Tencent Animation has previously reported on the issue of WakeUp, Girls! This animation tells how the girls of the idol group grow up.,Idol animation is a royal way in terms of genre.,But there are some differences in production techniques.,So it sparked a lot of conversation.。

The girls who served as the 7 lead voice actors were selected through an all-Japan audition. The animation team designed the characters based on the personalities of these newcomers. In addition, the selected newcomers have taken on the mission of "becoming voice actors who can sing and dance", and they have been learning from scratch and participating not only in voice work, but also in various events held throughout Japan.

The core members who coordinate this work are not only Uncle Yamamoto Kan, who we are very familiar with, but also Hiroyuki Tanaka, a producer from Aibex. Recently, some Japanese media conducted an exclusive interview with him. From the interview, we will learn about the reasons and goals of Ibex to cultivate voice actors. The key word in this interview is "the way to make people fall in love". Because people can only evoke nostalgia for the things they participate in making with their own hands.

【Hiroyuki Tanaka Archive】

Broadcast to Tencent**

Prior to that, he worked in business at Columbia Co., Ltd. in Japan and joined Ibex in 2000. At first, he was in charge of publicity, and then he was transferred to the animation production department.

He is currently a producer at DIVEIIENTERTAINMENT, where he is responsible for WakeUp, Girls! "Let's sneak, Naiako! "Hama Tiger", "Flower Dancing Girl", "DRAMAticalMurder" and other animation works.

In addition, he also served as a producer for the voice actor groups "Fukushi Kato" (Eimiri Kato, Kaori Fukuhara) and "Tomoku II" (Yuki Ono and Takuya Eguchi).

The reason why Aibex cultivates voice actors

Q: Speaking of Ibex, you might think that this is a record company with a large number of singing and dancing artists. So could you please tell us that Aibecks has cultivated 7 "WakeUp, Girls!" in the competition in the animation market. What is the purpose?

Tanaka: The inspiration for this project came from what Director Hiroshi Yamamoto told me. At the time, he said, "I wanted to make an idol anime that could be organically linked to voice actors. And the new voice actors are all trained by us. "There was also a discussion in the company about expanding the size of the animation department, so I had the idea of working with him to achieve this goal.

Q: What exactly does the phrase "expanding the size of the animation department" mean?

Tanaka: When it comes to the business model of the Animation Division, it goes something like this: first we invest in animation production, and then we recycle profits through video products and character products. But we wondered if we could find another way to make "voice actors" the biggest investment target?

The current voice actors don't just stop at the level of "acting in roles", they also participate in various events and concerts, right? We are also a company that has been dealing with the stage for many years, so we want to expand our business channels in the animation department as well.

As mentioned earlier, WUG! This project is to train new people from scratch. Next, they will play animated roles and hold concerts in theaters across the country to achieve the effect of a "concert tour". With this in mind, we started with the audition of newcomers.

Broadcast to Tencent**

Q: In terms of iBex's policy, do you want to focus on idols or voice actors?

Tanaka: When people talk about the "Aibakers policy," they often mistakenly think that we only value aspects that have nothing to do with acting, such as singing and dancing. So in order not to misunderstand you, I also want to give you a clear answer here: what we want to cultivate in the animation department is naturally "voice actors". I think it's important to be down-to-earth and fully develop voice actors who can support themselves with their acting skills.

At WUG! In this regard, we have adopted a method of cooperation with the voice actor agency 81produce. Acting skills are trained by them, and singing and dancing classes are handed over to Ibex.

Q: So, since your company is strong in song and dance, why do you want to focus on acting?

Tanaka: Because we want to be able to provide what anime fans are looking for. When guests pay attention to these voice actors, they will be very sensitive to the judgment of "this is an idol focus" or "this is a real voice actor". At the end of the day, WUG! It's just "letting voice actors play idol roles in anime". We are also moving forward along this path.

Q: You mentioned "what anime fans are looking for", so do you take a different approach than fans in other fields when building trust with this type of fan?

Tanaka: I think so. People who like animation pursue some "fantasies" that are not in reality in animation, so as to make themselves physically and mentally happy. Therefore, they prefer a more conventional, uneventful setting.

But on the other hand, they are also looking for "new thrills". For those who provide works, how to balance the relationship between "calm waves" and "new stimuli" has become a very big problem. If it is a work that has no sense of stimulation and makes people not resist, it will soon disappear from their sight.

