The Dangers in My Heart (BokuYaba) Season 2 became the first series in the history of Anime Corner to sweep our weekly seasonal rankings, and for good reason. The series, later going on to win our 2024 Anime of the Year award, combines all of the best elements of romance to craft a steadily building story that tugs at your heartstrings and brings forth all kinds of emotions. The Dangers in My Heart is equally as much a coming of age story as it is a romance one, and watching its characters grow for themselves and grow towards each other is a treat. During Anime Expo 2025, we had the opportunity to catch up with staff of the series’ upcoming feature-length film which combines Season 1, Season 2, and brand new animation sequences into a single experience. Taking part in that conversation were Series Director Hiroaki Akagi and Producers Yosuke Sakurai (Shin-Ei Animation) and Kazuki Endo. We talked about the intricacies behind translating two seasons of The Dangers in My Heart into a film and different aspects of the production process.
Portions of this interview have been lightly edited for clarity.
Q: Can you talk about how you first came to work on the project? Were you familiar with BokuYaba before working on the project?
Endo-san: Everything started because I read the manga, actually, originally. And I just thought it was so good and I made an offer to Director Akagi and to Shin-Ei Animation.
Akagi-san: I didn’t know about the manga until he offered this to me. And I read the manga and thought it was really great and immediately said I would do it.
Sakurai-san: I knew of the manga beforehand, but when I got the offer I reread everything again and loved it. So I decided pretty quickly that this was a good project to do with Akagi-san.
Q: What inspired the decision to turn The Dangers in My Heart into a compilation film?
Endo-san: It really started because Seasons 1 and 2 were really popular, but we also wanted to share this great piece with people who hadn’t seen the series at all. And that was the impetus that made us think that we should do a feature film, to introduce people.
Akagi-san: I heard the idea of the theatrical film, and because it was going to be a compilation film, I thought, “Hm, I don’t know.” But then when they said we could include new scenes and new parts then I was on board and was excited to do it.
Sakurai-san: It’s two whole seasons, so to put that into one film is a lot of work. It was tough, but I think we were able to and are able to create something really great.
Q: Director Akagi, for the new animation sequences in the movie, how did you go about deciding where to place them and who all was involved in creating them?
Akagi-san: There was really one word from Hanada-san, the screenwriter, that really stuck out to everyone as a fun idea out of tons of ideas that came up. The word might be giving away too much.
Endo-san: There were ideas to create some scenes of what happened before Season 1, but really we knew that showing what happens after Season 2 would be most appealing, so the idea that we all landed on was to do Kana Ichikawa (Kyotaro’s big sister)’s live performance scene.
Q: How involved was Norio Sakurai in the development of the movie?
Endo-san: In the TV series, from Season 1 to 2, Sakurai-sensei was really involved a lot. We basically shared a lot of the screenplays, the storyboards, and there was a lot of support and positive feedback there. And they really love what it is that we have been doing, so it was the same for this film as well.
Akagi-san and Sakurai-san: We feel the same.
Q: Sakurai-san and Endo-san, from a production standpoint, what were the biggest differences between working on the TV series and the movie?
Sakurai-san: I think the great thing about creating a film, in this case a compilation film, and the way that it differs most from TV is that it’s one big story, so we don’t have to split everything up into short segments. Which means that we can make bigger emotional arcs.
Endo-san: And then one other difference, of course, is audiences are going to go to the theater to see this, so the sound needs to be heightened even better. And so that means 5.1 surround sound, and just more attention to detail, and more work goes into the sound work as well.
Q: Director Akagi, pacing is very important for charting out Kyotaro Ichikawa and Anna Yamada’s love story. How did you maintain the same important beats and feeling while keeping things short enough for a film? What did you aim to prioritize as a director?
Akagi-san: Really the most important thing is about their heart, and how their love story weaves together. So to define the clear moments where that happens and to really look at what is their emotional distance at any given moment — and really being clear on that — was important for me in directing and in the edit as well.
Q: Sakurai-san and Endo-san, what considerations went into choosing the release window and marketing approach for the film?
Endo-san: That’s more me. We wanted to make sure that there wasn’t too long of a gap after Season 2 ended until this feature film came out without lowering the quality of the film. So we discussed with Shin-Ei [Shin-Ei Animation] to figure out how we could do that. Valentine’s Day is February 14th so we thought that it would be a good time to release BokuYaba on February 13th, so that’s the date in Japan.
Q: Akagi-san, were there specific cinematic techniques you used in the film that you couldn’t fully explore in the TV series?
Akagi-san: Really it was the motion capture and the band performance scene that I think is going to be really exciting for audiences and was a lot of fun to be part of as well.
Q: How have you felt about the reception to the series, especially internationally? The series is the only one in the history of Anime Corner to get first place in every weekly ranking [Note: this was prior to the release of Takopi’s Original Sin]. Did you expect it to be as popular as it is?
Endo-san: We didn’t expect this much popularity. We really painstakingly looked at every detail with Ichikawa and Yamada especially so I think that has been the thing that has done it for us. But to be so popular overseas is something that has really touched us for sure.
Akagi-san: We took a lot of effort into showing what the characters are feeling and what’s in their heart by their gestures and things and not using lines. So I was worried even in Japan if people were going to pick up on what they’re feeling — and of course overseas even more so — but because it’s been so accepted in Japan and overseas I’m really happy about that.
Sakurai-san: To be valued so much by Anime Corner is such an honor. This is a love comedy series and really I think what did it is Ichikawa and Yamada’s growth and their independence I think was maybe relatable to audiences overseas as well.
Q: How do you hope audiences—both longtime fans and newcomers—will feel after watching the film?
Akagi-san: I think going into a film theater, when you enter the theater and when you come out you’ve changed. And I think this film definitely is going to have that effect.
Sakurai-san: I think it would be great if audiences come out of the theater feeling I guess refreshed is the word and very just motivated, re-motivated, reinvigorated.
Endo-san: From the opening of the film to the end, there’s a lot of growth. You see their love relationship really evolve. And I think it’s a really relatable film as well. So I hope when it ends and audiences leave the theater they feel like they have watched a beautiful unfolding of a love story.
We’d like to thank Hiroaki Akagi, Yosuke Sakurai, and Kazuki Endo for taking the time to speak with us about The Dangers in My Heart, the folks over at HIDIVE for assisting with coordination of the interview, and all the staff of Anime Expo for hosting such a wonderful convention. You can stream both seasons of The Dangers in My Heart on HIDIVE.
©Norio Sakurai(AKITASHOTEN)/The Dangers in My Heart Committee
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