Puella Magi Madoka Magica The Movie - Rebellion- Book 3

"You are without doubt, exactly who you should be!" - Homura

Time to wrap up the manga adaptation of the sequel film to acclaimed 2011 seinen Magical Girl series Puella Magi Madoka Magica.  The film concentrates on Homura, the time looping zen warrior who made a wish to protect Madoka but wasn't able to stop her making a wish to erase all Witches (the monsters Magical Girls transform into when they despair) before they were born which rewrote reality and caused Madoka to ascend to a higher plane of existence as The Law Of Cycles.  The previous book showed us that Homura was being subjected to an experiment by Kyubey and the rest of his Hive Mind known as the Incubators.  They wanted to catch Madoka in action and had placed a field round Homura's Soul Gem, so she became a sort of half-Witch, creating a labyrinth that pulled various people in that she knew in reality as well as the likes of Bebe/Charlotte, Sayaka and Madoka who don't exist in the real world anymore.  However when she realised what had happened to her and that the Incubators wanted to control Madoka and bring back the Witch system she forced herself to fully transform into a Witch and Homulily was born, which was her Witch form in the Madoka Magica PSP videogame.  Read on to find out if she can still be saved from this dire fate by her four Magical Girl compadres.  Oh and the cover to this volume is one of the most lying ones I have ever seen for reasons you'll see as we go on!

The manga is unflipped and so reads from right to left, honourifics are in use and Kyubey despite having no gender is referred to as "he".

In the distance the four girls watch Homura's Witch.  Sayaka tells them that although she looks frightening, "the one suffering the most is the Witch herself."  They are all in the Magical Girl attire ready to fight when Kyubey comes up and says "she's one of you.  You intend to fight her?"  The others are surprised he can talk, while Bebe hisses angrily at him.
Kyubey tells Madoka she can save Homura if she realises her true power.  Sayaka says not to pay attention to him, if she does exactly what Sayaka told her a few minutes ago things will be all right.  Bebe changes back into her human form of Nagisa Momoe and starts summoning familiars.  Sayka stabs herself through the chest gushing blood and summoning her own Witch form Oktavia from the blood pool.

Sayaka summons Oktavia.

Tonnes of familiars from various other Witches we saw in the seroes start doing battle against Homulily's army of them.  Oktavia who is wielding the giant version of Kyoko's spear that killed her in the series, starts to fight her way over to Homulily although she doesn't attack her she reaches out to comfort her. Kyubey demands to know who Nagisa and Sayaka are.  Sayaka says they are girls who fell into despair and became part of the Law of Cycles.  Kyubey was so focused on Madoka he fell right in their trap.

Madoka was drawn into Homura's labyrinth to save her so she and Nagisa gathered up the "memories and power she left behind".  Then if anything was to go down they'd return those memories to Madoka, it took the three of them to come for just one girl.

Nagisa: "Homura really made us work for it.  But still... it was for her, so what else could we do?  Homura's worked so hard all this time.  In the end she deserves some kind of reward for it."

As Sayaka and Nagisa fight, Mami and Madoka join in too.  The chaotic battle continues while Homulily thinks to herself that they must stop, "I have to die here!"  But Sayaka shouts that she doesn't have to deal with this all alone.  Kyoko joins the fray as well.

Sayaka and Kyoko share a moment.

Kyoko and Sayaka stand back to back and a sad Kyoko says that she had an awful dream that "took a real sick turn".  She dreamed Sayaka died.  But now she's telling her that her dream was real and them fighting together is the dream.  Sayaka says that she had thought she left the world with no regrets, but actually she did regret dying and leaving Kyoko behind (in the film they clasp hands as Sayaka admits this) which is one reason why she came back.

Nagisa bounces past saying she just wanted to eat cheese one last time.  Sayaka yells at her for spoiling the moment between her and Kyoko who grins to hide the fact she shed a tear and they go back into battle.  Sayaka and Nagisa summon more familiars against Homulily's seemingly unending amount.  Mami creates a huge teapot/cake cannon and wipes out masses of familiars with a "Tiro Finale".  And finally there a crack appears in the sky showing the Incubator's eye-bots peering down, the seal they made is now vulnerable.

We then cut to Homura trapped in her despair, weeping bloody tears, but suddenly Madoka appears to her and tells her she shouldn't go off on her own.

Madoka: "Homura-chan... you will always be Homura-chan.  And I would never abandon you!"

Homura begs forgiveness, for giving up and being a coward, she wanted so desperately to see Madoka one more time, "no matter what kind of monster I became... I knew I could take it! As long as you were by my side!"

Madoka and Homura together again.

Homura and Madoka stand together side-by-side, both holding their bows.  They fire upwards at the same time, there is a huge explosion that bursts out of the Incubator's seal and destroys all the watching eye-bots and Incubators.  Kyubey who is protected inside the barrier just comments "... you humans make no sense".

All the people Homura trapped in her labyrinth are returned sleeping to the desert round where Homura lies on a dias. Mami picks up Homura's blackened Soul Gem and places it in her hands.  Sadly Kyoko notes that Madoka, Sayaka and Bebe are gone, but Mami looks up and says "no".  Then the clouds part and light streams down onto Homura's prone form and Madoka appears in her beautiful divine form and slowly flies down to take Homura away with her.

Goddess Mandoka comes for Homura.

Sayaka and Nagisa are watching from above as she reaches Homura. Madoka says she forgot she had come to take Homura away.  Sayaka says they took the "long way around" but everything is OK now.

Madoka: "I'm sorry I kept you waiting so long.  You've worked so hard to reach this day.  Now let's go.  We'll always be together from now on".

Homura opens her eyes, lets go of her Soul Gem and as Madoka reaches for it, she suddenly grabs Madoka's wrists and with a sinister look in her eye says "finally.  I have you."

As she grips Madoka tightly her Soul Gem starts emitting a colour which is, according to Nagisa, "more terrible than any curse I've ever seen!"  Sayaka cries "what is this?  Desire? Obssession?"  Homura thinks they could never understand, "this emotion is unique to me and it is felt solely for Madoka!"  Madoka screams that Homura is going to tear her apart.

Madoka seperated from her divinity.

Suddenly normal Madoka is wrenched out of Goddess Madoka and dragged into Homura's arms, Homura then uses a barrier to keep the two Madokas seperate.

Homura: "I told you before... Madoka.  I will never let you go again!"

And the barrier expands outwards until it consumes all of time and space. Kyubey observes that "the universe is being re-written.  Does that mean a new universal principle has been born?"

Homura says he has no memory of the last time this happened.  Kyubey says that her soul should have just disappeared. Homura explains that everything she want through was done with Madoka in mind, what clouded her Soul Gem were no longer curses.  So what was it then he asks?

Homura: "This is the ultimate state of human evolution. More passionate than hope.  Far deeper than despair.  It is love"

Kyubey says she is no longer a Magical Girl, nor is she a Witch, what manner of being is she trying to become?  Laughing Homura says she fooled Madoka, completely undermined her "any being who is able to do such a thing... can only be called a devil, I suppose".  And she unfurls black wings and rather skimpy attire.

Demon Homura is born.

Kyubey says that settles it, it's far too dangerous to use human emotions, "an outcome as absurd as this is most definitely a thing beyond our control".  Homura picks him up between finger and thumb and says actually she's going to need the Incubators as long as curses still manifest themselves in the world, "I'm sure I can count on your assistance... Incubator".

We finish up with the various characters on their way to Mitakihara Junior High. Mami passes by Homura and looks a little unnerved,  Homura's familiars are lurking about though no one can see them.   Kyoko is in uniform sharing an apple with some birds and lies back with a look of contentment on her face.

Sayaka confronts Homura demanding to know if she has any idea what she has done?  Homura says she must have some idea of what happened.  Sayaka says that she "wrenched off part of the Law of Cycles".  Homura says she only stole a fraction, "nothing more than a few pages of records that describe Madoka before she stopped being Madoka". 

Sayaka challenges Homura.

It seems Sayaka and Nagisa got caught up in it too and can't return.  Sayaka asks her what gives her the right to do this.

Homura: "I have become the personification of evil.  I disrupt divine providence... and am guilty of outrages against the world".

Sayaka asks if she intends to destroy the universe?  Homura says it's a thought, that after all the magical beasts/wraiths are destroyed she'll play the role of enemy. 

But will Sayaka be able to stand against her?  Already her memories are slipping away and Sayaka says "I... used to be part of something bigger... I think... I used to be connected to a power outside this world..."

Homura says she should accept it "and perhaps even be happy about it.  After all, you've managed to get your life as a human back".  She'll eventually forget what happened, even the unease will vanish. Sayaka defiantly says that there is something she will never forget, "that you... are the devil!"  Homura laughs saying they should at least pretend to be friends, "if we fight among ourselves... she'll start to dislike you." And with that thinly veiled threat made she walks off, still laughing.

Still it's nice to be alive again.

Then Hitomi and Kyosuke appear and wish Sayaka a good morning.  She looks and smiles sadly at them.  Kyosuke asks her if she is all right, and Sayaka somewhat tearfully says how happy she is to be able to say good morning to them again.  Hitomi and Kyosuke look at each other baffled.  Then Hitomi laughs saying she says the strangests things.  Sayaka laughs too saying "I'm just a weirdo! That's me!"

