Interview with Kotaro Yamaguchi, Mayor of Chitose City, and Yoshiro Sasaki, President of Marukoma Onsen Ryokan, in commemoration of the TV broadcast of the Chitose version of "Evil Girl Drop Kick," an animation production made possible by tax payments from the hometown!

Every time, "Jyakami-chan Dropkick" takes an overly original measure and pushes the anime industry down a path it has never gone down.

The second season of the anime "Jyakami-chan Dropkick'" has reached its final episode by popular demand, but did you know that in parallel with that, "Jyakami-chan Dropkick: Chitose Arc" is being produced and announced, using tax payments from the hometown of Chitose City in Hokkaido as the production cost?

The acceptance of Furusato tax payment started in December 2019. The initial target amount was 20 million yen, but in the end, 180 million yen was collected, attracting a lot of attention from various media.

This project is a dream collaboration that was made possible by the fact that Chitose City is the hometown of Aina Suzuki, who plays the role of Evil Girl. The anime has already been released on Amazon Prime Video since April 30 to rave reviews, and will finally be broadcast on terrestrial television on June 22.

We visited the postrecording studio in Tokyo. We interviewed special guests who had just finished recording: Kotaro Yamaguchi, Mayor of Chitose City; Shotaro Yoshimi, Chitose City Tourism Planning Division; and Yoshiro Sasaki, President of Lakeside Villa Suimeikaku, a lakeside inn at Lake Shikotsu Marukoma Onsen Ryokan.

The postrecording was a valuable experience!

--Thank you very much for your hard work on the postrecording! First of all, please give us your impressions of it.

Yamaguchi: It was a simple line, but it was tense and fun. I'm really happy to see these studio scenes and various voice actors at work.

Mayor Yamaguchi: --Did you have any acting experience?

Yamaguchi: No, I don't. Speaking is my job on a daily basis, but it was a different kind of fun.

--How about you, Mr. Sasaki?

Sasaki: It was my first experience, too. I haven't done anything like this since the school arts festival (laughs).

(laughs) -- Mr. Sasaki, you had about 3 scenes to speak, but you got better with each scene, and in the end, you got an OK with just one shot.

Sasaki That's not true (laughs). (laughs) Well, considering that many people were listening and watching, I think I gradually became more nervous. I think this was the first and last time, but it was a very valuable experience. In the end, I think I was able to enjoy the recording as much as the mayor did.

--What did you think when you were first asked to participate in the recording?

Yamaguchi: When I first came across "Evil God Girl," I was very distant from it, and at the time I had no idea what kind of work it was. I was looking forward to today, thinking that it would be a very precious experience to be able to experience the work firsthand.

Sasaki: I was like, "What? Huh?" (laughs). (laughs). I had no idea what he was talking about. Unfortunately, I have not yet seen the anime or manga in detail, but I am looking forward to taking this opportunity to watch the finished anime.

Connections made by various ties

--The interesting thing about this project is that the production cost was funded by a "hometown tax payment," and the software of the new anime was given as a tax return gift. I think this is a first attempt in the animation industry. What did you think when you first heard about it?

Yamaguchi: To be honest, when Mr. Yoshimi, the head of Chitose City's Tourism Planning Division, first approached me with the idea, I was a bit gullible (laughs). (Laughs.) But he had a lot of experience in tourism and other fields, so I decided to trust him and give it a try.

--As a result, we ended up raising more than 100 million yen from the target amount of 20 million yen.

Yamaguchi: That's right. This is a new type of hometown tax payment. I think this has attracted nationwide attention, and I think it turned out very well. We also realized that there are so many people who support "Evil God-chan" We received over 60,000 tax payments. This is amazing.

--By the way, did you know about "Jyoshin-chan" in the beginning?

Yoshimi: I did not. However, Aina Suzuki, who plays the role of Evil God Girl, is from my hometown, so my daughter knew about it, and she said, "Dad, this girl from Chitose is active. She told me, "Dad, there is a girl from Chitose who is active in the industry.

