Homura Akemi

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Homura Akemi
Japanese Name	暁美 ほむら (Akemi Homura)
Seiyū	Chiwa Saitou
Age	13-14 (estimated)
Weapon	Shield (storage and timejump device), various mundane weapons like grenades, pipe bombs, pistols, machine guns, bow (since Episode 12)

Homura is first seen by Madoka in a dream of her fighting a monster in a desolate landscape of skyscrapers. The day after the dream, Homura has transferred to Madoka's school where she gives her ominous warnings.

Official Info

A smart, graceful, athletically-talented girl. Cool if not chilly, her personality even can even be seen in her posture. Her primary ability is to stop time, all her other abilities and attacks seem to come from non-magical items, such as firearms and bombs. Her time manipulation device can also allow her to travel back in time, act as a shield, and seems to act as a limitless storage facility.

She seems to be a magical girl, but there are a lot of mysteries surrounding the way she acts. Her fighting style is also unidentified.

• Ms. Aoki’s Design Check: A blunt girl. I tried to let this shine through in her design. Her distinguishing point is her silky long hair.
• Magical girl outfit: Homura was designed with her personality and combat style in mind. I found her fascinating right away. (Aoki)
• The sharp lines of her upper back and jacket evoke her personality. Overall rather monochromatic. Her black tights have a diamond pattern.
• School uniform: She wears black tights in uniform too, leaving her overall feel just like in her magical girl outfit. She gives off the air of a silent beauty.
• Regardless of her reasons, Homura'a priority is preventing Madoka from becoming a Mahou Shoujo. Since that is not understandable by other Mahou Shoujos or Madoka, she decided to act alone.
• Homura is a magical girl from another timeline, as revealed by Kyubey. She knows that Kyubey is behind a sinister plot, and it mostly involves Madoka turning into a magical girl.
• Homura's special ability is revealed to be some kind of time-travel, which explains why she knows so much to the point of knowing exactly when and where certain things will happen. This also may be why she can move at blistering speed.
• Her house has a wall display of documents relating to witches.
• In episode 9, it was revealed that Homura can stop time. However, anyone she touches while the ability is under effect will not be stopped.
  • According to an interview in Otona Anime Vol. 20, translated by symbv, here is what Gen Urobuchi said on more of Homura's power: "The weapon that looks like Homura's shield is actually a sand timer. When the flow of the sand is blocked, time is stopped. And when there is no sand on the upper part of the sand timer and then the timer is reverted, one month's worth of time is turned back. But before that stage is reached, only time stopping is possible. This means the special power of Homura is the ability to manipulate one month's time's worth of sand in the sand timer. As for the time passed and then turned back, since it was not the focus in this work I did not think it through very thoroughly. I think you can say that the world split up and became parallel worlds there." In episode 11, we see Homura's sand run out in the middle of her fight with Walpurgisnacht, verifying this limitation of her time stop powers.
• Homura's backstory was revealed in episode 10. She was a transfer student who was recovering from heart disease. Probably due to her lack of confidence, she was targeted by familiars. However, Madoka (who was a Puella Magi at this time) and Mami save her. During Walpurgis Night, Madoka and Mami die. Homura then makes the wish to re-do her meeting with Madoka to prevent her fate.
• Along with stopping time, Homura can also reverse time to before her meeting with Madoka.
• Homura, while initially ditzy and insecure, has become very independent and strong during her time traveling. Her cold nature is from her determination to save Madoka after having failed in her mission to prevent Madoka from becoming a magical girl several times.
• A previous Madoka was the one to task Homura to prevent Madoka from becoming a Puella Magi.
• In the current timeline, Homura fails to stop Walpurgis Night. However, since Homura somewhat confessed to Madoka to the time traveling, Madoka creates a new wish to make sure that Homura's efforts weren't in vain.
• Homura is the only one that remembers Madoka in the newest timeline. Also, she gains a bow and magical wings. Whether her time-stopping ability remains is unknown.
• In the ending, Homura faces off with many demons in a desert. However, her wings become distorted like the barriers of witches. What happens to her is unknown.

