Fanfic / As N Approaches Infinity

As N Approaches Infinity is a fan fiction story available on fanfiction.net and AO3 by Corisanna. It is a Bleach and Puella Magi Madoka Magica crossover. It hasn't updated since March 2021.

Despairing as yet another timeline goes horribly wrong, Homura wanders into Karakura. There she discovers that while the spiritually-aware people of Karakura were distracted by Ichigo Kurosaki and Xcution, Kyubey contracted the Kurosaki sisters as magical girls. Drawing the attention of the Shinigami could be just the advantage Homura needs.

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Tropes include:

• Acid-Trip Dimension: Witches' labyrinths are unique nightmare dimensions that expose the jumbled insanity of a magical-girl-turned-Witch.
• Adaptational Species Change: Very downplayed example, but in Madoka Magica, the Incubator is explicitly an extraterrestrial entity from an unknown planet contracting sentient lifeforms throughout the universe. Here, it is adapted into the cosmology of Bleach and thus is a spirit from an unknown dimension when it first reveals itself to Yuzu and Karin, who have more knowledge of the spirit world than most girls it contracts. Homura mentally lampshades this as it being another example of the Incubator's Exact Words, since technically speaking, a spiritual race from another dimension is still an alien.
• Adults Are Useless: Played with. Adults with no knowledge of the spirit world are of no help and are all Homura knows. She has to learn that the Shinigami adults avert this trope; her usual stab at a plausible cover story fails because these authority figures are actually willing and able to dig deeper.
  • Junko Kaname averts this trope as well. Despite having no spiritual powers her knowledge of social maneuvering from her work in a corporation allows her to keep pace with Urahara's schemes and she is able to easily manage all the mentally damaged magical girls. Indeed, Homura is kicking herself for never approaching the woman in an earlier timeline.
  • Detective Misako Ishijima likewise subverts this. She has been investigating magical girl activities for years but because no one ever believed her it all seemed to be in vain until she is approached by Junko and Tomohisa Kaname who want to bring her research to Urahara. Even the incubator considers the exposure of Ishijima's research to the right people to be a great enough risk that it considers killing her.
• Advantage Ball: Juggled between Urahara and Homura during the scuffle when Urahara discovers her time-stop power.
• Alternate Continuity: A downplayed one on the Bleach side of things, the author has confirmed that the Thousand-Year Blood War arc has not happened in this story, nor will the events ever be adapted. The fic, and thus, the events of main PMMM canon, begins a few months after the Xcution arc. That being said however, elements that were introduced in the Blood War arc do still exist and are brought up whenever necessary, such as the Gemischt/Echt Quincy bloodline and Ichigo knowing of the events of the Everything but the Rain flashback.
• Alternate Personality Punishment: Homura tends to get irrationally short-tempered and angry around Nagisa Momoe, the magical girl who usually turns into the Witch that kills Mami. While Homura doesn't believe in blaming girls for what their Witches do, she finds it difficult to keep her temper in check around a constant reminder of her onetime-mentor's death, especially when she learns that Momoe's wish was incredibly short-sighted.
• And Then John Was a Zombie: Karin turns into a Witch out of despair from Yuzu's death. It's subsequently discovered that Orihime has the unique ability to reverse the process, but unfortunately Karin fully remembers the entire thing, and remains suicidally depressed. In the next timeline, Kyoko goes through a similar ordeal, and while she handles it much better, she's still very obviously horrified.
• Animal Espionage: Yoruichi accompanies Homura back to Mitakihara in her cat form, posing as the girl's unassuming pet while investigating the Incubator's schemes and brainstorming ideas with Homura. They concoct a story about how some cats are supernaturally sensitive, allowing Yoruichi to fight the Invisible to Normals Incubator if necessary.
• Anyone Can Die: One of the pillars of Madoka Magica canon extended to include the Bleach cast. The first story arc ends with most of the casts of both series dead.
• Armor-Piercing Response: Homura and Yoruichi get into a discussion about her unhealthy single-minded drive to save Madoka, with the former insisting that after so much fighting, she no longer views herself as a child, but rather a soldier. Yoruichi gently points out that "a child soldier is still a child, you know".
• Ascended Fridge Horror: The exploration of Witch labyrinths as deeply personal nightmare worlds with protagonist intrusion as an invasion of privacy and source of despair for those who understand the significance of the symbolic motifs within them. The people navigating Karin's labyrinth immediately recognize the symbolism going on, and are clearly uncomfortable with viewing the innermost thoughts of someone they know.
• Awful Truth: Magical Girls (and everyone else) are generally horrified when they discover the implications of the contract they were tricked into.
  • To a lesser, but no less devastating extant, is the truth that Homura will likely have to travel back in time in the second timeline, because there are simply too many factors for Urahara to fully study and understand within only 6 weeks.
  • Chapter 77 hints that Incubator has a "master" having influence over it, meaning that there might be another being who is truly responsible for the conflict of the story.
• Big Damn Heroes: Homura get one in Chapter 77 when she arrives with Mami and Tōshirō and saves Tessai, Tomohisa, Junko, and Detective Ishijima with her Time Stop, just as the Dawn of Hyades descends on Asunaro.
• Black Comedy: After Sayaka calls out her mother in Chapter 71, we get this bit.
  Homura, Hitsugaya, and Urahara's faces were carefully neutral, eyes tactfully averted in a facsimile of respect for her privacy even though they heard every word. Madoka looked like she would cry. Mrs. Kaname looked worried. Mami was too busy crying into Mrs. Kaname to notice anything. Kyōko's body was too dead to express an opinion.
• Body Horror: What Karin feels when she remembers her skeletal Witch form had her twin's corpse tied up inside its rib cage. She is traumatized and starts unconsciously scratching at her ribs and becomes deeply uncomfortable in her own body.
• Break the Badass: Happens to Ichigo in Chapter 81. In an effort to break the extreme spiritual feedback loop between Homura and Madoka he pushes some of his own spiritual power into the middle and inadvertently witnesses Homura's memory of her destroying Madoka's Soul Gem in a previous timeline, as well promising her to save her from from the Incubator. He begins crying without even knowing it, goes into a state of paranoia over Homura's safety, and can't even stand the lights being on due to it being similar to the muzzle flash from the memory he saw.
• Break the Cutie: Another pillar of Puella Magi Madoka Magica canon.
