#katsumi enami

[ironized]

Baccano! by Katsumi Enami

[nia-inkognito]

shook off the dust around the new year by drawing my sweaty rat husband

[seekers-who-are-lovers]

Kyutaro Kugi and Rei Suwa, drawn by the series character designer Katsumi Enami

(Where is Kazuki and Miri?)

[satoshi-mochida]

Madou Monogatari: Fia and the Mysterious School launches November 28 in Japan - Gematsu

Madou Monogatari: Fia and the Mysterious School, formerly Madou Monogatari 4, will launch for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and Switch on November 28 in Japan for 8,580 yen, the latest issue of Weekly Famitsu reveals. A limited edition will also be available for 17,380 yen, which includes an art book, CD, acrylic diorama, and card game, among other bonuses.

Published by Compile Heart and developed by Sting in cooperation with D4 Enterprise, with participation by former Compile staff, Madou Monogatari: Fia and the Mysterious School features a game cycle of life in a school of sorcery, command-based battles in automatically-generated 3D dungeons, and character development through a grimoire skill tree.

The game’s staff and cast include:

Staff

Producer and Director: Hikaru Yasui

Advisors: Kazunari Yonemitsu, Kenji Oda

Character Design: Sunaho Tobe

Sub-Character Design: Shinichirou Otsuka, Katsumi Enami, Ichi

Music: k.h.d.n

Devleopment: Sting

Cast

Fia (voiced by Saya Aizawa) – A girl with good fortune who enrolled at the school of sorcery.

Will (voiced by Maki Kawase)

Lina (voiced by Nichika Oomori)

Totto (voiced by Shun Horie)

Escha (voiced by Moe Kahara)

Carbuncle (voiced by Tomoko Kaneda)

Suketoudara (voiced by Hisayoshi Suganuma)

Banshee Trio (voiced by Mariko Honda)

Momomo (voiced by Jun Osuka)

Skeleton T (voiced by Kenichi Ono)

Owlbear (voiced by Youji Ueda)

Zoh Daimaoh (voiced by Hiroki Yasumoto)

Jurk (voiced by Kaito Morita)

Garreldo (voiced by Kouta Suzuki)

Mew (voiced by Aoi Nagatsuki)

Vesta (voiced by Mana Nakatomi)

[skeletonpunching]

Buddy Daddies director interview

Interview with Asai Yoshiyuki (director)

Interviewer: Director Asai, how did you first get involved with "Buddy Daddies"?

Asai: At first, I had the idea that it was a "parenting story", but when I got to meet the scriptwriting team and read the plot, I found out for the first time that it was a "buddy story". (laughs) And so I wondered what sort of worldview I wanted to have for this "buddy story" - if it was going to include parenting elements, I figured it might be better to go for something a bit more comedic. From there, together with the rest of the production staff, I developed the characters' personalities, the overall worldview, and so on.

Interviewer: I hear that you had very clear images of Kurusu Kazuki and Suwa Rei, right from the start…?

Asai: I spent ages pondering Kazuki and Rei as characters - what sort of thoughts they'd have, how they'd talk and behave. That's how fascinating I felt they were as characters. So, rather than my image of them being fixed from the beginning, I'd say that I kept randomly fantasising about how Kazuki and Rei's story might unfold, and figuring out how that might tie in to the plot… I guess. They're in the assassin line of work, and at the same time, they're raising a child - so how can I make that enjoyable for the audience? I thought about that a lot.

Interviewer: Did you have any specific suggestions for the design process?

Asai: Kazuki and Rei's appearances were developed through discussion with the character designer, Enami Katsumi-san, but I also drew a rough sketch of my own early on, just for fun. I wanted to go for the vibe of a contrasting duo, so the sketch was along those lines. I requested a design from Enami-san based on that. As for how much of it carried over to the final version - honestly, at this point I don't remember my own sketch. (laughs)

Interviewer: Was there anything you paid special attention to in portraying a "buddy story"?

Asai: Personally, I think in a "buddy story", it's important for the two people to have a finely calculated balance of contrasting aspects and complementary aspects. For example, they may clash verbally, but they have little gestures which are perfectly in tune - it's great to show that sort of thing. And besides, this series "Buddy Daddies" focuses a lot on how the roles of the duo change going forward, as they "play happy families" with (Unasaka) Miri. How does the Kazuki-and-Rei duo grow through meeting Miri? It was important to keep that in mind while depicting the two of them.

Interviewer: This series contains contrasting elements of hard-boiled stories and sitcoms - was it difficult to maintain that balance?

