A secret story about the production of "Sobahe", an original short animation depicting the Marui Group's theme of "Inclusion"! Interview with W producers Katsuhiro Takei (Toho) and Sumiken Wakei (Orange)!

Toho, which has produced TV series such as "My Hero Academia" and "Dr. Stone" as well as theatrical films such as "Weather Child" and "Hello World," and Orange, which has produced "Ghost in the Shell: ARISE," "Jewel Country" and "BEASTARS" and is known for its high CG quality, teamed up to produce the short animation "Sobahe. The short animation "Sobahe" was distributed on the official Maruino Animation channel in March, and was also shown as a pre-screening advertising commercial for "Weather Child," which was released in July. The theme of the commercial is "Inclusion" from the Marui Group's corporate philosophy, "Aiming to realize an inclusive and prosperous society where all people can feel 'Happiness'. We spoke with Toho producer Katsuhiro Takei and Orange producer Sumiken Wakei, who worked on the animation, about the film as well as their thoughts on short animation and CG animation.

───Please tell us about the background of the "To Sobahe" project.

Takei: Marui told us that they wanted to make a video not to sell products, but to promote the company and their company, and they approached several companies, one of which was Toho, to which I belong. I heard from my boss that there was a project like this, and it was at the time when I was just thinking about trying my hand at short animation, so I decided to enter Marui's competition. As a result of the competition, Toho and Takei decided to entrust me with the project, which was a project that I had conceived together with Mr. Wakei. Was there a synopsis of the film in the proposal at the time?

Kazuki: There was a synopsis, but it was a completely different synopsis from the one we have now.

Takei: The content of the competition was completely different from the finished product (laughs), but the subject of inclusion, which was originally Marui's corporate philosophy, was given to us freely, and we chose rain as the theme.

Kazuki: During our discussions with Marui-san, it was mentioned that if the target audience is fixed, it would be difficult for people to empathize with the concept, so we thought it would be interesting to use rain as the concept, a weather that falls on everyone in the same way. I myself like rain, and when I was studying architecture at university, my professor liked to design buildings based on the concept of rain. I think everyone had moments when they enjoyed playing in the rain when they were children, but as adults, we simply don't like rain because it is damp or dirty, but if there are moments when we still think it is good, it fits the theme of inclusion. I thought that would fit the theme of inclusion.

───Did you have any specifications for the length of the film?

Takei: I reported the content of our meetings to Mr. Marui each time, and he checked to see if we were going in the right direction. I never asked him to stop this, and he graciously said, "I'll leave it to you. There was no specific length requirement for the short animation, and since we were told that it would mainly be distributed on the Web, there were no restrictions. In fact, I think it was Mr. Waki who was concerned about the length of the film because of the budget (laughs).

Kazuki: If we were to use CG, the number of characters would directly translate into man-hours or budget, so I proposed a way to create a short film with as few characters as possible so that we could get the job done.

─ You mentioned that you were interested in short animation.

Takei: A few years ago, CG was used only for the automobile and mechanical parts of animated drawings, and I felt that the image of CG was fixed. The first work that Mr. Waki and I worked on together, "Jewel Land," was broadcast in 2017, and the basis of that project was the idea that CG is not just that. However, it takes two or three years to make a series of such works, and it requires a huge budget in terms of money, so it is difficult to challenge various expressions one after another or to expand the scope of the work. However, with short animation, we thought it would be possible to expand and develop CG expression in a shorter span of time and in a shorter cycle. Mr. Kazuki and I always talked about this.

───Does this kind of challenge make short animation a good match for you?

Takei: Fortunately or unfortunately, the production period was really short (laughs), so I think it was a good challenge for us to realize it in a short period of time. I was able to take on the challenge of expressing rain and cloth.

──Who came up with the title "Soba e"?

Takei: The title "Soboe" was brought to me by Director Ishii, who told me that it is written "Hishou-rain" and reads "Soboe. I looked it up and found that the verb "soba-fu" also means "to play with," and the noun form of the verb "sobahe" means "to play with," and when I thought about it more carefully, I realized that it was a playful way of saying that the umbrella was "returning" to its owner's "side. I said, "Director, you can triple-meaning this! I said, "Then, let's do it this way.

─ What was the reason why you chose Director Ishii for this project?

Kazuki: I knew Tomohiko Ito, who directed the film "Boku dake ga inai machi" (The Town Where Only I Am Not), so I was simply interested in watching his work. I met him several times through the introduction of an acquaintance, and here we are.

─ What was your impression of Director Ishii?

Kazuki: I started talking with the director from the point of "What kind of picture should I make for this film? I started talking with the director from the point of what kind of picture should be created for this work, but I felt that he was having a hard time because he was not used to giving instructions as a director. However, he was familiar with the storyboard work and on-site checks from the series, so I got the impression that he knew what he could and could not do and was able to draw a line between the two. Takei: In the beginning, we came up with a lot of ideas.

Takei: He came up with a lot of ideas in the initial discussions, and I felt that he had a clear idea of what he wanted to do, just as Mr. Waki had initially suggested. The production part was within the scope of normal direction, so you were able to handle it normally. In animation, pre-production is the process of deciding on a concept and creating a story before production, and it certainly seemed like you had a hard time with that part. Naturally, directing a TV series does not start from that stage, but rather, there is a script and storyboards, and the original drawings are made after the necessary tasks have been decided. In that sense, when I am directing, I have to start from the pre-production stage by explaining specific details such as "this is the color you want," or "the direction of the lights should be this way.

─ What do you think is good about short animation?

Takei: I think it's the fact that the audience can easily watch a complete animation in a short period of time and still feel satisfied. I usually work on TV series and feature films, but this was my first time to work on short animation, and I really felt that it was a good thing. I wanted to make that as my ideal, so I used it as a model for my own work.

Kazuki: With a series, you work with one director for two or three years, but with a short film, you might work with a director for half a year, for example. With a TV series, you can work with staff members that are difficult to work with right away, so it is good to be able to work with a variety of staff members in such a short period of time. In terms of production methods, we were able to try our hand at things that would be difficult to do in a TV series because it was a short film, and for "Sobahe," we were able to use color scripts to color all of the storyboards. Also, in terms of the company, we have only young CG animators, and I think it is interesting that we are able to provide a place for young people to challenge themselves.

───Please tell us about "Project," the name of your unit.

Takei: To tell the truth, we are just trying to use the trade name "Project" for the works that Kazuki and Takei are working on, and we have no intention of starting up or creating something great. Of course, "Sobahe" was very important to me, but that's about all I was thinking, and it's very casual (laughs). The origin of the name is a philosophical term that translates to "projection" in Japanese, and it represents something like the attitude of the two of us.

─ I understand that you made a PV for New Chitose Airport.

Takei: We were approached by people who were interested in our project activities, and we were given another opportunity to make a short animation. I thought I should try to call myself that (laughs).

─ ─ Is there anything you would like to try in the future?

Takei: I was very grateful for the "Sobahe" story, and I would be happy to receive more and more stories like this one. I would be very happy if I could make a feature film, a series of films, or a big movie with Mr. Orange, and that is what I would like to aim for.

Kazuki: As with "To Sobahe," I would like to challenge myself technically in every project I work on. While there were things I was able to do with "Jewel Land" and "To Sobahe," there were also things I was not able to do, and I want to keep challenging myself, thinking about what I can do to make it better the next time.

─ ─ Thank you very much.