is a fictional character in the 2011 Japanese anime television series Puella Magi Madoka Magica. A mysterious magical girl who first appears in one of Madoka Kaname's nightmares, Homura tries her best to prevent Madoka from making a contract with the messenger of magic, Kyubey. As the story progresses, it is revealed that Homura is a time traveler and has seen Madoka die countless times whenever she makes a contract with Kyubey. Homura becomes the sole main protagonist of the 2013 sequel film Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie: Rebellion, where she fights with her fellow magical girls against surreal monsters called Nightmares, but after some time, she realizes something is wrong with her memories and then tries to investigate. Homura has appeared in most Puella Magi Madoka Magica related media, including manga, novel adaptations of the series, and video games.
Writer Gen Urobuchi created Homura to contrast with the series' titular character, Madoka Kaname. He developed her role as a mysterious character who would reveal the truth about magical girls' fate as the series progresses. Urobuchi expanded Homura's character in Rebellion, where he said the film is about the character growing and struggling with internal conflict. Ume Aoki, who designed her, wanted to express Homura's dark beauty through her design. She is voiced in Japanese by Chiwa Saitō and in English by Cristina Vee.
Homura has received overwhelmingly positive reception from critics, who praised the depth and complexity of her character as well as her relationship with Madoka. Her backstory revealed in episode 10 was also highly commended. Homura's role in Rebellion has earned praise from critics, who enjoyed the focus on her character and development. Homura has also been the subject of studies by literary scholars. She has ranked highly on various polls for best female anime character conducted by several publications such as Newtype, NHK and GooRanking. Merchandise based on her such as figures, plush dolls and replicas of her ear cuff has also been created.
Conception and creation Development Series' writer Gen Urobuchi created Homura as a contrast to the series' titular character, Madoka Kaname. While Madoka is a character who could move forward at the beginning of the series, she started moving as the series progresses. Homura is a character who stops at one place and is unable to move forward because of her time-loop, where she constantly turns back time to save Madoka from her fate. Urobuchi noted that Homura has repeated nearly 100 timelines to save Madoka from her fate. He avoided portraying Homura's family, as he felt that depicting them would not affect the story, and they were "unnecessary" compared to Madoka's family who play an important part in the story, particularly her mother, Junko Kaname. Although the series is named after the titular protagonist Madoka and the story is about her growth and her wish to become a magical girl, Urobuchi said that Homura feels like the real protagonist of the series. He described Homura's role at the end of the series as that of an "evangelist", the only person in the world who understands Madoka's existence and importance.
Urobuchi said he developed Homura's role as another "veteran magical girl aside from Mami Tomoe", saying that she holds the answers to various mysteries in the series, and as it progresses, she will be the one to reveal the truth about magical girl's fate with Kyubey. While developing her time-manipulation power, Urobuchi explained that Homura's magic shield contains a sand timer that can manipulate time for at least one month, and if the sand on the shield disappears, she cannot manipulate time anymore, but can still travel back in time. He admitted that he did not think enough about how her shield works, making the nature of her shield magic a mystery. Urobuchi was not fond of giving her the shield as her only weapon, but he came to like it after seeing the storyboard where Homura pulled multiple guns and explosives from the shield. He also regarded Homura as the strongest magical girl "as long as no one discovers how she uses her powers".
Homura's character was expanded in the 2013 sequel film, Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie: Rebellion, where she becomes the film's main protagonist. Urobuchi originally planned to end the film with Homura reuniting with Madoka and ascending to heaven. Director Akiyuki Shinbo and producer Atsuhiro Iwakami rejected that ending since they wanted to expand the franchise. This made it difficult for Urobuchi to come up with an ending. Urobuchi was also worried about ending with Homura ascending along Madoka, saying it would not be a happy one for Homura's character since she would disappear instantly. He also wanted to create an ending where Madoka escapes from her fate as a god, since a middle-school girl becoming a god is too much to bear. Urobuchi said it was difficult to write an ending for the film until Shinbo came to him and suggested the idea of Homura "confronting Madoka as an enemy", which motivated Urobuchi to write and develop the film's ending. He said he agreed with this idea because he believes Homura might be "plausible as Madoka's equal opposite".