A short while later Homura is in class with Sayaka and Kyoko when the teacher introduces a new transfer student - Madoka Kaname.  She introduces herself and says she's been living in the US this past three years but they moved back last week.  She hopes they can all be friends.

At breaktime she is surrounded by students asking her questions.  Homura then shoos them away, introduces herself and takes her on a tour of the school.   She asks Madoka how it feels to be back home and Madoka says "kind of nostalgic, you know?"  But she also feels like something's changed.  Not the place but her role in it.

Madoka: "I used to be... something very different... I had a different role... but I don't know why..."

The lights of the cosmos start to swirl around her as she says this until Homura grabs her in an embrace and the lights fade. 

Madoka starts to remember...

Homura asks her if she thinks of the world as something precious and does she put the good of the world above personal desires?  Madoka says she does think of the world as precious and that it's bad to break the rules for selfish reasons.  Homura tells her that one day they may become enemies and takes the ribbons Madoka gave to her out of her hair and starts tying up Madoka's hair with them.

Homura: "I don't mind. Even if that happens... all I wish for is a world where you can be happy".

She stands back, tears in her eyes and tells Madoka the ribbons look so much better on her.  Later we see Homura dancing round in a field with a traumatised Kyubey looking like he lost a fight with a road sweeper.  We see a spread that shows us Mami and Nagisa together, Kyoko and Sayaka together and Madoka at home unpacking boxes with her family. And we end with Homura looking out over Mitakihara City with the words that began this story, "no, not yet!"

Not yet indeed.

So I think you can see why this movie split fandom right down the middle now.  Personally I think the film is a work of art and Homura's behaviour fitted in very well with what has previously been established about the character.  If you remember back to Sayaka and Homura's discussion about the Mitakihara Labyrinth, Sayaka says to her that the labyrinth is all about control and keeping the status quo.  And that's Homura in a nutshell, she's a control freak who was compelled to repeat the same six weeks for over a decade until she got things exactly right.  And she still failed in the end, Madoka made her wish, saved Homura rather than Homura saving her and was then removed from Homura's life.  I don't think Homura could trust Madoka a second time, especially as she still sees herself as her protector and that Madoka will always be at risk as long as the Incubators know about her. This wasn't helped by Madoka telling her she would never leave everybody even though that was Homura's memory rewritten Madoka speaking not the real divine Madoka.  So she took action, we already know she was a hugely powerful Magical Girl and a combination of that and the mad science Kyubey subjected her to gave her the ability to split Madoka in two and carve off much of her divinity into herself.  As for why she now thinks of herself as evil, well she was pretty emotionally broken by everything that happened to her both during the series and the film. There are various theories mostly related to the fact she is perhaps still part-Witch and the whole universe is now encased in her barrier, which has merit as she is still being tormented by familiars even in her new world. Personally I think it all got too much for her and she just finally snapped.  She knows she did a bad thing, so her self loathing has compelled her to take on the identity of Evil, manifesting familiars to keep punishing herself.  And yet she accomplished something no one else ever managed.  She beat the Incubators, with the very strong implication that'll she'll keep them around as her slave race to keep the Magical Girl system going while there are still Wraiths/Magical Beasts to be fought.  And again, she has brought Sayaka and Nagisa back to life, so Kyoko and Mami get to keep the people who make them happy in the real world now. And Madoka is part of her family again.  In a way the only person it isn't a happy ending for is Homura really.  She has control of the situation to be sure, but she's maybe irrevocably alienated herself from those who were once her friends and the girl she loved enough to become the bad guy to protect her.  I hope there will be more Puella Magi Madoka Magica in the future, I'm curious about Homura's new world order and if the girls will end up in conflict with her.  But as it is, the film is a rich, stunningly animated character study of one very messed up person and I love it.

Puella Magi Madoka Magica The Movie - Rebellion - Book 2

"As I thought. You were behind all of this weren't you..?" - Homura

We return to our look at the three volume manga adaptation of the 2013 sequel film to the acclaimed 2011 seinen Magical Girl series Puella Magi Madoka Magica.  In the first book we were presented with a situation that we knew to be impossible. Madoka was back and a normal Magical Girl not the Goddess she had become.  Sayaka was back from the dead and living with Kyoko who was a happier and more sociable individual with Mami the strong leader of the five.  Even Homura was different, back in the glasses and braids she had before she lost her innocence to her constant time looping, she even had those time powers back when at the end of the series she wielded a bow of light instead.  And they were fighting cutesy "Nightmares" using the power of kawaii and not the creepy wraiths seen at the end of the series. Even the Machievellian bunny-cat Kyubey was different, only saying "Kyu Kyu" like a Pokemon and hanging out like an innocent team mascot. Seemed like everything was going right. And for Homura that meant things were so wrong.  Unable to accept this happy life she began picking away at it and soon discovered that the world outside Mitakihara City did not exist and this could only point to one thing in her mind... a Witch's labyrinth and they are all trapped inside. The previous volume ended with this revelation, and with her shedding the glasses and braids to fit how she feels now, read on to discover just who is responsible for this labyrinth as she continues her investigation.

This manga is unflipped so reads from right to left.  Honorifics have been included and I gave up as regards to Kyubey's gender, it's a he and that's that.

Next day Mami accosts Homura on their way to school surprised her hair isn't in braids, although she says Homura looks amazing.  She invites Homura to come over to her place after school.  Later we join Mami, Bebe, Homura and Madoka having tea at Mami's place.  Kyubey is curled up close by, watching always watching Madoka.

Homura quizes Mami.

Homura asks Mami how long she has been with Bebe, who to Homura is the Witch Charlotte who killed Mami in the series.  Mami says they have been together for a very long time. She knew her before any of the others:

Mami:  "I was the only Magical Girl in Mitakihara... back then my only support, the only one who could encourage me was Bebe here... if this little one hadn't been here... I don't think I'd have been able to go on".

Homura tells her she is stronger than she thinks, she thanks Homura saying she likes being sensei to the younger girls, now she is surrounded by friends she can count on and doesn't have to push herself to breaking point like before.

Mami and Madoka discuss fighting the Nightmare while Homura sits in silence.  Then she asks Mami for another cup of tea and Mami goes into the kitchen.  Homura then transforms into her Magical Girl form and freezes time.  She grabs Bebe saying it's time to "end this farce". Homura believes Bebe is the Witch causing all this:

Homura: "What are you trying to do? Why are you toying with us? What is so fun about this to you?"

She chokes Bebe then goes leaping out of Mami's flat with her.  She think about how she was never able to get along with Mami, it was always the hardest to tell her the truth about Magical Girls.  She tells Bebe she would have rather remained ignorant of "how many times I've had to stomp on the hearts of others".

Steady on Homura.

She smacks Bebe round some more, but Bebe only babbles about cheese. Then Homura is tugged away from her by a ribbon Mami quickly attached to her ankle before time froze.   She has been following them and wanted to hear Homura's motive but "I can't allow you to hurt Bebe any more than you already have".

Bebe starts to make a getaway, and Homura starts to follow but Mami stands in her way.   Homura asks if she is prepared to protect "that thing" no matter what. Mami says yes and "if you don't stop it now then you and I are ready for a fight".

So with neither side backing down an incredible battle kicks off. Watch it here, it's amazing like something out of a John Woo fever dream.  For every bullet Homura fires from her collection of auto and semi-auto pistols and rifles, Mami summons a single shot musket and aims at each bullet.  The bullets freeze in time as Mami and Homura keep laying into each other until they both stop to catch their breath. Homura restarts time and all the bullets grind against each other and riddle the old part of town.  Realising the stalemate, Homura takes a pistol and fires upwards at a window hanging above where she is standing.  The shattered glass falls on her and as it cuts the ribbon holding Mami to her, Homura freezes time again.

Gun-fu!

[This use of the window is in fact a bowdlerisation of what happens in the film although the result is the same.  In the film Homura puts a pistol to her temple and pulls the trigger and we get a lovely gory shot of the bullet passing through her head and out the other side.  Panicked, Mami materialises the ribbon to try an unbalance Homura and to stop the bullet going through her head. As the bullet starts to slow, Homura kicks her leg up and uses the bloody bullet to slice through the ribbon cutting Mami off from her and freezing her in time.]

Homura contemplates murder.

Anyway, Mami is frozen now,  Homura approaches her, gun raised and aimed at Mami's soul gem, before lowering her weapon to shoot her in the leg.  But as she restarts time the bullet hits and Mami bursts into ribbons.  Real Mami made a ribbon duplicate, she was never in any danger herself.  She wraps Homura up in ribbon bondage, which is the third time she's done that to Homura.

Mami: "I'll admit it.  Your magic is very impressive.  But to always assume that you are in a better tactical position than your opponent will lead to disaster".

Homura shouts at her that Witches are their enemies, try to remember she pleads.  Mami she does't know anything about Witches their enemies are "magical beasts"  She pauses then slowly wonders if they fought magical beasts, "what are the Nightmares?"

Bebe/Charlotte - Nagisa Momoe.

Suddenly a fire extingusher is tossed down with a sword through it making it blast out a cloud of vapour.  In the confusion Sayaka cuts Homura free of her restraints and escapes with her.  Another figue appears to Mami, a young girl who says she will explain everything.  Sayaka takes Homura to an empty street and finishes cutting her free of the ribbons.

Sayaka: "Mami-san is at the top of her game... and you decide to pick a fight with her head on?  You're either way over-confident... or a complete idiot".

