List of Puella Magi Madoka Magica characters

The following is a list of characters from the anime and manga series, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, and its various spin-off manga series. The series revolve around magical girls who are granted any single wish in exchange for fighting against evil beings known as witches.

Puella Magi Madoka Magica characters

Main characters

Madoka Kaname (鹿目 まどか, Kaname Madoka)

Voiced by: Aoi Yūki (Japanese), Christine Marie Cabanos (English)

Madoka is a kind and gentle 14-year-old girl who comes from a loving family. A second-year at middle school, her life changes when she encounters the incubator Kyubey, who offers to transform her into a magical girl. She sees herself as a person without special qualities or talents, and after seeing Mami fighting against witches, aspires to become a magical girl like her. She is a kind and gentle person that is averse to fighting. She hopes that the magical girls will support each other, sometimes even putting her own life at risk to help them. After witnessing Mami's death, she grows uncertain about becoming a magical girl, growing ever more hesitant as the true cost of the role is revealed to her.

In previous timelines, Madoka became a magical girl in a pink dress wielding a rose branch bow and arrow. In the drama CD, "Memories of You", it is revealed that the wish in the first timeline was to save a cat named Amy from death. However, every time, she was either killed or transformed into a witch named Kriemhild Gretchen, the Witch of Salvation, one that became ever more powerful with each time reset, as Madoka's power also increased and if created would, by the end of that same week, consume the Earth in order to create a paradise where there is no free will or individuality to cause strife or conflict. In the current timeline before the final episode, Kyubey claims that Madoka has an impossibly large amount of potential for magic, going so far as to claim that she could become god. The reason for this is unclear, since her life so far has been relatively average and free of tragedies. This is later revealed to be due to her accumulated misfortune, which was caused as a result of Homura repeatedly resetting time, with Madoka's fate getting worse with each timeline, making her magic power grow exponentially with each reset. In the first timeline, she still possesses a high amount of power, being able to defeat Walpurgisnacht (ワルプルギスの夜, Warupurugisu no Yoru), though dying in the process. Subsequently, by the current timeline, she has the potential to be the most powerful magical girl to date. Towards the end, she learns of this and Homura's efforts to save her.

After seeing the suffering of magical girls throughout history, Madoka decides to make her wish: to prevent all magical girls from the past, present, future and all other timelines, from ever becoming witches. The laws of the universe are rewritten such that at the moment that a soul gem becomes black with anguish, Madoka appears and purifies it before the magical girl passes on. As a result of this wish, she becomes an omnipotent being, named Ultimate Madoka (アルティメット・まどか, Arutimetto Madoka), that exists for all time, erasing her pre-ascension existence from the world; leaving only Homura – and to some extent her little brother – with the memory of her. Madoka becomes only a concept in the new world, one named the Law of Cycles (円環の理, Enkan no Kotowari). Magical girls absorbed into the Law of Cycles regain knowledge of their lives in previous timelines.

At the end of Rebellion, Ultimate Madoka was usurped by Homura and had her human and goddess selves split, with her role as a martyr being forced onto the Incubators. Homura places human Madoka in a new universe where she and her friends can live normal lives unaware of their pasts, though Madoka regains her memories at the last second and a final conversation with Homura implies that it is only a matter of time before Madoka merges with her goddess self once more.

Homura Akemi (暁美 ほむら, Akemi Homura)

Voiced by: Chiwa Saitō (Japanese), Cristina Vee^[1] (English)

Homura is a magical girl who first appears in a nightmare of Madoka's. She transfers into Madoka's school the day after the dream. She is unnaturally good at everything she does, including academics and sports. This makes her instantly popular, even though she is cold and demeaning towards others. Homura's indifferent personality is the result of her failures while going through approaching 100 timelines.^[2]

Originally a shy second-year student, she was befriended by Madoka and eventually saved from a witch by her and Mami, who revealed that they were magical girls. When Mami died in the fight with the rampaging witch Walpurginacht, Madoka sacrificed her life to stop it. Homura, overcome by grief and uselessness, contracted with Kyubey in order to become a person that could protect Madoka, just as Madoka protected her. Her wish was to be able to go back to her original meeting with Madoka, leading Homura to receive the power to manipulate time to a certain extent. Homura cares deeply for Madoka, however this caring is eventually twisted into a sole, obsessive fixation on Madoka's survival regardless of her feelings, and Homura never gives up on trying to "save" Madoka, even as she grows more cold, intimidating and antagonistic to others, taking on the role of the "rival hero" magical girl archetype. Caught up in a predestination paradox, she tries again and again to prevent Madoka from being killed or making a contract, but time after time fails to save her. After a timeline reset, Homura always returns to the hospital room she formerly lived in. Since she is always reset to the same age as when she was living in hospital, as a result of her timeline resetting, Homura's physical age is not the same as her mental age; mentally, she is far older than she looks, again a result of her going through what is now approaching 100 timeline cycles.

Her magical weapon is a shield filled with sand that allows her to freeze time. However, this power becomes useless if she is physically restrained as she cannot turn her shield to activate it. She can also use this shield to block projectiles and store the various infinite amount of weapons that she carries. Since her shield and magic has no offensive capability, she instead attacks using stolen firearms and homemade explosives while time is stopped. None of the girls actually know what weapons she has, since she only uses them while time is stopped. Homura cannot reset time until all the sand in her shield is drained – which happens approximately a month and a half from her discharge from the hospital, on the day of Walpurgisnacht – after which she can reset the timeline whenever she desires.

In the final timeline, she inherits Madoka's bow – now a sleek ebony bow with purple diamond setting – and arrows, along with a set of white wings. Homura continues to fight in the new world against the wraiths, despite believing that the world was irredeemably full of tragedies, because it was a world that Madoka once tried to protect, and she vowed never to forget Madoka's resolve.

Her witch form in the PSP Game and the movie Rebellion is Homulilly, known as the Witch of the Mortal World in the PSP Game and the Nutcracker Witch in Rebellion.

At the end of Rebellion, Homura usurps Ultimate Madoka and becomes the being Akuma Homura (悪魔 ほむら), splitting Madoka and her goddess form, sealing her powers and rewriting the universe. Unlike Ultimate Madoka, Akuma Homura can take human form in the new world, and does not exist as a concept. She managed to enslave the Incubator race, who now work under her to take on the curses of the new world. Ultimate Madoka's powers are sealed within her earring, which can change to and from a lizard form, and walk around on its own.

