Cheering for Gunma: Narenare -Cheer for you!- Anime Producer Hayato Kanno

While there aren't many anime in the cheerleading genre, a handful have been made over the years. Some of the more notable series include 2018's Hugtto! Precure or 2019's Cheer Boys!!. In 2024, we're getting another cheerleading-related anime series, Narenare -Cheer for you!-. The series will premiere in July, and Anime News Network spoke with the series producer, Hayato Kanno, before the series officially starts.

How was Gunma Prefecture, particularly Takasaki, Maebashi, and Numata, setting originally decided?

HAYATO KANNO: The person who proposed this project was originally from Gunma Prefecture. When it came to Takasaki, Maebashi, and Numata, the director [Koudai Kakimoto] did some location scouting in Gunma. He decided to use Takasaki's Central Ginza Shopping Arcade. When he saw the scenery in Numata, he thought it looked great. That's how we decided to focus on the three locations of Takasaki, Numata, and Maebashi.

What are the key characteristics or charm of Gunma Prefecture, and how will they be represented in the series?

I think Gunma Prefecture is famous for its three mountains. Mt. Akagi, Mt. Myogi, and Mt. Haruna. For example, [at local schools'] sports day, the teams aren't divided into red and white but based on these three mountains. Also, hot springs such as Kusatsu Onsen and Ikaho Onsen are attractive. Hot springs and local specialties will appear in the series. Gunma Prefecture has a unique culture, such as yakimanju, himokawa udon, and Jomo Karuta, a type of karuta game unique to Gunma Prefecture that is a required subject for elementary school students. It's also relatively easy to access Gunma from the Kanto region, so it is easy for everyone to get there. And I think the people of Gunma are very passionate, so it's a great place, including those aspects.

Mt. Myogi is great. It's one of the 100 Famous Mountains of Japan, is it not?

Yes, it is. I think that's why the director and I were drawn to Gunma, including those things.

Will some of those locations appear in the series?

As I mentioned earlier, the story takes place in Takasaki City and Numata City, so places like the front of Takasaki Station and, although it is a little far from the station, the Central Ginza Shopping Arcade in Takasaki will appear. In the promotional video, a slope called Dangozaka in Numata City appears. One of the characters, Megumi Kaionji's family home, is a temple called Jigenzan Jorinji, which is a real temple, so places like that will appear. Plans also include a few other places.

Continuing with that thought, the series is set to take place around Takasaki, Maebashi, and Numata. However, what other places within Gunma Prefecture can we expect to see?

There are some, but it's related to the story later in the series, so I can't definitively say “here,” but other places will appear. I let it out earlier, but onsen [hot springs] may appear in the story.

Speaking of onsen, Gunma Prefecture is known for its onsen. I have my favorites, but do you have any recommendations for onsen or other interesting places for our readers?

The most popular place is Kusatsu. Outside of that, there's Isobe Onsen. It's the birthplace of the hot spring mark (♨️) in Japan. On top of that, Isobe has several places where you can enjoy free footbaths, as well as places where you can enjoy rice crackers made with hot spring water.

When we think of onsen in Gunma, we think of Kusatsu, Ikaho, and Murakami Onsen, but the place I visited and found interesting was Isobe Onsen. There was an announcement on the Narenare -Cheer for you!- website announcing a tourism collaboration between the series and Takasaki, Maebashi, and Numata. Will we see some of those locations in the series? If so, in what form?

Locations in the tourism collaboration visuals we released the other day won't appear in the series. When creating collaborative visuals with the three cities, we deliberately chose attractive destinations that won't appear in the series. For example, "Takasaki City's tourist destination is the Kannon statue." So, the Takasaki Kannon, Akagi Shrine, and the waterfalls in Numata will not appear in the series.

I've heard the Takasaki/Maebashi area has a rivalry with Saitama Prefecture's Kumagaya City. Will we see that rivalry appear in Narenare -Cheer for you!-? And if it does, what form will it take?

In terms of rivalry and future episodes, I heard from someone from [Gunma] Prefecture when I was working on You Don't Know Gunma Yet that if I wanted to cover Takasaki City, they would also like to see Maebashi City covered as well. Maebashi High School in Maebashi City and Takasaki High School in Takasaki City have been holding a sports tournament once a year for decades. It's quite important in both cities, so the two are rivals. You mentioned Kumagaya City, but before that, Takasaki City and Maebashi City were also rivals, although it wasn't explicitly stated, and there may be a few episodes related to this in the series.