Homura says she hadn't meant to provoke a fight but it was unavoidable.  "Bebe right?" says Sayaka to Homura's surprise. Sayaka says she must have though she was behind all this because she used to be a witch, "there should be a limit to how many conclusions a girl can jump to".

She asks Homura what kind of Witch would create the labyrinth the size of a city and not kill or attack a single human being.   Bebe wouldn't do anything like that.   If Homura gives it some thought, it will come to her. This labyrinth is all about control, so who benefits from it?

Sayaka and Homura talk.

Homura starts to turn her shield to stop time and leave but quick as a flash Sayaka jams the tip of her sword in the shield's gears and keeps Homura there.  "That's a bad habit. You depend too much on that magic" says Sayaka.  Homura says that Sayaka is saying the labyrinth is being created by one of them. "The idea really shouldn't surprise you" notes Sayaka. She then asks what she intends to do when she finds who trapped them in this labyrinth.

Sayaka: "Is it such an awful crime... for the person to wish for this world?  Does she deserve to die? Is this place really so terrible?"

Homura is horrified that she would take the side of a Witch, but Sayaka says it's natural she'd have a little sympathy for it.  Mulling this over, Homura realises neither Mami nor Kyoko could detect the Witches barrier so it can't be them.

But thanks to Madoka's sacrifice, Witches shouldn't exist now.  Before they transform they are taken away by Madoka - The Law Of Cycles.  Homura says that there are three people whose presence should be impossible.  First the Witch who made this labyrinth.  Second Bebe here in her Witch form.  And finally Sayaka who knows all about Witches.  Is she the real Sayaka Miki?  Sayaka says she's the same person she's always known.  Then she releases her blade from Homura's shield and whirls her cloak round, disappearing and leaving the image of her Witch form Oktavia Von Seckendorff in the puddle of water.

Reflection of Oktavia.

Homura says Sayaka never used to be that accomplished as a Magical Girl.  Then she hears her in her head asking what she would do when she found who was causing all this, would she be indifferent to the destruction of this Mitakihara?  "You don't want to wind up with any regrets" she tells Homura.

But as Homura walks through the streets she thinks about what she has learned.  She believes someone has run away from the world and dragged them all with her.  Turning her back on a destiny fighting magical beasts.

Homura: "How can I be expected to permit such weakness? A Magical Girl must continue to fight.  That is the price of the miracle she wished for."

She believes this is making a mockery and a farce out of Madoka's sacrifice and she will not permit it to go on any longer.  She is interrupted from her reverie by Madoka who jumps down to join her.

Madoka tells her Mami-san is worried about her and she can sense Homura is keeping things bottled up. They sit together in a field of flowers and talk.  Madoka says seeing Homura in pain is rough on her as well and so finally, Homura lets it all out.

Homura: "I had a very frightening dream. in my dream you went to a far-off place... a place where we'd probably never meet again... and everyone in the world had forgotten about it... The only one who remembered that you had even existed Madoka... and as time passed I started to feel my memories of you were just something I had imagined... I started to doubt them myself".

As she tells Madoka this, tears fall from her eyes and Madoka starts to hug her.  She begins braiding Homura's hair again and says that it sounds like it was a scary dream, but "you know me. Would I go off alone to some place where I could never see you or anybody ever again?  You know I could never do that".  Uh oh, not what Homura needs to hear Madoka!

Madoka tells Homura what she wants to here.

Madoka says she wouldn't want to say good-bye to anybody.  And with that Homura realises that when Madoka made her wish to destroy all Witches before they were born and wrote herself out of existence as a by-product she should have done "everything in my power to stop you from going through with it...!"  She turns to Madoka and tells her she does have the courage to make that decision.

She lets her hair flow out of the braid and holds Madoka's hands saying it should be impossible for her to be here together like this "but I know... that you are the real Madoka". She gets up and says she has to go, there are still things she needs to do.  She tells Madoka that just the fact they were able to sit and talk made her very happy.  And she runs off down the field leaving a confused Madoka in her wake.

Alone now, Homura calls Kyoko, who I am pleased to see is back in her shorts and hoodie combo.  Homura asks if she remembers Witches, but Kyoko doesn't. Homura says that is how it should be. She then asks if Kyoko remembers Madoka, Kyoko says of course she does, but Homura says those memories are false. 

Homura: "It's so simple... if only I had put a little bit of thought into it, I would have known sooner.  The only person who could fabricate a world with Madoka in it... is someone with the knowledge of Madoka herself".

And that's how she now knows who rewrote everyones memories and created the false Mitakihara. Kyoko starts running, concerned about what Homura is saying, demanding to know where Homura is now.

Homura just says sadly that she has one last thing to confirm and then she can bring this all to an end, and hangs up apologising as Kyoko stands in the road facing a zeppelin falling from the sky on fire. Homura then leaves her Soul Gem behind and gets on the bus.  Magical Girls can't be seperated more that one hundred metres from their gem without the life leaving their bodies. As she does so, Kyubey watches with interest.

The fake city starts to fall apart.

The bus travels much further away and nothing happens to Homura.  The false Mitakihara starts to crumble and burst into flames.  She returns to the gem, tosses it high in the air and shoots it, shattering the supposed vessel of her soul.  And she is fine, except she isn't:

Homura: "So why?  Tell me... Why.. did I.. become so... and when did it happen?  When... did I... turn... into... a... Witch!?"

Could things get any worse for Homura? Yes they can because Kyubey slinks up to her and tells her that the "the truth should no longer be of any interest to you."  But he's going to tell her anyway because bunny-cat's a dick and this is all his doing of course.

Kyubey tells her that human curiosity is "simply illogical", he shows her that her body is lying on a dias in a desert being observed by floating eye-ball cameras which takes Homura aback somewhat.  Her soul has been placed in an isolation field and her Soul Gem is now saturated with impurities.  But it cannot be affected by anything from the outside world.

All bunny-cat's fault.

The Incubators have done this to try and discover the power that purifies Soul Gems and what happens to the Soul Gem if it is cut off from The Law Of Cycles, "researching you has yielded some quite fascinating results".   The formation of the labyrinth for one and its subsequent capture of several victims.  It's similar to the Witch phenomenon Homura rather foolishly told him about at the end of the series.

As long as her gem remains within the isolation field and does not break she will not transform fully into a Witch form.   She's like a chick that can't break the egg so continues growing inside it, "right now, we are in a world within your Soul Gem".  Homura says if she is isolated from the outside world how are others getting inside?  Kyubey says they made some adjustments so she could "guide and induce your victims to enter".

They are waiting to be able to isolate and observe the reason why Magical Girls disappear and understand the rules that govern it.  They've already noticed that there are individuals in there who who don't exist in the real world and of them there is one who "does not exist in the past. Nor is her existence possible in the future". 

There is one problem though, Madoka Kaname "hasn't demonstrated a shred of unexpected power".  She seems to have forgotten she was in there to save Homura and has lost her Goddess identity.

Kyubey: " And we find that we have reached a stalemate. It is as if Madoka Kaname has forgotten she is a God... and that Homura Akemi has forgotten she is a Witch".

Kyubey says that now Homura has realised the truth it is time for her to look towards Madoka to save her.  That way Madoka will remember why she came there in the first place.

Homura realises the truth.

Homura wants to know what they are after.  The eye-bots say they want to observe the Law Of Cycles.  Homura responds that they just said curiosity is illogical!  She realises they don't just want to observe, "you want to control Madoka?"  Kyubey says he cannot deny that is their ultimate goal.

Kyubey: "If we can observe it, we can intervene.  If we can intervene, we can exert control. And if we can control it, then Magical Girls can become Witches... and we can expect to collect much more energy than ever before".

The transitional state between hope and despair produces a quantity of energy far greater than they predicted.  There are unlimited possibilities hidden within Magical Girls and so they have to ensure their transformations from Magical Girl to Witch.

He tells her "the existence that was Homura Akemi is finished... your fate has reached its conclusion.  All that remains is to reunite with the one you've been waiting for.  Does that not make you happy?"  And we see braids-and-glasses Homura holding Madoka's hand.  She is happy and at peace ready to move on to the afterlife with the girl she loves. But then Homura says "no."  And coldly shoots her innocent self right in the face.

Homura: "That 'happiness' is something I have never sought".

Kyubey tells her the curses inside her are growing, she'll miss her chance of purification at this rate. But Homura says that Kyubey in this universe does not know she made her wish to protect Madoka. And instead of risking Madoka she'd rather become a Witch instead.

Kyubey asks if she is willing to spend all eternity living with her curses?   But Homura says she trusts Mami and Kyoko to kill her.  Kyubey says if she dies in the isolation field "no one will ever be able to rescue your soul from despair".  Homura just roars "SHUT YOUR DAMN MOUTH."

Kyubey looks on bewildered as Homura thinks to herself that all she can feel are her darkest regrets.  She is deep in true despair.   She thinks about how she was not able to say goodbye to Madoka and how sorry she is.  And thus is born "Homulily" the Nutcracker Witch.  End of Book 2.

Homulily.

