Homura Akemi

"With kindness comes naïveté. Courage becomes foolhardiness. And dedication has no reward. If you can't accept any of that, you are not fit to be a magical girl."
— Homura Akemi, episode 5.

Homura Akemi
Japanese Name	暁美 ほむら (Akemi Homura)
Voiced by	Japanese: Chiwa Saitou English: Cristina Vee Italian: Alessia Amendola (show, first 2 movies); Emanuela Damasio (Rebellion) Spanish: Ariadna Jiménez Cantonese: An Chung Yi

Homura Akemi is one of the main characters in Puella Magi Madoka Magica. She 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.

General Info

Physical features

• Age: 13-14 (estimated)
• Height: 155-159cm
• Eye colour: Purple
• Hair colour: Black

Other

• Soul Gem: Diamond located on the back of her left hand
• Weapon: Shield (storage and timejump device). (Episode 12 and Wraith Arc show her using a bow) Homura has been shown using golf club, pipe bombs, IMI Desert Eagle, FN Minimi, Beretta 92FS, Remington 870, Howa Type 89, M26 frag grenades, flashbang grenades, RPG-7, AT-4, C-4 explosives
• Wish: "I want to redo my first encounter with Kaname-san. But this time, instead of her protecting me, I want to become strong enough to protect her!" In Wraith Arc: "Those are my feelings towards Madoka! That's why, once more, lend me power! Not as the shield that protects Madoka but as the power that smites anyone who threatens her!"
• Witch form: Homulilly
• Japanese pronoun: watashi (わたし)
• School: Attended a Christian/Catholic school in Tokyo before transferring to Mitakihara Middle School.

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.
• 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.

Personality

Since her arrival at Mitakihara Middle School, she is immediately depicted as being very intelligent, athletic, distant, and cold. It is revealed in episode 4 that she is only like this because she has seen so much suffering during her tenure as a magical girl. Because of this, she does not want Madoka to become a magical girl and tries to do anything in order to stop her from making a wish with Kyubey, going as far as to attempting to injure the cat-like creature. Despite her cold attitude towards others, she still very much cares for Madoka as it is her sole objective to protect her due to the countless amount blood, sweat, and tears she has shed over her jumps in time.

In the original timeline where her journey began, however, Homura is portrayed as meek, shy, timid, clumsy and is known around the school for her lack of confidence. She was also known for her physical incapability of performing in P.E. class; she would get dizzy upon doing even the simplest of warm-up exercises. This had the unfortunate result of her being a target of bullying, as heard on Drama CD 1. Overwhelmed by her perceived uselessness, she begins questioning her existence and until she begins her fated friendship with Madoka, her feelings do not change. Madoka, alongside Mami Tomoe, shows her the ropes and dangers of becoming a magical girl and notes that Madoka's own attitude became much healthier with every witch battle. In an ironic twist, in the anime timeline we see how frail and meek Madoka is, compared to the current Homura whose personality had performed a complete 180-degree turn due to her experiences in multiple timelines.

Despite being regarded as emotionless by Sayaka Miki, Homura is far from it. Although she does not easily show signs of remorse, sadness, or pity, it is only because she had grown used to the suffering around her. Her cold nature is from her determination to save Madoka after having failed in her mission to prevent Madoka from becoming a magical girl countless times. Homura herself has stated that she always feels badly with each life she unable to save or alter, but nevertheless, it does not slow her down from staying true to her main objective in saving Madoka.

• Character development: Prior to the events of episode 1 (or timeline), from the very beginning Homura considered herself to be useless, and worthless. She didn't think people would miss her if she were to die or disappear. But Madoka was probably the first person to see Homura differently, for the good person that she was and opened her eyes that changed her way thinking about herself. With each timeline, we start to see a transformation not only in Homura but with Madoka as well, where there is a role reversal. It is now Madoka who believes she is powerless and worthless, someone who can't even do anything to save her friends, and it is Homura who believes that Madoka is too kind and reckless for trying to do to much for others. Unfortunately, over the course of looping time, Homura becomes colder and callous and her intentions to save Madoka shift solely into "Madoka's survival", causing Homura to become crueler towards her and others as a means of "protection". See also the paragraph about Homura showing emotionally abusive traits below. She seems to have grown past this by the finale, but it's ambiguous to whether or not Homura accepted or repressed her feelings. Either way, Homura is still heavily dependent on Madoka for self-validation, a trait which rears its ugly head during Rebellion.