Sayaka Miki (美樹 さやか, Miki Sayaka)

Voiced by: Eri Kitamura (Japanese), Sarah Williams (English)

Sayaka is Madoka's classmate and best friend, a second-year at Madoka's school. She is a lively tomboy with strong ideals of love and lawfulness. After helping Madoka rescue Kyubey, she contracts with him to grant her wish to heal the wounded hand of Kyosuke Kamijo, a young violinist that she is infatuated with, visiting him daily in the hospital. As a magical girl, Sayaka's weapon of choice is a cutlass, being able to produce multiples of them at a time. She also has an extraordinary regenerative ability due to the healing nature of her wish. Sayaka insists that her wish is selfless and feels that fighting witches to save people is a bonus, even after witnessing Mami's death. As Sayaka's ideals are put against the reality of her wish's consequences and the stress of fighting, her view of the world is slowly corrupted. She becomes hateful and distrustful towards others, including Madoka, whom she lashes out at and accuses of being selfish. Because of this, Sayaka seems to be based off the original story of the Little Mermaid, because like the little mermaid who saves the prince from near-death, Sayaka heals Kyousuke; like how the little mermaid gives up her tongue to become a human and get the prince to fall in love and marry her, Sayaka gives up her humanity so she can heal Kyousuke and also get him to fall in love with her; like the prince instead falls in love with another princess and breaks the mermaid's heart, Kyousuke falls in love with Hitomi, breaking Sayaka's heart; Finally, like the little mermaid is told to kill the prince and have his blood drip onto her feet so she can turn back into a mermaid, but doesn't and turns to sea foam, Sayaka refuses to cleanse her tainting Soul Gem, causing her to turn into a witch, who is like a mermaid.

After learning that her soul is no longer in her body, but in her soul gem, Sayaka starts to believe she is a zombie; and when her friend Hitomi confesses to her about her love of Kyosuke, Sayaka falls into isolation and refuses all help. In her despair, she loses faith in humanity and justice, making her give up on her ideals and herself; thus leading to her soul gem becoming fully corrupted, turning into a grief seed, making her into the witch known as Oktavia von Seckendorff (オクタヴィア・フォン・ゼッケンドルフ, Okutavia Fon Zekkendorufu), the mermaid witch, an armored mermaid witch with her barrier resembling a concert hall, where a figure similar to Kyosuke is playing among faceless figures. Though Kyoko and Madoka attempt to communicate with her, they realize that they can't do anything to save Sayaka. Kyoko then performs a powerful attack to finish off Oktavia, taking her life along with the witch's.

Despite Madoka's reworking of the world in the final timeline, Sayaka still makes a wish in the new world, and thus ends up disappearing after exhausting her soul gem. Despite this, however, Sayaka does not regret her wish, and hopes that Hitomi will make Kyosuke happy, before leaving with Madoka to the afterlife.

In Rebellion, Sayaka assists Madoka and Nagisa in saving Homura, and has received knowledge of all previous timelines as a result of becoming a part of the Law of Cycles. She shows the power to summon and manipulate witches, including her own witch form Oktavia, though she can control Oktavia independent of her body, unlike Nagisa. Sayaka states that she became an assistant of Madoka because she "regretted leaving Kyoko behind".

At the end of Rebellion, Sayaka and Nagisa were pulled from afterlife by Homura, and given a new life and human forms in the new world. Unlike Madoka and Nagisa, Sayaka retained all her memories in the new world, however Homura took these away too after their confrontation. Even so, Sayaka promises that she will never forget that Homura is a demon.

Mami Tomoe (巴 マミ, Tomoe Mami)

Voiced by: Kaori Mizuhashi (Japanese), Carrie Keranen (English)

Mami is a veteran magical girl and a third-year student at Madoka's school. She lives alone in a penthouse after the death of her parents in a car accident, during which she was only able to survive by contracting with Kyubey to save her own life. Her magical abilities revolve around yellow ribbons, which can suspend enemies, and be manipulated to produce nearly infinite amounts of Tanegashima-like flintlock rifles, as well as also possessing healing magic. Mami is characterized as being much like the stereotypical magical girl protagonist: she is particularly focused on saving those around her, with a traditionally selfless perspective on the role of magical girl, and has a habit of giving names to her finishing attacks. She had previously been Kyoko's partner – as shown in the drama CD "Farewell Story", and expanded on in the PSP game and The Different Story – but was left alone after they fought over their ideals.

Though her outward disposition is cheery and confident, inside Mami feels deeply alone as she has no friends to confide in or support her as she fights. Madoka offers to become her partner and save her from her loneliness, but Mami is subsequently killed by a witch named Charlotte, never knowing the darker truths concerning soul gems and origins of witches. In one timeline, she had learned the truth, then killed Kyoko and turned her gun on Homura in an attempt to prevent them from becoming witches, but was killed by Madoka. As for her actions, Yukihiro Miyamoto, the series director of Puella Magi Madoka Magica, explains that Mami carried out that action with calm, calculated judgment, as opposed to being driven mad or insane.^[3][4]

In the final timeline, Mami is alive again, and fights along Homura and Kyoko.

Rebellion shows that Mami has the potential to become the most powerful of the magical girls if in peak form, when she isn't held back by her crippling loneliness, as a result of her meeting and becoming close friends with Bebe/Nagisa. In the ending of Rebellion, after Homura rewrites reality, Mami is seen saving Nagisa from falling packages of cheese, implying the two will become friends.

Her witch form in the PSP Game is Candeloro, the Dress-up Witch, the smallest witch in size, being barely any larger than a teapot.

Kyoko Sakura (佐倉 杏子, Sakura Kyōko)

Voiced by: Ai Nonaka (Japanese), Lauren Landa (English)

Kyoko is a veteran magical girl who comes to the city following Mami's death. Her distinguishing features include long red hair, fangs, and a voracious appetite, almost never being seen without food. She came from a poor church family, and used her wish so that people would listen to her father's preaching; when her father learned of this, however, he went mad and killed everyone in his family aside from Kyoko. As such, Kyoko decided only to use her magic for herself from this point on, since using it for others will only cause despair. Having grown up in a poor family, she often has to steal food and hates people who waste it, a logic she also applies to grief seeds, as she only goes after fully grown witches.

