"Homura Did Nothing Wrong" - Madoka Magica

there are a ton of series out there that focus on the magic of friendship it's always the cliche of friends coming together in the end to light the darkest hour or a bond that never breaks despite the hardest of trials or even in some tough cases individuals have to decide what's more important protecting the greater good or protecting your friend madoka magicka definitely explores a lot of these concepts especially in regards to the big question if performing actions in the name of friendship is truly selfless or if the actions you committed were really secretly for your own gains it's certainly an interesting topic within a series that allows for plenty of room for debates around morality although considering in our last video we spoke about a mad scientist who sent children to hell in order to turn them into furries i'm pretty confident we won't have any major ethical problems here these kids are what 14 15 years old what's the worst thing any of them could possibly do god damn it hello doomers and dumetz i'm your host didi and today i'll tell you to keep those soul gems close as we regret our wishes because we're going to be diving into the depressive mess that is madoka magicka since our last did nothing wrong video did so well on the channel and i've received so much positive feedback from you guys i wanted to express my gratitude with another video focusing on a character of your choice after a quick poll homura kemi from the series completely dominated the other contestants so we'll be taking a look at both the madoka magica series as well as its sequel film rebellion i know rebellion in particular is rather controversial in the community mainly for its ending but i do encourage you to stick to the end of this video as upon the construction of this analysis i've actually had my opinion on the film change quite a bit and perhaps i can provide you with that same new perspective too if you're open to it and as always before we begin i just like to humbly ask that this is content you're interested in be sure to like the video or even subscribe as lately it's begun really boosting the channel in the algorithm and if you're a returning subscriber thank you for coming back so with that said let's make our wishes and enter the labyrinth oh you want to get nuts let's get nuts i brought so many bullets magicka commonly referred to as simply madoka magica began in 2011 as a 12 episode anime series it tells the tale of madoka kaname a middle school student who was approached by a magical cat-like creature known as kube who is trying to encourage her to make a contract with him where he will grant her any wish her heart desires in exchange for becoming a magical girl magical girls are important in this universe as they fight off beings known as witches who in this series are more like abstract horrors that prey on negative emotions things however are not exactly as they appear as the mysterious homura akemi cryptically warns monica the dangers of becoming a magical girl and all hell breaks loose when it's revealed that witches were actually former magical girls the whole time who fell into the deep pit of despair and became abominations it's a visually beautiful series with plenty of abstract imagery and out of place animation to really make it feel unique the series plays on a lot of magical girl series tropes only to completely flip them on their head later within the series through some clever subversion now there's a lot to talk about within the series and like many other successful anime out there there have been countless spin-offs on other projects there's a lot left to interpretation as well and plenty of themes that you can make several hours worth of content talking about but to try to narrow things down we'll mainly be discussing the 12 episode anime as well as the film rebellion from homura akemi's perspective so let's talk about her journey within the show homura kemi is introduced to us from the very beginning as a mysterious new transfer student to madoka's middle school and vaguely warns her about the dangers of giving up who you are this distant nature of her as well as her enigmatic behavior around cube causes some suspicion such as when sayaka and mommy become distrustful of her and question her motives while monika is the only one to consider what she has to say and she is also the only one that homura appears to be taking any interest in the only scenes where homura seems to recognize others in any meaningful capacity is in her unenthusiastic attempt to half-heartedly stop mommy from getting too ahead of herself and then when homura attempts to stop sayaka from losing herself however homura even admits that the only reason she feigned any concern for sayaka was because she didn't want to see saika's pain start affecting monika too from there all we know is that homura is attempting to prepare for the arrival of a powerful witch known as will perkasnot after the transformation of sayaka into a witch and then her subsequent defeat we finally get the reveal of who homura is exactly homura originally was a transfer student to monica's middle school but rather than being a cool athletic and smart individual homer was a meek shy and frail girl having recently come out of surgery homura was rescued from a suicide attempt by monika who then befriended her it's from here that homura learns what it means to be a magical girl but things start to play out a little bit differently here mommy is then killed when the devastating orpurgos knot arrives leaving only monika left to destroy it homura begs her not to just simply wanting to escape and live together but monica refuses stating defeating while pergotis is her duty and chooses to fight the witch alone while perkasnot is then destroyed by her but this costs monika her life leaving homura alone in the world once more overwrought with survivor's guilt and feelings that monika shouldn't have saved her homura then chooses her wish for kyubey [Music] upon making her wish homer is thrown back in time to before her arrival in middle school and begins her training in magic as she is granted the ability to go back in time a month as well as the ability to stop time learning to effectively use the world learning to effectively use her new time-stopping