This article provides a detailed account of the journey from the launch of the Webtoon project "Negolove" to its production. It begins with the episode of the first meeting between Shiohigari and the project members in May 2022, and shares behind-the-scenes insights into the production process, including character design and story revisions.

The "Negolove" project has faced many challenges and discoveries from its inception to the present, and the production process has not been without its technical challenges and cultural gaps among the production team members.

If you're interested in the behind-the-scenes of Webtoon production and the process of a project evolving and progressing, we hope you'll read to the end and reflect on the journey of this project with us.

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Chapter 1

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The Meeting of Shiohigari and Skoota Films

Akiko Ashizuka (Producer, Skoota Films)

Speaking of which, it was two years ago when we first met Shiohigari. It was May 2022.

Shiohigari

Ah, so it's exactly two years now.

Takuro Harada (CEO, Producer, Skoota Films)

Well, that was around that time. Yes, yes, it turned into quite a big project.

Shiohigari

It did become a big project.

Harada

You brought various project collections in July 2022, right?

Shiohigari

I was invited because of an anime called "Shiohigirls Vongole Bianco," which I think was around 2018. Originally, there was a company called DMM.futureworks, and they made that anime based on my manga. It was released and probably ran for about a year, but it was a web anime on Twitter. After that ended, I heard that DMM.futureworks had disappeared and that it had become Skoota Films.

So, I thought DMM.futureworks was gone, and then I received a message from the producer at that time saying that the company had changed. They wanted to introduce me to the new representative, so I was invited by the producer to visit Yotsuya, which was my first meeting. That was in May 2022, and it was there that I first met Harada and Ashizuka, and we talked about how I had seen "Shiohigirls Vongole Bianco."

From the Talk of Webtoons Gaining Popularity, the Webtoon Project "Negolove" is Launched

Shiohigari

At that time, we probably talked about webtoons. In the industry, it has indeed become a hot topic, and there was a conversation about how "webtoons are really gaining popularity right now," which led to the idea of wanting to do something together.

Ashizuka

It was probably the discussion about the corporate character that came first. We talked about how "characters like that are great," and I was told, "That sounds good," so I suggested, "How about we create a corporate character together?" After that, we discussed the webtoon project, and by July, we had already started on the corporate character, and it was only in August that we finally decided to go ahead with the webtoon project.

Shiohigari

Yes, from the beginning, there was a plan to work on both the webtoon and the corporate character. In August, I visited and brought some materials, including ideas like "Negolove" and "The Woman in Love with the Thunder Father," among others.

Among those, I was quite influenced by "The Crocodile Who Will Die in 100 Days" and the classic tsundere line "It's 100 years too early," and I suggested, "How about a manga with a setting where things gradually decrease from 100 years to the afterlife?" The response was very positive, and that led to the decision to serialize it. I mentioned that I was friends with Kikuchi-san, and that "The Crocodile Who Will Die in 100 Days" was trending on Twitter, which inspired me to think about how it would be interesting to have a story that gradually decreases over 100 years.

Shiohigari

Yes, I was thinking about creating something romantic, and I considered writing a manga and posting it on Twitter. However, since I write quite slowly, it became a hassle, and I thought I would eventually get around to it. When I showed what I had created, it was just a single scene, a very short one, probably around 8 pages, which I had prepared.

Harada

It was about 4 pages. Surprisingly short. But it was good.

Shiohigari

4 pages? Was it that short? But they said it was good, and I think that’s when we decided to move forward with it.

Ashizuka

We decided to move forward, but it was our first time creating a webtoon, so we were figuring out how to approach it. Initially, we discussed character design, and I suggested asking Ao, who is a friend of Shiohigari-san, for the design. We actually requested design roughs quite early on. When I checked Discord, it seems we had design roughs as early as July...

Harada

No, I think it was even earlier than that, the startup phase.

Ashizuka

The project proposal was dated August, but we might have shown "Negolove" to you during your second visit in June.

Harada

Yeah, I think that’s probably right.

Shiohigari

That’s right, I went in June, and I thought I should have something ready by the next time... Yes, I remember that during the first visit, Harada-san talked a lot. He was very enthusiastic about wanting to work together, and I remember that well. I was grateful for that, but I couldn’t see clearly what exactly he wanted to do.

There were some fragmented mentions of webtoons in the conversation, and since "webtoon" was a frequently used term, I asked the producer at the time on my way back, "So, does that mean you want to do a webtoon?" and he confirmed that was the case. That made it clear to me, and I think I presented something during the next meeting.

