(Scrapped) Episode 1 commentary - translation

Okay, everyone, hello! I'm Tomoyo Kurosawa, playing the role of Mitsumi Iwakura, and this is the director.

And, Misaki Takamatsu, the original creator, this is a real treat!

So, for the first episode commentary of "Skip and Loafer", the three of us are here to chat. The director is super nervous, which is kinda funny, it's pretty much the default.

That's how we roll.

Huh?

Really?

So, how about it? How's it going, Misaki?

Uh...

What is it?

This is my first time doing a commentary. It's pretty rare for the original creator to be on a commentary, right? I think it's a real honor.

Huh? Cott-san... Oh...

The director's cover is blown! Our closeness is showing!

I think it's obvious that we're on good terms, I always call her Cott-san. Thank you for joining, is this your first time on commentary?

I've done it for other works, just not every time.

Right, it's still pretty unusual.

It's rare, isn't it? Not often, oh...

Here we go! The paper opening is starting.

I was looking forward to this.

It's a great song, isn't it? For real.

For real. For the opening, did you draw the storyboards, Koto-san?

That's right, yes.

Here it comes.

Everyone's coming.

Shall we dance?

That's right, it was so wonderful. Everyone's dancing. Thank you so much.

It's so obvious, I think our usual vibe is showing. I always call her Cott-san, but thank you for having me. Is this your first time, Cott-san? Or have you done this before?

I've only done it for a different work once.

Right, so it's still pretty rare, huh?

It's rare, isn't it? Not often... Oh!

Here it comes! The paper, the opening is starting.

I was curious about this.

It's a good song, isn't it? So good.

So good. For the opening, did you do the storyboards, Koto-san?

That's right, I did.

Here it comes.

Everyone's coming.

Shall we dance?

It was so great, wasn't it? Everyone was dancing. Thank you so much.

I guess this is how it goes, huh? Seems like people were talking about how it looked like tracing of people dancing.

I think so. We were adjusting the rotoscoping, and the art team worked really hard on it.

I see. These two are so great, dancing so lightly, that we all thought, "Okay, okay, let's dance, let's dance!" But after starting, only Mitsumi-chan was panting like crazy, and everyone else was in despair. Like, we only had 30 minutes or an hour to practice. I mean, we watched it for the first time and couldn't remember any of it, so we ended up filming it right on the day of the live broadcast.

It was tough, wasn't it? Even tougher than it looked. Hey, Misaki-sensei, have you ever done this?

Yeah, like, "Let's all do this together!" It was the end of our athletic ability.

Challenging our athletic ability, let alone even thinking about it.

We didn't. Well then, next time, let's all do the Ego-C. Right? How do you say it? We'll switch around, and do the Ego-scene with Shime-kun. Let's do a "Everyone becomes Mitsumi-chan" episode!

Sounds fun, doesn't it?

Sounds fun! I wonder if everyone watching TV right now is seeing a commercial? Oh, it's starting! So, um, how should I put this? We kinda kept our idle talk going without any prior discussion, but today is the "Skip and Loafer" TV anime audio commentary, celebrating the rebroadcast about a year after the initial airing. Everyone's so obviously flustered, it's hilarious! So, this work won the Kodansha Manga Award in the General category, and the 20th China Animation & Comic Golden Dragon Award for Special Overseas Work, making it the first Japanese anime in history to win that award. It's gotten a huge response!

That's so awesome, so many people have seen it. Am I the only one?

Now, I'm just going to leave it to the pros.

Amazing.

Well, this is truly a wonderful work with so many great elements, but I'd like to take a moment to say something to everyone. Ishikawa Prefecture, Suzu City, which served as the model for Mitsumine's hometown, suffered greatly in the recent Noto Peninsula earthquake. Our hearts go out to all those affected. We sincerely hope for a swift recovery and the return of peaceful days. The three of us are currently in Tokyo, each busy with our own work, and unfortunately, we can't go to the affected area to help directly. But by watching the anime together like this, we hope that our feelings reach Ishikawa Prefecture. With that in mind, we'll do our best to make this a fun audio commentary.

