Animate Times Interview With Akagi Hiroaki

Date: 2023-04-03

Spring Anime "Boku no Kokoro no Yabai Yatsu" Serialized Interview No.1: Director Akagi Hiroaki｜"I carefully drew the distance between the two characters in accordance with the original story".

"Dying from a glorious sight" have caused a great sensation!　The most exciting romantic comedy of youth "Boku no Kokoro no Yabaiyatsu" will start airing on April 1 (Saturday) on "NUMAnimation", BS Asahi and CS Teresa Channel 1, 24 stations nationwide network of TV Asahi.

"Boku no Kokoro no Yabai Yatsu" (Bokuyaba), currently serialized in "Manga Cross" (Akita Shoten) by Sakurai Norio, is a popular manga that has gained popularity mainly through SNS and has sold more than 3 million copies in total.

An interview serializing this work has started in Animate Times! The first interview is with Akagi Hiroaki, the director known for "Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san" and "Kakkou no Iinazuke". We asked him to tell us about his thoughts on the anime and the points he focused on.

--First of all, please tell us how you came to know the original story.

Akagi Hiroaki: Recently, I have been so absorbed in making animation that I have not had much time to read the manga. So unfortunately, I didn't know about the work at first, and I read it after I received the offer.

When I read it, I found it very interesting and empathized with Ichikawa-kun, who was like me in junior high school. I told Sakurai-sensei that I had Ichikawa-kun's hair style and was small in stature when I was in school (laugh). She often told me that I looked like Kitaro. I had a chuunibyou thought that "the world should just disappear...".

--Exactly like Ichikawa-kun!

Akagi：That's right (laughs). At the time, I loved the world of Daijiro Moroboshi. That's why I had a lot of sympathy for the slightly chuunibyou Ichikawa-kun.

───What else did you and Sakurai-sensei talk about?

Akagi：We talked about many things beforehand. I asked her to tell me about the character's personality, feelings that I couldn't understand in words, and thoughts about the lines. I asked so many questions that the producer said, "There are so many questions, won't the sensei be troubled?" (Laughs). But later on, there were times when I wished I had asked more questions. It's totally unrelated, but I also asked her about her favorite anime (laughs).

─ ─ You talked about various things (laughs). I heard that Sakurai-sensei also participated in the post-recording.

Akagi：Yes. Sometimes she watched remotely, and sometimes she came to the recording studio.

───The original story is still being serialized, but how did you plan to produce "Bokuyaba" as an anime?

Akagi：I followed the storyline of the original work and emphasized the distance between the two. I thought that the "I want to say, but can't" was a difficult part of the story to tell. I placed importance on the "voiceless voice" when creating the pictures. In the animation, there is also the problem of the length of the story, so I was careful to depict it delicately from the scripting stage. Hanada (Jukki), who wrote the script and composed the series, helped me adjust and changed parts of the story.

Then there is the color. I wanted to use color to depict the emotions and changes of the characters. Also, with Sakurai-sensei's permission, we changed the seating order at the school from the original story. There are other changes as well, but I hope the audience will notice them.

-- The color designer is Yanagisawa Kumiko, who also worked on the "Pretty Cure" series.

Akagi：This is actually the first time I've asked Yanagisawa-san to do this. I wanted to ask someone who specializes in colorful designs, so I spoke with Yanagisawa-san.

--So this was your first time working with her? On the other hand, I think you have known sound director Konuma Noriyoshi for a long time.

Akagi：Yes, I have. That's why it was easy for me to consult with him. Konuma-san's direction is very good. He has also read the original work, so he has a wonderful balance with the music, and is a very reliable person.

--I would like to ask you a little more about how the staffing came about. You mentioned Hanada-san's name earlier, but could you tell us why you offered it to him?

Akagi：I myself was fascinated by the works that Hanada-san had created. For example, "Love Live! School Idol Project" and many others. So I was very happy when he accepted the project.

The character designer, Katsumata Masato, helped me with the supervising work on "Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san". During the difficult production process, there was the delicate task of expressing emotions through facial expressions without voice, and he did a wonderful job of it. There are many such nuances in "Bokuyaba" so I asked Katsumata-san to help me because I thought he would be able to pull it off.

─ Are there other people whom you asked to work with as the director?

Akagi：There is an animator named Mogi (Takuji), whom I also asked to work on "Takagi-san" and he was the key animator for all the episodes. I also asked Mashima Jiro to do the same.

