If you haven’t watched the TV series of Puella Magi Madoka Magica, I suggest you to do so. It’s an anime that changes a genre. Started as a “normal” magical-girl anime with weird taste of “rough” art, Puella Magi Madoka Magica delivers a dark twist no other magical-girl stories has ever done before. And soon after this great anime aired on TV, newer magical-girl stories seem to follow at least some of their traits.
As a fan of the original TV series, I was excited when I first read about Madoka being adapted into wide-screen movies. And it’s a trilogy. Unfortunately, the first and second movies are basically recaps of the TV series, nothing new. The third movie is the most interesting one as it finally continues from the anime’s ending.
Warning: the following review contains some inevitable spoilers. Proceed reading at your own choice.
The anime’s ending sets Madoka as a higher being, capable of rewriting the fate of the universe to save magical girls. It does come with an ultimate sacrifice: Madoka herself. Well, one way to look at it is that Madoka does not really “sacrifice” herself as now she lives forever, in another form not imaginable by humans. But from Homura’s point of view as the only “living” person who still remembers Madoka, it seems like Madoka dies and gone forever.
Rebellion (the third movie) starts by all our characters living super happily. They’re all magical girls and know each other. Their task is to deal with people’s nightmares. And they seem to be way too strong that defeating those nightmares seems like a child’s play. A truly ideal world for magical girls.
Homura realizes that something is off about everything, thus she starts to investigate. Apparently, this ideal world is not what it seems. The real Homura is about to transform into a witch and the ideal world is created inside Homura’s mind. Kyubei plans to use this world to capture and control the high-being Madoka, and Homura is prepared to sacrifice everything not to let it happen.
Madoka in Homura’s ideal world is actually the real Madoka (as high-being, coming to save Homura from turning into a witch). Somehow Madoka loses her memory in Homura’s world, but Sayaka is fully aware of the situation. With everyone’s help, Kyubei is taken care of, and Homura wakes up in real life. The God-like being Madoka comes to get Homura, to save her just from turning into a witch. Then Homura does the most unexpected thing. Instead of going with Madoka, she pulled down Madoka. Once again the law of the universe has been rewritten, this time by Homura.
In the new world, Madoka is human again. The world is completely rewritten. If Madoka was a God-like being, then Homura is a demon-like being, for dragging Madoka back into human again.
A grand ending. Not very easy to understand, but interesting nonetheless. We were kinda teased that Madoka will return as human the last movie, but I didn’t expect the scenario of her return to be so mind-blowing.
