HomuMado

HomuMado is the femslash ship between Homura and Madoka from the Puella Magi Madoka Magica fandom.

Canon
MadoHomu is a complicated ship due to Homura's excessive use of time travel used to repeat the same month over and over again. Though much differs from timeline to timeline, several things stay the same including Homura's intense devotion to Madoka and Madoka's will to save Homura's life. Both girls struggle with insecure self-sacrificial helplessness, and self sacrificial tendencies.

In order to prevent confusion, in this section timelines will be listed in order of in universe occurrence with notes regarding source.

Featured in Madoka Magica Episode 10: I Won't Rely On Anyone Anymore and Madoka Magica Drama CD 1: Memories of You
The first time Madoka and Homura meet, Homura is a human and Madoka is a magical girl. Before the two meet, Madoka has already made a contract with Kyubey. Soon after, Homura transfers into Mitakihara Middle School where she meets Madoka. Unlike in the later timelines, Homura is not well liked by the other students. Madoka is one of the few to show her kindness, touring her around the school, inviting her to a study group, and even using her magic to help Homura during PE.

Madoka's magic ends up going haywire and contributing to Homura's melancholy, as she blames herself. This causes her to walk into a Witch's Barrier on her way home, where she is then saved by Madoka and Mami Tomoe. From there Homura is let in on the secret of Puella Magi and has quite a few emotional conversations with Madoka.

Homura becomes attached to Madoka incredibly quickly, as Madoka not only saved her from a witch, but from bullying as well. As a result Homura is devastated when she finds Madoka fighting Walpurgis and watches her die in the process of defeating the witch. Homura cries over Madoka's body and makes a contract of her own. Homura wishes for a chance to meet Madoka once again, but this time be strong enough to protect her.

Because much of Madoka's confidence and self worth comes from being a Puella Magi, her emotional strength is considerably weaker compared to the other timelines. The opposite happens to Homura, as becoming a Puella Magi and repeating the same timeline begins to build her confidence. It should be noted that at the same time, Homura grows colder and more distant from Madoka with every reset.

Featured in Madoka Magica Episode 10: I Won't Rely On Anyone Anymore
In this timeline, both Madoka and Homura are contracted before meeting. Immediately upon transferring to the school, Homura reveals herself as a magical girl to Madoka in front of the entire class. Despite the incredibly awkward start, Madoka and Homura once again grow quite close in this timeline as Madoka aids in her magical girl training. Madoka is incredibly affectionate towards Homura, who doesn't awkwardly reciprocate due to her awkwardness but appreciates Madoka all the same.

In this timeline Madoka defeats Walpurgis and survives, but her soul gem is severely corrupted in the process. After the battle, Homura holds Madoka in her arms as she turns into a witch before resetting the timeline once again in another attempt to save Madoka.

Featured in Madoka Magica Episode 10: I Won't Rely On Anyone Anymore
The timeline is mostly similar to the previous regarding Madoka and Homura's relationship up until Homura reveals the truth of magical girls and witches. Unable to cope with the truth, Mami kills Kyoko Sakura in an attempt to cause a group murder-suicide. Before Mami can kill Homura, Madoka kills Mami, leaving only Madoka and Homura to fight Walpurgis.

Together they defeat Walpurgis, but, they find out both of their soul gems have become fatally corrupted while they had fought. Madoka cleanses Homura's Soul Gem with a Grief Seed she was hiding and asks Homura to prevent her from trying to become a magical girl in the next timeline, she restarts the month. Homura agrees, and before she leaves she kills Madoka to prevent her from becoming a witch.

Featured in Madoka Magica Episode 10: I Won't Rely On Anyone Anymore
This timeline is featured very briefly, and it is assumed Madoka and Homura had a very distant relationship in it. Throughout the month, Homura fights tooth and nail to prevent Madoka from contracting with Kyubey. Her efforts fail when Madoka sees her struggling to fight Walpurgis and makes a contract to aid her in the battle. Madoka then defeats Walpurgis in a single shot, immediately corrupting her soul gem and turning her into a witch.

