imagine-nation - Season 11 / Year 2019

This episode of imagine-nation will feature the manga artist and illustrator "Seizo Watase." This year, at 73 years old, he began a new Web comic serialization titled the "Wonder Cocktail" for a fashion website. His colorful and heartful illustrations are well-known in Japan. They're also popular outside Japan and have been displayed at many exhibitions in various countries. His prominent work "Heart Cocktail" which depicts a romantic love story gained huge popularity during the 1980's. It grasped the readers' hearts and took the world by storm with its graphic design styled layout and handwritten speech that captured the subtleness of love in a short story. After 35 years since his major hit, how does he feel about his new serialization that preserves the reincarnates the 80's atmosphere? We'll be exploring the appeal of Watase's works through a personal interview.

This time on imagine-nation, we're featuring Hiro Mashima, a leading figure in the world of Japan's fantasy manga. His notable works include the popular mangas "RAVE" and "FAIRY TAIL" which have been adapted into anime. "FAIRY TAIL" has especially become a major hit, boasting a cumulative circulation of over 60 million copies. In January 2018, "FAIRY TAIL" won the special honor award at the "45th Angouleme International Comics Festival" held in Angouleme, France, further proving its popularity both domestically and internationally. With "EDENS ZERO," Mashima is attempting the simultaneous serialization in 6 languages for the first time in the history of weekly magazines. It'll also be Mashima's first time pursuing an all-digital production. In the program, we'll be inviting Hiro Mashima to our studio to talk about how he produces manga, see a live demo of him drawing manga, and explore his enthusiasm behind his new manga and the newly adopted production style!

This episode of imagine-nation will be featuring "ULTRAMAN," the anime that began streaming worldwide in April 2019. "ULTRAMAN," a story of a new generation of national heroes Ultraman that everybody is familiar with, is a manga that's also hugely popular with overseas fans, and its long-awaited anime adaptation in full 3DCG has finally arrived. The original manga is being serialized in the "Monthly Comic Magazine HERO'S." It's become popular not only among longtime fans who grew up with Ultraman but also among younger generations who do not know about Ultraman. Currently, the manga boasts a cumulative circulation of over 2.80 million copies. Having been translated into 11 languages including English, French, and Chinese, it has proven to be popular overseas as well. It has even won international comic awards. Its anime adaptation, directed by a two-man team made up of the top 3DCG creator of the anime industry, namely Kenji Kamiyama and Shinji Aramaki, has made it one of the most anticipated anime titles of this season. Through this feature covering the scenes of anime production, we'll uncover the behind-the-scenes story of what has made Ultraman a timeless global masterpiece!

The featured topic this time in imagine-nation is "PROMARE," the anime film that starts screening in May 2019. It is the complete original animation film by the director, Hiroyuki Imaishi and the scriptwriter, Kazuki Nakashima who worked on the TV series of "Gurren Lagann," an anime that is still used as a synonym for "passionate anime and enthusiastic anime," and "KILL la KILL," the school battle anime that is set in the rough world. It is the first theatrical feature produced by them, and it is a long-awaited topic work by fans. The launch of the project was announced at North America's largest animation event "Anime Expo," held in Los Angeles, USA, in the summer of 2017, and it has attracted much attention from overseas anime fans. And it was met with big excitement at stage events at "AnimeJapan 2019" held at Tokyo Big Sight on March 24, 2019, before the release. Through the interviews at the production workspace, which is taking on a challenge of new approaches, such as establishing anime expression that combines CG and drawing, we will introduce the charm of "PROMARE," the anime that attracts attention from all over the world.

The featured topic this time is Noboru Takahashi, a manga writer. His blockbuster "Mogura no Uta" became a live-action film and officially screened at the 8th annual Rome International Film Festival Competition. Since "Mogura no Uta," the works of Noboru Takahashi obtained enduring popularity in Asia. His manga is sold in Taiwan, and it is attracting attention in China. In the recent comic industry, historical manga based on Chinese history, such as "Sangokushi" and "Hoshin Engi," which has become anime and staged, are extremely popular, and "Ryuho," a Chinese history spectacle manga by Noboru Takahashi that is serialized in "Big Comic" since July in 2017, is attracting attention. At the process of production of "Ryuho," he studied Chinese history hard and had a history advisor join in his team as a staff member. While emphasizing the reproduction of ancient Chinese paintings, he became particular about expressing the atmosphere and character at the time with manga-like deformation and the sense of entertainment. Through the interview at the workspace where the work of Takahashi has been produced, we are going to introduce the charm of the manga writer, "Noboru Takahashi."

