Interview with Misato Mitsumi and Amaruki for the TV anime "16-bit Sensation ANOTHER LAYER"──"I hope you will be interested in and enjoy the lineage of bishojo games".

The TV anime "16-bit Sensation ANOTHER LAYER," which began airing in October, is now in its final stages and is a development that one cannot take one's eyes off.

Based on the doujinshi "16bit Sensation," which started at Comic Market 96 and was distributed by game creators Misato Mitsumi (Aquaplus) and Jyunjyu Amaruki (Aquaplus) and manga artist Tamiki Wakaki. The story is set in 1990s Akihabara, and depicts the changing cultural movements surrounding the production of bishojo video games and the characters' stories centered on the main character, Meiko Uehara. The doujinshi has sold up to the sixth episode, and a book is currently being published by KADOKAWA (two volumes already in print).

The anime "16-bit Sensation ANOTHER LAYER," based on the original story, is an original story centered on a new main character, Konoha Akisato (CV: Aoi Koga). When Konoha opens a package of a bishojo game that was given to her by chance, she is transported back in time to 1992, the dawn of bishojo games (......). The story is told with the members of a game maker called Alcohol Soft, whom she meets there.

In episode 8, after the mystery of the time jump is solved, Mamoru Rokuda (CV. Atsushi Abe), a programmer who loves "PC-98", jumps back to the year 1985 and the story takes an even more mysterious turn. We asked the original author, Misato Mitsumi, and Mr. Amaruki about this work, which unfolds in such a way that one cannot take one's eyes off of it each time.

It all started with a spur-of-the-moment response

--This is the first interview on Akiba Research Institute about "16-bit Sensation," so first of all, please tell us again how the original doujinshi came into being.

Mitsumi: I sometimes have dinner and drinks with Mr. Wakaki, and when we were talking about what we wanted to do, he said, "I want to write a manga documenting these (bishojo games). He likes bishojo games, and I work for a company that makes them. That's how we came up with the idea of doing a coterie magazine.

I said, "Let's do it, let's do it," but it was just a spur-of-the-moment thing, so when I was asked later, "What are you going to do about that story? I couldn't remember what we were talking about when I was asked later (laughs).

(laugh) -- were you there too?

No, I wasn't there. I was invited by Mr. Mitsumi to collaborate with him. But I casually accepted the offer without asking about the details (laughs). (Laughs.) After listening carefully to what he had to say, I realized that this was what I wanted to do, so I started by digging up my memories by looking at my own CG from the past.

--Mitsumi: What kind of involvement do the two of you have in the actual creation of the doujinshi?

Mitsumi: Basically, we provide the material. When we were creating the character Meiko (Uehara), the heroine, we talked a lot about how I did this in college and how I did that at the game company. Of course, Meiko and I are completely different, and this is not our autobiography, but we provided interesting stories from that time and our work environment, and Mr. Wakagi put them together to complete the story.

So, I enjoy it as a regular reader. Sometimes I am surprised to find episodes that are too much about me (laughs).

Amaro: I also think of myself as the "first reader" who reads the story when the name is finished.

Mitsumi: The only time we check the names is when they are too different from historical facts or reality.

--Mitsumi: The only time we check the names is when they are too different from the historical facts or reality. How did the anime adaptation come about?

Mitsumi: I have a friend who helps our circle at Comiket, and he works at st.silver (the animation production company for this work). I originally met her at another place, and she suggested, "We are looking for our next project at Aniplex, how about '16-bit Sensation'? How about '16-bit Sensation'?

Amaro: I didn't know that (laughs).

Mitsumi: At that time, she also said, "Go ahead. I responded in a light-hearted way, "It would be great if it were made into an anime," and he said, "They are interested, so why don't we make it into a project? I said, "They are interested, so why don't we make it into a project? When I mentioned this to Mr. Wakagi, he said, "The original story is not finished yet, and three episodes would not be enough to tell a coherent story, so I thought it would be better to have an original heroine. That was before Corona, so it was more than three years ago.

Amaro: You interrupted the project with Corona. We didn't hear from you during Corona, but when things were coming to an end, we decided to make a TV animation! We had a new heroine that we had thought of, and we decided to make it into a TV anime. We had a new heroine, so we decided to make her the main focus of the story and animate it.

It was embarrassing to have the picture I drew to recreate that time appear on TV.

--That's how the new main character Konoha was born. Can you tell us more about the decision to make Konoha the main character in the anime and to make the content of the anime a time-repeat story?

Mitsumi When we decided to make an OVA, I told you that we had to create a new heroine because the original story would not come together as it was.

Amaro: At the time, the original story was planned to be 3 episodes, so we decided to create a new heroine and make it fit into 3 episodes.

Mitsumi: The reason we decided to make it a time leap story was because we thought it would be no good if the anime version would only be a "whore's play for old men. There are many people who don't know what happened back then, and the target audience is too narrow if the original story is left as is. Instead, I thought that if the present-day child (Konoha) introduced the world of the time leap destination, young people who do not know about that time would be interested in watching it, and it could also be viewed as a work.

