Kirara Magica Interview Ume Aoki

Character Design - Ume Aoki Madoka, Homura, and Kyubey too. The characters of Madoka Magica were all borned under Ume Aoki's pens. What did Madoka mean to her?

Where animation help inspired design.

Kirara When did Ume Sensei first heard about the plans for the sequel? Ume While the original was still on air, chatter between the production staff will often leak a sense of "let's do it." Honestly, at the beginning we were joking irresponsibly (laugh). However, between us there were definitely a sense of willingness. So even though you ask when, I really can't pinpoint it. Without knowing, I was dragged in to work on the sequel. Kirara So planning came about rather naturally? Ume That's right. No just for Madoka but my own work as well. Director Shinbo will often ask, "When do we start working on next season?" It really doesn't feel unnatural at all (laugh). Kirara When did detailed discussion began? Ume The TV series ended rather spectacularly. So when a sequel was decided, we had to think about "well, what's next" again. The plot still has a lot of loose ends to tie up, how do we do it? These kind of things. Kirara Any suggestions from Ume Sensei? Ume I didn't contribute anything decisive. From what I remembered, Director Shinbo put forward all the possible sequel ideas and ask Gen to decide on one... Something like that. Rest of the production staff bickered in the audience - "Let's not debate whether it's possible, don't you want to see this kind of development?" and etc - It's this type of discussion. I simply comment "Ah, is that so. I do want to see that" to others' opinions (laughter). Listening without judgement from the perspective of an audience. I remember enjoying the TV series, so I had fun discussing. Kirara Any particular details you contributed? Ume Some of the finer points. Perhaps you have noticed from the compilation movie illustrations, that Sayaka was wearing a new hairclip. She actually had one in the original character design of the TV series. Due to various problems, we tried many designs, and in the end we left it out. But this time around it came back again (laughs). I made a suggestion and changed the design. Kirara It's a musical note hairclip. Ume Before the broadcast while designing the character, I never considered a music motif for Sayaka. I only drew her with an image of a swordsman. After production completed, when transforming and using magic, music notes would fly out. The design was inspired by those images.

Benefiting from popularity of Madoka Kirara The movie edition will be in theatres soon. Has the overwhelming popularity of Madoka affected your everyday experience? Ume Almost nothing to my daily life. I work at home, so I knew nothing about what's popular outside (laughs). However, I receive all kinds of Madoka merchandise prototypes. They just keep shipping it to my house. It's unbelievable. I am running out of living space. Recently, I finally rented a storage space (laughs). Kirara That's incredible, how frequent were the shipments? Ume A fully stuffed large shipping box, at least once a month. Madoka has all sorts of awesome merchandise, especially many cute Figma figures. They're my favorite. There're also a surprising amount of Kyubey plushies (laughs). Dolls and others I like them all. Kirara So much merchandising, anything particularly weird? Ume A strange merchandise that surprised me was the . I think it was made for the Movic Madoka Magica Exhibit. From the outside it looks like a regular windbreaker, but the inside is printed with with Madoka! Kirara A windbreaker is surprising enough, but like that is even stranger (laughter). Any particular merchandise that you can't take your hands off? Ume I use binders and other stationaries quite often. They're rather handy. Also there's a particularly ornate Soul Gems that comes in a equally impressive box. I like to leave it by the table and glance over to appreciate its beauty ~ (laughs). Kirara What does Madoka mean to Ume Sensei? Ume The audience's point of view towards Madoka is not the same as one of the production staff. I feel unconsciously distinguising the two. As a stakeholder, I find myself hard to calm down and difficult to remain objective. I worked as character designer, forming a group with Director Shinbo and Script Writer Gen, made me quite nervous. Luckily, it turned out well, and I am very grateful for the praise we received. At the same time I felt rather embarrassed to say "thank you for watching Madoka" type of speeching. Rather I have doubts over whether I am truly qualified to... Kirara But to us fans, without Ume Sensei's designs there wouldn't be Madoka! Ume Even though some had praised my designs, I always felt I was just dead weight for the production staff. In short, I am simple grateful towards the other production staffs.

Results of Success Kirara Any feeling that more became fans of Ume Sensei as result of Madoka? Ume Even though it's not really clear, it seem that more have heard about me. Before then, "people that knows me" = "people that knows Hidamari Sketch. Now even those that haven't heard of Hidamari Sketch knows me. They might also check out Hidamari Sketch later, that's quite nice. Kirara Any changes for yourself? Has involvement with the Madoka production change your creative work? Ume The biggest change is pressure. Acting too modest might make people hate me, but due to Madoka I have received praise beyond my actual ability. So I always feel, if I need to improve my drawings. Also, my own design has been drawn in a variety of matters, so I had a lot more to compare my own art with. Kirara Feeling inspired? Ume I can't feel relaxed (laughs). Looking at all the illustrations from the fans, there are a lot of excellent artists drawing Madoka, so it makes me quite nervious (laughs). Kirara What does Ume Sensei think of this magazine? Ume I don't really know about doujin compilations published as a magizine, so it was rather incredible to me. This magazine makes me think, "this development is possible too," "breaking this barrier isn't bad too". "this character completely went off-character". and such (laughs). It's very interesting. Kirara Character interpretation can be quite different from author to author. Ume Kyubey never changes, he's always the antognist, and suffers miserable fate (laughs). I think everyone are quite something. Kirara You drew a colored illustration for us this time, did you got pointers to draw all 5 together? Ume I seem to remember something like that. Regardless of any special requests, I would had drew all 5 together (laughs). The illustrations I have drew for Madoka are mostly full body portriats. This time I changed the format a bit, drew the five huddling together kind of feeling. Kirara Do you feel any particular character is easier to draw? Ume From design perspective, Kyouko and Sayaka were easier. Madoka] was harder, then Homura], and finally Mami-san. To draw Mami-san, you just need to add drills, and it's Mami-san (laughs). Madoka and Homura's twin tails are very different. If the size and texture goes slightly astray, the character feels completely different. The animation design is so ingradined that I have to review the animation notes to maintain the design (laughs). Sayaka and Kyouko don't have such needs. Kirara Finally, your expectations for the compilation movies now in theatre. Ume I look forward to the new dialogue and art works that changed from the TV series. Even though I know the plot already, I still look forward to watching the final product (laughs). Kirara There'll be definitely parts above expectation. Ume Oh yes. As a hobby, I enjoy visualizing the art as I read. When I read the TV series' script, I also drew the art in my mind. It was quite fun comparing that with the actual animation. The movie edition also have its own style in my mind, so I can't wait to see how it differs from my imaginations, and how it differs from the TV edition. Even when I only imagine an originary scene, the animation will never be ordinary. The storyboard will be completely different too (laughs). I very much look forward to betray my expectations. [END]