  • Homura has a breakdown in the first story arc due to all the death she's seen.
  • Karin is Driven to Suicide by her sister's death and memories of being a Witch in the first story arc.
• Breather Episode:
  • Chapters 59-64 form something of a breather mini-arc, dealing with the fallout of the battle against Ayase Soju, with Homura being sent to Karakura to rest. There's no direct threats against the characters during this time, just them coping with the aftermath. Somewhat lampshaded by Urahara when explaining the circumstances to Homura.
  • Chapters 81-82 follow suit, this time following a feedback loop between Homura and Madoka.
• Brutal Honesty: Homura says she prefers it, and she practices what she preaches.
• Butterfly of Death and Rebirth: Bleach's Hell Butterflies, which also appear when a shinigami purifies a Witch and turns it back into a normal soul to cross over.
• Call-Back: In the first story arc, Ichigo gives Homura some words of wisdom "is that a realistic thing to expect of yourself?" In the second story arc/timeline, when an Ichigo who doesn't know her is upset, Homura awkwardly repeats what his future self said to her as she starts to really get the significance of the words.
• Calling the Old Man Out: Sayaka to her parents in Chapter 71 after finally having had enough of their neglect and them insulting Homura and Mami for being orphans.
• Cassandra Truth: Homura has a history of not being believed by the other Mitakihara magical girls. Homura also briefly reflects on an early timeline in which she went to the police and spent the rest of that cycle as a "mentally ill runaway" dodging cops and social workers on top of the magical girl mess.
• Cataclysm Climax: The end of the first story arc. Almost every soul in Karakura – including Shinigami – are sacrificed by the Incubator to create a King's Key to break into the King's Realm.
• Cessation of Existence: What happens if a magical girl's Soul Gem is destroyed.
• Child Soldier: Homura calls herself this, much to the concern of Yoruichi.
• Cigarette of Anxiety: Akon itches for smokes when he's in stressful situations and smokes several cigs to get up his nerve to tell Captain Ukitake he may have gotten his subordinates killed.
• Combat Pragmatist: Homura is this in spades when cornered. When Urahara grabs her as she initiates a Time Stop and figures out her secret power, she pulls dirty tricks trying to get away. She deliberately allows her arm to be caught by Urahara's free hand by taking a swing at him, specifically so he wouldn't have a hand to block the taser she concealed in her hand. When the taser doesn't work, she uses a moment of distraction to kick and dislocate his knee. When that doesn't work, she goes for a groin shot. When that doesn't work and Urahara manages to end the timestop by removing Homura's shield, she pulls a Wounded Gazelle Gambit by suddenly asking if he plans to experiment on her, which prompts Ichigo and Isshin to jump to her defense.
• Connected All Along: Bethany, the girl who would become Elsa Maria, was one of the girls in Kazamino that Kyoko clashed with.
• Continuity Nod:
  • The author uses bolded letters to form hidden messages to mimic the PMMM motif of coded messages hidden in scenes by using runic script.
  • Chapters featuring Witch or Familiar battles have "Witch Data" entries before the author's notes at the end. The blurbs are constructed like the PMMM franchise Witch Cards.
  • Nut & nutcracker mentions and instances of Homura closing her mouth so quickly her teeth click are a nod to the Rebellion canon of Homura's Witch form being Homulilly, the Nutcracker Witch.
  • Homura's line "That won't be necessary" shows up several times.
  • Karin's labyrinth has many.
    • The lotus pictures in Hitsugaya's shrine room allude to his bankai being named Daiguren Hyorinmaru— "Daiguren" meaning "grand crimson lotus"; the dragon art refers to his zanpakuto.
    • Masaki's shrine room has art portraying her as the goddess Artemis wielding a bow. This and the bows and arrows in the room allude to her having been a Quincy.
    • In the same room, a painting of Masaki has her wearing daffodils in her hair and holding sunflowers in a room filled with sunlight. Daffodils are the theme flower for Tenth Division, of which her husband Isshin was once captain. Sunflowers allude to her having been described as the sun the Kurosaki family revolved around before her death.
    • The portrayal of Masaki balancing on scales holding black and white sand and being steadied by a shadowy figure alludes to her soul being held in balance by Isshin's power so she wouldn't Hollowfy.
    • As with the earlier room, the shrine to Ichigo has bows and quivers to refer to his Quincy heritage, as well as swords to refer to his shinigami heritage.
    • Ichigo's shrine also contains a crown on a pedestal and a hobbyhorse lying behind it. This alludes to Ichigo's Hollow and his king-and-horse analogy for their relationship.
  • Shaft Head Tilts aren't as obvious in text as in animation but they're present.
    • Horror variant: Urahara looking back at Homura when he realizes just how badly they've underestimated the enemy at the end of the first story arc.
    • Cute variant: Sayaka tilting her head back and looking at Homura sideways when surprised by a joke from the serious girl.
  • The second story arc opens with Madoka having a dream that mirrors her canonical dream in the beginning of the anime, with the added ending of her different death in the previous timeline. Much of the rest of the chapter is a re-creation of the anime's depiction of a typical morning in the Kaname household.
  • In the second story arc, Homura deliberately tries to re-create her canonical first meeting with Madoka. It's deliberately stilted and forced, like reciting rehearsed lines of dialogue from the anime.
• Cover-Blowing Superpower: The powers and abilities of Homura's shinigami allies in the second timeline would inherently give away to the Incubator who they are and what they are capable of, and has been one of their main challenges to keep secret. While they've successfully passed themselves off as mere humans with spiritual powers, there's only so many allies they can bring in before the Incubator would realize that the shinigami are involved.
• Crazy-Prepared: Homura has a wide variety of Hidden Supplies in her Hammerspace weapon.
• Cuteness Proximity: Madoka and cats.
• Death by Adaptation: Homura's parents, who passed away years before she became a magical girl. Then again, their canon status is unknown.
• Deconstruction Crossover: The story takes this route with both series.
  • Invisible to Normals is something of a staple in both series, but it is more pronounced in Mitakihara because the residents, unlike those of Karakura Town, do not have as much reiatsu. In addition, while the locals of Mitakihara are not completely aware of Witches and Magical Girls, enough sightings have been reported to not be just written off as coincidence, and suspicions about something more sinister have become more apparent in the townsfolk.
