Note: This post is considered an episode review and it dives into spoilers for the movie.
Here’s another quickish writeup before I get to Rebellion. Part 2: Eternal is the second Madoka compilation film, covering the last four episodes of the TV series. As far as I can tell, the movie doesn’t cut anything from the episodes. There’s one scene that’s replaced with a new one that serves the same purpose (see below) and that’s about it. If anything else got cut, it’s extremely minor. Considering that it only has to deal with four episodes, it’d be silly if entire scenes were cut from this movie. I’ll admit that this movie doesn’t go quite as smoothly as the first one, due to Episode 10 putting the current timeline’s storyline on pause in order to go over Homura’s past. It’s excusable when it’s a separate TV episode, not so much when it’s an act within a movie.
Like with Part 1, the movie features redrawn artwork and re-recorded audio. I already gave my two cents on those in the Part 1 review and it’s the same deal here so no need to dwell on them. The movie provides some new transformation sequences for Kyoko and Homura. Like with Mami’s transformations, it’s really cool that Shaft provided a second unique transformation for Kyoko. I really like that Homura’s transformation is fancier than the one in the TV series but it’s still on the simplistic side compared to everyone else’s, to show that she’s so done with fighting witches. I’m kind of shocked that there’s no fancy transformation provided for Madoka though I suppose her becoming a magical girl is grand enough on its own.
There’s a couple of new footage that bookends the events of Episode 10. When Homura confronts Kyubey about letting Kyoko die, the scene now takes place in some sort of graveyard as opposed to Homura’s house. I like how ominous the graveyard looks with the wide shots and the red sky. It’s symbolic of all the deaths that have happened because of the magical girl system. At the same time however, I don’t get why Homura and Kyubey are talking in this location and it is weird when the next part of their conversation still occurs at Homura’s place. After that, Homura is seen through a barren forest. I don’t know if this is in-universe or stylistic but it’s a solid visual that conveys the bleakness of Homura’s situation and it sets the tone for the events of Episode 10.
After going through the events of Episode 10, the movie provides an altered version of the show’s original OP. This features some new shots showing Homura’s time traveling (which goes very well with the lyrics of the song). I think is to transition the movie back to the present but oddly enough, the OP eventually plays out as it normally would. It feels less like an actual part of the story and more like you’re watching the OP of an anime play in the middle of the episode, only this is a near 2 hour movie and the movie already played its own OP at the beginning. I mostly like the sequence but its incorporation into the movie is very strange.
There are a couple of noteworthy changes at the end. Before Madoka makes her wish, she now takes out a handkerchief to wipe some blood off of Homura’s face. It’s a minor addition but I think it’s a nice touch. That conveys that affection and empathy Madoka has for Homura in spite of her inability to remember what Homura has done for her. In Madoka and Homura’s final scene together, the two’s bodies are enveloped in magic, the effects resembling a white gown. In the show, the two are naked. I find the magic dresses silly looking but I much prefer it over the nudity.
I figured the movie would end with a teaser for Rebellion but it more or less concludes the same way as the show. That’s surprising but whatever, I’m going to watch the next movie anyway. I’ll admit that it wasn’t necessary for me to sit through Parts 1 & 2, especially since I rewatched the show not too long ago, but it was interesting seeing the show play out as a movie duology and I still had a great time since it is technically till the show. I also have to commend these movies for being entirely comprehensive. I’d go as far as say it’s a solid alternative to the original series.
Xenodude Scribbles 
They did the best they could to segue into and out of Episode 10, but I also found the graveyard scene and especially the inclusion of the TV series opening in the middle of the movie a bit jarring. If I remember correctly, this movie also had a short “fake ending credits” (in witch runes and set to the second verse of Connect) followed by the TV series stinger (the scene of Homura fighting wraiths in a wasteland) followed by the actual ending credits. I guess they worried that people wouldn’t sit through all the actual credits and would miss the stinger, but come on, that’s two pseudo-credit sequences in a single movie!
It’s common with pairs of recap movies that one movie has to cover a lot more episodes than the other one. The Made In Abyss recap movies were split similarly to the Madoka ones: the first movie covered eight episodes (necessitating a whole lot of cuts) and the second covered five (of which episode 13 was a double-length episode, but episode 9 was almost completely cut so it evened out). It’s been almost two decades now, but I remember that a series that was split the opposite way was Gurren Lagann: the first recap movie ended well before the midpoint of the series, and the second movie had to cover both the climax of the first half and the entire post-timeskip half.
Also, holy shit did Magia Record (both the gacha game and the anime) reuse a lot of music and imagery specifically from these recap movies.
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