—— In recent years, there's been a trend towards increasing the branding of production studios in the anime and gaming industries, with individual studios gaining support for their particular styles. CloverWorks too was founded as a spin-off brand of A-1 Pictures' Koenji studio.

I joined A-1 Pictures because I found it interesting that it was founded by Aniplex-the first studio to be established by an anime producer. CloverWorks was founded in 2018 as a spin-off from A-1 Pictures, but it is impossible to discuss CloverWorks without acknowledging the backing the company has received from Aniplex, both in terms of its position and its production environment. It's long been an issue that the current structure makes it difficult for the individual production companies to generate profits. I think it is precisely for this reason that this system, in which anime producers work with studios to improve their production environment, has led to quality work, and ultimately the support of fans.

A-1 Pictures boasts a stable production system that they have established over the past approximately two decades. It is my responsibility to "inherit" and utilize this system, while also giving the studio more of an awareness of trends.

—— The worldview of anime works is expressed in various forms, such as figurines, games, and live-action motion pictures. Even with all of this, I believe that anime has the power to serve as the core of this worldview. I believe that even for works with original stories, we can use color, movement, and sound to create visual expressions unique to animation. What are your thoughts on the state of creativity in this sense?

If there is an original work, the question becomes how to express through animation what makes it fun or interesting-in a single season, while respecting the original work. Each fan wants their own image of the original work in their heads. As such, it is important to find ways to meet or even surpass these expectations, through things like the animation of the characters and the nuances of the voice acting.

The director's vision also plays a major role in establishing the worldview and color palette of a work. However, the animation industry is unique in that there are many "director" positions: director, animation director, cinematographer, art director, and so on. If they're discussing the light in a forest scene, the art director will need to make decisions as to whether it will be light or dark, or what colors to use if the scene will be at dusk, with the animation production process beginning based on the director's approval. And I believe that with people of so many different professions working together to create a single work, it is incredibly important to make the most of each individual's abilities.

—— In recent years, we've seen more and more studios combine 2D and 3D animation in their works. How do you think CloverWorks will utilize CG in that sense, and what sort of changes do you think there will be in the future?

Our view, which is consistent with the trend in the industry, is that 3D CG is only a supplement, that the focus should be on it blending well into the 2D animation. For instance, it takes an enormous amount of work to draw a car coming around the corner in 2D. So, we create the car in 3D CG and put it through 2D processing. This way, we can use 3D CG to reduce the amount of labor while preventing breakdowns in the visuals. Similarly, when 2D characters are moving around one another or overtaking each other in action scenes, or in scenes where characters and even the camera frequently switch positions, we'll produce the whole background in 3D CG, so we can change the camera position freely when shooting the scene, to prevent the need to draw each frame of the background in 2D. In any case, the important thing is that the 3D CG blends into the 2D, that it doesn't look unnatural. We use them for different purposes-using 2D to create appealing visuals while using 3D CG for the background and other elements.

Already, CG is used in a great many scenes in ways that seem natural to viewers, as in Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba. In the past, in our company, backgrounds were drawn out, then handed to the background art department for coloring. But with WIND BREAKER, the backgrounds are created in 3D and finished by hand. This is because viewers are increasingly looking for accuracy and precision, and when the same space appears repeatedly in many shots, creating it in CG is often the way to guarantee accuracy. I think because of this, we'll be working more and more with 3D layouts in the future.

—— Nowadays, 2D Japanese animation is gaining worldwide popularity. What do you see as the next step in this sense?

A lot of people now, even overseas, think of Japanese anime when they hear "animation." This is due in part to how much faster information travels nowadays, as well as the growth of streaming services like Crunchyroll (direct-to-consumer service under the Sony Group that specializes in anime). However, I personally think it's not just that, that another major factor is people discovering Japanese culture as depicted in these works and finding it to be appealing. I believe an important mission of ours is to continue sharing the beauty of Japanese culture through anime so that we can pass these cultural elements down to upcoming generations.

—— We can expect to see all kinds of developments over the next decade due to the wider adoption of AI. We may only need to draw the first and last frames of a movement to get the whole of the movement. Perhaps the way the characters' mouths move could be adjusted for different languages, or stories could evolve in accordance with the emotions of the viewer. What are your thoughts on this sort of interactivity?

Certainly, I think it will become more common to use AI in certain areas. But we are running our studio with faith in the appeal of 2D animation, an appeal that has been built up over the years. It is natural for us to work to improve the accuracy of a drawing. And there's an appeal there, in work created by human beings-whether it be a bit of blur or sway-that I think AI will not be able to replicate. The question then becomes how we should incorporate AI, and how we can make the most of these human expressions.

—— The Sony Group utilizes cutting-edge technology to create things like games, music, and motion pictures, and has been working towards trans-media development of IPs that broaden the worldview of the original work, as in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, and expand it into various other experiences. What possibilities do you see in this regard?

I think a work has to be appealing first and foremost as a work of animation, if it's to be developed into areas outside of the scope of animation. For this reason, my role is to create an environment where creators are able to come up with new ideas. An example would be the production environment in the studio. When we were moving the CloverWorks headquarters, some employees said they wanted an environment that would encourage conversation-in other words, an environment that facilitates "useful uselessness." Ideas are often born of what might at first glance be considered useless, such as idle chit-chat. Another thing that is necessary will be to change the economic structure of the animation industry. We'll need to utilize technology to make the production process, which even now is dependent on pencil and paper, more efficient, while also preserving what needs to be preserved in terms of expression. The question will be how best to create an environment in which creators can demonstrate their talent, while also inheriting and utilizing current production techniques. I think this is the most important area, as it is a more organic portion of the process that cannot be replicated by AI.

In this respect, I feel that the Sony Group is actively supporting creators and artists in the animation industry. I think what is important is backing these creators up so that they are able to utilize these new technologies, but also take their time coming up with new ideas when it comes to the core of their artistic expression.