Interview] Flying Dog celebrates its 10th anniversary. President Shiro Sasaki talks about the trajectory of the company and its relationship with artists!

Flying Dog is one of the major anime music labels. This year marks the company's 10th anniversary, and various projects are being realized. First, released on January 23, 2019, is the MIX CD "NON-STOP FlyingDog MEGA MIX DOG RUN!" which connects 100 songs from the Victor era to the present day. . And on February 2, a live event featuring many of his artists, "Inu Fes! is waiting for you.
President Shiro Sasaki, who has been in the animation production field for more than 30 years, talked about the history of FlyingDog and the artists who will appear at "Inufes! He talked a lot about the history of Flying Dog and the artists who will appear at the "Inu Fes!

Flying Dog's philosophy is to be a world-class factory

─ I understand that President Sasaki has consistently worked in the animation production department since he joined the company.

Sasaki: I joined Victor Music Industry (at that time) in 1982, and after working in sales for about three years, I became a director in 1985. Since then, I have always been involved in animation production. I think it is rare for a company to have a director like me.

─ ─ The company name was changed from Victor Onsan to Victor Entertainment, and the animation department continued. Then in 2007, Flying Dog was launched as a label, and in 2009 it became a subsidiary. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the birth of Flying Dog as a company. What is the origin of the name "Flying Dog"?

Sasaki: When I was a student, there was a rock label called Flying Dog within Victor. It had long since disappeared, and when the Animation Department decided to start a new label, Flying Dog was one of the label name candidates. Victor's trademark is the dog, so we wanted to include the word "Dog" in the company name to carry on Victor's genes. Another reason was that many of our employees, including myself, were born in the year of the dog (laughs).

─ That's the story behind it (laughs).

Sasaki: As we were discussing it, we thought that the flying dog name was catchy and good. So, with the permission of the people who were involved with the original Flying Dog, we decided to add the name.

It has been 10 years since its birth. In the 10 years since its birth, the Flying Dog label has produced a wide variety of anime works and anime music, including those from the Victorian era before that. What do you think of the unique characteristics of the Flying Dog label?

Sasaki: I used to work in production, so I have always had an image of the label as a kind of town factory that makes music, not like "Shitamachi Rocket". It is not a product with a huge production line, but a factory where everything is done by hand from start to finish. I often thought of the town factory that makes referee whistles for the World Cup soccer tournament (note: Noda Tsuruseisha, which went out of business in 2016). It looks like an ordinary town factory, but it is a company known all over the world, and I have always wanted to follow in their footsteps. Anime songs are well-known throughout the world, so it would be ideal to have a label that looks small but is actually well-known throughout the world. This is just my own personal idea.


─ ─ That is how you would like it to be, wouldn't you, Mr. Sasaki?

Sasaki: I think the color of a label changes depending on the people inside. Now that I am an old man, I think that what Sasaki did is out of date, and I think that it would be good if young people could do the music they want to do. I think it is totally possible for the label's color to change accordingly, but I hope that they will keep the mindset of a town factory.

─ ─ This is a vague impression, but I think there are some works that are unique to Flying Dog. It is catchy, but there is a maniacal attention to detail hidden in it.

Sasaki: We want to work with the same creators, but with a different sound when they work with Flying Dog. Of course, the first priority is to respect what the creator wants to do, but I think it would be boring if the sound is the same as what was done elsewhere. When a creator produces a hit, the production team tends to ask for music with the same tendency, as if to say, "Please make a song like the previous XX. But maybe that is an uninteresting order for the creators, and maybe there are other things they are good at. In such cases, for example, when we ask a creator who has had a hit with a bright song to "please make a dark song this time," we can get them interested. If we can create music that is unique in this way, it will naturally become the label's color, and I think it is important to be unconventional. We also feel that we are working with people who are unique.