#muto jun

[lovetune]

MUTO JUN in MANIA (2024)

[sevenmoonstory]

[ENG TRANS] GNJB JUNON "Kateihou no Anata He (If you were)" Special Interview

Q. If you were to go on an adventure together, who would you choose from the members? 

Ryota: The song "Multiverse Adventure" included in the EP has the story of "Even if you're not by my side...." For us, the "You" in this song refers to Kansokusha (fan name). It's a song that contains the meaning that we'll overcome any obstacle for the sake of meeting "You", and even become heroes. Here's the regular silly question from JUNON. Which member do you want to go on an adventure together? 

Kousaku: Jun. Because he seems adventurous. 

Ryota: Can't we just go alone?

All six: Of course you can't!

Kazuto: Ryota, huh? Let him be eaten by a bear

Ryota: So it's that kind of adventure, huh? Kaname, then.

All six: What do you mean by 'Kaname, then'? (lol) 

Kaname: I choose Masaya. Because if I asked him, "Will it be okay?", he'll probably say, "Surely it will be okay!" 

Takato: Kousaku! Because we often go out to eat together, I'll feel at ease. 

Masaya: I choose Kazuto. He has the stamina, and we can enjoy the adventure together. 

Ryota: Does he have stamina? 

Kaname: He has the least stamina!

Kazuto: No sweat. I'll go with Masaya too. Because he's got the energy during MV shooting and accompanied me being energetic (lol) 

Jun: I choose Kazuto. Since his fortune telling results this year are good. 

Ryota: Well that's fortune telling!

Q: Who is punctual? Who is a bit loose with time?

Kazuto: "Keikakudowori" is a rare song where we all rap together. It has philosophical lyrics, so it reflects our uniqueness. I want people to see us performing this song!

Masaya: The exchanges are non-stop, so it's fresh and interesting.

Kousaku: Is there anyone who is punctual?

Ryota: Isn't it Kaname?

Kaname: When it's not work related, I'm kinda...

Takato: I think it's me

All six: That's true

Masaya: Takato is punctual even in private

Kaname: Of course, everyone is punctual when it comes to work

Kazuto: Obviously

Ryota: I'm quite strict, right?

Kousaku: But we never make any appointed time in private, right?

Ryota: Huh?

Kaname: Ahaha (lol). Generally, Genjibu is on time.

Other five: Except for them (lol).

Masaya: But they're punctual for work.

Ryota: Mr. K, right?

Kousaku: I'm just at my own pace.

Kazuto: Don't use "at my own pace" as an excuse! (lol)

Takato: But there was a time when Kazuto didn't show up for two and a half hours.

Masaya: Two and a half hours!

Ryota: Huh, that's kinda cool.

All six: Huh?

Ryota: That's cool. Because I usually arrive about 15 minutes early.

All six: What you do is correct!!! 

Q: Do you want to be the one getting (your feelings) played? Or do you want to be the one playing on (one's feelings)?

Kaname: "Utsukushii Hito" is a mature song. It's about realizing that someone you thought only you knew actually belongs to everyone. I think this song is the most humane in the whole EP. Also, it's a song that will sway your heart.

Jun: What does "being played on" mean?

Kousaku: It's like having "Uwaaahhh" moments.

Masaya: I want to be one whose feelings get played on. I want to be swayed around.

Kazuto: I want to do the love game. In the end, I'm the one who's able to play on one's feelings (strikes a pose).

Ryota: Scary. I want to be played on. People would rather chase than be chased.

Masaya: That's wrong.

Ryota: Huh?

Takato: You want to chase?

Ryota: I want to play on someone's feelings!

Kazuto: You want to be swayed?

Ryota: I want to be swayed

Kazuto: OK

Jun: I want to play on someone who's trying to play on my feelings.

All six: (Bursts into laughter)

Kazuto: But, Jun, can you tell? The moment that you maybe getting played on.

Jun: I can not tell.

Kousaku: I'm the opposite. I want to be the one being played on by the one who wants to be played on.

All six: (LOL)

Kazuto: You can never be able to get together with that (lol).

Kaname: I used to want to be played on, but now I want to do the playing.

All six: He changed!

Takato: I got my heart skipped a beat when fans told me they liked me at a release event, so I want to be the one getting played on!

Q: Do you believe in aliens?

Takato: "Suironteki ni Uchuujin" is a pop, fun, and cute song. It features a language called "Ninanina," spoken by aliens, with two members singing in Ninanina language while the rest play human roles. So, do you believe in aliens?

Masaya: I've seen them.

All six: Huh?!

Masaya: If you've seen UFOs, that means there are aliens, right?

Ryota: I don't believe in aliens.

Kousaku: I do.

Ryota: You all know about the "Grey" type of aliens, right?

Masaya: You're already at the level of saying terms like "Grey", that means you like them, huh?

Ryota: That appearance represents our future selves.

All six: He's at it again.

Takato: You actually like them the most, don't you?

Ryota: It's the result of spending too much time on the internet, evolving our eyes and brains.

Masaya: Then why do you know that it's future appearance, right now?

Ryota: Why?

Masaya: No, I mean, why do you know?

Ryota: Me?

Masaya: Who else? (lol)

Ryota: It's my inference.

Kazuto: In my opinion, there's some truth to that inference. 

All six: Oh?