Kyoko has been a magical girl much longer than the others, and thus is more skillful; she wields a spear which can extend itself, split into multiple sections, and produce a ball at the end of a chain, which can constrict and hit others at the same time. She also has the ability to put up barriers to protect others or keep them from interfering. She initially clashes with Sayaka, but after learning the truth about soul gems, she sympathizes with her and tries to help her. This is partially because Sayaka reminds Kyoko of her past self, as she too had made a wish for another person's sake and tried to fight for justice. Thus, she wants to stop Sayaka from making what she believes is the same mistake and advises her to live a life of selfishness. Even though Sayaka thanks Kyoko and admits that she misunderstood her, Sayaka refuses to abandon her ideals of justice.

After Sayaka becomes a witch, Kyoko becomes determined to save her and restore her to normal. In the end, though, Kyoko becomes tired of her pain, gives up her previous ideals and abandons her outlook of self-preservation, and chooses to destroy herself along with Oktavia, in an attempt to both find peace in death and make sure that Sayaka will not die alone, by overloading her soul gem to create a massive explosion that kills them both. However, Kyoko's sacrifice leaves only Homura and the potential contract Madoka to face off against Walpurgisnacht, which ends up in Homura being defeated and Madoka contracting.

In a previous timeline, she was killed by Mami, who was driven to kill them all in a desperate attempt, after learning that they would all eventually become witches.

In the final timeline, Kyoko survives, and grieves over Sayaka's death in battle, lamenting how they had "finally become friends".

In the ending of Rebellion, Homura rewrites reality so that Kyoko lives with Sayaka and has a more kinder, cheerful, yet slackish personality, as a result of her better life, instead of being selfish and vicious to others.

Prior to the storyline, Kyoko was previously Mami's partner and also possessed illusionary magic gained from her wish of deception, allowing her to make copies of herself. However, following the death of her family, she subconsciously lost her illusion magic and decided to be more selfish in her outlook, ending her partnership with Mami. This relationship is explored in the third drama CD, "The Farewell Story", the PSP game, and the Different Story manga. In the PSP game, her witch form is Ophelia, the wǔdàn witch, depicted as a horse rider with a candlestick for a head.

Kyubey (キュゥべえ, Kyūbē)

Voiced by: Emiri Katō (Japanese), Cassandra Lee (English)

Kyubey is a genderless (though he apparently identifies as a male) extraterrestrial being posing as a familiar who can grant any wish to a certain girl, on the condition that she become a magical girl and fight against witches. When the chosen girl makes a contract with him, he extracts her soul and places it inside a soul gem, reconstructing their body into a shell that is more resilient in order to fight witches. He constantly tries to get Madoka to make a contract with him, as she allegedly possesses great magical potential within her that would allow her to become the most powerful magical girl. He can only be seen or heard by magical girls and those with "magical" potential, and is able to communicate with them telepathically. Kyubey has an unknown but possibly infinite number of bodies; when one is killed, another body appears and devours the destroyed body.

Kyubey comes from a race named the Incubators (インキュベーター, Inkyubētā), whose goal is to find and gather a form of energy to counter entropy and prevent the impending heat death of the universe, developing a technology to turn emotions into this energy. After evaluating many species throughout the universe, the Incubators find that the souls of humans, specifically pubescent and prepubescent girls, contain the most powerful form of this energy. This energy is the strongest when a magical girl's soul gem turns into a grief seed, and then can be collected and used towards preventing entropy. Kyubey claims his race lacks emotions (or, at least, that those in his race who have emotions are abnormal), and has little understanding of human values and morality, not understanding why the death of one human among billions is viewed so catastrophically, instead believing the Incubators' actions are not cruel but utilitarian in nature. Despite this, Kyubey is a very skilled manipulator, never actually lying, but instead leaving out important details involved in the forming of contracts and the details behind them, only presenting the truth when it is asked of him. According to Kyubey, the very existence of the Magi-Witch system is what allowed the evolution of mankind's civilization, as many of the main events in human history have had magical girls involved. Despite answering all questions posed to him, there is still much about the universe that Kyubey has not spoken of.

In Puella Magi Kazumi Magica, Kyubey also appears as the contractor of all the magical girls in Asanaru City, including the Pleiades Saints. When the Pleiades learnt the truth about magical girls, they took one of Kyubey's corpses and manufactured their own Incubator named Jubey, who could absorb darkness from soul gems. Furthermore, they had Umika cast a spell that would make Kyubey invisible to all other girls in the city and rewrite their own memories to believe they contracted with Jubey, in an attempt to stop more witches from being born. This ultimately backfires as Jubey turns out to be a failure.

Rebellion shows that the Incubators are a hive mind race. In the events of the movie, the Incubators tried to control Ultimate Madoka and the Law of Cycles in order to restore the witch system of previous timelines, since more energy could be harvested via the old system. However, their plan was thwarted and Homura ended up stealing Ultimate Madoka's powers for herself, enslaving their race and using them to take on the curses of the new world in place of Madoka. Kyubey is last seen laying on the ground, disheveled and shivering as he is driven mad by his sudden ability to feel emotions combined with being forced to shoulder the combined grief, suffering, and despair of every magical girl that is, was, or ever will be.

Supporting characters

Junko Kaname (鹿目 詢子, Kaname Junko)

Voiced by: Yūko Gotō (Japanese), Carrie Savage (TV, Movies 1-2), Julie Ann Taylor (Movie 3) (English)

Madoka's mother, an executive who wears expertly applied makeup and sometimes comes home drunk, making it hard to wake her up in the morning. Aside from this, she is a caring and gentle person and often gives Madoka advice whenever she is troubled.

Tomohisa Kaname (鹿目 知久, Kaname Tomohisa)

Voiced by: Tetsuya Iwanaga (Japanese), Kyle Hebert (English)

Madoka's father, who takes care of the housework, cooking, and cleaning.

Tatsuya Kaname (鹿目 タツヤ, Kaname Tatsuya)

Voiced by: Kaori Mizuhashi (Japanese), Stephanie Sheh (English)

Madoka's younger brother. He is the only other person that remembers Madoka, besides Homura, after she becomes Ultimate Madoka.

