The “Art of Figure Making” is an interview series that explores behind the scenes of the creation process of Japanese figure manufacturers. We had the opportunity to talk with Mr. Kanno Hironori of BANDAI SPIRITS. Mr. Kanno is in charge of “Ichiban Kuji” items which are popular in Japan. We will focus on the Saber/Miyamoto Musashi Fate/Grand Order figure which will soon be available for pre-order on TOM, as well as Mr. Kanno’s works and his love for the Fate series.
[The young, up-and-coming product director (currently in his fourth year) explains the appeal of the Fate series]
—Can you tell us a little about yourself and your work history?
Hironori: My name is Kanno Hironori and I am in charge of the planning process of Ichiban Kuji figures and prizes, which includes designing. I am currently in charge of Fate related items, but I have also worked on projects for products featuring Love Live! Sunshine!!, Is the order a rabbit?? and IDOLM@STER CINDERELLA GIRLS.
—We’ve heard that you were a customer of Ichiban Kuji yourself and luckily earned a job at BANDAI SPIRITS (formerly BANPRESTO).
Hironori: That’s true. I often bought Ichiban Kuji. I especially loved the Aoko Aozaki TYPE-MOON 10th Anniversary figure from Witch on the Holy Night, and I displayed it for quite a while. I was job hunting at the time and I wanted to make my hobby a job, but I didn’t consider development and planning since I thought I wasn’t capable of doing such things and asked for a different position. However, I went through a lot after that, and I ended up on the development team for the four years I’ve been in the company.
—Can you explain what Ichiban Kuji is for our readers who live overseas?
Hironori: To put it simply, it’s a lottery for character goods where no one loses. (Editor’s note: They are anime and game-themed lottery tickets that can be exchanged for goods on the spot. The goods vary from rubber straps to figures depending on the prize you win.)
―How is your job different from planning that goes into normal figures?
This is only a guess, but independent figures are usually created with one single motivation such as “we want to make a Miyamoto Musashi figure”. However, when it comes to Ichiban Kuji, the whole lineup has to be consistent. In order to make the Miyamoto Musashi figure stand out the most, we have to create the other prizes and the whole theme of the series under a story featuring Miyamoto Musashi.
I also have to do a lot of work outside of planning, such as working as a producer to check and revise the prototype of the figure and obtain the rights from the copyright holders.
―Do you go to TYPE-MOON to make Fate series figures?
Hironori: I do. I’ve been a fan of their work so I became very nervous when I went to their office for supervision. I thought to myself, “So this is TYPE-MOON…”
―So you were a fan of TYPE-MOON’s works.
Hironori: I have played their PC games, mainly the Fate series. I love Archer from Fate/stay night, since he was a manly character who shows rather than tells. There was a time before I joined the company where I imagined becoming in charge of the development of Ichiban Kuji, and I wanted to make a figure featuring Archer. But now we have FGO (Fate/Grand Order), and I like cute girls even more (laughs).
―We’ve heard that your favorite characters from FGO are Archer (Emiya), Miyamoto Musashi, Jeanne d’Arc, Nero Claudius, and King Hassan.
Hironori: This sounds unoriginal, but I like the popular ones. I especially like Miyamoto Musashi to the point where I even made a figure of her (laughs). I have also raised Jeanne d’Arc (Alter) to level 100 in the game, and have used all four-star Fou cards to max out her skills to 2000/2000. I like her that much.
―I see (laughs). Do you have Miyamoto Musashi in FGO too?
Hironori: I do. Her skills are maxed out, too, although she’s at level 90. I’ve also raised Nero to 85 and maxed out her skills as well.
―King Hassan seems to be the only other male character.
Hironori: He’s really cool. I seem to like male characters who have a deep personality over those who simply look good.
―What do you like about FGO ?
Hironori: I like how characters from past Fate series titles all come together, as well as the rich story created by Kinoko Nasu and other writers. The epicness of the climax of the first chapter was so great that its greatness surpassed the boundaries of the app and engulfed the actual players of the game with excitement. (Editor’s note: An event was held at the end of 2016 where all players of the game fought against a shared boss.)
