Fourth time. Homura's become pretty damn jaded and down by now; she heals her eyes to get rid of her glasses and unbraids her hair, transforming her image from a cute shy girl into a stoic one. She warns Madoka away from becoming a magical girl early, but come Walpurgis Night, when she's the only magical girl around to defeat the witch, Madoka contracts with Kyuubey to save her. (This is where the anime itself opens; the fight is shown as what seems to be a dream sequence of Madoka's.) Madoka defeats the witch in one go, then becomes a witch herself; it's back to the beginning for Homura.
The fifth cycle is what the anime covers. Homura gives Madoka a vague warning at school to stay the way she is, and attempts to kill Kyuubey, even though she knows he has many bodies, to prevent him from contracting Madoka; this backfires, when Madoka finds the injured Kyuubey. Mami tells Homura to leave; she does.
Although Mami is antagonistic towards Homura, she is still willing to help her out as a fellow magical girl, and hopes they can one day come to a truce; she offers her a grief seed, needed to clean her soul gem, but Homura constantly rejects her advances. Later, when Kyoko comes to town, Homura allies with her to stop Madoka from becoming a magical girl; Kyoko seems confused at her real goal and methods, though, so it's likely she didn't tell her the whole story.
At this point in the anime, with two episodes left to air, Sayaka has become a witch and died; Kyoko died to kill her. Mami has been out of the picture since early episodes, and without Madoka as a magical girl, Homura is going to have to face Walpurgis Night alone. That's fine by her; as long as Madoka is safe, she doesn't care about anything else.
(There are tiny details that suggest there may have been more than five cycles; for the purpose of playing her I'll take the cycles at face value, unless I get disproved down the line.)
Personality: The fact that Homura's time looping wasn't explained until late means that through most of the series, she seems cold, antagonistic, and stoic. She showed up whenever Madoka got near a fight; since there's competition among magical girls for the grief seeds dropped by witches, Mami thought she was simply trying to edge out the competition, greedily killing witches herself for their grief seeds. She never tries to explain herself and doesn't appear to care what the other girls think of her, leaving the viewer with the impression that she's a mysterious enemy with unknown goals.
The time looping explains quite a bit, though. At first she was a shy and nervous girl; she had been out of school as an invalid for so long that she felt worthless, like she couldn't do anything right. When she learned about Puella Magi, she thought it was amazing, magical powers that could save the world and make life better. In short, once she got rid of her initial shyness, she was a lot like Madoka-- idealistic, but down on herself, a girl who gets strength from those around her.
3/5 SPOILER WARNING
The fifth cycle is what the anime covers. Homura gives Madoka a vague warning at school to stay the way she is, and attempts to kill Kyuubey, even though she knows he has many bodies, to prevent him from contracting Madoka; this backfires, when Madoka finds the injured Kyuubey. Mami tells Homura to leave; she does.
Although Mami is antagonistic towards Homura, she is still willing to help her out as a fellow magical girl, and hopes they can one day come to a truce; she offers her a grief seed, needed to clean her soul gem, but Homura constantly rejects her advances. Later, when Kyoko comes to town, Homura allies with her to stop Madoka from becoming a magical girl; Kyoko seems confused at her real goal and methods, though, so it's likely she didn't tell her the whole story.
At this point in the anime, with two episodes left to air, Sayaka has become a witch and died; Kyoko died to kill her. Mami has been out of the picture since early episodes, and without Madoka as a magical girl, Homura is going to have to face Walpurgis Night alone. That's fine by her; as long as Madoka is safe, she doesn't care about anything else.
(There are tiny details that suggest there may have been more than five cycles; for the purpose of playing her I'll take the cycles at face value, unless I get disproved down the line.)
Personality: The fact that Homura's time looping wasn't explained until late means that through most of the series, she seems cold, antagonistic, and stoic. She showed up whenever Madoka got near a fight; since there's competition among magical girls for the grief seeds dropped by witches, Mami thought she was simply trying to edge out the competition, greedily killing witches herself for their grief seeds. She never tries to explain herself and doesn't appear to care what the other girls think of her, leaving the viewer with the impression that she's a mysterious enemy with unknown goals.
The time looping explains quite a bit, though. At first she was a shy and nervous girl; she had been out of school as an invalid for so long that she felt worthless, like she couldn't do anything right. When she learned about Puella Magi, she thought it was amazing, magical powers that could save the world and make life better. In short, once she got rid of her initial shyness, she was a lot like Madoka-- idealistic, but down on herself, a girl who gets strength from those around her.