"One month is left until the end of the year. At the end of every year, I want to check what I had been drawing around the same time last year. Looks like last year around this time, it was Sinbad in his Zepar djinn equip.
The class chapters as of late were serious in nature, so I felt like drawing a lighthearted scene for this week’s issue. Starting from this week, there will be a turning point important to the Magnostadt arc for many chapters to come, please, read it.”
“In the picture is Judar. Since he already is nineteen, I’ve been thinking if it’s about time for an outfit change for him.
In the anime as well, soon it will be time for Judar to play a prominent role in the story. Judar, and Aladdin and co as well, have changed in so many ways since the Balbadd arc. I’m struggling with how to portray them. As for Judar’s behavior and words, you can’t tell if they are truth or lies. Cassim was another character that was like that. Though, in his case, his friend, Alibaba, did his best to understand him, and in the end was able to know his true intentions. There’s no one like that for Judar, and for the time being, understanfing him could prove difficult.
I hope you enjoy reading Magi this week. The tension was high, and I have memories of struggling with my work on the chapter.”
“The sketch at one time was intended to be a frontispiece of a chapter. I missed the proper time to use it. I have memories of doing research on the traditional clothes that they wore in Rome and Egypt while working on it.
Soon, working on the manga will become complicated, and I’ll be doing a stock of manuscripts and storyboards. Christmas is the busiest time of the year for me. While working on the manuscript, while not being able to afford to waste a second and make it in time for New Year’s eve, I end up thinking about how out of all the Magi characters, Judar looks like he has a lot of free time during work everyday. It makes me wish for some sort of a shortcut. You look like you have a lot of free time, high priest.”
“Good evening! This is Ishibashi, Magi’s editor. Currently, we’re working on the Reim vs Magnostadt great war. In order to depict it, a great number of soldiers, weapons and such are needed to be drawn, and the author, Ms. ohtaka, isn’t able to keep up with all of it. While the nation is celebrating Christmas right now, the author continues working on the manga with all of her might. In order for her to not reach her limit, she was given a break from the backstage this week.
This week’s Sunday depicts the begining of this war. As the editor, I think she did well. We thank you for supporting her.
2012 was an active and successful year for Magi, and we owe it to your support. We thank you on behalf of Ms. Ohtaka. We hope you enjoy reading Magi during the next hear as well. Everyone, we wish for you to have a good year!!”
“It’s been a long time. I wasn’t able to say it during New Year’s holiday, but a belated happy new year to you. I hope you enjoy reading Magi this year (thank you, Mr. Ishibashi, for posting on my behalf in the last minute. I’m alright now)
The image is the cover of volume 16 that will be out next month. It’s Kouen Ren, who doesn’t even appear in volume 16. He and the other characters will soon be assembled, and I thought about drawing him even though he has no role in the volume.
We’re continuing with the Magnostadt/Reim battle this week. Scheherazade, who hadn’t had a chance to stand out before, talked quite a lot, and I have vivid memories of her. Scheherazade is a character that I find enjoyable to write about, please, pay attention to her movements from now on.”
“The imge was the concept for the colored card that was going to be bundled with the DVD special edition. I intended for it to be a fancy illustration, but later when I took a good look at it, it looked kind of creepy and gave up on it. This is the drawing that I did while telling myself: ‘This time, I’ll draw something pleasant and fancy!‘ http://www.project-magi.com/dvd/option.html I failed. I drew the cover for this issue of Sunday. We’re continuing with the Magnostadt/Reim battle this week.”
“The image is a portion of an illustration that I’m working on. Each time, depending on the method I paint with, the charscters’ hair and eye color could change. Though, Alibaba and Morgiana turned out right.
I hope you enjoy reading Magi this week. Regarding the chapter, though certain five pages in the first half wore me out, I still enjoyed working on it. I think it’s because the Fanalis corps were easy to draw.
The Fanalis know something, and the way they feel as well is going to concern Morgiana later on. Please, look forward to it.”
“The image is the end-of-volume omake and the paper of volume 16 that will be out next month. The volume omake is to match the cover. Koubun Ka is the main character.
Starting from last week, Reim’s Fanslis corps participated in the battle for real. As for the corps leader, Muu Alexius, I hope that I’ll successfully portray him as someone with some contradictions in his personality, like, he’s cheerful, yet high-strung .”