Hitomi Shizuki (志筑 仁美, Shizuki Hitomi)

Voiced by: Ryōko Shintani (Japanese), Shelby Lindley (English)

Madoka and Sayaka's classmate and friend, although she sometimes feels left out of Madoka and Sayaka's friendship. Hitomi is quite popular amongst boys. At one point in the plot, she and numerous other people are possessed by a witch named H.N. Elly/Kirsten, and attempt to commit suicide by entering a mostly sealed warehouse and starting a reaction of bleach and ammonia, producing chlorine gas. Madoka, who throws the reaction container out a window before anyone is killed, saves her life just before getting caught in the witch's labyrinth, where she is further rescued by Sayaka when she arrives to kill the witch and save Madoka.

It is later revealed that she is also in love with Kyosuke, and her confidence in being able to confess her feelings only contributes to Sayaka's despair. She is later seen at Sayaka's funeral, clutching Kyosuke's shoulder and crying, and is said to have blamed herself for Sayaka's death.

In Rebellion, she suffers from sadness and anger because hers and Kyōsuke's schedules were different, thus creating an Nightmare from her emotions.

Kyosuke Kamijo (上条 恭介, Kamijō Kyōsuke)

Voiced by: Seiko Yoshida (Japanese), Marianne Miller (English)

A boy whom Sayaka constantly visits in hospital. He used to be a violin player, but an accident crippled him and destroyed the feeling in his fingers, making him unable to play an instrument again. Sayaka uses her wish to cure his hand, allowing him to play the violin once more. Despite this, he inevitably ends up dating Hitomi, which causes Sayaka to fall into despair and turn into a witch.

In the alternate timeline depicted in The Different Story, Kyosuke is told by Madoka about how Sayaka healed his hand with magic, though Sayaka ends up transforming into a witch before he can learn the whole story.

Kazuko Saotome (早乙女 和子, Saotome Kazuko)

Voiced by: Junko Iwao (Japanese), Karen Strassman (English)

Madoka's teacher, who constantly has trouble keeping a boyfriend. She is good friends with Junko.

Nakazawa (中沢, Nakazawa)

Voiced by: Yoshitsugu Matsuoka (Japanese), Jason C. Miller (English)

A student in Madoka's class, who is constantly picked on by Kazuko to answer her questions about dating. He is one of Kyosuke's friends.

Nagisa Momoe (百江 なぎさ, Momoe Nagisa)

Voiced by: Kana Asumi (Japanese), Xanthe Huynh (English)

An elementary school-aged magical girl who first appears in Rebellion. In the original world, she became Charlotte (シャルロッテ, Sharurotte), the Dessert Witch, who was the one responsible for killing Mami. Nagisa has a childish personality and mannerisms, but is shown to be smarter and more perceptive than she seems. According to Charlotte's production notes from the anime, the reason Nagisa became a magical girl was to share one last cheesecake with her mother, who was diagnosed with cancer, and died soon afterwards. Nagisa then became a witch out of regret that she didn't wish to cure her mother's illness, though she thought such a feat wasn't possible.

In Rebellion, she disguises herself as Mami's pet – nicknamed "Bebe", as the puella magi cannot read the runes her name are written in – who resembles Charlotte, and assists her in hunting the Nightmares. She is a target of Homura in an attempt to find out the culprit of the witch barrier, and reveals herself afterwards to Mami as the magical girl Nagisa Momoe; a "herald" magical girl, from the afterlife – an angel, in other words – going along with Sayaka to assist a powered-down Ultimate Madoka in their mission of saving Homura. She has the power to summon familiars and change her form to and from Charlotte's, powers granted to her by being a part of the Law of Cycles. Nagisa states that she did this so she could "eat cheese again", but exactly how true this is is unknown.

In the ending of Rebellion, Nagisa is brought back to life by Homura's new powers, and is implied to become Mami's friend when the latter saves her from falling packages of cheese.

Puella Magi Kazumi Magica: The Innocent Malice characters

Pleiades Saints

Kazumi (かずみ) / Kazumi Subaru (昴 かずみ, Subaru Kazumi)

The main protagonist of Puella Magi Kazumi Magica is a magical girl with no memories besides her name, though she slowly starts to regain her memories as she fights alongside her friends, Umika and Kaoru. She wears bells on her ears that can sometimes change things according to her wishes, and an ahoge that allegedly can detect witches. She often judges people to be bad or good depending on whether they waste food. When transformed, she dons a black outfit with a witch's hat and fights using a large cross. As a result of her memory loss, she does not remember the wish she made as she never told Umika or Kaoru what is was. As a result of absorbing evil nuts from Airi, she occasionally enters a rabid state.

It is soon revealed by Satomi that Kazumi was originally a magical girl named Michiru Kazusa, who had died when she turned into a witch. The Pleiades decided to make clones of her, filling her corpse with the flesh of witches and having memories implanted by Umika, the current Kazumi being the thirteenth clone made. (Kazumi can be written in kanji as "一三", meaning "thirteen".)

During the climax, as Kazumi was technically a man-made magical girl who hadn't made a contract, she becomes a true magical girl with the simple wish to become human, taking on the last name Subaru (昴) (meaning "Pleiades") as she does so and gaining a new appearance.

Umika Misaki (御崎 海香, Misaki Umika)

Kazumi's friend and a middle school student who lives in her home with Kazumi and Kaoru and is also a magical who is part of a seven girl group known as the Pleiades Saints. She is a best-selling novelist as a result of using her wish to meet with an editor who would recognize her talent. She uses a magical book which allows her to read a witch's mind, allowing her to determine its weakness. Whenever she has writer's block, she enters a fierce cooking phase before going on a shopping spree. She gained the ability to rewrite memories, using it on Kyubey to prevent him from making further contracts. She survives the events of the series and decides to write a new book called Innocent Malice.

Kaoru Maki (牧 カオル, Maki Kaoru)

Umika and Kazumi's friend, a magical girl who lives with them. She enjoys playing soccer, but got injured in a match, which placed a heavy burden on the person who tackled her that she felt guilty about. She wished to help those that were hurt that day, which resulted in her possessing great leg strength. In battle, she is able to form powerful armor around her limbs. She survives the final fight and, together with Umika, promise to protect Kazumi and find a way to reverse the Witch creation process.

Saki Asami (浅海 サキ, Asami Saki)

An intelligent magical girl who is the leader of the Pleiades Saints and has a strong desire to protect Kazumi. After the death of her sister, Miyuki, she became a magical girl after being saved by Kazumi, wishing for the flower Miyuki left behind to bloom forever. When she learned of the nature of magical girls' transformations into witches, she and the other Pleiades Saints began removing soul gems from other magical girls and preserving their bodies so that they would not become witches, hoping for a way to make them human again. It's stated that Saki was in love with Michiru, the original Kazumi, which makes her unable to kill the failed clones. Inevitably, she is turned into a witch when Kanna forces an evil nut into her.

