Anime NYC 2024: The DAN DA DAN Staff Talks With Anime Herald

Note: Due to the time-sensitive nature of our coverage, this article will debut on the main Anime Herald site on October 25. We apologize for the inconvenience.

• Interviewer: Seth Burn

• Editor: Samantha Ferreira

Anime Herald: If you were throwing a party, who would you rather invite: ghosts or aliens?

Natsuki Hanae: (Laughs) Ghosts.

Anime Herald: Is there any reason for that?

Natsuki Hanae: I’m more used to ghosts. Or they are more part of my upbringing. It’s easier to imagine what they are like.

Anime Herald: Director Yamashiro has said he wanted to replicate the mood and atmosphere from the [DAN DA DAN] manga in the anime. How were you able to assist him in maintaining that fidelity to the source material?

Hiroyuki Aoi: In addition to myself, there’s another producer on the show. He works more directly with the staff. If the staff says “this is the kind of expression we want to do in the animation” to improve how it looks, we can’t go overboard with that. If we do, we lose the appeal of the manga. It was important to keep a balance between what the staff wanted to do and what we could do. As a producer, it was my job to present what the staff wanted to do to manga artist [Yukinobu] Tatsu-sensei, and not negotiate per se, but explain it to him and have him approve it. I think that is what assisted in replicating Yamashiro’s vision

Anime Herald: If you were to win a bet against Shion Wakayama and have her be your errand girl, what errands would you have her run?

Natsuki Hanae: If I could have her as my gofer, I’d have her check my script. It’s a lot of work. When we get the script, I have to mark out which lines are mine. If she could do that, it would be a great help.

Anime Herald: What is something that you would like our readers to know about DAN DA DAN?

Hiroyuki Aoi: In episode one, the two main characters get involved in an alien/ghost debacle. They are going to grow throughout the season. Their relationship and their battle skills will grow. That will play out through the action scenes.

I think American audiences know a lot about UFOs and aliens, but because the ghosts that appear in DAN DA DAN are very Japanese-based, if the audience can study Japanese ghost stories, Japanese occult, or yōkai, it will be much more interesting for them because they’ll understand the references throughout.

Anime Herald: When voicing your respective character, which of their qualities did you want to focus on, to make sure that they carried over from the manga to the anime?

Natsuki Hanae: As you know from reading the manga, Okarun has a lot of emotions and expressions. Sometimes he’s negative. Sometimes he’s an otaku. He can be fun. But when he fights with Momo, he’s a different person, or he’ll fall in love. Sometimes he changes a lot when he transforms. He’s very multi-dimensional. I really wanted to express Okarun as a character from different angles. I also wanted to make sure he’d be a lovable character for the audience.

(Editor’s note: When he’s referring to fighting with Momo, they are fighting together against aliens, or yōkai, or REDACTED.)

Anime Herald: Are there any stories you’d care to share about the recording process for DAN DA DAN?

Hiroyuki Aoi: In episode one, there are the three Serpoian men. Kazuya Nakai had come in to do the voices for them. He had thought he’d be doing one voice for all three of them (they appear to be identical). When he got to the booth, they explained that they wanted a different voice for each of them. He was very flustered. But amazingly, he was able to pull it off. I thought “Nakai sounds very good.”

Unfortunately, I’m not the producer that’s always in the booth, that’s the other guy’s job. But, from what I hear from Hanae-son and [Shion] Wakayama-san, there’s young actors all the way to veteran voice actors. Just like in the anime, there’s a number of people with a wide variety of experiences. I think that’s very interesting.

Mayumi Tanaka is very famous. She’s been working for a long time.

(Editor’s note: Mayumi Tanaka is playing Turbo Granny, my pick for the best character in DAN DA DAN.)

Anime Herald: Are there any stories you’d like to share from your visit to New York?

Hiroyuki Aoi: A group of us went to the Empire State Building. We went to the high floors. I am not afraid of heights, but some people work, including composer Kensuke Ushio. (Laughs)

Natsuki Hanae: I went to eat at the Japanese embassy. The person who prepared my dinner was the chief chef of a restaurant I used to frequent in Tokyo. That was a very surprising moment.

Anime Herald: Did he recognize you?

Natsuki Hanae: Yes. (Laughs)