Harada

If I recall correctly, at that time, we were definitely thinking about creating webtoon projects, but I felt like we were somewhat torn about whether Shiohigari-san wanted to do a webtoon, if it matched, and various other aspects.

It was probably different from the typical webtoons out there, but I wondered if it could work. But we wanted to read something like that. I think that’s why the conversation got heated. We were saying, "You’re good at this, so please pitch a webtoon project."

Shiohigari

Yes, yes, yes, that’s right. It was definitely a lot of probing. I didn’t get many details from the producer, so I thought I was going to discuss doing a sequel to "Shiohigirls Bolognese" during the DMM.futureworks era. So, I went thinking it was about the sequel, only to find out it was about webtoons.

Ashizuka

That’s right. Speaking of Shiohigirls, there was talk about trying to create a karuta game...

Shiohigari

Oh, right, right, right. That’s why we had everything in kana for the "a-i-u-e-o." That was quite a task, but yes, creating a karuta game...

Harada

Yes, that was the case. Behind the scenes, we presented a lot about the karuta when Shiohigari-san wasn’t around. I think we still had ambitions at that time.

Shiohigari

The reading cards would be read by voice actors. We had been saying since the early stages of Bolognese that we wanted to do that, the staff at the time.

Ashizuka

Yes, and the reason it connected to karuta was that Shiohigari-san’s work felt like poetry.

Harada

And then, a love letter was written.

Shiohigari

Oh, that’s right. So, we decided to create a webtoon, which was probably around July. While getting the design done, I was also working on the character design, and I was at the stage of showing the story in text form, a few episodes at a time, to get feedback on what was good or not.

Ashizuka

By the way, I probably wasn’t CC’d on that love letter to Shiohigari-san.

Shiohigari

So, I was sending out text and thinking about the story for each episode while showing the overall process of how it would eventually come together. At that time, the protagonist, who was leaning more towards a cool character, had some discrepancies with Harada-san and the others regarding the character image.

So it became a discussion like, "Isn't this better than that?" and I wasn't quite grasping it myself. To begin with, the characters I create don't usually have much personality, so I tend to have a lot of one-off gags, and in story manga, there wasn't really an extensive character setting. I generally prefer characters with a certain level of anonymity, like the protagonists in Haruki Murakami's works, who don't have much individuality. Because of that, I wasn't really used to fleshing out character settings, and since Mr. Harada and the others have been making anime for a long time, I wasn't accustomed to developing character settings like that, which led to some misalignment.

So we were wondering what to do, and it felt like it took several weeks. Every week, I would ask, "How about this?" and they would respond with something like, "Maybe this would be better," and we were kind of playing catch with ideas. During that time, I was quite lost, and while I was pondering what to do, I received a love letter from Mr. Harada.

I think he sensed that I was struggling. It was quite a passionate message, saying, "Shiohigari-san, this and that are great about you, so I want you to incorporate that into the work." I replied with a text saying, "Thank you," and then said, "Alright, how about this?" and it felt like we reached a consensus with a "Sounds good!" moment. I can't recall the specifics, so it's a bit vague, but that's the gist of it.

Ashizuka

The reason Shiohigari-san was confused probably lies with the producers. There was another producer, so it was like having three producers. Everyone had their own image of what a classic romantic comedy is, like "It's probably a rom-com, right?" and "This is what my version is. What's yours, Shiohigari-san?" That was a significant reason, and while we had to explore various role models, when everyone brainstormed their versions of the characters, it felt like Shiohigari-san would find the right one! But later, Shiohigari-san mentioned that he tends to read the room, which made him feel lost, especially in the early stages.

Also, when Ao-san joined to explore character design, it ended up resembling a void face, and it felt like we were just going back to Adachi Mitsuru's style. Shiohigari-san referenced a lot of Adachi Mitsuru's panels, and while he would say, "That's it," and draw, it still didn't quite turn into Adachi Mitsuru's style, which felt like we were really stuck in a rut.

Harada

It just didn't happen, right? We really struggled with character design.

Ashizuka

That's right. In the end, Shiohigari-san was able to recreate Adachi Mitsuru's style in the storyboards, but we couldn't translate that into the final artwork, which was the real hell...

Harada

Honestly, it was a bit tough. But I just found the love letter I wrote, and it's quite passionate.

Shiohigari

Yeah, it was intense.