  • Urahara's entire character gets hit with this during the second arc. Him being an Anti-Hero? It makes Homura wary of him. Bunny-Ears Lawyer he is...which thoroughly annoys Homura to no end, as while she knows that Kisuke is intelligent, him behaving in more comical manners infuriates her. Him being Crazy-Prepared in canon concerning Aizen's plans made sense because he had over a century to thoroughly study the problem. The Incubator's plans involve even more scientific complexity regarding the Magical Girls, and as an Outside-Context Problem that Urahara didn't even know about, unlike Yhwach (whom Urahara had basic knowledge of), he needs just as much time to study it, which he can't do in the six weeks allotted before Homura can turn back time. This causes him to be put off-guard when Ayase Soju shows up, as he's still in the process of learning about the whole situation and didn't anticipate a rogue magical girl antagonizing them. Him being a Mysterious Backer only adds to Homura's reasons of not fully trusting him, when he can't afford to lose her trust at all. His Sink or Swim Mentor tactics, as lampshaded by Benihime herself, are not going to work for Homura like they did with Ichigo. Overall, the situation is one that Urahara has to adjust to; his tactics may have worked in Bleach canon, but for PMMM canon, he is out of his depth.
  • Kurostuchi's Token Evil Teammate status receives this. While he was always considered a Bunny-Ears Lawyer in canon, even with an increase of viciousness in the final arc, it is exactly those traits that force the protagonists to take more secretive steps with unraveling the Magicial Girl situation, as it is feared that he might experiment on the Magical Girls For Science! instead of actually helping them. His being considered inferior to Urahara is also revealed to have consequences: While Urahara is more gentle and precise with studying Soul Gems, going back over and creating a new basis of knowledge to understand their workings, Mayuri's more forceful methods cause him to break several Soul Gems, sending the 12th Division into a frenzy and causing more problems in the laboratory.
  • Something on a bit of a meta-level, but Bleach, being a Shōnen series, tends to have a somewhat disproportionate male-to-female ratio, with most of the Shinigami, Arrancar, and Quincy alike being male, and The Smurfette Principle running high. With the addition of the Incubator into the setting however, it is heavily implied that the reason for this skewed ratio is because the more powerful female souls are sought out and turned into Witches before they can enter Soul Society or turn into Hollows in Hueco Mundo, while several Quincy girls made contracts with the Incubator prior to the Quincy genocide.
• Dem Bones: Witch Alexandria is a gigantic tyrannosaurs skeleton. It also has wings and looks like a dragon.
• Despair Event Horizon: Part and parcel for a PMMM fic.
  • Karin in the first story arc when Yuzu is killed.
  • Ichigo in the first story arc when he is forced to remember having been enchanted to commit suicide by a Witch during the time he had no powers to defend himself with.
• Door Stopper: Currently approaching 400 thousand words.
• The Empath: At least one aspect of Madoka's abilities without contracting with the Incubator. She is as powerful an empath as Ichigo is a Shinigami.
• Everybody Knew Already: The Kurosaki siblings plan to pull this on Isshin whenever he gets around to confessing his origins to the girls.
• Exact Words:
  • In the Kurosaki sisters' flashback, Karin sarcastically asks, "Is there anything else you want to tell us?" and Kyubey conveniently says no— there's more to tell, but it might jeopardize its plans and Karin's slang question centered on what it WANTED to tell.
  • Similarly, Kyubey states to the twins that it comes from a higher spiritual dimension. Homura muses that, assuming it's being truthful, this might not contradict its earlier claims of being an alien; it's still from another world in a sense, and she'd always just assumed it meant extraterrestrial. Until she learned of the shinigami, she wouldn't have realized there's a difference.
• Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: Urahara when explaining the Hogyoku to Homura.
• Fake Danger Gambit: Downplayed; to get Madoka and Sayaka to be more inclined to listen to Homura, Yoruichi has Homura engineer a situation where the girls witness her fighting with a Familiar. This way, Homura takes the role of introducing them to the magical girl system and properly warn them of all the dangers, before the Incubator can get its hooks into them. Homura is initially uncomfortable about it, well aware that the scheme is very manipulative, but ultimately carries it out perfectly.
• Fantastic Science: Urahara and other shinigami analyze spiritual energy, techniques, and beings in scientific terms.
• Fauxshadow: It looks like the first timeline will end with the forewarned shinigami lieutenants and Kazumi's magical girl team fighting Walpurgisnacht in Mitakihara. So it's a surprise when Walpurgisnacht drops on an unprepared Karakura instead.
• Foil:
  • Homura and Urahara. Both of them are highly strategic individuals and effectively the co-leaders for the resistance against the incubator. Both have a penchant for lying to others and playing their cards close to the chest. They are also both significantly less morally scrupulous than their allies or the ones they are trying to protect, which strains their relationships with them. Urahara, however, at least tries to be approachable and sociable by putting on a facade of eccentricity and childishness, while Homura puts potential allies on edge with her aloofness and Troubling Unchildlike Behavior.
  • Homura and Tōshirō. Both of them are stoic no-nonsense veteran combatants who are far more mature than their physical appearances would suggest. Both are physically children but — due their unique conditions — are considerably older than they appear to be. However, Tōshirō retains a sense of honour and a desire to do things "the right way" whereas Homura has far, far fewer scruples about how she conducts her duties.
  • Homura and Ichigo. Both of them are prodigious fighters who are fiercely protective of their loved ones and will let absolutely nothing keep them from fighting for what they have sworn to protect. Ichigo however, is far more open around people while Homura keeps herself closed off. Homura is far more wary of Urahara's schemes and machinations whereas Ichigo simply defers to his greater experience and knowledge.
  • Urahara and the Incubator. Both put up a facade that would make them far more likeable and approachable to people, particularly young children. Underneath their respective facades both conceal a far more calculating and logical side that is constantly working on long-raging schemes and manipulations. But ultimately whereas the Incubator is emotionless and doesn't care for who gets hurt in the path to achieving its goals, Urahara genuinely cares about people and works to make sure he doesn't get too detached from them.
  • The Incubator and Aizen. Though Aizen has yet to make an appearance in the story, many characters have drawn parallels between their methods and goals. Neither of them have any qualms about who gets hurt as they work to achieve their goals and they are both detached from other people. Aizen however, is known for being a Consummate Liar whereas the Incubator — while far from honest — avoids telling an outright untruth.
