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Puella Magi Madoka Magica The Movie: Rebellion #1
Puella Magi Madoka Magica The Movie: Rebellion, Tom 1
A three volume manga adaption of The Rebellion Story film based on Gen Urobuchi's scenario, illustrated by hanokage.
146 pages, Paperback
First published November 12, 2013
About the author
Magica Quartet
168 books217 followersA group collaboration consisting of director Akiyuki Shinbou, writer Gen Urobuchi, the original character designer Ume Aoki, and the producer Atsuhiro Iwakami.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews
January 17, 2025
One sentence: the artwork is awesome! Since the story is the same with the anime movie so the story flows quite smoothly!
Plus I really like to read about the girls going around doing magic girls things and protecting the town!!
I also like how Homura Akemi slowly realized something isn't right.
Review for vol. 2: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Plus I really like to read about the girls going around doing magic girls things and protecting the town!!
I also like how Homura Akemi slowly realized something isn't right.
Review for vol. 2: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
July 1, 2020
Oh Homura, you Nietzschean goddess. How else to destroy capitalism than through the joyous affirmation of multiplicity and the immediate? To shatter the deadening debt of historicity, through self-desecration and the abjection of all spectral values? If the dialectic of self-consciousness, of our encounter with our own desires turned alien by time, brings suffering, then one must go beyond the dialectic, one must transvaluate duality into a flow of becoming, an engine of difference. One must go beyond the fiction of purity, of separately bounded beings, and flood the earth with immanent corruption.
A much stronger manga adaptation of the film than the tv series. InuCurry's carnivalesque labyrinths and familiars weave beautifully through the panels. It's lovely to behold the joy of creation as much in the form as in the content.
A much stronger manga adaptation of the film than the tv series. InuCurry's carnivalesque labyrinths and familiars weave beautifully through the panels. It's lovely to behold the joy of creation as much in the form as in the content.
April 3, 2022
Suffice it to say that Madoka Magica: The Rebellion Story is one of the most controversial and divisive anime films in existence, turning the angsty-but-uplifting series into an impenetrable movie with an ending that actively infuriated most Madoka fans. For anyone desiring a deep dive into the plot, characters and themes, I recently wrote a detailed analysis of Rebellion for another site. As before, the movie's impeccable style - the trademark Shinbou-Inu Curry animation, with its combination of collage-art Witch's labyrinths, surreal imagery and mind-blowing action scenes - aren't easily replicated in print, though Hanokage gives it an excellent try. Having smoothed out the earlier wrinkles in her art style, her action scenes pop (even Mami and Homura's Matrix-esque gunfight, which I didn't expect to transfer well from screen-to-page, is well-handled) and her character designs more in line with the series. Gen Urobuchi's overwrought, philosophically dense script is well-adapted, and might even benefit from this format as reading rather than watching makes it easier to chew over the twists, character monologues and plot developments. Even so, the manga's sour ending isn't any easier to swallow on page than screen, hopefully serving as the set up to future installments.
April 1, 2024
Chicas mágicas atrapadas en un laberinto de sufrimiento porque son lesbianas y acaban siendo una metáfora del nihilismo y el budismo: el manga. Mi cosa favorita de la existencia 😩🛐
July 26, 2019
I think this story was likely handled a bit better in the movie...
June 17, 2018
This was... interesting.
I watched the Madoka Magica anime series years ago, and it was okay (not my favorite, but not terrible either, probably a 3.5/5 for me). This is a continuation of that anime series, though it initially doesn't feel that way. It feels more like a spin off AU series (and while I know I'll get flack for saying this, the more traditionally-styled magical girl series that I prefer).
Rebellion drops you into this alternate reality without much explanation, so if you aren't familiar with the original anime, you might want to watch that first. People familiar with the property will still be disoriented, but at least you'll have sort of an idea how this world works, especially later in this volume.
The art is competent and feels like it has a little more weight than the original anime series (maybe because it's black and white?), and I'm rather fond of the magical transformations in the middle of this volume.
