Based on Yoshiki Tanaka's original work, Hiroshi Arakawa's TV anime "Battle of Arslan" is now airing every Sunday at 5 p.m. on MBS and TBS. We've already interviewed animation supervisor Kiyuki Abe and producer Ryo Tsuchida. Today, the one who is about to break the news is Shingo Kogi, who plays the role setting in this work. He will talk about the process of participating in the production of zuò and his thoughts on the character setting.

――First of all, Mr. Kogiso, can you tell us about your participation in the production of this work?

Kogiso: Originally, I was asked to set the character for another work. That's why I joined LIDENFILMS. But then the work was suspended due to an unexpected situation, and it was at this time that someone invited me to "have a work like this".

-- It's a matter of course. Have you read the original?

Kogiso: Actually, I didn't know anything about Hiroshi Arakawa's "Arslan Wars". My impression of this work has always been that it is "a very old novel", so I was surprised. On the day of the end of the work talk, I went to the bookstore and bought comics to read.

――So, what was your first impression of the original?

Kogiso: Normally people my age, many of my friends have read the novel version, so I also vaguely know some of the plots. However, I originally thought that the Senki manga would give people a slightly heavy impression, but after reading it, I realized that it was actually a set of particularly cheerful shonen manga, and I was very surprised. I don't think the manga version has that heavy feeling, but a fight drama where the characters are unrestrained and adventurous.

――What is your impression of Mr. Arakawa?

Kogiso: I was a member of the animation production team and attended the premiere of Fullmetal Alchemist. Mr. Arakawa is very popular in the animation world. It may not be appropriate to say that the figures are easy to depict, but it is easy to make them dynamic, because the characters are simple and detailed. So I went to the opening ceremony of Fullmetal Alchemist with the feeling that I must participate in the production of zuò. Although I hadn't read "The Battle of Arslan" at that time, I had been friends with Mr. Arakawa for a long time.

――What parts of "The Battle of Arslan" do you feel about Mr. Arakawa's style?

Kogiso: It makes people smile in everyday scenes, and the character's personality looks cute...... Trying to tap into the charm of the characters as much as possible like this should be Mr. Arakawa's unique style.

――It's funny and fast-paced, so it's fun to make it.

Kogiso: It's a bit difficult to add slots from time to time in this work, but I tried to challenge it. The villains in the work are the most powerful thing that people can't hate. I also read the novel, and the characters in the work are hated no matter how you look at it, but the comics are really hateful. I think this is the unique charm of Mr. Arakawa's work.

――Is there anything you particularly needed to pay attention to during the character design phase of the animation?

Kogiso: Mr. Arakawa's work has been animated before, but I analyzed the unique motion capture methods of the character designers in those works, and tried to "understand at first glance that it is Arakawa-sensei's work, but also add some new elements."

――Where would you like to differentiate?

Kogiso: In the original novel, the "beauty" part was highlighted, and I wanted to make it even more magnified. And the story itself is relatively heavy, so I plan to add a little bit of reality to the character design to add a bit of a touch of reality to the icing on the cake. In doing so, the character will also become more convincing.

――When we interviewed Mr. Tsuchida (animation producer) earlier, he mentioned that the character of the work is based on the original form design, and incorporates the realism that Mr. Kogiso is good at.

Kogiso: That's true. Mr. Arakawa himself felt that the depiction (compared to the previous animated works) was a little more realistic. I wanted to keep that feeling that way, so I put some emphasis on realism in the character design.

-- I might want to ask some details next. In terms of character design, compared with the comics, where can you clearly see that "this is different"?

Kogiso: It's the part below the head. The details are quite real. The structure of the muscles is described.

――Did you want to show the realism of your muscles in order to create a character who can fight close to each other?

Kogiso: Yes. If you don't put in the effort there, you won't be able to express the charm of the work. For example, Dalong's character setting.

――Ah~ Indeed. The muscles are realistically portrayed. So does the "beauty" mentioned just now reflect in Arslan?

Kogiso: In the case of Arslan's character, the character was actually set up in a good way, mainly because he consciously wanted to reflect the beauty when deciding on the color scheme. It will be noticed when drawing the copyright map and making the general painting supervision and revision.