  • Homura and Aizen. Ichigo brings up Aizen — whose immense power and intelligence led him to isolating himself from the people around him — to caution Homura — who is also considerably powerful and intelligent — against pushing away the people who want to help her. Indeed both individuals lie to and use others for their own ends, while also being less morally scrupulous than people would generally be comfortable with. They both also have difficulty admitting when they are wrong and tend to assume they always know what is best for everyone. Both are also incredibly controlled in their emotions for the most part and have difficulty understanding other people. Ultimately though, Aizen was a megalomaniac who — in his isolation and hubris — couldn't accept a world where he wasn't in charge, while Homura has major self-esteem issues and only wants to save the people she cares for.
• Foreshadowing: Karin vaguely mentions the concept of the King's Key to Kyubey in a flashback. Many chapters later, Kyubey uses the method she outlined to create a King's Key.
• For Want Of A Nail: A derailment of the PMMM plot kicks off the story, when Madoka is killed by the Mermaid Witch. Disheartened by yet another failed timeline, Homura hops on a random train to avoid dwelling on bad memories for a little while, ultimately ending up in Karakura.
• Fond Memories That Could Have Been: Featured in Witch Alexandria/ Karin's labyrinth, as an art gallery about what she wanted to do when she grows up.
• From Bad to Worse:
  • The first arc is a cascading series of disasters: All the Mitakihara magical girls except Homura die. Homura wanders into Karakura and stumbles into allying with Karin and Yuzu. Then Yuzu's Soul Gem is destroyed, Karin turns into a Witch, Karin is miraculously restored to normal, Karin destroys her own Soul Gem over her memories of being a Witch, Walpurgisnacht surprises everyone and attacks Karakura instead of Mitakihara, the Incubator turns Walpurgisnacht into a Hogyoku then uses it to kill most of the Bleach cast and create a King's Key. Captain Commander Yamamoto then uses his Bankai to stop the Incubator from breaking into the Soul King's Realm, burning all of Karakura in the process.
• The Gadfly /Troll: Urahara.
• Genghis Gambit: Urahara goes out of his way to deliver certain bits of exposition in harsh and unpleasant ways, and doesn't really bother to keep his manipulative tendencies in check; he figures that everyone having a shared dislike of him would foster a sense of unity in the group, and the more friendly people can smooth over any other infighting. As time goes on, numerous characters call out his attitude as foolish and counter-productive; magical girls have already suffered enough manipulations from the Incubator, and adding onto their trust issues means they probably won't listen even when he's trying to be honest and delicate. In a moment of introspection, Urahara himself wonders if he's ultimately doing it out of a case of Complexity Addiction.
• Good Thing You Can Heal: Magical girls can easily heal themselves given a bit of time, and do so far more instinctively than shinigami. Homura is hit with a number of fatal wounds at one point, including a bit of her brain leaking out, and still keeps on fighting until she's forced to retreat. While she only avoids death thanks to Orihime's healing, Toshiro notes that she had to survive injuries that would've killed a shinigami several times over just to make it that far.
• Gratuitous German: The chapter titles are all numbered in German.
• "Groundhog Day" Loop: Over six weeks instead of one day; Homura mentions that she stopped counting exactly how many cycles she's been through somewhere in the forties, and that was a long while ago. It's made clear that this is particularly hard on her, as the loop only exists because she keeps deliberately hitting the Reset Button.
• Harmful to Minors: The Bleach cast is generally horrified by the circumstances Homura has had to live through. They are very conscious that she is only fourteen and very damaged.
• The Heartless: Witches and Hollows. It's speculated that the former are even a specific type of the latter.
• Hell Is That Noise: Witch Isidora and Witch Marcia.
• Heroic BSoD:
  • Karin when she is finally convinced that Yuzu's soul was destroyed.
  • Ichigo has one in Witch Isidora's labyrinth when he remembers the time he was ensnared by her and realizes he's likely the reason his sisters contracted. Immediately followed by a Freak Out.
• Hero-Worshipper: Sayaka eventually begins looking up to Homura, trying very hard to be helpful to her and briefly emulating Homura's mannerisms when dealing with her own parental situation. Though she's quite willing to call out Homura's more callous moments, Sayaka is more concerned that Homura's Cruel to Be Kind attitude is unhealthy, and has little trouble grasping that Homura ultimately has good intentions. While Homura had gone out of her way to get off on the right foot with Sayaka, she's rather baffled that it's gone this far, given that in previous timelines, her relationship with Sayaka was extremely rocky at best.
• Hidden Depths:
  • Without contracting and being introduced to the Magicial Girl system more subtly and truthfully, Sayaka turns out to be quite sharp, according to Hitsugaya, being generally more emotionally insightful once her usual bluster blows over. Of course, it helps that without contracting, her sanity is mostly intact.
  • Kyōko is at first assumed from the profile given by Homura to be a simple Big Eater Blood Knight by Urahara. Her perception of the Incubator's system however, is quite philosophical, much to his surprise, and legitimately makes him wonder if the Incubator's endless supply of bodies truly is endless.
• Hope Spot:
  • In the first timeline, Homura develops hope for new tactics and allies in the Kurosaki sisters. Then they end up dead and the Incubator initiates an apocalypse. While Homura soon resets the timeline again, she's painfully aware that now there's far more to consider in her mission.
  • Karin is successfully returned to her magical girl state after having been a Witch. Then she kills herself over her memories of having been a Witch.
  • Chapter 35 in nutshell, just when it looks as though Walpurgisnacht has been defeated, the Incubator shows up and utterly destroys the Thirteen Court Guard Squads.
• How Did You Get It?: Most people who see Homura casually pull machine guns and grenades out of her shield freak out over a fourteen-year-old possessing serious ordnance; she tends to brush off the reactions with a dismissive "that is not important."
• I Hate Past Me: After learning of the whole time mess, Sayaka bitters muses that the past iterations of herself must've been incredibly stupid to keep on not listening to Homura and then dying or Witching out, over and over again. She also realizes that her teasing nickname for Homura, "Stranger Danger", is probably Innocently Insensitive as well.
• In Spite of a Nail: As of Timeline X + N + 1, the plot of Kazumi Magica is occurring mostly as it does in canon, only slightly slower due to the Incubator sending Soju to Mitakihara. As of Chapter 77, the Dawn of Hyades descends upon Asunaro.
