Here is the full Chika Umino and Akiyuki Shinbo interview. Please note that Umino and Shinbo will be talking about the manga in question and also other shaft shows like the monogatari series. There may therefore be possible spoilers for any works mentioned. Also please be aware of any possible inaccuracies, and if you would like any clarification please just let me know! The interviews were also released as smaller parts (which can be found on the blog), of which some contain notes to clarify some points on the translation.

**Possible spoilers for March comes in like a Lion and the Monogatari Series**

– Before the announcement, Shaft, Shinbo, Aniplex, Umino and ourselves, Hakusensha – who work on the side of the original work – had already started the scenario meeting. Production of the work had already been progressing, when on the 7th January it was announced. Can you please tell me how you are feeling at the moment?

Shinbo: I’m sure I shouldn’t be saying this, but I’m curious of the reaction to the announcement (laughs). But I shouldn’t really be saying this, right?

Umino: But, I think it might be interesting if you said so.

Shinbo: Well anyway, I wonder whether we will be good enough (laughs)

– Starting very modestly, aren’t we?

Shinbo: Just my honest thoughts, you see (laughs)

Umino: I also really raised the bar with my comment for the announcement (laughs).

(The comment in question: I really, really loved Shinbo-kantoku’s Bakemonogatari, Madoka Magika, Arakawa under the Bridge and Zetsubou Sensei, so I thought “I want it to be done by Shinbo-kantoku and Shaft!”. If this dream couldn’t be granted then it didn’t need to be adapted… I am very happy! I would like to do my best in supporting and helping the anime adaptation!)

– It was certainly a comment with a lot of impact.

Umino: But with that, I was worried that I may have driven the staff at Shaft into a corner (laughs). I thought that Shinbo-san or Shaft may be troubled by my comment instead.

– Receiving such a message from the writer of the original work provided great encouragement, so the staff at Shaft were very happy.

Umino: Now that it has been announced, I wonder what everyone is saying about it. If people are saying scary things about it, I plan to post an illustration on twitter. It will be of me becoming the elder of the Mani tribe from Nausicaa’s second volume and saying “Go my friend!” (laughs).

– Though we’re just talking, I expect that illustration to go up if that is the case (laughs). Shinbo-kantoku, what did you think of the comment?

Shinbo: No, I thought it was amazing.

Umino: It was all stated clearly.

Shinbo: Of course, the staff for ‘Arakawa under the Bridge’ will also be working on ‘March comes in like a Lion’.

Umino: I thought the art for the ending for ‘Arakawa’ was very sweet. It was less like an anime, and more of a rough sketch. I thought that that sort of thing was very sweet. It really felt like a modern girl’s illustration. Suneohair-san’s music was also very good.

– Shinbo-kantoku, you said that you were curious of the reaction to the announcement, but why is this?

Shinbo: I thought we might again be criticised for this (laughs)

Umino: If you are criticised for this, I’ll write a 4-koma manga to convince them (laughs)

– But then we might get people who criticise it because they wanted to see the adaptation (laughs).

Umino: That’s not an option (laughs), we must say beforehand that people mustn’t do that…!!

Shinbo: But, receiving such a reaction, was it really all right for us to adapt the work? It’s a possibility isn’t it (laughs)?

Umino: No, but, I was really thinking that (if not for Shaft or Shinbo) it didn’t need to be adapted into an anime. I already had ‘Honey and Clover’ made into an anime – which was very nicely done – and was thinking of living on with just this memory (laughs)

– But, speaking seriously, we’ve always been listening to these thoughts from Umino-san.

Umino: I really like the anime made by Shaft, so I don’t quite get it when talking about how Shinbo-san may be criticised. I even end up thinking “what, why?”

Shinbo: Up to now, the second it’s announced that production will be done by Shaft, we’ve been criticised you see (laughs).

Umino: That’s probably something that happens at least once to anyone. Like a baby starting off in a state of excitement not showing a great range of emotion, it may be that everyone’s getting worked up all at once.

– I see.

Shinbo: I don’t really look at the internet so I don’t know directly, but I often hear this sort of thing from the staff around me.

