Speculah:Kenji Miyazawa and Magia Record

Kenji Miyazawa (宮沢 賢治 or 宮澤 賢治, Miyazawa Kenji, 27 August 1896 – 21 September 1933) was a Japanese novelist and poet of children's literature from Hanamaki, Iwate, in the late Taishō and early Shōwa periods (1926–1989). Some of his major works include Night on the Galactic Railroad, Kaze no Matasaburō, Gauche the Cellist, and The Night of Taneyamagahara.

Many of his works have been referenced by the mobile game Magia Record. This page will attempt to compile references to his work in both the game and the anime adaptation.

General

• Kenji Miyazawa was a utopian social activist. The Magius' goal is to erase the Witchification process from the Magical Girl system, and in doing so create a peaceful world for magical girls where they will not succumb to despair or fight over resources. The beginning stage of their plan, creating the Doppel field of Kamihama City where Magical Girls cannot become Witches while inside of it, essentially makes it a kind of Magical Girl utopia.
  • Some of Miyazawa's works feature a fictional utopia named Ihatov, consisting of several islands in a vast ocean as well as deserts and continents. Ihatov is considered to be based on Miyazawa's home of Iwate Prefecture. Its name has several proposed origins, including an old form of Iwate's spelling, or Esperanto or German translations that may mean "paradise" or "I don't know where"; one of its spellings, Ihatovo, uses the noun suffix -o of Esperanto, a language that interested Miyazawa.
• Kenji Miyazawa was speaker of the constructed international language Esperanto, which he translated several of his poems into. Miyazawa found the concept of a common international language interesting. A majority of the anime's soundtrack are titled in languages derived from Latin (in which the original series' soundtrack is primarily named), many of which are in Esperanto.
  • Miyazawa's fascination with the international language of Esperanto may be connected to the idea of Magical Girls from many far-off places gathering together in Kamihama City.
• Miyazawa was a devout Buddhist, as were his parents of the Pure Land Sect. Ui Tamaki's name, from the same poem from which her sister Iroha gets hers, comes from a Buddhist term that means "karma".
• A recurring theme of Miyazawa's that aligns with his personal philosophy and which appears in several of his works, including Night on the Galactic Railroad, is that of self-sacrifice, of giving oneself for the sake of others. This aligns particularly with the mindset of altruistic Magical Girls who aim to fight Witches for the safety of humanity, rather than out of obligation or for their own self-interests. Further, this especially relates to the story of Madoka Kaname, who gave up her very existence for the sake of Magical Girls across the universe and throughout all of history in the timeline of the original series.

Night on the Galactic Railroad

Plot Summary of the Novel

This novel's protagonist, Giovanni, is a boy who tends to isolate himself from his surroundings due to the rumors related to his absent father. On the night of festival of the constellation Centaurus, he climbs the hill alone and watches the night sky, instead of joining the festival.

As he gazes up at the Milky Way, Giovanni suddenly finds himself with his best friend, Campanella, onboard a train. That train have been running on a railway laid on the shore of the Milky Way in the night sky. Shortly before they reach their first stop, they look out the window to the Northern Cross. At their first stop, Swan Station, they get off and stop at Pliocene Beach. After they board the train again, they meet a bird-catcher who catches wild geese to turn them into candy. In a talk with the bird-catcher, Giovanni learns that the green ticket he has is a special one that can take him wherever he wish. The bird-catcher disappears and a young siblings and a young man appear in their place. They seem to have aboard the train after the ship they were on hit an iceberg and sank. They gaze at the Scorpio's fire from the window and have conversations about "true happiness" and "the only true God". At the Southern Cross, called Heaven, all the other passengers get off and Giovanni and Campanella are left alone again. They vow to go together as far as they can, for the sake of "true happiness of all people". However, after they passed the Coalsack, Campanella suddenly disappears after tells Giovanni that there is a true heaven outside the window and that his mother is there.

At the top of the hill, Giovanni wakes up. He goes down to the town and hears that Campanella jumping into the river to help the bully, Zanelli, and go missing. Giovanni tries to tell Campanella's father where he has gone, but he informs him that Giovanni's father will be returning soon. Giovanni is choked with various emotions and heads home.

In-Game

• The name of Iroha's witch, Giovanna, and the name of Yachiyo's witch, Campanella, are a reference the famous Japanese novel Night on the Galactic Railroad, who's main characters were named Giovanni and Campanella. This, together with Campanella being the doppel of Ticket-clipping, is irony - in Night on the Galactic Railroad, Campanella decides to answer a question in class instead of the shy Giovanni, only to stay silent so that Giovanni is less embarrassed, and it is Giovanni who owns the ticket to the galaxy.

• Yachiyo's doppel, along with her, using water magic, can refer to Campanella drowning in the story.
  • It looking like a scorpion can refer to the same scorpion in the story, who was overran by regret once it fell down a well and went on to become the Scorpius constellation.

• Mifuyu's doppel's description likely refers to a character from the famous Japanese novel Night on The Galactic Railroad. The character, simply referred to as the birdcatcher, catches "cranes an' wild geese. An' herons an' swans, too" which somehow become cake or candy. Note that the witches of Iroha and Yachiyo share names with the main characters of Night on the Galactic Railroad.

