History Fridge / PuellaMagiMadokaMagica

* Why he title of the show refers to Madoka, when after episode 10 it's made clear that Homura is the real protagonist? Heck, even the movie has Madoka's name when it's all about Homura. Because Madoka is literally the center theme of the show. While Homura is the star, Madoka is Homura's motivation. All she does is because of Madoka's well-being. It's also because everytime Homura turned back the clock, it added more karmatic energy to Madoka, to the point of making her have the power to be the strongest magical girl and witch. Everytime Homura returned in time, she made the universe focus more and more on Madoka.

** Another good foil for Mami is Homura. Both use long range weapons and rely a lot on their magic, but both personalities and wishes differ greatly which makes them the best rivals. Mami's power are based on her ribbons thanks to her wish of "connecting to life" or "connecting lifes" and she longs for company in her mission; Homura is extremely self-relying and prefers to do things her way and alone, that's why Mami's ribbons are the only known AchillesHeel to her time-manipulation magic. Also, Mami's wshi was in order to survive (a selfish wish) but later she would be a big sister mentor for Sayaka and Madoka; Homura's wish was in order to protect Madoka but she became more and more selfish and bitter over time.

*** Well, this explains [[https://youtu.be/vVcnRsqyGm0?t=397 Mami's strongest attack]]: [[GodzillaThreshold given the situation]], ''she did just that]]''.

** Madoka's bow is representative of her powerful will. A bow cannot block, and cannot face close combat. It can only strike from afar, like how she will do anything to enact her will. While unable to influence things directly anymore as no one but Homura remembers her, she takes her place 'behind the scenes'. A bow is also a very simple weapon, which is how Madoka sees herself, and what she appears to be. But a bow is deadly in the hands of an ArcherArchetype, and its long range means that you probably won't see the arrows coming...
*** The bow is also important in Shinto rituals, some of which are done to exorcize evil. Madoka uses her bow to destroy Witches and eventually [[spoiler:destroy all their evil in the form of Kriemlid Gretchen]].

* Walpurgisnacht's nature is helplessness. Is it because magical girls are helpless to stop her because she is undefeatable, or does it refer to the collection of former magical girls that she is, helpless to stop themselves from causing death and destruction?

* [[http://mangafigures.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/review-mahou-shoujo-madoka-magica-akemi-homura-good-smile-company-figure-00c.jpg Homura's magical girl uniform]] and [[http://i.imgur.com/QsQtLfO.jpg the Mitakihara uniform]] look very similar. Makes sense that since Homura's wish was for Madoka, her magical girl outfit would be something that she'd associate with her.
** Compared to the other girls' fancy and colorful outfits, Homura's Puella getup is more plain, lacking in frills and adornments befitting her stoic, no-nonsense personality it also ties into her orginal ShrinkingViolet personality.

** In fairness, they could have been familiars who grew into witches...but they likely still originated from a fallen magical girl. CloningBlues, perhaps?

* In Puella Magi Madoka Magica, magical girls eventually become witches. Looking at the magical girl genre as a whole, the earliest works were [[CuteWitch majokko/witch girl]] stories, including ''Manga/SallyTheWitch'' and ''Anime/MajokkoMegChan'', while the more well known [[MagicalGirlWarrior Magical Girl Warrior]] subgenre that the magical girls in PMMM seem to take inspiration from came much later in the genre's timeline. Perhaps the thing with magical girls becoming witches in PMMM is a reference to this, albiet in reverse.

* In Puella Magi Madoka Magica, magical girls eventually become witches. Looking at the magical girl genre as a whole, the earliest works were [[CuteWitch majokko/witch girl]] stories, while the more well known [[MagicalGirlWarrior Magical Girl Warrior]] subgenre that the magical girls in PMMM seem to take inspiration from came much later in the genre's timeline. Perhaps the thing with magical girls becoming witches in PMMM is a reference to this, albiet in reverse.

** Homura has her time magic. She is the odd one out when it comes to weapons. While the others use traditional weapons, [[PragmaticHero Homura just steals bombs and grenade launchers]]. This could represent her being more present-oriented. She also has a shield, which brings to mind the saying 'hide behind your shield' which fits [[ShrinkingViolet former personality]] pretty well. The main property of a shield is to protect, and Homura has one because she renders her existence only necessary when she has something to protect.

*** Actually, that IS what her wish was. She wished to go back and do her meeting with Madoka over again ''as someone who can protect her (Madoka)''. The [[TheWikiRule PMMM wiki]] shows her exact words to be: "to meet Madoka again, but this time as the one protecting her, not as the one being protected!"