Observations

File:Moemura doing math.jpg

Episode 10 gave us Moemura

• She wants to stop Madoka from making a contract with Kyubey
• She has much knowledge about Mitakihara Middle School.
• Is visibly upset when Madoka uses her last name or honorifics instead of the more intimate "Homura".
• She was openly pursuing Kyubey until Kyubey made contact with Madoka.
• She appears obsessed with Madoka's happiness and/or survival.
• As of Episode 10, it is shown that Homura used to be a very shy and clumsy girl before she became a Puella Magi. Homura met Madoka and Mami when they were saving Homura from a witch, thus the three became friends. At the very end of that timeline, Madoka is killed and Homura asks Kyubey to turn her into a Puella Magi with her wish being "to meet Madoka again, but this time as the one protecting her, not as the one being protected".
• She appears to live by herself; her residence only has her name on the nameplate, much like Mami's. In episode 10, when she wakes up in the hospital, no-one is there with her, and she seems to have been filling out the school transfer forms on her own.
• She seem to have met Kyubey before, as she refers to him as "Incubator" in Episode 8 shortly after he was shot down by her. She also reveals to "know his true motives".
• Her cold attitude was formed through re-living the same timeline multiple times, with the ending always being that Madoka either turned into a witch or died. When that happens, Homura turns back time to the first day of her arrival again.
• When Mami asks Homura if she has any other power besides bending time in Episode 10, Homura steals guns, swords etc. from a locker. She hides these weapons inside her shield.

Speculations

The theories below have been proven right.
At least one element from the franchise is rendering them valid.

• In the first two episodes, Homura appeared to be the antagonist. It was later explained that she only wanted to prevent Madoka becoming a magical girl. She saved Madoka and Sayaka multiple times and may become an ally and/or mentor of Madoka in the future.

• She might also wish to prevent Madoka becoming a magical girl because of the risk that she could turn into an overwhelmingly powerful witch.
  • This has been proven right in Episode 10.

• In Episode 5, Homura saves Sayaka from Kyouko by suddenly manifesting as Kyouko's attack is about to land, somehow moving Sayaka out of the path of the attack. The ability seems to involve massive acceleration rather than teleportation(this because of her power being to turn back/stop time and thus being able to move quickly from one point to another by stopping time temporarily), as she is able to act in a split second. As there are hints that a Puella Magi's powers may relate to her wish (e.g. Sayaka's regeneration), this may be a clue as to Homura's true motives. As of Episode 8 it has been confirmed that Homura's ability has something to do with time.
  • Theory proven right: her power is stopping time and wish is time-related.)

The theories below have been proven wrong.
They are only kept here for the sake of completeness.

• Homura's wish was to protect Madoka, and since wishes always come true, it should make her immune from death and becoming a witch before saving Madoka. This makes her doomed to be locked in this cycle. In one timeline she was almost successful, but Madoka sacrificed herself for the sake of Homura and caused another restart.
  • Theory proven wrong: Homura controls when and if she rewinds time, so long as one month as passed since the last reset.)

• Per the image in the gallery below, the pipe layout on the corridor wall is completely different after Homura uses her 'teleportation' ability. Assuming this is not a production error, it has been suggested that the ability actually involves magically reconstituting the entire corridor while moving the people in it around. For more information, please refer to the entry on this phenomenon in the Magical Powers speculah.
  • Theory proven wrong: her power has nothing to do with that, it was a production error.

• Homura may be a homunculus created by Madoka.

• Homura might be in possession of the soul gems of magical girls from an alternate timeline, such as the alternate Madoka's. See also Speculah:Homura Identity Swap Theory (though note the identity swap theory has been debunked).
  • Theory proven wrong: Soul Gems disappear when their owner dies or become Grief Seeds.

• One of the speculations as for why Homura does not tell Madoka upfront of the consequences of becoming a magical girl, is because Madoka might just become one in order to save Homura or Mami. This could also be the reason why she's trying to keep a distance between her and Madoka.
  • Theory proven wrong: she was doing it to stop Madoka per her promise.

The theories below have not been proven yet.
Please keep in mind that they are fanmade theories, and not official material.

• Homura may actually be Faust, as Faust in the play tries all his might to save Gretchen (Madoka) from dying but in the end she perishes anyways as Mephistopheles (QB) tries to tempt her to form a contract with him.
  • There's also the fact that in the Goethe version, Faust would only lose his soul if he ever had a moment of perfect happiness that made him wish he could stop time at that moment forever. Homura's power, of course, is to stop time. As such, it's entirely possible that the Homura and Faust parallels will be taken to its logical conclusion: She will have a moment of perfect happiness, she will stop time at that moment, and then she will die or become a witch. However, it should be mentioned that Faust manages to escape Mephistopheles and enter heaven because he found his moment of happiness in helping others, and not in anything Mephistopheles gave him. On the other hand, there is a witch that tries to create heaven on Earth.

