Enjoy the movie only in a movie theater! The "Iwanami Sound Team" creates the most explosive sound for the final chapter of Galpan!

Many "Galpin uncles" have been eagerly waiting for the new "Girls und Panzer: The Last Chapter, Episode 1" to be screened in theaters. Girls und Panzer" has never ceased to attract audiences with its fast-paced storyline, unique and fascinating characters, and detailed tank movements. In addition to the "extreme bombastic screening" at Tachikawa Cinema City, another important factor is the powerful sound, which gave us "the pleasure of comparing the sound at different movie theaters. We asked three members of the "Iwanami Sound Team," including the film's sound director, Miwa Iwanami, sound effects supervisor Yasumasa Koyama, and sound engineer Takayuki Yamaguchi, to talk about various aspects of the sound production for "Girls und Panzer: The Final Chapter, Episode 1. The interview lasted for about an hour. We will not spoil the story of this one-hour interview (except for the spoilers).

Creating a sound that won't be inferior to what we will see in a few years

───I'd like to start off by asking you about the concept, themes, and points you focused on when creating the sound for "Girls und Panzer: The Final Chapter, Episode 1".

Iwanami: It has been two years since "Girls und Panzer the Movie" (hereinafter referred to as "the movie") became a hit, and now we are proud to present "Girls und Panzer: The Final Chapter, Episode 1", but as the title says "Episode 1", the work will continue for several more years. I felt a lot of pressure to create a sound that would not be inferior to the one we would see a few years from now.

Yamaguchi: In the previous theatrical version, we were careful to create a sound that would match any viewing style, from movie theaters to smartphones, but this time, we also created the sound with special acoustic screenings at various movie theaters in mind, including the ultra-bombastic screenings at Tachikawa Cinema City. In addition, this time, the sound was created with special sound screenings at various movie theaters in mind, such as the extreme explosion screening at Tachikawa Cinema City. We were very particular about the planning of the dynamic range.


Koyama: To be honest, I felt that we had done all we could do with the theatrical version, as it was to be the last. So when I heard about the final chapter, I was very pressured and worried about what to do. Then I asked director Tsutomu Mizushima about the first episode, and he said, "There are not many fight scenes at all," so I was relieved (laughs).

Iwanami Isn't he always like that (laughs)? It is true that there is a reasonable length of daily scenes leading up to the next battle, and there are fewer battle scenes than in the movie version, so we all had a sense of pride that we could handle it. However, when we opened the door (and actually started working on the film), we realized that this was a disaster (laughs). The density of the information in each scene was so incredibly dense that we were all exhausted after the dubbing process.


Koyama: Actually, we decided to show the film in 4DX early on in the production process, and Director Mizushima was wondering how to make the film look good in 4DX even though the tanks don't appear in the film very much. I casually suggested that subjective images (one of the techniques used in the battle scenes of "Girls und Panzer," such as looking through the scope of a tank) should be used, but he used subjective images in many everyday scenes. It was really tough.

Yamaguchi: I met Director Mizushima at a certain site, and he was always worried about the 4DX look.

Koyama: I told him that he didn't have to do so much, but he said, "No, no, I've already decided on 4DX. I think the sound was taken into consideration a lot in the production.


Yamaguchi: "I want to pan the lines. I advised him to turn off the characters and have them say their lines. I advised him to do so, and the number of off-line lines really increased (laughs).

(Laughs.) Director Mizushima himself was very particular about the sound for the final chapter of the film. There are not many directors who pursue sound to such an extent. I am very happy about that.