precious stinkyboy

Q: Please, tell us about the beginning of the production of "Wonderful Precure" (Hereafter refered to as "Wanpuri"). First of all, how did you gather the production staff?

Takahashi: Actually, due to various circumstances, the production of Wanpuri started much later than the previous series "Hirogaru Sky Precure" (hereafter "Hiropuri"). However, the broadcast date had been decided, so we needed to quickly gather staff who knew the basics of Precure production and could also work quickly. It was around that time that we heard that the script for "Otona Precure" had been completed, so we asked Narita to join. Sato had been in charge of directing the movie "All Stars Memories", so we thought that he could create a new Precure that wasn't bound by the assumptions of a TV series, so we consulted him. We had little time to spend on planning discussions for Wanpuri, so it was a prerequisite that they could understand and accept the outline of the story we had prepared. It was an extremely heavy order with a tight time frame, but both Sato and Narita accepted it without hesitation and brought a breath of fresh air to the project. I am very greatful.

[People are speculating these 'various circumstances' might be related to the 2022 ransomware attack on Toei Animation, but we don't know for sure.]

Narita: It was decided dogs and cats would appear as main characters, and the dog would be the protagonist.

Sato: When they approached me, Narita was already in charge of series composition, and it had already been decided that the theme would be animals, and a love story would be included in the story. Character designs had already been ordered, and I recall the main character was a Papillon called Cure Wonderful/Komugi Inukai. The colours of the Pretty Cure characters had also been decided.

Narita: The Series Director decision was made much later than usual, so I kept thinking to myself, "Has the director been decided yet?" (laughs)

Takahashi: There were a lot of different circumstances that came together, and it took a long time to make the decision. Sato also had a lot of things going on. Since the decision came late, we wanted to fulfil as many of the things he said he wanted to do in the main story as possible.

Q: "Wanpuri" is the first Precure series to have an animal as the main character. How did you feel when you heard about this theme?

Narita: At first, I couldn't quite accept that the main character was a dog. How would a dog act as the main character? Considering the setting, I thought Cure Friendy/Iroha Inukai would be more suitable as the main character. However, when I actually wrote the scenario, it surprisingly suited me. As I continued writing, it started to make more sense to me, and from then on I was able to write the scenario smoothly and enjoyably.

Sato: On the other hand, I was able to accept that the main character was an animal. It didn't feel strange at all. However, since the main character would be active in three forms - an animal, a human, and a Precure - I had to think about how to balance them. Also, another theme was "Precure that don't fight", so I thought if I did that, it would be difficult to create a showy action scene. Instead of fighting, there would be a "chase". When I heard that they would be incorporating what is known as "chase action", I began to think about what to do with the climax of each episode.

Narita: The purpose of Precure was to save the animals that had turned into Garugaru, so the fact that Precure didn't fight wasn't a problem for the drama. However, I thought that it would be quite difficult to make the action scenes exciting without them fighting.

Sato: Come to think of it, initially there was an idea of them having to work to free captive animals.

Takahashi: Yes, there was. There was also a bit of discussion of whether the story should have a 'good vs evil/morality' theme.

Narita: It was decided this route wouldn't fit well with the direction and characters of Wanpuri, so it was switched to the current route at a very early stage.

Q: Detailed characters of the four Precure. Who came up with the setting?

Narita: It was me. When I was approached about the job, it was already decided that Precure would be made up of four girls, so I started to create the characters from there. Cure Wonderful was something that was very easy for me, as I originally had a dog. As for Cure Nyammy/Yuki Nekoyashiki, I spoke with people who kept cats and read books about them to reflect the 'tsundere' nature of cats in the character. Friendy/Iroha is a bright girl who wants to be friends with everyone...things went smoothly with her, but Cure Lillian/Mayu Nekoyashiki was a challenge. To be honest, when I first started writing the scenario, I hadn't envisioned Mayu's high-tension behaviour, and I had imagined her to be a much quieter character. But as I was writing the scenario, she became more and more lively (laughs) , and the direction of the story further enhanced that, resulting in the cute and fun Mayu we know today.

Q: Each of the four Precure has their own unique personality, but what was it like animating them, Sato?