“I want to write the Kou Empire arc someday.
Drawing the clothes that the people of Kou are wearing is fun. That being said, things are different today compared to Magi of yesterday, and there are occasions I must draw with seriousness. Though, it’s only the clothes that the characters have been wearing for the past three years that haven’t changed. I’m totally lost as to what new clothes they’ll look good in. Clothes are a difficult subject.”
Yamuraiha writes using strong, thick brush strokes. Sharrkan writes with thin, proper brushstrokes. Masrur hates writing.
“I want to and try as much as I can to include a frontispiece every week I work on the 18-page chapter. Though, if I did that every time, the pacing of the story will drop by a page and so, I can’t fit them in. Back in the early days of Magi there were times when I did frontispieces of Aladdin and co traveling somewhere. Even though this is an adventure manga, there hasn’t been any occasion in the current arc for the characters to go on a journey. I would love to draw them again.”
“Last week, Alibaba made an appearance. His entrance was accompanied with a great change of the atmosphere. It was also fun drawing it. Starting from here, the Magnostadt arc will go in a totally different direction compared to before.”
“Whenever I’m drawing the metal vessel users, I think about things like ‘which one of them I’d want to follow, if it were just me.
Following Alibaba or Kouha doesn’t sound bad.”
“The picture is the cover of volume 17 that will be out next month. At first, Kukulcan (Sphintus’ snake), was drawn in there. However, when I started coloring him, the picture looked like something out of a horror movie, and so I erased him.
When I submitted the storyboard for this week’s chapter I thought I will be told ‘it seems like a chapter that will make the series drop on the weekly ranking’. It’s a chapter with an atmosphere that can be described in such a way, though it’s important in order for the the story to advance. Only for this week…please accompany me.”
“Last week’s chapter was a depressing one that centered around Mogamett. This week, we’ll be back to Aladdin and co’s side. Even though last time the Magnostadt war reached a momentary truce, it will resume from this week.”
“In last week’s issue, Kouha made an appearance for the first time in a while. For such an unfortunate thing to occur right after he appeared…in this week is the continuation.
Regarding Kouha, about 20-30% of his personality is actually a result of him being alienated from his surroundings and him behaving in a way that stresses on that fact. However, the remaining 70% depicts someone that’s awfully serious and upright. Even though his appearance and manner of speech can be eccentric in his everyday life, I’m careful not to portray him as discourteous in scenes that require him to exercise retraint.”
“In the picture are the volume omake and the message paper. They both feature a ‘kaogei’. They come along with the current arc that’s on the serious side, please, look forward to them (note: a ‘kaogei’ is a term used for a ridiculously exaggerated expression that you don’t normally see on a character. It’s used for laughs and for impact. It’s like the one that Hakuryuu is making in the picture above)
In this week’s Magi, we’re continuing the fight against the black djinns. The black djinns were inspired by an Indian goddess that I saw in a book in the past. I’m drawing them while recalling how her appearance had frightened me back then. Please, follow to the last page Alibaba’s movements in his long-awaited full djinn equip form.
Moreover, starting from next week, the Magi Gaiden (The Adventures of Sinbad) will be serialized in the magazine. This will be accompanied by a break of the main manga that’s going to last for a few weeks. I feel bad that the story is going to be paused at such an odd point. I’m really sorry. While I have no idea how to spend this break, I’m going to draw a pile of manuscripts as usual. New stuff will also be posted on the backstage blog once the manga resumes publishing.”
“Of all the characters in Magi, Kouen’s face is quite difficult to draw. He’s an honest-to-goodness good-looking man, but once I let my mind wander while drawing him, his face ends up like that of a kokeshi doll.”
“When I was creating Marga, she at first was supposed to be a bit older (and paired up with Titus in a romantic episode), but that concept didn’t end up working while drawing the storyboard. Back then, I didn’t know the reason behind it and changed her to a five year old little girl. Right now, I know why: I think the difference between them in their life experiences will not enable them to understand each other and so, they won’t end up befrieding one another.
While working on the manga, there are times when the characters become at peace with themselves with the realization that ‘even if you’re alone, as long as you have allies who understand you, you’re able to move forward.’. Titus and Alibaba were like that.
In contrast, I imagine that characters that couldn’t become like that are eventually going to fall apart later on in the story.”