――What exactly does it mean to embody beauty in color tones?

Kokiso: It's just to lighten the color of your hair...... Let's fade the hue. This is where the overseer has always struggled. The outer contour of the hair is drawn with black pencil and is also covered when coloring the hair as a whole. This gives you a fresh feel in your hair.

- I see. The contour of the hair is rendered by the white hair color on the inside. It really reflects the softness and volume of Arslan's hair. The impression of Arslan himself also had a great influence.

Kogiso: That's right.

――Regarding Arslan, do you consciously portray him in a feminine direction?

Kogiso: No, I don't feel that way. He's just a beautiful boy.

――Is it just a little bit of a young physique?

Kogiso: Yes.

- I see. In terms of beauty, what about Francis?

Kogiso: I wanted to design beautiful characters like Frangis and Narsas to be realistic. In any case, I want to use my talents here, for example, by adding a little bit of my own character or by elongating the face of the character.

――Personally, I think it's sculptural.

Kogiso: Well, Frangis and Taiba Mena feel a little bit like Kannon Bodhisattva. I intend to create a sense of beauty that is sublime and acceptable to the average person. However, maybe it's because I learned how to shape when I was a student at American University, so I think it may be unconsciously reflected in the actual work process (laughs)......

――There are a lot of characters in this work, and the character design work is very hard.

Kogiso: Once you have a lot of characters, you can't bear it. So [character design] was done by a small team of 3 people.

――Mr. Kogiso was the chief, and Tazawa (Chao) and Watanabe (Kazuo) were in charge of some of the characters.

Kogiso: Yes. The three of them are all different, and the style of painting is also different, so it is very important to unify the direction, but it is really hard to draw the number of characters that you can't finish drawing.

- Chiswat (Captain of Ten Thousand Horses) and other characters are very three-dimensional.

Kogiso: Everyone is very handsome, and it's our brainchild. We design each character with the feeling that "all characters should be designed well", but some characters have to receive a bento as soon as they appear.........

-- That's right. So how did the trio divide up their roles in terms of character design?

Kogiso: Basically, I set the important roles, and the other two were in charge of the rest. In the end, I will check it uniformly, and if there is something I think is not good, I will directly modify it.

――Ah~ It turns out that the character settings can also be modified. Because of the sheer number of characters, it's even more difficult to distinguish between each one. Will everyone look the same?

Kogiso: On the contrary, I need to pay special attention to whether the characters that conform to the orthodox style of Senki can be unified with the same worldview as the cute characters like Arslan and Yalam. When portraying such a cute character, I added a little bit of a realistic element. Because I have the habit of taking the realistic route, I have always paid attention to self-control when designing.

――Compared to other works, is there anything that makes it particularly difficult to make a suzuò?

Kogiso: It must be a horse.

- Huh? Horse? I didn't expect it to be a horse (laughs).

Kogiso: You have to have a lot of knowledge about horses, and you have to have experience in painting. The painting supervisor and the chief painting supervisor inevitably had to make changes to the image of the horse in their work, and it became a big project at that time.

――Indeed, the movements of the horses in this work are very realistic. It feels like it's made of CG, but at the same time, you can see that the original artist's skill in drawing horses is extraordinary.

Kogiso: I tried to find an experienced master painter to do the original painting as much as possible, so as to reduce the burden of painting supervision.

――You also struggled with the design of horses.

Kogiso: Yes. I think it's Thoroughbred in terms of breed, and the heavy horse should be characterized by a strong physique, which is how I designed it in this game.

――There are very few cartoons depicting quadrupeds these days......

Kogiso: I really want to do it myself. I became an animator because I wanted to depict all kinds of things, so I wanted to try my hand at the dynamics of making zuò horses.

――Do you like to make things move?

Kogiso: Yes. I think it's because the picture moves that the charm of the characters and the worldview can be better conveyed to the audience.

――This question may not have anything to do with Arslan, but who is your favorite animator?

Kogiso: I don't really like it right now, but when it comes to the opportunity to enter the animation industry, it should be Yasuhiko Ryokazu ...... There is also Kazuya Kwase, who has a lot of seniority.

- I see. They are all masters who pay great attention to the sense of reality and can portray human nature. It feels like "Arslan" is also going along this route......

