If you thought the ending of the TV series was perfect, that there was no way Magica Quartet could possibly follow it up, well, they found a way. Nothing really ends, after all. When wars end, conflict remains. Life goes on even after a natural disaster destroys an entire town. And when magical girls are involved, something important is always at stake. (I’ll go into more detail later in the review.)
A big difference between the TV series and Rebellion is the art department. In short, it is stunning. As far as technical achievements go, this is Akiyuki Shinbou’s magnum opus. Nothing of his, aside from maybe the Kizumonogatari movies, comes remotely close to the artistry, fluidity, choreography, editing, cinematography, coloring, and composition of light and shadow on display here. Years ago, I once described Shinbou as the anime equivalent of the Hollywood director Wes Anderson. Both have idiosyncratic tricks that are instantly recognizable. Wes Anderson has his flat space camera motions and parts for Bill Murray. Akiyuki Shinbou has his constant camera cutaways and parts for Chiwa Saitou. Of course, if push comes to shove, I will admit to liking Wes Anderson more, if only because The Grand Budapest Hotel is, in my opinion, the best movie of the last decade. However, when Shinbou is at his absolute best, he can rival Anderson’s technical mastery of cinematic expression. A lot of praise goes to the screenwriter Gen Urobuchi, and indeed, the Madoka franchise remains my favorite of the Butcher’s works, but Shinbou is just as important to the success of the series, and that is most evident here in Rebellion. If nothing else, the old joke that Rebellion is the greatest shampoo commercial ever is still true, as I can’t imagine anyone else overseeing such gorgeous hair movements for Homura and Kyouko.
Also returning is Gekidan Inu Curry, responsible for the creepy, bizarre designs that appear in the labyrinths of the witches. Curry’s art is hard to describe without images. I can say the designs of Curry are greater and more varied in Rebellion, giving the film a dreamlike quality, provided the dream in question came straight from the mind of Tim Burton. I love it.
The music is once again provided by Yuki Kajiura, Claris, and Kalafina. Kajiura in particular has become quite possibly the most beloved Japanese soundtrack composer since Nobuo Uematsu in the last decade or so. I’m happy to say that her work on the Madoka franchise, Rebellion included, remains, in my opinion, my favorite work of hers. If I’m being honest, I don’t consider Kajiura to be in the same league as Uematsu, Joe Hisaishi, Yoko Kanno and Hirano Yoshihisa, as I find most of her non-Madoka works lackluster in comparison. Having said that, Kajiura’s music adds to the eerie dark atmosphere Madoka Magica is known for, and that’s also evident here in Rebellion. I wouldn’t have it any other way, and I say this as someone who finds the music of Sword Art Online over-estimated.
I’ve seen Rebellion in both Japanese and English. Both are incredible. Every character sounds like how you would imagine them to, and the voice cast is able to draw out a great deal of personality from their roles in both languages. Which version to watch really comes down to personal preference. I like Mami’s English voice more, while I like Kyouko’s Japanese voice more. Either way, the way the characters talk has no defects. That’s always appreciated in a work where dialog is important.
But before I continue, I’m going to break a tradition of mine. I’m going to print spoilers. Yes, I made this review because there is something about Rebellion I want to address. To do so, I must give away both secrets from the TV series AND Rebellion. For those of you who are now interested in watching Rebellion for the first time, thank you for reading. You can find the movie on YouTube and Amazon if you live in the US like me. For those of you who want to know my thoughts on the plot and characters, or if you’ll incredibly foolhardy and want to read my thoughts on a show about children with phenomenal cosmic powers, I’ll see you after the next ten paragraph breaks.
The reason Rebellion is so controversial is because of its ending. The TV series/recap movies ended with Madoka trading in her existence to end the cycle of witches being born from the despair of magical girls. It was heartbreaking and beautiful, and it was set to Sagitta Luminis, my favorite composition by Kajiura. Many people love it. I love it. Rebellion, on the other hand, ends with Homura rewriting reality to ensure that Madoka and other magical girls can lead normal lives, even if they don’t want that, as well as protecting Madoka from the exploitation of the Incubators.
I know not everyone loved the TV series. However, most people I know who watched it like it very much. They didn’t mind the fact that it was basically a super serious remake of Sailor Moon. And yet, I’m still puzzled. To the anti-Rebellion crowd, riddle me this: An orphan being killed by a Hallmark drawing? Fine. An energetic girl undergoing a mental breakdown over not being able to love a boy she likes? Fine. That same orphan trying to start a one-woman war against magical girls and nearly succeeding? Fine. A girl whose family died because of her good intentions, became ruthless, then learned compassion because of the lovesick girl’s trauma, only to then give her life to ease a friend’s suffering? Fine. An innocent child coping with a lifetime’s worth of PTSD from seeing her friends die over and over? Fine. Another innocent girl sacrificing her life because she thinks she’s worthless otherwise? Fine. But that same girl dealing with a century’s worth of trauma protecting the one thing that kept her going through everything? Oh no, not our precious Homerun-chan! Not our badass time traveler with perfect hair!
