"Fruit Basket" rebooted a new anime in 2019 and aired 25 episodes of the first season, 25 episodes of the 2nd season in 2020, and finally 13 episodes of the final season in 2021. However, at the end of the TV animation series, the official announced on June 29 that it would launch a story of today's son and Katsuya in 2022, which depicts the story of Toru's parents. This article interviews animation supervisor Yoshihide Inouebata and Genki Ito, producer of animation production company TMS Entertainment, about the feelings after the animation is completed, and the places where the animation is struggling.
——The production of all 63 episodes, the two worked hard. Please tell us about your current mood.
Inouebata: Honestly, I'm in a burn-out, empty shell state right now (laughs).
Ito: The discussion of the animation project was in 2016. Animation production began in 2017. It's been 6 years. Seasons 1, 2, and finale are played at intervals, but the animation has been in a state of non-stop for 5 years.
——So Can you recall how you felt when you decided to become the supervisor of the TV anime "Fruit Basket" in 2016?
I remember that when I was walking down the residential street, Mr. Ito called me and asked me, "This time, to make the animation of "Fruit Basket", can I nominate you as one of the candidate supervisors?" A long time ago, I had the opportunity to work with Fruit Basket, and I thought it was a very interesting work, and I immediately went to buy the original comic. I read the manga several times and was so obsessed with it that I immediately replied to Mr. Ito, "Please nominate me!" Even if the position of supervisor is spent elsewhere, I hope to be involved in animation production in some way.
Did Mr. Ito ask for anything at that time?
Idachi: He said that even if the number of anime episodes is very large, it is no problem, and he wants the anime to fully describe the final words of the original manga.
——For such a very favorite work, how does Inoubata want to animate it?
Inoubata: This may be a matter of course, I want to "be faithful to the original". Also, the character's expression should be the same as in the original manga. Of course, the artists of the animation are different, so the animation will not be the same as Mr. Takaya's drawings, but the expression of sadness when sad, the expression of doubt when doubting, etc., to convey the atmosphere of these original manga to the audience, this is what I took the trouble to inform the staff on the spot.
- Is that a very difficult job?
Idaduta: The difficulty lies in the time when there is sadness in laughter, joy in anger, and subtle feelings. In this regard, we have made great efforts to ensure that there is no deviation from the original manga.
Ito: When it comes to expressions, like a little angle of eyebrows and a small movement, the audience will have different feelings. Therefore, the supervisor is very careful in the portrayal of the character's expression. In particular, the final season has a lot of delicate expressions, so the production is very difficult.
——How did you communicate with mr. Kishimoto, the screenwriter (series composition)?
Inoubata: I am a person who likes the original very much, so it is easy to get too strong in my feelings for the work and fall into a state of blindness. For me like this, Mr. Kishimoto often casts some simple questions from a flat perspective. For example, the connection between scenes and the direction of the film and television picture, etc., can be regarded as the difference between the way comics and film and television are expressed.
- It is true that unlike comics that can be turned back to the page to confirm the content, the animation must clearly define a route, otherwise the audience will sometimes be confused. Even in other works, I often hear about "deliberately changing the order and the way of expression".
Ibatachi: Yes. There is also the fact that the animation is limited in duration, and it must create high and low ups and downs in 1 episode. If there is no priority, the audience will feel bored.
Ito: Ito: It's not just the TV anime Fruit Basket, it's difficult to animate paper media such as manga and novels.
—— When describing the final season, what is the part that the supervision values and the part that fights hard?
Inouebata: I'm going to insert a funny scene (laughs). There were several funny scenes in Seasons 1 and 2, but the final season as a whole was always a heavy story, so it was impossible to add funny scenes. On the contrary, I am still a little uneasy - can I tell such a heavy story in its entirety? I even thought that the production team would either stop looking for me as a supervisor and someone who was better at handling the heavy atmosphere of the adult department as a supervisor (laughs).
- (Laughs). Anything else?
Ito: Manga often portrays the background parts not very delicately. Because comics want to represent characters. However, there is usually a background behind the characters in animation works, so it is not easy to clarify the shape and size of the building, the location, and other things.
--Other works, I often hear about "making a good home layout".
Ito: So, the Zi Wu family was built in 3DCG (laughs).
Inoubata: After all, it is a relatively long series. Building a house, a home, is not a thing at all (laughs). However, I am a super commoner, so I don't have a good grasp of the feeling of a local tycoon of the Kusama family. From the scene where Toru and Yuki go to the house next door, the war with the local tycoon begins (laughs). I went to Kyoto to take locations and visited a lot of temples and Japanese architecture. However, instead of using those things as they were, I mixed them, such as the tiles of this house with the feeling of that temple, and this handrail with the handrail of that wonderful house. I was extraordinarily demanding of the amount of tatami mats.
