Madoka Magica's 4th Movie Finally Gets a Release Date

The wait is (almost) over

If you've been checking anime news every few months since 2015 hoping for actual news on the fourth Madoka Magica film, today's your day. Aniplex has confirmed Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie Walpurgisnacht: Rising will hit Japanese theaters Aug. 28, alongside a brand-new full trailer. No word yet on an international release, but a Japan date after over a decade of teases is a massive milestone on its own.

Why this movie took forever

This isn't your average "movie got delayed a year" story. Walpurgisnacht: Rising was first teased as a concept back in 2015, didn't get an official green light until 2021, and then bounced through delays — a planned 2024 release pushed to 2025, then to February 2026, and now finally landing in August. For a franchise with this kind of rabid, patient fanbase, the announcement alone is a genuine event.

Catching up on the story so far

For the uninitiated: Madoka Magica started as a 12-episode 2011 anime that looks like a cute magical girl show and is absolutely not. Schoolgirls make contracts to become magical girls and fight witches, only to learn every magical girl is doomed to eventually become a witch herself. It's often described as the Neon Genesis Evangelion of magical girl anime — subversive, bleak, and beloved because of it.

The franchise then got a film trilogy: Beginnings and Eternal (2012) retold the TV series, and Rebellion (2013) told an original story. The TV series ended with Madoka essentially becoming a god and rewriting reality to spare magical girls from despair — erasing herself from everyone's memory except her devoted friend Homura Akemi, who'd spent the whole series time-traveling to save her. Rebellion flipped that ending, with Homura seizing Madoka's power for herself and building a new, messier universe where Madoka survives but others keep suffering.

What Walpurgisnacht: Rising sets up

The new trailer picks up right where Rebellion left off, teasing a showdown between Homura and the rest of the magical girls. Nothing's officially confirmed, but all signs point to this being the franchise's true endpoint — the movie that finally resolves the Homura-Madoka conflict that's been simmering since 2013.

What to watch for next

With an Aug. 28 Japan release locked in, expect an international distribution announcement to follow, likely from Aniplex or a Western streaming partner. If you're new to the series, now's the time to (re)watch the original 12 episodes and the film trilogy — this one's not exactly newcomer-friendly, and after 11 years of buildup, you'll want the full context before Homura's story wraps up.