Director Kenshiro Morii talks about the birth of "Anime Gatarisu" and his passion for the work.

The completely original fall anime "Anime Gatarisu" will start airing on TOKYO MX and other stations from October 8 (Sun.), 2017. Akiba Research Institute has picked up this highly anticipated work just prior to its broadcast!　We will be focusing on interviews with the cast and staff members, as well as their thoughts on the work and its charms.
⇒2017 Fall Anime

Anime Gatari's" is a 30-minute animation directed by Kenshiro Morii, the director of "Anime Gatari," which depicts one year before "Anime Gatari," a short animation that was shown during the interval of the theater movie. In this interview, we spoke with director Morii about the background to the production, his particulars, the cast, the music, and much more.

I had no choice but to take this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

--How did the production of "Anime Gatari's" begin?

Morii: Last spring, we finished a short animation called "Anime Gatari," which we had been doing in the interval at TOHO Cinemas, and after that, DMM established the animation label "DMM pictures" and decided to do an animation. We decided to expand "Anime Gatari" with original works by DMM.futureworks. I was the director of the project, so I was approached. Morii, do you want to do a 30-minute animation? I'll do it! (laughs).

--Director Morii, you have made short animations and music videos in the past, but this is your first 30-minute animation, isn't it?

Morii: That's right. I have always been in the odd position of being a manga artist with one foot in animation, but I never thought I would be involved in a 30-minute animation. However, I thought it would be a waste if I hesitated, and that I would only get to do an original 30-minute animation once in my lifetime, so I had no choice but not to do it.

--And you started production based on the setting of the previous "Anime Gatari"?

Morii: The previous "Anime Gatari" was a one-and-a-half-minute work in which we talked machine-gun talk, for example, about robots if they were robots, or about broken artwork if it was broken artwork. However, it would be tough to do that in a 30-minute animation, so we were talking about the need to come up with a new structure, even if the concept was to remain the same.

However, we felt that it would be a bad idea to have no connection at all with the previous work, so we decided to carry over the setting. The main character in the previous work, Maya, played by Inori Minase, had a younger sister who was a well-rounded anita, so we decided to make an anime focusing on that younger sister.

--How did you come up with the content of this work?

Morii: First, I proposed the plot or flow of the work, but since I am a short-animation type of person, it was difficult to make a 30-minute one-cour work with the plot I had initially thought of. But during the reading sessions (script meetings), we often got sidetracked about our favorite anime (laughs).

--(laughs) - we talked about that kind of thing at the advance screenings, too.

Morii I heard that Mitsutake Hirota, the series director, who was there that day, kept shouting, "No, you're the one who is digressing" (laughs). (Laughs.) From my point of view, I think everyone else was just as derailed as we were. ...... We would start with an "anime talk" about what kind of anime we liked, and it would often go on for an hour or two.

--Because of that, you used a lot of anime material in your work.

Morii That's right. I first got involved in the anime industry when I was asked to do the ending for the second season of "Fullmetal Alchemist. Since then, I have watched a certain amount of anime, but I think it is unbalanced to focus only on recent works or, on the other hand, to focus only on old works. That said, I can't talk about anything other than what I like, so I think we ended up talking about the anime we like.

--By the way, what is the anime that you like to talk about?

Morii: Before "Fullmetal Alchemist," it would be "Furikuri. I like director Kazuya Tsurumaki, and I like the manga version as well as the anime. As a lover of subcultures, I also like "Mind Game" directed by Masaaki Yuasa. I also like "AKIRA," which I saw with my relative's brother when I was in the second grade of elementary school, and it has been burned in my mind for a while.

I also watched "Genji Tsushin Agedama" and "Nurse Angel Ririka SOS," which were rather straightforward (by the director's standards), but after that I became more subculture-oriented. So, I think my roots are still in "AKIRA" and "Furikuri. Among Gainax's works, "Aim for the Top! on Blu-ray recently and I really enjoyed it.

--I saw it on Blu-ray recently and enjoyed it very much.

Morii I think so. But on the other hand, I draw four-frame manga, so I think I have a strong taste for four-frame manga. The tempo of a short animation is rather similar to that of a four-frame manga, and the basic idea is to keep the animation moving at a brisk pace because the time will end if it is not done in a relaxed manner.

However, a 30-minute animation is different. At first, I was running a short animation, but that is like running a marathon and then dashing to the start. I used to dash at the beginning of marathons in elementary school to stand out even if only for a moment.

I want to create works with respect for animation.

--Besides the tempo, was there anything else that you felt was different from short animation in the actual production of the film?

Morii: The meetings. With short animation, everything was done internally, so I didn't have many chances to discuss my work with people I met for the first time. But for a 30-minute animation, I had to give the same explanation to dozens of people, saying, "This work is like this, ....... That's where I lost my patience. Otaku are not good at communicating with other people (laughs). (Laughs) If I had to choose whether I was good at it or not, I would say I was not good at it either.

