"Moonrise", an original anime produced by WIT STUDIO, known for "Attack on Titan" and "SPY×FAMILY", is being exclusively distributed worldwide on Netflix. This sci-fi anime is a luxurious lineup of novelists and screenwriters, including novelist and screenwriter Tow Ubukata, character designer Hiromu Arakawa, known for the manga "Fullmetal Alchemist", and director Masashi Koizuka, who worked on "Attack on Titan". Director Koizuka said, "I think this is the first space opera created by WIT STUDIO." How was "Moonrise" created? We spoke to Director Koizuka and WIT STUDIO producer Ryoma Kawamura.
◇It all started with a casual conversation 10 years ago
The story is set in a world where everything is entrusted to the international AI network Sapientia, and people live their lives according to Sapientia's rational decisions. Sapientia's lunar colonization project has created a gap between Earth, which maintains peace by sending polluters and criminals to the moon, and the Moon, where people are forced to live in poverty, and is threatening to spark a war of independence. One day, the protagonist Jack is caught up in a terrorist bombing and his family is taken away by a rebel army on the Moon who are plotting liberation from Earth. Swearing revenge, Jack decides to head to the Moon with his comrades as a scout for the Earth Army.
It all started about 10 years ago with a casual conversation between Director Koizuka and WIT STUDIO President and CEO, Wada Takeshi.
"Wada is what you might call a planning producer, and he's the kind of guy who does research through casual conversation, asking not just me, but all kinds of people, 'What kind of works do you like?' and 'What do you want to do?' I had these kinds of conversations regularly around 2014 or 2015, when I was about to take on the role of director for the second season of ' Attack on Titan.' At the time, episodes 7 and 8 of 'Star Wars' had just come out, and I was really excited about it, so I said to him, 'There haven't been any anime like that recently, have there?' Wada noticed that, and brought me the idea, saying, 'Let's give it a go,' and that's how it all began."
At the stage where they were asking "How should we develop it?" Ubukata, who had known President Wada since the anime "Le Chevalier D'Eon", joined the team. "We had Ubukata join the team with the idea of it being made into an anime," he recalls.
As Ubukata-san was writing the story as a novel, Arakawa-san's name came up as the creator of the visuals. Director Koizuka talked with Yamada Ayumu, who was the animation director for "Attack on Titan" and the character designer for "Moonrise," and explained, "We were thinking about who could draw pictures that were fun for the artist on set and could bring out the character's personality and personality to the fullest, and we decided we wanted to ask Arakawa-sensei. So we consulted him and he agreed to take on the role."
While Ubukata's novel is the basis of the story, Director Koizuka was in charge of the series composition, and the work was shaped by Arakawa as well.
"Ubukata's novels are in the hard science fiction genre in the broadest sense. For that reason, they contain human drama, but Ubukata puts a lot of effort into 'expressing the world' and 'drawing the world'. In other words, he puts a lot of effort into expressing the worldview and the fun of hard science fiction. For us, we are aiming for the same summit, but it felt like we were climbing the same mountain from different directions. Ubukata puts a strong emphasis on the worldview, and he left room for me and Arakawa to add our own essence to the dramatic parts, so we added various essences to it and put it together as a single story."
◇Developing new actions that trigger chemical reactions and push the game to new heights
"Moonrise" is an 18-episode series, and one of its charms is the unpredictable plot that is unique to original anime. Producer Kawamura's main focus in the production was "how to make the viewers enjoy watching the unpredictable plot."
"When it comes to an original anime with 18 episodes, viewers don't know how the story will unfold next or understand the personalities of the characters, so I think there will inevitably be a difference in the level of understanding from episode to episode. How can we make it enjoyable to watch despite that difference? While considering this balance, we have no choice but to aim for high quality visuals. In order to raise the average, we carefully staffed each episode. For example, I think it's common to have a pattern of putting all the main staff in for key episodes, but with 'Moonrise', because we had so many excellent staff, we asked freelance staff for each episode, but we always had a few reliable people from within the company as the core. For episodes that we couldn't miss, we had a variety of people involved, so I think we were able to raise the quality of each episode all at once."
