Audio Commentary/Episode 2
| That Sounds Wonderful それはとっても嬉しいなって | |
|---|---|
| Commentary | Aoi Yuuki Chiwa Saitou Aoki Ume |
Episode 2's commentary features the original character designer, Aoki Ume, who is best known for her manga Hidamari Sketch| and its derived anime. She's a very quiet person, kinda exactly how I imagined her.
She was involved in the franchise from a very early stage. It was to be a mahou shoujo show in the style of Urobuchi, and she was invited to have some fun. They first decided on the general setting, then made a general summary, and then worked from there.
Talking about the image-colors of each character, apparently Urobuchi gave her the colors for each of the characters. She would be told to, say "Make someone red", and she'd be relatively free to run. Apparently, Madoka and Homura were fairly easy, but Sayaka was kinda difficult. Although you want to get the 'boyish' impression you can't overdo it without actually confusing viewers.
Another interesting character for her to design was Kyubey, who was designed to be super-ultra cute. She didn't really think about what kind of animal, just a mahou shoujo mascot character.
The voice actors did note that there was quite some dissonance between the character art they were shown and the lines they had to read during the audition, which is interesting...
They ask Ume-sensei about her general impression of the series, which is kinda tough for them because they're trying not to spoil things. She says that it still is rather mahou shoujo but despite that, it's very much a human drama. It does eschew many of the classic magical girl tropes, like the standard love interest, and the people they need to save. Instead, the show up until this episode is really exploring exactly what being a mahou shoujo is, instead of just diving in. Very contemplative.
Yuuki Aoi talked about her drawing of Madoka's costume that shows up in this episode; she was given some concept sketches by Ume-sensei to base her drawings on, and apparently was stared at intently... At first, Ume and the other staff had intended it look purposely bad, but when she tried to draw poorly, she found it hard to do, so they gave it to Yuuki, someone more likely to actually idly doodle in notebooks, to draw.
Ume's sketch
Aoi's sketch
Broadcast
They also discuss Gekidan Inu Curry, who made the witch environments. She knows the story, but seeing their art is very cool for her. It must be interesting seeing other artists' ideas, especially ones as off-the-wall as Inu Curry's...as well as seeing them come to life after reaching the animators. The voice actors too were always looking forward to seeing it air, because they'd often be working from black and white lineart and it would become completely different in final production. In fact, Katou Emiri, who played Kyubey, was shocked that Kyubey didn't have any lip movements, because during the initial dubbing for episode 1 she had tried hard to lip sync but afterward there was a decision made to not have Kyubey move his mouth at all.
They discuss a lot of other things that aren't interesting for their content, but more just for the feeling of getting to know the people behind the show. Really do watch the commentary (once you've finished the series), it's highly recommended.