by From the original Japanese series “Wonder Hatch – Island of the Flying Dragons,” which began distribution on Disney’s official video distribution service “Disney+” in the 20th, comes the anime “Oupananta,” a different world inhabited by dragons. A special video introducing characters who influence the real world depicted in live-action has been released.
This work is a fantasy adventure that depicts the natural world in live action and a different world inhabited by dragons in animation, and the story unfolds while going back and forth between the two worlds.
Nagi (Sena Nakajima), a high school student living in Yokosuka in the real world, feels it is difficult to live because he does not fit in with his surroundings. One day, she, who also loves fantasy, muttered, “I can’t believe there’s an epic story unfolding.” Suddenly, from the bookshelf in her room, a book about Time (Okudaira Daikane) and a dragon who lives in another world, “Oupananta,” appears. Gaffin (voiced by Shunsuke Takeuchi) appears.
Time cannot “listen” to the dragon’s “voice” and is treated as a failed dragon rider, but he hates losing and has an honest personality. He says that he came in search of Akuta (Makenyu Nitta), a hero sent to the real world to save Upananta, which is on the verge of collapse.
Acta commands the “Actor Air Corps” as a dragon-riding hero that Time admires. In the “real world,” a mysterious man named Shibata (Tsuyoshi Morita) works as a convenience store clerk, and his true identity in “Oupananta” is the space of a former legendary dragon rider that no one knows. Then, in “Oupananta,” we are introduced to Gyro (voiced by Kenjiro Tsuda), the most terrifying and worst being who reigns over the island of the gods, Pytonpyto.
Then, Time shouts, “Protect both worlds!” and starts running. Nagi, who ends up lending his power to Time, also becomes involved in a great adventure surrounding “one truth hidden in two worlds.”
The idea for the story of a boy and girl who connect the two worlds of “the real world” and “Oupananta” by jumping into a gigantic “bubble” was inspired by director Kentaro Hagiwara’s “multifaceted growth of the protagonist of a boy’s manga.” It started with the idea of ”drawing.” Director Hagiwara said, “The main character comes from another world (anime) to the real world (live-action), and through various encounters and incidents, while the ideas that were common in the other world are not understood, he grows into a more multifaceted character. “I wanted to tell a story where characters change from characters to humans by coming to the real world.”
In addition to director Hagiwara, the two worlds in the film were created with rich ideas by anime director Takashi Otsuka and character designer and concept art designer Posuka Demizu. Since Gaffin is also a dragon that comes into the real world, they created an actual sculpture, and when they saw Gaffin in 3D, they came up with various ideas on how to make the wings move realistically.
Furthermore, since Gaffin’s hat is set to have a “weak head,” we initially considered making it something like a helmet, but since there is no plastic in Woopananta, it was made from a dragon’s skin. The saddle also has no animals in Woopananta. It was made from fish skin and bones. The production team’s attention to detail is reflected in the worldview.
