SPOILER WARNING FOR MADOKA MAGICA!

Before i start i’d like to remind everybody reading that

1: this is just speculation coming from a place of asian queerness. I have extensively studied many different cultures and had to study more of them to write this lol

2: this contains MAJOR madoka magica spoilers. If you haven’t seen it, go watch the anime and movie (theyre really good)

3: this contains a lot of arguments concerning lesbophobia and general queerphobia. If these things trigger you please don’t read.

4: i suck at writing and this probably isn't going to be worded well.

A lot of (usually straight or non-asian, and while there's nothing wrong with being straight and/or non-asian it affects the perception in which you view the media) youtubers like to hate on Rebellion, particularly the ending. Their main reasoning for this is that it seemed “out of character” for Homura. I disagree. 

(For simplicity, when I say “her arc”, I am specifically referring to the one in which she turns into a demon out of obsession for Madoka.) First, we need to talk about queerness and how it’s treated in Japan. Lesbianism in Japan is treated as something separate from love. Queerness in general is seen as something abnormal. Homura Akemi grew up as a lesbian in this exact culture.

 In Japanese media, queer love is almost always depicted as either abusive, incestous or illegal otherwise, or purely for sexual gain. That is not love. Being exposed to this viewpoint as a young child likely caused her to feel confused about any feelings towards other girls. 

This viewpoint of aberration pushed on her at an early age clearly still sticks with her. You can see multiple different examples of it at play, mostly in Rebellion but a few times in the main anime as well. The main line(s?) that I think really showcases this is, in the subbed version;

“It’s only natural that you don’t understand. Yes… no one in the world could possibly understand. This emotion is mine alone. It is for Madoka alone.”

And in the dubbed;

“I don’t expect you to understand. No one in the world could possibly understand. This emotion is mine and mine alone. And I’ve been saving it for her.”

These lines explicitly tell us that Homura feels as if nobody else in the entire world has feelings of love towards other women. While Homura does describe her feelings towards Madoka as “love” later in this same scene, it’s very clear that she doesn’t see it as equal to a straight love.

 I think the way this contributed to her arc is interesting. If she had been straight, or if she had even been exposed to healthy queer representation as a child, though she probably still would’ve been very hurt by it, she most likely would’ve treated it as unrequited love and not a once in a destiny emotion. 

This also is supported by the fact that she has an extremely negative viewpoint against destiny and fate due to how many times it’s worked so harshly against her.

 For a combined time of around 13 years she has been experiencing torture at the hands of fate and destiny without having physically or mentally aged enough to be able to handle it. It was not spread out enough for her. 

She likely thinks that her feelings for Madoka are another torturous thing bestowed upon her by the universal destiny she’s grown to hate so much.

While this obviously wasn't the only thing driving her to her arc, it's extremely reasonable to suggest that being lesbian in Japan had something to do with it.

(alsoshewasraisedcatholicandalotofcatholisimisreallyhomophobic)