The episode looks at an alternate timeline in which Homura is a shy transfer student who makes friends with the cheerful Madoka.
Sayaka's funeral was held in the rain. Madoka returns home with vacant eyes. She barely says anything to Junko who met her at the front door, and goes into her room. Kyubey appears in front of Madoka...
Madoka makes the decision to become a magical girl, wishing to prevent all witches from the past, present and future from coming into existence in the first place, a wish made possible by the massive...
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Title: Puella Magi Madoka Magica (2011)
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One night, 14-year-old Madoka Kaname has a terrible nightmare - against the backdrop of a devastated city, she witnesses a girl fight a losing battle against a dreadful being lingering above, while a cat-like magical creature tells Madoka the only way to change that tragic outcome is for her to make a contract with him and become a magical girl. The next day, the teen's dream seemingly becomes reality as the girl she saw in her dream - Homura - arrives at Mitakihara Middle School as a transfer student, mysteriously warning Madoka to stay just the way she is. But when later on she and her best friend Sayaka encounter the same cat-like magical creature from her dream - who introduces himself as Kyubey - the pair discovers that magical girls are real, and what's more, they can choose to become one. All they must do is sign a contract with Kyubey and agree to take on the duty to fight abstract beings called 'witches' that spread despair to the human world, and in return, each one of them ... Written by Matías Carabella
I started watching this knowing nothing except that it was a 'dark' magical girl series. I've never seen any of the magical girl stuff (unless Claymore counts?) so I had no idea of how it was using/subverting the usual tropes. Still, it was pretty amazing... and very dark. By the time I got to the 9th episode I was feeling pretty distraught over the fates of all the characters and how awful the whole system was.
One thing that particularly stood out for me was the animation and the various styles to represent the bizarre Witches and the Labyrinths they create. While the main characters usually remain in regular anime mode everything else becomes a wild collage of symbols and strange creatures that symbolize the Witch and her obsessions. Each one seems to be a mysterious story unto itself.
Don't let the cutesy character designs fool you though... this isn't for kids, both because it's so disturbing and also because I don't think they'd really understand it once the true nature of the magical girls starts to come out.