• Homura shows some very different powers in episode 12. While this may be a by-product of the new world, it is also possible she always had these powers and simply did not use them in favor of her less magic-consuming time-stopping.
  • Given the fact that she no longer has her shield on her wrist, it is most likely that her powers have changed altogether.
    • Her shield was shown to be completely out of sand during the fight with Walpurgis Night. As we know, the only way for her to get more sand again is to reset the timeline (flip the hourglass). Since the timeline wasn't actually reset by her, even in new timeline, her shield would still be completely out of sand, and therefore, useless as anything but a hunk of steel on her arm. It makes sense she wouldn't use it anymore, then.
      • Considering her wish was to protect Madoka, one could believe her shield shows her resolve to protect. Its turning to sand in the Walpurgis Night fight represents her inability (and indeed, her failure) to protect Madoka. When she flips the hourglass, gaining more sand represents the fact she can protect Madoka again. Her not having it in the new timeline shows that she doesn't need to protect anyone anymore.
    • As for the source of her new powers, speculations abound; lead amongst them is that she got Madoka's bow from her at the same time that Madoka fixed her Soul Gem and gave her her ribbon. Another theory is that since her wish was to "protect Madoka," and Madoka is now a concept rather than a person, her powers were altered into something similar to what Madoka uses. Yet another theory is that with the universe restarted, Homura made a different wish, and so got different powers. Yet another theory is that Homura was always able to produce a bow; after all, her original concept artwork depicted her with that weapon. She just hadn't figured out how, or alternatively, just hadn't bothered, since stopping time is more efficient.
      • My (slightly poorly-founded) theory is that her wish was to know what Madoka was (which explains why she can suddenly tell Kyubey everything) - if that's true, her having a bow represents her bond with the concept of Madoka. Kind of similar to your point.

• Homura may be Walpurgis Night. As Homura's powers involved time manipulation it could very well be that we are seeing a witch version of Homura warped back into the past ironically becoming the very event that has shaped her reason for making a contract. Walpurgis Night has been depicted with clock-like gears underneath her dress. Episode 11 also depicts Walpurgis Night having a primary color of purple, which is also Homura's color. While the end of the series shows Homura losing her shield, after the credits we are shown Homura during an unknown time period, though having Madoka's ribbons, battling. Before Homura starts the fight, she hears Madoka offer words of encouragement as Homura gives up a final smile, which may signal Homura being consumed with despair. The final shot shows the main heroines, overlapped with multiple silhouettes of the heroines, which could allude to the familiars summoned by Walpurgis Night in episode 11, before showing Homura's soul gem.

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  Homura is able to move extremely fast in comparison with water drops.

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  Homura's grenade in Episode 8 looks like an M61 grenade, used during the Vietnam War.

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  Homura's pistol in Episode 8 looks like an M9.

Trivia

And so a legend was born

• Homura is frequently referred to as "Homerun-chan" amongst Western fans, due to the similarity of the two names in Japanese, however she is frequently referred as "Homuhomu" (ほむほむ) within Japanese community. Homuhomu likely originated from the runes in Episode 3, one of which translates to "Homuhomu".
  • "Homuhomu" can be used as a verb as "do Homuhomu" (ほむほむする) which means to caress, console or take care of. The action of "do Homuhomu" is not defined exactly.
• The first character for Akemi (暁) means "daybreak", while the second one (美) means beauty which is a famous letter in girl's name.
• When her full name is written vertically in hiragana (あけみほむら) and with left half covered in certain angle, it could be read as カナメまどか which is Kaname written in katakana and Madoka written in hiragana.
• Her last name can also be used as a first name.
• Her first name is written in hiragana, which has no special meaning. However, when written in kanji, it can mean:
  • inflammation, blaze (炎 or 焔)
  • heart on fire (心火)
  • mass of flame (炎叢)
  • village protector (保村)
    

File:Homura missing weapons.jpg

Is this real life?

