Local government collaborations, Vtuber cast, and even the producer raised production costs out of pocket money. ...... Interview with Koichiro Natsume (executive producer) and Kazuki Yanase (advertising producer) for the third season of the anime "Jyakamichan Dropkick X" [Part 1

The third anime season of "Jyakami-chan Drop Kick" ("Jyakami-chan"), "Jyakami-chan Drop Kick X," will begin on July 5, 2022.

Based on the popular comic series by Yukio, which has been serialized in "COMIC Meteo" since 2012. The comedy anime depicts the dangerous and funny cohabitation of Evil God Girl, a demon from the demon world, and Hanazono Yurine, a college student who summoned her.

The first TV anime season aired in 2018, with the second season starting in 2020. In addition to raising over 67 million yen in crowdfunding for the third season, the company has taken unprecedented steps such as producing a local anime as a return gift for tax payments made by four municipalities (Kushiro, Obihiro, Furano, and Minamishimabara), selling naming rights for the title, and publicly soliciting voice actors for the role of new character Ekuto. The company has continued to make its presence felt as an outlier in the animation industry with such unprecedented efforts.

Finally, the broadcast and distribution of the third season of "Jyakami-chan Dropkick X" began on July 5.

To commemorate this event, Akiba Research Institute interviewed Koichiro Natsume, executive producer of the "Jyakami-chan" anime series, and Kazuki Yanase, advertising producer.

⇒ " I was convinced that the third season would be very lively! Aina Suzuki, who plays the role of Jyakami-chan, also expressed her excitement about the fun of the series! Report on "Jyakamichan Dropkick X" Episode 1 Advance Screening Event "Gathering of the Evil Gods Just Before the Broadcast Special"!

Angels, demons, humans, ...... professionals, amateurs, sexes, and races are all welcome in "Evil God Girl"!

--First of all, congratulations on the third season! It has been about two years since the second season of "Jyakami-chan Drop Kick'". I think Corona had a big influence on you, but looking back on the past two years, how do you feel?

YANAGISE I feel like I have been working on "Jyakami-chan" all the time. We made 24 voice dramas, so the recording itself was going on all the time, and if I kept interviewing the municipalities that will appear in the third season, the time went by so fast.

--I also released a character song album ("Fallen Pop VS Destiny Noisy" produced through a crowdfunding project), and the "Evil God Chan" world continues to expand.

Yanase: The strongest thing is that the original work has been consistently continued. I think we have been able to keep everyone interested.

--However, the strength of "Jyakami-chan" lies in the anime and manga, as well as the real-life events that are held in parallel.

Yanase: That's right. Although we tried our best with online events, ......, we felt that real events were more interesting.

Besides, the events were originally just barely profitable, but under the Corona situation, the cost of the venue and the Corona measures increased the production cost significantly, but the number of tickets sold had to be reduced. It became very difficult to recoup.

--It is easy to imagine that it was a difficult time for works such as "Jyakami-chan," while major blockbuster anime were being produced in the midst of the Corona disaster, but how were you able to keep running until the third season? How did you manage to keep running until the third season?

Yanase: In the case of "Jyakami-chan", we received a lot of money for promotion through crowdfunding, so we were able to continue doing interesting things with it.

--Yanase: You mean you were able to fight with the trust of your fans?

Yanase That's right.

--We also collaborated with a pachinko hall "Life Theater," held opinion-exchange meetings with fans, and did various other things such as stage productions.

Yanase: The stage production was a big deal.

Natsume But the stage was pretty tough at Corona, wasn't it?

Yanase It was tough. （Half of the audience (we could get into the venue).

--Yanase: Considering that, did you think that the 3rd season itself would be tough at times?

Yanase: No, I thought we would be able to make it in the 3rd period after the success of the hometown taxation policy.

--In the third season, there are various virtual people involved, such as Ruri Asano for the cast and Kafu for the ending theme. Do you think that you are flexibly adopting the trends of the times?

Yanase: The concept of "Yagami Chan" is "angels, demons, and humans", so it has always been full of a sense of diversity. Therefore, we held auditions for both real and virtual, professional and amateur, regardless of gender or race.

--We had an audition for the role of Ecute, a new character. I heard that there were male applicants for this audition.

Yes, there were about 10 men. And some of them were very good and passed the first screening.