Sato: I drew the storyboard for Episode 1, but at that point I hadn't fully grasped the character's personalities. So I started with Friendy/Iroha who is sociable, cheerful and a bit clumsy, and in a sense the easiest to understand. After that, I animated Wonderful/Komugi, who is full of emotion and says "I love you, Iroha!" and she came out looking like a dog very smoothly. (laughs). So it was relatively easy to solidify the image of the movements of the "dog group". For Nyammy/Yuki and Lillian/Mayu, the storyboards expanded the possibilities for the pair. By playing around with their movements and expressions, the characters moved better than I had imagined, and I think they became a really fun pair.

Q: Until the middle of the story, Nyammy stubbornly refuses to say "Wonderful Precure" and says "Nyanderful Precure". Was that Narita's idea?

Narita: That's right. After Nyammy became a Precure, I asked for her to say "Nyanderful" for a while.

Takahashi: Considering Nyammy's personality, this was a reasonable course of action, so I think I immediately gave an OK to the suggestion.

Q: How did you decide on the names of the Precure after they transform?

Takahashi: Since it was a four-person group, we initially discussed naming them after the four seasons. However, various things came up and the idea was scrapped. As we thought the idea from scratch, we first decided on the name "Cure Wonderful", and the name of her partner Precure was decided on as "Cure Friendy", but then we got stuck again. In contrast to how smooth the dog group was, we had a lot of trouble naming the cat group.

Sato: Even as production was progressing, we still hadn't decided on the names for Nyammy and Lillian after they transform. The name of Lillian hadn't even been decided at the time of the casting auditions.

Takahashi: I struggled with naming Lillian, but I also really struggled with naming Nyammy. Wonderful was decided on so easily - dog -> wan -> wonderful - and since she was a cat, I decided on 'nyan', and...then what? I was stuck.

Narita: I was hoping for a name that had the nuance of a cat's meow, like "nyao", but I couldn't think of a definitive name.

Takahashi: So after much deliberation, we decided on the completely coined word "Nyammy".

Q: By the way, does "Wonderful" have any meaning besides the "wan" of a dog barking?

Narita: Yes. In fact, it comes from Iroha's catchphrase. I started writing the scenario for Episode 1 before Cure Wonderful's name was decided, and Iroha's catchphrase was "Wonderful" at that point.

Takahashi: The catchphrase was already in place at the plot stage.

Narita: That's right. That's why she became "Cure Wonderful". Story-wise, it went that "Komugi, who is always with Iroha, remembered her catchphrase and said it when she transformed."

Q: I heard that the Precure cast was decided through auditions. Can you tell us how that was done?

Sato: The first one to be decided was Lillian/Mayu.

Takahashi: The Lillian played by (Reina) Ueda was just like how we imagined it.

Sato: In the audition for Lillian/Mayu, I asked them to act out her shyness and her excitement when she calls the cat Yuki cute, and I was surprised that everything about Ueda's performance, from the tone of her voice to the way she portrayed the difference in her emotions, was exactly as I imagined.

Takahashi: We all unanimously decided on Ueda. I remember that the moment we heard her voice, we all burst into a commotion, saying "It's just like Mayu!"

Sato: The next one to be decided was Friendy/Iroha.

Takahashi: Wonderful/Komugi and Friendy/Iroha were decided around the same time.

Sato: (Atsumi) Tanezaki is known for playing a lot of characters before her audition, and all her acting was really well done. That's why I really wanted her to participate in Wanpuri as a main character.

[This sentence isn't translating well, but I assume Sato is referring to the fact Tanezaki has played a lot of very well-known, well-received and diverse characters, such as Anya in "Spy X Family", Dai in "Dragon Quest: The Adventures of Dai", and Frieren in "Frieren: Beyond Journey's End".]

Takahashi: We had pretty much decided on Maria Naganawa for Wonderful/Komugi, but we were a little worried about the voice of the main character. But Sato said with confidence, "If it's Naganawa, it'll be fine. Komugi is Naganawa-san." So we got the push we needed and decided on Naganawa.

Sato: I'd heard Naganawa's acting in other anime before. She has a wide variety of acting skills, and I knew she had a cute voice and a wide range of acting, so I thought it would be fine to leave the role of the main character, Komugi, to her.

