Homura's shield having a "pocket" dimension in her was something that was established in the past. As it's where she used to hide and store her pistols and other things. Otherwise I agree with pretty much most of what you said. It seemed a little redundant and non-committal.
To be fair the whole shield dimensional thing kinda makes sense considering she takes weapons she stole from the shield and pretty much stores them whe she needs
First of all, some meta context: Homura's magic involving memory control was a Rebellion invention specific to Devil Homura, as Homura's entire conflict leading to her "witch" transformation had to do with her despair over the conflict with her memories of Madoka and the reality without Madoka, leading to her doubting her own memories. If you check out most witches' bios, this is consistent with the background lore: every witch proceeds with trying to correct some kind of wrong that led them to despair. Charlotte (Nagisa) wished for a cheesecake for her dying mother instead of her dying mother living, so she immediately turned into a witch that has a labyrinth full of sweets, while in actuality, she seeks cheese. Madoka's witch, Kreimhild Gretchen, seeks the salvation of all, related to Madoka's desire to save people and being a result of her using all her magic for that goal in some timelines, or failing to do so in others. So on and so forth. As for Homura's bow, there is no direct explanation for that, but it is likely some vague connection to Madoka and her desire to carry on Madoka's will that gave her the bow. Homura does carry Madoka's ribbons back to earth with her, meaning the ribbons could be tangible to this development, especially considering the ribbons appear to be a major symbol in the trailers for the next film. We know these things because they are explained in either interviews or in side material, like animation notes and such, and they predate Wraith Arc (and Rebellion, technically). Interestingly, another interview with Urobuchi-san himself had him saying that Homura's time shield actually _could only reverse time within the confines of the month she tried to save Madoka,_ which explains the hourglass in it. If you pay attention, the shield has both an upright position and an upside down position that look slightly different, and every time she reverses time fully, it swaps position. To stop time, she only needs to twist it partway, which cuts off the hourglass flow inside, stopping time. Then the shield slowly turns back on its internal gears like a timer until it sets back to normal automatically, starting time again. This is why you hear gear turning sound effects while time is stopping, and why she often just stands in one place waiting for time to restart after setting up what she needs to set up in stopped time. The shield is surprisingly well-explained, and this is all documented in production notes. Lastly, Urobuchi confirmed in that same interview that, yes, Homura's shield is gone _because_ her original wish was erased. Wraith Arc was written by Hanokage, whose writing style is pretty intense, and her art is spectacular no matter the quality of her stories. I'm a big fan of her work, actually. I own a Fire Emblem doujinshi she made some time back, and it's been a lot of fun watching her art evolve over time, from the first Madoka anime adaption (which is not great as an adaption, but was also released chapter by chapter alongside each episode when she didn't even know where the story was going), to The Different Story (my favorite Madoka spin-off manga, which adapts a canon drama CD story in the first volume and then tells a really good dramatic story between Mami and Kyouko in a failed Homura loopI do recommend this one), to her Rebellion adaption (which isn't a good replacement for the movie, but is a spectacularly illustrated interpretation of it), to this Wraith Arc (which looked pretty, but is easily the worst thing she's written), to her most recent work, a _complete re-draw of the first series manga adaption, page by page, from scratch_ (which fixes a lot of the original adaption's inconsistencies and author interpretationsーpure dedication) for the 10th anniversary. That last one is unheard of in the world of manga and I hold a lot of respect for her going back to do that. It looks amazing, honestly. As for my thoughts on Wraith Arc itself, I don't really have much to add that you didn't already say. It also contradicts Rebellion because Kyubey's speech in Rebellion reflects that they were surprised by a lot of what they noticed in their experimentーwhich wouldn't make sense if he knew for sure beforehand. Interestingly, found in one of the afterwards on the manga, is that Hanokage went to InuCurry (designers of the witches and the wraiths) for documentation on how wraiths work, so even if you don't like this manga's story, it is a really neat lore dive into wraiths, what they can do, how they look, and even their actual motivations.
@@rocki_bb - She traveled outside spacetime with Madoka, likely due to her karmic connection with her, so she is an anomaly, but the specifics on how the world "corrects" inconsistencies is arbitrary, I think. Homura was able to keep her memories of Madoka intact because of being an anomaly and probably because of Madoka's ribbons, but the wish itself was not sacred enough to be accomodated by said ribbons alone, so this was "corrected" to reflect Homura's new desire to protect the world Madoka left behind. Thus, Homura gets to stay a magical girl as long as the details around her wish are slightly changed. After all, you can't actually grant a wish to go back and save someone that doesn't exist from a time that never existed, but you can still wish to carry on the legacy of someone you _believe_ existed, even if said person never existed. This next bit is also speculative, but I think Madoka also has some limited control over what her new timeline consists of. For instance, she told Homura she was sure Homura would remember her when she gave her the ribbons, thus why it may have been so. And there is an entirely different scene where she gets to meet Sayaka again and tells her "I didn't want to negate your sacrifice", as though she herself decided Sayaka would still sacrifice herself the moment Homura returned to the new timeline (Madoka will have seen every possible future, so she may have realized how much Sayaka's wish and fate meant to her). Again, I don't know if this is true, but it could explain some of the arbitrary differences.
