E-EX - Behind the Scenes of Dr. Stone

Source: Crunchyroll
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(Please feel free to edit the speaker names. This is handled on a best-effort basis depending on how the subtitle file was created so they may be incomplete or inaccurate. Dialogue is left as is.)
[00:06] ---
    I was with our director, Iino-san, in the
    editing bay watching the finished product...
[00:10] ---
    And there's a part where Senku says
[00:12] ---
    "it's been a year since the experiment
    began. It felt shorter than I imagined."
[00:18] ---
    And the director remarked
    how he felt the same way.
[00:27] ---
    I'm Katagiri Shusuke, I work as
    a producer at TMS Entertainment.
[00:32] ---
    This is my 16th year in the industry.
[00:34] ---
    It's nice to meet you.
[00:36] ---
    Basically one day, everyone in
    the world is turned to stone.
[00:40] ---
    And then later, the protagonist Senku
    manages to be restored somehow,
[00:46] ---
    In that world, 3,700 years later,
    where civilization is long gone,
[00:50] ---
    he tries to rebuild civilization, starting
    with just the basics he can get his hands on.
[00:56] ---
    Hello, I'm Iino Shinya.
[00:58] ---
    I'm the director of Dr. STONE.
[01:03] ---
    I didn't write the original story.
[01:10] ---
    My job is to get as close
    to the original as possible.
[01:18] ---
    I see.
[01:20] ---
    So it did happen to everyone.
[01:25] ---
    Since this is an adaptation
    of an existing title,
[01:28] ---
    I had to familiarize myself
    with the source material,
[01:31] ---
    and then recruit the kind of staff
    we'd need for the animated version,
[01:38] ---
    and make sure the quality of the finished
    product lives up to our standards.
[01:43] ---
    Along with, in terms of business
    stuff, managing budgets and whatnot.
[01:49] ---
    That about covers it.
[01:52] ---
    There are various departments that work
    on an anime, like the people who draw...
[02:00] ---
    There's the recording of the
    voices and the sound effects.
[02:09] ---
    All of the sound production.
[02:10] ---
    Then there are all the drawing
    that the animators have drawn,
[02:14] ---
    There's also other art
    such as background art.
[02:21] ---
    We have various sections working
    on different parts of the anime,
[02:25] ---
    and saying that I check on everything
    might sound a bit impudent,
[02:29] ---
    but that is basically what I do.
[02:32] ---
    I wanted to try and work with younger talent
    who didn't have as many titles to their names.
[02:43] ---
    I partly wanted the challenge of handling
    it with that kind of fresh outlook.
[02:47] ---
    I was the assistant director for Made
    in Abyss about six years into my career.
[02:57] ---
    It has been about five or six years since
    I started working as an episode director.
[03:02] ---
    I think the thing that caught my interest
    the most about Dr. STONE was the theme.
[03:08] ---
    The theme heavily deals with science
[03:12] ---
    and that's not something you
    see often in shonen manga.
[03:19] ---
    With this show, we looked at
    it from a variety of angles,
[03:22] ---
    and came to the conclusion that original
    material would be a poor fit for it,
[03:26] ---
    so the anime is generally
    a pretty direct adaption.
[03:38] ---
    I think this goes for any
    series dealing with fantasy
[03:44] ---
    but Dr. STONE is set in Japan
    3,700 years in the future.
[03:50] ---
    In that case, what does
    the background look like?
[03:54] ---
    What about the townscape?
[03:56] ---
    I think that was the first
    thing I thought about.
[04:04] ---
    The first thing you do when making an
    anime is come up with a project outline.
[04:09] ---
    And for something like this, that
    means studying the original manga,
[04:14] ---
    and then, as soon as you know the episode count
    you're working with, whether it's 13, 24, or 25,
[04:22] ---
    You figure out how to pace the
    material to fit your production.
[04:40] ---
    Now, that's not nice.
[04:42] ---
    Shouldn't you say "Nice to meet you" first?
[04:45] ---
    Shut your mouth!
[04:46] ---
    Save your introductions for Hell.
[05:04] ---
    So we have these storyboards...
