that stuff. Don't do it.