#and also madoka's hand

[kotaki]

"Having something to protect isn't weakness, my strength comes from seeing the smiles of those precious to me!"

[marshmurmurs]

skipping a few steps of explanation but ng+ au gone wrong (the lads roleswap) and this somehow works out in akira getting a magical girl outfit

[jackass-jones]

My madoka magica hot take is I like sayaka/kyoko as a ship more than madoka/homura

[meikyuubutterflyofficial]

Why the hell do I have so much lore ideas stuck inside my brain for an AU of a game that’s literally abandonware and also a Minecraft spinoff game like sure I could write about canon, it’s pretty interesting and the lore while not my favorite is quite plentiful for me to build off of…

Or, I could sit down and ponder then go “Ah yes I shall make a magical girl AU that has the most unnecessary amounts of lore and mechanics with some new magical world and new species of humanoid beings, a whole ass magic system and everything and ignore the canon game’s lore unless I wanna take parts from it because fuck you this is my AU and this is my house”

[pinkberrypocky]

pmmm rewatch live notes: ep 11

gosh what to even say to preface episode 11 notes. ouchie my heart. the scene where madoka convinces her mom to let her go save homura breaks me every time.

The circles on the floor of homura’s house are the colors of the holy quintet

It's so tragic that homura in trying to save madoka has made her the center of the universe and made it more impossible to save her

Since she is the center of the universe she has more potential power which means that kyubey will want her even more

The shot of madoka being hung up by all the strings of fate is so jesus on the cross

And that makes sense bc when madoka becomes hope and essentially dies by becoming a concept that no one knows in order to save all the other magical girls

Earlier i was saying how homura is jesus but madoka is also so jesus so consider what if the real jesus is the lesbians we found along the way

Literally i am not christian don’t come for me if that doesn’t hold water

 The umbrella madoka uses when she comes home from sayaka’s memorial service is yellow

It’s so wild how kyubey so readily compares his relationship w the magical girls as that of humans and livestock

The shot of the incubators being there making magical girls since the beginning of time is crazy

Cleopatra and joan of arc being magical girls is sooooooooooo

“It wasn’t we who betrayed them, but their own prayers” UGH OUCH

Like by wishing for their wish they doomed themselves 

Ouch owie

Giant shadow of kyubey over madoka’s hunched crying form after he shows her the history of incubators and magical girls

Red and blue lighting when madoka’s mom and teacher meet up to talk about madoka and sayaka

They talk about sayaka “quarreling” with a friend over a boy and it's so heartbreaking to know that that’s all that the world will see

But also in a way it IS why she died it’s because she made a wish for the boy she liked that she is now dead

Painting of those two biblical figures reaching for each other is above the bar they are sitting at

When homura embraces madoka madoka remains stiff and unmoving and for the most part unspeaking like she’s frozen in time

Shot of madoka and homura as a black silhouette and all the shots from all of homura’s timelines literally breaks my heart OUCH

Homura pleads madoka to let her protect her because in the end the reason that madoka keeps dying is that she can’t not protect others

And yet again it backfires bc madoka has such a Need to protect homura and everyone she loves

Scene is very grayscale when we see homura ready to take on walpy

The way that walpy is a stage is SO considering that everything homura does is in act and everything all the magical girls do is really a puppet act being controlled by the incubators

And also how the other magical girls and madokami are watching over them for all time as the audience

Walpy wears bright blue while the whole rest of the scene is grayscale

Except for the bright fire of explosions

The way that homura has trapped not only madoka by repeating so many times but also herself because she has made her whole purpose to save madoka so if she stops now she will become a witch 

she has to keep fighting so that madoka doesn’t die or become a witch and she doesn’t either

Their fates are intertwined in a way that cannot be undone

Madoka’s mom trying to stop her from going to help homura is such a good scene because it reminds us of the age of the holy quintet and the weight of their actions and decisions

It also helps us see into madoka’s head bc she has to explain her reasoning to her mom

It’s also so good because it shows an adult trying to take care of a child which is so lacking in this show sadly

Madoka’s mom asks her is she’s sure that she’s not making a mistake and madoka says yes without a second thought

While the whole rest of the series she has been too scared and uncertain to do anything or make any choices now when the stakes are so high she finally knows what she wants to do and is forging ahead to do it no matter what the others around her think of it

In a sad way, her choice to become a magical girl and save everyone means giving in to the cycle and what kyubey wants 

And it's only then that she has true autonomy

Her only choice that is fully hers is one to give up herself and her autonomy in order to save everyone else

Madoka and homura are literally passing the self sacrificing blunt back and forth

[a-stranger-draws]

Gotta use that magical girl strength for something

[muninnhuginn]

So, going to link a couple of things before I start with this.

