"Shurato: Chronicles of Heavenly Space" TV anime 35th anniversary: Nobuyoshi Habara and Michitaka Kikuchi reveal the behind-the-scenes of the production; Satoko Shimizu sings the classic song "SHINING SOUL"

On November 23rd, an event was held at Hall Mixa (Toshima-ku, Tokyo) to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the popular anime series Shurato, which aired from April 1989 to January 1990. The event was divided into two parts, and tickets sold out in about seven minutes, resulting in a huge success. In the second part, animation directors Habara Nobuyoshi (Habara Nobuyoshi) and Kikuchi Michitaka (Kikuchi Michitaka) took to the stage to talk about the behind-the-scenes production.

In the second part, episode 16, "Scream! Return Laksh," for which Habara was animation director, episode 36, "The Future! Beyond the Deep Darkness," which marked the end of the story, and episode 39, "The Eternal Shura King," for which Kikuchi was animation director, were screened.

Habara explained how he ended up participating in "Shurato: Legend of Tenkuu Senki," saying, "At the time, I was working on 'Reina Sword Wolf Legend.' Shurato was going to be done by Ashi Productions. I was watching the hell out of it. The last three were produced by Tatsunoko, but the rest were produced by Ashi Productions. They asked me, 'Can you do the eye-catch? Until tomorrow!' and I participated, and that was my first time working on Shurato. It was an eye-catch, but one shot is also used in the opening." Kikuchi reflected, "A famous producer at King Records asked me to make an anime based on Indian mythology, but I turned it down because I had just done Borgman. That was Shurato. I had drawn a lot of illustrations (licensed pictures) for Newtype, and I was also going to do the eye-catch for the compilation. The producer called me to a coffee shop in Asagaya, and I ended up doing the character design and animation supervision for the additional three episodes." Before the broadcast of "Shurato: Chronicle of the Warrior of the Sky," "Saint Seiya" and "Armored Troopers," which feature characters clad in armor, were also popular. Kikuchi said, "I worked on Samurai Troopers and Saint Seiya. I didn't work on the main story of Borgman, but I did the transformation scene and the opening. It was difficult to draw straight lines in Samurai Troopers, but it was easy to draw in Shurato."

Habara also revealed some behind-the-scenes stories from the recording, saying, "Yamadera Kouichi and Hayashibara Megumi were also young. They had good teamwork. I had the impression that Inoue Kazuhiko was in charge of keeping things together. Tanaka (Hideyuki), the sound engineer, was someone who directed with exquisite skill. If we finished early, we would all go out for drinks. It was good that we were able to deepen our friendships."

Singer Shimizu Satoko gave a passionate performance of the opening theme for the previous season, "SHINING SOUL," known as a masterpiece. They also sang the later ending theme "Caravan Friendship" and the later opening theme "Truth." Ishihara Shinichi also made a surprise appearance and sang "On Shura Sowaka," which drew huge cheers.

The story of "Tenkuu Senki Shurato" is that high school students Hidaka Akito and Kuroki Gai are suddenly reincarnated into another world ruled by gods called "Heaven" during a martial arts tournament. To commemorate the 35th anniversary of the series' broadcast, a Blu-ray disc box set "Tenkuu Senki Shurato Blu-ray MEMORIAL BOX (Special Limited Edition)" will be released on February 26, 2025.