Just before the release of the movie "Frame Arms Girl: Kyakkyaufuna Wonderland"! Introducing the FA Girls in the movie♪ Talk with Director Keiichiro Kawaguchi and Producer Manabu Sugiyama (Part 1)

One of Kotobukiya's mecha bishojo plastic models is "Frame Arms Girl," a series that was adapted into a TV anime in 2017. Although it is about mecha bishojo, the story is not about battles, but about the "kya kya uufufu" daily life of an ordinary high school girl, Aoto Gennai, who lives with the FA (Frame Arms) Girls, who are fully autonomous robots, and it has attracted a lot of attention.
The "Frame Arms Girl" will return in the form of a movie. The story begins with Ao receiving a prototype FA Girl Todoroki and becoming its master, and gradually the other FA Girls gather at her house and live out their slapstick memories of their life together (the original purpose of the "session," a mock battle with Todoroki to gather data). The film also features new scenes, such as a twisted entry into "another world" where the FA Girls attend the same high school as Ao in human form, and a CG live performance of a new song performed by all of the FA Girls!
We spoke with director Keiichiro Kawaguchi and producer Manabu Sugiyama about how the movie was made and the highlights from the staff's point of view.
Kawaguchi, Deko Akao, who wrote the screenplay, and Hitomi Mieino, who writes the lyrics for the theme song and insert song, are also involved in "Pretty Rhythm Rainbow Live," an idol anime for girls known for its cheering screenings, and its spin-off, "KING OF PRISM -Shiny Seven Stars-," the third film in the series. We would like readers to keep in mind that Hitomi is also involved in "Pretty Rhythm Rainbow Live," an idol anime for girls known for its support screenings, and its third spin-off "KING OF PRISM -Shiny Seven Stars-.

The film adaptation was inspired by a comment the director wrote on the final TV episode's storyboard.

─ ─ How did the film adaptation come about?

Sugiyama: To tell the truth, the director wrote at the end of the last episode of the TV series, "To be continued in the movie version! at the very end of the last episode of the TV series (laughs).

Kawaguchi: Ha-ha-ha! (laughs) I wrote that on my own in the last scene when Innocentia wakes up.

Sugiyama: Of course, we wanted to develop the content over a long period of time, but the director's passion came first (laughs).

Kawaguchi: I was sure that there would be a "sequel to the TV series," so I thought it would be logical to start with a look back at the TV series, rather than a completely new one (laughs).

Sugiyama: We also agreed that there is an order to things.

Kawaguchi: Right after the TV series was finished, we started talking about making it into a movie, so I started drawing the storyboards with a feeling of "Yay! So I started drawing the storyboards with a feeling of "Yay! The storyboard work itself was finished quite early. After a while, I finally heard that we were officially going to do it, and I thought, "I've been waiting for this for a long time! (laughs).

─ ─ What about the structure of the film?

Kawaguchi: To be honest, I don't remember who came up with what ideas, but I think we decided rather early on that if we were going to make it a retrospective of the TV program, we would make it so that everyone could watch the footage together.

Sugiyama: That was the basis for starting the script, etc.

Kawaguchi: I think we also had the idea of "looking into a hole" early on. At least, it was definitely something that came out of the idea of "If the characters are projected on the screen, the cheering audience will be excited at the screening. When you look through the hole (from the viewpoint of the inside of the hole), you can create a picture of the audience looking at the camera in a pitch-black space. I had a feeling that I wanted to do a support screening. It was right after "KING OF PRISM -PRIDE the HERO-" (the second "KING OF PRISM" film) was released (laughs). The director, Masakazu Hishida, is a genius, so he naturally uses the cheering screening method, but I'm an ordinary person, so I decided to include it (laughs).


───Actually, are you planning to hold cheering screenings?

Sugiyama: Unfortunately, we haven't decided yet.

Kawaguchi: We are making the film to support the screening, so it would be nice if we could do it.

───What are the specific criteria for selecting the scenes?

Kawaguchi: That was quite a difficult task. I had to think about whether or not the scenes would deviate from the main storyline, from the encounter between Ao and Todoroki and the battle between Todoroki and Fleszwerk Artell, which is the axis of the latter half of the series. I guess so. But if we cut out too much of the non-battle parts, we would lose the "Frame Arms Girl" feel, so we had a lot of trouble finding the right balance.