Homura Akemi is a character from the 2011 original anime series Puella Magi Madoka Magica. She is a gun-slinging, hair-flipping, mysterious magical girl who tries to prevent Madoka from forming a contract with Kyuubey and become a magical girl like her. In the last few episodes, Homura's true intentions and backstory are eventually revealed, with the events making her arguably the "true protagonist" of the story. Indeed, she later stars as the main character of the 2013 sequel film Madoka Magica: Rebellion.
As a magical girl, Homura uses real military hardware to fight witches instead of magical weapons, and is later revealed to possess the power to control time. In the fandom, Homura is mainly shipped romantically with Madoka as her actions and motives stem from her love for the titular character - although whether this love is romantic or otherwise is yet to be confirmed in the canon anime.
The resident "dark magical girl" is the anime's best known competitor in saimoe tournaments, having won Anizone's Korean saimoe in 2011 and scoring multiple decent results in notable contests such as /r/anime and ISML. Ironically, in 2channel's original Saimoe contest, Homura was the worst performing girl out of the main quintet because she did not reach the final round unlike the other four girls, only managing a quarter-final result in 2014.
Icons
ISML[]
| ISML Profile Flavor Text (May contain spoilers) | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 ISML profile picture "When Akemi Homura introduces herself to her new classmates, she does so by stating her name only, as if anything more was a pointless effort and acknowledging those around her could only distract her away from what is truly important. Her demeanor is cold, but she has the looks, intelligence, and athletic ability that every girl can only dream of and is a natural idol among her peers. It is no surprise that other students wish to befriend her... but forging new friendships seems to be the last thing Homura has in mind.'' At face value, her words and actions are devoid of any hint of kindness and compassion. However, no one can truly understand the intentions guiding her, just as none can imagine the mental and emotional scars she bears. Her eyes are an abyss, a pit deep enough to conceal even her loneliness and the longing to wrap her arms around the one who means everything to her. Her heart is shackled, too broken to register anything but new despair and pain. Tears course through her veins in place of blood, tears she cannot shed no matter how desperately she wants to. And yet Homura holds her head high, never losing sight of her mission. She will do whatever it takes to grasp onto the single miracle afforded her. She will fight and mislead and betray. Brand her friend or foe, the love and devotion Homura exemplifies are a power far surpassing both time and space."' | |||||||||||||||||||
Main Tournament[]
Overall Record
| ISML Main Tournament Record | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Regular season, playoffs, and consolation 1v1 matches only. Preliminaries, gems, exhibitions, and approval / range voting rounds are NOT included. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Edition | Eliminated in | Final pos. | W | L | RS Record | ||||||||||||||
| ISML 2012 | Regular season | Nova 27th | 7 | 28 | 7-28 | ||||||||||||||
| ISML 2013 | Regular season | Nova 32nd | 7 | 28 | 7-28 | ||||||||||||||
| ISML 2014 | Did not qualify (Stella Prelims, Phase 1 Round 4) | ||||||||||||||||||
| ISML 2015 | Did not qualify (Stella Prelims, Round 5) | ||||||||||||||||||
| ISML 2016 | Top 32 Groups Emerald | 17th-32nd | 3 | 3 | 3-3 | ||||||||||||||
| ISML 2017 | Amethyst Groups Top 72 | 65th-72nd | 5 | 10 | 5-10 | ||||||||||||||
| ISML 2018 | Topaz Wildcards Top 96 | 78th WC | 2 | 8 | 2-8 | ||||||||||||||
| ISML 2019 | Sapphire Wildcards Top 48 | 43rd WC | 3 | 9 | 3-9 | ||||||||||||||
| ISML 2020 | Split 1 Wildcards | 73rd WC | 1 | 4 | 1-4 | ||||||||||||||
| ISML 2021 | Did not qualify (Preliminaries: 95th / 72nd) | ||||||||||||||||||