History

Background

Homura's backstory was revealed in episode 10. She was a transfer student who was hospitalized for a long period of time due to heart disease. The whereabouts and status of her family is unknown, as they are never mentioned in the series. In the original timeline, Homura at this point is physically frail and weak most likely due to her illness. She wears glasses and braided hair in her early insecure depiction shown in episode 10. Later in that episode with renewed determination she undoes her braids and uses her soul gem to correct her vision and to heal her heart condition. From then on she no longer required the use of glasses.

Homura in the Anime

The sequences of events in each timeline.

The original universe

Homura's time-loop officially starts on the 16th of the month in the anime (speculated to be sometime between March and April). She was released from the hospital on the 16th, and transferred to Mitakihara Middle School on the 25th. In the original timeline, she is attacked by a witch and saved by Madoka and Mami. Sometime during the next month, during Walpurgisnacht, she becomes a magical girl while wishing to redo her meeting with Madoka, thus gaining the power to pause and/or rewind time one month.

It is estimated Homura repeated the same month starting on the 16th nearly 100 times before the present timeline in the TV anime. Within these timelines, Homura was able to gradually improve her abilities and acquire items (such as ammunition and weapons from the Japanese military) to prepare for the battle with Walpurgisnacht. She was also able to memorize and deduce through statistics the major events that would occur within all timelines, giving her incredible knowledge about most of her adversaries. The corollary, however, was that Homura experienced the deaths of many of her friends repeatedly, often horrifically. As a general trend, Homura became increasingly distant to Madoka with each repeat of the month.

By the timeline of the TV anime, Homura appeared as a cold and calculating character who is distant from all the characters. She failed to save all of her companions (apart from Madoka), and by Walpurgisnacht, was forced to face the witch alone. She was subsequently defeated by Walpurgisnacht, and seemed just about to succumb to despair before Madoka appears and rewrites the universe with her wish.

By the Anime's Finale

After Madoka's revision of the universe, Homura is the only known character to retain her memories of the previous universe. She has possession of Madoka's ribbon, and has a new black bow as her weapon similar to Madoka's weapon. It is unknown if she retained her abilities to manipulate time and space. Homura is shown to have a much closer relationship with Kyuubey, so much so she even confides an entire account about how the old universe worked. She also has the ability to create wings of energy, forming angelic wings when confronting Wraiths in the city, and jagged dark wings when walking through the desert.

Homura in Wraith Arc

Warning, this section contains spoilers about the manga.

