Road to the 2nd season! Commemorating the broadcast start of spring anime "Jyakamichan Dropkick'", a long interview with Koichiro Natsume (executive producer) and Kazuki Yanase (advertising producer)!

The spring anime "Jyoshin-chan Drop Kick' (Dash)" will begin airing on April 6, 2020. Prior to the broadcast, we asked Kazuki Yanase, advertising producer and Koichiro Natsume, executive producer of "Jyakami-chan," to look back on "Jyakami-chan" from the first season broadcast to the present. What kind of things took place behind the scenes that we, the "Evil God Chan" fans, enjoy, and what kind of results it produced. ......

That will be revealed now!

From the first phase to the second phase...... looks back on a turbulent year and a half!

--From the first phase to the second phase, it has been about a year and a half. During that time, various measures were taken, and it seems that awareness among anime fans spread in the form of "something strange and exciting is going on with Evil God-chan. I would like to take a look back at this trend.

January 2019: Achievement of the "2,000 copies sold is the second season campaign!

Yanase: We declared that if we sold 2000 copies of the package (BD/DVD), we would decide to produce the second season, and we just barely achieved this on the day of the "Amazing Sabato" event in January, and from there we started working towards producing the second season. We were surprised to find that the budget for advertising for the second season was less than that for the first, even though we knew it would be at least a year away, although the airing date was not yet decided. With other anime, it was only going to last six months.

--But you had to make it last for more than a year, didn't you?

Yanase: Yes. In short, you were given the mission to "run while earning your own money. It was like the sneaking mission in "Metal Gear Solid" where you have to get supplies wherever you go. If we were to do this with publicity, I thought we would have to make each event profitable, or make crowdfunding and other ways of earning money a topic of conversation, or we wouldn't be able to run the whole thing. The first step in this direction was the crowdfunding of Tenshigumi.

⇒Decided to revive the evil gods! ATM Evil Gods called for a miracle "Evil Gods Dropkick" official event "Amazing Sabbat 2019" Angel's club report.

■March 2019: Crowdfunding "Stairway to Heaven" reaches 5 million yen!

--First of all, how did you start with the CD project of Foreign Pop (an angel character unit consisting of Yurie Kosakai as Pekora, Liko Sasaki as Popolon, and Marina Yamada as Pino)?

YANASE: We wanted to put the spotlight on characters other than Evil God so that the work would be loved for a long time, so we came up with the concept of making it a unit. So what kind of character combinations are possible? First, Mr. Ishikawa, the editor in charge of the original work, and I drew a list of all the characters vertically and horizontally, and then we wrote out all the relationships between each character on a matrix chart. For example, Minos and Persephone II are "muscular & frail," Pecola and Popporon are "boss & subordinate," and so on. Then I found that I could create several groups. And I also found that if I made four or five groups, I could cover all the characters. The reason why the three angel characters were first chosen was because I heard Liko Sasaki casually mention (with Kosakai-san and Yamada-san) during postrecording that she and I wanted to do something with the angel group.

--How did it turn out?

Yanase: We set a goal of 3 million yen to make one CD. I think this is a relatively reasonable amount. As a result, it was great that we exceeded the goal in no time, but after that, we received many requests to make the CD itself more luxurious, or to have wonderful costumes designed by Mr. Yukio, and we ended up spending much more money than 3 million yen. It was a successful crowdfunding campaign, but in terms of the budget, we were in the red (laughs).

-But in return, there is a sense that the perception of "Evil Girl" as a content that is doing something interesting has spread among anime fans.

■May 2019: Ass Sabato is born at "Meat Sabato," a meat festival that takes the world by storm.

--In May, "Evil Goddess" took the stage at the "Meat Fest". Why did you decide to participate in the Meat Fest in the first place?

