Commemorating the delivery of XFLAG Studio's new original anime "The Promised Seven Nights Festival," which aims to be the next "Monstar Anime! The first in a series of interviews with producer Kazushi Maeno Jonathan

XFLAG Studio, which is responsible for Mixi's entertainment business and produced the "Monster Strike" anime, will distribute the original anime "Promised Seven Nights Festival" on its YouTube channel on Saturday, July 7, 2018, at 7:00 pm.

Although it has been decided to link the apps "Fight League" and "Monster Strike," the studio has a director, Kazuya Murata, who is renowned for his abilities, and it is evident that the studio is serious about the project. We have therefore conducted a series of interviews with various staff members involved in "The Promised Seven Nights Festival" in order to shed light on various aspects of the film.

The first interview is with the producer of this work, Mr. Kazushi Maeno Jonathan, who gives us an overview of the work. What is the role given to "The Promised Seven Nights Festival" and what is XFLAG Studio's goal?

To create new characters originating from animation

--Could you tell us about the start of the "Seven Nights of Promise" project?

Maeno: XFLAG Studio's intention was to create a new original character by creating an animated work. However, we did not have an original draft here, so we asked the director to start from the drafting stage, and then we brushed up on it. I joined the project as a producer when the draft had been decided to some extent. The original plan was to create a suspenseful story about how to escape from a closed space, and there were also some horror elements that were a bit creepy and summery. XFLAG Studio's concept was to "create battle entertainment with full-blown adrenaline," so we talked about how we wanted to include battles and also male-female encounters so that middle and high school students would be able to easily empathize with the characters. However, when creating an anime, I always think about the motive of the character and why he or she did what he or she did, and I wanted everyone to be able to empathize with that and have their beliefs conveyed through the dialogue. At first, the main character, Hoshin-kun, was vague about "why he came to the festival," so I thought that adding "someone he wanted to meet" and a childhood friend he had not seen for four years would give him a strong motivation. From there, I decided that the heroine also had someone she wanted to meet and that the characters all had a desire to meet someone, and at that point, the horror element faded. Gradually, the focus became more and more on the mystery of the festival.

--Did you have a big vision to produce the film with middle and high school students in mind?

Maeno: Yes. The "Monster Strike" game itself is played by many middle and high school students, and XFLAG Studio's mission is to "bring everyone together," so we aimed to create an anime that would be talked about at school and elsewhere. It is not a late-night anime kind of place; that was our intention to distribute it for free on YouTube.

--Did either of you take the initiative in deciding on the ending?

Maeno: The director had a specific image of the last scene that he wanted to show. It was about whether the characters would be able to meet the people they wanted to meet. So it was decided at an early stage.

--What role did you play after the scenario was created?

Maeno: After finishing the scenario and starting the production work, I would just look at it from an objective standpoint and make sure there were no discrepancies. Basically, I trust the director and leave it to him.

--What was the reason for the one-hour broadcast time of the work?

Maeno: The length we had initially discussed was 40 minutes, but it was not something that we absolutely had to adhere to. We were aiming for a length that could be watched at home. If it was longer than an hour, I felt that it would be a little difficult to watch.

--What was the first point you were conscious of when distributing the film on YouTube?

Maeno: I think it was the fact that people often decide whether or not to watch a video at the beginning. People tend to skip ahead to the next video right away, so we wanted to make the audience think "What?　What is going to happen? We started with the biggest mystery of all: why did I get a call from my best friend after 4 years, and then scattered mysteries along the way: who is this festival being held by, is there a friend I am looking for, what is this fuzzy object?　and so on, and the story is structured in such a way that one mystery is solved and the next one appears. So I think you will never get tired of watching it.

--What is your impression of director Murata?

Maeno: My first impression is that he is very sincere about his work and that I can trust him. He clearly tells me what he wants to do, so it was very easy for me to work with him.

The role of making sure that "MonSt" is returned to the people who play it

--Was the linkage with the "Monster Strike" game app incorporated into the project from the beginning?

Maeno: Yes, it was. We discussed some aspects later, but we wanted to link "Fight League" with the "Monster Strike" game app so that customers would love the characters in the anime and be able to enjoy them in the game as well. To achieve this, we made various adjustments later.

--Is that also the concept behind XFLAG Studio's decision to start working on anime production in 2015?

Maeno: Yes, as the department that produces anime at XFLAG Studio, our mission is to "create characters that will be loved for 30 years," and we are also strongly considering the third season of the "Monster Strike" anime to be linked with the "Monster Strike" game app. We are focusing on media mix. Whether it is the current "Monster Strike" characters or the original works we will create in the future, we are always thinking about how to make the characters of these works loved.

