Interview: Always a Catch Crew Dive Deep into How Their Heroine Stays True to Herself
by Rebecca Silverman, Richard Eisenbeis, & Lynzee Loveridge,This season's Always a Catch! is the latest anime in the “villainess” sub-genre of fantasy. It's built around the twist of having Mimi, a completely unrelated young noble, treated like a villainess—and also having her be more than a little competent when it comes to hand-to-hand combat. We sat down in Tokyo with Always a Catch!'s character designer Isamu Suzuki, action animation director Kanako Ōta, producer Minako Kawamata, and producer Hayato Kanno to discuss Mimi—her personality, design, and how she's animated—along with other aspects of the anime.
Mimi, as expected from her case of mistaken identity, is far from your typical composed and lady-like anime villainess. “I thought it would be good to portray her in a way that showed the contrast between things like her strength in martial arts and her appearance—and also show that she has a cute side,” character designer Suzuki began.
“From an animator's point of view, animating her seemed like it would be fun—it left that kind of impression,” action animation director Ōta continued. “Especially because those like Aida and Rosalia (who appear later) have already completed their lady-like education. They've had training to suppress their emotions, so they don't panic easily. Because of this, they don't move much. I mean, their expressions change, but they don't flail around [like Mimi]. This sets up Mimi as someone who hasn't finished her noble lady education and has fun just being herself.”
“Mimi is someone who blurts out everything—holding nothing back,” producer Kanno added. “Yet, despite this, there's no malice involved. She's just saying what she thinks is good and what she is worried about.”
Mimi herself is symbolized by her signature accessory, a hair ornament that doubles as a locket—which happens to be shaped like a bejeweled pair of brass knuckles. “In the anime, she wears them the whole time, but when I reread the manga, she doesn't really wear them at all,” action animation director Ōta said. “Director [Akira] Oguro decided that since the brass knuckles would become a key item as the story went along, he wanted them to make a strong impression from the start. So he decided to have her wear them all the time. After the first episode's broadcast, quite a lot of people were asking, 'What's with those brass knuckles?' I think they're a great way of bringing out Mimi's individuality.”
“The contrast between the dress and the brass knuckles is very characteristic of this work,” action animation director Ōta said of the key visual. “The drawing process was really tough. But I'm glad we did it.”
“From a design viewpoint, the hair ornament is part of who Mimi is, so including it is no problem,” character designer Suzuki added. “Creating a sense of three-dimensionality with her hair ornament was difficult—the fact that the shape of the hair ornament changes depending on the viewing angle of the character. It was hard to draw.” “Regarding the actual design [of the hair ornament],” Suzuki continued. “Well, basically, I looked at the light novel and the manga and tried to mix those designs together in my mind to create my own. Even after finishing the design, I keep finding tons of things I feel like I should have referenced. But that's just how it is for me.”
Of course, given the brass knuckle hair ornament, it's no surprise that Mimi herself is a fighter. However, while the anime's setting is definitely Italy-inspired, its martial arts are anything but. “When I was putting together the fine details, I did refer to Italy quite a bit, but when it comes to the movements [in combat], I included things like sumo wrestling and Japanese-style karate,” action animation director Ōta explained. “But in episode two, Mimi does her counting song—doing her 10 fighting forms. When I saw that scene in the manga, I felt like, 'Aren't those tennis moves!?'”
Mimi also utilizes some pro-wrestling moves in her fighting repertoire. “From what I heard at the time, in the Always a Catch! novels, Mayo Momoyo used a reference to figure out what moves Mimi would do—like Japanese karate and pro wrestling, and so on.” Producer Kanno explained. “Through looking up a lot of YouTube videos and other sources, we decided based on what the author thought was correct—but I think you could say it's a bit of a hodgepodge.”
One of the most interesting animation challenges when making Always a Catch! has centered around the fact that Mimi fights in a long, layered dress. The animation team had to remember that her clothing has quite a bit of weight to it. “When Mimi turns, her skirt usually flares out a little later than it would otherwise. So it was possible to portray, but also difficult.” Ōta told ANN. “To be honest, the animation itself isn't really a problem when it comes to movements like expansion and constriction, but it does add an extra step of having to give instructions to the animation staff to ensure they finish on schedule.”
Rather than the animating the skirt itself being the issue, it's what the skirt obscures that can become a problem. “Heavy skirts do often make it difficult to see the position of the characters' legs. So, to make the leg positions clear, I sometimes think, 'Wouldn't it be better to not consider the petticoat worn underneath?' and then deliberately ignore its existence.” Ōta continued. “I often differentiate between treating her skirt as light and treating it as heavy depending on the scene.”
Of course, there is more to Mimi than simply being outspoken and punching things. She is very much a young woman who has lost her path in life, thanks to the birth of her young brother. “Even during the series composition and scriptwriting stages, the whole aspect of Mini losing the right of succession was difficult for us to interpret. There was a lot of disagreement about how to incorporate it,” producer Kawamata began.
“We all talked about how shocking it must be for Mimi. She had always thought she would be the successor, but then she suddenly got a younger brother and was assigned a different role. The whole crew talked about whether or not she would be able to accept it so quickly,” producer Kanno jumped in to say. “We decided that Mimi is the kind of kid who wouldn't take it that seriously—she'd just be looking forward to the next thing.” “It's very much like Mimi to face forward and work hard for the people she loves and the things she wants to protect,” producer Kawamata said, wrapping up the topic.
One of the biggest challenges for the anime overall was deciding where to stick with the source material and where to make changes. “In episode 1, we expanded on the manga's content quite a bit to allow the viewers to better follow along with Mimi's feelings. We also depicted her school life during her study abroad, which wasn't shown in the original story,” Kawamata said, giving an example. “And, there was quite a bit of disagreement about how to divide episodes 1 and 2, wasn't there?”
Producer Kanno weighed in, “In episode 1, I wanted to make sure there were some surprises for the viewers—to keep them from getting bored—so we decided to start with the shocking broken engagement scene. However, we had a lot of discussion about whether we should include the scene where Mimi gets captured by bandits and defeats them at the end of the first episode or not.”
“When talking about time spent across the episodes, the amount focusing on Mimi's school life has dramatically increased,” Kawamata added. “We've brought in quite a bit of the school life stuff depicted in the bonus novels and other extra stories. I think this makes it clear that 'they are actually living normal lives.'”
“While it's based on the novel and manga, if adapted as-is when condensing it into 12 episodes, it would lack much of the excitement needed to be enjoyable as an anime. So, [series composition writer] Michiko Yokote rearranged the order of events and expanded the content to make it more interesting as an anime,” Kawamata concluded.
In the end, those involved each have something different they hope the viewers will take away from the show. “While it is a work featuring Mimi and Renato, it's not just about those two; it also focuses on other characters, such as Aida and Placido,” Kawamata told ANN. “It's an anime work that incorporates various relationships and stories. It would make me happy if you pay attention to those aspects as well.
“I think the characters are drawn to look really cute, and the voice actors did a fantastic job, so I hope people will take a good look at the characters,” character designer Suzuki added.
“I think the anime is both fun and enjoyable if you watch it pretending as if you were Mimi's friend or family,” action animation director Ōta said to wrap things up. “Mimi is very interesting, and I think it would be great if you could enjoy the feeling of her protecting us all.”
Always a Catch! is currently streaming in North America on Crunchyroll.
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