The Blue Wolves of Mibu is an ongoing Weekly Shonen Magazine series that focuses on the rise of the Shinsengumi after its founding members split off from a larger group, the Roshigumi, after moving to and establishing themselves in Kyoto. The anime adaptation, whose title is being localized as Blue Miburo, is produced by MAHO Films and directed by Kumiko Habara, and set to debut in Fall 2024. The Shinsengumi are very well-known historical figures turned pop culture icons in Japan, with many popular interpretations of them appearing in works like Gintama and Rurouni Kenshin, so there is definitely an expectation that the anime will do very well with Japanese viewers and be one of the bigger titles of the Fall season in Japan. That said, Shinsengumi media isn’t as well-known outside Japan, and the series being both a period piece and about historical figures internationally viewers aren’t as familiar with may prove to be a challenge to the series finding an audience internationally.
That isn’t to say that the producers behind the Blue Miburo anime aren’t giving the show a promotional push in the U.S., far from it. Earlier in the summer, the Blue Miburo production team including director Habara premiered the show at Anime Expo and did a lot of press and promotional work there. Then they took the show to Otakon, showing the premiere of the show’s second episode alongside its first, and this time bringing along Shuichiro Umeda, who plays the main character of the series, Nio, a fictional addition to the Kyoto Roshigumi’s ranks. Appearing at both events was producer Hiroya Nakata, an animation producer from YTV, who brought alongside him Otakon associate producer Nozomi Shimakura from MAHO Films.
I’d previously had the chance to interview Habara and Nakata at Anime Expo about Blue Miburo, but I wasn’t able to attend the premiere panel there, so going to their Otakon event was my first experience watching the show. Having read the manga, I felt that they did a decent job of replicating the character designs into animation and found the pacing of the story solid. Unfortunately, I found that the animation was only serviceable, the shot compositions were a bit flat, and the overall aesthetic functional but a bit flat. Compared to the manga, which impressed me with some of its strong expressive linework and impactful page compositions and paneling, I didn’t find the visual storytelling of the show particularly impressive in the first two episodes. The series’ color sense seems to play better the darker the setting, literally, as I found the show has a better color script and mood-setting during the nighttime scenes than in the daytime ones. Director Habara makes some very thoughtful choices with the pacing and framing of the material, like including a framing of the character of Shinpachi regaling the story of the origins of the Shinsengumi to some kids in the first episode, and in the attention to detail in the backgrounds and setting elements of Blue Miburo that bring a sense of authenticity to the depiction of the series’ Bakumatsu time-period. But in an age where action anime live and die on their sakuga and visual impressiveness, it does feel like Blue Miburo will fall short of catching many anime fans’ attention.
However, the crowd watching the first two episodes at Otakon appeared to enjoy them, particularly the show’s more comedic and emotional moments. If there’s one standout element to Blue Miburo, it is its vocal cast, particularly Umeda as Nio, who is able to imbue the character with earnest and gentle goodnaturedness, as well as express his passionate frustration during the show’s most memorable scene, when Nio lashes out at the unfairness of the worlds adults have created for kids. Emotionally, Nio wanting to join the Roshigumi to become stronger to protect the weak and make the world a safer place for the most weak and vulnerable is compelling, and I feel it’s the show’s character writing and sense of humor that is going to factor the most in it attracting viewership overseas. Though I feel it’s still going to be a challenge to generate awareness for Blue Miburo, as even with Shuichiro Umeda present, the room was only about a third-full for the Blue Miburo screening at Otakon.
After the screening, the panel turned to a Q&A session with Umeda, Nakata, and Shimakura. Reflecting on what he took away from portraying Nio in the series, Umeda felt like he understood what it was like to live in that time-period. He felt that though there are action scenes, the anime is more about how Nio and the Shinsengumi felt throughout their actions – what they were thinking and feeling, and the human drama elements. Umeda hopes fans will be able to appreciate the work for those elements.
