April 1: "A work in which the subsequent possibilities of a single anime have taken shape" - Interview with Suzuko Mimori (Suzuko Mimori), Moeka Koizumi (Suzuko Mimori plays Rui Nikaido), and Manatsu Murakami (Manatsu Murakami)! Interview with Suzuko Mimori (Rui Nikaido), Moeka Koizumi (Shiho Ichimura), and Manatsu Murakami (Yuki Sanya)!

The animated TV series "Odd Taxi," which aired in 2021, will be released in theaters nationwide on April 1, 2022, as "Odd Taxi in the Woods the Movie.

This film recreates all 13 episodes of the "Odd Taxi" TV series, which aired from April 2021 and attracted attention for its mysterious drama featuring cute anthropomorphic animal characters, and depicts the shocking final scene that was not depicted in the TV series and thereafter.

The film has been the subject of much discussion on social networking sites for its many mysteries, but what will the film version, which is based on testimonies from the people involved in the case, really be like? ......

There are many things to wonder about, but we asked Suzuko Mimori (played by Rui Nikaido), Moka Koizumi (played by Shiho Ichimura), and Manatsu Murakami (played by Yuki Sanya), who play members of the underground idol group "Mystery Kiss," three of the important characters in the film, to share their memories of the TV series and the appeal of the film version. They talked about their memories of the TV series as well as the appeal of the film version.

The announcement of the movie version was made at about the same time as the fans.

─ ─ How did you feel when you heard about the production of "Odd Taxi in the Woods"? When did you tell everyone about it?

Suzuko Mimori (Suzuko Mimori) I heard just before the production of the movie was announced (at the end of 2021).

Moka Koizumi (Koizumi) When was that?

Manatsu Murakami (Murakami) There was a countdown on the official Twitter account, and I was wondering what the countdown was about.

─ So you found out at the same time as the fans.

Koizumi I think it was around the time the countdown started.

Mimori: I happened to meet Mr. Ito (producer Hiroshi Ito of Bonny Canyon) at the site, and he said to me, "We're going to make a movie, so we're counting on you! I was like, "What? I was like, "What?

Koizumi The TV animation was not structured in such a way that a second season would be made. So I wondered if it would be difficult to continue the story, but I was curious about what would happen after that (......). I thought it would be fun to watch it all at once while thinking about it, since it seems to be a condensed version of the TV series in terms of length.

Suzuko Mimori

Koizumi The "happy ballpoint pen" whose existence is revealed in the audio drama is actually shown in the main animation film.

Mimori That's right.

Koizumi If you listen to the audio drama to hear who has the pen now and how it moved, you can see where the pen is in the main story as well. When I only watch the anime, I miss all of that too. I thought it was a great trick that when I watched the audio drama, it created another point of interest and made me go back and watch the anime again.

Mimori: I think it is very interesting that each character's story is revealed in each episode of the anime, and among them, Tanaka, played by Souma Saito, is very impressive. Tanaka is addicted to the "Gacha" game called "Zuden" (an app game), and his whole background is described in the story until he decides he really wants to win a rare character called "Dodo". I also had a long talk as Rui, and it was interesting to see the backbone of the character being revealed more and more.

Moka Koizumi

─ ─ It's not easy to depict the "dark side of gacha" in anime, is it?

Mimori: That's right!　And the moment I finally drew the dodo character, I was surprised to see Kotogawa's cab and my phone flew away. ...... Is this where Kotogawa and the story intersect?　It was like watching life. I was also impressed by the emotional misunderstanding that Kotogawa's side didn't notice anything.

Murakami I was really impressed by the "It's definitely a secret ♡" in episode 2.5 of the audio drama. The Mystery Kisses play a secret sharing game to get along. (A game in which they each write a secret and a lie so that no one can tell who wrote it and share it)

Mimori That was interesting, wasn't it?

Koizumi Yes, it was.

Murakami Actually, when you read our script, it says who is telling what lie. But when this sound source appeared on YouTube, it was a time when the mystery and information about the story had not yet been made public at all. I was impressed by the excitement of the fans who wondered who was lying. And as the story progressed, it became clear who wrote the card and that it was real and ....... It was very interesting to see the depth of the original audio drama as the story progressed.

Manatsu Murakami.

My dream is that one day the three of us will sing live together ......

─ ─ The members of Mystery Kiss are characters with heavy settings and secrets behind their glamorous lives. Was this revealed from the beginning?

