Puella Magi Madoka Magica's Homura Akemi and Fate/Zero's Kiritsugu Emiya were both written by Gen Urobuchi, although Kiritsugu was created by Type Moon's Kinoko Nasu. There are numerous similarities between them:
- Both are magic users with control over time.
- Both augment their magical powers with modern weaponry.
- Both are very taciturn, but deeply loving towards certain people (Homura towards Madoka and Kiritsugu towards Iri and Illya).
- Both are mentally damaged by the horrors of war (Homura's experiences in the time loops and Kiritsugu's experiences in various war zones over the years).
- Both characters are pivotal to the events of the story, but for most of the series the viewers, and even the main heroine herself, have no idea what they are thinking.
- Both have something of a gap in ideals with the main heroine (Homura's actions during the movie go against Madoka's wishes, while Kiritsugu and Saber clash so much from the very beginning that Kiritsugu assigns her to work with Iri).
- Both have great hair :)
Was this just an archetype of Urobuchi's writing, the way Stephen King spent three decades writing about common household objects trying to kill people? Or is there an interview or any evidence which suggests this was intentional? As a related question, how much of Kiritsugu's overlap with Homura was Nasu's doing, and how much was Urobuchi's?