I think we're ready to go, let's do this!

Please, yes, let's. So, here's our hero, Nao-chan's grand entrance! Amazing, Nao-chan's famous scene is here! So, Mitsumi-chan has come to Tokyo, and it's the day of the entrance ceremony. What was the initial spark that made you want to create a school story like this?

Well, I've never had a real office job, so I thought it would be interesting to try something like a shojo manga, but in a seinen magazine. I wondered what that would be like. This is a high school girl. A high school girl. And a cool, sparkling boy.

It's like a shojo manga.

It is like a shojo manga, but it's in a monthly magazine. And when you do that, Mitsumi-chan's eyes aren't huge, you know? She has this kind of rustic cuteness. I think the fact that I can do that is unique to seinen manga.

The heroine isn't all sparkly and perfect, and even though I say that myself, it's a little sad, but she's still cute. And the way she's sitting on the toilet with her pants still on, that's just so typical of school life.

Yeah, she's kinda hiding, isn't she?

And then, the princess. The princess appears, right? So, this time, how did you end up directing, Koto-san? What's the story there?

Originally, the producer, Yamamoto-san, from P.A. Works, came to me and asked if I'd be interested in animating "Skip and Loafer".

So that's how it happened.

I was so grateful they thought of me.

So, at that point, how many volumes of the manga were out?

At that point, it was around the fifth volume, I think.

Oh, so right around the same amount that could be animated.

So you could probably do that much.

That was the thinking.

I see, I see. That's perfect, wasn't it, that encounter? Really, thank you so much. Nice to work with you.

The producer, Yamamoto-san. Yamamoto-san is on the other side of the glass, you see. This time, Misaki-sensei was kind enough to join almost every scenario meeting.

That's really wonderful. The editor was also very cooperative and joined us, and we were able to exchange ideas. So, we all put our heads together to figure out how to best adapt the original work for animation.

Right. I mean, in the manga, you can draw a certain amount in one installment, but the amount that goes into one episode of an anime is quite different, right? How do you decide when to break up the story at a certain point? Do you leave that to the series composition team?

Generally, we decide on the overall series composition, and then we actually write the script and adjust things based on the volume and other factors.

So, when you get the script, you might say, "This episode is a bit too heavy for this point in the story," and adjust things accordingly?

That's right. In this case, the original work was very solid, so we didn't have to do that too much. But there were a few episodes where we had to make some adjustments.

So, you might intentionally swap things around?

Well, for example, in episode 9, there's an episode about the end of summer vacation, and we took something from the bonus comics and added it in.

How did that conversation come about?

When we looked at the flow, we realized that usually, Part A and Part B of an episode correspond to one chapter of the manga. But when we thought about it in terms of a single anime episode, we felt like we needed a little cushion before moving on to the next chapter. So, we talked about it and added that in.

I see. In manga, these kinds of scenes might only be two panels or two pages, but in anime, it's drawn out and becomes more dramatic. The way you present things is different between manga and anime.

Yeah, this scene is actually really short, it's just a spread.

It's only about two or three pages.

In manga, you can have a big spread that makes an impression. But in animation, you're looking at the same framing, so you have to change the presentation, or else the impact changes. That's what I think, at least.

I see. In manga, you can make panels bigger or smaller, but in anime, the panel size is fixed, right?

Right, in manga, you might have a big page to show that it's an important scene, but in anime, that's conveyed through time, music, and other things.

Yeah, and the music in this is so good.

The music is great, too.

It's so good, isn't it?

Did you handle the music direction, Cott-san? Or was it Yamada-san?

Yamada-san handled the sound direction, and I gave my input as well. We worked with the composer, Okahashi-san, to create the music.