Mirai Wakaba (若葉 みらい, Wakaba Mirai)

One of the Pleiades Saints, who often acts like a rich kid and tends to whack Kazumi on the head whenever she doubts herself. She has the ability to summon large amounts of teddy bears to overwhelm the enemy. She used her wish to have a museum for all her teddy bears. In the past, she was a shy girl who didn't have any friends. She was in love with Saki, but was ultimately killed by her when she turned into a witch.

Satomi Usagi (宇佐木 里美, Usagi Satomi)

A polite magical girl. When she was unable to help a pet cat, she used her wish to gain the ability to talk to animals as she wants to become a vet when she grows up. Her magic allows her to control other people. Similar to Mami in the original series, she is shown to become mentally unstable when she learns the truth about witches and sees Kazumi as a witch who only looks like a human. Revealing the truth to Kazumi about her true nature, Satomi attempts to kill Kazumi using other failed clones; however, during the battle, her soul gem begins to crack despite not having any visible corruption, and she transforms into a witch who is soon killed by Kazumi.

Niko Kanna (神那 ニコ, Kanna Niko)

A dry-witted magical girl who often speaks in blunt statements, real name Kanna Hijiri (聖 カンナ, Hijiri Kanna). Having falling into depression after accidentally killing two other girls in a gun tragedy when she was young, she became a magical girl to escape from reality, creating a clone of herself to take her place in her family to experience the happiness she couldn't, whilst she took on the name of "Niko Kanna", showing she viewed herself as the "fake" of the two. (Niko can be written in kanji as "二子", meaning "twin" or "second child".) Her magic involves reconstructing materials into other objects such as missiles or clones. She ended up transforming into a witch following a battle against the Souju sisters, during which her clone, Kanna, replaced her in the group.

Michiru Kazusa (和紗 ミチル, Kazusa Michiru)

Michiru was the magical girl who Kazumi was based on. She had become a magical girl after making a contract with Kyubey to allow her grandmother to live her final day in peace. Having previously been rescued by Mami beforehand, Michiru had taken on her trait of naming her special abilities. It was Michiru who saved the Pleiades Saints and convinced them to become magical girls. However, she soon transformed into a witch, leading the Pleiades to learn the truth behind magical girls. Choosing to reject the system, the Pleiades attempted to revive Michiru, eventually leading to the creation of Kazumi.

Supporting characters

Jubey (ジュゥべえ, Jūbē)

An incubator who contracted the Pleiades Saints, turning them into magical girls. He can absorb the darkness from soul gems directly into his black fur. After he revealed the true nature of magical girls to the Pleiades, Umika rewrote his memories, preventing him from making any further contracts and as such is an individual being rather than an operative of the Incubators. He was created by Niko using one of Kyubey's corpses, so they wouldn't have to use grief seeds. In the end, Jubey eventually dissolved, and it is revealed that his cleaning of soul gems only polished the surface – essentially hiding the corruption – meaning that the magical girls were vulnerable to running out of magic and turning into witches, a fact even he was unaware of.

Souichirou Tachibana (立花 宗一郎, Tachibana Sōichirō)

A man who discovers Kazumi inside a briefcase which was supposed to contain a bomb he had intended to use to blow up a mall as revenge for losing his shop in a bad deal with the mall manager. After Kazumi sees good in him and prevents him from being set up by a possessed detective, he becomes the manager of an Italian restaurant and may be dating Misako.

Misako Ishijima (石島 美佐子, Ishijima Misako)

Misako is a detective investigating the disappearance of several girls, following the disappearance of her friend Remi, who was actually a magical girl. During the first chapter, she had turned into a pseudo-witch and had attempted to kill Kazumi, but was stopped after Kazumi regained her magical girl powers.

Remi Shiina (椎名 レミ, Shīna Remi)

Misako's best friend in high school. She was secretly a magical girl, though her three-year-old sister was aware of her secret. Remi suddenly disappeared one day, and her disappearance along with her sister's story of her being a magical girl spurred Misako into becoming a detective investigating into the existence of magic and the disappearances of young girls.

Kyouka Shida (志田 京香, Shida Kyōka)

A girl who works at a cosmetic store. She was turned into a pseudo-witch by Airi, but was saved by Kazumi, Kaoru and Umika.

Yuuri (ユウリ, Yūri) / Airi Anri (杏里 あいり, Anri Airi)

An evil magical girl who targets Kazumi in an attempt to get revenge on the Pleiades Saints. Her true identity is that of the real Yuuri's best friend, Airi, who was diagnosed with a terminal disease, but was cured by Yuuri when she became a magical girl. However, when Yuuri transformed into a witch and was forced to be killed by the Pleiades Saints, Airi swore revenge on the Pleiades, and making a contract with Kyubey to take Yuuri's form and targeting Kazumi so they can feel the pain of losing someone precious. She attempts to kill Kazumi, but in the end she ends up using too much magical power and transforms into a witch too, who Kazumi is forced to kill.

Yuuri Asuka (飛鳥 ユウリ, Asuka Yūri)

Airi's best friend who had desires of becoming a famous chef. When Airi was diagnosed with a terminal illness that would kill her in a short while, Yuuri made a contract to become a magical girl in order to cure her of her illness. She had often used her powers as a magical girl to go around curing other ill children. However, this proved to be too much for her, as she soon transformed into a witch and was killed by the Pleiades Saints. The real Yuuri is only seen in flashbacks, as the evil magical girl known as Yuuri is not the true Yuuri, but actually her friend Airi, who was led to believe by Kyubey that she had been wrongfully murdered. Thus, she took on the identity of Yuuri to get revenge on the Pleiades Saints.

Sumire Akane (茜 すみれ, Akane Sumire)

A magical girl that was attacked by the Pleiades Saints. She knew Kaoru because they both played soccer to together. She was put into the Freezer post-attack and was eventually turned into a witch by Kanna.

Ayase Souju (双樹 あやせ, Sōju Ayase) / Luca Souju (双樹 ルカ, Sōju Ruka)

Ayase is a magical girl who goes around picking the soul gems out of other magical girls. Her body actually holds two souls, Ayase and Luca, each with their own transformations, as the result of a split personality. They are very protective of each other's soul gems. They are defeated with a joint attack performed by Kazumi and Niko.

