[Review] Puella Magi Madoka Magica Rebellion - A Beautifully Frustrating Sequel

Written by: Andarew August 14, 2019

So I finished watching the two recap movies of Puella Magi Madoka Magica. It felt almost exactly the same as the original anime, plus an improvement on animation. I was reminded of just how beautifully executed Madoka Magica was. The ending was able to put an end to the series. So how else could the franchise continue after Madoka Magica’s ending. That’s where Rebellion comes in. It was quite….an interesting watch to say. This movie knows how to really twist its plot in unique, complicated, and unexpected ways.

Story/ Execution: 6/10

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The plot is probably the most unique aspect of this movie. It knows how to just throw the viewer into many different unexpected twists and turns. It starts out with the magical girl crew: Madoka, Sayaka, Mami, and Kyoko hunting down what appears to be a witch. After defeating the “witch”, it appears to have befriended the girls. I used quotation marks on witches because they are actually not witches. Go watch the movie for yourself if you wish to discover the truth. If you already have, you know what I’m talkin’ about. Then the movie cuts to Madoka waking up in her bed. Take note that this is how the anime and the first recap movie begins their openings. This is where it really starts to trick the viewer. For the next 30 minutes or so, everything seems to be going fine and happy for everyone. If you’ve seen either the anime and/or the recap movies, which you probably have, you’ll catch on to something at the very beginning of this opening. But Homura, oh Homura. Let’s just say she causes what happens for the rest of the movie. It is a long story and really complicated. The plot of this movie did find quite a creative and original way to execute their story, which I commend the creators for.

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Despite all that, I also found a lot of problems with the plot. It likes to mess with the viewer. I personally wasn’t too bothered with the beginning. I was confused at first, but went along with it and eventually started to enjoy just seeing our characters get along and have a good time. But thanks to HOMURA!!!!!, she got curious and had to discover why things were the way they were and had to send the plot into a completely different path that just escalates into a chaotic, emotional catastrophe. Let’s just say she works to find out what we were confused about. It started to get hard to follow what was going on once the chaos started to unfold. As the end neared closer, eventually everything was explained thanks to the most hated cat creature thing in all of anime, Kyuubei. We get to know how the beginning came to be the way it was. While I eventually did understand how things became the way they were, I didn’t not catch on it at first and had to recap what I just heard in my head before I understood. But then there is how it ends. It shocked me, but it left me confused and with a lot of questions. This is easily what bothers me most about the plot. Sure, it is likely that a sequel to the movie will be produced in the future, but it is annoying that Rebellion has to end off with a lot of questions that needs to be answered while the franchise could have just left off with the anime’s ending being the franchise’s conclusion. To sum it up, there are good things and bad things about the plot. It started off great, but got hard to follow and ended leaving the viewer with many questions.

Characters: 8/10

Most of the characters from this movie are the same as from the recap movies and anime. You got the shy Madoka, the Kyusuke-loving Sayaka, the headless...I mean classy Mami and personally my favorite of the bunch, the fiery Kyoko. There are a few characters I do want to go into more detail about because my perspective or how I look at these characters has changed a bit after watching Rebellion

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One drastic change this movie did to the franchise as a whole was change how we look at Homura Akemi. Seriously, by the end of it, you will never look at this edgelord the same way again. I wouldn’t necessarily say it was a bad or good thing, but this change was certainly quite useful in adding shock value to the end of the movie. I suppose it’s Rebellion’s main twist at the end. It’s too bad we never got to see more content after her dramatic change of character since it did occur pretty close to the end. One thing to take note of is that she is the main protagonist of this movie instead of Madoka. She is pretty much the person who caused the big conflict in this movie to occur. There are also a lot of things that happen to her that are confusing and you don’t catch on as to why such things happen right away.

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Now to talk about everyone’s most hated Neko thing in anime. Kyubei once again comes up with some complicated method to once again put our characters into a mess again. In the anime, one good thing about Kyubei as a villain is that his motivations for his actions are based on rationality. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t like Kyubei because of this. I still want him to burn in hell because of this, but this aspect of his character is what makes him a unique, but still very hateable villain. Can’t say the same for him in this movie. Now what’s strange about him is that you see him in the first 30 or so minutes of the movie, but he never talks. It is only until Homura gets curious and starts to discover why things are the way they are is when Kyubei starts spilling the beans. When he does reveal his motivations, it’s not based on rationality, but actually the desire to control someone. Yeah sure, he still has that very calm rational demeanor to him, but his motivations don’t strike me as such. I still hate him, but now I think he is less unique than he once was.

Soundtrack: 8/10

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Yuki Hayashi does good work and Madoka Magica’s soundtrack is no exception. There isn’t much to say about this aspect of the show. It’s not a masterpiece but it is still quite enjoyable to listen to. The music fits in with the scene and mood at the moment. It’s personally not quite my style of music, but it’s a good suit for the anime because my style and tastes wouldn’t.

Animation: 10/10

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Now here is the thing that this movie passes with flying colors. The animation was absolutely beautiful in this movie. I got a give those animators a round of applause because they have really outdone themselves this time. One specific scene, a fight scene between Mami and Homura was probably one of the best animated fight scenes I have ever scene. It’s easily on par with One Punch Man and Fate battle scenes. So much detail, so much happening on the screen, the eye candy was giving me a sugar rush. The animation still keeps that different style to it whenever a character enters a labyrinth, everything becomes more surreal. Yeah, they still have that in this movie too. Even one of the scenes where you see the world as an empty wasteland, it still looks amazing to me. The sky adds so much beauty to that turquoise colored wasteland. Now usually animation in anime movies are superior to their episodic anime counterparts, but wow, this movie is on another league to its counterpart. You should go watch this movie just for the animation.

Overall: 7/10

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Some people love to praise this movie to death because of its artistic deeper meaning and story execution and everything else. If you have an interest and an eye for these symbolic deeper meaning sort of things, go ahead. This will probably be a great choice for you. For the audience who wants something simpler, you will not enjoy this movie as much as the previously mentioned audience. But I will still say give it a watch anyways because the animation is stunning and you still get some heart-warming character interactions the beginning. As you can tell from my rating, I personally do not have an eye nor the interesting in deeper symbolic, philosophical mumbo jumbo like that. I still enjoyed the movie, but trying to follow and understand the plot was a frustrating experience for me. Maybe one day, another movie will come out and hopefully explain the cliffhanger this movie failed to answer to us.

Andarew

Jersie's amazing brother, can be found jamming out to his epic music for hours while drawing. Tries to balance his life out by going to Planet Fitness and making fun of politics.