So all in all, I've got mixed feelings. I'm not sure if this makes more sense as a movie (I have not seen it, since my library doesn't have it) than as a manga, or if it's just a confusing story to begin with. It has me intrigued enough to keep going though.
I watched the Madoka Magica anime series years ago, and it was okay (not my favorite, but not terrible either, probably a 3.5/5 for me). This is a continuation of that anime series, though it initially doesn't feel that way. It feels more like a spin off AU series (and while I know I'll get flack for saying this, the more traditionally-styled magical girl series that I prefer).
Rebellion drops you into this alternate reality without much explanation, so if you aren't familiar with the original anime, you might want to watch that first. People familiar with the property will still be disoriented, but at least you'll have sort of an idea how this world works, especially later in this volume.
The art is competent and feels like it has a little more weight than the original anime series (maybe because it's black and white?), and I'm rather fond of the magical transformations in the middle of this volume.
So all in all, I've got mixed feelings. I'm not sure if this makes more sense as a movie (I have not seen it, since my library doesn't have it) than as a manga, or if it's just a confusing story to begin with. It has me intrigued enough to keep going though.
December 11, 2024
2026 REREAD:
WELCOME TO OCTOBER MAGICA!
'There are some who carry on the fight... By making a wish for hope and accepting a curse.
They are called magical girls.'
We're now onto 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica: The Movie -Rebellion-, Vol. 1'. And pretty much all I said in my previous review below still applies.
A new detail, however: I think this is the first 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica' manga to even mention, much less show, that Madoka's mother, Junko, and Madoka's teacher, Kazuko (whose biggest highlight - her humorous tangent in the classroom - is extended here), are friends; old schoolfriends, in fact, and Junko helps set Kazuko up on dates. And Madoka's little brother, Tatsuya, is a toddler once again.
It still kind of bugs me how vain, flaky, naïve and ineffectual Mami is as a magical girl veteran and leader of the group - the Puella Magi Holy Quintet! - at least in this volume - even though I know there is a good reason and intention behind that...
Additionally, this is the best, most ironic portrayal of Kyubey - because he doesn't talk. He exists to be a cute mascot character and pet to Madoka, like how Bebe/Charlotte/Nagisa is to Mami...at first...
'-Rebellion-, Vol. 1' is short and not-so-sweet. It is deceptively sweet (literally, with all the cake) and magical girl-y - a too-good-to-be-true, wish fulfilment dream, deliberately like 'Madoka Magica' fanfiction - that nonetheless gets you hyped up and wanting more.
The magical girl deconstruction isn't gone; it remains lurking in the shadows, just beneath the surface...
This reality is nowhere near what it seems.
It's a good manga adaptation of the first quarter/act of the 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica: Rebellion' movie, and a good 'Madoka' companion on the whole, for fans to keep on their shelves.
The artwork is great, too.
Oh, and I mustn't forget how the manga highlights each magical girl's soul gem, baring their signature marks: Madoka's is shaped like a falling, expanding teardrop; Homura's is a diamond; Mami's is a flower/daisy; Sayaka's is C-shaped (it kind of looks like the clasp of a Poké Ball); and Kyouko's is an inverted eye. I will try to figure out the symbolism of them later. Maybe.
Next on the October Magica agenda, I'll revisit 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica: Homura's Revenge!, Vol. 1'!
Happy October Magica!
Final Score: 3.5/5
Original Review:
It's a manga adaptation of the first quarter of the 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica: Rebellion' movie, leading to its inciting incident. That is pretty much it. It's a short and incomplete volume.
But the art is great and flexible, as are the intense action scenes. I love seeing the magical girls combine their powers and attacks. The monster/nightmare battles are so, so creative. It's surprisingly, cathartically funny in places, too, in a way that's not always eerie and unnerving.
The manga is a nice piece of memorabilia for any 'Madoka Magica' fan.
Though I don't like Mami's characterisation here. I don't remember her ever being vain and caring so much about beauty regimens. She's hardly motherly or mentor-ly at all. Odd considering that she's supposed to be the leader of the magical girls, I think?
The character interactions are not as strong as they could have been. They're too brief, and lack depth, especially between Madoka and Homura, shockingly. I hope the characters get a chance to develop further in the future volumes. Maybe the shallowness was intentional?
