#Also the labyrinths from Madoka magica

[clegfly]

points at this SO HARD. THIS. THIS IS CANON

Eight hours of work over four days later!!! say hello to Marzenie

A cold, quiet wasteland of inescapable familiarity, not a place to hide, but a place that is actively hunting you

You are not safe here. It’s just as bad here as it is out there

[cough cough … so in case this is your first time seeing me posting about Marzenie, the general idea is that it’s an omori au that shows things from Basil’s perspective- giving him his own inner world and a deeper look into what he’s actually going through, given omori is from Sunny’s perspective we don’t really get the most in depth idea of how things are in Basils own mind other then the vague idea that it’s really bad— Marzenie is an AU that hopes to elaborate on Basils character and inner struggle in ways that Omori does not. And yes that means sending him on a fantasy adventure in his own mind but like- when I say fantasy I mean In the same way as a game like Fear and Hunger is “fantasy”]

[concrete-3ater]

if I had a nickel for every time I was in a fandom and a child character had a breakdown and did something that accidentally hurt another character, and then the fandom all turned on the character and vilified them because they [the fandom] can’t understand that sometimes 14 year olds make mistakes when they���re going through something traumatic, I would have 2 nickels

not a lot but it really is weird it happened twice

[muffinrecord]

Magia Exedra Stream News

Post originally made by Razielim on discord. I'm copypasting it to the letter so that other folks can see the news (and to help answer questions that folks have). This is a long post, enjoy!

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The Magia Exedra News Stream has just concluded and the news are highly positive for us MagiReco players! An absolute truckload of new info about the game was just released, so let's go over the news one by one!

The stream started off with a quick overview of the evolution of Magia Record's story throughout the years, from Arc 1 to Arc2, to Puella Historia, and to Scene0.

We were then given a quick overview of the data that the MagiReco Archive App (which the MagiReco app itself will turn into once the service has ended) will show us. The archive app provides the following:

Your Magical Girl info screen, from which you can view all of your Magical Girls and their levels/Memo Slots/Magia Levels/Transformations, etc.

Your info archive, which shows off the information of all the Magical Girls, Memoria, Doppels, Witches, and Uwasa that you have encountered during you Magia Record career.

Then, a new Teaser Trailer for Magia Exedra is shown off, which you can find here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_KwtjOarUI The new teaser shows off various spin-off characters, such as Oriko, Suzune, Tart, and Kazumi, followed by Madoka and Iroha holding hands before showing the Lighthouse and the green Kyubey-like creature greeting us.

Following this, a new VA is welcomed to the stream, the VA of "Namae", Akari Komiyama.

Multiple spin-offs are also confirmed to be featured in Magia Exedra, including:

Magia Record

Suzune Magica

Oriko Magica

Tart Magica

(- Kazumi Magica, while not specifically mentioned, was shown in the above Teaser Trailer)

More information about the story and setting of Magia Exedra We have been given more detailed information about the story of Magia Exedra. The Lighthouse we have seen many times now is supposed to function like a guide for the souls of Magical Girls. For some reason, it is malfunctioning and we have to gather the Light of Memories to repair it.

The player will be tasked to enter into the Windows of Memory to find the Light of Memories from the memories of various Magical Girls.

Our player character is named "Namae" (will most likely be re-named by the player during the tutorial) who has lost most of her memories but still remembers having been a Magical Girl, and looks like a non-descript black silhouette. She will be tasked with searching for the Light of Memories.

The green Kyubey-like creature that assists us is called "A-Q" and is not technically a Kyubey

Character Teasers! We have been shown a character teaser for Madoka , which can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLy6AExK2VE as well as a character teaser for Iroha , which can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeMc7T-zwPg

Additonally, the 3D models for both characters have been shown off in the livestream.

Afterwards, another teaser showing slight glimpses of gameplay have been shown, which featured mostly Mami and Madoka walking through a Witch labyrinth, before lining up with Iroha to face Charlotte. This particular teaser has so far not been uploaded to the official Exedra youtube, but the most important screenshots of it have been attached to this post as an image.

What are Portraits? Magia Exedra will feature a system of equippable items to grant your characters various bonuses. These come in the form of "Portraits", which are in effect the exact same as "Memoria" in Magia Record. Just like Memoriae, the Portraits will feature images of various scenes and characters that appear in the story. A few of these have been shown off during the livestream.

There is also a special Portrait for MagiReco players; more on that below.

The MagiReco to Exedra Transfer System As was mentioned before, once Magia Record ends service and transforms into the Archive App, players will be able to view their Exedra Transfer Code from the Archive App. Entering this code into Exedra once it launches, will grant the player various benefits and allow you to transfer various data to Exedra.

We have now been granted more information as to what exactly this will entail:

You can view your MagiReco Account's data, such as Magical Girls, Memoria, Transformation videos, etc.

(Note: You can VIEW this information. You will not GAIN your playable characters or Memoriae for play in Exedra.)

You will gain special titles in Exedra, based on your highest Mirror Ranking Score and your Account's overall player score

You will gain a special Portrait (the Exedra equivalent of Memoriae) in Exedra

(- Further bonuses may potentially be added to this function before release)

Furtermore, our pleas to conserve MagiReco's stories for the future have been heard and as part of the developers' goodwill, the following MagiReco stories will be uploaded in video form to the official Exedra youtube:

Main Story Arc 1

Main Story Arc 2

Puella Historia

Scene 0

Some events, such as:

Cherry Blossom Dreams / Dreaming Sakura (Trial event)

From New Breath / A New Beginning (2nd Anniversary event)

Green Jasper Diviners

Crimson Resolve

Dependence Blue

Ashen Revolution

Paradise Shift

Magia Day continues! The once-a-year celebration of Magia Record will continue in a new form! Magia Day will be held again this year on the 25th of August and will now evolve into a news event for Magia Exedra! Various VAs will meet up in person and provide us with even more information about Magia Exedra. Here's to hoping that this year we will see the Mokyuu button again.

After this, the Exedra News event concluded with the VAs waving bye-bye

Summary of Platform-related Information So, can you play the game on PC? On mobile? In english? The answer to all of that is YES

First off, the game is available on Mobile and PC. Both Android and iOS versions will exist, although currently pre-registration is only available on Android. The English Android version can be found here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.aniplex.magia.exedra.en And the Japanese Android version here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.aniplex.magia.exedra.jp

While in the Android store the app is seperated between an english installation and a japanese installation, on PC there is only a singular entry. The steam PC version can be found here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2987800/Madoka_Magica_Magia_Exedra/

This seems to point towards Exedra having a combined English/Japanese version, possibly sectioned into multiple servers depending on your Player Region. This however is still a speculation and not yet confirmed.

There is still no further information on the exact release date of Magia Exedra, but this may possibly be revealed during Magia Day on the 25th of August.

Hold up, what if the game shows as not available for me? Okay so here is kind of a little problem. From what we can tell, the game may not be available in every country. We do not currently have a specific list of countries that the game is available in, but it seems to be somewhat random. Our guess is that the developers secured the Distribution Rights for the game in what they believed to be their most important target countries, which may leave some players in various countries unable to normally play the game. We suggest you click on the android link above and see if the store allows you to pre-register or if it tells you that the item is not available in your country.

If the game is not available for you: Do not despair just yet. First off, its possible that more countries will be cleared as the game nears its release. Secondly, even if the game ends up releasing region locked for you, there are still ways around it such as using a VPN on Android, or making a Steam account of a different country. We are not able to provide specific instructions regarding this yet, as we need to wait and see how the region lock might be implemented anyway. If instructions regarding how to circumvent the region-lock is required, users on this discord will most likely be able to provide such information once the game goes live.

Finally, some general Gameplay info: In Magia Exedra, you will be able to enter various Witch Labyrinths. Within these, you will be traversing the regions of the labyrinth and encounter various battles. In battles, you will make use of a party of up to 5 Characters at once to take down your opponents.

Battles are turn-based and you can see the Turn Order on the left side of the screen. There seems to be various attack options, including a Special meter below each character that most likely is linked to their Magia, but no concrete information on this has been revealed. A "Break" system is additionally implemented, where attacks of Elemental Types that are Super Effective against the opponent will wear down their defense and ultimately put them in a weakened state after enough pressure has been applied. Yes, this combat system is almost a 1:1 re-creation of the combat of Honkai: Star Rail, including the Break system Personally I dont mind this much as I find the Star Rail combat system to be highly enjoyable. Auto-Battle and Speed-Up seems to be included as well.

Characters themselves have an Element to them, similar as in Magia Record. Currently we know of at least 6 Elements: Water, Fire, Forest, Light, Dark, and an unnamed sixth Element that may be something like Void /Physical/Non-Elemental/Something else. All of this information is gleaned from promotional material and has not yet been officially revealed, so take all of this with a grain of salt. The elements that an enemy is weak to (and will therefore cause enemies to become Broken) are listed next to the Boss's HP and Break bar at the top of the screen. Additionally, characters can of course be equipped with Portraits (which are basically Memoriae) as described above.

Confirmed Characters: A lot of characters have been shown off already in some capacity or another. Among these, the following have been shown in the trailer, but not in-game:

Suzune

Oriko

Kazumi

Tart

While the following characters have also been shown in battle in promotional material found on the game's Steam page:

Madoka (Light)

Sayaka (Water)

Mami (Forest)

Kyouko (Fire)

Homura (Dark)

Iroha (Light)

Yachiyo (Water)

To close the news with: One of the screenshots on the Steam page shows the Home Screen of the game, which includes buttons for: Room of Light, Shop, Gacha, Party, Quest, Union, and Player Match.

What these buttons are for, are of course up for you to guess.

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Everyone say "thank you" to Razielim for writing all of this out so that the game is more accessible to English players :)

Hopefully this helps folks become more informed on tumblr too!

[yurimother]

'Puella Magi Madoka Magica -Walpurgisnacht: Rising-' Announces Winter 2024 Debut

On Sunday, at Aniplex Online Fest 2023, Aniplex revealed a new teaser trailer for Puella Magi Madoka Magica The Movie: -Walpurgisnacht Rising- (Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica: Walpurgis no Kaiten).

The trailer revealed that the anime film, which continues the Puella Magi Madoka Magica main timeline after the events of the 2013 film Rebellion, will debut theatrically in Japan in Winter 2024.

Aniplex also revealed a new key visual for the film and announced that director Yukihiro Miyamoto, who directed the original 2011 television anime series, its two film adaptation, Rebellion, and spin-off Magia Record is returning for Walpurgisnacht: Rising at SHAFT.

