>>3900496I lean just as heavily towards Madoka as I do towards Homura. In many ways, I likely wouldn't be alive today if not for me adopting the kind of hope that Madokami symbolizes, but I also feel that Homura's actions were grim but ultimately correct and see Madoka's martyr complex (and, for that matter, Homura's dependency issues) as being something to be challenged, not cherished.
Even with the Butcher on board, I don't think they'll do either of them justice, let alone both. IMO the biggest problem is that the nature of the current conflict is almost entirely psychological: you can't tackle Madoka's bird-in-a-cage conundrum without first tackling her clinical depression and lack of non-self-sacrificial purpose, and until that happens there's no way to reach out to Homucifer in her "I've irredeemably fucked everything up" state. Rebellion was as tragic as it was brilliant, but I strongly feel like doujin artists are far better suited to writing about the resulting conflict than the much more philosophically-minded Urobuchi is.
>I don't want to see her suffer any more than she already has, or see her deal with grievous emotional toil like realizing what Homura's done and having to fight her...Ideally they shouldn't, but you know they're gonna force a fight no matter what.
In my eyes, some suffering is necessary in order to make a step forward. It's a simple, if tragic, fact of life. However, I feel like Madoka would only realistically entertain the thought of a fight with Homura if she were too easily coerced by the overly hostile Mami and Sayaka, and even being as she is we've already seen how Madoka can think for herself and go for a more diplomatic approach, even if it goes against their wishes. That's just what she's like, and I reckon that's the only way to meaningfully reach out to the devil, yet I feel like the very existence of a fourth movie makes it all but certain that that's not what's going to happen.