The reveals are coming hard and fast now, and the one in this episode somehow managed to top everything else so far. It was a move that many had predicted from the start, and a perhaps disappointingly convenient tool for explaining Homura’s story up to now. Still, the episode was filled with solid action and moving stand alone scenes and did its job of teaching us Homura’s story and letting us feel for her.
So this little twist gave Shaft carte blanche to do anything it wanted with the characters and story (in fact, I’d bet that that was one of the main reasons that the twist was used in the first place), and at the very least, it made for some good fanservice. Much like in doujin, we got to see various “what if” scenarios play out starring our favorite characters, without worrying about the continuity of the main story. Plus, there was something deeply satisfying about finally seeing Madoka as a magical girl, fighting and protecting as she had longed to do throughout the show.
So her weapon was the bow and arrow, after all. Now, will we get to see her use it in "our" timeline?
One thing I liked was the brevity with which each loop was shown, and how much variety there was in them. Homura woke up, she fought along with some of the girls, failed on Walpurgis Night, tried again. There was no dilly dallying around. And Shaft clearly had a lot of fun with what they were allowed to do in the loops. One of my favorite moments was Homura shooting Madoka after Walpurgis Night. The shaded zoom out followed by a simple flash as her gun went off, with Homura’s pained screaming going on the whole time. The scene leading up to it would have fit well as the ending to a separate story about the two girls. Of course, that part was the only glimpse we saw, but the Groundhog Day loop let us forgive the lack of development up to that powerful climax and just accept the moment for what it was.
Another thing I really liked seeing was Mami losing her head in the loop in which they had to kill the witch Sayaka. Who would have thought that she would turn out to be so unstable and suicidal? I mean, her magical girl wish was to live, so of all of the girls, you’d think she would want to keep going. But that’s what’s convenient about the Groundhog Day loop, isn’t it? You’re allowed to have crazy, out-there situations that don’t necessarily jive with what’s been shown thus far.
The progression of Homura's facial expression during each reset. She flinches in the 1st 2, is just plain distraught in the 3rd, and isn't even shown awakening in the last.
Maybe I sound very positive about this reveal, but I’m actually not. Introducing the time loop is a cheap way of explaining everything up to now. Again, it gives Shaft carte blanche, and that power is a double edged sword. It’s just too powerful a tool and can result in a deus ex machina. So that they decided to use it annoys me somewhat. I would have preferred a more typical back story for Homura, in which her cynicism slowly crept into her over time in a linear progression, instead of it bashing her over the head through the loops. Alternatively, since Shaft decided to go the route of the Groundhog Day loop, I wish they had really run with it as is the norm for uses of the loop, that is, that Homura had to suffer through hundreds, thousands, or even millions of loops to get to where we are now, instead of just 5.
At the same time, I always say, it’s never the concept, always the execution. And this episode was executed very well. Not amazing, mind you, but it did its job of letting us see Homura’s character development, and it had some awesome action and heartfelt scenes, to boot. It convincingly presented Homura as a gun toting badass magical girl, and that’s pretty cool. The cinematography, art, and music were top notch as usual. I can’t take anything away from that.
Homura performs the quintessential badass move, walking away from an explosion calmly without looking.
So, and I’m repeating what I wrote last week, the stage is set for the finale, to defeat Walpurgis Night and save Madoka. We know that this will be the last loop Homura has to suffer, because this is the loop that this show has followed. I’m really pulling for a happy end, because that would be just so unexpected at this point. And it would be darn hard to pull off well, which would make it all the more satisfying if it did. There are a lot of traps the story can fall into in these next 2 episodes, and it will be fun to see how Shaft navigates around them.
What made this scene for me was Homura's unending scream. So much pain.
My favorite part of the episode was watching Mami’s insanity. She’s been my favorite character for the entire series, despite only being around for a little while, and that…there was something satisfying about watching her go mad that way.
I liked the moment at the beginning when Mami’s theme started playing before she and Madoka arrived to save Homura. A great little moment when you’re still a little unbelieving that she’s really coming back and you’ll get to see her fight again.
I enjoy time travel stories and have thus seen most of the angles, so like you the idea of this episode didn’t impress me a ton, but the execution is mostly good. We also share a favorite scene in the episode: The gun scene is messed up, jeez.