Nakata noted that from the first two episodes, you can tell there are jokes and serious and heartwarming moments in equal measure, and he encourages viewers to continue watching for those moments. While he wouldn’t reveal who would be performing the opening and ending theme songs for the show, he did tease that they are perfomed by famous Japanese bands and written specifically for the show. From the perspective of animation production, Shimakura noted that there were a lot of challenging action scenes, but they had animators who are good at depicting them and who were able to infuse their own experiences with martial arts and swordplay into the show. In particular, Shimakura really loved the sumo scene in episode 2 for both its humor and the execution of the movements themselves.
During the Q&A, a fan of the manga complimented Umeda’s performance during Nio’s climactic speech at the end of the first episode. This was also Umeda’s favorite scene. Regarding getting into the head of a young boy like Nio, Umeda said that while age separation is common in casting, he put himself in the mindset of how a kid that age would’ve acted, and how he himself would act in that situation.
Umeda closed the family by thanking the audience for coming. He says that though many folks may not be familiar with the Shinsengumi, he hopes fans will get to know them by watching the show. Umeda’s favorite part about the Shinsengumi members is how everyone is so cheerful and goofy, but he thinks Kamo Serizawa is the character to really pay attention to, and see what goes on with him past the end of episode two. Shimakura thanked the crowd for coming to this screening of the first two episodes, and promises that the main themes haven’t been featured yet, and that the main plot is yet to come. She joked that cosplayers of Nio and the other Miburo characters should gather around and Sumo each other like in the second episode. Nakata concludes the panel by thanking fans for coming. He emphasized that the cast members are great and the best is yet to come, and he hopes fans will pick up the show and follow it. Shimakura promises that the show has wonderful music and voice acting, and that they will keep up the quality of the animation to match.
The panel ended with a group photo. For the occasion, I held up my copy of The Blue Wolves of Mibu volume one, which I’d brought knowing the Blue Miburo team would be doing autographs later in the weekend. Nakata noticed that I’d brought the first volume and looked very pleased. He also seemed to recognize me from when I interviewed him previously at Anime Expo. After the panel, Nakata surprised me by coming up to talk to me and thank me for coming. There was a bit of a communication mishap as I tried to thank him in turn and tell him I hope he’d have a good weekend at the con, which I don’t think he quite understood at first. But it was a nice gesture for him to say hi to me, and I’m glad he appreciated that I came and brought the first volume of the manga to hold up for the picture.
Of course, that wasn’t the last time I saw Nakata during the weekend. I would see him twice more, the next time being for my interview with him, Shimakura, and Umeda on the following day. During the interview, I asked the team about their thoughts on bringing the show to Otakon versus Anime Expo, the themes viewers should pay attention to in the show, and the psychology of Nio’s character. Unfortunately, I ran out of time to ask Shimakura a specific question, but Nakata and Umeda’s responses were quite thoughtful and showed they have a genuine emotional and intellectual investment in the show, which was encouraging to see. Read the full interview below for their thoughts on Blue Miburo!
The following questions and responses have been edited for brevity, clarity, and emphasis.
Interview with Shuichiro Umeda, Hiroya Nakata, & Nozomi Shimakura | Blue Miburo | Otakon 2024
Manga Mavericks: We are here at Otakon with the team of The Blue Wolves of Miburo! We are here with Shuichiro Umeda, who plays Nio in the series, associate producer Nozomi Shimakura, and producer Hiroya Nakata. Thank you very much for taking the time to talk with me today about this really anticipated new series coming out this Fall!
Blue Miburo Team: Thank you very much.
MM: Nakata-san, since you were at Anime Expo, I was wondering about your thoughts on the experience of presenting the series there as compared to here at Otakon, and the differences between what you may have noticed in the fan reactions to the premiere?
Nakata: So, at Anime Expo, we only premiered the first episode. However, at Otakon, we did both the first and second episode. And with the second episode, it does come with more comedic moments, those kind of gag moments and funny kinda things that had an excellent reaction from our audience. So I believe the Otakon reaction was better in that sense.
MM: I think the sumo scene played really well in particular.
Nakata: Yes, yes!
(everyone laughs)
MM: As you mentioned towards the end of the panel, in the first two episodes the themes of the series haven’t really fully come into play. What are you looking forward to fans seeing as the show develops in terms of the central themes?
