The Otaku Blend team was granted a one-on-one interview with Studio TRIGGER during Sakura-Con 2024 in Seattle. Representing Studio TRIGGER in Seattle were Shigeto Koyama and Hiromi Wakabayashi, whom were wearing matching t-shirts of their idea design unit “Geek Boat”, a sub-group within TRIGGER which is basically formed by the senior hierarchy of the studio, with the group also including Director Hiroyuki Imaishi. After satisfying our curiosity about their t-shirts, we dove into the interview proper, starting with questions about Cyberpunk: Edgerunners.
Q: The Cyberpunk: Edgerunners series sparked a revival in the game and showed off what TRIGGER could do as a studio. You both worked on the opening sequence for the show. How did that process come about, in terms of both the music selection and the opening animation?
Hiromi Wakabayashi (HW): The selection of “This Fffire” by Franz Ferdinand for the opening credits was a mutual decision between CD Projekt Red and TRIGGER. Director Hiroyuki Imaishi was also a fan of the song as well, so it was a very easy decision to get the conversation going. The opening was actually developed an episode before the last episode, there were 3 more staff members who worked on the opening, and just before production on the series ended, we were asked to pitch ideas about the opening.
The entire project was a pretty huge task for us to take on. The director didn’t have the capacity to work on the opening sequence until the very last moment. At that moment, the ending sequence with Lucy was already completed. One of our animators, Mai Yoneyama, executed the ending sequence. The content is very information-heavy, and the volume of the drawings is very packed. Instead of going with a similar style for the opening, Koyama-san suggested a more design-based approach.
Shigeto Koyama (SK): Franz Ferdinand’s music video is generally stylized and minimalistic. I believe there are some similarities with Imaishi-san’s style. Since the ending sequence was very character-focused with Lucy, I wanted to feature Night City as a whole for the opening.
(HW): We were trying to portray how Night City consumes the characters, or its citizens in the opening.
Q: For the music selection of the series itself, was that also a mutual decision between yourself and CD Projekt Red or did you have more freedom to decide which songs from the game you wanted to use?
(HW): I was responsible for selecting the soundtrack for the series, and Imaishi-san was also supervising my selection. We were also fortunate to have a new soundtrack made for the animation, but there was such a rich library of selections already present from the game that I was fortunate to be able to select from both ends.
Q: What about the song “I really want to stay at your house” made you want to feature it, particularly in the series?
(HW): Since the beginning of the project, I wanted to make it a theme between David and Lucy. We also had an idea of how the story was going to wrap up. One of my ideas was to make it run through the last climactic scene. I wanted it to run from that last intense scene through to the very end.
Q: Moving on to PROMARE, since it was a completely original production, and some would describe it as a non-stop roller coaster music video, how much freedom did you have in the music selection?
(HW): Working with Sawano-san on PROMARE was the second time we had worked with him on a soundtrack, the first time being KILL la KILL. We did have very specific orders for him, specific lyrics, emotions we wanted to invoke with a particular track, and how many songs with lyrics we wanted. We were very specific with our request for PROMARE.
While I agree that PROMARE feels like an extended music video, that was not our original intent. It might also be that the Imaishi-san dislikes… emptiness. He does not like it when there is a moment of peace in his work. I tried my best to connect the scenes through the soundtrack.
Q: Regarding the mechanical design of PROMARE, it seems to start off with a more Japanese feel, and then it moves to a more western sci-fi feel. Was that what you were going for?
(SK): I’m not sure how the audience interpreted it, but it was my intention to go with a Japanese feel. Also, the technology the characters use in PROMARE takes a drastic leap throughout the movie, so maybe in the beginning, the technology is more relatable to our world, but as the runtime continues, it goes to a more sci-fi approach.
Q: And how did you come up with these particular designs for PROMARE?
(SK): Initially, we had the script from Nakashima-san, and the protagonist, Galo Thymos, is very affectionate about traditional Japanese. That’s where I got the initial spark of ideas, but in the end, it was a collaborative effort between myself, Imaishi-san, and Wakabayashi-san.