--So you both had a lot to do with the setting and proposal of the anime?

Mitsumi: Yes, the ideas that the three of us and the people at Aniplex came up with when we first started talking about the OVA were the basis for the current anime as well. However, Wakaki-sensei was the main person who thought about what the main story of the anime would be, what parts of the original story would be used, and what parts would be original, and we worked out the details based on the opinions of the people involved in the anime at the scenario meeting. Wakaki did 90% of the work.

Amaro: So basically, Mr. Wakaki came up with the plot, and we completed it with changes based on the opinions of the script writers and Anipres staff. Aside from the storyline, I designed some of the characters that appear in the latter half of the film.

Mitsumi: That's right. I designed the clothes and drew a lot of pictures that appear in the work. All of Meiko's drawings in the anime were done by me, so it was embarrassing to see them on TV as they were.

--Mitsumi: Yes, that's right.

Mitsumi: Yes, but I'm actually not too happy about ....... I drew them while looking at old pictures in order to recreate the past, not the present. I feel that the current pictures are not like this (laughs)! (laughs).

Amaro: So, the poster of "Welcome to Pia♥Carrot" that I drew a long time ago has been on the wall for a long time. I was looking at the poster of "Welcome to Pia♥Carrot" that I painted a long time ago.

(Laughs.) There were about five people working in a room of about 7 tatami mats.

--How was it to actually watch the anime, including the embarrassment?

Mitsumi: I enjoy watching it as a viewer. However, every once in a while, I am brought back to reality by a picture like the one I just mentioned, and it makes me feel embarrassed (laughs).

Amaro: I enjoy it completely as a viewer.

Mitsumi: I am rather enjoying your reactions on social networking sites while watching the show in real time.

--I'm not sure if there were any impressive reactions?

Mitsumi : When my picture appeared, many people called it a "Mitsumi picture" (laughs). (Laughs) Also, I was really happy that Konoha was accepted quite well. She is a newly established heroine, and I was thinking that if Konoha was not accepted, the anime itself might not be accepted....... Mr. Wakaki always said "make it cute, make it cute," and I think the voice actress (Aoi Koga) was a big part of the reason why it was accepted.

Amaro: I didn't see it in real time, but later I saw the excitement of the online senior citizens' group, and I read the comments (on SNS posts and videos), thinking that I am glad it was made into an anime (laughs).

Mitsumi: I think it would have been very graphic at that time. But since more than 20 years have passed, I think the story has become somewhat better, or we can see it without being so graphic. I think that if it were back then, there would be more unpleasant stories, but I think it's fine from the standpoint of memories.

--I think it's a good thing to talk about it in terms of memories.

Mitsumi That's right. At first, it was really just like an apartment room. After that, it got a little bigger, but not 100 or 200 people. When we rented another room with only the graphic design members, there were about 5 people in a room of about 7 tatami mats, and we were saying, "Too small! (laughs).

(Laughs.) Leaf started out with three people, and we had planning meetings with three people, saying, "We need to increase the number of people. When we were in a rough patch, we stayed over a lot, and it was really like that.

--Did you also experience something like that in the beginning?

Yes, I did. （When I stayed overnight in the building (where the company is located) to work on original drawings, the cleaning lady would come at 8:00 in the morning and wake me up (laughs). (Laughs.) I can say this now, but there were times when I would go straight to work with my time card turned off.

Even after I moved to Leaf, I was working in a work environment that would be unthinkable today when it comes to Shuraku. ...... It is not a good idea to affirm this, since we don't live in such an era now, but I guess that kind of passion was necessary to create an interesting game. I think we were a team with a lot of enthusiasm.

Mitsumi: Everyone was sharing ideas very much. Especially, "KOMIKKU PARTY" was the first game after the establishment of Leaf Tokyo Development Office, so we worked extremely hard on it.

Amaro: Let's do everything we can do! Let's include everything! It was like that, wasn't it?

--We were like, "Let's do everything we can do! In recent years, there are many people, but I feel that the division of labor is becoming more and more divided.

Mitsumi: The larger a company gets, the more it may feel like it is just doing whatever comes down the pike. We are not such a large company, so we are able to participate in meetings and work closely with others, saying things like, "How about this kind of character?

I feel that the project is very well thought out as SF.

--The original storyline is also interesting, although the anime gives us a glimpse of the situation at that time. How do the two of you feel the story is interesting?

Mitsumi: I think it's interesting that there are so many time leaps. It is interesting that only Konoha is an Urashima Taro, and from his point of view, how many years has it been? Of course, it is necessary to introduce many works by going to various time periods, such as 1992 and 1999, but it is an interesting device. In episode 8, Mamoru went back in time.

Amaro: Although it is a story about a beautiful girl game, I thought the story itself was interesting from the moment I heard it at the scenario meeting. As Mr. Wakaki calls it "science fiction" rather than fantasy, the principles and ideas of time leaps are also very well thought out as science fiction. Dr. Wakaki also watches a lot of science fiction movies, so that might have influenced his work.

