#WARNING -- THIS REVIEW CONTAINS UNMARKED SPOILERS FOR MAHOU SHOUJO MADOKA MAGICA. DO NOT READ THIS REVIEW IF YOU HAVE NOT WATCHED THE SERIES OR THE TWO MOVIES THAT SUMMARIZE IT.
"In this irredeemable world, forever repeating its tragedies and hatred, I dreamt that I encountered that familiar smile once again..."
The sequel to the acclaimed TV anime Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica (English title: Puella Magi Madoka★Magica), Mahou Shoujo Madoka☆Magica Movie 3: Hangyaku no Monogatari (let's just call it by it's shortened English title of Rebellion for simplicity) takes place an unidentified amount of time after the end of the TV anime. Rebellion takes more or less the same characters, premise, and zany SHAFT animation and tells a new story from the perspective of one of my favorite characters, Homura.
#Art and Animation
It's SHAFT. Weird as hell animation and set design, but very high quality. This movie had a big budget, and it shows, particularly in a fight scene
#Sound
It's not every day a soundtrack makes me stop and go "now this is what a film soundtrack is supposed to be." The fact that Rebellion's OST managed to make me do that means you can probably make a decent guess at how I am going to score it. Notable tracks include: 『Aboslute Configuration』, 『Flame of Despair』, 『I was Waiting for This Moment』, 『You are Here』, and 『This is my Despair』. Here is a video containing the entire OST. Be warned however, it's about an hour and 15 minutes long. 
SFX could be better on a couple thing like gunfire, but at least there's nothing like "CLANG" going on here.
Sound grade: perfect 100%
#Major Characters
In no particular order
Homura Akemi -- The Protagonist of Rebellion. What does leaping through time watching your friends die over and over again for twelve years do to your mental state?
**Wish Type: Time-manipulation
Weapon: Shield**
Madoka Kaname -- Homura's "best friend" (I'll leave the interpretation of potential yuri moments up to the viewers). Should have become a physical god / living concept at the end of the series, but seems normal?
**Wish Type: Unknown
Weapon: Bow**
Kyoko Sakura -- Another one of the five magical girls that work together to fight "Nightmares". A rebellious girl, with a big appetite, especially for apples. Seems to be attending school and crashing at Sayaka's place for some reason?
**WishType: Strengthening / Enhancement
Weapon: Spear**
Sayaka Miki -- Also part of the magical girl quintet. A girl that wished for the healing of a boy's irrecoverable injury. Should have been taken by the Law of Cycles, but exists here...
**Wish Type: Healing
Weapon: Sword**
Mami Tomoe -- The oldest (at least physically) of the quintet. A veteran with a big heart who tends to cover up her sadness and stress by acting motherly. Without that stress, just how strong will she become?
**Magic Type: Binding
Weapon: Musket**###Overall Comments on Characters
The TV anime suffered from an overly heavy cast of characters for how much the plot focused on inner thoughts and emotions. I was kind of hoping that the movie would fix this, but I guess it's too much to expect a sequel to axe a character. Due primarily to this, but also due to focusing even more on a single character, pretty much every character aside from Homura feels very flat, with some ( Kyuubey, Madoka, Sayaka ) being reduced to mere plot devices.
Although I still wish they had cut some of the characters, the decision to focus on a single character was probably the thing that saved the movie. At the expense of everyone else becoming flat, the true depth of Homura's character was revealed. Despite being one of my favorite characters in the series, she had virtually no development aside from the sob story that was episode 10. If you didn't like that way that was handled, or if you thought she seemed a little too strong considering some statements about her from the creators, (she apparently watched her friends die in front of her or turn to witches "almost 100 times", leaping through time for about 12 years,) Rebellion patches that right up. I still think things could have been handled much better, but the fact the creators cared enough to make an entire movie to fix certain flaws of the previous season earns points for me. Character grade: 52%
#Plot
People in communities tend to divide the movie into two parts when discussing it. However, I didn't notice a sudden change as much as a sliding gradient, more akin to the 5 stages of grief. Although some may disagree with me, I'd say the plot quality starts off poor and gets gradually better as the movie progresses. It also proceeds in a more or less logical fashion, not requiring characters to be suddenly smarter or dumber for the plot (with a single possible exception, which can be forgiven due to lack of knowledge). It kept me riveted with its twists and turns, without having me get lost or stunned by obvious deus ex machina / diablos ex machina. Even the most shocking twist of the film is very well foreshadowed, just like the shocking events in the original series.
I won't go into detail about why to keep the review more or less spoiler free, but Rebellion 's plot was rather base-breaking for the Madoka community, dividing the community into those who thought the movie was a logical continuation to the series and those who thought the movie was to set the franchise up to be a cash cow. I personally am in the former camp, but at least for a while the split was very real. I wonder if the lack of a sequel has stilled those fears somewhat, but I think the true reason for the fans dismay is due to (1) the fan-trolling that happens in the earlier 45 minutes or so of the movie and (2) an image of a character or characters was irrevocably changed by the movie. When you change a character's image, especially in the case of a popular character, you invite backlash. If you make a major change to a character's image, even if it's arguably logical, you almost guarantee backlash from that character's fans.Plot grade: 85%
#Closing Thoughts
All in all, I would say Rebellion is a worthy addition to the MSMM franchise, similar to the TV anime as the tail of a coin is to its head. If you ever wanted more of the Madoka world but were disappointed by the subpar manga spinoffs, consider giving this film a watch.**Overall quality grade (four star scale): ★★★
Overall quality grade (Percentage scale): 84%**
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