WUG！ From the perspective of animation production, it is a royal idol animation, but there are also new attempts. I'm sure everyone is also aware that we started from 0 to train new voice actors, let them go on a national tour, and closely linked animation and reality.

Thinking about how to convey the message to the guests, Director Yamamoto said, "Please don't fill the audience at first"

Q: How are new voice actors selected?

Tanaka: Voice actor audition event. For three months from September 2012 to the end of 2012, I traveled between five cities in Japan: Sendai, Fukuoka, Nagoya, Osaka, and Tokyo.

Director Yamamoto came up with the idea of "making the girls overlap with the characters", so we named the characters based on the names of the seven people selected. Make the pronunciation of your real character's name consistent. Then, observe the personalities of the seven people who are trained and participate in activities, and give their personalities to the characters. Of course, we're also making adjustments so that the real person and the character have both overlaps and differences, and the two aspects coexist with each other.

Q: Did you have any differences of opinion with Director Yamamoto?

Tanaka: We also had a very heated discussion on how to distinguish voice actors from idols. Director Yamamoto has a love for both idols and anime, so he wanted to mix the two. However, from the perspective of direction, his ideas are closer to idols.

On the one hand, I was conservative and wanted to focus on the voice actors, so although there was no confrontation between the two of them, we also managed to create a balance in the process of negotiating with the director: I was in charge of the planning and promotion, and the director thought about the content of the animation.

Q：WUG！ The members are all newcomers, and their works are original, so I think it's a project that starts with zero recognition. So in order to let the guests know about WUG in a limited time! What are you doing?

Tanaka: It's true that the TV anime itself is a one-season that only aired from January ~ March 2014 (13 episodes in total), so it was only possible to promote it for a very short time. Here, we will use the start time as a turning point, and various events will be held regularly from before the anime is broadcast.

Specifically, WUG! The company held its first mini-concert at the WonderFestival in July 2013, a handshake party at C84 in August, and a fan meeting every month from September until the end of the year, and a theatrical version (WakeUp, Girls!) in January 2014. 7 idols") was released, and a lot of activities began to be carried out in theaters that tested the work nationwide.

Q: Why did you expand this project to the point of a theatrical version?

Tanaka: First of all, it's an original work, so it's impossible for the audience to know the content of the work in advance, and there won't be fans of the original work coming to cheer on it. Therefore, we feel that in such a state, if we don't give everyone a kind of impact and make this work different from other works, then it will be no different from failure.

Also, when you talk about theater, isn't it easy to think of "event"? After all, this is also a stage for performances.

(Continued on next page)

Broadcast to Tencent**

Q: In other words, you want to create an idol concert venue rather than a "venue for a preview theater"?

Tanaka: I had already told director Yamamoto, "By transforming the theater into a concert venue, the audience will come to the theater and feel like they're here to follow a concert tour." If that were the case, it would be great. "In this regard, we also carried out a lot of stage appreciation activities. In February of this year, there was even a preview screening with a "chocolate giveaway campaign". At this point, it doesn't look like a test screening anyway (laughs).

Q: In other words, in order to raise awareness of the project, you have been planning and promoting the project since before the anime is broadcast. You just mentioned that there is a "fan club" between September ~ the end of the year. This term seems a little unfamiliar, but what does it refer to?

Tanaka: The content of the fan club is to let everyone see how new voice actors receive training and the results of the training. There must have been a lot of immaturity at first when the seven of them had to recite, sing, and have a free conversation, but as the number of times they grew, they also grew. And you can feel the WUG for yourself! In the process of growing up, share the joy of success with them. In this way, the seven girls were connected with the guests.

Q: Let fans see that the girls still look confused when they are being trained. It's also very innovative.

Tanaka: This kind of contact is completely different from other artists. Usually, fans will see the most perfect side of their idols.

However, director Yamamoto believes that "idols are stories" and that "this work should reflect human nature and let everyone see setbacks and how to overcome them."