Kazuto: Let's assume that when highly evolved humans are facing extinction, they might flee to space. So it's humans escaping to space. And as a result, when they come back from space, they come as aliens.

Takato: What about you, Jun?

Jun: Oh, sorry, sorry. I was communicating with space.

Ryota: What were they saying?

Jun: That is... I can't remember.

All six: (lol)

Q: Since "Diamond Lily" is about lilies, do you have a favorite flower?

Kousaku: "Diamond Lily" is characterized by its melancholic piano sound, a song sung while longing for someone far away. In the performance, we divide into ghosts and human roles. I hope people enjoy not only the song but also the performance, and have fun guessing who is who. So, what's your favorite flower?

Takato: Sunflowers.

Masaya: I like cherry blossoms.

Kousaku: Morning glories.

Kazuto: Lately, I've been into hydrangeas.

Jun: Cosmos, I feel like the name is cool.

Kaname: Turkish bellflower. It's my birth flower.

Ryota: That white, butterfly-like one.

Takato: If you can't remember the name, you don't really like it, then.

Ryota: It has a strange shape, but it's beautiful.

Kazuto: Isn't that possibly an orchid?

Ryota: Maybe. We have good chemistry, huh?

Q: What kind of Genjibu do you want to be for the 10th anniversary?

Jun: The theme in "Daremo Shiranai Uta" is about a thousand years from now. In the midst of humanity and the world facing destruction, there's a story where the song heard is actually from a thousand years ago. What it's trying to convey is that music has the power to move people's hearts across time. It's a very emotional song.

Kazuto: The 10th anniversary is five years away. With just that time, we can do anything.

Ryota: I want to be a star.

Takato: We truly are...

Ryota: (Interrupting Takato) We're the Big Dipper!

Takato: I was still talking now!

Kazuto: This kind of dynamic between Ryota and Takato is nice, right?

Takato: I have a group I admire. I want us to be like that group.

Kaname: Jun, how old will you be in five years?

Jun: 27.

Kazuto: Still 27. What about Masaya?

Masaya: I'll be 22, I guess.

Kaname: We'll be 25.

Ryota: Yeah.

Kaname: I want to fly on planes as often as I ride the Shinkansen now. It would be great to go to various places.

Kazuto: Like having our own TV show.

Ryota: Yeah, yeah

Kazuto: Or having dome concerts.

Takato: Sounds great

Kazuto: Singing the theme song for a drama with someone in the group as the main lead?

Masaya: It's coming!

Kazuto: We want to achieve at least one of those things.

Kaname: I also want us to become ambassadors for a fashion brand as a group.

All six: We want that!

Kaname: Let's work hard together as seven members for the 5th anniversary, so we can make those dreams come true!

[pico-farad]

Happy 20th anniversary to GX, a show that has followed me from my childhood to now as an adult.

Historically in Japan, 20 is the age in which you pass into adulthood. So I guess GX itself has finally come of age.

[verycoolpersonyes]

[elemental-daddy-neos]

Okay now that I've gotten the name change out of the way, guess what! I'm returning to my roots! I decided to start rewatching GX from episode 1, and the way I'm doing it is dub first, then rewatch the episode in the sub right after to compare and contrast. It was a lot of fun, so I'm gonna be writing down all my thoughts as they come in and sharing them here! Check them out below if you are interested, fair warning I will never be nice to Syrus <3

First up: episode one dubbed

Now, once more with feeling! Episode one sub thoughts

...And that wraps up the first episode! Hopefully you guys find this entertaining. Yes I know I'm mentally ill about this show, that won't be changing anytime soon.

Just for the fun of it, if anyone wants them, here are all the screenshots I took while watching the show by themselves

[rollingsim]

Jun Muto

aries ♈︎ and lead guitarist in a band

[xxthefairywitchxx]

Have you ever wanted to play the classic family night board game "Guess Who?" But with Yu-Gi-Oh characters? No? Well now you can! I went into a fugue state and made this. "Renni what was your process for picking which characters to use?" I didn't have one. I just picked the first four that came to mind, except for arc v because if I didn't have all four yu boys and bracelet girls I would have gone insane, and also because I haven't watched anything past arc v so I just...used the last eight spaces on them

[kamenstrikerace]

Source: raku (howdy)

[howaiiii]

assorted yugiohs

[marumanu35]

[avee-anne]

Sakuracon 2023: Studio Orange Interview

(I just learned that Japan-A-Radio has ceased operations so the interview with the director and producers of Trigun Stampede is no longer in their website. It has a lot of interesting information about Trigun Stampede so I'm reposting it here.)

Submitted by djcruzmissile on Sun, 04/16/2023 - 01:22

Sakuracon 2023 – Studio Orange Interview

By Jun Hong Pua, Sean Cruz, Matthew Fu & Lisa Su Transcribed by Jun Hong Pua Edited by Sean Cruz

Japan-A-Radio was part of a round table interview with Director Kenji Muto, and Producers Waki Kiyotaka & Yoshihiro Watanabe, members of Studio Orange, the team behind Trigun Stampede, to round out Sakuracon 2023 Sunday Afternoon. Producer Yoshihiro Watanabe started off with a brief introduction.

Yoshihiro Watanabe (W): I mainly do the distribution or strategic side of Trigun. Kiyotaka and I are from Studio Orange but Muto is a freelancer so he's only tied to our studio on a project basis.

