Homura Akemi

Homura Akemi
Japanese Name	暁美 ほむら (Akemi Homura)
Seiyū	Chiwa Saitou
Age	13-14 (estimated)
Weapon	Shield(?), Grenades

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 weapon appears to be a bow, the same as Madoka?

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 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.

Observations

• She wants to stop Madoka from making a contract with Kyuubey
• She has much knowledge about Mitakihara Middle School.
• Is annoyed when Madoka uses her last name or honorifics instead of the more intimate "Homura".
• She only seems hostile towards Kyuubey until Kyuubey makes contact with Madoka.

Speculations

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

• 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.
• If the theory about witches and magical girls is true (see this article), then it is fairly possible that Homura is on the brink of becoming a witch, which could be why Mami wanted to share her Grief Seed with her in Episode 2.
• She might also wish to prevent Madoka becoming a magical girl because of the risk that she could turn into an overwhelmingly powerful witch.
• She may be a former magical girl who has had her contract revoked.
• 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, 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.
• Per the image in the gallery below, the pipe layout on the corridor 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.

Trivia

• 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.
• The first character for Akemi (暁) means "daybreak", while the second one (美) means beauty.
• 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)
    

Gallery

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  Original character design by Aoki Ume

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  How Homura became Homerun-chan

• Homerun-chan2.png

  2ch's reaction

• Homura glisten.jpg

  Fan art

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  Homura's ring and fingernail

• Hunter-x-hunter-1641920 2.jpg

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

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  Spatial Reconstitution Theory (空間再構成)