It's neither messy nor pointless It gave Homura even more motivation to end up the way she ended up in Rebellion. Her shield manifested from her original wish to repeat her meeting with Madoka and to PROTECT her instead of being protected. Homura was always made to be stronger than Madoka by default of her wish and Wraith Arc showed that Homura could actually always reset time again and end God Madoka's playground. The whole "Madoka has transcended time and become god" was always iffy anyway, because for all everyone knows it's just an illusion created by the incubators to satisfy her wish. It never made sense why the incubators would grant such a wish for her without gaining anything. Wraith Arc showed exactly that: the old world still existed inside Homura's still because her shield was a carryover from the old timeline and she always could reset everything yet again. People were confused about Homura in Rebellion too and claimed that her performance at the end came outta nowhere, which it didn't. Homura simply chose to abide by Madoka's rule because she didn't want to disrespect Madoka's wish. However she came into a breaking point and ultimately chose her selfish love and showed to everyone that her wish had always allowed her to outperform Madoka's magic and she did exactly just that. Before Rebellion, Homura's wish was never granted. She never got to repeat her meeting with Madoka and protect her at all. Wraith Arc broke her and finally in Rebellion she had turned into a witch. And finally, Wraith Arc was necessary to show us, the audience, and Homura, that even in the new God Madoka world, loopholes could still happen; a witch could still be born, the wraiths could still tap onto loopholes anytime and the incubators weren't tamed yet. If it happened once like the climax in Wraith Arc, it could easily happen again. Also Wraith Arc was a damning evidence for Homura to realize that the new world wasn't exactly new at all and God Madoka wasn't invincible or infallible after all. This smoothly led to Rebellion and if anything this midquel explains the confusing part of Rebellion for us.
Madoka becoming a God was never iffy, nowhere does the anime imply that the ending was an illusion. It makes no sense to say that. We literally see the result of her wish, we see people not remember her, we see that witches don't exist. In Rebellion, Kyubey says himself that they don't exist and that he's surprised by Homura becoming a witch. Furthermore, if Kyubey had never actually granted her wish, he wouldn't have the need to do ANY of the things he does in Rebellion. I think it's way more likely he just doesn't have a say in which wishes he grants.
@@funyarinpa9464 I believe what they meant by Homura's wish never being granted is how she always failed to protect Madoka in the end of each timeline which is why with her wish, she eventually became stronger than Godoka and it led to the events of rebellion, making her able to trap Madoka in the end inside the current world she created and finally able to protect her. Also yes, i also think incubators don't have a say in the wishes when they form a magical girl contract but they can sort of benefit from it like how they tried to do with Homura's wish.
@@funyarinpa9464 "witches dont exist and kyubey was surprised to see one" You just contradicted yourself. And it doesn't matter who was surprised in Rebellion, in Wraith Arc Homura SAW A WITCH first and was surprised her which then kickstarted Rebellion
@@funyarinpa9464 Are you autistic? So the anime or a char tells you something and that something is everything you are going to hold onto despite evidences showing otherwise? Because your "b-but the show said this at first!" is literally how plot twists work. I'm sure you are surprised at every single twist too because ur incapable of analyzing or connecting hints or implications. Implications are implications. Nowhere have I said these are canon too, but the discussion here pertains the confirmed canon Wraith Arc with Rebellion and I'm simply drawing from everything that is evident
9:22 The page specifically says even if her feelings get stolen, she's still her, and her feelings for Madoka haven't changed. Homura doubting Madoka could still be genuine. I doubt her feelings for Madoka was stolen at all. 12:08 It's not farfetched to say Homura has a dimension inside her shield. Where else do you think she usually stores all of her weapons?
@@Arkleio it's like a bag of holding, which is literally a pocket dimension. If a whole city can fit into something the size of an egg, why wouldn't a witch be able to fit into a shield?
@@rocki_bb i'm not saying that it makes no sense i'm saying that all this was pretty unnecessary and (imo) was there to just introduce new stuff that weren't even mentioned in the movie. The concept of having a dimension in her shield is nice but storing the final witch which was supposed to not even exist due to Madokami is juuust... meh.
@@Arkleio after I watched this I went and read a bit about the Spindle Witch. Apparently what happened was that the shield acted as a bridge to the old universe (the Witch universe) that existed before Madoka eliminated witches and the Wraith universe. This allowed the witch that would have been created from Madoka taking on all the curses from all the magical girls who would have become witches to turn that Wraith into her avatar, the Spindle Witch, an Avatar of Calamity. That ultimate witch is what made the giant Wraith as well. I think the purpose of all this is to help prepare us for what we'll see in upcoming movie and how Walpurgisnaught is/was created
@@rocki_bb the giant wraith was created because it took Homura's shield which contained the witch. I honestly don't know how Walpurgisnacht might be created the same way but we'll see in the upcoming movie so i hope they atleast connect wraith arc into the movie somehow because all the connections of it with rebellion was Homura questioning Madoka's existence which was only like 1 scene in the movie and the incubator holding onto to shield which made it remember the events as Homura used it so it led to the incubators experimenting on the witch Homura but since it wasn't really mentioned in the movie i honestly think wraith arc could've been executed better instead of info dumping and somehow been connected more with the events of rebellion and the transformation of devil Homura.
"Madoka is in the shield for some reason" Well, because Ultimate Gretchen, being a creature of the universe that the shield is linked to (and as someone else mentioned, it isnt farfetched for her shield to have a tie to the other universe, especially since the shield itself is a bag of holding), is inside her shield, and Ultimate Gretchen is a witch, and Madokami exists as an entity to fight witches *throughout time and space*, Homura reasoned that Madokami would be inside her shield as well, in battle with Gretchen.
