Special Feature: "Activ Raid - Mobile Assault Room No. 8" Staff Interviews - Part 1: Series Composition by Toshihisa Arakawa

The first season of the TV anime "Activ Raid - Mobile Assault Room Section 8" is coming to an end. Many viewers are looking forward to the elaborate episodes in which idols, gamblers, and even giant robots appear, even though the story is set in the police force. As General Director Goro Taniguchi says, "Please feel free to watch it," the gimmick of the police organization and the unique characters provide a variety of interesting aspects of a TV anime. In the first of a series of interviews with the main staff, we interviewed series director Toshihisa Arakawa about the creation of this work. He talks at length about the detailed innovations in character creation.

Incorporating New Elements into Police Animation

─ First of all, how did the project for this work come to you, Mr. Arakawa?

Toshihisa Ara kawa (Arakawa): In 2013, I was working on a production called "I'll Be a Twintail" at Production Imus. (Arakawa): I received the idea for this project around the time I was working on "I'll Be a Twintail" at Production Imes in 2013. I was asked to do an animated police story in the style of "Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger" (Note: 2004; Mr. Arakawa participated as the main writer), and I thought, "I see, that's the style. When I was told that the anime should be in the style of "Tokussho Sentai Dekaranger" (Note: 2004; Mr. Arakawa was the main writer), I thought, "I see what you mean. In that sense, while the story revolves around a criminal case and the members' activities, I think there are new expressions that can be shown only now. By adding new elements to their equipment and human relations within the police force, we could create a completely different impression, and that was something I was looking forward to.

───How much did you have in mind when you read the proposal?

Arakawa: From the impression I got from reading the proposal, I thought it was pretty well defined. I was asked to prepare to a certain extent the parts of the project such as the near future, half of Tokyo being under water, and the organization having such members, so in that sense, it was easy for me to work on the project.

─ Did you feel that there was a large amount of blank space in the worldview?

Arakawa: It was interesting as a material. For example, what does it mean to be half submerged in water? What can we find out from that? We may be able to draw out a completely different feeling from the current situation. I felt that the setting and the characters each had their own unique points of interest, so I wanted to make sure that both aspects of the work would make it worthwhile to be involved. In that sense, I wanted to make sure that the characters were worth being involved in both aspects of the production.

─ How did you tweak the characters?

Arakawa: The first thing I asked General Director Taniguchi to do was to reverse the positions of Funasaka and Rin. At first, Funasaka was the boss. I thought it would be too "Patlabor"-esque if Funasaka was at the top. I was also the one who made Butei look the way she does (laughs). (Laughs) I was personally attracted to the fact that she looks like that, but is actually a brilliant woman and a dependable boss.

───The way you portrayed her was also changed a lot by reversing her body shape.

Arakawa That's right. I think it gave a feeling that could only be achieved in animation. If we had used live-action actors, Funasaka's presence would have become too big, and it would have been difficult to make Rin and Yo look alike due to their age. However, if it were an anime, the character designers would take this into account to some extent and present the characters in a convincing way, and I thought the viewers would perceive it as a single impact. I was very conscious of that.

───What changes did you make to Kuroki and Sena?

Arakawa: The Black Rider is exactly as the director initially ordered. As for Sena, I wanted to give her an odd, obsessive quality, so I tried to give her a meticulous look. At first, he was an intellectual character who felt it was uninteresting that he was transferred to this department, but I wanted to give him a human touch, so I created this kind of character as a contrast to Kuroki, who is more open-minded and free-spirited. I also wanted to create a character that would be opposite to the black cavalryman, who is more open-minded, and also to create a sense of buddy-ness.

─ What do you think about Asami, who is likely to become a key person?

Arakawa: At the planning stage, we did not have a character for Asami. She was created as a rhetorical device to explain Daihachi in the first episode. Also, the mini-theme of how she changes over the course of the series, as she seems to be a sharp but clumsy person, was set up. I don't think the director had any major ideas about this at first, but it gradually became clear that it would be easier to see the series if we centered on her, and she came to appear at key points toward the end of the series to say even one important word. However, because she is a character like that, I felt that we could empathize with her as she grows up to be a full-fledged person, so I think the key point in the latter half of the film was to find a way to tie her into the story. I think the key point in the latter half of the film was how to relate the story to the main axis.

─ How about the other members of Daihachi?

Arakawa: I added Haruka's nerdy side. At first, she was a manager type and the most solid operator, but I wanted to depict what she does on a daily basis, and I also wanted to show her from a geek's point of view at a crime scene, such as "Is this ......? I also wanted to create a setting where I could get clues to the investigation from a geek's point of view at the scene of a crime. On the other hand, Yen's reticence is a contrast to Haruka's active nature. There was a plan to have her not speak at all, but I didn't want to have to call in voice actors just to hear her breathing, so I assumed that she would speak all at once at some point. I asked Toshiki Inoue to write the script, and it was his hobby to become a gambler in the fifth episode (laughs). (Laughs.) I think that by having him speak extensively in the main episodes, we were able to make the story more cohesive.