Written by Mari Okada

February 13th, Shinjuku Wald 9. This was the last stop on the tour. Thanks to everyone who came!

This time, I was with Iwami, who provided the voice of Maquia. Pure, gentle, awkward, single-minded… Iwami used these qualities in her voice to bring out the character of Maquia. She’s a great voice actress.

As mentioned during the talk, the reason I directed this movie was because Horikawa said that he wanted to see a movie that was “100% Mari Okada”, and I guess I misconstrued his words to suit my own purpose. But it would be completely wrong to say that Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms is 100% me. No matter the edit, the movie is overflowing with the staff’s passion and talent. It’s impossible to say how many people helped to create the final cut, and how much of themselves they put into the work. With the support of assistant director Shinohara, the staff completed this movie with great care. Anime is a team effort, so it is not 100% any one person. Everyone made this movie; it is everyone’s.

Even though I’m not a great director by any means, I was very happy to be able to greet everyone as representative of the entire staff. I look forward to seeing even more people as the film is released, and I’ll keep going!