Why did "Hoshiai no Sora" have to end in the middle of its run?　Director Kazuki Akane talks about "What we can do now to keep Japanese animation alive" (Anime Industry Watching No.65)

Director Kazuki Akane, known for "Escaflowne in the Sky" (1996), "Noein: Another One for You" (2005), and recently the OVA series "Code Geass: Akito the Exiled" (2012-16), which was also released in theaters, completed his latest work, "Hoshiai no Sora: The Sky of Hoshiai" (2019), last December. The series finished airing in December of last year.
However, the final episode, episode 12, ended abruptly, as if it continued to episode 13 without incident, leaving a sense of discomfort. Behind this was a number of problems facing the Japanese animation industry. We spoke with director Akane, who had just finished retaking "Hoshiai no Sora" on Blu-ray.

Hoshiai no Sora" was highly praised by the U.S.

─ ─ First of all, I was surprised that "Hoshiai no Sora" ended after only 12 episodes of the first season and that there was no prospect for the future.

Akane: This is the first time I have directed a TV series since "Tetsuwan Birdie DECODE:02" (2009). Because of this, I could not predict the turmoil and deterioration of the animation industry, which also affected the way "Hoshiai no Sora" ended. It was a producer at a TV station who approached me to direct an original animation. He asked me to work with him to create a new type of animation program, and he gave me a lot of freedom to create my own work. I think we discussed with him that we wanted to create works that focused on themes and expressions that viewers would want in the future, rather than adopting what is popular today. Also, since original animations are not as well known as original works, we had many discussions about how to make the viewers aware of the work before it was broadcast. Four years ago, when we started making this work, online distribution was already becoming the mainstream worldwide, and Blu-ray was no longer selling in large quantities as it had in the past. Therefore, I said from the planning stage that we should stop advertising only for selling Blu-ray discs and find a different way. The video company that was originally going to participate in the project dropped out, perhaps because they were offended by that comment. After that, Shochiku picked up the project. ...... (laughs).
Then, the producer at the TV station who had approached me was transferred from the Animation Department due to company reasons. It must have been difficult for the producer to take over from his predecessor, and he had to rush into this project, and I am sure he gave me all the support he could. However, I was not familiar with animation, and that is why some parts of the project deviated from my original intention. Hoshiai no Sora" was broadcast at 2:00 a.m., and it is not surprising that it was treated as one of many anime programs. We try new things with live-action dramas and movies, but I don't know if late-night broadcasts of animated programs are attractive from the TV station's point of view. ...... That part is a bit sad. However, it was this TV station that gave us the opportunity to create this work and provided us with a lot of production funds, and we are very grateful to them. Also, it is not the TV station's fault that the program ended after 12 productions.

─ So there was a difference of opinion on the production side. What about the content of your works?

Akane: I entered the animation industry with "Mobile Suit Z Gundam" (1985). Eventually, the era of OVAs, which compete on the basis of content, arrived, and the animation images and story alone became a business. I thought it was a great era. My first film, "Escaflowne in the Sky" (1996), was also a work that had to be sold on video. Since animation itself is a product, I was told to just make the content interesting, which made me very happy. However, OVAs have reached their limits in the past 20 years because they are too much biased toward content that is specialized for the core audience that only likes anime. There are bishonen and bishojo (beautiful boys and girls), and the light users have been turned off by all the gags and symbolic expressions for the inner circle that they can only understand if they have seen anime. Animation is supposed to be a medium that can express unique drama different from that of live-action films. Yet recently, I have felt that the content has become too extremely biased.
Nevertheless, the level of Japanese animation is among the highest in the world. What is lacking is drama. Japanese animation is supposed to be at the top level, but I have heard that idols, which are very popular in Japan, do not sell at all overseas. First of all, moe characters are generally unacceptable, and moreover, anime with sexual descriptions cannot be distributed. The settings of recent Japanese anime are too special and do not resonate at all with light users overseas.
That is not to say that "Hoshiai no Sora" is aimed at an international audience. We came up with the story as a club activity story based on soft tennis, a sport that originated in Japan, with universal themes of boyhood, such as family problems, ....... Surprisingly, it sold very well in the U.S. as an animated TV program. The TV station was also surprised. I had thought that the content would be difficult to convey without knowing Japanese culture, but perhaps they felt that the problems of Japanese boys and girls are the same as theirs living overseas. What surprised me was that when I included LGBT in the story, the response from overseas was amazing. I guess it is because it is a very common and familiar issue in other countries.


─ I liked Kinuyo Kasuga (voice: Maaya Sakamoto), the student council president, as a resolute girl with leadership skills despite her plump figure.

Akane: Yes, we had a lot of reactions to Kasuga from overseas as well. Until now, in Japanese anime, all the girls were slim and beautiful, and the fat characters were always in charge of comedy. If we don't break the conventional wisdom inherent in anime, I don't think it will resonate not only with foreign audiences but also with light users in Japan who don't normally watch anime.