The Witching Hour is a Puella Magi Madoka Magica fanfic by Umbreix, in which Homura Akemi hosts a podcast.
After taking a trip with Madoka's family, Homura agrees to let them listen to a podcast, "Descendants of Grimm", while in the car on the way back. She gets hooked, and on one of her next loops, she gets the idea to host a podcast of her own to give advice to Magical Girls, telling them what she has learned about the magical world. She talks about topics like Witches, Soul Gems, Wishes, and how to avoid the wicked Incubator.
Can be read here
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Unrelated to the similarly named Invader Zim fanfic Witching Hour.
This fanfic contains examples of:
- Behemoth Battle: Walpurgisnacht is fended off by Oktavia, Sayaka’s Witch form, in the final chapters.
- Big Bad: Kyubey, as usual, is behind the Witches and tries to tempt Madoka into making a contract, which will result in her becoming a Witch and destroying humanity.
- Big Damn Heroes: In the Walpurgisnacht arc, when Homura and her group are about to be eaten by one of Walpurgisnacht’s familiars, Sayaka jumps down and kills the familiar with her sword.
- The Big Damn Kiss: In the final chapter, Madoka finally kisses Homura on the lips, beginning their relationship.
- Bland-Name Product: ShieldVPN (NordVPN), GriefShare (SkillShare), Dog Drug Reinforcement, and Auditory (Audible).
- The Cavalry: In the Walpurgisnacht battle, just when things seem hopeless, Homura receives help from all the magical girls from the other series.
- Enemy Mine: Oriko shows up to save Homura in the Walpurgisnacht battle because she and Homura have a common enemy, and she recognizes that it is beneficial to put their rivalry aside.
- Fiction As Coverup: Homura is able to get away with blatantly breaking The Masquerade on her podcast because most people, like Madoka, assume it is a fictional Magical Girl story until they actually run into magical girls and witches in person.
- I Can't Dance: Homura has a hard time with DDR in Chapter 5. Despite spending days memorizing the movements and repeating them, she stumbles, the commands blend together in her head, and all her hard work only gets her in sixth place.
- "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Just like in canon, given to Sayaka as Oktavia. Unlike in canon, it succeeds.
- Incompatible Orientation: As it turns out, Kyosuke is attracted to guys, not girls.
- Maid Cafe: Kamihama’s Pure Grin Magical Maid Café. Homura takes Mami to it to be a bit of a troll.
- Noodle Incident:
- There was apparently an incident involving Kyubey, an ostrich, and a big tub of ice cream.
- Another incident in which Sayaka snuck into the nurses room resulted in the windows taking weeks to repair.
- The Birthday Incident is a third one involving Hiro Nakazawa, who helped clean up the kitchen.
- Not What It Looks Like: Sayaka in Chapter 4, having contracted, uses her healing powers on Mami, pulling down her shirt to help her do so. When Homura bursts in, Sayaka realizes that it can be taken as though they are engaging in sexual activities, as Hitomi does soon afterward.
- Parental Substitute: Madoka's parents have this role with Sayaka, their daughter's best friend since childhood whose parents are often absent. They also fulfill this for Homura in some timelines, including the current one and the one in which Homura got the idea for the podcast in the first place.
- Parody Commercial:
- In Chapter 2, Homura gives a message on her podcast from her sponsor, ShieldVPN, parodying the NordVPN and ExpressVPN sponsorships that a lot of YouTube and podcast hosts get involved in.
- Chapter 3’s podcast is sponsored by GriefShare, a SkillShare parody.
- Chapter 4 has Kyoko advertise Banbanzai, a Chinese restaurant.
- Polyamory: A side effect of Sayaka's wish changing to heal people (to help both Mami and Kyosuke) and a resulting mess of feelings leads to Sayaka dating both Mami and Kyoko and the two dating each other in turn.
- The Rival: Oriko and Kirika consider themselves this to Homura, making a podcast specifically to counter hers. Homura just considers them a nuisance.
- Shout-Out:
- The podcast that inspired Homura is clearly RWBY in podcast format.
- Suzune's username is BlackRockSuzune.
- Kyousuke mentions that Sayaka is a fan of Sailor Moon.
- Kyoko compares Sayaka’s Oktavia self to Ariel.
- Homura quotes a line from Measure for Measure, specifically the line “our doubts are traitors and make us lose the good we oft might win by fearing to attempt.”
- Tomohisa listens to a podcast about a desert town with strange happenings.
- Sequel Hook: At the end, Walpurgisnacht is defeated and all seems well, but Homura realizes with the help of Madoka that she somehow knew info on several witches that she shouldn’t have. Kyubey appears with some other Incubators, with the implication that he was responsible, and reveals that he has a plan to get back at Homura.
- Show Within a Show: Descendants of Grimm, the podcast that gave Homura the idea to make her own podcast. According to the story, it is a mix of “fairy tale characters and modern intrigue”. There is also a podcast about a desert town with strange happenings that Tomohisa listens to.
- Sneeze Cut: Kyoko mentions Mitama Yakumo in her time on the podcast, and the scene then cuts to her sneezing.Somewhere on the outskirts of Kamihama city, a certain Magical Girl sneezed. And quickly withdrew her hand from the bottle she had been reaching for. Perhaps it would be better to avoid barbeque sauce for this particular milkshake… For now.
- Soul-Sucking Retail Job: The narration mentions Homura having worked at retail once, and it was apparently so bad that she feels sympathy for Izumi, who is stuck doing a Maid Cafe job, because she imagines that it must feel the same for her.
- Spared by the Adaptation: Mami is able to survive her encounter with Charlotte by dodging when she tries to chomp her head off, and Sayaka manages to come back from becoming Oktavia. Even Charlotte herself comes Back from the Dead and reforms.
- Suspiciously Specific Denial: Homura is certainly not jealous of Sayaka who, after being returned to herself after turning into Oktavia is constantly given affection and care by her girlfriends while Homura herself hasn't had time to be with Madoka at all. No, not at all.
- Tomato Surprise: In the Sayaka episode (chapters 6-8), Homura has Sayaka on her show and discusses topics with her, but neglects to mention to her listeners (and by extension, the reader) that Sayaka has already turned into her Witch self Oktavia until about two-thirds in.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: A downplayed example in chapter 5 when Hitomi walks in on Sayaka healing Mami's injuries in the nurses office. She's still surprised at Sayaka using magic, but her listening to Homura's podcast has lessened said surprise. Instead, she comments on Sayaka being in the nurses office without permission (see Noodle Incident above) and how intimate Sayaka and Mami seemed to be.
