REVIEW: Puella Magi Madoka Magica: Homura’s Revenge!

Note: This review contains discussion of Volumes 1 & 2 of Puella Magi Madoka*Magica: Homura’s Revenge! as well as discussion of and spoilers for the Puella Magi Madoka*Magica anime.

Homura Akemi has relived the same month over a hundred times in order to save Madoka, each time fighting to save Madoka from death or a fate worse than death without Madoka remembering any of it at all.  But what if Madoka did remember?

Homura’s Revenge Volumes 1 and 2 are a short story set in one of Homura’s previous attempts to save Madoka before the anime begins, except that this time, Homura’s challenged Kyuubey: she would be able to save Madoka if Madoka could remember the timeline that came before.

The premise of Homura’s Revenge really focuses more on Homura’s relationship with the other girls in the series. It also focuses quite a bit on Homura’s individual development and the suffering she experiences over the course of the many, many times she relives the same month. While this is a major appeal for me, as Homura is by far my favorite character in the series, it may drag, get boring, or simply not interest readers who are looking for more backstory or development of characters like Mami or Kyouko.

It’s not exactly a spoiler to say this, but Homura fails to save Madoka again, except that in Homura’s Revenge, she also manages to attract the intense dislike of the remaining magical girls — not unlike she does in the anime, although it’s much worse in this particular manga. The second volume of the manga focuses on Sayaka and Kyouko battling Homura to get revenge for Mami’s death, which also highlights the overall despair of Homura’s situation.

Of the “alternate timeline” spinoffs, Homura’s Revenge is pretty solid. Because of the nature of the manga’s placement in the overall timeline of the franchise, there’s really no avoiding knowing exactly how it will end: Homura will once again fail to stop Madoka Kaname from becoming a magical girl, they will be separated once more, and Homura will have to start over again. Because of that, this two-volume series’ appeal isn’t in the ending, but in how the reader gets there.

Admittedly, the art isn’t quite on the level of Puella Magi: Madoka Magica The Movie Rebellion — which has possibly the most lovely art in the Madoka mangaverse — but fits well within the mangaverse and doesn’t distract from the plot. It’s also close enough to the style of the anime that it will maintain appeal for fans of the show.

Homura’s Revenge is a concise story perfect for the Madoka Magica franchise completionist or readers who want to experience other timelines that Homura lived through before the events that take place in the anime. While I did really enjoy it, it doesn’t add too much for fans of characters other than Homura, and I’d hesitate to recommend it to anyone other than the more hardcore of fans.

Volumes 1 and 2 of Homura’s Revenge are available now from Yen Press in the U.S.

Story: 3 out of 5 stars
Art: 4 out of 5 stars
Overall: 3.5 out of 5 stars

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Feliza Casano edits and writes for all sections of the site. In her approximate 2.3 hours of free time each month, she loves watching anime, reading science fiction, and working on her novels-in-progress. Keep up with her antics at felizacasano.com and follow her on Twitter @FelizaCasano.

This review is part of Madoka*Magica Week 2016. Check out other posts in the series here.