Usually when we let a newcomer debut, we will desperately think about how to fill the audience at the venue. But WUG! The debut concert was held at Akihabara TwinBox AKIHABARA, a venue that can only accommodate 200 people. Director Yamamoto was not satisfied, and said, "It would be nice to have 3 or 5 guests at the beginning." ”

What he meant was that if it started out unnoticed, and then it became popular, then it could become a kind of "legend". And this form can also be completely copied into the story of the animation. Director Yamamoto also said, "Please don't let the concert be a full house from the beginning and be a big success. ”

Q: However, it costs money to hold an event. In addition, the completely original work is not well-known at all. Still, you're planning to grow your audience little by little, which is a big bet. Could it be that this project is not just about making money?

Tanaka: Of course, we want to make money (laughs). It's just that the process of making money is different from the general situation. We need an upfront investment. We want to use the resources we have on training to create great stories, and then reclaim the benefits through animation.

However, it is a great pity that the legend of "starting with only 5 spectators" did not come true. Since the first concert, it has been full every time.

Q: Hey, it's full!?

Tanaka: Yes. What is touching is that the events since then have been full. The April 27 concert at Shinagawa Stellaball is expected to accommodate 1,800 people, and a ticket is required to apply for tickets. However, we received as many as 6,000 tickets. I feel that the number of customers is also increasing a little bit.

The purpose of fans is not just to "see" anime as a means of communication

Q: The response has been overwhelming. So, what kind of effort did you put into attracting the audience?

Tanaka: We feel that animation today is a participatory activity. Recently, anime fans no longer regard watching anime as their sole purpose, but want to be able to discuss anime topics with everyone on the Internet or in reality, so as to liven up the chat.

Therefore, for a producer, I think it is important to figure out how much of a topic the animation can have among the audience and what kind of communication it will be; and, how to give them the "awareness to participate in the discussion of the work".

Q: Is that the awareness of participating in the discussion of the work?

Tanaka: When composing the theme song of "Let's Sneak, Naiako", "The Sun Says: Burn Chaos", I asked Ms. Aki Hatata, who wrote the lyrics, to make it mentioned in the chat with friends, considering that "there is something NETA all over the work". As a result, the song uses "("·ω·)"うー! （／·ω·）／にゃー！ Voice.

At that time, it was also the time when the official distribution of NICONICO anime and the phenomenon of live anime streaming on Twitter was booming, and I thought it was very important to be able to participate in anime discussions on the Internet. ”

Q: When Nayako was around, you put a lot of effort into "making it possible for everyone to discuss online". Then it's time for WUG! What kind of sense of participation do you want the audience to have?

Tanaka: WUG! In terms of this, I hope to be able to achieve the effect of face-to-face communication in reality. The theme itself is also an idol story, so if you can make WUG! It will be even better to meet the guests directly face-to-face.

Q: What are the advantages of face-to-face communication?

Tanaka: You can see the reactions of the guests. We can understand "what kind of expression does that person have when he does this?" Wouldn't you be happy? ”

Q: It's similar to the pick-up industry.

Tanaka: Seriously, I think it's the pick-up industry.

The voices of the audience will be used by us to make the cheers of the characters in the anime who "play soy sauce". When the concert plot appears in the animation, the huge cheers of "wow~" on the scene are actually the voices of the audience in reality.

When Director Yamamoto walks on stage, the host will say, "The director has appeared~!" At this time, there will be "Oh oh~!" below! Response. This sound is recorded by a sound engineer equipped with a sound collecting microphone, and then amplified by the machine, and later used in the animation. We thought it would be nice if we found out that we could participate in the animation in the form of "sound as an audio file", right?

In addition, when guests are waiting in line to shake hands, we ask the staff to chat with them. I've also been the moderator of the event myself, and I've been able to communicate with everyone as much as possible.

ズンドコ节與"うー! にゃー！ The common denominator

Q: It seems that you attach great importance to communicating directly with your guests, so what was the inspiration that gave you this idea?

Tanaka: Speaking of which, I have been working for a long time to keep a very close distance from my customers, so maybe it has something to do with that. Before I joined iBecks, I spent 2 years selling karaoke CDs at other record companies. That was around the year 2000.

At that time, I was working in Kyushu, and there were karaoke classrooms everywhere around. The teacher in charge of teaching how to sing karaoke will gather a group of old grandparents and then sing the song. It is also a form of leisure for the elderly.

So, if the song discs I sell can be used as "class songs" in a karaoke class, then I can sell 20 songs in a class of 20 people.

