The great intersection of life and love, "The Marriage Contract of the Cuckoo" supervises the interview with Yoshiyuki Shirahata
The Japanese new "The Marriage Contract of the Cuckoo", which began airing in April 2022, is based on the manga of the same name by Miki Yoshikawa, and the chief animation supervisor is Hiroaki Akagi and the supervisor is Yoshiyuki Shirahata. Yoshiyuki Shirahata has been in charge of the storyboarding and performance of the anime "The Love Comedy That Aomei Takema Will Never Lose" and "Pure White Sound", and this is his first time as a supervisor. In this article, I interviewed the supervisor Yoshiyuki Shirahata about his impressions of the original manga and the charm of the characters.
The protagonist, a sophomore high school student, Kaino, suddenly learns that he was wrongly held in infancy one day, and on the day he meets his biological parents, he meets Tenba Eirika, a celebrity high school student of the same age. By chance, Shimohito is blackmailed by Erika and obeys Erika's request, "I have a fiancé I have never met, and I want to repent", pretending to be her boyfriend... In fact, Kai and Erika were the two babies who were held wrongly, and the parents of both sides hoped that the two would get married, so that both of them would be their own children, so they decided on their marriage contract!
Unlike his parents' thoughts, kai had a crush named Mi. In addition, Yuki, who is not related by blood, also has a secret affection for his brother Kai... In the complex four-corner relationship, who will he build? Let's pay attention to this unpredictable relationship together!
——To animate, what is the impression and charm of watching the original manga?
Shirahata: When I first started reading manga, I thought it was a love story between the marriage contractor Kai and Erika. Later, it was found that other characters besides the two marriage partners were also quite attractive. The relationship with these two people, family relations, etc., not only the love comedy part, but also various other elements are also mixed together, which makes me feel "curious about the follow-up!" It's so fun!"
——How does the anime show the charm of the original manga?
Shirahata: The producers wanted to "recreate Erika changing into plain clothes every time", so he drew a lot of settings for Erika's plainclothes based on the clothes of the original manga. There are also some cosplay-like clothes, so this can not only interpret "Celebrity Miss", but also show the charm of Erika.
——Please talk about the charm of the protagonist.
Shirahata: In their interactions with Erika, Kai often plays the role of a spit. Kai is confused and complains, which is also an interesting part of his role. However, Kai is a serious, honest boy on the inside, so I pay attention to the tension and moderation, and the heroines are attracted to this side of him.
——Erika's setting is "Celebrity Miss", how many streams are there?
Shiraba: She's a celebrity lady on SNS, so I think it's... Celebrities like Paris Hilton. Erika also has a bit of a celebrity feeling of calling a meow to do things, so this is also very similar to Paris.
——Among the three heroines, who is the character that Shiraba supervises you to nominate?
Shirahata: All three of them are very attractive, so I would like to "nominate them all"... But Erika, who expresses her feelings outright, is very cute, so in the sense of "wanting to cheer her up", I still want to promote her.
——What kind of girl was Erika when she was a child?
Shirahata: She may be surprisingly lucky, she is a crying ghost, and the newborn baby Erika will cry super energetically, and then grow up to be a righteous rioter.
- Please briefly talk about the three heroines.
Shirahata: Erika is a celebrity lady, so she feels a bit like a fireworks in the world, and occasionally it is cute to be aberrant. I pay attention to the animation to reflect these aspects of her, and she is the most direct expression of emotion in the heroine.
Fortunately, in short, it is necessary to pay attention to the animation to reflect the change of mentality after discovering that she has the wrong child, and the feeling of the arrogant sister, which is positive. As the number of anime episodes progresses, there will be many times when I find out that Erika and Makoto are very similar, and I am surprised - sure enough, the original Yoshikawa (Miki) teacher is so powerful.
Miya's line is "Hamm?" This is especially cute.
- Please talk about the relationship between Kai and the three heroines.
Shirahata: At the point in time of Episode 1, Kai's love feelings for Ya are very strong, and for the other heroines, there is no superfluous feeling beyond blood. The intensity of the three heroines' love feelings for Kai is that Eiri kaoru > Yuki > Mi like this. Some parts will be revealed slowly in the future, and please look forward to it and pay attention to the animation.