This Interview it recorded before Episodes 22 and 23 of EIGHTY-SIX are completed What are your thoughts on the series now that production for cour 2 has concluded? Ishii As this is my first time directing a TV series, I found it difficult to pace the highs/lows across the episodes and often just ended up going all out on every single episode instead. Especially in cour 2, I really had a hard time pacing the series and adapting to the situation. Asato Its been on my mind since cour 1 and I think this has been quite the blessed adaptation. It stays true to the source material, but even when it does break away it does so in a way that is the result of understanding and treating the source material with care. For example, by adapting the epilogue of volume 1 in the 23rd episode it preserves the core idea of the source material. However, it also presents these scenes in ways that I had never imagined in the source material, surprising me with just how much the anime format can elevate the material. As a writer, I was able to learn a lot from this experience. Therefore, I sincerely wish for Director Ishii to direct the sequel to EIGHTY-SIX, though, I also would like to see him direct a non-sequel original series as well... As the author for the source material, I am quite conflicted (laughs). Asato-san, which episodes or scenes made you want to see an original series from director Ishii?

What were your initial reaction to receiving the anime adaptation offer? Asato "Juggernaut action scenes are hard to imagine" were common feedback the novel had received and I thought that the flow of action would be conveyed better when animated, so I was really happy. On the flip side, the series is structured such that the female and male protagonists do not meet each other at all which had me worried as well. However, in my first meeting with Director Ishii, he insisted on adding certain directions to already difficult parts, making it even harder in the process. Upon hearing that, I was relieved and felt that I could trust them to do it right. I am sure that Asato-san had mental images of certain scenes and visuals while you wrote the novel. Did you shared these with the director? Asato Nope, i did not share any of my mental images. I think that it is better to leave the visuals and direction to a professional like the director, so I refrained from interjecting. In that case, would you say that most of your involvement is with the script and character dialogue?

Instead of sample music, we sent over explanation of the setting and structure of the material along with the request(Ishii) Director Ishii, could you tell us how Sawano-san and Yamamoto-san were invited to join the production? Ishii Since this is my first time directing a TV Anime series, I wanted something someone who is familiar with this type of series. After consulting the Producer I went to Sawano and Yamamoto-san, to which they said yes. Sawano-san, Yamamoto-san what were your impressions of EIGHT-SIX? Sawano Its a series filled with settings and concepts that I enjoy. I was excited to see our music/sfx/voice as a part of the final product.

Note: this translation is a paraphrase and has included the question asked into the answer. Each section is a paraphrase, including context, of a question and the answer following. Bolded text signifies the overall topic of the following section (up to the next bolded text). This interview came with the first BD volume. On the 86 project I was invited by producer Fujii Shota to direct 86. Fujii-san was a kouhai(junior) of mine when I was still working at A-1 pictures. I (Ishii) first read the novel after I got on the project. This was also when the talk of it being 2 cours long began. Because of these things I started thinking about how best to end the first cour... which led to the idea of having Lena and Shin be completely separate and unable to see each other. Ultimately this became the direction of the series, "a boy-meets-girl where they only know each other's voice". We then decided to sprinkle in some emo (in japanese, this means specifically emotional) visuals over it The question then became how to show Shin and Lena's relationship with them never meeting. "Never using a Cut-back", while a wild idea comes with the risk of boring the audience. On top of that, Shin and Lena will be shown "together" on screen at many points in this series which may mislead the audience into thinking they have met before. In order to avoid the confusion, we decided against having any scenes where both of them are in frame at the same time.

Link to Original Post on PIXIVFANBOX Since some of the trickier animations were gonna be done by Ishii-san and I lacked the skills to do them anyways, I decided to not over think things and create a straightforward OP. "Blue vs Red" were a contrast used in the source material, so I included it as is, as well as "Voice and Eyes". Additionally, for keywards like "Horizon" were also included as is without much abstraction. During my first meeting with Ishii-san, he asked for my thoughts on "Kurena become a magical girl and have fun flying about"... Which I ended up spending a whole week pondering seriously on the idea. In the end, I was given complete freedom with the OP which I was happy about. Though, I did kinda want to have Ishii-san criticize and fix my work in every way possible... As a result, I've caught the "seeing anime character faces and specifically eyes as a symbol and therefore wouldn't want their eyes to be seen from any direction but side and front" disease. On top of that, I also caught the "when I get to show the eyes, show them in as much detail as possible" disease.

A boy-meets-girl war story How did you end up on the production team? Ohno I was asked by Producer Fujii (Shota) Sunayama I was Introduced to Fujii-san by someone else Nagai My experience was the same as Sunayama-san. Though, I had work with Ohno-san before and said that he would like to work with me again so maybe he recommended me.

I was immediately hooked by the source material and thought it was really engaging! How did you end up on the production team and what were your impressions of the souce material? Kawakami I was invited onto the production team by Producer Fujii-san of AI-Pictures. When I joined the team, they prodvided multiple volumes of the source material and I binged my way through 3 volumes immediately (laughs). While the terminology and setting wereconfusing at times, I found the novels to be instantly enjoyable and fell in love with the series. Because the story is set during war time, any character can die which really kept me anxious the whole time reading. However, I also think that this harsh world is precisely what amplifies the impact of each and every character's words and actions. Personally, I am also a big fan of post-apocalypse settings, specifically I find the loneliness in a ruined city being overtaken by nature really interesting. Because of that, I liked the last part of volume 1 the most. On the Design work, the designs were done based on Shirabi-san's work as we understand. What were somethings that stood out or is special about Shirabi's work? Kawakami I had known that Shirabi-san was really good at drawing cute characters like in "Ryuuou no Oshigoto", but was surprised to find out that he was also really good at drawing cool character. Specifically, Shin was a type of character that was very different from the type of characters I knew from Shirabi's works. Shirabi-san had also provided us many original designs for side characters, which was really helpful.