History Characters / PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaHomuraAkemi

* UsedToBeASweetKid: Episode 10 shows her as a shy and sweet girl who is overjoyed with Madoka's friendship.

->''"I won't rely on anyone anymore! I don't care if no one understands! I won't let Madoka fight! I'll destroy every last witch by myself if I have to! And this time...I'll defeat Walpurgisnacht... once and for all!"''

[[caption-width-right:350:[[labelnote: Click here to see her normal attire]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/homura_casual.png[[/labelnote]]]]

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* DarkAndTroubledPast: It is hinted all along the series that her past was full of horrible moments, but it is not until Episode 10 that we finally find out how deep she is in shit. To summarize: [[spoiler:Back in the original timeline, it was Madoka who saved her from being killed by a witch. When Walpurgisnacht came she saw Madoka die, and this was what pushed her to make a contract with Kyubey. She returned in time, but no matter how many times she tried, the events conspired against her to make her see Madoka die again and again and again]]. The trauma she carries on her back is beyond what a normal human could endure.

--->'''Kyoko:''' What the heck... who's side are you on, anyway?!
--->'''Homura:''' I'm on the side of those who think rationally, and the enemy of idiots who pick fights. I wonder which you belong to, ''Kyoko Sakura''?

** Also, during the End Credits, her silhouette turns and feebly reaches after Madoka as she walks past.

** In the anime, she She used to wear her hair in huge braids over her shoulders, but after becoming an AntiHero, [[LettingHerHairDown she removed them]].

* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: After [[spoiler:Madoka's CosmicRetcon causes everyone but Homura and Tatsuya to forget her, Tatsuya is drawing Madoka on the sand, and his mom asks Homura if she's "Some kind of anime character"]].

* NotSoAboveItAll: she may be the calmest and most aloof of the girls, but as time goes on she gives in to despair as to how things just wind up the same way no matter what she does.
* NotSoStoic: At first her overall demeanor has the traits of TheStoic, but then later episodes give visual prompts which reveal that is not the case.

* ProperTightsWithASkirt: In all her outfits except [[spoiler:in the past, before her dramatic change in character. Perhaps it's a maturity visual metaphor.]]

* SafetyInIndifference: The reason she appears so cold to everyone is because she has seen those around her die so many times that she simply decided to stop caring. She still cares about one person [[spoiler:(Madoka)]], but can no longer afford to worry about anyone else. [[spoiler:Probably a good thing that the only one she worries about is capable of turning into a planet destroying witch if not stopped from contracting.]]

* SlasherSmile: In the manga version, when she intends to kill Sayaka after she refuses her help. There's something [[NightmareFuel frightening]] when this normally stoic and aloof girl suddenly breaks into a murderous glee.

* TragicTimeTraveler: Homura has the ability to travel through time as part of her wish [[spoiler:to save Madoka after she died in the original timeline]]. Unfortunately, said time traveling shenanigans not only [[BrokenBird leave her a broken a girl]], [[spoiler:every time she does so, Madoka, and in turn her witch Kriemhild, only end up growing stronger and stronger, with one timeline ending with Kriemhild so powerful that Kyubey ''ditches humanity to her fate'' because they seemingly reached their energy quota with her]]. She still keeps trying regardless, but in the end, [[spoiler:she and Madoka are separated again when the latter ascends and becomes the Law of Cycles, while the former is left behind in a world with new creatures separate from Witches called Wraiths]].

* TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior: [[spoiler:In the second timeline, a shy ]]Homura knew where to find instructions to put together ''pipe bombs''. She had no qualms about building pipe bombs when Mami suggested her to find a better weapon than the golf club she used at the time. However, she was clearly nervous when she was looking for this information, so the trope is ZigZagged.

* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: Homura's constant [[spoiler:timeline resets don't reset one very important thing: Madoka's magical power, which carries over and stacks with each reset. What seemed like a good idea at the time ends up excaberating the situation to literally world-threatening proportions, as when a magical girl gets stronger, so does the Witch it leaves behind. Madoka's witch causes an [[ApocalypseHow apocalypse ranging from class 4 to class 6]] in at least one timeline, and would've done it again in the final timeline had Madoka herself not fixed the problem permanently.]]