He is joined by the previously revealed staff, including the original creators Magica Quartet, chief director Akiyuki Simbou, writer Gen Urobuchi (Nitroplus), and character designer Aokiume. Additional returning staff includes character animation designer Junichiro Taniguchi, who served as Chief Animation Director on previous projects, parallel world designer Gekidan InuCurry (Doroinu), who created the iconic, unique looks of the Witches Labyrinths, and composer Yuki Kajiura.

All of the original Japanese main voice cast from the series and Rebellion are set to reprise their roles:

Aoi Yuki as Madoka Kaname

Chiwa Saito as Homura Akemi

Kaori Mizuhashi as Mami Tomoe

Eri Kitamura as Sayaka Miki

Ai Nonaka as Kyouko Sakura

Kana Asumi as Nagisa Momoe

Emiri Kato as Kyubey

The anime was originally announced back in 2021, but in 2019 at Anime Expo, Homura's voice actress, Chiwa Saito, foreshadowed the sequel, saying that "the actual series has not ended yet" and that she was looking forward to everyone seeing Devil Homura, a reference to the ending of Rebellion, again.

Puella Magi Madoka Magica aired in 2011 to critical and audience acclaim. It became a cultural phenomenon and spawned two movie adaptations, Beginnings and Eternal, the sequel film Rebellion, and multiple manga and video game spin-offs. It is credited with popularizing mixing dark, postmodern tropes with the magical girl genre.

Source: Aniplex Online Fest 2023, Press Release

[burnorgetburned]

HEY I WAS JUST THINKING ABOUT THIS. Literally an hour ago!

You see your friends smile behind you, Homura-chan.

PMMM x Omori

[lacevalentines]

(madoka magica / rebellion spoilers below. TW: suicide and controlling behavior)

I don't know the direction in which walpurgisnacht rising will take homura's character but I can say with confidence that from at least where rebellion left off that I truly believe that homura made the decision that she felt was the most correct one even if it meant she had to become a monster in the eyes of every person that loved her. she felt that if things were left in the way the law of the cycle was currently running things that it was inevitable that kyubey would eventually capture madoka in her goddess form, study her, and use her to as a source for mass amounts of energy at the suffering of herself, the others within the law of the cycle, and magical girls at large again. this is something he explains very clearly when talking to homura before her transformation into homulilly.

I get so exhausted when I see people try characterize homura as an actually evil person with completely selfish desires and no regard for others. all of her actions, while not explicitly explained outright, when looked at closely always indicate that she does things out of her care for the other girls but feels like she bears the burden of having to do it alone because she believes she's the only one who doesn't let her emotions get in the way of protecting madoka and the others from kyubey and sometimes each other.

I will always use the scenes of her interactions with mami and sayaka in rebellion as huge examples of this. she has no reason not to kill them if she's a completely selfish and unemphatic person that only cares about madoka and no one else when given many opportunities to do so. I also don't personally think she keeps them around JUST because of madoka's happiness either. she very easily could have suppressed their roles in madoka's life with the world rewrite and clearly choose not to. I believe her mocking sayaka and acting in a clearly "evil" manner is deliberate acting on her part to frame herself as a villain. she might believe this would her actions more palatable and will create distance between herself and everyone else to protect them as well as allow her to assert more control in this situation. it is further emphasized how she truly feels with imagery displayed in homura's new world around herself (shoes abandoned on the side of a building to potentially indicate suicidal ideation, a half moon alluding to homura feeling unfulfilled and unhappy with this decision, her dancing around happily before stopping and slowly falling off the cliff side with a similar implication as the shoes).

homura's relationship with the others is incredibly complicated but she cares for them deeply too as they are also people she considers friends, she just had a particularly strong attachment to madoka. we don't get to see as many instances of her interacting with them as we do them interacting with each other as we are unfortunately only really privy to homura's life after she began looping for the most part but we can see it in the way she has expresses concern and distress for them in moments where she believes they are in real, tangible danger of being hurt (she's winces and tries to turn away when aiming for mami's leg and screams out when she believes mami is about to be truly harmed after their gun fight, which neither ever had the real intention of hitting one another with any of those bullets in the first place). her entire witch's labyrinth is one where everyone is happy and gets the lives they desire. why would her labyrinth, which is meant to reflect in-part her inner feelings and desires, appear that way if she didn't truly want that for everyone?

rebellion is so compelling to me for all of this and so much more!! (I could write a whole other post on the way it presents it's freedom with danger vs control with safety question at the end of the film) she is a girl who has repeatedly suffered incredibly traumatizing events and longs for a world where the person she loves and the friends she considers dear are safe. homura is not really the devil, but she wants to appear to be because being the devil would be easier than being a human being in these circumstances.

[yuziiyux]

CW // EYESTRAIN

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" Salvatore Rossi "

What if Miku transformed into a witch from Madoka Magica? After being abandoned and forgotten by her fandom, Miku couldn't take it and instead succumbed, turning herself into a witch and living in a labyrinth where she could play her biggest moments and be the perfect Queen Diva as she always was... for eternity. Also, Witch name is inspired by the president of TIM from Telecom Italia, a group dedicated to the research and production of voices created by computers (idea not mine tho, it's from Kiu)

[thequietkid-moonie]

Can I’m have a romantic scenario for madoka sayaka mami and homura x reader who loves cute things use cute clothes and have a bunny plushie with them all the time and they wish was to be the most cutest most adorable person of the whole universe they use a very cute magical attire and they weapon is a cute bunny staff but unfortunately they turn into a witch they labyrinth familiars even the witch themselves are extremely adorable even had a familiars that looks extremely look like the girls somehow the witch still remember the girls and hug them tighly to let them know reader is still there it remembers them and still loves them headcanons please

Cute S/O still remember them

[ SCENARIO ] [ Madoka, Mami, Homura ]

[ Puella Magi Madoka Magica ]

⚠️ This contain a spoilers

I loved your idea with all my being!!!! Waaaahhh!!! Is so cute and sad and beautiful and angsty and perfect!!! I love iiiiiiit thanks for requesting it <333

Although I wasn't able to think on the scenario for Sayaka, sorry

Madoka Kaname

Madoka and you has always being seen as really sweet and cute couple, Madoka is quite gentle and your own cuteness makes a match way too sweet, the inconditional love was evident, loved or hated by others but that doesn't matter, what matter is that you two have each other

Most of the time Madoka and you go matching even without trying, unconsciously Madoka follows your adorable way to dress, besides her family adores you so obviously her mother would encourage her to match with you! You two even have little matching keychains bunnies (thanks to you)

You two are not only together in the good times but also in the bad times. That one time where you two accidentally end up trapped in a witch labryth just to be followed by Mami you two were together, or when you two decided to carry this burden with your friend and become a magical girl despite knowing the risk you two were together too

You two fight together and comfort each other for the burden, you were always there to cheer her up by finding something positive, like those cute outfit you two wear as magical girls, or how cute Kubey can be, talking about how it reminded you a bunny or even talking to Mami about how you feel about being a magical girl who protect others in the shadows

But as much as all of you wanted to stay positive and enjoy the beautiful ignorance and magic of the situation that wouldn't change your fate, soon or later the burden became heavier and heavier, and, as much as you wanted to tell yourself that as long as you and Madoka were together you would be fine nothing would stop your soul gem to slowly get corrupted, painted in dark tones and turbulent appearance, until no matter what you did you couldn't stop your heart and mind beconsumed by the sorrow, sadness and despair. It took quite a while from the moment your soul gem exploded, to the moment you were reborn in a new body, surrounded by your a labryth that was full of the beautiful and cuteness you used to love, painted by the despair and regret

After hearing the true fate of a magical girl Madoka couldn't think on anything else aside from wanting to save you, getting inside of your new labryth to search for you and try to save you, and, honestly, being there was tortuous, the place was full of colors, all the familiares were quite cute and most of them looked like bunnies, just what you always loved, and that hurt her more, despite your new form you were still you

When Madoka reached the place where the witch was she was quickly greeted by the attack of the familiars, instinctively attacking like any other witch, but that didn't stoped her, Madoka was determinated to bring you back so she started to talk to you as loud as she can, not even trying to defend herself and just dodging the familiars, getting as close as the witch as posible and begging for you to react, what at the end happened, even when your mind was corrupted and full of despair deep down you could still reconize that voice, that person, that little ray of hope that helped you so much in the past

Even with that new form you could still look at her with love trying to reach her and hold her close like you used to do, it was obvious that you were responding to her but only to her, any other magical girl present were attacked, but not her, and even when that made her immensely happy that wasn't enough, your soul gem has become a seed of grief, your human form has being destroyed to born in a new one, there is no turning back now, and, sadly, is Madoka who has to put an end to your new form because it is her duty to eradicate witches

Mami Tomoe

Mami has being carrying a heavy weight ever since she lost everything and became a magical girl, she has being trying really hard to stay composed and calm, even when deep down she is really hurt and anxious about everything having you at her side it has being like a ray of hope for her

Mami is completely in love with you, honestly, even if you dont know it you have done so much for her that she can't even count, your only presence is already comforting but your completely adorable personality is always refreshing for her, everytime you do something cute (wich happens quite often) it gives Mami the opportunity to relax at least for a moment and just enjoy the moment of peace

Mami loves so much your cuteness that she is constantly teasing you and complimenting you, she is always seen with a smile in her lips whenever you are around, even if she constantly teases you she is completely respectful of you, if you ever give her a gift as cute as you she will keep it as one of her more precious treasures

Honestly, the moment you decided to become a magical girl and fight at her side she felt incredibly happy, and yet it took a moment to ask you if you are sure, if you have considerate the aftermath of your desition, even so the moment you finally make the deal with Kubey and first transform Mami wasn't able to hide her happiness

Although, even if you can fight and learn together to be stronger she is still quite protective over you, you being her closest person and the one she loves added to your cuteness it triggers a protective instict on her, wanting to make sure that you are always safe

But even when she was trying to focus on your and her safety and duty Mami couldn't stop the innocent happiness that filled her heart, feeling so proud of you whenever you improved on your fighting style and whenever you manage to take down witches together, her nightmare quickly became a dream, living happily in the lovely ignorance and just enjoying the time and your company when you two still can

Unfortunaly, the dream soon had to came to a end, leaving behind the cruel reality you two were ignorant of, when you didn't manage to get a seed of grief in time to prevent yourself from getting consumed by the inmense despair and sadness as your soul gem got corrupted

Even so, Mami was still in the ignorance, trying really hard to convince herself that your disappearance was because, somehow, you fell in the trap of a witch, getting the labyrinth as soon as posible and running around searching for you, attacking any familiar that came in her way before even a second glance