“I wanted Alibaba and Kouen to meet way earlier (before the Magnostadt arc), but a long time has passed and so, their first meeting was pushed back to now.
By the way, since there are so many characters in the manga with different affiliations and positions, their attitude and manner of speech and conduct could change when they confront others (of affiliations that differ from their own). Alibaba is quite skilled when it comes to dealing with situations like those.
Highly social characters who take into consideration their surroundings and the change in their attitude accordingly should require a lot of thinking.
Every time Alibaba meets a character for the first time, I worry about how he should talk to them. Even though he has met a lot of different characters and had a lot of different interactions with them, the attitude that he displayed while meeting Kouen for the first time is something that was never depicted before, and it’s refreshing.”
“This week, we are continuing with Alibaba, Aladdin and the Kou Empire.
As for Kouen, for someone who had such a grandiose entrance, he only appeared in two panels and didn’t have any lines in Night 186. From now on, it will be portrayed through Alibaba and Aladdin’s eyes what kind of character he is.
Before me are the storyboards of two other chapters that are toward the end of the Magnostadt arc that are also the most interesting parts. Please, accompany me to the end.”
“Last week’s Night 187 was full of djinn equipped characters. In this week is the continuation
In the picture is a panel involving Alibaba and Kouha that ended up being omitted in the storyboard stage.
I wanted to depict the one by one arrival of the djinn warriors with more subtlety, but that was one of the things that had to be covered in the chapter and so, that’s how it turned out. I would like to challenge that concept again someday. More new djinn equips are going to appear later on, please, look forward to them along with what actions the characters are going to take.”
“The one in the picture is Koumei Ren, who, since he joined the fight, we got a good look at but didn’t see do anything of importance. Please, look forward to him playing a more active role.
Whenever we’re drawing the djinn-equipped characters and whenever there are five or so in one panel, the effort that we must put into them makes us feel like we’re falling into depravity. Kouha in particular is very troublesome. It would’ve been nice if all we have to draw is Aladdin in all of the panels.
As for the accessories with intricate designs, my assistant and six other people take care of them. Even though we work while looking at the original designs of the characters, we don’t end up producing the same details and we apologize for it. We might fix that in the volume release.”
“The image is a work in progress (note: volume 18 paper).
Recently, drawing things such as flaming tornados or the earth cracking every week is fun and all, but it filled me with the urge to draw something with a theme that’s the opposite of that.
If Alibaba was born in the 21st century, I think he for some reason or another would’ve been popular with girls. Too bad for him.
In this week as well you’ll be seeing flames, tornados and the earth cracking. Watch out for what ‘that’ person will do.”
“The image is a work in progress (note: the volume 18 back cover)
Last week’s chapter felt like a Djinn Equip bargain sale. This week, it will be larger in scope.
It’s worth noting that Morgiana has reunited with Alibaba after a long time. No matter how strong Alibaba has gotten as a metal vessel user, the emotion that he harbors towards Morgiana could be described as awe, admiration, camaraderie and the urge of a big brother protecting his little sister mixed together.”
“The image is a portion of the volume 18 omake and paper. More than before, a lot of characters are going to be crammed into the volume 18 and 19 papers. I’m worried whether it will turn out well for printing.
The volume 18 omake is centered around the Fanalis corps. By shounen standards, giving characters who were just introduced a main role and the excessive depiction of their everyday life is considered to be a taboo, so I’m lost whether to write such a thing. Back when I worked on the volume 7 omake that centered around the Fog troupe, I had similar worries.”
“We’re nearing the end of the Magnostadt arc. Lately, I’ve been drawing a lot of characters that haven’t appeared in a long time, and it’s been difficult remembering all the details that concern them.
Today, the comics (volume 18) will be on sale. I’m worried that I forgot to draw Myron’s earrings. Please, check it out.”
“Above is the design concept of Morgiana’s new outfit. It looks like a coat wrapped around the clothes that she’s been wearing until now.
The Magnostadt arc is ending this week. One thing worth noting is Kouen smiling from ear to ear, isn’t it? Despite what it may ended up looking like, that was his attempt at a kind smile. Whether his smile could pass for such a thing or not, you are the judges.”
“Starting from this week, we’re entering a new arc.
The image above roughly depicts the contents of one chapter in this new arc. It looks fun. I hope you enjoy it!”