Long interview with Hiroki Yoshioka, producer! (The "inside man" of anime and games No.53)

In this 53rd installment of our writer crepuscular series, Hiroki Yoshioka, President of ENGI Corporation, is a producer with a "passionate SAMURAI spirit". Mr. Yoshioka is an animation producer with a background in the video game industry, and has created masterpieces such as "Girls und Panzer" and "Expelled from Paradise," and laid the foundation for CG animation to take root in Japan. Since moving to ENGI, he has produced such works as "Kemonomichi" and "Uzaki-chan"! Kemonomichi" and "Uzaki-chan Wants to Play! and "Uzaki-chan Wants to Play! Since becoming President and Representative Director in June of this year, he has been working on a new management strategy to take ENGI to the world. In this exclusive interview, we look back on his career and filmography, and explore Mr. Yoshioka's unique hit philosophy and producing theory. We also asked him about his views on organizational management and the current animation industry. He says that his thumbnail pose is an expression of his "strike through the shield" spirit that will not be defeated by any adversity. We hope you will read this article to the end.

A production producer is "a producer in his own right

Thank you very much for taking time out of your busy schedule at the end of the year. You are from the game industry, so first of all, could you tell us what an "animation producer" means to you?

Hiroki Yoshioka (Yoshioka): There are some differences from the game industry, but basically a producer is "a person who is in charge of creating. There are producers who create alone, and there are producers who use various organizations and people to create. In Japan, there is a strong image that the producer is the person who collects and holds the money, but I believe that the "production producer" (ed. note: "animation producer" in the credits) is the true producer. In my case, however, in many cases, the project and the production committee have already been decided, and I actually start the production process from there. I listen carefully to the project objectives and the thoughts of the production committee members, and then I come up with a design plan that fits my own and the studio's colors, and make a proposal, "How about making it this way? and make a proposal. I think that is my job as a "production producer.

In textbooks for producers, it is often explained that there are two pillars: business and creative.

Yoshioka: Until I was working in the game industry, I thought that if I specialized in management skills, I would be able to work as a producer. When I left the game industry and joined an animation production company called Gonzo, I was new to the animation industry, but I thought my management skills were not bad. However, for some reason, the works I was involved in, such as "Brave Story" (2006), did not sell well. When I calmly analyzed the reasons for the losses, I realized that schedule and budget constraints were of course a factor, but I also realized that I should have made suggestions such as, "I should have made this suggestion for this film," or, "The staff did this kind of research. I began to realize that there were various problems, such as my lack of a bird's eye view, and I began to think, "I need to broaden my authority and scope, and actively make proposals based on solid conversations with the staff.

Fortunately, Graphinica, where I changed jobs after Gonzo, offered many opportunities for me to take on new challenges. The first work that I worked on with this new mindset was the OVA version of "HELLSING" episodes 8-10 (2011-12). I tried to understand what the original author and producer wanted to do, while thinking about how to show what the director wanted to do, and I also made suggestions to the director, such as, "How about putting it all together like this? I also made suggestions to the director, such as, "How about putting it all together like this?

Proposal for "Thoroughly Realistic Tanks" in "Girls und Panzer

What was your role as a CG producer for "Girls und Panzer"?　Did you actively make proposals as you did when you were a production producer?

Yoshioka Yes, I did. I was looking at the materials of the tanks with the staff and worrying about various things, but at first they all moved like ordinary cars, and I was like, "Something's not right. ...... At that time, one of the 3D artists who belonged to Graphinica at the time created a very realistic looking tank, and when I saw it, I thought, "This is great! So I suggested to Mr. Actus, "Why don't you go all out on the motion of the tanks? I suggested to Mr. Actus, "Since we're going through the trouble, why don't we go all out on the motion of the tanks? Even if anime fans know that the world is a lie, they won't bite unless the creator is committed to pursuing reality. The producer of Bandai Visual said to me, "This is spectacular! so we decided to create a thoroughly realistic tank.

Yoshioka: What do you find most rewarding about producing anime?

Yoshioka: When the viewers and staff praise the work. The viewers would think about things like, "Is this scene done because of the reason why it was done this way? They give us a lot of thought. If it is something that we have given our opinion and aimed for, they will say, "Oh, you know what I am talking about! I feel like my brain is juicing up (laughs).

As for the staff, when I was working on "Expelled from Paradise" (2014), the director Seiji Mizushima entrusted Tomoki Kyoda with the second half of the storyboard, saying that he would definitely make the action cool. When I mentioned Ichiro Itano-san's name, Kyoda-san was surprised and said, "Oh, they have Itano-san in Graphinica? He was so surprised and enthusiastic that he came up with some very cool storyboards. For example, the scene where the gun transforms with a clattering sound was a scene that I drew to please Itano-san, whom I adore. I am very happy when such a scene is well done.