Yanase: We want to let not only anime fans, whom we always approach, but also the general public who gathers at the Meat Festival know about our products! That is why we decided to participate in the Meat Fest with beef = minos. We wanted to make it an event where people who are not familiar with the work could casually enjoy the stage while eating meat, but in reality it turned out to be an event where Chiaki Omigawa (who plays Minos) beat the asses of all the wicked people with a black stick.

--On the day of the event, many evil people gathered to be butt-batted.

Yanase: Akiba Soken-san also got beat up, didn't he?

--Yanase: I personally loved the chaotic situation where Ayana Taketatsu was singing "Rice and Meatyoo" on stage while Minos Omigawa was butt-batting all over the booth.

Yanase: In this way, we could not approach the general audience at all, and only a strange tradition was born that when all the evil people saw Mr. Omigawa, they wanted him to beat their asses. This tradition was later taken over by "Meat Sabbat" and other events.

⇒Heat and ass-batting of the Evil Gods blows away the storm! The "Evil Girl Dropkick" Minos' Meat Sabbat Report descends on the Meat Fest!

■June 2019: First event "Evil Girl Exhibition Mini" will be held.

--In June, the exhibition and pop-up store "Evil God Chan Exhibition Mini" was developed at Marui in Shibuya, Namba, and Hakata.

Yanase: At first, Marui didn't know anything about "Evil God Chan", but when they tried it, they were very happy to see that many Epos cards were made. She was also impressed by the vigor and politeness of the Evil Gods.

--I feel that the stores and companies began to recognize that "Evil God-chan" was a character that could be effectively utilized commercially. And it was around this time that Reina Hasegawa joined you as an official reporter for the second term.

Yanase: You graduated from the idol group in May and immediately transferred to Crocodile. And there were many more people marked with 315 (Rena Hasegawa's birthday).

-At that time, the users' reaction at "Akiba Research Institute" was that "Evil Girl" was something exciting, even though they didn't know where it was going.

Natsume: It's no different now. Looking back, I really don't know where we are going.

⇒ All the Evil Gods are here! I went to "Evil Girl Exhibition Mini" @ Shibuya Marui, which is full of valuable materials of "Evil Girl Dropkick"!
⇒Rena Hasegawa made a shocking comment at her first "Evil God Girl" event: "I want to eat cardboard boxes"! Natsume Koichiro (Production Director) x Rena Hasegawa (Evil God Chan Official Reporter) talk show report with many new Evil Gods in attendance!

■July 2019: "Meipeko Birthday Sabbat" bus tour for voice actors to introduce their hometowns!

--In July, "Birthday Sabato featuring Pekora (Yurie Kosakai) & Mei Tachibana (Natsuko Hara)" was held and the two actors took a bus tour with fans in their hometown Aichi Prefecture.

Yanase: It was amazing to have the cast members show us around their hometown. They said, "Look at the right hand side. I used to work here, and I wore the uniform I wore back then.

-I didn't expect that even Ms. Kosakai's mother would make an appearance at the end. The letter she read out on stage made me cry again.

Yanase: We all cried a lot. I wondered what kind of wedding it was to read a letter to the mother while crying (laughs). (laugh) But if we were shown something like that, we would all become attached to them.

⇒ A rare road trip in the midst of a storm! Birthday Sabato featuring Pekora (Yurie Kosakai) & Mei Tachibana (Natsuko Hara)" report, full of laughter, emotion and love!

August - October 2019: A rush of summer events! Hakata Sabato," "Teresa Summer Festival," "Kanda Myojin Summer Festival," "Meat Sabato," "Nagano Aniela Fest," "Tenshi no Hi," "Sendai Anime Fest.

--Yanase: You appeared at various local events from summer to autumn.

Yanase: At that time, we were doing some kind of event every weekend, not only every month, but people said "I can see you 13 times a month IP" or "I see you more often than my parents". But not everything went well.

Natsume: Well, the Sendai Anime Fest was a scorcher. It was the most miserable event so far (laughs).

Yanase: It was a complete mess. Natsume, myself, and Hasegawa-san were 3 people, and there were 10 guests. I felt like a character in the first episode of an idol anime.