Chapter 2

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Advancing the Negotiation Love Production with Harada-san's Passionate Message

Sakoda Yuki (Interviewer)

During the tough times when we were trying to get closer to Adachi Mitsuru's characters but struggling, I think there was a sequence where Harada-san sent this passionate message. As a result, do you feel that the current characters have come closer to the Adachi Mitsuru characters everyone was pursuing back then?

Ashizuka

Regarding the manga, I still feel like we haven't quite reached that level. The game we're currently developing has returned to the original design that Shiohigari-san created. So, ultimately, the curse of Negotiation Love is that we can't surpass Shiohigari-san's design.

Shiohigari

I don't particularly like my own art, so when I got the offer for the Webtoon, I thought, "Finally, I can write the story I want to write."

I have certain limitations in my drawing, and I can only draw what I can manage, so I can't really write big stories. To put it bluntly, I'm not very good at drawing, so I have a limited range of what I can create. I struggle with drawing detailed backgrounds or making characters perform complex movements, so I couldn't write those kinds of things.

With the Webtoon, since the art is handled by someone else in a completely divided manner, I can write the story without the limitations of drawing, which made me feel like I could finally create what I wanted when I got the offer for the Webtoon.

Ashizuka

That's right. So it started from the idea that it would be great if Shiohigari-san could draw things he couldn't draw himself, but Shiohigari-san's storyboards were just too interesting, and maintaining that level of fun in the artwork was incredibly challenging. It felt like we kept reaching the conclusion that it just wouldn't be as interesting unless it was Shiohigari-san's art.

Shiohigari

Exactly, and through that kind of interaction, the common language that emerged was Adachi Mitsuru-sensei. I really love both the stories and the art of Adachi Mitsuru-sensei and have been heavily influenced by him. So, the void face that Ashizuka-san mentioned is probably also influenced by Adachi Mitsuru-sensei's style. I extracted some interesting faces from manga and used them as design references, saying, "Oh, this is it!"

Sakoda

Shiohigari-san's goal was to achieve expressions and developments that he couldn't do alone, aiming for greater heights through collaboration and expanding his range. And from the SKOOTA side, if I'm wrong, please correct me, but we wanted to leverage Shiohigari-san's greatest charm while ensuring that we could reproduce it effectively as a team.

Since this is the first prototype, I believe there are areas where we succeeded 100% and areas where we didn't quite make it. How do you feel about this project? What worked well, and what do you think will be a challenge for the next work?

Ashizuka

Looking back now, I feel like no matter how many times I repeat it, the fact that it took this long doesn't change. I still feel like I want Shiohigari-san to write everything...

Thanks to our Yuno Sawako-san, who has been drawing Mitsuru-chan for two years, we finally got to a point where Shiohigari-san's expressions for the characters Neiko and Hazuki are coming together nicely! That’s really just this month. It feels like that.

So, for two years, thanks to the illustrations drawn by Shiohigari, we were able to create Mitsuru-chan based on those illustrations, and I feel like that’s how the team started to form.

Harada

Yeah, I really think so.

Ashizuka

So, I think the task of picking up Shiohigari's rough illustrations would take anyone about a year or two.

Harada

So, the fact that we’ve been working on Mitsuru has really paid off, and it’s a big deal that we’ve grasped it.

Further Insights into the Challenges of Negolove Production

Ashizuka

In terms of the approach to Nemurabu, we’ve been exploring how large the panels should be and how much whitespace is needed for readability during the name stage. Shiohigari has been gradually progressing the name during our weekly meetings, saying, “This size seems good!” and then Harada would receive the data created in Clip Studio, and he would try making a PDF to check the whitespace. It feels like we did a lot of foundational work on the Webtoon template during the name stage.

Sakoda

As a result, did Harada come up with a provisional solution regarding what display area might be best?

Ashizuka Akiko

We felt like we wouldn’t know until we tried looking at the PDF on a smartphone, but after Shiohigari did that a few times, by around the 4th or 5th episode, he said, “I’ve got the hang of it!”

Shiohigari

Yes, as we kept going, we started to grasp it. Initially, it was too long, so we said we’d shorten it, but then we thought it might be more interesting to make it really long and scroll through it like a picture scroll. Gradually, we were able to increase what we could do, and we started to understand how to present it in a vertical format rather than just lining up all the panels in smartphone size.

Harada

Right, when you mentioned length, you were referring to the length of the panels. At first, Shiohigari tended to cut the panels quite large, really large. And as we worked on other titles, we realized that for standard panels on smartphones, they need to fit within one screen to be readable, which is a general rule. So, we discussed that some were indeed too big.

