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I'm watching the movie with a group of friends on the Saturday after next...looks like now I actually have to finish the whole TV series beforehand
@Lord Starfish
As for the ending... I agree it feels like a mean-spirited diabolos ex machina. However, I think there's a bit more to it than justHomura turned evil! Yeah, she behaves like she's evil and even has a dark revealing outfit to go with it... but if you look at what she actually does, it doesn't seem too bad. Of course, the movie isn't clear on this point, but I honestly don't think Homura became a one-dimensional evil being. They definitely needed to build up to it better, so that Homura's transformation seemed less abrupt, but it was an execution problem, not an idea problem.
As for how she can do it... I think all the rewinding timelines should've given her some special abilities too. In fact, even before this movie, I always wondered why Madoka's potential increased dramatically, while Homura's didn't outside of her becoming more skilled. I mean, yes, Homura made Madoka more important... but her own time travel abilities made her have far greater impact than any other character. I assume it's 'cause she already made her wish, but it's not implausible that she still had some stored potential inside her and turning into a witch released that.
...like I said, they really should've built up to it better. Rebellion's got issues, don't get me wrong.
I'm actually less forgiving about the change to Homura's character than you are. Minutes before, she was all willing to sacrifice herself to ensure the survival of Madoka and the world Madoka created. But right afterwards, her greatest wish changes into keeping Madoka for herself? (But it is just a portion of Madoka, so I question if it's deeply harmful). There's definitely a shift from selfless love to selfish love--I don't think Homura was always the latter. I think whatever Kyuubey did really twisted her, so I accept it, but I wish they could've built up to it better. (Yeah, there was a bit of foreshadowing during the scene where Madoka talks about how she'd never be able to give everything up and go exist alone. But there needed to be more, because it was a huge shift from Homura trying to sacrifice herself.
I did not get the impression that she was gloating.On another note, (Well, on a related note... I'm still talking about the ending...)I have seen claims that Homura's actions were actually neither selfish nor evil, and that it was all done in order to make sure Kyubey could never get to Madoka again... This is again a theory I take issue with due to the lack of evidence though. Or rather, considering how Homura's conversation with Kyubey at the end basically just accounted to her gloating over how she has totally just outsmarted everyone and how someone of Kyubey's nature would clearly never understand how or why she would be driven to alter the very fabric of reality... I would just think that had her motivations really been completely selfless, she might have also thrown in a "And now Madoka is forever out of your reach!" or something along those lines in her little victory-declaration.