– There’s no doubt that Shinbo-kantoku and Shaft have quite a unique image in the anime industry, especially in the direction. So because of that I think people may feel nervous about it.

Umino: On the other hand, fans of Shinbo-san may feel that with my work, it may not let Shinbo-san and Shaft go to their full potential. For example, Senjougahara-san’s (from the Monogatari Series) house is set up like a stage setting with the use of the steel framework. These sorts of arrangements or imagined landscapes are possible with these novels, but with ‘March comes in like a Lion’, the setting is limited and have already been set up in the original work. So maybe people will worry that they won’t have complete freedom in what they want to do. I thought that if the anime adaptation had been declined, this would be the reason. I also liked anime by Shaft because the girls were cute, so it makes me a bit sad that we may not be seeing that in ‘March comes in like a Lion’.

Shinbo: What do you mean?

Umino: It was always a lot of fun seeing the girls in the ‘Monogatari Series’, but with ‘March comes in like a Lion’ it’s quite a stiff story. There aren’t many scenes where I feel excited by the girls so I do feel a bit disappointed by this.

Shinbo: In the ‘Monogatari Series’, we do draw the girls to make them appear cunning and calculating in places.

Umino: I really like that sort of thing, you see. To the point where I feel a bit sad that the character designer isn’t Akio Watanabe (laughs).

Shinbo: But the character designs you’re looking at at the moment are very cute aren’t they?

Umino: The designs look just like my own drawings. As they aren’t moving yet (as an anime) it felt like I had just been shown my own drawings, so I was very surprised. Just that everything was so similar. Thinking that this will be moving… it’s amazing…!!

Shinbo: But it vaguely looks like Rei-kun’s hair is able to move.

Umino: I’d really like it to.

Shinbo: Like it’s being blown by the wind.

Umino: He doesn’t show his emotions much, so like Ashitaka (from Mononoke Hime), we can express them with his hair movement (laughs). He wears quite tight clothes, with his shirt tucked in, so he can’t show his emotions. Wind blows on the bridge, but it doesn’t blow in the shogi hall.

Shinbo: But, it’s really good when characters like that that don’t show their emotions gradually start to open up.

Umino: Thinking that Kiriyama-kun’s embarrassed, there are scenes where I draw Kiriyama’s face small and side on. But then Shinbo-san says (in the scenario meeting) let’s do a close-up of the face (laughs). I thought wow, adults are mean (laughs), men don’t feel any mercy towards the same sex. I’m a women so I made it into a long shot as I felt sorry for him if I forcefully did a close-up.

– This is the scene in chapter 28 ‘Blinding Darkness’, where Rei-kun runs out of the shogi hall after losing to Shimada 9-dan, isn’t it?

Shinbo: As much as I knew why you did it, I thought that this was the place it had to be shown.

Umino: I gave careful consideration to Kiriyama-kun in that scene… But maybe it might be fun for the audience to be forcefully shown Kiriyama-kun’s embarrassed face.

– There’s also the point that it’s easier to understand.

Shinbo: After all, I want everyone to come together and come closer to Kiriyama-kun’s character.

Umino: There is something I always think when watching anime made by Shinbo-san. In anime and manga, there are two types of scene; one where you watch something happen through a window at a distance and the other, when you watch something up-close. Any anime made by Shinbo-san I watch has the scene happen up close. Where there are anime where characters are shown doing something from a distance, Shinbo-san’s works always feel like they’re making the characters say their lines whilst being right up to their face. I have worked hard to make my manga feel like this, so if I had asked someone to adapt my manga that couldn’t do this, it would have been sad to see if adapted in a way where the characters are shown at a distance.

Shinbo: Although, of course there are times when I do make a scene more objective.

Umino: I thought your works are the kind that easily win over the hearts of the audience. Like making them eat something without them realising. I think that’s a really good thing. Although I’m not quite sure how you manage to create this difference.

Aniplex, Atsuhiro Iwakami: In Shinbo-kantoku and Shaft’s anime, there’s a feeling that they want the audience to be interested and empathise with the work and its characters.

Umino: Rather than making it without thinking, it’s more like they are properly using their head whilst making it. It feels like it’s coming from the brain.

