Scenarioart & Director Akira Amemiya on the Primitive Sensibilities that Connect Music and Anime in ‘THE LENTICULARS’: Interview

Trending on Billboard THE LENTICULARS is a web anime series on YouTube created by anime production studio TRIGGER. It’s the work of Akira Amemiya, who is known for helming SSSS.GRIDMAN . Amemiya is responsible for almost every aspect of this intentionally primitive DIY web series, including series direction, series composition, scriptwriting, character design, storyboarding, episode direction, animation, and coloring. The eponymous theme song was written by the three-piece band Scenarioart. Billboard JAPAN recently had the opportunity to talk to Amemiya and Scenarioart about what went into the creation of this web series and music. How did THE LENTICULARS come about in the first place? Akira Amemiya: As I got more and more used to professional animation production, I started to think about how I’d like to make something that would remind me of how it felt when I first started making anime. While I was working on it, someone I’d known introduced me to Scenarioart, and I asked them to write the theme song for me. And on your side, Scenarioart, what did you think when he reached out to you? Kosuke Hayashi: First off, the moment I heard the name TRIGGER, I was like “No way!” (laughs) My image of TRIGGER was a company that made, of course, gorgeous anime, but also really ambitious and creative anime, so I was excited to see what it would be like. Kumiko Hattori: One thing that stood out to me is that when we had our first meeting, Amemiya-san said, “This anime isn’t going to be popular.” (laughs) Amemiya: Oh, yeah. (laughs) My focus wasn’t on if it would or wouldn’t be popular, but if I would or wouldn’t make it. I wanted to do something that a professional studio wouldn’t give the okay for. But part of a professional’s work is to make sure the anime doesn’t feel handmade. You have to make sure it’s at least watchable, so, for example, I had the characters voiced by students in a voice acting school. I guess I was trying to get it just to the edge of “watchable.” The word “lenticular” refers to those pictures that look different depending on the angle you view them from, right? Amemiya: Right. A long time ago, when I was in elementary school, they handed out these rulers with lenticular pictures, and I just kept looking at mine. Maybe that’s what set me on the path to making anime. I started out by thinking that if you want to take a primitive approach, the way to go is with two images. Another reason I picked that name was the way the story changed depending on your perspective, and the way you could see things going as the story progressed. Like “What else is happening while this is happening?” or “I used to think that, but now I think this.” I really like that kind of approach. True, this web anime doesn’t explain too much. You can see it in a lot of different ways. Kosuke, what...

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