The voice actors also wore tights during postrecording! --Interview with Yomu (original story) and director Yugi Ogawa about the girls' coming-of-age story depicted through their tights.

The short anime "Miru Tights" will begin distribution on May 11, 2019 at 10pm. Based on illustrations by "Yomu," who is known for his particular tights expression, this work depicts a page in the irreplaceable adolescence of girls with the theme of tights and high school girls.

With the release of the film just around the corner, Akiba Research Institute spoke with Yomu and director Yuuki Ogawa about how the film was created with a focus on "tights.

We found that their love of tights runs deeper than we had imagined. Read this interview, and you will experience the enthusiasm of these tights-loving enthusiasts! Let's dive into the dazzling world of tights!

The first greeting is, "How much do you like tights?"

--The anime "Miru Tights" will be distributed from May 11. As the title suggests, this is a series of short animations based on illustrations by illustrator Yomu with the theme of "tights". Before we talk about the anime, please tell us about how you came to draw illustrations of tights.

Yomu: I love tights in both the two-dimensional and three-dimensional worlds, so when I realized I was drawing them, I just started drawing them (laughs). (Laughs) I liked drawing itself, so I have been drawing illustrations ever since I can remember.

I don't remember the exact time when I started drawing tights, but you can check ....... When I was in high school, I liked navy blue high socks, then I liked knee-high socks, and a little later I liked tights, ......, and the cloth area gradually increased (laughs). (Laughs.) From there, I started drawing illustrations of tights from time to time.

I also uploaded illustrations to pixiv and other sites, and about three or four years ago, I started a Twitter account to advertise another illustration job. I uploaded an illustration of tights at that time, and the response was great. I thought to myself, "People like tights, too!" I kept uploading illustrations of tights, and before I knew it, I was only uploading pictures of tights (laughs).

(Laughs.) The response from viewers was good, and I found myself liking tights even more as I drew more illustrations, so I still draw tights without getting tired of it.

Then one day, an artist friend of mine asked me, "Why don't you publish a fanzine about tights when you have that many followers?" I had never been that much in touch with otaku culture. I had never been exposed to otaku culture, so I had never thought of that. Hearing that, I decided to make a coterie magazine about tights.

--The coterie magazine "Yomu Tights" that I published attracted a lot of attention, which led to the current anime adaptation. Could you tell us more about how the anime came about?

Yomu: First of all, I was approached with the idea of making an anime, but all I had to begin with were illustrations, so I thought, "What am I going to animate?" (laughs).

(Laughs) Director Yuki Ogawa (Ogawa): It's not often you hear of an animation based on an illustration with an original script.

I was also present at the meeting with producer Yomu, and through his art collection and other works, tights were gaining popularity, so I asked him to make this anime adaptation so that more people would know about their charms.

Yomu That's very kind of you. ...... For "Miru Tights," the script was written by Fumiaki Marudo (known as the author of "Saerenai Kanojo no Nuturekata"), and there is a story to go along with it. Mr. Maruto also has a fetish for tights (laughs). (Laughs.) So I thought, "I want an anime director who is also a pervert! We decided to have Mr. Ogawa do it.

Ogawa: Pervert (laughs). I made my debut as a director with the anime "How to Raise a Saerenai Kano Girlfriend," and Kamei Kanta (director of "Sae-kano") has been like a mentor to me. Kamei-san also used to work with Yokohama Animation Lab, which is producing this film, so I was introduced to him through Kamei-san.

Yomu: Perhaps Mr. Kamei was working with you and thought "Ogawa-san is a pervert" in some way (laughs).

Ogawa I don't know if this is the direct reason for this. ...... When I was working on "Saekano," I was consulting with Kamei-san on how to handle the tights (of the female characters). So perhaps he could sense my enthusiasm in that way. However, I still don't know what was good enough for me to be asked to participate in this project. ......

YOMU: You can't tell what a pervert is by yourself.

Ogawa Wait a minute (laughs).

Yomu But Director Ogawa understands the goodness of tights.

Ogawa: I don't dislike tights to begin with, but do I like them very deeply? If you ask me, I would answer ....... I like tights, but I don't want to tear them, get them wet, or say, "I want to eat them! I don't think I want to eat them.

