Everything You Need to Know about DJs by Watching the Anime! The voice actors and director Seiji Mizushima thoroughly discuss the appeal of the anime version of the fall anime "D4DJ First Mix," and report on the first and second episodes' advance previews!

A preview of the first and second episodes of the highly anticipated 2020 fall anime "D4DJ First Mix" was held for the mass media prior to its TV broadcast and distribution on October 30.

D4DJ" is Bushiroad's project to develop a media mix of anime, games, and live performances with a DJ theme. The project is developing new original songs as well as replaying (remixing) classic songs that transcend generations.

Anime "D4DJ First Mix" An anime series in which characters from this work will be active, directed by Seiji Mizushima, who worked on "Fullmetal Alchemist" and "Mobile Suit Gundam 00" (director of both works) and "Aikatsu" (supervisor), with animation production by "BanG Dream! 3 (supervisor), and the animation production will be handled by Sanzigen, which has worked on "BanG Dream!

At the preview event, Yuka Nishio, who plays Rinku Aimoto, the master of the house, Shinobu Inuyose, Reiho Kurachi, who plays Emora Shimizu, and Raychell, who plays Sano Himegami, took the stage to talk about the film, in addition to showing footage of the first and second episodes. They talked about this work.

The event started with the screening of episodes 1 and 2.

The details can be seen in the video, but I think there was a great balance between the "how-to" element of what DJs do on a daily basis and the fact that it was not too explanatory, and that each character's personality and interactions were also well portrayed.

I have absolutely no experience in DJing, but the way the author describes DJing in a fun and detailed manner made me want to try it myself, and I was surprised that I even thought, "I might be able to do it myself (......).

In this respect, this film is not only an ensemble drama about girls who enjoy DJing, but it is also an excellent educational tool to enlighten people about DJ culture.

Yes, this is interesting!

Also, the main character, Rinku, is silly and cute. I wonder what kind of activities she will show us. I can't wait to see the rest of the story! It made me think, "I can't wait to see what happens next!

Following the screening, Yuka Nishio, who plays Rinku Aimoto, the main character, Misuke Takagi, who plays Shinobu Inuyose, Reiho Kurachi, who plays Emora Shimizu, and Raychell, who plays Sano Himegami, took the stage. Behind-the-scenes stories about the recording and a video interview with director Mizushima were shown.

First, as part of the talk program, a video was shown in which Director Mizushima answered questions from the cast.

When asked by Ms. Nishio about his "commitment to the artwork," the director commented that he was particular about "the dynamism of the characters, as in hand-drawn animation, and the action, which is more like hand-drawn animation than realistic. He also said, "It's a cheerful story, so I make the animation in a way that conveys that," and he also spoke of his commitment to the artwork.

In response to these comments, there were a number of comments praising Rinku's energetic action, such as "Rinku's movements are very anime-like" (Nishio) and "Rinku's dash movements are good" (Takagi).

The audience was also impressed by the live performance of the live scene. Takagi commented, "The facial expressions are cute and the characters' personalities are amazing," while Raychell commented, "The lighting is the same as in an actual live performance," a comment that could only come from someone who performs.

I, too, was impressed by the dynamism of the live performance scenes in this work. In particular, I was surprised at the way the viewpoint blurred as if the audience was really jumping around in the live performance venue.

When Mr. Kurachi then asked about the director's "focus on direction," Mr. Mizushima replied that he tries to make the scenes "easy to understand. In particular, he asked a simple question, "What does a DJ do? I hope that by embodying this question, I can convey it in a way that is easy for the audience to understand. On the other hand, I hope to express the characters' fun and initial impulses.

Mr. Nishio said, "I would be happy if people start DJing after watching the anime," and expressed his hope that this work will help popularize DJ culture.

Since the theme of this work is DJing, there is naturally a focus on "sound. When asked by Mr. Takagi about his "commitment to sound," Director Mizushima replied, "Since the film includes elements of DJing and trackmaking, I want to express sound well, including the sounds made by DJs and the sounds that are played in everyday life. I want to carefully create the flow of the music from before the DJ starts playing, rather than just having the DJ's music suddenly burst out of nowhere.

Incidentally, the school broadcasts during lunch break are played in a DJ style, and Mr. Takagi said, "It's interesting every time.

When Raychell asked what the director found most difficult about the production, he revealed a production system that is unique to this work rather than the main anime.

According to Mizushima, the biggest difference from conventional anime production is that "we used Sanzigen's in-house staff as much as possible.

SANJIGEN is a studio that mainly produces 3DCG animation, and it was a new experiment for 3DCG animators and creators to direct an animated film. Of course, some of them are beginners in directing, so Director Mizushima and Assistant Director Daisuke Suzuki are supporting them. Regarding this production system, he said, "It is a pleasure to be able to nurture young people. I hope that through this experience, many animation directors will emerge from the 3DCG field in the years to come.

Regarding other production episodes, Mizushima said, "Many of the actors are young, so we had to record the dubbing carefully, and since we couldn't record many people at the same time due to the corona, we had to be creative. In addition, Sanzigen's studio and office were originally separated, and the company excelled at creating productions using a network. He expressed confidence in the quality of the work, saying, "We don't meet face-to-face, but we keep in close contact with each other, and I think the enthusiasm of the team is reflected in the film.

Incidentally, he revealed that only the first episode was recorded before the new coronavirus outbreak, and the second and subsequent episodes were recorded after the outbreak, so the majority of the recording was done separately.

As a result, each episode took a full day to record, but Takagi said, "I am thankful that the staff was there until the end of the episode.

Nishio also commented that the small group recording was a positive experience for him, saying, "I didn't have much experience as a voice actor, so I was glad that the recording was done carefully and thoroughly.

The small number of people involved in the recording was a positive factor.

Other episodes related to voice recording were also discussed among the speakers.

Ms. Nishio, who plays Rinku, the energetic main character, said, "Rinku is so cheerful and energetic that I felt I had to go beyond her limits, but she is still human, so I had to moderate the amount of her energy somewhere. It is difficult to make that balance within the range of a cheerful character." Ms. Takagi, who plays Shinobu, also describes the difficulties of character development, "Shinobu is a cool character, but I myself have never played a cool character, so I talked a lot with the director and went through a lot of trial and error.

On the other hand, Kurachi, who plays the role of Emora, says, "Emora is the lovely member of Piki Piki (an abbreviation of the music unit Peaky P-key), so she has a calm yet mellow personality. The director gave me advice on how to create the "sticky" feeling of the character. When she is on stage, she is 100% mousy, but in everyday scenes, I change it a little bit depending on the situation," she says, describing her commitment to acting.

Sano, played by Raychell, sings the ED theme "WOW WAR TONIGHT ~Time to Wake Up, Movement~" as a duet with Nana Mizuki's Airi Amano, but as of the second episode, she has not yet appeared in the main anime, He said that he was conscious of his acting in the game version, "I was directed to be cool like a producer, so I tried to be cool.

At the end of the talk session, Mr. Takaaki Kitani of Bushiroad, the planning and executive producer, took the stage. About this work, he said, "The theme is to connect people to people. I hope I can help many people connect with each other," he said enthusiastically, closing the preview.