# EIGHTY-SIX Author/Director Interview: Asato Asato & Toshimasa Ishii

*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?

**Asato** The high quality storyboarding and specifically adding original scenes for Shin and the 86. In the source material, characters like Kujo and Daiya died in dialogue or exposition, hence there weren't many scenes of Shin pointing his gun at a comrade until Eugene. I think this shows that the director is a lot nicer to the characters. I think death is something that comes suddenly without any care, this is why I try to write character deaths without much sorrow or care. However, Director Ishii writes each character's death with immense care. This is a fundamental difference in how we see characters and stories. On top of that he is able to craft such a detailed world, so I would love to see just how detailed and tender a world he could craft with an original series.

**Ishii** Its very generous of you to call it "tender". I hate seeing characters die andd so I try my best to not kill them. EIGHTY-SIX, compared to most war anime already has much less scenes illustrating character deaths. For example even with Eugene's death, even though there was a lot of blood, I tried to not have cuts that seem painful and instead make it so that the audience has to think of what happens outside the frame to feel the "pain". So I am not really sure if that counts as being nice or not, but I was constantly thinking of not wanting the characters to die when making the show.

> I think that difference in how Ishii-san and Asato-san view death is reflected in your respective mediums.

**Ishii** I don't think presenting information in an anime as one would in a novel would be interesting at all. Therefore, I try to create the same impression and experience as a novel would by changing the way information is presented or taking it to its natural concllusion.

**Asato** The difference between the medium was on my mind the entire time I was watching the anime. In a novel, its possible to write a scene knowing just the voice and not the face of the characters. However, in anime if you showed Lena and Shin together on screen during their telecom conversations it would seem like they have have met each other. Thats why I really liked the choice of "Shin and Lena not meeting until the end". This is why I think anime is a far more restrictive medium that novels. In novels, its much easier for the writer to control the audience's expereinces. For example, Higanbana were used in the anime as well, however in the novels I use it interchangabley with Lycoris because by using the words "Higan" it evokes a strong image of afterlife and death. However in anime, just by showing the flowers the audience could recognize the flowers as "higanbana" and fall too deep into believing that *Shin is heading to his death right now*. Since in anime, there isn't plain text, you have to trust the audience that much more when presenting information.

**Ishii** Since we intentionally avoided monologues, we intended for there to be things that may be more difficult to explain. Of course we tried our best to ensure that character feelings and motivations could be understood without space for misunderstanding, but we also recognize that our intentions may not 100% reach the audience. Ultimately, that depends on each viewer and I think its okay if they read something different than our intentions.

> Like leaving grounds for viewers to think about?

**Ishii** Yes. For example in episode 13 during the conversation between Anju and Theo, in the source material Anju has a line "If only Daiya was also here". We removed the line in the anime, despite it being there in the script. The reason is that having Anju say the line here would be too strong of a statement so instead we opted to have a Daiya & Anju looking couple pass by in the background.

> In cour 2, Shin as a protagonist seems to have become more expressive.

**Ishii** Abou Shin, he is still an enigma till this day. I kept thinking "What the heck is this guy's deal" all along.

**Asato** I get that *(laughs)*

**Ishii** He doesn't really ever let up, but I still really wanted to depict his feelings at some point. In the source material for episode 9, Shin only shed some tears after defeating the Dinosauria, however I couldn't help but make him ugly cry when storyboarding the scene. He seems cold but is definitely not emotionless and he is also pushing himself too much believing that the way he acts now is what others want him to act like... There are many more details that I couldn't fit into the template. All of this surfaces a bit after shotting Eugene in cour 2.

**Asato** Its normal to not understand Shin, because he lies a lot. He lies to himself and even thinks thoughts that are not honest thoughts. He should have died as a child, so he would subconciously look away from his own weakness and his own past scars. So much so that while looking for Rei, he was also looking for a place to die. But after surviving, he can no longer look away from his past scars and face them.

**Ishii** That might be why in cour 2 there are many cuts of Shin looking away from things.

**Asato** Yes, because he instinctively looks away from things. When Fred is expressing her concerns and when Raiden gets angry at him, he was backfacing them in both instances as well.

**Ishii** When others point out something that is true about Shin, Shin will always just look away. I remember seeing this in the source material's Raiden getting angry at Shin scene so we wanted to include many more instances of this.

> Would you say that being an animator, you are kinda like a caretaker of Shin?

**Ishii** If I only presented Shin as "Captain of Spearhead", I would be only drawing the cool versions of him so i made sure to also include scenes where he is obviously lying. For example in episode 13, Shin would spend 30 seconds saying a bunch of things that he himself doesn't really believe to Ernst.

**Asato** That kinda of presentation is something i do in the novels as well. In volume two there were lines that were deliberately written to sound cool and impressive, but in volume 3 those lines would be written such that it feels more like a painful scar.

> Fredrica and Kiriya are both depicted as important characters in cour 2, what are your thoughts on them as the author of the source material?

**Asato** Fredrica is there to make Shin face his own scars. Like Shin, Fredrica is also looking for her big brother who has become something different and is looking to put that big brother to rest. However, unlike Shin Fredrica is not looking for a place to die. Shin understands as well but since he also knows that he cannot turn back anymore, he trys to push Fredrica away from the battlefield so that she doesn't become like him.

> I see

**Asato** On the other hand, Kiriya is what Shin could become. In the source material he just dies without much information, but the anime manages to complete his story by showing more of his moments as Fredrica's big brother.

**Ishii** Regarding Fredrica, we lifted her depiction directly from the source material. She seemed to be a mentor to Shin. As for Kiriya, since he only shows up in cour 2 he is bound to not have many moments so we wanted his first impression to be as meaningful as possible. We went as far as to include scenes cut from the script in the storyboard to give him as much moments as possible.

