The manga Sailor Moon, created by Naoko Takeuchi, has been serialized for 20 years. As early as 2012, it was officially announced that a new TV animation work would be produced. The title of this work is "Sailor Moon Crystal", and its purpose is also very clear: in this work that has not lost its brilliance to this day, it is crowned with the same brilliant crystal "Crystal". There are many original elements in the previous TV animation (1992~1997), and in order to distinguish it from the "predecessors", this work will faithfully restore the original work, so it can also be said to be a "return to the origin" topic work.

At the same time, in order to allow fans of the United States War all over the world to enjoy the work to the fullest, the official has also synchronized the distribution of information to the world through platforms such as guò NICONICO animation, and this form of expression, which is different from other TV animations, has also caused a lot of conversation.

If you talk about the biggest attraction of this work, in addition to the plot being made according to the rhythm of the original manga, the character design of the work also authentically restores the painting style of Naoko Takeuchi. Recently, some Japanese media interviewed Samitsu Yukie, who served as the character in the new work "Sailor Moon", and learned the charm of the work from the mouth of this character designer.

■I didn't think I would be able to participate in this work

Q: This time you participated in the production of Sailor Moon Crystal. So can you tell us a little bit about the ins and outs of this?

Samitsu: In June 2013, I was called and asked if I wanted to participate in the selection of the work. At that time, it was also for the purpose of discussing the work, so I went to Toei Animation. Actually, I hadn't seen the original work before, so I took advantage of that opportunity to read it.

However, at that time, I was also busy with the critical period of the production of "Galaxy Strike Force Majestic Prince" as a painting director, so I sacrificed a lot of sleep time to complete the work for the selection.

Q: What exactly did you draw in your artworks?

Satomitsu: I was asked to draw a poster that would express the world of Sailor Moon, and there was no special size limit, so I just stretched my imagination on an A3 sheet of paper and drew it. In fact, the size of the A3 has never been tried even in my later work, so this is the largest size I have ever taken over in my career as an animated poster.

Q: Let's change the subject a bit, did you know that this work was announced in the 2012 Niconico live?

Samitsu: Yes. At that time, I happened to accidentally replay the video of the live broadcast, and then I watched the speech of the person in charge, Mr. Fumio Kosano. But I don't think it has anything to do with me, I just think, "Oh, I'm going to do it" (laughs).

I hadn't worked with Toei Animation before, nor had I worked with Mr. Sohisa Sakai, who was in charge of directing this work, so I never imagined that I could be involved in the production of this work.

■Bring the style of the original to the anime as much as possible

Q: You got the job after going through the selection process, so what kind of perspective did you approach when designing Sailor Moon Crystal?

Samitsu: When I participated in the judging, Mr. Sakai said, "I want to bring the style of the original work to the animation as much as possible." So I put a lot of effort into researching "what are the characteristics of Takeuchi-sensei's paintings?"

In addition, I think that the fans' perception of this style of art is not that "this style of painting is impressive", but that "this style of painting should be this way". So I'm going to pursue the so-called "greatest common divisor" little by little. Try to make everyone as happy as possible.

Later, Mr. Jing said, "I want you to paint such a work." He was referring to the picture drawn on the cover of the complete edition (in November 2013, the Sailor Moon manga was released as a complete version, with a total of 10 volumes, and all the covers were completely renewed). And these pictures "are the latest painting style of Mr. Takeuchi". In the character design this time, the characters appear more mature, which is also a reference to the relationship between the latest covers. However, when I was designing the design, I made the character uncute due to the excessive pursuit of maturity (laughs), so I revised it several times to incorporate cuteness.

Q: What is the difference in style between your initial design and the later set art?

Samitsu: First of all, it's about the balance of the face. When I was drawing, I also had some ideas about the balance of painting, and I couldn't let it be integrated with today's mainstream animation paintings. Nowadays, characters usually start in the center of the entire head (from the top of the head to the lower jaw), so the nose will appear long. In the definitive version of Crystal, I drew the eyebrows, eyes, nose, and mouth at the bottom of the head, rather than the center of the head.

If you use the same setting as the mainstream art style today, then it may seem very strange to everyone. Mr. Jing also feels that facial balance is a very important issue. I also had quite a few failures to be able to draw this finished version.

Q: Speaking of this work, for example, in the previous TV series, there are times when the characters show a rather broken expression. So have you thought about this?

Samitsu: We did touch on this topic when we were discussing the work, and I realized that Mr. Jing didn't really think about drawing this aspect of the plot. In the previous TV series,The characters are deliberately set up to have some very collapsed effects because they are sometimes very funny in order to match the plot.,But this time it's different from before.。

Speaking of my personal impressions of the previous work, there is no doubt that it is very powerful. It's just that since the 7th episode of the letter on October 4, the plot is also very different from the previous work. In such a situation, I believe you can understand why we have to adopt such a persona.

