Why does Sunrise operate the website "YARITACHI BUNKO"?　Interview with Yoshitaka Kawaguchi, Editor-in-Chief of "Yarate Bunko" [Part 1

Sunrise Inc. has produced over 400 anime works in a variety of genres, including robot anime such as "Mobile Suit Gundam" and "Armored Trooper Votoms. Sunrise is a leading production company in the Japanese animation industry and is well known by animation fans around the world.

The website "Yattate Bunko" ( # ), which the company has been operating since the summer of 2016, is actively developing various contents such as "Armored Trooper Votoms," "Gaogaiger the Brave," "Better Man," "Zegapain," and other Sunrise works that are well-known to fans.

⇒ "Yarate Bunko" operated by Sunrise is now open!　New "Gundam" side story to be launched in October!

What in the world is Yarate Bunko?　We spoke with Yoshitaka Kawaguchi, the chief editor, about "Yarate Bunko," an entity of interest to anime fans.

Interview with the editor-in-chief about "Yarate Bunko" operated by Sunrise

─ First of all, please tell us about the concept of Yarate Bunko.

Yoshitaka Kawaguchi (Kawaguchi): First of all, the keyword is "Sunrise's collection of projects. There are many proposals waiting to be released within Sunrise. One of our concepts is to bring those plans out of storage.
Also, these days it is becoming more and more difficult to create original animations, and when we think about marketing and such, we tend to end up with "narrow" projects. In such an environment, Sunrise wanted to create a place where we could propose "this kind of work we want to make" or "it would be interesting to have this kind of work. That is how we came to launch the Yattate Bunko website.

─ When did you start working on the project to create such a site?

Kawaguchi: The idea came to me about a year ago. A group of people who had no editorial experience and had only worked in animation planning and production got together to think about what kind of site it would be, what lineup of works would be best, and whether manga or novels would be best. ・・・・・・ But even though we were at that stage, in the spring of 2016, it was announced within the company that "Yattate Bunko" would start in the summer (laughs).

──When I hear that, you must have had a very tight schedule.

Kawaguchi: As expected, I wondered if it would be all right.　Would we make it in time?　We started to make announcements at the Sunrise Festival 2016 in August, and then we had a pre-opening at the beginning of September and the main opening at the end of September at ・・・・・・. Thanks to everyone's hard work, we were able to make it happen. Thanks to everyone's hard work, we were able to open at the end of September.
In the anime industry, September is "summer," so it's safe to say (laughs).

─ ─ (laughs). (laughs) That's how Yattate Bunko was born. What is the main target of the site?

Kawaguchi: Basically, one of our targets is "people who have watched Sunrise's works," including current and past works. I hope that people will come to the site thinking, "I heard that something new has started" or "I wonder what happened to the continuation of that work I used to like. That's why we have been introducing works from each generation, such as "Armored Trooper Votoms" in the 1980s, "Gaogaigar the Brave" and "Better Man" in the 1990s, and "Zegapain" in the 2000s.

─ ─ Looking at the lineup of works, I had the impression that the main target was generally people in their 30s and 40s.

Kawaguchi: The members of the editorial staff are in charge of planning, promotion, and producers at Sunrise, and since they are mainly in their 30s and 40s, many of the projects are "heavy" ones, such as those that dig up past projects or mechanical works. In this sense, we have a slightly older target group. In this sense, the target age group is a little older than usual.
The current serialization of "Millennium Thorn" is a typical example. This is a serialization based on an existing proposal, but it has a "heavy" Sunrise taste, and the mecha are really cool, so I hope that the core fans who are not satisfied with the recent Sunrise will like it.

─ It seems that there are many anime fans who will be impressed by this atmosphere.

Kawaguchi: Of course, if possible, we would like to attract more new fans in the future, and we have added new artists such as Akira Kuge's "Haruka no Hoshi" and Bukubu Okawa's four-panel manga "IP Police Tsuzuki-chan," which is popular among the younger generation, to our lineup in the hopes that they will read them. We added these works to our lineup in the hope that they would be read by young people.

───Those are not past projects, but new projects for Yarate Bunko, aren't they?

Kawaguchi: Yes. And Yarate Bunko will continue to increase the number of such works for young people, and of course we plan to add more and more Sunrise works from the past. I hope that we can create an environment where fans can mutually circulate.

─ I see. Now that it has been about two months since you opened the site, how is the response from readers?

Kawaguchi: I wonder what the reaction is to ・・・・・・ (laughs).

Kawaguchi──What?

Kawaguchi: This is Sunrise's first attempt at operating a site like this, so we don't have a standard number. So we don' t know if it's good or bad (laughs). (Laughs.) Of course, we do look at what fans say, or what the Internet says about us. In that sense, "IP Police Tsuzuki-chan," which was mentioned earlier, is a work that easily becomes a topic of conversation on social networking sites. It has been receiving a lot of response not only from young fans, but also from old fans of the works featured in the book.
I've also had a great response to "Gaogaigar vs. Better Man" and "Mobile Suit Gundam: Twilight AXIS".