Ito: Because the number of tatami mats determines the size of the room.
Eibata: Although it is not a collection, the OP animation makes full use of the results of shooting locations, so if the audience can carefully enjoy the OP animation, I will be very happy.
Ito: Speaking of shooting locations, the superintendent also decides to penetrate the streets where you go to and from school. Several candidates were listed, and finally the pastoral tuning was selected.
Ibatata: Speaking of the streets where local tycoons live, it is pastoral arrangement. It's amazing to have a mountain of Kusama in that kind of place. Of course, the real pastoral tuning is without mountains (laughs).
- Is there any behind-the-scenes story about animation production?
Inoubata: In the anime, the audience must be visually informed of the moment when the curse is unraveled, so we use the "knot rope" to show their bondage. At the moment when the curse is unraveled, the knot remains to be broken. But in fact, from the beginning of the first episode of the first episode of the first season, the OP, this kind of performance was set up.
Ito: The visualization of bondage is original to the anime. When the curse is lifted, or when the curse is bound, there will also be scenes, so the audience friends can look back and I will be very happy.
- Anything else?
Inoubata: Season 2, Episode 23, "Like Cinderella!" They had acting, but I had hardly seen acting before that. Therefore, regarding the stage, I wanted to find someone to help give advice, so I went to the tavern where the stage people gathered, and met a person who was a stage lighter, and he gave me advice. The production of the stage is also not to become a fantasy feeling, and the appearance and exit of the character requires a sense of reality. It is a stage setting that can be achieved with a large amount of money.
Inoubata: The video production was unable to catch up around the second season, and the dubbing recording was recorded using storyboarding. However, the storyboard is not delicate enough. I said, "I wish I could pay attention to subtle expressions," but the voice actors couldn't see the character's expressions, which was very troublesome. Then, even if the construction period is tight, I will start from the storyboard stage to delicately draw the required expressions and performances. Especially for important scenes, the original artist completes the picture based on the storyboard, and then adjusts the expression, on this basis, the voice actor is dubbed, which is very laborious.
--Has the pandemic had any impact on the animation production system?
Ito: Yes. Now that the digital network is more popular, everyone is trying to deal with some things at home as much as possible, but it is still different from usual, so the construction period of the second season is almost overdue several times, so let me pinch a handful of sweat (laughs). Nevertheless, the anime "Fruit Basket" has had no vacancies since season 1 and has been working, so the work progress will be a little faster than other works. During this period, many animations were postponed due to the production system. In this case, we didn't extend the broadcast and managed to hand over the finished product, so TV Tokyo and Ibex were very happy (laughs).
- (Laughs). Now, it should be the story of Katsuya Ikuko who is working on it, how is the work progressing?
Inoubata: I have been patiently waiting for the intelligence ban to be lifted. Let everyone wait a long time. The storyboarding section is over and is now in the process of being made smoothly. I believe that I can show the story of the two people richly for the audience and friends.
- It's really exciting. Finally, please say a few words to the fans and friends of "Fruit Basket".
Eibata: Personally, I think we made a masterpiece, so if the audience friends are happy watching the anime, I am happy.
Ito: The production staff are really working very hard together. I hope that the audience friends will watch the TV animation "Fruit Basket" and watch it happily. "Today's Son and Katsuya" will soon come, and I would like to ask you for more support in the future.
※This article is accompanied by a small interview with Nazuki Takaya, the original author and animation supervisor of "Fruit Basket".
——What are some of the interesting things that impressed me in the communication with the production staff?
Takaya: Communication... I think about it, I'm basically finalizing and seeing if there's any deviation from the track in terms of the method of expression. Other times, I'm careful not to interject. But the production team also respected me very much, and I was very grateful... Thanks to the production team...
--Miss Iwami is the number one character in the recording of the dubbing scene, do you have anything to say to her?
Takaya: Miss Iwami came to voice through, and I really, really, thank you very much. Oops, really, thanks so much... It was a superb lookout.
-----------------
Takaya: More than a decade ago, the manga "Fruit Basket" ushered in the final return. Would anyone have expected that Fruit Basket would come back in the form of an animation? I didn't expect it (laughs). Watching "Fruit Basket" through animation for a long time is so fresh, everyone is moving around, chatting and talking, and the production team has brought a "brand new" "Fruit Basket", which I feel very honored. All the people involved in the production, as well as the audience friends, I really appreciate you guys. I'm a manga artist myself, so I use "manga" to represent the work, but the animation uses different methods to represent the work, so it is very fresh and very interesting. After bringing the sound, it will become a different world, which is very powerful.