The TV anime "Witch Watch" is based on the popular manga by Kenta Shinohara, which is currently being serialized in "Weekly Shonen Jump" (Shueisha). The anime has gained popularity thanks to its well-paced comedy scenes, including parodies, and its unique structure that has captured the hearts of fans. Episode 14, "Uron Mirage Episode 119: Defeating Fuzzy -4," which aired on July 6th, also attracted attention for its animated adaptation of the manga "Uron Mirage." Producer Hiroyuki Aoi of Mainichi Broadcasting System (MBS), which is in charge of the anime, says that they are taking an aggressive approach to adapting the anime in order to make the most of the appeal of the original work. We spoke to them about the behind-the-scenes production.
◇The appeal of "Witch Watch" goes beyond laughter
The series is a comedy manga by Shinohara, known for "SKET DANCE" and "Astra Lost in Space." It began serialization in February 2021 in "Weekly Shonen Jump." It depicts the life of Wakatsuki Nico, a girl training to become a witch, and her childhood friend Morihito, a high school student with the powers of a demon, living together. Morihito is given the mission of protecting Nico from a prophesied disaster as his familiar, and so begins a mysterious and difficult journey.
Aoi, who has always loved Jump works and was an avid reader of Shinohara's "SKET DANCE" and "Astra Lost in Space," said she felt that "Witch Watch" had more to offer than just laughs.
"I've always loved comedy, and Witch Watch isn't just funny; it also has some moving episodes and battles. In terms of the structure, there are also some funny jokes that appear in the first half that become plot points that come into play later on, and I felt that the manga was of a very high level. I wanted to turn it into an anime, so I contacted Shueisha."
The anime will be produced by Vibrancy Animation Studio, known for the films "The Quintessential Quintuplets" and "Magical Girl Magical Destroyers." The director will be Hirofumi Ikehata, known for "Kiratto Pri☆Chan" and "Tonikaku Kawaii."
"I had worked with Vibury on another project before, and we were talking about doing something together again, and asked if we could work together on Witch Watch. At that time, Vibury suggested Director Ikehata. Director Ikehata has a proven track record in comedy and comedy, so I really wanted to ask him to work on it. It was a fortunate opportunity that led to us being able to work together on this project."
When adapting the work into an anime, the original author, Shinohara, had two requests: "I want the comedy episodes to be standalone episodes," and "I want the characters to be portrayed cutely."
"Shinohara-sensei is particular about gags, so he requested that the one-episode gag episodes be clearly separated in the anime as well. For example, the third episode of the anime has three subtitles: "Spring See-Through Outfits / Kiki's Delivery Service / Lost Dog and Beat in the Rain." The standard format for a single anime episode is to connect the first and last stories together to create a story with a beginning, development, twist, and conclusion, but Shinohara-sensei wanted the gags to be separated cleanly, as they are meant to live as episodes. So the anime has independent subtitles and eye-catches, and the story breaks are clearly separated."
◇The unique structure of TV anime: To make people fall in love with the characters
The production team had a desire to "animate all episodes of the original work," but there were also limitations on the length of a TV anime. In order to make the most of the charm of the original work, they focused on the composition of the anime.
"One of the charms of 'Witch Watch' is that the original work is completely standalone. It's a comedy, so something starts at the beginning and the story wraps up with a punchline. On the other hand, there is a central story, so rather than simply piling up gags in the anime, we decided on a goal at the end of the first season and worked towards that goal, making sure that everyone would fall in love with the characters."
In the first season, it is revealed that Keigo, who was thought to be a friend of Morihito and his friends, is actually Wolf, and the climax is "Dog and Raindrops," which depicts the "betrayal of a friend."
"When adapting into an anime, one season is a break, so that's where the peak and conclusion of the story should be. In the original work, Keigo makes his full appearance in the 'Cannico Channel' depicted in episode 7 of the anime, but we included an original element in the previous episode, episode 6, 'Under the Tree of Matchmaking', where Keigo and Morihito have a conversation. This allows for a natural introduction to Keigo, so that even people who haven't read the original work can easily get into the story. In the original work, the time spent between Keigo, Nico, and Morihito wasn't that long, so in the anime, we wanted to increase the value of their relationship with Keigo and depict the accumulation of the time they spent together, before bringing it to a peak in episode 12."
Aoi has worked on a variety of anime, but says that "Witch Watch" is "a work that took a lot of time to put together."
"Many works are structured according to the original. The reason is that if you change the order of the episodes, the axis will inevitably become strange, and the conversations between the characters will seem to make sense but not quite. Of course, Witch Watch has some of those aspects as well, but as a story, the gags are self-contained as gags, so to an extent, it is possible to rearrange them. That's why we take our time with the structure, checking together to make sure the order is correct, and of course we proceed under the supervision of Shueisha and Shinohara-sensei."