• I Was Just Joking: After learning about Homura's Time Stands Still ability in the first timeline, Karin glumly mutters that it'd be great if she could just outright go back in time and prevent Yuzu's death. Homura awkwardly looks away and goes silent at that, causing everyone present to realize that she can actually do it.
• I See Dead People: Homura is surprised to find that she can see spirits in Karakura; it's explained that the Mitakihara region is low on spiritual energy, so this situation wouldn't arise up there. Mami also once encountered a ghost on a vacation before her parents died, but assumed she just imagined it. More surprisingly, Madoka's father Tomohisa is just spiritually aware enough to see ghosts; he and Junko moved to Mitakihara in the first place so their kids could have a normal childhood.
• It's Always Spring: Homura ruminates at one point that thanks to the time loops, she's spent at least several years in a nonstop spring, and the concept of actually experiencing summer or winter again is starting to feel way too abstract.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall:
  • Renji breaks the ice with Kazumi's group by comparing the situation to the cliffhanger Big Reveal end of an anime episode, complete with dramatic sunset.
  • Orihime says the men should look away from Homura while she transforms because she presumes magical girl transformations involve sparkly nudity like in anime.
  • Various characters are skeptical of the magical girls' claims because it sounds too much like an anime.
  • Urahara has Homura, Karin, and Yuzu draw Kyubey. Tessai looks at the drawings and says, "It looks like a magical girl anime mascot."
• Leonine Contract:
  • Canonically, Homura's hand was forced. If she didn't contract, her best friend would be dead.
  • Karin and Yuzu are told they would be the only magical girls in Karakura if they contract, then their defenseless brother is attacked by a Witch and the smartest shinigami they know doesn't detect the Witch nearby. Therefore, they would be the only people capable of defending their brother. If they didn't contract, he'd be in constant danger.
  • This almost happens to Sayaka in Chapter 70, after Kyōko is turned into a Witch and Mami and Tōshirō are pulled into her labyrinth. The Incubator points out that Mami has just learned the Awful Truth about Magical girls' fates by witnessing her own former partner become a Witch, and is likely to fall into despair herself, leaving Tōshirō to fight two powerful Witches alone. It tries to use this to push Sayaka into contracting so she can save Tōshirō. Luckily, Homura shows up before the Incubator could force her hand.
• Little Miss Snarker: Karin's dialogue is often very snarky.
• Living Lie Detector: Isshin for his kids; former spymasters Urahara and Yoruichi when questioning Homura.
• Loose Lips: Karin really shouldn't have told Kyubey why a megalomaniacal shinigami would want to conquer Karakura. But Ichigo really shouldn't have told her about that in the first place. And, as he points out, someone probably should have told him it was supposed to be a secret at all.
• Luminescent Blush: Jinta on seeing Yuzu in her magical girl costume, and Jinta around Yuzu in general.
• Magic by Any Other Name: Shinigami reiatsu and magical girl magic are at the least very similar. Homura occasionally trips over which word to use while pondering the latest revelations.
• Making a Splash: Sayaka starts learning how to use magic without contracting, which manifests as water appearing out of nowhere. Homura isn't really surprised, given that Sayaka's Witch form is a mermaid, but Toshiro insists that such advanced and unconscious control over moisture is actually very concerning.
• The Man Behind the Man: Chapter 77 has the Incubator reference a "master" that can influence it. Meaning that the Incubator may not be the main antagonist.
• Manipulative Bastard: Kyubey as usual but chapter 48 really turns it up a few notches, and then again rather viciously in chapter 52.
• Meaningful Echo: In chapter 21, when Ichigo realizes Homura is blaming herself for failing to save her friends, he asks her "But is that a realistic thing to expect of yourself?" In chapter 38, Homura turns the question back on the next timeline's Ichigo when he's blaming himself for failing to protect his sisters while he was depowered.
• Meaningful Name:
  • OC Bethany Michaels: Bethany for the town mentioned in the Gospels; Michaels for the angel Michael. Implied to be Witch Elsa Maria, who took a prayer posture in a cathedral labyrinth.
  • OC Saki Yamaha: see Shout-Out
  • OC Noriko Chiasa, implied to be Patricia, the Class Representative Witch who is perched in a blue sky. Noriko = "rule/precedent/ceremony child" and Chiasa = "one thousand mornings"
  • Yunichiya Textiles: named for Unitika (Yunichika Kabushiki-gaisha ) Unitika, chosen because of the Witch's cotton ball minions.
• Mental World: The mindscapes Shinigami share with their zanpakuto spirits. So far, only Ichigo's and Urahara's have been shown in-story.
• Mercy Kill / I Did What I Had to Do: Invoked by characters fighting and defeating Witches, as they're miserable and dangerous creatures with apparently no way to return to their original selves.
  • Homura in particular is quite experienced at making the call to "put her out of her misery". Several shinigami note that it usually takes years or decades to get so coldly rational about this, which raises uncomfortable questions about Homura's mental state.
• Mr. Exposition: Homura, Karin, Urahara, and Kyubey take turns explaining things.
• My God, You Are Serious!:
  • People are generally taken aback when Homura proves she really does have stolen mundane weaponry stashed in her shield.
  • Many people when Homura proves she's a time-traveler and that magical girls exist.
• Mythology Gag:
  • "Mami mogu mogu" is embedded in a scene in Charlotte's labyrinth. It is a joke about Mami's canon fate of being decapitated and eaten by a Witch.
  • Yuzu's mention of hating the gates of Hell is a nod to her kidnapping in the Non-Serial Movie Bleach: Hell Verse.
  • There are jokes about Rukia's canonically terrible drawing skills before she shows up in the story.
• Named by the Adaptation: The news stories in the early part of the fic describe missing or dead girls who are implied to correspond with the Witches from Madoka canon, whose human names are canonically unknown.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
  • Ichigo triggering a trap in Karin's labyrinth.
  • The Shinigami defeating Walpurgisnacht at the end of the story's first timeline would normally be a good thing... except that doing so allows the Incubator to quickly create a King's Key. And as revealed later, that situation only came about due to Karin's Loose Lips.
• The Nicknamer: Ichigo call Homura Stopwatch. While Sayaka calls Yoruichi Midnight the Conqueror and Homura Stranger Danger.
