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For those new to the PMMM fandom, the concept movie trailer is a short video that debuted as part of Studio SHAFT's fortieth anniversary event in winter 2015. This preview of a hypothetical fourth film was eagerly welcomed by fans... only to be followed by years of silence without any further news or updates. Though the trailer itself only four minutes long, there's a surprising amount of content packed into such a small space, full of tantalizing possibilities about where a Rebellion sequel might be headed.... or might have been in 2015, anyway.
Trying to reconstruct the plot of a movie from its trailer is an exercise usually doomed to failure, assembling a puzzle full of missing pieces. (Did anyone guess where Rebellion was going based on its trailer?) So this essay is not so much an authoritative analysis as a quixotic attempt to determine just what the heck might be going on here based on the limited--and possibly misleading--information available.
Because there is no official English release, all quotes are taken from either from the fan-translated subtitled version on YouTube linked above or the transcript on the Puella Magi Wiki.
Dance, Dance... Revolution??
Let's start with what may well be the trailer's most memorable image: Madoka dressed in a gold and white tutu, balancing en pointe as she spins in circles in an equally gilded ballet studio lined with long high windows. This outfit also appears in a movie poster published in the January 2016 issue of Newtype, as well as on the cover of the twenty-fifth issue of the Manga Time Kirara Magica in April 2016. What is most striking to me on first glance is how much this outfit mimics the shape and silhouette of Madoka's original magical girl costume without actually being one--perhaps an unconscious recreation of a form that feels "right" to her.
Prior to this point, Homura was the one associated with a ballet motif; her labyrinth in Rebellion contains numerous allusions to Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker, from her "Clara Dolls" named for the ballet's heroine, the Lotte familiars that resemble tin soldiers and Homulily the Nutcracker Witch herself. The final scene of the movie shows her dancing alone in a park, spinning in confident, fluid circles--the polar opposite of Madoka's careful and precise movements in the concept trailer.
Going in circles, is, of course, a recurring motif in PMMM, particularly for Homura, who relived the same period over and over again in her many loops. From the spinning vinyl records in Rebellion, to the description of Walpurgisnacht as "the fool who continuously spins in circles," to the existence of a "Law of Cycles", the series has always been fascinated with repetition and return--albeit, usually with a twist--to its staring point. Will the characters continue to literally and metaphorically spin their wheels in this new installment, or will the next chapter in the story break new ground at last?
In this brief clip from the concept trailer, it's unclear to what extent Madoka's new interest in ballet is her own idea. Perhaps it's something she picked up during her three years ostensibly living abroad in America. Perhaps it's not surprising that a girl who struggles with confidence and self-esteem issues might be drawn to a highly formal practice with strict rules and training regimes where other people tell her what to do; or that someone with a tendency to put the needs of others over her own might find a practice where suffering for one's art is considered a virtue especially appealing. Perhaps it's a substitute for the grace and beauty she previously sought as a magical girl; perhaps Homura is projecting her own desires onto Madoka as if she were a living doll. Regardless of her motives, there's no question Madoka is highly skilled--most dancers train for years to dance en pointe, which requires tremendous preparation in order to perform safely. Having access to a magical girl's enhanced capabilities would undoubtedly help, but even so, it's still an impressive feat, one she apparently performs with ease.
While there are no obvious answers in the trailer explaining Madoka's new proficiency, a few moments later, a still drawing shows Homura seated in a chair while Madoka dances and an animation shows her applauding what may be Madoka's performance. At least in the beginning, it seems Homura is content to remain on the sidelines and enjoy the performance, which appears to be for her and her alone.
As Madoka dances, she is accompanied by a voice over of herself and Homura as the two of them muse philosophically on the nature of happiness: the bright May sunshine (which Homura has never experienced during her loops); the warmth of family (which Madoka gave up at the end of the original series); and "fried eggs for breakfast". This last remark may seem random compared to the others, but it's a callback to two memorable moments in the original series--one where Madoka is reminded of Mami's death while looking at the golden yolk of an egg at breakfast, and another where her teacher rants about the best way to cook eggs. Eggs are a recurrent motif throughout PMMM in general, from the shape of soul gems to the Incubators who cultivate them--who in turn liken Homura's internalized labyrinth in Rebellion to a chick that hasn't cracked through her shell. It also evokes the old saying about how one "can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs"--which accurately sums up Homura's decision to rip Madoka from her goddess form at the end of the third movie.