I know it's been five years in the making, but why Trigun again?

Waki Kiyotaka (K): There are two big reasons why we chose to work on Trigun Stampede this time around. The first big reason would be that we were actually contacted by the producer, Katsuhiro Takei, who is a big fan of the original Trigun anime, and he'd always wanted to work on another anime version of Trigun.

The second reason is that we had the opportunity to employ Muto as the director. He had previously worked on the Land of the Lustrous, on both the storyboards and the animation direction. For storyboards, he did episode seven. For episode direction, he did episode ten. And so, we knew from working with him that he was able to do both action scenes and really good "feeling scenes": scenes where the feelings were really communicated well to the audience. We thought that he could do something really good with this project. And so that's why we chose to make Trigun Stampede and to do it with him as the director.

Kenji Muto (M): In my case, from the creative side, it's more of an ideological thing. When I started reading the Trigun manga by Nightow-sensei, I felt that it had many themes that were very unique and universal.

For example, there are inter-species interactions, the issues of migration, and a sci-fi approach to westerns. There's many core themes that I thought were very interesting.

How much involvement did Nightow-sensei have in the production of the show? You mentioned in your panel earlier that he just gave a green light and said to just have fun. Can you elaborate further?

K: It started with Nightow-sensei, myself, the director Muto, and also producer Takei. So four people altogether, just talking to each other for quite a long time. We heard from Nightow-sensei about what kind of a person he is, what he was thinking about when he was creating Trigun, and what he wanted to cover in that story. And that's where we started. Building on that, we moved on to the concept stage. We had two main staff members working on that.

We had Kouji Tajima, who worked on the concept art, and Takehiko Oshiki, who worked on the setup, writing the text that would describe the overall concepts of the world. Oshiki-san is a huge Trigun fan, a fan of the original anime and the manga. And so, he gathered together for us a bunch of design documents, set up documents, describing the themes that were covered in the original manga, and also the themes that were hinted at, but not really ever explored. Then, bas0kind of a world text that he had pulled together and written for us, Tajima-san started creating concept art. His goal was to create concept art that would show the overall feel of this world and help us with world building, to envision what.d on to the planet is, and he took over a year working on all the concept art.

During all of these conceptual design parts, we were continually checking in with Nightow-sensei. So, even before the usual pre-production process, we're showing him the setup text and the concept art, and he gave the okay to all of that. After being deeply involved in the concept design, he told us, "Everything, from here on out, the scripts, the character designs and so forth, the regular stuff of pre-production, you can do as you wish. That's because I'm confident now that you fully understand where you're going with this, and I've signed off on all the pre-pre-production concept designs that you've done."

It's not like he gave us completely free rein to do whatever we wanted. However, because we had actually that much deep, intense collaboration at the very start, he thought that we knew where we were going with this, and he's also good with where we chose to take this.

M: Usually, when you're adapting a book, a manga, to anime, you'd just be facing the book itself. But, in my case, I really wanted to face the person who created it first.

I'm actually really glad director Muto can be here, because he wasn't at Anime Expo, right? There was a video shown of him drinking alone on the roof.

W: (Laughs) We were still in production, so…

M: Ah, thank you so much.

So my question is actually about voice direction for Millions Knives. There's the scene where he is rejected by Vash, and he sounds very pained. This is an emotional attack; the physical ones don't really hurt him. What kind of care did he take to direct Junya Ikeda during that scene?

M: One of the first things I wanted to show, as a director, was that Knives is an actual being; a person. I mean, he's not a human, but as a person, he's not just a simple villain. That's why we're all focused on it.

At first, when we started the project in recording, on Ikeda-san’s side, he still didn't have the amount of information that we have on our side. He couldn't fully grasp his character, so there are times that he acted as a villain. At those times, I talk with him and say, "That's not the type of direction that I want for portraying Knives." As we worked together longer and longer, he was able to grasp more of the Knives that we wanted to depict. So yeah, Knives is not a bit; he is one of the main characters.

My relationship with Ikeda-san started out from episode three, where he first appeared, and kept on track ever since then. And, I think it's because of all the resolve and communication, that we were able to achieve what we were able to achieve in episode nine.

I noticed some similarities of the designs of plants with the designs of Avatar's Na'vi. And, a desert planet and worms, of course, brings to mind Dune. How much of these and other western influences got into the production?

M: I actually grew up in Chicago, when I was really young. That was the only time I spent in Chicago though. Having grown up there, I was influenced by a lot of shows, such as Ninja Turtles, Knight Rider, and White Wolf. I have a lot of respect for western culture. I tell myself, these two cultures don't really have a barrier. I treat them equally.

As a filmmaker, I have respect for Quentin Tarantino. So, it's probably not intentional, but I think his influence is very strong.

That's quite interesting, because Quentin Tarantino is about ultra-violence, while Vash is about anti-violence.

M: (Laughs)

When we are introduced to Millions Knives, we literally see a million knives, in comparison to the original series, which didn't do that. How did you come to decide on that being Knives' introduction? Just to say the animation for that sequence is, it has a feeling of being overwhelmed and a little grotesque, because of how many knives you see. So why did you decide to go in that direction?

M: Thinking of how to answer that question is a little difficult, because at the time when we were figuring out how that scene would end up, we didn't really think of that as grotesque. I've never actually thought of it that way before. At the time, we were thinking about how we wanted to portray Knives as a character? What is Knives thinking? What is he trying to do?