Firstly, the new MV for the Vortex/Overthink/Tides medley which is going to form the basis of my observations.

Secondly, this post, which makes a strong argument that Link Click is deliberately drawing from other time travel media. In this case, the 2002 version of The Time Machine. Also, a fun fact not mentioned in the linked post, but that I recently discovered is that the name of the girlfriend the time traveller is constantly trying to save is *Emma*.

Now that I've linked these two, I just want to say that this rest of this post is me having fun and I would love for these to be deliberate references, but let's be real, a lot of time travel media understandably shares a lot of visual language. Hourglasses, butterflies, and clocks are all fairly recurrent themes.

Click the read more for a mix of potential references to other time travel media and screenshots of specific details of the new MV I found interesting:

Left: Link Click (note the photo reel design). Right: Doctor Who (specifically one of the intros for the Twelfth Doctor)

And to add to the photography aesthetic present throughout, the photo reel clock resolves itself into a camera lens:

Next, we have a main character centred within a clock. In both cases, the character casts multiple shadows that resemble clock hands.

Left: Link Click. Right: Steins;Gate

The shot where Qiao Ling is stood still amongst a moving crowd is neat for two reasons. First, the people she's surrounded by seem to be those related to the cases CXS/LG have taken on. You can see Emma just behind in the above screenshot. And the other thing is that the first time this sequence plays the moving characters are too blurry to easily make out. When the sequence reverses however, and the lyrics speak of "pausing" the scene actually freezes with all the characters clear for a tiny bit. (I didn't screenshot purely because it was a pain to get the exact moment but you can check this if you want)

Upper left: Link Click. Upper right: Higurashi Gou/Sotsu. Bottom: Steins;Gate 0.

Next up: fragments! This one is honestly a real stretch, but hey, there are at least two other time travel adjacent shows that use them as visuals in their openings. I would really like the use to be similar to in Higurashi (the example screenshot is from the anime sequel Gou/Sotsu but the sea of fragments is present in the og too). In Higurashi, each time "loop" is actually an alternate timeline (wherein events would differ slightly even without intervention) and so each fragment represents another timeline. For Steins;Gate, it's more a visual that exists purely in the opening sequence to play into the whole shattered clocks aesthetic.

Left: Link Click. Right: Steins;Gate.

This one is inspired by me watching the opening only to go "Okabe Rintaro????" when Qian Jin showed up. But also. We can clearly see some of Qian Jin's scars in this shot. There appears to be one on the back of his neck and two over his left shoulder. These have to be relevant and obviously his eye colour has me side-eyeing but I don't think we have all the pieces for this character yet. (Him being a former cop with a connection to both of our focus cop characters though makes me think)

And a final one with generic anime trope no 58382929:

Left: Link Click. Right: Steins;Gate

I know, I know. This is typical anime/donghua. But! It's deliberately a shot in Steins;Gate that returns again and again throughout the series. It's also very associated with the character of Mayuri so take that as you will.

Bonus whatever this is:

Multiple Cheng Xiaoshis in different states of doing badly. I wonder if the centremost one is the one Lu Guang appeared to be thinking of in episode 1? Possibly another "fragments" situation or if not then it may be various things Cheng Xiaoshi will go through in this season

Anyway, the Steins;Gate opening visually has a lot of similarities and of course a lot of it is natural overlap because they're both time travel series. And they both draw inspiration from The Time Machine (especially Steins;Gate's sequel, Steins;Gate 0). But I find it pretty neat how all these series from different times and places do have these recurring themes.

[pcktknife]

can't say i see corrupting the entire world and undoing all your crush's work objectively making life worse for everyone as very romantic, whether it was motivated by love or not. like it was in character but it's a little weird to describe it as something to be appreciated when it was something undeniably terrible that she did. that's not objective fact or anything just extremely confusing to me. /nm

hm i dont think what she did was meant to be appreciated (sayaka and madoka both make it known they are upset with what she's done) but i dont think it was undeniably terrible either.