I had to go to Comiket the following day, but I felt like I had to participate in it since everyone else was intensely playing it (laughs). FGO was trending on Twitter for a while, and it was like reality was being taken over by the intensity of FGO .
― FGO was also always on the top of the best selling list on TOM’s e-commerce site, and it became a frequent topic over on the TOM fan community on Facebook, giving us the impression that it was gaining popularity with fans overseas.
Hironori: Being a Fate series fan myself, I never imagined the series becoming such a social phenomenon. It gave me the impression that it’s hard to predict how character content like this will become popular.
―There seem to be players who have used over a few hundred thousand dollars for summons.
Hironori: I’ve also paid a lot of money. My total may be over a million yen…(laughs).
―So you had first-hand experience with and planned the FGO Ichiban Kuji.
Hironori: After experiencing the buzz during at the end of 2016, I wanted to make a structure to revisit all of the “Singularities” and planned the “Kyun Chara Order” Ichiban Kuji for August 2017. It included three Kyun Charas and the lower ranking prizes were all rubber straps, which was a rare configuration for Ichiban Kuji. The top prizes consisted of Mashu in her 3rd Ascension outfit, Romani, and the very first figure of Olga Marie, which was released at a great time for FGO , and we wanted fans to share the excitement. We were happy to get great responses on Twitter.
[Thoughts and planning that went into the over-spec Miyamoto Musashi figure]
―The Miyamoto Musashi figure joined the Ichiban Kuji lineup in December 2017. You showed us a photo of the night before its release, but did it go on sale at night?
Hironori: It was the end of the year and it was a weekday. When I went to Akihabara for market research after work on December 28th, there was a crowd even though it was at night, and I was excited. Even though it was just a weekday.
―And it was the end of the year.
Hironori: It was also the last business day (laughs).
There were long lines of people waiting to buy Ichiban Kuji in every store. The photo is of the Sega building in front of the station, and you can see fans exchanging their Ichiban Kuji prizes.
Seeing the sheer number of fans who tried out the Ichiban Kuji, I felt that I truly “did it.” Every Ichiban Kuji requires a lot of work, but I especially had high hopes for this one, and I feel happiest the moment our items sell, despite how hard it was to plan.
―I’m sure you must have made many products, but which one would be your magnum opus?
Hironori: I think it would be this Musashi figure. It is typically desirable for Ichiban Kuji figures to have fewer elements or wear simple costumes, but Musashi’s outfit (which has many elements) was a struggle for the manufacturers (laughs). It’s extraordinary.
―It certainly is astounding (laughs).
Hironori: Ordinary Ichiban Kuji figures consist of approximately 40 parts, but the Musashi has over 80 parts. It was also quite difficult to apply Tampo prints (Editor’s Note: a technique to print fine patterns on figures) due to it having a mind-numbing number of parts. It is a super over-spec figure that can just barely be created under the specifications of an Ichiban Kuji figure.
All of the places that would be difficult to print with Tampo printing have been recreated. We had our factory to make them look beautiful. Looking at it again, it really is simply amazing (laughs). The blade even has temper patterns.
―That’s true! It’s amazing.
Hironori: In addition to this, the aura effect on the blade can be detached. The engravings here are also different for each katana.
Hironori: That’s right. We received a request from the copyright holders to include them, and even recreated the effects or patterns that differ depending on the katana. Everyone may seem to think that they’re glued together since they are stuck together, but it can actually be removed and there are even letters under it.
―It must have been hard for you to plan such a figure.
Hironori: I passed the idea through the company with sheer enthusiasm (laughs). It was really hard though… The figure’s specifications were overwhelming to the point where it was almost impossible.
We also fulfilled the request from the copyright holders to recreate the temper patterns.
There are more sections that I wanted to do a bit more on, but I am satisfied with what I was able to create with a limited amount of time and budget.
Next page: Introducing Kyun Chara in swimsuits which are currently under development!