abilities in combat the difference in this second timeline however is that once the magical girls succeed in defeating walpurgisnacht monica begins to transform into a witch herself exposing cubey's deception to her homura failing to have protected modica on that timeline is thrown back in time once more where she attempts to warn everyone of cuba's trickery but it falls on deaf ears only for them to finally understand when sayaka transforms into a witch and they don't take that reveal too well [Music] [Music] [Music] this just leaves us once more with monica and homura to stop while pergosnaut where they succeed but they're about to transform into witches themselves after a presumably heavy battle monika then saves homura knowing that she could reset time to fix this but she asked her to fulfill one last request for her before she goes back in time [Music] [Music] homura is again thrown back in time once more and it's here where she begins to finally give up on her meek persona to adopt a more cold and distant demeanor she isolates herself believing that no one will believe in her and therefore the only option is to work alone she can't rely on anyone for help and therefore she is the only person who can accomplish her goals yet regrettably this continues to be unsuccessful as over and over she continues to watch monika die or become a witch timeline and timeline again as a side note it's unclear to us from within the series alone exactly how many times homura resets time we're shown about five resets within the episode but considering how at the start of the series homura is shown to be the most athletic girl as well as one of the most intelligent i think the implication is there that she's been doing this loop for much much longer as she continues to live the month time and time again so with this revelation we shift our focus back to the current timeline as we see homura attempting to take on walpurgis not all on her own distraught by this monika finally makes her wish to kyubey [Music] this wish rewrites the laws of reality turning monica into a concept practically a god allowing her to transcend all of reality to eradicate any witch before it is born monica's wish wasn't to become a god but her role in the cosmic hierarchy elevated her to that status yet at the same time this is not a task she enacts with a sense of pride for becoming a god but rather with the mere desire to help anyone and everyone because of this monika has to be removed from the normal universe as she can no longer exist within it if she's going to be a concept or a god but before she is removed she leaves some parting words for homura her very best friend as she now says she's seen everything that's happened all the pain that homura has suffered for monica's sake and everything that's yet to come in any universe but hold that thought we'll come back to that monika is then removed from the mortal realm with hardly a trace of her existence and only homura is left to remember her now the curses of mankind aren't completely wiped from the universe but magical girls no longer fall into despair the same way they used to now i think one of the themes of the series is understanding the difference between true selflessness and doing something you think is for others but really is for yourself a good example of this would be sayaka who wishes for kyousuke to have his hands healed but really just wanted him to be with her kyoko wished for people to listen to her father's preachings without any thought of how her father might feel about that so let's examine homura's wish she wants to be the one to save monika and redo their first encounter now on paper that may seem pretty selfish after all why didn't homura merely wish monica back to life however like most things i talk about i think the answer is a little bit more complex than that homura didn't simply want to bring monika back for one reason survivor's guilt remember in the original timeline homura saw herself as a burden upon others and was actually going to kill herself before the intervention of monika and mommy so let's take a look at things from her perspective homura saw herself as someone who is only capable of being dependent on others and someone who can't do anything right by herself she saw herself as someone who did nothing but caused trouble for others when rescued by maruka and mommy she begins to admire them and truly grows close with monika in particular if you're wondering why homura didn't have an attachment to mommy i'd say it may be due to her having an easier time connecting with monica by being in the same class and monika being a bit more forward with her affections as a friend it's the kind of thing that a socially awkward and outcast type of character like homura may find it easier to connect with at first rather than someone like mommy and thus this brings us to the end of timeline number one madoka sacrifices herself to defeat walpurgisnaut leaving homura alone the reason homura doesn't wish monica back to life is because she feels like all of this is her fault she doesn't want to be saved by monika not because she doesn't want monika to care for her but rather she feels she's just causing her trouble that she made monica sacrifice herself for her so is it selfish for homura to not want to be saved well do you just tell the person who is suffering from depression and self-hate to yeah just stop being depressed so that's it right homer didn't do anything wrong she just made a wish for her friend out of guilt nothing wrong there honestly i don't see anything worth more discussion it's not like there's a controversial film people talk about something that would utterly change people's perception of the character something so drastic okay come on you know where this is going it's time to talk about rebellion i can't take it anymore i just want to die we all want to die ah rebellion such a hot topic issue within the community heck i'll be upfront and admit that i too honestly kind of hated the movie when i first saw it but upon closer inspection thanks to the work on this video i've actually come to see it in a whole new light in case you forgot let's give a very very very brief overview of the plot of rebellion it's set in the new timeline created at the end of the series where monica is supposed to be removed