Otona Anime Vol.20

Sayaka and Madoka

Madoka had her personality based on a "Aoki Ume character"

By contrast, Sayaka had her personality based on a "Urobuchi Gen character"

Sayaka Train Interpretation

Urobuchi - InuCurry-san did not just design the witches, they also decided under what situation the fight scenes took place. That was really fun.

Q - And there was Sayaka turning into a witch in Ep.8

Urobuchi - The conversations between two hosts that was overheard by Sayaka were true. I was in a crowded train and right in front of me were two guys making that kind of conversation.

Shinbo - Wanna add: Sayaka in the anime did not kill those hosts.

Urobuchi - In the screenplay it could be taken either way, so in the manga version by Hanokage-san the intrepretation was taken as killed.

Kyubey as Alien Entity

Q - There were more than one QB appearing in Ep.8. Do they have different personalities?

Urobuchi - The individual entities may be separate, but the consciousness is one. So even if one individual entity should die, there was not much of damaage. Just one individual dying is only like you pull off one thread of hair.

The scene where QB ate its corpse was a scene added during the screenplay writing. I wanted to write something about QB that would highlight how it and human being could be absolutely mutually incomprehensible. Something like the reaction when your compatriot died.

Kyubey Sounds

This scan reveals that the swallowing sound Kyuubey made after eating his corpse was an ad-lib.

Urobuchi: I want miyamoto-san to say "Kyuppui" when he finished eating. That was an ad-lib by Kato(Emiri)-san who is voice actor(Seiyu) as Kyubey.

Shinbo: I think Kato-san was also suitable post(voice) (as Kyubey).

Urobuchi: It is rare that a villain's voice is cute.

Homura's shield

Homura and her hammer space shield. Seems that Gen wasn't really fond giving her only this as weapon, but after seeing the storyboards it seems that he liked the whole pulling machine guns out of nowhere dynamic. The producers also liked it.

More on the shield:

―――ほむらの能力設定をもう少し詳しく教えてください

虚淵：

ほむらの盾に見えている武器が砂時計で、その砂の流れを遮断することで 時間をとめているんです。で、砂時計の上部分の砂が全部なくなった時点で ひっくり返すと１か月分の時間が戻る。それまでは止める事しかできない。 つまり、砂時計の１か月分の砂をやりくりする能力がほむらの特殊能力なんです。 まき戻った時間は…そこが主題の作品ではないので厳密には考えていませんが 世界は平行して分岐しているのかな、と思っています。

Q - Could you elaborate a bit more on the power of Homura?

Urobuchi - The weapon that looks like Homura's shield is actually a sand timer. When the flow of the sand is blocked, time is stopped. And when there is no sand on the upper part of the sand timer and then the timer is reverted, one month's worth of time is turned back. But before that stage is reached, only time stopping is possible. This means the special power of Homura is the ability to manipulate one month's time's worth of sand in the sand timer. As for the time passed and then turned back, since it was not the focus in this work I did not think it through very thoroughly. I think you can say that the world split up and became parallel worlds there.

Origin of Mami's Tiro Finale

Because when I wrote the screenply there was still nothing done for monster design or art settings, I did not try to decide the layout of the battles. This means in the original screenplay there was only rough sketches like "In this scene they fight while speaking these dialogues".

At that time Mami-san's strongest attack move was named "Ultimate Shoot" (lol). And I thought this really sounded so stupid, so just at the voice dubbing studio I got anxious and rushed to translate the words on the net. I tried using Spanish and Greek but at the end I picked Italian which became "Tiro Finale".

Madoka Sequel

Note: this interview was made on Mar 13th

Q - We can only wait for the completion of the battles in the second half. It may be a bit too soon, but what do both of you think about making a sequel "Madoka 2"?

Shinbo - I have many ideas coming up, like what we could do with 2 cours, or some episodes that happen within the 12 episodes already made. As we have already come this far, I want to expand on the world we created.

Urobuchi - Because the length was only one cour, a lot of elements and details had to be cut off. I am now thinking very hard about how to develop the next "Madoka".

Madoka Sequel

Q - In future, do you think you want to do more original anime?

Shinbo (S) - I have such thought, although I do not hate adapting anime from original works either.

Q - Any idea of what you want to do?

S - Not really. Mystery or something mysterious, and then Horror. But perhaps horror is not possible, because I have got to the point of not really watching much horror these days. And then I think perhaps it's good to have more mahou shoujo, but this time it is more slice-of-life and girl-next-door. I would like to try this different variation of mahou shoujo. And then there is also something like the world of Ikki Kajiwara. It may be interesting to do something like Ai to Makoto*, something that brings two polar opposite together.... But before that, I may need to do the second season of PMMM. If it is possible, I would definitely want to do that.