If everything is a large panel, it becomes unreadable, and we talked about how to create some variation. So, we thought, “Let’s make this part a picture scroll,” and it seemed like we could do that. So, it felt like we were saying, “Well, we should probably redo this part.”

I think this probably divides into two main types: those who make the panels too small and those who make them too large. Some people treat the smartphone screen like a single page of Japanese manga and end up drawing panels that are too small, while others just draw them large without thinking. Both are probably excessive; there’s a sweet spot, but that sweet spot is actually quite storyboard-like. There’s a tendency for video creators to think of it as a storyboard, but storyboards have the same panels lined up, so in terms of paneling, they can be monotonous. So, it might also be about how much paneling to introduce into the storyboard.

Sakoda

I think it’s great that we’re getting into a discussion about Webtoon from the perspective of anime creators.

Harada

Yeah, right? Once we start talking about storyboards, it’s like, “This is why video creators...”

Sakoda

From your perspective, Harada, do you think the long layout that fully utilizes the vertical space is excessive, and that cutting them small and thin is also excessive? Do you feel that the three episodes released in this beta version strike a good balance?

Harada

I think we’ve managed to find a good balance. At first, especially in the opening, it was a continuous series of large panels, and you had to scroll to get the information, but we’ve managed to refine that.

Sakoda

There was more whitespace than I expected; it still feels quite spacious.

Harada

Yes, I think it has more room than a typical Webtoon.

Sakoda

This ample whitespace contributes to a sense of tempo that feels like Webtoon grammar.

Shiohigari

Yes, I had very little input, so I had hardly read any Webtoons before receiving this project. I knew it was gaining popularity, but at that time, I had barely read any, so I was learning as I went along. However, Webtoon was still in its early stages, a newly emerging culture, and there weren’t many Japanese-made ones.

That’s why the techniques weren’t fully established yet; some were just like pasted panels from Japanese manga, while others were made using a lot of techniques to take advantage of the vertical format of Webtoons. I felt like I was gradually learning and creating in that regard.

Sakoda

Do you feel that the current sense aligns with the pacing you wanted to convey in your name, Shiohigari?

Shiohigari

Well, I wouldn’t say I’m 100% confident that it turned out great, but I think it’s readable. There were times when the things I cut in the name were hard to read once they were turned into illustrations, so I took the time to give feedback and make corrections every week, gradually improving it.

Ashizuka

Regarding the production of the beta version, it seems that the artist we asked to do the illustrations is from Okinawa, and there seems to be a lack of common imagery regarding schools. While both Shiohigari and I have a high-resolution understanding of the Kanto region, we realized that “Isn’t it hard to convey the common aspects of Kanto?” There were definitely some specific school images that needed to be clarified.

Shiohigari

Probably the main issue is that the artist in charge of the illustrations doesn’t read much manga. Since both Harada, Ashizuka, and I watch both manga and anime, we found that what’s common in manga doesn’t get conveyed. There’s a typical form of a manga school, right?

Like a Tetris block with a clock in the middle, and characters making surprised faces drawn in a manga-like way, those manga symbols didn’t get conveyed well. We realized that while we share a common understanding, it was just that our manga literacy was higher.

Ashizuka

Yes, I hoped we could capture the emotional aspects of students, which was one of the reasons, but it was indeed tough that the manga symbols were the hardest to convey.

Shiohigari

Right. That’s obvious. Even if I talk about Mitsuru Adachi, it’s just an old man saying something that doesn’t make sense, so I totally get that.

Harada

Yeah, he’s not read by many people; he’s over 70 now.

Ashizuka

But it was shocking that the concept of tsundere didn’t get across...

Shiohigari

Ah, right, that was a thing. The tsundere trope that became popular around the 2000s, like Haruhi Suzumiya or Asuka from Evangelion, those typical symbolic tsundere traits were almost completely lost. So, it’s not just about the visuals; it’s like, “What does this mean?”

Well, you know, every time Harada-san would say, "This is a pose that was popular at the time," like, "Pointing like this and looking down at the other person is a classic tsundere pose," he would do it very seriously. He would reference Asuka's expressions from Evangelion, saying, "This expression is like this Asuka." But I think it was good that we were able to notice those things. Even if someone just says, "Yes, it's tsundere," there are probably people who wonder, "What is tsundere?" So that was a realization for us.

Ashizuka

Yeah, I wonder if people in their early 20s today don't understand tsundere anymore.

