Yeah, I'd say we had completely different interpretations of the endings, then.Legion said:I would say it is the other way around really.
At the end of the original series and first two movies nothing drastic has changed. Madoka has sacrificed herself to prevent the magical girls turning into witches and also managed to prevent Mami and Kyouko's deaths as well as defeating Walpurgis Night.
However the cycle of hope and despair remains. The Incubators are still manipulating girls into contracts to counter entropy and they still fight Shades until they die or fall into despair.
Compare this to Homura's ending.
The cycle is broken with no more magical girls and witches.
The Incubators are cowed by Homura.
Madoka is alive, normal and happy as are the others (only Sayaka remembers anything).
Homura's actions were selfish (as she ignored Madoka's wishes and decision by taking her power), but ultimately everybody is better off. I would say that is more conclusive than the original ending where they are still fighting.
The original series is about selfless love (Madoka's sacrifice). Rebellion is about selfish love (Homura taking control). That's why it turns out how it did.
That is not to say that I disliked the original ending, far from it. But Rebellion does also end satisfyingly as well in my opinion, despite how bittersweet it is.
The Incubators don't manipulate girls into contracts in Madoka's world - they tell them everything up front, because they're not focussed on turning them into witches. Sayaka dies in a heroic sacrifice, not broken after betraying all her values. The girls are still fighting (and as a side note - are free to make their own choices about their lives, not brainwashed into happiness), yeah, but the main conflict of the series has been resolved - Madoka isn't dead or a witch, and she'll meet Homura again one day.
I saw the ending of Rebellion
as implying that Homura's world is a happy lie just like her labyrinth and completely unsustainable - with weird structural problems (familiars running around? Floods of juice? Moon/Luminous hill cut in half?) and setting up Madoka, Sayaka and probably the Incubators pulling a second Rebellion on Homura sometime soon.
That is what I mean when I say it sets up conflicts right before the end and does nothing to resolve them. I don't find that satisfying or conclusive at all. Hopefully we get a sequel within a few years - we probably will, considering the ending was written the way it was specifically to allow for such a thing.
That is what I mean when I say it sets up conflicts right before the end and does nothing to resolve them. I don't find that satisfying or conclusive at all. Hopefully we get a sequel within a few years - we probably will, considering the ending was written the way it was specifically to allow for such a thing.