I would explain Homura's memory manipulation magic by saying that in this timeline Homura felt instictually that someone was missing from her memory, so when Kueby offered her a wish she wished to remember that person she couldn't remember. This would grant her all of her memories of Madoka as well as grant her memory manipulation magic.
I just thought the Wraith Arc existed to explain how Homura got the black bow at the end of the original series, and also explain how everyone's memories changed because of Homura in Rebellion (which the Wraith explains it's because of Homura's new wish between Madoka before the universe for rewritten). Buuuuut just explaining that soundes boring, so ofc had to make the arc more compelling by having Homura going through an existential crisis of questioning Madoka's existence and somehow link Homura's love for Madoka being her driving force of her new magic with the bow. That's what I thought anyway.
I haven't read the comics but it definitely does seem like the only one who really understands your story is you. It's very rare that you can find somebody else that can make your story better or equal
I'd love to see your review on The Different Story manga! I think it's so much better than Wraith Arc, and I personally liked it better than the anime because the ending hits me harder in the feels. All Madoka fans would agree this manga is a mandatory read if you love PMMM. That manga has all the Kyoko Mami interactions, it's an alternate timeline arc where Mami and Kyoko are the main characters and we see events unfold from their point of view. The first volume which is a prequel before the anime event, is 100% canon, and it's about how Mami and Kyoko first met and became really close, until Kyoko's family tragedy made them drift apart.
Wraith Arc, despite being an interquel, feels way more like a spin off, in the sense that it only adds concepts to a very limited extent as to not mess with the rules of the established universe. It feels to me like the author was told they couldn't do certain things because, unlike other mangas, this isn't an alternate timeline or a different cast altogether. Any significant change would have a serious impact in the movie's canon and that could turn into a real problem since the story is still ongoing. So the author was stuck in this weird situation where they had to introduce new concepts so there was something to explore in the manga, but couldn't really do much with it. Of course, this is just speculation, but that's how it feels to me. Also, in case you didn't know, Homura's magic being a character is a big thing. The Clara Dolls, aka Homura's familiars in Rebellion, all have names representing a specific feeling or trait. According to concept art, there is one Clara Doll that still hasn't shown up, called Love or, in Japanese, Ai. That's why this character was introduced as being Homura's feelings for Madoka: it's supposed to be Ai. Which doesn't make sense, because she shouldn't have any familiars yet. The implications of this are that Ai isn't REALLY a Clara Doll, but another thing altogether, and that's way too convoluted for me. What's sad is that there are quite a few concepts I like, but they're buried between stupid ideas (Homura's shield having another dimension inside it) and convoluted explanations. Personally, I think the change in Homura's magic could be more easily explained: Madoka doesn't exist in this universe, so Homura's wish was rewritten to be a whole other different thing. She can't remember it because her memories are those of the original universe, so her magic defaulted to memory manipulation. Regarding the whole thing with the wraiths, I would have preferred if their plot was explained as Homura's memories distorting them because those memories belong to an unexisting universe. So, when they feed on her memories, that rewrites their instincts and makes them curious about human feelings so some wraiths start acting differently. Wraith Madoka and Homura could even become friends becuase Wraith Madoka is trying to explore what having feelings means and Homura, despite knowing she's not real, can't bring herself to reject her, but also can't fully accept her. Another option would have been to abandon the whole wraith plotline, just have them in the background as standard enemies and focus on how Homura can't fully connect with the girls because of her trauma and the differences in their memories. Anyway, sorry for the long ass comment. I have a lot of thoughts on Wraith Arc because I think it had potential but ended up not living up to it, so I wanted to share some of my ideas.
You should read “the different story”. It’s a different timeline that Homura went through, and it gets much more into the relationship between Mami and Kyoko, as well as their backstories. It’s my favorite offshoot story from the original series.
I think the whole homuts dimension thing was suppose to be a planned set up to rebellion and maybe explain how her labrynth is so complex compared to other witches in the series. Maybe the mangaka thought since homurs battled an ente whom can create a dimension with her magic, down the line it explains how homua was able to make her labrynth so realistic.
Regarding the spoilers: Wraithdoka is Best Girl. She's an absolute dork with no idea how to human and I love her. She pretty much singlehandedly redeems this manga for me. I don't think I could take her being a villain like you propose. (Then again, this was from the fan translation, and I will be very sad if the official translation makes her more sane.) While the manga didn't really connect that well to Rebellion, it actually had a few elements that seemed vaguely reminiscent of elements from Magia Record.
I agree with your overall take. There was a lot of good ideas in the Wraith arc, but the ending was too contrived and kind of destroyed everything interesting the manga was building up. If you want to read the other Madoka Spin off manga, I would recommend Tart Magica and The Different Story. Tart Magica is a completely separate story, just set in the same world, while Different Story is with the original cast. Both are great.
