Commemorating the animated version of the popular game app "Cat's Meow - Meow Miserable"! We asked Mr. Kokone about the behind-the-scenes development story, which we can talk about only now!

Have you heard of the cute, funny and heartwarming game app "Cat's Meow - Meow Miserable"?

• Download from AppStore
• Download from Google Play

Cat's Meow - Meow Miserable" is a story-based match-three puzzle game for iOS and Android released by Kokone Corporation, featuring cats based on historical painters.

At first glance, these cats may look fancy, but they are all artists with strong characters, and each cat is quite unique. On the other hand, the story of Nyaho, a fledgling painter who has lost his beloved master, who tries to restore the tattered house filled with memories of his master by selling his paintings ...... is a story that cannot be read without tears!

It was recently announced that the Meowhos, whom no one can leave alone, will finally be adapted into a TV anime. We asked Creative Director Masanori Takeuchi and Designer Aya Morooka about the story behind the production and episodes related to the anime adaptation.
⇒The "Cat's Meow" is being made into an animated TV series! Tomokazu Sugita will continue to play the role of Nyaho!

The story of the birth of Nyaho was controversial! The story behind the birth of Nyaho

--First of all, please tell us how the game app "Meow Meow - Meow Miserable" was created.

Masanori Takeuchi, Creative Director (hereafter, Takeuchi): Originally, our company mainly developed avatar applications for women, such as "Pocketcoro" and "Disney's My Little Doll.

I was a producer and creative director, and I was on the same team with designer Aya Morooka. When we talked about doing something within "Pokecoro," we had the idea of using a hand-drawn touch instead of the typical avatar design.

Designer Aya Morooka (Morooka): At first, I wondered if we could create a watercolor-like atmosphere in "Pokecoro.

Takeuchi: At that time, I looked at the illustration that Morooka had given me and thought, "If this is the case, maybe I can give it some form. At first, I was working on it as a project within "PokeCoro," but after some twists and turns, I came up with the idea of "How about a game where the story progresses as you play the puzzles? I came up with the idea of "how about a game where the story progresses as you play the puzzles? We continued to develop this idea and settled on a puzzle game with a painter as the main character.

From there, we decided on "complete the picture," and then we began to work out what kind of picture the painter character would draw, for what purpose, and what kind of picture he or she would draw. We worked out the details of what kind of painter the character would be, for what purpose, and so on.

Morooka Nyaho is modeled on the painter Van Gogh, but at first I didn't have a Van Gogh in mind, and I drew him as a character using cats because I love cats. He is just an old man who is a painter, and he is called "Nyanko Gahaku" .......

He used to be a successful artist, but now he is in a slump. I had a hallucination that he was seeing "genies of paint," and I proposed a project in which the genies would be pieces of a puzzle, and when the puzzle was solved, the painting would be complete.

--I had a hallucination (laughs).

Takeuchi: Normally, when you want to compete with a cat character, the proposal is usually a cute cat or a cool character. But the cat that was proposed to me was the complete opposite of that, a tired old man's cat (laughs). (Laughs.) And it also had an artistic side, with hallucinations and such, so I thought it had a lot of punch. I thought it had a lot of punch. From there, I just kept digging deeper and deeper into it.

--I thought that the fact that he was a tired old man and that he could see hallucinations made him interesting and punchy (laughs).

Takeuchi When you think of "creating a character," if you are competing simply with the character, you start with the cuteness and the appearance when it becomes a product.

But in our case, we need to connect the character to the worldview of the application, so we need to include elements that make the character interesting and that make it impossible to leave alone. When we delved into the characters in this way, we realized that all human beings have troublesome parts, and we thought it would be good if we could make the characters easy to sympathize with.

Recently, actors who are loved by the elderly are also popular, so I thought it would be a good idea to include that element in the character.

Morooka: So, from the beginning, Nyaho was set up to be a debt-ridden, lazy, womanizing character.

Takeuchi: In terms of the conception, I was trying to keep the Showa-era style. For example, like the main characters in Fujiko F. Fujio's manga.

Like Nobita in "Doraemon," he's no good, but he can't leave well enough alone, and I think that's what makes him sympathetic and inspires people to root for him.

--What was the main point you focused on in "Cat's Meow"?

Morooka It was the visuals of the characters. Especially, the main character, Nyaho, has dark circles under his eyes, which caused some people in the company to ask, "Is this character cute? (I was told "Is this character cute?" and "Is it okay with such an old man-like visual? (wry smile).

Takeuchi In addition to the appearance of the characters, I was very conscious of the storyline and the mechanism to make the characters' personalities stand on their own, so that the player gradually becomes attached to them through interactions with the characters around them.