* YouAreWorthHell: [[spoiler:Oh so very much towards Madoka, to the point where her entire existence basically centers around Madoka.]]

* {{Catchphrase}}: [[BigDamnHeroes "That won't be necessary."]]

* TragicBromance: A female example. She develops a close relationship with Madoka [[spoiler:in every timeline before the one where she has to MercyKill her.]]

* HairFlip: Occasionally flips her very long hair when talking. [[MemeticMutation It's become memetic]]. [[spoiler:She's not used to having her long hair hang loose.]]

* EnemyMine: She forms an alliance with Kyoko to defeat Walpurgisnacht together, but [[spoiler:Kyoko dies before the battle.]]

* ContraltoOfDanger: [[InvokedTrope Invoked]]. Her normal voice is fairly high-pitched, as flashbacks and NotSoStoic moments have revealed, but she speaks with a deep cadence to give herself an aloof, dangerous image.

* MysteriousPurple:
** The mysterious [[AloofDarkHairedGirl Homura Akemi]] has a purple Soul Gem, uses purple [[TechnicolorMagic colored magical abilities]], and has a color scheme that's predominantly purple, grey, and black. Her coldhearted nature and cryptic warnings to the main characters, coupled with her suddenly [[NewTransferStudent transferring to Madoka's school]] after Madoka [[DreamingOfThingsToCome has a dream about her]] and showing up whenever Madoka [[MysteriousProtector is in danger]] only add to her mystique. [[spoiler:She's revealed to be a GroundhogDayPeggySue continuously going back in time to prevent Madoka from becoming a magical girl or fighting the powerful witch Walpurgisnacht, since doing so will seemingly always lead to her becoming world-ending witch]].
** Come ''[[Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheMovieRebellion Rebellion]]'', Homura becomes the most morally dubious of the "Holy Quintet" as well. [[spoiler:Her ascension to "[[SatanicArchetype Devil Homura]]" comes after her Soul Gem shatters into something far more frightful, causing the [[LoveMakesYouEvil love-tainted]] contents of her soul to blanket the ''entire universe'' in a curtain of purple magic.]]

* {{Yandere}}: [[spoiler:She becomes this towards the end of ''Rebellion'' when she forcefully splits Madoka's soul from the Law of Cycles in a warped attempt to keep her from suffering. She's a more sympathetic case than most in that she doesn't actually harm anyone other than Kyubey and the other Incubators, but Sayaka confirms before losing her memories of the previous timeline that she absolutely does not agree with Homura's solution to the Magical Girl problem, and Madoka herself is constantly on the verge of remembering her true nature with Homura having to be vigilant in ensuring she doesn't regain her godhood.]]

* {{Yandere}}: [[spoiler:She becomes this towards the end of ''Rebellion'' when she forcefully splits Madoka's soul from the Law of Cycles in a warped attempt to keep her from suffering. She's a more sympathetic case than most in that she doesn't actually harm anyone other than Kyubey and the other Incubators, but Sayaka confirms before she loses her memories of the previous timeline that she is completely does not agree with Homura's solution to the Magical Girl problem.]]

* PoorCommunicationKills: For most of the series, one could make this complaint about her--why wouldn't she just ''tell'' the other girls all of the horrible things about magical girls? [[spoiler:It turns out she did just that in previous timelines. [[CassandraTruth They didn't believe her]], and [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption it still ended horribly]]: Sayaka turned into a witch, Mami killed Kyoko, and Madoka has to kill Mami to stop her despair-filled rampage]]. Homura [[JustifiedTrope knows from experience]] that she can't save magical girls from themselves, no matter how clearly she spells it out.

* CombatStilettos: She sports heels in her magical girl outfit. Considering that she uses explosives and [[spoiler:time powers]], they don't really hinder her, though [[ZigZaggedTrope she can run just fine in them.]]