It took her quite a while to finally notice the fact that the labryth, unlike other labryths, has a quite adorable and pleseant aspect, decorated with bunnies figures all around, something that you probably would enjoy to see, and yet Mami quickly brush off the thought, her mind was already a mess and in a rush, she didn't needed more distraction nor confusion

By the moment Mami reached the witch she was imediatly attacking, not even thinking twice before doing it, her mind was too busy worring about you that she wasn't even able to notice you until by a mistake from her she was captured by the wich, feeling completely anxious and even in shock it took way too long from her to notice that the wich didn't attacked, more like just embracing her, something that felt odly familiar, the thought of you being this thing passed throught her mind just a second and was enough to snap her back and finish her job, too scared of the posibility

Quickly destroying the witch and still without being able to found you she was soon confronted by the cruel truth that Kubey has being hidding from her, that confirmation of that idea that lead her to kill you, and that now it was killing her from the inside

Akemi Homura

Homura's healthy problems have lead her to have dificulties to have a normal life, thanks to that she has become to be shy and with a bad self-seem, she has never being good at anything and yet she managed to date a really adorable and almost angelical partner, she doesn't know how and sometimes she feels undeserving but she is greatful nontheless

Your cuteness is most of the time overwhelming for Homura, but not in a bad way, is just that she sees herself as plain and you are the other extreme around, she doesn't know how someone so beautiful and adorable like you could even notice her and yet everytime you do as much as stand close to her it feels so comforting and even it feels so right that she can't help but let aside her worries for once

You have always being with her, in the good and in the bads, always cheering her up and comforting her when she needed it, and as much as she appreciate she can't help but feel more and more frustrated for not being able to do for you what you do for her, even the moment you two met Kubey she was pretty anxious about it

The moment you finally accepted make the deal with Kubey to become a magical girl hit Homura hard, once again she was being left behind for her cowardice, while she was too scare to make the contract you were already training with your new friends to become a good magical girl, but thats the moment she decided that she wont be a coward anymore, even if she wasn't going to accept the deal with Kubey she would be at your side, doing her best to help you out

Comforting, hearing you vent, being there to cheer you up and even trying to help you find a way around the labryths, Homura tried everything she could do to help you, trying really hard to overcome her anxiety to at least just be there for you, and even when it helped for a while at the end it wasn't enough to fight against the despair that comes with being a magical girl, no matter what she did nothing will save you from your fate

She was there when it happened, last time she saw you was before your soul gem exploted and you disappeared, she tried to explain the situation to your other friends but not even her knew what was happening

Completely scare and worried she got inside of the labyrinth with the others to try to search for you, doing her best to dont just be a nuisance to them nor being reckless, looking carefully around to dont get into danger by accident is when she noticed how familiar the labryth it was, everyhing somehow looked so familiar and somehow comforting too, everything was so cute, so adorable, just like you

Homura felt like going crazy by just seeing it, it was a cruel joke of destiny? maybe life was making fun of her for being so coward, and yet everything became more and more strange as she go closer to the witch, all the familiar were attacking everyone, except for her maybe it was because she wasn't a magical girl or maybe it was just a trap since the familiars seem to be wanting to take her away, as scare as she felt she was still intriged

Everything become even more strange when she found the witch, the familiars around and even the witch were trying to take Homura to them, at first was an attack but quickly became like a silent beg, once the witch had her finally tapped in their embrace it was when both can have a better look of each other, and, as crazy at it sounded, Homura knew this one was you, not knowing why nor how but she was sure it was you, and then is when she felt her entire world crashed down, you were now a witch and she was still the same coward, even in this new form you were trying to keep her close and protect her like always while she was cowering and fearing, but not more, just like before, even with your new form you managed to comfort her and reasure her, this was what finally make her decide to make a deal to Kubey, one that will assure that you will be the real you again

[funnycreatortimetravel]

So the Madoka Magica movie is coming out and there's a lot of speculation about how it's going to end (or rather, be the start of a new series of movies/a show? Idk, it was extremely vague.)

And while I love the idea of Homura and Madoka ending up together because they both deserve some happiness, I can't help but feel like the best ending for Homura at this point is letting Madoka go so she can become a healthy adult (which, let's be real, that's not possible in this world.)

And by "letting go," I don't mean cutting contact or abandoning her, I mean they can still be friends while Homura can become a person who sees herself worthy of living with or without Madoka. Because as much as I love my favorite tragic lesbians, Homura isn't her own person in the relationship with Madoka.

Like, Madoka has a loving family, loving friends, and people cheering her on. And even if she doesn't believe she's good enough to do anything, she still objectively has things going for her, a safety net if you will. And she still has a goal in mind that doesn't involve one specific person, but rather she wants to become someone that people can depend on/wants to help other people (regardless if this is at the cost of herself.) I'm not saying it's a good or even a healthy goal but with some tweaks, I could see the goal becoming something she could work toward as a means of personal growth and not just because she thinks she's useless.

Meanwhile, Homura doesn't even have parents as far as we're concerned.

The only ties she has that we're told about are the catholic school she attended and the hospital she pretty much lives in. No friends, no family, and no aspirations of her own. And because of her circumstances, she really wouldn't be able to. It's no fault of her own. I get why, then, she attaches herself to someone like Madoka. I'm sure ANYONE would attach themselves to Madoka if they were in the position Homura was in.

And then that starts the obsession. A long, tiring journey in which this poor girl sacrifices her mental health, her youth, countless years spent trying to save this doom girl and her doomed friends while she herself is also doomed. She's pretty much made herself Madoka's sole protector while also not allowing herself to even do or enjoy the one thing she wanted in the first place; being Madoka's friend.

It's all but confirmed that Homura hates everything about herself as seen in her backstory and rebellion when she was destroying her labyrinth. Her saving Madoka is the one good thing she thinks she's associated with, so much so that she's OK with dying either to protect Madoka or in a world without her.

Like, the concept of one person being the only reason you continue existing is so unhealthy (note that I'm not saying their relationship itself is, it's just her mindset.) I completely understand wanting to help your friend you know...not die a terrible death, but Homura doesn't think she has anything going for her outside of protecting someone else and that's such a sad thought to me. She thinks of all her past friends as enemies now, and she alienated herself from everyone. She thinks, now, that it's her versus Kyubey, the other magical girls, and Madoka herself. The girl is borderline, if not entirely, suicidal.

I'm hoping so badly that in the next movie, this is the start of healing for Homura (though it probably won't be because Mr. Uro loves his sad/bitter-sweet endings.) I hope this is the start where she's able to piece together who she is outside of wanting Madoka, who she could've been had Kyubey not manipulated her and the other girls into making contracts, had her parents not died, had her body not been as fragile as it was, had her confidence been strong, had she felt she was good enough to befriend and get close to other people without fearing her hurting them or them hurting her.

Sayaka was able to let the bitterness of not being with Kyosuke go, accepting that even though she wanted him, she couldn't be with him and even if she was, she never would've been happy. She was able to realize the flaws in her "ideal magical girl" concept and accept the fact that she's just one person and even though she's not perfect and didn't get the thing she wanted, she's still able to be a hero in her own right in the company of people who actually love and support her because she's Sayaka Miki, not because she's a heroic magical girl.

Mami was able to be honest with herself, similar to Sayaka, that she's not a perfect person, that the perfect magical girl illusion was never her. She's able to admit to herself that she was inherently selfish that all she wanted was friends and family, and that there's nothing wrong with that. She doesn't have to keep up the pressures of being perfect and mature and all-knowing because, at the end of the day, she is still that little girl who almost died in a car crash that claimed her parents' lives, and she has to live with the fact that she didn't and wasn't able to save them even when she had the chance to. And she's able to come to terms with the fact that though she was alone, she didn't have to be lonely. She's able to realize that it's not too late for her and she can make her own family that will stick around with her, flaws and all. And she can be a good role model for her little sister surrogate and also orphan Nagisa, but this time, she can be a realistic big sister rather than an idealistic one.

Kyoko can move past the pain of her family's demise, and unlike Mami, feels as though she is directly responsible for it. She was a naive kid who only wanted the best for her family and yet, by doing the "right thing" her father goes on a massive suicide-homicide rampage and she's left to think that her naivety, that her wanting to do the right thing, was what killed them. But no, it wasn't. It's ok to have hope and to have the desire to help others and do the right thing. While the actions of the wish were undesirable, it didn't change the fact that Kyoko's heart was in the right place and that she could continue to try to help others without fear of it coming back to haunt her. She can let the tense guard she's had up since her family's death and enjoy the little things in life she never got to when she was too poor; food, drink, comfort, and having others around that care about you. While she thought that it was her wish and her misunderstanding of what her father wanted that ultimately killed her family, it's the same desire and intentions that push her to save Sayaka and befriend her and the other girls later on.

Now Madoka is an interesting case because she, like Homura, is sort of trapped in being who they were before they gained powers.

Now that Madoka is essentially back to where she started (unlike everyone else who at least has something/someone in their lives now in Rebellion compared to the OG series where they were missing those intimate connections) again,

she's left to feel like she's missing a key part of herself (only in the OG series, she was missing the confidence she had the in OG timeline as a magical girl whereas, in Rebellion, she's literally the missing part of the Law of Cycles) and you're left to wonder if she'll be satisfied, or will she challenge this new world that seems too good to be true, a world that was made just for her and only her?

And Homura?

Poor Homura.

Being an orphan and having no one, not even doctors or nurses it looks like, be close to you? Being unable to live comfortably due to a physical condition you had no say in? Having to be behind because of said physical condition and then having an inferiority complex WHILE teachers belittle you for things out of your control? So then you consider yourself a burden and truly believe only death and loneliness await you? AND YOU’RE ONLY 14???

And then you think you've met this amazing person, this girl who thinks you're interesting and cool with no ulterior notices, a girl with amazing powers that are as wonderful as her only to have the rug pulled under you and realize that the cost of those powers and your protection is her's and others like her inevitable demise.

So then you attempt to right that wrong because even further than your want to save your friends, you know the system that they're in is objectively terrible and needs to be torn down.

But then you try to warn said friends about the system and all they do is belittle you and admit they're comfortable in something that's designed to kill them before they turn twenty, and when (or even if) they're finally aware of the system and the terrible reality of it, they STILL blame you for not telling them sooner even though you tried your damn hardest? Or even worse, try to KILL you after they find out for themselves?

And then top that off with an oppressive alien race trying to control you and pretty much end your life prematurely or turn you into an immortal Lovecraftian Paper mache creature that looks like it was created by five-year-olds should you fall into despair at the hands of this default depressive system and you'll have to remain like that, killing and trapping people while you have no memories of your life as a human and have to live as an animal of pure instinct and evilnesses until some unknowing other magical girl puts you out of your misery, and the cycle will rise and repeat eternally.