Yomu No, I don't want to eat it either (laughs).

Ogawa: When I first met you, you asked me, "How much do you like tights? I answered, "I like them normally," and he said, "Oh, so you like them normally. ...... I remember being surprised that just liking something in general was not enough! I remember being surprised (laugh).

Yomu: No, it wasn't a nuance to put pressure on me like that!

Ogawa: From there, I did a lot of research on tights, bought some tights from ......, touched them, wet them, and did various trial-and-error experiments to see how transparent they would be when pulled on. If I didn't do that, I wouldn't have been able to make the film.

It is quite difficult to create a video from a single illustration and a script written by Mr. Marudo. Since there were no guidelines as to what level of visuals was acceptable, I set my own theme of "showing the tights rather than the characters' faces" and created a rough sketch of the first episode, which I showed to Yomu and the other directors.

YOMU: The direction was perfect from the first episode, and it was great. I was really impressed when I first read the script and when I saw the storyboards. Even when I first saw Director Ogawa's storyboards, I could tell that he was properly showing the tights the way people like to see them. I knew that he had studied tights very carefully, and I thought that Director Ogawa was a pervert in that regard as well (laughs).

About the characters and voice actors in the work

--In "Miru Tights," three high school girls, Ren Aikawa (CV: Haruka Tomatsu), Yua Nakabeni (CV: Yoko Hikasa), and Homi Moegi (CV: Aya Suzaki), are the main characters. Please tell us about each character.

Yomu: Ren-chan is a girl with a tsunken feeling, a neutral position in many ways but with a defenseless eroticism, so she wears tights of 60 denier (a unit of fiber thickness). They are dark black but a bit transparent.

Yua, while being an honor student, is a bit calculating (laughs). Since she is the sexiest, she is also the thinnest denier (30 denier).

Homi, as you can see, is an active character who is far from erotic, so she wears 110 denier tights with almost no transparency.

In this way, the tights are set up according to the character.

It may sound strange to say, but since tights are the main character in this work, we try not to make each character stand out too much. If the characters are too strong, they become noise (when looking at the tights), and if they are just boring, they are no good. We wanted the anime to be a peek into the daily lives of the girls.

Mr. Marudo has done a good job of creating a script that conveys each character's personality through conversational drama, which makes for a very fast-paced viewing experience.

--How did you decide on the voice actors who would play each character?

Ogawa: Originally, we wanted the voices to match the characters, so we asked for the voices of the actors we wanted, and they all said yes.

Yomu: Everyone in the cast fit the characters, so they were able to play their roles without any sense of discomfort.

Ogawa: I also told the voice actors at the beginning that "tights are the main character in this anime. When explaining this work, the first thing I said was that it would be difficult to play the characters because their expressions would not be shown on the screen in this work.

In a typical anime, you see the character's facial expressions and acting, and you are asked to voice the character, but in this work, you see the tights on the screen. In other words, the viewer has to understand the character's facial expressions and emotions only through the voice while looking at the tights, so I told them to perform in a way that would allow them to do so.

We kept discussing with them that we wanted the viewer to be able to empathize with the character based on the dialogue alone. That play might have been difficult if it had been a new voice actor.

Yomu: That is why we asked veteran voice actors. Everyone was very good at what they did, so there was very little we had to say during postrecording.

Ogawa: The cast members didn't seem confused, they just said, "Let's give it a try," and they were very good at grasping the instructions I gave them.

--Ogawa: The cast was very good at grasping the instructions I gave them.

Ogawa: When I met the voice actors, Yomu-san said to everyone, "Oh, everyone is wearing tights! and then he said ....... I thought, "Yomu-san's tights sensor is amazing" (laughs).

Yomu: Everyone wore tights!

Staff The cast members said, "We didn't show them beforehand, but when we got there, everyone was wearing tights" (laughs).

Part of the film was made with women in mind

--I wonder if there are some aspects that need to be taken into consideration when creating a film that pushes fetishes to the fullest in recent years. Are there any parts of the production that were made with the female viewer in mind?

Yomu: Hmmm... I don't think there are any ...... (laughs).