Kaede Hinata (Kaede Hinata)

One of the many magical girls sleeping in the Freezer. She is turned into part of the "Hyades Daybreak" by Kanna.

Kanna Hijiri (聖 カンナ, Hijiri Kanna)

The story's main antagonist. Having been cloned from the original Kanna, Niko, Kanna lived her life with general happiness. When she learned of her true nature after spotting Niko in battle, Kanna swore to get revenge, making a contract with Jubey to become a magical girl by wishing to have the ability to 'connect' to others without drawing attention. Using this ability, she created the evil nuts and used Yuuri and the Souju sisters to exhaust the Pleiades' soul gems, taking Niko's place when she turned into a witch herself. Learning about Kazumi, Kanna made plans to bring about a new species of humans called "Hyades" which she and Kazumi would be a part of as they are both fake humans. Her connect ability also extends to her magic, allowing her to connect to various things, such as making witches obey her. She ends up using this power to combine several witches into a single being called the "Hyades Daybreak".

Puella Magi Oriko Magica characters

Oriko Magica characters

Oriko Mikuni (美国 織莉子, Mikuni Oriko)

A magical girl with the ability to see into the future. She looked up to her father, who was a government official, until he hung himself after being caught doing illegal business, which in turn left Oriko betrayed by her classmates. She made a contract to Kyubey wishing to know the meaning of her life, gaining the ability to see into the future, which also gives her foresight in battles, where she attacks using metal orbs.

After seeing a vision of a destructive witch — Kriemhild Gretchen — she cannot possibly defeat, she makes it her goal to kill Madoka in order to prevent her from becoming a witch and destroying the world. She attempts this by nominating Yuma as a magical girl candidate, and sending Kirika to hunt other magical girls, in order to distract Kyubey from making a contact with Madoka. She eventually succeeds in killing Madoka by impaling her on a shard of Kirika's shattered witch form, but dies from a gunshot wound she received from Homura while doing so. She then appears in the new timeline, fully aware of her previous actions, but is supported by the new Kirika and can move on.

In Symmetry Diamond, Oriko instead sees only Walpurgisnacht, and teams up with Kirika to stop it. She later meets Yuma in a park, and eventually helps out the girl by directing her to a new family after learning of her abusive household situation.

Kirika Kure (呉 キリカ, Kure Kirika)

A 15-year-old magical girl who uses her powers to hunt down her own kind. As a girl who had no interest in anything and was often bothered, she became infatuated with Oriko, the one person who paid attention to her, and made a contract with Kyubey in order to change her personality, so she could become friends with Oriko. She has a strong admiration for Oriko and will do anything she asks her, including killing other magical girls. When transformed, she wields a pair of powerful claws and has the ability to slow down her enemies (as well as herself), giving the impression of her moving quickly. When Oriko is confronted by the other magical girls, she willingly becomes a witch to protect her, but is ultimately killed by Kyoko, Mami and Yuma. She reappears in the new timeline befriending the depressed Oriko.

The prequel spin-off Noisy Citrine explains her backstory. She was best friends with a girl called Erika Mamiya, but when Erika shoplifted a book due to stress from her parent's divorce, she left the book with Kirika before running off, leaving Kirika to take the blame and feel betrayed by Erika, especially after Erika ended up moving away without giving an explanation. Kirika encounters Erika again when her family moves back to Mitakihara, and ends up saving her from a witch that tried to make Erika commit suicide, after which Erika and Kirika become friends again.

Yuma Chitose (千歳 ゆま, Chitose Yuma)

A young girl who Kyoko encounters, after Yuma's parents are killed by a witch. She was often abused by her parents, with her mother calling her useless and burning her with cigarettes, and her father neglecting her and never being home. Yuma thus wants to become useful to someone, going into distress whenever she feels useless. Despite Kyoko warning her not to become a magical girl, she ends up becoming one in order to save Kyoko's life, due to Oriko's manipulation. Yuma specializes in healing magic and wields a spherical hammer that resembles a cat.

In the alternate timeline depicted in Symmetry Diamond, she briefly meets Oriko. Oriko then sees a vision where she ends up dying, going into cardiac arrest due to the abuse she received from her mother. At the end of Symmetry Diamond, Oriko and Kirika find a new family for Yuma to live with.

Hisaomi Mikuni (美国 久臣, Mikuni Hisaomi)

A very hardworking man who promised to work for the greater good of everyone. His intention was to reform corrupt governmental policies and eventually bring peace to the entire world. This heavily inspired Oriko's goal and methods as a magical girl. However, it was revealed that he was a secretly unscrupulous man who had been falsifying fund records, and he hung himself to avoid prosecution, leaving Oriko behind to become a scapegoat in his place. Even so, she refers to him respectfully as "her father in Heaven" and states that she never fully stopped wanting to love or protect him.

Extra Story characters

Erika Mamiya (間宮 えりか, Mamiya Erika)

Kirika's childhood friend who appears in the Oriko Magica prequel, Noisy Citrine. She had previously moved away from Mitakihara, following a fall-out with Kirika, but recently moved back there with her mother and step-father, where she encounters Kirika once more, unaware of her new personality. Erika sees herself as useless and unable to live up to her new family's expectations, and believes Kirika hates her for moving the blame for Erika's shoplifting onto her, thus leading to her attempting to commit suicide when tempted by a witch. However, she is saved by Kirika, and the two later become friends again. Erika eventually manages to get along with her new family.

Mako Chitose (千歳 眞子, Chitose Mako)

Yuma's abusive mother, who dies at the hand of a witch in Oriko Magica. She gains a speaking role in Symmetry Diamond. Mako is a confrontational, mean woman, who doesn't hesitate to slam doors in the faces of social service agents, or to yell at and threaten her daughter. She is shown to take her frustration and aggression out on Yuma by abusing her in many ways, including putting out lit cigarettes on Yuma's forehead.

