The groove is rooted in my childhood. Interview with Ryoji Masuyama, Director of "Blend S" and Gyo Zobaku, Series Composition

Set in a concept café where the waitresses play "attributes" such as tsundere and younger sister, the comedy "Blend S" depicts Ichika Sakuranomiya, who is in charge of the "dominant" attribute, struggling in her part-time job. The "attributes" of the characters in the coffee shop and their true daily lives are presented in a cute and rhythmical animation.
We spoke with director Ryoji Masuyama and series director Gyo Zobaku about the approach taken in adapting the original story into an anime. We hope you will enjoy this lively conversation between the two of them. We also learned that the attitude of director Mashiyama, who made his directorial debut with this work, may be a style that represents a solution for production sites in the current situation where numerous animations are broadcast each season.

I wanted to show Ichigoka's Dosu customer service in a sharp and gruff manner.

─ First of all, "Blend S" is your directorial debut. Were you interested in directing before?

Masuyama: Actually, I was not actively seeking to become a director. Someone who had seen my work up to this point suggested that I might be a good fit for this project. When I read the original work, I strongly felt the power of "Blend S" and thought that the power of the original work would be enhanced by moving it as an animation, so I accepted the project.

───How did you get involved in this work?

Zobori: I had worked with the producer on "Eromanga sensei" before, and he said to me, "It's a Kirara work, but it's more about the sharpness of the gags than moe, so since you're in charge of comedy, how about one of your own? It was something like that (laughs). (Laughs) In fact, when I read the original work, I found it to be a very interesting four-frame gag manga, and I was very pleased to be asked to participate. I had met Director Masuyama many times when he was an assistant director on the TV anime "THE IDOLM@STER CINDERELLA GIRLS," so I had no particular concerns about his work.


─ ─ What kind of consultations did you have with the original author, Mr. Sachi Nakayama, regarding the scenario creation?

Zobo: The scenario went smoothly, with almost no revisions. It was partly because Mr. Nakayama and his staff came to our meetings frequently, but perhaps we were on the same wavelength because we share the same Kansai flavor (laughs).

Masuyama: Mr. Nakayama, Mr. Zobashi and I are both from Osaka. We had good communication with the original creators, and it was easy for us to make proposals. As Mr. Zouba mentioned earlier, "Blend-S" has a strong gag aspect even within the "Kirara Title" series, and I thought that's what the fans would be looking for, so I expanded the image.

Masuyama: The potential of the original work is very high, both as a romantic comedy and as a gag manga, so my first priority was to keep the quality of the original work as intact as possible.

─ What did you pay attention to in portraying the five main characters?

Zoba: When I was trying to bring the tempo and sharpness of the original work into the anime, the first key was Ichigoka's sloppy customer service. I wanted to do it with a sharp and forceful touch because it was the heart of the work, but I felt that by adding voice and movement, it would be more powerful than the original work, in both good and bad ways. However, it wouldn't be fun if the work was too dull, so we left the scenario largely unchanged from the original work. As a result, we ended up with cute character designs and attractive animation, and we owe a lot to the drawing and direction. Similarly, Hidetoshi is a very strong character, so we were careful not to make him too dull. Since the timing of her appearance was in the latter half of the episode, I composed the episodes so that I could show Hidetori's good points while making an impact.

Masuyama: I asked the cast members to show a wide range of transitions. So, I asked them to be more and more Dosu in their lines about serving customers (laughs). I also noticed that Akari Kito, who played Natsuho, and Anne Haruno, who played Madou, were able to show the difference between their normal behavior and the way they served the customers.


Zoba: It is true that the voice actors played a major role. Kaho has a big weapon in her arsenal of tsundere, but the change between her everyday life and when serving customers is not that drastic, so I was a little concerned that she might come off as more ordinary than the other characters. However, thanks to the power of the animation, the cast did a particularly good job of shaking their breasts (laughs), and their little performances made the characters very appealing. In episode 3, when Steele left a doujinshi behind, there was a scene where Kaho tries to sneak a look at the book, right? I really liked the way she said, "Excuse me," without saying it to anyone, and the way she added a little flavor to the scene that wasn't really intended in the scenario.


Masuyama: By the way, I had just told him that I wanted that line to be more like "I'm sorry" than "I'm not being modest" (laughs). (Laughs.) I was impressed that he immediately digested that order and responded to it.

Zoba: When I wrote the scenario for Hideri, I had not imagined that the gender would switch so drastically. Was that directed by Director Masuyama as well?

Masuyama: I roughly asked him to change this part, but other than that, I left everything else up to Tokui Aozora.

Zobaba: It was interesting how he subtly created a space between male and female voices.

Masuyama: He put on a very good performance. Atsumi Tanezaki, who played Miu, was also very good.