You have to credit Kyubey, him and the rest of the Incubators have surpassed themselves in epic bastardry.  Essentially torturing a teenage girl and in doing so actually blocking the divinity of Madoka.  His relentless mind raping of Homura is a sight to behold and yet he still didn't count on the depth of love Homura has for Madoka that she would rather become a Witch than let the Incubators get their paws on her.  And we get to see just how tough the ending of the series was for Homura with her tearful confession to Madoka in the field of flowers about how lonely and sad Madoka being written out of her life left her.  There's also some cool moments to, I never liked Mami that much in the series but her gun battle with Homura shows that the veteran fighter can hold her own and out think Homura in a one-on-one battle.  Sayaka too takes a level in badass, and despite their antagonistic relationship in the series, here she tells Homura in a roundabout way not to be such a self hating individual.  We'll find out why she and the young girl who is also Bebe/Charlotte came to enter Homura's labyrinth in volume three. And let's for a moment consider what Homura's labyrinth says about her.  For all her aloof laser-beam like focus on Madoka, the two others left standing at the end of the series - Kyoko and Mami - she put together with people she knew would make them happy and deep down she wanted nothing more than to be part of a tight knit group of friends fighting together and hanging out. Madoka's words of comfort though will also come back to bite everyone in a big way, so join me for the final volume in a few days time.  Will it all end happily?  Hahahahaha. No.

Puella Magi Madoka Magica The Movie - Rebellion - Book 1

"We dream of a familiar smiling face... that we hope someday to meet again" - Homura

Puella Magi Madoka Magica is the critically acclaimed 2011 seinen anime series about five teenage girls and their dealings with a bunny-cat called Kyubey who offers to grant one single wish, in return he creates a soul gem which becomes the source of the newly created Magical Girl's powers and they have to commit to a lifetime of fighting monstrous beings called Witches who hide in labyrinths and feed off humans.  Unfortunately there are several things Kyubey isn't telling them, first that he creates the soul gem by literally ripping out the girls soul leaving the body an empty shell that can take huge amounts of physical injury in battle. Secondly that the Witches are actually magical girls who gave into despair and transformed, and finally that he is part of an alien hive mind called the Incubators who use the energy created from girls transforming into witches to battle entropy.  The girls are Mami Tomoe, the senior girl who gets her head bitten off by the witch Charlotte, Sayaka Miki the newbie who falls to despair and transforms into the witch Oktavia, Koyoko Sakura the cynical lone wolf who falls for Sayaka and dies in a suicide bomb attack against Oktavia and finally Madoka and Homura. Homura is a time traveller who has been repeating the same six week loop for over a subjective decade in an effort to stop Madoka, the girl she loves, becoming a Magical Girl.  Madoka however does make a wish in the end, the wish to erase all witches before they are born, past, present and future and all the karmic destiny Homura's time resetting built up around her gave her the power to do this.  This rewrote the laws of the universe, and resulted in Kyoko and Mami coming back to life as there were no Witches to die to now (they battle things called Wraiths instead), Sayaka still dying but being taken away after death to Magical Girl valhalla and finally Madoka ascending to Magical Girl Godhood as "The Law of Cycles" but the trade-off was being forgotten by everyone in the whole world but Homura, the girl who did everything out of love for her and who had lost her time manipulation powers too so no more do-overs.  It was obvious to anyone watching the closing moments of the series that Homura was not doing at all well mentally and so in 2013 a sequel movie focusing on her was released.  And like the original series, it has a three volume manga adaptation.  I'll say right now, the film basically split the fandom down the middle but I shall keep my opinions on it under my hat until I wrap up volume three.

Magical Girls.

This manga is unflipped so the pages read from right to left and as regards Kyubey's gender... I give up.  I'm calling it a "he".  90% of the proof reading corrections I made to the three posts I did on the series adaptation was erasing references to him as male.  Strange that a genderless being who is voiced by women should be gendered male by pretty much every viewer (including myself obviously), probably a gender studies essay to be written there.  But anyway, it's a he, and that's that. Oh and just a reminder, I'm a fanatical Kyoko/Sayaka 'shipper so if you want an idea on which side of the fence I'm on regarding this film, there's your clue.

Sayaka and Kyoko fight together not each other.

After a short intro vaguely summing up what it was like to be a Magical Girl, the story begins proper.  A stuffed cat wearing a teddy bear head goes flying through the streets causing cutesy havoc as it goes.  Then Madoka appears (huh?) and fires her bow at it.  It bounces through the streets and suddenly Sayaka (wha?) and Kyoko appear and work together to divert the teddy-cat into a house where a picnic is taking place.

 A song strikes up with the lyrics "no not yet", while Mami appears.  The four of them feed what is revealed to be a "Nightmare" with various foods as the song continues.  Then Mami unleashes Bebe on it, which is her best friend.  And also the witch form Charlotte who bit her head off in the series.  So that's dark.  With the Nightmare out cutesied it fades away, "your bad dream ends now".  And the four plus Bebe stand triumphant.

Kyoko, Mami, Sayaka, Madoka and Bebe up top.

Next day Madoka is woken my Kyubey.  But something is wrong with him, he only speaks the word "Kyu" like a Pokemon. Madoka gets dressed, wakes her hungover mother up and in the bathroom they chat, Madoka says that Hitomi is having a hard time dating Kamijou due to his constant violin practicing.  Madoka also metions her teacher Kazuko keeps going off about the end of the world.  And finally a new transfer student is arriving today.

Madoka finishes breakfast and catches up with her two friends.  But this time Kyoko has taken to place of Hitomi, she's a student now with a uniform to match!  Not much has changed though as Kyoko says she totally blew off the homework and can she copy Madoka's? She and Sayaka then argue about how irresponsible Kyoko is and how when they went home together to do it, she just watched TV instead.

Kyoko: "Geez! I knew it would be impossible to do both school and Magical Girl stuff!  We don't get any time to relax!"

And Madoka rolls her eyes as Sayaka chases Kyoko round and round her, scolding her all the while.  Later in class, Miss Kazuko starts speculating that the world will end in many different ways and she would welcome it because she getting close to age forty and not married.

Homura joins the team.

She snaps out of her reverie and introduces the new transfer student.  It is one Homura Akemi, seen here in her bespectacled incarnation before the time reset angst turned her into the hardened warrior of most of the original series.  As Miss Kazuko introduces her, Homura lifts her hand and shows she has the ring of a Magical Girl much to the surprise of Sayaka, Madoka and Kyoko who are all in this class.

Later on top of the school roof, Mami says she should have introduced Homura sooner.  She had her on standby the previous night.  Mami says they'll be astounded by her magic, Homura shyly says she can only really operate in a support role. Sayaka says the Nightmares they have been having to take on recently have been a lot of trouble so her prescence is very welcome.  Kyoko agrees too.  Madoka runs up to Homura, grabs her hands and says "let's give this town our best.  Homura-chan".

We then jump forward a month.  Homura and Madoka are sitting in a park with Kyubey curled up next to them.  Homura is pondering something:

Homura: "It seems like we've always been together.  But it also seem like yesterday that we met".

Madoka just wishes people could have good nights sleep and no nightmares.  Then she says she has hoped for a long time that she and Homura might get a chance to talk. But she does't have anything special to say.  Homura say spending time with Madoka "is something I've been waiting for a long, long time, Madoka".

Homura and Madoka together again.

We then cut to Hitomi, she was the friend of Sayaka and Madoka who declared her love for Sayaka's crush Kyosuke and sent Sayaka spiralling into the depression and self-hate that saw her turn into a witch.  She ring Kyosuke and asks him out on a date, but as usual he is practicing his violin. She hang up and thinks that he is "so gallant... and wonderful... I do love him, but... why can't he work a little harder for my affections for a change!?"

She slumps down on the bed  saying she's "had it". She nods off to sleep thinking dark thoughts and a Nightmare forms around her.  Mami is getting ready for bed when Bebe flaps about speaking gibberish that tells Mami there is a Nightmare that need dealing with.

Outside watching the Nightmare are Kyoko and Sayaka.  Kyoko asks Sayaka if it's Hitomi's nightmare and Sayaka grins saying:

Sayaka: "Hitomi's sure got it rough... but it's her own fault for dating a guy who has the consideration of a brick".

Kyoko notes that it means a lot coming from her and Sayaka replies that she has some experience with these things.  The Nightmare is rampaging around turning the sky into patterned cloth.

Kyoko and Sayaka jump down to meet up with Mami and Bebe.  Then Homura and Madoka appear and the team is set to go.  We then get a few pages showcasing them transforming into their Magical Girl selves, which manages to be less ridiculous than the same transformation sequence in the film.  At the end they all stand in a line and declare themselves "Puella Magi Holy Quintet!"

The Nightmare has trashed a building, so Mami and Madoka attached themselves via ribbons to Homura who freezes time, they can still move and using Mami's ribbons attched to Madoka's arrows they wrap round the building and pull it tight, bringing it back to normal.

The Cake Song begins.

Kyoko and Sayaka are up next.  Sayaka hurls five swords at her and Kyoko creates a lattice barrier.  The swirds fly through attaching to the barrier and tie the Nightmare up.  They all land on a table and Bebe shrinks the Nightmare so it sits under a clear dome on the table.  Then we get the infamous cake song.  Rendered here in "chibi" style they chant a song about what kind of cake it is until it suddenly grows huge and Bebe turn into her clown worm self and eats it.