Ok so the one thing that has me SUPER confused is that I thought the reason sayuka didn’t get revived is 1) if she came back it would invalidate her wish and her ( not) boy toy would be sick again, or 2) since she turned into a witch she had to be taken by the law of cycles. I’m not exactly certain the reason but I could of swore there was a concrete reason why she was the only one of the Quintet to not come back. And the Wrath arc just does away with it someone help me please i’m so confused 😭
I actually think Homura's shield and Madoka being connected is actually a smart idea. Because even though god Madoka exists now, being able to go back in time and manipulate it is something rather dangerous, so I could see Madoka keeping a link to it so she could stop Homura from doing something that could screw over things for everyone. But I do think a witch being inside it was weird, I think your idea of Wraith Madoka being an enemy is something cool and I mostly like how you managed your ending. The only differences I'd make is Kyubei's involvement, I think he'd be the most eager to prove Madoka is real so he and Homura become 'Allies' out of Homura's desperation to confirm if Madoka is real or not. But Aside from it being the Wraith's plan, I also think Kyubei conspired with it so he could see more than Homura's memories, he strikes me as someone who wants to see it in person. So he schemes to let the Wraith do as it pleases with the theory it can turn into a witch and once that happens he would contain it. But things don't go as expected, because when Homura discovers the wraith was manipulating her, she also discovers she can't recover her memories of Madoka easily, she would need to absorb the Madoka wraith and this situation causes wrath in Homura, because now she needs to allow herself to take the one enemy that took advantage of her love for Madoka, who even used Madoka's form and I think its when she does absorb the Wraith is when her soul gem is brought to its limit, because its full of more than despair, its full of hatred, regret and more. To a point that naturally wouldn't be possible. So Kyubei traps her to see what is happening in this unique situation.
I really think you should've rewatched the series before you read the manga because there are some things that confuse you that were semi explained in the series.
All though I’ve never watched this show your original review paints a great picture of what it’s about. This manga gave me a stroke trying to understand it or at least the endings explanation for it purpose and why it needed to exist💀 Defs a godly vid as always brother Oh just a heads up the title might be better if you added the mangas name because I didn’t entirely know what I was clicking into still a stellar vid bro💪
Since Madoka destroyed her witch self at the end of the og series, why is her witch form inside Homura's shield? The shield was already kinda like a portal/pocket dimension since Homura could stuff weapons inside and pull them out but the whole witch thing is super weird to me.
I read it not too long ago and while I like some of its ideas... Yeah it is really bizarre. I still don't understand why it just undoes itself at the end just to make everything that happened in the story irrelevant when there honestly should be room for events between the series's ending and Rebellion lmao
wraith arc isnt even confusing just because you cant understand it doesnt mean its not important or its a mess you should rewatch the entire series before slashing it because its not difficult to understand
@@funyarinpa9464im saying he should rewatch the series before making a video about bashing it when it obviously has an importance to the story and lore just cus he cant understand it doesnt mean he should say its a confusing mess and he probably didnt look into more about it before making a video
@@homuraakemiiii First of all, you were being rude about it. Second of all, not everything in Madoka Magica is textually stated, much less the specific workings of magic, dimensions and different universes, so there are lots of ways the ending could be read. Maybe his reading just doesn't match with what Wraith Arc was trying to do, hence why it didn't make sense for him.
That’s a fair point, but from what I read it was confusing to me, where as the show and movie were a lot easier to understand. Yeah I probably could’ve done a bit more research and spent more time trying to understand it which is my bad but I never said I hated the manga either, yeah I wasn’t a huge fan of it but I really liked a lot of the things it did
I’ve read Wraith arc like twice and I still do not understand what it was trying to establish, nor what info it was trying to clear up regarding the transition between the main series and rebellion.
isnt the Homura inside of her shield / explains stuff in Walpurgisnacht Rising? I swear theres two different Homuras in all the promotional material regarding movie 4.
I think you're literally making no point. Wraith arc is very important and not even that messy as you make it out to be, you just awfully failed to understand it for some reason. I don't understand why you're making an explanation video and a review while not knowing what's going on yourself..
the only thing that matters out of this manga is kyubey knowing about the past universe and wanting to trap Madoka. the rest that happened in the manga literally has no impact anymore. also why are you being so haughty and condescending? if you've got critique, at least be mature and polite about it.
@JCsReviews Do more of Puella Magi Magica Series. Here's the list. -Puella Magi Kazumi Magica. -Puella Magi Oriko Magica. -Puella Magi Suzune Magica. -Puella Magi Tart Magica. -Magia Record (Manga) -Puella Magi Madoka Magica: The Different Story. -Puella Magi Madoka Magica Portable (THE TRUE ENDING IS REAL!!!!. THE BEST PSP GAME!!! Multiple Endings.)
watching this video for fun knowing I read wraith arc like 3 times
Homura's shield having a "pocket" dimension in her was something that was established in the past. As it's where she used to hide and store her pistols and other things. Otherwise I agree with pretty much most of what you said. It seemed a little redundant and non-committal.
To be fair the whole shield dimensional thing kinda makes sense considering she takes weapons she stole from the shield and pretty much stores them whe she needs
First of all, some meta context: Homura's magic involving memory control was a Rebellion invention specific to Devil Homura, as Homura's entire conflict leading to her "witch" transformation had to do with her despair over the conflict with her memories of Madoka and the reality without Madoka, leading to her doubting her own memories. If you check out most witches' bios, this is consistent with the background lore: every witch proceeds with trying to correct some kind of wrong that led them to despair. Charlotte (Nagisa) wished for a cheesecake for her dying mother instead of her dying mother living, so she immediately turned into a witch that has a labyrinth full of sweets, while in actuality, she seeks cheese. Madoka's witch, Kreimhild Gretchen, seeks the salvation of all, related to Madoka's desire to save people and being a result of her using all her magic for that goal in some timelines, or failing to do so in others. So on and so forth. As for Homura's bow, there is no direct explanation for that, but it is likely some vague connection to Madoka and her desire to carry on Madoka's will that gave her the bow. Homura does carry Madoka's ribbons back to earth with her, meaning the ribbons could be tangible to this development, especially considering the ribbons appear to be a major symbol in the trailers for the next film.
