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Wandering Witch - The Journey of Elaina Creator Asks Anime Staff Not to Show Panty Shots
posted on by Kim Morrissy
Wandering Witch - The Journey of Elaina (Majo no Tabitabi) light novel series creator Jougi Shiraishi told Newtype in an interview that he had only one request for the anime staff: "Absolutely do not show underwear, please." He explained that he wanted the anime to be seen by a wide audience and that he did not want to limit the appeal.
He stressed that this was his only major request, mentioning that seeing the anime staff face-to-face was "the most nerve-wracking" experience in his life.
Shiraishi expressed his pleasure with the anime, stating that concept designer Kazumasa Nishio's drawings were "magnitudes more beautiful and lush than what I was imagining in my head." He also praised the work of the voice actors and the ending theme song vocalist ChouCho.
The interview also addresses some of the overseas reception to the anime's trailers. Shiraishi said that he has seen comments from people from Asian regions like South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, China, and even from western regions like North America. He professed a deep fondness for overseas dramas, particularly from England, and has incorporated some of that appeal into Wandering Witch. "I hope that this aspect resonates with the overseas audience as well," he said.
As for what to expect from the series going forward, Shiraishi had some brief comments to spare. He said that he is particularly looking forward to episode 4, which will include "an absurdly huge monster" that he wonders how the anime will handle it. The last episode will be a story that he greatly enjoyed writing when he was first writing it for the GA Novels' published release.
As for the ending for the light novels, he thinks that the final story will probably be about Elaina's hometown. He also shared how the short story format of the original novels are inspired by crime dramas, and that this influence is one of the reasons he likes writing stories where the guest characters don't always get a happy ending. Even though he doesn't want every story to be bleak, he plans to include one story in each volume where there is no salvation for the characters. He describes the novels as "a short story anthology about Elaina's journey, which offers a broad range of moods, with both levity and darkness at times."
Jougi Shiraishi first launched the Wandering Witch - The Journey of Elaina in 2014 as a series of self-published books on Amazon Kindle. SB Creative published the first novel in April 2016 and the 13th volume on July 14. The 14th volume will ship on October 14.
Yen Press publishes the light novel series in English, and it describes the story:
Once upon a time, there was a witch named Elaina, who set off on a journey across the world. Along the way, she would meet all kinds of people, from a country full of witches to a giant in love with his own muscles—but with each meeting, Elaina would become a small part of their story, and her own world would get a little bit bigger.
The anime premiered on Friday. Toshiyuki Kubooka (Harukana Receive, Berserk film trilogy) is directing the anime at C2C, and Kazuyuki Fudeyasu is supervising and writing the series scripts. Takeshi Oda is adapting Azuru's original character art for animation, and Kazumasa Nishio is credited with concept designs.
Source: Web Newtype via Yaraon