from the universe but wait a second something's wrong monika is back in the mortal realm sayaka and kyoko are alive and the latter of which is now attending school and most puzzling of all homer has been reverted to her original appearance from the first timeline and is happy hold up wait a minute sam ain't right the gang begins fighting creatures known as nightmares but this isn't right they should be fighting creatures known as wraiths not nightmares isn't babe a witch homura begins to analyze the flaws of the world around her before it's revealed that the gang is actually trapped inside a witch's labyrinth but it's unusual the witch isn't trying to kill them within its labyrinth nor is it tormenting them it only gets upset when the status quo is being disturbed so sayaka asks homura the question [Music] everyone's happy and homura finds that's wrong because no matter what a witch must be destroyed for the sake of being a witch but pieces fall into place who would want to maintain a status quo and in this labyrinth who would even have memories of monica's existence it's here where we reach the big reveal of rebellion the witch in control of the labyrinth is none other than homura herself you see cube upon learning of the possible existence of monika's god form known as the law of cycles by homura in the new timeline kyubey constructed a method to cage homura and prevent monica's god form you know what i'm just going to call her gautica from saving homura before she turned into a witch therefore allowing homura to transform into a witch from within her own labyrinth in the film this is compared to a scenario where a chicken is fully growing within its egg without hatching now that monika is trapped within the labyrinth kyubey sought out to study her and potentially control her it's at that moment that sends homura into full despair the one person she set out her entire life to protect even as a god is now at risk to be enslaved by cube and his species so homura transforms into a witch and attempts to have herself killed in order to prevent monika from falling into qa's paws however monika and her friends are actually able to save homura thus allowing gotaka to cleanse homura's soul gem before taking her away to um magical girl heaven i guess but here's where things get a little bit crazy before godika can take homura away homer grabs her and in a brash moment of defiance and rebellion homura tears gotaka in half separating the being that was once monika from the law of cycles itself this act completely rewrites reality and the effects of homura's actions spread across the universe if monika became a god then homura who committed an act in defiance in the face of god must logically be the devil as rebellion ends we are shown the effects of homura's new world a gilded cage which allows her to keep monica in the real world without her memories but in a potentially happy life at the cost of everything else the curses in the world are cast upon cube and things finally seem right for homura or were they upon first viewing this whole sequence may be very jarring as essentially it feels like homura made a complete 180 as a character but upon retrospective look i think it makes a lot of sense you see homura isn't actually becoming the villain here at least not in a traditional sense she's not becoming the devil out of a desire for power or the will to dominate the universe but just as monika became a god as a side effect for the nature of her wish homura became a devil as a side effect for the nature of her own homura loved modika and i think that care was completely genuine an obsession perhaps due to the nature of her personality and how monica was one of the few people who seemed to truly care for her but homura genuinely wanted to protect monika to homura monika was someone who she saw countless times sacrifice herself for others and homura could not handle the guilt of being saved by her especially when she realized that her own carelessness exposed the existence of modica to cube putting her in danger even as a god and throughout the events of rebellion homura is reminded that monika as a god is alone forgotten by everyone a being who only exists to fight and save others thanklessly and the problem is while monika tells homura in the end of the series that she isn't alone homura gets a different message from her in rebellion [Music] now the context of this scene is different as monika says this without full awareness of her original situation but to homer's ears monika just told her that she wouldn't want to be alone and forgotten i think it's important to note that despite her outwardly cold appearance homura is deeply an emotional person internally especially in relation to monica and this breaks her heart now consider that along with sayaka's words from earlier would it really be that bad to maintain some sort of status quo just to keep her happy that's all homura needed and so when garuka comes to rescue homura homura realizes she has an opportunity a chance to bring monika back as a way to finally protect her in her eyes homura knows that her actions defy the wishes of monika and everyone else it's not that she doesn't care but she's more focused on what she believes will be best for modika and madika alone we've spoken before about characters who have done things in the name of the overall greater good in the past but homura is the opposite of that homura isn't necessarily selfish in a traditional sense but her objective is to secure the greatest possible good for monica and just her while monica's wish is to save others at the expense of herself homer's wish is to save monica alone so homura broke the laws of reality just so that monika could live a happy life again with her family and friends and she's fully aware that she broke those laws the reason she calls herself the devil is not because she's now maliciously evil but because she recognizes that her own wish is in defiance of the wish of god it's a complicated situation and you can tell that despite her current facade homura is deeply troubled by the paradoxical nature of her actions think about someone you're very close to a family member a friend or someone you love if they were to sacrifice themselves for others how would you feel would you be okay with them putting themselves in