But, Madoka and Homura agree in unison, there's nothing like any of these small, simple joys in heaven. Madoka may have become a goddess and ascended to paradise, but in this case, "heaven" is less of a "magical girl Valhalla" full of feasting and celebration initially hypothesized by fans, and instead more akin to the Buddhist parinirvana, the release from the cycles of samsara, karma, and rebirth, and lacks both the material comforts of the world and meaningful relationships with other people. This view is further supported by Nagisa's offhand comment in Rebellion about taking on her mission because she wanted to eat cheese--which for her is also a synonym for love and affection--one more time.
Having established the limitations that come from being a god, the conversation shifts to the story of how a "lizard-girl" (a reference to Homura's salamander motif from Rebellion) tore the goddess apart and brought one of those halves to earth. Though Homura had her reasons which the trailer frames sympathetically, the ending of Rebellion suggests that the new world order she has created is fundamentally unstable, with Homura forcibly suppressing both Madoka and Sayaka's memories in order to maintain the new status quo. Given PMMM's obsession with cycles and loops, it's worth noting that "revolution" can mean either a circular rotation that returns to its starting point or an overthrow of the current system--both of which are likely to happen in a Rebellion sequel.
At the climax of this speech, Madoka is abruptly cast in shadow as she drops to her knees in a pose instantly recognizable to ballet afficianados as "The Dying Swan". Originally choreographed by Mikhail Fokine to Camille Saint-Saëns's Le Cygne (The Swan) from The Carnival of the Animals in 1905, this sequence has since been incorporated into subsequent productions of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake, to the point where the two have become almost completely synonymous.
Just as the original series is a retelling of Goethe's Faust, and Rebellion draws heavily on the motifs and iconography from The Nutcracker, both the visual framing of this sequence and the context around it suggest that this new story is inspired at least in part by Swan Lake. Viewed in this light, Homura's "Devil" outfit from Rebellion with its black feathered bodice bears a remarkable resemblance to many versions of the "Black Swan" costume from the ballet even as it simultaneously parallels Madoka's goddess form. In contrast to goddess!Madoka's winged heels, Homura wears black ballet slippers tied with black ribbons, further cementing the dance connection. Likewise, a closer look at Madoka's ballet costume in the trailer is far fancier than what one would wear for everyday training and bears a marked resemblance to that of the White Swan, suggesting she is practicing for a performance of Swan Lake itself.
Though the exact plot varies depending on the production, most versions of Swan Lake feature a rivalry between the virtuous princess Odette--transformed by an evil sorceror into a white swan--and her evil double Odile the Black Swan, as the two women vie for the hand of a prince with the power to free Odette from her curse with his love. The story has also been adapted numerous times for film, most notably the 1981 anime movie of the same name by Toei Animation. Less straightfoward adaptations include the 2010 American psychological horror film Black Swan, which plays on the classic fear of the doppelganger, the drive for self-destruction and the dissolving boundaries between self and other.
Like Odette and Odile, Homura and Madoka are simultaneously narrative opposites, foils, and mirrors to each other. The fact that they are most important person in each others' lives doesn't stop them from being perpetually at odds over the course of the series, with Homura willing to set herself up as Madoka's enemy in order to keep her safe and Madoka sacrificing herself over and over again in spite of all Homura's efforts. However, the fates of Odette and Odile vary wildly from production to production, with one or both parties usually dying in the climax; hopefully, any Rebellion sequel will have a happier ending, with Homura and Madoka finally reunited as equals.
