The editor-in-chief of Gumma goes deep! You Still Don't Know Gumma" Long Interview with Director Mankyu

You Still Don't Know Gumma" is currently airing as a Spring2018anime.It is a short gag anime about"Gumma" (meaning the people ofGumma Prefecture), which is often disparaged on the Internet, and takes a somewhat deformed look at its unusual culture and customs. Akiba Research Institute Editor-in-Chief Kamata, who is a true Gumma, interviewed the director of this work, Tamankyu, in depth about its contents and other topics!

Director Mankyu joined DLE and suddenly became an animation director!

─ ─First of all, could you tell us how you got into the animation industry?

Mankyu: When I graduated from university, Flash animation was all the rage, and I thought I could make it myself, so I taught myself how to make it and started making it as an individual artist. I was about 25 years old at the time, and I was worried about my future life, but I decided to do what I liked for a year, and if it didn't work out, I would go down a different path.

I started making Flash animations on my own and submitting them to competitions and events. I was invited by the president of DLE, which is famous for "Taka no Tsume" and other products, and I thought this might be a good opportunity for me to work here.

Soon after I joined DLE, I was entrusted with the production of a short animation for a TV Tokyo program called "Fightention☆TV," and I was in charge of one section for about two years. After that, I worked on an OVA project to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the release of Mr. Yoshida's "Denzomirun. I was given the task of making an OVA to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the release of Yoshida Sanshan's "Densenruun. The team that made "Denzomeru n Desu" was all good friends of mine. When I quit DLE, I realized that we had all quit together (laughs). Then, we started to talk about "making something" together. (laugh). So we started a production company called Gathering. I joined Gathering as a board member, and for about 8 years I worked on many original anime projects, but last year I went independent, and now I work freelance.

─ ─ It seems that you have a relatively unusual background in the animation industry, but I wonder if you originally had a strong desire to create entire works rather than just draw pictures.

Mankyu: I originally liked children's literature like "Kaiketsu Zorori" and wanted to draw children's books, but that was a very narrow path and it was difficult to make a living, so I thought it would be better to create a character like "Rilakkuma" and give it a shot (laughs). (Laughs.) That's how I started making animated cartoons.

───Iheard that you still have the desire to create such original characters.

Mankyu: Yes, I do. That hasn't changed. The reason I went freelance was because if I belonged to a company, even if I created original characters, they would become the property of the company. I couldn't let go of the feeling that I wanted to take care of my own children, so I talked with the president of Gathering and decided to go independent.

─ ─Speaking ofDLE,I have an image of adirectorplaying several roles,as represented byFROGMAN, the director of"The Hawk's Nail".

Mankyu That's right. At the time I was there, we pulled in individual artists from various places, and many of the creators were very interesting people. It was like a cultural festival every day, such a fun atmosphere.

───At DLE, were you suddenly put in charge of directing?

Mankyu: Yes. It was almost like that of a manga artist who has never worked as an assistant before.

─ ─Did you feel at a loss?

Mankyu: No, not at all. I had always done everything by myself. On the contrary, I was more intimidated by the idea of sharing the workload (laughs).

───Iunderstand that you went freelance about ayearago, but is "You Don't Know Gumma Yet" your first film since going freelance?

Mankyu Yes, that's right. I received an offer from Asahi Productions (hereafter referred to as Asahi Productions) right after I went freelance.

──Iguess you are familiar with short animation productions from your past work, but "You Don't Know Gumma Yet" seems to have a very different quality from the character-driven works you have done in the past, even within the same short animation genre.

Mankyu: I was told that the audience is rather broad, so I tried not to use horror or grotesque expressions. I tried not to use the word "horror" and changed the term to "mystery" for the staff members. At first, everyone was using red and black as colors (laugh), but in the end, we settled on purple.

(Laughs) In the end, we settled on a purple color. Since the length of the story was short, we kept the story simple so that the audience could learn something about Gunma by watching a single episode. In the original story, there are two episodes, "Kakaatenga and Karakaze," which contain two elements, so in the anime version, I focused only on "Karakaze" (episode 7), and made it easy to understand at a glance.

