Just saw Rebellion, so, chiming in on that discussion. Loved it, even though the ending took my heart that had slowly mended during the movie and smashed it against the ground for 20 minutes.

Spoiler

Am somewhere on the middle on this. I do believe that this is reality that she created is a separate one. They even say that Homura just took a tiny piece from Godoka, and used it to build a small piece of reality, another labyrinth of sorts, in which, once again, the only real things are Madoka, the part that Homura ripped from the concept, all the memories of the real Madoka and the other magical girls trapped inside, alongside the other named humans. Outside of this, I think, the world goes as it has before. Magical girls are still saved by the concept of good Madoka.

Homura merely created another pocket dimension in which she can selfishly live with Madoka, where Madoka can be free, unburdened by a lonely existence in which she is sacrificing herself for the happiness of others.

It is not a happy ending though. Sayaka, Kyouko, Tomoe and Madoka are mindwhammied with altered memories alongside the other vanilla humans, Madoka especially is eventually going to break free from this, no doubt, and then the four will have to team up against Madoka. It's not going to be much of a fight, since Homura's Nr. 1 goal is still to protect Madoka and provide her with happiness, so, that's going to cause grief for everyone involved.

Turns out that reliving the same month over and over again, for over a thousand time, failing and losing the person she loves most above everything in the world again and again and then permanently lose her very existence is not good for ones sanity.

However, I do not think that Homura ever saw herself as the hero, not even once. She isn't, really. I actually see a lot of parallels to Taylor from Worm, being the same archetype of person, the same tenacity, the same creativity when it comes to exploiting their powers, the same willpower to preserve and sacrifice, only they are on the complete opposites of the spectrum. Taylor is willing to make whatever sacrifice necessary, even those she loves most, to save humanity, whereas Homura is willing sacrifice humanity and the entire universe just to save Madoka. She has always been her number one priority. She doesn't fight Walpurgisnacht to save the world but rather, that saving the world also means saving Madoka.

So, in the end, she risked upsetting the whole new order that Madoka created to give her some happiness, fake though it might be, which will eventually backfire, naturally. In a way, Homura's obsession to save Madoka, reduced her to an object of desire, over which she felt the right to overrule Madoka's own agency and right to decide, and forced her into something against her wishes. Here, I do think that Homura snapped, because "sane" Homura valued Madoka too much to ever do that. Hope that she snaps out of it, although, there is no coming back from this, really. Then again, really mitigating circumstances, what with the eternity of suffering and than the burden of being the only one in existence to remember her and all...

Is there going to be another season or movie or something? Doesn't seem like this is the end.

So yeah, loved it but wanted to shake the stupid out of Homura for doing something so dumb and yet...understandable, if ill-advised.

On the other hand, yay that the Kyouko and Sayaka love was pretty much confirmed, in the anime it was rather one-sided, nice to see Sayaka return those feelings.

 

What types of shows do you like?

 

Not moe.

/10char

 

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.

 

Sankyou no Terror looks like it could be interesting if done right, that comes out this summer.

 

Oh god, I just watched this series today and my eyes are still red from crying. I second this recommendation, but it's so sad :S

Edit: While I'm in this mood, anybody have recommendation for this type of survival type anime? I'm thinking along the lines of Tokyo Magnitude, or High School of the Dead. If you guys know the manga, something like Cage of Eden too.

I think I want to see more of the whole "normal person faces some crazy disaster, and has to grow to adapt". Something like Mirai Nikki would kind of fit, but it's a bit farther off than what I would like.

 

WHY ARE THESE IN THE SAME SENTENCE!?


Anyway, a natural comparison for Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 is Grave of the Fireflies. I saw this over 12 years ago now and really should rewatch it. I do remember it being a hellova lot darker. Deals with a pair of orphans trying to survive post WWII.

Out of all the anime I have, I'm really struggling to find something along the lines of what you're after (that I'd actually recommend). Almost every single anime that has a normal person facing disaster almost always has that same person get some crazy powers/ability/mecha/moe female companion to help them along with that.