Shiohigari

That's right, I definitely felt that loneliness. I thought it hasn't been popular lately.

Harada

Surprisingly, it seems like things are getting more and more fragmented. It's not being communicated well. The Showa era was just too long. Back then, everything was connected.

Trial and Error to Get Used to the Webtoon Format

Sakoda

When creating with someone who doesn't share a common understanding, I think we start to touch on deeper topics. Choosing the right language and how to express it is quite important.

Going back to the layout, since it's a Webtoon and I think a 6-inch smartphone is the norm now, there are a lot of close-up shots that are quite central. I feel like this kind of composition is good, but there are also some well-executed overhead shots and interesting compositions. Is this something you, Shiohigari-san, found challenging?

Shiohigari

Yes, it connects to what I mentioned earlier. At first, I was just happy that I didn't have to draw, and I tried various angles, like low-angle shots or capturing large groups of people, and even using an overhead camera. I experimented with different perspectives.

Moreover, since writing the name was tedious, I started using 3D models in CLIP STUDIO to pose them. It was still a hassle, but I would move the camera and take screenshots to paste them in.

So that was quite a challenging part; I had never done anything like that before. Of course, I had used 3D for name sketches in manga, but it was my first time using 3D models to act out scenes and directly turning that into a name.

Harada

Shiohigari-san kept saying "playing with dolls," and he mentioned, "Playing with dolls takes quite a bit of time."

Shiohigari

Yeah, making the name took an incredible amount of time. I started by deciding the size of the doll, like how many centimeters tall the girl doll should be, and I meticulously adjusted each finger. Then I would position it and explore the camera angles, so I was quite careful with each panel. It took a lot of time.

Harada

So, surprisingly, the production method is similar to what I've heard about American comics. You pose a model, take a photo, and then draw based on that.

Shiohigari

That's right; I think this is something new. It felt like shooting in a studio, even though it wasn't a studio. For backgrounds, if it was a park, I would download 3D data of that park, place it, and then position the doll to take photos.

Many people probably do this now, but I think this is quite a modern way of creating manga.

Harada

It was somewhat like, "Isn't just getting the 'hit' enough?" We talked about just going with the placement and direction, but in the end, we really made the characters act. You can read the meaning of how the fingers are positioned, so it became something enjoyable. However, as I mentioned earlier, because the cultural structure isn't understood, even though we put in that effort, it was only read as a simple layout, which was quite shocking.

But certainly, from the perspective of someone who doesn't know, it would look like a flat figure. I think it's hard to interpret the acting of the doll's fingertips. So, I was asking for a bit of a harsh requirement there.

Shiohigari

I thought about that too. So, from a certain point, I started to draw expressions more carefully, and I included reference photos or panels of expressions to give drawing instructions. Then, every week, we had verbal meetings to discuss, "Please do it like this," and I was quite thorough with that.

Sakoda

When I was looking at the Webtoon of Negolove, I thought the way the distant shots were handled, where the characters appear small on screen, was very well done. It felt very much like the charm of Adachi Mitsuru, with a great sense of information subtraction. I particularly thought that was attractive. I sensed that close-ups might be a bit challenging, though. Did you have any thoughts on that?

Harada

Yes, from my perspective, I recognized that the amount of information in the distant shots was conveyed well in the name. We were able to grasp that. However, it seems that it didn't get communicated well, and we ended up subtracting too much.

When we actually did the artwork, I had to say, "If you subtract that much, it won't be clear, so please add more." So we discussed how much to add in meetings, and we adjusted it to a suitable level. We took our time and did it carefully.

Shiohigari

Anyway, giving instructions is incredibly difficult.

Harada-san and I talked, and since I'm not the type to strongly assert myself, I think it was thanks to Harada-san saying, "We have to do this," that I was able to express my feelings more confidently, saying, "Please do it like this." From there, I think we got closer to the image I had in mind.

Sakoda

Yeah, I see. It sounds like you really struggled with the drawing part, based on the stories you've shared.

Harada

The conclusion is that you did a great job with the artwork. I appreciate how well you put up with us, even with things that were unclear.

Sakoda

Right, I see. By the way, how were the color decisions made?

Ashizuka

The colors were pretty much left to you. Oh, I forgot to mention that! The colors that came out were unexpected.

Sakoda

Are you saying the colors were good?

Ashizuka

Yes, the uniforms were also left to you.

Shiohigari

That's right, yes. The design of the uniforms.

Ashizuka

I think the colors are really nice. The work of the artist.