And really, what is inside of his head if he's only thinking about Vash and the plants. He's not thinking about humans at all, or if he is, they're on the same scale as bugs to him. So, if they're in his way, he's just going to exterminate them. He's not really thinking any more deeply about any humans than that. So yeah, that's the first time that it has actually occurred to us that it might come across that way.

Sorry, just to make a correction in terms of the grotesqueness, it's just that there's so many knives. And now that he said, it's like him squashing bugs, it makes sense. And it looks more like a cyclone or a hurricane. It was in a very circular motion, and you see all of the knives.

M: When I really think about the characters, I always think about contrast, and in this case, the contrast between Vash and Knives. I think it was out of necessity to create that contrast that Knives came out like that. Also, with the name Millions Knives, millions of knives is the reason why Knives named himself that in the manga. I was thinking about how to visualize that, and that's the answer we have.

In the case of designing him, Knives had an incident with a girl named Tesla. You can see fragments of that in episode ten. So, when you see Tesla, you see her as an eyeball, which formed a very important, strong impression. If you look at his knife at the time, there's actually an eyeball on his knife as well. That image is very strong within him. So one thing about the inspiration is that, instead of a typhoon, it's actually more eye-shaped. That's not a clear image, but more of a subconscious image from within him.

And so, for the entire layout of that entire scene, there's the city of humans called Jeneora Rock, and the eye of Tesla is looking down the Rock.

You mentioned about designing Knives, that one of the design criteria is the contrast. The original design of Knives wasn't as contrasting to Vash. And, the new Knives design feels more organic, compared to the mechanical, man-made feel of Vash's design. Can you elaborate more on how you redesigned Knives?

M: One of the things about the costume that I wanted to do, was that I did not want Knives to wear anything made by humans as much as possible. So actually, his robe is made out of knives, and his inner body suit is from the space era. In contrast, Vash, everything he wears was made by humans.

Also, for the technological contrast in the world, there's lost technology, and there's scrap parts. So things that are made out of scrap parts have certain colors used to it, and things made out of lost technology have a different tone and color to it. The tone and color adds to the contrast as well.

I think the original Vash had scrap parts rather than lost technology.

M: The reason that Vash's arm is lost technology is that Vash's entire fashion is actually designed based on one concept: That of his relationship with humans. And, his relationship with humans is very strong with people originally from Seeds. People like Rem. There are two groups of people. One group is those that are closely related to Seeds. His fashion is basically based on that. And that's what led to the change. All the designs of the fashion that they wore, it's not just a stylistic choice. It's a visualization of their identity.

So is it a contrast between not just two, but three factions, like the Seeds humans, the scrap humans and the plants?

M: Yes, those are the three elements. I think Vash has strong ties with all of them, but the strongest is with Rem, and whatever Rem is a part of, which was Seeds.

I have a question for Watanabe-san. You're very active on Twitter. You're engaging with fans and sharing the story of Trigun. How careful do you have to be to not accidentally spoil anything and especially with the final phase coming up?

W: For Trigun, we did work closely and carefully with how the information is revealed. We can't control everything because we're just the production studio (Anime is a global distribution involving many languages). And there's distribution, and different partners. And this means that we couldn't talk with everyone at the same time. We talk domestically, with domestic partners, and through them, to the international distributors.

We try to make sure that we use specific languages. So for example, July/JuLai, how July/JuLai was revealed in Japanese was that it's always phonetically described in Katakana as well. We'd never really revealed the kanji, the Chinese letters, of July/JuLai until later, but we knew that subtitles do not work like that. So that's why for subtitles, promotional written material, and the written letters shown in the series, we designed it so that people will see different types of July/JuLai at first, and they might not associate it as other people with keener senses might, but in the end, everything comes to people who notice that.

The reason that I actually do a lot of Twitter is that it's more appealing to communicate. I think it's a communication to the fans. And anime is definitely a global market. And as an anime studio in Japan, we have a heavy focus on the Japanese market. However, I myself am originally from California, that's where I grew up actually, and my career began from being a staff at an Anime Expo as a volunteer.

I feel that community is a very important part of the anime market. It's not just about the money, it is really about the passion. And it takes the passion of the fans and passion of the creators. They're different, but the energy is something that's really important to be reassuring.

About making mistakes, I actually make a lot of mistakes. (Laughs) Not the information I tweet about, but I actually do typos and actually tweet wrongfully-written tweets a lot. I delete them immediately. (Laughs)

I do want to ask about representing Studio Orange. I want to say, compared to some of the other production studios, it's more transparent. The panels you had in Anime Expo, here at Sakura-con, and I think at other American conventions. Why is it so important for Studio Orange to be so transparent to fans?

W: So this is something that happened when I joined Orange five years ago. Something I talked to Waki-san about was that I have a lot of inspirations on how anime can be enjoyed or how anime communities can be built be extended, but I couldn't act on them at the previous studios I'd been at. I was actually looking for somewhere I could be comfortable doing so. And Orange was that somewhere. He gave me the liberty to do these kinds of things.

And as we discuss daily about how we should spread Orange, how not just as a company, a brand, or even choosing projects, we really think it's important to communicate. I mean, for communication, in the company, I am the only English public speaker. There's a few other English speakers, but they're not public speakers. So, I can't really respond to everything, but I try to communicate at least. I look at a lot of people's responses and I can't reply to each of them, but as a sum, I try to respond to the people's reactions.

