The main theatrical trailer for Puella Magi Madoka Magica: The Witch’s Rondo — Walpurgisnacht Rising (劇場版 魔法少女まどか☆マギカ〈ワルプルギスの廻天〉) dropped in the early hours of Monday morning, and it brings two headline announcements in one: a confirmed Japan theatrical opening on August 28, 2026, and the reveal that the film’s theme song — “彼方” (Kanata) — will be performed by FictionJunction, the vocal unit led by composer Yuki Kajiura. For fans who have been waiting since 2013’s Rebellion Story ended on one of anime’s most divisive cliffhangers, the wait is down to two months.
Homura’s World, Cracking at the Edges
Walpurgisnacht Rising picks up inside the false reality that Homura Akemi built at the end of Rebellion — a world where Madoka lives as an ordinary student, shielded from the fate she accepted when she wished every witch in every timeline out of existence and became the “Law of Cycles,” a transcendent cosmic force. Homura achieved this by tearing a fragment of that power away and rewriting reality itself, a choice that cost her everything except Madoka’s presence.
The new trailer makes clear that the seams of that world are showing. A mysterious girl without a Soul Gem has been hunting Mazoku — the magical beasts that replaced witches in Homura’s version of reality — which should be impossible. Then two magical girls arrive from outside the constructed world, seeking to restore the Law of Cycles and carrying a message: “We will not forgive Homura Akemi.”
The threat they carry with them is named in the synopsis as 名塚底根 (Nadzuka Sokone) — described as the “beginning of all witches,” a collective entity formed from multiple witches that tortured Homura across her many timeline loops. It is, in other words, the original Walpurgisnacht made into something even larger. The title 廻天 — roughly “the heavens revolve” — signals that the circular logic of the Madoka universe is completing another terrible turn.
Yuki Kajiura Composes the Full Score
The return of Yuki Kajiura — whose compositions for the original 2011 series are among the most celebrated in the medium — is confirmed for the complete BGM, not just the theme song. In her own words, as published alongside the trailer reveal (Dengeki Online, in Japanese): “I did not want it to be a song that simply provides the ‘answer.’ As a devoted fan of this work who has been by these girls’ sides for a long time, I wanted to send them off brilliantly.” A fragment of FictionJunction’s “Kanata” (彼方, meaning the other side or beyond) plays in the final moments of the trailer.
Kajiura’s involvement signals a full-circle return for the franchise’s sonic identity. Her earlier Madoka work introduced sounds — choral Latin fragments, baroque counterpoint over TV-static noise — that influenced scores across anime for years afterward.
August 28 in Japan — Singapore Dates Yet to Be Confirmed
Walpurgisnacht Rising opens theatrically in Japan on August 28, 2026. No Singapore or Southeast Asia release date has been announced at the time of writing. Major Aniplex theatrical productions in recent years have generally received regional rollouts, but timelines and distribution vary — watch announcements from local cinema chains and anime distributors for confirmation. The trailer’s release this close to the Japan opening date suggests the wider rollout information may not be far behind.
