#not the full story what madoka does is very important. she saves everyone. and without homuras time loop madoka would never have been

[frascospecimen]

In bed crying real tears thinking about madoka magica

[bootlickerhawks]

I just watched Madoka Magica Rebellion, and now I finally get why it was such a big deal lol

first i'll go over the non spoiler stuff and then i'll put the important spoiler stuff under the read-more. (btw this isn't a review i finished watching it an hour ago and i've barely gotten the time to fully process it but i wanted to give my "raw" impressions)

- First off, the animation is fucking gorgeous and I'm really happy they brought back the original "aesthetic". At the end of the series when I saw the designs of the wraiths I was worried that this movie would use those, imo, boring designs, but thankfully they brought back the cool aesthetic. Overall the visuals were stunning and the movie was chock-full of interesting visual metaphors which helped grab viewer attention (like the Owls with Homura, ect).

- It was really nice to see all 5 girls interacting with one another and not trying to kill each other. Despite it being very clear from the get go that something is wrong I really appreciated that we got to see them relax, have fun and kicking ass together as friends.

- The transformation sequence and the opening song really captured the iconic Madoka vibe which is cutesy shit with a dash of dark and disturbing visuals lol. Something I noticed in the transformation sequence (notably Mami and Kyoko/Sayaka(?)) was the imagery of ripping > Mami rips her body apart to fully transform and Kyoko/Sayaka rip apart the "screen" during their sequence. The opening song does a great job of both subverting our expectations (much like the opening in the anime) and foreshadowing the upcoming events.

- Bebe was fucking adorable, too bad my subtitles stopped working halfway through the movie, so I didn't know what Bebe was saying during some key scenes ^^'.

Now it's time for the fun stuff and the meat of the discussion. /!\ Turn back now if you don't want to get spoiled, Rebellion is a movie that I really recommend watching without knowing any spoilers /!\

- not gonna lie that lil fucker Kyubey had me in the first half. It was acting so cute and then of course it had to open its stupid mouth again and i wanted to choke it all over again.

- The Mami and Homura fight was stunning. And it was really moving when Mami jumped to stop Homura from shooting herself (only for it to turn out that she had kinda predicted that Homura would trick her)

- Sayaka and Homura's conversation was sooooo good. By that point it was kinda obvious that Homura was the one behind the fake world but seeing Homura's internal conflict and Sayaka unknowingly(?) calling her out on her hypocrisy was so fucking good.

- Sayaka and Kyoko's moment of closure was great and I'm really glad both characters got a chance to let the other know how much they mean to each other.

- Homura's transformation into a witch was predictable but it still broke my heart. And it was during the fight when everyone tries to save Homura that I started crying (btw Sayaka and Bebe turning into witches too during the fight was so badass)

And now for the ultimate gut punch, the emotional bitch slap that was the plot twist of the movie. The story did a great job of making it seem like the (predictable) plot twist was Homura being a witch and the mastermind behind the labyrinth. And despite me knowing beforehand that this movie was controversial I really believed we were gonna get a happy ending and a nice implicit message abt the value of moving on and learning to accept help from loved ones BUT NOPE.

Noooooo nono no what we get instead is Homura giving a giant Fuck You to both the universe and everyone else around her and rewrites the entire universe for her own selfish desire. Homura became the anti-Madoka in this scene.

Honestly I can understand why fans would be pissed by this ending but personally I think I really loved it. Gen Urobuchi is known for writing nihilistic and tragic stories so I can't say I'm surprised he chose to end it this way. And as sad as it is to say Homura's devotion to Madoka was already unhealthy in the og anime I'm not surprised her love became so toxic and lead to this tragic turn of events.

I do think there's probably some fair criticism to make about the kind of message Urobuchi is sending given that his writing can be pretty sexist (*cough* looking at you Fate/Zero novel) and he seems to find great enjoyment in making female characters suffer. And I think it's fair to have skepticism about how he chose to portray a queer/wlw romance as extremely toxic.

But yeah to conclude while I did have a whirlwind of emotions after watching this movie I can pretty confidently say that I liked the ending and I kinda wish there was a sequel exploring the aftermath, but I doubt we'll get one 😔