Awesome / Puella Magi Madoka Magica The Movie: Rebellion

"I am thou...thou art I..."

• Let's start with the amazingly choreographed transformation sequences for each of the Puella Magi, each with their own style of dance and music.
  • As well as the smooth and coordinated way they all work together, something that we never got to see in the main series.
• And we can't forget the return of Homura's badass side, complete with an awesome remix of "Puella in somnio" called "I remember".
• The fight between Mami and Homura: a duel between two of the most badass characters in the entire series, both gunslingers and both extremely capable of Gun Fu.
  • Brilliant Gun Fu interspersed with Time Stands Still and Colour-Coded Timestop to give us a visually stunning look at the Magical Girl's version of a massive storm of ammunition in Bullet Time, all while "Absolute Configuration" thunders in the background. It has to be seen to be believed. Anyone who felt cheated out of a Mami-and-Homura throw down after the buildup it got in-series would shed a tear at this scene, as you watch two veterans trade each other shot for shot and watch as the world around them is ripped apart by a storm of bullet ricochet.
  • Even more mind-blowing is the fact that Mami manages to keep one of her ribbons tied to Homura to prevent her time stop abilities from affecting herself throughout the whole fight. It takes a literal bullet to Homura's head to even get the ribbon off.
  • Near the end of the fight, it's revealed that Homura wasn't fighting the real Mami, but a perfect copy of her, made from ribbons! Mami fought Homura to a standstill without being in any danger.
    • Alternatively, astute viewers may notice a wispy flower right when the dust settles. Flowers in Madokaverse usually indicates Mami's magic at work, meaning that she could also have made her replica in the split second before the scenery clears up, right under Homura's nose!
  • What's more awesome is the fact that Mami is able to keep up with Homura's arsenal of semi-automatic pistols and automatic machine guns simply by summoning arrays of flintlocks and firing them in rapid succession.
• Sayaka predicting Homura was about to use her time shield and jamming its gears shut with her sword. Despite her being the hero, there's no denying that Homura is really smug when it comes to her magic, especially when dealing with Sayaka, and the look on her face when it happens can only be described as "Holy SHIT!"
  • This is made even more awesome when you realise that when Sayaka first became a magical girl, her combat skills and awareness of her enemies' powers were shown to be sub-par. Now, with the years of experience that come with remembering the previous timelines, she's strong and fast enough to keep up with Homura.
• Even though it was an awful thing, the Incubators get some awesomeness credit for their Isolation Field. To explain, Madoka wished to destroy every witch before they were born, in all times and worlds, with her own hands. And the Incubators found a way to block it. Of course Madoka beat them in the end, but still.
  • Oh, and here's what the show doesn't tell you: By keeping Madoka from Homura's Soul Gem, they were actually blocking Madoka's omniscience!
  • You also have to give them credit for the guts and the scope of their whole plan. Sure, the end goal is horrible, but you can't help but have some admiration for the fact that the Incubators intend to bind a Goddess to their will and subvert her to their own ends. And even though it did end up backfiring horribly on them, the cold logical way Incubators approach things suggests that they probably had some evidence leading them to believe that they could actually do it.
  • Also props to them for taking the information Homura provided beforehand and trying to see whether such a system is feasible or not, despite having no proof that its not just some wild story from a human girl's imagination, and almost succeeding. They may be evil, but you have to admit, they make pretty good scientists.
• Honestly, Homura's response to Kyubey's Hannibal Lecture speech. Once she finds out the Incubators intend to take control of Ultimate Madoka, Homura completely loses it.
  Homura: And I will never let you incubators touch her again! ...Would you shut up already!?
  • From the same scene, Homura forcefully and intentionally turning herself into a Witch just to deny Kyubey's plan, along with her army decimating countless Kyubey bodies throughout the Shut Up, Hannibal! sequence. This is probably the only time you'd ever be cheering for an out-and-out Witch in this series.