Ogawa It would be strange to say that we "don't have women in mind at all," but we have packed in what we think is good, so there may not be much from a woman's point of view.

Yomu: I've narrowed down the target audience for this work quite a bit and made it as an anime for people who like tights, like the people who follow me. I'm trying to make it a very swinging shape in that area.

So I don't worry about how the women look at me, and I leave it up to the producer to stop me if something goes wrong. So, there have been a few times where I've been stopped, but I've also pushed through quite a bit (laughs).

Ogawa: From the perspective of the makers of the products, some of the expressions may seem extreme.

For example, when taking pictures of tights, the images are taken from a low angle, and there is a risk of looking like voyeurism. Also, if there is an angle where the pants can be seen, and that angle is emphasized, it will look like a pantie anime instead of a tights anime. We talked about being careful not to let that happen.

We don't want to put in light processing, etc. for the sake of regulation, so in that case, it is better to create an erotic angle, even though no pants can be seen.

YOMU: It is only an animation of tights. Also, this is art (laughs).

Ogawa Also, although there are many men on the main staff, such as directors and scriptwriters, most of the character designers and animators are women.

Since many of the animators are women, at every meeting I tell them, "If you see a part of the storyboard that you don't understand, try on a pair of tights yourself, film it and draw it. If it is a female staff member, I can ask her to provide the actual tights worn by the character, including the denier number of the tights, as a reference material.

Female staff members have also said, "If I don't know, I'll try them on! They say, "If you don't know, I'll try them on!

However, I'm always nervous about whether my comments will be considered sexual harassment during our meetings.

Yomu: The female animators are drawing the pictures based on a sound theory, in accordance with the wishes of me, the author, and Mr. Marudo, the scriptwriter, so I guess you could say we have the best team.

Ogawa I give them instructions based on their desires at every meeting. ......

Yomu: Without our knowledge, people might say, "That director is seriously in trouble" (laughs).

Ogawa: If that's the case, I'll be in real trouble the next time I work with him. ...... (Laughs)

Points I was particular about in the animation

--Ogawa: I guess you must have a lot of hard work to do (laughs). What were the particular points you focused on in the actual production of the animation?

Ogawa: Yomu's illustration is the pinnacle of "still images showing tights. So, if I had to add something to the animated version, I would add movement and theatricality, things that cannot be expressed in still images. In any case, I wanted to show the appeal of moving tights.

Of course, we also want to show the appeal of the moving tights, so while we make cuts that show them in still images, we also want to do our best to express the movement, theatricality, and stretching of the tights, etc., because the length is so short.

To be honest, this may raise the bar, but I think the number of drawings is considerably larger than that of a typical 5-minute animation. (Even at this point in production), we are thinking of using full frames (24 frames per second).

Yomu: I'm looking forward to it because they are very particular about that.

--Yomu: They are working very hard on that, so I'm looking forward to it.

Ogawa: In the case of illustrations, there is no problem even if rich texture treatment is applied to the tights, but in the case of animation, if the texture is applied to only one part where there is movement, that part will stand out on the screen.

If the background and characters are painted in a solid color, which is common in animation, but only the tights have gradations, highlights, shadows, and textures, that part will be very dark.

However, since the tights are the main character in this work, we intentionally added more information to the tights than is possible in other animations, so that they stand out and stand out. Compared to the faces of the characters, the amount of information in the tights is amazing (laughs). (Laughs.) We also dared to reduce the amount of information in the background.

We also carefully processed the camera to focus the viewer's eyes on the tights, cut by cut. I try to guide the viewer's gaze so that the eye is drawn only to the tights.

Yomu: In illustrations as well, I want to show the tights first, so I intentionally keep the clothing design and the character's faces low. If I make the character's face and eyes bigger, they become more and more assertive. I design the characters with the tights and feet as the main characters.

While drawing in the tights, I adjust the other elements so that they do not look out of place but are not too assertive.

--The tights are the main character in "Miru Tights," so the camera angles are unique. It must be difficult for you as a director, because you have to use a different method of direction than is usually used in anime.

Ogawa: It was difficult to find the right angle to show the tights in each episode.

