Long interview with Hiroki Nakano, animator! (The "inside man" of animation and games No. 49)

In this 49th installment of writer crepuscular's series, we introduce animator Hiroki Nakano. Mr. Nakano, who became well known as the character designer of "Bear Bear Bear Bear," is an up-and-coming animator who specializes in drawing action scenes and cute girls. He has also worked on "Dried-up Girl! Umaru-chan," "NEW GAME! and has supported the development of moe anime in Japan from a drawing standpoint. He has also demonstrated his ability in female-oriented anime, making his debut as a character designer in "Boku no Tonari Neighbor to Ankoku Kaiyakushin ga Itsuka Desu Shinja Aru Desu" ("There's a Dark God of Destruction Next Door"). which was her debut work as a character designer for female-oriented anime, she successfully distinguished between deformed, semi-deformed, and realistic head height patterns and sublimated them into a high quality anime that is as good as the original manga. In recognition of his achievements, he is now an employee of EMT Squared Inc. and supports the company's backbone. In this article, we will report on Mr. Nakano's career, his theory of drawing, his passion for character design, production episodes, future challenges, and more. This is an exclusive interview that can only be read here, and we hope you will enjoy it to the end.

Working to move pictures is the most enjoyable job.

Thank you very much for taking time out of your busy daily work schedule. You are currently very active as a character designer.

Hiroki Nakano (hereafter, Nakano) When I went to an animation school for a trial enrollment, there was an assignment to "freely move a picture," and as I did that, I fell in love with the process of creating animation itself. As I did this, I fell in love with the process of creating animation itself. I can never get the experience of seeing my drawings move in a manga or novel, and being able to say to my family, "My name is on the TV! I think this is something that only animation can offer.

─ Which work has had the greatest influence on your creative activities?

Nakano: It's hard to pick one, but the work that made me want to become an animator was "Naruto" (2002-2007), for which Atsushi Wakabayashi storyboarded, directed, and supervised the animation for 30 episodes, "Revive the Sharan Gan!　Special Fugaku Ryuuhi no Jutsu! I was so impressed with the story that I could not understand it. It was beyond my understanding. and "I want to be like this! I had a strong yearning to be like that. Also, as an individual animator, I respect Mr. Norio Matsumoto, who did the original drawings for "NARUTO" episode 30.

Do you feel the influence of Mr. Matsumoto in your own drawings?

Nakano Yes, I am always conscious of creating interesting drawings for ....... For "Naruto," I used rather simple shadows, which is a little different from the way I do animation in general. Of course, the basic premise is that it must fit the work, but I would like to create interesting pictures like that myself.

Can you give us an example of "interesting pictures"?

Nakano: "Dangibutsu Imouto! Umaru-chan R" (2017), there is a scene in the first episode where they play soccer, and I drew the original picture of the scene where Umaru is blown away by the wind from Sylphine's space stream ground crossing. I was free to draw that scene, and it was a lot of fun.

Nakano: In the first episode of "Gavril Dropout" (2017), there was an interesting movement in which Satania enters the classroom while twirling and dancing.

Nakano: I didn't do this scene, but it was a very good movement. I only helped a little as a supervisor, but it was a very memorable job.

I only helped him a little as a supervisor, but it was a very memorable job.

Nakano: As for me personally, I participated in "Bear Bear Bear Bear" as a character designer and chief animation director, so I didn't have much to do, but I did some original drawings. As supervising animator, I corrected not only the actions, but also many effects. For example, the two shots in episode 2 where Yuna melts rocks with her bear-inspired fire magic are cuts that I corrected.

I am good at drawing action and girls.

Nakano─Do you have a particular genre or type of drawing that you are good at?

Nakano: I like action. I also like titles for men, or titles with lots of girls (laughs).

(laughs) - "Raquen Logic" (2016) had a transformation scene, didn't it?

Nakano: I couldn't draw the transformation bank for "Raquen Logic" because it was too difficult to revise the main story. ...... I myself like Sentai (squadron) stuff, and I also like transforming anime such as "Senki Zesshou Symphogear" (2012~), which I watch a lot. I also like female-oriented works, so I used to watch "Sailor Moon" (1992~), "Ojamajo Doremi" (1992~), and "Futari wa Pretty Cure" (2004~) in secret (laughs).