[05:07] ---
    And the first thing we need to
    make scenes are these designs.
[05:13] ---
    Character designs.
[05:15] ---
    As you can see, we have designs
    for all kinds of expressions.
[05:19] ---
    To an extent, they can keep all
    those drawings more consistent
[05:23] ---
    by referencing these designs while they draw.
[05:27] ---
    When we were in the talks
    to animate Dr. STONE,
[05:30] ---
    I started doodling Senku's face,
[05:37] ---
    thinking about his various expressions.
[05:39] ---
    And going through the usual
    expressions I would go through
[05:47] ---
    but their were about two to three
    times more expessions in Dr. STONE.
[05:53] ---
    So to keep up with that kind of passion, I
    thought I had to get pretty worked up, too
[05:59] ---
    So...
[06:00] ---
    I don't think it's that
    visible on the outside
[06:04] ---
    But to match how emotional and
    expressive Senku and the others get...
[06:08] ---
    Like when their faces
    completely fall apart...
[06:13] ---
    In order to keep up with that myself
[06:17] ---
    I tried to expand my own limits.
[06:20] ---
    I have a lot of fun when I'm
    drawing these expressions.
[06:30] ---
    So we have the art designs to show our
    animators how to draw specific locations.
[06:37] ---
    As you can see here...
[06:39] ---
    For example, the character should be about
    this size in comparison to this tree.
[06:45] ---
    The size of the character in comparison
    to things like houses and trees...
[06:50] ---
    That's what these designs are for.
[06:53] ---
    The size of the character in relation
    to this tree is shown here.
[07:00] ---
    We hold meetings to make these.
[07:02] ---
    So when we meet to make these art designs,
[07:06] ---
    We decide whether a character should
    be bigger or smaller in relation.
[07:13] ---
    This series has a lot of settings,
[07:19] ---
    so we do our best to show the
    complete view of this world.
[07:27] ---
    So there are a lot of shots where we try to
    show that the background is the focal point.
[07:35] ---
    But with that, I think there are a lot
    of different ways we can show that.
[07:42] ---
    So I try to concentrate on that.
[07:49] ---
    Okay, so a single anime episode
    typically consists of about 300 shots.
[07:54] ---
    I mean, this is hot 316, so obviously
    there are more than 300, but...
[07:59] ---
    We used a higher number of
    shots in the first episode.
[08:02] ---
    So, inthis shot...
[08:04] ---
    Senku lifts his hair away from his face,
[08:09] ---
    faces the camera, so to
    speak, and closes his eyes.
[08:13] ---
    So I'm going to explain
    how this shot was made.
[08:17] ---
    It starts...
[08:19] ---
    with these rough drawings.
[08:22] ---
    These tell us which character is
    used, what backdrop is behind them,
[08:26] ---
    and how the character is moving.
[08:30] ---
    These are drawn first.
    We call these "layouts."
[08:36] ---
    The composition of the shot, as I described
    earlier, is drawn in these layouts.
[08:40] ---
    And the first thing we need in
    order to make these layouts...
[08:44] ---
    are these storyboards.
[08:47] ---
    Hello, my name is Kawajiri Kentaro. I'm
    the assistant director for Dr. STONE.
[08:52] ---
    Basically, my job is to make sure that I get
[08:55] ---
    the key points from the
    manga like the characters'
[08:59] ---
    expressions and nuances so that the
    rest of the workflow goes smoothly.
[09:04] ---
    I make sure that all gets
    outputted into actual anime.
[09:11] ---
    Right now, I'm doing some
    storyboards for Dr. STONE.
[09:19] ---
    After that, the director will
    make corrections, brush it up,
[09:25] ---
    and then let us know what
    direction he wants us to go in.
[09:30] ---
    The storyboards are basically
    the blueprints of the animation.
[09:35] ---
    All 300 or so shots in the episode
    are explained in detail here.
[09:40] ---
    This one, shot 316, is right here,
[09:43] ---
    and even at this stage, the rough
    idea of the scene is all drawn in.
[09:49] ---
    The character named Senku is standing
    in front of this sort of backdrop
[09:53] ---
    He lifts his hair out away from his
    face and looks straight forward.