In fact, we brought in a scriptwriter (Mr. Kan Funabashi) who has worked on TV dramas, and we came up with a story that would make the characters' personalities come alive.

Morooka: It's a puzzle game, but we worked on a full-fledged story.

--The characters in "Cat's Meow" are based on real-life painters.

Morooka When you look at a character, you can tell which artist it is based on. When I design a character, I look at a picture of the artist and choose a type of cat that is similar to the model.

The actual Picasso has a rounded silhouette, so I make his legs thicker and his eyes have double lids to give him a blobby look. ......

I try to make the model look as close as possible, hoping that people who know the artist will grin with delight.

--I am playing "Cat's Meow" with a sense of dread, wondering if something like that will happen in the future (laughs).

Takeuchi We get a lot of questions from our customers, such as "Is he going to cut off his ear?

We try to include as much historical information as possible about the painters who served as models, and we have our scriptwriters research the world of painting and culture of the time. Even with Nyaho, there are developments that make me think of ear razors.

There are also some episodes in the history of painters that are so insane that they would be unthinkable to ordinary people, so I exaggerate such episodes.

Morooka: On the other hand, if the historical facts were left as they are, the characters would be too outrageous, so we have rounded them out and incorporated them. In that sense, however, it was easy to make the characters stand out because the model artists were already well-defined.

--I think that some people who like art might say, "Next time, give us a character modeled after this painter! I think there are a lot of people who like art who say things like, "Next time, give us a character modeled on this painter!

Takeuchi: We get a lot of that kind of feedback on Twitter.

Morooka There are also people who are familiar with art, and some of them say that they are not good at puzzles, but like the story and the worldview.

--I think it's a great game for people who like art. What other reactions have you received since the release of the application?

Takeuchi: There was a lot of backlash within the company before we released the app when we shared the story of a painter's cat who is in debt because his owner, the player, has passed away.

Morooka It is the most painful situation for cat lovers, so people said "I can't bring myself to continue playing the game" or ....... There were about half in favor and half against.

Takeuchi We had a lot of doubts, but we couldn't be sure until we released the game, so we decided to start by putting together what we thought was "the one! We decided to release the product with what we thought was right. Worst-case scenario, if we released it and it didn't work out, we could do something about it (laughs).

(Laughs) But when we actually released the app, the "next day retention rate," a measure of whether people were still playing the next day, and the "retention rate" after one week were far higher than any of our other apps. That was the first time I felt relieved that Nyaho was accepted.

Morooka: I wondered if Nyaho would be accepted by customers. But I was relieved to find that many people said it was "cute. Recently, we have had Nyaho in various fashions, and the response has been good.

Takeuchi: Nyaho is cute in a playful way, like wearing a momiji manju-style outfit.

I think it was also a good thing that Morooka set the overall tone of the app to a more subdued color palette, since the target audience was originally set at women in their 30s and 40s. In fact, that demographic is the largest customer base for the application.

Is the image of Nyaho's voice "Gin-san"?

--February 22 is "Nyan Nyan Day," and it has been announced that "Neko no Meowho" will be adapted into an anime. Please tell us about the background of the anime adaptation.

Takeuchi: When we were making the game, we asked the voice actors to do the voices of the characters, and at that time we also talked with the voice actor agency about how it would be interesting to make an animated version. After that, there were various opportunities, and I guess everyone saw the potential in "Neko no Meowho" as well, which led to the current animated version.

--How did you decide on the voice actors for the game "Neko no Meowho", which has a splendid cast including Tomokazu Sugita?

Takeuchi: We didn't originally plan to include voice actors. But when I actually made a demo and played with it, I felt it wasn't enough. ...... So I tried the voice of my own cat, but it didn't fit at all (laughs).

(laughs) So I decided to ask a voice actor to do it, and right around that time, Mr. Sugita was doing the voice of Gintoki Sakata, the main character in "Gintama". Sakata Gintoki is lazy and no good, but when he does something, he does it, and people gather around him, so he was quite similar to Meacho.

Also, I knew that Sugita-san ad-libbed a lot in the recording, so I thought that if I asked him to cook Nyaho in his own way, it would be more interesting than we had thought.

--So you thought that having Mr. Sugita play Nyaho would make him more attractive as a character.

Takeuchi But Nyaho is a cat, so there is no way to write a script for him.

(laugh) -- It's true that he doesn't speak a lot of lines, but basically "meow" and so on. How did you record it?

Takeuchi I told Morooka to prepare the character's facial expressions for me at .......

Morooka I think this is a very special way of recording, but I asked him to look at the facial expression patterns and then I asked him to act as if he were saying, "Please do this! and then I asked him to act like that.

