In a developing system containing a combination of forward-rotating and a backward-rotating developing rollers, a steady quantity of developing agent should be supplied to the developing rollers for high-quality printed images. This requirement can be satisfied by placing a doctor blade between an intersection point, where a line connecting the central axis of one of the developing rollers and its polarity reversing position meets a line connecting the central axis of the other of the developing rollers and its polarity reversing position, and the developing roller pair. Further, the doctor blade should be located on the upstream side of the developing agent flow relative to the central axes of the backward-rotating developing roller and the forward rotating developing roller with its rightmost side (upstream side) in parallel with the line connecting the central axes of the developing rollers, and the doctor gap (on the side of the developing roller to which the developing agent is supplied) should be greater than a minimum gap (doctor gap) between one end of the doctor blade and the surface of the developing roller to which the developing agent is first supplied.