[09:56] ---
    All those directions are written here.
[09:58] ---
    These drawings are the
    blueprint of the scene.
[10:02] ---
    And based on these blueprints,
    the storyboards,
[10:04] ---
    the layouts that I just
    explained are created.
[10:17] ---
    Basically, I concentrate
    on the whole picture.
[10:20] ---
    I put in corrections on how I
    want the whole layout to look.
[10:26] ---
    What I write in this column
[10:30] ---
    are basically instructions to the animators.
[10:34] ---
    Like for this shot, I'd like a pan shot.
[10:37] ---
    where the camera moves up.
[10:43] ---
    Or with this shot, where
    I'd like the rock in front
[10:49] ---
    to move down while the rest
    of the shot is panning up.
[10:53] ---
    This episode happens to have
    a girl named Suika in it.
[10:57] ---
    And in the episode, she puts
    on glasses for the first time,
[11:07] ---
    and she's able to see everything clearly for
    the first time. She's then moved to tears.
[11:15] ---
    So at the part where the glasses are
    completed and she puts them on...
[11:22] ---
    She's then able to see sunflowers
    extremely clearly for the first time
[11:28] ---
    I wanted to make sure there wasn't
    much dialogue for this scene,
[11:32] ---
    and that the emphasis was on the music.
[11:38] ---
    That was my vision for this scene.
[11:41] ---
    So I increased the amount of shots
[11:46] ---
    and have Suika, who's seeing these
    sunflowers for the first time, move up a little more.
[11:53] ---
    And then she sees the sky, the
    dog, and Senku and the others.
[12:01] ---
    After that, she starts crying.
[12:06] ---
    And overall for this part, I wanted to
    make sure there wasn't any dialogue.
[12:09] ---
    Just music and of course
    the characters' acting.
[12:13] ---
    That's what I concentrated
    on for these scenes.
[12:17] ---
    So here, we have directions on this
    layout, asking for a bit more emphasis
[12:30] ---
    And as for the character's movements...
[12:33] ---
    There's a direction asking for him to
    brush his hair back from farther forward
[12:39] ---
    by catching it with his thumb and
    then sweeping it back from there.
[12:46] ---
    So today...
[12:48] ---
    First, I was checking the layouts
    that some animators brought me...
[12:54] ---
    They're already checked
    by the episode directors
[13:00] ---
    but I then take a look and
    check over those myself.
[13:05] ---
    To make sure there aren't any issues.
[13:08] ---
    One person can't make 300
    shots of animation alone,
[13:11] ---
    So for one episode, we typically have
    about 20 animators drawing the animation.
[13:19] ---
    Since there are 20 of them doing
    the 300 shots in an episode,
[13:25] ---
    that means you'd have 20 slightly different
    versions of the same character,
[13:29] ---
    So we have what's called an animation
    director to keep everything consistent.
[13:33] ---
    And the animation director...
[13:36] ---
    gives us this green sheet.
[13:39] ---
    So the animation director revises
    this drawing... into this.
[13:46] ---
    The difference is very clear, isn't it?
[13:50] ---
    The animation director has revised
    the hand in this drawing.
[13:55] ---
    We actually have...
[13:58] ---
    a drawing of the character
    in mid-motion here,
[14:00] ---
    and the completed motion drawn here.
[14:03] ---
    So the entire sequence
    is revised in this way.
[14:06] ---
    And with these revision,
[14:11] ---
    the drawings for the 300 shots drawn
    by 20 people on a given episode
[14:18] ---
    are all brought together cleanly.
[14:21] ---
    And the next stage, once
    they're all brought together,
[14:27] ---
    is the key animation.
[14:30] ---
    This very first drawing starts the shot
[14:34] ---
    And from the first drawing...
[14:36] ---
    we then have this drawing from mid-shot...
[14:40] ---
    and then this drawing that ends the shot.
[14:41] ---
    You can see what's happening when
    you see them all lined up in order.
[14:45] ---
    There's the start drawing,
[14:47] ---
    the mid-shot drawing,
[14:50] ---
    and the end drawing.