A sort of intra-Prefecture rivalry? Those types of rivalries can be fun.

Yes. I think we tried to incorporate that characteristic of the region into our story.

I noticed in some of the promotional material there is a character using a wheelchair. I believe it's Megumi Kaionji. Can you tell us more about her that isn't in her character intro?

Megumi is a childhood friend of the main character, Kanata Misora. Since middle school, they have been active in the cheerleading club together. However, during the national middle school championships, [Megumi] became ill and had to undergo surgery and recuperate, which weakened her muscles, and she is still working hard on her rehabilitation. So, the first episode starts with Megumi working hard on her rehabilitation.

The theme of the series is “Cheering.” Is this competition cheering, or will we see the characters cheering on people in Gunma Prefecture?

As you mentioned, the theme is "cheering" and "cheering cheers people up". These are the core of the series. Cheerleading can be divided into two types: competitive cheering performed at competitions and cheering to support something. So, for Narenare -Cheer for you!-, the unit "Pom-Poms," including Kanata and the other members, will mainly be doing the latter.

Tying into the [Japanese] title Nanare Hananare, the “hananare” part refers to the glamorous aspect of competitive cheer, which are competitive cheerleading performances. Also, while they smile and cheer loudly, the desire to cheer on someone is at its core. I thought this was important and not just about the glamorous performances. So, we used the title "Nanare Hananare" because it has both "hana" (flower) and "na" (stem). The theme of the work is about cherishing the feeling of cheering or wanting to cheer, like the "na" (stem) part. If anything, the story feels like a work that supports and pushes someone in the right direction.

In an interview with Jomo Newspaper, Rika Nakagawa (voice of Kanata Misora) spoke about the Gunma dialect. What sort of research went into ensuring the characters sound like they are from Gunma Prefecture? Also, are there any phrases or slang you cued in on to give the series some color?

When we were writing the script and creating the story, and it was decided Gunma would be the setting, I was asked, "What elements are typical of Gunma Prefecture?" There were two main things I said. First, regarding food and local produce, I mentioned yakimanju, and we decided to include that in the story. The other thing was the dialect. In my research on words when I worked on Omagun, I came across word enders "ah-ne" and "nan-nan." Depending on the rising and falling intonation, you get "ah-ne," which means "got it" or used as a question mark. There are words whose meaning changes depending on the nuance of the ending intonation, such as a strong "nan-nan," which means "What does that mean!?" or a falling intonation, which means "What is that?"

I carefully picked out those subtle nuances when we were recording the dubbing. I'm ashamed to say I'm not from Gunma, but our PR producer, Tsunemi, is from Gunma. So, I asked her to help me a little, and with her supervision, she'll point out nuances with "ah-ne" and "nan-nan" and suggest changing intonations accordingly. But if we used the Gunma dialect throughout, there was a chance [the dialogue] wouldn't be understood, which could make things awkward. So, I picked a few words and phrases that left a strong impression and used them in the series.

In the same interview with Jomo Newspaper, Nakagawa spoke about how she wanted to portray the character Kanata Misora. What was the deciding factor in her taking on the role?

For the audition, she read the script, and we got the impression she was straightforward and energetic. We also felt the shadowy part of the conflict that Kanata was facing in the story. So, we decided to ask her to play the role.

She spoke about this in Jomo Newspaper, but when she came to the audition, she said, "Excuse me, I'm going to use the restroom." She then came out wearing a cheerleading uniform. She was in a cheerleading club called Cheer Dance at university and did cheerleading, so she came in wearing her uniform and auditioned. After her audition, we asked her to show us something, and she performed a cheerleading routine on the spot. That and other aspects left an impression.

Also, the main characters, Kanata and Nakagawa, are quite close in height. In some cheerleading routines, it's easier for someone shorter to be in the top position. So, we felt a connection between the two in that respect. The staff unanimously decided Nakagawa was fit for the role.

Narenare -Cheer for you!- had a pre-screening event in Takasaki on April 18. Are there any other Narenare -Cheer for you!- events and dates anime fans might be interested in before the series begins in July?

