"Theorize and Philosophize Together": Voice Actor Aoi Yuki, Who Plays Madoka Kaname Once Again, on the Appeal of Puella Magi Madoka Magica

The TV anime Puella Magi Madoka Magica, which aired in 2011, reached not only anime fans but the general public in no time with its overwhelming visual expression and its profound story, drawing a great deal of attention.

The following year, 2012, brought two films that recompiled the TV anime, Puella Magi Madoka Magica Part 1: Beginnings and Puella Magi Madoka Magica Part 2: Eternal, and in 2013 their sequel, Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie: Rebellion, was released. The conversation around the series grew wide enough to be called a social phenomenon, and it played a part in the mainstreaming of anime that continues to this day.

Thirteen years after the release of Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie: Rebellion, its sequel, the all-new Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie -Walpurgisnacht: Rising-, opens on Friday, August 28, 2026. In this article we bring you an interview with Aoi Yuki, the voice actor who once again plays the lead character Madoka Kaname, in which she talks about the appeal of Puella Magi Madoka Magica that she rediscovered by revisiting the earlier works, and about what made it such an enormous title.

— When it comes to watching Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie -Walpurgisnacht: Rising-, I don't mean it as homework or revision, but I think you can enjoy it more if you have seen the earlier works first.

Yuki: Among us it had become second nature, but there are things you don't realize unless you go back and rewatch them (laughs). Even so, I think that watching them again now, they can still feel like something new.

I rewatched them myself in preparation for the recording of Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie -Walpurgisnacht: Rising-, and because Puella Magi Madoka Magica depicts people's inner lives in such fine detail, the way it looks to you changes depending on how you feel and what situation you are in at that moment, and the character you relate to changes as well.

Also, on the way to Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie -Walpurgisnacht: Rising-, Sayaka, Mami and Kyoko, for instance, all meet sad ends in the TV series, but Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie: Rebellion and Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie -Walpurgisnacht: Rising- tell new parts of their stories as well, so if you look back on them already knowing those sad endings, you get to see each character given her proper due as she fights on.

— With Mami especially, there was such a frenzy around the TV series while it was airing. So I feel there are things you can see more objectively now that everything has settled down.

Yuki: That's right. Things like, Mami is really this strong, or Sayaka's sense of justice makes her more of a hero than anyone else. She protects Homura too, and she plays her part as a hero who can fight knowing both the light and the darkness. And in fact Nagisa is the warrior with the longest history of them all, and she gets to do a great deal.

It isn't simply a story where Madoka sorts out a sad tale; beyond that, you get to see them fighting even harder and looking wonderful as they do, so in that sense I think the joy is greater if you look back at the earlier works before watching.

— One thing that is absolutely different from the time the TV anime was airing is that we now know it becomes a series that continues this far.

Yuki: That's true. The TV series was a story that ended beautifully, but when Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie: Rebellion came out there was the joy of getting to see what lay beyond it. And precisely because the ending of Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie: Rebellion is by no means a happy one either, I think this new story will really land with the people who watch it.

Even watching only Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie -Walpurgisnacht: Rising-, there is the pleasure of bathing in the imagery as art in motion, but I'm sure the characters' inner lives are more enjoyable if you have watched the story that was built up to it. When it was on the air it was a festival, and we watched it a little giddy in that festival mood; watching Puella Magi Madoka Magica again once things have settled, I think it has a completely different flavor.

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