Kazumi Takayama Expresses Gratitude as Debut Novel Turns into Anime: "Filled with Gratitude"
Kazumi Takayama, a former member of Nogizaka46, expressed her joy at the anime adaptation of her debut novel during the pre-screening stage greetings for the movie "Trapezium" held in Tokyo on the 25th.
The original work, "Trapezium," is a coming-of-age novel by Takayama that began serialization in 2016 in the magazine "Da Vinci" and was published as a book in 2018. The story follows a high school student, Yu Azuma, who dreams of becoming an idol and gathers beautiful girls from all directions to pursue her dreams. Reflecting Takayama's own experiences and struggles as a member of a top idol group, the novel has resonated with readers through its fresh, realistic, and passionate prose, achieving a major hit with a total of 300,000 copies sold.
Regarding the anime adaptation of her debut work, Takayama remarked, "It was released about six years ago, so I wrote it even earlier. I am filled with gratitude that something I wrote back then has turned into something so big." She added, "I'm delighted to have received advice from professionals, and it was nice to have insights into sceneries and atmospheres not visible in the novel. I've tried to respond to that feedback in my contributions."
Director Masahiro Shinohara recalled the production process, "The script was packed with flavor and edge, so we took care to preserve that. We exchanged ideas from the scripting stage, hoping to include elements that Takayama couldn't fully explore in the novel in the anime." Takayama shared, "The first meeting was four years ago during the COVID-19 pandemic. We had a lot of discussions."
A video message from Hideo Itami, played by Teruyoshi Uchimura, also arrived. Uchimura praised, "I was surprised that Kazumi Takayama is a novelist. It was a wonderful book," and expressed hope that viewers would enjoy the show, "The entire series is infused with Kazumi Takayama's essence."
The event also featured appearances by Asaki Yukiwaka, Shoya Kinomoto (JO1), and was hosted by Aoi Harada, an announcer from Fuji TV.