Homura appears in the first pages of chapter 1 in flashback. She is shown saying her goodbyes to Madoka as in the last episode of the anime, with Madoka promising to meet her again and giving Homura her ribbons. She doesn't appear again until the end of chapter 2 after Sayaka has been led away by the Law of Cycles and Mami and Kyoko are standing at the station. Homura is introduced as the new transfer student and she leaves the class in order to meet with Mami and Kyoko on the rooftop, Homura wiping away a tear as she remembers meeting Madoka for the first time. They tell Homura about the giant wraith that has been seen lately and agree not to hunt it on their own. After several days of combing the city for the giant wraith and hunting down other more common wraiths, Homura has a short discussion with Kyubey about Madoka and the previous universe. Soon after, she encounters the giant wraith alone and attempts to defeat it herself by unleashing a large arrow of magic at it which takes on the form of a bird. However the giant wraith withstands the attack and is able to surprise Homura and overwhelm her, stealing a portion of her power. A smaller wraith steals Madoka's ribbon from her as well. After a nightmare, Homura wakes up in Mami's apartment, with Mami bringing her a tray of tea and many lecturing words. She asks Homura to transform into a magical girl, which she does successfully, and then to summon her weapon, which she cannot. Mami concludes that the wraiths stole a portion of Homura's power but has no idea on how to retrieve it. Homura is impatient to go and retrieve her powers, but Mami cautions her to play it safe and leave everything up to her and Kyoko. Homura alters her memories slightly before thanking Mami and leaving. In the city, Homura talks with Kyubey about the memory-manipulation magic she now has and her lack of time-stopping ability. She takes off to search the city when Kyoko runs into Homura while patrolling the streets. She assures Homura she won't tell Mami she saw her up and about knowing Mami would only lecture her further. When asked why she remains in the city despite Sayaka having disappeared, Kyoko responds she is still here to avenge Sayaka. Kyoko agrees to help Homura in finding and defeating the wraith provided she is the one to give the final blow. Despite using grief cubes, Homura finds her magical power has yet to recover which Kyubey explains is due to her soul gem's lack of capacity after the wraiths stole some of her power. As Homura sits in the park at night, Kyoko walks up to her telling her she's found a clue about the wraiths. Before Homura can come closer, Mami appears and fires at Kyoko, revealing her to be another mutant wraith that had taken on the form of Kyoko with the intent of attacking Homura. Mami summons several muskets and together her and Homura are able to hold off the wraiths but not for long. During the fight, Homura realizes the wraith is using time-manipulation magic. After a voice gives Homura advice, the two magical girls are able to overcome the wraiths' time-stopping ability and seemingly defeat the Wraith-Kyoko with Mami's Tiro Finale. After, the real Kyoko appears and informs them of the fake Sayaka and they agree on rules in order to limit their ability to be taken by surprise by the mutant wraiths. Mami and Kyoko leave, leaving Homura alone. She hears the voice from earlier once more and turns to see Madoka standing before her. However, this is not the real Madoka but a wraith who has taken on her form. She returns Madoka's ribbon to Homura before asking for her help in stopping the giant wraith. The fake Madoka explains how wraiths really work before explaining that the magic they took from Homura corrupted the wraiths, resulting in the mutant wraiths that take on human form. Despite Homura's reluctance in believing her story, she has the wraith follow her back to her apartment. There, Kyubey examines the wraith and confirms it carries a part of Homura's power in her. After several weeks of searching for the giant wraith, Homura and Wraith-Madoka are no closer to finding the whereabouts of the giant wraith. Wraith-Madoka asks Homura what she really thinks of her since she is taking the form of her most precious friend. Homura snaps at the wraith, telling her she is nothing more than a fake for which Homura holds no shred of emotion for and threatens to kill her for insulting Madoka's wish. But the wraith tells her she is lying to herself and that she is not only a wraith but also Homura's heart. Mami and Kyoko decide to begin their search from the beginning. Mami is upset to find that Homura had been searching for the giant wraith alone and worries that something may happen to her. Homura snaps at both Mami and Kyoko before taking off. Alone, Homura asks Kyubey what she wished for in order to become a magical girl but Kyubey doesn't know the answer to that. Homura worries that she may have used her memory-altering magic on herself in order to turn her dream of Madoka into memories instead. Wraith-Madoka catches up with Homura and offers to walk her home but not before Mami and Kyoko run into them. However, to Mami and Kyoko the wraith looks nothing like Madoka and only has the form of a mutant wraith wrapped around Homura. They transform into magical girls and prepare to rescue Homura, but Homura instead begs the wraith to save her from being a magical girl. The wraith takes Homura's soul gem and teleports them from the area, leaving Mami and Kyoko behind. At Homura's apartment, Homura and Wraith-Madoka sit in front of her many monitors and watch as a flashback plays out in which