'Puella Magi Madoka Magica: The Movie -Rebellion-' - showing an ideal world where all five magical girls from Madoka's team work together and are the closest friends. And their cute animal sidekicks are just cute.
A world that cannot exist. No matter how much the girls - or the fans - may want it to.
This might be the last 'Madoka Magica' manga I'll ever read. I think I've sated my fangirl thirst, for now.
For more of my 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica' manga reviews, read:
'Puella Magi Madoka Magica: Wraith Arc, Vol. 1'
and
'Puella Magi Madoka Magica: Homura's Revenge!, Vol. 1'
Final Score: 3.5/5
WELCOME TO OCTOBER MAGICA!
'There are some who carry on the fight... By making a wish for hope and accepting a curse.
They are called magical girls.'
We're now onto 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica: The Movie -Rebellion-, Vol. 1'. And pretty much all I said in my previous review below still applies.
A new detail, however: I think this is the first 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica' manga to even mention, much less show, that Madoka's mother, Junko, and Madoka's teacher, Kazuko (whose biggest highlight - her humorous tangent in the classroom - is extended here), are friends; old schoolfriends, in fact, and Junko helps set Kazuko up on dates. And Madoka's little brother, Tatsuya, is a toddler once again.
It still kind of bugs me how vain, flaky, naïve and ineffectual Mami is as a magical girl veteran and leader of the group - the Puella Magi Holy Quintet! - at least in this volume - even though I know there is a good reason and intention behind that...
Additionally, this is the best, most ironic portrayal of Kyubey - because he doesn't talk. He exists to be a cute mascot character and pet to Madoka, like how Bebe/Charlotte/Nagisa is to Mami...at first...
'-Rebellion-, Vol. 1' is short and not-so-sweet. It is deceptively sweet (literally, with all the cake) and magical girl-y - a too-good-to-be-true, wish fulfilment dream, deliberately like 'Madoka Magica' fanfiction - that nonetheless gets you hyped up and wanting more.
The magical girl deconstruction isn't gone; it remains lurking in the shadows, just beneath the surface...
This reality is nowhere near what it seems.
It's a good manga adaptation of the first quarter/act of the 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica: Rebellion' movie, and a good 'Madoka' companion on the whole, for fans to keep on their shelves.
The artwork is great, too.
Oh, and I mustn't forget how the manga highlights each magical girl's soul gem, baring their signature marks: Madoka's is shaped like a falling, expanding teardrop; Homura's is a diamond; Mami's is a flower/daisy; Sayaka's is C-shaped (it kind of looks like the clasp of a Poké Ball); and Kyouko's is an inverted eye. I will try to figure out the symbolism of them later. Maybe.
Next on the October Magica agenda, I'll revisit 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica: Homura's Revenge!, Vol. 1'!
Happy October Magica!
Final Score: 3.5/5
Original Review:
It's a manga adaptation of the first quarter of the 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica: Rebellion' movie, leading to its inciting incident. That is pretty much it. It's a short and incomplete volume.
But the art is great and flexible, as are the intense action scenes. I love seeing the magical girls combine their powers and attacks. The monster/nightmare battles are so, so creative. It's surprisingly, cathartically funny in places, too, in a way that's not always eerie and unnerving.
The manga is a nice piece of memorabilia for any 'Madoka Magica' fan.
Though I don't like Mami's characterisation here. I don't remember her ever being vain and caring so much about beauty regimens. She's hardly motherly or mentor-ly at all. Odd considering that she's supposed to be the leader of the magical girls, I think?
The character interactions are not as strong as they could have been. They're too brief, and lack depth, especially between Madoka and Homura, shockingly. I hope the characters get a chance to develop further in the future volumes. Maybe the shallowness was intentional?
'Puella Magi Madoka Magica: The Movie -Rebellion-' - showing an ideal world where all five magical girls from Madoka's team work together and are the closest friends. And their cute animal sidekicks are just cute.
A world that cannot exist. No matter how much the girls - or the fans - may want it to.
