Last Blog of 2016: An Interview with the GSC CEO Aki!

Well first of all it was a big move for us at Good Smile Company as we moved the offices over to Akihabara. That said Akiba really is perfect for us – we have everything we need here.

We can go out and buy any materials or references in a few minutes and it market research can be done right in our backyard. But most importantly we feel much closer to our fan base! Akiba is really the ideal place for the company.

That’s a good question! *laughs*

We have released so many Nendoroids now and the amount of series that are related to the Nendoroid brand have increased exponentially over the years. We wanted some way to celebrate and share this growth with the fans, and the best idea that came from that was organizing a concert!

Events like concerts allow you to share your passion in real time with similar fans which always makes for an enjoyable time!

Yep. We also had it on display in Los Angeles as well as in Shanghai… this summer was the summer of Sakura-chan!

While a brand new series of Card Captor Sakura is in the works, this is one of those products that showed me the power of ‘nostalgia’ that older series like Card Captor Sakura have.

Over 1600 figures all on display at once… it was quite the mission to get them all together and on display! *laughs*

The biggest thing to me about this event was the fact that I have looked over every single one of these figures from the prototypes to the final products. Looking over them I can tell you who sculpted most of them, which factory they were made at and even which figures had the production team up all night to get them finished. There are so many stories and memories within the figures for me.

I could see how dome of our sculptors have grown through the years which gave me a completely different experience to most people who came to the event – but it was such an enjoyable event for me all the same. I’m glad that everyone else who visited also seemed to enjoy it too!

We worked on Thunderbolt Fantasy Sword Seekers together with PILI in Taiwan as well as with Nitroplus who work in the same office building as GSC.

The fact that it was all puppets made for an interesting change and the fresh feel that came from it being made with help from across the ocean in Taiwan made it an amazing experience. What a great series it was!

We had seen the first episode a huge number of times during the production stages, but for some reason I could never get bored of watching it.

It really draws you in to the style so nicely, and Urobuchi’s story together with the fresh style of puppets comes together to create a nostalgic yet completely new genre. I hope those who watched it could appreciate the different kind of potential it holds compared to other genres like anime.

Grand Summoners has just started this December, but there are many plans for it throughout 2017 so be sure to give it a try! Playing with others through the multiplayer system is always such an enjoyable time!! We also have some plans for some other games, so look out for more news on that side as well!

That was one for the history books. The first day of the event was unfortunately bad weather which seemed like it would kill the mood of the event, but when Yoshihide took first place in his own country it really became an event to remember! We are already preparing for the next Red Bull Air Race in 2017!

Looking over the year as a whole, the overseas market definitely seemed strong in 2016. I believe that the ‘otaku’ industry as a whole has been working on the overseas markets for a long time and the seeds have finally bloomed for harvest. I also get the feeling a lot of the series have also started to take note of their overseas fans and tune the content to better appeal to them.

Well, GSC is becoming much more aware of this expansion in the market – it’s not like we are becoming completely reliant on the overseas market, but we definitely are paying more attention to our fans all over the world and not just those in Japan.

When looking at which content to add to our line-up we naturally start with series that will also reach the markets overseas. On the other hand we also have items that are only sold overseas – we were able to work on big names such as NARUTO for our overseas fans.

Overseas fans will often preserve the popularity of series that have already calmed down in Japan, and they help keep the charm of these older series alive – as well as the figures that are made from them! We try to find the items that are back in demand and get them out to the fans.

We’ve been walking a long path together with Miku-san, and I hope to celebrate her 10th anniversary in style! Look forward to it!

Ever since the first short episode was made for Anime Mirai, the popularity of the series has been known, and now it’s finally becoming a full anime series!

I really hope many people have this one on their watch lists – I’ve already been lucky enough to see the first few episodes through production and they are really amazingly done!! I can’t wait for everyone to see them!! *laughs*

I never though I would be working on a radio as a figure manufacturer, but we are helping out in various different fields and overcoming challenges with some amazing minds and the project has been a very fulfilling experience. Yet another product that was born from the passion of fans.

2016 was the Nendoroid 10th anniversary as well as the Good Smile Company 15th Anniversary – there were a lot of challenges we faced through the year, but you can be sure that we will face any and all challenges that come in 2017 as well and will strive to being everyone all sorts of excitement throughout the year!

Kahotan Blog Twitter Header Photo ~ Winter & Figures 2017 ~ E-mail: kahotan-b@goodsmile.jp – Title – Please add ‘Header OK’ to the title somewhere! – Body – ・Add a comment regarding your photo! It doesn’t have to be long, just where or why you took the photo! ・Add your nickname so you can be credited! – Photo – Take and attach a photo that includes GSC distributed figures that relates to the theme below! – Theme – Winter & Figures * Please only send your own work! * Your photo may be used as the header image on the @gsc_kahotan account from January 2017 ~ . * Your photo may be introduced on the blog, on Twitter, during a live broadcast or even put on display at events.

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（ ・∀・）　(See you all again…)
oノ∧つ⊂）
(（ ・∀・）　.｡oO（… in the New Year!)
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