Kirara Magica Interview Gen

How the movie

Writer: Gen Urobuchi (Nitroplus)

How the movie got started; how has the script been developing; We ask Gen Urobuchi on his guidelines for the Madoka Magica Movie and his current opinion on the new project.

The movie planning started like this.

Kirara The news of new project within the Madoka franchise, how did it reach you? Gen We always joked about a sequel while producing the [[Madoka Magica|TV series]. The actual moment when it turned into, "hurry and start drafting a plot!!" happened after the TV production completed. Kirara Your state of mind then? Gen Sigh, honestly I thought about dropping everything and quit (laugh). I never thought there would be a sequel while making the original series. So I was still joking around, and suddenly I have to seriously consider it... Because of that, I was troubled for some time. Kirara So the whole concept started as a blank slate? Gen That's right. I didn't know where to start. However, the moment when it came to me, was after the script was done and I actually watched the final product. Because power of the art work and voice acting formed a complete image, gave me a strong impression of what is Madoka Magica. If I persist at it, maybe I can do it... that was what I thought. Kirara How was working on the new project decided? Gen We talked about a second season at the beginning. While thinking about how to make a second season work, suddenly it turned into, let's just make a movie. Kirara Did the format change from a television series to a movie feature change your story proposal? Gen Not much changed. It was from developed from the original proposal. Kirara It was said that while writing the new script, you asked the production staff around for advice. What kind of suggestions were there? Gen It might go into spoiler territory if I go into specifics. What I can say is Shinbo gave some brilliant suggestions, and affirmed the guidelines. In group discussions, although no one said it out loud, everyone used Shinbo's recommendations as keywords to develop from. Kirara Were there any "I want a scene liek this" or "I want to have this image" type of discussions? Gen More vague than that. I don't consider the general direction of a story. However, i do try to figure out whether a particular development can work or not. Kirara So there were content that even Mr. Urobuchi didn't anticipate? Gen There are surprises, but they don't feel like unnatural development. Kirara After actual script writing begins, was it a smooth experience? Gen It was rough. Unlike the Television script, it wasn't done by the second draft (only rewrote once), although the storyline largely stayed the same. Most of the changes come from wanting to make the characters more touching and delicate adjusting the details. Kirara Any restrictions to script writing? Gen This was my first time challenging a movie length script, so I don't know clearly the length restrictions. It wasn't simply just write a few lines of dialog and done like a television script. That's rather troublesome. Drawing the line for a movie is very hard. Kirara Your feelings after finishing? Gen A very strong "Thank god it's done" feeling (laugh). Kirara Passed another obstacle for you? Gen Because it arise from group discussions, I don't really feel like I surpassed the difficulties by myself. By working alongside Magica Quartet, I borrowed everyone's strength, so I felt the script was created by everyone involved. Kriara So the movie feature is a true collaboration? Gen Exactly. With a sense of everyone working together towards the same direction. So, this script, is not so much as complete than it was arrived. Like it was heading towards a specific direction, and found a treasure at the end. It gives me the "I arrived at the end of the maze," Indiana Jones kind of feeling.

The meaning of a "movie feature"

Kirara As a movie fan, to participate in a movie production, what was your feelings? Gen For live production, I think the movie and television production process are very different. For anime production though, the difference between producing a movie and a television production are not very different. Of course, the production quality for the movie will increase substantially. Because of this, I didn't get over eager. The difficulty for a script writer was, the length is much longer than a television script, so the plot must able to gripping for the audience. Before this, how to use the big screen and surround sound to create the experience is largely the issue for other production staff. Kirara That's the case. Gen Also, Shinbo pointed this out to me, the experience of watching with everyone is the difference between television and movie. The audience must feel the same way. At the live screening of "Fate/Zero" Episode 15 in Seattle, to able for the audience to sit together to watch that TV animation, "to watch with so many people together, it really feels like watching a movie." Because of that, I think watching on the big screen will give a whole different flavor. Kirara -Indeed, sitting in front o fthe big screen, while surrounded by the feelings of the surrounding audience's reaction, the impression would be totally different. Gen The last three episodes of Madoka Magica was broadcasted together, I thought it felt very much like a movie. Maybe we can get an effect like that. Kirara -It was definitely like that back then. Even though it was past midnight, everyone was watching together while glancing at twitter, giving a sense of incredible joint sense. I can still remember that feeling in retrospect. Not just that, the TV series finished broadcast over a year ago, yet the Madoka crazy had absolutely not cooled down. Despite how fast recent anime tend to depreciate. Gen For a single cour anime to remain relevant til now, I am extremely pleased. To tell the truth, I myself was also rather surprised. To be involved with a genre that I am not familiar with, we never dared to think that this was possible. Kirara For Mr. Urobuchi, what type of work is "Madoka Magica"? Gen For me personally, not much has changed. This is because this was my "I designed the series concept myself" and "I wrote the finished script myself" these two points a very special work. This type of creative work was my first experience. The evaluation has been given a script based make animation everyone. Because of this, I want to take this moment to tell everyone involved in this project, "we did it." I am very grateful that everyone worked together to create a work that received so much high appraisal... Probably this kind of feeling. To be the original script writer of this type of work, I feel is a great honor. Kirara - Two months from now, the first two compilation movies will be premiering. Does Mr Urobuchi has anything left to tell to our readers? Gen Everything has already been discussed, I don't have anymore requests. Kirara - Any changes or addition to the dialogue? Gen Nope. Kirara - I heard you visited the voice recording for the movie edition, any thoughts about that? Gen Ah, the voice actors' characterizations have become even more superb. That startled me! Everyone wanted to surpass the TV edition, so more intented in their intepretation... I deeply felt their sincerity. You can feel the high tension within the recording studio. Really just hearing their re-reocrding, the audience of the TV series will be very satisfied. Kirara - This series brought together many powerful voices, and everyone cared deeply about this work. Gen Very thankful that everyone are so deeply invtested. That contributed greatly to this work. Kirara -By the way, any thoughts from watching the compilation? Gen It made sense, that surprised me (laugh). Kirara - Any new discoveries? Gen This...Ah, I realized again, "this story went too far" (laugh). The completion of the script has been a long, long time ago, so watching feels like appreciating the work of some others. I even got some "what was the writer thinking?" kind of feeling (laugh). Especially all the melancholy scenes in the first movie, this feeling became intense. However, the second movie has became a very wholesome story. In any case, I felt the story makes sense even for watching the first time. But you can certainly discover new things by rewatching the TV version after. Kirara - Finally, please say something to the fans. Gen What becomes of the Madoka Magica franchise after this, how will it develop, is something that even I can't control. Despite this I am extremely grateful of the audience's patience and trust. I may not able toe control this story, or rather I never thought to control it. It feels much more like watching a daughter growing up (laugh). In the future, I would like to raise a few more of such daughters. Please keep watching.