At the end of November, Kamiyā Yuu completed the detailed concept for 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica,' while the 'Yosuganosora' animation production company officially announced to the public that it would begin production on 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica.'
'Puella Magi Madoka Magica' was a phenomenon-level anime from Kamiyā Yuu's previous world and was extremely popular among Japanese youth groups (ages 10–35). It was widely regarded as having overturned people's image of magical girls and their role as symbols of hope.
The anime's scriptwriter was the famous Japanese anime industry screenwriter and novelist known as the "Warrior of Love" — Gen Urobuchi. Almost none of the works he wrote ever had happy endings. His friend, the famous Japanese scriptwriter and novelist Kinoko Nasu, author of the 'Fate' series, jokingly referred to him as suffering from "an illness that prevents him from writing Happy Ends."
'Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom,' 'Saya no Uta,' 'Kikokugai,' 'Fate/Zero,' 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica,' 'Psycho-Pass,' 'Expelled from Paradise,' and many other games or anime well-known in Chinese otaku circles all had, at best, open endings for their protagonists.
The anime director was Akiyuki Shinbō, who had previously directed 'Magical Girl Nanoha.' In terms of directorial style, he was absolutely one of a kind within the industry.
His works, such as 'Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei,' 'Maria Holic,' 'Ground Control to Psychoelectric Girl,' and 'Ef: A Tale of Memories,' all displayed his intense personal style. Specifically, this included Shinbō-style head tilts, transitions between 2D and 3D imagery, still frames, shadows, extensive geometric line usage, and more. Compared to traditional animation techniques, these special stylistic choices achieved excellent cost-saving effects, which is why Akiyuki Shinbō was also known as a budget-saving maniac.
Want to make anime without much budget? Find Shinbō!
At first glance, his stream-of-consciousness-like visual style really could make viewers feel refreshed, but it could also easily scare off a large portion of the audience. Kamiyā Yuu thought the Shinbō style was acceptable at first glance, but after watching too much of it, he found it irritating. The extensive absence of animation frames caused scenes to feel disjointed, often leaving him confused and annoyed.
Probably the only novelist whose wavelength truly matched this director was Nisio Isin. The large amount of dialogue and seemingly meaningless descriptions in the 'Monogatari' series novels oddly meshed well once adapted into Shinbō-style anime. In fact, it was also because of the 'Monogatari' series that this anime director became well known among Chinese otaku circles. Aside from 'Magical Girl Nanoha,' which didn't really possess much of the Shinbō style yet, the previously listed works were basically all niche titles.
With Akiyuki Shinbō as director, combined with the bizarre art style of 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica,' the anime initially received enormous anticipation from viewers because of the pairing of Gen Urobuchi and Akiyuki Shinbō. It ranked first on the January 2011 new anime anticipation charts.
However, the first two episodes followed roughly the same route as ordinary magical girl anime, causing many viewers to leave disappointed.
What truly caused the anime's popularity to explode was Episode 3 — "There's Nothing Left to Fear Anymore."
Because of the scriptwriter's malice, this episode title became the final words of one of the anime's main supporting characters, Mami Tomoe.
Mami Tomoe was overjoyed after helping the protagonist Madoka Kaname make up her mind to become a magical girl. Believing she finally had companions and no longer had anything to fear, she spoke that line before fighting the Witch Charlotte, accompanied by stirring music...
And then Charlotte bit off her head in a single bite.
Her headless corpse fell from the sky while the protagonist Madoka Kaname watched in horror from afar.
Headless Senior Mami Tomoe.
"There's Nothing Left to Fear Anymore" subsequently became an industry-famous death flag comparable to "Once this war is over, I'll return home and get married."
This subversive development triggered heated discussion among stunned viewers. Since when did magical girl anime kill people in such bloody ways? What kind of absurd plot twist was this?
It was also this episode that popularized the "three-episode rule" throughout the anime industry. The idea that one could only judge an anime after watching three episodes became a basic principle for many viewers.
Many Chinese anime fans first learned the name Gen Urobuchi because of this episode and affectionately nicknamed him "Old Urobutcher."
There was also another interesting story related to 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica.' After Episode 10 aired, the anime announced an indefinite suspension under the pretext of mourning due to the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. A planned rebroadcast on NICONICO was delayed again afterward.
This decision gave rise to rumors among viewers that "the ending was too tragic and had to be changed." After the rumors were debunked, another joke spread instead: "Episode 10 caused the Great East Japan Earthquake."
From Kamiyā Yuu's perspective, the quality of this anime itself wasn't exceptionally outstanding. The reason it caused a phenomenon-level reaction in Japan was entirely that the work overturned the definition of magical girls, combined the pairing of Akiyuki Shinbō and Gen Urobuchi, and featured a dark, emotionally devastating ending.
'Puella Magi Madoka Magica' possessed an absolutely unparalleled breakthrough within its genre, and that was also why Kamiyā Yuu chose this work as the finale for the magical girl anime genre he intended to create.
Madoka Kaname, Homura Akemi, Sayaka Miki, Mami Tomoe, and Kyoko Sakura—the anime had five main characters in total. Yet the series only consisted of thirteen episodes, and many side stories were mixed in as well, causing the character portrayals to feel overly weak.
Kamiyā Yuu planned to expand the original twelve-episode structure into twenty-four episodes, using Homura Akemi's time-traveling ability as the main thread to further expand the story tension and strengthen character impressions.
For example, Sayaka Miki's storyline.
In the original work, the process by which she transformed from a magical girl into a witch wasn't especially memorable. The person she loved, her childhood friend Kyosuke Kamijō, had been hospitalized after a car accident and lost the ability to play the violin. Sayaka Miki made a wish to restore his arm and became a magical girl because of it. However, after being reminded by Kyoko Sakura, she realized that she didn't actually want to help him—she wanted to become the person who helped him.
Yet Kyosuke Kamijō, completely unaware of the price Sayaka Miki had paid, ended up getting together with Sayaka's close friend Hitomi Shizuki instead.
And so, in the original story, Sayaka Miki transformed into a witch amid the torment in her heart.
How did Kamiyā Yuu plan to reconstruct this part of the story?
In the original work, Sayaka Miki becoming a witch was indeed an emotionally devastating tragedy—but it was far from enough.
Borrowing the famous words of Gilles de Rais from the work 'Fate/Zero':
"When humans remain in constant fear, their emotions gradually die away. True terror does not refer to static stillness without change, but to dynamic change itself. The transition from hope to despair—that instant is true horror."
The core meaning of these words ultimately came down to contrast. The comparison between hope and despair allowed people to feel the terrifying gulf between them.
If the despair described by Gilles de Rais was the fluctuation between hope and despair, then the despair Kamiyā Yuu intended to create was a waltz between hope and despair.
The two would coexist, depend upon each other, intertwine with each other, and stand upon the same stage to achieve the strongest possible contrast.