Takahashi: The one that remained undecided until the very end was Nyammy/Yuki.

Sato: It was really undecided. But as I was struggling with the decision, Takahashi, and (Takashi) Washio, the executive producer of the Precure series, suggested to me, "Perhaps Satsumi Matsuda would be good for the role."

Takahashi: Matsuda is a voice actor who excels at playing boy roles, but she had participated in the previous year's Hiropuri as a female character called Berriberri, and I knew she was also great at playing 'older sister' characters. I thought with Matsuda's acting ability, she could surely play an older sister character with a different flavour, so I recommended her to Sato.

Q: In this work, the climax of each episode is purifying the Garugaru and returning them to their original animal state. How did you come up with the purification method?

Takahashi: The idea of hugging Garugaru to purify them was Narita's idea, and that setting was there from the plot stage.

Narita: Yes, I remember going through that pretty smoothly.

Takashi: At first, there was an idea to wrap the Garugaru in a swaddling cloth when purifying it, like how a baby feels safe when hugged.

Sato: Based on that, we came up with the Friend Liberale design, where the Garugaru is wrapped in a ribbon.

Takahashi: Originally, we were aiming to create something that wouldn't harm animals, and the ribbon was the result of our constant search for different ways to express ourselves.

Sato: Things like locking them in a cage or tying them up with rope wasn't allowed.

Takahashi: We lifted the ban a little in the second half, but in the beginning of the story, especially in the first cour, we didn't want to include any such images. We also wanted to make it clear that this is a story about the bond between people and animals.

Narita: There were quite a few other things that weren't allowed.

Takakashi: Yes, there were. There were detailed rules on how to hold a leash, and Daifuku had to be properly leashed before going outside.

Narita: Yes, I created a scenario where the leash should only be taken off in dog runs and parks, not in city areas.

Takahashi: Even when we let Komugi off the leash, we had to make sure there were no large dogs around, and we were particularly strict with these rules in the beginning. In the second half, they were relaxed a bit, because the amount of fantasy elements increased.

Q: With all these limitations, how did you plan on portraying the Gaou group that came with such open anger and hostility?

Sato: Actually, when Torame and Zakuro were introduced, we talked about allowing kick and punch motions in the action.

Takahashi: But we decided not to do that after all. We thought it would be better to be consistent and "contain" them, so we changed course.

Q: How did you go about creating events and a story structure for a year of broadcast?

Narita: I came up with the outline of how to make things more exciting, and that's what was basically adopted.

Takahashi: I had thought about the timing and content of the season, and I had organised what I wanted to do and the points I wanted to portray, so it wasn't too much of a problem, but what was unusual was that it took 30 episodes for Nyammy and Lillian to fully join the team.

Narita: It was quite a long wait. I mean, it took Nyammy that many episodes to understand Wonderful and the others and to decide they could become friends.

Takahashi: It couldn't be helped, considering the character's personality, but it still took quite a long time, so we were all quite nervous.

Narita: And then Nico-sama turned into a human. That wasn't originally the plan.

Takahashi: That's right. The original plan was for Nico to remain in her unicorn form until the very end. But we wanted her to play a part in creating excitement in autumn. Keeping interest during autumn is always a source of worry for Precure, which airs throughout the year. In the Precure series, power-up techniques often appear in autumn, and the producers are always racking their brains over how to generate excitement after that. As a result, we decided to have Nico transform into a human. The story had been going pretty well up until Episode 30, but we wanted to give it an extra boost, so we used everything we could.

Narita: I understand that feeling. When I took on this job, I wanted to include everything I thought was interesting and everything I learnt up until now. But looking back, Nico's transformation and the appearance of the wolves were in the same episode, so I worried it might have been overstuffed. But when I saw the finished product, it was really well-done, so I was glad.

Takahashi: I'm sorry I caused so much trouble for Sato.

Sato: Personally, I thought it wasn't necessary for Nico to become human. (laughs)

Narita: It was unexpected. But the power of the character designs was a great help. When I was shown the design for Nico's human form, I knew I could make it work.