We know these things because they are explained in either interviews or in side material, like animation notes and such, and they predate Wraith Arc (and Rebellion, technically). Interestingly, another interview with Urobuchi-san himself had him saying that Homura's time shield actually _could only reverse time within the confines of the month she tried to save Madoka,_ which explains the hourglass in it. If you pay attention, the shield has both an upright position and an upside down position that look slightly different, and every time she reverses time fully, it swaps position. To stop time, she only needs to twist it partway, which cuts off the hourglass flow inside, stopping time. Then the shield slowly turns back on its internal gears like a timer until it sets back to normal automatically, starting time again. This is why you hear gear turning sound effects while time is stopping, and why she often just stands in one place waiting for time to restart after setting up what she needs to set up in stopped time. The shield is surprisingly well-explained, and this is all documented in production notes. Lastly, Urobuchi confirmed in that same interview that, yes, Homura's shield is gone _because_ her original wish was erased.
Wraith Arc was written by Hanokage, whose writing style is pretty intense, and her art is spectacular no matter the quality of her stories. I'm a big fan of her work, actually. I own a Fire Emblem doujinshi she made some time back, and it's been a lot of fun watching her art evolve over time, from the first Madoka anime adaption (which is not great as an adaption, but was also released chapter by chapter alongside each episode when she didn't even know where the story was going), to The Different Story (my favorite Madoka spin-off manga, which adapts a canon drama CD story in the first volume and then tells a really good dramatic story between Mami and Kyouko in a failed Homura loopI do recommend this one), to her Rebellion adaption (which isn't a good replacement for the movie, but is a spectacularly illustrated interpretation of it), to this Wraith Arc (which looked pretty, but is easily the worst thing she's written), to her most recent work, a _complete re-draw of the first series manga adaption, page by page, from scratch_ (which fixes a lot of the original adaption's inconsistencies and author interpretationsーpure dedication) for the 10th anniversary. That last one is unheard of in the world of manga and I hold a lot of respect for her going back to do that. It looks amazing, honestly.
As for my thoughts on Wraith Arc itself, I don't really have much to add that you didn't already say. It also contradicts Rebellion because Kyubey's speech in Rebellion reflects that they were surprised by a lot of what they noticed in their experimentーwhich wouldn't make sense if he knew for sure beforehand. Interestingly, found in one of the afterwards on the manga, is that Hanokage went to InuCurry (designers of the witches and the wraiths) for documentation on how wraiths work, so even if you don't like this manga's story, it is a really neat lore dive into wraiths, what they can do, how they look, and even their actual motivations.
Question
If Homura's original wish was erased, how did she continue to be a magical girl?
@@rocki_bb - She traveled outside spacetime with Madoka, likely due to her karmic connection with her, so she is an anomaly, but the specifics on how the world "corrects" inconsistencies is arbitrary, I think. Homura was able to keep her memories of Madoka intact because of being an anomaly and probably because of Madoka's ribbons, but the wish itself was not sacred enough to be accomodated by said ribbons alone, so this was "corrected" to reflect Homura's new desire to protect the world Madoka left behind. Thus, Homura gets to stay a magical girl as long as the details around her wish are slightly changed. After all, you can't actually grant a wish to go back and save someone that doesn't exist from a time that never existed, but you can still wish to carry on the legacy of someone you _believe_ existed, even if said person never existed.
This next bit is also speculative, but I think Madoka also has some limited control over what her new timeline consists of. For instance, she told Homura she was sure Homura would remember her when she gave her the ribbons, thus why it may have been so. And there is an entirely different scene where she gets to meet Sayaka again and tells her "I didn't want to negate your sacrifice", as though she herself decided Sayaka would still sacrifice herself the moment Homura returned to the new timeline (Madoka will have seen every possible future, so she may have realized how much Sayaka's wish and fate meant to her). Again, I don't know if this is true, but it could explain some of the arbitrary differences.
It's neither messy nor pointless
It gave Homura even more motivation to end up the way she ended up in Rebellion.
Her shield manifested from her original wish to repeat her meeting with Madoka and to PROTECT her instead of being protected. Homura was always made to be stronger than Madoka by default of her wish and Wraith Arc showed that Homura could actually always reset time again and end God Madoka's playground. The whole "Madoka has transcended time and become god" was always iffy anyway, because for all everyone knows it's just an illusion created by the incubators to satisfy her wish. It never made sense why the incubators would grant such a wish for her without gaining anything. Wraith Arc showed exactly that: the old world still existed inside Homura's still because her shield was a carryover from the old timeline and she always could reset everything yet again.
