Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie Part 2: Eternal

Eternal is the second of two films that retell the 2011 TV anime Puella Magi Madoka Magica. It opened in Japan on October 13, 2012, just one week after the first film, Beginnings. Studio Shaft made it, with Akiyuki Shinbo as director, Gen Urobuchi as writer, Ume Aoki on character designs, and Yuki Kajiura on music. Where the first film covered the first eight TV episodes, this one covers the final four. Like Beginnings, it uses newly recorded voice lines and adds some fresh animation. The two films together tell the whole story of the original show.

The film picks up in the city of Mitakihara, right where the first movie stopped. The friendly mood of the early story is long gone. Madoka Kaname, a gentle middle school girl, has watched the people around her suffer. She has learned that being a magical girl is not the bright and happy dream it first seemed to be. A magical girl, in anime, is a girl who gets special powers to fight evil. Here, those powers come from a contract with Kyubey, a small white creature that grants one wish to each girl who agrees to fight monsters called witches.

Madoka still has not made a contract. She faces a hard choice. Should she make a wish and fight? Or should she stay safe, even if it means watching others get hurt? Her friends and new allies each pull her in a different way.

Homura Akemi is at the center of this part of the story. She is the quiet, serious girl who has tried for a long time to stop Madoka from signing Kyubey's deal. In Eternal, viewers finally begin to understand why Homura acts the way she does. Her past and her real goal come into the light, and they change how the whole story feels. Kyouko Sakura, a rough but honest fighter, also grows a lot, and her bond with Sayaka Miki becomes one of the most moving parts of the film. Kyubey's true nature and its reasons for making contracts also become clear.

The film also builds toward a huge threat that the girls must face together. It tests their courage and friendship more than ever. We will not share how the story ends, because the final choices are the heart of the film and are best seen fresh.

The big themes of the series are strongest here. The film looks at hope and despair, at the cost of giving yourself up for others, and at what it means to keep a promise. It also asks whether one person can change a cruel system. It is sad in many places, but it is also full of love and hope. Many fans call the ending one of the most memorable in modern anime.

The art is a big part of the experience. The battle scenes mix normal animation with strange collage-style worlds that look like paper cut-outs come to life. Yuki Kajiura's music, with its rising choirs, makes the biggest moments feel grand. The films were shown in theaters in the United States and several other countries in late 2012 and early 2013, and later got an English dub. A third film, Rebellion, came out in 2013 with a brand new story that continues after this one.