I hope I’m not late to the party; maybe these answers will make sense to you:

«So many of the consequences of Madoka’s wish seem entirely arbitrary. I guess I’ll smile and bear with it, but it would be nice to know, say, why all witches that ever existed being neutralized results in Madoka never existing.»

Madoka wished for the power to erase all witches with her own hands, but since that’s a paradox, she must exist outside of the concept of the universe, thus she becomes self-existent. Madoka’s wish trumps everything else.

«Or how Homura gets a front-line seat to all this?»

She is one of the few beings with the power to transcend time, that’s why; Kyubey says.

«This isn’t an action show, so I never expected a big showdown with Walpurgisnacht, but... hot damn, that was anti-climactic. Or perhaps “anti-climactic” isn’t the term... It simply felt inadequate to how big of a terror and how big of an obstacle she had been presented as throughout.»

Really? Walpurgisnacht seemed pretty much unconquerable to me in episode 11.
In episode 12, however, there was no fight against Walpurgisnacht because Madoka’s goal is not to destroy the witch, but to save her from becoming one in the first place.

«Man, Madoka really throws Sayaka under the bus by declaring Homura her best friend, doesn’t she?»



«However, I do sincerely feel sorry for those of you that did hate [Kyubey]. Why? Because he gets away with it all. This guy - the face of villainy for the span of the whole series - never gets one bit of comeuppance.»

I love it. It’s a glimpse of real life in a magical fantasy epic.

I just finished reading the TVTropes entry of Madoka Magica and now I’m depressed because it’s over. I want to bleach my brain and watch the series again!

Ah I see, so they don’t exactly help to understand the series better, either. Well, I’ll take a look anyway!

Then I should check it out. Are Oriko and Kazumi canon?

Oh, I don’t think he’s going to change the ending. I’m just a bit worried that the continuation might be somewhat superfluous. But I’m pretty sure it’s not gonna suck badly if seen as a stand-alone story.

True, but Homura wasn’t fully aware of what she had gotten herself into when she made the wish to save her lifesaver, did she? By the time she had gone through God knows how many iterations, Madoka had grown to be a very important friend to Homura but Madoka was unaware of that, and the gap grew with every reset (as Homura said in episode 11).
Also, Homura had no friends to speak of in the beginning, which adds to Madoka’s importance.
And finally, we don’t know how exactly Mami died in the first timeline, for all we know she could have been killed while trying to flee. But we know for sure Madoka died before she sacrificed herself.

So in my personal headcanon, I choose to see MadoHomu as an extraordinary friendship, but that’s probably because for me, personally, friendship means more than romance. To each his/her own headcanon unless trumped by canon!

Are you a Kyoko/Sayaka fan?
Watch this and cry.

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Sure, she is an entity, but not part of the universe. Similar to buddhahood, I guess. Non-existent, but self-existent at the same time somehow.

I don’t know. It seems like generally people seem to see friendship as something «less» than a romance; when they see a piece of fiction anyways. Personally, I never had a girlfriend or crush who meant more to me than my best friends.

I admit, I was anxious that the ending would ruin things forever, but thank God that’s not the case. Although I can’t be too sure if I got everything right, I’ll just be bold and say that this is the perfect conclusion to the series. Madoka Magica goes down as my favorite TV series and one of my favorite pieces of fiction.

So. Just what does Madoka wish for? Nothing that saves the world entirely and solves every problem ever. She wishes to erase every witch before they are born; every witch in the past and in the future with her own hands. She does so by destroying all the Soul Gems just before they turn into Grief Seeds, just like she asked Homura to do in timeline 3.

Naturally, when Madoka takes all the despair from all Soul Gems in the history and future of Magical Girls, it is too much to bear for poor Madoka. She gives in to despair and turns into a witch.

But wait, what was her wish again?
To erase every witch with her own hands, you say? That is a BRILLIANT wish! She transcends time and destroys her own witch self. The Universe decides that none of this makes any sense, but has no choice but to obey Madoka’s wish. As a result, the Universe erases Madoka from her existence so as to get rid of the paradox, since the Universe runs on cause and effect. Where does all the despair go? It vanishes along with Madoka! Therein lies Madoka’s sacrifice, as she probably was fully aware of that («I’ll trade my life for this wish.»)

Another brilliant aspect of this wish, of course, is to give Homura’s immense suffering a fucking meaning. She unknowingly gave Madoka the power to force the Universe to rearrange itself to begin with. How deeply satisfiying :)

Witches do not exist and never have, thus Magical Girls can not be killed by witches and never were. As a result, we see Kyoko and Mami alive in the new reality, but alas, Sayaka had to disappear like every other would-be witch.

She does not mind it, though. It turns out that Sayaka’s wish was truly a selfless wish after all; she genuinely wished for Kyousuke’s recovery and career as a violinist. She didn’t ignore Mami’s warning; she was aware of the distinction between a wish for Kyousuke’s sake and a wish to end up as his savior and thus deserving of his love.
Of course, how she felt about it was neither black nor white. That she did want to end up with him is also a factor, and that’s just too human. The order of the events were unfortunate, though. Had she seen a live performance of his before he ended up with Hitomi, maybe Sayaka wouldn’t have lost sight of the true nature of her wish. Then she wouldn’t have turned into a witch before Walpurgis Night.
In your face, Sayaka haters!

What became of Homura? Madoka never existed, so her wish doesn’t make sense in the new reality. Possibly it has been rewritten to be whatever Madoka wished for in the first timeline. If the powers of Magical Girls are determined by their wish that unlocks them, this would also explain why Homura became the Magical Archer Girl Madoka used to be.

I didn’t quite get what the new monsters Magical Girls fight now are, but as far as I see, they’re embodiments of despair who are substitutes for witches. The universe needs whatever fills in the roles witches used to, but at least they’re not what once were little girls who have been scammed into becoming them anymore. Maybe I need to rewatch the ending to fully understand.

I’m sure I’ll rewatch the series several times, if only to see if it can hold its position as my favorite series after more iterations.

In fact, I know there is a film trilogy coming up, of which the first two parts are the retelling of the series and the third will be a continuation. But really, how good can a sequel possibly be after such a perfect ending? I’m a bit worried, but also looking forward to seeing it.