Natsume: Was there a typhoon? No one came to the event itself.

Yanase: It was raining heavily on the first day. Moreover, Minori Chihara was singing on the main stage at the same time.

Natsume: Most of the few people who were at the event went that way (laughs).

--Natsume: The few people who were at the event went that way (laugh).

Yanase: While that was happening, on the second day we had a three-person event with the Kyongsie sisters (Mimi Tanaka and Nanami Yamashita, who played Lan-Lan and Kyon-Kyung, respectively) and Omori-san. At that time, many fans of other works came to the event, and I was surprised at how the energy and atmosphere was completely different from usual. I felt that I was not naive.

--So you brought in another new group of fans to "Evil God-chan".

■October 2019: Crowdfunding "Jimbocho Aika" reaches 26 million yen!

--And in the fall, the second crowdfunding project "Jimbocho Aika" started.

Yanase: When we announced the "Jimbocho Aika" project, all of our fans participated with "I've been waiting for this! and finally, 26 million yen was collected. I was surprised by this!

--When it comes to character song CDs, it is standard practice to sell them through normal distribution channels such as anime stores and CD stores, but Foreign Pop and "Jimbocho Aika" were released only through crowdfunding. Yanase

Yanase: CDs cost a lot of money to make, and if you put them on nationwide distribution, you end up with a lot of stock. Since "Jyagami Chan" is not an IP that sells a lot of copies nationwide, it would be very unprofitable to return unsold CDs that were delivered to stores all over Japan. If that were the case, I thought it would be more pleasing to sell directly to the fans the one CD that I spent a lot of money to create in communication with them.

--As a result, people who really wanted it gathered and you were able to deliver it to everyone.

Yanase: Yes.

Natsume: The music was also good.

--The CD "Jimbocho Aika" also gave birth to the unit "Destiny Noisy," consisting of Aina Suzuki and Himasa Omori. I heard that this was also inspired by something that Suzuki and Omori had talked about wanting to do.

Yanase: They both said they wanted to do something like that, so I thought, "Well, let's do it here. Both of them were happy about this.

--They were both very happy about it and even wrote a new song.

Yanase: We received a lot of investment, so we wrote an additional song!

--As fans, everyone is happy because they can see that their money is being returned in the form of content.

Yanase: That's right. At that time, Mr. Ishikawa and I discussed what we could do with the extra money. We could have done any number of cheap and appropriate things, but when we thought about what would make the evil people who participated in this project the happiest, we decided that it would be a new song, no matter how we thought about it. At that point, all the recording had been done, so creating a new song meant starting from scratch. It would also cost a lot of money. But we decided that it would be better to do that, and "My Devil Forever" was the result. This song was highly praised by Mr. Yukio.

Yanase: This was the first time we had a live event with a band, and after that, Mr. Suzuki made a triumphant return to Chitose at Kita Sabato without much delay. Then, on Christmas Day, we held the "Christmas Sabbat" and pelted everyone with candy. I thought it would be exciting to throw candy from the stage to the audience like Setsubun, and I was going to prepare marshmallows or something, but what I got was a hard candy ball. Both Aina Suzuki and Himasa Omori were throwing them with great force, trying to get them to the people in the back as much as possible.

--The candy was a clean hit for K, the director of Akiba Research Institute, who was filming the event for the camera (laughs). (laughs) At this time, was it already time to gradually build up the excitement in anticipation of the second phase?

Yanase: As for me, I was preparing for the January program at the earliest, so I was working as if I was putting the finishing touches on it. As a result, it was decided to air in April, and the first season was rebroadcast from January. We were able to make a good connection. ......When you think about it, you've been doing this every month. There was really no interruption.

⇒A new animation will be produced in Furusato! The momentum is not stopping for the second season to air. "Evil Girl Dropkick" autumn event report summary!
⇒The evil people who are in a state of Christmas gathered in Shibuya! Report on "Distiny Noisy's Christmas Sabbat" where the singing voices of Aina Suzuki and Himasa Omori resounded!

