Interview: Cristina Vee and Yussef Benelbar discuss Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia

Tomato Soup's beloved manga series A Witch's Life in Mongol recently gained the anime treatment with Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia. Airing on Crunchyroll, the anime series follows Sitara's journey to get revenge on the Mongols. We spoke to Cristina Vee (Sitara) and Yussef Benelbar (Muhammad) about the new series, which can be streamed here.

MP3s and NPCs: What attracted each of you to the new show?

Cristina Vee: I received a text message from Shawn [Gann], and I had not worked with him, but of course I'm familiar with his work, and he asked if I would read for the lead character, and I know that he wanted me to do it specifically because of my cultural heritage, my background as a person of Lebanese descent, and I was very excited because it's so rare to be able to do that. was very interested right off the bat to one, portray this kind of character and two, to work with Sean. I watched the first two episodes, and I read it. After I watched those two episodes, I was like, "Oh yeah. Even if I don't get cast in the show, this is going to be my show this season."

Yussef Benelbar: Yeah, for me, I happened to learn about Jaadugar earlier this year, and I got the manga for Jaadugar. I read ahead before the anime came out and saw that it had a pretty big, you know, Arab/Persian footprint. I was immediately gravitated towards it. I was like, "Wow, this is so cool." You don't really see this kind of stuff.

When it was announced and when I was ultimately cast, I was like, "Okay. This is going to be a lot of fun." I get to authentically portray an Arab character. Shawn Gann, who's fantastic, our director. He's meticulous when it comes to picking the cast and knowing our strengths and everything. It felt really good to be able to portray Muhammad because, you know, I come from an Arab background, and I have that experience of growing up Arab.

MP3s and NPCs: While working on the season, were there any moments while you were recording where you were like, “Whoa, this is happening”?

Benelbar: I think for me, outside of the first like line jitters. I think it was, you know, once I got a flow for certain things, it was the pan scene because I read it and then I, you know, haven't relooked at it for a while. When I got to record the whole, like dropping a pan and you just hear how loud it is and everyone's like, "Oh my God," you know? I was like, "What, what is happening?"

I had a good chuckle with Shawn about it, but to see Sitara glow up was like, whoa, this is really cool. This is the impetus of her drive to learn knowledge like me and seeing the glint in her eye and seeing how well she, you know, perceived that it was, I was like, okay, I'm, you know, I'm locked in.

Vee: I was watching. I stopped this the last couple episodes, but I was watching as we go before I get into the booth. So all of my like, "Oh my gosh, I can't believe this is happening" happened at home with my cats. I think that first turn where we see Fatima's fate, that was really heartbreaking for me to see. But then it just doesn't end for her. It does not go well for her for those first few episodes. It's just loss after loss, and we see her light going out slowly. That was really surprising to me, especially the first watch through, because it's such a vibrant, cute looking show, but as, you know, anime so often does, you cannot judge a book by its cover. I think it matches Sitara's story so well because she also portrays herself as vibrant and cute with like these dark undertones.

MP3s and NPCs: What are your best and worst traits about your character?

Benelbar: My best trait for Muhammad is….I love that he loves to talk about his passion, which is, you know, accumulating knowledge and getting to share that with Sitara and building that relationship. I think that's, you know, incredibly personal and very respectable that Muhammad wants to share his passion with others and wants to grow. For Muhammad, I don't think he has a worst trait. He's just not there anymore. So I would say that's like in my, you know, like not biased that he's not there anymore. But, uh, yeah, I mean, like we don't really get to know any weird quirks about him or idiosyncrasies about his character.

Vee: Her best trait is also her worst trait, and that's her ability to survive. However, I don't know where the story is going, but my hope for her is, you know, we've already seen her turn on a dime to people who she has. She's able to get a lot of people to trust her and to confide in her, but we've already seen that she will drop them as soon as they are not the best thing for her anymore. She's just like, "No, I found somewhere else. Goodbye." My hope is that she can still have that childlike love of life again, but so far where I'm at in the story, she is driven by revenge. You know, she's driven by anger and hurt.

MP3s and NPCs: Who is your favorite character on the show outside of your own?

Vee: Outside of my own, I'm a big fan of Töregene. I think that Michelle Rojas does an incredible job voicing her. And she's also very similar to Sitara where she's hiding this pain and she's using everything she can to kind of survive and get her vengeance.

Benelbar: For me, I've kind of thought about it more. I think I have two that I gravitate towards to. One is Tolui. The first Mongolian prince that you see; he's played by Alex Mai, who does a fantastic job. I like seeing his exuberance, his energy. And, you know, when he comes back to the camp and his brother's like, "what is it this time?" I'm the eldest brother, and I believe Toloi is like, forgive me if he's not, but like, he kind of exudes that energy at times. The second one is Möge voiced by Ezra [Vervin]. She's fantastic in that role. I just love how bubbly and funny she is, and it's just a really relatable to have that kind of friend and person. That's like just a little bit of a comic relief character at times.

MP3s and NPCs: What has been your favorite moment from this season so far?

Vee: I do really love, uh, and it's, it's cause of the, the animation direction with Muhammad and that first or second episode where they're talking and we just see like the beautiful backdrop of the city and the flowers and the music is swelling. I really liked that. I also love all the scenes with animals. The animals are drawn so adorable, and they just crack me up.

Benelbar: I think for me, it's the immediate first thing you see is the world building of Jaadugar, especially in the 13th century Persia. You hear the call to prayer. It immediately immersed me and made me feel like I was back in my home country and, uh, really, really like felt at home. It was awesome to see the different architecture at that time, the different merchants, you know, crawling around seeing Fatima, seeing, you know, see Sitara's introduction and then Muhammad ultimately, um, you know, being introduced. I know that's multiple moments, but for me, it just feels like this collective microcosm of just like the world building in the first episode of Jaadugar is fantastic.

MP3s and NPCs: What life lessons can viewers learn from the show?

Vee: Well, the obvious one, knowledge is power, of course. Also, people are capable of surviving truly horrible things.

Benelbar: I think it depends, but I would say that yes, knowledge is power, but it's important on how you utilize it and how you use it and how you connect with others. The human condition is eternal. Everyone since time immemorial has had, you know, issues and problems that had their ups and downs, and it's what we do about how we pick ourselves up, how we utilize knowledge to, you know, advance ourselves forward. I think is really important. And, you know, that it takes a village. I know Sitara is doing this by herself in a sense, but also has that really strong relationship with Töregene, and so I think that's important, too.