My personal ranking is:
To point out the elephant in the room for a lot of us international fans of Madoka Magica, especially here in the States, it all but goes without saying the movie will most likely ONLY release in Japan at the end of August.
As to when it will release internationally, we still currently don’t know. Also, we won’t know how big the release scope for this movie will be over here when it finally drops.
The Law of Cycles should still have been unobservable after Kyubey’s barrier on Homura was destroyed, yet it was very clearly visible to the naked eye to everyone there. Also, Madoka mentioned in Episode 12 that she sees all of time and space in every universe. But she was still off-guarded and forcibly ripped apart by Homura’s love?
Looks very fishy to me. Maybe WnK could reveal Ultimate Madoka had some hidden plan all along…
Sounds like a harsh over-generalization, but so many of the complaints of a vocal minority complaining how pre-timeskip One Piece is so much better than current arcs seem like they never understood the series.
First of these complaints is how much current arcs do not focus as much on the Straw Hat crew. That would seem a solid complaint if the story did not also obviously gear that much of the crew’s screentime was secondary focus. As far as arcs focusing on them, they had their development as a group very early on in Water 7 / Enies Lobby. That was their big trial by fire moment of Luffy being tested as a captain, the situation with the Merry, Usopp and Robin both leaving, and facing off against CP9. Everything after that was ultimately extra or supplementary to Luffy and Zoro.
Speaking of Luffy and Zoro, it should not be a hot take to say that they are the most important Straw Hats and overall characters in the story. Their goals of being King of the Pirates and the World’s Greatest Swordsman are treated with far more narrative weight than the rest of the dreams of the crew. The story all but says as much by having only the two of them become part of the “Worst Generation”. What most certainly is a personal hot take of mine is how they are the only members of the crew that are required to have major development and ore screentime for every arc they appear in.
From Thriller Bark and the Summit War onwards, the story is definitely moreso geared towards expanding the lore and worldbuilding instead of the overall growth of the rest of the Straw Hats. Even as a first-time viewer of the series, I could tell the Straw Hats simply need to take a backseat for the rest of the story to go proper.
Another big complaint is Gear 5. More accurately, people complaining over how “unserious” or “super special” it makes Luffy. To be blunt, this people now genuinely completely misunderstanding One Piece. The whole point of Luffy’s character is what Vegapunk stated about Nika: He plays the part of the fool while bringing freedom and smiles to people. He has always been as serious as he is goofy and stupid, that is the core of his character. All of the build-up of his previous forms and battles shortnening his life was for his “rebirth” as the Sun God Nika in Gear 5.
It also needs to be said that Luffy was never some nobody underdog. His father and grandfather are two of some of the most legendary figures in the verse. Gear 5 being a retcon also is nonsense, since the World Government realistically would repress the truth of the Nika-Nika fruit and it is no accident that Shanks of all people had the fruit before Luffy ate it.
This is my two cents on whenever people glaze pre-timeskip.
Spider-Man
Batman
Superman
Monkey D. Luffy
Naruto Uzumaki
Ichigo Kurosaki
Rewrite of a previous post taken down
After how Rebellion ended and going into Walpurgisnacht Rising, it goes without repeating that she technically does not have to. The Magical Quartet (Madoka writers) confirmed that that LoC is very much still active even after what Homura did. To top if off, while technically living under her power, Madoka is back to living a happy and normal life due to Devil Homura.
Obviously, the magical girls are currently fighting something and in a crisis again in WnK. We also know Rebellion ended heavily implying that Ultimate Madoka will eventually return.
What I want to ask the community is whether or not she will actively want to become a goddess again?
This is a character discussion that kinda should be addressed in WnK because we KNOW Madoka eventually will reclaim her powers and memories.
But a major elephant in the room is will she actively want to become the Law of Cycles again. The Magical Quartet (or writers) confirmed that LoC still very much functions within Devil Homura’s Labyrinth-verse, so she technically does not need to return to being Ultimate Madoka.