One of the things that is not really highlighted on your Orange Presents panels, but that I really enjoy, is the music direction of your TV shows. From the Land of the Lustrous, Beastars, and Trigun Stampede, the soundtrack and the use of the soundtrack at the correct point of the show is brilliant. Can you provide some insight into how the music direction is done?

K: When we are creating an animation at Studio Orange, we use a technique called film scoring. Although we don't use it completely, we use what we call half film scoring. That's where we have the music first, and then we adjust the imagery to match the music and the scene. Because we're doing it in that order, we find that we're actually able to produce better results. We found that more emotion is communicated by both the music and the imagery matching each other. And because we do it in that order, we really allow the people who are composing the music to have a lot of control over the emotions in the scene, so they're really motivated to produce amazing music for us. I think that's probably why we get complimented on the music in the works that we've done.

M: As Waki-san said, I feel that it's really important about establishing relationships with composers. I can only speak for the case of Trigun, of course, but for not just the composer, but for the audio team, the mixer, the sound effects team, I was actually responsible as a sound director to direct all those people as well. Basically the relationship and passion that everyone feels is very much reflected onto the quality. And I've spent time making sure that the groove is there.

In the manga, Knives actually plays the piano, just for a few frames, but that left a strong impression on me. So, I put a lot of thought on how that can be put into this anime. That became one of the things that I focused on.

I really care for the beats per minute, the rhythm, the tempo. Those are the things where we put a lot of thought into, and I got a lot of references for the music team. I've said it in a couple other interviews as well, but when I am writing the storyboard, there's already music playing in the background, and it's my job to figure out how to convey that music to the team.

I want to ask about the character concept art by Kouji Tajima. So director Muto was responsible for adapting that concept art into what we see in the anime. Going from the concept art, which is 2D, and then taking it into 3D, there's a little bit of stylistic changes with that. With Vash, he's a little bit bigger than what you see in Tajima's concept art. Much more muscular. And, as you said before, organically built out. Can you talk a little bit about the adaptation of concept art?

K: We think of the concept art as more of just the capturing of an idea as an image, as opposed to setting the actual imagery and laying out the official visuals for the show. Once that idea has been put into concept art and shared with the staff and the director, the director can decide how to interpret that idea and how to carry it forward into the rest of the production. Things that we are looking for in the character concept art would be things such as distinctive silhouettes. We want the silhouettes of each character to actually be distinct from each other so they're more recognizable. Making some characters more muscly and other people less muscly would affect how distinctive their silhouettes are. Also, we think about what extent do we want the expressions of the characters to be actually deforming the CG models that are used. That's something that we would discuss when we move on to the adaptation of concept art?

For concept art, the main purpose is to portray the attractiveness of an idea. And when you develop a design, that design has a different purpose. The purpose could be the storyline, where they come from, where they are going, what they represent. Even though it's within the same drawing, the purpose of each design and concept art is completely different. So that's why there will definitely be a difference.

M: The concept art, it's basically this ball of ideas. From there, we look at what ideas we can distill into, shaping the ideas into a more concrete form.

One of the goals for Trigun, I think you'd mentioned, was to expand the storytelling, the universe, and I think you have effectively succeeded for the first season. However, a lot of the story plotlines were just to the point, where you just briefly touch upon and then move on. I think that there's more than enough material to have a two-cour, or 24-episodes, instead of 12 episodes. Is there a reason why you chose this length?

W: For the first season.

Yeah. And for the second season, is it going to be the same length, or can we expect it to be longer?

W: So just to be clear, we've never used the term second season at this point. This doesn't mean anything. Just to get on record, we've only specifically used the term "Final Phase".

M: The amount of information that's contained in the original manga is massive. And, when you're creating a TV series, the format is first of all different so you can't take that same amount of information and drop it into the animation format. We'd love to, but as the format is completely different, it's not possible. One thing that, as a director, I was aiming for, is that I want people to enjoy this show, in as many ways as possible. So, first of all, as a simple action entertainment people can enjoy, but people also can have the joy of figuring out the world. By having things in there that people can connect the dots to, they will discover an entirely new view in the show, and also people discovering the theme of the show. So, those are different layers I tried to create so that as many people can enjoy. That's the goal that I set and tried to accomplish.

I have a question about visual storytelling. For example, when you see Knives, he's shrouded, and kind of like a hidden figure, more, you know, in terms of the visual storytelling, versus Vash, who is very open, very bright. The humans as well, they're all very brightly colored compared to the plants that are more muted. Can you talk to us a little bit about your metaphoric or visual storytelling style?

M: There's the starting point, the manga, which has concept colors. So, from the starting point, what I want to do is to make sure that we treat those fairly. Coloring-wise, even though we're using that base color of the manga as a foundation, I really put thought into the identity associated with the color as well. So, in this case, you could see that Vash has red and green, very vibrant colors, and those colors are tied very tightly with his identity. In the case of Knives, that is the blue-ish color, which is associated with the plants.

Those colors symbolize a lot of their identity as well. And for example, humans have actually resembled Western, or more to be specific, the space frontiers. So, they're migrants. I'm saying that, but that's the base, and in July, there are more Asian things. So based on that, from the start, the base color theme was already set.

