An advance screening and talk show for the anime "Takopi's Original Sin," based on the manga by Taizan5 serialized in Shueisha's manga app "Shonen Jump+," was held on May 20th at Grand Cinema Sunshine Ikebukuro (Toshima-ku, Tokyo), with Reina Ueda, who plays Shizuka, Konomi Kohara, who plays Marina, and Anna Nagase, who plays Azuma, in attendance. The original work was a hot topic for depicting the cruel reality of elementary school students, including bullying and problems with their parents, and the voice actors commented, "Can it be made into an anime!?"
Obara said, "It's a complex story that can't be summed up in one word as 'interesting' or 'shocking', and I wondered whether it could be made into an anime. When I watch it, I feel a sense of incongruity. Taco Pippino is very positive and colorful, but Shizuka and Marina's worlds are not colorful. Even in scenes that make you want to cover your eyes, pop music is played."
The "sense of disbelief" that Ohara spoke of seems to be one of the anime's charms, and Ueda nodded and said, "It's a carefully crafted work with lots of gaps. I felt that especially in the way light and shadow were depicted. The beautiful places are beautiful to the core, and the dirty places are dirty to the core. Each has meaning. The light and shadow were startling, exciting and moving."
Nagase, who was a fan of the original work, said, "I was worried about whether it could be made into an anime, but I was moved. Watching the first episode, there were misunderstandings between the characters' emotions, which highlighted the disjointed feeling. But it's a captivating work."
The official promotional video was also shown at the screening, and Ueda said, "Now that recording is finished, there are some lines that really bring tears to my eyes. For those who don't know how the story unfolds, they may not understand the situation in which these lines are spoken. I hope you will watch until the end, wondering what the story might be."
"Takopi's Original Sin" is Taizan5's debut work, serialized in "Shonen Jump +" from December 2021 to March 2022. Despite being a short series, it gained popularity by recording the highest number of views among works serialized at the same time. The story is about Tacopi, a Happy Alien who comes to Earth and meets Shizuka, a girl who never smiles, and uses his magical Happy Gadgets to bring back Shizuka's smile. It was ranked third in the "This Kono Manga ga Sugoi! 2023" Men's Edition, and although the comic only has two volumes, the total number of copies published has exceeded 1.4 million.
The anime will be directed by Shinya Iino and produced by ENISHIYA. It will be streamed simultaneously on Netflix, Prime Video, ABEMA, U-NEXT and other platforms every Saturday from June 28th. There will be a total of 6 episodes.
