Souvenir from the screening
Puella Magi Madoka Magica: Rebellion is the third Madoka Magica movie and, as far as I know, the first to be a sequel to the TV series. I saw it yesterday, and I’m not sure what to think.
THERE ARE MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD.
Reprising the Madoka Magica TV Series
I rewatched the Madoka Magica TV Series with friends to prepare for the Madman Entertainment screening.
I’m glad I did: Madoka Magica: Rebellion is not a film that can be watched without having seen the TV series first. I suspect a new viewer would be completely lost.
I now recommend watching the Madoka Magica TV Series at least twice, if only to pick up on the hidden meanings behind the dialogue in the early episodes.
The ending to the Madoka Magica TV series is at least as strong on the second viewing, but definitely left me wondering where the writers could take the series beyond that.
The Good
In some respects Madoka Magica: Rebellion is very much in the same mould as Adolescence of Utena, and I even suspect that SHAFT were emulating elements directly.
This is particularly true of the setting, albeit that SHAFT did a better job of concealing it initially. Nevertheless there is a sense of something not being right from the beginning that only builds as the film twists its way through the plot.
There are a number of fascinating twists in the Madoka Magica: Rebellion scripting, and I will admit to being surprised by several. Most of these are then logical in hindsight, which I regard as strong storytelling.
Visually, this is Studio SHAFT at their bizarre best and this is definitely a film to be seen on the big screen.
I did like that the post credits Easter Egg shows Kyubey getting at least a little of what it had coming.
The Problematic Ending to Madoka Magica: Rebellion
The Madoka Magica TV series ends with Madoka’s choice to redeem the souls of the magical girls at the cost of her incarnate existence.
The key here is that Madoka was fully informed, fully understood the price and then chose to pay that price anyway because it was the right thing for Madoka to do.
The one thing that Madoka doesn’t do is compromise the free will of the other magical girls.
In a sense this is my biggest problem with the ending to Madoka Magica: Rebellion: Homura does not respect Madoka’s free will.
The Rebellion of the title is essentially Homura rebelling against Madoka’s choice. This is very much a parallel to Lucifer’s rebellion, with Homura even calling herself a demon afterwards.
This didn’t really work for me. It felt out of character for Homura, and I’m uncomfortable with how this subverts the ending to the TV Series.
The Interim Verdict
I’m really not sure whether I liked Madoka Magica: Rebellion or not. It is cleverly written, visually superb, and the voice acting is excellent.
However the ending leaves me uncertain about what Madoka Magica: Rebellion brings to the Madoka Magica TV series. It is also likely to be incomprehensible to new viewers.
At this stage I’m tentatively recommending Madoka Magica: Rebellion as a “Watch Once” if you’ve seen the TV series.
I might take another look at Madoka Magica: Rebellion if it is released locally, a second viewing might clarify/solidify my thinking.
While it may subvert the ending to the movies, according to MAL, “It serves as a sequel to the second movie. It is strictly to remain unconnected to the TV series, as stated by Urobuchi.”. I haven’t seen the preceding two movies, but apparently they cover the same events as in the TV series. I get why you’re not comfortable, but I think you can consider the TV series unchanged, even if you’re unhappy with the trilogy of movies. If that makes sense 🙂
And yeah, definitely not suitable for a first time viewer.
I haven’t seen the first two movies. Wikipedia indicated that they were recaps, and certainly I couldn’t see a single point where Rebellion broke the continuity of the TV series.
Most of the people I saw it with felt the same way: that this was a direct sequel to the TV series, and entirely compatible with it.
I take it you liked it then? I’d like to see your review at some point. The only other Australian review I saw today was also conflicted.
Yeah, well I think it is directly compatible, but I view it more as an alternative ending, a “what could have happened”. I don’t think I have enough coherent thoughts about it to make an actual review, but maybe I’ll do a post about going to the movie with some opinions on it chucked in.
I’ve heard that it ended the way it did so it would be open ended and leave room for future installments against Urobuchi’s wishes, though I don’t know what the sources for that are.
I know one person who found the end fitting, arguing that Homura never respected Madoka’s agency to begin with and pushing her desires and expectations and the desires of Madoka v 1.0 on the alternate Madokas, who are not the same person. I can kind of see where they’re coming from.
Given how successful the franchise is that doesn’t surprise me much. I’ll even guess the subtitle of the next movie: Redemption.
As for the argument re Homura, there may be something to that but I’m not buying it at the moment.
I had to think about the movie a LOT after it came out, and I had a lot of the same thoughts as you. It was trippy and very well done, though I liked it better than you did, largely because I think (hope? maybe not?) that it was trying to tell us what you were – that what Homura did went against free will, and ultimately it was a poor decision because of that.
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First, thanks for the kind words in the “Something More” trackback, much appreciated. 🙂
On one hand I’m hoping that you’re right, that seeing Homura’s actions as a bad decision is the intended effect.
On the other hand, that makes it an ending that is deliberate sequel bait to milk the franchise, which is less desirable.
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