Sasa Yuuki (優木 沙々, Yūki Sasa)

A magical girl who appears in the spin-off Symmetry Diamond, arriving in Mitakihara City to claim new territory. She is a magical girl with mind-control abilities. Sasa is a girl who at first appears bubbly and kind, but her cheerful side masks an incredibly vicious and possibly even vengeful side of her. She has a tendency to laugh madly at times. Despite her enthusiastic controlling of witches, Sasa turns out to be horrified at the fact that magical girls themselves become witches. In Symmetry Diamond, after Sasa's plan is thwarted, Oriko reveals to her the fate of magical girls, that they eventually turn into witches. Sasa, horrified, screams how she doesn't want to become a witch and smashes her soul gem, dying.

She makes a reappearance in Sadness Prayer following Komaki's death.

Sadness Prayer characters

Komaki Asako (浅古 小巻, Asako Komaki)

A magical girl that attends the same school as Oriko. She is generally loud, upfront, and aggressive, but can also be at times calm and genial, mostly around her friends. She made a wish to protect her friends Akira and Miyuki during a fire at school, thus granting her shielding and barrier powers. Her weapon is an axe.

During Sadness Prayer, Komaki slowly becomes friends with Oriko. Komaki regularly sneaks out of home at night to hunt witches; this did not go unnoticed by her younger sister, Koito, who expressed her concerns to one of Komaki's friends, Akira. During a witch hunt, Komaki got into a fight with Kirika over a grief seed, with Kirika unaware that she was Oriko's friend. Akira, who had followed Komaki to find out what she was up to, ran out in the midst of the fight and got hit by one of Kirika's attacks meant for Komaki; this caused Komaki to fly into a rage. Kirika, already shocked by Akira's death and frightened by Komaki's rage, lashed out in a desperate attack and stabbed Komaki through the head, killing her. After learning she had killed Oriko's school friend, Kirika became fearful of her reaction, but recovered quickly after Oriko forgave her.

Komaki previously made a small cameo in Symmetry Diamond, where Oriko warned her not to keep going out at night, lest she run into trouble. Presumably Komaki and Kirika never fought or crossed paths in this timeline. Komaki and Oriko never seem to become friends in this timeline, however.

Koito Asako (浅古 小糸, Asako Koito)

Komaki's younger sister, who is more calmer and friendly than her older sister.

She begins suspecting Komaki of having a nightlife after witnessing her sneaking out at night, and relays her suspicions to Akira, who begins investigating into Komaki's supposed nightlife. It is currently unknown how Koito has taken Komaki's and Akira's deaths.

Akira Namekata (行方 晶, Namekata Akira)

One of Komaki's friends, who attends the same school as Oriko and Komaki. She and Komaki's other friend, Miyuki, often have to interrupt Komaki's fighting with other students. She is also friends with Koito, and nicknames her "Koitotchi" (小糸っち, Koitocchi).

During the story, Akira begins investigating Komaki's supposed nightlife after being informed by Koito. Her parents are overseas at the time, giving her free rein to investigate Komaki. She tracks Komaki with her phone and finds her fighting with Kirika one night. After accidentally calling Koito instead of the police, Akira ditches the phone and runs out to Komaki after one of Kirika's attacks wounds her. Akira, however, gets in the way of another of Kirika's attacks and is cut in half, with her top half landing in Komaki's arms. Her death causes Komaki to fly into a rage.

Akira has a small cameo alongside Komaki and Miyuki in Symmetry Diamond.

Miyuki Nagatsuki (長月 美幸, Nagatsuki Miyuki)

Another of Komaki's friends, who attends school with Oriko, Komaki and Akira. Not much has been seen of Miyuki, but she appears to be a kind and friendly person who occasionally lectures Komaki on her behavior. She was not informed by Akira or Koito about Komaki's nightlife, and appears to have taken Komaki's death badly. She ended up delivering a print-out informing of Komaki's and Akira's deaths to Kirika, which was how Oriko and Kirika found out of their deaths.

Miyuki has a small cameo alongside Akira and Komaki in Symmetry Diamond.

Kimihide Mikuni (美国 公秀, Mikuni Kimihide)

Oriko's uncle. The two seem to have a strained relationship. During his appearance in Sadness Prayer, he is under the influence of a witch's kiss.

Yurako Mikuni (美国 由良子, Mikuni Yurako)

Oriko's mother, who she had a good relationship with. It is currently unknown what has become of her in later installments, though a line in Oriko Magica ("And I'll bet mommy is looking down from heaven and is so proud!") suggested that she, too, died at some point.

Rina (リナ, Rina)

A new magical girl who appears in Sadness Prayer post-Komaki's death. She seems to be associated with Sasa in some way.

Mio (美緒, Mio)

A new magical girl who appears in Sadness Prayer post-Komaki's death. She also seems to be associated with Sasa in some way. She is killed by Kirika in a surprise attack.

Puella Magi Suzune Magica characters

Suzune Amano (天乃 鈴音, Amano Suzune)

A girl who is a smiling, hard-working student at day, and a stoic magical girl hunter at night. She refuses to state her reasons for killing. Whenever she meets a magical girl, she asks for their name prior to killing them, and later puts writes their name on a paper and puts it in her pouch, a habit she picked up from Tsubaki. Suzune uses a large sword as her weapon and wears a long jacket as her uniform. Her powers are fire-elemental. Suzune is revealed in a flashback to be able to absorb the powers of witches, and she absorbed her current fire powers from Tsubaki's witch.

She was taken care of by her former mentor, Tsubaki, after a witch killed her parents; Suzune's wish was to "become like Tsubaki", leading to her gaining her absorption powers. Despite her statements that she's "doing the right thing", Suzune is still unconvinced she really is doing the right thing. After meeting Kagari, Suzune finds out that her memories were altered: instead of setting out to kill magical girls after killing Tsubaki, Suzune had merely run away and hid herself in despair. Matsuri eventually met up with her and became her friend, but Kagari erased those memories as a part of her revenge plot. After Suzune remembers this and Kagari forces her to confront her anguish, she decides to end her life after killing Kagari's witch and saving Matsuri, but not before telling Matsuri to live on.

Arisa Narumi (成見 亜里紗, Narumi Arisa)

One of the Yunagi magical girls, and probably the most hot-headed among them. Having been bullied a lot in school, she became a magical girl wishing to become stronger, possessing superhuman strength and speed, leading her to become more self-confident yet abrasive, even putting her former tormentors in hospital; though her attitude scared others off, leading to her being lonely, until Chisato asked her to join the Yunagi group after beating her in a fight. Despite Arisa's abrasiveness, flippant and haughty attitude, she can be caring at times. Arisa wields a scythe as her magical girl weapon, and her soul gem is in the shape of a heart on her back.