Back to normal, Bebe burps up Hitomi's floating head.  Sayaka grabs it and send it towards a sillouette of Kyosuke.  They hold hands and disappear and Hitomi gets a nice dream for the rest of the night.  Madoka says triumphantly, "we did it!"  Sayaka agrees it was easy with all of them there.  Mami cautions not to get over-confident, but Kyoko says she'll only listen to a lecture if they come "with a side of tea and cake".

Mami invites them all over, but while the four of them discuss what they want, Homura hangs back frowning.  Madoka turns and asks if she is alright, Homura says she is but is thinking:

Homura: "Is this... what our battles... were supposed to be about?"

Next day in school Homura notices that everyone bar her fellow Magical Girls, Hitomi and Kyosuke have blank faces and are speaking but with no words.  Only she seems to see this though, as far as the others are concerned everything is normal.  On the roof while the others eat she looks down and sees the rest of the city is like this.

Sinister world for Homura.

Madoka asks her if she wants to come shopping, but Homura says she has something she needs to do today.  Kyoko says she won't come either so Sayaka agrees to bring some food back for her.  And the gang split up.   Sitting under a tree a short time later, Kyoko ask Homura what she wants to talk about.

Homura: "...have you felt like something seems off lately?"

She has asked Kyoko first because to her, Kyoko is the one acting most strange. She says Kyoko is "different from the impression I have in my mind."  Reality is way off from how she pictures it and she has a feeling she wasn't always like this.

Kyoko is somewhat taken aback by this and asks if Homura is trying to pick a fight with her.  Homura asks where Kyoko is living right now and Kyoko says she is staying at Sayaka's place.  Homura then asks how long she's been going to Mitakihara Junior High.  Kyoko says she transferred in, but when pressed by Homura, can't recall exactly when.

Homura then asks where she lived before and Kyoko says it was the next town over, Kazamino.  But she cleaned the place out and Mami asked for help so she came over to Mitakihara.  Homura asks if she has been back to Kazamino recently and Kyoko says there was no need.  Homura asks Kyoko to come with her now to Kazamino and "if it is the town you knew from before you moved here, then I'll apologise".

Kyoko agrees to Homura's plan.

Kyoko realises she is serious about this so agrees saying there is a really great ramen place and she can treat her to dinner there.  So they board the bus headed for Downtown Kazamino.  Kyoko rings the bell as they approach, only to find they are back at Mitakihara District 3.  Kyoko freaks out saying it's supposed to have turned left.  They disembark wondering if they got on the wrong bus.

They get on the next bus and ring to get off at Kazamino North Entrance, but it just takes them to Mitakihara District 2.  Angrily Kyoko starts to yell at the faceless driver but Homura stops her and they get off.   They decide to try walking this time, but the road twists and turns before bringing them back to Mitakihara.  Kyoko starts to power up saying someone is trying to stop them leaving Mitakihara.  Homura stops her with a scary thought:

Homura: "It may not be as simple as that.  It may even be... that there is no world outside of Mitakihara".

She then asks Kyoko if she could keep this quiet for now, she has some other things she wants to investigate.  Kyoko starts to protest but Homura point out the shadowy blank-faced people who are watching them now.

Homura says the trap is set up so they'll attack them if they show they know what is going on.  So for now it would be better for her to work alone, "as long as we keep going along with it... there should be no danger".  Kyoko agrees but says she also feels something weird is going on with her memories. She should be surprised seeing Homura show backbone, but she isn't surprised, "it's just the opposite.  It seems like that attitude fits you best".

Creepier and creepier.

And she leaves.  Homura now alone begins to reflect on what she knows.  She recognises the isolated illusory space, trapping and confusing prey in a maze with no exit, she has no doubt that this is a Witch's labyrinth.  As she undoes her braids and removes her glasses she thinks about how Witches were the final form of a Magical Girl who had fallen into despair and how she travelled through time to "thwart a fate that was too heinous to imagine."  And how Madoka sacrificed herself to break the cycle and lead a new world order.

Homura: "That's what should have happened.  And yet we have forgotten.  Someone is altering our memories as a part of this trap... No. We have been made to forget. Within this fictious...version of Mitakihara!"

The glasses come off, the hair comes down and it's go time.

End of Book 1. First thing you might have noticed is this is a much shorter post than the ones on the series.  This is because this three volume series is based on a two hour movie, not a twelve episode series and there is much more action as well. Anyway this Witch's labyrinth has all the aspects of your typical Lotus Eater Machine.  Sayaka has made her peace over losing Kyosuke and has no overwhelming angst about being a Magical Girl.  Kyoko has Sayaka back and is close enough to her that they live together and this seems to have encouraged her to deal with her dark and troubled past and rejoin society.  Mami is not the fragile individual she was in the series, the support of Bebe has lead her to become a respected leader of the team and has helped her with her issues around being lonely.  Madoka is back and is no longer worried about being The Load, she's a capable Magical Girl and also has her family again.  And Homura has Madoka, which has seen her returned to her more "innocent" self rather than the battled hardened veteran of many timeline resets.  Battles are fun not frightening and the reward encourages fighting as a team.  So what kind of Witch would create a Labyrinth that brings happiness and contentment not despair and death?  Well Homura has finally seen through the sham, a gut feeling that things are not quite right and if there is anyone equipped to sort this out it's her.  Even if it means losing that which she cares about most dearly. And there is always Kyubey, just why is the evil bunny-cat acting like the cuddly Team Mascot not the complete bastard we all know he is? We shall see what he's up to never fear.  What's also noticable about this first part is the extreme pandering to the fanbase going, things like adding Charlotte as a character, putting Kyoko and Sayaka together, having all five fight together and call themselves "Puella Magi". It's like they were reading the fanfics.  But, like the series it's based on, the cutesy exterior is already falling away as Homura sets herself the task of figuring out just what sort of witch would create a labyrinth like this.  Find out yourselves in a few days time.

Puella Magi Madoka Magica Book 3

"It starts with a prayer and ends with a curse" - Kyubey

So here we are with the third and final volume of the manga adaptation of the 2011 twelve episode anime of the same name.  The story revolves around the sinister creature Kyubey, an amoral genderless bunnycat who finds vulnerable teenage girls and offers them a deal.  A contract with it that if it grants them a single wish, they will become Magical Girls whose job from now on will be to fight "Witches" - eldritch abominations that feed off the living.  Kyubey does this by extracting the girl's soul and placing it in a "Soul Gem", so while the girls acquire super-strength, the ability to manifest weapons and can heal from the most appalling of wounds, their bodies are merely empty husks as for all intents and purposes the girls are now liches.  Kyubey hid this detail from them but events conspired to reveal the truth.  Sayaka, took this news very hard and started down a path that left her Soul Gem at it's limit and at the end of Book 2 transformed into a witch as witnessed by the constantly pursuing Kyoko who had started out bullying Sayaka but after the Soul Gem revelation became more well... interested in her well-being shall we say.  Meanwhile the other Magical Girl, Homura was revealed to have time manipulation powers and Kyubey dropped the bombshell that she is does not actually originate from the current timeline.  Both she and Kyubey are engaged in a very aggressive battle for Madoka's soul (Homura has killed Kyubey several times just out of annoyance because the little shit is a hive mind with infinite bodies), Kyubey for reasons still unstated, really, really wants Madoka to contract with it.  Homura will do anything to stop that, and she has managed to be in the right place at the right time many times to intervene and stop it happening.  This final volume sees the focus move to Homura as all the questions thrown up by her actions and attitude are finally answered.

The manga is unflipped and so reads from right to left, honourifics used too, and before we explore Homura's character it's time to wrap up Kyoko and Sayaka's story.  Sayaka's witchform is called Oktavia Von Seckendorff, this is a meaningful name as it comes from Karl Siegmund von Seckendorff, who composed for "Der König in Thule", the poem that appears in Goethe's version of Faust, as well as wrote a book called "Das Rad des Schicksals" (The Wheel of Fate). Oktavia fights by throwing wheels, and the word "Schicksal" appears in her labyrinth.  Faust is a big influence on this series and we'll be finding out just which Magical Girl is Faust in a short while.  Oktavia is also a mermaid, which if you know the original non-Disneyfied version of "The Little Mermaid" is incredibly appropriate to Sayaka's story arc.  Why it's almost like it was deliberate or summat.

Homura to the rescue.

Kyoko swiftly changes into her Magical Girl form and scoops up Sayaka's empty shell of a body.  Suddenly Homura appears and when Kyoko asks her what that thing is, Homura confirms that Sayaka has become a Witch, didn't Kyoko witness the change with her own eyes?  Homura says they can't fight with Kyoko holding Sayaka's body so she tells her to grab her hand.  When she does so, Homura's shield whirrs and clicks and time freezes and they escape the labyrinth, just as Madoka comes running up to see what has happened.

Kyoko lays Sayaka on the ground and turns away in great emotional pain as Madoka tries to rouse Sayaka, but it's futile.  Sayaka is dead.  Asked why, Homura doesn't spare her feelings, "her soul mutated into a Grief Seed... then a Witch was born causing its destruction".  Madoka can't believe it but Homura assures her this is reality.  Madoka wails that Sayaka wanted to be a champion of justice and help people.

Homura: "She took on a curse corresponding to the scope of her wish she made... and to the same extent that she saved some people, she cursed others.  That was how she lived as a Magical Girl."

Kyoko angrily accuses Homura of "flaunting your knowledge at a painful time like this!  This girl is Sayaka's..." and she trails off overwhelmed with sorrow.

