Madoka Magica's fourth film gets Japan release date

The fourth full-length Puella Magi Madoka Magica movie will open in Japan on Aug. 28. Aniplex announced the date alongside a full-length trailer. The film's full title is Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie Walpurgisnacht: Rising. Madoka Magica began as a 12-episode anime from studio Shaft in 2011.

The show follows schoolgirls, including Madoka Kaname, who make contracts to become magical girls and fight witches. The series subverts magical girl tropes by revealing that magical girls eventually fall into despair and become witches. Simplistically, this is to magical girl anime as Neon Genesis Evangelion is to mech anime.

Shaft rebooted the series as films beginning in 2012. The first two movies, Beginnings and Eternal, retell the TV plot and arrived in 2012 one week apart; Rebellion followed in 2013 with an original story. Walpurgisnacht: Rising was first teased in 2015, officially announced in 2021, and was pushed back several times—from an initial 2024 date to 2025, then February 2026, and now August.

Japan

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