Bringing Magical Girls into a Dark World: Magical Girl Raising Project's Character Designer, Series Writer

This October, the dark world of Magical Girl Raising Project returns in Magical Girl Raising Project Restart. No stranger to the series, series writer Takao Yoshioka is also back to adapt Asari Endō's novels, along with the series' new lead character designer, Masako Itō, who is translating Maruino's designs for animation. While Itō previously adapted the characters for their SD forms in the first season, she has designed more than her fair share of cute girls. You can see her earlier work featuring eye-catching characters in In the Heart of Kunoichi Tsubaki, Is the order a rabbit? BLOOM, and Slow Start.

In the interview, Itō and Yoshioka discuss getting in the right mindset to work on such a cutthroat series, the appeal of the characters' fluffy costumes, and hoping the girls all make it to the very end.

Since joining the production for season two, were there any points you received when it came time to adapt Maruino-san's character designs for animation? Were you also asked to keep the design style similar to season one or move in a different direction?

Masako ITŌ: Since Yukiko Aikei, the character designer for the first season, was incredibly talented, I worked hard to ensure that even though the character designs changed for the second season, they would still be accepted by both Maruino and the fans. Maruino's characters are so detailed that even the slightest imbalance makes them look different, so my designs ended up having a few more lines than usual.

Which character's design was the most complicated to create? Which character design did you find the most satisfying to draw?

ITŌ: All the characters are intricate, but I enjoyed drawing them. Particularly with Magical Daisy, I enjoyed how her expression shifts from her usual cute, soft look to a sharp, focused one when a battle begins, even though her outfit took a while to draw because of all the frills.

The most rewarding characters were probably Pfle and Shadow Gale; they speak to each other quite often in the story. Above all, I love their interactions!

Did your previous work on the super-deformed (SD) designs for the first season help you with your work on the second season?

ITŌ: Unfortunately, there were no [Super Deformed] characters in the second season, so I couldn't make use of them. But I'd like to tackle it when the merchandise comes out.

How did you balance the elements of cuteness and darkness in the character designs?

ITŌ: That's a tough question. Since it's already combined within Maruino's art, I paid close attention to the facial expressions and such to make sure it came across that way in the anime as well. I think it's wonderful how the design looks cute despite the dark color scheme. I also love Shadow Gale's unique weapons like the medical scissors!

Magical Girl Raising Project Restart features a new cast of characters following the previous anime. How would you compare writing the main character Pechka to last season's protagonist, Snow White?

Takao Yoshioka: Snow White was a character who, though driven by her strong desire to “become a proper magical girl,” saw that wish betrayed and shattered time and again—a character who was forever at the mercy of that despair. And I believe it was that struggle that shaped who she became in later episodes.

On the other hand, from the beginning, the protagonist of this series, Pechka, doesn't have the same powerful conviction Snow White possessed. On top of this, because she was in the unique position of being forced to move back and forth between the real world and the virtual world, I portrayed her as a character who, while feeling lost throughout the story, gradually comes to accept the importance of her friends and her own weaknesses, and grows as a result.

Because of that, the few emotionally intense scenes like the ones Snow White had were few and far between, and I think Pechka's emotional expressions were relatively restrained.

What did it feel like to return to this series' world after 10 years? Is there anything you did to get into the right headspace to work on a dark series like this?

YOSHIOKA: I read Restart when the first anime series was adapted, and at the time, Hashimoto and I discussed how “this is going to be difficult to adapt into an anime…” I never imagined that ten years later, Hashimoto and I would undertake this project together again. And, just as I had expected, the scriptwriting process was quite difficult. However, regardless of whether a project is dark or comical, once I settle into my work, I naturally switch gears, so it's not something I consciously think about.

With such a large cast of characters, how did you make each one feel distinctive in the script?

YOSHIOKA: Since the characters already had very distinct personalities in the light novel, I made a point of depicting them in a way that didn't detract from their charm. Particularly, the dynamic between Pfle and Shadow Gale is a major highlight of the entire work, and since there were so many speaking scenes, I paid special attention to [Pfle and Shadow Gale's] interactions.

Even though the series is based on Asari Endō-san's original novels, was there any character you grew an affinity for and hoped would survive until the series' conclusion?

YOSHIOKA: Just like with the previous series, I felt the same way this time. "I hope everyone survives." And so, once again, I made a conscious effort to craft the story in a way that would make me uncomfortable. I believed this would be the most effective approach. Whenever I write “MahōIku,” I face those painful emotions directly. [Note: 'MahōIku' is the series' shorthand title.]

Do you consider yourself a horror movie fan? What is your ultimate horror movie death scene?

I wouldn't call myself a die-hard fan, but I definitely watch horror movies quite often. If I had to choose, I'd say I prefer psychological horror films. When it comes to memorable death scenes, none immediately come to mind, but the portrayals of death in Nobuhiko Ōbayashi's Haus are incredibly fantastical and have left a strong impression on me.