Homura makes her original wish to Kyubey to protect Madoka. Kyubey appears only to admonish Homura for having a wraith eat all of her emotions in order to avoid meeting the Law of Cycles. Outside, the wraiths begin their attack on the city, leaving people dead rather than simply emotionless. As Mami and Kyoko fight their respective battles, Wraith-Madoka and Homura watch from a nearby rooftop. Before the wraiths can bring the final blow to Mami, Wraith-Madoka takes the ribbon from Homura and unleashes several arrows from the air in Madoka's characteristic attack, protecting Mami. The wraith appears as Madoka to even Mami now that she has her ribbon. Together the wraith and Mami are able to work together to take down the two imposters. By this time the giant wraith has been consumed by the power it took from Homura and transforms into a witch-like creature complete with familiars. The wraith and Mami fight off the familiars but not before Kyoko and Mami are killed by the giant wraith. Wraith-Madoka continues in her struggle to defeat the witch-like wraith alone, but is overwhelmed and soon plummets to her death. Homura watches the battle dispassionately until she suddenly recovers herself and runs to catch the falling wraith. She realizes that Madoka is not a dream as the witch that stands before her is the proof that Madoka existed. Homura regains her original memories. Upon arriving to the new universe, she discovered that her time-manipulation shield no longer worked and she initially discarded it only to have the shield open a small portal to another world. Homura jumps into the world inside her shield and discovers Kriemhild Gretchen inside. Before she can destroy the shield, she realizes that if a witch is inside her shield then Madoka may also be inside fighting the witch. Instead, Homura used her magic to alter her own memories and causes herself to forget the existence of the time shield. After Homura and Wraith-Madoka land on the streets below, Homura reaches for the ribbon the wraith is holding and finds herself transported to another world. Her appearance changes to her original appearance with glasses and braids. There, she meets a doppelganger of herself who introduces itself as the personification of Homura's power that was stolen by the wraiths. It explains they are inside the world of her soul gem and that it was freed when the wraith that housed it was destroyed. After being stolen by the wraiths, her magical power was able to take control of one of the mutant wraiths in order to assist Homura. Homura asks her magical power what caused the wraiths to go rogue and her magic explains that it was due to the time manipulation magic coming from another universe with different laws. When Madoka and Homura parted ways in the space outside of the universe, their feelings for each other were so strong that a true miracle occurred and their feelings crystallized into a new soul gem for Homura. Because a miracle was granted to a magical girl without a normal exchange, it became separate from the laws of the universe and was considered in incomplete magic. After some time, this new magic began to interfere with her original magic, causing her shield and Madoka to suddenly link up. After Homura erased her memories of the shield, the wraiths stole the shield and were consumed by the curses that were contained within. Because the curses were a form of emotional energy not known in this universe, it corrupted the wraiths and caused the giant wraith to become a witch destined to destroy the world. Homura's thoughts take on the form of Sayaka, Kyoko and Mami who voice her self doubts in having rewritten her own memories rather than lose the shield and her proof of Madoka's existence. Homura takes off her glasses and undoes her braids, filled with a new resolve to protect Madoka even at the cost of her shield. She asks her magic to lend her power once more and her magic power takes on the form of her soul gem. Filled with power once more, Homura unleashes several hundred arrows that destroy the smaller wraiths and familiars before firing a single large arrow at the witch. As she drives the arrow further in, the witch cracks open and reveals the face of Kriemhild Gretchen and her shield inside. As Homura reaches for her shield, the witch uses its power to stab Homura through several times in an attempt to stop her. But Madoka appears before Homura and helps push her the last few inches towards the shield. As Homura touches the shield, it crumbles to pieces and the witch is obliterated. Back inside her soul gem, her magical power incarnate holds a sleeping Homura in her hands as she explains that Madoka has reset the timeline of this universe in order to prevent the curses of the previous world from interfering. Unlike last time however, Homura will lose her memories of the previous timeline. Homura snaps to alertness as she realizes she is standing at the station with Mami and Kyoko, Sayaka having just been led away by the Law of Cycles. Some time later, Homura is having the same discussion with Kyubey concerning Madoka and the previous universe. As Homura drops down to destroy the wraiths in the streets below, Kyubey reveals a piece of Homura's shield it managed to salvage and explains how he kept his memories of the previous timeline. Now that he has a piece of the shield and proof of Homura's story concerning the Law of Cycles, he and the other Incubators can now plan for a way in which they can capture Madoka. The chapter ends as Homura is walking in the desert, ready to take on a hoard of wraiths as several Incubators watch from atop some nearby ruins.