• Not Himself: Anyone subject to a Witch's Kiss is Driven to Suicide.
• Not in Front of the Kid: Kyōko finds herself having to tone down her swearing in front of Tatsuya, who starts picking up her bad language.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
  • When Karin starts calling Isshin "Dad" instead of "Goat-Face" he instantly knows that something is very wrong. The first time, she's been driven to the Despair Event Horizon; after the timeline reset, it's because she's preparing herself to spill the entire magical girl situation.
  • When Isshin greets Ichigo normally instead of obnoxiously, Ichigo immediately knows that something's gone wrong.
  • The argument between Kyōko and the other Magical Girls in chapter 72 gets so bad that it drives Yuzu to yell at them. Everyone is left in Stunned Silence.
• Outliving One's Offspring: Isshin is devastated by his daughters' deaths in the story's first timeline.
• Outside-Context Problem: The Incubator is this for the cast and world of Bleach in many regards; whilst adapted to fit into the setting of Bleach as a spirit from another dimension (its origins as an extraterrestrial creature being a misinterpretation from its usual Exact Words), much of the direct plot stems just from figuring out how it and its Contract system works using the spiritual-and-science system of Bleach to match it. While it is noted to be a spirit of some sort thanks to Tomohisa, it simply does not act like any Shinigami, Hollow, Fullbringer, or Quincy type of spirit, having no reiatsu to sense whatsoever and the contracted Magical Girls' abilities matching mixed aspects of all four spirit types. And of course, with a near endless supply of bodies that can be created from ambient reishi, destroying the Incubator permanently is an uphill battle.
• Papa Wolf: Isshin towards Karin and Yuzu of course, but Homura gets added in as well later on. Madoka's father Tomohisa is a subdued, but still present version when he learns about the Incubator and discovers that it targeted Madoka.
• Paranormal Investigation: Urahara does research on ghost hunter forums. They have some interesting observations and ideas...
• Parents as People: According to Homura, despite their treatment of her Sayaka's parents do love her but are terrible at expressing it. It's heavily implied that she's witnessed their distraught reactions whenever Sayaka dies in previous timelines.
• Parental Neglect: Sayaka's parents tend to act distantly, and seem to only bother to put up a good family image for people from work. It eventually causes their daughter to run away.
• Parental Substitute:
  • Isshin towards Homura, he even refers to her as his third honorary daughter at one point and has all but officially adopted her as of Timeline X+N+1.
  • Junko towards Mami and Kyōko, and also to Sayaka after she runs away from her parents.
• Police Are Useless: Played with. Homura mentions police being the opposite of helpful in a timeline in which she went to them about the magical girl plight. But once there is concrete evidence of something shady happening, the police quickly start linking preexisting suspicious incidents together. Averted with Detective Misako Ishijima, who has been investigating magical girls for years in Kazumi Magica canon and just needed someone to believe her.
• Power Incontinence: Both Madoka and Sayaka suffer from this after Isshin teaches them how to unlock their natural powers, but events leave him with no opportunity to give them lessons on how to control them. Sayaka just makes her surroundings very wet whenever she gets upset, but Madoka's lack of control over her empathic abilities causes her to occasionally create emotional feedback loops by abosrbing strong emotions from someone nearby and broadcasting them back out, causing the original emotion to get stronger and then absorbing the newly-strengthened emotion and broadcasting that, ad infinium until someone outside the loop knocks her out. After a particularly bad episode with Homura's guilt and regret, Urahara ties one of Kenpachi's eyepatches to Madoka's hand to seal her powers.
• Quirky Household: The Kurosaki family's antics take some getting used to for Homura.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Pretty much all the adults and Shinigami who are brought in on the issue of Magical Girls and the Incubator are very reasonable and understanding.
  • Of course, there are figures such as Soi-Fon and Kurotsuchi who are far less sympathetic to the girls. Soi-Fon's attitude is that of a hardliner preferring interrogation instead of "coddling" as she puts it, while Kurotsuchi just wants to experiment on the Magical Girls.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
  • Junko Kaname delivers a rather glorious one to Sayaka's parents about how their overbearing treatment of her is what caused her run away.
  • Junko also tears into Urahara for his manipulations of the already mentally-damaged magical girls.
• Refusal of the Call: When Uryu does research into the possibility of Quincy girls being contracted, Ryuuken notes when Uryu was born, his wife Kanae confessed that she had been approached the Incubator when she was young, and that she had considered making a contract, but ultimately refused and that she was relieved that she had. At the time, Ryuuken had thought it was just delirium brought on by childbirth, but now thinks he owes her an apology.
• Reset-Button Suicide Mission: At the end of the first timeline, Urahara accepts that he and Orihime will likely die protecting Homura long enough for her to initiate her time travel.
• Running Gag:
  • People's repeated "Holy Shit!"-esque reactions to Homura's arsenal of weaponry.
  • People using annoying ringtones to signify that Isshin is calling them.
  • The Kurosaki sisters revealing they know more about Shinigami and their father than the adults think they should.
  • Ichigo not knowing how influential he is with the Shinigami.
  • "It's complicated."
  • Homura giving Sayaka sweet things to quietly play along with the joking nickname Stranger Danger.
• Sanity Slippage: Karin's descent into despair and madness following Yuzu's death.
• Separate Scene Storytelling: When Karin and Yuzu tell the story of how they became magical girls to Homura, it is shown in flashback instead of verbally narrated. Since their conversation is being recounted to the Urahara Shop crew via flashback on Homura's part many timelines later, it is also a Flashback Within a Flashback.
• Set Right What Once Went Wrong: The true premise of PMMM, expanded to include things that need to be fixed where the PMMM and Bleach canons intersect.
• Shared Family Quirks:
  • The Kurosakis: Ichigo and Karin are the sarcastic ones; Isshin and Yuzu are the ones that can switch from cheerful to serious and back at the drop of a hat. Karin and Isshin are also similarly loud and bombastic at times, though Karin would deny that she has anything in common with her annoying old man.
  • The Kanames: They all love cats.
• Shinigami: Courtesy of Bleach.
• Shell-Shocked Veteran: Homura usually keeps a tight lid on her emotions, but underneath it's clear that she's barely suppressing a nervous breakdown, fueled by despair at being unable to stop her friends from dying over and over again. The Kurosakis get protective towards her because of this, given that she's only 14.
