by A story of a high school girl struggling with a puppet show
A “voice drama” set in Higashikagawa City is in progress. The story of four high school girls aiming to perform a puppet show at a school festival, planned by the “Ichi Waku Waku Division”, a private organization responsible for tourism strategies. With the cooperation of illustrators and others, the character design of the four people has been completed with a view to animation, and the City Waku Waku Division is expanding its dream of “I want to grow into a popular person.” (Keisuke Uranishi)
Animated field of view: An opportunity to call young people
Rika Hotei, the main character who attends Toramaru High School, learns about the dissolution of the puppet theatre company that she had longed for when she was young. Koito Machi, who is good at sewing, Nao Shibatani, popular on SNS as an “influencer”. Her parents’ house formed a theatre company with Mei Soda, a major glove maker—starting to perform at a school festival.
The title is “Puppet Quartet”. The group members that play a central role are restaurant manager Yotoshi Uehara (50) and office worker Asuka Kato (34). They have been working on regional revitalization since December 2020, when the group was established. It’s a companion.
Mr Uehara and his colleagues have devised menus using local ingredients and have shown them at local festivals. However, the event was cancelled due to the corona. In August of last year, “I felt like I was stuck”, “Anime” was proposed by Shoichi Yamashita (38), the top of the group and a city revitalization general strategy advisor.
Mr Uehara said, “It was a world without ties.” Even so, he started the project with Kazuki Yanase, who works on promoting popular anime, as a producer, thinking that “it has the power to appeal to the younger generation and will be an opportunity to get excited together.”
In addition, Keigo Inoue, who produced the music video (MV) for female singer Ado, and Bogota, who drew an illustration of a light novel, participated as staff. In September of the same year, he decided to locate the city, solidify the story, and produce a voice drama as a starting point.
The high school name that the characters attend is reminiscent of the puppet theatre theme park “Toramaru Puppet Land,” and the four main characters make puppet costumes using special gloves. Mr Kato says, “I told people outside the city about Higashikagawa’s speciality, and the content was such that the locals would be attached to the work.”
Voice actors and talents will play Machi, Nao, and Mei, and the role will be decided by audition from February 14th. The MV of the recording and theme song will be filmed from late February to early March and shown at “Puppet Theater Toramaruza” in Puppet Land on April 24th. The theatre company will also perform the puppet show created by the four people at work.
Mr Kato said, “I hope that in the future we will realize animation and have many people visit Higashikagawa as a” sacred place pilgrimage. ” I want to do it. “
