A special screening of the first episode of "Sayonara Lala," an original TV anime commemorating Kinema Citrus' 15th anniversary, was held in Tokyo on May 12th, marking the world premiere of the first episode. Based on the fairy tale "The Little Mermaid," the anime tells the story of Lala, the mermaid princess, who is resurrected in modern-day Lake Biwa 200 years later. As it is an original anime, there are still many unknowns, but director Takashi Koide, series composition writer Anna Kawahara, and character designer Shiori Tani revealed some behind-the-scenes details of the production.
Director Koide hails from Shiga Prefecture, and this film marks his directorial debut. He explained the origins of the project, saying, "I originally entered the industry because I wanted to make original anime, and I've been working at Kinema Citrus for about 10 years. I wanted to do something original! So, the three of us—Mr. Tani, (producer) Moriyama, and myself—started working on it. I asked from the beginning if we could include '15th anniversary.' This is the first attempt we've made as Kinema Citrus, and I hoped that would come across."
Kawahara said that he joined the project about a year after it was first conceived, and added, "The main story was about two people, one of whom was a mermaid, and the setting was Shiga Prefecture and Lake Biwa. The project proposal was already completed, and some parts have been preserved and others have changed since then." A portion of the initial project proposal was also shown.
The initial character designs drawn by Tani were also revealed, and director Koide said, "We were talking about how to break away from the original mermaid concept. We wanted to break away from the mermaid while retaining the image." Tani said, "At first I considered yellow and pink, but I tried to limit the number of colors," indicating that she went through a process of trial and error. Kawahara praised her work, saying, "When I first saw it, the image made a strong impression on me. It's stylish and tasteful, and Tani's drawings are memorable."
The decision to use the fairy tale "The Little Mermaid" as the theme was made after Kawahara joined the project. Kawahara said, "It was difficult at first. Since it's an original story, there are many possibilities. I couldn't bring myself to discard any ideas. Once we decided on The Little Mermaid as the theme, things moved quickly. For the first episode, we tried to do the Little Mermaid story from 'Sayonara Lala'."
The anime will begin airing in July. Finally, Director Koide appealed to viewers, saying, "I feel fortunate that we can deliver this to you in this way. We managed to do it through connections and luck. I hope many people will watch it."
