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The following is a transcript of an interview conducted between the California Conventions Blog and Guest of Honor Hiromi Wakabayashi and Guest of Honor Shigeto Koyama of Studio TRIGGER on Day Two (Saturday) of Kumoricon 2019.
SILVA: Hi everyone, I’m Ryan Silva along with Dalton Dickinson and we are the California Conventions Blog. We are currently with Studio TRIGGER with Wakabayashi-san and Koyama-san. Thank you so much for your time.
SILVA: Wakabayashi-san, how did writing the script for an episode and directing the 2nd ending sequence for KILL la KILL make you a better artist in general?
WAKABAYASHI: As we were working on Gurren Laggan and KILL la KILL, during the creative process we needed for someone to direct the ending but everyone was super busy so someone suggested one time that “why don’t we ask someone from the outside to work on the ending for KILL la KILL” but I decided that “if someone is going to work on it it’s going to be us, we don’t want anyone outside of the studio to work on it” and from that point on I picked up those positions for directing the ending for KILL la KILL and from that point on it helped me build up to point where I could hold different positions within the industry at once like directing, creative designing, and public relations.
DICKINSON: Back in October 2018, you revealed that Promare was going to be a movie. Were there any thoughts of a series or an OVA instead?
WAKABAYASHI: To answer your question, no because we’ve been developing Promare since 2013, around the time that we were working on KILL la KILL, and from that moment we created Promare for the purpose of making a film and it was evident that this wasn’t going to be a series or OVA, we wanted to make a film, let’s discuss it, and Promare was born.
SILVA: (in response) Interesting, interesting.
DICKINSON: Recently Promare was placed into consideration for an Oscar in the category of Best Animated Picture. What was your reaction to the news and knowing that the movie you created is in elite company?
WAKABAYASHI: I was like “for sure, I want to walk the red carpet” but overall the directors and the team are thrilled to be nominated but it’s not like “oh, we have to win, we have to win this and claim our award” because we made the movie not having that in mind. What’s more important is that the fans enjoy and appreciate what we made.
SILVA: For Koyama-san, you were involved with the hit movie Promare as a character and mechanical designer. The characters look so much different than what we’ve seen in recent animes. What made you design the characters this way?
KOYAMA: I don’t think it’s a different style per se. Thinking back to [Studio] GAINAX, there’s Panty & Stocking and Gurren Laggan as well as KILL la KILL, so for this movie it’s a mashup all of these styles. So it’s not particularly a different style but a style that blends all of them together.
SILVA: At Anime Expo 2017, you announced Darling in the FranXX, SSSS.Gridman, and Promare. At the time what title do you think would have the most success and did your prediction pan out?
WAKABAYASHI: Between the two of us, we thought that Promare was the favorite to be great because we were assisting more with Darling in the FranXX with the mecha design so we weren’t the main studio, and with SSSS.Gridman we had the younger crew working on it and were more of the senpai role and helping them out and therefore not part of the main crew.
SILVA: Koyama-san, was it like working with the legendary comic book writer Stan Lee for the anime Heroman?
KOYAMA: From the moment I met him, I was like “wow, this guy was a whole other level.” He’s a very dedicated and clever person, and his thinking was out of this world and very fast even in his 80s he was still giving out ideas at that continuous pace. I really respected him for that, just a whole other level.
SILVA: Alright, that’s all the time we have. Wakabayashi-san, Koyama-san, arigatou gozaimasu.
STUDIO TRIGGER: Arigatou gozaimasu.
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