Fans of classic mahou shoujo will also note the parallels with Princess Tutu, an 2002 ballet-themed anime about fairy tales and the nature of storytelling. Ahiru, a duck who falls in love with a prince, is given a magical pendant that transforms her into both an ordinary human girl and the magical "Princess Tutu" so she can collect the pieces of the prince's shattered heart. She is challenged in her quest by Rue, an evil raven's daughter, who is eventually revealed to be a victim of a larger and predatory narrative along with the prince and Ahiru herself. Ultimately, Ahiru's hope allows her to triumph, albeit at great personal cost, not unlike the ending to the original PMMM anime. While it's probabally too soon to say that these ballet references are a deliberate homage, or how far the connections go, it's certainly food for thought.
Thus far, we have seen Madoka and Homura dance separately. Is it too much to hope that they will ever dance together? Imagine the visual possibilities of a Black Swan-White Swan pas de deux that plays with reflections, mirrors, and identity! What about a more overtly romantic dance in which the two acknowledge their feelings for each other, akin to the iconic "Toki ni Ai wa" sequence from the Adolescence of Utena movie (another influential shoujo series with numerous parallels to PMMM). Now that the creators have teased the possibility, I'll be very disappointed if there isn't at least one stunningly animated dance number featuring one or both of these characters somewhere in the final product.
Wraiths and witches and doppels, oh, my!
Much digital ink has been spilled over what exactly happened at the end of Rebellon, as many of the details regarding Homura's new world were left ambiguous or completely unexplored. The concept trailer provides several hints of what a post-Rebellion world might look like--though in keeping with the series' habit of only giving us a full picture of a given system right before its destruction, Homura's existing system is unlikely to remain in place for long. Furthermore, since the trailer's release in late 2015, many pieces have appeared in other PMMM spinoffs, though the relationship is only visible in hindsight.
Initially, the concept trailer shows several sketches of wraiths, the skeletal monk-like figures who replace witches by the end of the original series. These character designs match those of the wraiths in the Wraith Arc spinoff manga, which began serializing in Manga Time Kirara Magica in June 2015, several months prior to the concept trailer's release. Ultimately spanning nine chapters over three volumes, this series chronicles the events between the end of the anime and Rebellion, and explain certain details left unexplained in the movie. The presence of wraiths in a post-Rebellion world is evidence that Homura has kept this particular aspect from the old system more or less intact, instead of creating new monsters like the Nightmares for her friends to fight. It also suggests that the Law of Cycles continues to function autonomously even without Madoka present to "pilot" it and removes witches from the world before they can form.
However, a later scene in the concept trailer shows Kyouko fighting under a full moon what appears to be a witch or familiar with multiple parakeet heads, implying that the system may be breaking down in some way and resulting in chaos. This, too, is a major plot point in Wraith Arc, where magical girls are caught off-guard by the appearance of a witch, a being they have never encountered before.
Another shot shows Sayaka's witch form, Oktavia van Seckendorff, hovering over the flooded ruins of what appears to be the city of Mitakihara post-Walpurgisnacht, confronting a white wispy geomtric shape that resembles those hovering around the wraiths in earlier drawings. A subsequent shot reveals Sayaka in her magical girl costume lying on the ground with a similar white wispy substance emanating from her body. If this is a wraith that's attacking her, perhaps this is what triggers the return of Sayaka's memories--or perhaps it has disrupted Sayaka's connection with Oktavia, causing the two of them to physically separate. The apocalyptic setting also suggests that either Mitakihara will be destroyed again in this film, and/or this scene takes place in Homura's psyche, as it is also the site of her deepest traumas.
Several other shots in the trailer are echoed in later media. A sketch showing a winged "devil" Homura and her fourteen Clara Doll familiars connected to each other by a series of tentacles inside a colosseum similar to the one in Rebellion. This is remarkably similar to Homura's Doppel in the Magia Record gacha game, which was first announced in September 2016 and debuted in August 2017, though this form uses a version of Homulily as a base, with identical smaller Homuras instead of distinct individual Clara Dolls. Mami apparently wielding two of Sayaka's swords while standing next to a transformed Sayaka, is reminiscent of a fight in Wraith Arc where Homura uses Mami's magical muskets when her own magical weapon disappears. A shot of Sayaka wearing a golden mask lined with blue stones over her nose and mouth is reminiscent of the "Sapphire Lips" kimochi stone from Arc 2 of Magia Record.