She becomes distraught after the death of Chisato, eventually vowing to kill Suzune in revenge; she also returned to being more abrasive, disregardful of school rules, and beating up other students. Unfortunately, Arisa never managed to fulfill her goal, as Kagari killed her in a surprise attack to get her out of the way.

Chisato Shion (詩音 千里, Shion Chisato)

One of the Yunagi magical girls, and the one who invited Arisa to join them. She is a strict follower of the rules, often lecturing Arisa on her rebellious and lazy attitude. She uses a pistol as part of her weaponry, though she has two on her belt, she is never seen using more than one at a time; her power is to "release" other magic powers. She was killed by Suzune during a night patrol.

It is revealed in a flashback that Chisato convinced Arisa to join the Yunagi girls, after finding out she was lonely after beating her in a fight; another flashback reveals that Chisato's father was a creator of children's picture books and she made a wish to turn him back to being a kind person after he turned abusive, with said abuse leading to the death of his wife, before turning it on Chisato.

Haruka Kanade (奏 遥香, Kanade Haruka)

The leader of the Yunagi magical girls, and a respectable, well-behaved student. She held a large animosity towards her older sister who was loved and praised by everyone while Haruka was overlooked. Haruka uses a separable blade as her weapon, and specializes in charm magic. After a witch brings up memories of her painful past, where she wished to erase her sister from existence, she succumbs to her despair and becomes a witch herself.

Matsuri Hinata (日向 茉莉, Hinata Matsuri)

One of the Yunagi magical girls, a positive-thinking girl who is classmates with Suzune. She wants to become friends with Suzune, even after finding out that she is a magical girl killer. Her magical weapons are robotic gloves that can shine or shoot bright lights at her opponents, and she also possesses the ability to search for others, though this ability is best used as support in battle. She has a plush charm of a rabbit head named "Usa-chan", and nicknames Kyubey as "Kyu-chan".

Matsuri reveals to Arisa at one point after Haruka's death that she was blind when she was younger, and wished to have sight as a result. Kagari knocks her out upon arrival so she can deal with Suzune alone, but Matsuri wakes up in time to save Suzune and confront Kagari. Despite Kagari's monstrous deeds and attempts on Matsuri's life, Matsuri never tries to kill her and tries to convince Kagari to stop her revenge. She is eaten by Kagari's witch and supposedly dies, but it turns out to only be an illusion, and manages to survive after Suzune defeats the witch. On Suzune's deathbed, Matsuri promises to never forget her, the Yunagi girls, Kagari and Tsubaki, and that they'll stay friends forever. Afterwards, Matsuri inherits the bell-and-pouch pendant and wears it as a hair tie herself. She is the only survivor of the events of the story.

Kagari Hinata (日向 華々莉, Hinata Kagari)

Matsuri's older sister, who is hunting down Suzune in revenge for killing Tsubaki. She has a playfully cruel nature and takes delight in teasing and tormenting Suzune. She seems to have a soft spot for Matsuri, but isn't afraid to kill her if she gets in the way of her goals. She also shows no remorse in murdering Arisa, nor for any of the other deaths she indirectly caused through altering Suzune's memory.

Kagari's magic appears to be illusionary-themed, and she is seen wielding a sword and chakrams. She is also capable of altering people's memories: she used this ability to turn Suzune into a magical girl killer and erase Matsuri's memories of becoming friends with Suzune; however, the person's real memories seem to eventually come back over time, as with Matsuri just before Kagari returns, or in dreams, as with both Matsuri and Suzune. Kagari ends up turning herself into a witch as a last-ditch attempt to kill Suzune, after suffering defeat by Matsuri.

Kanami (カナミ, Kanami)

A minor character from the first chapter, Kanami is a lone magical girl with a cheerful and friendly personality who dual wields knives with hand guards; her powers and wish are unknown. Her attack power seems to be rather weak. She was saved from a witch by Suzune, but was promptly killed after telling Suzune her name. She was wowed by Suzune's fire-elemental magic.

Tsubaki Mikoto (美琴 椿, Mikoto Tsubaki)

Suzune's former mentor, who became a witch. Suzune killed her and inherited her bell-and-pouch pendant, which she wears as a hair tie. She formerly took care of Matsuri and Kagari as some form of caretaker, and told them stories; at one point she encouraged Matsuri to be a kind person and listen to her father and Kagari. She took care of Suzune after her parents' death at the hands of a witch, and treated her like her own daughter. She had fire-elemental powers.

Mika Nishinaka (西中 ミカ, Nishinaka Mika)

The leader of a group of bullies that targeted Arisa in the past, until Arisa made her wish and scared them off by crushing Mika's hand in her own. She then proceeded to put them in the hospital as revenge; it can be assumed that they left her alone after that.

Kanata Kanade (奏 可奈多, Kanade Kanata)

Haruka's older sister. She was a kindly person who was good at everything she did, leading to her being constantly praised by others and called a genius; however, her little sister Haruka was jealous and envious of her, as she thought no one expected anything of her due to Kanata. Kanata tried to be friendly with Haruka, telling her that she "could tell her big sister anything", but Haruka kept rejecting her and claiming that Kanata didn't understand her feelings. Haruka's immense jealousy eventually led to her wishing to erase Kanata from existence; Kanata appears to have been wiped from others' memories as well.

Other characters

Pia Undo (雲土 ぴあ, Undo Pia)

A character exclusive to the Puella Magi Madoka Magica crossover with the Japanese mobile game Divine Gate. She is the Madoka universe version of Divine Gate's original character "Wind Pier" (ウィンドピア, Uindopia).

Pia is a pathologically shy girl who, as Wind Pier, in particular is anxious about people seeing her face, often hiding it or covering it with a mask. She would suffer panic attacks, and thus carried around a canister of oxygen. During the crossover story, Pia walks into the Madoka universe via a gate and becomes friends with the main Madoka girls. After learning that they are trapped in a fake world, Pia makes a wish with Kyubey to destroy the fake world, gaining wind-elemental powers and a rapier as her weapon. After the destruction of the fake world, Pia returns to her own world.

References

Puella Magi Madoka Magica by Shaft and Aniplex Characters Episodes Films Chapters People Ume Aoki Yuki Kajiura Akiyuki Shinbo Gen Urobuchi Gekidan Inu Curry Music ClariS Connect Luminous Colorful Kalafina Magia