– I’m sure with the announcement, many were surprised that it would be adapted by Shinbo-kantoku and Shaft. But in this sense, it seems that it was a necessity for them to adapt ‘March comes in like a Lion’.

Umino: I didn’t want people to think that it wasn’t my intention; that it was for some other reason that Shaft were adapting the work. That’s why I wanted to tell people clearly with the comment, so that people wouldn’t suspect a pretext to all this.

– Now that it has been announced, I’m sure that many people are interested in how this came to be. But firstly, you were hoping for the work to be adapted weren’t you?

Umino: Yes, that’s right.

– And that request was delivered to Shinbo-kantoku…

Shinbo: Whether it was Iwakami-san or Kubota-san (representative director of Shaft), I can’t quite remember, but the discussion itself happened quite a while ago.

Iwakami: We had heard that Umino-sensei really liked works such as the ‘Monogatari Series’ or ‘Madoka’… well something like that anyway.

– Previously, Umino-san had drawn the end card to ‘Otorimonogatari’.

Umino: But after seeing ‘Madoka’ and ‘Bakemonogatari’, I thought maybe there might not be any merit for Shinbo-san to adapt a manga. It was a period with works based on novels that didn’t have any pictures, and anime originals, so I thought you wouldn’t accept to adapt the work.

Shinbo: Well, it’s the opposite. We were doing more anime originals in the past, like ‘Soul Taker’ and ‘Le Portrait de Petit Cossette’ from the year 2000.

Umino: That’s right. But after seeing ‘Madoka’, I thought that maybe you wouldn’t want to adapt someone else’s manga after making such a free and amazing work like ‘Madoka’.

Shinbo: What I always think is that, as I’m not a writer, I don’t discriminate between works.

Umino: I see.

Shinbo: More than that, my feeling that I want to make something that will sell and be popular has become stronger after a certain point in time.

Umino: Was that during ‘Madoka’?

Shinbo: No, it was whilst I was doing works like ‘Soul Taker’ or ‘Le Portrait de Petit Cossette’. I worked hard, but they weren’t talked about a lot. If they had become more popular as a topic of discussion, I thought it may have been a way to give something back to the staff for all their hard work. Something popular, that everyone can enjoy… my feelings towards making works were moving more in this direction. That’s why we decided to adapt anime based on original works. In this way, after this we were always adapting anime based on original works like ‘Zetsubou Sensei’ or ‘Pani Poni’, ‘Negima!?’ and ‘Hidamari’. As we were doing this for quite a while, ‘Madoka’ was the first original we made in quite a bit. It was good as it was a hit, but if it wasn’t, the feeling was that we would lose the chance to make more original anime. So in this sense, there was a more negative side to it.

Umino: Just when I was thinking that Shinbo-san and Shaft wouldn’t do, it turned out that you would adapt the work, so I am now very happy.

– What did you think when the idea of an anime adaptation was delivered to you, Shinbo-kantoku?

Shinbo: It was a big title, so it wasn’t really about choosing between other works. When I saw the poster on the train for the new serialisation, it left quite an impression on me. So when I heard that the idea of an anime adaptation was brought to us, I was surprised and thought “What? It’s actually been brought to us?”

Umino: Oh yes, the poster when it started being published by Young Animal.

Shinbo: From your previous work, ‘Honey and Clover’ to shogi! This change was very mysterious to me at the time.

Umino: Kantoku, have you read ‘Honey and Clover’?

Shinbo: I have. With ‘Honey and Clover’, it had more of a fluffy image. Leaving aside your personal intention, I thought that there was a feeling that the students were the main characters and that you were trying to make a broader piece. So I thought, why shogi next?

Umino: I was free after finishing ‘Honey and Clover’ so many publishers had been asking me to write something similar. But then I thought if the next piece was a failure, I would be accused of being a one-hit wonder and so a third piece would no longer be possible. With the second piece I’ll go for it and write something more stiff and completely different!! If I did this, then even if I failed it would be seen as me rushing into a new area too quickly. I was thinking of doing something with university students with my third piece, but it was so fun writing ‘March comes in like a Lion’ that I just couldn’t stop.