■December 2019: Chitose-shi Furusato Tax Payment reaches 180 million yen!

--Back a bit, "Kita Sabato in New Chitose International Airport's Portomu Hall" was held on November 2. It was not only Mr. Suzuki's triumphant return to Chitose City, but also Mayor Yamaguchi took the stage here to start the Furusato Tax Payment Project. I believe this is the first attempt in the world to make an animation with tax payments from the hometown. Please tell us about the background of this project.

Yanase: First of all, the head of the animation department of Hokkaido Bunka Broadcasting, which is a member of the "Jyakami-chan" committee, coordinated the whole project and introduced me to Chitose City. Two days later, I went to Chitose City and asked, "Why don't you make an animation or something with your hometown tax?" I was able to talk to them about it. They originally wanted to make an animation with their hometown tax payment! Forty days later, Mayor Yamaguchi announced the Chitose version of Furusato Tax Payment in Kitasabato.

--That's a great sense of speed, isn't it? I guess it was also significant that Aina Suzuki is from your hometown.

Yanase That's right. There is no doubt that it was Aina Suzuki who connected us. Because of her presence, Chitose City must have decided that they could use this IP even if they did not know "Evil God Girl," and although we had no connection with Chitose City as a work, we were willing to go the distance if Ms. Suzuki was there.

--And the result of starting with a target amount of 20 million yen. ......

Yanase: We surpassed the half of the goal in one day and finally landed at 184 million yen, which was covered by NHK and introduced in a morning news program.

Natsume: (Chitose City) must have been very happy.

Yanase: The money raised will be used to promote tourism in Chitose City, so we would like you to use Jyakami-chan for that purpose. We would love to have Jyagami-chan work for tourism!

--So the money will be returned to the "Jyagami Chan" content.

Yanase: Yes. That way, "Jagami Chan" can live a long life.

Natsume We also concentrated all of our hometown tax payments on Chitose City while putting pressure on each other, saying, "Of course we will pay tax. We received daily messages saying, "How much tax did I pay? If I did not pay at least 50,000 yen in taxes, my name would not appear on the credit card. and we can also monitor each other.

--I can say, "Your name is on it, isn't it? Your self-sufficient style has not changed since the first phase. We also fund and support ourselves. I see the name "Koichiro Natsume" appears in the executive producer's name as well as in the Special Thanks section.

By the way, the other day I saw a little footage of the storytelling, and it was very funny to see the characters enjoying themselves in Chitose, and I think it was a local animation that is typical of "Jyakami-chan.

Yanase: It's a very good balance. If you watch it, you will fall in love with Chitose and want to play with Evil God. I would like to make a lot of DVDs and distribute them to stores all over Chitose. I think it would be a good PR campaign for Chitose if you play it at stores.

--If you play it at a product exhibition, people will be interested in it and say "What an anime! I think people would be interested in it. With the success of this hometown tax payment, it seems that "Jyakami-chan" is beginning to show the potential of a new anime business beyond the framework of a single late-night anime.

Natsume: Yes, in fact, we have been approached by other local cities as well.

Yanase I am happy because no one approached me during the first season. The only one who came to us was Akiba Research Institute. If you think that using the Furusato tax payment is a new way of making animation, I think you should take this opportunity to do more IPs.

■January 2020: Rebroadcasting begins.

--Before the broadcast of "Evil God Girl" started in April, the first season of the series was rebroadcast in January as if it were a new winter-cool program. Depending on how you look at it, it can be viewed as if it were a two-cour anime.

Natsume That's right. Although more and more people are becoming aware of the existence of "Jyakami-chan," there are still some people who haven't seen it yet, so we re-broadcast it from January so that they can watch it all at once.

Yanase: (For the promotion of the second season) I thought it would be better to buy a radio signal than to buy a signage slot in front of a station. After all, it is important to have the full-length version of the show.