Another theme Urobuchi wanted to convey was Homura's growth. He said Homura has thrown her confusion away in the movie and by doing this she grows up like a strong heroine. Urobuchi said the film is about Homura growing and changing, and feared whether people would accept her evolved character or reject it and call her out-of character. Urobuchi said he would be happy if people accepted Madoka Magica as a series where characters grow and change, though that is up to the viewers to decide. In an interview with mangaka Kazuo Koike, Urobuchi said after developing the Rebellion film he had a stronger impression of Homura in the movie than he imagined before. Describing her as "rebellious", he said that although Homura proclaims herself as a Demon, she is undergoing an internal conflict.
Design
Ume Aoki designed Homura. Urobuchi chose the character's purple color motif, and Aoki designed it according to him. Aoki tried to let Homura "shine through in her design", and said that her "silky long hair" is the most distinguishing part of her design. When designing the character for her magical girl outfit, Aoki kept Homura's "personality and combat style in mind" and immediately found her a fascinating character. She described Homura's magical girl design as "rather monochromatic". For the school uniform, she had Homura wear black tights that provide the same feeling as her magical girl outfit, and said the character "gives off the air of a silent beauty". The anime staff designed Homura's weapons, while her bow, used in the final episode, is based on an illustration drawn by Ume Aoki. Urobuchi did not originally write the pair of black wings Homura sprouts in the series' final episode in the script. Production designers Gekidan Inu Curry added this detail. Urobuchi was happy with the addition as it added more "mystery and depth" to the character.
For Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie: Rebellion, Junichiro Taniguchi, the film's character designer and one of the chief animation directors, said that it was difficult to create the designs for Homura's devil outfit because the character wears pierced earrings that were not included in the initial design. Hiroki Yamamura, the other chief animation director, described the difficulty in drawing Homura, saying it was hard for him to add emotions to her stoic face, acknowledging he would make mistakes drawing Homura's face to the point that he gave himself a headache.
Voice actresses
In the Japanese version, Chiwa Saitō voices Homura. Saitō was originally considered as the voice for Kyubey, but she felt she "sounded too stupid" when trying to voice him. She then tried voicing Kyosuke Kamijo until Urobuchi suggested she try to voice Homura. Saitō said she felt very honored to undertake the role for Homura. Saitō said it was "tough" to share the character's pain and loneliness, and she found it "very difficult" to demonstrate these emotions. She also said it made the acting worthy, and called Homura an adorable character. Urobuchi liked Saitō's voicing for Homura because she gives the character a feeling of a "Dark Beauty" style. Saitō also identified with Homura's character explaining, "I can't speak about my worries and often keep them to myself which most of the time leads to me thinking negatively, this part I think is quite similar to Homura".
Before the audition, Shinbo was worried about Saitō taking on the role of Homura because when he listened to her voice, the image of another character, Hitagi Senjogahara, from Bakemonogatari, who is also voiced by Saitō, and which he directed, comes to mind. He commented: "I had this concern that no matter what, I still get the impression that Homura and Hitagi look similar". He thought it would be better to bring in another actress for the character. However, after hearing Saitō voicing Homura during the audition, Shinbo was finally convinced of the choice and said, "This is it". He praised Saitō's acting in episode 10, saying it was "beyond expectation"; praising her for portraying the character's scream and strong emotions.
For Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie: Rebellion, Saitō recalls that she was very tired when she first read the film's script, saying that the number of details overwhelmed her. Saitō said that whenever she's involved in a Madoka Magica project, she feels she does not want to lose and while listening to her recording as Homura in the film, Saito sometimes feels she has "to fix [her voice] more". Saitō described Homura as "a human person who has a conflict [within herself]". She said Homura is a person who finds answers "with a lot of conflict", and expressed that she sympathized with Homura's path. According to Saitō, Homura's feelings "are stronger in giving than in getting ".
Homura is voiced by Cristina Vee in the English dub. At the beginning, when Vee tried to voice Homura, she knew nothing about her character. She thought Homura would be a "monotone" character like Yuki Nagato from Haruhi Suzumiya. Vee said she wanted to play her "monotone" but after learning about Homura's character said she is "not monotone at all and she has a lot going on under the surface so trying to find that and keep the voice but at the same time she's very controlled"; this was the most difficult part of "finding her character".
In 2012, Vee said Homura is the most "complex" character she has voiced. In 2019, she said that Homura was her "most challenging role". She also said it was one of her "first very meaty roles" and that she was still "very young" when she voiced the character, and continues saying "it was like the Olympics of acting, because of all the changes and transitions, and all the emotions that are shown, but not really, because she plays it cool". Vee believes her role as Homura is "going to live on for a very long time", explaining "this franchise ... it's so powerful, and in a lot of ways very real, if that makes sense".
Appearances In Puella Magi Madoka Magica