Madoka's final line in the trailers implies she can see "fairies"--blurry silhouetted human figures that closely resemble some of Walpurgisnacht's familiars from the original series, except these are bright and colorful instead of dark and shadowy. Are they magical girls that have been collected by the Law of Cycles--the bright mirror to the black hole that is Walpurgisnacht--or something else entirely? (The original series proposal for Madoka Magica referred to Kyubey as a "fairy", but that doesn't appear to match what's being shown here.)
Writing on the Wall
In further proof that witches will be present in some aspect, the concept trailer also contains at least two examples of witch runes, the cryptic alphabet invented by the production crew. In-universe, only witches can read or use runes; out of universe, the animators use to hide coded messages for the audience in German or Japanese. Interestingly, all of the magical girls in both the Blu-Ray version of the original series and Rebellion have their names inscribed in runes on their soul gem in ring form, thus marking yet another connection between magical girls and witches. In yet another example of Rebellion's subtle touches, runes appear in Homura's initial magical girl transformation sequence and Bebe's portrait of Mami, thus indicating their true nature long before the actual reveal.
In the concept movie trailer, Sayaka's confused voice-over asks, "Why can I read these characters?", presumably referring to the witch runes. This implies that by this point, she has unconsciously regained some of the abilities that Homura tried to suppress without being fully aware of the reasons for them, though how or why remains unclar.
The first appearance of witch runes in the trailer occurs at 02:19, in a drawing of a pink eight-pointed star inside a circle framed by wings, which was as a symbol of the Law of Cycles in Rebellion. In both cases, the same caption is present--"DAS EWIG WEIBLICHE," German for "the eternal feminine".
First coined by Goethe in his version of Faust, the eternal feminine, an idealized form of womanhood capable of pure transcendence and redemption. For Goethe, the eternal feminine is not a singular individual or a stereotype, but a communal sisterhood created by the virtuous and wise actions of various female figures across space and time, making it a fitting description of the Law of Cycles itself. This also retroactively helps to explain why Madoka could be separated from it; the Law of Cycles was called into existence by Madoka's wish, and Madoka was fused to it because of her wording to erase every witch "with her own hands," but apparently it does not need her (or all of her, anyway) in order to keep functioning.
The second use of witch runes appears at approximately two and half minutes into the concept trailer, when Sayaka enters what is probably a labyrinth filled wth floating panels. Each panel appears to contain the same drawing of the Law of Cycles' sigil referenced above, as well as a wall of text that appears to read "Forever, under the principle/law of magic, this person's freedom and love will be deprived". The resemblance to Homura's apartment in the original series in ths shot is striking; combined with the inscription on the panels and the giant chains, it suggests that either Homura is punishing herself for ripping Madoka from the Law of Cycles--or, in a more sinister twist, it is the Law of Cycles itself that is somehow imposing this fate upon her.
Between this, the image of Homura's winged Doppel-like form, and the ruins of Mitakihara discussed above, I think it's highly likely that some or all of the action is taking place within Homura's soul, not unlike the majority of Rebellion. This is completely understandable when you remember that the end of Rebellion shows Homura's soul now encompassing the entire universe, thus making the distinction between "inside" and "outside" irrelevant. If Homura suffers from an existential crisis, a lot of people are going to have a bad day as reality starts breaking down around them. And who better to put a stop it than a handful of plucky magical girls who know and care about her?
The cat came back
"There's a lot of cats around these days," an unidentified girl comments midway through the trailer.
"But many of those cats are dead," her companion adds.
"How can you tell the difference between the live cats and the dead cats?" the first girl wants to know.
Good question! Though they probably aren't thinking of the Schrodinger's cat thought experiment, determining the health and well-being of felines has always been a complicated business. Presumably, the "cats" in question are Kyubey's various bodies, which appear to be dropping like flies under the weight of the curses Homura forced them to bear. Kyubey himself was last seen in dire straits, shivering and alone, his normally pristine white fur matted, while Homura dance triumphantly past his shivering body at the end of Rebellion. The irony is that the Incubators now have exactly what they asked for--unlimited access to human despair--only to choke on it. "Be careful what you wish for," indeed!