• Some folks in 2ch nicknamed Homura's Residence Homu-home (ほむホーム, Homuhōmu) since Homu is a nickname for Homura, and Hōmu is "home" rendered in the Japanese syllabary. It should be noted that "homu" is more often used for dog houses and similar structures, with the English word "home" expressed using "uchi" (うち, which refers to one's own house or household), "ie" (いえ, which can refer to a physical house or a family lineage), or the honorific "otaku" (お宅, which refers to someone else's house or household).
• The Homura of previous timelines is, due to her personality and actions, often referred to as "Moemura" amongst Western fans.
• Apparently there is a rumor on the net that some weapons went "missing" at the JSDF and US military bases in Japan. There is only one official report regarding the missing/stolen weapons. It is not known if the rumors of the stolen missing weapons inspired their appearance in the series. Nor is there any evidence indicating that the perpetrator was a time traveling magical girl.
• One fan estimates that Homura used ¥ 1,383,040,300 Yen worth of military weaponry & equipment (that's $17,037,114 USD in today's dollars).[1]

Homura in Oriko Magica

• Homura appears at Chapter 3
• She only cares about Madoka and her friends, and warns Mami not to get close to them.
• She has protected Madoka well at Chapter 7. After complain from Madoka, however, she decided to find Oriko.
• Finally she got where Oriko is and killed Oriko. But since Oriko also killed Madoka by her last shot, Homura can do nothing but reset the timeline.

Understanding Homura's Stoicism

Homura's emotionless and cold exterior has been misinterpreted and misunderstood by fans and observers alike. This has led to the interpretation that Homura is a dangerous Yandere, others believe her to be a psychopath with littler regard for human lives (with the exception of Madoka), but these interpretations are highly incorrect and inaccurate. This is caused by the misleading first impression we build from lacking a fundamental understanding of her background and personality. To understand Homura it is essential to rewatch some of her scenes and discover the subtle differences from first time viewing for comparison. Once we understand Homura's background and mission and her single obsession to save Madoka viewers would observe Homura in a new light.

Beneath Homura's stoic mask one will uncover the true Homura, a trace of her true self that she tries to shield with an emotional wall to cope with the rising danger of accumulating too much despair. Homura isn't the only character to be misinterpreted and misunderstood for expressing controversial opinions and actions to reach her goal, but their comparison would help to differentiate Homura from the rest of the characters. Homura developed an early survival skill to cope with her new realty to save Madoka.

Homura's Past:

To understand the Homura character it is essential to watch Episode 10 and to listen the drama CD "Memories of you". First, the Drama CD contains information regarding Homura's difficulty to adapt to a new school setting as a transfer student; no one knows her nor they try to understand her and her struggles. In her new environment Homura experiences school bullying (non-physical), demeaning rumors behind her back, and low opinion about her abilities as a person and as a student. Homura is already a fragile girl with low self-esteem caused by her weak heart and her weak physical body, with the addition of emotional stress caused by her unpopularity at school it is enough to emotionally crush her to the point of driving her to suicide and despair, or at least an enticement under a Witch's spell to end her suffering.

Another source of Homura's emotional transformation are the events taking place in the different timelines in Episode 10. Homura's experience in different timelines brought her insight into how to formulate different ways to rescue Madoka and stop Walpurgis Night. When a new element of surprised was introduced in the timeline, Homura would formulate a new solution to deviate from the same outcome. The first issue was uncovering the truth about the Puella Magi system, Homura tried to convince the girls that Kyubey was deceiving them. Sayaka reacted with distrust and Mami with skepticism, Madoka as well. The reasons are understandable as Homura is a stranger and a new comer and without any evidence to back her claim they arent ready to accept the truth. However, Mami's and Sayaka's real reasons differentiate with Madoka's and it sheds a light to their character.

Mami's character is the embodiment of a humble Ojou-sama and a kind Onee-sama. While Mami exudes class, grace, and beauty, she never flaunts her privilege or status. She tries to become a mentor for Madoka and Sayaka but at the same time tries to caution them that the life of a Puella Magi is not without sacrifice and difficulties. Mami's speech in Episode 3 gives us a glimpse to the kind of life Mami has led so far, a very lonely and solitary life with no one to call a friend. Mami's seriousness is betrayed by her emotional outburst of joy and monologue when Madoka pledges to become a Puella Magi and join together with Mami in her duty to hunt down Witches and protect the city. For the first time we learn that Mami is truly happy with being a Puella Magi. We must consider that while Mami took her responsibility as a Puella Magi with seriousness and professionalism, we can see through flashes that she was unhappy with that type of life. Perhaps we it can interpret her duty as a Puella Magi a form of Noblesse Oblige.