Kyubey comments that Madoka, now Kriemhild Gretchen, will destroy the world in 10 days. Homura refuses to fight Kriemhild Gretchen, and resets the timeline once again.

Featured in Puella Magi Madoka Magica (except for Episode 10), Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie in parts Beginnings and Eternal.
This timeline is sometimes referred to as timeline five, although it took place long after Homura's fifth reset. In this timeline, Madoka is under the impression she had first met Homura in a dream the day prior to Homura's transfer into her class. Shortly after Madoka and Homura meet while Homura is hunting Kyubey in the basement of the mall to prevent him from reaching Madoka. She fails to kill him before they make contact and Madoka becomes wary of Homura.

Soon after Madoka and Sayaka Miki begin accompanying Mami Tomoe on witch hunts. Homura is highly displeased with this arrangement due to the danger it poses to Madoka and has a turbulent relationship with Mami, making things strained between Madoka and Homura. Shortly after the witch hunts begin, Mami dies and Homura rushes in to save Madoka and Sayaka.

By the time Walpurgisnacht is due to arrive, Homura is the only magical girl left alive to fight. Madoka visits Homura's apartment and asks her if it will be possible for her to defeat Walpurgis alone. Homura assures Madoka that she can, but Madoka struggles to believe her. Homura then reveals her true identity and history to Madoka, holding her close in her arms.

On Walpurgisnacht Madoka leaves the shelter as she fears for Homura fighting alone. The fight grows desperate and Homura is about to lose hope realizing the futility of her situation. Her Soul Gem is nearing total corruption, but before she can become a witch Madoka grabs her hand and tells her not to worry anymore. Homura begs Madoka not to do what she's about to do, and Madoka apologizes to her before making her contract. Madoka wishes to erase all witches in every dimension, making her escape the bounds of reality and ascend to godhood as Ultimate Madoka, also known as Godoka.

After this transformation, Madoka is erased from all of mortal existence, only living on in a select few's memories. Homura struggles with losing Madoka, but continues to fight to protect the world to respect Madoka's wish.

The Only Thing I Have Left to Guide Me
Homura had a famous confession scene where it alluded to her having feelings for Madoka and having a difficult time processing how to deal with a relationship where she knew more about their history together than Madoka did.

My Very Best Friend
Madoka became a Magical Girl and ascended to godhood as a result of Homura’s time travel connecting her with the suffering of all the previous timelines. She sacrificed herself using her powers to rewrite the universe, making it so Magical Girls would no longer turn into Witches once they exhausted their Soul Gems, but instead ascended into a paradise she made. Madoka held an intimate conversation with Homura at this point, telling her that she is now aware of all the timelines and everything Homura had gone though just to save her and also of her true feelings. She bid her farewell, telling her they will be friends forever, and that they will only be apart for “a bit”. After that, Madoka gave Homura her red ribbon, all while both of them are naked and floating in astral space.

The Rebellion
Madoka attempted to ascend Homura into her Valhalla once her Soul Gem is fully corrupted, but was taken by surprise by the pocket dimension Kyubey put had put Homura in. Madoka was then trapped inside Homura’s semi-Witch barrier, losing her powers and memories. Halfway through the movie, the two of them shared an intimate moment on a flower field, during which Madoka strongly implied to have feelings for Homura as well. At some point, Homura started to realize how lonely it was for Madoka in Heaven, unable to meet her parents and loved ones. In the end, Homura stole Madoka’s powers and became a demon, made possible due to her Soul Gem being corrupted not by despair but by “Love”. Homura rewrote the universe once more, ripping away Madoka’s memories in God-hood, giving her a happier life. In the final scene, Homura vaguely asked an amnesiac Madoka if she believed that breaking the rules for a sudden surge of emotions was wrong. After hearing the answer, Homura told her they would one day become enemies. After that, she gave Madoka back her ribbon and said it looked much better on Madoka.

