 While collaborating on Hidamari Sketch and Bakemonogatari , <unk> Shinbo expressed to Aniplex producer <unk> Iwakami his desire to create a new magical girl series , thus spawning the development of Puella Magi Madoka Magica . During the early planning stage , Iwakami decided not to adapt an existing work in order to give Shinbo more freedom in his direction style . Another goal of the project was to develop an anime that could appeal to a wider audience than the usual demographic for media within the magical girl genre . Iwakami and Shinbo intended for their series to be accessible to " the general anime fan . " Shinbo then contacted Gen Urobuchi to work on the project as a scriptwriter and Ume Aoki as a character designer . Takahiro Kishida was also enlisted to adapt Aoki 's character designs for production of the television series . 