Nakano: What do you do when you think about the characters' performances?

Nakano: I don't try to shoot stop motion myself, but I try to visualize it in my mind and actually move it. When I was a student, animated MADs were very popular, so I would study the frame-by-frame drawings of various animators.

Bringing "my unique essence" to the design

What are your specialties in character design?

Nakano: Of course, it is a matter of course to draw the characters according to the original creator's drawings, but in order to find the meaning of my designs, I always try to find "my own essence" or "what I can do to make the characters look better without changing the original drawings". I try to find the essence of my own design. For example, I am particular about the wrinkles in the clothes, the way the hands are drawn, and the treatment of the inside of the eyes.

Nakano: Can you give us a concrete example?

Nakano: For the eyes of "Bear Bear Bear Bear," we tried to put highlights of different colors in positions that are not used in other animations, and we also tried to make the normal white highlights a little bigger. I designed the hair highlights by thinking, "Can't I incorporate something that is a little different from the previous animated series? As for the shape of the highlights in her hair, the character design for "Watashi ni Tenshi ga Mukauraita!" (2019), who did the character design (laugh).

(Laughs) You are also particular about your clothes, aren't you? In "Kuma Kuma Bear Bear," there is a very unique outfit called the "bear set.

Nakano: I have loved wrinkles in clothes since I was a student, and I used to draw them thinking, "How can I draw three-dimensional wrinkles? For the bear set, I was careful not to make it look too cute, but I made the form look round and properly cottoned.

Nakano: The main character Yuna is a cute girl in a stuffed bear costume, but she acts more like an older sister in the film.

Nakano: Adult characters tend to see her as a little girl, but the surrounding characters such as Fina, Shuri, Noir, Missana, and Flora are even younger, so she becomes an older sister. This balance was rather difficult to achieve.

How do you feel about the design of the girls other than Yuna?

Nakano: Characters with a strong sense of innocence move on their own, so it was easy to create a collection of expressions. The younger sister-type characters have brighter expressions and overreact a bit more. In that sense, it was easy to create a character like Noa, although she is not a younger sister. Flora's face and hands were drawn with a child's hand in mind, and I hope they have a more adorable form.

Did you design all the characters, including the sub-characters?　It seems that the animation director designs the sub-characters for each episode.

Nakano: It depends on how far the sub-characters go, but I had other people help with the villagers, etc. When I create the settings in EMT, I also ask the sub-characters to be designed by a designer.

For "Boku haka," three patterns were submitted

Boku no to ni Neighbor to Kami no Kurokuro Kaihatsujin ga Moku no Neighbor." (2020) is your debut work as a character designer.

Nakano: In "Boku haka," I drew the male characters so that they looked neutral and not masculine.

The heroine, Sumichu, was also very cute.

Nakano Thank you very much. I tried my best to make her look cute because she was a woman amongst all the men (laughs).

(Laughs) Although the main target audience was different, I think you were able to make use of your experience with "Gavril Dropout".　Because both "Boka Boka" and "Gavdoro" have characters who are chuuni-sick and tinker with each other.

Nakano: Although not directly, I think we had the two works on the bookshelf of our minds because we were told something like, "Please imagine the characters of 'Gav' and 'Umaru-chan' as if they were men. Then, I thought about the lines of the skeleton and the placement of the face in a way that matched the original work.

Nakano: There were deformed facial expressions and chibi characters in "Boku Haka.

Nakano: In the original work, there were many facial expressions that changed drastically, so we used those expressions as they were in the original work. When creating the settings, we created three patterns: deformed, semi-deformed, and realistic head height.

Are the animal characters also designed by Mr. Nakano?

Nakano: For "Kumayuru" and "Kumakyu" of "Bear Bear Bear Bear," it was Miyako Yatsu who drew the rough sketch. I added some lines on top of them and made some adjustments, something like ....... I drew Cerberus in "Boku haka", didn't I?