It's like Ash vs. Evil Dead in reverse. What was meant to be a 4th Evil Dead movie had too much material and became the first season of a new Starz series, and what was meant to be a 2nd season of Madoka Magica became a new movie that wasn't old episodes taped together. It took 12 episodes for Madoka to become a magical girl, but just 4 episodes for her friend Sayaka to change. In the last episode of the main Madoka series, Madoka wished for all witches to disappear from time so that magical girls could not become them. I think that is actually the reason why Mami and Kyoko are back from the dead. Madoka wishing all witches out of existence means they never got killed trying to fight the Waluigi-I mean, Walipurgsnacht. However, I am not sure why Sayaka and Madoka are also here, since Sayaka retired to the same "higher plane of existence" as Madoka so she could keep her wish of Kyosuke's hands functioning, so they are both in the same boat of...mysterious canon discontinuity!. This story is just genius. Homura is the only one who remembers Madoka's and Sayaka's existence, which means she is the only one from the timeline where there once were witches...which makes her the last witch in this new timeline!
For the first 30 minutes, it feels like the universe has...rebooted because it retreads the first 6 minutes of Episode 1 after the cold open (except for replacing Hitomi with Kyoko, giving all of the girls magical girl rings and Kyubey being Madoka's new pet), and Homura has reverted back to her original shy self from Episode 10. We get to see all 5 main magical girls together for the first time (Kyoko in the series is introduced the episode after Mami's death) and together they fight Hitomi's nightmare. Then Homura starts to suspect something is up, and the movie veers into really interesting complex territory after the first 30 minutes. God-Madoka is still here because even though no one knows her, she is still everywhere, and Homura is happy to see her again, until she realizes she is in a fake identical world she created because she wants Madoka to be with her. After Homura is under despair and turns into a witch, the other magical girls save her and when Madoka comes back for Homura, Homura creates a brand new universe where she is the Devil and Madoka is God, but they live among normal humans and Madoka is now the new exchange student instead of Homura. Homura is glad to have Madoka exist out of her mind again, and to have Madoka love the world she lives in and not willing to break the rules. This was a fantastic ending to a short-lived 1-season series, and I can't wait to see how they'll top it or topple it in Magia Record, the Madoka Magica Side Story, which is a midquel to Episode 10. It's a double or nothing deal at this point. Oh, I almost forgot to mention that the Bebe creature has her own white-haired human magical girl form now.
For the first 30 minutes, it feels like the universe has...rebooted because it retreads the first 6 minutes of Episode 1 after the cold open (except for replacing Hitomi with Kyoko, giving all of the girls magical girl rings and Kyubey being Madoka's new pet), and Homura has reverted back to her original shy self from Episode 10. We get to see all 5 main magical girls together for the first time (Kyoko in the series is introduced the episode after Mami's death) and together they fight Hitomi's nightmare. Then Homura starts to suspect something is up, and the movie veers into really interesting complex territory after the first 30 minutes. God-Madoka is still here because even though no one knows her, she is still everywhere, and Homura is happy to see her again, until she realizes she is in a fake identical world she created because she wants Madoka to be with her. After Homura is under despair and turns into a witch, the other magical girls save her and when Madoka comes back for Homura, Homura creates a brand new universe where she is the Devil and Madoka is God, but they live among normal humans and Madoka is now the new exchange student instead of Homura. Homura is glad to have Madoka exist out of her mind again, and to have Madoka love the world she lives in and not willing to break the rules. This was a fantastic ending to a short-lived 1-season series, and I can't wait to see how they'll top it or topple it in Magia Record, the Madoka Magica Side Story, which is a midquel to Episode 10. It's a double or nothing deal at this point. Oh, I almost forgot to mention that the Bebe creature has her own white-haired human magical girl form now.