If Episode 3 uncovers Mami's unhappiness then Episode 10 marks her despair. The nature of her despair requires a deep analysis to understand Mami's lapse of judgement and brief moment of insanity. Given the glimpse we observe regarding Mami's solitary lifestyle and her sacrifice to protect the people and the city, it is understandable as to why Mami lost her composure. One could interpret that all her work and sacrifice was for naught, that the lives she saved would be meaningless once she became a Witch, and that her personal sacrifice and unhappiness contributed to the propagation of a horrifying system. Mami's sense of despair is understandable, however, her following actions contribute to her criticism and are the source of many arguments against her character. Mami's early impression is shattered once she gives in into despair and we glimpse into her weakest moment as a human being. But on the other hand it could be interpreted as the next logical step into a world that has gone mad. Mami knows that her friends have no future, that it is only a matter of time they will become Witches, to spare them of their suffering (and her own) and halt the death of future victims at their hands as Witches she decides that death (and suicide) is the logical and noble choice. No matter the interpretation or justification to fans what Mami did is considered an unforgivable act. What Mami committed was an act of betrayal by killing her kouhai, she commits murder by attempting to take their lives without their consent and consultation.

Gallery

Official art

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  Original character design by Ume Aoki

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  Homura's shield design

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  The cover of Megami magazine featuring Homura with Amy.

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  A manga illustration of Homura with her shield

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  Official Homura and Madoka art

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  Autographed illustration by Ume Aoki

• Ume aoki dojinshi homura.jpg

  Ume Aoki's Dojinshi "RKGKMDK"

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  Homura neko

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  Inside cover page

• Apricot +8.jpg

  Homura and Madoka doujin page

• 09 TL.jpg

  Fan translation of Homura and Madoka doujin page

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  Crying Homura

• 16.jpg

  Ending in widddeee-face Homura

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  a sketch of Homura's shield

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Screenshots

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  Homura's ring and fingernail

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  Homura's transformation sequence

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  Homura in Episode 10 from Timeline 1

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  Homura's Soul Gem

Fanart

This section contains fanart images

Everything in the following fan gallery is created, or the comments accompanying them are created, for entertainment value and should not be confused with actual canon events of the Puella Magi franchise.

• Homura, one man army.jpg

  Can one little girl really take down Walpurgis Night?

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  A heavy reinterpretation and editing of Episode 10 observed through the eyes of Homura

• Bazooka homura.jpg

  Magical weapons are for little girls

• Homura crazy.jpg

  An accurate depiction of Homura's obsession with Madoka

• Homura witch pantsu.jpg
• Homura God of War.jpg

  According with Fans if Madoka is a Goddess/concept of Hope, then Homura is the God of War.

• Puella Magi Solid Snake.jpg

  FUND IT

• Mami vs Homura.png
• Fan creation Homura Soul Gem Jewelry.jpg

  Fan jewelry creation of Homura's Soul Gem with a mechanical gear inside.

• QB Trick.jpg
• Homunator Come with me if you want to live.jpg

  A stranger from the future just saved your life... wait, that sounds familiar.

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  Obey Hommando's rules, and you will live to see another day.

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  HOMMANDO LEADS THE WAY!

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  Walpurgis says: "HUEHUEHUEHUEHUEHUE"

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  Walpurgis says: "Oh shit."

• HOMEEEEEERUN!.jpg

  HOMEEEEEERUN!

• Supercute homurachan.jpg
• Call of duty homu.jpg
• Homuhomu moe.jpg

  Death by Moe

• Homura coolest character.jpg
• Homura lord of war.jpg
• Homurashop bikini eye candy.jpg

  So many Homuras and only one Madoka

• Homu scopedog.jpg
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  a replica shield

• Homurambo.jpg
• Army of homu.jpg
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• Moemura with guns.jpg

Miscellaneous

Analyses and Theories

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  Spatial Reconstitution Theory (空間再構成)

• Hunter-x-hunter-1641920 2.jpg

  Comparison of unnamed Nen ability in Hunter x Hunter and Homura's 'teleportation.'

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  Homura's arsenal of weapons: Home made bombs, hand grenades (M61), Flash Bombs, M9/Beretta M92F, Desert Eagle, Remington 870 (though the picture denotes it as a Benelli M1), FN Minimi M249, and lots of ammo

• Homura's weapons 2.jpg

  Continuation: Mortar (M29 / L16 / M252 mortar), Tank Truck, Missile (Type "88 Surface to Ship" Anti-warship Guided Missile), Anti Tank Weapon (RPG -7 & M136 AT4), Bunker Buster (GBU-28), Golf Club

Homerun-chan

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  How Homura became Homerun-chan (from Thread #7, which also gave birth to the motto "Deny the obvious, uphold the inane")

• Homerun-chan2.png

  2ch's reaction (also from Thread #7)

External links

• Homura Akemi at Pixiv image repository (Japanese)
• Homura Akemi at Danbooru image repository (NSFW)