—Looking back now at the work you did at the time, I imagine there's a lot that stands out to you.
Urobuchi: Looking back on it now, I feel it's something I could only write because the me of over a decade ago had a sense of empathy and awareness of the issues facing the magical girls. I honestly feel that I couldn't write it now. That's partly down to how I've changed with age, but the times have changed too.
Back then, I could imagine what young people were afraid of and what they wanted, but these days I've started to lose sight of what brings joy or pain to a generation of young people who've grown up with smartphones and social media.
—The show still has a strong female fanbase even now, so I feel there must be something universal in what it depicted.
Urobuchi: If that comes across well, I'd be glad to hear it. Though if young people really are carrying those feelings, I do think it's something we adults need to think seriously about.
—I also had the chance to interview Aoi Yūki, who voices Madoka Kaname, and it left an impression on me when she said things were like "a festival" while Puella Magi Madoka Magica was airing. Looking back now, what kind of impact do you think Puella Magi Madoka Magica has had?
Urobuchi: Well, from the creators' side, I feel it wasn't so much about Puella Magi Madoka Magica as a work in itself, but more that it marked a turning point where writers from other industries started being brought in to write anime scripts.
—It's true that around that time, starting with you, who had been active in the bishojo game industry, writers like Jun Maeda of Angel Beats! and Fumiaki Maruto of Saekano: How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend were also drawing more attention from anime fans.
Urobuchi: I think it was standard in the anime industry for writers with more experience than me to build their careers apprenticeship-style — gaining experience as someone's assistant before gradually taking on episode scripts and then series composition. I think what made Puella Magi Madoka Magica unusual was that it started drawing attention from outside that kind of context.
—Was there an awareness among the core staff, too, of wanting to make a work free of anime's usual conventions?
Urobuchi: Apparently Shinbo said he wanted "a writer who wasn't used to anime," and that's why I was called in. Amid a broader trend of writers and creators from other industries starting to join anime productions, my impression, looking back now, is that Puella Magi Madoka Magica happened to stand out within that trend.
It was an era when even people who had only ever watched anime were starting to pay attention to other genres too, thanks to the rise of the internet and blogs, and bishojo games were among the things drawing their attention. I suppose I got my start in that kind of era.
—I imagine there were also hardships that came from not having an anime background...
Urobuchi: No, if anything, I was too excited back then to really register the hardships as hardships. I was an anime writer who'd been fast-tracked in just a year or two, and having someone with that shallow a career entrusted with series composition and every episode's script, all under a request for something that didn't feel anime-like — that was both unusual and, honestly, a pretty outrageous situation. But I think it worked out in my favor that I'm the type of person who just gets into things and enjoys them.
Fifteen years have passed since the Puella Magi Madoka Magica TV series first aired, and thirteen years since the release of Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie: Rebellion. The environment surrounding the anime industry has changed dramatically, but it's worth considering, with the creators' perspective in mind, just how that history has been built up over time.
Text / kato
(C)Magica Quartet/Aniplex,Madoka Project
