“I got swept away”: Hirotaka Mori Knew Only After the First Volume’s Release that Heavenly Delusion was in Desperate Need of an Anime Adaptation
Heavenly Delusion was a wild ride from the beginning to the end. The series is set in an apocalyptic future where the civilizations of the world crashed in an event called The Collapse. Then, fifteen years ago, a mysterious event took place that was called the Great Disaster. Although nobody seemed to know what had happened, after that point, man-eating monsters began to roam the world.
In this series, we follow the story of two teenagers- Maru and Kiruko- as they set out to unravel the mysteries of their world. The characters are well planned out and have a level of depth; the visuals are stunning; and the plot is structured brilliantly. And we all have to thank the director, Hirotaka Mori, for the animation.
Hirotaka Mori Pitched Heavenly Delusion Much Later
In an interview with Crunchyroll, director Hirotaka Mori talks about adapting Heavenly Delusion into an anime series. Although Mori is a fresh face in the industry, he is undoubtedly talented for producing a work like Heavenly Delusion. Crunchyroll News had the opportunity to speak to Mori virtually during his visit to Anime Central about his process.
In the conversation that followed, Mori was asked how he got involved with this project, to which he replied:
I was always a fan of the manga artist Masakazu Ishiguro. I started reading Heavenly Delusion when the serial started, but then I got swept away with work and was too busy to continue to follow the series. It was when volume 1 came out that I got to read Heavenly Delusion again, and I immediately pitched this project.
Thankfully, Mori saw the need to adapt this stellar manga, which gave the fans a lot to appreciate about. Mori also stated that Skygrazer and Nemurubaka (The Sleeping Idiot) are his other favorite works by Masakazu Ishiguro.
Hirotaka Mori Felt That Heavenly Delusion Had The Capability To Withstand Distinct Styles
The interviewer commented that they found one thing in particular interesting about Heavenly Delusion and that is the sequences were very different in style from the rest, such as Wenlin Zhang’s opening credits sequence or Kai Ikarashi’s episode. But these sequences still feel very much like a part of Heavenly Delusion even though they are different in style.
The interviewer asked Mori how his team found the right balance. Mori replied:
Knowing that these individuals have distinct styles is something I can rely on. Normally this kind of variety would not be approved, but I knew that Heavenly Delusion was a story that could withstand that variety. The core of the story is that the world is in chaos. This was made possible through the support of the art director [Yuji Kaneko] and the director of photography [Kentarou Waki].
The interviewer also asked Mori what part of Heavenly Delusion’s production he found to be most difficult, and Mori responded that there were many challenges, but the biggest challenge was wrapping up the story arc in Season 1. The manga was still ongoing, but the show had to wrap up. This was around the time when Volume 4 of the manga was out. But the challenge was that they had to give it some kind of continuity, ending, and development.
