Interview:Crunchyroll (June 2020)

An interview with Naokatsu Tsuda by Crunchyroll that was posted on their Crunchyroll Extras YouTube channel. The part discussing the transformation of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure from a manga to an anime was released on June 24, 2020. The part discussing what an anime director does was released on August 31, 2020.

Transforming the JoJo Manga into Anime
The title JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump as a battle adventure story. The show overflows with adventure and heated battles but that's just how it starts. Suddenly, supernatural powers are introduced and this deals with that turning point in history. Because of these powers called "Stands", which can't be seen by normal people and how they are used in the story, it differentiates itself from other manga. What I found challenging about adapting JoJo's from the source material was portraying the art style accurately in the context of anime. Since Araki-san's designs are reliant on distinct artistic styles, it was difficult to have multiple people working together in making the original art make sense while in motion. It's demanding to recreate something like Araki-san's work in anime form without diminishing the quality because the work needs to be divided up in a way that's manageable by everyone. It was tough to imagine Araki-san's world in the manga as an anime with colors. I also found the color grading in anime to be significantly different from manga. You have to keep asking if the audience would recognize this to be the same JoJo's world as it is in the manga. The story itself is also a challenge, since there are various developments and twists that unfold throughout the show, it has to come across as understandable to the audience in anime form. This relies on pacing and consistency so I struggled with that. I think fans love this title because of the powers, their battles are exciting, their journey is fun, and it's difficult to predict what's going to happen next. But it's also due to Araki Hirohiko's incredible artistic style that is even recognized by French museums. His elevated art style can't be found in other manga and I think his work speaks to those who are particularly interested in aesthetics or have an eye for art. I believe the popularity and growth came from there.

What does an Anime Director do?
My name is Naokatsu Tsuda. I'll dive into what directing is like; you must oversee every portion of the production and be able to bring that title to its finish line while focusing on quality control. From scheduling to storyboarding, there are a lot of responsibilities like distributing roles, checking each progress, differentiating what components are acceptable and what to reject. I've been reading JoJo's since I was in primary school and I loved it very much. I was raised on Shonen Jump so I generally enjoyed anything from there. But even within Jump, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure was special to me. When I was a kid I initially felt like the art was scary but as I grew older, I think it was around middle school, I started understanding the story which made me enjoy it that much more, and then in high school you could say I was obsessed. I, of course, collected all the individual manga volumes. After I graduated high school, I was just lazily hanging out and I thought to myself, "I have to find some kind of work." I looked at what I was capable of doing for a career and shortened my list of potential jobs by process of elimination. The list came down to either gaming or anime, and I felt that I was better suited for anime. That's when I decided to enter the anime industry. Most people are accepted when interviewing for the anime industry but from there I started as a production assistant. To get a better understanding of the responsibilities of a production assistant, please watch the anime. And from there I went onto overseeing performance and staging which is essentially an episode director. The schedule is very demanding in the anime industry, so as an episode director, the job was grueling. If someone was suddenly unavailable, you have to be able to fill in that gap. Or even if there is no schedule, you have to accept the responsibilities. As I was doing grunt work like that, before I knew it, I was the director. I'm not sure how much is released in the US, maybe it's only up to the fourth series - but JoJo is all the way up to its 8th series in Japan right now and Araki-san is still writing more. Where each episode is very unique, we're still in the middle of the story and there's a lot more to watch and experience, so I hope that you'll continue enjoying the show for as long as it continues.