Let me ask you something: did you watch the same series I did? What did you think was gonna happen? Homura erases the Incubators from the timeline? That can’t happen, as like Kyubey said in the TV series, if his people never came to Earth, the human race would still be living in caves. (Now there’s a depressing thought; our advancements were all courtesy of Lovecraftian horror shows.) And did you really think that children burdened with feeding on the souls of zombie children were gonna be like, “Oh yeah! I don’t need to see a therapist! I got this!” And that these same children, none of whom over the age of 15, would act responsibly with powers no normal human has? Hell, many grownups in the real world don’t know how to use their power and authority responsibly. Do you really think a physically frail, introverted girl whose life got turned upside down by a creature that I’m certain is a fantastical stand-in for a peddler of performance enhancing drugs is gonna adjust to her new life easily and without a hitch? Dream on! Even if she wasn’t already a witch throughout most of Rebellion, Homura’s most defining trait is her devotion to Madoka. Her wish centers around Madoka, not the viewer’s expectations.
It's almost like these people built up this mental image of Homura in their heads, this all-knowing, stoic wunderkind with an awesome voice and graceful gestures who could do no wrong. So what if she was dismissive of Sayaka throwing her life away? It didn’t matter. Sayaka was emo, and Homura was too cool for that shit! The greatest magical girl in history was here. She used modern firearms. She cheated death like it was child’s play. She overcame her apparent shortcomings to become the Doom Slayer, Master Chief, Dusk Dude, the T-800. She was metal as FUCK, and she had killer fashion sense!
And how did I come to such a conclusion? Maybe because Homura had a mental image of Madoka in her head, this brave, unfaltering, all-loving, altruistic heroine who could do no wrong. So what if Madoka had a crippling lack of self esteem? So what if she believed her only worth was to sacrifice her life and her family’s memory of her, effectively committing suicide for a bunch of strangers who died long before she was born? Madoka was the wind beneath Homura’s wings, the air in her lungs, the light at the end of the tunnel. The greatest magical girl in history was here, cuter and stronger than all the Powerpuff Girls combined, and she had killer fashion sense!
I’m gonna paraphrase a quote from Part 4 of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, “True art must reflect reality. It cannot come from imagination alone.” (Thus Spoke Rohan.) Madoka Magica is a masterful example of reflecting reality through narrative fiction. Just as the TV series brilliantly illustrated selfishness and selflessness in a non-judgmental manner, so too does Rebellion show that love, for whatever its positives, can sometimes bring out the worst in people. How often have you seen someone in real life do something stupid to impress someone they thought was hot? How often has someone thrown away money, respect, a career, their friends, their family, just to be with someone? How many parents attack people, institutions, celebrities, trends, etc., all supposedly to the benefit of their children? Just going off the people I know in real life, the answer to all those questions is all too many.
But do understand that I’m not saying Homura became evil. She didn’t. Were her actions flawed? Maybe. Selfish? Maybe. However, by rewriting the universe, she was able to foil the latest scheme of the Incubators. She has also vowed to destroy all the Wraiths of the world, and to do so without relying on any other girls trading in their lives to fight alongside her. She’s not just acting to satisfy her own admiration of Madoka. She is doing what she believes to be the best course of action in a bad situation, a very human thing to do.
Way back when I first saw Rebellion, it took me several days to parse what I watched. I knew I liked it, just as much as what came before it, but it took me some time to make sense of what I saw. Once I finally did, I commemorated by listening to a song. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoV4kKMwz5k) Yes, I know it’s from Umineko, but Umineko addresses some of the same themes as Madoka Magica, and I find it appropriate; Homura the demon, dancing ballet on the field, smiling a delightfully devilish smile, impervious to the rules and norms of our world. She, like Madoka and Sayaka, is one of the greatest, most nuanced fictional characters I’ve ever seen, and Rebellion would’ve been a lesser feature if it ended differently, as NOT having Homura taking on the role of a devil would’ve been out of character for her.
The other reason I made this review now as opposed to when I first saw it is because a follow-up film is in the works. The Magica Quartet is back together, working on Walpurgisnacht: Rising. Just like the TV series, Rebellion ended in an open-ended manner, for it should be obvious by now that disputes like the ones between Homura and those around her never really end, not when there’s misery to attract the Incubators. I for one can’t wait.