───As you mentioned earlier, was it the facial expressions that you focused on when creating the pictures?

Akagi：Yes. And the movements. For example, it is very difficult to depict the delicate movements of a child's face when eating food or making gestures in daily life. I was very particular about that. There are only a limited number of people who can express that.

─ What was your impression of the theme song and the musical accompaniment by Ushio Kensuke?

Akagi：I have no other comment than to say "it's great". It is thanks to the wonderful people who worked on it, Yorushika and Kohana Lam. They all understood the atmosphere of the original work very well. I was very impressed when Ushio-san asked me to tell him the scale of their stride. I told him that they would walk slowly, at about 6 frames per second, and that it would be difficult for them to separate from each other, and the music for the last part of the first episode was completed. It is a scene that I personally like very much.

─ The role of Ichikawa Kyotaro is played by Horie Shun and the role of Yamada Anna is played by Youmiya Hina. Could you tell us why you asked both of them to play these roles?

Akagi：It was an audition for both of them. Horie-san exuded the junior high school feel. I had the impression that he might have had the same experience when he was in junior high school, and that we might be able to understand each other. Sakurai-sensei also said, "I think Horie-san is a good choice".

Youmiya Hina-san has a voice that is rare these days. Her acting has a sense of balance, and I thought she was very good at it. She also read the original story thoroughly. During the audition, I asked her to ad-lib the "eating" part, which was not in the script. She was the only one who could do the scene where she eats potato chips, which is in the original story, and she did it beautifully. That was the deciding factor.

─ What exactly do you mean by her voice, which is rare these days?

Akagi：I would say the texture of her voice. I like the way it adds a sense of slow and steady motion, and enhances the character's performance.

--Having actually seen the recording, how do you feel about the dialogue between the two of them?

Akagi: It was really funny and made me laugh. Also, even when I say, "Okay," sometimes they say, "Um," afterwards. I wonder if they think that they are not giving it their all, or if they could aim higher. They are very passionate about what they do. Both of them are very passionate about the role, and they all put on a good performance, and Horie-san's performance makes Ichikawa more than just a bad guy. He is very good.

─ When I interviewed Sakurai-sensei before, she said that Ichikawa's sister was her favorite. The actress in charge of Ichikawa's sister, Ichikawa Kana, is Tamura Yukari, right?

The producer who is present: It was the director's casting. The director said "Please ask Tamura-san".

Akagi: Yes (laughs). After seeing Ichikawa's voice and acting, I said, "The Ichikawa family has a strong blood lineage, therefore..!" So I wanted to ask Tamura-san to do it. When I first heard her voice, I said to myself, "This is it!". The passion from the play was amazing (laughs).

I think that each director has his or her own way of proceeding and judges what is important to him or her.

Akagi: In my case, each time I work on an animation, I tell each person in charge what I want to do and what I like or dislike about the way they express themselves. Also, I place importance on the unvoiced lines.

─ You mentioned earlier that you value the "voiceless voice" when creating pictures. Is this also related to the "pauses" between words?

Akagi：Yes. I would say between the lines. I value that kind of space. I also place importance on the start and end of each chapter of the story. I hope that people's emotions change when they enter and exit the story.

─ Does that mean for the characters Ichikawa-kun and Yamada-san, as well as for the viewers?

Akagi：Yes, that's right.

─ ─ I'm sorry to interrupt this conversation, but for this serial interview, I would like to ask you to tell me something that you think is "Bad for the Heart".

Akagi：Don't worry (laughs). Well, I guess it's the part where I feel like calling for UFOs when I see the starry sky.

─ ─ When you see a starry sky, you want to ...... a UFO!

Akagi：Yes (laughs). I end up looking for UFOs, wondering if they will come. Actually, I have seen one a few times. You might think I'm not a serious guy when I say this (laughs). Some of them were in the news. It was a long time ago, but one day I was looking north and saw something that looked like the moon, and I thought, "But there is no moon in the north," and as I looked at it, it whirled around and disappeared. After that, the event was introduced on TV and in newspapers as "......" over Nerima Ward. I thought, "Oh, everyone saw that."

─ ─ Wow, ......!　Thank you for sharing your private life with us. Finally, please tell us about the highlights of the second and subsequent episodes.

Akagi: Episode 2 is a better story. It is my favorite story. And there will be a random C-part in the story after this one, so I hope you enjoy it until the ending.

Source:

https://www.animatetimes.com/news/details.php?id=1680144826