Mimori: I had received the entire scenario by the time of the first recording, so I had a general idea of what to expect.

Murakami Actually, I knew everything (laughs).

─ ─ Mystery Kisses was also a very graphic underground idol unit. I know you all have a lot of experience playing idols as voice actors and working as a unit, but how do you see Mystery Kiss?

Mimori The darkness is deep (laughs).

Koizumi It is deep, isn't it?

Murakami I was shocked that when they took a cab to pick us up, they staggered the time and went separately for each of us.

Mimori That would have led to theories that they didn't get along.

Koizumi But he tried very hard to get along with us. ......

Mimori In a business-like relationship. I think each one of us is a poor communicator. On the other hand, I have been dating a comedian.

Koizumi I didn't realize it was this messy, but I guess there are a lot of things that happen when girls get together. Everyone has lived on their own.

Murakami Indeed!

Mimori They have different backgrounds, and I think they are aware of the fact that they probably don't understand each other.

─ Louis is dating Baba, a comedian, and many real comedians appear in this work as voice actors. Did you record with Diane Tsuda, who plays Baba?

Mimori: That was a separate recording. Have you ever recorded together?

Murakami No, we haven't!

Mimori We passed each other in the hallway the other day and said hello for the first time. We were recorded first, so I was thinking about how Tsuda-san would react. I was thinking about how Mr. Tsuda would react. I was alone in the studio saying "Ba-ba-ba-nyan" to Rui and Baba-nyan in the audio drama (laughs).

Murakami That's sad!

Koizumi Even though they never came back (laughs).

Mimori──What do you think of the voice acting of comedians such as Miki and Diane?

Mimori I feel that the comedians' performances give a nice sense of reality.

Koizumi Maybe it's because you all have experience in comedy and manzai.

Murakami That's right, you are very good at it.

Mimori I feel that the way they make pauses is exquisite.

Koizumi And yet I get the feeling that they are not really making it up as they go along.

─ ─ I would like to ask you about the group's songs. Do you have any memories or episodes from the songs and recordings of "Chojo-Koi Phenomenon" and "Namama ni KISS"?

Mimori: "Chojo-Koi Phenomenon" has a very high level of humor, doesn't it?

Murakami That's right!

Koizumi It was so high!　I thought I was going to fly away.

Mimori I couldn't find the right key, and it was beyond the range of my voice.

Murakami It was like I was using the back of my back voice.

Mimori If you include the hammory and other parts, the composition is surprisingly complex and deep.

Murakami: It's that kind of structure, but the vocals themselves are sung in an indifferent manner.

Mimori: Yes, that's right, but if you sing too casually, the song becomes flat, and it's a waste of a fun song. I was conscious of singing with a sense of balance.

Murakami It's a super addictive song. Of course, we can't let it out of the house until it is released as a work of art. So I was very careful not to hum the song when I got distracted.

Koizumi You were patient (laughs).

Mimori I really like "Namama ni KISS" too.

Koizumi It's really good, isn't it?

Murakami (smiling) - Kiss.

Koizumi Kiss.

Murakami Actually, I sang that "kiss" after listening to Mimori's earlier song as a model.

Koizumi Me too!

Mimori That's embarrassing. Stop it! I was the first, wasn't I? The music video is great too, with a nostalgic idol feel.

Koizumi I don't know what to say about that video.

Murakami The neon lights. There are hints in that video that lead to the work.

Mimori There are a lot of little details.

───The three of you also appeared in the music video for Mimori's "Sugarless Kisses," didn't you? Do you have any memories of the recording?

Murakami The shooting was quite a while ago, wasn't it?

Mimori Last year. Has it been more than a year already?　However, "Odd Taxi" was recorded very early in the process of prescoring the TV animation (*editor's note...the animation production style where the voices are recorded first and then the pictures are applied to the performances). So I think it was about a year after the animation pre-scoring.

Koizumi In the latter half of the postrecording of the animation, the effects of Corona began to appear and we had to record separately, and that was around the same time.

Mimori: So it was the first time in a long time that the three of us got together for a shoot. It was fun, wasn't it? We just chatted around in the cab at random.

Koizumi The funniest part for me was when I did the slow motion myself.

Murakami Ah!

Koizumi I wonder if the audience understood that we were moving slowly by ourselves.

Murakami We were also doing voices, so we did our voices slowly as well (laughs).

Mimori That was interesting, wasn't it?

