Homura Was Never A Good Person: Why Rebellion Is Great

A comprehensive exploration of Madoka Magica's characterization and Homura's distinctions to rationalize the movie.

[pawndidater]

Let me clear a couple things up about this video. I'm not trying to say that Homura is by any means a bad person, just not a good one. While it's true that she does care about the other characters besides Madoka, it's always an afterthought, and when things go poorly with them, she's quick to recover, even before she becomes the jaded warrior that people use as an excuse, like when Mami dies in the first timeline, or when she kills Oktavia. There's a lot more I could have said in this video but it was already getting long and I wanted to keep the topic focused, but maybe I can get into that sort of thing some other time.

[aurweon]

People arguing over whether the girls's wishes were selfish or not:

you have to learn to distinguish among what the character *thought* she wanted, what the character *actually* wanted, and what the character *needed* at that point. Those three things aren't the same.

[Dino-zuqg]

When you want to see your girlfriend so much that you became evil and re-write the entire universe

[malcolmlane]

Idk if this really matters but I also noticed she’s the only one that uses actual realistic modern weapons while the other girls uses romanticized version of their weapons to fight

[Kyouma.]

I love how Madoka Magica has so many layers and thematics with only 12 episodes and a movie. Kudos to Urobuchi

[drosera]

11:20 She becomes a "demon" because her and Madoka's wish conflict with each other. She can't protect Madoka if Madoka is a god, thus her wish can't be fulfilled as long as Madoka is a god. Madoka specifically wished for witches to be eradicated, meaning that when all witches have been erased, her wish is fulfilled. Homura is the last witch. Unlike other magical girls though, Homura's wish is incompatible with the law of cycles. If she disappears after being a witch, she can no longer protect Madoka. Thus, to fulfill Homura's wish, the universe needed to be rewritten again, and Homura had to become an entity that was neither witch nor human but just as powerful as Madoka.

[ClaudiaGarcia-ougn]

I had to watch the last movie again, and... I object with your opinion, Homura isn´t a Sociopath at all, in fact, when she recaps the most important events in the several timelines she had to travel for Madoka´s sake, She suffered, not only by Madoka´s death, She also suffers with every other "Holy Quintet" member´s death... But she repeated the timeline so much, that she gave up about save any other than Madoka.


Even in the last timeline, she is so reserved, but, she really tried to save Mami, but Mami imprisioned her in a Ribbon cage, she really tried to prevent Sayaka from Making a contract with Kyubey, Ok she didn´t do it with touch, but she tried to save Sayaka aswell, even when Homura offers her a griefseed, because she knew that Sayaka would end up becoming into a witch... again, and Sayaka refuses it.


Homura really tried to save everyone as much as She could, but I think she is like a Vietnam´s soldier with only 14 year old, repeating the same batlle so many times. Homura had to watch thousand of times the death of every member of her Gang, not only Madoka.


At the end of the anime In fact Homura, as Madoka said, Homura was the best friend she would ever had, not only because of trying to save her, also all the gang. Concluding that Homura really is a good person, even the best person in the entire anime, just below Madoka herself.


Now passing to the last movie events, She isn´t a bad person either, even Mami told her "At least you still have somekind of concern about my life" Because even with that awesome battle, between both of them, Homura hesitated in order to kill Mami, and only tried to hurt her, paralizing her, with a shot in the leg...


And when she decided to become a witch for Madoka´s sake, again, she counted with Kyoko and Mami, to kill her... That disturbing scene with Madoka and Homura in a meadow, and how Madoka splashed in a pink liquid when she hit the floor, Its whats hapening inside Homura´s head "No matter what I do, I will never save her, I hate myself, I only deserve to be destroyed... The only way to save her, is to destroy me"


Homulily itself. She has handcuffs, she is crying, the ribbon of her dress is destroying everything in order to give the other magical girls, a reason to kill her... And some erie element in Homura´s witch form, is that she is walking directly to a guillotine, so she has to be destroyed, yes or yes, by her own "green mile" like a guilty of witchcraft or by the other magical girls, for Madoka´s and every other Holy quintet member´s sake, specially Madoka´s sake.


Whe she transforms in a "devil" She is truly insane, but not like a sociopath, she has a terrible case of PTSD, because she know than even if Madoka save her, and could be with her for etternity, like every other magical girl like Sayaka or Nagisa. Incubators will not stop trying to understand how Madoka´s powers work, and try to use her for them owns porpuses, and that´s why instead of allowing Madoka to carry her for etternty, Homura takes Madoka´s memories being a godess, and changing the universe itself as a consecuence, because in that form she will protect her from any harm, at any cost, by taking away her memories of her true self, and her power


In conclusion... Homura is a good person, but so jaded, and in this point of the story almost completely insane from a really severe case of PTSD, not sociopathy

[froggieman]

she was just a kid :( it makes sense that she wasnt a "good person", she was an incredibly traumatized middle schooler. she watched people die when she was like 12. and then she was manipulated by kyubey into becoming a magical girl, taking on the role of protecting humanity from monsters. as a child. her youth was stolen from her. tbh i really feel for homura as someone who has experienced repeated childhood trauma

[fruitevr]

I almost feel like Homura isn’t in love with Madoka the girl but “Madoka” like the vague outline of a character that’s caring. She’s almost in love with like a thought with something from her imagination. Like a fake, idealized version of a once “real” person she knew for like a month

[Bobbias]

when I first watched rebellion, I had a sudden realization. Madoka and Homura represent 2 sides of love. Homura represents selfish love. She wants Madoka for herself, and will sacrifice anything in order to make that happen. Madoka represents selfless love. She learns the whole story, and instead of saving herself, takes it upon herself to try to fix things, sacrificing herself in the process.