• Shipper on Deck: Yuzu toward Karin and Tōshirō. (Incorrectly, per Word of God)
• Shout-Out:
  • Yuzu says Karin is the Sailor Mars to her Sailor Venus.
  • Mitakihara Municipal Police Department spokesperson Kuroe Mura is named for the mangaka of the Puella Magi Oriko Magica manga.
  • OC magical girl Yuki Yubari is named for the scrapped production concept of a twin for Gogo Yubari and uses a meteor hammer. The Witch she fights is named Beatrix, in part a reference to The Bride's real name.
  • Witch Beatrix, her Familiars, and her labyrinth were inspired by Nathaniel Hawthorn's story "Rappaccini's Daughter".
  • The green fairies, pale green sky, and burning sugar cube clouds in Beatrix's labyrinth allude to absinthe, a spirit represented in art/advertising as a green fairy. Absinthe is made with wormwood, a poisonous plant, and burning sugar cubes is part of preparing a glass.
  • Witch Isidora and her Familiars were inspired by Meru Otonashi from Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei.
  • The Pumpkin Witch, her Familiars, and labyrinth were inspired by the video for the Vocaloid song "Mrs. Pumpkin's Comical Dream" and Cinderella.
  • Two of the paranormal forum posters' screen names are fandom jokes: BakaBakenekoKyo and deathlyhallowed.
  • OC Saki Yamaha, implied to be canon Witch Kirsten, is named for Hatsune Miku. Saki Fujita is the actress whose voice is used, and Yamaha is the company that invented the base Vocaloid software. The anime shows Kirsten's magical girl form to have long pigtails and her Witch form is associated with computer screens.
  • Witch Marcia is a direct cameo/Expy of Nonon Jakuzure from Kill la Kill.
  • The phrase "ye who enter here" is hidden among the description of the final door in Cynthia's labyrinth. This is the second half of the famous inscription on the gate to Hell in Dante's Inferno. The unsaid first half is an order to "abandon all hope".
  • Reaction to Homura firing her machine gun near people's ears and mentions of tinnitus are from a running joke on Archer.
  • The door to Witch Alexandria's labyrinth is inscribed with hidden text: "my precious".
  • The description of the rooms leading up to the central chamber of Witch Alexandria's labyrinth is inscribed with hidden text "thief you have been warned beware". If you recognize the quote fragment, you should know it ends with "…of finding more than treasure there." They do.
  • As of Chapter 54, in order to further prevent the Incubator from linking Homura's ties with Karin and Yuzu, the former has dubbed herself Kikyo. To paraphrase Tōshirō: "...badass undead miko soul possessing a fake body."
• Shown Their Work:
  • The author has stated she refers to a calendar to plot out when events happen and Kubo Tite's official map sketches for Karakura's overall location and locations within Karakura itself.
  • Hotel Nikko is a real chain of hotels in Japan.
  • Fictional Mitakihara, Kazamino, and Asunaro are placed near the real-life cities of Shinchi and Soma.
  • Nagisa's mentioned hometown is an actual rural Japanese town in the same general area of Japan as Soma.
  • Koishikawa Botanical Gardens is a real place in Tokyo with a real arboretum.
  • New Witches are constructed through word/concept-association research, as explained on the author's DeviantArt account http://corisanna.deviantart.com/. This account contains collages to show "production notes" like those made for the Madoka Magica anime. Currently only has Witch Beatrix and her Familiars.
• Shrine to the Fallen: In Karin's labyrinth, a room is dedicated to her mother, with Madonna and Child imagery to hold the memory of her mother up as sacred; blurry to imply fading memories of her.
• Sibling Team: Karin and Yuzu.
• Sir Swears-a-Lot: Karin, Jinta, Ichigo's Hollow, Kyōko (until Tatsuya starts picking it up).
• Spanner in the Works: For all the firepower and tactics that Homura's new allies bring, the single biggest trump card is Orihime's ability to cleanse Soul Gems and revert Grief Seeds. Mami and Kyoko handle the Awful Truth about Witches far better mainly due to learning about this power, as a temporary escape from the Incubator's system.
• Spy Cam: Urahara has a room with several for recording interesting meetings.
• Stronger Than They Look:
  • Homura is a mere 14-year-old middle school girl but is amongst the most experienced Magical Girls in the story and Yoruichi and Kisuke both note that even with her power restrained, she is at the level of a Shinigami Lieutenant, and may be far greater unrestrained.
  • Similarly, spiritually experienced characters tend be surprised by the sheer amout of spiritual power Madoka has, comparing its power and volume to Ichigo's.
• Super-Power Meltdown: The transformations into Witches.
• Surprisingly Sudden Death: This is PMMM + Bleach. What do you expect?
• Surveillance as the Plot Demands: Urahara's aforementioned hidden cameras, plus his following and observing Homura in the first timeline.
• Survivor Guilt: Characters take turns feeling this.
• Tempting Fate:
  • Karin ponders how she would react if she ever lost Yuzu to a Witch. The answer: Poorly.
  • Yuzu wonders aloud if she and Karin are overreacting to the weirdness of their first labyrinth, trying to see it as just pretty to calm herself. They are immediately attacked.
  • Karin, after defeating her first Witch: "Being magical girls is gonna be awesome."
  • Yuzu wondering if the Pumpkin Witch uses a decoy.
• That's No Moon: Homura at the end of the the first arc, upon seeing something connected to the Hogyoku above Karakura: "Those aren't wings. That's the Incubator."
• There Is No Kill Like Overkill:
  • Homura finishes off Witch Cynthia with way more ordnance than necessary because she is so furious about Yuzu's death.
  • In the climax of the first story arc when Ichigo is forced to remember the time he was under a Witch's Kiss when he had no powers, his Hollow reacts by taking control of his body and relentlessly attacking Witch Isidora with such ferocity that she scrambles to retreat. Even when his zanpakuto purifies her and her soul takes the form of her original magical girl self, he stabs the girl in the face and chops her Soul Gem in half.
• This Is Unforgivable!: The Visored in Soul Society have this reaction after Urahara presents an Evil Nut during a briefing, as it seems similar to whatever method Aizen used to Hollowfy them. Kensei in particular is disgusted by the idea of the Incubator basically going around Hollowfying little girls.