• Ai to Makoto is a manga from 1973-1976 and was very popular in its days. It is about a well-bred girl from a very rich family crossing path with a juvenile delinquent boy. It was adapted into both tv drama and movies but I don't think there is anime adaptation.

-- Alternative translation of the same interview: Q: From now on, do you want to make original works?

Shinbo: Yeah, I have a feeling like this. Of course, it's not that I hate adapted works.

Q: Do you have any ideas as to what you'd want to do next?

Shinbo: Let's see. A detective in a strange story, maybe. And then, I'd like to do a horror anime. But it's getting harder and harder to do a horror anime. It doesn't seem like nowadays, many people want to watch a horror anime. And as for magical girls, I'd like to do a more slice-of-life anime. I think I'd like to try doing a different genre of magical girl anime. Also, I want to make something with a world like something Ikki Kajiwara would make. I think creating something as extreme as "Ai to Makoto"...oh, but before all that, I'd like to try for a second season of Madoka. (hahaha) If I could, I would definitely want to do it.

Lighting, Coloring and Composition: Check 1

Decrypting the Story from the lighting, color and composition!

Eliminating the unnecessary scenes and compressing more into each cut -- "Magical Girl Madoka Magica" is made from the tried and tested methods of Shinbo and SHAFT works. Let's compare it with other works, especially on the use of light, color and the composition of images.

Check 1: Light Source in the Image

From Episode 4, when Kyouko shows up. There are two light sources, one from the city and one on the tower. Since the light on the tower is behind her, it can't illuminate her directly. However, the light of the city make up the footlight (light from below), so Kyouko's face is being illuminated from below, and the ghastliness of her expression is being expressed.

Lighting, Coloring and Composition: Check 2

Check 2: The Color of the Characters

The color of the girls' Soul Gems match their hair and eye colors. Mami's Soul Gem is orange, so in the scenes in which she shows up, everything, including the street lights, is orange. The scenes where Kyouko and Sayaka talk are given red lighting to match Kyouko's Soul Gem. The flare of the red light on Sayaka emphasizes Kyouko's dominance.

Lighting, Coloring and Composition: Check 3 and 4

Check 3: Using Light Out of or Into the Scene

When Madoka and Homura are talking about Mami's defeat, the light is pointing out of the scene. However, when Madoka says, "I won't forget about Homura," the camera flips around and shoots from the other side, with light pointing into the scene. The direction of the light expresses the change in Homura's mental state.

Check 4: Effect of the Composition

Madoka's reflections pile up on one another in the opposing mirrors. The short flashback about her time with Mami hints that she is stepping into an unknown world.

Homura cuts into Madoka and Sayaka's conversation. The obstruction on Homura's side makes the left side of the image feel heavier. At the same time, Homura's presence is being felt more.

Lighting, Coloring and Composition: Check 5

Check 5: Action that Shifts from Horizontal to Vertical

As Sayaka chases down a familiar, Kyouko blocks her way. Sayaka's attack to Kyouko is shown from the side, but Kyouko's attack is shown from the front. Kyouko jumps upward as if she's pouncing on her prey, and moves out of focus.

The composition shifts from horizontal to vertical to put together this action that "can't be followed with your eyes."

Various Translations

• ある程度やった人が生活ものに流れていく気持ちが分かりますね
• I understand who works (around animation) somehow a long time trends(wants) to draw stories among usual days.

Summary of Staff Comments

オトナアニメ

新房「…あ、でもその前に『魔法少女まどか☆マギカ』の第２期を

　　　　やらなきゃいけないかも知れません（笑）。

　　　　もしできるのであれば、ぜひやりたいですね」

イヌカレー「魔女文字はもともと解読される予定ではなかったので驚きました

　　　　　　　しかし以降はすべて意味のある文章を書く必要が生まれたので

　　　　　　　魔女文字も使いにくくなってしまいました」

虚淵「人間としての主人公はほむらになると思うんです」

岩上「僕個人としてはパート２をやりたいくらいなんですよ」

Shinbo - Well.. but before that perhaps I must do the second season of Puella Magi Madoka Magika first.. If this is possible, I would really want to do it."

Inu-Curry - We never expected the witch runes would be decrypted so we were surprised. But from now on there is this need to write up all the sentences that carry meanings, and this means it gets more difficult to use the witch runes.

Urobuchi Gen - I think the human protagonist is actually Homura.

Iwagami - Personally for me I now feel the urge to do a part 2.