Sato: The key point about Nico is the contrast between her character when she's in human form and when she's in her small unicorn form. In her human form, she's more god-like, so she doesn't move in a flashy way, but in her small unicorn form, she moves in a very flashy way. I could play around a lot with that.

Takahashi: Sato is very good at animating mascot characters. He was able to bring out Nico's cuteness, which was a great help.

Narita: Although it's the same character, I wrote the scenario to have a distinction between Nico in her unicorn form, who is a smiling character who loves to entertain everyone, and Nico in her human form, who is mysterious.

Takahashi: Kana Ueda's acting really helped a lot. Thanks to the clear distinction between Nico's human form and her mascot form, I think we were about to portray Episode 44, about saying goodbye to a pet, from a much more comprehensive perspective.

Q: Mey Mey, the butler who serves Nico. What kind of character was he created as?

Narita: Actually, at first, I was planning to make Mey Mey a more mysterious character. But I decided to make him a character that would liven things up. His character is very distinct, so after a while he started to move naturally without even thinking about it. I messed with him a lot, but I love Mey Mey!

Sato: I think it would have been nice to have more fun with him. He's a great character.

Takakashi: I felt that the directors had a lot of fun directing the episodes in which Mey Mey plays an active role. They did a great job of making it comical. In the beginning of the story, we needed someone to keep the plot moving, so I think they did a great job balancing that with his brilliant tsukkomi.

['Tsukkomi' is a japanese comedy thing, basically translates to 'the straight man'. As in, the one trying to take things seriously and pointing out all the absurdities of the situation. Also yes, google translate kept 'tsukkomi' untranslated so that's why i'm explaining this]

Q: Speaking of Mey Mey, he's known to be a big fan of the character of Satoru Toyama, but what kind of character was Satoru created to be?

Takakashi: Actually, in the planning stages, we were thinking of having a boy Precure, and Satoru was the prototype for that character. However, due to various circumstances, the idea of a boy Precure was dropped, and instead Satoru was designed as a character that would support the Precure. Satoru and Daifuku transform like Precure in the movie, and that's how it came about. Also, the original plan was to have them transform in the TV series, so instead of ending it with the movie, we decided to have them transform in Episode 49.

Sato: Actually, I wasn't told that Satoru and Daifuku would transform in the movie (laughs).

Takahashi: When Sato joined the production team, it was around the time it was decided there would be four girl Precure, so the idea of a boy Precure hadn't been communicated to begin with.

Sato: I thought their transformations would be a special event that would only happen in the movie. I was very surprised when I heard they would be transforming on TV, too.

Narita: I also didn't have an image of Satoru transforming. I thought he would always be in the role of the Precure's advisor or assistant. On the other hand, I thought Daifuku would eventually be able to speak, so I gave him an 'older brother'-like personality from the beginning. Combined with his good voice and cute looks, I was happy that he became popular. I liked his manly personality and wanted to write a TV scenario for him, so I was glad that we were able to have the two of them transform in Episode 49.

Q: Speaking of Satoru, the love story between him and Iroha became a big topic of conversation. Could you tell us how this story came to be included?

Narita: This was my suggestion. Since the characters are middle school students, I thought it would be okay to have some depiction of love. I also thought it could be a way to bring excitement to the story around autumn. I made the suggestion without much thought, but fortunately I got the go-ahead, so I decided to carefully depict the flow of how love comes to fruition, and I made it into three episodes.

Takahashi: This was the first time Precure has depicted love, so we thought very carefully about it, such as where to set the goal for love.

Narita: We decided the goal would be 'holding hands', and little by little we built up the romantic stories between Iroha and Satoru as we worked towards that goal.

Sato: Speaking of portraying the romance between the two characters, Iroha and Satoru have quite different romantic feelings. After Iroha finds out about Satoru's feelings, she becomes increasingly conscious of him, but Satoru has liked Iroha from the beginning, so his way of treating her doesn't change. He's liked Iroha since the first episode, and he's always been conscious of her in his actions. So, when depicting the romance episodes between Iroha and Satoru, I was mindful to make sure that this point wasn't mistaken. In addition, I wanted to make sure that Satoru's attitude towards supporting the Precure remained consistent. Satoru doesn't just want to help Friendy/Iroha, he wants to help all of the Precure. So I tried to make sure he never wavered on that point.

