Puella Magi Madoka Magica: The Movie

Plot

In Puella Magi Madoka Magica, there are certain creatures that can grant a chosen girl any wish they may desire. In exchange for that wish, however, that girl must become a magical girl who must fight against witches, creatures born from despair that are responsible for accidents, disease, and suicide. In the city of Mitakihara, a girl named Madoka Kaname is approached by a creature named Kyubey with the offer of becoming a magical girl. Meanwhile, another magical girl named Homura Akemi seeks to do everything in her power to stop Madoka from becoming one. Madoka soon learns that the life of a magical girl is not the dreamlike fantasy she imagined and is instead filled with tragedy and despair.

Beginnings

In the city of Mitakihara, a girl named Madoka Kaname, along with her friend, Sayaka Miki, encounter a creature named Kyubey and are saved from witches by a magical girl named Mami Tomoe. Kyubey offers Madoka and Sayaka the chance to have any one wish granted in exchange for becoming a magical girl and fighting witches, whilst Homura Akemi, another magical girl who recently transferred into Madoka's class, is strongly against Madoka becoming one. Before Madoka can make a decision, however, Mami is killed by a witch, leaving Madoka too afraid to become a magical girl.

Sayaka, however, decides to become a magical girl herself in order to heal the hand of her childhood friend, Kyosuke Kamijo. As Sayaka soon comes into conflict with another magical girl named Kyoko Sakura, they, along with Madoka, learn the shocking truth that their Soul Gems, the source of their magical powers, literally contain their souls. After learning that her classmate, Hitomi Shizuki, plans to confess her own love to Kyosuke, Sayaka falls deeper into despair and ends up darkening her Soul Gem, which turns into a Grief Seed, transforming her into a witch.

Eternal

Madoka learns from Kyubey, whose real identity is "Incubator", that his species makes contracts to make girls into magical girls in order to use the energy that spawns from their inevitable transformations into witches to counter entropy in the universe. Kyoko, hoping for a chance that Sayaka can be made human again, takes Madoka with her to try and reach her humanity. This ultimately fails, with Kyoko choosing to sacrifice herself to destroy Sayaka with her. Meanwhile, it is revealed that Homura comes from another timeline, having relived the same month several times in the hope of saving Madoka from a grim fate at the hands of the ultimate witch, Walpurgisnacht.

Homura attempts to face Walpurgisnacht, but is ultimately defeated and draws close to despair, feeling her efforts have become pointless. Just then, Madoka appears and uses the built up energy from several timelines to become a powerful magical girl with the wish to stop all witches in the past, present, and future before they are created. The scope of this wish rewrites history and the laws of the universe, and her existence as a human girl is erased from time. Instead, she transcends into a cosmic phenomenon called "The Law of Cycles", which appears to all magical girls at the moment before they become witches and rescues them by taking them away to a heavenly paradise. In the new reality that is formed, Homura is the only one who remembers Madoka.

Rebellion

Madoka and the other magical girls reappear at Mitakihara fighting some new creatures born from humans' negative feelings known as "Nightmares" (ナイトメア, Naitomea), having no recollection about what previously happened. However, Homura realizes something is amiss and after some investigation recovers her lost memories and realizes that she, Madoka, the other girls and several of their friends are trapped in an alternate world inside a witch's barrier. As Homura realizes that the witch is none other than herself, Kyubey appears and reveals that she had fallen into despair and when she was about to become a witch, he isolated her Soul Gem to set a trap for Madoka, hoping to take control of the confounding Law of Cycles.

However, when Madoka appeared to retrieve Homura, she had forgotten about her duty as the Law of Cycles and her powers, thus Kyubey kept observing her until that point. Having recovered her memories, Homura forces herself to complete the witch transformation at the cost of having her soul destroyed, to protect Madoka from the Incubators. At that moment Sayaka and a new girl named Nagisa Momoe, whose witch form is actually Charlotte—the witch that killed Mami—lead Madoka and the others in breaking the barrier to reach Homura's real body. Madoka recovers her memories and power as the Law of Cycles and reaches for Homura, but the latter releases the curse in her Soul Gem which she reveals is not one of despair, but love. With this power, retaining her human form, Homura suppresses Madoka's powers while transcending into what she considers to be a demon.

Afterwards, Homura captures Kyubey and rewrites reality so he and his kind take Madoka's place in taking the misery of magical girls in history while she can return to a normal life. But Homura realizes that Madoka will eventually remember the truth and regain her divinity, accepting that they might become enemies should that time come. A post-credits scene shows Homura seated in a chair while watching over Mitakihara City and a badly-beaten Kyubey in the vicinity. After staring into the horizon, Homura leans over and falls off a cliff.

Production

The original anime television series of Puella Magi Madoka Magica was a collaboration between Aniplex, Shaft and MBS. The series was written by Gen Urobuchi and directed by Akiyuki Shinbo with original character designs by Ume Aoki and music by Yuki Kajiura.