[andro-dino]

shogun steel main gang hcs bc I’m thinking about them atm and how much I love them

- I’ve said this a billion times before but I’ll keep saying it until I die, they are very affectionate with each other. Of course, it depends on the specific people and how their feeling at certain times, but they will take any opportunity to cuddle or hold hands or just generally have some kind of contact with each other for comfort. idc if this is ooc canon is what I make of it

- Ren and kite bonding over being petty third wheels to Zyro and Shinobu is an idea that is so important to me you have no idea. They will argue with each other and be dumb any other time but instantly bond over hating on those two being losers

- This is one of my hyper specific projection moments but ren specifically any time she sees them being remotely affectionate to each other at all will immediately turn to the nearest person and go “get a load of these guys”

- underrated duo dynamic is ren and takanosuke being wlw mlm rivals/besties/gossip buddies. you just know they share the most scalding of tea while training with each other

- actually I just really appreciate their dynamic as a whole. they’re both very ambitious and headstrong bladers who are constantly working their hardest to grow and improve and I think they’d really bring out the best in each other. They have some great friendly banter thrown in there too. neither of them are afraid to throw in some really funny disses

- maru is such a creechur I really cannot appreciate that enough. she has adopted everyone as a big sibling and there’s nothing they can do to stop it, she just perched on their shoulder one day and there was nothing they could do to stop it

- the only exception to this is with kite and eight, because eight and maru are like two cats who don’t like each other being mutually stanced up and staring each other down in anticipation for one of them to pounce

- eight once was showing off a bunch of skateboard tricks and Zyro was like “psh that’s easy I could do that” and immediately ate shit and died and eight laughed at him for hours and has never let him live it down since

- kite likes to pretend he doesn’t care about any of them but takes really careful notice of their likes and dislikes and makes sure to accommodate for everyone when he can and gives them really banger gifts on special occasions but frames it as him being like “I know I know I can make and find such amazing things that’s just how it is for mr perfect” and the others are like “kite holy shit this is so kind of you thank you so much????” and he tries really really hard to pretend like he doesn’t really enjoy hearing that

- sakyo does not know how to interact with any of the main gang on his own outside of beyblade but he and taka are a package deal so he tends to tag along whenever takanosuke hangs out with any of them and he’s like the awkward cousin at a family party who just sits in the corner silently bc he doesn’t know how to approach anyone

- I think it would be funny if eight randomly started hanging out with him in that way that little kids do when they just decide they like you all of a sudden and sakyo just has no idea how to deal with that but ig he’s got a snarky little dude hanging out with him now and asking if he’s got any games on his phone

- benkei does not hide the fact that ren is his favorite child. he loves all of his kids dearly but ren is his daughter and hes very attached because he sees a lot of himself in her and wants her to be less dumb than he was when he was younger (may or may not be drawing a comic with this exact premise atm)

- this one’s kind of off track but I’ve thought abt it a lot in the past and started thinking abt it again. Kenta takes a shining to sakyo and kinda takes a bit of a mentor role over him accidentally and at some point Sakyo’s like “you act like you’re so much older than me but our age gap isn’t even that big (bc I hc sakyo as like 15-16 and ss Kenta as 18-19)” and Kenta’s like “well yeah but im the adult here?? I kinda just figured???” idk it’s just a neat dynamic I like a lot

- Shinobu and Ren go clothes shopping together. Ren likes spending Shinobu’s money and they bond over what they like, stuff they could share if they wanted to, and also shit talking stuff they think is ugly

- all of them get in really stupid arguments over the dumbest things. they’ve had big group debates over which flavor of ice cream is the best or whether or not cilantro tastes like soap

that is all for now they r very important to me thank you and goodnight

[sandstimegender]

I HATE THIS SHOWWWWWWWWW

[miharuhebinata]

wait what the fuck, why are there no death note pop up parade figures 🤨😑

[the-hype-dragon]

ugh admitted to some of my gamer friends last night I found automata boring and of course got told "oh but it's so good" sir. ma'am. nothing will ever justify route b lmao the rest of the game could be the best content ever coded but damn what a slog for absolutely no payoff

[hazelnutsummer]

YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND NOBODY UNDERSTANDS AERRGRGGG

Madoka Magika AU Desert Duo. At first this is simply a gag to draw Scar in Madoka’s dress but the more I think about it the worse it gets.