So when asked, "What is the biggest difference between a short animation and a 30-minute animation? I would answer, "The way you interact with people. Normally, you direct before you direct, but since I was suddenly appointed director like a backdoor entrance, I had to learn the rules and context of a 30-minute animation first. So I had to first learn the rules and context of a 30-minute anime. I learned it by reviewing "Shirobako" (laughs).

--That's important (laughs). (laughs) On the other hand, you were able to make use of your experience with short animation in some areas, weren't you?

Morii: Short animations are short, so they tend to be in an omnibus format. You can watch it from any point in time, and if you are interested, you can watch the past episodes as well. As you might expect, it is not possible to watch two episodes of this work and then watch the next six, but we do it with the idea that people should watch it without much hesitation.

There are so many animations nowadays that it is difficult for the viewers to watch them. The anime we used to watch when we were little would be on if we were at home at the right time, so I feel that the way we enjoy anime has become more heavy-handed. So we wanted to make an anime that people could watch more casually.

--So you have made a work that can be watched with ease, although not as much as a short animation.

Morii: Of course, the story progresses along a vertical axis, but each episode has a different theme, so that even if you enter the work out of the blue, it is still enjoyable in its own way. I want to create a work that is interesting to watch and has a hook. Also, I knew that I would not be allowed to do a 30-minute animation for some time to come, so I thought of a gimmick that would be a surprise. In terms of the storyline and the art direction, we are going where no one else has gone before, so we are putting in expressions that are aggressive for a 30-minute anime in key places.

--I think it's going to be a great story, but I'm not sure if there will be any more surprises?

Morii: That's right. Right now we are in the process of starting all the episodes, but when I look at the first half of the episodes after running up to the 12th episode, I think, "At that time, I was still making serious anime according to the framework of anime" (laughs). (Laughs.) The second half of the project became that much more outrageous. As we worked on it, we got more and more excited, and we started to destroy what we had carefully built up. ...... I hope you will enjoy that part as well.

--I hope that you will enjoy that part of the story as well.

Morii: There are more and more mysteries, but the theme is more about "talking about anime. On that theme, we asked the characters to speak for themselves about the anime they liked. However, with anime characters, it is not just a matter of saying, "That scene was interesting, wasn't it? So I'm trying to have them experience the hard things.

--How did you come up with the characters and the setting for this work?

Morii: The previous work was set in a university club, and this work is set in a high school, but I thought it would be nice to have a high school girl (laughs). (Laughs.) I thought it would be hard to miss this part of the story. We discussed our taste in uniforms, and came up with a good compromise: the jacket collar is sailor-like, but the bottom is a blazer.

The main character, Minoa Asagaya, is a girl who knows nothing about anime, and even if she does, she is only familiar with Ghibli works and "What is your name? I wanted a girl who was not familiar with anime at all, and even if she had seen Ghibli works or "Your Name. I had written in the proposal that she only watches Ghibli (laughs). (Laughs.) But she is an involved type of girl who is like "the hero. I wanted to have stereotypes around Minoa, like "If we were going to play an anita in the film," or "There are people who like this kind of anime and talk like this," so I made her a goofy-looking character (laughs).

--(Laughs) - By the way, what type of director are you?

Morii: The "meh type. Among otaku, there are those who say, "I like this even though no one else says I like it," but I am the type who likes what most people say is good on the Internet and feel comfortable recommending it to others (laughs).

--(laugh) - On the other hand, when there is a popular work, there are people who say, "This work is different, it's not like this.

Morii: In that sense, I am actually particular about the setting of the characters. Even though we sometimes clash over differences of opinion, I basically try not to let anyone speak negatively about anime. It is my theme that people who talk about anime should not say, "This anime is no good. ...... I want to make this work with respect for anime. So the characters in this work exist as people who can say, "I like this," rather than starting with negativity.

--So, you can discuss, but not deny.

Morii That's right. There are times when we fight, but we are not saying "no" to the other person's favorite work, but rather we are fighting over where to place the most importance. That kind of thing happens, doesn't it? It is also the case with phrases such as "cutting three episodes. The characters in this work are not cut off after three episodes, but rather, for example, they are people who are filming and watching the work, even though they may not have a high priority.

--Morii: In the first place, you are talking about "cutting" the story.

Morii: In the first place, I think the topic of "cutting" itself is a reflection of the sheer number of animated films and the exhaustion of people who watch them. I don't blame them for prioritizing because they don't have time, but I think they are gradually moving away from the point where they are "enjoying anime.

--There are people who watch anime out of a sense of obligation.

Morii That's right. I think that is one way to enjoy anime, but when I see people fighting on Twitter, I think it would be good if there were anime that could be watched with a more relaxed attitude. That's why I want people to watch this work with an easygoing attitude.

......There are many strong works in this season's fall anime (laughs). (Laughs). If we were to go head-on into the fall anime lineup, we would have a lot of trouble, so I hope that we can cut through the gaps by being an original anime and survive amidst the strong original works.