(HW): It was basically me and Imaishi-san coming up with ideas, our two cents, and giving them to Koyama-san and he would illustrate our ideas. Traditionally, we usually have a larger number of staff involved, but on PROMARE, it was mostly just the three of us involved in the design process.
Q: Koyama-san is the creative director of the “HELLO! GOOD SMILE” line of figures. How did you become the creative director, and what does the job entail, specifically?
(SK): In the current climate, everything has become more expensive, so Good Smile was interested in making something more affordable. Their main Nendoroid line has become more expensive, so they wanted to make something more affordable. The ex-president of Good Smile approached me asking what kind of design we should go with. They wanted something compact, and easy to carry, and they were looking for an individual who could oversee the design and even the color scheme, and that is what I currently do for Good Smile. I personally believe that with the super-deformed style, you can’t just stylize the form; you have to stylize the color of the characters as well. That is the reason why I oversee the entire line design process.
Q: For the specific design, the polygonal structure, and the eyes with the color contrast, which I find more expressive than Funko Pop’s black eyes, how did Koyama-san come up with this design, and does it actually help to save costs?
(SK): So, for the eyes, it’s mostly expressed through two contrasting colors, and my goal was to express expressions through the contrast of colors. For Funko I’m guessing it’s just two round dots but for the Hello Good Smile line it’s actually a print of what I drew or brushed in. So that’s why it may feel like it’s more “hand drawn”. Regarding the polygonal design, it may simply be my taste, I’m not sure if you realized it but the same applies to PROMARE as well, it’s my attempt at minimizing the information.
Q: Going back to Cyberpunk for a second, do you feel like there is more for TRIGGER to explore in that world or are you “finished” with the Cyberpunk universe for now?
(HW): The Cyberpunk 2077 game has a whole lot of expandability; I’m assuming the same would apply for the anime adaptation as well.
Q: Would you like to do more Cyberpunk anime?
(HW): So, this is my personal interpretation of what the director believes, but I believe the director, once he has a solid plan of execution, he likes to strictly abide by it. For example, when we released Gurren Lagann, it was positively received by the fans. The fans wanted a continuation, but the plan for the director was that he was going to finish it in 24 episodes, and the end result was indeed 24 episodes. I believe that’s the plan for all his work. For Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, or 2077 in general, I feel the setting is very expansive, even if it’s not us, there is room for anyone in the world to pick it up and further explore and expand the Cyberpunk universe. Perhaps someone will pick up the series, possibly not so much “on the edge” as ours. (laughs). Perhaps in a truck, in the middle of the road, or somewhere more safe… sidewalk? Side walkers? (more laughs). The possibilities are limitless.
Q: I believe that Cyberpunk: Edgerunners was one of the first adaptations from TRIGGER. Are you going to adapt more works or go back to focusing on original works?
(HW): One of our earlier works was actually an adaptation that our President (Masahiko Otsuka) did called: “When Supernatural Battles Became Commonplace” (InoBato). So that is our first adaptation, which came right after KILL la KILL. So initially TRIGGER was made to create original titles, but after creating KILL la KILL we realized it was above our capacity to continuously create original titles, so we need to balance where we allocate our resources.
We do want to note that there is original IP for titles such as Cyberpunk: Edgerunners and Gridman, the stories and the characters are entirely original, so the caliber of how costly it is for us to make those shows is almost the same as an original title. I wouldn’t call it an adaptation per se. We have made strict adaptations before like Inobato and our current title Delicious in Dungeon. I wouldn’t say that Cyberpunk: Edgerunners was a strict adaptation. It’s very costly for us to produce an original title,so we try to balance it out, we would do an original, then schedule an adaptation or pseudo-adaptation while working on our next original work.
Q: What about collaborations?
(HW): I wouldn’t say collaborations. For example, in Star Wars: Visions, our President and I are big fans of Star Wars, and we actively pitched to Lucasfilm and Disney our story. That doesn’t apply just to Star Wars, and I believe that in any anime that we produce, there needs to be a certain level of passion behind the project, a level that our staff is invested in. For example, Delicious in Dungeon, one of our younger directors, Yoshihiro Miyajima, is very invested in the project, so that’s why he’s the one directing that series.
Q: Do you play video games? Did you play Cyberpunk?
