Puella Magi Madoka Magica Official Guidebook "You Are Not Alone"

Summary

Puella Magi Madoka Magica Official Guidebook "You Are Not Alone", a compilation on a wide variety of information on Madoka Magica, was released on August 27th, 2011. The table of contents reveals these categories of information: Illustrations, Episode and Characters, Cast Interviews, Materials, and Staff Interviews.

A look at the sample pages from the Guidebook reveals it contains a wide range of information, including:

• Prior illustrations from magazines and other sources
• Episodic coverage and character pages including commentary
• Staff Interviews with cast members
• After-recording report comic reported and illustrated by hanokage, author of the Madoka Magica manga.
• Design, sketches and other production-related material similar to Production Note or Art Book
• Staff Interviews with many staff members
• Staff behind-the-scenes discussion
• Early character designs of initial concepts
  

Translations

Staff Discussion

Page 100

• Akiyuki Shinbo: Major works include Bakemonogatari, Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei, Hidamari Sketch, Arakawa under the Bridge (all as director)
• Gen Urobuchi: Works for Nitroplus. Involved in the screenplay writing for many games from this company. Major anime works include Blassreiter (series composition), Phantom ~Requiem for the Phantom~ (screenplay)
• Ume Aoki: Manga artist. Her manga Hidamari Sketch is being serialized in Manga Time Kirara Carat.
• Mitsutoshi Kubota: Chief Executive Officer of SHAFT. He also worked as Animation Producer in Shaft works like Bakemonogatari, Hidamari Sketch etc.
• Atsuhiro Iwakami: Works for Aniplex. Involved in anime works like Bakemonogatari, Kara no Kyokai, Hidamari Sketch, Ore no Imo ga konnani kawaii wake ga nai.

LOOKING BACK FROM NOW AT THE INITIAL COMPOSITON PROPOSAL

I heard that the project "Madoka Magica" started from some chats with Director Shinbo saying "I want to do a mahou shoujo anime".

SHINBO: I cannot remember such a thing at all. When I asked later "Um? Didn't Iwakami-san first mention it?" and I was told "No, that's not the case." (LOL)

IWAKAMI: It's not like you assertively said "I want to do Mahou Shoujo!!". It was with nuance, like "For the mahou shoujo format, there should still be possibilities."

KUBOTAOKI: Surely it must have been around 2008.

IWAKAMI: And then we had some talks about talking to Urobuchi-san and Ume-sensei about joining [the project]. I think it took place unexpectedly quickly, so much that I could not remember the process.

When did all of you first gather together?

IWAKAMI: According to the material from that time and the mail history, the first meeting was held in October 2008.

AOKI: It was at that time that I first met Urobuchi-san. I remember thinking, "Oh, he is a person who takes memos with a PC." (LOL)

IWAKAMI: There we threw in and exchanged many ideas, and then I gathered and summarized them (cf p.124).

UROBUCHI: In particular I did not prepare in advance any idea. I just said one after another what I came up right at that place. And when I did that, almost everything I said were accepted with "This is good." "Let's do that." Then I got worried as I thought "Oh no. I will have to turn everything I've just said into plot lines myself." (LOL)

How many times did you repeat this kind of discussion?

KUBOTAOKI: No, only once at the very beginning. Urobuchi-san summarized everything into a composition proposal before our next chance to meet.

UROBUCHI: I came up with a rough structure of around 3 stages: I will show the beginning of the story like this; and next these details of the truth will be revealed; and last that truth will be revealed. And then I divided them further and made it into a composition proposal for one cour. However at that stage, the flow from ep. 6 to around ep. 8 was still a bit tricky. When I look back from now, ep. 9 was really bad!

AOKI: That's right. [You were saying] "I am going to put Sayaka decisively into despair." (LOL)

UROBUCHI: The idea that I came up with anyways was to bully Sayaka (LOL). At that moment, the thinking for Sayaka falling into despair was that it was not due to Hitomi. For that, it was a part that got inserted at the stage when the screenplay was written.

I heard the composition proposal had 13 episodes altogether?

IWAKAMI: I went to talk [to Urobuchi] and said "Could we make it into 12 episodes?" I had this thought of packaging the series into 6 volumes with 2 episodes in each volume.

KUBOTAOKI: Although the number of episodes was cut, basically the flow did not change. That Mami got killed in ep. 3 was not changed either.

SHINBO: I see. So the reason [you] did not show that much shock when you read the screenplay for ep. 3 was because you had already read the composition proposal.

AOKI: Or perhaps in text it was not that shocking...

SHINBO: If it were 2 cours a different flow might have been used instead. I would like to do another version in which I could show how the development could be like if the length were 2 cours.

UROBUCHI: I guess if there are that number of episodes, [the story] would have to be quite different if we do not put regular daily life scenes in between, like in the episode after Mami died, out of a sudden and without much coherence everyone went to the hot spring (LOL). And once they arrived the waitress in the ryokan somehow looks like Mami....

