The men behind the critically acclaimed film "Promea" talk about the production style of modern animation. Masahiko Otsuka, President of TRIGGER and Hiroki Kimura, President of Mixi

The movie "Promea" continues to shock many audiences with its accelerating story and battle depiction.

Hiroki Kimura, President and Representative Director of Mixi, Inc. and Masahiko Otsuka, President of TRIGGER, the production company that has continued to support the film from behind the scenes, talked to us about the behind-the-scenes production of the film, which is currently in theaters to rave reviews.

I want today's children to cry over friendship.

Please tell us how TRIGGER and XFLAG came together for "Promea".

Otsuka: After "Kill la Kill" ended, we talked about what to do next, and we started talking about how "Kill la Kill" was too much for a TV anime, and that if we wanted to do more than that ......, we would have to do a movie. But I started talking about how if we wanted to do something better than "Kill la Kill", we would have to do a movie, but we didn't have enough budget. We wondered if there was anyone who would finance the project.

Kimura: We were also making "MonSt Animation" at XFLAG, but at the time, I was in a position closer to the production site, not as the president. I said, "Who wouldn't be! I was talking about how I was interested in the director, and he said, "Who wouldn't be! I was told that I was a fan of TRIGGER in the first place, and the conversation progressed from there (laughs).

What did you like about TRIGGER's work?

Kimura: The fact that they deliver pure battles with high-quality content. XFLAG, the brand that operates "Monster Strike," wants to create a space where people can get excited with their friends and family through games and anime, and their theme is to "continue creating adrenaline-filled battle entertainment. For this reason, I love TRIGGER's works because they are full-throttle adrenaline-fueled battle entertainment and also depict passionate friendships with friends and colleagues. I love TRIGGER's works because they depict passionate friendships among friends and colleagues, as well as battle entertainment with adrenaline. and "You believe in me, I believe in you," which is so true. When I was working on this film, I was watching the scene thinking, "I believe in the producer! I was thinking "I believe in the producer!

You must have had the same passionate spirit as "Gurren Lagann" running through your veins.

Kimura: I think battle anime should be more popular, and I want today's children to cry over friendship.

Q: Mr. Otsuka, what is your impression of Kimura-san?

Otsuka: I feel like I'm talking to Mr. Kimura the most in today's interview (laughs), but he has always taken the stance that he supports the production but does not interfere in the creator's field, and I have never been so grateful for that. I have never been so grateful. He made us feel comfortable working with him, which was really helpful.

Kimura: I am also a businessman, so my mission as a company is to achieve the best possible results. In that way, I thought that leaving it to the creators would lead to that, so that's all I can say.

Q: Surely, it would be interesting to let Director Imaishi and Mr. Kazuki Nakajima work freely. So, what did you gain from working with XFLAG?

Otsuka: Since we were going to do it in a theater, the hurdle that the director was trying to set was raised quite a bit, and that was something that could only be done with a budget. This time, we worked hard on the parts that were difficult to understand or reach, but as a result, the efforts we made there were not meaningless. The result was not meaningless, but I think you can see that it was something different.

Q: Did you succeed in creating something new by paying close attention to every detail?

Otsuka: Yes. Of course, it would have been easier to use only the techniques we have been using up to now, but that alone would not have advanced the expression of the animation itself. The budget and scale are different from Hollywood productions, and I don't think we can compete with them, but we must not lose in terms of feeling. The only way to fight for that is to try. I think the reason we were given that stage was precisely because we were able to work with XFLAG.

Kimura When I think about anime in Japan today, I think we are experiencing a kind of shrinking equilibrium. When times are tough, budgets are tight, and it is safer to make products that are targeted to core customers. But if we do that, the market will shrink even more, which I think will happen. I think "Promea" is a great challenge in this context. An original work without an original story is not something that can be easily calculated. Therefore, I thought it would be a difficult road for both the people who pay for the film and the people who make the film to deliver it in a proper way, and I think it is really significant that we were able to accomplish this. I think it has become one of Japan's leading battle entertainment productions, and I think it is very significant that I was able to be a part of it.