Fanon
On AO3, it is the most written ship for both characters and the most popular ship within the fandom. In fact, outside of AO3, and across all fansites involving the show, it is the most popular pairing. When written or drawn, it is usually paired with KyoSaya as a side pairing.

Some fans suggest the red ribbons Madoka gives to Homura at the end of episode 12 may also represent the red string of fate, as "two people connected by the red thread are destined lovers, regardless of time, place or circumstances".

The anime itself is one of the most popular non-canon yuri shows among Japanese otaku, to the extent that HomuMado and the show itself regularly take first place in the list of the most popular yuri shows and other yuri TOPs, regularly bypassing the more respected and open yuri works. Such an attitude towards the franchise ultimately led to the fact that after Madoka the term "yuri" began to be interpreted more broadly in Japan and to mean not only lesbian romantic relationships, but also any important and intense emotional relationships between female characters.

It should be noted that some of the moments in the Rebellion are the intentional nod for this ship, because according to the director Shinbo Akiyuki, they wanted to thank devoted fans by fanservice and at the same time without interfering with the very concept of the plot written by Urobuchi Gen.

Despite HomuMado's popularity and largely positive reception, it is not free from controversy. Some view the ship as unhealthy due to the cycle of sacrifice. Some also question the decisions of both girls in terms of selfishness, criticizing their decisions to make wishes when the other was trying so desperately to save the other. Homura is typically the main target of this criticism, some viewing her as obsessive. This typically coincides with a larger collection of Madoka Magica discourse surrounding the question of whether or not Homura is evil for her actions taken as Homucifer. Many fans choose to simply avoid these discussions due to the intensity they can sometimes escalate to and for lack of care.

Fandom
FAN FICTION


 * Madoka/Homura on FanFiction.Net

TUMBLR



PIXIV



WIKI
 * Madoka Kaname on Puella Magi Wiki
 * Homura Akemi on Puella Magi Wiki

Trivia
A: Probably. A: I don’t think it is that special -- a really strong friendship turns into a lovelike relationship without the sexual attraction, in their case. discussing possible interpretations, speculations, and creators’ opinions about alleged romantic relationships in the show.
 * Their potential romantic, platonic, or spiritual relationships are known for their widespread support among the staff and voice actors of the original anime. In particular, intentionally shippy illustrations with the interaction of girls or frequent comments about the near-romantic interaction of girls on behalf of their VA became a meme. In turn, Gen traditionally shied away from a direct answer, describing the relationship of the heroines as love without sexual desire, which some people interpreted as a reference to Class S, and the other to romantic but asexual love.
 * In this question, it should be separately noted that Gen usually avoids clear answers about ambiguous themes in his work, preferring to leave it open for interpretation.
 * In the audio commentary for Episode 11, Chiwa Saito (Homura’s VA) found the confession scene to be touching and emotional, and it left her with a huge impression. She confessed that she cried.
 * Aoi Yuuki (Madoka’s VA) found the scene to be amazing and filled her with emotions. Aoi Yuuki believes that surely Madoka would have accepted Homura’s feelings.
 * In the audio commentary for Episode 12, with the possibility of a second season, Chiwa Saito asks Gen Urobuchi for a love-love scene with Madoka.
 * Aoi Yuuki agrees with Saito by replying, “I want to be happy~”.
 * In 2013, at a Nitro+ Q&A Panel, Gen Urobuchi was asked the following questions, which he answered:
 * Q: Is Homura in love with Madoka?
 * Q: Why did you choose to portray a homosexual love?
 * If you finish the game Grief Syndrome with only Homura and Madoka still alive, the ending will depict them getting married. However, Grief Syndrome is a fan game and as such is not officially part of the franchise, nor recognized by Studio Shaft or series writer Gen Urobuchi. It is also worth noting that based on Madoka’s face in the ending, Homura likely forced her to.