harm's way for others or would you rather they remain safe themselves you have to consider if you want to prioritize their well-being first do you choose to sacrifice those who would have been saved by your loved one homura is prioritizing monika's well-being that's all she wants the nature of this gilded cage is not intended to be a way to dominate others but rather homura's attempt to create an environment best for modica where she has no need to sacrifice herself she knows that monica wouldn't necessarily agree with her but at the same time she knows that the others see the greater good in monica sacrificing herself and she's afraid to allow that because the hurt it would cause her to be separated from her family and everyone and especially homer herself so when homura talks about seeing the others as enemies it's because she knows that they fundamentally disagree and that her wish goes against the greater good homura just wants the one person she loves to be safe if the way to keep her safe is to cage her is that wrong is a cage itself a bad thing if it exists to make someone happy so with that said let's circle back to our question did homura do anything wrong it'd be easy to say her actions were from selfish obsession but i think that downplays her complexities as a character homura loves monika and is facing a moral debate around a heavy paradox do you allow someone you love to sacrifice themselves if it's what they want to do or do you do everything in your power to protect them to homura she understands that she's broken the laws of reality but still just wants nothing more than what's best for monika as an individual and even if monika wants to sacrifice herself for others does that mean that homura must accept her desires even if it means she risks her own life and safety but i think there's one more note worth mentioning i think godika knew all of this would happen in the end of the series she does tell homura that she is her very best friend and she appreciates everything she's done for her but not only that godoka says this while also saying she has seen everything that can come presumably this means multiple different outcomes despite that she still refers to homura as her best friend loving everything she's done for her this would also suggest of course that naturally devil homura's grip on reality will slip and things will return to normal and yet monika still considers homura her best friend in rebellion godika may have been surprised that homura defied her but i think that was due to the natural case of just being shocked that that was the particular timeline that was happening ultimately i think she still knew exactly what homura was feeling and why she was doing it and still doesn't see her as an enemy so i mean if god herself isn't telling homura that she did anything wrong must i go on considering that tidbit i'm proud to say that homura kemi is inductee number three to the doomer den certified did nothing wrong squad i think that what makes her interesting is that at the end of the day homura only has one singular objective protect modica is that selfish well i think it's arguably correct that the best thing for monica as a person is to be with her friends and family the issue is monika instead wants to sacrifice yourselves for others and that's of course where the disagreement comes in but no matter where you fall on either side of whether it's okay to prioritize the safety of your close friend over everyone else even if they don't want to i think it's important to point out that it's pretty clear monica has already forgiven her and considering that when the new movie comes along at some point next year i think when the gang finally prepares to fight muhomura it won't be as a way to curb stomp a villain but rather attempt to bring her back to the light from the pits of despair after all homura and marika are still very best friends or maybe i'm totally wrong all this nonsense could have been avoided if one of these girls just read the fine print of the contract moral of the story don't sign anything without reading the legal text it's not cuba's fault none of them ask if they would become witches what did the terms and conditions for the last update say i don't know i didn't read them you didn't read them who the hell reads that entire thing every time it pops up i do me too you're telling me that every time you read the entire terms and conditions of course well how do you know if you agree to something if you don't read it well that was a fun one if you made it to the end of the video thank you so much for watching how do you feel about homura is she in your did nothing wrong squad why doesn't anyone read the fine print nowadays let me know in the comments i want to thank you all again for your tremendous support on these videos it really makes me proud to put out content you guys are enjoying i might be taking a small break from the did nothing wrong series to do some other videos in the near future but this will absolutely be a channel staple we'll also be having some slight channel changes in the future so be sure to stay tuned for that as always if you have any suggestions for future videos be sure to let me know in the comments i saw griffith was requested a few times in the comments so i think i'll save him for a 10 000 subscriber goal as a bit of a special occasion but this current rate we may reach that in no time at all and if you want to hang out personally be sure to join our discord linked in the description below we're going to start hosting things such as jack box and such so if you want to hang out and chat come stop by thank you so much for watching and i hope i could see you next time

Channel: The Doomer Den

Views: 213,758

Keywords: madoka magica, homura akemi, puella magi madoka magica, homura did nothing wrong, homura akemi transformation, madoka magica rebellion, madoka magica rebellion ending, madoka kaname, madoka magica explained, mahou shoujo madoka magica explained, madoka magica rebellion explained, Puella Magi Madoka Magica OST, SAYAKA MIKI, kyoko madoka magica, mami vs homura, MADOKA MAGICA 4, madoka magica 4th movie, kyubey, did nothing wrong, did nothing wrong squad, pmmm, homura madoka

Id: HRo0yhcfVKs

Length: 23min 11sec (1391 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 20 2021