Also important is that reclaiming her memories would also have relive seeing everything Homura has done for her in the original show, and likely after that too. She would know Homura “betrayed” her to save her and finally give her back a normal and happy life. In this new world, albeit while stuck under Devil Homura’s thumb, she’s now back with her family and friends.
However, the trailers and promo material do indicate that something else big again is happening in this new universe that magical girls need to fight. What I want to ask the community is what do you think what role Madoka’s divinity will play in the plot?
Assuming the final battle against Sephiroth will have party members you 100% are able to choose, who would y’all want?
For me personally, I want it to be Cloud, Tifa, and Yuffie
Not only are those three my favorite of the cast but Part 3 is literally set up as their big game in the trilogy
For me, it goes:
Spider-Man
Batman
Superman
For a movie that has taken 13 years to release (assuming it actually sticks to its current release date), it kinda goes without saying it needs to deliver on a lot of hype from fans within a reasonable runtime.
I see it most likely having a runtime similar to Rebellion, which is roughly 2 hours. However, and this is just me, I have also gotten a lot of Rebuild of Evangelion vibes from how this movie is marketed. More specifically and accurately, it reminds me a lot of Evangelion 3.0 + 1.0 Thrice Upon A Time. It is mainly do with the new redesigns of the cast and overall visual look of the movie, as well as it having been described as both an ending and new beginning for the franchise.
What I am getting at is that I also get the feeling and want for it to have a similar runtime: Being a little over two and half hours.
But would do you think / want the runtime of Walpurgisnacht Rising to be?
This is something I’ve been noticing even as of the whole Summit War Saga (Sabaody to Marineford), that the story has become less geared towards focusing on the Straw Hats and the dynamics between them. One of the common criticisms of the series’s post-timeskip arcs is a lack of focus or screentime of crew members in arcs.
With the exception of Luffy and Zoro, most arcs onward really focus on the other important side cast of each arc / island they visit. Moreover, the lore and wordbuilding of the verse that was set up earlier on in the series as well as other big characters known in-verse largely get developed more and been currently been on a roll with the payoffs.
I’m asking the fandom what route of storytelling do they prefer in One Piece. In my personal opinion, the only Straw Hats that consistantly need screentime and development for each arc going forward is Luffy and Zoro. Water 7 / Enies Lobby was THE arc about the Straw Hats. Every thing after that focusing on the group dynamic feels like either retreading or extra. With how the story has been geared, especially from Thriller Bark and the Summit War with these two, it simply feels that Luffy and Zoro’s endgoals for the series take major precedence and focus over the rest.
I view these as their own alternative to the original show and I genuinely especially love the final movie, Thrice Upon A Time.
Of the two Homuras we see in trailers and promo material, one of them is depicted with Madoka’s ribbons back in her hair. It is safe to say this is most likely the “real” version of her since her eyes are also purple, unlike the other.
But regardless, how does she have the red ribbons back in her hair? At the end of Rebellion, she puts them back in Madoka’s hair after the yellow ones fell out. It was an indication of Madoka reclaiming her role as the main POV and protagonist of the story, as well as capping off Homura’s self-loathing towards accepting being the “Devil”.
My theory is based on the idea of Madoka giving them back and subsequently wearing matching red ribbons for a good duration of the movie. What I base this on is the knowledge that she eventually will reclaim her godhood and memories. But in doing so, she will once again remember everything Homura has done with her, including why she did it all.
An interesting direction for the story could be everyone of the Holy Quintet hating Homura for what she has done, except for Madoka herself, after experiencing the truth. After all, it is entirely within Madoka’s character to expect or believe in the good of magical girls, especially in her best friends. To that end, she would even go as far as to “lock” much of her powers away (as seen in her new magical girl uniform). Instead of properly ascending back to being Ultimate Madoka, she actively restrains her power to honor Homura’s wish for her to be “selfish” for once in her life.