What happens when a supernatural skeptic and an alien skeptic discover that, well, they’re both wrong, and both yokai and aliens actually exist? And what happens when those two humans, through very different circumstances, become owners of otherworldly powers themselves? That’s the basic gist of Yukinobu Tatsu’s supernatural action manga Dan Da Dan, which is getting a Science SARU-produced TV anime adaptation this Fall 2024 anime season.
At Anime Expo 2024, Anime Trending caught up with Dan Da Dan director Fuga Yamashiro and producer Kohei Sakita for a brief chat about the upcoming anime. We got to learn the reasons for the stylized use of color previewed in the trailers, their thoughts on the anime’s most appealing points, and why Yamashiro views SARU co-founder Masaaki Yuasa as “the kind of director that I want to be.”
Yamashiro-san, the color palette of some scenes has been one of the trailers’ most eye-catching elements, with the first PV having monochrome scenes, shots where Momo’s pink sweater is contrasted with cold blues and whites, and so forth. Can you describe your approach to color for the show and what instructions you delivered to color designer Satoshi Hashimoto-san, as well as to the directors of other episodes (that were not previewed in the trailers)?
Fuga Yamashiro: When I read the manga, I thought this was an interesting manga because the romantic comedy and action elements were side-by-side and portrayed really effectively — you can’t tell if it’s a romcom or an action! It’s actually both! I really thought the ups and downs of the manga were really interesting to me, so I wanted to portray that.
I went, “How do I portray all of that?” I wanted to make sure that once you suddenly change into a battle scene, you can see the change drastically. That’s when I said, “Okay, let’s just have different colors to showcase the different scenes!” When I was talking to Hashimoto-san, I told him, “Each yokai and alien that shows up are very specific and full of characteristics. I want to assign different colors to each one of them so when that certain yokai or alien comes out, I want to flush the whole screen with that color.”
Hashimoto-san chose the colors, and it’s really like changing the color of the spotlights on a stage. Like when this character shows up, that color shows up. That was our planning.
Another question for you Yamashiro-san. You’ve previously been assistant director* under directors like Masaaki Yuasa** and Shingo Natsume***. What were the most valuable, memorable lessons, or pieces of knowledge that you got out of working with them? And are you applying them to your work in Dan Da Dan?
Fuga Yamashiro: Everything! I really needed that experience, or I don’t think I would’ve been able to direct right now. Especially with a director like Masaaki Yuasa, he really doesn’t think, “Oh, I’m going to be strange and do this!” He really just tries to approach each project to make what’s best for it. He’s very true to himself and to the project. He doesn’t think of a project as like “merchandise” or something to make money [with]. Instead, it’s really like an art form [to him].
That’s the kind of director that I want to be. I do realize that I ask a lot of my staff, but it is really for the project, and I try to think about what’s the balance between asking for this much [for the project] versus how will the staff still be happy.
Next, I have a question for Sakita-san. Can you explain the responsibilities of your role for this production, and the difference between the duty of an anime studio-attached producer like yourself and a producer like Hiroshi Kamei-san (who’s from MBS)?
Kohei Sakita: Unfortunately, the other producer from MBS had to leave [from AX]. We have two animation producers on Dan Da Dan in addition to us. Basically, we work with the series production, the schedule and the budget with the two animation producers. Basically, I am responsible for everything that goes on within the anime production, up to post-production.
What were your thoughts when Science SARU was approached with the offer to produce Dan Da Dan?
Kohei Sakita: First, MBS’ Kamei-san brought us this manga and said, “Would you like to create an anime of this with us?” So that was when I first read the manga. When I read the manga, I saw that it was a very passionate, high-voltage manga. I think that when I read it, it was only up to the second or third volume, but I knew it was going to be an uber-popular manga. So I knew that translating this along with its popularity to an anime would be challenging, but we decided that we wanted to challenge ourselves.
Among the staff, we researched anyone who had read Dan Da Dan already and discussed who would be the best director for the anime. That’s when we ended up with Yamashiro-san.
For both Yamashiro-san and Sakita-san, what do you think are the biggest strengths/most appealing elements of this adaptation?
Kohei Sakita: It’s the tempo, the speediness of the anime. The tempo of the story is just fast and quick and would be, I think, very entertaining.
Fuga Yamashiro: When I first read the manga, I thought it was really important to portray the energeticness or quickness of the manga. The manga itself is very fast, has big panels, and is very dynamic. So I thought, “How do we portray that in an animation?” and I thought the important thing was keeping elements like “hard and soft” or “fast and slow.”
And really, the timing of everything was important, like which scenes do we want to do quick-quick-quick-show-show-show, and which scenes do we want to spend time on. The ups and downs are really important to this anime. A long time ago, director Yuasa told me, “Timing is everything!” and I really felt that working on this anime.
Kohei Sakita: I do agree with our director. The tempo is the main strength. But I do want the audience watching the anime to focus on not just the animation, the storyboarding, or the art, but also on the sound, the voice acting, the music, and the editing. We really worked on every single element, so it would be nice for everyone to focus on that when watching it.
Fuga Yamashiro: I also want to talk about the sound and soundtrack! The manga artist, Yukinobu Tatsu-sensei, is a fan of the old Ultraman. I wanted to incorporate that element so we would have some nostalgic sounds in the anime, similar to old tokusatsu sounds with modern sounds. The range of the sound components is very wide, so if the viewers can focus on that, that would be great.
Thank you very much for your time!
Thanks to GKIDS for this interview opportunity. Dan Da Dan will be available for streaming in October of 2024 on Crunchyroll and Netflix.
This interview was conducted on July 4th, 2024 via interpreter and has been slightly edited for clarity. Interview conducted by James Mizutani with questions submitted by Melvyn Tan.
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* Yamashiro was assistant director on Tatami Time Machine Blues and Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!
** Masaaki Yuasa is the director of anime like Inu-Oh, Ride Your Wave, Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!, The Tatami Galaxy, Ping Pong The Animation, and more. Yuasa stepped down as SARU’s CEO in 2020, passing the reins to co-founder Eunyoung Choi. His most recent work at the time of writing is the opening of Spy x Family Season 2, on which he served as storyboard artist and unit director.
*** Shingo Natsume is the director of anime like Tatami Time Machine Blues, Sonny Boy, One-Punch Man Season 1, Boogiepop and Others, and ACCA: 13-Territory Inspection Dept.
