How was the Sunrise Mecha x Bishojo "Sun Musume" born?　A direct interview with the producer and author!

Sunrise, the animation production company that has created many hit works such as "Mobile Suit Gundam" and "Armored Trooper Votoms," operates the website "Yatate Bunko" ( # ). The concept of the website is to "store away" Sunrise's internal projects. It is a topical work that depicts girls fighting with the help of Sunrise robots.

⇒ The first episodes of four unique works, including "Sun Musume," a story of beautiful girls fighting with the power of Sunrise robots, are all available for viewing!

Akiba Research Institute interviewed Hiroomi Iketani, the producer of this work, and Akira Kindaichi, the author of the novel. We asked them about the project's concept and the start of the project, as well as other aspects of this work that remain a mystery to us.

Why "Reisner-chan" is not in "Sun Musume" - Why didn't they choose an anthropomorphic character?

───Please tell us how the "Sun Musume: Girl's Battle Bootlog" (hereinafter referred to as "Sun Musume") project started.

Hiroomi Ikeya (Ikeya): Recently, there have been many works that combine girls and mecha, and Sunrise did not want to be left behind (laughs).
(Laughs) I also like robots, and over the 20 years since I joined Sunrise, I have worked as a production manager, desk clerk, and producer, I have often been asked if I could do something using Sunrise robots. Sun-Musume" was one of the ideas that came out of those discussions.

─ When did the idea take concrete form?

Ikeya: Around 2015, I think. I had meetings with various people to find out how to present the concept of combining Sunrise's mecha and girls to the world. That period was quite long.

─ I heard from Editor-in-Chief Kawaguchi that the "Yarate Bunko" project started in the spring of 2016, so it was not a novel project at that time, was it?
⇒Why does Sunrise operate the website "Yattate Bunko"?　Interview with Yoshitaka Kawaguchi, Editor-in-Chief of "Yarate Bunko" [Part 1

Ikeya: Yes. I thought of a number of ways to give shape to this project, such as through animation or games, but it was a new experiment, and I thought the content was likely to receive both support and criticism, so I thought it was necessary to first try to get it out there somehow.

Yatate Bunko

Fortunately, a website called Yarate Bunko was launched, and we decided to try it there first. There were various ways of expression for serialization in Yarate Bunko, such as visual stories and manga, but I wanted to show the girls' daily lives and fun conversations, so I thought a novel would be the way to do it.

─ So that's when you came to us, Mr. Kindaichi.

Akiyoshi Kindaichi (Kindaichi ) Yes. I was introduced to you by a mutual acquaintance. I have been working mainly as a writer for social games and consumer games, and I had the opportunity to work with a writer who works for Sunrise. That is how I came to participate in the "Sun Musume" project.

─ ─ Mr. Kindaichi, what was your impression when you first heard about the "Sanmusume" project?

Kindaichi: I thought it was a very catchy project. We are seeing more and more anthropomorphic works these days, and I felt that if the original source material was a robot animation by Sunrise, which everyone already knew, it would definitely be very exciting.
Also, I myself loved Sunrise anime such as "Densetsu Kyojin Ideon," so I really wanted to give it a try.

─ ─ Considering the recent trends in the anime and game industry, it seems natural that the work would be an anthropomorphic work, but what was the reason why you did not dare to make "Sun Musume" an anthropomorphic work?

Ikeya: I felt that there would be demand for an anthropomorphic "Reisner-chan" or "Zambot3-chan". However, with "Sun Musume," I wanted to make it accessible to people other than fans who simply like Sunrise robots, and in that case, I thought that not only the pure cuteness of the girls, but also the way in which the girls play an active role as girls would be important. So, while the girls fight and solve crimes with the help of the robots, I wanted to include the girls' daily lives and school life in the work, so I dared to avoid anthropomorphizing the girls.

Kindaichi: You were able to include everyday life because of the concept of SANMUSHO as a girl wearing armor.

IkeyaThere are many anthropomorphic works, and I am sure each of them has its own unique style. Of course, it's not just about that kind of everyday life, but what would a Sunrise robot do if it didn't fight (laughs)? That's why I asked Mr. Kindaichi to describe the battle scenes well.

─ ─ The daily life of the girls is depicted in this way, but now it is a bit more serious, including the relationships within the class, isn't it?

Kindaichi: Of course, I think there was an option to make it a "daily life" story that focuses on making the girls have fun. But if the girls were to appear as human beings, I wanted to portray them not only in a fun way, but also in a "coming-of-age" story in which the characters grow through various experiences.

The main character, Maachi Nanasei. On the left is the first form, "Egg Mode," and on the right is the second form, "Attack Mode. The arm in Attack Mode is called the D (Duel) Arm in the film.

─ I see. How did you come up with the idea for the D arm?

Ikeya: We asked Takuya Takeo, who was in charge of character design, to make sure that the concept was not similar to existing anthropomorphic works. Basically, we had decided to have each character in the Sun Musume state wear a costume, but we thought a lot about what to do with the robot parts before placing the order. I consulted with various people and met with Mr. Inoue many times. In the end, Mr. Izio came up with the idea of egg parts, and we decided to use them to make the arms.
I asked him not to use the original design of the robot's arms, but to make a design that would be recognizable at a glance, and I think all the designs turned out great thanks to his help. Zambot 3, for example, has a knob on its shoulder, and I think it is interesting to look at such parts.

Sun Girl Kaede Kamizuki, based on Zambot 3 (above) , with Zambot 3-like designs scattered throughout her D-arm and a Zambot Buster-style hair clip, and other costume designs inspired by the work.

─ ─ Mr. Kindaichi, what was your impression when you first saw this setup?

Kindaichi: I thought it was very interesting. Besides, "Sun Musume" is a work of fiction, so it relies heavily on the reader's image, and I think it would be difficult to convey this to the reader if the design is too complicated or if it has elaborate gimmicks. If that were the case, I thought it would be easier for readers to understand if there was one characteristic part and the battle unfolded using that part.