TV anime Sayonara Lara is currently airing on TOKYO MX and other networks. The series has generated considerable fan buzz thanks to its opening sequence, which features five cuts animated on actual cels. Now, director Koide Takushi and staff members from IMAGICA Entertainment Media Services have published a roundtable discussion on the company’s official website, revealing the production secrets behind that analog OP segment.
In the photo, from left: Takahashi Moriaki (timing), Sekiguchi Masato (colorist), director Koide Takushi (Kinema Citrus), and Suzuki Motoko (coordinator).
Sayonara Lara is an original TV anime produced to commemorate the 15th anniversary of Kinema Citrus, the studio behind popular series such as Made in Abyss, My Happy Marriage, The Rising of the Shield Hero, and Revue Starlight. Inspired by the fairy tale The Little Mermaid, the story follows the mermaid princess Lara as she is reborn in Lake Biwa 200 years after her original story ended.
Koide, a native of Shiga Prefecture, makes his directorial debut with this series. The cast includes Hishikawa Kana as Lara, Kawarai Nana as Ootsu Mari, Fukami Rika as Grace, Murase Ayumu as Luca, Ono Tomotaka as Ootsu Shouya, Madono Mitsuaki as Ootsu Makoto, Sumitomo Nanae as Ootsu Emaki, Terasoma Masaki as Rowan, Tsuda Minami as Risa, and Yamamoto Kazunari as Kouta.
The official synopsis: Once upon a time, there was a mermaid princess named Lara. Raised with love by her father, the king of the sea, and her older sisters, Lara one day falls in forbidden love with a human prince. She drinks a potion given to her by the witch Grace, transforms into a human, and sets off for the surface world. But the potion carries a terrible curse: if she cannot find true love, she will dissolve into sea foam.
Despite being a mermaid princess, Lara yearns for love with a human, but her wish is never fulfilled. She turns into foam and vanishes into the sea. Two hundred years later, the mermaid princess Lara revives in Lake Biwa. This time, she is determined to find true love.
The opening’s analog segment — five cuts drawn on actual animation cels — was first introduced on the official X (formerly Twitter) account, sparking excitement among anime fans. The newly released discussion focuses on the so-called “film flow” behind those cuts, featuring director Koide and the IMAGICA staff involved.
From right: negative, normal positive, and IMATON positive.
Film scan data, capturing the unique touch of hand-drawn art.
In an era when digital processing can easily add a “film-like” texture, why did the team choose to physically print to film? The article explains the process of animation development, 4K scanning, and color grading — a workflow that IMAGICA, which operates Japan’s only film processing facility for cinema (Osaka Production Center), had not handled for anime in over a decade.
The discussion also details the technical challenges and solutions: exposure adjustments required after the discontinuation of ISO 100 film stock, comparisons between negative, positive, and IMATON positive stocks, and how 4K scanning preserved the visual information of the original cels. These efforts demonstrate how the production bridged the gap between digital and analog techniques. Fans of the series will want to check out the full conversation.
Discussion Participants
- Koide Takushi (Kinema Citrus / Director)
- Takahashi Moriaki (IMAGICA Entertainment Media Services / Timing)
- Sekiguchi Masato (IMAGICA Entertainment Media Services / Colorist)
- Suzuki Motoko (IMAGICA Entertainment Media Services / Coordinator)
Work Information
- Title: TV anime Sayonara Lara
- Original work and animation production: Kinema Citrus
- Production: “Sayonara Lara” Production Committee
- ©Kinema Citrus / “Sayonara Lara” Production Committee