This might be the last 'Madoka Magica' manga I'll ever read. I think I've sated my fangirl thirst, for now.
For more of my 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica' manga reviews, read:
'Puella Magi Madoka Magica: Wraith Arc, Vol. 1'
and
'Puella Magi Madoka Magica: Homura's Revenge!, Vol. 1'
Final Score: 3.5/5
August 15, 2026
homura kinnies RISE
January 15, 2016
Something is wrong with Akemi Homura. Or maybe something’s wrong with the world around her. Homura has joined Madoka, Mami, and the other magical girls to form the “Holy Quintet,” but nothing can quell her nagging suspicions that “reality is way off from how I picture it.”
The Movie -Rebellion- is set after the events of the main series of Madoka*Magica, exploring the world that remains after Kaname Madoka becomes something akin to the patron goddess of all magical girls. Her wish destroys magical girls before their souls corrupt into witches, so instead the team of magical girls fight against “Nightmares,” apparitions created by the negative feelings of people in the town.
Except that it’s not right, and Homura is the only person who feels as if something is wrong.
(Full review at Girls in Capes.)
The Movie -Rebellion- is set after the events of the main series of Madoka*Magica, exploring the world that remains after Kaname Madoka becomes something akin to the patron goddess of all magical girls. Her wish destroys magical girls before their souls corrupt into witches, so instead the team of magical girls fight against “Nightmares,” apparitions created by the negative feelings of people in the town.
Except that it’s not right, and Homura is the only person who feels as if something is wrong.
(Full review at Girls in Capes.)
July 11, 2026
Considero a Rebellion una buena continuación directa del manga original. Aunque el cliffhunger de Homura convirtiéndose en el diablo me genera un poco de curiosidad a como va a seguir la saga, me parece que contiene una increíble implicación de como es la relación entre Homura y Madoka.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 26, 2025
A arte é muito melhor do que o outro mangá de Madoka, mas mesmo assim não acho que Madoka Mágica seja uma mídia que funcione em quadrinhos preto e branco, tira muito da personalidade do anime, se fosse uma mídia colorida com elementos gráficos diferentes e misturas de estilos pra caracterizar as bruxas acredito que funcionaria muito bem, mas em mangá preto e branco não fica legal. Tem uma sequência que achei muito boa que é quando as garotas estão com um estilo diferente e ficam se perguntando "quem é o bolo", mas é só.
Os efeitos visuais, música e animações de luta do anime são as características mais fortes da sua identidade, só que quando se coloca essa mídia no mangá, todos esses traços são perdidos e o leitor fica preso no formato preto e branco e um único estilo de arte, que particularmente eu não gosto.
Os efeitos visuais, música e animações de luta do anime são as características mais fortes da sua identidade, só que quando se coloca essa mídia no mangá, todos esses traços são perdidos e o leitor fica preso no formato preto e branco e um único estilo de arte, que particularmente eu não gosto.
September 11, 2022
No esperaba leer tan pronto este spin off de Madoka, pero aquí estamos, empezando una nueva serie. La verdad que no tengo la pelicula tan fresca en la memoria como para hacer una comparación muy a fondo. Lo que si, siento que es un poco mas "limpia" la forma de contar la historia. Te ubica mejor en el tiempo en que sucede la historia que en la pelicula. Este primer tomo te deja bien en claro que la serie original sucedió en esta linea temporal, pero que pasó algo que nos llevó a como estan las cosas en al inicio del tomo. Lo que no me terminó de convencer tanto fueron las peleas, me parecieron un tanto confusas y dificiles de seguir. Pero esto sería lo único que podría criticarle. Por lo demás, me pareció un tomo muy disfrutable.
July 6, 2025
Cap 1-3
Me es un poco confuso.
El inicio de madoka despertando y yendo a la escuela es igual que en el primer manga, pero ahora desde el inicio estan las 5 chicas juntas, Hitomi y Kamijo ya estan saliendo, Kamijo esta bien y sano por cierto. Ahora no existen brujas si no que las puellas magi batallan contra las pesadillas y todo esta bien...