A big announcement is planned for June 11. At that time, fans who have already seen the pre-screenings know this, but the last big promotional video with other members of the Pom-Poms will be released. Other than that, we're planning to hold several more pre-screenings of the series [with] announcements.

In addition, we have been uploading comments about once every two days called “One Line Pom-Poms” on the Official X account. The posts use mini characters and illustrations and have gentle comments made by the girls to the audience and viewers that convey their own aura. I hope people will follow them. We publish interviews with each staff member called "How to Make Nare Nare" every Friday. These interviews are quite dense, as you can hear from staff members who aren't the main staff who work on the anime. So, if you've ever watched the ending credits and thought, "I wonder what kind of work that is" or "What does the sound effects person do," we're currently interviewing everyone involved in making "Nare Nare" I'm sure they'll give us comments that we wouldn't normally hear. We're even planning to interview Oyama and the others in charge of overseas productions later.

Oyama: Really?
Kanno: Yes.
Oyama: I didn't know that.
Kanno: I mean, you know, you're in charge of overseas, but people don't know what you do. But because we have such overseas representatives, we're able to do this interview. And, of course, in making "Narenare," we can't do it without the animators, the director, and everyone involved in the scriptwriting. As I mentioned earlier about the theme of cheering, I want to cheer the people in each department. Or rather, I want to feature them. So, I'll introduce them as much as I can, so please look forward to it.
Oyama: I look forward to your interview. (laughs)

You said the Narenare -Cheer for you!- Official X account posted comments by each character. Are the comments written by the voice actors?

Not exactly. With the help of P.A. Works, we're posting about every 2-3 days, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Since this is an original show, we thought it was important for people to get to know the characters before the series aired. So, we've been posting a little bit of encouragement with the characters so fans can have more opportunities to interact with them. And I think it's fun if you follow them.

They are illustrations drawn by Takada Tomomi, the character designer. Since it was [Manaka] Iwami's birthday, we decided to post it here. We also show Shion's usual mood when she's shopping. We've been doing the One Line Pom-Poms for about three months now to expand on things like "I wonder if this character likes this kind of makeup" or "I wonder what this character is like?" They're a way to get to know the characters a little better and like them.

Finally, are there any things you'd like the audience to keep an eye out for while watching Narenare -Cheer for you!-

There's one thing I'd like fans to see other than the story: the music. The opening and ending songs and some of the insert songs were written and composed by [Yujin] Kitagawa of Yuzu, and I think they turned out to be excellent songs. The other songs that appear in the series and the background music in the PV are also really appealing. So, I would be very grateful if people would pay attention to the music.

Apart from that, the drama of the characters is quite central to the series. So, for example, when six high school girls get together and talk, two are talking face to face while the others are also talking, and one is doing something else, like playing with a smartphone. We're depicting this with a sense of realism. There are quite a lot of overlapping lines, too. These two are talking about something like a temple; one is talking about school, and the other is doing something else. Usually, in other anime, when two characters are talking, the limelight is turned on them. But there are scenes [in Narenare -Cheer for you!-] where the six girls get together, and each of them is talking. That part feels very realistic, so I think it would be interesting if people paid attention to the relationships and interactions between the characters.

Will people be able to make out all the overlapping conversations?

You can. For example, the Pom-Poms are a six-girl unit, but they're divided into three schools. Two girls go to Takanosaki High School in Takasaki, two go to Omaebashi High School in Maebashi, and two go to Ojo Academy, which is thought to be in Numata. They are grouped like this. But say the girl who goes to Omaebashi, and whose home is a Buddhist altar store, and Megumi have a conversation like "Thank you for always taking care of us," the others are over here talking about what kind of video they want to make. So, the conversations are very realistic when they get together as a group. There are scenes like that, so I think it would be fun if fans could watch it.

One last thing. As I mentioned earlier, Gunma is featured in the series. And in terms of art, I'd also like fans to look at the background. In addition to carefully depicting the local area, we've used some pretty unique colors. So, for each scene, there are new colors. Such as the colors of the sunset, the colors of the night, and the colors of the morning. These are also quite different from what we'd usually do for each scene, and I think the colors in the series are more tweaked. So, I hope you'll enjoy watching it.

Narenare -Cheer for you!- will premiere in Japan in July. Fans can follow the series' English-language X account at @narenare_eng.