Warning for Puella Magi Madoka Magika spoilers:

Martyn once mentioned a theory that Watchers feed off human emotions, and you know who also feeds off energy generated by humans?? KYUBEY FROM MADOKA!!!

Allow me to reiterate. Kyubeys are produced without emotions as a high functioning high intelligence species, but Grian is produced as a flawed piece, one with human emotions. He hides it well enough for years, before one of his mission like many others is to make magical girls/mages.

It all goes south when the girl he tries to make the deal with (supposed to be on the brink of death) was actually rescued by Scar, who is a very strong and passionate passerby that literally lifted up the rubble long enough to keep her alive.

Situation goes terribly wrong. Essentially, some accidents happen, and Grian who was supposed to make a contract with a teenage girl made a contract with SCAR, HUMAN ADULT GUY!!!!

And Grian is stuck in this contract because Scar jokingly made his wish for Grian to become a human, and Grian is stuck as a kyubey (watcher in this case) turned human. He still have majority of his watcher powers, but is now painfully mortal.

Grian leaves Scar instantly, without telling him what being a magical girl entails, absolutely furious that he has been doomed to this fate. Despite now knowing the fact that Watchers are evil, he cannot help but feel guilty for permanently turning Grian human, and is unfortunately Down Bad the moment he sees Grian’s human form..

Scar, being left with 0 instructions, began doing superhero work around the community, fighting crimes and helping old ladies cross the road.

They meet again when Scar wanders into his first witches’ labyrinth, where Grian saw him and followed him in, with the intention to get Scar killed in there! Surely if he kills Scar, this might be reversed!!

Scar, however, exceeds expectations, slaying the witch and expelling the labyrinth. After exiting, Scar instead of trying to harm Grian, his guilty ass decided to invite Grian to live with him.

Grian and Scar begin living together. They meet different magical girls, work together and discover more about the world. And eventually Grian learns how to be a mortal and has plans on severing his connections to kyubei.

But you know how madoka goes…

Walpurgis occurs, and Grian watches in powerless horror as Scar dies before his eyes. In his last moments, Scar tells Grian he doesn’t regret what he’s done, but he does wish that he could go back in time so as to save everyone and not end in tragedy. Grian clutches Scar’s hand, holding it close to his sobbing mess of a face and in his mind, a genius idea comes to him:

If he is human now, does that mean he can abuse this system and become a magical girl/mage himself?

And Homura Grian & Madoka Scar occurs.

Grian goes back in time to prevent Scar’s death. Scar still becomes a magical girl, but somehow history changes and he is in contract with another kyubey/watcher (evil jellie) and Grian utilises his very limited amount of human behaviour knowledge and tries to become friends with him again, this time being a human from the start. They go to the same uni now, and Scar does see G’s weird habits but decided that’s just how British people behave.

Doomed yaoi.

In lieu of the affected timelines, even though magical girl Scar is supposed to look like the watcher he makes the deal with, he doesn’t look like Evil Jellie, and instead retains his avian aesthetic from before Grian rewound time.

Ps: check out the new au master post!!

[vhaos-chaotic-writing]

ahhhh hi!! If your requests are still open, could I please have Yandere hcs of transformers prime Optimus and Megatron(separate) with a gn reader? If you want you can also add in a random character for Yandere hcs as well! Thank you for your time have a good one!

(Turns around the with the most evil smile of them all) Now we getting freaky!! (•ˋ w ˊ•) Hue-hue-hue !

Yandere!Optimus Prime & Yandere!Megatron (TFP) Headcanons!

WARNING: Yandere behaviour, stalking, typical violence from the series and a little bit more, kidnapping, a lil mention of body horror (not sure if it counts). Reader is Gender Neutral.

OPTIMUS PRIME

I will classify Optimus as a Protective, soft worshipper yandere that has a little hint of uncanny valley (I'll talk about this in a moment).

Optimus' life is sadly surrounded with tragedy as he tries to keep a hopeful light on top of his helm for the sake of not giving up and letting down the Autobots.

We now how Optimus is always mourning and yet keeping his helm up, being strong for the others, being idolized by others and having the fate of "the chosen one" written all over him when... he never asked for it.