This time, we are featuring Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, Japan's legendary manga artist/animator who continues to produce energetic titles to this day. Yasuhiko, with his unique style of brush artwork, has created many titles that are highly acclaimed for their "depiction of realistic movement." "Mobile Suit Gundam THE ORIGIN," the manga adaptation of the animation produced by Yasuhiko, was a huge success, selling over 10 million copies in total. The anime's Blu-ray and video streaming were released simultaneously in Japan and the world, with the Blu-ray featuring Japanese, English, French, Korean, Chinese (Taiwan & Hong Kong) subtitles, as well as Japanese and English audio. One of Yasuhiko's lifework is the manga series "Yasuhiko's Contemporary Japanese History." And in 2018, Yasuhiko who turned 71, began working on the last new serialization of his life "Inui and Tatsumi: The Heroic Legend of Baikal," a story depicting the life of men who survived the battlefield of Russia during the Siberian Intervention of Taisho era.
In the program, we'll be inviting Yoshikazu Yasuhiko as a studio guest to talk about the behind-the-scenes story of the birth of "Mobile Suit Gundam" anime which is celebrating its 40th anniversary, and his enthusiasm behind his "last new serialization."

On this episode, we are featuring "A Certain Scientific Accelerator," a brand-new anime that began airing in Japan in July 2019. The "A Certain" series, which launched 15 years ago with "A Certain Magical Index," spans 8 titles. With a strong overseas fanbase and an active online community, the series has become hugely popular around the world. The "A Certain Scientific Accelerator," which is an anime adaptation of a 2014 manga of the same title had been eagerly anticipated by the fans. In the program, we'll interview its director and explore the appeal of the "A Certain" series by visiting the production studio of the anime. Furthermore, we'll be taking a close look at its popular character "Accelerator" who takes center stage in the latest anime.

This episode of imagine-nation will feature "BEM," the anime celebrating its 50th anniversary as of July 2019 since the beginning of its broadcast. "BEM" is a brand-new anime based on the 1968 Japanese TV anime. The project to revive the series began back in 2017. Starting with a short piece comedy anime "We are humanoid monsters" by production studio DLE, numerous new projects were launched. Ever since the production of "Humanoid Monster BEM" back in 1968, it was always made with an overseas release in mind, and the latest anime is no exception. Through interviews with the people of the production studio, we'll uncover the efforts that went into its long-hoped overseas debut and explore the appeal of this long-running series.

The Sanrio character original anime that comically depicts the stressful life of female Japanese office workers has become a big hit overseas! In the "Sanrio Character Award 2018," it ranked first in Brazil and the UK, second in Italy, Germany, France, and the United Arab Emirates, gaining huge popularity worldwide. Aggressive Retsuko has separate official Twitter accounts for domestic and overseas audiences. While the domestic account "Aggressive Retsuko" has approx. 27,000 followers, the foreign account "Aggretsuko" has approx. 42,000 followers which are a testament to its overseas popularity. The animation director is Rareko, who won first place in the Entertainment Division at the Japan Media Arts Festival in 2006 with indie anime "Yawaraka Sensha." In addition to getting a peek into the production site of the long-awaited season 2, we'll be interviewing its animation director Rareko to uncover the secrets behind the birth of "Aggressive Retsuko" which has become a huge overseas success.

On this episode, we're featuring Setona Mizushiro, a manga artist who is extremely popular with women. Mizushiro, who debuted in 1993, has produced numerous Shojo manga masterpieces that go beyond the conventional romance theme to include the dark and cruel side of womanhood. Mizushiro is currently serializing "I am the world's best XX" twice-monthly in "Evening," her first try at a predominantly male audience comic magazine. Outside Japan, it's also been released in Indonesia and Taiwan. It's a story about 3 males aged around 30 with completely different personalities and circumstances, who have been proposed by a mysterious agent 773 (Nanami) to compete in a game "Who will be the unhappiest after 300 days?" In the program, we'll be inviting Setona Mizushiro as our studio guest to talk about the story behind the making of first male audience manga "I am the world's best XX" and explore what makes Mizushiro's works so appealing to both male and female fans.

