Written by Mari Okada

The preview tour has also reached a turning point.
We went to Hiroshima with art director Higashiji. Even though I can never shake off my nervousness completely, Higashiji said “leave it to me this time!” and even prepared his outfit himself. Higashiji is already so dependable not only at work, but also in this kind of situation!

On the event schedule is written “please do some crosstalk”, and while having a friendly chat with Higashiji I feel like I finally understand how to do that. I’ve leveled up! I feel like I have inherited some of his skills.
It took place in a small theater that felt like home, with a seating that is arranged in sloping tiers, so even though I have bad eyesight I was able to see everyone’s smiling faces. Thank you to everyone in Hiroshima who welcomed us so warmly.

We mentioned it at the preview, Higashiji is very famous for the color of blue, but I really like his use of black. There is a warmth in the way he expresses darkness. Among the many great examples of darkness, this is my favorite cut.

There is a sense of warmth to the black. You really get the feeling that this is a place you can rest easily. It is almost impossible to express in words all the things that this scene shows. Because Higashiji was a part of this project, I thought I would take on the challenge of writing the script keeping the background scenery in mind. I hope you will keep an eye out for it!

We had so many brilliant staff on the background art team. With the drawing animation, people imagine and talk about who drew this character in this cut. But with the backgrounds, everyone in charge of backgrounds has a great sense of individuality. When checking the background art, I started to be able to guess who drew what. When I confirmed my guesses with Higashiji and found out that I was right, I felt pretty proud of myself.