Asai: That was incredibly tough. They're cool assassins, but the fact is that they're still criminals. At first, I struggled with how to handle such a worldview, where guys like that would end up raising a child, even just by chance. The fact that they deal with matters of life and death, versus the slapstick comedy of Miri jerking them around - I feel like I had to fret over that and make up my mind again with each episode. You could say it's a worldview where "anything goes", but I wanted to be conscious of the significance of "life and death", and to not make light of human deaths too much. Otherwise, the parenting thing also gets a lot less convincing. So I drew a line for myself.

Interviewer: Amidst all of this work, was there anything you personally got hung up on?

Asai: When producing animation, I essentially place a lot of weight on the characters' expressions. This time, I especially wanted Rei to have distinct "on" and "off" modes - he's "on" when he's being an assassin, but when he's "off", he's just a shut-in lazing around at home. So it was vital to have those differences in his expressions and gestures. And there was also the question of how to portray Kazuki's subtle expressions whenever he's tenderly doting on Miri. We had to be careful with that during the storyboarding process. How do Kazuki and Rei's expressions change during their family roleplay? I really enjoyed myself, coming up with the depiction of their emotional states.

Interviewer: Speaking of Kazuki and Rei, what do you think is appealing and interesting about them?

Asai: They're an assassin duo that first start out as simple roommates, but after a child is added to the mix, they basically get cast in the roles of mother and father - and as the story progresses from there, their relationship becomes more than just a duo. I think that's what's interesting about them. Since we always wanted the series to have comedic elements, we made Rei and Kazuki quite clear-cut yin and yang character types, but in fact, the yang-type character has a deep inner darkness, and the yin-type character has all sorts of problems. Ultimately, both of them are outlaws, so we also wanted to bring out the charm of this duo when they're being uncouth and slinging insults at each other. I found myself surprisingly fond of these characters, so I'd love if the audience looks at them and goes, "What the hell, are you two a married couple?!"

Interviewer: Toyonaga Toshiyuki-san, who plays Kazuki, and Uchiyama Koki-san, who plays Rei, are both perfect casting. Were your impressions of the characters enhanced by the cast's performances?

Asai: For sure. After the casting was decided, the instant I heard the first words of the recording session, I thought, "So Kazuki's that sort of person," and "So Rei's that sort of guy." It reconstructed my internal conception of the characters. I produced the animation materials with a thought process of "give them such-and-such expression; have them talk like this", so in that sense, the cast members were a huge help. I really got the feeling that these characters were being made to grow and develop in various ways.

Interviewer: Miri is the key to this story. How was she developed?

Asai: It was a process of trial and error - both with whether to make her a shy girl or a lively one, and with her appearance. I figured that if she was going to be brought up by those two, it'd be better for her to be a lively girl, but after Enami-san's character design came in, that was when I could really see what direction I wanted to take this character in. That was all due to how incredibly powerful Enami-san's design was. But Enami-san went through countless attempts before settling on Miri's final design - that ended up taking the longest. We'd decided on "a 4-year-old girl", but we tried all sorts of different things for her hairstyle, the look in her eyes, and so on. We really spent ages coming up with that.

Interviewer: And what about the performance of Kino Hina-san, who plays Miri?

Asai: When it came to Miri, we requested that Kino-san not speak in the usual style of anime child characters - we wanted a performance that was a little more true to life. During the audition, we ran through a number of different styles, and in the end we asked Kino-san to read the lines in her own voice, without trying for a child's voice. Somehow, that came closest to my impression of Miri. We didn't use that exact same voice in the show itself, but when playing a pure and innocent character who believes firmly and with zero doubt that two hitmen are her dads, that's the level of expressiveness you need - or else it won't be convincing at all. Kino-san was a real help in that way.

Interviewer: Please tell us what you think are the selling points of this series "Buddy Daddies".

Asai: Speaking as director, I'd love if the audience can fully take in the entire series, but simply put, I'd like you to pay attention to the characters of Kazuki and Rei. If you observe their little gestures and behaviour, I think you'll find a lot to love about these characters, no matter how things play out. If you're amused by these two men who aren't cut out for parenting at all, that would make me very happy as a director.

Interviewer: Finally, please give a message to everyone who is anticipating this series.

Asai: Miri is going to get even cuter going forward. As the story progresses, there'll be more of Kazuki and Rei and Miri acting as a trio, but there are still some mysteries about Miri, so please watch how she gets Kazuki and Rei wrapped around her finger from now on. I hope you'll enjoy seeing how our one and only heroine, Miri, manifests her cuteness.