Narita: I also wanted to make sure that Iroha and Satoru's love story wasn't just about the two of them, so I got everyone around them involved. Mayu was at the forefront of this, but Yuki and Komugi were also there to support the couple. What's more, the story is set up so that the classmates are actually aware of it as well. In the original story, it wasn't planned for the classmates to be involved, but the directors for each episode had been developing the characters of the classmates up until now, so I made full use of that and created a story that would bring out the best in them.

Q: How much about the classmates had been decided at first?

Narita: When I joined, the class seating chart and surnames had already been decided. Since the story takes place in Animal Town, everyone has the kanji for an animal in their name. I wanted to reflect that in the scenario as much as possible and have everyone play an active role, but there were some kids who couldn't make it, which is a bit disappointing.

Takakashi: There were some characters that couldn't be portrayed as animals.

Narita: Yes. I was paying attention to Ryuzaki-kun (laughs). I was thinking of an episode where he keeps a seahorse, which is then turned into a Garugaru, but unfortunately, I couldn't include it. Also, I couldn't include Satoru's parents in the main story. Since the episode where Nico-sama transforms was added, I had to focus on that, and I also had to consider the length.

Takahashi: We had a few discussions about Satoru's family.

Narita: I also thought about the occupations of Satoru's parents. There were various ideas, such as influential people in Animal Town, politicians, or bigwigs at IT companies. Also, Satoru had an older brother. This is just my imagination, but his older brother is even more talented than Satoru and is studying abroard.

Takahashi: That's the first time I've heard that! (laughs)

Narita: I also thought that maybe the Toyama family was a clan that was in conflict with the wolves in the past...but it was just a fantasy.

Q: Did you come up with the setting for the Inukai family as well?

Narita: That's right. The Inukai family runs a veterinary clinic, and I wanted the parents to be a veterinarian and a groomer. When I was thinking what professions the father and mother should have, I decided to go against the general image and make the mother the veterinarian and the father the groomer.

Takakashi: I had heard that groomers do heavy physical work, especially with large dogs, so it didn't feel that strange to have the father as a groomer. I remember that character designer Yoko Uchida and costume and prop designer NaSka had a lot of fun designing Iroha's father. I was surprised that he was more muscular than I had imagined, and that he was wearing a really cute apron.

Sato: At first, there were two designs for Iroha's father's apron. I thought the design was great, so I suggested combining the two, and that's how the design came about (laughs). Also, Iroha's father has been cooking meals and taking care of Iroha since the first episode, so viewers have been saying that he might be a full-time househusband.

Narita: I wanted to make Tsuyoshi (Iroha's father) my idea man (lol). A muscular father wearing a cute apron who does all the housework and takes care of his daughter is just the best.

Q: How did you decide which animals would turn into Garugaru?

Narita: Since it had been decided the product would be linked to toys, we received around 40 original designs from the toy side and were able to choose from there. Among them were the tsuchinoko and the Tyrannosaurus, and I thought they would make the story more interesting. I remember thinking "I wonder if I can make a story like this?" Also, since the subject matter was animals, I wanted to weave in some trivia about the animals into the story. I thought it would be great if you could naturally absorb knowledge about animals after watching Precure. The writers for each episode did a lot of research and were able to incorporate that information into the script very well. Also, at the end of each story, I added some trivia notes about the animals that appeared, and other writers saw them and gradually started writing their own. Thanks to that, we were able to share our knowledge and have fun writing the story.

Takakashi: Sato was very particular about the design of Garugaru.

Sato: That's right.

Takahashi: Actually, at the beginning, there was an idea to design Garugaru as a monster. There are two-legged and four-legged animals, but if we were to use that setting in the anime, it would inevitably cost a lot to draw it.

Sato: But I didn't give in on that point. Since the story is themed after animals, I thought it would be better to consistently depict Garugaru as an animal, and since the habits of animals are the hooks of each episode, I thought it would be difficult to come up with a strategy for the chase action if the Garugaru didn't move according to those habits.