Shinbo: When I saw the advertisement, I really felt that something was off. At the time I thought, what was this picture and what’s more, why is the next subject shogi? Now, I don’t play much shogi, but during elementary school I used to quite enjoy playing it. So strangely, I did have a lot of memories associated with shogi.

– Umino-sensei, what lead to you watching your very first anime by Shinbo-kantoku and Shaft?

Umino: It was ‘Zetsubou Sensei’. Next was ‘Arakawa’ I think. My niece really liked ‘Zetsubou Sensei’, you see. She was completed engrossed whilst watching it, so after being invited by her, we both started watching it together. After this, I had become friends with Hikaru Nakamura, so when ‘Arakawa’ was adapted into an anime I thought “It’s going to be done by Shinbo-kantoku, I’m really jealous”. When I watched ‘Arakawa’ – also being the case with ‘Zetsubou Sensei’ – I thought that the pacing of the comedy was really good. It was done well to make you laugh.

Shinbo: More than me, that was thanks to the work of the team involved in direction.

Umino: Anime that properly use jokes as jokes to make you laugh, really work and make me laugh a lot. Although I don’t think there are many people who can – whether in anime or manga – use both comedic and serious moments well, I really wanted to do both in my manga. Will the staff involved in direction at Shaft carry this over (into the anime)?

Shinbo: Yes, they will.

Umino: I’m crying with joy. I think it’s really nice when the jokes are funny.

– So the comedic pacing was also a reason for wanting Shinbo-kantoku and Shaft to adapt your work?

Umino: Firstly, I wanted scenes to happen up-close and not from a distance. It’s amazing how, rather than listening to it far away, it feels like you’re right in the scene. This is one point I really like. On top of that, the jokes were also funny!

– This time can I ask Shinbo-kantoku, what was it that appealed to you about Umino-sensei’s works?

Shinbo: The pictures are cute, but once taking a step in there’s a fierce feeling of pain! I haven’t adapted anything like this before so it’s worth challenging myself.

– Words like this from Shinbo-kantoku!

Shinbo: It’s raw, so very raw.

Umino: I’m very happy.

Shinbo: That’s why I ended up thinking, with the running scene I wanted to avoid pulling away!

Umino: That’s what made it fun. To think that the director would say “do a close-up” to a face that I had hidden, I thought that this was going to become something interesting. When I’m feeling embarrassed I make it into a long shot, but I hope in this way, you can say “why not show the face?” in response to these scenes (laughs).

Shinbo: Well of course, I do think that there are times when you are or aren’t allowed to show the face.

Umino: So inside you, you were thinking that you had to show off this boy’s face to everyone?

Shinbo: Thinking something like, “I have to show it!”

Umino: That’s funny (laughs).

Shinbo: I want to do this for these sorts of emotional scenes, but I’m also thinking that I want to make the hurried scenes a bit more hurried.

Umino: With the more embarrassing parts I’ve written, I’m sure that the readers all feel very embarrassed whilst reading it. So I just put in scenes of food or make it into a long shot to make the readers feel less so. I hope in the anime you do show the more to show the embarrassing parts when necessary.

Shinbo: Although It should be said that whilst I would have been embarrassed during that period (same age as Rei-kun), now I’m not particularly embarrassed, you see (laughs).

Umino: Boys are difficult aren’t they? They’re easily hurt, so after they’ve done something embarrassing and are feeling ashamed of themselves, I feel that it’s better to give them some space. Otherwise they may respond by sulking, or something awful might happen to them… so I end up leaving them alone. It can be very different with a male director, so it all seems very interesting.

Shinbo: Making a mistake and failing is something that I’m sure is very relatable to a lot of people. So I wanted to show and allow people to recognise that this is what a boy’s face looks like after making a big mistake.

Umino: It’s a big problem to him, but with adults they just brush it off saying something like “I know, I know, you’re embarrassed aren’t you?”. But, it looked like he was just about the age where he might end up sulking and acting more unreasonably in response. That’s why I made it into more of a long shot (laughs).

Shinbo: So in the anime, you felt sorry for him. You don’t want him to feel sad so you want to pull away from the scene?