Homura is relentless though and says to Madoka that now she understands the truth behind what "you so wanted to be."  She starts to leave telling Kyoko that now she's brought the corpse out to be careful with how she disposes of it.  "You call yourself human!?" rages Kyoko.  "Of course not" says Homura, "and neither are you".  And she walks off.

I thought fighting entropy included computers and CVEs!

Later a grief stricken Madoka sits in her bedroom and Kyubey comes to visit her.  It says it has something to discuss with her. Madoka says Kyubey wants to turn everyone into Witches, that's what the contracts are for.

Kyubey: "Don't misunderstand us.  We have no evil intentions toward you humans.  It is an unavoidable circumstance that drove us to this."

So get ready for the reason it's doing all this.  It's all about fighting "entropy" and prolonging the lifespan of the universe.  Yeah.  It gives a simplistic explanation of how the universe is slow ridding itself of energy. So Kyubey's people went out to find a source of energy that "does not fall under the laws of thermodynamics".

Well if it works, it works.

They discovered it in Magical Girls.   Its culture developed a "technology that can take the emotions of sentient beings and convert them into energy". They themselves don't have emotions so they researched the various life-forms of the universe and discovered humans.  The souls could provide enough emotional energy to overturn entropy, and the most effective were "females of your species entering the second stage of maturity, transitioning between hope and despair".

Kyubey: "In the instant that a Soul Gem burns out and turns into a Grief Seed, it releases an enormous amount of energy.  The job of we Incubators is to collect that energy."

Madoka says that they are "disposable goods" then, supposed to die for them?  Kyubey tells her that eventually humans will leave the planet and take their place with them, "in the long run this is a deal that benefits your race too".

Madoka shouts that Mami died and Sayaka went through all that pain for some "incomprehensible excuse!?"  She says it's too cruel.  Kyubey says it did nothing without mutual agreement no?  Madoka cries that it "was just you tricking us!!"  Kyubey says that it doesn't understand the whole "trick" thing.  It thinks humans don't take responsibility for their own failure to "understand the consequences of their decisions".
It says that they have a really hard time comprehending human values, with a population of nearly seven billion, "what's the huge fuss over the death of each and every single creature?"  Madoka says if it thinks like that Kyubey is the enemy of humanity. He sighs that it was futile trying to explain to her.

Kyubey: "Someday you will become the greatest of all Magical Girls... and then you will become the evilest Witch ever known.  And when that happens, we will have our hands on an amount of energy the likes of which we've never seen before.  When you decide to die for the good of the universe, call me anytime... I'll be waiting."

Shithead. And with that it leaves and Madoka curls up and starts sobbing herself to sleep. Kyubey then goes to see Kyoko who's broken into a hotel and has Sayaka empty shell of a body laid out on the bed as Kyoko uses her magic to keep it from decaying. Kyubey says it can't understand why she's going to all that "trouble to preserve the freshness of this corpse."

Kyoko taking care of Sayaka's remains.

Kyoko asks Kyubey if there is a way to get Sayaka's Soul Gem back and like the good spin-doctor he is, Kyubey gives her a non answer.  He says Magical Girls defy logic but it's never happened before, implying maybe it could but he can't give any advice how.  Kyoko starts eating furiously saying she didn't want his help anyway.

Next day Madoka comes to meet Kyoko, who tells her she thinks she can save Sayaka.  She's a Witch now but if she hears the voice of a friend she might remember what it means to be human, and maybe "if I split that Witch in two, a Soul Gem might come popping out and we could revive Sayaka!!"

Kyoko: "Well, isn't that the way it should work?  In the end courage and love triumphs over all?  Like in those stories.  When I thought about it, I became a Magical Girl 'cos I loved those stories.  Sayaka was the one who made me remember".

Kyoko tells Madoka it'll be dangerous, she might not be able to protect her.  But Madoka agrees.  She formally introduces herself and Kyoko laughs, pressing a candy bar into Madoka's hand as she introduces herself too.

They find the labyrinth and Madoka asks if Homura would help but Kyoko says she's not the type.  She isn't friends with her they just have some mutual interests. In a few days Walpurgis Nacht (for some reason this volume goes back to the fully German name of Walpurgis Night as used in the anime) will come to the city.  It's like the "ultimate enemy to us Magical Girls" and can't be defeated by one Magical Girl alone.

Madoka sadly thinks that she is a coward, letting other people do the fighting for her.  But Kyoko roughly says being a Magical Girl isn't a joke or playing around, they put themselves in harms way because they have no choice.  She then smiles and says one day Madoka might have her back against the wall, so "you can think about that stuff when the time comes."

Oktavia Von Seckendorff.

They reach Oktavia and Kyoko sets the plan in motion, she'll protect Madoka while Madoka does the whole "I Know You're In There, Fight" trope thingy.  But it doesn't work.  Oktavia assualts Kyoko with projectile wheels and swings a huge sword at her.  Kyoko starts shouting too, telling Sayaka not to be so stubborn but she is battered harder, Kyoko can only muse darkly "come to think of it, we met trying to kill each other, huh..?"

She tells her to bust the place up, release her anger and Kyoko will come with her, and once she's had her fill, wake up.  But Oktavia grabs Madoka and starts to squeeze. Kyoko slices her hand off, then Oktavia catches Kyoko with stab to her torso and slices through the floor and all three tumble down to the next floor and Kyoko thinks to herself:

Kyoko: "Oh come on God... you saw what my life was like! So just once... let me have a nice, happy dream..."

Homura arrives and catches the unconcious Madoka.  Kyoko is drenched in blood and barely able to stand, she tells Homura that Madoka was nice enough to hang out "with a dummy like me".  She tells her to go, she can't fight and protect Madoka at the same time, "you pick the one thing in the world you wanna protect and you protect it to the end."

Kyoko makes her decison.

Homura leaves and Kyoko tells Sayaka not to worry, "I know how rotten it can be... to be lonely". As Oktavia bears down on her, she starts powering up an attack from her Soul Gem as she kneels in the prayer position, "so it's okay.  I'll stay right here with you.... Sayaka" and with no regrets she detonates her Soul Gem and both she and Oktavia are killed in the blast.  The anime version is a little different, Kyoko manifects a huge spear and standing on top kisses her soul gem and tosses it in the path of her attack where it shatters as the killing blow strikes.  Check it out here.

That's Kyoko out of the story. So girl meets girl, girl tries to kill girl, girl falls in love with girl, girl turns in to Lovecraftian ambination and it all ends in a spectular murder/suicide.  Aaah. How many times have we heard that story Mr. Lister?  I'm only joking because I have something in my eye. And something in my other eye.... I HAVE SOMETHING IN MY HEART!  Luckily the manga gives me something to cry happy tears over as they meet again in the afterlife.

Magical Girl Valhalla, lesbianism mandatory.

Back with Homura, she has returned Madoka to her home and sits brooding in her own flat.  Kyubey appears and Homura asks if Kyoko ever had the chance to save Sayaka, Kyubey responds "not remotely".  But it's all worked out well for it as now Homura is the only Magical Girl left and she can't defeat Walpurgis Nacht alone, so Madoka will have to make a contract.  "I will never allow that to happen" scowls Homura.

And now it's time for a flashback to finally answer all the questions Homura's words and actions have thrown up.  It's the first day of school for a new transfer student who has been hospitalised for some time with a heart condition.  And it's Homura Akemi, but she's not the hair flipping, Zen warrior of mystery we've come to know, she's well... a massive dork.  She's shy and awkward, and freaks a bit when girls cluster round her asking questions.

H.. Homura?!

Madoka comes to her rescue, saying she'll take her to the nurses office.  Now we get a repeat of the walk we saw at the start but this time Madoka is the confident one and Homura the stammering shy girl.  Madoka asks her if she can call Homura by her "cool" first name (Homura means "Flame"), and she insists Homura should try to be cool to live up to her name.

But unlike the Homura we know, this one can't answer the questions written on the whiteboard and becomes out of breath easily during the athletics class, fainting during the warm-ups.  She miserably walks home thinking "I... can never be cool, can I..?"  Then a voice tells her "then it would be better if you just died, huh?"  And a Witches labyrinth forms around her as a voice yells "WHY DON'T YOU DIE....!" 

Familiars start to come for her when suddenly Mami and Madoka (armed with a bow), both Magical Girls appear and save Homura.  Kyubey perkily tells Homura they hunt Witches, and Madoka tells Homura to keep it a secret from their classmates.  They have tea round at Mami's and they explain the Magical Girl thing to Homura.  Madoka is a newbie, she only contracted a week before, "I'm sort of a half-baked beginner she says".  Mami says she did very well, but must get even better for Walpurgis Nacht is arriving in a few weeks.

Mami and Madoka, a Magical Girl team.

We then jump forward to that battle.  Mami lies dead.  Homura, not a Magical Girl herself, sobs that she and Madoka should run away.  But Madoka says she is the only one left to stop Walpurgis Nacht, and she tells Homura how glad she is she became a Magical Girl because she was able to save Homura and become friends with her.  And she leaps off to fight Walpurgis Nacht alone.

We then cut to to a weeping Homura sitting by Madoka's dead and brutalised body, "you knew you were going to your death... I wanted you to live on... even if it meant you couldn't save me."  Her grieving attracts Kyubey and he offers her the standard spiel about having a wish granted in exchange for a life of battle, she has more than enough potential.  So Homura stands up and makes her wish:

Homura: "I want to redo my meeting with Kaname-san.  I don't want to be protected by her!  I want to be the one to protect her!"

