Science SARU, under the powerful direction of executive director Naoko Yamada and director Abel Góngora, brings to life Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia, the story of Sitara, based off of Fatima, one of the most influential women of the 13th-century Mongol Empire. The anime has captured audiences through its unique character designs, its authentic music, and its creative use of language to immerse viewers in the time of the Mongol Empire’s reign. At Anime Expo 2026, Anime Trending sat down with Naoko Yamada, the Executive Director behind Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia, to discuss the complexities of this story.
Islam, as a religion, despite being one of the biggest religions today, is rarely portrayed in anime but is important to Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia‘s setting, story, and characters. You’ve mentioned taking research trips in the creation of this anime, and I want to know what you focused on in your research regarding Islam and how you’ve translated that over to the anime.
Naoko Yamada: There’s a lot about Islam and Mongolia that isn’t well known from Japan’s point of view, so I wanted to look at the fundamentals — how the people of Iran (Persia) and Mongolia truly live, what they learn, what they truly value, and their overall philosophy. I wanted to understand the culture and grasp an understanding of the religious sense they’ve built up since ancient times. Most importantly, I wanted to see all of that from an unfiltered perspective, so I put a lot of effort into researching Mongolia. I also visited a mosque here in Japan, the Tokyo Camii Diyanet Turkish Culture Center, to study for the purposes of this anime.
Sitara is based on a real-life historical figure of the Mongolian Empire named Fatima. While she lived during Genghis Khan’s reign, a lot of her life unfolded after Genghis Khan’s death. Internationally, most people only associate Mongolian history with Genghis Khan and usually don’t explore history outside of him. During your research trips and outside of it, how did you go about learning this side of history that most people ignore, and what has stuck with you the most when studying it?
Naoko Yamada: This work also depicts the end of Genghis Khan’s reign and how his sons went on to conquer more land outside of Mongolia. I was able to learn about that history from Mongolian guides during my research trip, who taught me a great deal. What I thought was important to pay attention to was the way they talked and their way of looking at things. I felt that their way of seeing the world hasn’t really changed throughout the times.
The guides spoke about looking out over the mountains, imagining what’s beyond the sky, and pondering over things that are so big and far away. That wide, expansive point of view is a real part of Mongolian philosophy, and I felt I really had to value that way of thinking when creating this work. On this project, I wanted to put a lot of importance on the attributes I learned about their culture and their people.
During the time of the Mongolian conquest, many nations normalized slavery. Sitara is depicted as a slave from the very beginning of the story. Can you explain how you approached portraying a system that we today know is inhumane in the anime while still retaining historical accuracy?
Naoko Yamada: This work starts with the story of someone being used as a slave in a scholar’s household. Going in, I had the impression that the word “slave” carried something inhumane with it, but when I read the original work, even though the term “slave” is used, Sitara — as well as Zumurrud and Anis— are treated like they’re a part of the family. They’re allowed to learn, and Sitara’s even encouraged to learn. That surprised me and made me realize I didn’t know a lot of things regarding the full picture of slavery in this specific time period and in this specific area, so it became one of my own areas of research.
In the story, some of the people called slaves are there by their master’s decision, and others have their own unique perspectives on their situations — that was something new for me to learn and understand. And what I concluded was there wasn’t just one single way to look at it — in that I mean there were so many different points of view I had to understand to get the full picture. It became something I really wanted to bring across carefully and thoughtfully in the anime, slavery with the full historical context in mind, rather than treating it as something simple.
Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia is an incredibly nuanced manga that covers so many topics, such as religion, assimilation, multiculturalism, statecraft, and geopolitics. How do you all manage to keep track of it?
Naoko Yamada: There were a number of sensitive topics we had to bring into the anime, and there was a lot about Mongolian culture we didn’t completely grasp going in, so we relied on advisors who specialize in Mongolian research to walk us through those details and keep us on track.
Of all the anime’s elements, what are you personally most proud of and why? It can be a specific scene, music, a specific background — anything related to the anime.
Naoko Yamada: If I just say “everything,” that sounds boring, but I really do love all of it — the colors are beautiful, the background art is mesmerizing, and the music is incredible. So many talented people took part in creating this that I know exactly who made which scene, and I think of them whenever I watch the anime. My appreciation and love for it just keeps growing.
Did you anticipate the amount of love and acclaim for the adaptation of Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia? Can you share your feelings about the feedback you got from viewers?
Naoko Yamada: When the PV came out, I imagine people must have thought, “I never expected them to make an anime about this topic in Japan.” I was genuinely surprised to see that there are so many people interested in 13th-century Mongolian and Persian history, and so many who are thrilled to see it become an anime. I felt it was quite a niche topic, but I was very touched by everyone’s reaction and the positive feedback I saw.
Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.