Q: Did you think about feeding back what you learned from this project to "MonSt"?

Kimura: I haven't really thought about that. However, I do hope to collaborate with "MonSt" to express the world view in a three-dimensional way. MonSt" has a total of 50 million users worldwide and is played by many junior high and high school students, so it is a big media in itself. We have collaborated in various ways and created this game as a kind of playground. I hope that "MonSt" will serve as a good playground, a device to amplify what you got when you saw "Promea".

Koyama's final touch dramatically changed the quality of the work.

Q: What was the most difficult part of the production process?

Otsuka: As usual, this film was the most difficult production site ever. It was the first time for Director Imaishi to work on an original feature-length film, and there were many things that we did not know until that time. I was able to predict a few things, but I realized once again that there are things that cannot be conveyed in words alone, and that there are things that cannot be learned through experience with TV animation alone. ...... It was the usual T.O. Imaishi O. Nakajima work site, but with a slightly different feel.

Q: There have been an increasing number of high quality animated TV series recently, but I think there is a big difference between that and a movie.

Otsuka: A two-hour deadline is a lot of work all at once. With TV, 30 minutes are finished every week, but one day a two-hour film is finished. The way to finish a film is very different. Even if you know it in your head, you can't understand it until you experience it.

Director Imaishi does not have a lot of experience when it comes to theater productions.

Otsuka: That's right. That's why I haven't been able to do everything I wanted to do this time. I think there are parts that he would have liked to have done a little more and parts that he could not accomplish. But that is something I would not have known without doing the film this time, and if I did not do that, I would not be able to move on to the next one. You can't do it out of the blue. You have to keep building on that, and I think I can go on to the next one because I am not satisfied.

Q: What did you think of the production site?

Kimura: I thought director Imaishi was like this at the production site, but he doesn't talk much. I don't know if I should compare it to the "Three Kingdoms," but Director Imaishi is like Liu Bei Gentoku. Director Imaishi is like Liu Bei Gentoku, and Mr. Nakajima is like Zhuge Liang, just talking and talking (laughs). And (Director Imaishi) is like, "Hmmm...hmmm.......... I was surprised to see such a balance. I thought he was going to show off his strong personality since he is a director who makes very strong works, but he was rather reserved.

Otsuka: Ha-ha-ha. I am usually a normal person. I thought the director would also be outspoken because his work is outspoken, but he just talks normally, which makes me think, "What? I thought, "What? But once he starts making them, the madness oozes out of him. Also, it is easy to understand what I am looking for. It could be said that there is no hesitation, but because what we make is consistent, it is easy for the staff to work on it, and they want to do their best, thinking about how they can provide what the director likes. I think it is a virtue of the director that they want to do things on their own, rather than being forced to do them.

Kimura: I have an image of directors such as Anno as unapproachable, but I think it's okay to meet Director Imaishi at the theater and ask him to take a picture with you! I feel like I can meet Director Imaishi at the theater and ask him to take a picture with me. I feel like I want to spoil him (laughs).

And the chemistry between Director Imaishi and Mr. Nakajima is also very good, isn't it?

Otsuka: I think the chemistry is really good. Mr. Nakajima knows what the director is looking for, and I think that in the world of animation, it is Director Imaishi who can best bring out the best in Mr. Nakajima's script, so we have great chemistry, and I think the directors themselves agree.

Q: In terms of the animation itself, I was struck by the newness of the visuals. It was described as low-poly style, but I was impressed by how nicely it blended with the hand-drawn animation.

Otsuka: That was due to the hard work of the director and design team. Actually, (I) joined the project halfway through. I wasn't originally planning to join the production staff, but I was pulled in halfway through because I didn't want to leave things as they were. At that time, the basic look was being decided, but when I saw the low-poly CG, I was stunned. This is how they are going to do it? I was stunned. I thought they were doing something scary. I thought, "If I increase the density, it will look like I'm doing it, and it's easier that way. The simpler you make it, the less effort it appears to be, and the higher the probability of failure, since you need to have a good sense of what you are doing. However, if I succeeded, I would be able to create something one step higher. But at that point, it's hard to say, "Let's stop what we've built up and just do it normally. I had no choice but to do it, thinking, "Really? (laughs).