Takahashi: Looking back now, I think Sato's decision was the right one. The action was more varied and more convincing, and each episode was well worth watching.

Sato: To be honest, there were a lot of bird-like animals, so it was difficult to differentiate them (laughs).

Takahashi: The owl, duck and bat turned out really cute, so I think it was great.

Sato: Also, in the chase action with the Garugaru, we made it possible to use the power of Kirarin Animals as part of the variation.

Takahashi: During our meetings, we discussed things like "Wouldn't it be awesome if Kirarin Swan could fly using its power 'to grant them the ability to fly'?"

Narita: Actually, the most powerful thing was the Panda's power to put the opponent to sleep.

Sato: I struggled a lot with how to incorporate the power of the Panda into the action.

Narita: The episode where Kirarin Fox's power was used caused quite a stir when Wonderful transformed into a tire (laughs).

Takahashi: (laughs) and Nyammy transformed into a giant cat toy.

Narita: It was a lot of fun, and I would have liked to see the humans transform as well if possible.

Q: Gaou's true identity is Subaru, a human who once shared a heart with the wold Gaou. Was this decided on from the beginning of the project?

Narita: That's right. By having the final boss a human, I wanted to avoid a structure in which Precure and animals are enemies. Also, I thought that the emotion of an animal resenting a human is very human in of itself. At the same time, it didn't feel right for us humans to so easily write about the feelings of animals; it seemed very pushy and unnatural. For that reason, I made Subaru the final boss. But actually, at first, there was the idea that Friendy/Iroha could talk to animals.

Sato: After Iroha transformed into Precure, she would gain the ability to talk to animals.

Narita: Yes. But I quickly abandoned that idea. I felt like the ego of the human side would inevitably come into the dialogue of the animals.

Takahashi: Even if we tried to eliminate human ego as much as possible, since it is we humans who create the stories, there was always the possibility that it would show through the dialogue.

Narita: That's right. So I stopped having animals speak human language directly, and instead had Wonderful/Komugi act as an interpreter from time to time. I think that by creating that setting, Wonderful/Komugi's character became more prominent and made her feel more like the main character.

Q: While the story is generally fun and cute, there was also a serious scene that left an impression on me, where Friendy/Iroha is shocked to learn that humans had driven wolves to extinction. Please tell us why you included such a scene.

Takakashi: In drawing Precure, which has an animal theme, I felt that it was inevitable to consider the history of humans causing the extinction of many animals. However, I didn't want to convey it in a way that would hurt the children who watch the anime.

Narita: I was a little worried because the wolved that appeared in Episode 29 looked a little scary, and I wondered if it was okay for Gaou and the others to continue directing their anger at the Precure. But by this time, the four Precure had become more united and the way they embraced the Garugarus had definitely made me realise that. This gave rise to a sense of persuasiveness, so I trusted them and wrote the climax without worrying.

Sato: On the contrary, I wasn't particularly worried about depicting that part. That's because I had already decided to end the story with Gaou saying "I'm glad Subaru was there." What should have been depicted in the climax wasn't the conflict between the species, but Gaou and Subaru connecting with each other once again, so I thought that would be fine.

Takahashi: But I was quite worried about those scenes at first. A sad story can be painful for the viewers.

Narita: I think I got through that by trusting the viewers. I knew everyone was excited about Wanpuri, so I believed that even if there were some tough moments, they would still watch until the end.

Takahashi: I think that if you watched up until Episode 40, you would know that it would be okay to entrust our feelings to them.

Q: In the final episode, after Komugi and Yuki lose the ability to speak human language, they are able to talk to Iroha and the others again with Nico's power. What kinds of discussions did the staff have about whether or not they would lose the ability to converse with humans?

Takahashi: Initially, I had envisioned the ending being one in which Komugi and Yuki could no longer speak, and I supported that idea. I thought that even if Komugi and Yuki lost the ability to talk to people, they would still be able to connect with each other emotionally.

Narita: However, considering the atmosphere of the work, I thought it would be a bit odd to end the story by suddenly losing the ability to talk to Iroha, Mayu and Satoru, when they had been able to talk happily up until that point. I felt a fun and bright ending would be more suitable for Wanpuri than a lonely ending. So in the end, even though they can't become a Precure or a human, they gain the ability to talk with people and continue to live happily with Iroha and Mayu.

