A special lecture on "PriPara," part of the popular "Pretty Series" anime and game series, entitled "Iwasaki Gakuen Iwafes 2024 x PriPara 10th Anniversary x Special Lecture: The Mystery of the Red Flash," was held on October 26th at Yokohama Digital Arts College (Kohoku Ward, Yokohama City), with Director Moriwaki Makoto, voice actress Kubota Miyu, who plays Hojo Sophie, producer Yoda Ken from Tatsunoko Productions, and producer Oba Shinichiro from Takara Tomy Arts appearing. The story behind Sophie's birth was revealed.
The initial settings for Manaka Lala, Minami Mirei, and Sophie were revealed during the lecture. Inspired by the "bird's song," Lala was named "Kotori (tentative name)," Mirei was named "Sae (tentative name)," and Sophie was named "Liz (tentative name)." After that, the settings were decided through trial and error, but Sophie's design was more or less solidified at the initial setting stage. Oba said, "Sophie was decided to be cool and charismatic. As I talked with the director, Sophie's character solidified, and I thought about how to portray a genius. We decided that Lala and Mirei have two sides, and Sophie is actually incapable of living on her own in her private life. Everyone around her thinks she's a genius, but she doesn't think of it that way. I started to think of her as an emissary."
Sophie's favorite food is pickled plums. Oba explained the background, saying, "We had talked about how it would be good to have an item that can help someone change from a complete failure to a genius. I said something like Suppaman from 'Dr. Slump' as an example, and that became the setting. It was just an example, though."
Sophie calls pickled plums "red flash." According to Yoda, "It was the director who changed the word umeboshi to red flash," and Oba said, "It just popped out of the director's head. The problem is that kids will remember that umeboshi is red flash in English," revealing the mystery of the red flash.
According to Moriwaki, there are four levels of Sofi: no-good Sofi, no-good Sofi, beautiful no-good Sofi, and normal Sofi. Yoda said, "Each level is specified in the storyboard. This is the hard part," and Kubota said, "At first, I wasn't used to dubbing, so it was difficult. I was in a panic."
Sofi's appearance in a unique dress with a jellyfish motif also made a big impact. Director Moriwaki said, "This is probably Sofi's formal attire. She wears this at weddings and funerals. I'd like to see her spin around and dance in a circle like a bamboo blind," imagining Kubota dancing in a jellyfish dress at a live show.
The television anime series "PriPara" began airing in July 2014, depicting Lala's struggle to become a godly idol. The smartphone app "Idol Land PriPara" is also gaining popularity. At a seminar held as part of Iwasaki Academy's school festival "POP STEP JUMP! IwaFes 2024," collaborative goods featuring Manaka Lala and Iwasaki Academy's original character HARUKO were also sold.