Anime

Episode 1

• The cat that Iroha saves appears to be distinctively drawn to look similar face-wise to the characters in the 1985 film of the novel. See the comparison here.

• Similar to how Giovanni's father is out on a trip and he must take care of the house, giving him no time to study nor time with friends, Iroha is in a similar position where both of her parents are out on a trip and she is left by herself and appears to not hang out with any friends after school.

• According to Director Miyamoto, Iroha's parents' green passports are an allusion to Giovanni's green ticket.

• A line "これは三次空間の方からお持ちになったのですか（Did you bring this from the tertiary space?）" exists in The Novel. 宝崎第三次駅（Takarazaki-Dai-sanji station, lit. the tertiary station of Takarazaki ）may be a reference to this.

• Iroha is asked a question in class pertaining to what the Milky Way is made of, similar to how the main character Giovanni is asked the same question but is unable to answer.

• Iroha is shown to be with Ui in a hospital, possibly reflecting Giovanni's ill mother in the story.

• There are many scenes with Iroha riding the train and several magical girls talking about taking a night train to Kamihama, which may be a reference to the steam train Giovanni rides through the galaxy. The railroads Iroha uses daily is a single-track railway, which is very uncommon in developed, transit-dependent areas. This could be a reference to the single-trip Galactic Railroad bound for heaven as well as a metaphor for magical girls' destinies with no recovery.

• Takarazaki-Dai-sanji Station's glass ceiling features several constellations, in particular Lyra. Lyra and its star Vega are the last stars seen by Giovanni before he falls asleep and finds himself aboard the Galactic Railroad. (This is confirmed to be an allusion by Director Miyamoto)

• There is a direct quote from Kenji Miyazawa's work on the Uwasa Kazoe Uta full version. It is a line in the song that "Aa hontō no saiwai wo（Oh, true hapiness）". This phrase appears multiple times in the "Night on the Galactic Railroad".

• Although unconfirmed, Box Wood's name appears to be a reference to Kenji Miyazawa; on the page discussing the boxwood shrubs in a collection of notes titled "Memo Flora", he doodled a multi-irised eye titled "Tearful Eye".

Episode 2

• The license plate number of the bus supposed to be bound for Satomi Medical Center but deviated by the witch is NGC-7000. It is the designation of North America Nebula near the Northern Cross, where Campanella makes up his mind to go to "the end of earth" to make his mother happy, a wish later fulfilled at the Southern Cross.

• Caldwell 99 is the designation given to the Coalsack Nebula located between the Southern Cross and Scorpion constellations. In the story, the character Campanella ends his journey by going to the Coalsack.

• In the ED Aletheia, Yachiyo's falling into water could be a reference to Campanella's falling into a river.

Other works by Kenji

In-Game

• The description of Kanagi Izumi's doppel is a reference to The Cat Office.
  • The story is about a cat who works at an office with other cats (as if they were humans). Since the cat gets cold easily he sleeps in the fireplace. This causes him to be covered in soot, and so he is known in the story as the "soot cat". His co-worker cats look down on him for this, and ultimately bully the soot cat in the workplace. In the end of the story a lion, implied to be the boss of the cats, secretly observes the workers and reveals himself. He then declares that the office is shut down. The last line of the story is the narrator saying "I half-agree with the lion." (ぼくは半分獅子に同感です.)

• Kuro's Witch, Matasaburo, is a reference to Kazeno Matasaburo and Kaze no Matasaburo about a child who disappears as soon as they came.

• Nemu Hiiragi and Touka Satomi's Doppel are references to two draft-like predecessor works about The Life of Budori Gusuko.
  • Nemu's Doppel name, Pennen Nenemu is a reference to the Life of Pennen Nenemu. It's about a world leader who has trouble fulfilling the duty of his position, but in the end he will fall asleep with a feeling of pride. This can refer to Nemu being one of the Magius leaders.
  • Touka's doppel name is also a reference to Pennen Nolde is out for now
• Ui Tamaki's Doppel name, Shitori Egumo, which means "I'm going alone," is taken from a poem titled 永訣の朝（The Morning of Last Farewell）.

Anime

Episode 1

• In Haru to Shura, an expression "第四次延長 (Stretching to the Fourth Dimension?)" can be found. This expression has been pointed out that it is related to The Night of the Galactic Railroad and Kenji Miyazawa's worldview. The name of Takarazaki-Dai-sanji station may also refer to this poem.

• When Iroha is waiting for the train at the station, the birds that take off from the perches are probably nighthawks. Kenji Miyazawa wrote The Nighthawk Star.

Episode 2

• Gauche Burger may be a reference to Gauche the Cellist.

Episode 4

• The crab used in the error screen of the SNS to represent Iroha's feelings may be a reference to Yamanashi.
• Porano Market may be a reference to The Polano Plaza.
  • In this poem, there is a song called "Songs of the Polano Plaza".

Episode 6

• The penny candy store Isado is probably a quote from Yamanashi.

Episode 11

• The name of the cafe that Iroha and Tsukuyo Amane visit, "Chalinell", is an musical instrument that appears in the Life of Pennen Nenemu

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References

The works by Kenji Miyazawa referenced on this page are listed here. All links lead to the Aozora Bunko, Japanese digital library of out-of-copyright books. Also, his works with articles on Wikipedia have been added.