[yuraamar]

✅ARTE OFICIAL ✅

Imágenes por el ilustrador Enami Katsumi

[siskabunnie]

Rean Schwarzer in Katsumi Enami art looks so good!

[bungeegum28]

𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐦𝐞 Buddy Daddies (2023)

𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 Vio Shimokura

𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐨 P.A. Works

𝐝𝐢���. Yoshiyuki Asai

𝐜𝐡𝐫. 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐞𝐫 Katsumi Enami, Souichirou Sako

𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘤𝘦: 𝘮𝘺 𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘵𝘴

[klug]

The most notable thing to me about the new Madou Monogatari game is the staff which consists of the true father of Madou and Puyo Puyo Kazunari Yonemitsu, author of the True Madou Monogatari novels and writer for Madou Monogatari on Sega Saturn Kenji Oda as story advisors.

The main character designer is Sunaho Tobe, who did the CG/sprite artwork for Puyo Puyo~n's console versions

Ichi also returns as a sub-character designer, and you can tell which ones were designed by her, imo.

The other sub-character designers seem new to the franchise, but they have impressive portfolios since Shinichirou Otsuka is the illustrator for the RE:Zero novels and Katsumi Enami worked on Ys 7, two Trails games, and is otherwise a pretty prolific illustrator.

[ichiruki-esque]

Baccano! — Ryohgo Narita & Katsumi Enami

[crehador]

so buddy daddies is here and right out the gate it’s better than i ever could have expected! rather than the pure slapstick comedy i thought we were in for, we’re getting what seems to be an actual plot (with a sprinkling of tragic backstories and all)

in short: i’m loving the character designs, the animation, the voice acting, and the overall tone of the show so far and i’m cautiously optimistic about the plot

in long:

the premise of buddy daddies seems pretty simple, rei and kazuki are two hitmen who have taken in a small child to raise as their kid

no, really, kazuki even calls her “our kid” to rei

it’s the usual sunshine one/gloomy one duo dynamic, though kazuki (sunshine one) is already showing clear signs of having some serious issues and rei (gloomy one) is delightfully not just a cool, stoic hitman but a nerdy shut-in with a fondness of cats as well

the characters have facets, basically, which is great to see!

i say i’m only cautiously optimistic about the plot because... well, shimokura vio is credited for the original story and series composition of buddy daddies, and i only know of them from their work on tokyo 24-ku

tokyo 24-ku was... bearable, but in all honesty it wasn’t my favorite thing. it felt very much like it could have done with having 2 cours instead of just one, but i’m not convinced it would have necessarily made good use of a second cour if it had gotten one

so here’s hoping buddy daddies impresses me way more! it’s off to a very strong start, and i’ll be rooting for it to stay strong

speaking of the staff, the original character designs are by enami katsumi, who was also in charge of original character designs for baccano... which i love, so it’s no surprise i like their work on buddy daddies too!

and of course as a voicecon i would be remiss to not talk about the cast

we’ve got tosshi as kazuki and ucchi as rei which is just about as perfect as you can get, rei literally looks like he was tailor-made to be voiced by ucchi, and naturally ucchi is doing a phenomenal job

(for the uninitiated they are also yuri and yurio from yoi, among a great many other things)

so all in all buddy daddies has immediately become one of my fast favorites of the season, although i may be cautious about my hopes for the plot i can already tell this is going to be fun no matter what

[ironized]

Katsumi Enami

[ljaesch]

Manga UP! to Add the Restaurant to Another World and A Terrified Teacher at Ghoul School! Manga to Its Service

Manga UP! has announced that it will begin releasing two new manga from Yen Press in April 2023: Title: Restaurant to Another World Creators: Takaaki Kugatsu, Junpei Inuzuka, Katsumi Enami Release Date: April 29, 2023 at 12:00 a.m. JST/11:00 a.m. EDT Summary: By all appearances, Western Restaurant Nekoya is a normal restaurant serving normal people—but unbeknownst to the regulars, it also…

[seekers-who-are-lovers]

Mr. Sunshine!

[satoshi-mochida]

Madou Monogatari: Fia and the Mysterious School first trailer, details, and screenshots - Gematsu

Publisher Compile Heart and developer Sting have released the first trailer, information, and screenshots for Madou Monogatari: Fia and the Mysterious School, which is due out for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and Switch on November 28 in Japan. The official website is also live.

Get the details below.

About

Madou Monogatari: Fia and the Mysterious School the official title of the latest entry in the Madou Monogatari series. It will launch on November 28 in Japan. With former Compile developers returning, Madou Monogatari: Fia and the Mysterious School is an RPG featuring the untouched worldview and familiar characters of the Madou Monogatari series, in all of its nostalgic glory. After several decades, lease look forward to a new chapter in the Madou Monogatari series.