> How about Lena, what are your thoughts on her depiction in cour 2?

**Ishii** I wanted to give her more scenes, but in the end she didn't show up much.

**Asato** Yeah *(laughs)*

**Ishii** Since cour 2 is primarily about the Federal Republic of Giad, there were talks about adding anime original scenes of Lena's side initially. However, we reached the conclusion that for Shin's side whats important is San Magnolia falling and that the process does not really need to be shown. As well as we couldn't fit more scenes in. So while i wanted to give the Main heroine more scenes, when storyboarding episode 12 I was concious of the that this is the end for Lena. She has the conviction she needs to survive and move forward, there won't be any more drama until she meets Shin. There was also the anime original scenes in episode 17 that we tried to made more intense by pairing it with music, but in the end I don't think Lena got any more new scenes.

**Asato** Well, she didn't show up much during volume 2 and 3 either. Unlike the novels, its not easy to show Shin being deep in thought while remembering something in the anime. Since we were able to see the grown up and strong Lena in episode 16, I was okay with her not getting more scenes till the key moment in episode 22.

> In cour 2 with the introduction of Reginleif and large mechs like the Morpho, the battle scenes seemed a lot more dynamic than those of cour 1. What were your intentions for these scenes, Director Ishii?

**Ishii** We tried to make the Reginleif feel *fast*. For the Nachzehrer, we tried to make it look cool but it ended up looking a bit too basic. I think there were other gimmicks that could make it look cooler, but ultimately we wanted to show off its massive size the most.

**Asato** As for the Morpho, I envisioned it thinking that its just a novel so its gonna be fine but when i saw it in the anime I thought "I m so sorry, Shirogumi" *(laughs)*. Also, its impossible for a Reginleif to match up against a Morpho alone normally. The weapons that are on a Morpho are not designed to deal with a single unit the size of a Reginleif and on the flip side, the Reginleif cannot get past Morpho's super long range alone either. Therefore, it must have been difficult to storyboard for. Also, the Morpho is actually quite a bit bigger than its actual size which really gives it that awesome kaiju-feel.

**Ishii** Kinda like a kaiju movie, I wanted it to really shock the viewer and leave an impression. When the Morpho shows up in episode 19, I wanted to emphasize how disgusting it looks despite it just sitting still from far away and then in episode 21 to capitalize on that feeling by using cuts and angles to show off its massive size while moving like a living creature. Morpho's wires are actually hand drawn and even in the full shot where the entire morpho is shown, all the wirees are hand drawn and not created using CG.

> What was the most important episode in cour 2?

**Ishii** Episodes 12 and 13, the episodes where Shin and co are not on the battlefield are the ones that I am most happy about. A lot of thought went into how to show Shin and co's sense of not-belonging while they go about their normal lives in the Federal Republic, which in turn made depicting them back on the battlefield that much more enjoyable as well.

**Asato** I had mentioned the many more scenes of Shin releiving comrades from suffering, those are moments that contrasts the terrible world that forces a child to kill their comrades and how its actually a form of saving another person that comes from Shin's caring nature and his sense of responsibility. I really think that the anime did an impressive job of showing and not telling that. It was able to convey the kind of person Shin is despite him being a really quiet person with not much to say. As for cour 2, I really liked that Shin kept Rei's fragment in his chest pocket at all times. In the novels, despite having left Rei behind Shin continues to be held back by Rei. However, by having Rei's fragment be with Shin at all times, it enhanced the feeling of Shin being trapped.

**Ishii** On that, we actually insisted to have a detail be specifically different from the source material. As a result, one name on the stele will be different from the source material version.

**Asato** But that detail helps show just how much Rei loved Shin and in turn how obsessed Shin is with Rei.

> And finally, please share your thoughts on the final episodes.

**Ishii** Episode 22 was really difficult. Even while storyboarding I was constantly surprised by how things turn out and how the characters would react. In the end I just settled on believing in Shin.

**Asato** I am especially excited for episode 22, since in the novels this section was presented entirely through internal monologues and descriptions of a character's mental state so I am excited to see how it will be done without Monologues. I am confident that director Ishii can make it work beautifully, so I am really looking forward to it.

**Ishii** Thank you!

**Asato** Also i am interested in seeing how color will be used in the presentation of episode 22. The rule that the novels follow is that blue stands for the battlefield that leads to death, and red stands for the battlefield of the living. Thats why in episode 9, Shin and co head towards a field filled with blooming red flowers. Actually, I have already told the production what the blue version would look like and that they can use whichever one they see fit. So even though the flower here is the higanbana, the color presentation should convery a sense of returning to life here. A similar presentation is used in novels as well, so for the readers out there, it might be fun to read back those scenes as you watch the anime scenes playout.

**Ishii** Episodes 22 and 23 uses the same layout of episode 1, so it would be great if the audience were able to infer the meaning behind this choice. There is a cut that shows Shin reading a book shot from behind him that is a symbolic layout of this series. I employ the audience to rewatch it a few times to try and figure out why it is symbolic of the series and if you figure it out, that would make me really happy.

## Profile

#### Asato Asato, Novelist.
Took first place in 2016 at the 23rd Dengeki Novel Competition with "EIGHTY-SIX". EIGHTY-SIX began publication in 2017 and have 10 volumes out as of today.

#### Toshimasa Ishii, Director.
Toshimasa Ishii, Animation Director and Animator. Debuted as an Animator for the anime "Uchuu Kyoudai"(Space brothers). His first directing job was on web anime "Sobahe".

###### tags: `EIGHTY-SIX`, `BD Interview`, `Asato Asato`, `Toshimasa Ishii`