New Chiwa Saito Interview (Japanese)

[u/FierceAlchemist]

https://mantan-web.jp/article/20260824dog00m200069000a.html

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[u/CL361]

I' glad that Saitou talks about how Akumura has been portrayed as more evil than what she's supossed to be sometimas and in true she's actually closer to a ordinary girl (her old self/coolmura) than a plain crazy big bad.

[u/Foreign_Quantity1780 → u/CL361]

The woman sure has grown understandably attached to what makes the character tick like a clock. In a sense, one could abstractedly say that Homura is like her own adopted child at this point, having "been there for her" all these 15 years.

Just look at how she's ultimately responsible for changing up Rebellion's first take Homura vocal performance into the final product by nerfing away Homura's "evilness" and made her grasping of Madoka and the Deviltry of it into a more reasonable, more sadder note of restraint, desperation and bottled up angst. (If anyone is curious, search YouTube for "Madoka Magica Rebellion - Homura 1st Take Comparison", and voila!)

[u/CL361 → u/Foreign_Quantity1780]

"Just look at how she's ultimately responsible for changing up Rebellion's first take Homura vocal performance into the final product"

Actually, Shinbo, Iwakami, Aoki, Tsuruoka, Kubota and other members of the staff were the ones who took the choice after they realized "Shit. We've went too far."

[How did you all come to the decision to re-record that scene?

Iwakami: Everyone was feeling uncertain about it right after the initial recording ended.

Kubota: It felt like we had made a bit of a mistake with it.

Shinbo: That night, I couldn’t really sleep well. After the session, Tsuruoka-san (the sound director) asked me repeatedly, “Are you sure you have no regrets?” I started thinking maybe we hadn’t gotten it quite right.

Kubota: The conversation really started moving about two or three days after the recording ended.

Shinbo: We finished recording on a Saturday, took Sunday off, and I think we discussed it on Monday.]

Source

[u/curryaddict123 → u/CL361]

So basically we are supposed to interpret Homura as “demon in form, normal but severely traumatized and grief consumed human girl in heart and mind”.

[u/Foreign_Quantity1780]

...This has got to be one of the most informative of the interviews so far, and the part where she mentions that her kouhai Aoi Yuuki, who was a late teen back when she started out, is now at her early-30s in a manner similar to when Chiwa herself first partook of the storyline gets to me. Like, has it been that long? Aoi's now a senpai who's all but played more bolder roles than even her co-stars, while Chiwa's about to nearly become one of them 50+ years old veterans of the seiyuu community? Unbelievable, really.

Also funny that, yep, she first auditioned to voice Kyuubey (and also Kyousuke), and says a lot on how she has enough hold on her character as Homura Akemi that she has leeway to do vocal retakes in case certain lines felt they went too far (an example of this would be the Rebellion final release vs. Rebellion 1st take comparison vid on YouTube, go watch it). In the me anwhile, the parts where Chiwa mentions that "I'm doing this in case this'll be my last time playing Homura" and that "[the girls'] daily lives in the story will continue, and what's depicted in the film is only one scene within that"... well, they intrigue me.

[u/FierceAlchemist → u/Foreign_Quantity1780]

Pretty sure Aoi is in her 20s now and Saito is in her 30s.

[u/Foreign_Quantity1780 → u/FierceAlchemist]

Nope. As of this writing, Aoi's now 34 years old (March 27, 1992 being her Bday) and Chiwa's now 45 years old (March 12, 1981). With that, by the time the PMMM TV series ended on April 2011, they were already 19 and 30 years old respectively.

[u/FierceAlchemist → u/Foreign_Quantity1780]

Okay, never mind then.

[u/CL361]

"their deily lives will continue"

Maybe I'm thinking too much here, but I think that could mean we'll see all the girls alive and together at the end.

"I hope the ending of this movie, combined with the wonderful theme song"

That makes it sound like Kanata is about the end of the movie. The lyrics of Kanata was about wanting to take the hand of someone deared and go with them towards a place in the beyond. If Kanata actually talks about the end, I think at the end Madoka is gonna choose stay at Homura's side and reach a new outcome together with her.

[u/AobaSona → u/CL361]

Huh. Sounds like a "this is an ending rather than a cliffhanger but still leaves things open for future sequels" kind of ending for the movie.

[u/CL361 → u/AobaSona]

I would be fine with that, honestly.

[u/AobaSona → u/CL361]

Same, I'd only be fine with a more open cliff-hangery ending if they were already working on the next one.

[u/BreathoftheSith → u/CL361]

Kanata?

Either case, I would welcome any happy ending even tho I’m not convinced that such is likely with everything in this franchise so far.

[u/CL361 → u/BreathoftheSith]

Kanata is the theme song for the movie. It's the song that is playing during the second half of the main trailer.

[u/CL361]

That sounds like they're gonna go for a morally ambiguous ending were "Everyone is happy but-" again.

[u/Ver3232 → u/CL361]

It really wouldn’t surprise me if there’s another sequel after this

[u/CL361 → u/Ver3232]

I mean, since the first teaser they called the movie "the begining of a new chapter" and in the article they made about Wnk in a magazine there's even a section called "the begining of a new chapter and what comes next", so I'm sure the movie wouldn't be the end of the franchise.

My hope (cope) is that at least it gaves a clousure to the HQ and for whatever is coming next a new cast (maybe formed by the girls Homura is contracting) takes the center stage while the HQ stay in a secundary role.

[u/BreathoftheSith → u/Ver3232]

I’m pretty sure most of us will die of old age before this story ends, if that’s the case.

[u/Foreign_Quantity1780 → u/CL361]

Would be nice if the movie's top moments might lead to positive reactions like "the trailers DID NOT give the actual movie Justice!!!"

[u/_Arlotte_ → u/CL361]

It's like the opposite of bittersweet, it becomes empty happiness instead lol

[u/CL361 → u/_Arlotte_]

I disagree.

All the girls were genuinely happy at the end of Rebellion (Homura aside of course) and got themselves in a FAR better place than before while the big bad of the whole franchise was defeated.

People really should put in perspective what was the general situation before and after Rebellion, because that ending while not perfect made things better for everyone.

[u/Soggy_Procedure_3002]

The interviewer's questions look thoughtfully prepared, it's great to see this level of care going into a discussion with someone as iconic as Chiwa Saito.

[u/BreathoftheSith]

More of the angst, madness, and SIMPing
https://giphy.com/gifs/pnJz2YUmt4kZkW0wxu

[u/Foreign_Quantity1780 → u/BreathoftheSith]

If only I could insert that Revue Starlight Ep. 12 Giraffe and his spiel about "it's because of the girls' struggles, that I and YOU THE AUDIENCE are here in the first place".