** Very unlikely, as ''Rebellion'' movie shows Homura being incapable of killing Mami by shooting her soul gem. Oriko is a definite exception due to her clear intent on killing Madoka in almost every timeline she appears.

* The four most active magical girls (Mami, Sayaka, Kyoko and Homura) follow a FourElementEnsemble pattern to reflect their powers and personalities. It's also reflects how they met their demise or defeat. Meanwhile, Madoka does not fit in the the main four elements, but her unique element symbolizes how she ultimately won the game that the other girls lost. Their colors also match up with the colors associated with their elements in astrology.

* ''LightNovel/FateZero'' references. It is obvious due to Creator/GenUrobuchi is the script-writer of this series (and author of ''LightNovel/FateZero'') and there are indirect references with some of the characters and abilities. (For example, with exception of her AlwaysSaveTheGirl trope Homura Akemi is [[{{Expy}} THE Kiritsugu Emiya]] of the story.) The timing is perfect for this anime to begin as the ''LightNovel/FateZero'' anime is still in the works; this is maybe considered a very indirect and distant preview despite ''LightNovel/FateZero'' is worked on by a different studio.

*** Taking a page from ''LightNovel/FateZero'' and ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'': "World peace" can be achieved by ''killing everyone'', as Clavicus and the Holy Grail point out. In fact, as almost all magical girls aren't cosmic-tier powerful like Madoka, making their "wish power" far weaker, this would be the only way that "world peace" can be created within normal ''Madoka'' rules. Also, there's the whole emotional EquivalentExchange thing: a wish like that has to have a corresponding curse, after all. This fiasco may have happened on another planet, thereby robbing the Incubators of perfectly good cattle, so they might actively discourage these kinds of wishes.

* Kirsten/H.N. Elly has an Internet theme, with "H.N." standing for "Handle Name" (in other words, an online username), official materials describing her as a {{Hikikomori}} (implying she spends a lot of time on the internet), and her barrier having a lot of computer or TV screens in it. She is also the only known witch to have spread her witch kiss to a large number of people. This ability may be related to her motif: it's easier to reach a lot of people at once over the Internet.

*** Given her dirndl dress, the plume on her hat, her encrusted flintlock rifles, and the show's heavy use of German references, Mami's character could be inspired by Der Freischütz, a German opera about a hunter who sold his soul to the Devil in exchange for magic bullets that never miss their mark.

*** Given her dirndl dress, the plume on her hat, her encrusted flintlock rifles, and the show's heavy use of German references, Mami's character could be inspired by DerFreischuetz, a German opera about a hunter who sold his soul to the Devil in exchange for magic bullets that never miss their mark.

*** Given her dirndl dress, the plume on her hat, her encrusted flintlock rifles, and the show's heavy use of German references, Mami's character could be inspired by DerFreischutz, a German opera about a hunter who sold his soul to the Devil in exchange for magic bullets that never miss their mark.

*** Given her dirndl dress, the plume on her hat, her encrusted flintlock rifles, and the show's heavy use of German references, Mami's character could be inspired by DerFreischütz, a German opera about a hunter who sold his soul to the Devil in exchange for magic bullets that never miss their mark.

** The meramid's and Sayaka's motivations for making their prospective DealWithTheDevil are also inverted. In Anderson's tale, the meramid became human for the prince to fall in love with her in order for her to gain a soul so she could attain eternal salvation in Heaven since mermaids are soulless and undergo CessationOfExistence when they die. Sayaka became a MagicalGirl and later, a mermaid witch, giving up her soul (though she was unaware of this at the time)in order for her to attain Kyosouke's love.

* Kirsten/H.N. Elly has an Internet theme, with "H.N." standing for "Handle Name" (in other words, an online username), official materials describing her as a {{Hikikomori}} (implying she spends a lot of time on the internet), and her barrier having a lot of computer or TV screens in it. She is also the only known witch to have spread her witch kiss to a large number of people. Her ability to do this may be related to her motif: it's easier to reach a lot of people at once over the Internet.

* Kirsten/H.N. Elly has an Internet theme, with "H.N." standing for "Handle Name" (in other words, an online username) and her barrier having a lot of computer or TV screens in it. She is also the only known witch to have spread her witch kiss to a large number of people. Her ability to do this may be related to her motif: it's easier to reach a lot of people at once over the Internet.