At this year’s Anime Expo, we had the opportunity to sit down and interview staff of the upcoming anime Blue Miburo (an adaptation of The Blue Wolves of Mibu manga by Tsuyoshi Yasuda), including Director Kumiko Habara and Animation Producer Hiroya Nakata. Blue Miburo is a historical fiction series featuring the Shinsengumi (it shares a setting with Rurouni Kenshin). It chronicles the founding of the Shinsengumi and follows an orphan named Nio who dreams of a better world and seeks to change the one he lives in.
Sections of this interview have been lightly edited for clarity.
Joining the Staff of Blue Miburo
In previous roles, Director Habara-san has been staff in a variety of series across a variety of genres, with some examples being serving as an episode director in Kuroko’s Basketball and Sailor Moon Crystal and doing storyboarding for the 2019 Fruits Basket anime and In Another World With My Smartphone. Animation Producer Nakata-san has been a producer for franchises such as Case Closed and My Hero Academia. To start the conversation, I asked both to talk about how they were approached to work on Blue Miburo and what their feelings were about being selected to be part of the staff.
Habara-san: The company offered me the role, and since I didn’t know the original story, I read it and found it interesting, so I decided to accept.
Nakata-san: I’ve always liked the end of the Edo period, and I thought it was interesting from the moment I read the first episode of the series. I’m happy to be able to produce the anime.
To follow up, I asked both if they’d had a lot of exposure to stories involving the Shinsengumi. They’ve appeared in almost too much media to count, across television, film, plays, mobile apps, and video games. Director Habara-san pointed to a 2021 Japanese historical film following a vice-commander of the Shinsengumi while Producer Nakata-san reminisced about a 2004 Taiga drama historical fiction television series produced by Japanese broadcaster NHK.
Habara-san: I didn’t know anything about it, but I learned a lot by watching a lot of movies featuring the Shinsengumi, such as the movie Moeyo Ken [also called Baragaki: Unbroken Samurai].
Nakata-san: I fell in love with Shinsengumi after watching the Taiga drama.
Creating the Series
Blue Miburo, like a lot of media featuring the Shinsengumi, makes use of real events from history as a foundation for its storytelling. There are obvious fictional elements to it, but certain events from the story of the manga can be directly tied to events in the Japanese historical record. I asked what kinds of effects on the production and execution process this factor of the story.
Habara-san: It’s made quite faithfully, so when the Shinsengumi gets angry during a big incident, there are detailed records, so I try to depict those areas.
Nakata-san: Regarding the music, I worked with Yuuki Hayashi, who is working on My Hero Academia, and we tried to make the music sound traditionally Japanese, like with Japanese taiko, and match with the Miburo background situation.
Within the manga, the series art is incredibly precise and detailed. On the heels of Nakata-san’s answer about staffing and choices made regarding music, I wanted to know what sorts of steps in staffing and the production process were taken to preserve that art style in the anime.
Habara-san: It was very difficult and we had to redo it many times, starting with something that was close to the realistic original, and then trying to create gradations.
Nakata-san: I feel like I was given a choice. I asked the director and others to make the choice between being particular about this and making things easier to move.
In comparison to other series they’ve both worked on, this one was seemingly more difficult and required some additional levels of care. I asked how this project compared to others they’d worked on in the past.
Habara-san: I was working on isekai, so I was free to do whatever I wanted, but since this work is based on something that actually exists, I researched it thoroughly before proceeding. Things like kimonos and swords were difficult to work with.
Nakata-san: Up until now, there were many long-established studios, but this time there are many young companies and young staff, so I’m checking more frequently.
In addition to those challenges, the director and producer pointed to marketing awareness and the historical foundation as additional difficulties.
Habara-san: Because there is something historical in reality, it was difficult to reconcile it with fiction.
Nakata-san: There isn’t much awareness of the comic, so I want to do my best in marketing.
Finally, I wanted to focus on the characters a little bit. Starting with our protagonist Nio, who, unlike a lot of other anime and manga protagonists, starts off with pretty well-defined principles that he’s capable of articulating well as early as chapter 1. Both guests shared their impressions of him as a character.
Habara-san: He is an extremely intelligent child who looks at the world from an honest perspective. He absorbs a lot of things with an open mind, which is appealing.
Nakata-san: He’s very pure, so I’m looking forward to seeing how he will carry out his justice.
To close, I asked both who their favorite character from the earliest parts of the series was, and they both shared the same answer.
Habara-san: There’s a kid named Taro, and there’s a story where he lives a really low life, but is picked up by the Shinsengumi, and when I think about him, I cry.
Nakata-san: Like the director, I support Taro. The young staff in the studio like Hijikata or Hajime, because they’re handsome.
We’d like to thank Director Kumiko Habara and Animation Producer Hiroya Nakata for taking the time to speak with us about Blue Miburo. Ahead of the series October 12th premiere, the official website released a teaser video that reveals and previews the opening theme song “Ao” (Blue) by SPYAIR. You can check it out below.
© Tsuyoshi Yasuda, Kodansha / “Blue Miburo” Production Committee
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