What did you do after you joined the project?

Otsuka: First of all, I thought, "How can I get this done? I thought I had been called in for that purpose, so I did my best to think about it. If I was told that I didn't have to finish it, I could keep making it forever. There is no such thing as "this is good enough. So it was up to an outsider to decide what was good enough. So, I ask the director to keep stepping on the accelerator, and I will step on the brake. If the director has to do both the gas pedal and the brake, he or she will start using energy to find the balance between the two. When I saw the low-poly CG for the first time, I felt like I was ready for that.

Q: But the finished product was really new and wonderful, and I wonder if that was in the director's mind.

Otsuka: I think it was a team effort, not only the director, but also Shigeto Koyama, the art direction, and the CG. The director alone could not have done it, and in that sense, I think we were able to do it because we had a group of top-class, talented people working together.

Kimura: When I saw this work, I thought it had something in common with contemporary art in Japan today. The large colored surfaces are painted flat, with gradations in some parts. I thought this was an expression that should be taken as an evolution of Japanese expression culture, something that people overseas would appreciate as cool, and an expression that also properly captures an identity that could only be born in Japan. I think the use of colors and surfaces in "Promea" has something in common with contemporary art, and I thought it was very ambitious, or at least I thought, "They've gone on this adventure! I thought, "They are so adventurous!

Q: Surely, art is the right word for it. Nowadays, I think the precision of Shinkai's works is accepted as one of the qualities of Japanese animation, but perhaps this is also one of the qualities of Japanese animation. However, it is unbelievable that you could really do this in a full-length film and do it without being tacky.

Kimura It was really well done.

Otsuka: I think Shigeto Koyama did a great job with the look. The final color adjustments were made right up to the last minute, and the work we did in that one week was quite a big change. After all, we were making something new, and no one knew the correct answer, so the only way to make the final adjustments was for someone who knew the correct answer to make the final adjustments. It is the same as when Director Shinkai is doing the final finishing touches. I think that is the way animation films are made today. It is not as if what is completed by the collective work is not the completion of the work. This time, the quality of the work changed dramatically by adding a final touch. That's why I was also annoyed (laugh).

Kimura I think Shigeto Koyama himself is a sharp character, but when I visited the premiere screening, he asked me, "Are you all right? Did I overdo it?" I thought, "You did that, didn't you? (Laughs.) I thought, "Don't say that now," but I thought it was funny. But I was happy that he did so much that I wondered if I overdid it. I am glad that you did it so well.

Q: What are your impressions of the finished film?

Kimura: I wondered if there was such a tiring film. Fans tweeted, "Don't just watch it, bathe in it. It's a little different from a roller-coaster movie. It's more like a continuous shower, so I think that experience was new to me. The story and the climax at the end were interesting.

Otsuka: I was looking at it the whole time I was making it, so all I could think of personally was what I wanted to fix (laughs). But as I was working on it, I thought, "We are making something that has never been done before. But I also felt that since everyone had worked so hard and died to make it, it had to be at least that good.

Q: In terms of art, this is a film that you want your overseas fans to see, isn't it?

Otsuka: I have heard that there are plans to distribute the film overseas as well. I don't think the impressions of the film overseas are much different from those in Japan, but overseas, people react to it as if it were a support screening, which makes me happy as a filmmaker.

Kimura: There is also the fact that Mr. Koyama is involved in the film, and in the context of expression on the streets of New York and other cities, and perhaps in Europe and France, the film may be more highly regarded as an art form. I think this work will be loved and appreciated overseas for a long time.

Q: Finally, Kimura-san, would you like to see another new Imaishi x Nakajima work?

Kimura: I would really like to see that.

(Interview, text, and photos by Junichi Tsukagoshi)