CloverWorks, an animation production company, was in charge of the production of the TV anime series "Bocchi the Rock!” Here is the interview with KERORIRA, who is the Chief Character Designer and the Chief Animation Director at CloverWorks. He has always been a fan of the original manga of “Bocchi the Rock!”, and has such a pure "love for the work" that KERORIRA said, "I wanted to make an animated series of Bocchi the Rock!, so I reached out to various producers by myself.” We interviewed KERORIRA who also participated in almost all episodes as an original illustrator to ask about behind the scenes of the creation of “Bocchi the Rock!” .
Why I Wanted To Animate This Story
ーWhat made you feel so strongly that you wanted to make this animated series even before the idea came up?
KERORIRA: Someone mentioned the "Bocchi the Rock!” manga through social media, which led me to read the first volume. The cover of the book was already different from other works, with the title in yellow letters on a pitch-black background. Then I read the book and found it interesting. The characters have negative feelings, such as wanting to join a band but are too afraid to ask, or not wanting to go to school, and so on. I thought that was different from other mangas I have ever read. The pacing is good, the jokes are funny, and there's a lot of information per frame. There are lots of lines written in addition to the speech bubbles, so there is always something going on.
I also liked the fact that there is a main storyline revolving around band activities. The characters grow together with a purpose. Although they are students, their school life is not the focus at all, so it isn't a so-called "school" story. That was refreshing. The Super-Deformed characters were also attractive, such as strange faces and other expressions that we don't see often.
ーAs an animator, whenever you read such attractive mangas, do you always want to animate them by yourself?
KERORIRA: I am often asked to participate in new projects. I look at them, and sometimes I find myself thinking, "I would like to draw this one!”. I think it depends on each animator, but in my case, I am attracted to Super-Deformed works. I am not very good at realistic expressions, and I prefer "Crayon Shinchan" or "Doraemon," for example. Bocchi the Rock! has many possibilities for expression, and I wanted to draw it. This is the first time that I said I want to start and draw the animation by myself.
ーHow do you feel about the fact that the simple idea turned into a large-scale project, and supported by the people that have true affection and love for this animation?
KERORIRA: I am honestly happy. The staff said it was fun, and the people who saw it also said it was good. In addition, I think that people in the animation industry often look at things from a strict perspective, but I was happy to hear that people in the industry also said they enjoyed it. I am very happy that they found it interesting, and they simply said, “it was fun.” Not just that the drawings were good or the quality was high.
From a fan's point of view, I wanted to create the anime that I wanted to watch, and I think I was able to do that. When I saw the storyboard made by Keiichiro Saito, the Head Director of this series, for the first episode ("Rolling Bocchi"), I thought I had read the storyboard that I wanted to see! I was thinking at the time it would be a good one if I followed the storyboard.
ーThe Head Director, Mr. Saito, has a background as an animator. Was that a factor that made the project easier?
KERORIRA: That could be so. He has a deep understanding of animation. The director himself can draw animation and is extremely skilled, and he is also very open-minded about expression. So I left a lot of the drawing to him. At the storyboarding stage, the director himself had already decided what the images would look like, but I think he left me rather freely to decide what kind of pictures would go on the storyboard.
