QUOTE As for the space-time continuum in this show, we haven't really established how it works. I mean, she hasn't even tried to go to the future yet (We're not certain that she can't. She can stop time and go back in-time or "reverse" the changes.). It also seems that there's a limit to how far in the past she can go back.
Well, it's definitely not simple time-travel, otherwise she would have run into her "original self" in the time she's traveled to. I suppose "reverse changes" seems like a decent way of describing it - that way she reverses changes for herself as well, except gets to keep her memories... Or maybe it works kinda like a save-reload feature??
QUOTE It was obvious that Homerun was "from the future", but an Endless Eight scenario never occurred to me, so this episode was quite fun IMO. I only saw the generic time-traveler going back in time to prevent a tragedy and never saw the time-traveler stuck in a time loop. So basically Homerun's the source of the loop and the key to getting out of the loop is Madoka.
Hmm, rather than Endless Eight, made me think of Yojouhan Shinwa Taikei - multiple possible "failed" outcomes with just that one right one that's hard to reach. Then again I'm a jaded KyoAni hater so no surprise I never thought of E8.
Also, it's a loop but it's not a loop. Homura forces the time to restart every time. So, if she decides not to, or is unable to do so (dies etc.), the loop would also end, I think - a sort of "bad ending". Was already close to that at least once from what we saw. It's just that Homu-homu keeps repeating it until she's satisfied.