Otona Anime Vol.21

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by 中村直人

All translations courtesy of symbv from evageeks forum.


Interview with Gen Urobuchi on Sayaka

Otona Anime V21 13.jpg

Q: 杏子とさやかの対比的なキャラ配置は、最初から考えていました?

Q: Did you regard contrastive character placement of Sayaka as Kyoko from a beginning?

Urobuchi: そのへんは意図した部分ではありました。 最初は完全に食い違ったかたちで出てきて、根っこが一緒だったがゆえに一緒に終わる……という。

Urobuchi: Yes. They are contrast model meaningly. their consciousness are completely differed at first, but they commit suicide because their origin beliefs are homogeneity.

Q: 改変後の世界でもさやかだけが消えてしまって

Q: Only Sayaka becomes extinct in the New world.

Urobuchi: あれは「さやかが助からない」というより、「上条を助けてしまった」ということなんです。 ループのなかでは、恭介が障害を背負ったまま生きる決意を固めた場合もあったでしょうし、 逆にさやかが自分は恭介に異性として見られていないと気づく展開もあり得た。 でも世界が改変される段階では、さやかが「恭介のあの音楽が聴きたい」という気持ちを認めた段階で、覚悟を決めることになったんでしょうね。

Urobuchi: It is misunderstanding her. that episode is not so much "Sayaka is destined to die anyway" but "Sayaka give a her life to help Kyosuke". In the New world, Sayaka was prepared for acknowledgment of a feeling "I wanted to listen to the Kyosuke's music, again".

Otona Anime Vol 21 editorial staff Commentary on Sayaka

Otona Anime Vol 21 Scan 1.jpg

To think about [doing something] for somebody” – from a human point of view this is a stance that deserves much respect, but we must not let the idea that I myself can save the whole world get into our heads. The weakness of Sayaka, who can get carried away easily but is also kind and cares about her friends, is that even though she scores herself pretty low in self-evaluation, her ideals are placed much higher than others.

One must not think that just because she was born a girl, she had to get to use magic (mahou), and aspire to become a heroine of justice. It is because for a girl who cannot even make herself happy by herself, the burden of the whole world is just too heavy. For such a role, it is best left to the type of a shounen manga protagonist, like Kyouko, who possesses the toughness where no matter what kind of suffering she came across, she could still believe in “a story where love and courage will triumph at the end”.

I am sure the reason why I got irritated whenever I saw Sayaka is because I found myself being forced to face up the weak and inept parts of this living being that is “woman”. I may say “I am really stupid”, but I believe it is precisely those girls who call themselves stupid and do not believe in themselves that are really stupid. The “Grief Seeds”, that link the hope of a mahou shoujo to the despair of a witch, are all inside every girl from the beginning. And precisely because of that I feel so much “pain” in my heart whenever I see Sayaka.

(Written by Mayuko Ueda - anime critic / Otona Anime Vol 21 editorial staff)

 Otona Anime Vol 21 editorial staff Commentary on Hitomi

The world as reflected in the eyes of Hitomi – is this the final hope?

By self-practice she improves her charm as a female. Although she is popular with boys she chooses the boy she wants to love by herself. While she may look a bit sulky as she feels she is being excluded from the group of Madoka and Sayaka, on the subject of love, she combines both wisdom as well as kind consideration regarding Sayaka. I wonder what kind of mahou shoujo Hitomi might become, being such a dignified lady she is.

(Written by Mayuko Ueda - anime critic / Otona Anime Vol 21 editorial staff)

Interview with Gen Urobuchi

Otona Anime Vol 21 Scan 2.jpg

Q: 作品がひとり歩きしているようなご印象をもたれている?

Q: Do you have an impression the work has taken on a life of its own?

Urobuchi: それはもう大いに。とくにキャラクターの掘り下げとかは完全にひとり歩きというか、予期せぬ方向へそれぞれのキャラが進んでいるなと、PIXIVなんかを見ていても思います。ちらちらとしかのぞいていませんが、そのたびにビックリしまって。

Urobuchi: – Oh, very much indeed. Especially on drill-down of the characters it has absolutely taken on a life of its own. When I look at sites like Pixiv each of the characters went to directions that I did not expect. Although I only checked from time to time, every time I looked I was startled.

Q: マミはすっかり「友達がいない」キャラになってしまって。

Q: And Mami has completely become a “friendless” character.

Urobuchi: 自分のなかでは、魔法少女なんかやってなければ、ちゃんと普通の女の子として暮らせていたという位置づけだったですけどね。せいぜいがスパイダーマン程度の、自分がヒーローだと他人に言えない程度の苦悩のつもりで。残りのキャラがほかの相手と心の深いところで交流するシーンがあるなか、早々に退場してしまったことが大きいんですかね。

Urobuchi: – Within myself, I would put her to be living normally like ordinary girls if she had not worked as mahou shoujo. At most, I think she would just have some anguish of not being able to tell others that she is a heroine, like Spiderman. I guess the impact was just big as she was retired from the series so early while later there are scenes of the remaining characters getting to communicate on a deeper level with each other.

Q: あとマミは中二病キャラというイメージも広まっていますね。

Q: And then the image of Mami being a Chuunibyou character is also spreading. (Editor's note: Chunnibyou means "Eighth Grade Syndrome,” the desire to be seen as more knowledgeable, mysterious and/or special from other people.)

Urobuchi: 「ティロ・フィナーレ」はさておくとして(笑)、「円環の理」については、あの書き換えられた世界で、魔法少女たちのあいだに口伝されている伝承という設定なんです。だからあの場でいきなりマミが思いついたわけではないんですね。たぶん、さやかも杏子も知っているですよ。あのシーンでは、別の時間軸からきたほむらだけが初耳なんです。

Urobuchi: – First let's skip “Tiro Finale” (lol) Regarding “the Truth of the Circle Ring” (enkan no kotowari), it is a settei (design) in the world that had been reconstituted, where it was a legend that got passed down orally among the mahou shoujo. So it is not like Mami suddenly came up with that phrase on the spot. Probably Sayaka and Kyouko would have known about it too. At that scene, it was new only to Homura as she had come from another time line.

Q: 改変後の世界では、魔法少女のシステムがある程度明らかになっているわけですね。

Q: So the mahou shoujo system is a little clearer [to the girls] in the reconstituted world.

Urobuchi: そうです。「呪いを貯めこみすぎると、いずれこの世から立ち去るハメになります」という情報も伝わっていて、それを引き受けたうえで契約が交わされている。希望を叶えたあとは戦い続けなければならないことも彼女たちは知っているんです。

Urobuchi: That's right. Information like, “if you store up too many curses, before long you will hit the end and depart from this world”, will be first disclosed, and if you accept that then you make the contract. The girls would also know that after the wish is granted they have to keep fighting.

Q: 世界の改変のお話でいうと、なぜまどかは特異な存在になったのでしょう?

Q: As we are on the subject of the world reconstitution, how come Madoka had turned into such unique presence?

(end scan)

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See Also