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Asatte no Hōkō 4: Episodes 8-9
 Home/Change Series
Episode 8: The Way to the Day After Tomorrow [Asatte no Houkou]
Director: Masahito Otani
Script: Kiyotaka Ohata
Episode Animation Directors: Ryoichi Oki, Tsuyoshi Kawada.
Senior Animation Director: Shinya Hasegawa
Episode 8 follows Karada as she runs away from home in an impulsive move and tries to find work and shelter in a nearby city. The episode, scarily, shows how vulnerable the little-girl-in-a-woman’s-body is, and also includes a powerful flashback that clarifies some of the tension implied around the edges of the series’ sunny first half.
This critical episode, which provides a turning point to the more serious second half, was directed by Masahito Otani, who had served as episode director in both seasons of Ai Yori Aoshi. He joined much of Asatte’s staff in working on Hayate the Combat Butler as well as Nabari no Ou.
This animation of this episode presents a somewhat more complicated picture, as both Ryoichi Oki, and Tsuyoshi Kawada were credited for animation direction. As Oki was the more senior animator, I believe that he did the majority of the roughs for this episode. His work can also be seen in a number of roughs for Ep. 1 as well as for Ep. 10.
Oki, was, like much of the animation staff, a veteran of Revolutionary Girl Utena (gengas); the artist also worked on Ai Yori Aoshi (ditto), and Excel Saga (episode animation direction). Since then, Oki has worked more widely, notably as one of the Chief Animation Directors of the harem series Hayate the Combat Butler. Most recently, he was chief animation director for the 2011 magical girl series Twin Angel: Twinkle Paradise and for the 2012 comedy series Joshiraku.
Episode 9: The Guidepost [Michishirube]
Director: Masami Furukawa
Script: Seishi Minakami
Episode Animation Director: Akiko Nakano
Senior Animation Director: Ikoku Itou
This transitional episode focuses on how Karada’s departure impacts those who knew here. We see Shouko and Hiro blaming each other for the calamity, while Amino’s concern escalates to panic, as he heads for the big city to try to track her down.
Episode 9, like Ep. 4, was outsourced to BJ Studio, which received credit for doing the gengas, dougas, and clean-up for this episode. Sketches from these episodes are much scarcer than the ones done in-house by J. C. Staff. Both episodes were directed by Masami Furukawa with animation direction by Akiko Nakano. Furukawa has had a few credits as series director, including Dinosaur Planet (1993-94), Gene Diver (1994-95), and Inspector Fabre (2000). But in recent times he has been seen most as an episode director for a wide variety of series, including Fate/Stay Night, Full Moon o Sagashite, Getbackers, and Samurai Deeper Kyo.
Nakano has a somewhat deeper resume, mostly as key animator for many recent series, including Dragon Ball, Case Closed, Chrono Crusade, Getbackers, hack//SIGN , and Puella Magi Madoka Magica. She has seen fairly frequent service as episode animation director, including for Aria - The Natural, Bodacious Space Pirates, Honey and Clover II, and Witchblade. She has been credited recently as both Episode Director and Animation Director in the 2017 series Our Love Has Aways Been 10 Centimeters Apart.
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