Infinite Q&A!
This is Utsumi answering the questions, it’s along with another longer interview with Utsumi.
Q: Normally Sakurayashiki wears glasses, but when he skates as Cherry blossom he doesn’t wear them. Are they fake glasses?
A: They aren’t fake glasses. I think he wears contacts during beefs. In episode 9 there’s a mysterious AI screen that is shown, I think he wears contacts that are able to show that information.
Q: When he was in high school Joe was thinner than he is now, so when did he become so muscular?
A: If he were that much of a gorilla in high school he would have burst out of his uniform. But he is still the one who is the most muscular out of those three even in high school. As for when he became that muscular…… there are an infinite amount of possibilities, so you should all try to imagine it yourself. Of course I think he got the tattoo after he became an adult. If not he wouldn’t have been able to go into the communal baths during the school trip (lol).
Q: Why did Kikuchi carry Reki into the love hotel?
A: That’s something that happened because Ookouchi-san wrote it in the screenplay, so really only Ookouchi-san knows the truth…… My interpretation is that it was close to where the incident happened, and it was a place where they wouldn’t stand out. Kikuchi is someone who only does things he thinks are reasonable, so it’s possible he uses it as a secret hide out often before.
Q: Why does the bed in the love hotel spin?
A: I just wanted to see the Reki spinning on the romantic love hotel bed, personally. For Kikuchi……. he might have made it spin to check his injuries…… (lol).
Q: At the beginning of episode 12, when ADAM is instructing the tailor to make his outfit, for a moment we can’t hear his voice. What did he say there?
A: Well, there are words we decided on but I think it’s more fun for people to imagine it on their own. Everyone, please have fun imagining it ☆
Q: Is the outfit and mask that ADAM wears during the final beef with Langa supposed to be a grim reaper?
A: That’s right. His board is made to look like a coffin and a cross and his mask and his back have bones on them.
Q: In the collection of fail shots in the ending, Cherry blossom only has 1 picture displayed. Is the reason why he’s the only one who doesn’t move because you didn’t want to show him looking uncool?
A: That wasn’t the intention at all (lol). We just thought the punch line was there without it moving. The direction is that having it popping out of the water like that gives it an “I’ll be back” feeling (lol).
Q: In the special ending for episode 11, for ADAM’s fail scene, how was it determined that you’d make it where “when it looks like ADAM is going to fall Kikuchi comes to catch him”?
A: We watched a lot of skate fail videos to find something for him, but since ADAM falls down so hard in the actual story, we thought it might be more fun to make it different. We found a video where the same thing happened where someone lost their board and someone caught them, so we said “this is it!” If Kikuchi had a fail shot I’m sure ADAM would stop him. Since it would be a problem for him if he got hurt (lol).
Q: The next issue of Animage will celebrate our 43rd year. So because of that…… Which character would find anniversaries important?
A: I think it would depend on what kind of anniversary it is…… but the first one that pops to mind is Sakurayashiki. He seems to care about details. And I’m sure he’d get Carla to remember “this happened on this day” for every single thing.
Q: Which character seems the most likely to forget anniversaries?
A: ADAM. I think that things that were important to him he’d remember eternally, but for anniversaries he wasn’t really interested in I think he’d forget. On the other hand, he’d also probably remember things he really hated too. Since he’s very vindictive (lol).
(Animage June 2021)