| ISML 2022 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Total W-L: 28-90 (23.73%) | Postseason: N/A | RS Record: 28-90 (23.73%) | |||||||||||||||||
| Opponents played: ??? | |||||||||||||||||||
Match History
| ISML 2019 | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominations: 113 votes (47th) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Rd | Opponent | Score | W-L? | ||||||||||||||||
| Aqua 1 |  Rinne Ohara
|
4391 - 4601 | L | ||||||||||||||||
| Aqua 2 |  Saber
|
4254 - 5868 | L | ||||||||||||||||
| Aqua 3 |  Nero
|
5693 - 5141 | W | ||||||||||||||||
| Tpz 1 |  Tohru
|
4531 - 6113 | L | ||||||||||||||||
| Tpz 2 |  Rikka Takanashi
|
5430 - 6052 | L | ||||||||||||||||
| Tpz 3 |  Ichigo
|
7166 - 6495 | W | ||||||||||||||||
| Amet 1 |  Asuna Yuuki
|
4374 - 5972 | L | ||||||||||||||||
| Amet 2 |  Yoshino
|
4887 - 5336 | L | ||||||||||||||||
| Amet 3 |  Ai Haibara
|
5770 - 4717 | W | ||||||||||||||||
| Sapp 1 |  Schwi Dola
|
6661 - 7758 | L | ||||||||||||||||
| Sapp 2 |  Shouko Nishimiya
|
5837 - 6648 | L | ||||||||||||||||
| Sapp 3 |  Mitsuha Miyamizu
|
6800 - 7598 | L | ||||||||||||||||
| Wildcards (STV, Max 4): 2735.4 -- 6th / 12th, Out | |||||||||||||||||||
| Final position: 43rd (based on wildcard result) | |||||||||||||||||||
| ISML 2020 | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominations: 115 votes (22nd) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Seeding R2 (approval): 1252 (seed 37) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Stage | Rd | Opponent | Score | W-L? | |||||||||||||||
| Split 1 Group C 5th (1W 4L) Wildcards |
Aqua 1 | Mitsuha Miyamizu
|
1500 - 2237 | L | |||||||||||||||
| Aqua 2 |  Yotsuba Nakano
|
2074 - 1959 | W | ||||||||||||||||
| Aqua 3 |  Taiga Aisaka
|
2017 - 2972 | L | ||||||||||||||||
| Aqua 4 |  Yukino Yukinoshita
|
1431 - 3100 | L | ||||||||||||||||
| Aqua 5 |  Ram
|
1603 - 2331 | L | ||||||||||||||||
| Wildcards (approval, Max 8): 2845 -- 17th / 24th, Out | |||||||||||||||||||
| Final position: 73rd (based on wildcard result) | |||||||||||||||||||
r/anime[]
History[]
Homura is the most popular Madoka Magica character on /r/anime, as far as her results in the tournaments are concerned. She is best associated with the phrase "Homura did nothing wrong" (originally a response to her controversial actions in the Rebellion film), which has become both a running gag and a battle cry for her fans who desire to see her succeed in the brackets despite years of hurt and disappointment. Homura has also been involved in several restarted match days in the tournament's history, which coincidentally fits in with the fact that she has time-related powers.
The dark-haired magical girl debuted as the highest-seeded Madoka character in the very first Best Girl contest at #24. She reached the sixth round, but narrowly missed out on a place in the elite eight after she lost by 16 votes against Asuna. Since then, Homura's subsequent appearances in Best Girl have her get knocked out in round 4 against many tournament staples. However, she did break the 4th round barrier two times: in Best Girl 3 where she lost to Saber in round 5, and in Best Girl 4 where she upset #9 seed Tadokoro in round 4 (which featured an link-heavy, RES-crippling post by an /r/Homura moderator)[1] before getting knocked out by Yoko Littner.
After a new Madoka movie serving as the sequel to Rebellion was announced in 2021[2], Homura's chances in Best Girl 8 seemed hopeful, especially when she secured the #16 seed, her highest position to date. Unfortunately, she could not capitalize on the announcement hype, and she was eliminated in round 4 against the underseeded Tsubasa Hanekawa.
On the other hand, Homura would enjoy relatively better results in the mixed-gender Best Character Contest, because her character plot is one of her main appeals. After being denied in the last 16 by Spike Spiegel in Best Character 2, Homura finally broke into the Elite Eight in Best Character 4 when she defeated Mayoi Hachikuji, but her run ended when she encountered fellow time traveler and eventual champion Rintarou Okabe.