◇ Parodies aren't fun if you're too shy
One of the charms of the original work is its parodies of Jump works, and the anime is also taking on the parody scenes with a "no-holds-barred attitude."
"The constraints are different for print media like manga and for the visual media that is broadcast on television, but I want to make as few changes as possible. To be honest, there are a few things I could change if I said I wanted to, and I could get away with it if I wanted to, but I want to respect the important parts of the original work as much as possible when adapting it into an anime, without changing them. In particular, with parodies, if you get carried away, it just loses its fun. When adapting it into a movie, there are some parts that are difficult to change, but fundamentally we respect the original work and discuss the process as we go along, thinking about how to make it enjoyable for people who are seeing it for the first time."
In order to realize the parody, which is also one of the charms of the original work, he maintains an aggressive stance, saying, "I won't shy away from what I have to do." He says, "I'm always thinking about how to make the parts of the original work as good as possible. Working together with Vibrancy and consulting with Shueisha has been both a challenge and a joy. Opportunities like this don't come around very often."
◇So much enthusiasm! Behind the scenes of the "Uromira" anime adaptation: Will there be a "sequel"?
Episode 14, "Uron Mirage Episode 119 'Fuzzy Subjugation -4'," was when fans were made to realize the passion of the production team, who said, "It's no fun if you take it lightly," and "If you're going to do it, do it seriously." The fact that the manga "Uron Mirage," which appears in the story, was animated with a "full" and "full" effort, rather than just a "rough" approach, became a hot topic. In addition to key visuals, theme songs were also created for "Uron Mirage," with the opening theme "Bitter end" by the music unit "Who-ya extended" and the ending theme "FLASHBACK SYNDROME" by singer-songwriter LEO's solo project "ALI." It was a special episode, with storyboards handled by Geso Ikuo.
"I wanted to portray 'Uron Mirage' properly, and at first I even wondered if I could do an entire episode. There was a purpose behind having 'Uro Mira' as the 14th episode, which aired on July 6th. Other works will also be starting in the first season, and since those will be more talked about, I worked backwards to make it possible to broadcast it at the beginning of July. Also, if we were going to do 'Uro Mira', we wanted to create new opening and ending themes and make it all about 'Uro Mira'. I also wanted to write original music, but I wasn't sure if a famous person would go along with it. This time, for 'Witch Watch', I explained the plan to the label and asked them to do it, and the artist kindly agreed, and they wrote a wonderful song for me."
"Uron Mirage" is a hugely popular manga with a total circulation of over 45 million copies. A lot of effort has gone into making it into an anime.
"We incorporated a taste that was somehow influenced by various Jump works. Director Ikehata nominated Geso, who was in charge of the storyboards, and he may have moved around more than the action in the main story (laughs), but if we could do it, we wanted to do it seriously. The filming and processing were also different from the main story, so I think everyone saw it as something completely different."
The star-studded cast, including Shiraishi Ryoko as Akizuki Sora, Hiro Shimono Hiro as Kusama Sagiri, Tomokazu Sugita Tomokazu as Zack Balan, Otsuka Yoshitada as Fuwa, and Ami Koshimizu as Shirafuji Hozuki, also attracted attention.
"In the original voice drama, Ryota Suzuki, who played Morihito in 'Witch Watch', played Oboro, so we changed him this time, and Sugita, who played Zack, was a perfect fit for the role, so we didn't want to change him. We asked the other people to take part from the perspective of 'it would be interesting if these people fit the role.' Everyone worked together in a friendly and pleasant atmosphere during the recording."
The fact that it will be made into a serious anime has become a hot topic among fans, and there are already voices calling for a sequel.
"Witch Watch is a work that is fun to watch, without making strange changes, including parodies, from the first half, so I think it would be fun if you could watch Uromira as a festival. I think those who have read the original work know that the characters from Uromira will continue to play an active role in the future, and if the anime continues thanks to everyone's support, I think we might do Uromira again..."
The anime "Witch Watch" has captured the hearts of fans with a variety of challenging attempts, such as parody jokes and the "Uromira" episode, while respecting the original work as a given. Aoi, who is in charge of the anime, says with a smile, "It's really fun!"
"I've been involved with anime for nearly 10 years, but I've never laughed so much during dubbing. Whether it was dubbing or editing, I've never laughed so hard I was holding my stomach. I think that's something that's unique to this work. The voice actors have a lot of power, and it's even more interesting than when I read the script. From what I've read in various places, it seems like everyone is enjoying it, and I'm sure that feedback is reaching the staff. The staff are also enjoying being involved in this work."
"There are more fun episodes to come, so I hope you will enjoy them," says Aoi. Anticipation is building to see which episodes will be depicted in the anime and how.