I see, that's amazing. It's like, when I'm having tea, I think, "Oh, I wrote this," and it comes back to me. Misaki-san is always so composed, but when we're chatting, I get to see a different side of her, and it's a lot of fun. It's kind of amazing to think that something you wrote at your desk becomes an anime.

Your first time?

It's my first time, yes.

First time. I really love the teacher.

Really? I'm so glad. She's great, isn't she?

She's a great character.

How did you come up with the teacher character?

Well, she's the homeroom teacher for the first-years, so I wanted her to be a bit young. I thought it would be nice if she was a new teacher, a bit inexperienced, and maybe a little irresponsible.

I love how she can be smiling and then suddenly snap.

And the principal is also great.

Definitely.

His voice is great, too.

It really is.

That little "hmph".

I laughed so hard during the voice recording.

Oh, really? That's great, then the voice actors really nailed it.

They did. The principal's voice actor was so funny.

He was great. The main cast was mostly chosen through auditions, right?

Yes, the main cast was through auditions, and for the other roles, Yamato-san gave us suggestions.

I see. That's how it was. The scene with Fumi-chan was fun, too. There are so many other great characters that haven't appeared yet since it's only the first episode.

The clothes were great, too.

Everyone was already so in character from the first episode, it's like the head of the group was really holding it down.

A lot of us had worked together before, so I think I was one of the few who was meeting everyone for the first time.

But you fit in right away.

It seems like he often gets surrounded by girls, but he fit in super well.

It really does seem like he's always surrounded by girls, and that's why it's easy to imagine they are just having a "girl's time"

Seems to be included.

"This tea is delicious" and all that kind of light chatter.

Why is he able to talk about tea so naturally?

I bet he would say it's delicious.

I bet he would say that.

If you keep talking like that, we're going to miss that important scene.

Here in the manga, there are always new things to discover in the panels. I want this card set so badly. I hope they make it into a real card set. Anyway, in the first episode, there are a lot of scenes where the students are mumbling, especially in the next scene. What kind of person is Mika-chan, with her reactions to Shima-kun?

At first, I thought it would be good to have someone who didn't quite get along with Mitsumi. I never expected her to become such a main character. Yeah, I guess the main character is usually popular and well-liked by everyone, but I thought that might be a little unrealistic. I mean, even if someone hasn't done anything wrong, they can still rub you the wrong way, right? It depends on the situation. I thought it would be weird if there wasn't anyone who felt that way about her, so that's how Mika-chan came to be. But as I was writing, I realized that since they see each other every day, they'd become friends pretty quickly. That's how it is in high school.

At the stage of episode one, how much of the story did you have planned out?

Not much, actually. I didn't think it would get past the initial stages.

I think I only wrote about three episodes.

2, 3 episodes.

I had a general idea of what kind of person she was.

That's surprising. I thought the characters were already fully developed from the first episode.

I thought so, too.

Even Makoto and Yamada-kun appeared in the first episode, in the panels. - That's right.

Not at all. So, if you were to draw a key visual now, it would probably be Yuzu, Mika-chan, Shima-kun, Mitsumi-chan, and maybe Makoto-chan, right? The five of them would be featured on the main poster. But when you first started drawing, if you had to draw a visual, who would you have drawn?

To be honest, I only had a clear image of Mitsumi-chan and Shima-kun.

Oh, really?

Honestly, as I was writing, I was gradually getting to know them better.

It's like I enrolled in the school along with them.

Wow.

I feel like I just heard something really profound.

No, no, no, really. So, does that mean they kind of move on their own, in a way?

If you put it that way, it sounds kind of cool.

What?

It's not a bad thing, is it?

No, it's not.

It's fine.

I guess I just had an image of a kid like that, that's all.

I see. So, about Fumi...

I think it's because at universities, students come from all over the country. So, when you look at it that way, there are many different types of kids from rural areas. But wouldn't it be great if someone could just be completely honest? I guess that's the image I had, someone who's laid-back and kind.

And she's casually dating, huh, Shima?