Not much is known about the speakers here--are they magical girls, or are they ordinary bystanders? If they are magical girls, why don't they appear to recognize Kyubey? If the latter, this suggests that the system is indeed breaking down, as humans without latent magical talent do not appear to see Kyubey in the original series. If everyone can see magic, what does that mean for magical girls--and the larger universe?
In the concept trailer, we only see Kyubey in close-ups centered around his eyes, in which he appears more or less back to normal, his white fur pristine and unmussed. His only comment is a churlish, "Why me? This doesn't have any merit," suggesting he is unhappy about being dragged into whatever his interlocutor has planned--hardly the clever, active schemer we've come to expect.
Fortunately (or not), Kyubey is extremely durable; he's likely to bounce back from his experiences with nary a scratch, and take full advantage of any of our heroes' mistakes if he thinks it will benefit himself. In the words of the classic folk song,
The cat came back the very next day
They thought he was a goner
But the cat came back
He just couldn't stay away...
No matter how much we might want him to, Kyubey is not going away any time soon.
瞳 を 閉じて (Hitomi o tojite) / Close your eyes
Madoka and Sayaka's friend Hitomi makes an unexpected appearance in the concept trailer as well. As she walks on the path to school by herself, her voice over advises someone to "be discreet. If the existence of magic isn't kept secret, it could disappear".
Many people have taken this to mean that since Hitomi knows about the existence of magic and magical girls, she might be/become one herself. While this is certainly a possibility, it's not clear to me from the context that this is necessarily the case; she may be speaking hypothetically, offering advice to Madoka (or possibly Sayaka) in a similar manner to how Madoka's parents guided their daughter in the original series.
Thus far, Hitomi has never been shown to have any hint of magical talent; she does not seem to notice Kyubey, a necessary prerequisite for making a contract in the first place. This may change if the system is truly breaking down so that everyone knows about magic (see above), but so far her narrative role in previous installments has been that of the "ordinary friend" and "victim" instead of a fellow magical girl. Her comment doesn't sound like someone eager to rush into a contract, and what little we see of her suggests she is too devoted to her current life to change it (though Rebellion suggests she might wish for her boyfriend Kyousuke to pay more attention to her, which ironically is the wish Sayaka probably should have made). I can't envision any of this changing in the comparatively limited run time of a new movie, especially as there is already an established Five-Man Band of magical girls with Nagisa as the Sixth Ranger which leaves little room for her character.
Finally, while this is not conclusive proof one way or the other, I can't help mentioning Gen Urobuchi's answer when asked what Hitomi's wish would be: "For Kyubey to disappear immediately". Was he joking? Probably, but either way, it doesn't seem like he's particularly serious about the prospect. Such a wish might be the only way to finally get rid of Kyubey... but no matter how tempting, his absence would likely cause more problems than it solved. While I honestly can't envision the filmmakers going this route, Kyubey's disappearance would be a fascinating way to throw Homura's system into upheaval in a manner that neither she nor the audience would likely see coming--and wouldn't it be ironic if Homura and/or Madoka had to bring Kyubey back in order to save the universe?
All this is to say, I would be fine with magical girl Hitomi, I just don't expect it to happen.
If Mami ain't happy, ain't nobody happy
The concept trailer also shows Mitakihara in flames as something big crashes down into it (possibly the Charlotte-inspired tower ascending to the heavens in a later shot?) Standing atop it, surrounded by the inferno and glowing with a yellow light, is Mami, her arms crossed over her chest and a serious expression as her voice-over asks, "You too keep secrets from yourself and from whoever you're with, don't you?"
Following a quick series of still drawings, the next animated sequence shows Homura standing above a cityscape at night, asking, "Are you saying you intend to get in my way?" It's possible that this is a response to Mami's question, though given the condition of the city in each shot, the two clips appear to be from different scenes, with the Homura one likely preceding the Mami one chronologically. That said, it's likely that a) Mami is indeed addressing Homura, and b) she fully intends to get in Homura's way.