In the first half, we tried to find the best angle to show the tights, or to change the texture of the tights from the front to the back, and so on. However, in the latter half of the production, it was difficult to find "angles that had not been seen before. ......

It took us a long time to find the right angle, because we wanted to show the film from different angles, even though the length was so short.

Yomu: When I was shown the final storyboard, I found that the tights were shown in a different way each time.

Ogawa: So I bought photo books, had the female staff of the company wearing tights pose for me, and went through a lot of trial and error.

Yomu What? What do you mean you asked them to pose for you? I wasn't invited there!

Ogawa: (Ignoring her) I also asked my male friends to pose from impossible angles and took pictures of them.

--You said that you also devised angles to show off your tights, but is there a particular angle that you like best in "Miru Tights"?

Ogawa: In my opinion, the cut in the first episode, where the soles of Homi's feet are close-up and light leaks through the gap between her outstretched legs, is a good angle. I took the liberty of drawing that cut by adding a scene that was not originally in the script (laughs).

Yomu: There is a scene with a kotatsu, and for me, that scene was amazing. ......

Ogawa: I drew the scene from the viewpoint of the cat in the kotatsu, and it was very difficult to draw. Even so, the artist was very particular about the drawing.

The Charm of Tights

--We have talked about "Miru Tights" so far, but could you tell us again about the appeal of tights in your opinion?

Yomu: The appeal of tights, as I see it, is the balance between elegance and eroticism.

To begin with, tights were not something that people wanted to show off, but rather a functional beauty that people wore because they were cold. Tights are packed with functions, such as glimpses of lingerie and lines that prevent stains. That's why I find them erotic (laughs).

--Although recently, fashion tights with patterns have also been introduced.

Yomu: Actually, I don't really like tights that are fashionable. I also don't like mesh tights because they put eroticism at the forefront. I want tights to be worn for their function.

--I think that's what I want them to be for. How about you, Director Ogawa?

Ogawa: I may still be a novice as a tights lover. ......

As Yomu mentioned, tights are made in such a way that the skin cannot be seen, but when you move, they stretch and become transparent, revealing your skin for a moment. I felt that the charm of tights lies in this kind of glamour in the process of making the work.

Yomu: Tights emphasize movement!　When the knees bend, the knee part of the tights becomes thinner, and when you sit down, the thighs become thinner. ...... I think this emphasizes femininity.

--It seems to me that it would be difficult to express such a glimpse created by movement in an illustration.

Yomu: It may be difficult to show movement, but it is possible to express changes in the tights depending on the pose you take.

In my illustrations, I want the viewer to feel the humidity and smell rather than the movement. On the other hand, in animation, I can show movement, so I think there are different pleasures in animation and illustration.

--You have been vigorously releasing illustrations of tights, and you are trying to express situations with tights, aren't you? It seems that you still have more tights in your repertoire.

Yomu: Right now I am uploading illustrations to Twitter once a week on Twitter. ...... I would like to have some stories (laughs).

Ogawa Surprisingly, you seem to be running out of material (laughs).

Yomu: Personally, I would be satisfied if I could draw pictures of tights, but I think the viewers would get bored if there is no change in situations. So I am thinking about that with a lot of thought.

--YOMU: Did you have any influences on your illustrations for this anime adaptation?

YOMU: After the anime, I became more conscious of adding a storyline to my illustrations.

I hope that the characters such as Ren, Yua, and Homi will be loved and that everyone will watch the anime, so in the illustrations I draw these days, I make sure that the characters' personalities come out. I hope that the girls will be loved by both those who look at my illustrations and those who see them for the first time in the anime.

--Today, I would like to thank you for sharing your passion for the "Miru Tights" tights anime. Finally, do you have a message for our readers who are looking forward to this work?

Ogawa: This is a work with content that you may never encounter again in the future, maybe never, so if you would like to take a peek at just one episode, I would be happy if you could find something at ...... and feel the attraction to tights there.

Yomu It's a perverted tights anime, so please take a look at ....... I know it sounds strange, but I want you to see a grand waste of time with an amazing staff and an amazing cast (laughs).

-- (laughs). Thank you very much for your time today!

(Reporting and writing by Michi Sugahara)