───This is a bit of a change of topic, but what was the director's scope of work for this work?

Mankyu: I wrote the so-called series structure and the entire script. I drew the storyboards only for the first and last episodes. I asked the director to direct all the episodes. I did the V-container, which is the stage where I voice the characters and put on the sound before the recording.

──You were also credited as the sound director, weren't you?

Mankyu: It would have been troublesome to have a separate sound director. Since it was a short animation, it was easier for me to do it by myself. As for the composer, I asked someone I happened to meet at a bar (laughs).

─A bar?　Really? (Laughs)

Mankyu: That's right. He wrote a song that was No. 1 on the Oricon at the time, and we hit it off in a bar and said, "Oh, that's nice! We hit it off in a bar, and we hit it off (laughs). (Laughs.) The music is actually made to look like a movie. We were watching a tentative video and put in the music up to this point, and then we would go on to a new song! Let's try a new song from here! In that sense, the music is quite extravagant.

──Didyou read the original story after you heard about the anime production?

Mankyu: Yes, I did. I knew the title itself, but I had never seen the contents. At first, I honestly thought, "I don't know! (laughs).

Ididn't know what it was (laughs).(laughs) Basically, it's all stuff that only residents of Gumma Prefecture would understand, right?

Mankyu: But as I read through the book, I realized that although it is a self-deprecating story, deep down there is a love for one's hometown. It is because of their love for Gumma that they can accept self-deprecation in a funny way. But when I read them, I can't tell whether they are lies or not. When I asked people from Gumma, they said, "Yes, it's mostly true" (laughs).

─ ─Gumma people are used to self-deprecation. They have such deep pockets that even when they are teased on the Internet, they are happy to use it as a joke, so a little self-deprecation like that is nothing to worry about (laughs).

Mankyu: I think that Mr. Ida is probably very good at presenting his manga. I think that he hits that very fine line. I've always told the staff that at the core of the work is overflowing with love for Gunma, and that it is not a work that disrespects Gunma in any way. Especially when Kangetsu-kun says, "Wow! it makes me look a bit foolish (laughs). But there is a culture of Gumma that is a bit surprising to people from other prefectures, and it was difficult for me to express the degree of surprise in the beginning. It was difficult to find the right balance between that and being too surprised.

The broadcast on only one terrestrial station, Gunma Television, was our goal from the very beginning!

─ ─ IntheCpart of thefilm, there is a PR-like live-action video "Sourcing directly from the production area! Gumma Love" is included in the C part of the film, isn't it? Was that a tie-up with Gumma Prefecture?

Mankyu: Mr. Kanno (of Asahi Productions) did a great job on that one. ......

Mr. Kanno of Asahi Productions (hereafter referred to as "Kanno"): That was actually a 15-second segment that did not exist originally. Since it was decided that the program would be distributed overseas, the director of Mankyu asked us if we could promote the charms of Gumma Prefecture. This led to the creation of the "Gumma Love" section. Gumma Love" corner was born, and it was filled with love for Gumma.

Mankyu So when we were thinking about what to do for 15 seconds, we said it would be nice to have the mayor or other top officials of the municipality on the show to give it an official feel, and one of the committee members said, "I have a pipe! he said. ......

Kanno: When I actually checked, he told me to contact the contact directly at ...... (laughs).

─ ─What?

Kanno: In the end, I made all the inquiries myself. In the end, the mayor of Takasaki City, the mayor of Maebashi City, and the governor of Gunma Prefecture appeared on the show, so it all turned out well.

─ So you did not have such a solid backup system in place?

Kanno: In the beginning, we didn't have a backup system, or rather, we didn't have a backup system at all. Thanks to the ideas from the director, the power of the original story, the efforts of the production committee, and the people of Gunma Prefecture, we managed to make it happen.

Mankyu But I think the viewers will get the impression that we worked together as a team. I am very grateful for your cooperation.

─ ─Well, it seemed that way completely. What's more, this film was broadcast on terrestrial television only on Gunma Television (Gunma Television), which is a very drastic ultra-local specification. I was surprised at this (laughs).