The type that's more popular than you think.

She has this kind of subtle charm, you know?

She's really soothing, just her presence is soothing.

Fumi-chan has this calming effect.

She does.

We got a glimpse of Fumi-chan's house, and later on, we'll see Mitsumi-chan's family, right? Of course, Nao-chan, too. How did you decide on Mitsumi-chan's family structure?

Well, she thinks of herself as the responsible one, so naturally, she'd have a younger brother.

And a younger sister, I see.

And I just wanted them to have a dog or a cat.

So that's why there's sugar, miso, and salt.

What about the salt? Are they named after seasonings?

Well, they're essential to daily life, you know?

So, names like "Mahal" and "Couper" are just based on the sound?

Yeah, just the general vibe.

Noto-mama. Noto-san's mother. Noto-mama, who lives in Noto.

The white color scheme feels very Hokuriku. The air feels similar.

It does feel like Noto.

It's often cloudy, isn't it?

I'm amazed at how you can feel the scent from the visuals.

There's a certain humidity, isn't there?

The director is conscious of that.

I'm glad you noticed. The art team worked really hard. They researched a lot from news reports and tried to capture that atmosphere. So, was the computer able to capture it well on film?

I think so. This family restaurant group has a different vibe, too. Do you draw the Tokyo group and the Noto group differently, in terms of shot composition?

I wonder.

Like, matching the colors?

Yes, the colors, especially the lighting, are different, I think.

Ririka, too.

The colors are a bit more vibrant than before.

That's right, it's the feeling of the light of the world, after all.

When you're aware of it, the family restaurant seems more vivid than Mitsumi-chan's school.

Even more than Mitsumi-chan's school,.

The family restaurant seems more vivid. Even more so than Mitsumi-chan's school, the family restaurant seems more vivid.

Even more than Mitsumi-chan's school, the family restaurant feels more vivid.

Chris is also completely original, right? With the sparkles.

It's meant to be able to take place in a foreign country, I guess.

Huh.

So, is Chris's nationality completely Japanese?

He's totally Japanese.

So, he's Japanese.

That's the image.

So, his parents gave him a katakana name out of a sense of globalism.

That's right, for a global audience.

He has kanji, though. He has kanji.

Huh?

I think it's just to make it easier to read the credits.

Oh, I see.

I see.

His stage name is Chris, which is written in katakana, right?

I don't know. - Huh?

Stage name?

He used to be a child actor. He was a child actor.

Oh, I see. The three of them.

Oh.

Everyone there used to be child actors.

Oh, I see.

Yeah, that's the image.

I see, so all five of them. So, we're nearing the end of the first episode. The climax is coming up, but it's so hard to stop here! How do you decide where to end the first episode?

That's where it starts.

That's right, and then you get your reward.

The house is really impactful, isn't it? The look on Mitsumi's face at the end... The artist, Umeshita-san, worked really hard on it, and made a lot of corrections.

Really? Where? What parts?

Her face is pale, there are dark circles under her eyes, it's full of detail.

Wow. But you can really tell it's Umeshita-san's style.

I know, right?

It's like, she's panicking. That's it.

I want to watch it over and over again until I understand. Well, time flies when you're having fun!

And that's the ending! Yes, it's Rikako Aita-chan's "Hanauta to Mawari Michi". The motif is a hand-cranked organ. If you look it up, you can see how it works. So, everyone, please check it out. And with that, we're nearing the end. How was it?

It's always fun to watch.

It was so much fun to watch it together like this. Thank you so much! If you watch it on YouTube, you can rewatch it as many times as you want, and experience the feeling of watching it together. I hope we get another chance to do this. And with that, we'll say our goodbyes. Your hosts have been Tomoyo Kurosawa, the voice of Mitsumi Iwakura.

And the director, Kotomi Deai.

And the original creator, Misaki Takamatsu.

Yes, so we'll definitely meet again someday! Thank you so much!

Episode 1's commentary - translation