Her Soul Gem is formed, her powers unlock and suddenly she finds herself back in the hospital roughly ten days before she is to start school.  When she does so, and is introduced to the class, she is so happy to see Madoka again she rushes up to her saying she's a Magical Girl too, embarrassing Madoka a bit.

Bunnycat wants your soul...

So she goes to start training with Mami and Madoka, her ability to stop time is powerful, but she's got no offensive capabilities.  Never fear, thanks to the internet she starts making powerful pipe bombs she hides in her shield's Hyperspace Arsenal.  So she is able to defeat her first Witch, Patricia using them.  Anime version of that battle here.  Afterwards Madoka holds hands with Homura and she is definitely beginning to have strong feelings for Madoka.

But Walpurgis Nacht this time brings a nasty surprise.  Madoka over exerts herself and doesn't cleanse her Soul Gem in time to stop it turning into a Witch, Homura can only watch in horror as an ominous back figure boils out of Madoka's Grief Seed and she realises the truths Kyubey has been keeping from them.

Ever wonder why she didn't just tell the others?  Well we jump to the next timeline and Homura is telling Madoka, Mami and Sayaka what she knows.  And they don't believe her.  Sayaka says she is just trying to cause strife and also she doesn't like having Homura on the team as bombs going off in her face isn't fun. So using her time freeze ability Homura goes to a Yakuza den and steals all their guns.  Cool.

Suddenly Oktavia! Hello Oktavia.  Kyoko by now has joined them and as before Madoka is calling out trying to reach what she thinks might be Sayaka inside her.  Of course it doesn't work, and Homura freezes time, pulls out a revolver to shoot the missiles heading towards Madoka then blows Oktavia up with another large pipe bomb apologising to Sayaka as she does so.

Mami snaps.

So Oktavia is dead. Again.  But who gets her phat lewt?  Time for everyone to roll on it. Just joking, actually what follows it perhaps the second grimmest moment of the series.  Mami disables Homura via ribbon bondage and shoots Kyoko right in the soul gem which shatters and instantly kills her.  She then points her gun at Homura saying hysterically, "if our Soul Gems turn into Witches... then the only thing left for us to do is die!! You and me both!!"  But before she can kill Homura, Madoka shoots Mami's Soul Gem shattering it and killing her.  Homura hugs the broken Madoka saying they'll take Walpurgis Nacht down together.

Well that doesn't go as planned.  Battered, they both lie on the ground, their Soul Gems at their very limits.  And they have no Grief Seeds left.

Homura: "Say... we're going to become the monsters next huh? We're gonna throw things into chaos... do terrible things. Making everyone sad... destroy everything as if it never existed.  Okay I think I can live with that."

Madoka then says she lied, she has one left (it's heavily implied it's Oktavia's which Madoka couldn't bring herself to use).  She presses it to Homura's Soul Gem cleansing it.  Homura sits up and holds Madoka's broken body saying she wasn't worth saving.

But Madoka says she can go back in time right? Change history so this doesn't happen, "I want you to go back before Kyubey tricked us.. find the stupid me from then... and save her."  Homura says she promises, no matter how many times she has to do it over she'll protect her. Madoka is pleased but has one last request.  She wants Homura to destroy her Soul Gem which is already starting to turn into a Grief Seed.  Homura calls her Madoka for the first time and pulling out her revolver, shoots Madoka right in the soul. The grimmest moment of the series.

I um... see Homura perferred revolvers at first.

Time turns back, she is back in the hospital ten days before school.  And she has changed.  The events of Timeline 3 have hardened her.  She undoes her braids, uses her magic to fix her eyesight so she doesn't need glasses anymore and generally sports the air of the cold Homura we already know.

So what Homura does now is what any gamer knows to do when you reach the same sticking point in a game.  Reset to an earlier check-point and grind up your stats on weaker enemies until you can finally beat the end boss. This timeline she takes care of all the witches herself and ends up fighting Walpurgis Nacht in a rerun of the dream Madoka had right at the start. This time we hear what she was trying to scream at Madoka, not to listen to Kyubey, not to make a contract.  But Madoka makes the contract and we jump forwards to the aftermath of the Walpurgis Nacht battle, or curb-stomp more like.

Madoka's witchform runs amok.

Kyubey comments that he knew she'd be powerful, but she destroyed Walpurgis Nacht with one shot, then transformed.  And into something way worse as we see a huge black whirlwind like form on the horizon.  Kyubey tells Homura they have more than filled their quota of energy here now, so Madoka's Witch form is a problem humans are going to have to sort out now. So it may have been a different timeline Kyubey but it DID lie about having humanity's best interests at heart then.  He asks why Homura isn't going to fight it, but she says "this is not my battlefield anymore" and turns back time again.

Homura: "I'll relive it over and over. For you, my one and only friend.  As long as it's for you I don't mind being stuck in an never-ending labyrinth".

And that brings the flashback to an end.  There are a few things to tease out of this section.  First of all it cements Homura as Faust and Kyubey as Mephistopheles, but in Goethe's version of Faust there is also a female character Faust is obssessed with, her name is Gretchen.  And Madoka's witch name?  "Kriemhild Gretchen".  I rest my case.  Also there is elements of the legend of Sisyphus, fated to push the same boulder up a hill over and over. 

It's never stated outright how long Homura has been resetting time just that she's seen countless deaths.  Spin-off media like various manga miniseries and the PSP game have filled in events that have occured in other loops, and the head writer himself, Gen Urobuchi said she spent around 100 times trying, reliving the same six weeks for nearly twelve subjective years. Yeah things are shitty for Homura, but she'd do anything for love.

Kyubey puts it all together...

Back in the present she seems to have told all this to Kyubey.  It says she's travelled a large number of parallel worlds, "seeking a singular result you desire".   Now he understands Madoka's potential:

Kyubey: "A Magical Girl's potential is decided by the scale of the burden of fate she is forced to bear... Madoka is a normal girl with a normal, average life.  I couldn't understand and ascertain why so many threads of fate were concentrated upon her."

Because Homura rewound time over and over perhaps this created Madoka's potential to become a stronger and stronger Magical Girl, "I knew it!  The one placing all the burden upon her is you".  Each universe tied a strand of fate to Madoka, "then suddenly her unprecedented magical potential makes some sense."

Kyubey: "Those lines of burden that you've placed upon her time after repeated time have all twisted about connecting to Madoka Kaname.  What an achievement Homura! You raised her to be the worlds most powerful Witch."

The sudden revelation leaves Homura horrified and speechless and Kyubey goes off to bother Madoka.  It tells her Kyoko and Sayaka are dead. It then gives Madoka a lesson in how Incubators and Magical Girls have helped humanity evolve.  Ever since prehistory they have been making Magical Girls and wishes granted have caused turning points in human history, "and in the end they all fell in the depths of despair".

Madoka says Kyubey betrayed them all, but it responds that their wishes betrayed them, and if they couldn't deal with that they shouldn't have made the wish in the first place.  Their tears have become "the foundation for the standard of living that you all enjoy today".  Madoka asks if it ever understood what pain they went through, but Kyubey says if they understood that emotion they wouldn't have come to Earth in the first place.

Madoka then goes to Homura's flat (which in the anime is much bigger on the inside than out) to talk to her about Walpurgis Nacht.  Homura tells her Walpurgis Nacht is so powerful it doesn't have a labyrinth but normal humans will just see it as a natural disaster.  Homura assures Madoka she can beat Walpurgis Nacht on her own but Madoka doesn't believe her.

Suddenly a tearful Homura lunges forwards and hugs Madoka.  She wants to tell her who she truly is, she lives in a completely different time from her, she's from the future and she's met Madoka over and over, "and as many times as I've met you, I've seen you die!"
Homura: "What can I do to save you?  I've been searching for that answer, starting over and over again time after time."

Homura apologises saying this won't mean anything to Madoka, "I got the feeling I got lost in time long ago".  The desire to save Madoka started it, and now "please... let me protect you".

The battle begins.

The day of reckoning has arrived.  Homura is ready for it, as the normal humans including Madoka are herded into safe shelters from the extreme weather front they see Walpurgis Nacht as.  Homura freezes time and fires many RPG's at her (they slow down and stop then when she restarts time they all hit at once).  She fires mortars and then crashes a truck full of explosives into it.  But it doesn't work (check out the battle in the anime.  Bad ass. She basically throws the entire armaments of the JDF at Walpurgis Nacht).  If I could say why I think this is so, I think it's because of the nature of Homura's weapons.  They aren't magical like the other girls manifest and I think that if this was a videogame, she's be coded as completely physically immune, only magic can damage her.

Homura has to fend off Familiars taking the form of Mami and Kyoko, but she's tiring and in big trouble.  Madoka in the emergency shelter wonders how Homura is doing.  Kyubey appears and tells her Homura is fighting desperately because she is still trying to attain her goal.

Kyubey: "She'll repeat this meaningless chain of events over and over, never learning her lesson.  I imagine that now she equates stopping the cycle with giving up."

When she finally realises Madoka cannot be saved, she'll give into despair and turn into a Witch.  This causes Madoka to start to leave the shelter, but her mum Junko appears and sternly asks what she is hiding from her.  Madoka says she has a friend whose life she has to save and she must go now to do it.