This would not the first time Homura and Mami have been at odds with each other, as what started as a cordial sempai-kouhai relationship deteriorated precipitously over the course of multiple timelines until they no longer trust each other. This animosity continues in Rebellion, with a visually jaw-dropping gunfight between the two, and it seems a similar conflict is likely to occur in the sequel.
Mami is clever and capable, tracking witches through the suicides and despair instead of searching completely at random. In many PMMM spinoffs, such as the Magia Record anime and the Oriko Magica manga, Mami is often shown actively investigating mysteries as well. Often, Kyubey is the one who draws Mami's attention to the anomalies, but it's not impossible that she put two and two together on her own and decided to confront Homura directly.
The end of the trailer shows Mami glowing with that same golden aura, as she looks up and out at something out of view of the audience. This shot deliberately parallels Madoka's transformation into a magical girl in the original series, suggesting that Mami, too, has undergone some sort of equivalent power-up. SHAFT president Mitsutoshi Kubota claimed in an interview that this project would strengthen Mami's image as a "God of Battle," and she certainly appears to be more than ready for a fight.
If Madoka and Homura are doomed to constantly switch places as they struggle against each other, one way to break the cycle is to swap someone else in for a change. Mami is a logical candidate to replace Madoka as the "pilot" or animating force behind the Law of Cycles, as her family is already dead (except for Nagisa, who is already a part of the Law of Cycles), and she's devoted her life to being a magical girl. Thus, many fans have speculated that Homura somehow "tricks" Mami into piloting the Law of Cycles specifically in order to keep Madoka from re-taking this role.
While that's certainly possible, I suspect the last thing Homura wants is a Law of Cycles capable of intelligent thought and strategic reasoning--particularly since Mami is one of the few magical girls consistently shown to get the drop on Homura in earlier installments. A Mami united with the Law of Cycles--"Mamikami", if you will--would certainly be a force to be reckoned with. If Madokami is a goddess of compassion and love, Mamikami likely takes a more aggressive and disciplinary "tough-love" approach to her charges--and would not respond well to any interference. I honestly can't see Homura deliberately taking that kind of risk.
So how would Mami become the Law of Cycles, then? I think she volunteers, because she believes it's her duty as a magical girl to do whatever it takes to save the world regardless of the personal cost. Mami has always been intensely focused on saving lives, doing what's right, and being a role model for her juniors in order to fill the emptiness in her life--I think she'd jump at the opportunity to become the ur-magical girl, mother figure, and savior to every single magical girl in existence. Kubota refers to her as a "God of Battle," but my other name for Mami in this form is the "Goddess of Justice" after the title of her theme "Credens Justiam" (Latin for "I believe in justice").
Even in the scenarios where Mami cares for Homura, that doesn't stop her from going full out if she feels the situation calls for it. Does this mean we will get a Mami vs. Homura/goddess vs. devil battle with cosmic stakes that makes their previous fight in Rebellion look like child's play? Gosh, I sure hope so! Can you imagine how awesome that would be? GUNS THE SIZE OF A PLANET! Now that's the sort of epic potential that keeps me up at nights!
That said, what we see in the trailer is likely just a preparatory moment; the calm before the storm, if you will. If Mami does becomes a god like Madoka and Homura, she'll likely have a different costume to go with it, if only for the merchandising, and I wouldn't expect SHAFT to reveal that in a trailer.
Of all of the main cast of PMMM, I think Mami is the best suited to take on the mantle of the Law of Cycles, but given all of the emphasis in the trailer about how life as a goddess lacks the simple pleasures (no cheese, fried eggs, etc, etc), she might find the lack of, say, cake and friendship to be ultimately unsatisfying. Then again, her life as a magical girl has been so lonely that eternity as the Law of Cycles might well be an improvement. Would it be cruel? Yes. Fitting? Of course! This is PMMM we're talking about here! Cruel and fitting is the name of the game!
In the same interview, Kubota also compared Mami to Guan Yu, a character in the Chinese historical epic The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which portrays the real-life figure as a righteous and loyal warrior. I am not familiar enough with this work to comment any further at the moment, but in light of the previous discussion, it's worth noting that the real-life Guan Yu was ultimately deified and is still worshiped today as a bodhisattva in Buddhist tradition and as a guardian deity in Chinese folk religion and Taoism.
