I Won't Stand for a Fiancé Like This!
Crosstalk: Creator Roundtable Discussion Minami Kitamura (POP Artwork) x Yukiko Kakita (Color Design) x Parako Shinohara (Storyboard Assistant)

Translated by: Harley Acres

Until the pop screen is complete

The three of them are responsible for...

Minami Kitamura

Responsible for the written characters that represent onomatopoeia and their movements, as well as the design decorations when they appear as background images. She also handles storyboarding, direction, and drawing for the ending credits. ^[1]

Yukiko Kakita

Determining the colors of characters and other elements. She not only uses standard colors that match the daytime light, but also colors that blend with the background, such as nighttime colors, depending on the changing light. ^[2]

Parako Shinohara

Responsible for storyboarding and directing each episode, and assisting in storyboard checks. Once each episode's storyboard is uploaded, the storyboard check assistant adds various ideas to make the screen pop. ^[3]

If you could transform by pouring water over yourself, what would you be?

Parako Shinohara
Answer: An anime master
Reason: Normally I would answer cat, but... I thought it would be great to pour water over myself and transform into a mode where I could work with all kinds of talents.

Yukiko Kakita
Answer: A bird
Reason: I'm busy and don't have much time to travel, so I thought it would be great to be able to fly away, like I could escape to faraway places in a flash (laughs).

Minami Kitamura
Answer: A man
Reason: I'd like to become a man, walk around town and see things from a man's perspective, and look at all kinds of things.

First, please tell us how you all first encountered Ranma 1/2.

Shinohara: When I was in elementary school, it would air on satellite TV in the evenings, and I looked forward to watching it every day and loved it. At the time, I watched it more for the unique characters than for the romance elements. This time, I heard that a project was being developed within the company, and although I didn't know anything about it, I raised my hand and said, "I want to do Ranma," and ended up participating.

Kitamura: I first read the original manga when I was in elementary school. It was towards the end of the serialization, and I loved it so much that I bought all the manga and read them over and over again. I usually make music videos and work as an illustrator, but I had previously done illustrations for Ranma merchandise. I drew the panda, P-chan, and the cat Shampoo, and I think they contacted me after seeing that.

Kakita: Among us, I'm the only one who watched the previous series in real time (laughs). Even back then, I knew it was a popular work on a different level, so when I heard about this project, I thought, "Are they really going to do this??" At first, I was asked to make a pilot film with character designer (Hiromi) Taniguchi-san, but I thought, "If I'm going to do it, I want to do it myself," so I decided to participate. ^[4]

Shinohara-san, I heard that you added various ideas at the storyboard stage as an assistant checker.

Shinohara: A common idea was to add onomatopoeia to the screen as written letters. I also added ideas like adding a decorative frame to the screen, or changing the atmosphere by processing certain actions in a slightly different way.

Kitamura: Based on Shinohara-san's storyboards, I actually wrote the letters and created animations to convey the atmosphere. Takahashi-sensei's original letter design is so cute, so I tried to craft fonts that followed that. I also added color to the letters, but then Kakita-san made the final adjustments.

Coloring the world with text, colors, and effects

Minami Kitamura's Ending

The ending unfolds alongside "Anta Nante." by Riria. The simple illustrations portray Akane's feelings toward Ranma. The brief appearances of the panda and P-chan are also noteworthy. "I was given no specific instructions, so I had fun, but I was also nervous. It's an emotional song, so I created it hoping it would convey the inner thoughts of the characters," says Kitamura.

Kakita: If we're going to make adjustments after seeing the finished screen, we have no choice but to do it ourselves. When making adjustments, I had to be conscious of not straying too far from Kitamura-san's intentions.

Kitamura: I generally work alone most of the time, so it was a great learning experience for me to see how having so many people involved in this way can make the screen so much more complex and rich.

Kakita: That's right. When Kitamura-san is writing the on-screen text, the backgrounds and characters are still line drawings.

Kitamura: That's why we used quite vivid colors, but when the backgrounds and characters actually had color added, it could sometimes get too busy. Kakita-san reduced the number of colors, and when I saw the finished screen, I thought, "ah, I see."

Kakita: If we were to make adjustments after seeing the finished screen, we had no choice but to do it ourselves. When making adjustments, we didn't want them to deviate too much from Kitamura-san's intentions, so we were conscious of that.

Kitamura: I generally work alone a lot, so it was a great learning experience to see how having so many people involved in this way can make the images so much more complex and rich.

Shinohara: It was an idea from the beginning to include handwritten text on the screen, like in the original manga. But handwritten text requires a certain flair. I was concerned that asking the animators to do all of this would be difficult in terms of consistency. Kitamura-san took on that role, so I felt at ease.

Shinohara-san, when you said earlier that you were "changing the atmosphere of the screen," what exactly did that mean?