In the case of Nicholas D. Wolfwood, his identity is actually shifting throughout the series, within Stampede. He's fluctuating between Nicholas the Punisher and Nicholas D. Wolfwood. In the manga, he is already established as Nicholas D. Wolfwood, but in Stampede, he is still seeking the answer for his own identity. That fluctuation is actually portrayed within the color of his shirt.

If we're going into specifics, there's going to be so much to talk about. So, I would like to end it there. (Laughs)

We know that there’s going to be like a final season of Beastars, that's going to be a final phase for Trigun. Are we going to see a second season for Land of the Lustrous? Or, do you have any future developments you can share with us?

K: To speak to that, we've shared that we have been developing Trigun Stampede and working on that since about five and a half years ago. We've been working on it that whole time, all five and a half years, but for many of those years we couldn't say anything about it, as it was confidential for a lot of that time that we were working on it. That carries over to the other projects that the studio is working on now.

Of course, we are working on many projects, but we can't say much about them. What we can say here is what we have already shared in the panels at this con. We learned a lot, and developed new tools, while working on Land of the Lustrous, Beastars and Trigun Stampede. As a studio, we want to continually challenge ourselves to achieve better results in certain areas that are difficult for CG to achieve great results. And so once we find a good approach for these difficult areas, we use it going forward and all the works that our studio works on later. So you can expect that we will be using everything that we have learned on those works in our next work going forward as well as looking at new aspects of CG that we want to really pin down and achieve greater results with.

[sevenmoonstory]

[ENG TRANS] GNJB 10C Kazuto x Jun x Masaya Special Interview

Siblings-like relationship between the oldest and youngest members

― Please tell us about the first time you met.

Kazuto: I met this guy as soon as I entered the agency. Oh, sorry, I meant, Jun-kun (lol)

Jun: Hey! (lol)

Kazuto: He was the first celebrity I ever saw, so I was super nervous. When I greeted him with 'Please take care of me well!' all tensed up, he coolly replied 'Likewise,' and I thought, 'I want to be like this guy!'

Masaya: Kazuto and I became friends right away after meeting, and we've been close ever since.

Kazuto: Yeah, that's right. We've been like mischievous little kids since then, haven't we? We used to play during breaks in rehearsals and got scolded a lot (lol)

Masaya: Jun-kun seemed intimidating at first (lol). And also, he's a really good singer. When did we really start interacting?

Jun: Even after all seven of us were together, we didn't talk much. It wasn't until we formed Genjibu and started performing on stage that we gradually became closer.

― It's been a while since the formation of the group. How is the current relationship between the three of you?

Jun: Masaya is the youngest in the group, then comes Kazuto, and I'm the oldest.

Kazuto: That’s why, sometimes there are flows where we the youngests are picking on the oldest brother (lol)

Jun: But we've never really argued. It's just that Masaya and I are five years apart, so there are times when I feel the generation gap, especially when it comes to trendy games (lol)

A long-standing relationship that remains unchanged

― What do you like, or what do you envy about each other?

Masaya: I really respect Jun-kun.

Jun: For real!?

Masaya: I envy Jun-kun's whole-hearted dedication to everything. I’m truly respect him for that, but other than that, there's nothing really respectful about him (lol)

Kazuto: Because he's a forever five-year-old (lol). I think Jun-kun's depth of understanding and acceptance of everything is amazing.

Jun: I really like Kazuto’s appearance, of course, but I really envy that he has the skills necessary for variety shows. Even during our conversations in the dressing room, I think even the non-members will find it interesting if they heard us.

Kazuto: After all, I think the member’s smile is the most important thing, so I work hard to protect that!

Jun: I think the reason Genjibu is said to get along well is thanks to his thoughtfulness.

Kazuto: I’m relatively more of the tsukkomi person, so I'm conscious of observing everyone's peculiarity and tossing conversations accordingly. Just thinking if I were a quiet person, …it would be hell (lol)

Masaya: You said it yourself, huh? (lol)

Kazuto: The thing I respect about Masaya is his unwavering dedication to our activities.

Jun: I was going to say that! I think it's great how he watches other artists' concerts to learn, and how he has his own clear goals.

Kazuto: He's a strong-willed youngest member, so dependable. He's got such a calm face now, doesn't he? (Seeing the happy Sakuragi) But, look, he smiles when praised (lol)

Each person has their own desires, from stylish cooking to playing tag together

― What do you want to try doing together in 2024?

Masaya: Because Kazuto is stylish, I want him to coordinate outfits for Jun-kun and me!

Kazuto: Okay~

Jun: I'd like  the three of us to cook together. Maybe go to a local place outside of Tokyo, gather ingredients on our own, and then discuss, “What to do?” 'What do we cook with this?' like that.

Kazuto: There's already a show like that! It would be plagiarism (lol). I want the three of us to go to the adventure playground. When we play tag together, we tend to get serious. And even when other members say ‘I’m tired already!’, we are the type who will continue being able to play endlessly. Plus, we're all good at sports, so I'd like to challenge that.

Jun: Sounds good, let's go!