Takeuchi I explained Nyaho's background and character, and asked Mr. Sugita to think about it.

Morooka When I asked him about it later, he said he was quite confused (laughs).

Takeuchi Sugita-san didn't know what kind of groove to use, and we didn't know what was the right one, so we were both a bit groping and at a loss (laughs).

But gradually, he got into the groove and sometimes ad-libbed some Japanese words. At first it was "meow" or "meow," but then it became "Meow, meow! or "Meow! and so on.

We used this method as the basis for recording other characters, so we always gave the voice actors a hard time (laughs). (Laughs.) However, we do get comments from the voice actors who have done the recording, such as, "That was fun! (But sometimes the voice actors who have done the recording say, "That was fun!

Morooka: Every time I hear the finished audio, I think, "That was wonderful! I think, "That was great!

Takeuchi The sound director has also played with "Cat's Meow," so we record through trial and error to create the atmosphere of the character and the differences from the other characters. I usually finish recording one character in about one to two hours.

Morooka: Dali's original model is Spanish, so even though she is a cat, I sometimes give her mysterious orders like, "Please speak in a curly tongue like a Spaniard" (laughs).

(laughs) -- Will the voice actors continue from the game for the anime version?

Takeuchi Yes. And as I am often asked, please look forward to the broadcast to see if it will be "meow" or human language.

--Will the storyline of the anime be based on the game?

Takeuchi: It will not have a big main story like the game, but will be more like a short comedy that can be watched as a complete episode. The main focus of the anime is that it can be easily watched by small children and that it can be enjoyed by both parents and children.

We want to make sure that the "many strange personalities" of the "Cat's Meow" characters are reflected in the anime, and that the slapstick atmosphere created by the interplay between the characters is carried over to the anime.

--The game will be aired in the Wednesday short animation slot of "Kinda Television" (TV Tokyo), so children will be exposed to it more actively.

Morooka Some parents and children play the game together, so we hope that they will like Nyaho in the anime and start playing the game. Since the theme of the game is painting, I thought it would be a good way to learn about art.

Takeuchi: I often receive comments from people who say that they became interested in painting after playing "Cat's Meow. Also, we plan to show Nyaho's paintings in the anime after each story. We are also planning to show Nyaho's paintings after each episode. Since Nyaho's paintings are based on actual paintings, we hope that people will become interested in art in this way as well.

--Do you have any plans to create original characters for the anime?

Takeuchi: We don't have any plans at the moment, but we are constantly creating new characters for the game, so depending on the response to the anime, we may be able to develop a variety of new characters in the future.

--In the game, Holmes, voiced by Yuichi Nakamura, appeared as an event character, didn't he?

Takeuchi: Holmes has nothing to do with the painter, but he is well known, so I thought it would be nice (laughs). (Laughs.) He was a surreal character, a clunker in spite of being Holmes.

Morooka There are only clunkers in "Cat's Meow" (laughs).

Takeuchi Holmes is from England, so we chose a British shorthair as the type of cat. I would like to continue to do various events in which Holmes appears.

--Will Holmes appear in the anime as well?

Takeuchi....... He will be in the anime, too. ...... or ......?

--There was a bit of silence, but I am looking forward to it (laughs). Now that "Nyaho the Cat" has been made into an anime, do you have any ambitions for the future?

Morooka: I would like to do a private exhibition of Nyaho!

Takeuchi "Meow Meow the Cat" is based on the theme of art, and we have always loved art, and we have grown up in part because we were exposed to art in the course of our lives. I would be very happy if people who were not so interested in art before and children can experience art and enjoy it.

Morooka: I think people feel that art is a bit intimidating, but I hope that people will enjoy it in a more casual way.

--Lastly, could you give a message to the readers who are looking forward to the "Cat's Meow" animation?

Morooka: Nyaho is a bad cat with debts, but he enjoys his life. So I would be happy if you could enjoy your daily life through the game "Neko no Nyaho," thinking that it's OK to be bad.

Takeuchi Although we created "Cat's Meow" and introduced it to the world, we feel that the users are playing the game and helping to raise "Cat's Meow" together with us. We would like to continue to emphasize this stance in the future, and we hope that users will watch and play "Cat's Meow" and that they will help us grow together!

--Thank you very much for your time today!

(Interview, text, and photos by Michi Sugahara)

A gift of color paper illustrated by Aya Morooka, designer!

To commemorate the publication of this interview, we are giving away an illustrated color paper illustrated by Aya Morooka, the designer, to one lucky winner. Please read the detailed application guidelines before applying.

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Aya Morooka's original illustration on colored paper

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