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 kind of song did you want to write for the show?
Hayashi: I’d heard it was a school romance, so first off I tried to remember how I’d felt at that stage in my life. The way each new thing would send you spinning. The way your heart would pound when you fell in love, and that sense of losing control. I wanted to express that feeling in the music, so that was my starting point. I wanted it to have a sound that was like when your heart was beating so hard you could almost hear it.
It really feels like for the protagonist of the song, words aren’t enough to express the depth of their emotions. The chorus takes a very novel approach.
Hattori: I didn’t think the chorus had any kind of message. (laughs) But the fact that it wasn’t saying anything really came across. Kosuke had never written a song like this. It has such a new feel.
Takahisa Yamashita: What grabbed me first wasn’t the lyrics but the sound. I thought the sound was fascinating, but it also felt like a very programmed song. It was like Kosuke had finished off the song all on his own, so I thought it would be extremely hard for the three of us to put in our own instrumental parts, as a band, and turn it into a truly Scenarioart song.
I feel like it really synchronizes with the anime. There’s this contrast between a feeling of elation and a lack of confidence.
Hayashi: When I wrote it, I was envisioning how it would be used as the ending song, when the mood wasn’t too cheery, but it wasn’t too dark, either, instead being a little bittersweet. Delicately balanced.
The song ends with the line “I’ll sing it in the mirror.” What’s the concept behind that line?
Hayashi: I heard from Akira that THE LENTICULARS had two sides. There was an “A side,” streamed on YouTube, but also a “B side.” So when I found out that the anime had these two opposite sides, I wanted to express the feel of the B side in the song, too. The darkness of that B side. I wanted to include that point of view in the song, too.
So what’s on YouTube right now is the A side of THE LENTICULARS?
Yamashita: So, the anime doesn’t actually directly show it, but there’s actually a deeper side to the story, which we hope people will be able to pick up on, and that’s what Kosuke touched on in the lyrics. That’s what he said he wanted to come through.
I did feel like the song was supplementing the series with elements that aren’t depicted in the anime itself.
Amemiya: Right, that’s all set up. They came up with the song they did, so I hope that I can live up to that with the B side. I love the lyrics to the chorus. I’ve been involved in many different anime, and there’s always a lot of demand for things to be put into words. A lot of anime fans are strongly focused on words and see verbalization in a truly positive light, but I have my doubts about that. After all, songs are much shorter than anime, so everything needs to be expressed extremely concisely in the lyrics. You concisely encapsulate what you want to say, and yet look at the lyrics to the chorus of “THE LENTICULARS.” I think the more primitive you go, the more you move away from language. So in that sense, too, I think the song is perfect as the anime’s theme song.
Kosuke, what kinds of changes in your state of mind have led you and Scenarioart here, with this new song?
Hayashi: I feel like I’ve moved away from language myself. I’ve drifted far away from precision. I’ve been making music for a while, and the longer I’ve been at it, the more of a desire I’ve felt to convey something that can’t be put into words. I’ve come to want to connect with listeners with an emotion that can’t be expressed verbally, somewhere between hurt and sadness.
Scenarioart took a bit of a break during the first half of the year. Now, having come back, do you feel like you’re getting off to a fresh start with this song?
Hattori: After coming back after about six months, it felt like everyone had started to keep their heads held high. I think it was a wonderful six months. THE LENTICULARS came up right as we’d gotten back into the fold, so it brought us back together.
I heard that you’d been in a bit of a slump before that, Kosuke.
Hayashi: I’ve always been in a slump. (laughs) But I’ve come to accept that as just the way things have to be.
Amemiya: But I think that’s a good thing. It’s very fresh. I don’t feel like I’m ever in a slump, but every time I make something, I think “How am I going to make this?” I’m used to drawing, but I’ve never studied animation, so I don’t know how to make anime. That sense of exploring the unfamiliar is always fun for me.
And this web anime is the the epitome of that kind of joy.
Amemiya: Exactly. As I’ve worked on it, I’ve realized “I didn’t need to have taken the long way around, like I did.” But I wouldn’t have discovered that without having tried in the first place. I’m sure things would have gone more smoothly if I’d divvied up my roles, but doing that would require even more verbalization. It felt like what I ended up with was a little different than what I’d set out to create, but that’s been a fun process.
—This interview by Tomohiro Ogawa first appeared on Billboard Japan
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