Then not to mention other magical girls who try to "game the system" (which only leads to them dying/witching out even earlier, indirectly harming the girl you're trying to protect) or even worse, the girls see you as competition because they're insecure/power hungry instead of joining you in taking down the system set up so where death is an inevitable thing regardless, indirectly siding with the species that are literally killing them slowly but surely (and yet you're somehow still the problem in their eyes.) And then to add the shit sprinkles to this shit show of life, you have to battle this biblically accurate German clown of a witch that's a bunch of witched-out magical girls mashed together like a Cthulu-esque Ren and Stimpy-type creation (that's also pretty much invincible to everything that you and all of the nukes and missiles you store in a tiny, rinky-dink space-time shield you were pretty much cursed with while everyone else gets a built-in weapon.)

Not to mention the PTSD of having everyone and everything around you die and crumple to bits for 12 years over and over again, failing at every turn to complete the only goal you have for yourself (which isn't even for you, it's just saving another person because you believe you're extensible at that point) and at every twist and turn, you're beaten, bruised, belittled, scared, tired, pushed to the brink and all alone with no one to depend on because you're the ONLY one who can and will remember anything once you have to go back in time.

And then you learn the more you go back in time, the more fate and karma you're attaching to this girl which makes the aliens target her even more because of the level of potential she has. And even worse, you find out that the girl you've been fighting so hard to protect is now an entirely different person, lacking the confidence and outgoingness that made you fall in love in the first place, her desire to become a confident magical girl being unfulfilled because of you.

But you have to play the smaller evil. You have to deter her from making a wish, even if it means inadvertently scaring her away from the idea, even if it means being cold and calculated and harsh because she won't listen otherwise.

You have to crush that confidence because that desire will only lead to her death, but she can't know that because well, you still want her to trust you.

But because you've been trying so hard to scare her away from the idea of becoming a magical girl, she ends up becoming scared anyway and distancing herself from you, meaning you don't even have the comfort of knowing you two are friends anymore.

And even still, all of the other magical girls, including her, always end up dead or turning into witches no matter what you do, leaving you to fight the final boss witch alone and failing every single time because it's just too powerful.

But you can't stop. No matter what, you can't stop. Because stopping means death for you, the girl you love, and the entire world, whether it be because of Walpurgis or Madoka's witch which is only so powerful because of you and your time-traveling shenanigans.

So you do another timeline, and things go wrong like they have for the past 100 timelines so you're just numb to it now, and while you're fighting the boss witch, you get critically injured. And now armed with the knowledge that you'd just be putting an even bigger target on your friend's back, you resolve that your efforts were all in vain and useless and decide to just let yourself witch out because you have no other choice.

Only, you're interrupted by your friend, who's finally ready to put her fears aside and make a wish.

Your biggest fear is coming true and you're powerless to stop it.

So she makes her wish and becomes a magical girl Jesus pretty much and restores hope to every magical girl.

Every magical girl except for you.

She says your efforts are the reason why she was able to make such a powerful wish and thanks you for your service, as if you're an old veteran about to retire, and then she ejects you to a remade world, a world without her.

And you're doomed to fight in this world, the world she gave her life to protect, a world in which only you remember her. You don't let yourself become too close to the other magical girls for fear of losing that connection once the Law of Cycles takes them away.

So you're doomed, essentially. The one thing you've fought to protect is gone forever and there's no one but you left to grieve for her, and you start an endless fight against the new evil creatures in place of witches until you're about to disappear yourself.

But you don't even have the comfort of peaceful passing on because AHA!, that evil alien race wants to you use as a sadistic experiment to inflict suffering on you and the other magical girls while controlling the one saving grace you all had, to restart the terrible system you were trying to run away from in the original world.

So they place you in this fake simulation of happiness and fun and magical girl transformations all for the sake of controlling you and the girl you fought for and thought was safe.

So you take matters into your own hands and resign to destroy the labyrinth, even if it means your death, hoping the other magical girls put you out of your misery once and for all.

But if you die, then who would be left to protect that girl you love so much?

So you take matters into your own hands and override her power, creating an idealized world in which everyone can be happy at the cost of making all of your past friends your enemies later.

Even the girl you love and gave your life for time and time again.

All for the sake of keeping her safe once more from not only herself since you pulled a piece of her from the Law of Cycles, but also those terrible aliens who can only think about themselves and their sick curiosity.

I so badly want a happy ending for Homura, and I'm so hoping that that happy ending is one without magic or Karmaic fate or the weight of 26 years of repeated time travel or having to save her girlfriend from a terrible demise or dooming herself to magical Jesus type limbo for eternity all while she's the only one who can remember.

Outside of Madoka, what does Homura enjoy now in Rebellion? What were her dreams, if she had any? Her aspirations? What was her childhood like (even though we know it was lonely) was there anything in her life that even remotely made her feel that living was worth it?

If and when she becomes an adult, what will she be like? What career what she want to pursue? What interests her? What does she want the most for herself? Power? Fame? Company? Comfort?

And will it even be possible for her to enjoy anything outside of Madoka so long as she attaches her self worth to this one, ordinary girl?

Will she succeed in protecting her at the cost of herself? At the cost of anyone else excluding the kyubey?

Will she give up ultimate control over the world, or will she double down; ok with challenging her friends-turned-enemies all for the sake of her love?

And if so, will she succeed as Madoka's sole, eternal protector forevermore, or she be dethroned and killed, left to rot in a labyrinth of her self-hatred and mistakes? (God, I hope not.)

Or...will she finally be saved and released from the shackles of fate, time, and space so she can live her life as a normal girl, a life she wasn't granted even before she made her wish?

My excitement for this movie is beyond real.

[wyfy-meltdown]

I FINALLY DID IT!!! SHE IS DONE!!! Meet my first Madoka Magica OC: Komoe Mimura!!!

Below the cut is more info about her ♡✧⁠*⁠。

Bio / Base Information

Name: Komoe Mimura

Wish: "I wish I could grant wishes!"

Age: 16

Height: 5'2

Weapon: Magic Wand

Power: Grant Wishes*

Soul Gem: Purple, Rabbit Head Shaped

Witch Name: Velveteen

*Her ability to grant wishes is limited to things that can be created or destroyed.

Ex: she can grant the wish "I wish I had lots of money" but she cannot grant the wish "I wish I was rich" (one implies gaining something while the other implies altering the current reality).

Ex2: she can grant the wish "I wish [Name] would break up with his girlfriend" and/or "I wish [Name]'s girlfriend died" but she cannot grant the wish "I wish [Name] broke up with his girlfriend" and/or "I wish [Name]'s girlfriend didn't exist". (1&2 implies events that can occur in the future, 3 is past tense [meaning it would have already had to happen, thus altering the reality], and 4 would alter reality).

Personality

Design Breakdown

She has a very optimistic outlook and determined personality. She tries her best to get to know everyone, and her soft voice contradicts her upbeat personality. She absolutely loves magical girls to a stalkerish extent: she's willingly gone into witches labyrinths with hopes of meeting magical girls, and has a diary where she keeps all her information on the "magical girl secret world". She's very girly, and loves feminine things: dresses, long hair, and cuteness are all things she adores. Her favorite pastimes are watching tv, sketching, and hanging out with friends. Often times she can come off as pushy or intimidating (especially to girls she scouts to be magical girls) but she genuinely means no harm, and doesn't ever realise she's acting poorly. She takes great pride in being a magical girl, and her current goal is to thank the magical girl that saved her.

Trivia

I'm not sure if I fully like the design (mainly the waistcoat thing, and I should've given her gloves) but I'm happy I managed to actually draw her. This was a very self-indulgent design (not a sona though) and so I included ungodly amounts of ruffles and pastel pink!

Underneath her skirt is layers and layers of ruffles to the point her legs are not visible, and she has a double sleeve situation (also with ruffles underneath). The teacup & saucer hat is... rough, but I loved the concept and wanted to include it! Her rabbit ears are attached to a headband which has a ribbon on it. Her soul gem is located on her monocle chain; the alternate locations were the rabbit ear headband, one of the hairtie ribbons, and an anklet. I went with heterochromia because I could not decide whether I liked the pink or purple more (I also debated on mint, but I wanted to keep the colour palette analogous), I also struggled with very light purple vs very light pink for the hair; and went with very light pink (but I'm not sure how I feel about it). Those hair flicks near the top of her head aren't real rabbit ears, but are meant to resemble floppy rabbit ears. I wanted her overall design to invoke the feeling of "magical girl" strongly, and I hope I succeeded in that!

Her magic wand shots a magic beam(?) thing from the top (between the ears) and functions like a whip; the hand-guard is based off a rapier's, and the bottom has a sphere that looks like a rabbit tail. Her soul gem features a rabbit head on top, and a clock face (sorta) as the bottom symbol. ALSO! I promise her purple eye is the same colour as the soul gem, the glass shading from the monocle makes the eye look lighter!

Her original wish was "I wish to be a magical girl!" but Inkyuu (the resident incubator) told her to pick a different wish since she'd become a magical girl regardless

She was aware of magical girls before being approached by Inkyuu due to being saved from a witch by a magical girl; she has gained an obsession with magical girls as a result

She uses her power of granting wishes to scout potential magical girls for Inkyuu

Her white rabbit theming is because she leads girls down the rabbit hole of becoming magical girls (the day I stop using metaphors and symbolism for everything is the day I die)

[Adding onto above] She has no particular love of rabbits or Alice in Wonderland, but thinks her theming is cute and so plays into it

She'd either be a mentor figure or an antagonist or possibly both

She either knows the secret of witches or if she found out about the secret of witches she'd probably be supportive of incubators (maybe even intentionally becoming a witch[?])

She hasn't been a magical girl for very long, but is very enthusiastic about it so she's fought many witches

She's very close with Inkyuu and carries him(?) around with her

[majokkid]

What is a Witch’s Kiss?

In Puella Magi Madoka Magica and related works, a Witch's Kiss is a marking, the personal symbol or calling card of a Witch, used by a Witch and its Familiars (or Minions) to control the minds of humans and to mark their Labyrinth. These markings can be used to exacerbate pre-existing negative emotions and thoughts, change personalities, make people commit crimes or self-harm, or lure them into a Labyrinth to be consumed by the Witch inside. Some of these actions may not necessarily lead humans to being consumed: some Witches may merely desire to spread evil and misfortune regardless if they get sustenance. Furthermore, a ‘kissed’ human may not always die from it. Familiars can also kiss humans well outside of the Labyrinth they hail from in order to bring them to their Witch.