“Our Origin and Essence Overflow in 'Genin wa Jibun ni Aru’”

Jun: ‘Genin wa Jibun ni Aru’ is not only our origin but also a song filled with our essence. When you wonder, “What does ‘Genin wa Jibun ni Aru’ mean?” I want you to listen to this song. This song served as the starting point for our work to evolve, so I hope you start by listening to ‘Genin wa Jibun ni Aru’ and then explore various other songs by Genjibu. Personally, my favorite song is ‘CROSS ROAD’ by Mr.Children, which I always sing when I go to karaoke. Deep inside me, ‘music’ is Mr. Children.

“I love watching movies, and on my days off, I enjoy having movie marathon at the cinema!”

Jun: Since I enjoy watching movies, whenever I have some time off, I’m the type who go to the theater and watch about four movies in one go. One movie that particularly moved me was ‘Avengers: Endgame.’ Even now, I remember feeling like, ‘I've witnessed something incredible…’ after finishing it. I've always been a fan of Marvel and the MCU, and I've watched all the Avengers series in theaters, so this movie really touched my heart.

“I want to continue working and expressing myself in stage play”

Jun: One thing I like about myself... well, my blood type is AB. It's a bit rare, isn't it? So, I like being able to proudly say, “I'm type AB," when introducing myself (lol). When I step onto the stage play, my body remembers the lines and movements, so I focus on how well I can perform without thinking during the actual performance. I think the stage play is one of the entertainments that has expanded the way I express myself, so I want to continue expressing myself there in the future.

"Genjibu's current masterpiece! The meaning of our singing lies here”

Kazuto: Released in November last year, ‘Museum:0’ is a song that encapsulates all of Genjibu's current efforts and was created with the aim of being our masterpiece. The lyrics of this song carry a message that implies the meaning of our singing, and while my song recommendation may change from time to time, currently it's ‘Museum:0’. Personally, I like Japanese hip-hop, and I often listen to ‘Kohaku no Me’ by Rin-ne. The lyrics are cool, and although it's not a recent song, I still listen to it a lot. I'd like to try writing lyrics myself. If there's such an opportunity, I'll do my best.

“My first concert was SMAP! They've always been an important presence for me, then and now”

Kazuto: I've always been a fan of SMAP and Arashi, and since I was born, I've been to all of SMAP's concerts due to my parents' influence. Apparently, I made my concert debut while still in my mother's womb, and the first concert I saw was when I was in kindergarten. Even after entering this world, I still remember those times, so if I were asked about an entertainment that moved me, it would be SMAP. I like Kimura Takuya, and I still have a photobook of him as a treasure. I hope to meet him someday.

“The heroes in my life is my fellow members, after all”

Kazuto: The thing I like about myself… everything. Some people may not like their own faces, but for me there's simply no need to hate my own face. In my case, my eyes are distinctive, so I put on heavy eye makeup, and would like people to look at them a lot. Until recently, I played a hero (Kamen Rider Buffer), so there are times when I think ‘Maybe the heroes in my life is my fellow members?’. This year marks our 5th anniversary since debut, and I think we've been able to continue without anyone missing because each member is someone's hero.

“I heard it for the first time and thought, "Wow!" and gradually fell in love with it.”

Masaya: My Genjibu's recommended song is ‘Mr. Android (feat. izki)’. Although I have many favorites among our discography, this song was the one that made me think, "Wow!" the first time I heard it. It was a bit difficult for me to sing personally, so I listened to it a lot, and the more I listened, the more I liked it. I personally like ballads, and when it comes to ballads, I like "Hana Cherie" by Nissy-san. I found out about it about five years ago and liked it for its charm. I sing it at karaoke too.

“I was deeply moved by Nissy-san's live performance! I want to perform like that too”.

Masaya: The entertainment that moved me was Nissy-san's latest tour, where I went to see his Tokyo Dome performance. It was a live show where every second seemed to be filled with feelings, and it ended in no time... Nissy-san himself is involved in producing music and directing live performances, so I could feel his dedication. As a professional in the same field, I can't help but notice various aspects of the live performance, but even so, I'm both amazed and aspire to be like him.

“My current job is my calling! I'm looking forward to the remaining high school life I have”.

Masaya: My confidence is the part I like about myself. There's something like an axis within me, like I don’t waver at all. There are times when you want to quit various things, right? But when it comes to entertainment work, I absolutely don't want to quit, and my mother also told me, "Yo don't bend to what you want to do." I believe this is my calling. I've been fulfilling my high school life while being active as Genjibu, so I have no regrets! I'm looking forward to the graduation ceremony in March.

[glindaupland]

오페라의 유령 / The Phantom of the Opera - South Korea (Third Season) | Pt 4

Program Books Ver 2-4 (Busan + Seoul)

Notes I / Prima Donna

1. 이상준 Lee Sang-jun 2. 윤영석 Yoon Young-seok

1. 송원근 Song Won-geun 2. 황건하 Hwang Gun-ha

1. 황건하 Hwang Gun-ha 2. 조하린 Cho Ha-rin + 김아선 Kim Ah-seon

1-2. 한보라 Han Bo-ra + 박회림 Park Hoe-rim + 이상준 Lee Sang-jun + 윤영석 Yoon Young-seok

Il Muto / Poor Fool He Makes Me Laugh

1. 한보라 Han Bo-ra + 손지수 Sohn Ji-soo 2. 이지영 Lee Ji-young + 송은혜 Song Eun-hye

[verycoolpersonyes]

[bakawitch]

Ka☆Ke☆Oh! Roles

Characters

Jabami Yumeko - Shobami Yamiko (Yami Yugi)

