Dan Da Dan’s director, Fuga Yamashiro, and main members of the collection’ English voice solid appeared at Anime Expo on Saturday, the place they mentioned modifications to the present’s inventive strategy between seasons, the prospect of extra Dan Da Dan, and a gaming announcement.
Held within the Peacock Theater on the Los Angeles Conference Heart, the panel occasion noticed director Yamashiro and Science SARU producer Kohei Sakita have been joined on stage by English voice solid members Abby Trott (Momo), A.J. Beckles (Okarun), and Aleks Le (Jiji). Attendees have been aware about particular messages from Japanese voice actors Mayumi Tanaka (Turbo Granny) and Shion Wakayama (Momo), a reside dubbing expertise, unique seems on the upcoming season (together with a nonetheless from episode 21), and the announcement of a Dan Da Dan crossover occasion with anime RPG Grand Summoners that includes an authentic story — with the promise of extra particulars by way of the sport’s social media and in-game notices.
A lot of Saturday’s panel targeted on a breakdown of the inventive decisions tied to season two, together with its opening sequence, with Yamashiro spending a big period of time unpacking the colour concept and visible inspiration behind sure sequences utilizing storyboards and animatics. That included noting a number of methods he threw in nods to Ultraman. “The theme of this opening is Okarun’s life and the way he sees Momo,” Yamashiro defined. “You’ll discover that the animation photos are in sepia or black and white till Momo takes his hand, then it turns into shade. So the world that Okarun sees modifications, and that’s Okarun’s POV altering.”
After noting that in a particular sequence he used the shadows and silhouettes of characters to attract direct references to Ultraman, the director went on to clarify how his shade concept, which extends to particular person characters (“The Evil Eye is like blue-ish purple, the Mongolian Dying Worm is yellow”) was utilized otherwise in season two, the place he had extra time to deal with it than season one when “scheduling was very robust for me.”
Yamashiro added that he allowed the dominant shade of a sequence and even who’s successful in a combat to be formed by “who’s taking cost of that scene,” and that he elevated the energy of shade and use of mixing inside sequences. “Season one, you simply had yellow or pink. In season two, we wished to do one thing totally different,” he mentioned. “So in case you have a look at the panels for quantity two and three, it’s half blue-half yellow.”
Later within the panel, when requested by Yamashiro about whether or not the English dub approaches their characters’ signature cross-talk and if that’s laborious to do, Trott and Beckles shared the way it enhances the realism of their characters’ interactions.
“It does occur in English, however I believe that that is among the issues that makes this present really feel so cool and pure,” Trott mentioned. Beckles added, “It’s a little bit tougher, but it surely’s a variety of enjoyable. Once we’re recording it, we do it individually, so we rely loads on the director to make it possible for all of us sound good collectively. And, after all, we take cues from the Japanese [voice actors] doing an unimaginable job. I believe it makes the scene a lot extra full of life.”
When requested what their favourite moments from different solid members have been, Le famous that for him, the “character who steals the present is Turbo Granny. So anytime after I’m watching the present and I hear [English voice actor] Barbara [Goodson] simply go off, it’s wonderful. Clearly, I’ve recognized her from her work on Energy Rangers and stuff like that after I was youthful, however listening to her now and being a part of one thing together with her is really a blessing. She brings such taste and comedic energy to the present.”
Trott and Yamashiro additionally teased some music components which can be coming in season two, particularly episodes 18 and 20. “That live performance corridor and the band scenes have been actually, actually laborious to work on,” the director mentioned. “I believe it got here out good, and hopefully you guys will prefer it, too.”
In direction of the tip of the panel, Yamashiro additionally took a second to encourage followers to maintain watching the collection to assist proceed its run past season two. “After I got here final yr to Anime Expo, and we premiered episode one, the followers actually accepted my work, and so they have been so enthusiastic about it. It gave me a lot vitality to proceed engaged on season two. So hopefully throughout season two, I can get the identical quantity of vitality from you guys so I can proceed subsequent yr,” he mentioned to crowd cheers, earlier than later including, “As for persevering with seasons, I believe it’s actually going to rely in your guys’ help for season two. So please hold watching.”