Q: What kind of sales do you need to sell your products in order to become a karaoke class song?

Tanaka: Actually, I don't care more about sales and sales pitches than I care about how to get the emotions of my customers. I would ask them: What kind of songs do you like? During this period, I found that people who go to karaoke classrooms, as long as they have heard singing, often have ** who "want to sing". And in order to be able to sing at any time, they will buy the song disc back. And those songs that are easy to sing are more popular.

So in retrospect, maybe the ズンドコ festival element (a kind of singing) is the same as Nayako's "うー! にゃー！ "It's the same thing (they all have the charm of making people want to sing). (laughs)

And WUG! It's different. We need to make it possible for our guests to participate with the mindset of "cheering for the new voice actors and supporting their careers." …… Now that the anime is over, I have another thought: if I had chosen a popular voice actor from the beginning, I might not have been able to achieve the hot atmosphere I have today.

The production staff and production committee have such a reason for such enthusiasm, and ...... "WakeUp, Girls! >> It's just getting started."

Q: In terms of anime, if the voice actor is well-known, it will be more attractive to the audience. And what did you gain from using a new voice actor?

Tanaka: Because these kids come out of auditions and make their debut, we can follow their development at a very early stage. In the process, we also came up with the idea of "hoping to protect their growth and support their careers".

In addition, the seriousness of the rookie voice actors who "do their best to hope that everyone will come to the event" also touched our hearts. The reason why I say this is because WUG! As an idol, it still looks like a village girl. In the Warring States period, the idol in the anime, they also used the local city of Sendai as the stage, eager for the day when they took off.

In today's animation industry, we can sometimes make good works that sell well, but it is not easy to keep a work going on for a long time. Maybe it's WUG! The kind of "village girl flavor" can play a role in circulation.

Therefore, I think it is through the seriousness of the rookie voice actors who debuted in this work and the chemistry generated by the village-like plot that we can sublimate the feeling of "wanting to protect their growth and support their careers" in everyone's hearts.

Therefore, the production lineup, including the voice actors, the on-site staff, and the director, as well as the members of our production committee, are very enthusiastic.

Q: All of you have been in charge of many works, WUG! It's just one of them. So what is it for WUG! What about high enthusiasm?

Tanaka: One of the reasons is that the seven rookie voice actors are very frank and humble in accepting opinions from all sides, and they are trying to improve their acting skills, singing skills, and conversation skills. One by one, they are surpassing the difficulties we have conceived in advance and soaring towards higher goals. This kind of desperate performance also deeply touched the members of the production committee. And I'm afraid that the production team, and even the guests, will be infected by this spirit, right?

Another important reason is that these seven people were personally selected by the director, music manager, scriptwriter, and voice actor training team of this work, and let them enter the industry. Everyone felt the responsibility on their shoulders. Everyone has a feeling similar to that of their parents, and they care for them a lot (laughs).

Actually, there are a lot of people who think of themselves as parents. Speaking of which, I am a manager of the company, and I should have kept a certain distance and looked at the problem from an objective perspective...... But I couldn't do that. The other producers on the production committee were more dedicated to WUG than I was! Above. I strongly feel that there is an aura emanating from them, that is, "even if it is a little contribution, as long as we can make a decision, we must try our best to find a stage where they can perform actively."

It's also my first time participating in WUG! It's a lot of fun and it's hard to forget.

Broadcast to Tencent**

Q: Don't you want to leave?

Tanaka: Probably...... I've put in a lot of effort! And when you work hard, this nostalgia becomes even deeper.

Essentially, animation is born by artists who draw pictures one by one, so how to fully mobilize everyone's motivation is the most important issue. The producer will not be involved in the painting. My job is to keep the staff and guests enthusiastic about the work at all times.

Recently, there have been a lot of new works in the animation industry, and this spring alone, there are about 60 of them. And if the client doesn't see the work as just "one-sixtieth", but more or less wants to support the work and bring their own emotions into the work, then my work will be considered a success.

Our staff is the team that will bring WakeUp, Girls! is considered to be "just starting out". It is currently in a stage of accumulation, in order to be able to make WUG! Gain experience by stepping on to the next stage...... I want to make a "follow-up".

I already have a vision. And if you are looking forward to the follow-up, please bring your enthusiasm and write your thoughts to us!