Takahashi: In the story, Daifuku says "Even if we can't speak, best friends are still best friends. But speaking is more wonderful." It ended up being exactly like that.

Q: After the broadcast of all 50 episodes, the "Wonderful Precure Thanksgiving" was held. At the event, character shows, live performances, and reading plays were shown, but the reading play that depicted what happened after the final episode attracted the most attention. I heard Narita wrote the script for this episode, but what was you intention in creating it?

Narita: The reading play was shown at the evening premium performance, so I wanted to show everyone that "Komugi and the others can't become humans anymore, but they're still living happily together." I wanted everyone who had been supporting us for a year to know that Komugi and the others are living happily, and that they're the same even though they don't transform. Also, Mayu played a big role in the boyfriend-girlfriend stories that were sprinkled in and out of the character show and reading play (laughs).

Q: With "Thanksgiving" over, please tell us how you feel about "Wanpuri" now that you have completely let go of it.

Narita: I was so busy during production, but I looked forward to watching the broadcast of Wanpuri every Sunday morning. I knew the story, of course, but I enjoyed the direction and the voice actors' performances. It was a really good year, both writing it and watching it was fun.

Takahashi: I was really busy during production. But I was really happy that everyone, including Sato, Narita, the writers for each episode, the cast, the many animation staff and the sales staff, came together as "Team Wanpuri" to make the series a success, and I really felt like we all made it together.

Sato: There were some hard times in creating the techniques, settings and transformation scenes, but after that it was a lot of fun. The dubbing was done by really good people, so I was able to leave it to them and have a relaxed time.

Takahashi: Everyone has a broad perspective and is very creative, so when I make a suggestion, they accept it warmly. I was also very helped by the fact that they were okay with additional suggestions as long as they were within acceptable range.

Q: I'm sure it's very difficult to choose, but which episode was your favourite or most memorable episode out of the 50?

Narita: My favourite is Episode 1. I cry every time I watch it, but it was a key point in creating the script, so it left a strong impression. Also Episode 29 and Episode 50 are memorable/

Sato: Like Narita-san, the most memorable episode to me was Episode 1, which I did the storyboard for. The story was a bit challenging, with Komugi only being able to say "wanwan", but I heard that some people cried after watching it. I was impressed not only by the script, but also by Naganawa's acting, who was able to convey her feelings to the audience with just "wanwan".

Takahashi: For me, the introduction in Episode 30 is what made the biggest impression on me. In fact, up until this episode, there were no episodes where we could have fun. Even during summer vacation, there was a lot to do, such as having to raise Nico-sama's egg. In the Precure series, it is customary to be able to play a little outside of the main story during the summer vacation episodes, but that was not possible in Wanpuri. However, it's precisely because they carefully built up the story in this way that these 30 episodes have become so popular. I am deeply moved to have received this offer.

Narita: Even when I was writing the script for Wanpuri, I felt like it was chock full of episodes (laughs).

Takahashi: That's true. There were only about 20 episodes between the appearance of Torame and Zakuro and the final episode. Episode 40 was a fun episode in which humans transformed into animals, but even this episode, which at first glance seemed like a playful episode, contained important information, so I thought we couldn't let our guard down.

Narita: There really wasn't a single episode that wasn't related to the core of the story or theme.

Takahashi: In Episode 26, "It's Too Hot!", just when you thought it was about them having fun playing together, they suddenly started talking about how to prevent heatstroke in animals.

Q: Finally, please give a message to the fans who have supported 'Wanpuri'.

Takahashi: Thank you for your support. Even after the 50th episode, Komugi and the others are still the same. They will continue to be wonderful in the same way. If we ever have the chance to meet again, I hope you will come and see us with a smile.

Narita: Thank you all for supporting Wanpuri. I have heard your comments and it has been very encouraging. I've been working hard on the theme of "a wonderful world that everyone loves!" and I'm glad that the viewers have come to love the show too. Thank you so much for watching the past year.

[Narita here is saying Cure Wonderful's introduction speech, "minna daisuki suteki na sekai!"]