Continuation of interview (1). The anime Black Butler series, Black Butler : The Emerald Witch Arc , based on Yana Toboso 's manga, will air from April 5th. Black Butler is a manga that has been serialized in the monthly G Fantasy (Square Enix) since September 2006. It depicts the exploits of Sebastian Michaelis, the perfect butler who serves Ciel Phantomhive, the master of the prestigious British aristocrat Phantomhive. The Public School Arc, which aired from April to June 2024, was also a hot topic as it was the first new TV anime series in about 10 years since Black Butler Book of Circus, which aired in 2014. It is said that the Public School Arc arc was produced with a different approach than previous series. We spoke to Daisuke Ono , the voice actor for Sebastian Michaelis , Kenjiro Kenjiro Okada , the director of Public School Arc and Emerald Witch Arc , and Yasuto Ito, the producer of CloverWorks, the anime production company, about the behind-the-scenes production.
◇There's no doubt about it! Daisuke Ono was thrilled.
-When did you record the "Emerald Witch Arc?
Director Ito was particularly particular about using German.
I was like, "Are you going to do all the cast side stuff as well, Ono-san ?" (laughs).
Director Okada: I wanted to make it possible to understand the situation where Ciel is surrounded by people who don't understand what he's saying through his hearing. I asked Komada Wataru, who can speak German, to participate and supervise the German.
Ono-san and Komada-kun are also very particular. They teach me in a way that properly expresses emotions. "Your breathing will become rough here," "If you want to add nuance here, try raising the end of the sentence a little more," they taught me German that included emotions. So we took a lot of time to record. It's inevitable if you pursue reproduction of the original work, and it's rewarding for us. Until now, I've had to express myself fluently in French and Latin as Sebastian, but that's also the essence of "Black Butler." So it means a lot to me that the director said he wants to do that well.
Director Okada's "The Emerald Witch Arc" includes an episode in which the drama between Sebastian and Ciel moves forward significantly, and I was very happy to see Sakamoto (Maaya Sakamoto, who plays Ciel) and Ono deliver such passionate performances.
Ono-san: "The Emerald Witch Arc" is also a series where Ciel overcomes his past. There is a passion that has never been seen before, and Sebastian also reveals his feelings for the first time. In other words, he has feelings like that because he trusts Ciel. Even during recording, he pushed me by saying "It's okay to do it," and he was able to bring out passionate emotions that he had never felt before. I felt that it was good that we had been able to build it up with this staff with such commitment.
Director Okada has taken a step forward from his previous role as butler, which was a reserved role.
It was also a scene that Ono-san had always wanted to play. I can't wait to see it. No doubt about it! I was excited even during the recording.
Regarding Ito-san's video, I was often asked by the staff on the scene, such as "Are you sure you want to proceed with this expression?" This is because the approach we took in "The Emerald Witch Arc" involves many expressions that would normally be avoided in video production.
Director Okada's approach changes depending on the work, but I felt that the passion that was put into the original "Black Butler" was incredible, so I didn't want to lose it when making it into an anime. Regarding how to show the cuts, I take the stance of not missing out on anything that can be picked up, such as angles, poses, and expressions.
Not only has the film faithfully reproduced Ono's original work, but it has also sharpened and expanded on key points.
The most important thing is to maintain Director Okada's quality, but we're also thinking about what we can do extra to add to the anime.
I think Ono-san must have a really hard time. It's hard to cut it down, but you do it as it is and then expand it even more. He's been doing that for a long time. What's wrong with these staff members! (laughs)
Coach Okada: There is always a struggle.
Ono-san has an exquisite balance. When I was playing Sebastian, I always created the role by subtracting things. However, the people around me added to things. In the "Public School Arc," the Undertaker played by Junichi Suwabe has a strong personality and is a strong actor. When confronting him, Sebastian balances things out with the aesthetic of subtraction. I've always thought that this was my role. When you look at the footage, the sound is added where it should be added and subtracted where it should be subtracted, and as a result, the world view is exactly like the original. It's that balance that makes it feel like "Black Butler." I think it's because the staff are incredibly particular about things.