Homura in The Rebellion Story

Warning, this section contains spoilers about the movie.

"Without a doubt, this place is a witch's barrier." In events prior to The Rebellion Story Homura was captured by the Incubators, and her Soul Gem was placed in an Isolation Field that blocked out the Law of Cycles. This strain led Homura to transform partially into a witch without her knowledge. In this form, she also unconsciously created a labyrinth that was a near-perfect replica of Mitakihara City, and unconsciously lured her former acquaintances into it. She even drew in Madoka from the Law of Cycles, who entered the barrier along with Sayaka and Nagisa Momoe. In this dream world, Homura unconsciously distorted almost everyone's memories (including her own) so that they believed they were living in the real world fighting new enemies called Nightmares. In order to stop the Incubators from fulfilling their goal, Madoka entrusted her memories and powers to Sayaka and Nagisa. Sayaka only pretended to have her memories altered, while Nagisa disguised herself as Charlotte/Bebe. Eventually Homura realizes that she's trapped in a witch's barrier and attempts to discover who is behind it. Near the end of her journey she has a conversation with Madoka that causes her to realize that she can't accept Madoka's sacrifice. At this point she begins to realize she is the witch, and confirms it when she separates herself from her Soul Gem without consequence. At this point Kyubey appears and explains the truth about Homura's present nature and the Incubators' plan to control the Law of Cycles. This causes Homura to go berserk and curse her existence, completing her transformation into a witch known as Homulilly. Madoka and the other magical girls manage to rescue Homura by destroying the stasis field containing them all, returning them to reality. Due to the Isolation Field, Homura only became a witch inside her own Soul Gem, allowing Madoka to save her. Ultimate Madoka arrives to take Homura away as per the Law of the Cycle. However, Homura grabs Madoka first. Her Soul Gem turns black, then fills with swirling colors that Nagisa calls worse than curses. Reality begins to crack as Homura separates Madoka from her goddess self. The colors burst out of her Soul Gem, and both the cracks and colors engulf the entire universe. Homura and Kyubey reappear in the same place where Madoka ascended in Episode 12. Homura shatters her Soul Gem in her mouth, and a new gem appears called the Dark Orb. Kyubey exclaims that Homura is rewriting the universe, and asks what happened to her Soul Gem. Homura explains that she remembered all of the times she repeated time, and all of the pain she suffered for Madoka's sake. She says that even this pain has become precious to her, tainting her Soul Gem with something greater than curses. As she swallows the Dark Orb, she calls it the pinnacle of human emotions: Love. Homura transforms into a new form and grows a pair of black wings. Kyubey says that Homura is no longer a magical girl or a witch, and asks what Homura is now. Homura that since she brought down and imprisoned god, it's only appropriate to call her a demon (akuma). Kyubey decides that it was a mistake to experiment with human emotions and flees, but Homura grabs him and says she still needs his existence to deal with all the curses of the world.

By Rebellion's finale

Warning, this section contains spoilers.

"As I am now, I'm not a witch anymore. Something that could bring down a god and imprison her...I suppose you could only call such a being a demon." Homura effectively becomes a goddess of this new universe. Apart from her true nature as a demon, she still exists with a human form in the real world and can interact normally with everyone else. She appears to have the power to manipulate the memories of virtually anyone she pleases, but otherwise the full extent of her abilities are unknown. It is assumed that Homura is a deity that primarily embodies love (whereas Madoka embodies hope). Homura is presently holding a fraction of the Goddess Madoka captive--specifically, the part that was Madoka Kaname before she became the Law of Cycles. It is also implied she is placing the world's curses onto Kyubey. Despite proclaiming herself as a demon, Madoka, Sayaka, Kyoko, Mami, and Nagisa are all given happy lives in her new world.