Umino: I’m the type that gives too much consideration that I end up spoiling the character. So I’d be very grateful if you can provide some discipline (laughs). It will ease the burden on him if people can laugh, so maybe that is the point to all this.

Shinbo: He was regretting it a lot though, wasn’t he?

Umino: He was! So during the discussion on the script, I thought that it was a really good part that the others will be adapting.

– Listening to what you say, it sounds like you don’t particularly mind changes made from the manga to the anime.

Umino: I don’t mind at all. After all, I do think that some parts are better changed than not. I think it’s worth taking advantage of the fact that ‘what’s possible’ in manga is different to that in anime. If no changes are made, I feel that there is no point in working with other people to adapt the work. To leave it at, you drew it like this so we’ll do it in this way, may be less trouble but I’d be sad to see it made like this and it would be boring if it was done in this way.

– I also take part in each scenario meeting, but one of the main points brought up is how you’d arrange the anime in the style of Shinbo-kantoku. Whenever this is brought up I hope that the changes introduced will be able to give a positive surprise to those that have already read the manga.

Umino: You see, I’m rather more the type where I can’t see things from a broad point of view. Yes! It’s going to be made by Shaft! By Shinbo-san! Once this had been decided I thought “The character designer will definitely be Akio Watanabe-san!!”. I’m sure that the director will do what he has to do for the readers of the manga. I was so happy at the time thinking “I’m sure that Akari-san will become just like Hanekawa-san!!”, but the director properly told me “that won’t be possible”… I’m sure the director is on the side of the readers much more than I am (laughs).

– Quite dependable for the readers of the manga, isn’t he (laughs)?

Umino: Shinbo-kantoku said to me that everyone was expecting to see my pictures (for the character designs), so I thought what? Ahh, I see~!

– When visiting the exhibition of your original illustrations and such, we felt first hand how much everyone loves your pictures. With Shaft and Shinbo-kantoku changing certain areas to make it more interesting, whilst taking care and consideration to what made the manga so good, I feel confident in the anime’s production.

Shinbo: I’ve visited Tsukishima as well.

Umino: By the river?

Shinbo: I’ve looked around there and also the observatory, the Kawamoto house area, the red bridge and just the general area.

– Visiting the place in person, what did you think?

Shinbo: It thought it was a good place for when it fades to dusk. It’s a place that seems perfect for such a time.

Umino: If you walk a bit, there’s a river isn’t there? Sitting silently by the river fills in time, you know, with the passing boats and sound of water.

Shinbo: The observatory by Rei-kun’s flat, I could be there all day.

Umino: I also think it’s nice to have a place like that, so I feel jealous of the people who live in Tsukishima.

Shinbo: I also feel jealous for those who live in the tower block at Tsukishima (laughs). To think there would be such a place.

Umino: Just sitting by the river let’s you relax. There’s also a bench, so it’s a nice place to sit down. Surprisingly, there aren’t many places in Tokyo where you can be alone. It was good that I chose Tsukishima for the setting. First I was thinking of using Kamakura, but it was hard to get to to take photographs for reference. That’s why I chose Tsukishima. But when I went there to collect information, I thought that much of the scenery would make a great picture, what a lovely place…

Shinbo: It would be really nice to live around there, wouldn’t it?

– It’s definitely worth paying attention to the portrayal of Tsukishima in the anime. I’m also looking forward to the artwork.

Umino: I also love the backgrounds for the ‘Monogatari Series’ you see. Like the coast setting for when when Hanekawa becomes a white cat, the Harumifutou-like area used for the confrontation in her pyjamas, or the park setting. Also the backgrounds for the residential areas and the bridge were really cool. I’m really looking forward to how the backgrounds will turn out in the anime.

Shinbo: This time, we want to change the feeling of Rei’s room, the Kawamoto house and the shogi hall. I feel that each setting is different. The place where Rei lives alone feeling introverted, the shogi hall as the real place of battle, what is at the moment the fluffy image of the Kawamoto house. I want to make sure that each setting is distinct so that I can make the world into a sort of triangle.