People were confused about Homura in Rebellion too and claimed that her performance at the end came outta nowhere, which it didn't. Homura simply chose to abide by Madoka's rule because she didn't want to disrespect Madoka's wish. However she came into a breaking point and ultimately chose her selfish love and showed to everyone that her wish had always allowed her to outperform Madoka's magic and she did exactly just that. Before Rebellion, Homura's wish was never granted. She never got to repeat her meeting with Madoka and protect her at all. Wraith Arc broke her and finally in Rebellion she had turned into a witch.
And finally, Wraith Arc was necessary to show us, the audience, and Homura, that even in the new God Madoka world, loopholes could still happen; a witch could still be born, the wraiths could still tap onto loopholes anytime and the incubators weren't tamed yet. If it happened once like the climax in Wraith Arc, it could easily happen again. Also Wraith Arc was a damning evidence for Homura to realize that the new world wasn't exactly new at all and God Madoka wasn't invincible or infallible after all. This smoothly led to Rebellion and if anything this midquel explains the confusing part of Rebellion for us.
I heavily agree. I really didn't find it confusing at all; if anything, it explained some of the looser ends in Rebellion.
Madoka becoming a God was never iffy, nowhere does the anime imply that the ending was an illusion. It makes no sense to say that. We literally see the result of her wish, we see people not remember her, we see that witches don't exist. In Rebellion, Kyubey says himself that they don't exist and that he's surprised by Homura becoming a witch. Furthermore, if Kyubey had never actually granted her wish, he wouldn't have the need to do ANY of the things he does in Rebellion. I think it's way more likely he just doesn't have a say in which wishes he grants.
@@funyarinpa9464 I believe what they meant by Homura's wish never being granted is how she always failed to protect Madoka in the end of each timeline which is why with her wish, she eventually became stronger than Godoka and it led to the events of rebellion, making her able to trap Madoka in the end inside the current world she created and finally able to protect her. Also yes, i also think incubators don't have a say in the wishes when they form a magical girl contract but they can sort of benefit from it like how they tried to do with Homura's wish.
@@funyarinpa9464 "witches dont exist and kyubey was surprised to see one"
You just contradicted yourself. And it doesn't matter who was surprised in Rebellion, in Wraith Arc Homura SAW A WITCH first and was surprised her which then kickstarted Rebellion
@@funyarinpa9464 Are you autistic? So the anime or a char tells you something and that something is everything you are going to hold onto despite evidences showing otherwise? Because your "b-but the show said this at first!" is literally how plot twists work. I'm sure you are surprised at every single twist too because ur incapable of analyzing or connecting hints or implications.
Implications are implications. Nowhere have I said these are canon too, but the discussion here pertains the confirmed canon Wraith Arc with Rebellion and I'm simply drawing from everything that is evident
9:22 The page specifically says even if her feelings get stolen, she's still her, and her feelings for Madoka haven't changed. Homura doubting Madoka could still be genuine. I doubt her feelings for Madoka was stolen at all.
12:08 It's not farfetched to say Homura has a dimension inside her shield. Where else do you think she usually stores all of her weapons?
But liiike... storing the final witch inside her shield which shouldn't even be existing by now is pretty lame tbh.
@@Arkleio it's like a bag of holding, which is literally a pocket dimension. If a whole city can fit into something the size of an egg, why wouldn't a witch be able to fit into a shield?
@@rocki_bb i'm not saying that it makes no sense i'm saying that all this was pretty unnecessary and (imo) was there to just introduce new stuff that weren't even mentioned in the movie. The concept of having a dimension in her shield is nice but storing the final witch which was supposed to not even exist due to Madokami is juuust... meh.
@@Arkleio after I watched this I went and read a bit about the Spindle Witch. Apparently what happened was that the shield acted as a bridge to the old universe (the Witch universe) that existed before Madoka eliminated witches and the Wraith universe. This allowed the witch that would have been created from Madoka taking on all the curses from all the magical girls who would have become witches to turn that Wraith into her avatar, the Spindle Witch, an Avatar of Calamity. That ultimate witch is what made the giant Wraith as well.
I think the purpose of all this is to help prepare us for what we'll see in upcoming movie and how Walpurgisnaught is/was created
@@rocki_bb the giant wraith was created because it took Homura's shield which contained the witch. I honestly don't know how Walpurgisnacht might be created the same way but we'll see in the upcoming movie so i hope they atleast connect wraith arc into the movie somehow because all the connections of it with rebellion was Homura questioning Madoka's existence which was only like 1 scene in the movie and the incubator holding onto to shield which made it remember the events as Homura used it so it led to the incubators experimenting on the witch Homura but since it wasn't really mentioned in the movie i honestly think wraith arc could've been executed better instead of info dumping and somehow been connected more with the events of rebellion and the transformation of devil Homura.
"Madoka is in the shield for some reason"
Well, because Ultimate Gretchen, being a creature of the universe that the shield is linked to (and as someone else mentioned, it isnt farfetched for her shield to have a tie to the other universe, especially since the shield itself is a bag of holding), is inside her shield, and Ultimate Gretchen is a witch, and Madokami exists as an entity to fight witches *throughout time and space*, Homura reasoned that Madokami would be inside her shield as well, in battle with Gretchen.
I mean she pulls a nuke out of her shield it’s not that far fetched to say she would have one 🤣
I would explain Homura's memory manipulation magic by saying that in this timeline Homura felt instictually that someone was missing from her memory, so when Kueby offered her a wish she wished to remember that person she couldn't remember. This would grant her all of her memories of Madoka as well as grant her memory manipulation magic.
