During Otakon 2024, The Beat’s Adam Wescott had the chance to speak to Trigun Stampede producer Waki Kiyotaka and Orange producer Yoshihiro Watanabe in the wake of the studio’s latest project in the co-production of Leviathan. What follows is a transcript of the interview that will detail what the studio aims to accomplish within the Japanese animation industry, which is going through its own shifts and changes.
ADAM WESCOTT: The anime industry has been producing many remakes these days. There was an Urusei Yatsura remake not so long ago. A Ranma ½ remake is coming down the line from MAPPA. Not to mention Magic Knight Rayearth. These productions often prize faithfulness rather than take adaptational liberties. But Orange’s production of Trigun Stampede, while faithful to the spirit of the original, made big changes to the story and characters. What was on the studio’s mind when making these changes?
Waki Kiyotaka: Myself, Toho’s Takei and Kenji Muto as director each lacks many things. We are still gaining experience in each of our positions. In that process, Takei brough Nightow-sensei’s Trigun to the table. His idea was that “there are many things we could learn from Trigun.” When adapting the comic, Muto wanted to understand how Nightow approached things, as well as how to make the show our own. Creating an original story from 0 to 1, nothing to something, is a very intensive process. It’s not easily done. Nightow is a big inspiration for us as we walk that path.
WESCOTT: The first part of Beastars’s final season is coming out at the end of this year. Will new technology developed for Trigun Stampede that will be brought into this final season?
Waki: We can’t go into too much detail yet. But one of the biggest things in Trigun Stampede was the experience gained by our animators. Trigun Stampede was made at a high level of quality and intensity. It was also a show about humans rather than animals. Taking that experience and reflecting it back onto Beastars will result in something drastically different from what the previous Beastars was.
WESCOTT: Recently you appeared in a YouTube video talking about the animation in Zenless Zone Zero. What did you find interesting about the animation in that game? Are there examples of 3D animation outside of anime that you find interesting as well?
Waki: We’re approaching this from the side of Japanese animation, based on hand drawn CG. The Zenless Zone Zero team come from the world of games; they’ve never experienced Japanese anime production, yet they were inspired by anime even though they come at it from a different side. They ended up with a similar kind of look and motion. I find that fascinating.
WESCOTT: Watanabe also spoke about anime connecting people all over the world as a universal language. Would you say that also applies here?
Yoshihiro Watanabe: Yes, I think so. Anime is highly symbolized. That symbolism makes it easier for something more conceptual in human nature, or human civilization, to emerge. Certainly, anime tends to be associated with Japan. But it’s not necessarily just about that. It’s a global language format that we can share and start thriving upon.
WESCOTT: During a previous panel, Watanabe, you said that you worked on Supernatural: The Animation. Atsuko Ishizuka of A Place Further Than the Universe also participated in that series. Did you get a chance to work with her directly?
Watanabe: I oversaw the script, but I never passed that process. In terms of the script, though, I was a part of it.
WESCOTT: Was there anything in particular you remember from that show?
Watanabe: Mostly it was supposed to be faithful to the TV drama. There were two episodes where we were allowed to be more original. Sometimes we wanted to be more adventurous, but the producers were worried about cultural differences. It was just my third or fourth year in the industry, so I didn’t yet have enough experience to insist that these differences could be overcome.
WESCOTT: Past Orange productions like Trigun Stampede and Beastars have been based on visual works. Your upcoming co-production Leviathan, though, is based on a novel. What challenges did your team face in translating a non-visual work into a new medium?
Waki: Visuals are a road map that we can head towards. But even when a novel has illustrations, the reading audience will visualize scenes within their heads. When we produce something based on a novel, our mission is to go beyond their imagination. One way in which we do this for Leviathan is the detailed backgrounds.
WESCOTT: While Orange has produced short films in the past, IDOLiSH7: BEYOND THE PERiOD is the first full-length film that the studio has produced. What new challenges did the studio face in producing for film rather than television?
Waki: In terms of animation quality or direction, we don’t necessarily distinguish between short form or long form. We approach each project to the fullest. Saying that, what was so different about IDOLiSH7 was that we removed the process of storyboarding. We wanted to accomplish the sense of reality. We remove rather than break the fourth wall, so that the world seen on screen exists in the same world as the audience.