Homura can't win, no matter what she does.

Junko yells at her for being selfish, but Madoka replies that she holds her families lives precious and wants to make sure they are protected, "it's something that only I can do, so it's something I just have to do."  Junko looks sternly at her, then asks if she is sure she won't botch this and nobody is tricking her...?  And she lets Madoka go.  Out into a hurricane.  And she isn't even drunk this time.

A badly injured Homura struggles to get up, despairingly she wonders why she just can't win against Walpurgis Nacht.  She starts to turn back time, but then remembers Kyubey's words, that this will just make Madoka even more powerful.  Tearfully she sits and waits for the end.  Then Madoka comes up accompanied by Kyubey and says Homura doesn't have to protect her anymore.  She is going to make a wish.

Kyubey tells her that any wish can be granted as she is so potentially powerful.  Homura tries to tell her not to. If she does, what has Homura been doing all this for? Madoka sits down by her and says because of her wish to protect her, she's become powerful enough to make a wish which she thinks is finally the answer, "so please... trust me." Kyubey is practically salivating at hearing her wish so she makes it:

Madoka: "I wish for all Witches to vanish before they can be born.  All the Witches through all of space and time, in the past, present and future... I'll save every last one myself."

Kyubey is actually shocked, it tells her that's going to mean a  "reversal if the laws of cause and effect!"  Madoka is lit up now by heavenly light, she says she wants to erase the tears of all those who trusted in hope, "I want them to be left with a smile on their faces."

Madoka: "Any stupid rule that interferes with it... will be erased!  It will be changed! That is my wish! Now... grant it! INCUBATOR!!!"

Suddenly Madoka is in a void speaking with Mami who says that was a frightening wish. Madoka will be a permanent part of the universe, the very concept of eliminating Witches for a limitless eternal stretch of time.  Madoka says that's what she intended, she wants to embrace hope and keep saying it forever.

Madoka's wish.

Kyoko appears and congratulates Madoka for finding a reason to do battle and she is determined not to run away? So all that's left is to "run with it as hard as you can".  Mami and Kyoko fade away saying Madoka is Hope now, all Magical Girl's Hope.

We return to reality and Madoka fires her bow into the air and millions of arrows burst forth, each arrow finds a Magical Girl about to become a Witch and Madoka appears, destroys the Soul Gem before they can transform and allow them to die in peace, fading away to join God Madoka in her Magical Girl Valhalla.  Madoka then takes on Walpurgis Nacht and as the many cursed Witches who make her up are purified she crumbles away.

Madoka's wish in action.

Then Homura finds herself in a dark void.  Kyubey's voice in her head (because of course that shithead survived) says because of her time powers she can see what ends up happening to Madoka.  It tells her that Madoka is rewriting the laws of the universe as they speak.  A huge black coment flies past, it's Madoka's Soul Gem, with every curse taken on a part of it now. 

It starts to transform into a Witch so huge it circles the Earth.  But as Homura stands aghast at what is happening, she hears Madoka's voice and she appears saying that her wish was to destroy all Witches and so "even I have no reason to despair" and she purifies her gigantic Witchform in a double page spread I can't scan.

Madoka's wish protects even herself.

We then see Madoka in a bright void.  Kyubey mentally tells her thanks to her actions her life has no beginning or end anymore.

Kyubey: "There will be no proof nor memory that you will ever have existed in this world. The existence that is you will shift up a level, becoming only a concept.  No one will ever be aware you existed and you will never be able to affect the world again.  You will no longer be a member of this universe".

Homura cries out that this is even crueller than killing her.  But Madoka appears to her (in the anime they are naked and do some serious snuggling, just to dial the gay up further) and reassures her this is what she wanted.   She can see all the universes that might have been and all the universes that still may be.

Now she understands what Homura went through for her, all the tears and scars.  She had a precious friend and she never realised it.   Now she has become what she is now, she's seen it all, "Homura-chan you were my very best friend".  They hug and Madoka tells her she'll always be with her even if she can't see or feel it.  Homura wonders if she'll forget her as well.

Hey, where the Naked Space Hug, huh?

Madoka says that she may remember her as she came out all this way with her and gives her the pink ribbons from her hair.  Then she starts to fade away saying she has many people to meet and that one day they'll meet again and then she is gone as Homura tearfully say, "don't go..."  She then falls back down to Earth.

We then cut to Kyosuke playing his violin on stage for an audition.  Sitting in the audience is Madoka and Sayaka.  Madoka says she could have made it so this never happened, but she didn't think Sayaka would have wanted that.  Sayaka agrees, saying she wanted to hear his violin and have other people hear it.  She thinks Hitomi is too good for him though.  Having made her peace with her wish, Madoka takes her away.

Homura finds herself back in the aftermath of the battle that caused Sayaka to push her Soul Gem past its limit and now she has disappeared thanks to Madoka although the others don't know that, they call it the Law Of Cycles.  Mami and Kyoko are here too as they were killed by Witches who have never existed now. Kyoko is upset and holding back tears at Sayaka's death says they had just become friends as well. Homura looks at the ribbons in her hands and starts crying, saying "Madoka..." Who's Madoka the other two ask her?

Poor Homura, even when she wins, she loses.

Sometime later wearing Madoka's ribbons in her hair, Homura bumps into Madoka's family. The son Tatsuya is now an only child, drawing a picture in the sand he calls "Madoka".  Junko has a chat with Homura saying hearing the name gives her a feeling of nostalgia.  She notes Homura's ribbons and says they are cute, saying "if I had a daughter... I'd probably make her wear them".

Later one night Homura sits talking with Kyubey telling it all about the Witch system.  Kyubey says it could be a reason why things are the way they are now.  Instead of Witches they fight Wraiths which drop mutiple cubes that cleanse the Soul Gem and are collected by Kyubey as a power source.  Seems Madoka saw the need for The Icubators' plans to still exist.  Kyubey says the old world is a memory in her head and is now "indistinguishable from some fairy tale your brain has constructed".

But it is fascinated by the concept of Witches (uh-oh), they have no idea why Soul Gems disappear when they can no longer be purified. If there was such a convenient source of power their methods would be quite different.  Homura says "that's just the kind of creeps you are".

Kyubey notes that the miasma is heavy tonight and the wraiths are out in force.  They are created by the curses of the world now.  She and Kyubey jump down and Homura brings out her new weapon, a bow as wielded by Madoka and huge black wings erupt from her back as she hits the ground.

Homura: "Sadness and hatred revive in an endless loop and there's no saving the world from it... Even so, this is the place that a certain girl was determined to protect. And I remember.  And that's why I will keep up the fight!"

The anime ended with Homura walking alone in a desert, sprouting huge wings she leapt into battle with many wraiths.  The manga ends with Homura being taken away by Madoka having returned to her original shy girl look.  This didn't happen in the anime and frankly it relies on Homura having healed from her PTSD and learned to deal with all the shit that happened to her.  The sequel movie Rebellion explicitly de-canonises this sequence.  But it does bring the manga to a happier ending than the anime.

Homura's new weapon.

So this volume is pretty damn epic, from the death of Kyoko, to the suprising revelations of Homura's backstory to the reveal of Kyubey's plan to Madoka's ascension to Godhood the pace never lets up.  With allusions to Faust, Sisyphus and The Little Mermaid the whole thing is saturated in symbolism.  You can see why I see romance between various characters, the ridiculous lengths Kyoko goes to to try and rescue Sayaka go above and beyond friendship as does Homoura's hellish existence to save Madoka. Even in the nicer new universe Sayaka still dies.  I'd get upset about this but I've seen Rebellion and she seems to have acquired a Jean Grey style ability to keep coming back from the dead so I think she just keeps doing it to annoy Kyoko.  Notably it's the three orphans, Homura, Kyoko and Mami that survive, while Sayaka who did have parents dies (the manga is missing her funeral which the anime covered) and Madoka now never existed.  Some people have criticised Kyubey's plan as somewhat ridiculous, but I was a teenage girl, my angst could definitely have powered whole cities.  Interestingly Kyubey is the real Lovecraftian being, it's an alien with values that we can't comprehend, apathetic towards humanity only seeing them as a resource to be exploited for some vast cosmic plan that we can barely comprehend (I'm going with the excuse he dumbed down his explanation so a fourteen year old could understand it).  And what of Homura? In actuality she failed.  She lost Madoka, and she's been left so numb and socially stunted she won't open up to her friends Mami and Kyoko, she confides in Kyubey of all beings.  I'll be convering the manga adaptation of Puella Magi Madoka Magica: Rebellion in a couple of months time, but as a taster I let you know that Homura confiding in Kyubey was a horrific mistake on her part.  Anyway I hope you enjoyed this jog through the series's manga adaptation, for all its faults, it does manage to tell the underlying story well despite it's fairly so-so art.  The anime is well worth watching, so I hope maybe these posts will encourage you to seek it out.  It's been split into two movies, with some added scenes and some edited out.  I still think the episodic anime is better, but there's choice there if you want it.  Before I close this out, I encourage you to check out this incredibly well blended and edited anime video that posits a timeline where Homura kept the other three alive to help fight Walpurgisnacht, it tells a full story in three and a half minutes with no dialogue and an awesome tune.  Fan vid makers are often hugely talented people and Puella Magi Madoka Magica seems to bring out the best in them.  Enjoy!