Homura in the Manga

"Homura-chan. We were already friends. From now on, and forever. Always." - Madokami, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Chapter 12

• Homura's role in the manga follows the anime exactly up until the final chapter.
• Instead of wandering through a desert towards a group of wraiths, the epilogue of the manga Homura is shown being saved by Madokami, who tells her they always have and always will be friends before they walk away together.

Homura in The Different Story

• Homura acts just as she did in the anime.
• Homura tries to cooperate with all magical girls to fight Walpurgisnacht. But she still fails because all other magical girls don't believe her.
  • When Sayaka becomes Oktavia, she warns Kyoko not to visit Mami or she may die. Kyoko refuses and set a barrier to stop her from following.
  • She brings unconscious Mami home, and then seeks her help.
  • She lies to Madoka, saying Sayaka is killed by witches. She doesn't want Madoka to know about the cold truth.
  • When Madoka contracts, she doesn't reset time immediately. She tries to convince Madoka to run away, but Madoka refuses. She resets time after the other two go to fight Walpurgis.

Homura in the PSP Game

• If certain conditions are met, the Homura route will be available for playing.
• Homura can save Mami from Charlotte.
  • By telling Mami she will leave Charlotte to her, Homura can avoid being tied up in ribbons. Homura can then secretly follow and save Mami in time.
    • Mami apologizes to Homura for misjudging her and forms a bond with Homura.
    • With Mami alive, there is a scene where she fights against Kyoko.
• Homura can save Sayaka, by choosing Kyoko to talk to Sayaka and prevent her from becoming a witch.
  • Sayaka will join the group in fighting against Walpurgis.
• Kyouko will team up with Homura in most cases.
• If Homura successfully avoids Mami's death and none of the magical girls become witches, then it is possible for Homura to challenge Walpurgis with four magical girls without having Madoka contracting with Kyubey.
• The PSP game has a transformation scene for glasses Homura

Homura in Oriko Magica

"Madoka... don't ever tell me not to save you. I'm not all-powerful. I am not able to save everyone. But... even so, I want to save you. So, don't say that anymore!" - Homura, Puella Magi Oriko Magica, Chapter 5.

• Homura first appears in Chapter 3. When Mami warns her about the magical girl murders, Homura seems not to care, but warns Mami not to get close to her, Madoka, Hitomi and Sayaka.
• In chapter 4, she appears for one page with her friends, going out for sweets. She defers to Madoka's taste and doesn't care where they go. She protected Madoka well to this point, keeping the knowledge of magical girls far away from her and Sayaka.
• In chapters 5-7, as Mitakihara Junior High is covered with a witch's barrier, Homura does her best to protect Madoka from the familiars. After Madoka told her not to sacrifice others to protect her, however, Homura decided to find Oriko and Kirika and defeat them. Oriko reveals that she knows about the end of the world caused by Kriemheld Gretchen, Madoka's witch form, and that she plans to kill Madoka before she can contract and cause that to happen. Homura fights together with Mami, Kyoko and Yuma, coming close to losing when two of the other three fall into despair after seeing Kirika become a witch. They manage to pull themselves together and defeat her, and Homura kills Oriko. But since Oriko also killed Madoka by using the last of her power to shoot a piece of Kirika's witch body through Madoka's torso, Homura can do nothing but reset the timeline.

Powers and Abilities

• 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. Along with stopping time, Homura can also reverse time to before her meeting with Madoka.
  • 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.
  • Gen Urobuchi stated that he didn't really think too much about the mechanics of Homura's time loops, so the nature of Homura's power is not only a mystery, but it is not fully understood not even by the creative source.
• Homura's shield is able to store a countless amount of weapons, as demonstrated by the many pistols, light machineguns, shotguns, rocket launchers, and boxes of ammunition packed inside it. Note that her shield is relatively small and she is able to wear it around her wrist, much like a watch.