◇The amazingness of Rie Kugimiya and Chikahiro Kobayashi
-Have you talked with Ono about the film, Director Okada?
Director Okada: When you went to LA for Anime Expo last year, we talked about a lot of things regarding filmmaking.
Ono: We were having tea in a hotel cafe that looked like it came out of the world of "Black Butler," and Ito and I were talking all the time. For example, if you look at the cover illustration of the original comic for "The Emerald Witch Arc," there's a single dot of green in the monochrome. I liked that cover illustration, and we talked about the colors.
I think it's related to Director Okada's aesthetic of subtraction, but animations often tend to be colorful overall, but I feel that the original "Black Butler" has a slightly lower saturation and only the important colors stand out. I also like that kind of color use and screen creation, and I was conscious of that in the main story. For example, Ciel's hair color is less blue than in previous anime series. It's closer to black hair, and I did it intentionally, but I tried to reduce the saturation and only make the colors that I want to stand out stand out. The whole screen is tightened up, giving it a 19th century feel, and it becomes a chic screen.
Ono-san talked about this for about an hour. I was so happy!
Director Okada's "Emerald Witch Arc" is a more gothic horror world, so I made it a little darker and calmer. There are mystery elements and the drama is serious, so I consciously made the images less manga-like. There are action scenes, so it has a different impression from "Public School Arc", and it's almost like a different work. There are also women in it.
This may be the most female character in the Ono series.
Rie Kugimiya will also star as Director Okada's Sieglinde Sullivan.
I've worked with Ono-san for a long time, and I had high hopes that she would be able to play Sullivan perfectly. As a fan, I thought it would be great if she was the one, so when I heard about the casting, I felt "Thank you!" I don't think that Sullivan is just about making a cute voice as it is. That would be a lie. Kugimiya-san's acting is passionate, and it really captures your heart when you listen to it. She's not trying to create that sense of age, or to make her especially cute, or to make her expression bigger. Wolfram, who is close to her, is just as pure as Sullivan, or even more so. Kobayashi-kun (Kobayashi Chikahiro, who plays Wolfram) has that quality, doesn't he? Kobayashi-kun is just like that. There's a youthfulness and greenness that hasn't been completed yet. It couldn't be better! In "The Emerald Witch Arc", the two of them create the atmosphere on set as they are. It's a very kind and warm set.
In Director Okada's "Emerald Witch Arc", Sullivan and Wolfram are the other main characters. The story focuses on their relationship, changes, growth, and suffering. So the story of Sullivan and Wolfram moves forward a lot, while the story of Sebastian and Ciel also moves forward a lot.
◇ Attention to detail
--What are the highlights of the work as a whole and of "The Emerald Witch Arc"?
I guess it would be the facial expressions of the characters, Director Okada . It's difficult because it's hard to achieve the original expressions, such as the angle of the eyebrows. Also, while the "Public School Arc" was based on the image of 19th century England, the "Emerald Witch Arc" has its own unique setting, so I'm thinking about how to express that original worldview as animation.
Ito-san: While keeping the techniques he has used up to now as a base, he is also doing new things in "The Emerald Witch Arc". He is always thinking about how to realize what the director wants to do. This started with "The Public School Arc", but after thinking about what the best way to do it was, he got ideas from a live-action video producer and asked a contemporary artist named Rui Yamagata to help him create the imagination and persuasiveness of one cut. I heard later that he had loved "Black Butler" since his school days and was happy to be able to participate.
Director Okada has also drawn something new in "The Emerald Witch Arc."
Ito-san has expanded the scope of the video. Each of the other staff members involved is facing the work with a different approach for each series. I think you will be able to feel the unique ominousness of the "Emerald Witch Arc, which is different from "Boarding School", so I hope you will enjoy it.
Director Okada is attempting new visual expressions in "Emerald Witch Arc," so I hope many people will see it.