TM: Since these are serial novels, do you change the stories depending on the reaction of the fans?

Kawaguchi: Actually, the amount of writing depends on the work. Some works have already been written up to completion and are divided into easy-to-read parts for each story, while others are created for one month at a time. In that sense, works that have parts that have not yet been written may naturally reflect the reactions of fans.
On the other hand, writers have asked us, "Is it like a newspaper novel?　Or something like a serialized magazine novel?" I was sometimes asked, "Is it like a newspaper novel? It is true that the form is similar, but I tell them that it is not necessary for the editorial staff to write a novel or an animated TV series with the same level of detail and excitement as in a serial novel or an animated TV series.

─ ─ Why is that?

Kawaguchi: This is also related to the future of Yarate Bunko. ・・・・・・ Yarate Bunko has just been established and is not well known yet. We also lack editorial experience. We are not well known yet, and we don't have much editorial experience! If we just follow the reaction of our current readers, we might lose sight of the work's nature. ・・・・・・
Instead, we would like to continue to accumulate more and more works, so that a year from now, when people come to the site for the first time and read one of the works on the site, they will be interested in reading other works in the Yattate Bunko collection and imagine what it would be like if this were made into a movie. I want to create that kind of situation.

Kawaguchi: So you don't want the readers to enjoy the works just for the present, but you are thinking about when they read them all together in the future.

Kawaguchi: The real question is how much content to accumulate, and that is an operational issue that we will have to consider in the future. For example, when the book is published in book form or as an e-book in the future, will we make all of the contents unreadable, or will we leave only a portion of the contents as a trial reading style, as in the case of ・・・・・・? I am sure that the publishers who cooperate with us will have their own ideas in this area, and we would like to explore the best way to do this.

───What are some of the advantages of the Web that you have noticed while managing Yattate Bunko?

Kawaguchi: The good thing about the Web is that we can set our own deadlines. We don't have to deliver the work somewhere, and it is really easy (laughs). At the current stage, each member of Yattate Bunko basically finds time in between his or her own work, so it is nice to have a little leeway in the progress of our own website. Of course, as we move forward into full-scale operations, I am sure things will get more difficult.

─ ─ On the other hand, what are the difficulties?

Kawaguchi: How do we get people to know about the Yarate Bunko? With books, the very fact that they are released and appear on store shelves is also a form of publicity, but it is not so easy with the Web. Also, there are many rivals, including the websites of the publishers of our main business and novel submission sites, so we will have to work on how to make our presence known among these rivals, and I think it will be a very difficult task.

Yatate Bunko will become a gateway to success for producers and directors!

─ By the way, do you get requests from within Sunrise to do your own projects at Yarate Bunko?

Kawaguchi: We have received many offers from the production site. However, Yarate Bunko does not have a full-time editorial staff, so basically, the person who initiates a proposal is supposed to do his/her best as an editor. So, as long as I can take charge of the project while doing my current work, I said, "Sure.

Kawaguchi: This may sound harsh, but this is the way it is with anime.

Kawaguchi: This may sound harsh, but it is also a part of the job of an animation producer. There are people in the animation production field who want to become producers or directors in the future, and I think it is very important for them to have the experience of working with artists and illustrators to create a single work.
In the past, there used to be a time when each animation had nearly 50 episodes or a program lasted for more than two years, so it was possible to say, "Let's leave this one to him," but these days there are fewer episodes per work and the quality required has risen, so there is no room for that anymore. The reality is that there are fewer and fewer opportunities for young people to gain "real-world" experience, and I hope that Yarate Bunko will be one of those places.

─ In the future, will we be able to see animations created by producers who gained experience at Yarate Bunko?

Kawaguchi: It might be ・・・・・・. Also, do you ever publish works submitted by readers?　I have been asked that. We may do this in the future as well. But first of all, we would like to make Yattate Bunko a place to showcase what comes from within us at Sunrise.

─ So that's what you meant when you mentioned the initial concept of "a place where Sunrise can make proposals. Now then, could you tell us about the future of Yattate Bunko?

Kawaguchi: First of all, we will be adding more titles around the beginning of the year. There will be horror stories, Sunrise-style bishojo stories, and non-moving robot stories (laughs). I would like to continue to add titles every three months if possible.
I would also like to do more than just novels and other voluminous works, but also small articles. A while ago, we posted the original artwork for "Cross Ange: Tenshi to Ryu no Ranbu," and we would like to gradually increase the number of such articles that can be read casually. Also, on December 5, we started a photo submission project called "Ganputagram," where you can win a "2017 Sunrise Calendar," so please submit your photos.

(Continue to Part 2 )



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