And he is tired. It's like he is always walking in the middle of the darkness with not a single path to take - lost, feeling like he is losing himself piece by piece... until You arrived.

As a beacon of light.

He has lost too many loved ones - friends, teammates... but deep down, silently, always thanked Primus to have taken anyone else and not You.

I think Optimus' yandere personality would be like Akemi Homura's love for Kaname Madoka - everytime he sees you, he sees nothing but light. Hope. Perfection. Your existence brings nothing but pure happiness and warmth.

The yandere to always kneel in front of you and hold your hands, thanking you for existing and deem him worthy enough of having your presence near him.

If you are a cybertronian, he would pray to Primus for the day to come he finally confesses his love for you, and you share said feelings too and become his Conjux Endura, in this life and the next one.

If you are a human, he would feel this burning need to become your guardian, your protector. His little safe space from the war and battles, always asking you things about your world and about you, promising you with every breath he takes he is going to keep you safe.

Either as a cybertronian or human, he is not letting you anywhere close to battles. He can't lose you. He won't lose you.

Remember the Uncanny valley thing I said? I see Optimus as this kind of yandere that forgets that he is existing in the same place as you - and stares. Just... stares.

The only thing that is giving out he is still living is how his optics move little by little, remembering everything about you again and again, his systems replaying his promises to you and why he keeps fighting, why he is willing to sacrifice the others and himself - to protect you.

Imagine the Yuri stare moment from Doki Doki Literature Club. Yeah, that is the Uncanny Valley I'm talking about.

Following you, stalking you - and you don't actually see him at first (How when he is just the size of a giant?). You move, you go from place to place, room to room. Until you finally find him, peaking from somewhere. Staring at you as you are swallowed by the shadow he casts upon you.

"My spark... my deity. My one and only." He whispers as he gently snuzzles his helm against your helm/torso as he holds you closely to him.

MEGATRON

Megatron gives me the vibes to be a yandere that changes from a type to another.

Definitely an aggressive yandere, but transitions from sadistic-possessive to delusional-paranoiac with the past of times and the events you live with him.

Megatron can see as much as he wants that he only wants a 'strong significant other' by his side and that he 'will not stick to a weak individual' - if he falls and falls hard it is done for him.

You are going to be in this situation of being seen as an equal but also as a pet or possession he owns in his optics.

Definitely kidnaps you - no matter if you are a human or cybertronian, either part of the Autobots, neutral or a Decepticon.

Is not afraid to threaten you or even hurt you (but not that much, he wants you still alive, after all - he can't love you if you are no longer breathing).

Actively reminds you he owns you.

"You are MINE. I will tear any bot's throat if they ever think they can take you from me - so you better think carefuly the moment you open your mouth, dear. Unless you want to see energon or blood all over the place."

The transition I told you about would happen only if your life is put in danger and actually get too close to die.

Imagine if you are hurt, bleeding and bruised but still breathing, totally gonna survive and live another day. Megatron is not a mech to feel fear. But Primus - he felt a dread and despair as he kept processing what happened, hugging you against his chestplate as his system spirals deeper and deeper, his need to possess you becoming paranoia.

If you are a cybertronian, Megatron is going to start having ideas about... merging his spark with yours - but in a sense fusing, becoming literally one - you'll be his spark as he becomes your body.

"You'll become the energon running inside of my system, my software and system, the spark - that way, no one will take you away from me."

If you are a human, will get Soundwave, Knockout and Shockwave to work on a project - to build you a cybertronian body and fuse you with it, defying the laws of your lifespan and finally making you one of his kind.

"There you are... stop crying, my dear. You are perfect now - and as long as I live, you will live. My conjux endura."

My baby brain hurts, had a headache for like 3 hours. (っ´Ι`)っ Vhaos out!

[atamascolily]

There is a tendency I see in PMMM analyses and discussions to treat the witches simply as monsters that can be overcome with sufficient force regardless of other circumstances--and thus Homura's failure to ever win against Walpurgisnacht on her own terms is something that could be easily fixed with more firepower and different tactics. And while there's nothing wrong with this interpretation, it's not one that particularly interests me, either.