I can think of a few that might get across that atmosphere of a normal person being reluctantly forced into a situation that they have to adapt to that you're after, but most of them will be some sort of war/fight between different groups, as opposed to a disaster survival story.

RideBack is one of the best at doing that in my opinion. The main heroine really does feel normal and really reluctant in getting involved in the more violent aspects of the world. What makes it fantastic though, is her struggle with the fact that she may secretly be loving the thrill of it all.

Juuni no Kokuki, is about a girl being pulled into a fantasy universe. But it's done in a very Western high fantasy style, and really does get across that atmosphere of a normal person struggling to adapt. She is kind of special though, but for the first 20 episodes or so, she feels very normal.

Zetsuen no Tempest is pushing those criteria a bit, since while the two main characters don't have any magic like everyone else they're up against, they don't exactly have normal personalities. They use their wits and complete lack of fear to survive.


None really have that slight slice of life feel applied to heavy drama/adventure that Tokyo Magnitude managed to pull off though...

 

Yeah, that's the hard part with what I'm searching for. It's pretty rare for the MC to not just end up gaining super powers and becoming a hero. But the feels from the slice of life is too good.

 

Black Bullet starts off as a shitty post apocalyptic world with super powered Loli's and a somewhat boring protag imho. But in episode 1 a bamf villain is introduced, and the world is shockingly dark at times. The music is pretty decent too. Although sometimes the loli shenanigans are a bit much, it is def worth a watch.

 

I'm not sure if this has been recommended here or not, but Redline is amazing for a standalone movie. It's not Miyazaki-tier, the premise is absurd, and there's a lot of Refuge In Audacity going on.

That said, it's an anime about professional racing in the distant future, and it has an amazing soundtrack. I doubt this is much of an endorsement for anybody here, but the show is so intense I was on my feet and screaming for the main character to win when the final race was coming to a close, so.

 

I'm just going to rec a few shows from the current season since it's about to wrap up.

Selector Infected WIXOSS was a good show. It's a card game anime except the show prefers to focus on the drama and interactions between characters rather than spending whole episodes showing the card game play by play. I've seen a lot of people compare it to Madoka, but I would say it's much more like MaiHime. Some of the drama in the show is hit or miss, but on the whole the drama in this show is rather believable. The main character Ruuko is actually a rather interesting character once she starts to develop and most of the side characters are interesting as well. I would recommend giving it a watch over the summer as the second season will be airing in October. If the ending for season one is anything to go by, the second season should be fun.

Hitsugi no Chaika was my surprise of the season. There is one episode left in season one at the moment, but I'm sure it won't disappoint. This show has fast pacing combined with some really well done fight scenes. I don't find myself annoyed by any of the characters, and the writing can be surprisingly subtle. This show is also the best dark fantasy show we've gotten in a while. Second season will be airing in October, just like WIXOSS.

No Game No Life is good shit.

 

I miss space operas. Why don't we get any good space operas anymore?

Space Brothers and Gargantia were watchable... but it's been years since a really amazing one came along.

/randomness

 

One pretty great "survival" story is Ima, Soko ni Iru Boku. I remember watching it a few years back (and by a few, I mean at least four of five years), and it was amazing. Honestly, it's a bit of a coming of age story more than anything else, but it has a nice mix of action and adventure. It doesn't pull any punches, though, so be prepared for that.

 

Berserk question: Anime or movies?

 

Anime, hands down. Don't like the animation style in the movies at all, regardless of them going further.

 

Anime may be dated, but it still did a fantastic job. Like sure, it may take a bit to get used to the washed out colors and lack of lighting effects, but the quality of animation is pretty good.

I saw the first movie and enjoyed that too, but the animation style is a bit jarring initially. Also, movie covers everything the series covered in half the time, so would be more rushed too. Anime never really felt slow.

 

I've got a craving for some slice-of-life and fluffy romance anime currently. Does anyone have any good recommendations for such shows? I need something lighter after reading and watching so many grim and sad stories lately.

 

Have you given Nisekoi a try?

 

Can't say I have. Thanks for the rec, will surely check it out.

 

Danshi koukousei no nichijou (aka NichiBros). Best slice of life comedy.