Harada

It's a sense of style.

Ashizuka

The sense of color is good, isn't it?

Harada

So, in the end, I think it landed on the line I was expecting.

Shiohigari's Unique Dialogue Style

Sakoda

This dialogue that jumps with wit in the story is really good, isn't it? Well, in that sense, Hazuki's tsundere aspect might not have been fully reflected in the art, but yeah, including that, is there a flow in the scenario up to this third episode that you feel went well, Shiohigari-san?

Shiohigari

What should I say, I don't really break down my own works too much, so maybe it's a bit embarrassing to say where I think, "Oh, this part went well." So, I can't really think of anything that comes to mind immediately.

Sakoda

This might sound like a bit of a template question, but are there any points you were particular about or focused on that stand out?

Shiohigari

Points of focus, huh? Well, as Sakoda-san mentioned earlier, the wit is something I like, so there’s that. Authors like Haruki Murakami and Mitsuru Adachi have characters who say funny things with a straight face, right? I like protagonists like that, and I wanted to express something similar, so that might be a point of focus.

Sakoda

In Haruki Murakami's novels, you mentioned the characters being expressionless, but even though it's a novel, it feels like the protagonist is speaking with a straight face. So, whether it's the tone of the dialogue or the choice of words, there's a slightly cynical, world-weary, or decadent vibe, right?

Shiohigari

Yes, exactly. So, even though there are no visuals, if that expressionless feeling can be conveyed, I wanted to express that through words.

Sakoda

It seems like you have a strong focus on word choice. That connects to what Harada-san mentioned about the poetry, right? It feels like there's a stronger allure in the words than in the visuals, which leads to the love letter aspect.

Harada

Regarding this work, I think this is something we discussed several times during production, especially in the early stages. The question was, "Aren't you two already dating?" Because, well, these two are clearly together. So, the premise of them being together but not officially is the most enjoyable part, right? Even though only three episodes have been released, in the last part of the third episode, it’s like, "So, you’ll go to the movies together?"

That's the kind of conversation we're having, and of course, the part about going home together 30 minutes early is also part of it. So, it feels like that has already been achieved, but on the flip side, it raises the question of whether it's too early. But there's no point in dragging it out. The feeling that they are already together from the start is a point that has been successfully achieved.

And basically, the feeling that these two are dating, and the surrounding characters are enjoying that mode—ah, but the surrounding characters haven't been depicted yet, right? They only exist in the names. The surrounding characters are already enjoying the vibe of, "You two are together, aren't you?" and playing around with that, which is the most harmless and just fun aspect. Personally, I think that kind of position is the strongest in terms of entertainment.

Sakoda

It's the most fun time, isn't it?

Harada

I could read it endlessly. Well, there might be a moment later where I feel a bit down due to time and spending, but I don't feel like I've lost anything. I hope to capture that happy feeling, and I think we've reached a base for that.

Ashizuka

It was the most challenging part to bring out Shiohigari-san's taste, but sometimes when the artist added something that wasn't in the script, I thought, "Oh! Maybe they’ve grasped the character!" Also, when they first drew Hazuki's design, I felt like Hazuki really became the most beautiful girl in her grade! When it went well, I felt like the character was conveyed.

I wonder, in the current beta version, Nego seems a bit young, like this kind of romance feels more like something a middle schooler would do? It does feel like a middle schooler, right? I think for us, Shiohigari-san, and Harada-san, high school days are a long time ago, but for the artist, high school was just about four years ago, so maybe they unconsciously thought of it as middle schoolers, which might have made the design feel a bit younger.

It really feels like this kind of romance in high school might just be a fantasy for older folks. That’s the generation gap, right?

Harada

Ouch!

Shiohigari

This is painful to hear.

Ashizuka

The artist is a nice person, so they didn’t say it out loud, but I really felt that the design unconsciously turned out that way. So, the theory that our high school days were too pure is honestly because these three might not have had enough romantic experiences in high school.

Harada-san went to an all-boys school, and I went to an all-girls school, so the only one with co-ed experience is Shiohigari-san. This is a fantasy of high school students.

By creating the beta version, I realized that it might be more about reading text, which connects to the current game development. I thought, "Isn't this exactly a visual novel?" and now we’re steadily testing it in a visual novel format. Shiohigari-san has played it, and they said it was surprisingly interesting. Today, with even more expression variations added, it’s getting better. I think something that really engages the reader with text might be more suitable as content. That’s my impression after making three beta versions... It might actually be a game!