I didn’t have too much of a problem with showing only five run throughs of Homura’s time traveling. There’s not much time available (ironically enough :p), and seeing those others scenarios play out was enough for me to buy her transformation. To put it in a somewhat callous way, she suffered enough for me.
I would have liked it if other loops had been implied, and the 4 we saw had been spread out over them, instead of them being one after another. The 4 was enough for the purposes of the episode and the story, but when the Groundhog Day loop is involved, it gives the creators license to do some unfathomably cruel things, and I would have liked to see that.
For example, what if the time scale of Homura’s life had been long enough to make the heat death of the universe that Kyubey is so worried about actually seem relevant? We’d have two characters then who perceive time in a way that is simply impossible for us normal humans to wrap our minds around.
I think the implication was Homura *did* experience more loops (need to see the next volume of the manga for corroboration though).
As for endings, bittersweet would be expected given the author. Unless we get a TRUE END curve-ball thrown in at the last minute (note, True Ends don’t necessarily mean Happy Ends). I mean, NO ONE is sure right now where Kazumi Magica sits in the Madoka universe, for example.
I thought it was implied. At least on my subs it said:
“If….if it’s for your sake. I don’t mind being locked in this enternal maze!”
So I thought she had been through alot of loops but we are only shown so much.
There really was nothing implying that there were any more loops than what we saw, especially since we saw the transitions between each loop. Maybe between the 4th loop and the last one there could have been more mixed in, but, again, nothing to implied that there were.
And Homura’s line shows how determined she is, which is why I think it’s a shame that she didn’t go through more loops. She was willing to suffer through them, and it would’ve been awesome if she had.
Again, I am reminded of Madoka’s mother’s speech. Her mother said that it is better to make mistakes when young then as an adult. In the previous loops, Madoka acted like and adult…and things did not end well. In this loop, she is acting like a child. This suggests that her not being a strong adult in this loop will be a game changer…that is *if* she doesn’t start acting like a strong adult…
That’s an interesting way to bring Madoka’s mother’s speech from many episodes back into the context of the story. Seems like a stretch, though, since being a magical girl doesn’t necessarily mean acting like an adult.
I do hope that Madoka’s family becomes relevant again at the finish.
I wonder if this timeline’s Madoka has figured out that Homura can travel back in time like one of her previous versions. Maybe Madoka has become a little bit more aware each time through the loops like Kyon in Endless Eight, and that is why she hasn’t become a Mahou Shoujo yet, even if she doesn’t realize it.
I’ve read some people posit similar theories based on how Madoka appears to become stronger at loops 4 & 5, and she mutters “Homu…” at start of loop 4. I’d prefer it if it was clean cut with only Homura having continuity between loops, but, of course, nothing is off the table at this point.
I like how this didn’t make Homura go through a million loops. At that point, she wouldn’t even be Homura. She’d be a machine that can calculate every possibility from having seen 1 000 000 previous iterations. She’s quite human this way. She even decided to take Madoka’s advice and fake being awesome.
And imagine how cool a character that would be!
What I’m most scared of is not a bad ending, but an indefinite ending. It’s certainly possible for Homura to be forever trapped in this time frame, never managing to find the desired timeline that may not exist.
Anyway, loved the changes we see in Homura from the original timeline to the current one. It was nicely paced and quite powerful.
Yeah, “repeat again” ending would suck, as it would trivialize all the development throughout the show so far. For happy or sad, this needs to be the final loop.
I kinda have the feeling, that the thing that will save this situation will be Madoka. At the begining of the show, when Mami was ,you know, attacked and killed, i thought Madoka would use her wish to get her back fom the dead, if it’s possibe. As the story was progresing, i was daydreaming of what i would wish for. For example, wish that all magical shojo would turn back human when they reach the age of 18, or after they destroy a certain amoutnt of witches, or that they could cure witches and make them human. Now i think that this would be imposible.
But still, i think Madoka will make a wish that will change their faith. Homura got power to time trawel, then why not give madoka power to help other Magical Shojo’s or destroy Kubey.
I think this story is a real brain bustter…