• Sayaka and Nagisa throwing off the masquerade. Between the giant, city-smashing mermaid knight, the endless waves of familiars, and the reveal that they knew what Kyubey was planning all along, it hammers home that the Law of Cycles is not to be fucked with. What makes it all the more awesome is that the Law of Cycles is basically an amalgam of all the Magical Girls Kyubey manipulated and ultimately destroyed through time and space, and by utterly wrecking his plans they're getting as close as they can get to payback. The whole scene can be summed up as the Law of Cycles going up to Kyubey and going "I outsmarted you! Nah nah nana nah!"
• The battle between Homulilly and the magical girls. Madoka can't use her full powers with Kyubey watching...so Sayaka and Nagisa reveal themselves to be part of the Law of Cycles and summon an army of familiars to fight Homulilly's own army of familiars. Sayaka further summons Oktavia von Seckendorff to hold off Homulilly while Nagisa and Madoka attack the ceiling of Homulilly's barrier. We also get to see things like Oktavia wielding Kyouko's spear and Mami using a cake tank on rails to deliver the mother of all Tiro Finales. Once they break through the barrier to reveal Kyubey's isolation field, Madoka reaches out to Homura's remaining humanity and they deliver one final shot that punches straight through the isolation field and launches a RainOfArrows on the flabbergasted Incubators watching from outside. It's one of the most epic fights in the entire franchise, compounded by the fact that unlike the Walpurgis battle, it isn't simply a fight to stop a super-powerful witch. The whole battle is at its core a colossal 'fuck you, Kyubey', and as detailed below, seeing him decisively, soundly beaten after millennia of being a Karma Houdini is truly satisfying.
• Another awesome but horrible thing. Kyubey tried to observe the Law of Cycles so they could interfere with it. Guess what Homura did when Ultimate Madoka appeared in front of her. In fact, it's suggested that this is how she gained her new powers.
• Homura essentially putting down Kyubey after the credits. It really underlines how Homura is in control of the new universe, with the Incubators' efforts now benefiting her. Though there are implications of Homura taking over Madokami's role and taking Madoka's power and memories from her for an admittedly selfish purpose. This in itself is perhaps the crowner of the Awesome Moments in the entire series: for the first time in trillions of years, millions of innocent girls from thousands of planets, a TV show, four Manga, three movies, a video game, and COUNTLESS time loops, the unthinkable FINALLY happened. Kyubey LOST. Until this point, he either straight-up won or walked away relatively unscathed, even if he hadn't gotten precisely what he wanted. But this time, the little fiend not only walked away with nothing, he and the rest of the incubators end up Homura's slaves. Say what you will about Homura by this point, but the fact remains she finally, finally, FINALLY beat him outright. And best part is that just like last time, he has nobody to blame for it but himself.
• Sayaka with control over Oktavia as Summon Magic. Weren't we all hoping that would happen in the series? And the Witch itself is a juggernaut of destruction.
  • Better still, the way she first summons Oktavia (as opposed to images of Oktavia being seen in the background): she stabs herself through the stomach and heart, and it looks like her heart is used as bait to fish out Oktavia.... from her blood. Because of the 2D perspective it's less Nightmare Fuel and more Awesome, especially with the character development of Sayaka.
  • The second time is also pretty cool, as Sayaka is staring the newly-born Akuma Homura down. Her hair and clothes begin to blow in the wind, and a wall of water surges up behind her. It flashes with musical notes and symbols, then crashes down to reveal Oktavia looming protectively behind her. This is notable due just how insanely ballsy this is - one single magical girl against an entity that surpasses the power of anything seen in the series before. Defiant to the End, indeed.
  • Sayaka being the Law of Cycles' "Private Secretary" already meant she fit into the role of an angel. Her final confrontation with Akuma Homura, plus her weapon of choice being a sword, slots her more specifically into the role of one angel in particular; The Archangel Michael.

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