On this episode, we're featuring Kotobuki Shiriagari, the artist who is popular for Heta-uma styled parody/comedy manga. He debuted in 1985 as a manga artist with "Electric Spring" while he was still a full-time salaried worker. Since 1994, he became an independent full-time manga artist and went on to release fantastical and literary works one after another. In 2014, he is said to be one of Japan's leading artists, such as winning the Medal with Purple Ribbon in the Spring Conferment of Decorations for his creative activities outside the boundaries of a manga artist. He has even released an original manga in "Tezucomi," the magazine which was recently launched to commemorate the 90th year since the birth of Osamu Tezuka. His works have been drawing attention outside Japan as well, including "Manga from that day" themed on an earthquake disaster which was exhibited at the largest overseas manga exhibition being held at The British Museum. Coming up in the program, we'll invite Kotobuki Shiriagari as our studio guest to talk about the behind-the-scene creation story of "Oh No! Mamoru-kun" and what drives him to create unique and diverse styles of manga.

In this episode of imagine-nation, we're featuring the TV anime "Fairy gone" that began airing its 2nd season as of this month (October 2019) in Japan. "Fairy gone" is an original TV anime set in a world where "fairies" exist. In this world, wars were ended by the power of "fairies" that give special powers to the living creatures it possesses. This fantasy depicts the battles fought between humans (fairy soldiers) who can exercise the power of fairies at their own will. The anime is available to audiences worldwide through Netflix. With a luxurious lineup of popular foreign voice actors, the anime has been attracting a lot of attention. Along with the interview of its directors, we'll also be visiting the production studio to discover the work that goes into the carefully crafted storyline, high-quality visuals, and the exhilarating fairy battle scenes of the highly acclaimed season 1 and the latest season!

In this episode of imagine-nation, we're featuring "Sangokushi Meshi," a cooking manga that's being serialized on WEB Comic Tom since March 2017. In order to write this manga, Honjo, the author received the help of Akira Motegi, the leading Japanese expert on Chinese Dim Sums who has served as a head Dim Sum chef at famous restaurants and hotels inducing Keio Plaza Hotel and Hotel New Otani, to supervise the cooking. The manga's publisher Ushio Publishing is also known for specializing in China. They've published Mitsuteru Yokoyama's "Sangokushi" and have even put out an academic book called "China's Civilization" from its manga editorial department. They collected a variety of materials for this manga including the "Qimin Yaoshu" which is said to be the oldest existing Chinese cookbook. Just how do they reproduce the ancient Chinese cuisine which we only know through academic materials? Honjo, the author will be joining us as a studio guest to talk about the appeal of this cooking manga, and we'll also be visiting his manga studio, the editorial department, and the scene of cooking supervision!

This episode of imagine-nation is featuring the latest "Sakura Wars" game from a video game-based media franchise that has been popular worldwide since its launch in 1996. It has been 14 years since the last game release. "Sakura Wars," set in a fictional world based on Japan's Taisho era, is a dramatic adventure game centered on the battle between the girls of the Japanese government's Imperial Assault Force secret troops and the "Gouma" monsters.

This episode of imagine-nation will be featuring the manga "Shin-Shinchou Kouki - Nobunaga-kun to Watashi" by Shinobu Kaitani which is currently being serialized in the "Weekly Young Magazine." The story of this manga is about cloned Sengoku period warlords who aspire to unify the world of delinquency in a high school setting. "Shin-Shinchou Kouki" is an ambitious manga that incorporates elements from the "delinquent manga" genre that's popular in Japan, the "Sengoku period" theme, as well as Sci-Fi elements such as human cloning. In the program, we'll be inviting Shinobu Kaitani to the studio to talk about the story behind the manga's creation. Furthermore, we'll be visiting Kaitani's studio to discover what makes his manga so unique!