• Too Much Alike: As multiple characters point out, this is the reason Homura and Urahara have so much trouble cooperating with each other. Both are incredibly calculating and perceptive, aiming to be in control of a situation in order to achieve benevolent goals, but this generally makes them butt heads when it comes to larger strategy. Urahara realizing this similarity doesn't really help, given his issues with self-awareness. At one point he tries to appeal to Homura using the logical arguments that he would value, failing to comprehend that like himself, Homura is fairly sentimental and emotional under the calm exterior; just trying to appeal to surface-level logic makes Homura take his apparent detachment at face value.
• Trauma Conga Line: See From Bad to Worse.
• Trauma Button:
  • The phrase "bite her head off" serves as this for Homura because it reminds her of the timelines where Mami literally had her head bitten off by the Sweets Witch. When Sayaka says this to her in the middle of scolding her for being too angry with Nagisa, Homura freezes, stares at Mami for a long moment, then walks out of Urahara's shop. Urahara and Toshiro later tell the girls to never use this phrase around Homura.
  • Kyoko is triggered by the sound of young children crying because it reminds her of her dead little sister Momo. Already on edge from the memories of her time as a Witch and Urahara refusing to let her leave his shop, listening to Tatsuya crying was enough to send her spiraling so badly it nearly triggered another transformation into a Witch.
• Trope Telegraphing:
  • Reviewers who know of PMMM's canonical strong tendencies for Hope Spot and From Bad to Worse openly express worry/dread when something heartwarming and optimistic happens.
  • Invoked by Homura when uneasy about things going her way.
• Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: Homura has a good mask, but the Bleach adults with military experience can see through it enough to be disturbed even before The Reveal of why she acts that way.
• Trust Password: As only Homura has Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory, Urahara has everyone write a bunch of notes addressed to themselves, filled with things only they could possibly know, and stores them in Homura's shield. In the next timeline, she simply has to pass out all the notes to quickly get everyone on board and up to speed.
• Understatement: The Flash Forward opens with Homura starting to inform Urahara's group about the situation, claiming that there's a threat on the lives of the Kurasaki twins. Upon finishing her recap of the first timeline's Cataclysm Climax, which involved the Incubator killing most of the Bleach cast and creating a King's Key, Homura muses that she's probably picked up Urahara's habit of underselling a problem.
• Unfinished Business: Karin and Yuzu address a ghost's unfinished business while introducing Homura to the concept of spirits.
• Variable-Length Chain: Yuzu's whip, Yuki's meteor hammer, Tōshirō's shikai.
• Wham Episode: Quite a number of chapters qualify as Wham Episodes for various reasons.
  • Chapter 22, Yuzu's Soul Gem is destroyed by a witch.
  • Chapter 23, Karin witches out.
  • Chapter 30, Karin destroys her Soul Gem.
  • Chapter 31, Walpurgisnacht shows up in Karakura instead of Mitakihara, and it's stronger than before.
  • Chapter 35, The Incubator creates a Hogyoku out of the remnants of Walpurgisnacht, practically the entirety of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads as well as everyone in Karakura are defeated and their souls absorbed by the Incubator, the Incubator proceeds to make a King's Key.
  • Chapter 59, Kisuke reveals to Hitsugaya that while it is likely that Madoka could survive past Homura's turnback point in the current timeline, if Homura wants her to be saved, then they need to be able to eliminate the Incubator for good. Hence, why Homura needs to continue going back in time, six weeks is nowhere near long enough to gather the information to devise the means of doing so, and it's entirely possible that continuing past the turnback point would cause Homura to lose that power entirely.
  • Chapter 63, Kisuke learns that Tomohisa and Tatsuya are spiritually aware, with Tomohisa having minor knowledge about Hollows. We also learn that he's aware of Madoka's power increasing, though he doesn't know why. Lampshaded by Kisuke's internal monologue, as he realizes that this may mean a greater history of spiritual awareness in the families of the other Magical Girls.
  • Chapters 69-70, Kyōko finally appears...and it is discovered that someone has been killing the witches in Kazamino, leaving none for her, and fueled by half-mad desperation, attacks Tōshirō and Mami, quickly turning into a Witch.
  • Chapter 77, Junko and Tomohisa Kaname finally meet with Misako Ishijima, a human detective from Kazumi Magica who has been investigating magical girl activities for years and has been hinted at throughout the story. The Incubator prepares to escalate its campaign against Homura and Urahara's faction and hints that it may have a master. It also hints that Homura descending into despair could give it the same kind of energy that it hopes to gain from Madoka contracting and eventually becoming a Witch. The Dawn of Hyades descends thanks to Kanna Hijiri's own machinations. Homura is forced to reveal her Time Magic to Mami and Tomohisa in order to save them.
  • Chapters 78-80, first features the battle against Dawn of Hyades. Unlike in canon however, the remaining girls of Asunaro do not survive, killing themselves in a suicide attack to destroy the Witch. Urahara, Homura, and Tōshirō then find the Freezer, much to their horror. Next, Nagisa is attacked by Nonon, who turns into a Witch shortly after being warded off, with the 13 Court Guard Squads, over Urahara's communications, having their first talk with the magical girls (mainly Sayaka and Kyōko, accompanied by Karin). Chapter 80 finishes it up by having Homura explain the time travel to everyone...only for a feedback loop to occur between her and Madoka, indicating spikes in their powers.
• Writers Cannot Do Math: Hopefully averted.
  • Each timeline is labeled with an algebraic equation whose variables are explained at the beginning of the second story arc.
  • Karin explains Pluses, Hollows, shinigami, etc. in mathematical terms, with an author's note that goes a bit deeper.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: Sayaka, even without contracting, occasionally gets too excited and jumps to the wrong conclusion mid-exposition. When Homura finally reveals her time powers, Sayaka initially assumes that she hid it because it's like Sailer Pluto where using the ability would kill her. And with Sailer Moon still on her mind, Sayaka then thinks that Homura is a Kid from the Future, reasoning that Ichigo and Rukia would be her parents, before Homura irately clarifies that she only traveled back a few weeks.
• You Are Not Alone: Various characters keep trying to convince Homura that she doesn't have to shoulder everything by herself any more. Problem is, she's spent several subjective years doing everything alone, and she finds this new mindset difficult to fully accept.

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