Spring anime “Jellyfish Can’t Swim at Night” Series No. 4: Character Design Junichiro Taniguchi | The production style felt refreshing after watching the fourth episodeOriginal TV anime “Jellyfish Can’t Swim at Night”. Director: Ryohei Takeshita x Screenplay: Yuuki Yaku x Animation Production: A youth group drama presented by Douga Studio. The fourth episode is about the four members of JELEE getting together to create a song. It was full of highlights, such as the appearance of Kanon’s older sister, Mion (CV: Chika Anzai), the portrayal of the three of them learning about Kanon’s girlfriend’s past and caring for her, and the unexpected development at the end.

In the fourth installment of the series, Junichiro Taniguchi, who was in charge of character design, appears! We asked a famous animator who has served as character designer and animation director for numerous Animation Studio animations to comment on his work.

――This is an original work, but please give us your honest impressions when you see the script and materials.

Junichiro Taniguchi (hereinafter referred to as Taniguchi): By the time I joined, we already had a proposal, script, and character designs. First, when I saw the characters drawn by popman3580, I thought they were very POP and fashionable. I also felt that the style was perfect for a story about a girl coming of age.

Director Takeshita’s proposal was clear and easy to understand, saying, “I want to find what I like.”

–Please tell us about the appeal of popman’s paintings.

Taniguchi: My first impression was the same as before, and my favorite animator and illustrator, Katsuya Kondo (Kiki’s Delivery Service, Like the Clouds, Like the Wind, I Can Hear the Sea, From Up on Poppy Hill) The atmosphere was similar to the drawings by the character designer, etc., and I felt a strong affinity with them.

I think popman3580’s charm is her free poses and pop style of clothing.

–What kind of things did you pay attention to when designing the character?

Taniguchi: Director Takeshita said, “I don’t want to lose the image of the original idea or make it a so-called ‘quality anime,” so I didn’t use catchy expressions or shapes that would be popular with a certain group of people. I tried to do so. Specifically, we created soft lines to reduce distractions so that viewers could easily get into the main story.

I didn’t have much interaction with popman3580, but I had detailed discussions with the director mainly about the balance of the design.

–When you thought about making popman’s drawings animated, were there any difficult parts?

Taniguchi: Popman3580’s art book has a variety of poses and angles, so there were no limits, and I didn’t have any resistance to moving it.