The Self-Defense Forces also fully cooperated! Ghally Air Force" reflects the gutsy harvest from location scouting -- Interview with Director Katsumi Ono and Hiroyuki Okawa (mechanical design)

The TV anime "Girly Air Force" has been airing since January 2019. On board special weapons called "Daughter," developed to counter the mysterious hostile entity "Zai" that has appeared before humanity, are called "Anima," which take the form of young girls.

When Narutani Kei, a high school student, is attacked by the "Zai" on a ship from Shanghai to Japan, she meets Gripen, an anima who comes to her rescue. The story of Kei and the animas, humanity's trump card, begins now.

In this interview, we asked director Katsumi Ono (photo at left) and mechanical designer Hiroyuki Okawa about the highlights of the film from their respective perspectives!

I got the impression that "Girly Air Force" was just right as an introduction to fighter planes (Ono).

--What was your first impression of "Garry Air Force"?

Ono: I originally didn't know much about fighter planes, so I felt that it was just right as an introductory book. I wanted to make a work that both fighter fans and beginners like myself could enjoy.

Ohkawa: I knew about the content and atmosphere of the work beforehand. As for the mechanical action, I tried to depict it in a way that emphasized speed rather than realism.

--Ono: What did you focus on in the dogfight scene?

Ono: The "Anima" girls in this work are based on real fighter planes, so I was conscious of realism to a certain extent, but I also wanted to make sure that the movements of the "Zai," which appears as the enemy, would not be outdone. The movement of the missiles, "That's a superb trajectory!" (laugh), but that is where the animatronics are moving. ......

Ohkawa: It is not "fighter vs. fighter," but rather we are dealing with an enemy that cannot be imagined by human science in this work, so we paid a lot of attention to the difference in behavior between the Gripen and the "ZAI. The "ZAI" would not be interesting if its wings simply moved as variable wings, so we decided to make the aircraft itself move as if it were a living creature. If the Gripen and the other "Zai" were to fight on the same trajectory forever, it would look fake, so we wanted to counter the "Zai" with the way its missiles move. I had a hard time with this because of a certain "bind" of .......

Also, today's fighter planes have evolved to the point where they can move like the planes in science fiction movies. I thought to myself, "Gripen and his team need to move in a way that surpasses that, don't they?" I was thinking something like ...... as I went along.

--Did you go on location scouting?

Ono: Yes, it was a very valuable experience!

Ohkawa I was supposed to accompany you, but I was not able to participate due to my poor health. ...... Too bad (bitter smile).

Ono You taught me things that I can't write here for a moment (laughs). Also, you were running the video camera all the time so that we could see the scenery of Komatsu.

Ohkawa: The Self-Defense Forces were very cooperative in the production of "Garry Air Force. I can't go into details, but I can tell you that the members of Run Girls, Run! who sings the OP theme song, were also riding on the Eagle in the PV of "Break the Blue! I thought to myself, "I'm so jealous!

Ono: We also learned how to wear flight jackets, so it was a very fruitful location scouting experience.

--By the way, did the original author, Kouji Natsumi, have anything to say about the making of the anime?

Ono: Natsumi-sensei was there all the way through the reading of the book, so the revisions were reflected in the revised draft and sent back to us. The revisions were usually made to the characters' lines, and they often came back in a form that strongly reflected the character's personality.

For "Zai," the concept of movement was to make it look like a living creature (Okawa).

--In addition to the powerful battle scenes, this work is also a "boy meets girl" story.

Ono: Of course, we wanted to focus on the growing bond between Hui and Gripen, but there are also scenes where Hui's childhood friend, Song Ming Hua, is forced to cancel her plans with Gripen almost every time. However, in depicting the relationship between Hui and Gripen, it is important to show the interaction between Hui and Minghua in order to depict the change in Hui's feelings, so I took that into consideration.

Ohkawa: Speaking of a shadowy character, there is a scene in the second half where Viper Zero finally plays an active role, but I felt so sorry for him that I had him included in the OP. It belongs to a different organization than Gripen and the others, so it may seem strange to fans of the original work and those who are familiar with it. ...... (laughs).

--What about the design of the aircraft that Gripen and his crew will be flying?

Ohkawa: Compared to the original work, there is a reason why we added more detailed patterns. The girls move a lot in the animation, so I thought, "In order to make it easy to see the direction of the aircraft even when they move around at great speed, it would be better to make it easier to understand the appearance of the aircraft.　So we changed the specifications a little from the original plan.

--Did you reflect the personalities of the Anima girls in the aircraft?

Ohkawa: Before the series began, we had a process where we tried to express rough movements in 3D. We confirmed the direction of having the Gripen move nimbly as standard, the Eagle spin around even when it did not need to, and the Phantom, on the contrary, move a little more restrained. For "ZAI," we aimed to make it behave like a living creature, wagging its tail and wings even when it makes small changes in posture. We tried to make "ZAI" behave like a living creature. You can see this in the first episode, so please watch it again.

--Did you ever give any lectures to the voice actors about their performances?

Ryota Aisaka, who plays Kei Ono, practiced the "G (gravity-resistant) breathing technique. He said, "Put all your strength into your body!　Speak now! (laughs). After that, he seemed to have done some research on his own and told me, "There are two ways to do it," he said. I strongly felt the professionalism of the voice actor. Yuka Morishima, who played the role of Gripen, also did a good job of playing her role with few emotional ups and downs.

Ookawa: Kenji Nomura, who played Haruka Yashirodori, the head of the Special Technical Laboratory, also spoke in a restrained manner, which I thought brought out a very nice flavor. Keiji Hirai, who played the role of Funado, an aircraft mechanic, also gave a very good performance. It must have been difficult for everyone, especially those who played operators, to speak in difficult terms (laughs).

(Laughs.) As for the ED, I asked him to go through with my request, saying, "I don't want to draw a dark storyboard! I asked them to go through with my request.

--I heard that Director Ono put a lot of effort into storyboarding the ED theme "Colorful☆wing" sung by Gripen (Yuka Morishima), Eagle (Hitomi Owada), and Phantom (Shiori Izawa).

Ohkawa: The director had a goal in mind: "How quickly can I create a composition in which Gripen, Eagle, and Phantom are all together to fight Zai? You can see that in the film. As you can see, the coloring and everything else in the ED image, which features a vivid background, was almost completely created by the director.

Ono: Well, it was really hard work (laughs). (laughs) Actually, I suggested that the ED should have a "cute" look. The story and music are generally heavy, so I wanted to make it at least a little bit heavy. I didn't want to draw a dark storyboard! (laughs).

--(laughs). -Are there any other highlights?

Ohkawa: I would like people to pay attention to the sound. From episode 4 onward, Gripen and the others start shooting machine guns, but Gripen uses a revolver-type machine gun, while Eagle uses a Vulcan cannon, a rotary machine gun. I hope you will pay attention to the attention to detail in this area.

Ono: The staff did a lot of research on the details, and I am very grateful for that.

--I am sure there are many highlights in the story as well.

Ono: How will the phantom appear and interact with the gripenes?　I would like people to pay attention to the human and anima patterns, and also to the core question of what is "zai" in the first place. The story will also get to the heart of what "zai" is in the first place. In addition, I would like you to pay attention to the battle scenes, including dogfights, and the changes in the relationships between the characters.

Taiga: There are also many exciting 3D action scenes leading up to the climax, so please be sure to watch it all the way through!

(Interview, text, and photos by Atsushi Saeki)