Akina Hirakawa (Interpreter): I’m sorry, did you say at the very end that you want to know if he wants to have, or like, what he feels it’s gonna be like for the themes?
MM: Oh, what he hopes fans will pay attention to in terms of what themes will be explored.
Nakata: So, Blue Miburo is about the Shinsengumi. There is a historic basis, but it’s kind of historical fiction obviously. And one of the main running themes throughout the story is going to be about death and coming to your end, and how you live, and how you fight to survive. And throughout various different shinsengumi works, it’s kind of varied, but in this one we kind of feel it’s more about the comradery and the youth of growing up in this kind of age. And hopefully, that will translate to “how can I live now, and fight for another day, in this modern age?”
MM: Yeah, I think that’s explored really well in the series. In particular, through Nio’s character. And so, Umeda-san, I’m wondering in terms of thinking about the weight of what’s going through Nio’s life as someone who’s joining the Roshigumi, what was it like getting into the mindset of his character and conveying the emotionality of the situation he’s in, particularly in the speech at the end of episode one?
Akina: I’m sorry, what did you say he joined? I couldn’t hear you.
MM: Oh, the Roshigumi. The predecessor-
Akina: Roshigumi?
MM: Yeah, before the Shinsengumi was established.
Akina: You want to know how he felt or how he prepared?
MM: How he got into Nio’s mindset.
Akina [prefacing before relaying Umeda’s response]: So, it kind of went off topic here, but I’m going to try and hit everything.
MM: (laughs) Alright.
Umeda: Obviously we live in the same Japan, but it’s very different versions of Japan. I live in modern Japan, he lives in very different times, and where his character has grown up in family that he’s not blood-related to yet, he has so much strong familial love for his (adopted) grandmother and his sister, and he really values and really wants to take care of them and protect them. But, because of this age, life is so fragile. Like, you don’t know what can happen, and what position (you have) in society can really dictate what you can and can’t do. You can’t necessarily protect everyone you want to protect.
And, you know, Nio is a very smart boy, and he kind of realizes all these things while this is happening. But because he only has so much power, there’s only so many things he can do. But he has this realization through all of these things happening, how it is. But through meeting Hijikata and Okita, he kinda starts to (think) “okay, maybe there’s more things. I don’t have to just suppress being such a young boy. I can actually start branching out on my own.” And it’s… sorry, it’s kind of gone off from the main question, but it’s just thinking about how he grows with meeting Hijikata and Okita was really deep, and hard, to get in his heart.
Obviously, Nio meets various characters from the Roshigumi and there’s lots of different lines between everyone, and the main reason he wants to get stronger is to be able to protect. That is his main goal and his drive. And he’s questioning “what is justice?” What is, you know, questioning life and values and things. But, rather than running away from it despite being terrified and scared, he’s facing it head-on and learning through all these things, through meeting everyone in the Roshigumi.
Akina`: I’m sorry, I think we’re out of time.
MM: Yeah. I’m sorry, I’m afraid it looks like we’re out of time… I want to thank you for your time. Sumimasen [to Shimakura-san, for not being able to get to my questions for her].
Umeda: I’m sorry, I talked so deeply!
MM: No, no, no, that’s alright!
Shimakura: Thank you!
On the following day, I met with Nakata for the final time for the weekend when I attended the Blue Miburo team’s autograph session, getting Nakata, Umeda, and Shimakura’s signatures on my copy of The Blue Wolves of Mibu volume one. I’m glad they enjoyed the interview, and was glad to have had the opportunity to meet them so many times over the weekend. I’ve really been enjoying The Blue Wolves of Mibu manga, and while the first two episodes of Blue Miburo didn’t blow me away, hearing the creative team speak about the show on the panel and talking to them about it makes me confident in their enthusiasm and dedication to making the Blue Miburo anime an entertaining interpretation and exploration of the Shinsengumi’s formation and early days in a compelling story that will cross borders and unite hearts.
Thanks again to the Blue Miburo team, interpreter Akina Hirakawa, and Otakon press relations staff for their help in making this interview possible!