Note: In the magical hero community, I’ve heard these markings referred to as ‘sigils’ as well, but I hesitate to use that terminology for this case because I think it can cause unnecessary confusion for practitioners who regularly use sigils in their own magia. I can acknowledge that a Witch utilizes their Kiss as a sigil for their own gain, however.

If a puella magi or other magical hero is in possession of a Witch’s Kiss, it generally means that they came across it somehow in their day-to-day or astral travels and took note of its components for later exploration into the corresponding Labyrinth. The Kiss can contain visual elements that reveal attributes of the Witch including her appearance, nature, or even aspects of her Labyrinth or Familiars; this information is extremely helpful for any magical hero who is preparing to engage in magical combat with a Witch. The Kiss itself can also be used as a portal into its owner’s Labyrinth.

As a chaos magick practitioner as well, I assert that one can also reverse engineer a Witch’s Kiss for their own spellcraft. Is there something that you want to combat magically? Sigilize components of whatever you want vanquish and create a Kiss. This, in turn, can help conceptualize the trouble you are facing into a Witch and thus easier to focus energy towards defeating.

If you need a template for understanding or documenting a Witch, whether found or created, I recommend this format that was used for many of the Witch Cards that were displayed on the original Japanese website for the Puella Magi Madoka Magica anime:

[NAME], the [DESCRIPTOR, NOUN] Witch with a [DESCRIPTOR, ADJECTIVE] nature. The Witch is mainly colored [COLOR], is [DESCRIPTOR, SIZE], and resembles a/n [NOUN]. This Witch is [DESCRIPTOR, STRENGTH] and her weapon is [NOUN]. Her Labyrinth resembles [NOUN/DESCRIPTION] and her Familiars are named [NAME].

You can also add any additional information that helps you further visualize the Witch and its influence.

This post is part of my Magi Praxis series. If you have any suggestions for future topics, or you have attempted anything I have shared and want you share your experiences, please send me a message! I am always happy to go back and provide further explanation as well. ☆

[atamascolily]

I was trying to write out my thoughts about Homura and Walpurgisnacht's relationship, but I think what best encapsulates them at the moment is actually an image: the M.C. Escher lithograph Drawing Hands (1948).

Drawing Hands is first and foremost a paradox, with each hand rising out of a two-dimensional world to create the other and no beginning or end. In his book Godel, Escher, Bach: An Essential Golden Braid, Douglas Hofsteader uses it to represent the concept of a strange loop: a system (like consciousness or a musical fugue) that moves through multiple iterations, only to finally return to its starting point.

I first encounter this image juxtaposed with the Jorge Luis Borges micro-story, "Borges and I", which is--among many other things--a doppelganger story dealing with questions of identity and the boundaries between one person and another. The story ends with a confession: "I do not know which of us has written this page." The question that I ask now is, does it even matter? Is it truly either/or, or both/and?

The story of Madoka Magica is ultimately circular in nature. This is true of individual installments (here taking the anime episodes collectively as a unit), and I suspect it will ultimately be true on a collective level as well. I fully expect that the last shot of the final installment--whether Walpurgis no Kaiten or some other sequel--to end with the same imagery we saw in the "Prologue in Heaven" that opens the first episode of the anime. The end is the beginning is the end is the beginning--except that everything has changed as a result of the story that has been told; we now have the fully context to appreciate it for what it was all along.

In the anime, Walpurgisnacht created Homura by showing up in that first timeline and killing Madoka, thus inspiring Homura to make a contract and become a magical girl to save her. Thus it would be narratively fitting if Homura's actions--whether directly or indirectly, intentional or unintentional--lead to the creation of Walpurgisnacht, each of them giving rise to the other in turn.

After all, this is the same relationship between magical girls and witches in general--one creates the other in a never-ending loop, at least until Madoka wishes to change the cycle. Even here, the cycle remains a cycle--as evidenced by the name "Law of Cycles": the nature of the loop changes but not its structure.

The shape created by the hands in Drawing Hands is eerily reminiscent of the twofold tomoe, a Shinto symbol composed of two looping swirls, which itself is similar to the Chinese ying and yang symbol. A similar design appears in both Walpurgisnacht's mandala and Homura's shield--just as they are united in their shared motifs of cogs and gears, they are also linked by their connections to the cycle of creation and destruction.

Drawing Hands is also a good metaphor for Madoka Magica in that it involves transcending two dimensions, just as Madoka Magica's animation incorporates three-dimensional objects on a regular basis. It also suggests at the possibility of a world outside of the narrative presented in the story, that everything we've witnessed on screen is in fact a tale unfolding in-universe as well. It's also an excellent metaphor for Rebellion in particular, which explicitly incorporates Homura's floating hands ("blue-screened" to indicate they are visible only to the audience) actively puppeting the Nightmares and building the "stage" in her labyrinth upon which the entire psychodrama takes place.

Oh, and I'd be lying if Drawing Hands didn't make me think of this shot from the original series, too, although both the position and the underlying symbolism are different:

(something something Madoka's wish to save all magical girls with her own hands something something--look, there's a lot of hand imagery in this show, okay?)

That said, given Homura's salamander/lizard motif, perhaps a different M.C. Escher drawing, Reptiles (1943) will prove to be an equally fitting representation of her journey in the end.

We've already seen the salamander representing the "Dark Orb" move from two to three dimensions (and become a phone!) in the trailer for Walpurgis no Kaiten, so who knows what the movie has in store for us?

[dreamerwitches]

It's the----- updated Madoka iceberg yaaay!

I'll only be discussing the additions on this one (in green) so please check out the old one for the original descriptions

Content warning fooooor: fetishes, child abuse, artists being perverted about children, suicide, death and organ trafficking. This is gonna be fun, huh

Let's goooo!

Sky:

Mami forever alone: A bit of a joke/observation in the fandom. The popular pairings are Madoka and Homura, and Sayaka and Kyoko, often leading to Mami being alone which sadly suits her character... This is jokingly noticed in fanart and manga with Mami often being left out. Sadly it's also led to some darker pairings for her such as Kyubey, Nagisa and even the witch kissed woman from episode 2.

Witches speak: Although witches are often silent or cry out like monsters. Two are known to have spoken. Elly speaks in reverse in episode 4 saying 'I really had fun today, I want to do it again. Next time, I'll bring a bentou'. Izabel also speaks in episode 10 to lure Homura into her labyrinth. However it is completely unconfirmed that the witches are actually speaking and it may even be their familiars. Mildly related, Oktavia's scream from episode 9 is actually a distorted scream from Sayaka.

Walpurgisnacht festival: Walpurgisnacht's name comes from the real world European festival of the same name, or Walpurgis night, that lands on the 30th of April or the 1st of May. Some people theorise that Walpurgisnacht actually arrives in Mitakihara on one of these days.

Walpurgisnacht rising: The sequel film to Rebellion announced on April 25th, 2021... very little was first shown and not a sausage has been revealed since... v-v

Madoka Magica Cafe: A temporary cafe set up around the release of the original anime in 2011. It offered special drinks and desserts as well as Madoka merch. It was extremely popular with waits of over 2 hours on opening day. A few more were held in Japan and Taipei.

Tip:

Magia Record Anime ver. Units: Very controversial variant units from the Magia Record game. These units were criticised as lazy copies of existing characters. With either very minor differences to talk sprites or none at all, ugly battle sprites and lazy transformation animations ripped straight from the anime. These units were not received well with one of the only good aspects being the beautiful card art.

Juubey: The Kyubey for the Pleides Saints in Kazumi Magica. Spoilers for the manga. He was an altered Kyubey that served the girls and purified their Soul Gems without need for Grief Seeds. After learning the truth about witches, the girls killed Kyubey and turned them into a Dependent-Version Incubator with the nickname Juubey and blocked out Kyubey's influence on the city. Yeah, it's complicated XD

Covid delivery girls: The dual unit Tsuruno Felicia Delivery Girls features face masks in their transformation and Magia sprite because the Covid pandemic was occuring when the unit was released.

Ebony: Ebony was the third Puella Historia unit released in Magia Record being a girl from ancient Egypt. She is heavily criticised in the western fandom for not only having a terribly revealing and historically inaccurate outfit but for also being white. However, like Cleopatra, she could be Greek therefore her skin tone would be correct. This however does not excuse her poor design overall On a similar note, how Cleopatra appears in Magia Record is incorrect as she is tanned in-game but has been confirmed by historians to have been white.

Cancelled figures: What is says on the tin! Merchandise that was cancelled including a scale figure of Nagisa and figures of Yachiyo and Tsuruno in their casual clothes and uniform respectively (possibly prize figures). Some that are in a terrible limbo include the 1/8 scale Holy Mami figure, Figuarts mini of Mami, Sayaka and Kyoko and a 1/7 scale figure of Madoka in the style of Aoki Ume's art.

Rebellion was just fanservice: My, my, a controversial one! Some people speculate that the sequel movie, Rebellion, was merely made for fanservice and money. This can be argued with the finite feeling to the anime's ending as well as the many tropes seen in the movie. It shows all the girls fighting happily together (a thing wanted by many fans), ties up loose ends with Sayaka and Kyoko and adds a fan favourite witch, Charlotte, into the main cast. I like to think this isn't the case but you can decide this yourself.

Masara Kokoro Bride ver. A recent variant for Masara and Kokoro where Masara is in a wedding dress and Kokoro is in a tuxedo. Their description is that they're modelling for wedding photos but the gay theming is too overpowering for it to be simply platonic. The less than subtle hints at romance between two girls is a change for the series that loves to be ambiguous. The unit was very well received.

Kyubey and Charlotte scooters: A unique piece of merchandise are scooters by Brain Police that feature decals of Kyubey and Charlotte. You can get yourself one for the low low price of 134,400 yen (£750). These are certainly unique, but quite a funny piece of merch

Lesbian Rika: Rika from Magia Record is the only magical girl canonically who has been in love with another girl (don't get the pitchforks, SPECIFICALLY confirmed). Her wish was for her childhood friend to fall in love with her instead of the boy she liked which does work yet Rika realises it doesn't feel right and breaks up with her.

Shallows:

Trans Ria: Ria is a magical girl from Magia Record, her wish was 'Turn me into a naturally beautiful girl'. This has led fans to believe that her wish was for her to transition from male to female. This can also be seen with her doppel Heide Jekyll that transforms from a dumpy blob in a rectangle to a feminine figure with a circle. Her witch's name also comes from Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde which is not only a male character but they were also known for transforming into an alter ego or a different person.

Devil Homura in Magia Record: A total tease. Fans have been wanting Devil Homura as a unit in Magia Record since its very beginning however she still hasn't come. To add salt to the wound, the Magia Report version of her, Devil Homura-chan was added on April Fools 2022. It's speculated she may be released on Magia Day but she's still not here...

