Hunting out inspiration in old T-sauce entries. This was such a melancholy piece - while watching the series, it was hard for me to grasp Homura's despair; reading your work gave me a much deeper understanding of it. Well done!

I think I AM actually kind of familiar with this anime through a review I saw. The reviewer was just extremely tight-fisted with spoilers. That means that it's your descriptions and character presentation that have shaped my understanding of this fandom.

Now, in general I regard time-travel as dumb but I'm a sucker for philosophy so you were still able to hook me in as I observed the psychological state and life approach of Homura. Even if I think the science is impossible, I was still considering what I would do in such a situation so you were still successfully sweeping me into things. The whole setup, and Homura's desire to succeed -plus my own desire to see her beat evil and save innocence- has my mind jumping around to all the different possibilities. So having things seem to slowly close in on inevitable tragedy is really frustrating and rather sadness inducing while still being very interesting.

It kind of makes me want to go and find out what happens even if I've stopped hoping for a happy ending. But that outlook seems pretty disturbing to me so I'll give myself a mental slap of moral re-orientation, but I still might look into the anime at some point. Though, I feel depressed and mildly unsettled just thinking about. These are emotions you've evoked! So...congratulations? At any rate, you quite effectively pulled me into the philosophy of this tale and I thought the skipping chronological, but incomplete, numbers for the timelines were quite effective. I was thinking Homura was going to become the witch with the complicated consonant name at the end of all this!

Wow...this was so well done, and I really liked it! It went even more in depth to Homura's feelings, and you want her to succeed. Nice job!

Element

Gah, I definitely have to say that this was beautiful. I would have to say it's my favorite out of all the submissions we had this week.

Your portrayal of Homura is wonderful, as we go from her naivete in the first few loops to her struggle between being apathetic and frantic about what's going on. The development in character flows great between each section, and it doesn't feel forced, either. Nice and smooth.

The time loop sections were a great decision. The increasingly larger gaps in numbers show off the amount of time passing without having to put it in exposition format, which would easily get wordy. The numbers are nice, simple, and they get their job done in simplicity.

The section about how Sayaka becomes a witch and just makes fighting Walpurgisnacht harder is a great way to show off Homura's feelings and how distant they become. In one time loop Sayaka being a witch makes Homura feel guilty, and another, it's just a note that sets of Homura's battle practicalities.

In fact, I'd say all your Homura moments really show off things from her point of view that people (or at the very least me) don't consider when they go through the series the first time, especially in comparison to Madoka's worldview. The simplicity of these moments still manages to make them powerful, so excellent work in that aspect.

And, well, I can't go through a review without commenting on Mami. I really do love Mami, and they different ways you show her throughout the loops are just wonderfully done, from her calm older sister vibe to her despair at her own situation. Her suicide scene really got me.

An excellent use of the prompt, which I find to be way more creative than mine was. Great work, and I'll be looking forward to your week four entry!

This was genuinely beautiful. I don't usually get upset at stories, but this really hammered home; just the futility of it all was enough to make me realise how tragic Homura is as a character, and how much she's been through to get her to the robot she is in the last loop. And the fact that she never achieves her true goal of her and Madoka together again just seems so powerful. You've done a terrific job of showing what happened to Homura as she travelled through the loops, and I'd dare say that you did it better than the anime.

... Dang it, L! Unbound tragedy wasn't scheduled till next week!

Having my heart ripped out aside, the way you play the contrasting elements of choice vs. fate and change vs. inevitable was phenomenally emotional. Homura's transformation over the various time loops was motivated enough that we can see how the timid, awkward girl at the beginning turns into a battle hardened shell at the end. I especially like how you utilized the numbering of the cycles. It allowed you to make coherent jumps without leaving us behind.

The last few lines are especially impactful. In a way, you're showing that Homura has been able to change nothing but herself. She hasn't been able to successfully alter the past and each further failure is being thrown back in her face. But at the same time, despite everything, Mami offering her tea also feels kind of comforting. Sure, it doesn't change the awful fate they're stuck in, in fact it kind of affirms that these characters are once again oblivious to the horrors in store for them. However, it is a reminder of happier times, a glint of hope that perhaps even as she falls apart she can feel as she did once again.

...Yeah, okay, so maybe it's just plain depressing...

But it certainly was well written! You spun out the story well enough that I could comprehend the various characters (at least on a basic level) and really feel for them (even if doing so meant being very forlorn at the end).

Good work, L, you get a Blue Star.
-CG

This is actually gorgeous. ;_; I think I like this even more than your Tutu stuff.

HOMURA NOOOO

Ah, glorious angst! Just the fact that you took the prompt "Tea Party" and turned it into...well, this, is extremely impressive. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this story.

I liked the usage of numbers between "sections" to depict the number of loops Homura had gone through. At first, I thought some numbers were missing, but I gradually caught on - the increasing numbers actually served to amplify her feelings of despair, and I thought they were well used. The way you depicted Homura's gradual change in personality was wonderful - definitely a difficult feat to pull off. As she watched her friends die over and over again, she gradually grew emotionally detached. Brilliantly done.

In terms of constructive criticism, the only thing I noticed was the change from past to present tense at the beginnings of sections 1 and 2, which threw me off a little. But after that, it stuck with present tense until the end, which was fine. Aside from that, however, I thought this story was perfect. Please keep up the good work!

My God.
You just punched me right in the feels.

This recurring sense of 'you can't save them' is REALLY powerful, I'm doing a similar story, and what you've done here is exactly what I want to achieve, just that feeling of utter hopelessness.

I didn't realise that Homura could time-travel until a bit later, but I really liked the numbers denoting how many times she's been in a timeline; it's clever, and the slow increment in rate of timeline progression makes me feel like there was hope in the beginning, slowly repeating the events over and over, but as it starts to jump by fives and sixes, it's like saying, "the ones that aren't shown don't matter, and over time, nothing will."

The 'tea party' is like some trivial, but important element in Homura's life, it's the inherent triviality of the tea party that represents peace, before it all falls apart.
By #71, she's so broken that the tea is, and will forever be, the only good part in her life; that 'triviality' I mentioned earlier means that the tea is that much more meaningful to her, but it works both ways for me: When it's all she has left, it seems more like a very small consolation prize, rather than that 'light at the end of the tunnel', as it were.
That last line really killed me, because the mixture of hopelessness that Homura has gone though, together with none of her friends knowing what's going to happen, along with the fact that she's given up, and can't do anything, really drives it home for me.

All in all, just an excellent, excellent, piece of work.
I'm hoping that Week 4 will be even better.

Best of luck, not that you need it,
-X

The leader's big haul.
Your life will come to an end when you gaze as Asura.
Look for an opening to attack.
From afar, there's Bartholomew in emptiness.
The deity of reliance to luck.
If tomorrow is lost, I will still love.
The moth amplifies the heat wave's steam.
Break the darkness that clouds the commandment.
Of Tea Parties, Time Loops, and Fate.

Holy shit that was dark. (Excuse my language but there you go). It kind of reminds me of All You Need is Kill...(or Edge of Tomorrow if we're going for the movie version), except I guess there is no way put of this one.

Going through the same repeat again and again and again. You sure took 'tea party' and went for it. So not what I expected when you mentioned magical girls...

I don't even know what else to say about this fic...just...-applauses-

- Dina