Ko-Pilot Koko's video: Homura is RIGHT in MADOKA REBELLION - Exotic June Day 10

Homura is right in Madoka Rebellion. It seems everyone likes playing devil’s advocate until you have to advocate for the ACTUAL DEVIL. Here’s a longer explanation: A Small thing about Puella Magi Madoka*Magica, 7 years later. I knew my time with them was limited when in 2012 I asked my friendgroup at the time, "Hey, what's everyone's anime of the year?" Almost all of them said Madoka. I sighed. We may have all found it around that time, but I was saddened by the idea of Madoka as a Fad that overshadowed things that even came out a whole year later. It's so much more than that, and got me to be watching more and more backlog and seasonal anime. But enough about casuals. I rewatched Madoka*Magica last week and I was able to take a step back from the mythical space it took up in my mind. The show's own Witch's Labyrinth, if you will. It had previously pulled me in and made me feel like the show alone was bigger than it was. I don't mean better, I mean literally bigger. After a while away from it, Madoka felt so much longer and detail oriented than it actually feels to watch. And that's a good thing. Watching it again while knowing everything that happens felt like watching it on fast forward. The show is densely packed with dramatic tension and symbolism but never meanders in those things and always moves forward. Because of this it feels less like a dramatic, five hour genre questioning epic. And more (and in my opinion better) like a pill you swallow and experience a microcosm of all the magical girl trappings at once, so fast that you experience at least a modicum of existential dread. You feel for the characters and want them to be able to be happy. But I question the validity of this happiness when they're trapped in a catch 22 of playing a Prescripted role and also compelled to use that role for their ideals. Either way, there's bondage involved. That is why I want to finish this rewatch and get to Rebellion. Because while there's so many amazing things to come out of Madoka, the Ending of the series is not Catharsis for me. Madoka becoming Madokami and rewriting the universe to change the law of the cycle, while noble, and beautiful, still leaves behind the Ambition of the Incubators. Their will to recruit magical girls for the sake of prolonging the death of the universe. That will and methodology is despicable, and coming from something that cannot empathize with humans in any way, the only way to inspire catharsis in me is to snuff out that will. (Why Entropy is bullshit and Kyubey is not right at all: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1B0LWSw3QU) And that's why, even in the face of forcing Madoka into a position she didn't freely choose, Homura is right. The evil that started it all was Kyubey and the Incubators. If they had not forced humanity into slavery, this would not have happened. It is the incubators who forced Madoka to make the ultimate sacrifice, because they caused the global suffering of magical girls. Homura is right because she instills fear in Kyubey. A character who in many other stories would be a more ephemeral force that could not be combated. By tearing Madoka from her Divine Alter Ego, Homura creates a reality that reflects a non-magical world where the injustice of the incubators can't exist. It's equally right for those on the outside (Sayaka-angel, outside-force Mami) to attempt to foil this plan and give Madoka back her freedom. I won't try to say they're wrong for doing that. However, the selfish side of Homura is to be expected. And it should be expected from Kyubey. A piece of cattle that escapes and gains independence is bound to gobble up any food it finds, and take any mates it can. The resulting vitriol of escaping bondage shouldn't be looked down upon. It should be channeled into even more powerful attempts at creating freedom. And a Part 2 after the full rewatch: Madoka*Magica Rebellion is a fucking sick movie that gets me thinking about our place in the universe. Everything I said about forced bondage has to get revisited though because it kind of raises a question about what "voluntarily" even means. But just remember: kyubey is an evil force. It is not neutral. It chooses to enact violence against humans. We don't need to drop our bias for the good of the universe. For we're nothing if not free. Or maybe we are. If homura's transformation in Rebellion is any example, perhaps pursuit of freedom will give way to more and more layers of force and there won't ve an ultimate escape. When homura escapes, she becomes anotyer trapping force in the world anyway. So is this "freedom?" Or is this just the only way forward in pursuit of freedom?