IWAKAMI: There are things that I'd like to draw out if there was enough room, but I think the speedy pace we have now is also good. Right from the beginning, with 1 cour, I had the image that I was going to a roller-coaster movie that was Urobuchi-like.

TEMPORARY TITLE WAS "MAHOU SHOUJO APOCALYPSE"

AOKI: Later when I re-watched it again from ep. 1, I got the impression that the heroine kept changing from one to another. From ep. 4 it was about Sayaka and Kyouko, and as it got near the final stage, Homura started to get more noticeable. And finally Madoka became a proper protagonist on her own.

IWAKAMI: To be honest, regarding the characters, at the time when I read the screenplay I could not read this far. It is indeed something like an omnibus, where there is Mami chapter, Sayaka chapter, Kyouko chapter etc. In one sense it was a composition like Bakemonogatari in which the appeal of the heroines was highlighted by turn. And I thought, oh so it was how it became and it made so much sense.

By the way, why did you make the girls including Madoka, the protagonist, junior high students?

IWAKAMI: A primary school student, if you think in 3D, gives an impression of a child actor instead of an idol. I think that if they are junior high students, they will be recognized as idols and thus may get more people to watch. So before Urobuchi-san finished the plot, I had a talk (with him) saying, as a prerequisite, "Let's use junior high students as mahou shoujo".

Puella Magi Madoka Magica After-recording Report

Translation courtesy of symbv from evageeks forum.

Episode 11: Part 1
Full written translation

Part 2: Pre-recording
Full written translation

Part 3: Recording
Full written translation

Part 4: Walpurgis Nacht
Full written translation

Data in production stage

Data in production stage

Planning Memo (Upper right)

Story keyword

• When the wish of a magical girl comes true, she becomes a witch.
• Based on friendship between an idealistic girl and a realistic girl.
• The idealistic girl claims that to become a witch is bad. But she exhausts her power for the world and becomes a witch...

• Main characters are the two above, with additional two, total 4.
• If sub characters are counted, total about 7 characters.
• Protagonists are about 15 years old.

• They may use magic to transform.
• But they are mainly wearing uniform.
• Although it is subtle whether they are in magical school, the school is serious and strict.

Visual image

• The image of 4 girls are as follows:
  • The idealistic girl: bright, and looking forward.
  • The realistic girl: seem to know everything as an adult. She is excellent in both knowledge and physical power.
  • The talented girl: comes from witch's blood. She has inborn magic.
  • The learned girl: learning magic systematically. She looks like an otaku.

• The tragic fate of magical girls, and the decision. ...(their serious face?)
• Needs some gadgets of magical girls, like sticks, bracelet or necklace.
• An animal who guides them to their fights.
  • While looking cute, he will say something terrible like "Do you have desire to improve the world, even have to pay your life". He is so cruel because he knows everything.

Minutes (Lower right)

(ToDo)

Series Proposal (left)

Episode	Story
01	A scene of destruction. All characters are dead miserably. Homura is fighting a terrible monster with blood on her. Madoka is watching this but she can do nothing. But it seem she can save all of them by becoming a magical girl. As soon as she makes up her mind to make contract with a fairy, she wakes up. Is this a dream? In a peaceful morning, she is going to school with her good friend, Sayaka, as usual. Here comes a transferred student called Homura. She is the girl in Madoka's dream. But after school, Madoka sees she killing a cute animal. Then Homura come to attack Madoka and Sayaka, who are trying to protect that animal.
02	(Mami appears. Mami explains about magical girl to them.)
03	(Madoka almost makes a contract. But Mami dies, and Homura saves her. At the same time, Sayaka makes a contract)
04	(Kamijou quarrels with Sayaka so that she makes a contract. Kyoko appears)
05	(Kyoko attacks Sayaka. Homura agrees that Kyoko can be the backup. Madoka now in middle of Sayaka and Homura.)
06	(Kyoko's past. Kamijou recovers. The three tiers (Sayaka, Homura & Kyoko, and witches) are fighting endlessly. Madoka is worried about how to help Sayaka.)
07	(Kamijou fully recovered. But he is going the way out of Sayaka's expectation. Sayaka doesn't give up her duty as a magical girl. To make Sayaka back to a regular girl, Madoka steals and throws away her soul gem. To Madoka's surprise, Sayaka doesn't move anymore. The fairy tells her the truth.)
08	(Sayaka is no longer human. But she overcomes the sadness. She simply bears the fate to do witch hunting just like Mami. Madoka considers to become a magical girl again to help her, and Homura comes to argue with her. At the beginning she rebounds strongly because of embarrassment from her over simple consideration, but Homura convinces her by all means. Meanwhile, Kyoko starts to have sympathy with Sayaka, although they are incompatible, still fighting against each other.)
09	Sayaka falls into despair definitely (caused by Kamijou?)
10	Sayaka finally become a grief seed and hatches a witch. Kyoko killed the witch but also sacrifice herself. The fairy tells the truth to desperate Madoka. He also tells her that he has seen countless examples of this but he is still unable to understand how human thinks. And a new witch with unseen power is approaching. It seems there's no way to protect the city unless Madoka becoming a magical girl.
11	Homura confesses to Madoka about her ability and object. She also tells Madoka that she has done that many times. This is the timeline Madoka keeping alive the longest. Although she cannot save other girls' lives, it might be a chance to change Madoka's fate. Homura swears that she will protect Madoka with her own life. But Madoka is still unable to understand. The final fight is coming in such situation.
12	Madoka arranges her feelings about Homura. The fairy predicts that Homura won't have a change to win. He suggests Madoka to make a contract, and says her soul gem is so enormous that the power of her wish is much more than others. The final battle between Homura and witch comes. Homura cannot stand up with such a great power difference. This scene is the same as Madoka's dream.
13	Is there a way to save all magic girls? Madoka finally makes contract with the fairy. "I wish to become the existence to eliminate all witches from past to the future!" ...... Madoka finally understand how hard Homura did for her, and the friendship between them. ......

