Ena Hamabe Wants Dark Anime to Leave Viewers Ready for Tomorrow
Hamabe's interview frames her recent work as deliberately pairing heavy sadness with a hopeful outlook, which is the common thread between the two series she produces.
Reporting from 1 source: Anime News Network.
At Anime Expo, Infinite, Inc. producer Ena Hamabe discussed her recent projects This Monster Wants to Eat Me and I Want to Love You Till Your Dying Day. The latter, about a girl named Sheena in a school that trains children as weapons, screened its first episode at the convention and streams on Crunchyroll. Hamabe said she wants sad stories to leave viewers feeling ready to face tomorrow.
Hamabe said she hopes these stories help people release the negative emotions they are carrying. Even when a story is sad, she wants viewers to finish it feeling they can do their best again tomorrow. That outlook, she said, is one reason she adapts such material into animation: the visual form lets her emphasize the hopeful side.
She also described reading This Monster Wants to Eat Me and feeling the protagonist's sadness was the kind anyone could experience, expressed beautifully. Both series center on relationships between young women, which she said are portrayed authentically to that stage of life.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.