Puella Magi Madoka Magica



Japanese Title: 魔法少女まどか★マギカ

Chinese Title: 魔法少女小圓

Plot
After experiencing a bizarre dream, Madoka Kaname, a kind 14-year-old girl, encounters a magical creature named Kyube. Madoka and her friend Sayaka Miki are offered the opportunity of gaining magical powers if they agree to make a contract with the strange little being. He will also grant them one wish, but in exchange they shall risk their lives by accepting the responsibility of fighting witches. Invisible to human eyes, witches are catalysts of despair in the areas they inhabit. An ally of Kyubey, a magical girl named Mami Tomoe, befriends and encourages the two girls to accept the contract. For an unknown reason, another magical girl named Homura Akemi is determined to prevent Madoka from accepting the deal.

As Madoka contemplates becoming a magical girl, she learns that a magical girl's life is not as glamorous as she thought and is filled with anguish, suffering and despair. Madoka soon learns that not only do magical girls give up their souls to form their Soul Gems, the source of their magic, but when those Soul Gems become too tainted with despair, they transform into the very witches they fight against. Madoka also learns that Homura is a magical girl from a different timeline who had repeated the same month countless times in order to try and save her from a grisly fate. Learning all of this, Madoka decides to become a magical girl with the wish to stop witches before they are created, which rewrites the laws of the universe, resulting in Madoka becoming nothing more than a concept and Homura being the only one who remembers her in the new world that is formed.

First Movie: Hajimari no Monogatari (The Beginning Story)
(始まりの物語)

Premiere Date: October 6, 2012

The first movie retells the story of the first part of the television series episodes with redone voice acting and some newly animated footage.

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, diseases and suicides. 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 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.

Second Movie: Eien no Monogatari (The Everlasting Story)
(永遠の物語)

Premiere Date: October 13, 2012

The second movie retells the story of the final part of the television series episodes with redone voice acting and some newly animated footage.

Madoka learns from Kyubey, whose real identity is Incubator, that his species makes contracts to make girls into magical girls that inevitably become witches in order to use the energy that spawns from their despair to counter entropy in the universe. Kyouko, 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 Kyouko 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 capable of eliminating witches before they are born. This rewrites the law of the universe, with Madoka becoming nothing more than a concept and Homura being the only one who remembers her.

Third Movie: Hangyaku no Monogatari (The Rebellion Story)
(叛逆の物語)

Premiere Date: October 26, 2013

The third movie tells a totally new story not seen in the Anime. It's the sequel of the Anime and the two previous movies.

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 into an alternate world inside a witch's barrier. As Homura realizes that said witch must be no other than herself, Kyubey appears and reveals that she had fallen into despair and when she was about to become a witch, he and the other incubators isolated her soul gem to set a trap for Madoka, in order to take control of her power. However, when Madoka appeared, she had forgotten about her duty as the Law of Cycle and her power as such, 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 Nagisa Momoe, who had come with Madoka to help Homura, lead Madoka and the others to fight in order to break the barrier and reach Homura's real body. As Madoka recovers her memories and power as the Law of Cycle she reaches for Homura, but the latter releases the curse in her soul gem, which she reveals is not despair but love, and suppresses Madoka's powers, becoming an existence far more powerful than a magical girl or a witch, which she refers to as the Devil. By using her new powers, Homura captures Kyubey and rewrites the laws of the universe once again to create a new world where Madoka could live in peace, but at the end she realizes that Madoka will eventually remember the truth and when that happens, they might become enemies.

Songs