As for ENGI productions, "Uzaki-chan Wanna Play! (2020) was also very popular. (2020), which is also scheduled for a second season.

Yoshioka: "Uzaki-chan" has a lot of fans of the original work, and before the anime adaptation, the first episode was made into a voice comic on YouTube and the voice actors had already been chosen, so at first I thought, "This might be a difficult work. ...... There were also strict schedule and budget constraints. However, the staff members gathered their wits and asked themselves, "What can we do to broaden the audience while satisfying the fans of the original story? Director Kazuya Miura was able to create a well-balanced film.

I like "Star Wars" and "Heroes

What works have influenced you the most?

Yoshioka: I am influenced by many works, but when I saw "Star Wars" directed by George Lucas, I was shocked. I first thought "I want to be in the entertainment business" when I was in elementary school, and "Star Wars" was the film that inspired me to do so. The main character fights with a blade of light as spaceships fly around in outer space. I had never seen anything like this on TV or in movies. It was a completely new type of work.

So you are a fan of science fiction.

Yoshioka: When I was a child, I loved hero movies such as "Kamen Rider" and "Ultraman. I still like them, so I would like to do a hero story someday. There is a common pattern in hero stories, in which there is a character who is not known whether he is friend or foe, and even if the people around him are suspicious of him, the hero always believes in him. For children, a hero is a lesson, so this kind of setting is important. I would like to make a hero story that has such underlying ideas as trusting others, seeing through people's true nature, and living a solid life as a human being.

It is not good to put too much of the producer's ideas into a work.

Do you have a genre or project that you are good at? Looking at your filmography, I get the impression that many of your works are aimed at male audiences.

Yoshioka: I like male-oriented works and moe works myself, and I often watch them, but I am not good at them. I tend to look at it too much from the viewer's perspective. It is important for a producer to understand the feelings of the viewers, but it is not good to put too much of your own ideas into it. If anything, I convey my own ideas in order to bring together the conflicting opinions of the production staff and to maintain a balance. Of course, if I force my ideas on them, they become my color, so I ask the director to make the final decision.

Can you give us one specific example?

Yoshioka: "Hataage! (2019), I had the idea of "pro-wrestling" from the beginning, but we couldn't come to a consensus on how far we would go with it. There was talk of putting out a completely serious pro wrestling group, like ......, but I said, "This is a fantasy, so isn't that indeed crazy?" I asked, "Isn't that what the director really wants to do?" I asked them, "This is a fantasy, so isn't that a bit odd?

Was "Kemomichi" a project that you initiated?

Yoshioka: It was a project with an original story that came from KADOKAWA, not from me. At first, there were offers for a variety of projects, but I said, "I want to do a gag work for the first project! I was recommended the comic "KEMONOMICHI". When I actually read it, I found it very interesting, so I brought it up to Director Miura, and he came up with the idea of "everyone looks normal, but in fact they are idiots," and the original author, Natsume Ake, said "That sounds interesting! The original author, Ms. Natsume Akemi, said, "That sounds interesting!

How did you go about creating the original episodes of "Kemonomichi"?

Yoshioka: Episode 6, "Ponkatsu x Master," is an anime adaptation of a story that Satoru-sensei had been working on for some time, but had not been included in the original manga. The teacher asked us, "Can't we use this in the anime?" Director Miura and I thought it would be interesting, so we decided to make it into an anime. For the other episodes, KADOKAWA asked us to add more wrestling elements because if we used the original story as is, we would lose the showcase for the wrestling.

What do you think of "Uzaki-chan Wants to Play! How about "Uzaki-chan Wants to Play!

Yoshioka: This is another story we received from KADOKAWA. We were asked, "It's a bit of a busty moe, but it's a gag anime, so what do you think?" and "The voice comic distributed on YouTube has been well received, so we can't miss the anime version! and "ENGI can easily see the production status, so we'd love to have them do it! We were taken for a ride by ....... The original author, Mr. Jou, is a very interesting man, and from the first dinner, the conversation was so exciting that the entire staff was like, "Let's do it! We all felt like "Let's do it! He was from Osaka, so I think his Kansai style suited us well.

You have done postrecording for various mob characters, haven't you? Does this have something to do with the fact that you and Mr. Yoshioka get along well?

Yoshioka: That has nothing to do with it. I think it is because it is his own work, so naturally he is very attached to it, and probably because Mr. Jou also likes anime.