At this year’s Anime Expo, we had the opportunity to speak with staff from A-1 Pictures in celebration of the studio’s 20th anniversary and exciting panel later that day. The conversation included Atsushi Kaneko, producer for Solo Leveling and known for working on shows like Sword Art Online: Alicization, Shunsuke Sugimoto, producer for Lycoris Recoil, and Toshitaka Morioka, CG Director for Solo Leveling and Lycoris Recoil.
These three, and A-1 Pictures writ large, have been involved with some of the most popular series in recent years. Solo Leveling has gone on to become Crunchyroll’s most viewed series ever, capturing the attentions of countless fans across the world and creating a constant clamor for news of a third season. Lycoris Recoil ranked first in our weekly polls for three consecutive weeks after its premiere in 2022 and went on to win 1st place in our Summer 2022 Anime of the Season rankings.
During our conversation, we discussed some of the unique aspects of working on these shows as well as some aspects of their future.
Portions of this interview have been lightly edited for clarity.
Q: My first question is for Kaneko-san. Solo Leveling has become one of the most viewed anime of all time and won countless awards in just a few years. From a production perspective, how does it feel to be behind a work as well-received as this one?
Kaneko-san: I have had anime experience for 16 years in production, so these are the results of my work and the fruits of my labor, and I’m very happy about this. But at the same time, in the future, I’m worried that I might not be able to meet or encounter another story like this, like Solo Leveling. So I’m happy and scared. It’s a bit of a mysterious combination, these feelings, a mysterious mix of feelings for this title and for the future.
Q: And my next question, for Sugimoto-san, how does working on an original anime like Lycoris Recoil compare to working on adaptations? Does the studio have any plans to increase the proportion of original projects that it takes on in comparison to adaptations?
Sugimoto-san: The difference between something that’s original and something that has had a story before, it’s about setting the realistic world, whether it’s going to be believable or not, and so that is the main big difference between the two. And the settings for the story and everything change a lot between those two different backgrounds. So, just as an example, if you have a pen you can create a manga out of it and you can create a story out of that, but for original works, it becomes like you have to create something from blank. You can change up the time that you use to make up the story, and that’s one of the biggest differences between these two. From the 1st of July, we started a new studio called Psyde Kick, and I’ve been involved with that, and then this studio has a tendency to focus on original anime. So I think going forward, we’re going to be working more and more on original anime, and in general, the industry, the anime industry, will be focusing more on original anime.
Q: Morioka-san, series like Solo Leveling have impressively smooth and unobtrusive CG, especially in scenes involving a lot of shadows or enemies like the High Orcs. What kinds of techniques and technologies are used to maximize the quality of the CG in the anime, and has the introduction of more powers for Jinwoo and others increased the production time or caused any significant difficulty?
Morioka-san: I didn’t really do anything special for the CG for the monsters. I focused on creating cool looks and the physical appearance of the anime for this particular point. I used a lot of CG and 3D because I had a lot of freedom to do so, and the space for this. And since the character [Jinwoo] has a lot of powers, he was able to use that space to create and to use the CG. And I believes it came out pretty good.
Q: Kaneko-san, what do you hope Solo Leveling contributes to the broader anime industry?
Kaneko-san: I’d like people from around the world to watch not just Solo Leveling, but Japanese anime more and more. People that wouldn’t have watched anime have now started watching anime via streaming platforms. And Japanese anime has become pretty much mainstream, pretty popular around the world. And so I’m hoping that it has an impact on a bigger scale in general for the Japanese anime industry and around the world.
Q: Sugimoto-san, what did you aim to have fans take away from Lycoris Recoil? What sort of contribution did the team want the project to have on anime overall?
Sugimoto-san: I wanted this series [Lycoris Recoil: Friends Are Thieves of Time] to show human relationships between Chisato and Takina, and spending daily time with someone that you love, someone that’s important to you, and using the title Friends Are Thieves of Time in a positive light [note: prior to answering, Sugimoto-san had a brief exchange with the translator about whether English speakers consider “Thieves of Time” to have a negative connotation]. That’s what I want viewers to take from it, and the sort of contribution for the anime in this regard.
Q: Kaneko-san, I’m sure many fans are curious. Do you have any updates about Solo Leveling Season 3 that you’re able to share?
Kaneko-san: So, as a producer for A-1 Pictures, I cannot say anything in an official capacity. I’ve come here to LA and Mexico for Solo Leveling, and I’ve been saying the same answer. When I was asked this question, I talked about Genki Dama [Spirit Bomb]. It’s not just Goku that will be launching that. It’s everyone. But I cannot answer in an official capacity what will happen. [note: after this, he raised his arms and said “More power!” repeatedly; it was incredible]
Q: A similar question for Sugimoto-san. Do you have any news to share about the upcoming new animation project for Lycoris Recoil?
Sugimoto-san: After the broadcast of Lycoris Recoil, we announced that we were planning to release a new animation. Many viewers have recognized it as the Lycoris Recoil short, Friends Are Thieves of Time. But that’s not the case. There is going to be a longer animation coming up, but I can’t tell you the details. There are some other things that are coming up, but I also can’t tell you the details.
We’d like to thank the staff of A-1 Pictures for taking the time to speak with us during Anime Expo and thank Crunchyroll for assisting with setting up the interview. If you haven’t checked out Solo Leveling and Lycoris Recoil, you can watch the former here and the latter here, both on Crunchyroll.
Featured image:
Lycoris Recoil ©Spider Lily/Aniplex, ABC ANIMATION, BS11
Solo Leveling © Solo Leveling Animation Partners
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