Interview with Masaki Tachibana, director of "Princess Principal" Beloved characters arouse interest in the story

The catchy original TV anime "Princess Principal" is a spy mission by high school girls. The broadcast recently reached its final episode, and many viewers may have enjoyed the many mysteries, settings, and key word "lie" that were tossed around during the broadcast. When we interviewed director Masanori Tachibana about this work, we were impressed by his meticulous attention to the depiction of characters beloved by fans. I was impressed by his philosophy of creating works in which the characters invite viewers to the story, and the love of the creators who create these characters.

The mission and characters are mirrored in the drama

─ I heard that the initial concept of this film was a "spy story," and that it was Director Tachibana who adopted the Victorian era as the setting.

Masanori Tachibana: At first, it was decided that five girls would spy on each other, and after consulting with the producer, we came up with the idea of adopting steampunk. The motif of steampunk is actually quite relaxed, and as long as steam is blowing and some quirky mecha appear, it can be considered steampunk. In other words, it is a world of "stylistic beauty. However, until now, there has been no work that combines these elements with a solid historical background of 19th century London. For example, in industrial design, the technological level of the machines that came out did not match the design of the products made by craftsmen. If we could do it with a strong focus on these aspects, it would be the first attempt for a TV series, and I was interested in this period myself, so I talked to the producer about it, and as a result, the general framework was decided upon.


───There was a sense of aesthetics in many parts of the work, but the root of that was coming from Director Tachibana, wasn't it?

Tachibana: First of all, I wanted to incorporate beautifully designed machines and craftsmanship that I myself would like to see in the work. I asked Mr. Rokushichi for the concept design and Mr. Fumihiro Katagai for the mechanical design. During our meetings, I often said, "I want the design to be colorful," and they incorporated Victorian Gothic elegance and Art Nouveau curves. I drew rough sketches myself and repeatedly fine-tuned my image by giving specific images in words to share with them.

───Can you tell us about the story you created? This work is very emotionally appealing to the viewer, with the use of "lies" characteristic of spies at the end of the story to create a sense of exhilaration and a bitter flavor. How did you go about creating these elements?

Tachibana: The use of "lie" as a keyword was incorporated by Ichiro Okochi (series composition and screenplay) from the plot stage, and the suspense of the story was worked out in the scenario. For the spy rules and details, we asked Haruichi Shirado (researcher) and Hayami Rasenjin (setting assistance) to come up with ideas and supervise us. In creating the scenario, Mr. Okochi would first think of the storyline related to the characters, such as where they would go undercover, what they would do, and what kind of conversations they would have there, and then ask Mr. Shiratsuchi for the details of the accompanying missions. In other words, we asked Mr. Shiratsuchi to make sure that the mission and the characters are mirrored in the story. In a story, it is not so much what kind of mission you accomplish, but rather what kind of relationship between the people you meet and how the drama will end. For example, when I created a drama in which a person has to put away the person he loves because he is in a different section, I asked Mr. Shiratsuchi to come up with a mission that would evoke that kind of sad emotion.


─ So the spy mission, with its dramatic development, was created to provoke emotions in the characters.

Tachibana: From the script meeting stage, we had a unified view that we wanted the characters to make the audience fall in love with them. We wanted to make the spy cool, but if the details of the job came first, the drama would not stand up. If we only depicted spy missions, we would end up simply showing other people's work. Sympathy is created by making the viewer wonder what kind of backstory the girls who do the work have and what kind of thoughts they have in mind as they engage in this work. Therefore, I tried to create images that were as close to the characters as possible.

─ ─ I also think that this work as a whole is very rich in information. In particular, the method of showing the relationship between Angel and the Princess while shuffling the timeline of the episodes was surprising and interesting to the viewers. How did you control this kind of direction?

Tachibana: From the very beginning, we showed that this work was a story about Angel and Princess, and we wanted everyone to follow what would happen to them in the end. For example, in the last scene of the second episode (case1 Dancy Conspiracy), the script says [Angée] "The control is looking for the control (omitted)..." to [Princess] "The answer is simple, because you told me", but there is no detail of how she gave the note. But there is no detail of how I gave the note there. Therefore, it is necessary to fill in the details with storyboards. When they greet each other at the party, "Nice to meet you," they actually haven't seen each other in 10 years, so there is a surprise there, but they are meeting each other in a lying form, so I pick up what kind of expressions they have there in the storyboard. In other words, I was working backward from the development behind the scenes, and I tried to pick up as much as I could about the reasons for the expressions on their faces at that time. When the characters laugh after hearing a line, I thought a lot about whether it is a nostalgic laugh or a happy one, and I made sure to consider the changes in facial expressions in the pictures. In scenes where emotions were involved or where the characters were moved by their feelings for each other, I would cut the storyboards with the hope that the viewer would come to like the characters by picking up the parts of the story where the characters' feelings for each other were properly expressed.


───When I looked at the materials, I could see that the director was very particular about annotating the storyboards for each episode.

Tachibana: You can't really get to know a character until you work with them for a long time, so I had a certain amount of control over how the character was feeling when they were speaking. Even when laughing, the expression of the picture changes depending on whether it is a laugh to take over the scene or a hearty laugh, so I gave instructions on the subtleties.