The character designs for the animated feature film "Kusunoki no Bannin," based on a novel by Keigo Higashino, have been revealed. The character designs are by Tsubasa Yamaguchi, a manga artist known for the popular manga "Blue Period," and Akiko Itagaki, who served as animation director for the animated feature film "Kagami no Kojyo." The unique characters, including the protagonist Reito Naoi and his aunt, Senshu Yanagisawa, are drawn with a delicate touch.
For this film, Yamaguchi was in charge of the original draft for the main characters, while Itagaki handled the character designs. Director Ito Tomohiko's main focus in character creation was to "make the important character, Yanagisawa Senshu, look cool as possible." When asked why he asked Yamaguchi to design the characters, he said, "I thought that if I made the characters entirely realistic, the whole work would look stiff. I wanted to create a world view where manga-like characters could coexist," proposing an unconventional way of expression by depicting a world where realistic portrayals of people and manga-like characters coexist.
The idea was that "as long as we don't focus too much on being Japanese and the worldview is in line, people will accept it without feeling out of place," and so Chifune's striking bangs were naturally shaped.
"Guardian of the Camphor Tree" is the story of a young man named Naoi Reito who loses his job due to unreasonable dismissal and becomes the mysterious "Guardian of the Camphor Tree," where he meets people with various circumstances.
It is also attracting attention as it is the first time that Higashino's novel has been adapted into an anime, and will be directed by Ito, known for works such as "Sword Art Online" and "Erased." The film is scheduled to be released on January 30th.
