Creating a spin-off of an American CG anime using the grammar of Japanese anime!　The Work Method of Gen Ubuchi (Nitroplus) and Tow Ubukata, Creators of the Story of "RWBY: Ice and Snow Empire" (Anime Industry Watching No. 89)

RWBY" is a 3DCG animation series independently produced by Rooster Teeth, an independent American studio. Currently, it has been released up to Volume.8 and is also available on Blu-ray in Japanese. Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yan...... team up to fight demons using their special abilities. "RWBY" is a work that was born under the heavy influence of Japanese anime, manga, and video game culture. It will come as a surprise to anyone who hears that a spin-off of "RWBY" will be made as a 2D anime in Japan (......).
Moreover, the production studio is Shaft, which specializes in the visualization of fantastical worlds, such as "Bakemonogatari" and "Puella Magi Madoka Magica. Gen Urobuchi, known for his work on "Madoka Magica," is in charge of the original animation, while Ubukata Tow of "PSYCHO-PASS Psycho-Pass 2" and "PSYCHO-PASS Psycho-Pass 3" and "Soukyu no Fafner" series is in charge of series composition and script writing. The film is based on the series composition and screenplay by Ubukata Tow. With an ideal studio and the best team of scriptwriters, it seems that they are creating a unique spin-off that is typical of Japanese anime.
In this interview, we asked Ubuchi-san and Ubukata-san about the key points of the story construction and the appeal of "RWBY," including the original anime.

The inventive 3DCG of "RWBY" has a high level of perfection as a "picture

─ ─ First of all, what is your impression of the original "RWBY" anime?

K. Uemoto: First of all, before the main story began, you released a short trailer showing Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang fighting independently (in November 2012). At that point, I was already surprised, but when I heard that the series was going to be a full-length feature film, my expectations grew. It is a rare example of a project that started out as a grassroots doujinshi animation, but has since spread globally and developed into a long-term series. That's why I had the feeling from the very beginning that this would become a legendary anime work.


Ubukata: I watched Volumes 1 through 4 all at once on software a few years ago. I got the impression that it was an interesting hybrid work, with some influences from Japanese content, but also with a uniquely American perspective. I personally learned a lot from it because it was made with a different sensibility from the Japanese in terms of what we need to pay attention to when depicting human beings and how to handle characters.

───How was the visual aspect of the film?　Compared to the high-end animation of major studios such as Disney, I think the CG may look cheap.

HAYABUCHI: Nowadays, machine specifications have improved and the skill of the creators has improved, but the visuals in the early days of "RWBY" had a unique flavor. It didn't cost that much to produce, and the production staff even took turns voicing the characters. And yet, I took my hat off to the passion that went into the creation of such an epic long-form series. At the beginning of the series, the mob characters walking around town were silhouettes. That split was graceful, and it could be said that you got through it with ingenuity and ingenuity. I thought it was wonderful that they had the judgment to determine what to express with what they had, regardless of the quality of the images.

UbukataThey are all "pictures" in their own right. It's true that the mobs are silhouettes, and the buildings are drawn in a flat way, but you can really feel a sense of depth. That's what I call "good drawing". Also, when I saw the initial trailer video that you mentioned, I was amazed at how the movement was so amazing. I was surprised. I wondered who drew the storyboards and what kind of logic went into the action. I later learned that a super creator (Monty Aum, the original author) was the one who created the movements. So it is not a feat of strength, but of talent. When you want to show movement, you can do it better if you don't mess up the background. I thought it was a very high level of perfection in creating pictures that specialized in action.

─ ─ What about the storyline?　It started out as a school story, and now it has expanded into a mythical adventure story where you quest in a different world. ......

Ubukata: Obviously, the storyline is different from the one I know, so I don't have any preconceived notions about what kind of anime it is. The length of each episode is also different, and it's a work where you really don't know what's going to happen next.

FUKAFUCHI: Even if the story was to be developed over a long period of time, I was caught off guard by thinking that it would be a school drama of about five or six episodes at most. I was surprised that they had prepared a grand story from the beginning with the intention of expanding it to such a large scale, as expected from the country that produced "Star Wars. At this point, I already have no idea how I'm going to fold it up (laughs).

Ubukata: "RWBY" is like a surprise box. It's light on its feet, so it's going to keep evolving in the direction that the creators think is more interesting.


───Now, please tell us how the "RWBY Ice and Snow Empire" project came about.