by Kari Lane
Studio Kai brought fans a new show that spins the hero concept on its head with Sentenced to Be a Hero. What if being a hero was a punishment? Something criminals were subject to – constantly dying in battle only to be resurrected and losing parts of themselves along the way. The other aspect of the show that stands out are the “faeries” which are monstrous and disturbing. Season 2 is in production but we do not have a release date yet.
We sat down with Yasutaka Kimura (Studio Kai Chief Animation Dir), Yoshiki Nakakoji (Dir, creature design), and Takeru Noda (Studio Kai Character Design) at Anime Expo and talked about how they were pleasantly surprised by the fan reactions, what powers they would want as a goddess/god, and more!
This interview was conducted with an interrupter and has been edited for clarity.
KARI LANE: Welcome to Anime Expo! What does it mean for you to be here at AX with Sentenced to be a Hero, and what have been your first impressions of the fans at Anime Expo?
YASUTAKA KIMURA: Very great impression so far. There’s so much passion that I feel, from the attendees and you see visually all the big posters and just the crowds. Also during our live drawing at our panel yesterday, so many people were just so excited. And through their expression and their excitement, like it gave us a lot of excitement as well, like great impressions.
YOSHIKI NAKAKOJI: Fans would compliment me like, oh, you know, “that was so great”, and that made me feel really good.
TAKERU NODA: This is actually my first time coming face to face with like an audience or just people in general, fans in general, so I was pleasantly surprised, ultimately to know that they exist, like they actually exist, (laughs) was a very fun moment for me.
LANE: And you had a panel yesterday. How was the fan reaction? Plus, what was your favorite moment from the panel?
KIMURA: I mentioned this a little bit before, but after finishing the live drawing, the crowd was just so energetic and excited, and that reaction is not typically something that we would get in Japan, so it’s very new to experience.
NAKAKOJI: It was fun spotting different cosplayers, like Kivia. There’s somebody dressed up as Kibia and Xylo, and to be like, oh! that’s them, to pick them out was really fun.
NODA: Similar to Nakakoji-san, to see the Kivia and Xylo cosplayers, or just cosplayers in general, is very fun.
LANE: In the show, all of the creatures are incredible, disturbing, and fascinating. A whole lot of nope! Tell me about your creative process.
NAKAKOJI: So I communicated a lot with the director in regards to how we wanted to go about the creature design, and he mentioned that we didn’t want to make them too, too cool looking, and we actually wanted to make them more grotesque or demonic. That didn’t originally exist in the original works.
LANE: It very much gives the impression of, do you know the term body horror? It’s like destruction or changing of the body and that’s what’s icky.
KIMURA, NAKAKOJI & NODA: Arigato gozaimasu (laughs)
LANE: If you were a goddess or god, what would you summon and what would your powers be? It could be anything.
KIMURA: (laughs) Yeah, to be honest, I’ve never really given that a thought ever, but Nakakoji-san has, he has.
NAKAKOJI: I mean, I would like to not have to sleep, like be endlessly awake, as my superpower. Yeah, it doesn’t exist in the story, but just I guess in general.
KIMURA: Go from place to place in an instant.
LANE: Like teleportation?
KIMURA: Right. I would want it where I don’t have to transport myself from A to B. I could just just draw at work and then be instantly at home, so the transportation aspect is cut out from his life, which saves a lot of time and effort.
NODA: (laughs) Yeah, yeah, I do like that as well.
LANE: They’re very, productive kind of powers of like getting things done. (they laugh). Is there anything else you’d like to share about the show, what fans can look ahead to the panel, Anime Expo?
KIMURA: Please look forward to season two!
NAKAKOJI: Not only was there so much love for Sentenced to be a Hero, but there’s just so much love and passion around Japanese anime in general and how popular it has become overseas. So I hope that fans continue to love anime moving forward.
NODA: But first and foremost, like my impression on Anime Expo is just, I was just so pleasantly surprised at how many fans revolve around Japanese anime at such a large scale. And of course, there’s more greatness, coming up in season two, so look forward to that as well.
LANE: Well, thank you so much. Congratulations. Argato gozaimasu.
KIMURA, NAKAKOJI & NODA: Arigato gozaimasu. Thank you.
Check out the official trailer for Sentenced to Be a Hero season 2:
