Image provided by REMOW Masakazu Kubo, 64, has been planning and producing anime for decades. He's had big roles in everything from Pokémon and Detective Conan to Master Tease Takagi-san and Dorohedoro. He recently sat down with us to talk about Tonbo!, his attempt to create the most realistic golf anime possible.
“At first glance, Tonbo! seems like an odd choice for an anime adaptation—it's not based on some hugely popular light novel series, nor is it the next big manga series to hit the pages of Shonen Jump. However, this is exactly what attracted Kubo to it. “Four years ago, President Ohga said to me, 'There are a lot of suitable publications out there, so why don't you help us bring one of them to the screen?'and when I was looking for a series Interesting original art, I came across Tonbo!”Kubo explained. “It was published in Weekly Golf Digest because it wasn't published by a comic book publisher so it wasn't sold in bookstores or really advertised there. However, if you look at digital manga stores, it ranks highly—in the top 3 for sports manga, I think it has potential.”
The next step is to acquire the rights to adapt the manga and find money to fund the project. “I presented an anime proposal to Golf Digest Weekly, asking them to allow me to adapt the manga. They said yes, so I asked them if we could get investments from various golf companies to get started. About a year ago, we just raised all that money.”
“However. , there's a big problem to overcome when making anime about golf: most people in the anime industry don't play golf. Luckily, Kubo did it. “I really like golf. […] Since the animators, directors and sound directors had never played golf, I gave them a lot of advice about the subtle effects of the club and the subtle differences in the swing.”
Tonbo's main selling point! is its commitment to realism—especially when it comes to depicting golf. “There have been other golf anime recently like Birdie Wing or Pro Golfer Saru, but in Tonbo!, branded golf equipment is taken from reality as often as possible. I don't think there's another anime that has so many franchises attached to it,” Kubo told me. “I think it would be interesting for golf fans to watch and say, 'Oh, so that club is being used!'”
Of course, it's not just the devices seen in the anime that line up with the real world. “Even though Tonbo himself has hit shots you'd never expect, there's basically no shot that's impossible. She always creates photos that others can imitate,” Kubo explains. “And because the original manga emphasized realism, we also appreciated that in the animation—so there was no shot of a balloon flying in the sky with flames coming out of it.”
This focus on realism goes even beyond what is cartoony. “The sound of a golf swing varies from club to club, from manufacturer to manufacturer, and whether it's a bad shot or a good shot—not to mention the sound of your swing speed and strike. A female professional also has a different shot. the speed and stroke of a professional male. So we recorded all these sounds. We gather all the clubs appearing in Tonbo! anime, invited a professional golfer [tên là Kazuya Konno] Come and record all the sounds. We also wanted to record the sounds of bad shots, so we had to ask our hired professional golfer to please take a few bad swings.”
However, during the recording process, the production faced its greatest difficulty. Unforeseen challenges. “When we first arrived [sân] in the morning, I thought it was going to be a great day, but when we made a bad shot, the moment the ball hit the leaves on the tree, the birds started chirping.. I said, 'Wow, that's not good.'” Kubo continued, “If you hear a bird chirping [trong bản ghi âm]you won't be able to use it.'How can I make the birds stop singing?'It's very annoying because if we scream [và cố dọa họ], the louder they will get. I kept thinking, ‘We should have done this in a place where there are no birds.’”
Another important aspect of Tonbo! is its setting: the rural Tokara Islands off the southern coast of Japan. Although Kubo himself had not been to the islands, the anime director, art staff, and CG staff all made a trip down there for location scouting and other research. “Of course, there wasn't actually a golf course there like in the manga and in the manga, there was only one vending machine on the island but of course things have changed since then. However, free public baths still exist.”
Tonbo's upbringing on the Tokara Islands is an important part of her character in Kubo's eyes. “Tonbo began growing up on a small island in the Tokara Archipelago. I think her story is a wonderful story about growing up in a very close-knit community. […] She is very honest and positive, and she values life without too much commitment. So I think the benefits of growing up on a depopulated island are evident in the character's personality.”
While people in isolated island communities are sometimes seen as being left behind by the rest of the island population. society, Kubo feels that living in such a community is a personal choice. “In the manga, a character named Kuta-san says, 'Will you choose to live on an island after knowing the world, or will you choose to live on an island without seeing the world?'In other words, of course people who live on this island there are jobs there, but I think many people live on the island after knowing the outside world. They compare island life with life outside and they choose island life.”
“If I lived in a place like that, maybe my personality would be a little better,” Kubo joked.
Tonbo! can be watched on Amazon Prime Video with new episodes every Friday.