What I like about PMMM and what makes it so engaging for me, is that it can be read on multiple levels--both as a literal journey and as a symbolic one. In-universe, witches are the shadow selves of magical girls; is it really so surprising that they also serve as narrative foils to those who face them, thus making victory or defeat as much of a character issue as a tactical one?

It is not a coincidence that Mami Tomoe, a girl who was forced to grow up too fast and who could have wished to save her dying parents but didn't, meets her end at the hand of a particularly childish and immature witch, a lumpen, misshapen doll that transforms into a clown--a girl who never grew up, who could have wished to save her dying parent but didn't. Mami, an experienced veteran who wiped the floor with the Rose Witch and her familiars earlier, is completely caught off-guard and is eaten alive by a witch who embodies all of the issues she herself struggles with and has yet to overcome within herself.

Yes, Mami was careless and overconfident, which led to her doom--but she had also fulfilled her role of introducing Madoka to the world of magical girls. On a narrative level, her death was necessary--not only to free Madoka from her impulsive promise to become a magical girl too early in the story, before she'd learned all the facts and could make a fully informed decision, but also to teach Madoka one final, horrific lesson about what life as a magical girl is really like.

This is not to say that AUs where Mami survives are wrong or missing the point--I've written them myself and I love them! (It helps that Mami's survival is usually the result of someone else's interference, not something she accomplishes on her own.) Nor do I mean to suggest that Mami's death is a moral failing on her part--merely that I think that Charlotte represents Mami's own particular brand of kryptonite at that particular point in her life, one she might have been able to survive if she had been able to move beyond the psychological issues hobbling her.

Meanwhile, Homura is able to easily defeat Charlotte, because metaphorically she's moved beyond the childish worldview that Mami is still stuck in. From that same symbolic perspective, it's this relative level of maturity, as much as her time stop and pipe bombs, that allows her to win.

Likewise, it is not an accident that the next witch Madoka encounters is one that specializes in extracting the memories of its victims, trapping Madoka in a spinning carousel as she is tormented by her own grief and guilty conscience over Mami's death. She is freed by Sayaka, who has moved beyond such angst by her decision to take on Mami's role as an idealized magical girl protector. Later on, Sayaka's descent into dualistic thinking is symbolized by her fight against a witch whose world is literally black and white--whom Sayaka defeats, but only at the cost of pushing herself dangerously to her limits.

As with Mami, Sayaka's death is directly tied to her own psychological issues--in this case, by her incredibly strict rules about how magical girls should behave and her refusal to cut herself any slack whatsoever. Her metaphorical self-denial results in literal self-denial, and her death as a magical girl and rebirth as a witch.

Then we come to Walpurgisnacht, a witch made of cogs and gears--the one witch Homura cannot beat, no matter what she does. Homura is stuck in her loops, unable to imagine a future beyond them, increasingly isolated from any meaningful connections or relationships--Walpurgisnacht may be the "fool that spins in a circle", but so is Homura. The inside mirrors the outside; when we watch Homura fight against Walpurgisnacht, we are also watching Homura's struggle with herself. Unlike Mami and Sayaka, Homura's magic allows her to fight this battle over and over again--again and again she is forced to retreat and start over, unsatisfied with the results and determined to do better next time. She doesn't die, but she doesn't win, either--instead, she's locked into perpetual stalemate with no end.

Madoka, however, is able to see beyond the vicious cycle represented by Walpurgisnacht and thus easily and repeatedly defeats an enemy that Homura cannot, regardless of her relative power levels in any given timeline. It's probably too simplistic to say that hope triumphs over despair--and yet, that's exactly what happens, every single time. Homura has numbed herself through repeated exposure to where she no longer feels hope or despair, thus existing in perpetual stasis with her purpose the only thing driving her. Paradoxically, the one thing she needs to do to win is the one thing she cannot do--and the thing that Madoka can do all too easily.

(This is not to say that Madoka doesn't have her own issues--she does!--just that her issues are different from Homura's, meaning she's not tripped up by this particular obstacle in the same way that Homura is. And it's not that Homura's struggles were pointless--they were what allowed Madoka to get to point where she had both the power and the knowledge that she could save everyone, including Homura.)

Homura's final battle with Walpurgisnacht shows Homura going to insane lengths, including a wall of C-4 explosives inside a refinery, a flaming oil tanker, and a submarine with Type 88 Surface-to-Ship missiles--none of which has any lasting effect on Walpurgisnacht whatsoever. That episode goes to great lengths to show that Homura's approach to fighting Walpurgisnacht fundamentally isn't working; I don't think adding more nukes would help.