■The original has a charm that transcends its time

Q: Although this work is very faithful to the original, but after the animation is really made, there should still be a difference in the character design, right?

Samitsu: The biggest difference is the treatment of the eyes. In the manga, the upper eyelid of the character is outlined with a curved stroke, but in the anime, if the outer corner of the eye, the corner of the large eye and the eyelid cannot be distinguished, then it is difficult to express the three-dimensional effect. However, on this basis, we are still close to Takeuchi-sensei's painting style. In particular, when designing Mizuno-chan's eyes, I put a lot of thought into making the drooping effect of her outer eye corners more obvious.

Q: When you designed the relationship between the head and the body, you did it in a way that was close to the original.

Samitsu: That's right. Although the cover of the full version depicts some content, it is impossible to describe even the details of the nails on the cover. Actually, there is a difference in the balance of the drawing between a picture that needs to be drawn to the tip of the toe and a picture where the heel is only a part of the foot. Luckily, in the second half of the original work, there are a lot of full-body shapes of the characters, and I used these proportions to make zuò.

Q: When I was watching the first episode, I suddenly thought: Bunny's socks are the kind of nostalgic folding shapes.

Samitsu: This time, I was not tied down to the "trend of the times". Except for a few compromises, we recreated the original world in detail when setting.

We also depict the field guard's pocket watch at all times. Although it is difficult to portray the details, the importance of "Crystal" is to depict these details. In the final analysis, the original work is a world view that incorporates elements such as "cute" and "desirable", so we didn't particularly care about "modernity" when setting it.

Q: Speaking of characters, Tsukino and Minako Aino are very close in terms of hair color, so what did you put into it?

Samitsu: When I was designing, I focused on Minako-chan. In fact, when it comes to the elements of the protagonist, Minako-chan has more than a bunny. That's why I also drew Minako-chan as a more orthodox beautiful girl when I was designing.

Speaking of orthodox beautiful girls, in addition to Minako-chan, the same goes for the most beautiful beauty Rei Hono. Bunny, on the other hand, is a medium-level setting. Actually, I think Takeuchi-sensei was going to use Minako-chan from "Numbered Sailor Suit V" as the main character at the beginning, so I incorporated elements of the protagonist into her and drew it while imagining it.

Q: On the other hand, what kind of effort did you put into the male character and night dress masquerade?

Samitsu: I've come up with a lot of settings to design the image of the night dress mask, but I've been beaten back by producer Yu Kamiki (laughs). I felt a little out of place when I started the design, but in the process of repeating it over and over again, it felt like it was a battle between Kamiki Filmmaker and the Night Dress Mask (laughs).

Regarding the men depicted by Takeuchi-sensei, it is difficult for ordinary people to grasp the key to balance. So I put in a lot of effort as well. And Ah Wei is the only beautiful man in the work, so before creating the character that appeared, I went through many mistakes before I found this very delicate balance. But now it's still hard for me to draw it.

■It is not as strong as the DNA of the previous game

Q: Do you have any ideas for Sailor Moon?

Samitsu: Speaking of the previous TV series, in the funny episode that Junichi Sato was in charge of at the time, Luna fought side by side with a cat named RhettButler, and I don't know how many times I watched that episode. Laughing from ear to ear.

When my previous anime, Sailor Moon, first aired, it was also the time when I decided to enter the animation industry and then came to Tokyo. But at that time, I watched "Yuyou Hakusho" every Saturday evening, and then "Sailor Moon", "Slam Dunk", "Southern Boy Strange Little Evil" and other works, and I was immersed in the fun of watching for an hour and a half before I knew it. But the style of painting didn't affect me at the time, and it became a good thing when I was a designer.

In addition, the person in charge at that time was Ms. Kazuko Kono and Ms. Ikuko Ito. But I've never worked with them on the job. So I don't have that kind of DNA in my body. So, when I was asked to "create according to Takeuchi-sensei's original work", it was even more handy. I feel that what I was asked to do was to "create a character that is different from the previous work".

Q: Could you tell us about your experience participating in this work as a character?

Samitsu: For an animation practitioner, becoming a "character designer" can be said to be one of the goals, but not everyone is competent. I've been working in animation for a long time, but it's hard to get a position like that. Actually, before I took over this job, I doubted that I had the talent to do so, so it was a wonderful time.

I participated in the system with the consciousness of "if you can't get this job, don't do it". In retrospect, Sailor Moon was a work that had a lot of weight on me when I came to Tokyo to become an animator. After all, it was born at the beginning of my career, and now that I can participate in the 20th anniversary version of the anime under such circumstances, it really feels like a reincarnation of fate.

Q: Thank you very much for your time today. So a few words to the fans.

Samitsu: A pure shoujo manga is often difficult to adapt into an anime. If you've seen the TV anime of the previous game, but haven't touched the original yet, then I hope you can enjoy it and enjoy the manga. In addition, if someone can read the original work because of this anime, then I think it would be a great thing.