--Yurie Kosakai, who played the role of Pecora, was also a regular participant (laughs). (laughs) Was it difficult to choose?

We agonized over it for about three and a half hours. If Natsume-san hadn't decided at the end, we wouldn't have finished.

--The one who won the first place and was chosen to play the role of Ekito was Ruri Asano, a ninja-type virtual YouTuber. What did you think of her skills as a voice actor and her actual postrecording?

Yanase: She was very good from the beginning. I mean, all the finalists of the ecute audition could have been chosen by anyone. You can see that by watching the "Warawa Brain Conference" video, but I didn't feel at all comfortable with any of the ecute actors. (Editor's note: The cast of "Warawa Brain Conference" consists of 11 ecute audition finalists, each playing the role of an ecute.)

--Will all the finalists continue to be involved in "Evil God-chan" in the future?

Yanase: Yes, they will. (The second place winner of the audition) Ekoi and I held an event together (Editor's note: "Akiba de Ekoi Chan Dropkick Live", a special collaboration live performance of Evil God Girl Dropkick and Ekoi Chan held on January 23, 2022). ), and I asked (finalist) Ai Sakano to draw an illustration for me at that time. We have also offered voice-over work for other productions to several other people. As I said at the audition, I was able to get to know all of you, which made it possible for me to call on you not only for "Evil Girl" but also for various other jobs. The producers are doing their best to make you feel happy to have participated in the ecute auditions.

--I felt that everyone is warm, and that everyone is a part of the "Evil God-chan" family. Other contents don't go that far, do they?

Natsume: I don't think so. The ecute audition was a special one, but in most big auditions, you don't see them again.

The third season can be enjoyed as a sightseeing anime!

--NATSUME: When an anime reaches its third season, it has to do something new while still having a standard feel, but how did the third season of "Evil Girl" turn out?

Natsume: Overall, I think it has been an interesting production. Especially for the local governments that have donated their hometowns, we carefully conducted location scouting while thinking about how to depict the places that the local governments wanted to see.

Yanase: This is also the point where I keenly felt that I could trust the power of creators. I was confident that the Chitose version of the second phase would be interesting, but once I had done that tourist format, I wondered if I could make it even more interesting by doing the same thing again in a different location. I feared that we had already done that tourist format once, and if we tried it again in another place, would it be any more interesting? But it turned out that my fears were completely unfounded. The third season's regional editions are all extremely interesting! You will definitely want to go there.

Natsume: We also featured food that would make great souvenirs, and we painstakingly depicted each of the regions.

Just the other day, I went to greet the mayors of Obihiro and Furano, and both mayors were very pleased. The people of Hokkaido were really suffering in terms of tourism because of Corona. （They said they were very happy to have their area introduced to the public at a time when they were finally expecting people to come (now that Corona has been settled).

--In a sense, it is a promotional video because the atmosphere is such that people feel it is safe to travel if they are careful.

Natsume: That's right.

--What kind of advice did you give them?

Natsume: The producers were working very hard, so I did not give them any advice at all. I didn't have any difficulty in finding the right direction for the work, because Yukio, the original author, was so supportive that no other teacher could have helped me. However, Corona was the hardest part first and foremost.

Yanase: It was extremely difficult.

Natsume: Production was delayed due to intermittent outbreaks of infectious diseases in the studio, and the recording sessions were very nerve-wracking. As you know, in the past, all the voice actors used to enter the booth and complete recording all at once, but (due to the corona plague) we were only allowed to have about two people in the booth at one time. We had to record in small increments, so it took a lot of time.

--Natsume: In a work like "Jyakami-chan," there is a lot of fun in the interaction between the voice actors, isn't there?

Natsume That's right. We had to record the parts where a large group of people yell "wow" separately. The time and cost to edit them afterwards was growing rapidly.

In the end, Mr. Yanase and I, as well as the producers, invested in the project ourselves, and we were able to cover even a small portion of the cost increase.

Yanase: I invested all the money I earned from "Jyagami Chan" to make "Jyagami Chan".

--I was the one who invested all the money I earned to make "Jyakami-chan". The producer invested from his pocket money.

Natsume It was only 1% or 2% of the total, but we were determined to work hard and spare no expense to realize our passion.

To be continued in Part 2!


(Reporting and writing by Kenichi Chiba, Editor)