I just thought the Wraith Arc existed to explain how Homura got the black bow at the end of the original series, and also explain how everyone's memories changed because of Homura in Rebellion (which the Wraith explains it's because of Homura's new wish between Madoka before the universe for rewritten). Buuuuut just explaining that soundes boring, so ofc had to make the arc more compelling by having Homura going through an existential crisis of questioning Madoka's existence and somehow link Homura's love for Madoka being her driving force of her new magic with the bow. That's what I thought anyway.
I haven't read the comics but it definitely does seem like the only one who really understands your story is you. It's very rare that you can find somebody else that can make your story better or equal
Thanks man!
@@JCsReviews You're welcome take care have a great day
12:17 i actually fewl like that makes a lot of sense. New world = new wish = new homura/new powers
I'd love to see your review on The Different Story manga! I think it's so much better than Wraith Arc, and I personally liked it better than the anime because the ending hits me harder in the feels. All Madoka fans would agree this manga is a mandatory read if you love PMMM.
That manga has all the Kyoko Mami interactions, it's an alternate timeline arc where Mami and Kyoko are the main characters and we see events unfold from their point of view. The first volume which is a prequel before the anime event, is 100% canon, and it's about how Mami and Kyoko first met and became really close, until Kyoko's family tragedy made them drift apart.
Agreed, the Different Story has the best madoka's story
11:38 Isn't that the outfit one of the Homuras in the new trailer wore? I think it is a similar pose, too!
Wraith Arc, despite being an interquel, feels way more like a spin off, in the sense that it only adds concepts to a very limited extent as to not mess with the rules of the established universe. It feels to me like the author was told they couldn't do certain things because, unlike other mangas, this isn't an alternate timeline or a different cast altogether. Any significant change would have a serious impact in the movie's canon and that could turn into a real problem since the story is still ongoing. So the author was stuck in this weird situation where they had to introduce new concepts so there was something to explore in the manga, but couldn't really do much with it. Of course, this is just speculation, but that's how it feels to me.
Also, in case you didn't know, Homura's magic being a character is a big thing. The Clara Dolls, aka Homura's familiars in Rebellion, all have names representing a specific feeling or trait. According to concept art, there is one Clara Doll that still hasn't shown up, called Love or, in Japanese, Ai. That's why this character was introduced as being Homura's feelings for Madoka: it's supposed to be Ai. Which doesn't make sense, because she shouldn't have any familiars yet. The implications of this are that Ai isn't REALLY a Clara Doll, but another thing altogether, and that's way too convoluted for me.
What's sad is that there are quite a few concepts I like, but they're buried between stupid ideas (Homura's shield having another dimension inside it) and convoluted explanations. Personally, I think the change in Homura's magic could be more easily explained: Madoka doesn't exist in this universe, so Homura's wish was rewritten to be a whole other different thing. She can't remember it because her memories are those of the original universe, so her magic defaulted to memory manipulation.
Regarding the whole thing with the wraiths, I would have preferred if their plot was explained as Homura's memories distorting them because those memories belong to an unexisting universe. So, when they feed on her memories, that rewrites their instincts and makes them curious about human feelings so some wraiths start acting differently. Wraith Madoka and Homura could even become friends becuase Wraith Madoka is trying to explore what having feelings means and Homura, despite knowing she's not real, can't bring herself to reject her, but also can't fully accept her. Another option would have been to abandon the whole wraith plotline, just have them in the background as standard enemies and focus on how Homura can't fully connect with the girls because of her trauma and the differences in their memories.
Anyway, sorry for the long ass comment. I have a lot of thoughts on Wraith Arc because I think it had potential but ended up not living up to it, so I wanted to share some of my ideas.
You should read “the different story”. It’s a different timeline that Homura went through, and it gets much more into the relationship between Mami and Kyoko, as well as their backstories. It’s my favorite offshoot story from the original series.
I think the whole homuts dimension thing was suppose to be a planned set up to rebellion and maybe explain how her labrynth is so complex compared to other witches in the series. Maybe the mangaka thought since homurs battled an ente whom can create a dimension with her magic, down the line it explains how homua was able to make her labrynth so realistic.
Mami and Kyoko interactions are in the different story manga!!
Regarding the spoilers:
Wraithdoka is Best Girl. She's an absolute dork with no idea how to human and I love her. She pretty much singlehandedly redeems this manga for me. I don't think I could take her being a villain like you propose. (Then again, this was from the fan translation, and I will be very sad if the official translation makes her more sane.)
While the manga didn't really connect that well to Rebellion, it actually had a few elements that seemed vaguely reminiscent of elements from Magia Record.
I agree with your overall take. There was a lot of good ideas in the Wraith arc, but the ending was too contrived and kind of destroyed everything interesting the manga was building up.
If you want to read the other Madoka Spin off manga, I would recommend Tart Magica and The Different Story. Tart Magica is a completely separate story, just set in the same world, while Different Story is with the original cast. Both are great.
Ok so the one thing that has me SUPER confused is that I thought the reason sayuka didn’t get revived is 1) if she came back it would invalidate her wish and her ( not) boy toy would be sick again, or 2) since she turned into a witch she had to be taken by the law of cycles. I’m not exactly certain the reason but I could of swore there was a concrete reason why she was the only one of the Quintet to not come back.