─ By the way, the three of us don't sing live together in real life, do we?

Mimori: The two of us (Mimori and Koizumi) sang in the "Mimopa! (The event "Mimopa" was held on August 14, 2021! ～(The event was held on August 14, 2021, and was called "Mimopa! ～).

Koizumi Together with Rippy (Riho Iida, who plays Shirakawa).

Murakami Many things happened in the production, and you went to the trouble of winning a spot as a member of Mystery Kisses!

Koizumi For some reason, Shirakawa sang at the event (laughs).

Murakami I only saw the live video later. I was like, "What the heck? I haven't given up yet, so I look forward to singing with you someday!

─ ─ How was your live performance of "Supernatural Love Phenomenon", Mr. Mimori and Ms. Koizumi?

Koizumi It was a busy song.

Mimori: It was busy!　The audience really got into the song, but our vocals flowed rather monotonously. The same notes are repeated over and over again. It's almost like reading the lyrics over and over again.

Koizumi It's like reading a rhythmic sutra.

Mimori I was careful not to chew on the amusing sutras.

─ ─ I would like to sing with you next time, Murakami-san.

Murakami I want to sing!

Koizumi Moreover, the CD has a normal version and a live version, and the live version has 100% (audience) voice participation. When I can sing.

Mimori I want to sing with everyone.

I want everyone to watch the movie until the end rolls.

─ ─ After finishing the postrecording of "Odd Taxi in the Woods", what are your impressions and impressions of the movie?

Koizumi Well, the concept is out there, with testimonies from 17 people.

Mimori So there are quite a lot of scenes where everyone speaks one by one.

Koizumi So I don't really know how the other people are acting.

Murakami I can't wait to see the whole thing.

Mimori: We may notice that this is how it was done when we see it through. When I looked at the script, there were a lot of revisions, and I could tell that the directors persisted until the very end.

Murakami Indeed. Many things were changed.

Koizumi I think the way the story is made up of the testimonies of the characters is something that has never been done before in animation.

Murakami I don't know if I should say this, but I want you to watch the film until the very end!

Mimori That's right!

Murakami Please make sure you watch it until the end roll.

Koizumi I want you to watch it. I want you to watch it until the end roll!

─ ─ If you leave the theater early, you may regret it.

Koizumi There are people who leave the theater after the end roll, and I always wonder why (laughs).

Mimori I wonder if they can't catch the train. I want people to see the film until the end.

Murakami I think your impression of the movie will change depending on whether you watch it to the end or not.

Koizumi It also depicts what happens after the TV series, you know.

Murakami I would say that you should look forward to it in the theater.

Mimori I also wonder what will happen to the relationship between Ms. Odogawa and Mr. Shirakawa.

───Finally, could you give a message to everyone who is looking forward to the movie?

Mimori: I was happy to hear that my friends who watched the anime, including people who don't usually watch anime, told everyone they met that they had seen "Odd Taxi". Moreover, they all said it was interesting, so they spread the word to their friends. I am sure that this work has spread by word of mouth, and I hope it will continue to do so in the future. If you haven't seen the TV series yet, I think it will be an interesting work to watch from this movie.

When I first heard that they were going to make a movie, I wondered how they were going to do it, whether they were going to do a spin-off or not, but I think the movie will delve deeper into the world of "Odd Taxi," including the TV anime. I hope that many people will watch it.

Koizumi When the TV animation started, not many people were watching it, but the reaction on social networking sites like "Odd Taxi" is great" spread, and I think that many people joined in the middle of the film. I think that many people who joined us during the production bought a lot of Blu-ray boxes. Thanks to all of you who paid more attention than we could have imagined, "Odd Taxi" will be released as a movie. We are truly grateful. I hope that you will enjoy the film as well, and that those who have not seen the TV anime will also enjoy watching it from this point on. I am sure you will want to watch the movie many times!　Please watch the movie while looking for various points of interest.

Murakami I think that the "testimonials" in this movie will help you understand the reasons and psychology behind the characters' actions, which were only briefly depicted in the anime, and will give you a deeper understanding of the work. On the other hand, if you watch the movie and then look back at the TV series, you may think, "I see. I think you will really enjoy it. I hope that you will watch both films over and over again. I believe that the possibilities of what could happen in the future are being realized, so please look forward to them!

(Interview and text by Kiri Nakazato)

©P.I.C.S. / Odogawa Kotsu Partners