On July 4th at Anime Expo, anime fans had the opportunity to view an exclusive screening of the first episode of the upcoming anime, Blue Miburo. Anime Expo (AX) is the largest anime convention in North America. It happens annually in Downtown Los Angeles around the Fourth of July weekend. It is a vibrant celebration of Japanese pop culture. The convention serves as a platform for enthusiasts to immerse themselves in the world of anime, manga, video games, music, and fashion. Producer Hiroya Nakata and Director Kumiko Habara discussed their work on the series and their excitement for fans. Afterward, we were able to sit down with both to dive deeper into the creative process behind the anime.

Blue Miburo Producer Hiroya Nakata and Director Kumiko Habara discuss their experiences

Director Habara is known for her work as a director on mainly isekai series. However, she has an extensive resume working on other projects in other ways, such as Yu-Gi-Oh and Detective Conan. Producer Nakata is known for his work on series including Firefighter Diago, My Hero Academia, and Love All Play.

Blue Miburo is a story that focuses on the adolescent ambition of members of Edo Japan’s famed Shinsengumi. In the first episode, the audience met Nio, the story’s main character, and the founders of the infamous Miburo. Nio resonates with their goal of creating a better future for Japan. He decides to set off and train with them in order to achieve that goal. Director Habara, through a translator, tells us that she was unfamiliar with the series when she was approached to work on the project. However, she read the manga after receiving the offer. She finds it so interesting, which lead to her deciding to accept it.

On the other hand, Producer Nakata wanted to make it into an anime ever since he read the first chapter of the manga. Through the translator, he explains that he “was very happy when [he] proposed it to KODANSHA and they got the OK.”

Blue Miburo is based on an important part of Japanese history, and both Director Habara and Producer Nakata worked hard to capture the essence of the time period. We asked both what it looks like to bring this particular story to life. Director Habara explains that each title is different. She says, “Some comics are easy to adapt, but others are not. It’s a balance of finding a balance between honoring the original manga and doing what’s best in the animation.” Producer Nakata lets us know that the most difficult part of the creative process is deciding which scenes in each episode are the most important and relaying that to their team.

Producer Nakata and Director Habara walk us through their hopes for this particular project

During their panel, Director Habara praises the artwork of the Blue Miburo manga. When we asked about the challenges working on this project, she tells us: “The original work’s illustrations were so detailed and wonderful that I couldn’t keep up with them, so it was difficult to make adjustments when adapting the animation.” Her desire is to recreate the anime as accurately to the manga as possible. Furthermore, this series is not as well known as a lot of others. Producer Nakata explains that his biggest challenge is promoting the material. He says, “It’s really interesting, but it’s not well known, so the challenge is how to get people to see it through promotion.”

One of the elements that has Blue Miburo stand out over other series that either of them have worked on is that it is a historical story with a fictional lead character. Director Habara’s previous series are isekai anime, which are 100% fiction. Here, she wants to find a balance between the history Blue Miburo offers and the new elements. Producer Nakata mentions this particular studio is new. He says, “The team is younger and has less experience. Keeping things organized and on time is a focus for me.” After watching the first episode, it appears, from an outsider’s perspective, that both of them have achieved those goals.

We wanted to know how they are hoping audience react. Producer Nakata mentions the historical aspect of the series. He says, enthusiastically, “I’d be happy if it gave you an opportunity to fall in love with Japan.” Director Habara believes Blue Miburo is a very relatable series. She answers, saying she would “be happy if you could sympathize with the characters’ feelings.”

Blue Miburo, original story by Tsuyoshi Yasuda, is set to release in October of this year. Currently, there are two volumes available with volume three coming in August.