(Laughs.) That's right. Normally, they would have tried to broadcast it on a national network. It was like trying to convey the charm of Gunma to the rest of the country. The fact that they dared to do it only in Gunma shows the greatest love for Gunma (laughs).

All of them (laughs).

Mankyu When Asahi Productions first approached me about the project, I am not from Gunma, and I thought that a director from Gunma would be able to create something closer to Gunma, but when they said, "Actually, we are only thinking of broadcasting on one Gunma TV station," I thought, "Wow, they are serious! (laughs).

──Well, I was very firm (laughs).

Kanno: In making this film, I wanted to differentiate it from other works. When I spoke with Shinchosha, the publisher of the original work, I was told that Gunma Prefecture actually has the highest sales of the original work. So I thought, "Let's get everyone in Gunma Prefecture to see it! We decided to broadcast it only in Gunma Prefecture on terrestrial wave. (laughs). (Laughs). Then, we brought the idea to Gunma Television and said, "We will only do it on Gunma Television! (laughs). So, you took the idea to Gunma Television and said, "Only Gunma Television will do it!

─That's amazing!That was a bold move.

Kanno: I didn't realize how reckless I was until after the show started airing (laughs).

(laughs) .

Mankyu: I did an ego search afterwards and found it interesting. I asked myself, "Why is this only on Gunma TV? Are you stupid?" (laughs).

Kanno: "How can you be a resident of Gunma Prefecture and not know about Gunma? But I am glad that we did it, even with that kind of criticism.

─ ─ Iam also from Gumma, and I wanted to watch the anime, but I don't live in Gumma now, so I can't watch Gunma TV (laughs) ! (laughs). Thanks to that,I watched a lot of "GYAO!

Kanno: Originally, I was thinking of covering the national coverage through distribution and BS/CS broadcasts. Since it is a short animation, we wanted to make it easy for people to watch it on their smartphones and tablets.

─ ─Wow, that's new, isn't it? Moreover, Gunma TV is already airing reruns every day, and they are already on the air as a band.

Kanno: That is with the cooperation of Gunma TV. Now I'm sure I won't miss any broadcasts (laughs).

─By the way, is this worka one-courseries?

Mankyu: Yes, it is a one-cour series.

───Since you are going very local, I had some hope that it might go on for a long time, but it will end, won't it?

Mankyu Yes, that's right. I have only done the first volume of the original story.

Kanno: The rest will depend on the support of the people of Gumma Prefecture.

Mankyu Yes, that will be the case.

The staff and cast are all from Gumma. Only the two main characters are not from Gunma!

─ ─Come to think of it, Aya Uchida, who appears in this film, is also from Gumma, isn't she?

Mankyu: That's right. I think she is a special envoy for Gunma tourism. We talked a lot the other day when we had an in-between-recording drinking session. She has a strong love for her hometown, and by the end of the session, we were having a lot of fun talking about Gunma themes.

Kanno: The rest of the cast is almost exclusively from Gumma. Really, the two main actors (Takehito Kajiwara and Jun Kasama) are the only ones who are not from Gumma.

Mankyu: In the original story, the two main characters moved here from Chiva Prefecture. The other characters have their own dialects, so I try to make sure that they are from Gumma. I can't teach dialect, so I left it to the cast (laughs).

─ ─You are very close to Gumma, aren't you?

Kanno: Actually, the mixer and the sound designer are both from Gumma.

Mankyu: And only the sound effects person is from Tochigi, for some reason (laughs).

(laughs) ─A spy from an enemy country! (Laughs)

(laughs) .

Mankyu Also, the art director happened to be from Gumma. We went on location scouting together, and he was very particular about the final product.

─ ─The scenery. I understand. The way the light enters the film is a bit peculiar. Did you have any particular impressions when you went for location scouting?

Mankyu: When I first arrived in Takasaki by Shinkansen, I was surprised to find it so urban and different from what I had expected. But when I went a little further into the suburbs, I was pleasantly surprised by the low height of the buildings and the big sky. I also visited the school where Mr. Ida, the author of the original story, is from and was shown around the school.

