Interview Part 1 in commemoration of the blockbuster release of the movie "YuruCamp△! Director Yoshiaki Kyogoku talks about why he depicted camping for adults in the movie.

The movie "YuruCan△" (original story: Afuro / serialized in the manga app "COMIC FUZ") is currently screening as a blockbuster hit.

Nadeshiko, Rin, Chiaki, Aoi, and Saito developed a relationship through camping in high school. Over time, the five have gone their separate ways, but one day, they decide to create a campsite. ......

The story of these girls on the theater screen will bring you the charm of "YuruCan△" and new elements that will bring warmth and emotion to your heart.

We asked Yoshiaki Kyogoku, the director of this film as well as the TV series, about how "YuruCan△" was created and what he wanted to depict.

The first trigger was Nadeshiko's fantasy

--Congratulations on the release of your film! It turned out to be a very nice movie, but was it difficult to make?

Director Yoshiaki Kyogoku (Kyogoku): It was very difficult (laughs). But the staff came to understand the work better from their experience with the TV series, so I was able to entrust them with a lot of the work, which was reassuring. I had a lot of fun making this film.

--The film tells an original story about Nadeshiko and Rin and the others who have become adults. Why did you decide to depict them as adults?

Kyogoku: It all started about four years ago, when we were asked if we would like to make a movie with the TV animation "YuruCan△ SEASON2" and the short animation "Heyacan△. and we started to think about the project together. But at the time, the original story had not even finished the scope of "SEASON 2," and even Izu Can (depicted in "SEASON 2") was not even a shadow of its former self. So, inevitably, we had to come up with something else.

--Kyogoku: That's true.

Kyogoku: It would be easy to think of something else, such as "Nadeshiko and her friends, who are high school students, go camping during summer and winter vacations, which has not been depicted in the past. However, in Mr. Afro's original story, each camp always includes some kind of realization or growth, however slight. The camps are not always the same, but each camp is a little bit different, and in the long run, the camps are all connected.

If we were to add our own original camp scenes, we would have to influence them in some way, and it would be detrimental to the original work. Since the TV series, I have learned how difficult it is to include original scenes. If we add a scene too easily, even just a little bit, the balance would be upset. Since the original work has such a high degree of perfection, it is impossible to carelessly do such a thing.

I was thinking of other ideas, and the idea of "I'd like to see the five as adults" popped into my head. As a fan, I wanted to see the five as adults, and that was my initial inspiration.

--Kyogoku: The story was supervised by Mr. Afro, how did he react when you proposed the idea of portraying them as adults?

KyogokuI said I wanted to make a movie about the girls as adults, but when I thought about it ......, it seemed like a crazy idea (laughs). (Laughs) I think it was an unthinkable proposal to portray adults when the original story was still going on. But when I asked the director if it was a good idea, he gave me the green light and said, "It sounds interesting. I was so surprised that he said, "Are you sure you want to do this? We were so surprised. So we decided to take the plunge and give it a try.

--When we asked him about the TV series, he said he was very supportive.

Kyogoku: That's right. He is not afraid of change, and he is very open-minded.

--He is not afraid to make changes, and he is very open-minded.

Kyogoku: I am grateful if you feel that way. But I was still very nervous. I didn't get a chance to meet him directly, and every time we did a reading, I would get his reaction and opinions through the editor, but I kept wondering, "Is he really not angry? (laugh). (Laughs) Later, when I met him at a related-party preview right after the completion of the project, I was very relieved to see that he was happy.

--Kyogoku: Did Mr. Afro make any requests regarding the setting of each character, such as Nadeshiko working at an outdoor goods store?

Kyogoku: We first proposed a future image based on the characters' personalities and interests, and the teacher responded to our proposal. The teacher responded, "Is that the kind of work you want to do? We immediately reached a consensus. The teacher gave me a lot of ideas about what kind of job he thought I should get, and I incorporated them into the film while adjusting the details.

What did director Kyogoku want to portray in this film?

--In the past, "YuruCan△" has not only been about camping, but also about what the viewer feels from that experience. What did you want to convey this time by portraying the characters as adults?

Kyogoku: When I actually tried camping, I realized that even children can enjoy it, and that adults have their own ways of enjoying it and getting involved. It is a hobby that can be continued for a long time. Furthermore, although "YuruCamp△" features high school students as the main characters, there are parts of the story that good adults can relate to.

Even if you are older, there are ways to relate to camping and experiences that you can have in your own age group. So, I had a hunch that the camps that the grown-ups do could also be an appealing story.

--In the first TV anime, you said that solo camping is good and group camping is also good, and I feel that this work "affirms rather than denies. This time, I felt as if you were saying that it is okay to change ages and eras as a vertical axis.

Kyogoku: That's right. I felt the depth of "YURU CAN-△" while I was making it. Even when you think you have finished making an animated version of the original work, you sense that there is something even more fascinating beyond it. The original story continues, and the more I read it, the more I see how it is cut up in such a way to make it more interesting! The more I read it, the more fascinating it becomes.

In the first anime, Nadeshiko and Lynn met and said, "Camping is fascinating," and in SEASON 2, new themes such as the appeal of travel and family are constantly emerging. There is still a lot of depth to the story, and I thought that as we grow older, we can bring out the charms that were not depicted in our childhood (high school) years.

--What would you say is the theme of this film, including these aspects?

Kyogoku: It's hard to sum it up in one word, but I guess it would be "becoming an adult. When I decided to make adults (the Nadeshiko girls) the main characters, I thought, "Then what is adulthood? I thought, "When did I actually feel like an adult? When was the last time I actually felt like an adult? Or, when I was in my 20s, did I think of myself as an adult? I started the story from these points of view.

--It seems that the way people feel about the film depends on the age of the viewer, whether they are watching it as an adult or a child.

Kyogoku: I think so.

--Adults sometimes hesitate because they think, "Because I'm an adult" or "Because I'm a working adult. （I think there are people who can relate to Chiaki's position.

Kyogoku That's right. This time, I think there are points that people in the same age group (as the Nadeshiko girls), or in their 20s for that matter, can relate to, as well as points that more mature people can relate to. I would like adults to see this film as well.

--By the way, you have been involved in the "YuruCan△" anime for a long time, so did you have any of your own thoughts or Kyogoku-isms that you incorporated into the film?

Kyogoku: No, that is not my intention at all. Our job is to make the appeal of "YuruCan△" known through the anime. Thanks to that, the TV series has been seen by many people, so we have achieved that to some extent. However, there is still a lot of potential in this work, and it has the potential to be enjoyed by many more people. I believe that I was given that chance with this film.

Therefore, I can't just say, "This is the only attraction of "YuruCan△"," and ruin the potential appeal and potential that it has. So I wanted to take on the challenge of having people say, "This kind of "YuruCamp△" is good, too," even if I had to take the risk of being told that it was different from the previous films. I don't deny that there are things I would like to do since this is an original work, but that's the way it is.

To be continued in Part 2!

(Interview and text by Kenichi Chiba)