Wraith Arc
After Madoka resets the universe, their feelings for each other crystallized into Homura's new soul gem and Homura was granted a new wish. Her shield is no longer able to reset time, however when wraiths stole Homura's power they were shown with the ability to stop time. Homura now has the ability to alter people's memories and owing to her new abilities, Homura's weapon is instead a black bow similiar to Madoka's as well as the ability to create wings of energy, shown forming angelic wings when confronting Wraiths in the city and jagged dark wings when walking through the desert.

Observations

• 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.
• Her house has a wall display of documents relating to witches.
• She is visibly upset when Madoka uses her last name or honorifics instead of the more intimate "Homura".
• Homura calls everyone by their full name, giving the impression of being distant to people. This is most likely an attempt of her part to distance herself emotionally with everyone.
  • In episode 10, Hoemura goes from formal to first name basis with Madoka.
  • In episode 9 when Kyoko sacrifices herself to save Sayaka, Homura calls her by her first name.
  • The way she calls Sayaka varies on timelines. And she always refers to Mami as by her full name or Tomoe-san, probably because she is her senior.
• Homura's appearance in episode 12 (in the new timeline) from the manga is different than her appearance from the anime. In the anime, her clothes and hairstyle remain the same, with Madoka's ribbon as her accessories. However, in the manga, she wears a new dress, changes her hairstyle to two pigtails with the ribbons Madoka gave her.
• Some viewers that noticed that Homura shows several traits of emotional abuse towards Madoka throughout the series. She intimidates Madoka, with Madoka often looking uncomfortable or fearful around her (multiple times, notably once in episode 1), belittles her by calling her a fool or idiot at various points (and telling her she "won't hold back against a fool" at one point in episode 6) and doesn't treat her as an equal, tells her not to ever change herself (episode 1) and to give up on or forget about her friends (episodes 5 and 7 regarding Sayaka), controls her decisions regardless of Madoka's wants or feelings, and especially without her explicit consent (several points in the anime, Rebellion's ending), follows or stalks her repeatedly (Madoka Magica, The Different Story — notice how she is almost always in time to stop Madoka making a contract or to save her from harm), has shown to be capable of doing extreme things in the name of Madoka's sake (attempting to kill Sayaka in episode 8), is capable of throwing other's lives away for Madoka's sake (again, Sayaka; Oriko Magica has a scene where Madoka acknowledges this), constantly withholds highly important information from Madoka (such as important info regarding magical girls, Kyubey, or Sayaka's situation), and tries to drive others away from Madoka/Madoka away from others if she perceives them as a threat to her safety (Mami and Sayaka). As well as this, in Rebellion, as this tumblr post points out: Homura alters Madoka's memories and takes away her powers, places herself in a position of influence over Madoka by making Madoka into her shyer pre-series self (who may in fact be even shyer than that) and into a new transfer student, and appears to even sever all her previous friendships, especially from Sayaka, who was previously Madoka's childhood and best friend.
  • Homura also shows many traits of a textbook psychopath, as explained in detail here. Much of the analysis also overlaps with the emotional abuse analysis above.
• 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.
  • In the story of Faust, the devil grants him "magical powers" for 24 years, "one year for each hour of the day," and the deal was at the end of the "24 years," the devil would claim his soul. Homura's "weapon" is an hourglass, and her hourglass can reset time by one month. Given the strong parallels to Faust, and how at the end of the last loop, Homura was about to lose her soul (by giving in to Kyuubey's master plan and her Soul Gem becoming corrupted), it is entirely probable that her loop lasted for a total of 24 months/loop attempts as a reasonable conservative estimate, and the full Faustian 24 years as a more gruesome estimate. Given how radically her personality has changed since the first loop attempt, and how she seems to have memorized most of the key events of the loop, 24 months seems like a plausible number.
• The reason why Homura can't prevent Madoka from being a magical girl may be interpreted that it is Madoka becoming a magical girl that makes Homura become magical girl. If Homura really did, there will be a paradox. But effect can't change the cause. Therefore, no matter how many times she tries, she is destined to fail.
  • Another evidence may support this idea. In the end of episode 12, Homura is still a magic girl and she knows the existence of Madoka. It is because Homura became a magic girl and her trying hundreds of times to save Madoka that gives Madoka the ability to become Madokami. Even Madokami can't change what she is based on to exist. The effect can't change the cause.