So, when I proposed to the mayor of Chitose City that I would like to make a sightseeing video of Chitose with Ms. Suzuki's voice, he said, "Do what you want. He told me, "Do what you want, and keep up the good work. From there, the road to this animation started.

Yamaguchi That's right. I was told later that she had done minyo (Japanese folk song) when she was a child, and when she won a minyo competition in elementary school, she came to me to report her win. I found that out later and said, "Oh, that time! That time! I remembered it.

--I think you have a lot of connections.

Yamaguchi: I think so.

Jyakami-chan" became a PR material for Chitose!

--I heard that this is the first time Marukoma Onsen Ryokan has collaborated with an anime.

Sasaki: Since Mr. Yoshimi is in the department related to tourism, we are in constant communication about various projects. As the mayor said, the starting point of Mr. Yoshimi's idea or tourism is to do what he enjoys and likes, and that is exactly why we came to him. Most of the ideas were your own, weren't they?

Yoshimi: I wanted to make the scenes from the anime into something that fans could enjoy. We worked together to make sure that when people go to the scenes in the anime, they can feel our feelings toward Lake Shikotsuko.

--As for the ryokan, do you plan to continue to be involved with "Evil Girl" in the future?

Sasaki: Yes, we do. We have a picture of "Evil God-chan" on the tourism poster of Lake Shikotsu, and we plan to bring the poster with us when we promote the lake in various places in the future. It would be rude to say that we are using such a poster, but I think "Jyoshin-chan" can be used as a material to promote Chitose.

─ ─ Is it the same for Chitose City?

Yamaguchi: Yes, Chitose City is one of the most developed cities in Hokkaido, and the city employees' slogan is "Sell it, Chitose! That's the motto of the city employees. There are many things about Chitose that we take for granted, but we don't realize until we are told by people from other areas that Chitose is a great place. We have made it into a catchphrase, "Sell it, Chitose! and we are trying to promote all the charms of Chitose, and the "Jyakami-chan" animation project is just one of them.

Sasaki: The anime depicts places and place names that young people in Chitose probably don't know, so I hope many people will watch the anime and learn about Chitose.

Yamaguchi (while watching the video being played at the site) Are they eating Lake Shikotsu chips?

Yoshimi: Yes. They did a careful location scouting. The staff actually came to Chitose and interviewed Mr. Marukoma, so there are quite a few things that the locals don't know.

--So, when you actually go to Chitose, you find the same things as in the anime.

Yoshimi That's right. Well, there are no bears like this, though (laughs).

--I would like to conclude by saying again that Chitose is a very attractive place to visit.

Yamaguchi: Chitose has the characteristic of being the youngest town in Hokkaido in terms of average age. It can be said that Chitose is a youthful town, and I think that the fact that we are able to represent Chitose in the world with anime that young people enjoy is also in keeping with the town's color.

Sasaki: I always think of Chitose City as a neighbor city for people from all over the world because of the New Chitose Airport. Many people land in Chitose when they first arrive in Hokkaido, and Lake Shikotsuko is located there. There is Lake Shikotsu, a national park, and hot springs. Chitose is a city of 100,000 people, and Sapporo is close by, so it has many wonderful attractions. It is a very comfortable city, and I hope you will visit.

Broadcast Information
Jyakami-chan Drop Kick

TOKYO MX: Every Monday from 25:15
Hokkaido Bunka Broadcasting: Every Tuesday from 25:50
Nishinippon Broadcasting: Every Sunday from 26:00
Gunma TV: Every Monday from 24:30
Tochigi TV: Every Monday from 24:30
Ciba TV: Every Wednesday from 25:00
Sun TV: Every Monday from 25:30
TV Yamaguchi: Every Friday from 25: 55 55～
TV Nagasaki: Every Thursday, May 7, 2020 from 25:00～
BS Fuji: Every Tuesday from 24:30～
AT-X: Every Monday from 22:30～
* The broadcast date and time are subject to change according to circumstances.

(c) Yukio, COMIC METEO, Yagami Chan Drop Kick' Production Committee