In November 2011, it was announced in the December issue of Kadokawa Shoten's Newtype magazine that a three-part theatrical film project was in development by Shaft. The first film, Puella Magi Madoka Magica Part 1: Beginnings (劇場版 魔法少女まどか☆マギカ[前編] 始まりの物語, Gekijōban Mahō Shōjo Madoka Magika (Zenpen): Hajimari no Monogatari), covers the first eight episodes of the anime series. The film was released in Japanese theaters on October 6, 2012. The second film, Puella Magi Madoka Magica Part 2: Eternal (劇場版 魔法少女まどか☆マギカ[後編] 永遠の物語, Gekijōban Mahō Shōjo Madoka Magika (Kōhen): Eien no Monogatari), covers the final four episodes of the anime series. The film was released in Japanese theaters on October 13, 2012. The first two films feature redone voices and some scenes with new animation. They were screened in selected locations in the United States and seven other countries between October 2012 and February 2013, as well as screened at Anime Festival Asia between November 10–11, 2012 in Singapore. The first two films were released on Blu-ray Disc and DVD on July 30, 2013 in standard and collector's edition sets and is available for import by Aniplex of America. The films were re-released by Aniplex USA with an English dub on Blu-ray Disc and DVD on July 15, 2014.

The third film, Puella Magi Madoka Magica New Feature: Rebellion (劇場版 魔法少女まどか☆マギカ[新編] 叛逆の物語, Gekijōban Mahō Shōjo Madoka Magika (Shinpen): Hangyaku no Monogatari), is an original story which takes place following the events of the previous films. The film was released in Japanese theaters by Warner Bros. Pictures on October 26, 2013. Special skits featuring characters from the Monogatari series aired prior to the film, with a different skit shown during each week of its screening. The film was screened in North America by Aniplex of America in December 2013. The film was released on Blu-ray Disc and DVD with English subtitles on April 2, 2014 in Japan and was released by Aniplex of America as an import title in North America on April 8, 2014. A re-release with an English dub was released in North America on April 7, 2015.

The opening theme for the first two films is "Luminous" (ルミナス, Ruminasu) by ClariS, which was released on October 10, 2012. The ending theme for the first film is "Magia (quattro)" by Kalafina, and the second film's ending theme is "Hikari Furu" (ひかりふる, "Light Falling") by Kalafina, which was released on October 24, 2012. For the third film, the opening theme is "Colorful" (カラフル, Karafuru) by ClariS, which was released on October 30, 2013, and the ending theme is "Kimi no Gin no Niwa" (君の銀の庭, "Your Silver Garden") by Kalafina, which was released on November 6, 2013.

Other media

A film comic adaptation of the first two films, titled Puella Magi Madoka Magica: Film Memories, went on sale on May 26, 2012. A manga adaptation of Rebellion illustrated by Hanokage, who previously did the television series' manga adaptation and The Different Story spin-off manga, was published by Houbunsha in three tankōbon volumes between November 12, 2013 and January 10, 2014. Yen Press will begin releasing the series in English starting December 15, 2015.

An action-adventure video game based on the films, Puella Magi Madoka Magica: The Battle Pentagram, was released in Japan on December 12, 2013 for the PlayStation Vita. The game follows an alternate plotline to the first two films, in which Madoka makes a wish that all the magical girls could work together and defeat Walpurgisnacht.

Reception

Beginnings grossed more than ¥500 million at the Japanese box office. The Blu-ray Disc edition of the first two films sold over 80,000 in its first week. Rebellion was one of 19 animated films submitted for Best Animated Feature for the 86th Academy Awards, but was not nominated. The film has earned 2.08 billion yen in the Japanese box office, breaking the previous record of 1.93 billion yen, held by K-On! the Movie for a film based on a late-night anime television series. The first week sales of the Rebellion limited and regular edition Blu-rays placed first and second in the weekly Oricon chart, having reached 127,501 and 9,872 units. Rebellion was nominated for the Japan Academy Prize for Animation of the Year at the 37th Japan Academy Prize and won the Best Theatrical Film Award at the 19th Animation Kobe Awards, and a Notable Entry Award at the 2014 Tokyo Anime Award Festival.

Jacob Hope Chapman of Anime News Network gave Rebellion a B rating, praising its gorgeous visuals and creativity, but citing the film's last-minute twist as "mean-spirited and ludicrously out-of-character." Richard Eisenbeis and Toshi Nakamura at Kotaku reviewed the film positively. Toshi's final thoughts being, "Aside from my aforementioned problems with the pace of the initial mystery, I loved everything else about the movie. It plays with your emotions like crazy, but at the same time, it’s emotionally fluid. While you might not agree with characters' choices and actions, they all make sense and are never forced." Richard's final thoughts were, "Personally, I loved it. It's a great character piece and a worthy addition to the franchise, but it is far from an uplifting cap to the series."

Geoff Berkshire of Variety gave a mixed review, stating "Rebellion delivers a convoluted conclusion sure to prove beyond baffling to any franchise newcomers." Berkshire praised other aspects such as the visuals of Gekidan Inu Curry.