――Tell us your first impression of Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms.
HIGASHIJI: To be honest, my first thought was “What, really?!” (laughs) Before I even knew about the project, I got an offer directly from director Okada, and I thought, if she’s in charge, I’d love to join. I was under the impression it would be a modern drama, and I didn’t learn the truth until later. When I heard it was a straight-up fantasy story, that’s what I thought, “what, really?!” (laughs).
――Why did you think that?
HIGASHIJI: I remember director Okada telling me that people of our generation got into fantasy through games like Dragon Quest. But I thought, yes, it’s true and I played those games, but it’s different from drawing fantasy for practical purposes. Also, the way I saw it was, it’s a lot easier for people to relate to things set in modern times. A school classroom, a vending machine on the way home… viewers can remember these things from their own lives. But not with fantasy. I thought, wow, I’ve really taken on something huge. And for a while, I couldn’t get a grasp on Maquia as a character. I even sat down with director Okada and complained about all the things I didn’t understand about the character. So, for some time, I had a hard time drawing.
――What changed?
HIGASHIJI: There were a few things that sparked the change, and one of them was sitting in on a table read. In a table read, the main cast comes together and take 2 hours to read through the script from the beginning. Director Okada asked me to sit in, so I did, and the first thing that struck me was the high energy from the cast. And then when they were done, everyone was crying. Then for about an hour everyone talked about the script. Seeing that, I thought, this is probably a really great piece of work. Then I remember apologizing to Okada for complaining. Another thing was a bit later, when I was telling Okada about all the doubts I had about Maquia as a character. She said to me, “It’s hard for her too!” and I noticed that I saw this story from Ariel’s perspective, which changed my approach a lot.
――――How did you feel about being a part of the project?
HIGASHIJI: Regarding the art direction… if I was a piano, and I was only making music with half the keys, Okada wanted me to use all 88. Being so close to the heat source that is director Okada, I felt like I was able to do good work using that heat.

Kazuki Higashiji, art director on works like AngelBeats!, Hanasaku Iroha, TARI TARI, and Nagi no Asukara