The one time Homura gets the closest to her happy ending is the one timeline where she and Madoka fight and fall together--the one timeline where they are shown as equals, and the one where they debate becoming witches together and destroying the whole world before Madoka thinks better of it. This is also not a coincidence. If there is ever to be a truly happy end to this franchise--or an end at all--Homura and Madoka must be equal and willing partners, not one protecting/sacrificing themself for the other again and again. It is also likely that they will remake the universe in the process, through the combined power of their mutual wish.

[It also wouldn't surprise me if that line foreshadowed future plot elements--after all, Madoka technically became a witch in the final episode of the TV series (she got better, thanks to the nature of her wish), and so did Homura in Rebellion--but we shall see if the series ever follows up on this.]

This is why I'm so excited that Walpurgis no Kaiten seems to be laying the groundwork for Homura creating her own enemies and her greatest enemy being herself--once again, making the metaphorical literal. I'm excited about the prospect of Homura getting a do-over with Walpurgisnacht, which would represent a chance for her to confront her narrative foil one more time, and show us how her character has changed. Though it may play out on a larger stage, the real battle will be inside Homura's mind and heart--and, I would argue, always has been. The only way the outcome will change--the only way we can move beyond what's been and into something new--is if/when she changes.

I want to be clear that there's absolutely nothing wrong with the strictly literal interpretation of witches, and I think people should write what they want to write; if that's the story you want to tell, then go for it! For me, however, I find it far more compelling--not to mention richer and truer--if the actions and words on-screen correspond to the characters' emotional and psychological journeys, and there's no question that this preference how I interpret media in general, and PMMM in particular. And it's not that I think Homura couldn't defeat Walpurgisnacht in an AU scenario--merely that any story where she achieves this victory without changing in any way or addressing her own psychological issues in some fashion removes exactly the elements that drew me to this series in the first place.

[mimikyuno]

love and hope and kindness being the running motifs in madoka magica and the forces that can single-handedly save and curse someone.

madoka’s love and kindness being what saves homura from her suicidal tendencies, but also what ultimately dooms madoka to die at the hands of the walpurgisnacht. homura’s love for madoka and undying hope to save her what curses her to repeat time and traumatise herself over and over again, while also increasing madoka’s karma and by default, cursing her too. madoka’s refusal for homura’s hope to be in vain being the driving force that grants hope to all, but also ends madoka’s existence. sayaka’s love for kyousuke and her altruistic, heroic ideals being what gives her confidence and hope at first, but when confronted with misogyny and unrequited love (even when you told yourself you would not expect him to love you back just because you sacrificed yourself for him) being what curses her. kyouko’s love for her family being the catalyst that leads it to break apart, because in all her childlike devotion to her parents, she couldn’t see her father for who he was. mami’s kindness forcing her to put up a brave face and resulting in her demise.

but it all does not end in despair! sayaka’s newfound love for kyouko being the reason kyouko is no longer lost and angry and alone. mami’s kindness finding a recipient in nagisa, to whom she can finally be a parental figure. in one universe nagisa was the one to end mami’s existence, but now they can both heal and not be alone anymore. madoka’s love for homura encompassing time and space and saving her, every time, over and over again. even when homura does not want it. even when she refuses her hand. madoka will always reach for her and find her and save her and show her kindness, even when homura thinks she does not deserves any, even when she’s willing to die in her own personal hell. homura’s love being yes, what commits the unforgivable sin and tears god apart, but also it is only through her “selfishness” and “terrible” act that the others get a shot at a normal childhood/adolescence. kyouko and sayaka can be together at last, mami and nagisa find each other, madoka can live with her family again.

this is what i hope will be explored in the next movie. this intrinsic relationship between hope and despair, love as a lifeline and a curse. kindness and selfishness coexisting and influencing each other. i hope the girls manage to finally tip the scale between hope and despair towards the light. i hope madoka’s love will keep on reaching homura even when she thinks she’s evil incarnate, a devil. even when she thinks her existence as antithetical to madoka’s true nature. even when she thinks herself beyond salvation. i hope they get a shot at happiness, together this time.