"Each Bone Was Crafted For Me" Interview with Gen Urobuchi: Behind the Scenes of the Script for "Walpurgisnacht: Rising," the First New "Madoka Magica" Work in 13 Years

Puella Magi Madoka Magica The Movie: Walpurgisnacht: Rising is currently in theaters. As the latest entry in the series released 13 years after Puella Magi Madoka Magica: The Movie -Rebellion-, original core staff members such as chief director Akiyuki Simbo, original character designer Ume Aoki, and scriptwriter Gen Urobuchi (Nitroplus) participated in the production. Crafted by the original core team, the film unfolds with highly original visuals and a robust story that is well worth analyzing.

In this article, we interviewed Urobuchi prior to the release of Walpurgisnacht: Rising. We bring you the behind-the-scenes story of the script's production and how various settings were put together, including spoilers.

——Since this is the first new release in 13 years, I'd like to start by asking about the timing of when you wrote the script. It was after the production of Rebellion, correct?

Gen Urobuchi (hereafter, Urobuchi): When I was working on Kamen Rider Gaim (broadcast from October 2013 to September 2014), I took about a year off from anime work. During that time, I received a massive amount of idea notebooks from Gekidan Inu Curry, and I started reorganizing them into a story.

I hadn't actually expected to make a sequel to Rebellion, but given this volume of information, I figured it would be enough for one feature-length visual work (as a movie), and that's how I began writing the script.

——In Walpurgisnacht: Rising, a new setting named Sokotsune Nazuka also appears. Was that in the idea notebooks too?

Urobuchi: It was. There was an incredible amount of content—something that clearly couldn't have been drawn up in a single night—written out in sketchbooks with rough illustrations and text.

The details about Walpurgisnacht were also in the idea notebooks from Gekidan Inu Curry (Doroinu). The elements and situations were all laid out—like how (the true identity of Walpurgisnacht) has no name, shares the same face as Homura, is searching for her destined person, and is obsessed with Madoka. I connected these individual settings, notes, and situations, and organized them into a story within the script.

——I imagine you incorporated feedback from Chief Director Shinbo and other staff members as you wrote the script, but would you say Gekidan Inu Curry's concepts form a large part of the foundation for this film?

Urobuchi: In terms of concepts, it's almost entirely Gekidan Inu Curry. While it's true that I created the framework for the work known as Puella Magi Madoka Magica, for this movie, it feels more like they crafted every individual bone for me. My role was essentially proposing, "If we arrange these bones like this, doesn't it look like this?" (by compiling them into a script).

Even during the TV series, many of the fine details and meaningful visual cues were the work of Gekidan Inu Curry. I think it's often the case that the parts that leave a lasting impression on viewers are actually the work of others, rather than my own.