Featuring "Mr. Kuroizu of the Kaijin Development Department!" Don't miss the special effects-like final episode drawn by Hiroaki Mizusaki! Interview with Director Hisashi Saito just before the climax
The much-talked-about winter 2022 anime is "Kuroizu-san in the Kaijin Kaihatsubu" featuring Toka Kuroizu, a Hira researcher who spends her days and nights trying to create a monster that can defeat heroes in the secret society Agastia.
Kuroizu-san of Kaijin Kaihatsubu" is a manga series in "COMIC Meteor" (Flex Comics). It is an anime based on the manga by Hiroaki Mizusaki, which is serialized in COMIC Meteor (Flex Comics).
In a world where justice and evil clash, evil monsters are repeatedly defeated by righteous heroes. Toka Kuroizu, who works as a hira researcher in the laboratory of the secret society Agastia, creates numerous monsters while fighting against budgets and schedules. This gag anime depicts Kuroizu's struggles, as well as the daily battles of the unique monsters, including the corporate existence and even the best boss, the absolute zero chief strategist, Megistos.
We interviewed director Hisashi Saito about the film, which is finally reaching its climax.
Why a local hero and a dispatched worker were created for the anime's original development
─ What attracted you to the original work?
Saito: The worldview of a Sunday morning special effects show where evil and justice fight, but the evil organization that the hero is in is seen as a corporate organization, and the perspective of what would happen if he worked there. That may not be the new ......, but I thought it was interesting.
─ ─ When you were directing the film, what did you think would be interesting to express in an animated film?
Saito: There is always a story of a common corporate failure in each episode, and I thought about expanding it even more than the original, but I thought that the speed of the story was more important for the direction of the work than to expand it too much.
As you can see, in the beginning, we put one episode in each of Part A and Part B of the first episode. I wanted to show more and more of the story and the characters, and let the audience first get to know the worldview.
In the second half, each episode became more like an episode, and I felt like I was creating a story within an episode. By warming up the characters in the first half, I thought it would be okay to swing the camera in the direction of digging a little more into the characters in the second half.
─ ─ It is true that the first half of the story developed quickly, and it felt like the story was packed.
Saito: In the A part, I was thinking, "What happened? What happened? but the story turns into a different one in part B. You may feel left behind, but that will soon be recovered. We discussed how to follow up on that and rearrange the episodes during the scenario creation stage.
For this work, I thought it would be more interesting to go around and around rather than to show the story in a heavy-handed manner, and this is how we came to this decision.
─ ─ I would also like to ask you about the script. Was this done in consultation with Katsuhiko Takayama, the series director?
Saito: Mr. Takayama is even more experienced than I am, so no matter what he comes up with, I just say, "Okay, I'll take care of it! (laughs). So when I asked him, "How would you like it done? (Laughs). So when I asked him, "How would you like it done?" he would say, "Well, I can think of this course and this course. We made some minor adjustments, but basically it is the same as the original work.
───The phrasing of the dialogue was also adjusted slightly, and I felt that this added to the sense of tempo. In addition, there are some elements that are original to the anime.
Saito: There are two dispatched girls in the anime (Kako Mizuki and Heihei Matsuyama), and although they do not appear in the original story, I thought it would be interesting to expand on them a little in this way, so I decided to include them in the story.
Saito: Is there a reason why you set them up?
Saito: We first decided to have a local hero who does not appear in the original story as another original element of this work. So I thought it would be good if the three elements, the local hero, the original character, and the original story, were well mixed together. I felt that it would be difficult to tie the local heroes to the original story if we just released the local heroes on the spot.
───The appearance of the local heroes is a device that allows the audience to enjoy both the original work and the anime, isn't it?
Saito: I wondered whether people would reject it or enjoy it, but when I opened the door, I found that tokusatsu fans had seen it, and anime fans had also seen it favorably, saying, "There's a local hero! I'm glad to hear that the viewers, who are also anime fans, looked at it favorably.
─ ─ Personally, I came to expect a story about a dispatched girl every week. At first I was like, "What is this?" but it was interesting to see the story progressing in parallel with the main line.
Saito: As a result, the girls seemed to successfully pull together the local heroes and the original story (laughs). (laughs) I think the highlight of the story is how and when these two girls will get involved with Kuroizu and the others.
─ How did you decide to introduce local heroes?
Saito: After picking up the opinions of various staff members, including the producer, we settled on this.
─ ─ I thought that the idea came from the fact that special effects is a genre that has many fans, and it is an animation based on special effects.
Saito: Yes, that's right. Of course, I would consult with the producers, but if I was going to pick up an idea, I would suggest something like this. I am relieved to hear that they were able to blend in well with the animation.
─ ─ Were there any difficulties or interesting aspects of producing local heroes for the director?
Saito: Regarding that, Nobuhiro Suzumura, who directed many special effects works at Toei such as "Masked Rider Kuuga," was in between us and introduced us to local heroes. When I mentioned to him that I wanted to have someone who had worked on heroes in the Showa era narrate the weekly episodes, he was able to get the job done through a friend of his. I was surprised that such great people could do it (laughs)! I was surprised (laughs).
─ ─ Were there any people who surprised you when you met them?
Saito: I am always excited to see the amazing people who come to add their voices to each episode. In the 1980s, I used to watch special effects a lot, so when I saw him at the recording studio, I was very impressed! (Laughs) At my age, I never thought I would be able to meet my childhood hero.
─ ─ The reaction to the narration was also amazing.
Saito: I'm glad they accepted it because it seems to have a good reputation on the Internet.
───Are there any other changes that are unique to the anime?