Shinohara: The easiest way to explain this is in the action scenes, where we changed the colors used for the characters and backgrounds. On set, we called it the "American comic book treatment." When you read the original work, you evoke all sorts of emotions, like "fun," "cool," and "cute." I wondered if I could enhance those emotions even more through the direction, and that's what led me to wanting to change the atmosphere depending on the scene. So, I thought that to make the action scenes look more exciting and cool, I should change the colors a little.

Kakita: It's like I'm the one who brings those ideas from Shinohara-san to life. We came up with about three or four different American comic book treatments. We ultimately decided on a purple-based shadow color, but we didn't just change the colors; we also tried various other things, including painting each body part a different color, or adding dot patterns like those used in art within the shadows. ^[5] We also ran various tests together with the cinematographer.

How did you decide on the character's color design?

Kakita: I tried using colors similar to the original color illustrations, but also explored other possibilities and created a variety of colors. For example, I created a female Ranma and a black-haired version. Akane was the most difficult. She's sort of in the middle of all the characters, so there's no clear point that makes her stand out. I created three or four variations just for her current blue hair color.

How did you aim for the pop atmosphere that evokes the '80s?

Kakita: The characters' colors are intentionally kept bright and light overall, with a pastel-like palette. This color scheme blends too easily into the background, risking the characters becoming inconspicuous, so striking that balance was challenging. We countered this by using shadow colors to add definition and prevent that from happening.

Kitamura: When I first received the offer, I was asked to incorporate elements of the '80s and '90s. So I did my best to research those elements and incorporated them into my work. However, I also thought that if I overdid it, it might come across as too flashy, so I tried to strike a balance in my own way when I depicted it. I've also always thought the Chinese-style decorations that appear in the original work were cute, so I wanted to make use of that as well.

Shinohara: I'm a big fan of Koji Nanke-san, who was in charge of the opening credits for the previous series, so he influenced me a lot. ^[6] I feel like he's helped me out in many ways this time as well, using him as inspiration in many ways. Even as the story progresses, there are scenes where I openly show my respect for him.

Please tell us your impressions of working on Ranma 1/2.

Kakita: Precisely because it's a work everyone knows, it was easy for everyone to be on the same page. Of course, there are individual differences in how people receive it, but fundamentally, there's this shared understanding of "This is what Ranma 1/2 is like." So I felt it was a work where it was hard to get carried away with your own ideas.

Kitamura: I reread the original manga in preparation for this job, and it's still as fascinating as ever. I also felt that each episode of this anime really brought out the unique personalities of the various staff members, so I hope everyone enjoys that.

Shinohara: To begin with, the idea of ​​"transforming when you pour water on them" is a unique and wonderful idea. In that sense, I think that young people who are encountering Ranma 1/2 for the first time will be able to enjoy it in a fresh way. There are many interesting characters, so I'm sure you'll find one you like.

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Footnotes

• [1] Minami Kitamura (北村みなみ) who handled the animation for the ending theme, Anta Nante. Ranma 1/2 is the first anime she was involved with as she typically works as an illustrator. Her website can be seen here.
• [2] Yukiko Kakita (垣田由紀子) worked on special effects for Fullmetal Alchemist (鋼の錬金術師/Hagane no Renkinjutsushi), paintwork on Inuyasha the Movie 4: Fire on the Mystic Isle and color design on Mr. Osomatsu (おそ松さん).
• [3] Parako Shinohara (篠原ぱらこ) had a number of different jobs on Ranma 1/2 including storyboards, episode director, unit director and key animator. She worked on storyboards for Attack on Titan: The Final Season Part 2 (進撃の巨人 The Final Season Part 2/Shingeki no Kyojin The Final Season Part 2) and You Don't Know Gunma Yet (お前はまだグンマを知らない/Omae wa Mada Gunma o Shiranai).
• [4] Hiromi Taniguchi (谷口宏美) is the character designer on Ranma 1/2. Additionally he has worked on One-Punch Man (ワンパンマン), KILL La KILL and Naruto: Shippuden.
• [5] These are called "Ben Day dots" which are a key feature of print media such as comic books. Further tying into the "pop art" element that was sought, the dots were commonly featured in the artwork of pop artist Roy Lichtenstein, whose comic book imagery was a hallmark of the pop art movement of the 1960s.
• [6] Koji Nanke (南家こうじ) is an iconic animator who is best known for crafting opening and ending animations set to music. Nanke's work is heavily intertwined with the Kitty Animation era of Rumiko Takahashi's anime. He animated openings and endings for Urusei Yatsura ("Lum no Love Song", "Dancing Star", "Hoshizora Cycling", "Tonogata Gomen Asobase", "Pajama Jama Da", "Good Luck"), Maison Ikkoku ("Kanashimi yo Konnichiwa", "Ashita Hareru Ka", "Sunny Shiny Morning") and Ranma 1/2 ("Zettai! Part 2", "Love Seeker (Can't Stop It)", "Positive", "Don't Mind Lai-Lai Boy").

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