Mitsumi: It's science fiction, right?

--In episode 8, Mamoru time leaps to 1985, the year "Tenshi-tachi no Afternoon" was released, and "Super Mario Brothers" was released for the NES. The two of you had not yet entered the workforce, but had you been playing games and illustrating a lot since then?

Amaro: There were no bishojo games back then, but I usually played games. When I was in junior high school, I was playing on a computer and writing programs in Basic.

Mitsumi I didn't have a computer, so I was playing "Dragon Quest" and "Goddess Tensei" on the NES. I was also drawing pictures.

--And in episode 10, Konoha returns to the year 2023 and the world has changed drastically. What are some of the highlights of the last half of the show that makes us wonder what will happen?

Mitsumi: Personally, I would like to see the relationship between Konoha and Mamoru. What about the bishojo game? I'm sure you'll think so (laughs).

Amaro: In 2023, the existing characters have naturally aged, so I want people to look forward to seeing what will happen. Personally, I design various characters, so I would be happy if people could see that as well.

Mitsumi: I designed the unknown girl in the opening, and all of those things, you know. I only designed Konoha as a new character, though.

-Speaking of characters, Fuyuyoru Yamada (CV. Ki Yamane) was also in the past in the anime and gave a very different impression.

Mitsumi: I designed her to be very plain. Originally, I had drawn her in two different forms in a doujinshi, when she was cosplaying and when she was running a company, and for the anime, I designed her as a sober, glasses-wearing figure from her younger days. Then, some people said, "I like it better this way. I am glad that they accepted it.

--So, regardless of the animation, is there anything you would like to see in the future for "16-bit Sensation"?

Mitsumi: In the future......I am currently working hard to finish everything by the end of this year. ......(smiles).

Amaro: The original work will be completed at this year's Winter Comic, so please come!

Mitsumi: (At the time of the interview) I haven't even received the name from Mr. Wakaki yet, so I'm worried (laughs). (Laughs) I am worried about that, but I hope that everyone will see it because it will be completed this time. And Key also announced a new bishojo game ("anemoi") the other day, and I hope there will be many more bishojo games.

■I want people who don't know about those days to play bishojo games and derivative titles.

--I think it would be great if people who weren't part of that generation could come into contact with the works of that time and re-evaluate them through "16-bit Sensation".

Mitsumi: That's right. There are titles that can be played on new platforms, and I would love for them to try them. However, there are a lot of titles that were okay at the time but have bad content now, so I think we have to be very selective.

Amaro: It would be great if someone could recover the titles whose rights have gone missing and play them on a new platform, but that may be difficult.

Mitsumi What is lost is lost, isn't it? I was under the impression that the Library of Congress had all the books. I thought that the Library of Congress had all the books, but that was not true at all, and I really felt that they were being lost after all.

--I thought that I was losing my mind, and I felt that I was losing my mind.

Mitsumi: That's partly the purpose of the doujinshi, so I would be happy if it remains in a corner of your mind.

--I'd be happy if it remains in a corner of your mind.

Mitsumi: We made it so that even newcomers (who don't know about those days) can enjoy it, so even if they don't play bishojo games themselves, I hope they will be interested in and enjoy this lineage of games.

Amaro: Today, there are many games and novels dealing with bishojo, so I hope people will enjoy them in various ways.

--Let me ask you about bishojo games as a whole. How do you feel about the current bishojo games? There are so many games that deal with bishojo.

Amaro: The world has become so diversified that you can find bishojo everywhere you look. Games have also become worldwide, and there are many bishojo games on PC Steam these days, and many of them are made by people from other countries. I feel that the world has really expanded.

Mitsumi: There are a lot of bishojo games that are derived from the original form of bishojo games, and there are also a lot of shadow games. I think it's good that you can choose the game you like. In fact, I find it interesting that overseas games have taken over some of the scenarios from bishojo games. I especially feel this with games such as "Blue Archive.

I was once asked by an overseas visitor, "Is 'To Heart 3' ready yet?" I was once asked by an overseas person, "Is 'To Heart 3' out yet? I couldn't give any answer because it may or may not come out someday, but I feel that it is spreading well among people overseas.

Amaro: I am looking forward to the future, aren't you? To put it in an exaggerated way, I think it is a "culture that is accepted by the human race.

--What do you feel about the pictorial trend of bishojo?

Mitsumi: In terms of pictures, I think VTubers are at the forefront.

amaro Yes, because people come in after seeing the designs of VTubers.

Mitsumi If we were to create 10 characters in a bishojo game, I feel that the characterization methods such as "let's make the ending like this," "let's make the habit of speaking like this," "she likes cats and dogs," "she is a bad cook," ...... have a huge influence (on VTuber design). There is no such influence! You might say, "No, there's no such influence!

--Lastly, since we're here, is there anything else you'd like to promote?

Mitsumi: Please take care of "Utawarerumono Lost Flag" for me!

(Interview and text by Kenichi Chiba)