Participating Creators

Producer and Director: Hikaru Yasui

Advisors: Kazunari Yonemitsu, Kenji Oda

Character Design: Sunaho Tobe

Sub-Character Design: Shinichirou Otsuka, Katsumi Enami, Ichi

Music: k.h.d.n

Development: Sting

Story

An ancient school of sorcery. Where students study true magic and cultivate their ambitions. Fia, a girl who aims to be a great sorcerer, leaves her hometown and enrolls in an ancient school of sorcery once attended by her grandmother in order to study sorcery. Surrounded by strict but humorous instructors, and chaotic but amusing classmates, Fia will study sorcery and develop her abilities.

Characters

Fia (voiced by Saya Aizawa)

Will (voiced by Maki Kawase)

Leena (voiced by Nichika Oomori)

Totto (voiced by Shun Horie)

Eska (voiced by Moe Kahara)

Carbuncle (voiced by Tomoko Kaneda)

Jurk (voiced by Kaito Morita)

Mew (voiced by Aoi Nagatsuki)

Garreldo (voiced by Kouta Suzuki)

Vesta (voiced by Mana Nakatomi)

Momomo (voiced by Jun Osuka)

Puyo

Skeleton T (voiced by Kenichi Ono)

Suketoudara (voiced by Hisayoshi Suganuma)

Owlbear (voiced by Youji Ueda)

Banshee Trio (voiced by Mariko Honda)

Zoh Daimaoh (voiced by Hiroki Yasumoto)

Dragon Oyaji

Game Editions

Standard Physical / Digital Edition (8,580 yen)

Pre-Order Bonus

Fia x Carbuncle mini curry spoon

Physical Deluxe Edition (17,380 yen)

Special box with original illustration by Sunaho Tobe

Visual art book featuring character designs, event CG, rough drafts, and more

Soundtrack CD with over 20 tracks by k.h.d.n., including the background music, opening, and ending themes

Book cover that looks like the grimoire used by Fia in the game

Acrylic diorama featuring Fia and friends

A completely original card game created by advisor Kenji Oda featuring characters from the game, including a play mat and rule guide

Digital Deluxe Edition (10,780 yen)

Digital art book featuring character designs, event CG, rough drafts, and more

Digital soundtrack with over 20 tracks by k.h.d.n., including the background music, opening, and ending themes

Watch the trailer below. View the screenshots at the gallery.

Reveal Trailer

[skeletonpunching]

Buddy Daddies animation director interview

Interview with Sako Soichiro (character design and chief animation director)

Interviewer: Enami Katsumi-san was in charge of the original character drafts for "Buddy Daddies", but they had to be redesigned for the purposes of animation. What did you pay particular attention to at that time?

Sako: Enami-san is a prolific illustrator, and I was familiar with his style; I wanted to bring out that stylish dynamism which is both cool and endearing. And on top of that, the series has a strong comedic element, so I aimed to maintain the original coolness and charm while simplifying the designs for a comedy anime, and creating room to play around with them as much as possible. I focused on having the expressions not be stiff - and of course, I was aware that the designs had to be very mobile and fluid, in preparation for the action scenes.

Interviewer: What did you focus on when creating the "buddy vibe" and sense of visual balance between Kurusu Kazuki and Suwa Rei?

Sako: Director Asai gave instructions that there should be a clear "contrast" between Kazuki and Rei when they were side by side, but I myself also wanted to emphasise the differences between the two. It’s not just their personalities that differ - Kazuki is a bit stocky, while Rei looks lanky and has awful posture. I aimed to bring out that disparity in their appearances. And when adding (Unasaka) Miri to the mix, if we had been true to the real proportions of a four-year-old child, her face should really have been bigger. But if so, whenever Kazuki and Rei were carrying her or holding hands with her, she would just look like she had an enormous face. (laugh) In order to avoid that, we had to tweak Miri's height and bodily proportions every episode.

Interviewer: Did Director Asai have any specific requests apart from that?

Sako: Yes, about the facial expressions. Rei's facial expressions hardly vary at all, but Miri is a carefree character whose expressions change all the time, and Kazuki, who's always fussing, also has quite dramatic reactions to things. The director told me to ensure that breadth of variation. So the series fleshed things out from the original designs, and we came up with all sorts of new expressions. Especially with Miri - basically, I just wanted to make her cute. A kid who just can't sit still and is always running around causing trouble... that's how you could describe her, but in the end, her expressions are the saving grace. "She's so cute, I'll let it slide" - that's what I was going for.