(HW): So, for Cyberpunk, we had to play it, so we played an early alpha version of the game. We were allowed to have access to the test kit which allowed us to do anything within the game. Koyama-san likes to play games. I think he likes Fortnite.
Q: Is there going to be a collaboration with Fortnite?
(HW): We do want those collaborative skins to happen at some point.
Q: When you pitched your story for Star Wars: Visions, how much freedom did you have to tell your story? Did you have to abide by any rules or guidelines within the Star Wars universe?
(HW): The only rules we had to abide by were not to use any of the original movies’ characters, such as Darth Vader or Luke Skywalker. We also thought that since we were working with Lucasfilm and Disney, there would be stricter guidelines, but we were quite surprised at how lenient they were.
(SK): My impression was that since we delivered a pitch deck, it felt like we had a lot of positive feedback from Lucasfilm and Disney, and we didn’t feel any resistance from their team. We were fortunate, I guess; they understood our ideas very well. I’m not sure if you noticed this detail but in the last scene in “The Twins”, the main characters both don’t have helmets on outside in space. This is possible because they’re technically not human. Also, there is a robot that has an oxygen mask around his head. It’s those little details that I thought they would criticize, but they were pretty open to it.
Q: Back when TRIGGER first started, KILL la KILL was your first main series title. When you look back at that time did you feel any pressure to make it “good”, or “sellable”?
(HW): I’m not sure if this directly answers your questions, but we were fortunate that Gurren Lagann was very popular and highly well-received with our audience. I did feel a kind of pressure that we had to exceed Gurren Lagann with KILL la KILL. As you mentioned, from a business standpoint, KILL la KILL was going to be our flagship title, so from that standpoint, we needed to make it a success. However, the biggest pressure was to make sure we didn’t let our fans down, specifically the ones from GURREN LAGANN. With hindsight after this many years, I believe that KILL la KILL represents the core of our beliefs, where if we can’t enjoy the creative process ourselves then the audience will not be able to enjoy it as well.
Q: Panty and Stocking Season 2 has been talked about forever, when are we actually going to get it?
(HW): I guess the best way for any updates on that is to follow our social media, obviously, we cannot disclose any updates. What I can say is that season 2 is the “wrong way” of discussing our project. At recent American conventions, we announced that TRIGGER finally acquired the rights to Panty and Stocking, we hope to further update the situation at future panels.
Q: In the KILL la KILL credits, Koyama-san is credited as a Creative Designer, and Wakabayashi-san is credited as a Creative Officer. What is the difference?
(HW): As it says, I’m the Creative Officer. I oversee the quality of the creativeness. It was a title that was gifted to me by Koyama-san. In a lot of the production processes of Imaishi-san’s titles we have a brainstorming session where we work together for the designs. While we were working on KILL la KILL I was sitting in the same meeting room, kind of “criticizing” the designs and ideas, and I’m assuming that Koyama-san thought “man this is really annoying”, so perhaps that is why he gave me the title as Creative Officer.
Q: How do you feel about the state of the anime industry today? We’ve spoken to a number of other production staff in the past and a number of them have said that there are not as many younger animators coming through the ranks.
(HW): At least at TRIGGER, we put much effort into training the younger generation. In our most recent production, Delicious in Dungeon, our flagship creators, Hiroyuki Imaishi, Yoh Yoshinari, and Akira Amemiya, none of them are involved in this title. Again, it’s entirely done by our younger staff, our director came through the ranks at TRIGGER, and our animators and even the project managers are from our younger generation. We believe that we try to provide many opportunities for younger staff in our organization. It’s not like we give them the reins and allow them to run freely, but we do supervise when necessary, so that they don’t ruin the production process.
(SK): For example, Delicious in Dungeon Director Miyajima-san worked with our team on Star Wars: Visions. I think there are a lot of lessons and experiences that affected Delicious in dungeon. So, we believe that investing in younger generations will be mutually beneficial for us in that they will help with the future content we are producing. So, if they become well-seasoned and start making really good animation, then that means we can make crude projects like Panty and Stocking (laughs), and the younger generation can do the heavy lifting.
Thank you for doing the interview with us!
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