Newtype Exclusive Interview with Creators Behind ONE PIECE FAN LETTER - Part 2

In the second part of the interview, Director Megumi Ishitani, Screenwriter Momoka Toyoda, and Character Designer/Animation Director Keisuke Mori discussed the creative process behind ONE PIECE FAN LETTER. (Click here to read Part 1)

What were your ideas for the 25th anniversary of the ONE PIECE anime?

Ishitani: Someone suggested animating the ONE PIECE novel Straw Hat Stories. Mori had said before he was interested in a story of “ONE PIECE from the perspective of an everyday person,” and Toyoda and I both agreed. I've also always liked ensemble stories that have a lot of characters involved, and I felt like with the ONE PIECE novel Straw Hat Stories, we could do both. And since the Special Edited Version of ONE PIECE's “Fish-Man Island” arc would also air the following week, it would be the perfect tie-in to have Luffy and his friends setting sail from the Sabaody Archipelago at the end.

The original novel is a series of short stories, which you combined into a single animation. How did you go about structuring it all?

Ishitani: We used this collaborative workspace app called “Miro,” which Mori found. Before I start storyboarding, I always make a graph to represent the roller coaster-like flow of the story progression. This time I wanted all three of us to make it together, so we used an online interactive whiteboard application where we could freely paste each of our opinions into it as we brainstormed. I asked Toyoda first to lay out the events of the original story in chronological order and then make a list of everything that happens in between.

Toyoda: For this story, there are multiple character storylines that progress simultaneously before converging at a single point at the end. We decided from the start that the story would end with “the Straw Hat Pirates' departure,” so I wrote down everything that happens up until then into our Miro board. When the main character, the young girl, runs away, what are the two marine brothers doing? Where is the Benevolent King of the Waves? And so on. We plotted where each of the Straw Hats were onto the graph.

Ishitani: And then we started swapping things around... It was like a puzzle, wasn't it?

Toyoda: This is a story where a bunch of people's paths intertwine, so we separated their individual actions by color. Whenever multiple characters joined up, they would become a different color. I tried to make it easy to tell from a glance who was involved with whom and what sort of relationship they had.

Ishitani: We tried as best as we could to have every character interact at least once. Also there were two exciting parts from the original story that we wanted to include. The first being the “Summit War,” and the second being “Luffy beating the Pacifista.” I asked animation producer (Tetsushi) Akahori, who absolutely loves ONE PIECE, for his opinion and that's what we decided on.

And you were then able to structure the story by taking everyone's opinions into account.

Ishitani: Normally we would move onto the screenwriting stage next, but first I asked (Toyoda) for a table outlining each scene. I had her number every scene and summarize what happened in each of those scenes in simple sentences. Once we were done revising it in that stage, I had her finalize the actual script.

Toyoda: It was like after deciding on the overall structure, I was basically fleshing out a detailed plot scene-by-scene. I'd never worked in that way before and I really learned a lot.

And then from there, Ishitani cut the storyboards?

Ishitani: We storyboarded the scenes individually out of order. As the storyboards were finished, I would compile them into a video storyboard and show it to the two of them to get their opinions on the dialogue, pacing, and art and see if everything was okay. I had Mori come up with the action sequence at the final climax where the girl ducks under the Benevolent King of the Waves's legs. Before passing between his legs, she has to first run up a flight of stairs. I remember cradling my head in my hands, like “how do I do this?” when Mori came up with a super clean video storyboard for me on the spot. Animators sure know how to do action scenes, don't they?

How did you approach the design for the original characters?

Mori: At first, Ishitani made Miis of the characters.

Miis...like those avatars you make in Nintendo games?

Mori: You got it. I told Ishitani that anything was fine, a simple drawing or something from a game, I just wanted some kind of image for the character. So she showed me some Miis.

Ishitani: This actually worked really well. If you do a drawing, you might overdo it, but with Miis you're just putting together existing parts, so it narrows down the design elements. It makes it easier to understand what points make the character unique.

Mori: The placement of the parts and face shape gave me a general impression of the character, so it was easy to grasp their image from there. I then took the Miis and “ONE PIECE-ified” them. I tried to match them to original artist (Eiichiro) Oda's style as much as possible.

How did you approach the animation style for this project?