Harada

Personally, I feel like the game is pretty much as I expected. I thought it would turn out this way. I think Shiohigari-san felt the same, but it feels like it’s just as I imagined. I’m not particularly a gamer, so I don’t have any strong attachment or expectations for games, but I see it neutrally, thinking, "If it’s this format, you can do this." So, I felt like it was fun to click through without worrying about it.

So, I felt that someone who is more into games might not have anticipated this at all.

Sakoda

As a continuation of the story, we created this Webtoon together over two years starting from July 2022, and it was a discovery that the charm and direction plan of Shiohigari-san came to life more in the visual novel than in the Webtoon. This will also lead to the visual novel releasing some information soon, so it feels like everything is connected.

Harada

The title is also Negotiation Love, and it has the exact same scenario. Yes, I thought it would work, and it did. By the way, I believe both can be enjoyed, so my ideal scenario is that the editor who enjoyed this game will say, "Please serialize it with us," which I think would be the best outcome.

Ashizuka

You haven't given up on manga yet, right?

Harada

Not at all. I'm definitely going to go all out with the manga.

Sakoda

When I think about how Shiohigari-san's charm might come to life more in the game, it seems to stem from the ability to read a lot of text, right?

Ashizuka

Yes, and I think the sudden insertion of words that differ from the expressions was quite clear.

Sakoda

Indeed. It’s true that, in a way, the expressions don’t change, but the character keeps talking, which might actually replicate the charm of Adachi Mitsuru's characters.

Harada

Also, I feel that the light branching where the conclusion doesn’t change but the path taken does fits really well. So, I wonder how they would react if I said this, and while it doesn’t change drastically, it still leads to the same conclusion.

But the fun of feeling that something is different, and how much we can develop the system, is crucial. I won’t make any big claims, but in manga, you can only see one line no matter what, so having this playfulness fits this structure really well.

Sakoda

That’s the beauty of games, right? Users have choices, and they can also control the reading speed more than in manga.

Harada

Shiohigari-san reads really fast, like super fast.

Shiohigari

Well, I did write the text myself, but I think people who play visual novels tend to click through quite quickly.

The Charm of Visual Novels and Direction Plans

Sakoda

What was it like for you at first, Shiohigari-san? I think you went in a direction that was quite unexpected for a visual novel.

Shiohigari

Yes, that was certainly the case, but I thought the system of turning 100 years into 0 years, and the process of turning a relationship into a relationship, was inherently game-like. So, I thought the game system was quite easy to work with. I don’t have any specific systems in mind, but the mechanism of increasing or decreasing the number of years feels very game-like. So, I imagined that if the Webtoon became really popular, it might eventually be adapted into a game. When I was asked why not try making it a visual novel, I thought that could work, and I accepted it quite smoothly.

Looking at the latest version, I feel like I can see parts that have improved compared to the beginning. Originally, we are still in the stage of creating something like a demo, focusing on a specific episode. I rewrote the manga script for the game, added some content, and recently played a version that includes some branching paths, albeit still limited. I felt that, as Ashizuka-san mentioned earlier, it was surprisingly interesting, which gave me a positive intuition that it might turn out to be something good.

Ashizuka

Yes, when I told Shiohigari-san that I wanted to make it a game, he looked really reluctant and said, "I really don’t want it to turn into a bad game," so we discussed what defines a bad game.

Shiohigari

Yes, I’m somewhat of a gamer myself, and when I encounter a bad game, I feel really disappointed, especially when I buy a full-price game that I had high expectations for, only to find it full of bugs or simply not fun at all. The disappointment is quite significant.

Moreover, it can severely damage my trust in the manufacturer, so when the topic of games comes up, I tend to criticize them harshly among friends, which can really hurt their reputation. Therefore, I definitely want to avoid that.

From the perspective of the creators, it’s tied to my credibility and that of Scoota Films, so I really don’t want to make a bad game.

Ashizuka

Did that put you a bit at ease?

Shiohigari

Yes, that was part of it. When I played it recently, I thought, "Is this okay?" I believe that if we develop it further, we can create something truly interesting.

Sakoda

I see, there’s a culture of paying for games, and I’m quite a gamer myself, so I often buy games on Steam. It seems quite different from those who just play free games on their smartphones.

Shiohigari

Yes, if it’s 500 yen, you might think, "Well, that’s about right," but if it’s 7800 yen for a game that took four years to develop and it’s full of bugs, that’s a different story. In those cases, the hate tends to be directed at the manufacturer, and you end up thinking, "I really bought something terrible." Gamers tend to have high standards, so while I want casual users to enjoy it, I understand that.