--I think there is a way to boost the excitement by broadcasting the whole series on a distribution site.

YANAGISE: Even though distribution has become widespread, survey data shows that an overwhelming majority of people still watch anime on TV. Considering this, I thought that airing the full-length anime on terrestrial wave would be the most effective way. Even if we calculate backwards from the viewer ratings, once a work like Evil God Chan is broadcast on terrestrial wave, it can reach between 500,000 and 2 million viewers. On the other hand, it is quite difficult to reach 2 million viewers through distribution, even if it is free.

--In the meantime, there are times when people will watch a program they are not interested in, just to see if it is interesting enough to watch.

Yanase: That's right. Recently, I found myself watching "Oubaroo" because it was on before "Jyagami Chan (again)" before I knew it.

--It's a chaotic programming lineup (laughs).

■March 2020: Increase advertising expenses with Evil God Chan Keiba! --Big failure.

--And then on March 30, the Evil Gods-chan Keiba was held.

Yanase: Yes. This is the second real collaboration following the Evil God Girl Pro Wrestling. We tried to increase the advertising cost by horse racing, but it melted down beautifully. For more details, please see Akiba Research Institute's report.

⇒Natsuko Hara, a voice actress, challenged horse racing with 100,000 yen as a source of income! Akiba Research Institute's report on the "Evil Girl Keiba @ Funabashi Racecourse!

April 2020: The long-awaited second season of "Jyakami-chan" will begin airing!

─ Do you feel that "Jyakami-chan" has found new fans with the rebroadcast from January?

Yanase: Yes, very much so. On Twitter, I often see comments like, "I cut off "Jyoshin-chan" after the first episode of the first season, but people around me said it was interesting, so I took this opportunity to rewatch it. Also, "Is this really the first episode of the first season?" And "Is this really the first episode of the first season?

--I was certainly surprised, wasn't I? The main characters are suddenly all together doing sukiyaki as if it were a matter of course.

Yanase: It was the 59th episode of the original work. We were also in a hurry at the time. Immediately after the first episode aired, we wondered if it was really the right thing to do, seeing how the public was divided on both sides. I wondered, "Was this really the right thing to do? In the first episode of the second season, the reason why Evil God was summoned will be explained.

Natsume: Some of the staff members are still saying that we should have done that first (laughs).

--(laugh) So, do you feel that the content of the second season is balanced so that new fans can easily understand it?

Yanase: Yes, that's right. But it doesn't really matter where you watch "Evil Girl" from. It doesn't matter if you watch it from the beginning or in the middle, it is an easy work that can be viewed as a snack.

And to the second season: ......

--While these measures are being taken, the long-awaited second season of the TV anime "Jyakami-chan Drop Kick'" will finally begin broadcasting on April 6. What do you think will be the highlight of the second season?

YANAGISE: The new characters, Pino and the Kyonshi sisters, will be the main topic. And the second season's Evil God-chan has a cuter expression than the first season. Obviously, she has a different charm from Ms. Yukio's Evil God Chan, and she is becoming the Evil God Chan of the anime.

--Aina Suzuki's voice has had a great impact on her, hasn't it?

Natsume: When she breathes life into a character, I guess.

Yanase: This "nihihihi" expression is an expression that does not exist in the original work. I think one of the highlights is the new Jyakami-chan created with this design and Ms. Suzuki's voice.

--The anime version of "Jyoshin-chan" has started to grow as a work that is slightly different from the original manga.

Yanase: I feel that way. However, not only that, but there is also a part that reflects the new information obtained in the process of making the anime to the original work, although Mr. Yukio is not trying to make the anime similar to the original work. For example, the other day at the recording studio, I asked Mr. Omori, "Where do you eat beef bowl? I wrote down "Matsuya" in my notes. Then, in the manga that followed, Yurine had a beef bowl from Matsuya.

--I think it's true that after the anime started, "Yagami Chan" has a slightly different nuance from the early days.

