God ending. Figures. How nice to see sayaka STILL die in better world hahaha. Also, what's with the bit after the credits? Before credits, homura sports the angel wings but after that she gets wings that sorta look like a witch's magic?

Also HOMURA WITH A BOW AND ARROW FINALLY.

No yuri end, i am disappoint. Get friend-zoned homura \o/

That was bittersweet.

Since Homura's wings turn from white before the credits to black and despair-like after the credits, I expect a second season. But really, WHAT IS HAPPENING? I really can't get that last scene out of my head. I'd assume it has something to do all of with the timelines since there appeared to be strings attached to Homura.

Can someone explain to me why there are still these pseudo-witches in the world? How do they form? Why would they have a grief seed (to replenish their magic) if these witches didn't have a soul gem in the first place? And why did they have to kill sayaka again LOL.

I believe that the new "demons" are there to replace witches. All that despair has to go somewhere.

Madoka is God. The history of the world all makes sense now.
I really enjoyed episode 11. The entire build-up leading to Madoka's wish was great. I especially enjoyed the moments between Madoka and her mom. The fact that Incubators had been contracting with girls since the beginning of humankind and that they were the reason why humanity had become advanced was a nice revelation as well.
Then Madoka made her wish to destroy all witches from the past and future before they came to be. I can't say that I really liked the way they decided to end the show, but it made sense and was at least satisfying for me. It threw in some Homura x Madoka, Ave Maria, the recreation of the universe, special scenes giving closure for each of the girls, and a sentimental ending where Homura is the only one who remembers Madoka and continues to fight in her memory, and mixed it all up for a nice ending. The new world is just like every other magical girl world now, where girls contract with animal mascots to gain powers to defeat evil monsters of inexplicable origin with no repercussions to themselves for doing so.
Maybe Madoka Magica really wasn't a deconstruction or subversion of other magical girl animes, but simply a prequel.

Unexpected ending.

Not sure if I like the way they ended the series with how Madoka made her wish. I always wondered, couldn't she have just simply stated:

"I wish to be a God that can see and change the past, future, and present in accordance to my will."

Something like that could have been enough. Idk. Basically the same thing though. Anyways, I didn't like how Sayaka had to die twice. I guess she's one of those retarded characters that just has to die over and over and over. I enjoyed how in the 'new' world, nobody knew who Madoka was, but Homura and Madoka's brother did. Almost baw'd a bit when I saw him drawing a picture of her on the sand.

As for the wings, I think that was a representation of how Madoka's powers are somehow in Homura as well. Or at least, a small portion of it. Which was why when the wings spanned, you could see time-space. The bow&arrow was originally Madoka's in the previous worlds, correct? This might further prove my theory. Then Madoka's powers (a small amount) is attaching itself onto Homura. Unknown whether the ribbon had much to do with it, but it was her present to Homura.

I think it became fairly obvious that Sayaka has an intrinsic character flaw with Episode 10. When Homura wants to joint the fight, Sayaka doesn't want to "swap out" in order to avoid her explosions and would rather have Homura leave. This just screams that Sayaka is stubborn to no end with regards to having her being on the front lines and her distrust of other(s) (magical girls).

Episode 11 was great. Episode 12 seemed tacked on and the series really needed to bend over backwards in order to have a "happy" conclusion. It is sad because much of the show relied on revealing each rule or premise in a step wise fashion. The last episode kind of made the slow structure build up completely obsolete. Also, Spidey got the Madoka wish power theory right. I wanted to fist-bump her when they were giving the explanation in the beginning of the episode. Ending was disappointing. But then again, most animes have endings I find spur of the moment or rather shoddy. So even though I'm disappointed, I was kind of expecting some form of it before I watched the last two episodes.

Ludicrous, game-breaking, full-circle, semi-happy ending get. I almost want to be disappointed, but I am simultaneously pleased and content. There were so many potential troll endings they could have ended it however they wanted and they'd have gotten an "Ahhh, you cheeky bastards. Well played and good game" from me. There's no conclusive and perfect way to end a show like that. I don't really think they left it open for a sequel. Not one that would be very good at least.

Shaft is a pretty cool guy. Makes good anime and doesn't afraid of breaking it every time.

I can't find the ending where making a wish to rewrite the laws of the universe as being suitable to a well built-up series. A plot device to give a character God status might as well have been an ending where everything was a dream. All the dramatic momentum and suffering of the previous episodes were lost as soon as Madoka revealed her wish. Granted, her becoming God was pretty much the only way to achieve a happy ending, the series would've been much more powerful had it have a solid closure like Bebop. Just because there is no possible happy ending within reach of the plot, doesn't mean a series needs a happy ending to be good.

Also, never read Spidey speculations.

Well, their weapons in the character portraits finally match up. And I guess Kyubey really didn't lie when he told Madoka that she could become a god-like entity if she were to become a magical girl. Also, that theory of her getting stronger with each recursion was correct too! Overall I think this was the best show I've watched since I finished TTGL like 8 months ago.

FFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUU- end was such a mind pineapple! Overall, I could easily guess that the end would be with her wish removing something from existence, but I didnt expect her to wish for witches, not puella magi, but just witches to be removed. In a way, it was kind of nice in that, since it made Kyubei end up being a good guy in the corrected world, as well as Puella Magi still having a role to play. With that outcome, its basically everyone wins, Kyubei still collects "energy", and now Puella Magi dont turn into witches (but i couldnt tell if they die when they run out of power or if their powers disappear). I really liked that in contrast to the rather darker and depressing story that was told overall.

Now, I cant decide how I would take a season two. I know for the off shoot mangas that they have, it seems like anything that returned witches to the story at any point would make Madoka Magica rather a waste of time, unless they were able to come up with a good plot device that would lead to their removal again. I know for a good part of this series, I was expecting her wish to remove the Incubators from existence, thus (in theory) removing witches, but it would possibly effect history in some way. Idk, they would really need to blow it out of the water to make something good to follow this up. Easily story wise, a fantastic anime, specially for one that only lasted for 12 episodes.

One last thing, I can totally see why they delayed these last two episodes after the earthquake. These episodes basically revolved around natural disaster from the nonwitch/puella magi side.

This new world Madoka created, which is pretty much the way a Magical Girl world should be, with cute mascots giving powers to girls so they can save the day from demons.
The bit at the end with Homura's wings and all that destruction didn't bode well.

So Joan of Arc is a magical girl, right?
That's who they kept showing, right?

Sorry, I can't get over that, heh... but anyway, great ending, although bittersweet.

I want to assume the Egyptian was some sort of young Cleopatra too

Though the ending was kinda predictable in way, having Madoka wish for something that would break the rules of the game. It was wonderfully done without a Deux ex machina.
Also, seeing Homura go full power against the Walpurgis Night was awesome.
I feel although the ending was "resort to god" it was still pretty satisfying, easily one of my favorite anime.