Umino: Rei-kun lives in a place called Shinkawa. In Shinkawa there are a lot of warehouses and buildings, but not many people

Shinbo: Certainly the Kawamoto family live in a place that feels very nostalgic to the Shouwa era, with a candy store and such.

Umino: It’s so good, with the candy store right next to the red bridge.

Shinbo: On the other hand, Rei’s area feels much more suited to dusk. Maybe it shouldn’t really be that way but maybe that’s why he always returns there.

Umino: I know many male manga artists who feel this way, where they don’t want to live in an area with families. Watching them makes you feel warm, so you can easily be lead on by this, making it harder to write a hard and serious story. I heard that they prefer to live in an area full of warehouses, so I made Rei-kun live in an area a businessman might go to work form.

Shinbo: But, it’s very close to that bridge, isn’t it?

Umino: I thought it was a good location as you can go to the Kawamoto house just by crossing that one bridge. I made crossing this bridge something like Rei-kun’s on and off switch.

– Please let me ask you about the characters. Shinbo-kantoku, in that you’re adapting the work into an anime, are there any characters that you’re particularly looking forward to adapting?

Shinbo: Of course Rei-kun, as he’s the main character. I also look forward to the other shogi players Rei-kun will have to face, as each have their own set of dramas. I’m both excited and nervous to adapt these shogi players.

– In that it will be adapted into an anime, I’m interested in how the shogi matches will turn out.

Shinbo: The difficult thing is that, as an anime I like to use bluffs, like having smoke suddenly appear the moment a shogi piece is placed on the board, or having all the pieces on the board start to shine. But the world of ‘March comes in like a Lion’ isn’t like that, so I’m currently wondering what I’m going to do. I want to use the bluffs, but end up thinking that it’s not quite right. As the match happens face to face, instead of going bang after a piece is placed, it would probably be better to focus on the opponent’s expression. With this work, I feel that I’ll have to focus more on expressing things in this way.

Umino: When I first thought of using shogi, I wanted to do something like ‘Game Center Arashi’ with characters flying upside down whilst moving pieces with their teeth. But as I was setting up the framework for the story, there weren’t any places I could write it in this way. I couldn’t joke around with it, so it felt like a bit of a waste. I really wanted characters to shout out the name of their techniques and such, but as I researched more I realised that I shouldn’t really be doing this, so I was a bit disappointed.

Shinbo: So on the other hand, it’s like we don’t have the showy anime style for the matches. I didn’t think of forcefully changing those scenes to make it more suited to anime, so the shogi scenes may end up appearing very boring.

Umino: I also thought that if I could make the reader feel that the matches were cool by removing the boring bits, then I’d have won. So after realising that I couldn’t do ‘Game Center Arashi’ I felt really sad (laughs).

– The anime also won’t become like ‘Game Center Arashi’ (laughs).

Umino: Maybe, bit by bit (laughs).

Shinbo: If we did that it would be disliked a lot, wouldn’t it (laughs)?

– But listening to you, Shinbo-kantoku, it sounds like you are quite particular about the adaptation.

Shinbo: I think that there are a lot of anime (adaptations) where the characters look similar, but the worldview isn’t. With ‘March comes in like a Lion’, I want to bring over the worldview of the manga to the anime.

– Where do you think this worldview can be placed?

Shinbo: In many subtle areas, I’d expect.

Umino: With these important things I feel that you can only hide it as subtext, so we have no choice but to place them carefully, one by one.

Shinbo: In regards to shaft, this is quite the challenge. Up till now, we haven’t had to make much like this, you see.

Umino: I wanted to ask you (to adapt the work), but after thinking about it, it’s the sort of work that might end squeezing out what makes shaft appealing. Oh no! I thought. Skirts won’t wave in the wind either (laughs).

Shinbo: No, we don’t know that yet! I’m sure they will (laughs).

– Whose skirt will this be? Akari- san? Or will it be Kyouko?

Shinbo: Kyouko’s definitely will. That is, if you’re by the river it’ll end up fluttering in the wind, won’t it (laughs)? Come to think of it, I don’t fully understand the relationship between Kyouko and Rei. Reading it, I can imagine what their relationship is like, but since it’s not clearly stated I worry that it’s just my interpretation. So I just don’t know, it all feels very mysterious you see. Also, in me I feel that Kyouko is closest to Hanekawa (Monogatari Series).

