It was also revealed that Director Abel handled the storyboards and direction for Act 1, while Director Yamada handled those for Act 2, and the talk touched on the creative details of the production using actual storyboards and production materials.

Speaking on behalf of Director Abel, animation producer Rie Misumi commented on the scene at the beginning of Act 1 where Sitara runs through the city: "This scene is a completely original addition not found in the original manga. We heard that the director included it because ancient Persian cities were so beautiful and appealing that he wanted to show plenty of that in the main story, which is how he came up with this scene. Also, Sitara is five years old at this point in the story, and there was also an intention to show her 'courage' in running away from the slave trader's shop."

Asked what was challenging about creating this original scene, she revealed the reasoning behind incorporating an anime-original touch not found in the manga, and how the cityscape and culture were expressed on screen: "Since this is a historical work, we had a hard time researching reference materials on what Persian cities were like at the time, and figuring out how to make Sitara's escape visually interesting. But thanks to Shuto Enomoto, a truly wonderful animator who handled the layout and key animation, I think it turned out wonderfully."

Citing the scene between Sitara and Fatima in Act 2 as an example, Director Yamada explained the points she focused on and the creative choices in her direction: "Act 1 was handled by Director Abel, and it had many scenes of Sitara happily running around the city she loves, suggesting she would go on to live happily. In contrast, Act 2 places great importance on conversation scenes — I wanted to carefully depict a 'dialogue between hearts,' so while there's a little less movement in terms of animation, I wanted to focus on the acting conveyed through facial expressions, which is how this episode came together."

She also revealed the thoughts behind the character's emotional expression in one of Sitara's memorable scenes, saying, "The pomegranate flower blooms in Persia, where Sitara lives, so we depicted it as a symbol of her precious homeland. Pomegranate fruit also carries meanings such as fertility and the prosperity of descendants, so we carefully depicted it to show Sitara, who treasures her homeland, having hope for the future."

The production process for the character designs and art boards was also introduced, and the discussion touched on how the characters were shaped, using Yoshida's early sketches and setting materials.

As closing remarks for the event, all the guests offered words of thanks to fans overseas, followed by a group photo with everyone in the venue. At the MC's suggestion — "Let's send our voices to Director Abel Gongora, who unfortunately couldn't be here today! Ready, everyone: Abel!" — the fans filling the venue all called out together with enthusiastic cheers, and the panel event came to a close in great success.

The TV anime Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia is currently airing to great acclaim from July 4 in the TV Asahi network's "IMAnimation" programming block, on BS Asahi, and elsewhere. It is also set to begin streaming worldwide on Crunchyroll.

(C)トマトスープ（秋田書店）／天幕のジャードゥーガル製作委員会

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