[VGamingJunkieVT]

Being forced to kill Madoka, the only one to ever be kind to her, shattered her psyche. It's after that point that she changes her look and stops caring about anyone except Madoka. Everyone else will either help her in her goals or they're obstacles.

[CarmsCelestia]

11:31 To clear this up:
Homuras labyrinth is not enveloping the whole world and she is not "mysteriously" gaining those powers:

Homuras wish was to be strong enough to "protect" Madoka, no matter the cost. Within the flower field scene, she realizes that Madokas fate is cruel, that Madoka is not "rescued", but Madoka is a godlike entity now, one that rewrote the world and herself out of existence. So the only way Homura sees to save Madoka now is to once more rewrite the world, tearing Madokami back into existence.

[michaelat.]

I think you make a lot of good points. Homura's feelings for and actions towards Madoka have never been healthy. She does't love "Madoka, the person, " she *wants* "Madoka, the ideal." She really parallels Sayaka that way when you think about it. Both of them went to great lengths for a person they loved, believing they'er acting out of selflessness, when in reality it's selfishness that drives them. What Homura did at the end of the movie was Kyoko's advice to Sayaka (paraphrased "You should've used your wish to make him completely dependent on you.") taken to the extreme.

[mudawott]

I think the way that she tries to kill herself how the witch she creates is a suicidal one going to be executed is probably the best example of who she is at heart. She hates herself and the world and sees madoka as the only one worth saving. I think her actions at the end are a result of being a witch. Not only a witch but one who incubated for so long while people kept her from fully dying and while the incubators imprisoned her. If whst creates magical girls is despair and other negative emotions wouldnt onces soul gem being that corrupted essentially make herexperience those things mor e strongly

[raandomplayer]

"Her world of happiness is simply a temporary distraction from -"
From the reality that WERE GETTING A NEW MOVIE LETS

[TyphoonJig]

I don't really agree with the Homura as the deuteragonist, for me she's the protagonist as she's the one whose actions have an impact on the world. Madoka is more a goal character, she isn't "Harry Potter the school of wizards" but "the lord of the ring" type of title character.
For me Homura doesn't have the same progression as other girls not because of selfishness but because she's the only magical girl who knows what she really wants. She's honest with her feelings and have to face them unlike the other girls who made half assed wishes in which they tried to take the good role and were punished for their hypocrisy. Homura's problem is more of a hubris one.

[aspinia]

Homura still cares for Kyoko besides Madoka, we can still see her sadness when Kyoko sacrificed herself, and even in Rebellion Homura asks for help to Kyoko the same way she probably did in many timelines.

[CorralSummer]

There is a drama CD that perhaps addresses some of the things you brought up here. It's the first one - Memories of You.
Basically it focuses on the timeline and gives more insight into why Homura likes Madoka specifically.
Additionally, I think Homura views Madoka specifically as like the coolest person ever. First impressions are important and Homura's first impression of Madoka was as the cool, confident magical girl. Homura's infatuation with Madoka isn't because she saved her from a witch. It's because Madoka saw Homura was lonely and depressed and she saved her from that. Being with Madoka was the first, and only time, in her life where she felt like she was wanted.
I think her wish was because she wanted to be cool like Madoka (who is the coolest person to her) and also wanted to save her from dying. After all, if she's not strong enough to protect her the same thing will just happen again... which it does... many times.
I think interpreting it as possessiveness is incorrect.

Also, in the end, when she calls herself evil, I think it's less because she thinks what she did is selfish but more because she hurt Madoka to do it.

somethin like that anyways idk. Anyways Memories of You is pretty good. Yall should give it a read/listen. Spoiler, but they bond over a shared love of cats. Which is just so perfect for a series about witches.

[NRobbi]

4:54 Wait, was Homura not crying in that scene over Mami's death? Because I'm pretty sure she was crying in that scene over mami's death.

Wouldn't her wanting Madoka to not share that same fate make her the opposite of a sociopath?

In Rebellion, her dream ideal world had everyone happily living together. If that wasn't what she really wanted then why would she subconsciously invite then? Before the Mami fight, she even laments on how acting coldly towards others pained her. Not exactly someone I would call a sociopath.

[KaiseaWings]

This is a text wall. You have been warned.