And the Wrath arc just does away with it someone help me please i’m so confused 😭
I actually think Homura's shield and Madoka being connected is actually a smart idea. Because even though god Madoka exists now, being able to go back in time and manipulate it is something rather dangerous, so I could see Madoka keeping a link to it so she could stop Homura from doing something that could screw over things for everyone. But I do think a witch being inside it was weird, I think your idea of Wraith Madoka being an enemy is something cool and I mostly like how you managed your ending.
The only differences I'd make is Kyubei's involvement, I think he'd be the most eager to prove Madoka is real so he and Homura become 'Allies' out of Homura's desperation to confirm if Madoka is real or not. But Aside from it being the Wraith's plan, I also think Kyubei conspired with it so he could see more than Homura's memories, he strikes me as someone who wants to see it in person. So he schemes to let the Wraith do as it pleases with the theory it can turn into a witch and once that happens he would contain it.
But things don't go as expected, because when Homura discovers the wraith was manipulating her, she also discovers she can't recover her memories of Madoka easily, she would need to absorb the Madoka wraith and this situation causes wrath in Homura, because now she needs to allow herself to take the one enemy that took advantage of her love for Madoka, who even used Madoka's form and I think its when she does absorb the Wraith is when her soul gem is brought to its limit, because its full of more than despair, its full of hatred, regret and more. To a point that naturally wouldn't be possible. So Kyubei traps her to see what is happening in this unique situation.
I really think you should've rewatched the series before you read the manga because there are some things that confuse you that were semi explained in the series.
All though I’ve never watched this show your original review paints a great picture of what it’s about.
This manga gave me a stroke trying to understand it or at least the endings explanation for it purpose and why it needed to exist💀
Defs a godly vid as always brother
Oh just a heads up the title might be better if you added the mangas name because I didn’t entirely know what I was clicking into still a stellar vid bro💪
Lmao yeah it’s a pretty confusing manga. Also thanks dude I’ll definitely think about the title
Since Madoka destroyed her witch self at the end of the og series, why is her witch form inside Homura's shield? The shield was already kinda like a portal/pocket dimension since Homura could stuff weapons inside and pull them out but the whole witch thing is super weird to me.
I read it not too long ago and while I like some of its ideas...
Yeah it is really bizarre. I still don't understand why it just undoes itself at the end just to make everything that happened in the story irrelevant when there honestly should be room for events between the series's ending and Rebellion lmao
wraith arc isnt even confusing just because you cant understand it doesnt mean its not important or its a mess you should rewatch the entire series before slashing it because its not difficult to understand
Maybe let people have opinions?
@@funyarinpa9464im saying he should rewatch the series before making a video about bashing it when it obviously has an importance to the story and lore just cus he cant understand it doesnt mean he should say its a confusing mess and he probably didnt look into more about it before making a video
@@homuraakemiiii First of all, you were being rude about it. Second of all, not everything in Madoka Magica is textually stated, much less the specific workings of magic, dimensions and different universes, so there are lots of ways the ending could be read. Maybe his reading just doesn't match with what Wraith Arc was trying to do, hence why it didn't make sense for him.
That’s a fair point, but from what I read it was confusing to me, where as the show and movie were a lot easier to understand. Yeah I probably could’ve done a bit more research and spent more time trying to understand it which is my bad but I never said I hated the manga either, yeah I wasn’t a huge fan of it but I really liked a lot of the things it did
I’ve read Wraith arc like twice and I still do not understand what it was trying to establish, nor what info it was trying to clear up regarding the transition between the main series and rebellion.
In my opinion, they should have retconned the wraith arc and substitute it for Magia Record.
isnt the Homura inside of her shield / explains stuff in Walpurgisnacht Rising? I swear theres two different Homuras in all the promotional material regarding movie 4.
Neat video😀
Even if i ain't understand much , i still liked it
😅 thanks
tell me you don’t understand madoka wraith arc without telling u don’t understand it
dang they on you 😂😂
Nice new video
You think this is confusing? Go Review Magia Record not the anime the game 😂
I think you're literally making no point. Wraith arc is very important and not even that messy as you make it out to be, you just awfully failed to understand it for some reason. I don't understand why you're making an explanation video and a review while not knowing what's going on yourself..
Real(I love you MOOTIE)
Exactly!
the only thing that matters out of this manga is kyubey knowing about the past universe and wanting to trap Madoka. the rest that happened in the manga literally has no impact anymore.
also why are you being so haughty and condescending? if you've got critique, at least be mature and polite about it.
HI MOOT
@@reddragon4211 womp
@JCsReviews Do more of Puella Magi Magica Series. Here's the list.
-Puella Magi Kazumi Magica.
-Puella Magi Oriko Magica.
-Puella Magi Suzune Magica.
-Puella Magi Tart Magica.
-Magia Record (Manga)
-Puella Magi Madoka Magica: The Different Story.
-Puella Magi Madoka Magica Portable (THE TRUE ENDING IS REAL!!!!. THE BEST PSP GAME!!! Multiple Endings.)
Lmao that’s so many series idk where to even start 😭
hope you play Magia Exedra soon. Magia Day 2024-8-25 JP 2024-8-24 USA
Yes good. Now review Homura Tamura.
bury bury pink girl > madoki
lol I’ve actually never heard of that 😅
"Madoki" it's madoka.. btw "bury bury pink girl".. who's that unknown random