--Did you encounter any difficulties in linking the game with the anime?

Maeno: First of all, we had to be conscious of the fact that we had to "return" the characters from the anime to the game, so creating the characters was very difficult. In addition, there were a number of requirements, designs, and settings that the game wanted us to clear up, so it was quite difficult to balance the game with these requirements. Sometimes the characters would overlap with other existing characters, or the characters and the world view would not match. However, the mission of this anime is to give back to the customers who enjoy the "Monster Strike" app game. We felt that we were providing a service that customers enjoying the game would enjoy even more.

--This is the first time for you to work as an animation producer.

Maeno: It was difficult to create the scenario. Over the past year, I have read many scripts and watched many animated films, and I have always been conscious of what kind of emotions the audience can feel, but looking back, I am not sure if I had that level of knowledge when I started producing. However, I was very particular about that, so I worked closely with the creators, exchanging ideas and intentions with each other. There were a few times when I thought about writing it myself (laughs). (laughs). It was difficult to get everyone to agree with me while moving forward. I'm still learning that part.

--I am still learning that part.

Maeno: That's right. When I communicate with creators, I think that they have their own fetishes. However, I felt that if I just focused on that aspect, only a small percentage of the audience would enjoy the show. For my part, I wanted a large audience, so I tried to keep the principles of the characters' actions as simple and easy to understand as possible, and I tried not to use difficult words in the dialogue so that the audience would not be left behind. However, if I completely removed the creator's color for the producer's convenience, it would lose its "spice," so I was conscious of striking the right balance between the two.

--By the way, what kind of work did you do before you became a producer?

Maeno: I was involved in the marketing of the "Monster Strike" animation for a year, thinking about how to deliver the game to customers and what kind of tricks to create. For example, for the XFLAG original anime "Mischievous Witch and Sleepless Town," which was distributed at the end of last year, I was involved in creating key visuals and PVs, as well as developing measures to appeal to customers via Twitter, to raise awareness of the newly launched channel, and to promote the game "Monster Strike" that was linked with the anime. We were also working on the "Monster Strike" game, which was linked to the project, and formulating measures for each of the above. I was also in charge of the promotion of "The Vanishing Universe Arc," which started in October of last year, and we renewed the website and created a new mechanism to show that "the story of the anime has changed a lot" and "when the second season started, there were many daily life parts, but the story is now turning serious at once. The site was redesigned to promote the new storyline and to show that "the story of the anime has changed dramatically.

--Did you have any moments when you were able to use what you had learned in marketing?

Maeno: It was not something I learned in marketing, but I was aware of how to ask for cooperation from people in different fields as we worked as a team. Although I am a producer of production, I think it is important to involve many people in the areas of promotion and PR, and to create a system that allows cooperation in how to deliver the product to the world. That, too, is difficult (laughs).

--(laughs) - What are some of the things you have learned from your position as a producer?

Maeno: I have been involved in the entertainment industry for a long time, but this was the first time I worked on a single production. In the field of marketing, I was thinking about how to move customers through content and corporate tie-ups and campaigns, so I had a strong "point" awareness. I am learning a lot from this experience. I have learned a lot from this animation. I have learned many things from this animation, such as how to say to others, "Here is something interesting. And I wonder how the keywords to say those things are scattered throughout the work. What kind of words would be used to say that? I am conscious of such things.

--Do you have any goals or plans for the future after "Yakusoku no Nanayasai"?

Maeno: I want to make a hit. I think it is important to have as many people as possible see your work. I would like to have 2 people rather than one, 10 people rather than 2, and 10,000 people rather than 10. I believe that my mission is to create content that will be loved for a long time. I want to keep that in mind throughout my work.

--I have the example of "MonSt" close at hand.

Maeno: That's right. I have always had the desire to create a wide variety of hit content mainly for junior high and high school students. In my previous job, I was involved in content for elementary school students for a long time. Not only elementary school students, but also teenagers are the most powerful generation, and their friendships are very strong. I believe that IP is born and nurtured from the creation of such communities and topics of conversation. I believe that IPs can be nurtured, and I have always had the desire to do something about that.

--The "Seven Nights of Promise" festival is about to be released. Do you have any message you would like to convey to the viewers?

Maeno: Although the work can be viewed anytime on YouTube, the theme of the work is "Tanabata" and the day we started distributing the work was also set to Tanabata. I would like to tell everyone that I would love for them to watch it on Tanabata.

--tweeting on Twitter.

Maeno: That's right. I would be happy if everyone could enjoy Tanabata together.

(Reporting and writing by Koji Shimizu)