Honestly I’d call this a bad read.
You could read the story as a punishment for selfishness, but following that thread means you’d have to accept that the Butcher’s saying that girls should be punished for having desires at all. That’s a very poor take on the show and leaves a bad taste in my mouth, personally.
(Edit because I just binged the show again: While Kyubey basically states that making wishes is a mistake in episode 11, Madoka explicitly refutes this in episode 12.
'I don't want to let all those girls cry. All those Puella Magi who believed in their hope and fought against witches. I want them to smile to the bitter end. I will destroy the rules that prevent that happening, I will change them. This is my wish, this is my prayer. Now fulfil it! Incubator!'


'If someone tells me it's wrong to hope. I will tell them they're wrong every time.'


'It'll be alright, it'll surely be alright. Trust in me! After all, Puella Magi grant hopes and dreams!'

She changed the rules, that's the point of the ending.)

Homura isn’t sociopathic, she’s just seen these people die over and over and over again.
Note her response in the first couple of timelines when they die. She’s distraught. That’s not a sociopathic person.

Her numbness is indicative of trauma.

You also don’t hold the other girls to the same standards as Homura. You say Homura doesn’t wish to straightforwardly bring Madoka back to life or for Walpurgisnacht to not exist. But Sayaka didn’t wish for Kyousuke to love her, Kyoko didn’t wish for her family to be happy, Mami didn’t wish for companionship or her family back.
None of the girls wished for what they really wanted, except Madoka. That’s the difference.

Homura’s wish to protect Madoka is because she wants to return her kindness. You’ll note this idea of ‘protecting’ someone is common in anime. You could say it’s possessive but I’d argue you’d have to say the same about say… Mamoru and Usagi?

I agree that Homura does start to see Madoka more as a theoretical at some point, but I’d argue that’s only normal when she’s forced to discard timelines hundreds of times in pursuit of a single goal. After you see your friends die so many times, you’re going to start approaching it as a puzzle to solve rather than emotionally engaging, for your own sake.

Homura does remember who Madoka is, of course she does. She told Kyubey the whole story. She was just playacting for her mother’s sake.

Given how Homura has been forced to view Madoka as an object to be saved by virtue of having abandon her again and again, I can absolutely see a scenario in which she locks Madoka in a pocket dimension surrounded by things she thinks would make her happy.
What I have a problem with is how she keeps her there knowing Madoka is unhappy.

Looking at her thoughts when she’s transforming into a witch isn’t really necessarily a reflection of her true self. If you’ve ever experienced depression or know someone who has, you know how warped your perspective can become. She’s not in her right mind here.


Plus, Rebellion breaks a lot of established lore.
1. How the hell can Homura steal Madoka’s powers?
People say it’s because she’s a witch at that point but by definition of Madoka’s wish, witches cannot exist in the same space as her. That’s why the Incubators had to separate out Homura into a new dimension.

Also Homura was no longer a witch by the time Madoka came to save her, by definition, Witches cannot revert to Magical Girls.

2. Madoka is canonically the most powerful Magical Girl in existence due to having all those fate lines tied around her. Homura is simply not on the same playing field.
Edit: In fact, she's not a magical girl at all. She's a god. She doesn't operate by the same rules.

3. Madoka is outside the Law of Cycles. She can’t be prevented from fulfilling her duty. By definition even if she was prevented, that timeline would be undone to ensure her wish is still fulfilled.

4. Homura is suddenly characterised as a creepy stalker/yandere type despite having very little characterisation as such before that point. Following a friend around to ensure she doesn’t die does not a stalker make.


On the wishes:

Madoka’s wish was actually the most selfish, because it was exactly what she wanted.

What Sayaka wanted was for Kyousuke to return her feelings, but she wished for him to get better in the hopes that would happen. It’s not that she didn’t want him to get better, it just wasn’t what she most wanted. So she ended up sacrificing her own life and happiness for a boy who never gave a shit about her.

Sayaka wasn’t a bad person, she was just idealistic and so concerned with what a hero of justice ‘should’ do that she neglected her own emotional wellbeing, leading to her becoming a witch.
She was always going to despair when she made such a selfless wish, because it meant she lost everything.

Mami wanted to keep living, but she didn’t want to be alone. But since she wasn’t specific enough, Kyubey just brought her back and not her family. Again, not selfish enough.

Homura wanted Madoka to be happy, but because she was unaware of the nature of the magical girl contract she only realised the only way to make that happen was to ensure she never became a magical girl in the first place… which wasn’t really in the bounds of her wish.



Madoka had all the information at her disposal and knew exactly what she wanted, making a wish that had no loopholes. She knew what she was sacrificing and what it meant, but because her wish was airtight that meant she would always be satisfied. She wanted the Witches destroyed by her own hand, past, present and future. That meant she could never die or become a witch herself, or the wish would not be granted.
The only way Madoka could die would be if the Magical Girl system was entirely eradicated, which she would also be fine with. Either way she wins.


That’s the difference. She doesn’t accept the despair. She refuses to.
‘As long as my wish is granted, I have no need for despair!’