Sakoda

By the way, this is basically going to be released on Steam, right?

Ashizuka

Yes, we plan to showcase it at events to gauge reactions, and since preferences for systems can vary from person to person, we’re looking to incorporate new systems like mini-games into the visual novel.

Missions Born from Negotiation

Ashizuka

In the end, since we are negotiating, missions will definitely arise from that negotiation, so we need to add those elements. I think the humorous aspects will be quite significant, so I want to incorporate those while observing the reactions! I want to feel the response that the interesting points in the text are being conveyed during the event demo.

Sakoda

By the way, when manga or novels are adapted into anime, the amount of information increases, right? With music, sound effects, and voice acting, the world view becomes more detailed. How does that work in this game regarding music and voice?

Ashizuka

We are creating it with a retro game approach, quite reminiscent of Famicom games, where when text appears, it has a pop sound effect. I feel like you don’t see that kind of thing much these days.

Sakoda

It's not about reading lines, it's more like electronic sounds, right?

Ashizuka

That's right, it's like the sound that comes up when text appears in those old Famicom games. I grew up with Dragon Quest, so maybe that's why I don't really want the characters to talk too much... I feel like if I say that, people who make visual novels will get really mad at me, but when the voice isn't what I imagined, I can't help but feel "hmm," and that bothers me a bit.

Sakoda

In visual novels, having full voice acting might be one reason to buy, but in the end, people skip a lot of the audio anyway.

Shiohigari (01:35:10.843)

Yeah, in the end, they end up skipping it.

Ashizuka

I think the pop-pop sound fits well with Nekolove.

Sakoda

I see. Well, I think everyone understood the interesting part about Scoota Films from this conversation. In other words, starting to create works, making webtoons for the first time, and then evolving into indie games shows quite a bit of agility and flexibility.

Shiohigari

That's right.

Sakoda

Yeah, it's amazing. Normally, you can't just switch to a different medium like that.

Harada

No, no, I'm not giving up on manga either.

Shiohigari

Speaking of manga production, since I can't draw backgrounds, I went with Harada and another AP to a real school to do research, take photos, and turn those into illustrations. It actually turned out really well in the drawings, and it was much easier to convey the experience.

There were quite a few complex poses, and I wanted to depict them standing in a certain way, but with just CG, I couldn't express the details. So, we decided to actually go to a school and take photos, and we all went to a school in Saitama. We also used the town as the setting for where the character grew up, taking pictures of actual apartment complexes and convenience stores, which made for a really interesting experience. It’s a given that you go to research for manga and draw from that, but it was really great.

Ashizuka

There was also the question of how to convey the atmosphere of Northern Kanto, and I wondered if the vastness of the background art might be influenced by the artist living in a place with too much greenery. Also, if the school is too small, like having just one class per grade, it might not come across well. So, we ended up talking about how it was definitely Saitama, and we contacted a technical high school in Saitama. They were super cooperative, and when I mentioned that Shiohigari wanted to get a signature, they prepared it in advance for us! We had to do the background shooting in a limited time and during a cold season.

Shiohigari

But it was really, really fun. You can't usually get into high schools, so it was nostalgic to be there and remember what it was like. And Harada was surprisingly good at driving.

Harada

One thing was that when we went to the school today, I was able to talk to the kids in the broadcasting club, and they seemed to be having a lot of fun. It felt like they were really enjoying their youth. Also, I got to experience that "independent film" vibe again, like being on a live-action shoot.

Ashizuka

The high school was super cooperative, and when the webtoon was published, they asked if they could introduce it on their website, and they said they would distribute flyers to the parents. When I mentioned wanting to use it for the game backgrounds, they were totally on board.

Harada

The vice principal was very kind and accommodating.

And the building felt like, is this really a school? Then I found out it was designed by an architect who only built hospitals, and when I thought about it, it really did look like a hospital.

Harada

It did look like a hospital, for sure.

Yeah, I mentioned that it had a pretty unusual design, and they said it was actually designed by someone who builds hospitals, and I was like, oh, I see!

Sakoda

I see, it’s true that creating backgrounds hasn’t been a focus in Shiohigari’s previous work.

Shiohigari

That's right, I wanted to draw them, but it was a hassle, so I mostly just drew simplified versions. Even when I did draw, I would ask for help with certain parts, so it was a new experience for me.

MANGA

(End)