Yanase: I think Yurine in the early days was more spiky, but nowadays she even has a gentleness to her. Sometimes it looks like Omori-san himself. I think this is because the characters have grown up in a good way because of the anime.

--I think this is because the characters have grown up in a good way because of the anime.

Yanase That's right. That is why I think the anime has evolved in its own unique way.

--I see, so all we have to do now is to watch the anime and see for ourselves. By the way, are you aiming for a second season of "Jyakami-chan" and beyond?

Natsume: I don't know yet. However, some of the committee members are already suggesting that we should consider a third season, and I find it strange that they are saying that even though we have no idea what the second season will be like.

Yanase: We have no intention of ending the project after the second season.

--It is becoming a work that we want to continue forever, just like "Sazae-san" as Yukio always says.

Natsume: The staff who are working on the animation also said that they would like to do a third season if possible. The characters are becoming more and more "cute" as you said, Yanase. This makes us want to continue to develop the work beyond business, and we are getting greedy and want to make it bigger no matter what it takes.

--Do you have a goal for how many terms you want to reach ......?

Yanase: I don't know how many seasons, but I don't think it's necessary to keep on doing anime. However, I would like the IP of the anime "Jyoshin-chan" to live on forever, and I would like to see it continue in the future in the form of a "Sequel to the anime after many years! I hope it will continue for a long time to come in the form of something like that. I would like to be a part of that kind of existence.

Thank you very much for your valuable talk!

Outline of the TV anime
TV anime outline: "Evil Girl Dropkick'" (Japanese only)
<DISTRIBUTION INFO

The first exclusive streaming of "Jyoshin-chan Drop Kick'" will begin on April 6, 2020, at around 10:15 p.m. on Amazon Prime Video!

＜Broadcast Information

TOKYO MX April 6, 2020 (Mon.) 25:15～ ・HOKKAIDO Bunka Broadcasting April 6, 2020 (Mon.) 25:15～
Hokkaido Bunka Broadcasting April 7, 2020 (Tue) 25:50～ ・ Nishinippon Broadcasting April 7, 2020 (Tue) 25:50～
Nishinippon Broadcasting Corporation April 12, 2020 (Sun.) 26:00～ ・Gunma Television Co.
Gunma TV April 6, 2020 (Mon) 24:30～ ・Tochigi TV
Gunma TV April 6, 2020 (Mon.) 24:30～ ・Tochigi TV April 6, 2020 (Mon.) 24:30～ ・Chiba TV April 6, 2020 (Mon.) 24:30～
Ciba TV April 8, 2020 (Wed.) 25:00～ ・ Sun TV April 8, 2020 (Wed.) 25:00～ ・ Gunma TV
Sun TV April 6, 2020 (Mon.) 25:30～ ・ TV Yamaguchi April 6, 2020 (Mon.) 25:30～ ・ TV Asahi April 8, 2020 (Wed.) 25:00～ ・ TV Asahi
TV Yamaguchi April 10 (Fri.), 2020 from 25:55
TV Nagasaki Around May 2020 (to be announced at a later date)
BS Fuji April 7, 2020 (Tuesday) 24:30～ ・AT-X April 7, 2020 (Monday) 25:30～ ・TV Yamaguchi April 10, 2020 (Friday) 25:55～ ・TV Nagasaki
AT-X April 6, 2020 (Monday) from 22:30

Broadcast and distribution dates and times are subject to change due to scheduling conflicts and other reasons. Please be forewarned that the broadcasting and distribution dates and times are subject to change due to programming reasons.

Distribution Information
The Return of Jyakami-chan Drop Kick
＜Appearance
Aina Suzuki (Playing the role of Jyakami-chan)
Omori Himasa (Playing the role of Hanazono Yurine)

<Date and time
April 6, 2020 (the day of the 2nd season broadcast!)　From 10:00 p.m.

<How to watch
Nico Nico Douga: #

Evil God Channel
Evil Gods Club
Bilibili (at a later date)