Alina Eve's name: Alina Eve is a witch fusion of Alina, her doppel and Shitori Egumo who debuted in episode 25 of the Magia Record anime. In the anime, her name appeared in Runes as 'Neo Dorothy Motherfucker'. This links to her use of curses and her doppel's name, Old Dorothy. However, when her profile was revealed on the official twitter she was named Alina Eve and in-game she is called Neo Dorothy. The reason for the change and discrepancy is unknown but it may be because they didn't want to use swear words in media outside the anime.

Swimsuit Madoka's transformation: An infamous one. When Madoka got her swimsuit unit her transformation was the first (and only so far) to use the live2D models instead of traditional animation. This was not well received and was a disappointment for one of the main character's units. The reason may have been time constraints but fans were not pleased.

Mami is Walpurgisnacht: Forgive me, it's a little clickbait-y..! The reason is..! Mami's voice actress, Kaori Mizuhashi also voiced Walpurgisnacht in the anime. She also voiced Tatsuya, Madoka's little brother.

Fetishes: Oh dear... we're getting here... Two magical girls have clear fetishes. Yukika gets pleasure from dangerous situations while Miyuri has a foot fetish that is probably played off for laughs... It is NOT okay to give child characters fetishes, okay? Fetishes are a sexual thing. Next.

Dub bloopers: Bloopers for the English dub of the anime were released at Otakon 2012 (can be found on Youtube). It certainly feels like 2010s humour but it's still a little funny. Also great if you wanna hear some of the girls swear.

Iroha x Yachiyo: Ugh. It is very clear from Magia Record media that Iroha and Yachiyo are played off very similarly to Madoka and Homura. While the pairing of Madoka and Homura is perfectly fine as they're both children, Iroha and Yachiyo are not. Yachiyo is an adult and Iroha is a child. The anime, merchandise, and the unit of them together rub salt into this wound as dual units are mostly seen as ship units by fans. It's disgusting and not okay.

Yuma's abuse: Yuma is an abuse victim in Oriko Magica. (cw description of child abuse) Her father is absent (either neglectful or has left) and her mother, Mako, would beat and burn her with cigarettes as well as kick her out of the house for long periods of time. Her parents are killed in the original manga and she is taken in by Kyoko because of her similarity to her late sister Momo. In Extra Story she never contracts and is living happily with her grandparents.

Deep Waters:

Gan: Ugh again. Gan is the artist behind Suzune Magica (probably the least liked spin off lol) who is infamous for their clear lack of restraint in making children sexualised. Arisa has an outfit with circles right where her nipples are, Chisato has an outfit with a strip of fabric for a skirt and she is canonically uncomfortable with it and they love giving older characters enormous (and unrealistic) breasts. The art they draw of their UNDERAGE characters is always sexual and borderline pornographic and. Not. Okay. (even told by Magireco staff to tone down their puella historia character, haha fuck you)

Takashi Tensugi The illustrator for Kazumi Magica. Their disgusting taste is evident in the character design for the protagonists as well as sexual and revealing shots in the manga but I've also heard that they've drawn hentai before. No I'm not going to fucking look for that thank you. But... another bad egg in the spin off manga series... Not okay

Masugitsune ANOTHER BAD EGG! One of the illustrators for Tart Magica and also the illustrator for Yukika (you can tell where this is going). Sexualises minors, just like every madoka spin-off artist seems to... Has drawn Yukika in revealing swimsuits and bunny costumes as well as the rest of the Tart cast. Remember, they're all children----! NOT OKAY!

Riz's former companions names Omg thank god we're past the nonce section... Riz had unnamed magical girl companions in Tart Magica that have been slowly named by their artist. Their names are... pretty shit honestly as they're just named after their weapons. They are Machete, Frusta and Falce with one being still unnamed.

Kuroe was a marketing stunt: Not confirmed of course but... Kuroe was introduced at the very beginning of the Magia Record anime with her being the only new character. She disappeared for the rest of the series until the very end with a very lacklustre and ineffective ending. One could imagine that her inclusion and focus was to grip watchers into continuing with an otherwise pretty underwhelming series. But... take it how you wish...

Livia's backstory: Hey, this isn't new! I hear you say! Well, it's not new, but it's changed! The original iceberg said that her backstory may have been linked to a miscarriage but NOPE its worse! She was actually almost a victim of organ trafficking when she was a child. And later in life, she watched one of her friends die on her wedding day as she was run over by a tractor that she caused to malfunction...

Himena and Hiko: Himena's wish was for her boyfriend to be with her within her. After... her boyfriend committed suicide yaaayyy! (sarcasm) The end of this iceberg isn't very nice, is it? Her boyfriend didn't want to come back and now he's stuck with her forever.

Well... that's it! Sorry it became a bit of a bummer at the end...

Have a plushy Charlotte for making it to the end! Yay!

[lynnuvo]

✧*̥˚ Tag-Along! *̥˚✧

Characters: Tomoko Aimi (OC), Homura Akemi, Madoka Kaname, Sayaka Miki, & Kyoko Sakura (Commissioned/Requested ♡ Thank you! I did my best with the provided information. I still have some things to learn about the Madoka Magica Universe, so it was an adventure to research while making this. I hope you like it!)

In the vast world of possibilities, many theories exist in attempts to explain how life worked. Was reincarnation real? Was there really a concept of Heaven and Hell? Was there only one version of the universe, or did a multitude of timelines exist?

In the world of Madoka Magica, it happened to be that timelines were how the universe could sort varying actions and circumstances that could be brought up at any time at any place.

It also happened that in just about every timeline, Tomoko Aimi drowned to death.

About 13 to 14 years of age, Tomoko Aimi was a girl who some wouldn't have expected to make it far in life--not because of potential but rather the situation she was in. After all, it wasn't easy for orphans to gain an upper hand over other children. Merely surviving was a struggle, for she lived alone in a small apartment complex. Job searching came out fruitless; not many companies or even family-owned shops were willing to consider such a young candidate for employment. Money was, therefore, tight, and it got even tighter as time passed. To avoid authorities, Tomoko's state of living remained under wraps, but like money, support was little.

Despite these struggles, the girl was a child at heart. Laughter rang in the classroom in her reaction to a classmate's joke. Her smile brightened her teacher's heart whenever she was praised for a correct answer. Whenever she fell for a prank (and believe it or not, she always did), she chased her companions around and plotted revenge (sometimes they failed; sometimes they didn't). When classes weren't in session, she could be seen in the fields with those same companions skipping rope, blowing bubbles, or playing imaginary games. Although home was little to smile over, it was these moments with people she cherished that made life worth living.

Most notably, two people who come to mind when Tomoko thought about who she cherished met her in the most unexpected of ways. It all began when Tomoko stumbled upon the strangest cat she had ever seen on a shortcut to her favorite lunch spot.

The cat of white and pink eyes stared at her as she made her way closer. When the distance closed in, Tomoko bent down on her knees with eyes of wonderment. "Woah, you look cute. I want to take you home!"

With a blink, the cat ran off.

"Hey, wait!" Tomoko tightened her school bag on her shoulder and chased after the creature. "Hold on! I'm not that scary, right?!"

In pursuit of the animal, she watched as the alley she was just in transformed into a strange labyrinth. She stopped in her tracks once her entire environment seemed to expand tenfold. Her heart beat faster as a tall, dark lady built like a skeleton rose from the ground while music played out of nowhere.

The creature stopped running, blinked at her again, and leaped at her. Tomoko let out a small shriek and allowed her reflexes to catch the cat, who remained passive. When a fuzzy ball with legs popped out of thin air not so far ahead of them, the girl stepped back. "What did you get us into...? What in the world is THIS?!"

"STAY RIGHT THERE!"

Tomoko's eyes darted to the shout of the feminine voice to find its owner flying the air, scoping at the towering, skeleton-like lady with a musket. A loud BANG! echoed in the air. Tomoko flinched and recovered herself to see another girl flying her way.

This one was adorned in a dress of pink and white, with matching messy pigtails. She rested a hand on Tomoko's shoulder. "Don't be afraid. We've got this."

A tear ran down Tomoko's eyes. "I am so scared right now..."

WHOOSH! Another girl, this one with red glasses and a black and purple outfit, appeared to Tomoko's other side. She offered a small nod and a smile. "Trust us. Mami-san and Kaname-san won't let anything bad happen to us."

And so, Tomoko watched in awe as the two girls left to join their other companion in a battle that Tomoko thought she could only see in movies. The defeat of the skeleton-lady came with a crash. The world around her wobbled away to reveal the alley again, but the three girls remained.

The tallest pushed her princess curls out of her face and picked a small item up to pocket it away. She strode over to Tomoko and gave the creature still in her arms a stink eye. It jumped away and ran to the pink-themed girl, who yelped with joy. The tall girl rested a hand on her chest. "I apologize for the scene you just witnessed. I'm guessing Kyubey wants you, though, if you haven't fallen under hypnosis by the witch and could see it and us."

"Witch?"

"Are you hungry? I can explain over lunch. My name's Mami Tomoe."

"Lunch?! I'm so hungry, yes please!" The pink-haired girl exclaimed with a jump. "I'm Madoka Kaname, pleasure to meet you!"

The black-haired girl stepped forward, hands clasped in front of her. "I'm Ho--"

Tomoko gasped. "Wait. I've seen you before in the halls, I think. At school. Do you go to Mitakihara Middle School?"

"I do. We all do, actually," the black-haired girl replied with a blush. "I'm Homura Akemi. We fight witches of pain and despair, though I'm much newer at it."

"Woah, magical girls?!" Tomoko leaned forward. "I wanna hear me!"

Mami chuckled. "Then, let's hurry. We were just headed to this cafe I found last week. I hope we'll like it."

Over a hearty meal, Mami--the oldest of the group--shared the purpose and history of Magical Girls while emphasizing the risk they had to take in their everyday lives in order to keep the universe safe. It was quite a shock to hear that such otherworldly beings blended into normal civilians like her. Mami also shared that the cat (who lounged on the table) Tomoko caught is an Incubator named Kyubey. It granted Mami and Madoka their wishes, and Mami joked it was only a matter of time before Homura and Tomoko made their wishes as well.

After cleaning up, the four left the cafe and stopped walking at an intersection before parting ways. Mami reached her hand out to Tomoko. "If you'd like, you could come with us to fight witches before making your decision. It is quite literally life or death, so it's best you be informed of what you're getting into."

Madoka rushed over and took ahold of Tomoko's hands with a smile. "That would be awesome! We'll keep you safe, I promise."