Mori: At first I wanted to replicate the sharp and edgy style of Oda's art from the “Enies Lobby” arc, but I felt doing so would make the animation too stiff. I ended up referencing Oda's more rounded drawings from the beginning up to around the “Alabasta” arc. And I really liked the elongated style of the earlier ONE PIECE anime, so I had everyone watch videos that combined Noboru Koizumi and Hideaki Maniwa's animation styles. I also referenced Hayao Miyazaki's Sherlock Hound for the simplified style and speed of the movements.

There were a lot of young and talented animators who participated in this project. What brought these members together?

Ishitani: I think Mori being the animation director and character designer played a big part in it.

Mori: I would say it's because of you and your work that so many animators from outside the company came together, Ishitani.

Ishitani: I wonder about that... This project was pretty unusual in the sense that many interns and animators from within the company got involved.

Mori: I think we had interns helping out with the project partly because it was the 25th anniversary, partly for their training, and partly due to having a separate staff working on the TV series.

Ishitani: I was also surprised to see (Yuki) Hayashi join the project. He drew 24 scenes for us in the climax.

Mori: I couldn't believe he took on so many keyframes for us. Not only did he do the keyframes, but he also took on the role of animation director for the opening sequence under a tight crunch, as well. The storyboards weren't finished until the end, and the content was so heavy...

Ishitani: I'm sorry about that.

Mori: Hayashi was one of the reasons I first joined Toei Animation. However, he left right after I entered the company, and we pretty much never crossed paths in our work, so I was really happy when I had a chance to work with him this time. Not to mention he's someone who understands ONE PIECE, which gave me peace of mind.

ONE PIECE FAN LETTER was a huge hit when it aired, but were you expecting that response?

Ishitani: The story is centered around nameless background characters rather than the main cast this time, after all... I thought it would require viewers to be knowledgeable about ONE PIECE, so only fans might be able to understand it in the first place.

Mori: I remember thinking, “Oh man, we messed up.”

Toyoda: I was a little sad when I heard that Mori had been calling it a mistake. Though I was admittedly worried whether people would understand it or not, since there was so much information to take in.

Mori: There were so many characters, and it was so fast paced that I was afraid no one was going to be able to follow along.

Ishitani: That's right. They both kept telling me we had to cut down on content. We had over 500 cuts already at the storyboarding phase, so it was dubious whether we would even be able to trim it down to the length of a standard ONE PIECE episode. The producers worked hard to let us extend the length by about one minute longer than usual. And even then, I wasn't sure if we could fit it all.

Toyoda: I'd been worrying about what to do if the dialogue didn't fit when Ishitani invited me to come to the studio for the recording. We talked about potentially shortening or adjusting the lines on the spot as needed, but in the end, everything fell into place without needing adjustments.

Ishitani: Toyoda has perfect pitch and an impeccable ear. She wrote the script so that the meaning of the lines would properly come across when spoken while also accounting for the sound and rhythm.

Toyoda: There is a certain cadence that feels good on the ear when dialogue is spoken out loud. Ishitani put a lot of emphasis on this. I really appreciated how she would consult with me whenever the lines changed with the storyboards and allowed me to handle it until I was satisfied with them.

After airing on TV the animated short has begun to stream on various websites and received worldwide acclaim.

Ishitani: After it aired, people were saying things like “I want to go back and read the original.” And that made me so happy. I feel so relieved now.

So, what's next on the horizon? Do the three of you have any goals for the future?

Ishitani: I don't think about the future. I always think whatever I'm working on at the moment is going to be my last work. Although if I do take on another project, I am interested in feature films. I've been saying I wanted to get involved with a theatrical production for awhile, but I haven't had the opportunity to do so. I'd like to try working on a feature-length film at least once.

Mori: I'd also like to try working on a feature film. And I want to continue to improve as a keyframe artist.

Ishitani: Mori always looks back on his work and reflects on every project he does. He's the type firmly sets new goals one by one. I feel like he's steadily building up his career, and he never ceases to inspire me.

Toyoda: I also want to try my hand at writing a longer screenplay. I've never written a feature-length movie script, so I want to challenge myself.

We're looking forward to seeing what you do next.

Ishitani: Oh, I just remembered one more thing. In the last scene, there's a shot where the girl tears up the fan letter. At first I wanted to have her tear it into smaller pieces, like confetti, because I really like scenes where cherry blossoms or flower petals are flying all around. But while I was thinking about that shot, I actually received my very first fan letter ever from a viewer.

Ooh!

Ishitani: After reading it, I changed the scene so that she only tore it in half. And then I put the fan letter carefully taped back together at the end. It made me realize that something so precious ought to be handled with care.

This interview was originally published in Newtype's January 2025 issue.

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