[14:52] ---
    In animation terms,
[14:54] ---
    these are the key frames for the action of
    raising his hand to here, and giving his look.
[15:01] ---
    The animation that goes between these
    frames is called the in-betweens.
[15:09] ---
    They fill the gaps between the key frames.
[15:13] ---
    And the process of filling
    them in looks like this.
[15:17] ---
    This is the start drawing.
[15:21] ---
    Now we reach this mid-shot drawing...
[15:23] ---
    Can you tell? Here's the mid-shot drawing...
[15:33] ---
    And finally, we reach the end drawing.
[15:37] ---
    And just this small bit of animation
    includes many individual drawings.
[15:46] ---
    So then we fill these in. This
    what we call in-betweening.
[15:51] ---
    Next, we come to the coloring stage.
[15:56] ---
    The in-between are drawn
    in pencil or digitally,
[16:00] ---
    so they're just black and white,
[16:04] ---
    but now we begin the process
    of filling in the colors.
[16:08] ---
    We have actual example models to follow.
[16:12] ---
    So we add color to each shot based
    on the color in these models.
[16:19] ---
    We base it on these color models.
[16:22] ---
    It's basically the same as a coloring book.
[16:25] ---
    So this is the coloring process,
[16:29] ---
    gives color to all the these drawings...
[16:34] ---
    and it becomes animation.
[16:36] ---
    Can you tell? Just as the directions
    in the storyboards say...
[16:41] ---
    Senku is looking down, he sweeps
    his hair back, and opens his eyes.
[16:46] ---
    Senku is looking down, he
    sweeps his hair back...
[16:49] ---
    and he opens his eyes.
[16:51] ---
    And that completes this
    sequence of animation.
[16:55] ---
    Of course, this doesn't mean it's finished.
[16:59] ---
    Now we get to what I showed you earlier,
[17:01] ---
    which is done at the same
    time this is going on...
[17:04] ---
    The layouts, the ones I showed you earlier.
[17:08] ---
    The layout shows which character is present,
    where they are, and what they're doing...
[17:14] ---
    Can you tell?
[17:16] ---
    This is where the background is added.
[17:20] ---
    We follow the episode director's directions
[17:26] ---
    to fill in all these detailed areas.
[17:34] ---
    So when we add this completed background
[17:38] ---
    to the cel data that we
    animated a moment ago...
[17:43] ---
    we end up with this cut, which
    I showed you in the beginning
[17:47] ---
    The background data we saw earlier is here,
[17:51] ---
    and the character data is here.
[17:54] ---
    When those layers are put together,
    it results in animation.
[18:02] ---
    The process that takes this
    long to make a single shot
[18:06] ---
    is repeated about 300 times
    to complete an episode.
[18:14] ---
    Things are about to get a
    little more tedious, though.
[18:21] ---
    Distilling Wine for Dummies
[18:23] ---
    This isn't really unique to Dr. STONE,
[18:28] ---
    but I think the moment that's always the most
    exciting is when a piece of animation is completed.
[18:39] ---
    Seeing the character actually move around
    on a carefully illustrated background,
[18:45] ---
    you always go "It's actually moving!"
[18:49] ---
    So I'd say those are the
    most exciting moments.
[18:53] ---
    One thing I can say is that this is a
    meticulously detailed world in the manga,
[18:58] ---
    and that by bringing it to
    life with motion and color,
[19:02] ---
    it creates an even more vivid
    feeling for the world...
[19:07] ---
    Which really gives it an epic feeling, which
    I think would be something worth seeing.
[19:14] ---
    Sort of "This is how it
    turned out as an anime!"
[19:22] ---
    Man, what a great view!
[19:25] ---
    Perfect.
[19:27] ---
    Another thing we had trouble with...
[19:31] ---
    You can tell from looking here. The premise
    involves a world were civilization has been lost,
[19:36] ---
    So they have shirts made from animal skins.
[19:39] ---
    Which makes it hard compared to other anime,
[19:41] ---
    Where you can sort of color-code
    the character wardrobes
[19:43] ---
    You'll probably notice how there'll be the blue
    character, or the red one. We can't do that here
[19:49] ---
    But it ends up looking kind of plain with
    these really earthy colors, in the woods...
