Interview] Publicity Producer Talks about "Middle-ranking Anime that Falls on Hard Times in the Shadow of Big Hit Anime" - Koichiro Natsume (Executive Producer) and Kazuki Yanase (Publicity Producer) of "Jyakamichan Dropkick X" that Puts a Wind in the Anime Industry in Adverse Times (Part 2).

The third anime season of "Jyakami-chan Drop Kick" ("Jyakami-chan"), "Jyakami-chan Drop Kick X," will begin on July 5, 2022.

Based on the popular comic series by Yukio, which has been serialized in "COMIC Meteo" since 2012. The comedy anime depicts the dangerous and funny cohabitation of Evil God Girl, a demon from the demon world, and Hanazono Yurine, a college student who summoned her.

The first TV anime season aired in 2018, with the second season starting in 2020. In addition to raising over 67 million yen in crowdfunding for the third season, the company has taken unprecedented steps such as producing a local anime as a return gift for tax payments made by four municipalities (Kushiro, Obihiro, Furano, and Minamishimabara), selling naming rights for the title, and publicly soliciting voice actors for the role of new character Ekuto. The company has continued to make its presence felt as an outlier in the animation industry with such unprecedented efforts.

Finally, the third season of "Jyakami-chan Dropkick X" began broadcasting and distribution this July. To commemorate this event, Akiba Research Institute interviewed Koichiro Natsume, executive producer of the "Jyakami-chan" series, and Kazuki Yanase, advertising producer.

Following the first part, in which we asked about the episodes leading up to the third season, the second part touches on the current state of the anime industry and asks about the outlook for the future.

⇒Municipal collaborations, Vtuber casts, and even the producer raises production costs out of his own pocket money. ...... Interview with Koichiro Natsume (executive producer) and Kazuki Yanase (advertising producer) for the third season of the "Jyakamichan Dropkick X" anime [Part 1

The highlight of the third season is "Yaba no Medusa"!

--What is the highlight of the third season?

Yanase: There are many things, but the most important is Medusa. Medusa is bad.

I said it twice (laughs).

Yanase: Her character is broken (laughs). That was the part that made me laugh the most throughout the whole film. Medusa, who is not depicted at all in the original story, appears in the film, so please pay attention to her.

Natsume: This time, we included four regional episodes, which I think led to a change of place in a good way while maintaining the worldview of the previous "Jyoshin-chan" series. Of course, fans of the previous "Jyoshin-chan" can enjoy it, but even those who do not know much about "Jyoshin-chan" can also enjoy it.

Yanase: Yes. You can also enjoy it as a normal sightseeing anime.

Natsume: As I mentioned earlier, the local places of interest and specialties are carefully depicted, so I am sure that you will want to visit them. Also, the key station is now TV Tokyo. TV Tokyo is also paying attention to it and said they would like to broadcast it.

Yanase: I am happy to be a member of the Teleto Animation. I feel that we have become a major player.

For the fourth season, we are looking for municipalities that we want to visit!

--And I would like to ask about the future, which is on the minds of the evil people. I know you are aiming for the 4th term and beyond, but how do you plan to do it in the future?

Yanase: In talking about that, I think it would be good to reiterate how tough the current mid-level and lower level animations are. Broadly speaking, there are six things that are hard. 1.

1. package sales are down. 2.

2. sponsors decrease.

3. people don't come to our events in Corona.

4. the screening process in China has been too strict recently, so we can't distribute. 5.

The yen is so weak that we can't make a profit even if we make things overseas. 6.

(6) The unit price of animation production is rising rapidly.

As for 1, there are two breakdowns. One is that customers do not buy and there is no need to buy. The other is that they are not available at rental stores. Until now, rental stores used to buy tens of thousands of discs (Blu-ray and DVD) in bulk. This has disappeared.

2. Pachinko and pachislot used to be major sponsors, but recently it has been difficult to get them to buy our products. In addition, the application game companies have stopped being sponsors and are now producing their own animations.

I think you know about 3, and I don't know what will happen with 4, "Evil Girl," but the fact is that out of the 70 or so works that are produced each season, only 10 or so pass the screening process in China. 5 is still the same.

--Is this a result of the improvement of the conditions at the animation production site?

Yanase: Yes. That in itself is a good thing. According to my experience, the production cost has increased by about 30% in two years.

--However, the 30% increase in the production cost of animation does not mean that the sales increased by 30%, right? In fact, it is getting tougher.

Natsume: That's right. It's all about packages and distribution in China.

--There is an imbalance. There are really only a handful of major animations that make a big deal in the world.

Yanase: As you may have noticed, Japanese animation is currently divided into two major categories: super high quality works and those that are not so high quality. The "not-so-high-quality" mid-level animations are in a really tough situation.

--What do you think will happen to the animation industry in the future?

Natsume: I think the overall number of productions will definitely decrease. On average, there were about 70 animations per season at its peak, but in the future, there will be only about 40.

Yanase: Therefore, "Jyoshin-chan" took on the challenge of creating a completely new business model such as crowdfunding and hometown tax payment, and we will continue to do so in the future.

Natsume: Without that, it would not be possible.

--So you are saying that the business scheme of "Jyakami-chan" can be a model case for future mid-sized animations?

Natsume That's right.

Yanase: Animations that are engaged in hometown tax payment are appearing one after another, starting with the Chitose model of "Jyakami-chan". This model will be taken over in the future, and we are trying to come up with a new model that has never existed before.

--You will continue to work with such local governments in the fourth phase, right?

Yanase: Yes. There are pilgrimages to sacred places and anime tourism, aren't there? Professor Takayoshi Yamamura of Hokkaido University proposed the "Triangle Model for Anime Tourism. Since then, various studies have been conducted on the triangle model.

But they are case studies of successful examples, so not everyone can copy them. Of the nearly 2,000 municipalities in Japan, there is almost no chance that a hit like Washinomiya, Oarai, or Numazu will come from the other side. If that is the case, we thought, "If there is no sacred place, why don't we create one? That's why we decided to make our home a "sacred place" for anime.

That's why we want to make our city a mecca for anime! If there is a municipality that wants to use anime for city promotion, please contact us! If there is a municipality that wants to promote their city with anime, we would be happy to go to them right away.

--So it is possible that every episode of the fourth season will be in your hometown?

Yanase: To put it extremely bluntly, as soon as we have 12 municipalities, we will make it. （I know there are arguments about whether we can leave Jimbocho (where the work is set), but there are many cases where even very famous works started out as something completely different. I would rather spend more time enjoying my work with all the evil people while changing than to end up refusing to change.

We are looking forward to hearing from any local government that would like to have "Evil God-chan" come to their area for the fourth season!

(Reporting and writing by Kenichi Chiba, Editor)