Interviewer: Was there anything you were especially mindful of throughout this process?

Sako: Naturally, I felt like I had a duty to "draw Miri cutely", but as for the buddy duo, I wanted a clear contrast between their coolness and their total hopelessness. I was very careful to keep a distinction between how I portrayed their work mode and their regular mode. That contrast is especially pronounced for Rei. He's usually slouching, which brings out a height difference between him and Kazuki, but when he's on the job, he stands up smartly, with his back perfectly straight. With such a drastic change in his appearance and bearing, even though he's still the same character, I basically drew him like a different character entirely. In the second half of the series, there are some scenes where he has his hair down in regular mode, but he's carrying around some of those work-mode feelings; in those scenes, I paid close attention to his emotional state in order to depict those fine differences.

Interviewer: This is also an action-heavy series; how did you approach the characters' motions?

Sako: There are action setpieces pretty much every episode, and of course I was determined to make those cool, but the scenes of daily life also took a surprising amount of effort. Especially for Miri - she has very few stationary cuts, or still frames where only her mouth is moving. There are lots of scenes where she's constantly in motion, or delivering lines with her entire body. Just that alone was a lot of work to animate. I guess that's what happens when you prioritise making her cute - not in a "doll-like" way, but in a way where she's free to frolic and move around, and gets away with anything because she's cute... Come to think of it, Miri was probably the one we spent the most time on. (laughs)

Interviewer: From the episodes that have aired so far, which scenes left an impression on you?

Sako: Episode 3. Rei, who doesn't emote much, becomes conscious of his role as "papa to a child" for the first time, and he displays expressions and emotional upheaval that we've never seen from him before. I had a lot of fun depicting that. Rei hadn't exactly closed off his heart, but that's the point where he starts to gradually accept Miri as family. I'm very attached to the scene where you can sense that change. The main subject of this series is "buddies parenting", and I think this is where it all really begins in earnest.

Interviewer: What do you think is the appeal of the characters in "Buddy Daddies"?

Sako: Kazuki and Rei both have rather heavy backstories, but through the process of parenting, their feelings towards Miri and the ways they treat each other change, bit by bit. And because of that growth, your impression of the characters also evolves over time, and you rapidly find yourself charmed by them. I think it's interesting to see how things build up across the episodes. In the second half, some of their emotional changes and development call for expressions that weren't included in the original character designs; I personally enjoyed drawing those.

Interviewer: And what are your thoughts on Kazuki and Rei respectively?

Sako: It's just plain fun drawing Rei in action. Even apart from his facial expressions, there's so much you can convey from his movements. Rei's personal drama is a key ingredient in the last part of the show, so I wanted to portray his coolness in an appealing way. I think Kazuki is essentially a forward-looking character, but he's also a little aloof; I like how he's caring but not naive. He's not just a character with big exaggerated reactions - there are some darker shadows in his past, and that sense of loneliness you get from him is very compelling. I wanted to depict those subtle nuances in his expressions.

Interviewer: So, do you have a personal favourite character?

Sako: If we count the minor characters - there are some characters I got to design myself, but they're all the mean-looking old men in the assassin trade. (laughs) I had quite a lot of fun designing them. I really love Enami-san's more understated characters, so I wanted to incorporate some of that sensibility into my work... I figured that the protagonists are always flailing around in a slapstick way, so what happens if we cram in a whole bunch of serious old men too? There are some vicious characters, but I think their inclusion in a comedy-flavoured series increases the tension and raises the stakes in a good way. In that sense, I really feel like this is a remarkable series where the characters cover a whole spectrum of tones.

Interviewer: Please tell us what you think are the selling points of this series "Buddy Daddies".

Sako: Enami-san's characters are very charming, but as an animator, I'd also like to give a shoutout to the wonderful colour design and background artwork. The colourists produced all sorts of palettes, and the art department created incredibly stylish and tasteful backgrounds; it really enhances the overall appeal of the series. Also, it's a minor detail, but I think the fact that Kazuki's meals look so delicious is all thanks to the production staff's hard work.

Interviewer: Finally, please give a message to everyone who is looking forward to the rest of this series.

Sako: It's probably being watched both by actual parents and by people who have never parented, and my guess is that each person is finding something different to relate to. I think it might be fun to rewatch the series from that perspective - imagining what it would be like if you were a parent. The story goes through ups and downs, and I hope you're excited to find out how it all wraps up. Please do watch to the very end.