[19:58] ---
    So we had to come up with color flourishes
    to help bring the characters alive in animation.
[20:07] ---
    Here we have Yuzuriha and she's wearing an
    animal skin, so it really is just a plain brown
[20:16] ---
    So for the anime, you'll probably
    be able to tell when you see it,
[20:22] ---
    We have her some red highlights to
    make her a little more feminine,
[20:25] ---
    and basically did that with other characters
    too, to help them send out from one another.
[20:33] ---
    It's set on Earth.
[20:35] ---
    So I wanted the things that
    the characters touched
[20:38] ---
    and interacted with in their
    daily lives to feel realistic.
[20:43] ---
    I didn't want those things to seem fake.
[20:47] ---
    I wanted the viewers to be able
    to recognize these things.
[20:54] ---
    I thought that the characters
    living 3,700 years ihn the future
[21:01] ---
    would also seem more realistic that way.
[21:06] ---
    This is wood, yeah.
[21:10] ---
    It's here so we can study the
    details, like the wood grains.
[21:16] ---
    This is a mineral called galena
    that appears in the series.
[21:20] ---
    Wait, this isn't galena. It's pyrite.
[21:23] ---
    We get a lotof things like this.
[21:28] ---
    We do all kinds of weird things.
[21:44] ---
    I used this...
[21:50] ---
    with some of these shells that we got...
[22:00] ---
    and crushed them into this.
[22:11] ---
    So here's the scene where
    they crushed shells.
[22:17] ---
    I just wanted to say I tried.
[22:19] ---
    The idea is to see what happens
    when you actually do something,
[22:22] ---
    or prove that some things don't
    actually work in certain ways.
[22:30] ---
    Of course, we won't be able to use
    every single one of these things,
[22:35] ---
    but we'll use whatever we can get our
    hands on. Same with those mushrooms, too.
[22:42] ---
    We try to obtain as many things as we can,
    to an extent, to serve as references.
[22:49] ---
    There's this part...
[22:51] ---
    where they go through the
    process of making glass.
[22:57] ---
    They mess it up,
[22:59] ---
    then Kaseki is brought in...
[23:03] ---
    Kaseki pulls it, and they
    finally finish making it.
[23:07] ---
    So to do this scene, we actually
    went to see this being done.
[23:12] ---
    You can see it here. We
    actually visited a factory.
[23:18] ---
    This is how it looked.
[23:21] ---
    This is one of the things we did.
[23:24] ---
    I actually...
[23:27] ---
    have the finsihed product here.
[23:30] ---
    So in the process of making these,
[23:33] ---
    some mistakes were made.
[23:38] ---
    Getting this part to stretch is crazy hard.
[23:42] ---
    This was one of my failed attempts.
[23:46] ---
    This was really scary.
[23:48] ---
    That's me. I'm the one holding it here.
[23:51] ---
    When I tried to pull it...
[23:56] ---
    This tragedy happened.
[24:02] ---
    This just shows you that we actually tried
    making things like this for reference,
[24:12] ---
    which I hope will make
    you enjoy it even more.
[24:20] ---
    I wonder... There's always the intent to
    have a celebration once production finishes.
[24:23] ---
    Partly to show our gratitude to everyone
    who helped us, like "We did it!"
[24:29] ---
    Sometimes having a goal like that in
    mind helps people do their best work.
[24:35] ---
    We're making the anime,
    but we're fans ourselves.
[24:38] ---
    So we want to help relay how
    amazing the series is to everyone,
[24:43] ---
    and I hope people will check
    it out to see if we succeeded.
[24:50] ---
    I'm hoping that the anime
[24:53] ---
    will help the Dr. STONE series as a
    whole continue to grow in popularity.
[25:01] ---
    How it feels? You know, if I had to choose, I'd
    always say there's a big sense of accomplishment.
[25:05] ---
    "Okay, we did it! Time to deliver this
    baby!" I always feel pretty happy about that.
[25:12] ---
    It's a slow but steady effort.
[25:15] ---
    I'm going to beat fantasy with science.
[25:22] ---
    This is exhilarating.