─Actually, that high school is near my parents' house.

Mankyu: Is that so?　I heard that a new school building was built just 10 years ago, but there was not much left of the old school building that appears in the original story. So I asked to see their graduation albums and took pictures of them. I also went to the "Drive-in Nanakoshi," which has only vending machines and is mentioned in episode 11.

That's the one where udon noodles and hamburgers are served by self-service machines. I miss those days. There used to be one near my parents' house, but it seems to be much less common now.

Mankyu: It seems to be a tourist attraction these days, and there are quite a few customers. But the best thing about going on location was the indescribable atmosphere. I don't know what to call it, but it was like I could almost hear the blues. Nowadays, if you search on the Internet, you can see the scenery anywhere. But you can't get that kind of atmosphere. I am really glad I went. The day we went for location scouting happened to be one of the few days in a year when there is no gusty wind, so it was very tranquil.

Itwasso peaceful ... ( laughs )!(Laughs)

The DVD "Gumma Edition" was surprisingly priced at 980 yen!　And it contains 100 minutes of content!

───TheDVD ofthis filmwill be released onJuly27, andI heard that there will be aspecial "GunmaEdition" ofthis film.

Kanno: As I mentioned earlier, this film is based on the concept of "Let's have people in Gumma Prefecture watch it! We decided to make a special edition of the DVD for Gumma Prefecture as well. We hope that as wide a range of people as possible will watch it. However, the price of anime DVDs is usually around 7,000 yen, a price that is difficult to afford. When we thought about what price non-animation fans could afford, DMM took the plunge and said, "980 yen! I was so impressed that DMM said, "980 yen!

─What? 　 980yen?　Isn't that too drastic?

Kanno: When you said that at the committee meeting, there was a momentary flutter in the room. I thought I must have misheard them (laughs).

(Laughter) .

Kanno: At first I thought, "Is this for real? I hope that every household and public facility will have a copy of the "Gumma Edition" at a very affordable price. In addition, the "Gumma Edition" will be packaged in a package newly illustrated by the original author, Mr. Ida. The "Gumma Edition" is only available at stores in Gumma Prefecture. You have to go to Gumma to buy it!

─I see!　That's great.

Kanno: The regular version is also priced at a surprising 1,980 yen.

───No, it is truly a surprising price! 　 It's hard to believe it'san animeDVD(laughs). (laughs) We all need to buy this one.

Kanno: In addition to the full-length video, there are two other video extras. One is a two-day tour for Takehito Kajiwara, who plays the role of Nori Kozuki, and Jun Kasama, who plays the role of Futaya Todoroki, who had never been to Gumma before. Secondly, at the director's suggestion, we have included a version that allows the viewer to watch the entire episode in one sitting. The second, which was the director's idea, is a version that allows the viewer to watch all the episodes in one sitting.

─I have never heard of such a specification (laughs).

Kanno: The price for this is 1,980 yen. If you go to Gunma, you can buy it for 980 yen. If you want, you can even take the train to Gumma to buy it (laughs).

Mankyu You could even buy it as a souvenir.

─ ─No, no, this is new (laughs).

Kanno: As I mentioned earlier, when we were making this film, the committee discussed the possibility of doing something interesting in Gumma Prefecture, including broadcasting only in Gumma Prefecture.

─I see. So it is a very local work (laughs).

Mankyu: I am glad that we were able to carry that through to the end.

───This is something that all residents of Gumma Prefecture must buy.We are"2million peoplejoining forces" (laughs).

Kanno Yes, I would be quite happy if we sold 2 million copies! (laughter).

─ ─Finally, do you have any message for our readers?

Mankyu: I still feel that I haven't fully conveyed the charm of the original work, so I would like to try for a sequel if I can. I would appreciate it if you could give me the power of 2 million people in the prefecture first (laughs).

I'd like to try a sequel if I can. All residents of Gumma Prefectureshould buy theDVD!　Thank you very much for your time today.