Saito: In the first episode, at the beginning of the B part, I introduced the part where they buy lunch at a bento shop near the office and follow their movements back to their office deep in the basement of the disguised building. This is something you don't see in manga, and by first showing how this building was constructed, I think I was able to expand the worldview as a visual work.
─ ─ In the first episode, Wolf (CV. Satomi Amano) was completely naked, which was also different from the original work.
Saito: It's true that in the manga, she was fully clothed when she came out. But when she came out of the culture medium, she was naked, I thought (laughs). (Laughs.) At the meeting, we discussed whether it was better to be naked or to be as in the original work.
─ ─ I think the gags are very sharp in every episode.
Saito: The basic flow of the lines is the same as in the original work, but I asked Takayama-san to adjust the lines. The other thing is how to make the story come across as a gag. How to make it look like a gag, how to shake it up, and how to make it sound funny. I was allowed to do it with my own sense of what I thought would be funny.
─ What would you say is an interesting character from the director's point of view?
Saito: I think Megistos (CV. Toru Inada), the "Absolute Zero" consultant, is easy to understand and interesting, but looking at the reaction of the audience, I think Wolf and the others are well received. I think that Megistos (CV. Toru Inada) is easy to understand and funny! I think it is very difficult to make gag works.
───It is not possible to change things based on the audience's reaction like in a comedy show, so I think that is the difficult part of making animation funny.
Saito: That's right (laughs). Speaking of such unexpected stories, the episode about the chocolate-shaped monster Melty (episode 6) was made to be broadcast just before Valentine's Day, but the broadcast was delayed and the content of the show overlapped with reality (laughs).
The original anime story will be shown! The final episode, which is typical of a special effects show, is a must-see!
──I would like to ask you about the cast members' performances. How do you feel about the performance of Kaori Maeda-san, who plays Kuroizu-san?
Saito: As for Ms. Maeda, rather than me, the people around me were excited saying, "There is no one else but Ms. Maeda! I am sure they were right about that. I thought they were probably right. Once we actually started, I thought that Maeda-san was the only one who could do Kuroizu-san's voice. I instantly got used to her energetic voice. Every week, I would hear Maeda-san's trial-and-error acting and think, "This is how she does it! I was able to see Maeda-san's trial and error every week, and I think she turned out to be a very good character.
The cast of the executives was a splendid lineup.
Saito: We had a fixed budget for sound, but the executives don't appear that often in a single season, and since they only appear once or twice, we decided to use a splendid cast (laughs).
(laughs) ─ So that's why the cast was all there in the first episode (laughs).
Saito: We thought that if we made an impact in the first episode, even if we didn't appear in many episodes after that, we would leave a lasting impression (laughs). Toru Inada of Megistos makes the most frequent appearances, and he is also very enthusiastic about his work.
─ ─ The immortal Camula (CV. Ayana Taketatsu) was also a great character.
Saito: Since she is an executive, I was thinking of someone with a little more career than Ms. Maeda. We chose Satoki Iida, the sound director, because we wanted someone with the dignity of an executive.
Saito: Is there an episode that you particularly like?
Saito: Speaking from my own personal taste, I like episodes 1, 2, and 5, but surprisingly, episodes 3 and 4 were well received.
─ ─ The second episode was very interesting. I laughed at the top-down approach, and the feeling that everything can be turned upside down with a single word from the top, which I thought was very typical of companies. I thought it was hilarious. That kind of thing actually happens quite often, doesn't it?
Saito: I'm glad you enjoyed it (laughs). I don't think the audience could have judged whether it was good or bad just from the first episode, but I think the second episode was good, and I think we were able to successfully bring out the standard style that is typical of this work.
─ Does the director have a favorite monster?
Saito: Exactly, I like the Canon Thunderbird (CV. Shunichi Toki), who was born in the second episode. In the episode where he gets blown up in live action and goes to the beach (episode 9), he gets more and more cocky towards the older Wolf, so I watched him thinking what a nice guy he is (laughs).
───What is the highlight of the final episode of this work?
Saito: Episode 12 is independent from the other episodes. Up until the 11th episode, there was no sense that we were heading toward a climax (laughs), but I think that was also common in old anime. (laughs) But I think that used to be the case with anime in the past, except for the last episode! Like that.
───It seems quite festive, but will the story be an anime original?
Saito: At first, I thought the final episode would be half original, and half of the plot would be created by Hiroaki Mizusaki, the author of the original story. But when I opened the door, I found that he had written the entire plot, so I decided to use it. So the final version will be what the teacher came up with. I think we came up with some of the ideas.
It is common in tokusatsu (special effects) productions for many of the characters that have appeared in the past to reappear, and I hope that I was able to create that atmosphere.
─ By the way, did Mr. Mizusaki actively participate in the production of the anime?
Saito: Yes, I asked Mizusaki-sensei when I was in the scenario stage and didn't know how I should judge something that wasn't depicted in the original work. In other cases, I would ask him, "This is how it would look in the anime, but what about the original work? We kept in touch with each other to make sure everything was correct.
─ I guess now is the time when the production of the full-length anime has come to a close, but how do you feel looking back on the production?
Saito: After the preparation period was over, we started working in earnest less than half a year before the start of the broadcast.
The entire staff was working as hard as they could, so in that sense, I think we were a great team. The original comic has already reached volume 4, but at the time we were making the anime, volume 2 had only just been released, and we were listening to the contents of volume 3 as we were making the anime.
The original work is now up to volume 4, and we were like, "Here we go! Interesting!" I hope to be able to continue the story in the anime.
(Interview and text by Junichi Tsukagoshi)
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