Witch Design

Labyrinth design

Episode	Concept	Words
3 (Part)	Cafe for two （２人カフェ）	"My dream is tea time." （私の夢はティータイム） When the witch dies, the magical girl steps on the cups and breaks them.
3 (Part)	One hole cheese cake	"It's really a delicious cheese cake. My dying mother wanted to eat it, but maybe I should have cured her disease instead. However, that surely wasn't possible." （とてもおいしいチーズケーキ。死にかけのお母さんが食べたがっていたの。でも、もしかするとお母さんの病気でも治してあげたらよかったカスラ。けれと、きっとそれはそおいうことでもないのダワ。）
4	Snowglobe （スノードーム）	"I have only one wish. Box up that memory." （私の願いはただひとつ、あの思い出をとじこめて） When the witch dies, the lights on the Christmas tree and merry-go-round short out. There's a 'basssh!' sound.
7	Church	"I wish you, although not seen from me, to be happy." （まだ見ないあなたが幸せであるように） When the witch dies, the stained glass collapses and drops into the air. There's a 'baaaaaaahn' sound like from a pipe organ.
9	Trains	"My wish is somewhere not here." （私の願いはここではないどこか） In the final scene, the magical girl kills her from behind in the first carriage, and the train derails.
10 (Patricia)	Blue Sky	"It's raining again today. How long will I continue to be unlucky for?" （今日という日が雨だなんて私はどれほどついていないんだろう） When the witch dies, it rains heavily. There is a sound like an aircraft crashing.
10 (Roberta)	Dolls	"I wish for friends. Friends who won't dislike me." （私の願いはお友達。私を嫌いにならないお友達） When the witch dies, the bird cage is getting shot down and spilling a circular rain of blood.
Set-constructing witch (Walpurgis Night)	Stage	"Everything in this world is fake. My life is nothing more than a drama that you penned. Please, prove it. "Faust" is on show." （この世界はすべて嘘でした。私の人生はあなたの書いた戯曲にすぎません。それを証明して下さい。「ファウスト」が上演中）

General Gallery

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  Poster

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  Advertisement

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  Japan-exclusive extras

Prior Illustrations

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  Other ones of Homura and Madoka: 1, 2, 3, 4

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  More solo Madoka: 1

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  More group pics: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Episodic Coverage and Character Pages

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  Episodes 2 and 3, Summary 1-3 and Mami character 1 and 2.

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  Episodes 5 and 6, Summary 4-6 and Sayaja character 1 and 2.

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  Episodes 8 and 9, Summary 7-9 and Kyouko character 1 and 2.

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  Episodes 11 and 12, Summary 10-12 and Homura character 1 and 2.

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  Madoka part 2, Kyubey, Madoka's family and other characters.

Cast Interviews

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  Chiwa Saito X Aoi Yuki interview part 2, 3 and 4.

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  Eri Kitamura X Ai Nonaka interview part 2, 3 and 4.

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  Kaori Mizuhashi interview part 2.

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  Emiri Katou interview part 2.

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  Other seiyuu

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  OP

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  ED

Production Materials

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  More witches: 2, 3, 4.

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  More witches: 2, 3, 4.

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  More witches: 2, 3.

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  More witches: 2.

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  Episode storyboards 1-6: 2, 3, 4-6.

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  Episode storyboards 7-12: 8-9, 10, 11-12.

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  Witch designs and storyboards: 2 and 3.

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  More architecture and weapons.

Staff Interviews

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  More staff interviews: 2, 3.

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  More staff interviews:: 2, 3.

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  More staff interviews: 2, 3.

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  More staff interviews: 2, 3.

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  ClariS and Kalfina interviews

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  Staff comments continued: 2

Staff Discussion

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  Main Staff Discussion I continued: 2, 3, 4.

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  Main Staff Discussion II continued: 2, 3, 4.

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  Staff and Cast List

Early Character Designs

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