Mami becoming some sort of goddess would also help explain the giant sculpture of her head that appears in the opening shots of the trailer, ultimately crushing parts of the city. A similar sculpture of Godess!Madoka appears in Rebellion, though it is a carved stele rather than a free-standing figure. In one of SHAFT's classic visual meta-jokes, the characters' tendency to put Mami on a metaphorical pedestal has become literal; thus, it's only natural the statue would lose its head just as she did in the original series (and makes me wonder if Nagisa/Charlotte is also responsible this time). The sculpture also reminds me of the floating Mulian cities in the RahXephon anime, though it's not clear if the reference was intentional.
Of course, all of this was in 2015, before Magia Record introduced Holy Mami when Mami is possessed by a Rumor (a magical creation not unlike the Law of Cycles in many respects) and becomes obsessed with the salvation of all magical girls to the point of becoming completely unhinged. I'm not saying that the existence of Holy Mami means there will never be a Mamikami--but I'd be very surprised if these particular elements from the concept trailer hadn't influenced Magia Record.
So what does it all mean, anyway?
Good question! The truth is, nobody really knows--as I mentioned early, there's been very little information about the concept movie outside of the trailer itself and a few articles. It's an open question whether its contents are a glimpse of a lost world or a vision of the future, and what, if anything, might make it into a Rebellion sequel; any or all of my interpretation might be out of date or flat-out wrong. In addition, there are also a lot of things I didn't discuss in this meta, such as Nagisa's ambivalent situation, several potential new characters, and the concept of karmic destiny, that might also play a pivotal role in the plot.
However, Studio Shaft abruptly broke their silence in April 2021 with an official teaser trailer for a fourth film, titled Walpurgis no Kaiten (ワルプルギスの廻天, lit. "Turning the Tide of Walpurgisnacht"; "Walpurgisnacht: Rising" in the official English translation. If anything, this thirty-second clip is even more cryptic than the concept trailer, depicting Walpurgisnacht hovering over the ruins of Mitakihara and Madoka's shattered (and inverted) reflection in a mirror. The accompanying poster shows a dark gloved hand (presumably Homura's) reaching to meet Madoka's outstretched hand in a cracked mirror. Madoka is in her magical girl outfit from the original series, with the familiar cog shape of Walpurgisnacht and ruined skyscrapers hovering in the background. The framing suggests that Homura is once again reaching out to protect Madoka from her fate--though how and why she is fighting Walpurgisnacht yet again remains a mystery, as there have been no further announcements or updates as of this writing.
In light of my earlier comment about the dual meaning of "revolution", it's notable that the title of this new movie implies a dramatic shift or change; kaiten can also be translated as "changing the world". 廻天 is a less commonly used form of the phrase, likely chosen because the alternative, 回天, is also used for suicide torpedoes in World War II, which was probably not a reference the filmmakers wished to invoke. In what is likely a deliberate pun, 回転 (also prounced "kaiten") is the Japanese term for "rotation", "revolution", "turn," or "spin", and there are many other possible homonyms as well.
That said, it looks like we may finally get a chance to learn more about Walpurgisnacht, who is conspicuously absent from the concept trailer. Her origins and purpose are a mystery in the original series, but bringing her back for a sequel suggests she may be more closely linked to Madoka and especially Homura, than previously suspected. We shall see!
With this new announcement, the fate of the original concept movie is even more uncertain; it is unclear how much, if any, of what is depicted in the trailer will have anything to do with this new film. My suspicion is that Walpurgis no Kaiten is a dramatically different story from the one suggested by the concept trailer, which may or may not wrap up the story completely. (Its tagline is "Let's continue the story," not "Let's wrap everything up".) Still, it's entirely possible that some or all of the concept movie might make it into Walpurgis no Kaiten, or even as a hypothetical fifth film to conclude the story at last, but we'll have to wait for the release of Walpurgis no Kaiten to find out.
Magic and miracles do exist... but in this case, given SHAFT's silence in the two years since that initial announcement, I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for them.