Anime News Network (August 2019)
Interview Archive
An interview with Terumi Nishii during a live drawing by Crunchyroll that was posted on their Crunchyroll Extras YouTube channel. The interview was done on August 30, 2019 but released on November 30, 2020.
Interview
My name is Terumi Nishii and I'm a Japanese animator. I'm most known for Mawaru Penguindrum, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 4, and I also did the character designs for Netflix's Saint Seiya: Knights of the Zodiac.
Q: What makes JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable so unique?
A: Compared to other parts in JoJo's, there was a lot of comedic scenes and a lot of gags. There were a lot of serious and comedic characters, too. I'm sure it was pretty fun to watch.
Q: What were the challenges in adapting Araki-sensei's manga?
A: Well, with Part 4, they start off super macho and built, but as the series goes on, they start to slim down. So I was trying to figure out which part of Part 4 I should adapt for their looks.
Q: What would your Stand be?
A: I mean... I'd probably want a Stand like Rohan Kishibe's that can draw pictures super fast?
Q: Which Stand is your favorite to draw?
A: Let's see... I'm not sure. Well... Catweed was pretty cute, though. Catweed. Yeah, it's pretty hard. There are so many characters! There's so many of them, so I couldn't think of one immediately. I mean, I could draw them instantly, though.
Q: In Saint Seiya, were there challenges in designing characters for CG?
A: There were a lot of limitations we had because it was 3D. Things were a bit harder to do within our time limit and budget compared to hand-drawn animation, so we would get various requests regarding the designs, so I did my best to retain as much of the original designs while making them 3D friendly. Well, some of the tricks we use in 2D don't work. I mean, there are a lot of similarities, but I think we had to think about the full character models more in 3D.
I'm basically only ever staring at my desk as I draw in Japan so I found out how popular JoJo's was later and the fact that I was invited to Crunchyroll Expo two years after it was over made me really happy. It's all thanks to the fans. Thank you all very much.