On the other hand, what Director Koizuka was most conscious of was the "chemical reaction" that would come from making an original work with a group of talented creators.
"Before I started this project, I had worked on many original works, so I was very conscious of how to create a chemical reaction between the ideas that each person brought to the project, and how to elevate them to a higher level. The first step was to discuss the participation of Ubukata-san and Arakawa-sensei. By bringing together the best parts of people who would not normally have much contact with each other, a chemical reaction was created. In the same way, on set, we discussed what kind of action we would show in the anime within the setting that Ubukata-san created. Naturally, this development would involve the creation of pictures and extravagance, so we had many discussions at WIT. How would we create a chemical reaction by clashing the opinions of myself, character designer Yamada Ayumu, action director Ehara Yasuyuki, and the animators on set with the setting that Ubukata-sensei created? The most important thing was to carefully gather and summarize everyone's opinions one by one and create a chemical reaction."
One of these chemical reactions was the action scenes under the surface of the moon. In the film, the protagonists fight on the moon, where gravity is only one-sixth that of Earth, using a function called "Brush" that controls the recoil when the body is hit. There is also a scene in which the type of weapon is freely changed using a technology called "Engrave," which can remake an object into a different object as long as the mass does not change.
"When depicting the action, the premise was that the logic of science fiction must not be compromised. The word "engraving" and "gimmick" are the first words that appear in Ubukata's novel. We thought about how to carefully depict the action while respecting those roots. However, it was quite difficult to share those ideas with the artists on set. Members who have been with us for a long time since "Attack on Titan" participated in the project, so we had conversations and discussions on set, and those conversations were very important for the first episodes, from episode 1 to 6. Later, those conversations were shared with the younger staff and the staff who joined later. Since we had the foundation of our colleagues who had been with us since "Attack on Titan", it was very easy to communicate with them, and I think it was a good thing that we had highly motivated staff from the beginning."
Director Hizuka also commented about the dubbing experience, "It was the newest and most exciting experience of my career."
"We recorded in order starting from the first episode, but the actors only understood the story when they were given the script. They didn't know what would happen next, and we didn't tell them either. As the characters were thrown onto the battlefield, they worked under tension, not knowing whether the character they were playing would live or die until the end. With little information, each actor created the shape of their character and breathed life into this work with a sense of tension."
◇Why WIT STUDIO is amazing
"Moonrise" was produced by tackling the difficulties of an original story, the visuals, and the voice actors' performances. Director Koizuka said, "I think it's a work I'm confident in, where the individual personalities of Ubukata-san, Arakawa-sensei, and WIT all created the best chemical reaction. Many Aina the End members, including young ones, breathed life into the film, but what made me personally very happy was that Aina the End joined as a voice actor, which added to the chemical reaction I've never experienced before. I hope many people will see it."
Finally, we asked Producer Kawamura about the appeal and strengths of WIT STUDIO.
"I think WIT is a company that values encounters. That is because, way back when we were at Production IG, the members who came together on the project "Guilty Crown," which our company directors Tetsuya Nakatake and Takeshi Wada were involved in, led to "Attack on Titan," and I think the connections and encounters with the creators they met on various other projects are also very important. I think that as the years have passed, when we try to take on a new original work, the core members at that time are always able to gather together, and I think that WIT is able to create a system in which this system can be established. As a result, I think that one of WIT's strengths is that we can start by understanding each creator's personality, what they're good at, and what they're most comfortable with. I think that anime is all about teamwork, so it's because there is a high level of trust from the beginning that we're able to make good films. I think that's the kind of studio we are."
The Netflix series "Moonrise" has created a chemical reaction by making the most of the "good parts" of each staff member and cast member. I want to enjoy this masterpiece.
