CATDOLL: Interview with Director Abe, who made a great start for "The Heroic Legend of Arslan" (Part 2)

The white-haired prince killed the audience with his cuteness as soon as he appeared, causing the original author to ban BL secondary creation. The TV animation version of "The Heroic Legend of Arslan" has officially started airing. This work tells the story of the battles of many characters led by the protagonist Arslan in a turbulent historical period, and has attracted a large number of fans since the original novel era.

In 2013, the manga version drawn by Hiromu Arakawa, the author of Fullmetal Alchemist and Silver Key, began serialization in Bessatsu Shonen Magazine. This TV animation version is based on the manga version. This epic fantasy masterpiece has attracted the attention of many netizens before it was broadcast.

In the following interview, animation director Noriyuki Abe will slowly tell you the behind-the-scenes story of this work.

——The protagonist Arslan is played by Yusuke Kobayashi. What was the most important factor when selecting the voice actor?

Abe: The animation starts when Arslan is 11 years old. He still has the feeling of a teenager and is a little unreliable, but he is a lovable character. On the other hand, Kobayashi has not been in the industry for long, and because he is young, people can feel his potential. It just overlaps with Arslan's growth process. According to my personal experience, this is often the case with the leading actors. For example, in "Bleach", which I supervised, the protagonist Ichigo was played by Morita (Seichi), who was a newcomer who had never appeared in an animation at the time. Sometimes this is the only way to succeed. Of course, there must be other mature voice actors to cover for you.

——So will other voice actors realize this?

Abe: Well, we will try our best to guide it in this direction.

——Next, please introduce the highlights of Episode 1.

Abe: Episode 1 mainly describes daily life, and there is only this one episode in the entire series. In this episode, we need to introduce the positions of the main characters who will appear in the future, and also show the characteristics of the royal capital Yekpadana. Then we need to let the protagonist Arslan understand the outside world and inspire him to think about the issue of slavery, which will play a major role in the future. This opportunity is the encounter with the young soldiers of the enemy country Lucidania. Through the foreshadowing of this episode, the cruel reality he will face in the future can become more realistic. I hope everyone can appreciate it carefully. Of course, there are battle scenes in it. I tried my best to make it so that everyone can experience the fighting style of this work. I hope everyone likes it.

——I see. I am really looking forward to it. Next, I would like to ask other production staff questions. The person in charge of writing the script is Makoto Uezu. Is this your first collaboration?

Abe: It was the first time. Uezu was a big fan of The Heroic Legend of Arslan, and he was recommended by the producer, so I trusted him a lot. Uezu has a lot of work experience, and he is a master of coordination who is very good at summarizing and summarizing everyone's opinions. With his summarization, the work has become better and better.

——There are three characters in total this time. There are both main characters and supporting characters. Is it because there are too many characters?

Abe: Yes. There are so many characters. If there was only one character setting, it would take all my energy just to draw the setting picture.

——The main character design was done by Shingo Ogiso. Why did you choose him?

Abe: It was like a selection contest. We asked a few candidates to draw first, and then discussed with the producer and other production members to decide. Including Mr. Arakawa, almost everyone unanimously chose Ogiso, so the decision was made quickly.

——The action director is Satoshi Kimura. What is the main task of the animation director?

Abe: Because the story takes place in an era of fighting with guns and swords, which is different from the use of Japanese swords. There are many scenes where Dalong uses guns, and fighting with guns and swords is very difficult. So most of the storyboard modifications in these places were given to Kimura.

——The fighting scenes must not only be gorgeous, but also have techniques.

Abe: Yes. Take the sword for example. The way to hold a sword in the West is different from that in Japan. The sword is held differently, so the moves are also different. Of course, in the limited time, we don't require it to be very accurate, but we hope that these details can also show a certain sense of reality.

——As you just mentioned, is there any production method unique to "The Heroic Legend of Arslan"?

Abe: We put a lot of thought into how to express the charm of the characters. This time, in order to make the characters stand out more, we innovated the way of drawing shadows. From the perspective of performance, it is easier to use a large area to express shadows when there is light. However, this will make the characters look a bit strange. This question was raised when discussing how to reproduce the style of Mr. Hiromu Arakawa. Including Ogiso, many animators like Mr. Arakawa's style of painting and hope to express it as much as possible, so they proposed that kind of painting method. Mr. Arakawa's style of painting is also a place worth paying attention to in this work.

- Finally, please tell us again about the charm of this work. What do you want people to pay attention to?

Abe: I believe that audiences of all ages will come to see this work. Whether it is people who want to see the war scenes or people who want to see the characters, they will not be disappointed. Of course, I also hope that the fans of Mr. Arakawa who I have been mentioning will also like it. In addition to the fans of the novel, it can be expected that the age span of the audience of this work will be very large. Because this is an orthodox war chronicle, the style may be a little heavy when broadcast in the evening, but I still hope that everyone can feel the cute side of the protagonist and let elementary school students like this work. Our goal is to make an animation that grandparents will watch, and I hope this wish can be realized. Stay tuned.

For more relevant information, please pay attention to: The Heroic Legend of Arslan