Etymology

• Her first name is written in hiragana, which has no special meaning. However, when written in kanji, it can mean:
  • flame, blaze (炎 or 焔)
  • heart on fire (心火)
• Though only 焔, 炎, and 心火 are actually Japanese given names.
• The official Chinese translation uses (焔) "flame, blaze" as the characters for her first name. However, no official kanji of her name exists in the original Japanese version.
• The first character for Akemi (暁) means "daybreak", while the second one (美) means beauty which is a common letter in girl's names.
  • In an early production sketch, her surname was given as (暁海) "daybreak sea" instead of (暁美). Both are read as Akemi.
  • Her last name can also be used as a first name.
• When her full name is written vertically in hiragana (あけみほむら) and covering the left half at a certain angle, it could be read as カナメまどか which is Kaname written in katakana and Madoka written in hiragana.

Trivia

• At a Nitro+ Q&A Panel it was revealed that Homura went through almost 100 timelines. Q: How many timelines did Homura go through? A: Approaching 100.
  • If Homura really did loop the same month and a half nearly 100 times, she would technically be around 26-years old, having spent 12 years looping time. (Calculations here.) However, since her body is always reset along with time, she is still only 14-years old physically. This makes Homura about twelve years older mentally than Madoka.
• Homura finds a manual on how to make bombs from the internet. According with the Japanese Wikipedia the manual is titled Hara Hara Tokei (腹腹時計, Hara Hara Tokei), published in March 1974 by a far-left terrorist organization.
  • Incidentally, the manual explains with illustrations that “Anyone with a middle-school level knowledge of chemistry can do it”.
• 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.
  • Originally started by the fan community it has been embraced and adopted by the industry to become part of the official language and usage.
  • Sometimes also jokingly refered to as "Homurika" due to shared similarity of circumstances (having to go through many timelines to prevent a tragedy) with Rika Furude (Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni).
• 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).
• 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.
• In the Puella Magi Madoka Magica Official Guidebook "You Are Not Alone" Hanokage jokingly describes Homura as "Hommando" in her After-Recording Report comic, because of the excessive vast arsenal of weaponry she unleashes in Episode 11. Apparently the smörgåsbord of weaponry was added later, they were not originally depicted in the early stages of the screenplay.
  • 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 is the strongest of the magical girls as long as no one discovers the nature of her power.
• In Audio commentary for Episode 4, Urobuchi liked Chiwa Saitou for the role because she had a "Dark Beauty" feeling.
  • In the Audio commentary for Episode 7, Chiwa Saitou explains she tried the role of Kyubey and Kyousuke first, until Gen Urobuchi convinced her to try the role of Homura.
  • Chiwa Saito explains that she found the character of Homura to be strong but also to be a weak/delicate girl. Aoi Yuuki adds that the Homura character had no other choice but to become strong.
    • Ryouko Shintani states that would be true for a character that has something or someone important to protect.

Gallery

See Gallery:Homura

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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.

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  Analysis of how Homura's shield works.

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  Analysis of the central mechanism.

Magazine Article

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• July's NewType article
• Animedia 2011-05: Chiwa Saito Data
• AFA11 Interview Chiwa Saito

External links

• Homura Akemi at Pixiv image repository (Japanese)
• Homura Akemi at Danbooru image repository (NSFW)
• Homu-Land Defence Force (Akemi Homura Facebook Fanpage)
• Ask pervy homu (a fan blog)
• ask homunyan