One of my favorite madohomu scenes of all time takes place in the anime, episode 8 at the 17:50 mark to be exact. After Homura kills Kyubey before Madoka can make a contract with him, she approaches Madoka and asks why she's so self-sacrificial, tells her to stop demeaning herself by thinking so lowly of herself, begs her to think of the people who think the world of her, those who'd be mournful if, god forbid, anything were to happen to her, to please think of those trying to keep her safe. From Madoka's perspective, this is the first time the usually stoic, cold, and standoffish Homura is being vulnerable, open, and emotional. From Madoka's perspective, this is the first time she's seen someone so seemingly brave as Homura cry. The first time she's ever heard her voice above her usual calm and collected tone. This is the first time Madoka sees Homura so upset, so frustrated, so afraid.
Madoka, whom has never met this girl aside from seeing her in a strange dream, sees Homura fall to her knees and cry and, as if on instinct, Madoka stands up to comfort her.
And, in this moment, Madoka has some moment of clarity, recognition, familiarity. It goes by pretty fast, but if you capture this moment frame by frame, you can tell in the way her face changes and she stares at seemingly nothing. She goes from staring down at Homura worriedly to getting caught off guard by something. It kind of looks like she's looking at something off screen until a black void of static accompanied by a low buzzing plays for a brief second before Madoka, out of nowhere, asks "Have we met before?" Then you realize she was experiencing that feeling of familiarity from seeing Homura so upset. "Wait, have I done this before. Have I comforted this girl before? Have I seen her cry before?"
This scene is so powerful to me, because this Madoka doesn't know Homura. Or, at least, she shouldn't. Yet, when she sees this girl fall to her knees crying, when she sees this seemingly emotionless girl so broken and fragile, and more importantly as soon as Madoka stands to comfort her, she has this sense of "Have we met before? Have we done this before? Have I seen you like this before?"
Even in her "dream," she wanted to protect Homura, wanted to stop what was happening in front of her: Homura giving up her life to defeat Walpurgisnacht and failing. That's the reason why she agreed to become a Magical Girl in the "dream"; she wanted to change the outcome of Homura's fate. In the first timeline, she saved Homura from a Witch. Despite Homura wishing to be the one protecting Madoka, the moment Homura lets her brave facade down, shows vulnerability, is afraid and frustrated and upset, Madoka stands up to do what comes naturally to her: comforting and protecting Homura. And that's what sparks her recognition. She stands to comfort her because deep down she feels like she knows her from somewhere, that they've met somewhere, sometime before. Throughout the anime, when Sayaka and Mami were antagonistic towards Homura, Madoka kept saying "Is she really that bad?" and "I feel like we could all be friends" and "What if she's telling the truth?" Because she's known her throughout 100 time loops, she's protected her throughout 100 time loops, she's loved her throughout 100 time loops. This is kind of an underrated madohomu moment yet it's one of the most solidifying on Madoka's end.
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