Kogiso: Actually, I still have to refer to Mr. Yasuhiko's manga "Arian" from time to time (laughs).

- Ahh That's right (laughs). So the main purpose of this game's graphic design is to "serve to make better dynamics", right?

Kogiso: Yes. I want to provide better dynamic services for the sake of the table, but personally, I will also focus on carefully showing the use of swords and weapons. Because I'm used to watching Japanese period dramas, swordsmanship has also become Japanese, so I have to pay attention to avoid it as much as possible when making this work.

-- After reading the materials, I realized that you have put a lot of effort into bows and arrows.

Kogiso: Yes. When the arrow is fired, it spins and moves forward. I wanted to reproduce this process in the animation.

Kogiso: In terms of swordsmanship, the most difficult thing to do is Arslan. His swordsmanship is a little stronger than the average person, but it's weak compared to Taron, so it's hard to grasp this degree (laughs). At the beginning of episodes 1 and 2, isn't there a scene where Arslan and Bavlis are sparring? Compared to the first episode, the second episode should reflect the progress of swordsmanship. At first, Arslan, who was unable to face an opponent with a wooden sword, grew up in Episode 2 and fought with an opponent with a real sword, and would appear to be evenly matched.

-- I show signs of growth.

Kogiso: Yes. It is not set as a simple fight scene, but a picture designed according to the characteristics of the sword halberd. This is really the way of thinking about acting. The gestures, the way they fight, and the way they walk are all depicted according to the character's personality. As one of the links, the fight scene is the easiest place to be exaggerated.

――Does each character have a "Notes to Refer to when Drawing"?

Kogiso: In terms of movement, Mr. Kimura (Tomo), who is in charge of the movement, is mainly in charge, but I will also give some opinions. For example......

Kogiso: I was in charge of this part, and it depicts the strong back muscles of the samurai.

- Ahh I see. Table xiàn the movement of the waist. But Kif's stance doesn't seem to be like that.

Kogiso: Yes. Chifu is a character that cannot be judged by common sense.

- Ah, really! Pose is a lot of fun.

Kogiso: (laughs). Silmes is a sword with a murderous feeling.

――From these Pose reference images, you can see the different personalities of each character.

Kogiso: Yes. We drew with the intention of "hoping to create a Pose that reflects each individual's personality". I'm also going to try to pose myself (laughs).

――Do you pose for a selfie by yourself (laughs)? Do you record videos to watch?

Kogiso: It's not so much that I want to confirm it, but that it's my hobby...... Ever since I made Bleach Grim Reaper, I have carefully studied the various movements of my body when practicing martial arts and sports. This habit is also carried forward when painting original paintings of fight scenes for other works...... Normally, I don't really look for information, but in this work, there is a part that uses Western swordsmanship, and I don't know about it, so I was fully prepared to look up the information this time.

――All of the things I just said are about fighting, so what are the problems in the description of daily life?

Kogiso: I guess it's a prop. For example, there are often scenes of eating in anime, but what is the tableware and eating life like? I'm going to be very careful about things like this. Actually, our main creators go out of their way to eat Persian food and ask the owner all kinds of questions (laughs). That's what they do all the time. The props are small, but I think they are something that embodies the world view (Daisuke the new wife was responsible for the construction and concept design of the world view). Although no one has ever been to a world before, it is precisely because of this that we want to show the audience a real world with Arslan in Zài. In order for the audience to be emotionally invested in the work, we also have to work on the details.

――What will be the highlight of the images in the anime in the future?

Kogiso: It's an elephant (laughs). It's still unknown, but I'm looking forward to it. Sindra's army of war elephants is definitely a great pleasure for viewers. And from the perspective of a character designer, I would like to recommend Syndra's Rajtra, who just appeared recently, and Atvaru. Atvaru will appear as an important character, so stay tuned for the future.

――Finally, please tell us about Mr. Kogiso's unique charm that is reflected in this work.

Kogiso: I think it's a team battle that is rarely depicted in ordinary anime. Not one or two people, but hundreds of thousands against hundreds of thousands. This is the greatest charm of this work. Behind such a large-scale war, from only two people, to four people, six people, how will Arslan and his companions fight? Stay tuned for the future!

- Thank you.