Pink dusting her cheeks, Tomoko smiled back. "Sure!"

And so, for the following month, the four journeyed through a multitude of labyrinths whenever Tomoko had time. Mami, as the unspoken leader of the group, was always at the front of these fights, so Homura and Madoka spent much of their time closer to Tomoko in the labyrinths protecting her while battling. As a newcomer, the girl looked up to them so much. Even outside of Magical Girl activities, Tomoko spent some time with her new friends, though mostly the two who were in her grade level. She followed them around in school and asked them to play with her whenever something excited showed up. Once, she convinced Madoka and Homura to join a merry-go-round with her. It was easy for an outsider to tell who had the most childlike joy in the trio.

Tomoko, unlike two others in the quad, didn't have an obligation to go witch hunting since she hadn't contracted yet. Despite not having a family waiting for her at home, she wasn't quite ready to commit all of her time to the life of a Magical Girl. She still needed to find food to bring home, after all. It was already enough she was hoping someone would bring up eating out after every battle.

"Can I please have this one? I'll pay you back again as soon as I get the money!" Tomoko pleaded while pointing to a bowl of ramen at the current restaurant's menu. "I already paid you back for the ice cream I ate last time, remember?"

"Tomoko-chan, must you always be indebted to me?" Homura chuckled before she ordered the desired meal.

When they returned to the table where the other two sat, Mami smiled. "Did Homura get you something again? She's kind, but it's not good to take advantage of your friends."

Tomoko's cheeks exploded in red. "I'm not! I swear! I paid her back for everything eventually. I normally don't have money on me when we go on these trips. They come up so suddenly..."

Madoka laughed. "You'll definitely benefit from a wallet, then."

"I think keeping her money on her would enable her to spend much more than she already is, don't you think?" Mami winked.

Tomoko pouted. "Hey!"

Other than searching for food, Tomoko spent time with her other companions at school. She enjoyed playing with them any chance she got, which was usually more than once a week. They distracted her from the struggles of an orphan and made her feel less alone in the wide world. With every laugh, she imagined growing up and going on more adult hangouts with these people. Although she didn't have a biological family to chase her until she was caught for an onslaught of tickles, she felt she had finally had some sort of found-family.

So why was it that Tomoko's breath was extinguished underwater?

One moment, she was playing Hide-and-Seek while drinking juice with her friends. And the next, the instinct to live shot her awake as her feet and arms flailed for some sort of surface to hold onto or stand on. She couldn't even open her eyes without water flushing in, blocking her vision.

Where was she? Where were her friends? Why weren't they saving her? These questions, unfortunately, would go unanswered. With no way to get to safety, Tomoko succumbed to the pitch black.

Or at least, that was until white light spread from the center of her "vision." A sparkly path of purple immediately grew from the center and winded its way towards Tomoko until it was out of her vision. Arms emerged from the center of the bright light until the body of a girl in a three-layered, white and pink frilly dress came into full view. The dress was unlike any she'd ever seen: longer than the girl's own feet Pink hair as long and shiny as that of a princess and sleeves as wavy as a summer breeze, she opened her arms in one graceful motion.

"Tomoko-chan," she spoke in a crisp voice and a smile. "I've come to save you."

Madoka....

She watched as Madoka took her hand, a strange view since Tomoko couldn't see the rest of her body or even control the part visible. Madoka rested one of her own hands on her chest. "I'm so sorry I wasn't there when you died. So much has happened since you left us, but I'm here now. A friend of mine is here to explain everything. Please, if I give you life, will you watch over Homura for me?"

Was that even a question?

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"Hey? Hello! HELLO!"

Gasping for breath, Tomoko slowly opened her eyes to see the face of a girl with short blue hair so close to her that their noses almost touched. Eyes widening, the girl backed away to reveal her royal heroine-like outfit, with the top and skirt of her strapless button-down top the color of a deep ocean while the torso was donned in white.

Her hands rested on her hips as she wore a slight frown. "Hey, are you okay? Madoka said you might be a bit disoriented. Do you remember her?"

"Madoka-san..." Tomoko pushed her lethargic body up as much as she could, though her hands almost slipped on the sleek colorful floor. The mysterious girl rushed over to help her sit up. Tomoko held her hand weakly and looked around at the wide expanse of her location--a building that was void of even objects. "I do. I remember drowning--I think--Madoka-san came to save me. She looked kind of different--like a princess."

"Do you remember what happened to you and Madoka before you died?"

"Um. She wasn't there right before I died, but I remember her. Her, Homura-san, and Mami-san, actually. We were going on adventures fighting witches, except Homura-san and I didn't make our wishes yet. I needed to see if I was ready for that life. I guess I died before I could even think of a wish though...

The girl blinked before letting out a sigh. "So you do remember. Thank goodness." She suddenly stood upright, smiled, and placed a hand on her chest. "The name's Sayaka Miki. What's yours?"

"Tomoko...Tomoko Aimi."

"Well then, let's stay here for a bit while you recover, Tomoko-chan." Sayaka sat down beside her, knees to her chest and arms spread behind her. "Let's see....where should I begin...? I guess I can start with Madoka. This is going to be a lot."

Sayaka's long explanation began with sharing that Madoka was able to revive Tomoko through the Law of Cycles, a concept created by Madoka's wish to erase witches before they are born. Sayaka herself was also saved by Madoka after her death as a witch. Since Tomoko hadn't gotten the chance to make her decision, Madoka chose to offer grace: Tomoko could become a Magical Girl in another timeline in exchange for life.

"Are you not coming with me, Miki-san?" Tomoko questioned when Sayaka told her to get up in preparation for the outside world.

The girl shook her head with a smile. "I've had my fill of fighting witches. It's your turn, now."

Although hesitant to leave without her, Tomoko nodded, turned around, and walked towards the door. Before she could reach for the knob, the building around her wobbled away until she was left in a familiar alley--the same alley she had first met Madoka, Homura, and Mami in. Speaking of the three, where were they? Did they even exist in this timeline? In search of answers, Tomoko sprinted towards Mami's apartment.

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"Madoka...? Who is that?"

Tomoko gaped. "You don't remember Madoka-san? Our friend?"

Mami tilted her head. "No...? Is this someone we've met before?"

"Yes! We've fought with her and--!"

Homura, who had been silent since Tomoko's arrival into the apartment (other than a simple greeting), rested a hand on her shoulder while maintaining eye contact with Mami. "Tomoko, I think you're feeling unwell. Your nightmares might be acting up."

"Huh? I didn't--!"

Homura squeezed her shoulder.

Tomoko pursed her lips. "Okay. Maybe I have...; I've been sleeping late recently."

Mami set her cup of black tea down with a hearty chuckle. "You worried me there for a moment! I couldn't imagine forgetting a fellow Magical Girl, nonetheless one who is our friend." She glanced at the clock in her room. "Since you have been sleeping late, it's best you head home now for bed. I wouldn't want to worsen your sleep quality."

Homura stood. "I'll take her home. I don't trust her to get there safely alone."

"Hey!"

Mami laughed and waved the two farewell. Once she shut the door behind them, they walked side by side down the apartment stairs and began in the direction of Tomoko's apartment in silence. Awkward was not something Tomoko was good at dealing with, and neither was the quiet. She peeked at this timeline's Homura. It was odd to see her friend without glasses, and it was even more so that Homura's aura gave off a much colder impression than her previously shy, ditzy self. Her free-flowing long, black hair made her appear much more mature than her old braids did. While Tomoko felt it suited how she saw Homura, actually seeing it in person just didn't feel right.

Homura caught her gaze. "How do you remember Madoka?"

"Huh. Oh. Um--I just do."

"No one here remembers her. She doesn't exist."

"What? That's not possible..."

"Tell me." Homura stepped closer to her. "Do you recall a god-like Madoka? When was the last time you've seen her?"

"I-uh-I...." She wasn't sure if the truth was meant to be a secret, but Homura's eyes would have forced it out of her anyway. Tomoko bit her lip and nodded. "I just saw her. I'm not sure how, though. I just appeared somewhere around here. Did I still exist before I came? The me right now, I mean."

"I see. Yes, you did. Me, you, and Mami fight Wraiths, what grief embodies into."

"Wraiths? What happened to witches?"

"They don't exist here. You're not supposed to remember that." Homura took out a circle shield. "According to your story, we were friends in your timeline. We are friends in this timeline as well. We should act as such. And as a friend, I request you give me any possible lead that will bring me to Madoka."

"I--sure! Yes! Of course!" Tomoko exclaimed, lifting her arms to her chest. "I actually don't really know much. All that really happened was that I met this blue-haired girl named Sayaka.....Sayaka something. I think her name was Sayaka Miki, but I can't remember."

"Hm." Homura started towards Tomoko's apartment again. "She's no longer with us. No matter. I will drop you off at home and meet you here everyday before school starts. I will message you about anything else. I ask you to keep Madoka a secret from the others."

"Got it!"

Although nervous at first, the two began hunting Wraiths together with Mami--sometimes without her if Homura wished or they stumbled upon one alone. It was a surreal experience getting used to Homura's abilities, especially her onslaught of armory. Even her strategies gave her spine chills. They were much more calculated and daring. Most of the time, Homura was the one aiming for the Wraiths while Tomoko fought off the minions. It took a while to get used to Tomoko's own abilities. The first couple battles, Homura excused themselves from Mami due to illness so Tomoko could practice. According to the purple-haired companion, it would be suspicious if Tomoko suddenly lost her skills. Once she gained them back, however, she felt so powerful and weightless. It was no wonder Magical Girls had a type of confidence normal civilians didn't.

One day, after fighting a witch, Homura treated Tomoko to ice cream. Holding her cone, she sat beside Homura on a bench and licked her sweet treat. "Homura-san, did you find any leads on Madoka-san?"

The girl furrowed her brows. "No."

"Oh." Silence ensued for a moment as Tomoko continued licking her ice cream. "What did you wish for to become a Magical Girl?"

"I...I wished to redo my first meeting with Madoka with the power necessary to protect her."

"Really? What happened to Madoka-san for you to wish for such a thing?"

Homura stared up at the night sky. "In another timeline, she saved the world from an incredibly strong witch named Walpurgisnacht. I couldn't bear the thought of my dear friend leaving me in such a sacrifice. But she is too selfless for her own good. No matter where I went, no matter what I did, she refused to live without interfering with the way Kyubey's world worked. Finally, she made a wish that saved Magical Girls from becoming witches at the cost of her own existence. I need to find her again."

Homura looked at Tomoko and pulled out her shield. "I'm sorry, Tomoko-chan. I need to leave."'

"Where are you going?"

"To another timeline."