O eso es lo que parece hasta el tercer capitulo donde resulta que Homura es la Homura original que ya conocimos antes y ella dice que las cosas estan raras, sale junto a Kyoko a su antigua ciudad pero al parecer estan atrapadas.
Homura piensa que estan atrapadas en un laberinto de una bruja
Me es un poco confuso.
El inicio de madoka despertando y yendo a la escuela es igual que en el primer manga, pero ahora desde el inicio estan las 5 chicas juntas, Hitomi y Kamijo ya estan saliendo, Kamijo esta bien y sano por cierto. Ahora no existen brujas si no que las puellas magi batallan contra las pesadillas y todo esta bien...
O eso es lo que parece hasta el tercer capitulo donde resulta que Homura es la Homura original que ya conocimos antes y ella dice que las cosas estan raras, sale junto a Kyoko a su antigua ciudad pero al parecer estan atrapadas.
Homura piensa que estan atrapadas en un laberinto de una bruja
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 18, 2017
The Madoka Magica series was great, but I felt the movie really tied things up and brought the story full circle, so I'm really excited to be reading the manga adaptation! This covers the first third of the movie, when Homura just starts to suspect something isn't right in the world. It's great to see the gang all back together, but I'm sad knowing what's coming. Again, some of the animation and music effects are really lost in the manga, but the artwork is still awesome and the story is the same. I do kind of wish this collection was more like the recent Sailor Moon manga collection, which comes with some footnotes on Japanese culture--for instance, some of the jokes go a little over my head, and I love Charlotte but is there some sort of joke about her obsession with cheese that gets lost in translation?
5/5 stars, because it's Madoka. Duh.
5/5 stars, because it's Madoka. Duh.
January 28, 2024
Definitely watch the movie first; I would recommend picking up the manga if you are more of a hardcore fan like I am. I see that a lot of people are confused about what happened between the original series and Rebellion. For that, I recommend reading the wraith arc.
Also, it’s impossible to deny it at this part. HOMURA IS A GIRLKISSER. END OF STORY.
Also, it’s impossible to deny it at this part. HOMURA IS A GIRLKISSER. END OF STORY.
March 4, 2025
truly an amazing series had me in tears with sayaka death or when she turned into a witch in the original manga. the world building is amazing truly a doomed Yuri. every character is doomed Yuri personified.i just want homura to be happy and go on her little dates with madoka while Sakura and kyoko go on dates to an arcade or something. please just let them be happy.
June 23, 2019
The art so far is much better than what I've seen in other anime-to-manga adaptations of this sort (Madoka, Black Rock Shooter, Utena etc). But such stories with heightened visual metaphors are best experienced in video format, not print. Still, I'm rating it 3/5 because of nostalgia.
August 18, 2021
Esta é simplesmente a melhor obra de arte do mundo moderno
December 9, 2021
I like the drawings
March 23, 2022
As a fan of this series, I feel obligated to read every last manga that Magica Quartet has to offer. Ig I'm becoming a total weeb >~>.
November 9, 2023
I'm confused.... but in a good way? I'm going to drop this manga for now and watch the movie because I cannot possibly be getting the full experience here.
November 16, 2023
cannot believe i’m saying this at my ripe age of 19, but it was kind-of hard to see what was going on. i also have needed new glasses for like a year so maybe that’s it.
March 10, 2024
This is my first time reading a manga from this series and I don't think I'll bother delving into the franchise deeper. Unnecessarily complicated.
September 8, 2024
art is sooooo pretty in this
January 5, 2025
e quando ela descobrir que estão apenas no mundo do domínio dela <3
July 23, 2025
el dibujo es hermoso, no entendí un carajo pero debe ser por leer un spin off antes del original lol
February 23, 2026
I love this story and the art is fantastic.
June 4, 2026
I LOVE MAGICAL GIRLs I LOVE MADOHOMU I LOVE YURI
July 9, 2026
Okuyan çok oldu ama sanırım en iyisi buydu
June 23, 2026
This is a spin-off of the original main story. I love it because it provided us with more backstory about Kyoko and the wish she made. Also, it didn’t hurt that we got more of Mami, who is my favorite character.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews