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Psycho-Pass Chief Director: Word 'Moe' Is Banned Among Staff

Shueisha's Weekly Playboy News website posted an interview with chief director Katsuyuki Motohiro (Space Travelers, live-action Night Head, live-action Antique Bakery, Bayside Shakedown) and series script editor Gen Urobuchi (Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Fate/Zero) on Thursday, the day that their Psycho-Pass anime collaboration premieres.

Motohiro revealed that he prohibited the word "moe" when they were in meetings about the anime. He explained that they intended to counter the current anime trends. As a result, he said with a laugh that this work can only be a "strikeout or a home run," with nothing in between.

Motohiro also acknowledged that the staff has a very masculine mindset and their meetings were full of talk about weapons and movies. He joked that their mindset is similar to Weekly Playboy magazine itself. He also noted that producers warned that if certain elements were not incorporated into Psycho-Pass, female viewers will not watch, but Urobuchi said that Motohiro protected the creators to make whatever they wished.

Motohiro said that he has been wanting to making anime for a while, but needed a charismatic scriptwriter. So, he made an offer to Urobuchi to join the project, about when Puella Magi Madoka Magica was airing (January-April 2011). People around Motohiro were saying that Madoka Magica exceeded Evangelion, so he watched the anime himself. He said he was amazed that there was a person who could write such a work. He then read Urobuchi's novels and writings and became convinced that absolutely fascinating works could be made when Urobuchi's way of thinking is put onscreen.

The interviewer noted that Motohiro has a son in sixth grade, and asked him if he wanted to show Psycho-Pass to his son. Motohiro acknowledged that the anime might be too much for his son, and Urobuchi added that it is heavy on psychological brutality. Motohiro observed that he watched the first Lupin III series with wonder when he was in elementary school, and joked that he wanted to give his son and today's youth trauma that will last their entire lives when they watched this anime.

When asked if he would like to delve into live-action now that he worked with Motohiro, Urobuchi said that anime lets him make characters without considering how an actor might perform it. He noted that his father had done stage plays, so he would appreciate the importance of actors if he were to go into live-action.

Motohiro added that actors contribute ideas — citing actor Yūji Oda for coming up with his character's signature military jacket and red necktie for the Bayside Shakedown franchise. However, Motohiro then noted that an anime screenwriter is not alone in creating characters, since animators and the voice cast turn it into a collaborative process. He then said he wants Urobuchi to do live-action, and even invited him to do so when they first met. Urobuchi mused that he would like to take on the challenge someday.

Psycho-Pass takes place in the near future, when it is possible to instantaneously measure and quantify a person's state of mind and personality. This information is recorded and processed, and the term "Psycho-Pass" in the anime's title refers to a standard used to measure an individual's being. The story centers around the "enforcement officer" Shinya Kōgami (Tomokazu Seki) who is tasked with managing crime in such a world.

Funimation will begin streaming the anime on Thursday at 12:45 p.m. EDT.

[Via Yaraon!]