Tomoko's eyes widened. "Wait, you're not leaving me here, are you?!"

The gears in the shield whirred alive. Homura's eyes darted away. "I'm sorry."

"WAIT! DON'T JUST--!"

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As if fate played some silly game, Tomoko awoke as a familiar standing by Homura. She could barely talk, only making some noises. She wasn't sure what witch she was a familiar of, but what was unusual was that she was the only creature there.

"Are you really here again?" Homura muttered, staring at her.

"AODAOIDAOIDWDIJIA?!"

"I told you last time I'll end you at your witch. Why must you keep trailing after me?"

Huh? What did that mean? She didn't recall being associated with a witch or even receiving a disapproval to follow Homura. If anything, Homura requested it. Could it be that Tomoko's subconscious awoke in another version of her? It made sense, the longer her mind dwelled on it. In the previous timeline, she didn't remember fighting with Homura and Mami as a trio of Magical Girls. That Tomoko existed before this Tomoko took over. It could very well be the same case in this universe.

Homura pulled out a gun from her skirt and pointed it at Tomoko. "Thank you for your company, but I can't risk explaining my mercy towards you to other Magical Girls. It will give them ideas. It's already concerning that Kyoko almost caught us."

"AIDJWID?!"

BANG!

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Oh great. Another life as a familiar. At least she was a more cute, humanoid looking one!

Tomoko lifted her head from the puddle she was staring at. Ahead of her was the end of the dark alley she had appeared in. There was no way she could travel to Mami's apartment in this state; her head would be blown off again. Without a clue for where to go, the girl--er, familiar--wandered the streets. The way normal civilians ignored her presence sent a sinking feeling in her gut. Her heart panged watching other children blow bubbles without her.

As she wandered closer to an arcade, the environment around her wobbled alive. Startled, Tomoko spun around to watch as familiars unlike her came alive. A huge cotton-ball creature with dolls as eyes erupted from the ground with a howl.

What do I do?! I can't fight that thing as this!

"Perfect! I was just in the area!"

Out of nowhere, a girl with messy red hair flew from the right and launched straight into the monster. Tomoko stood, mouth agape, as the girl jumped away while red liquid gushed out of the creature, who roared in protest. Its familiars charged towards her, but her spear broke apart into bars chained together. She flung the bars around, knocking the familiars into oblivion. With one ferocious attack after another, it didn't take long for the labyrinth to wobble away.

The girl strode towards a grief seed, picked it up, and held it against her soul gem. "Hehe, yes. Just what I needed."

Tomoko stared at her back. She wasn't sure how the girl didn't spot her. Maybe she was invisible? Her case was unique, after all. Still, it was best to not be seen. Thankfully, the color scheme of her being allowed her to blend into the alley behind the arcade well. She didn't have much to do and not much caught her attention outside of what just happened, so Tomoko followed the mysterious girl as she walked away. The girl walked into a supermarket, bought nothing, entered a bookstore, bought nothing, ran across a park, entered a bakery, and sat down. Tomoko slid into the booth chair opposite of her and watched as the girl read the menu.

Once she ordered a dish loaded with toppings, she fanned her face with the menu and looked straight ahead. "Why are you following me?"

So she could see her?! Tomoko's figure trembled in confusion. "AIDOADADODJA!"

"Yeah, I have no idea what you just said. It's weird you aren't attacking me. And you don't look like that witch's familiars, either." The girl pointed her menu at Tomoko. "Did somebody send you?"

"AOIJA!"

"Uh. Okay...; I have no clue what that means either." She tossed the menu to Tomoko. "I'm too starved to think too much right now."

Tomoko stared at the menu, but her thoughts turned elsewhere. How could witches exist here and not the other timeline if Madoka had rid of them? Was there something in the Law of Cycles she had misinterpreted or missed altogether? Or could it be that witches who already existed before Madoka made her wish were able to live?

A piping hot batch of pancakes loaded with syrup, whipped cream, parsley (who in the world orders pancakes with parsley, especially in a bakery?) arrived with five huge strawberries hugged by small blueberries.

Pondering about the logic of the universe could wait another time!

She watched in absolute envy as the girl started eating the delicious meal. If only she was in that position....

The girl peeped up at Tomoko and swallowed. "You can't actually eat, can you?"

"AADWDIJ?"

She pushed the plate towards Tomoko. "Try it."

With ease, Tomoko picked up a spoon and dined away. The girl glanced around, but no one seemed to care. In fact, it didn't look like any of them could spot a floating spoon. After another bite, Tomoko pouted as the plate was taken from her.

"Okay. That's enough for you. I don't know what kind of familiar you are, but if you can eat and understand me, that's weird enough. Weird in a cool way." The girl stabbed a pancake and grinned. "The name's Kyoko Sakura. What's yours?"

"ASIDJW ADIAWDW."

"Er....okay.....; you know what? We can head over to my place after this so you can get a pen. You're not going to stab me in the back later, are you?"

Tomoko shook her head violently.

"Hah. That's sick! And you can see me fighting the witch."

Tomoko nodded.

"You got anywhere to be?"

Tomoko shook her head again.

"Nice, nice." Kyoko's eyes brightened. "Let's go fight more witches! I need to collect more grief seeds to keep them on hand. Actually, I don't know if you can fight, but I can show you how cool I am while fighting. And if I get hurt, I guess you can find some other Magical Girl to come get me, right?"

Tomoko nodded eagerly.

"A familiar on a Magical Girl's side, wow. I'm totally blaming myself for trusting you if you backstab me. Here, let me cut you a piece of this pancake." She turned around. "Excuse me, miss! Can I have a small plate? I like to portion out my bites."

Tomoko watched as Kyoko cut a slice of her pancake and offered a couple berries. At last, the familiar let out a sigh that somehow went inaudible. That was probably something she'd have to understand about familiars. She'd have to understand so many new things, actually. And she'll definitely have to find Homura eventually, though she guessed the black-haired friend would eventually appear since she mentioned a Kyoko previously.

All of that can be accomplished another time, however. For now, she'd enjoy a sweet treat with someone who could possibly become her new friend.

[akiizayoi4869]

I watched the Madoka Magica: Rebellion movie today, and I absolutely loved it. A very interesting spin on the shows ending, and it makes perfect sense to me. In the show, nearly all of them died except for Madoka and Homura, the former of which sacrifices herself to become a God of sorts so that way no other magical girl will have to suffer anymore. So she leaves Homura alone. Alone in a world where nobody but Homura remembered Madoka. And after everything that girl went through to try and save Madoka, that's a hard pill to swallow. So when it's revealed in the movie that the reality that the girls are in isn't real, and that one of them made it up because they now have the powers of a witch, it made perfect sense for that person to be Homura.

Out of all the other magical girls, she's the one who has faced the most heartbeat and despair. Constantly going back in time, creating different worlds as a result of said time travel, all in a bid to save Madoka, the person who she loves the most. And in the end, all of her efforts were in vain. She lost the one person who she had sworn to save and protect. So is it any wonder that she would give in to her despair and create a world where Madoka and all of their friends could live peacefully?

Look at them. All together and happy, unaware of the reality they actually come from. In other words, a world that Homura wanted and desired more than anything else. Something that I found to be really interesting and thought was a nice touch was this:

The people around them don't have faces. Almost as if they weren't real people, and the only ones who WERE in fact real was Homura, her friends, and the people closest to them. They were the only ones who actually had faces in this world. Of course, eventually Homura realizes that something is off about the world, and confides in Kyoko. The two then set out to Kyoko's hometown, hoping to find some answers there....only for the bus that they were on to take them back to the city that they currently live in. And endless loop that they can't get out of. As if nothing outside of that city existed. A lot of stuff happens, and Homura eventually comes to a startling conclusion: that she was the witch that created the labyrinth they were all currently stuck in. As a result, she gives in to despair entirely and transforms into a witch. Madoka and the others arrive to try and save Homura. And now we get up to the scene that had me screaming😂.

I've been shipping these two since I watched the show, so the fact that Sayaka actually confessed to Kyoko here was a very welcomed surprise, lol. Anyway, they all fight together to save Homura (also, I loved that they played Misterioso by Kalafina for that scene, absolutely banger song) and eventually Madoka regains her true form once again:

Everything looks like it's going well, and it looks like Homura will be saved....until this happens:

Homura takes away Madoka's God powers so she can live as an ordinary girl, and takes the power for herself, essentially turning her into a demon.

Now, I'm pretty sure that there's a lot of people who hated this part, but honestly? I loved it. To me, it really showed how done Homura was with everything (and I can't say that I blame the girl, she just found out from Kyube that she was being used for an experiment in order to get to Madoka) and that she would literally do ANYTHING to make sure that Madoka and her friends could live happy lives.

Even if that meant becoming a demon to do it.

The movie ends with all of the girls alive. And this time, instead of Madoka no longer existing in the world, she's here too. In fact, she's the transfer student instead of Homura. Very interesting turn of events indeed.

All in all, I really loved this movie and I think the ending makes perfect sense, especially for someone like Homura, who has been through a heck of a lot for a young girl her age. So becoming the villain in the end? Fits her tragic story perfectly.

[aoikitty]

List of LU/general LOZ things I’m working on in hopes that telling people about them will actually motivate me to finish them-

(Also because I want to yap)

Current Wips:

- Ref sheet/Height chart of all the boys, currently 3 of 9 boys are done.. (technically 4 including Time- but I actually freestyled his design in my first post so I still need to add him to the lineup)

- Finalize & properly illustrate Rulie’s fairy design because I’ve been thinking bout him for MONTHS

- The Chain + horses. That’s it, I wanna give them each a special horse. :3

- Animated compilation of The chain as Vines & other stupid clips, because those videos are peak fandom content LMAO

Ideas:

- Legend animatic inspired by “Ruler of my heart ALNST” featuring “Marin”.. 🤭😇 (if you know you know)

-Self indulgent character study fic written as like a diary from the perspective of Marin on Koholint island + how the fuck she ended up in hyrule warriors because I think about her a lot.. (Writing really isn’t my strong suit so this one is unlikely but I wanted to share)

-Temple of Souls/ Valley of Seers Illustrations, but in the artstyle of a witch’s labyrinth from Madoka Magica because I made the connection whilst looking up the temple and now I can’t stop thinking about it..

- Hyrule Warriors Cia animatic to “You’ll be back” from the Hamilton soundtrack because it’s ACTUALLY ABSURD THAT NO ONE ELSE HAS DONE THIS YET. LIKE HOW?! It fits the games story and Cia’s fucked up perception of Link SOO WELL- like if no one else makes this a thing by the time I finish the other things on this list, I’ll just have to do it myself 😭