* PoisonousFriend: Seemingly played straight to Madoka, but subverted. [[spoiler: It appears as though she attempts to kill Sayaka for causing Madoka grief as she slowly positions a glowing hand near her chest. However, since Homura fights and kills quickly and efficiently with ''handguns'' or ''explosives'' (especially since her offensive ability with magic is incredibly weak or nonexistent), and she doesn't go for Sayaka's Soul Gem (which had been on the ground at the time and even when she's transformed, it's on her bellybutton), an act that would ''actually'' kill her, it appeared to be an intimidation tactic in order to [[ScareEmStraight scare Sayaka into using a Grief Seed]]]]. She also [[spoiler:tries to kill Kyubey for her sake, but in a previous timeline, Madoka had asked her to keep Kyubey from tricking her]].

* ChekhovsGun: There's a ''reason'' why her WeaponOfChoice is a shield.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Her wish to save Madoka set the world on the path to ruin. [[spoiler:By hitting the ResetButton for Madoka's sake, she's stringing together karma and timelines over a single point and therefore creating the potential for the most powerful puella magi and thus the most dangerous witch. However, her wish gave Madoka the chance to learn the truth about magical girl and wish for a complete revamp of the system, saving past, current and future magical girls from becoming witches.]]

%%* GetAHoldOfYourselfWoman: To [[spoiler:Mami]] in ''[[Manga/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheDifferentStory The Different Story]]''.

%%* GoodGunsBadGuns: She uses a Beretta in the eighth episode, and a PPK in TheMovie.

* SafetyInIndifference: The reason she appears so cold to everyone is because she has seen those around her die so many times that she simply decided to stop caring. She still cares about one person [[spoiler:Madoka]], but can no longer afford to worry about anyone else. [[spoiler:Probably a good thing that the only one she worries about is capable of turning into a planet destroying witch if not stopped from contracting.]]

* ShakingHerHairLoose: Just before TookALevelInBadass.

* SourOutsideSadInside: For a while, she seems to be an arrogant loner who wants to prevent Kyubey from contracting any new magical girls, so she will have less competition. That is, until she suddenly breaks down in tears after narrowly averting one of Madoka's attempts to become a magical girl. Her backstory later explains that she really only cares about stopping Madoka, specifically, from making a contract because [[spoiler:she has experienced the horrific aftermath of that scenario [[GroundhogDayLoop many times]]. It often leads to the end of the world, and always leads to the end of Madoka; [[AlwaysSaveTheGirl the latter concerns Homura much more than the former]]. She very much [[IJustWantToHaveFriends wants to be friends with everyone]], but she drove them away after a few time-loops because they [[CassandraTruth didn't believe her warnings]] and because repeatedly getting close to them only to see them all die or become witches was too painful. She adopted her too-cool-for-you persona as a coping mechanism.]]

* SugarAndIcePersonality: Although she may appear cold and emotionless, she has emotions and very strong ones, but they're usually kept under tight lock and key. When she drops the IceQueen act she's softhearted and especially when truly happy.

* ReiAyanamiExpy: She has many traits of this, including pale skin, seeming lack of emotions, an unnatural hair and eye color (especially compared to everyone else's CurtainsMatchTheWindow scheme), [[spoiler:used to be an IllGirl, and turns out to be from another timeline with a DarkAndTroubledPast.]]

* AmbiguousDisorder: Alongside her former heart condition, she shows a couple signs of being on the autism spectrum, such as her mostly unemotional face, monotone speech, and clumsiness before she made her contract.

* BespectacledCutie: She wore glasses back when her personality was timid, clumsy and unconfident. After deciding to become more independent and stronger, [[TheGlassesComeOff she stopped wearing glasses.]]

* IllGirl: The period of time she has been [[spoiler:looping was the first few weeks where she was mainstreamed; before transferring to Madoka's class, she spent most of her life in the hospital because of a heart condition.]]

* BespectacledCutie: She used to be this in earlier timelines.

* DynamicEntry: {{Justified|Trope}} by [[spoiler:being a TimeMaster.]]

* KidsDrivingCars: In the Manga's version of the Walpurgis Night fight, she drives the tanker towards it, then sets the truck on fire just as she jumps out of the cab. It's about as affective as it is when she does it in the Anime.

* DarkIsNotEvil: Despite the dark outfit, creepily sterile house, and aloof demeanor, she's not all that bad a girl. [[spoiler:This is taken UpToEleven in the new universe, where she's still a magical girl, and significantly more heroic than she once was and manifests terrifying jagged black wings as part of her BattleAura.]]