It’s probably not so rare at this rate to encounter a sequel that runs as relatively frictionless as a previous installment until… THAT TWIST shows up. The kind of complex tone shift that looks like it could add variety to the story in tandem with being a great payoff, only for it to screw everything up anyways due to lack of context and/or taking itself too literally, basically being pretentious. For personal reference, Madoka’s movie sequel, Rebellion, falls under this category. When I first watched it, I was like “Oh boy! This will be a great conclusion to the original series!” But as I took a better look, it utterly aged like milk for me.
Now before I get to kneecap this movie’s favorite time-travelling devil, I’ll re-cap my disclaimers:
All of these are 100% opinion-based. What you’ll see is very subjective and therefore, shouldn’t be taken seriously.
I have no problems with anyone liking the series. If you’re a fan of the series, feel free to share why you think it’s better than what I said.
Alright, onto my thoughts.
If you’re unfamiliar with Madoka as a whole, it’s about a girl named ‘Madoka’ who gets unparalleled nightmares, encounters a mysterious girl, and a cat alien named ‘Kyubey’ gives her a contract to turn her into a magical girl. The next day, the mysterious girl Madoka encounters in her dream is a transfer student in the same school Madoka studies in and she goes by the name of ‘Homura’. Both Madoka and Homura made more friends while fighting nightmares around in their magical girl journey. If you’ve watched the TV show but not the movie sequel just yet, you’ll be aware that Rebellion is quite different from the original. This time, it’s about Homura exploring the expanded chaos after Madoka’s sacrifice. Remember how Madoka has huge feelings for Homura in the TV show? Yeah, Homura decides to do the same after what happened.
Now on the surface, this doesn’t give more heart to the series at all. I mean, Madoka threw away her life just so she could save her friends, and Homura wetting herself hard for her after said sacrifice would be embarrassing, and I WILL talk about that. But for how it brings to the table, it’s actually the golden reunion of Madoka and Homura. Because both main leads have a relatively strong impact on each other, we can see why this is the case. Both Madoka and Homura have a fun yet very tragic and twisted journey throughout their lives. Their chemistry with one another is complicated yet adds up to their characterization. While Rebellion differs in its story from the TV show’s it adds a lot more variety to both the duo of Madoka and Homura and the psychological storytelling of the whole series. This might be Rebellion’s high point as far as overall writing quality goes, being able to give heart despite having major differences as long as the coherent context is added until… there isn’t…
The one thing the original TV show succeeds at is how it creates quite an endearing build-up and how it’s cautious with it. How delivers its personalized message in a figurative fashion is straight to the point. It could be a chore to watch though, considering how over-the-top it is with its philosophies but for the vast majority of its runtime, it does show what colorful creations look like. As for Rebellion, it may look like it would make for a great pay-off given the amount of complexity it holds. But as it turns out, it might be one of, if not, Madoka’s most contrived installations. Now I do believe that Rebellion doesn’t have a problem being extremely complex. It has a problem with trying to find an insightful elaboration. Sure, it DOES try to conclude the psychological elements of the plot and the duo of Madoka and Homura but those methods are jampacked by nonsensical information that I don’t know if the movie has the capacity to show heart.
For the philosophies involved, I just can’t get myself to resonate with them. I get that they’re one of the most complex things in fiction but realistically speaking, Madoka as a whole doesn’t have a literal meaning, to begin with. It follows a figurative pattern that attempts to make you emphasize with any of its cast, whether they’re a cinnamon roll or a piece of human garbage. The TV show nails that. The movie, not so much. It takes all of with way too literally that it ends up being either boring or deceptively funny. As for the chemistry between Madoka and Homura, turning the tables to differ from the show’s portrayal is, again, not a problem. It shows how Homura wants to change things after the events. The big problem is that the movie treats that story element as a goddamn popcorn entertainment of a gimmick rather than an actual presentation of one of the movie’s main story elements.
Now, the characters. We already know who the cast is but just in case you forgot who they are, we have Madoka the central angel, Mami the one magical girl whose head is food for the monsters, Sayaka the swords-playing magical girl, Kyouko the fiery magical girl, Kyuubey the alien grim reaper, and Homura the enigmatic time traveler. The cast was handled decently in the TV show. They aren’t the greatest but they have their moments that truly add to their characterization. This is all thanks to their combination of story contribution and character chemistry, a feat that the movie will sadly never be able to accomplish. And it’s embarrassing to think about because the build-up of the characterization in the show is a solid reservation for the movie’s payoff. Because Homura is the most iconic character in the series, I feel like she deserves a subcategory of her own.
Meanwhile, I want to focus on the rest of the characters first. Starting with Madoka, whose character is really lacking. She wasn’t that great of a character, to begin with, especially as a protagonist. In the TV show, she does get the job done but that’s mostly about it. She’s decent but she could be a lot more compelling. Sadly, the movie didn’t do her justice. Instead, it turned her into a flying plot device to excuse the entire story. The same standards apply to Mami, Sayaka, and Kyouko. Their contribution to the story is admittedly present, sure, but it felt executed poorly thus, making them fodders for choreography that is otherwise very fun to watch. I’m sad about how wasted Sayaka is. She may be my favorite character in the show but she couldn’t save the movie on her own. Didn’t care for Kyuubey whatsoever. He’s known for being a love-it-or-hate-it kind of character but in my opinion, he’s just yet another living plot device.
Though, no one is as stagnant and juvenile as Homura, who is just goddamn preposterous. Rebellion manages to turn her from a decent addition to arguably Madoka’s worst character. For the first half, she’s like the rest of the cast. She’s a living plot device to excuse the story. Not horrible but not good either. But once she obtains her demon form, this signifies the most idiotic case of character conclusion. Yes, it’s stated that she wants to see Madoka again and change the world after the chaos in the original show. But again, the big problem here is that there’s just minimal context to that, and yet, she overblows the objective so hard that it’s downright laughable. Despite her screentime, she has very little time to add anything to her character or the story and somehow, she manages to rush her way to a payoff that takes time to be constructed. All that buildup and all that chemistry just to make her a riddance mess of a character… Thanks, Homura, you depressed piece of cow manure…
While the story content in this movie falls really short, I can at least give credit to the production and sound. The character designs are well-made. Not only do they look really nice but they also fit well with both the characters’ personalities and powers. The animation is once again very solid. Barely any BS PowerPoint slideshows are involved and the production remains to be smooth. And speaking of smoothness, the choreography is over-the-top and brilliantly executed in both the motion and the atmosphere. The OST is once again great. Yuki Kajiura will always be my favorite anime composer barring Hiroyuki Sawano and Kevin Penkin. Both the Japanese and English voice-acting are great, especially for the JP with Chiwa Saito as Homura. But man, Cristina Vee’s performance is just too good to ignore. Not only was her delivery straight to the point but it’s also damn intense.
Madoka Rebellion isn’t horrible, but it’s a forced and pretentious movie that doesn’t know how the nature of Madoka as a whole works, despite its elements being a great contrast. It has certain moments that would have been compelling. Shame that it’s destroyed by stupid use of drama, monotone direction, and poor character writing, especially with Homura. Now again, I don’t have a problem with anyone liking this movie. If you have a chance of enjoying it, go ahead. No one’s stopping you. I just personally think it’s a contrived movie that ends up being a bad conclusion. Thanks for reading.