Umino: Kyouko is very dependent on Rei, you see. Like what Araragi-kun is to Oikura-san.

Shinbo: In older terms, like Joe Yabuki and Youko Shiraki from ‘Ashita no Joe’. It’s a complicated relationship that can’t be described in one word.

Umino: I really like the relationship between Kiriyama-kun and Kyouko. It’s too awkward for me so I still haven’t clearly shown in the manga what happened between the two.

Shinbo: I thought it was fine being able to imagine that various things had happened between the two, but it was intentional that you left it out, was it?

Umino: I think Rei-kun actually really likes Kyouko, but he’s too nervous, so from his point of view he sees Kyouko as being unapproachable. Maybe living in the same house was a mistake.

Shinbo: The scene where Kyouko is thrown outside in the winter does make her seem difficult to approach, doesn’t it? I felt like with this scene, her position in the story had been fixed.

Umino: The bit where she’s standing imposingly, your first impression is that she’s angry rather than cold, as if she’s saying that she’s not cold and she won’t give in.

Shinbo: She even has a sort of godly presence, doesn’t she?

Umino: Living with someone like her must have been difficult for Kiriyama-kun as he can’t really contend with her. Even if she tries to bother him, he doesn’t go along with it.

Shinbo: Well, they’re just not in the same world are they? Kyouko might want to talk to Rei, but it’s not possible because they’re thinking on different levels.

– Certainly Kyouko has been a key character from the first panel of the first chapter. It’s certainly worth paying attention to how she’ll be presented in the anime, including her casting.

Shinbo: Her character may also be a big responsibility for the voice actor.

Aniplex Production, Yodo: Someone who could act in a mystical manner would be good. Someone who could portray her dignity even after being hurt, and her strength, but also the weakness behind this.

– By the way, although the two of you have both already opened up to each other, what were your impressions when first meeting?

Umino: I was a bit worried. I just really didn’t know what sort of person Shinbo-san was as there weren’t any rumours or anything about him. I couldn’t picture him at all, so I was thinking what should I do if he was a scary person? So when first meeting him, as I expected, my first impression was that he looked strict. He didn’t speak or move very much, you see.

– This was after asking Shaft. During your meeting whilst visiting the company, wasn’t it?

Umino: But after that, we went out for supper, and after a lot of drinking he had become drunk. He suddenly wasn’t scary so I thought “oh, what?” It was very fun (laughs). The oolong tea he was drinking as a chaser wasn’t going down at all, in fact the ice was melting faster than he could drink (laughs). “It’s a different person from the one I saw at Shaft!” I thought.

Shinbo: I was quite nervous whilst we were at Shaft, you see. From my point of view, I was meeting a manga artist who, after reading their work, I thought was amazing. I’m not very sociable either (laughs). I’m a very shy person. So when talking, it needs to be whilst drinking at that sort of a place for it to work. To be more talkative I need to be drunk.

Umino: But after becoming more talkative, you’d forget what you were saying and realise this mid way – that was very fun too. I was thinking, “he’s forgotten everything!”.

– You might have a worse memory than Kyouko Okitegami (Boukyaku Tantei Series) (laughs).

Shinbo: Maybe (laughs).

Umino: A detective that forgets before sleeping, and after drinking (laughs).

– But I remember you were both getting on really well. Like, you were talking about Yoshimi Uchida, whose works you had both read before starting this anime adaptation.

Shinbo: We talked a lot about shoujo manga, didn’t we?

Umino: We also talked about Akira Kawa-sensei as well.

– As the topic of food has come up I would like to say the food and mealtime scenes from ‘March comes in like a Lion’ are also popular. I think there will probably be a lot of people wondering how this will be presented in the anime.

Umino: Shinbo-san was talking very enthusiastically about how he challenged himself to cook rice using a donabe, and about his nonstick frying pan (laughs).

– Yes, you were saying that you had ordered a nonstick frying pan and were looking forward to receiving it.