Suzui Ryota/Tsubomi Nanami - Muto Yugi

Saotome Mary - Jonouchi Joey (Jonouchi Katsuya)

Unofficial Counterpart - Honda Hiroto

Kiwatari Jun - Tetsu Ushio

Unofficial Counterpart - Mazaki Anzu

Unofficial Counterpart - Bakura Kagero (Yami Bakura)

Unofficial Counterpart - Bakura Amane

Unofficial Counterpart - Bakura Ryou

Unofficial Counterpart - Pegasus J. Crawford

Kumagusu - Rafael Guevera (Rafael)

Unofficial Counterpart - Amelda Seul (Amelda)

Unofficial Counterpart - Valon Anderson (Valon)

Student Council

Momobami Kirari - Kaibami Seto (Kaiba Seto)

Momobami Ririka - Kaibami Eto (Kisara)

Igarashi Sayaka - Ob Bhakta (Obelisk the Tormentor)

Manyuda Kaede - Otogi Ryuji

Yumemite Yumemi - Nosaka Miho

Yomozuki Runa - Fiona Sheldon (Fiona the Doll)

Ikishima Midari - Kaminaga Dei (Yami Malik)

Nishinotouin Yuriko - Dartz Atlan (Dartz)

Sumeragi Itsuki - Kageyama Risa

The Kaibami Family

Totobami Terano - ???*

Totobami Yumi - ???

Inbami Miyo - Hibami Hoshiki (Horakthy, the Creator God of Light)

Yobami Miri - Okibami Raika (Winged Dragon of Ra)

Honebami Miroslava - Toubami Kaure (Thief King Bakura)

Mushibami Reimi - Sasubami Mana (Mana/Dark Magician Girl)

Warakubami Sumika - ???

Obami Rin - ???

Obami Ibara - ???

Komabami Nozomi - ???

Batsubami Rei (sort of) - ???

Unofficial Counterpart - Kaibami Mokuba

Tsuibami Kabura - ??? Atem

Election Committee

Yamato Inaho - ₊ ⊹₊ ⊹*

Uru Rumia - ₊ ⊹₊ ⊹

Fuen Ruri - ₊ ⊹₊ ⊹

Unconfirmed Roles

Jabami Souko

Shagatake

Tooame

Saori

Kaoruzaki Kaori

Insector Haga

Dinosaur Ryuzaki

Isis Ishtar

Rishid Ishtar

Mahad/Dark Magician

Cyndia

Iona

Zorc Necrophades (maybe?)

Please suggest characters I missed or roles if you can!

*??? means the role is already filled but hasn't been revealed yet

*₊ ⊹₊ ⊹ means super special surprise

[scarskelly]

Open The Introduction To Dragongate by Scar The Skelly [UNAFFILIATED PART 3]

I can see the finish line, let's goooo!

Presentation Notes:

Ryu Fuda

Fuda and Mocchy had a wonderful match on the 6th of March this year in Korakuen, would recommend.

Daiki Yanagiuchi

The package Daiki gave Yoshioka was a challenge for the Dream Gate from Ben-K, including a note that proclaimed his intention and a golden rose.

Konomama Ichikawa

He’s actually from Kakamigahara City, Gifu. Yes, he’s from the same prefecture as Shun.

He’ll lose to moves you never should lose to in times you’d only see in squashes. Sometimes he even taps out during a move that isn’t a submission (like when he’s being held in a powerbomb position).

Kancho - a prank performed by clasping the hands together in the shape of a gun and attempting to poke the victim’s butthole.

Some of the people who have answered Ichikawa’s open challenge include Jun Akiyama, Yuji Nagata, The Great Sasuke, Necro Butcher, Akebono (rip king), Kensuke Sasaki, Abdullah The Butcher, Atsushi Onita, Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Keiji Muto, Shingo Takagi (returning from New Japan in a special only once a year appearance).

Ichikawa has only wrestled once this year so far, taking it easy and letting his body recover from getting beaten up mercilessly for about 25 years?

La Estrella

Should mention, the dates here on this slide are set up in DD/MM/YYYY order, as that is what I am familiar with.

Estrella was a talented amateur wrestler before getting into Dragongate, which is why he’s a bit older than you would expect something who debuted in 2020 to be. Does he use his amateur wrestling skills in the ring? If you make him, but for the most part, he’s flipping all over the place like you forgot to turn gravity on.

Estrella splits his time between DG and North America, wrestling in the U.S and Mexico.

Shuji Kondo

Kondo only has one championship reign in Dragongate (with it being a very recent Twin Gate reign with Kenoh as members of Kongo) as he was fired in December 2004 alongside the rest of Aagan Iisou for alleged behavioural issues. He only returned to Dragongate in 2019.

Kenichiro Arai

Just last year Araken had a match with GENTARO that got a bit of buzz in the English-speaking puro scene on Twitter. I haven’t seen it myself, but I heard a lot of good about it.

Araken is also a proud supporter of the Hanshin Tigers and was thrilled when they broke the Colonel Sanders statue river curse (look it up if you don’t know what I’m talking about, you won’t regret it).

Ryo Saito

SaiRyo has been in both Real Hazard and JIMMYZ (the same as Horiguchi). I don’t think I need to really explain how impressive it to be able to be in both one of the heel units and the face units, and it not feel weird at all. Genki and SaiRyo are amazing.