Review for Puella Magi Madoka Magica The Movie: Part 3 - Rebellion

Introduction

The original release schedule made so much sense. Manga were to release the first two Puella Magi Madoka Magica movies, and then it would be the turn of Puella Magi Madoka Magica The Movie – Rebellion. Unfortunately, the first two movies got pushed back to October, while for some reason, this sequel did not. It’s coming out first. On the bright side, the first two movies are compilations of the series, re-edited and tarted up for theatrical presentation to be sure, with a little new animation here and there, but the bottom line is that if you’ve seen the TV series, you’re all set for this final Rebellion movie. And conveniently, I caught up with the television series again a few months ago to give me a reminder of what the story was about. Incidentally, spoilers for the TV series are inevitable when discussing the sequel feature film, so consider yourselves forewarned.


The Puella Magi Madoka Magica series is pretty darned good, isn’t it? When re-watching it, I scratched my head for an episode or two, wondering why it was so hyped (I’d pretty much forgotten it since my review), and then episode 3 happened, and the light dawned once more, as to just why this deconstruction of the magical girl genre was so feted. It created this world of magical girls who fight against witches and their curses to protect everyone. They gained their magical powers from this manipulative mascot animal named Kyubey, for which there was a heavy price, a price that became clear as the truth about magical girls, witches, and Kyubey was revealed. But at its heart was the story of a friendship, that between the eponymous Madoka Kaname, and Homura Akemi, and what one was willing to sacrifice for the friendship. In the end, Madoka made the ultimate sacrifice in order to rewrite the rules of the universe, ending the destructive cycle of magical girls and witches once and for all.


Only things haven’t quite happened as meant at the start of Rebellion. Madoka still lives with her quirky family, and she still attends the same school, with the same homeroom teacher who dwells in melancholy at her rapidly approaching middle age. And by night, she, Kyoko, Mami, and Sayaka still become magical girls, teaming up to do battle with the menace of Nightmares. Emotionally fraught young girls are particularly prone to getting lost in their dreams, and it falls to the magical girls to rescue them from their dark fantasies, as happens when Hitomi’s unrequited love for Kamijo darkens her heart. While Madoka’s pet Kyubey is dumb and cute, it seems that it’s Mami’s mascot creature Bebe who guides the magical girls on their missions. Then one day, there’s a new transfer student to Madoka’s class, another magical girl named Homura Akemi. But Homura has more of an agenda than just teaming up to fight nightmares.

Picture

You want this film on Blu-ray! It’s a studio Shaft animation, they’re renowned for their visual prowess, the sheer imagination and energy that they deliver on screen, and on top of that, it’s Madoka Magica. Of course you want it on Blu-ray. On this DVD that I’m reviewing (there was a paucity of Blu-ray review discs), you can see the format challenged by the complexity and detail of the night-time cityscapes; you can see the image start to break up with compression during the more frenetic action sequences. Ten years ago, when there was no alternative, I would have said that this was a great transfer. But now that I know that Blu-ray exists as a format, and that the average TV size today will only magnify the limitations of DVD, this can only be second best.


All of that said, Manga Entertainment’s release of Puella Magi Madoka Magica The Movie – Rebellion on DVD is pretty fair. They’re apparently using Madman’s masters (judging by the yellow subtitle font), and the 1.78:1 anamorphic PAL transfer is clear and sharp, offering decent detail, consistent colours, and minimal compression and banding. The animation is smooth, and the action sequences come across well enough. It’s just that the animation challenges the limits of the DVD format.

Sound

You have the choice between DD 5.1 English and Japanese with optional subtitles and a signs only track. I went with the original language track to keep continuity with the way that I watched the series, and it was all fine. The surround is put to great use in emphasising the action sequences, and giving the film the proper, theatrical degree of immersion. Aniplex commissioned the dub for the film, and I gave it a quick try to find that it was a quality dub, very well performed. The subtitles are close to the dub script, but not dubtitles, but they flow well, are accurately timed and free of typos.

Extras

I did get to see the retail product this time. It’s your basic DVD in an Amaray case, but the cover art is dramatic and impressive, while the inner sleeve has some subtle, wallpaper style imagery. The disc presents its contents with a static menu.


You get the theatrical trailer for the film, eight commercials, about four minutes worth, the textless ending and the textless opening but of most interest might be the Monogatari Manners pieces. There are four of them, little cinema etiquette reminders to turn off your phone, not film the screening, not kick the seat in front kind of thing. In a bit of a franchise crossover, they’ve got the Monogatari characters to deliver the pieces, Ougi, The Fire Sisters, Mayoi Hachikuji, and Hitagi Senjyogahara, and they’re quite fun.

Conclusion

I was impressed with the Rebellion movie on several levels. Certainly it’s a gorgeous film aesthetically speaking. Studio Shaft’s iconic animation coupled with Yuki Kajiura’s music makes for a very appealing package on home video. It’s also a genuine continuation from the series, not just a quick cash-in on the latest anime flavour of the month. It takes the characters, the story from the series and builds on what has come before, delivering a rewarding and satisfying sequel for fans, but it also manages to tear up what has come before as well. It’s somewhat contradictory, but in Rebellion, it’s almost like starting from scratch and taking the story in a whole new direction, with new ideas and concepts and philosophies.


Where it really impresses me is with the writing, which does take full advantage of the two-hour, theatrical runtime. The story develops well, and the character writing is excellent, drawing the viewer in, and engaging them with the film. In this respect, the Rebellion movie seems even stronger than the television series, which had to follow the episodic format of small arcs and cliff-hangers. This is one whole story. We’re initially presented with a reset button, a sense of doing the series over again in feature film form, only it quickly becomes clear that this world isn’t familiar, and the characters aren’t who they appear to be at face value. It’s a mystery, and the fun comes in the unravelling of it.


And I didn’t quite like it. Having paid tribute to its production quality, having lauded the writing, I have to admit that something about Rebellion just irks me. As I’m apt to do in some reviews, I’m compelled to compare it to what I have seen before, and while there’s a delightful echo of Dark City in one aspect of Rebellion’s plot, the biggest impression that I had from this film was Alien 3. Now bear with me. Alien 3 wasn’t as bad a film as people made out, although unlike Rebellion, it lacked in originality, merely serving as a remake of the first Alien in a way. Alien 3’s big problem was Aliens. That film’s story clicked with a lot of people, they really got behind Ripley’s fight to survive, along with Hicks and surrogate daughter Newt. And then along comes Alien 3 and kills off all the previous film’s survivors except Ripley, a bit of a finger in the eye.


Along comes Rebellion, and I certainly enjoy the film as it unfolds, but then it gets to the climax. “You did what to Homura?”, “You did what to Madoka?”, “But doesn’t that negate the end of the series?” I’m not quite comfortable with the direction the movie takes, although it does so with style. It’s going to take me a fair few re-watches and some re-evaluation for me to reconcile it with the series. But I have to say that it does at least use the one magical girl cliché that it missed out in the series (see my Nurse Witch Komugi review to see what that cliché is). While I personally didn’t appreciate the character arcs in the film, they are well written and will certainly hold the attention.


As I said, you really want the Blu-ray. But if all you have is a DVD player, and a relatively small TV to watch it on, then this DVD release of Puella Magi Madoka Magica The Movie - Rebellion will do until you upgrade.