Shinbo: That one was no good. After using it the food was getting stuck all over so I decided to throw it away. Rather than this, now I’ve bought a nambu ironware frying pan. A 21 cm one. Now only nambu ironware will do it for me.

Umino: When you were recommending the nonstick frying pan so much to me (laughs).

Shinbo: I’ve also bought an egg shaped piece of nambu ironware. Apparently if you put boiled water into it, the water takes in the iron. Though until you get used to it, it’s quite smelly with iron. The age for nambu ironware is coming for sure.

– You’re very particular about cooking. I want you to take full advantage of this for the anime!

Shinbo: I have a corner of a column in a quarterly magazine, but the other day I didn’t talk about anime or manga at all, but rather went on about donabe pots (laughs). What’s quite funny is that, I got into food cooked using a donabe after eating at a certain restaurant that cooked in this way, but I recently heard by coincidence that Tatsuyuki Nagai also got into donabe pots after going to that same restaurant.

Umino: Smith (Tatsuyuki Misumi) from ‘March comes in like a Lion’ actually got his last name from Nagai-kantoku.

Shinbo: What, really!?

Umino: He directed the second season of ‘Honey and Clover’. At the time I thought what a pretty name, so I decided to use it for Smith.

Shinbo: It’s a good name, isn’t it? Even such a person as him is apparently really into donabe pots!

Umino: At some point I also want to go to that restaurant and get into donabe pots! I’ll go to that shop and live as a human donabe!

Shinbo: The food there was so nice I thought ‘What is this!?’ and so the hostess said that they cooked using a donabe.

– So the next time you have a talk, I guess it will be at that restaurant (laughs).

Umino: Before this, Shinbo-san was talking about how he had gone to an electrical store and asked for their most expensive rice cooker. When they brought one out that cost 50,000 yen, Shinbo-san said “Not this, something better!” (laughs). Is that one losing to the donabe?

Shinbo: I do use it occasionally, but cleaning the pot, inner lid and all over is really bothersome. Maintaining a donabe is simple!

Umino: Ah, a donabe.

Shinbo: I do end up messing up quite a lot, but with that it’s nice as it’s different each time. A rice cooker is always stable, but the donabe isn’t which makes it so good.

Umino: With a donabe, how many cups of rice do you cook at a time?

Shinbo: Around 1 ~ 1.5.

Umino: If my rice was cooked using a donabe, I could eat so much with the rice being so good.

Shinbo: It’s good, and even if I mess up I still like it as it is.

Umino: In what way do you mess up?

Shinbo: Making the rice a bit too hard for example. There are also times when I make the rice too soft, but leaving it out for a bit makes it just right. Also if you add a bit of salt to rice that’s too soft, it will change into something so delicious that it’s not of this world.

Umino: With salt (laughs)?

Shinbo: Once it’s a bit like porridge, add a bit of salt and it’ll be like “What’s this!? It’s like minerals from the sea!!”. This won’t happen every time, just once in a while.

Umino: So depending on the hardness of the rice, you prepare it differently to make sure it tastes good?

Shinbo: That’s right. When it’s suitably soft for salt, it’s unbelievably good. Like the sea minerals soak into your body. Such good rice, I wouldn’t want anything else.

– Like, “I don’t want the side dish!” (laughs).

Umino: I’m going to put this conversation into the manga, with the shogi players just as it is. Someone will say “like minerals from the sea!!” and the others around will be surprised and say “with salt!?”

– Lastly, can you please provide a message for all those looking forward to the anime?

Shinbo: Umm, what shall I say? It hasn’t even come out yet (laughs). We’re making it at the moment, but the people on the character designs, and those on direction are all amazing. The person working on the art setting is something like a genius, so I think we’ll be able to make something that will please the fans of the manga.

Umino: I’m really looking forward to it. I’m looking forward to it so much that, if I look forward to it this much, it might become more of a burden for Shinbo-kantoku and Shaft…!? (laughs). Let’s all wait in excitement, and we’ll all say yay once the anime starts!

Source: http://3lion-anime.com/special/interview/vol01/

Image: http://3lion-anime.com/special/endcard/