Two years later, Homura became involved in an incident when she lost to Zero Two in Best Character 5's round 3. The match got suspended as the host received reports of outside parties influencing the result, which was implied to be Zero Two fans cross-posting the contest to their home subreddits and Discord servers - a definite possibility given their involvement in a high-profile match against Asuna in Best Girl 6. After a discussion thread was put up on deciding what to do with the brigaded characters,[3] the host decided to restart the round, and requested the offending users to delete their posts promoting their character in the contest.[4] As a result, Homura won in the ensuing rematch, but she was eliminated by Shouko Nishimiya in the following round.
Homura would finally earn her first /r/anime honour by winning the second "24-Hour Best Girl" exhibition contest, which turned out to be /r/anime's 2020 April Fools celebration event as the title was switched into "Worst Girl of All Time" halfway through.[5][6]. Given her divisive reception as a character, having her win the title instead of the likes of Kurisu or Megumin seemed very fitting, and her fans don't seem to mind, because a win is still a win anyways.
Matches[]
Best Girl
| Best Girl Contest match history | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Best Girl 1 - seed 24
Best Girl 2 - seed 42
Best Girl 3 - seed 31
Best Girl 4 - seed 56
Best Girl 5 - seed 63
Best Girl 6 - seed 54
Best Girl 7 - seed 47
Best Girl 8 - seed 16
| |||||||||||||||||||
Best Character
| Best Character Contest match history | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Best Character 1 - seed 59
Best Character 2 - seed 12
Best Character 3 - seed 40
Best Character 4 - seed 22
Best Character 5 - seed 41
| |||||||||||||||||||
Exhibitions
24-Hour Best Girl (1mil. Subscriber Event) - seed 37
(220) Yui @ Angel Beats -- 304 - 107- (165) Hinata Hyuga @ Naruto -- 293 - 173
- (28) Zero Two @ Darling in the Franxx -- 210 - 180
- (5) Mai Sakurajima @ Seishun Buta Yarou -- 284 - 497
24-Hour Worst Girl (April Fools 2020) - seed 43
- (214) MISAKA 9982 @ A Certain Magical Index -- 193 - 84
- (171) Hinata Kawamoto @ 3-gatsu no Lion -- 155 - 74
- (22) Ram @ Re:Zero -- 300 - 210
- (11) Yunyun @ Konosuba -- 306 - 297
- (38) Tohru @ Dragon Maid -- 310 - 255
- (14) Rin Tohsaka @ Fate/stay night -- 318 - 292
- (2) Megumin @ Konosuba -- 285 - 272
- (9) Kurisu Makise @ Steins;Gate -- 414 - 382
Honours[]
Total Wins : 7 + 1 = 8
- Korea Best Moe 2011
- Baidu CIP Moe 2011 Baike Baidu link
- Yamibo Yuri Saimoe 2011/2013
- Baidu AST 2014 Baike Baidu link
- r/anime's 24-Hour Worst Girl (April Fools 2020)
- ZERO2014 Moe Contest Zero DM BBSdead link
- Miss Anime Tournament 2013 (ISML forum, Websitedead link)
[]
References
- ↑ Best Girl 4: Round 4 Bracket A - Comment Permalink posted by Vakiadia on /r/anime (2017-06-23); Imgur link when seen on RES
- ↑ Madoka Magica Gets New Anime Film as Sequel to 2013 Rebellion Film (Update 2) - written by Crystalyn Hodgkins, Anime News Network (2021-04-25). Retrieved 2022-05-03
- ↑ Best Character 5: Salt;Gate! Important Question - posted by ShaKing807 in /r/anime (2020-12-13)
- ↑ Best Character 5: Salt;Gate! RE:Round 3 Bracket A and Important Update! - posted by ShaKing807 in /r/anime (2020-12-14)
- ↑ The r/anime 24 Hour Worst Girl 2020 Contest: The Bracket (Part II) - posted by AnimeMod on /r/anime (2020-04-01)
- ↑ And r/anime's Worst Girl of All Time is... - posted by FetchFrosh on /r/anime (2020-04-01)
Beware of spoilers and pop-ups
- Wikipedia
- Puella Magi Wiki
- Madoka Wikia
- MyAnimeList
- Baike Baidu (Chinese)
- Moegirl (Chinese)
- NamuWiki (Korean)
