{"rewrite":{"id":"r_119f8a098e4757dbfe76560f","clusterId":"c_4486c0043e3788fea7617654","slug":"wit-studio-s-kyoji-asano-traces-seven-bears-design-to-manami-hyuga","model":"deepseek-v4-1-flash","headline":"WIT STUDIO's Kyoji Asano Traces Seven Bears Design to Manami Hyuga","summary":"Character designer Kyoji Asano, who handled the Seven Bears designs for Odoru Daisosasen N.E.W. Run Through the Metropolis!, says the concept came from producer Chihiro Kameyama and director Katsuyuki Motohiro. Pride was designed first. The evil soul bursting from a plush toy's abdomen draws on Manami Hyuga, and Asano also describes a hidden bear-people backstory that was cut.","whyItMatters":"The interview ties the Seven Bears designs inside the film to the series' own villain history and to a bear-people premise that was dropped before release, showing how much of the on-screen concept was discarded or reshaped during production.","webCardHtml":"\u003cp\u003eAsano says the design brief arrived from two directions. Kameyama sent a memo outlining a bear kingdom with a white bear as king, while Motohiro asked for something a little cute but eerie, with an unbalanced feel and an eerie face. Design work started with Pride, the bear in the protagonist position.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe abdomen detail comes from Manami Hyuga, the killer from the first Odoru Daisosasen film, where a teddy bear is stuffed into a victim\u0026#39;s stomach. Asano proposed a bear-people backstory with souls of criminals possessing plush toys. It was not adopted.\u003c/p\u003e","blueskyPost":"Pride was the first Seven Bear Kyoji Asano designed, and its evil soul bursting from a plush toy's abdomen draws on Manami Hyuga. The bear-people backstory he wrote was cut before it reached the screen.","twitterPost":"Kyoji Asano designed Pride first. The evil soul bursting from its abdomen draws on Manami Hyuga, and the bear-people backstory was cut.","threadsPost":"Kyoji Asano built the Seven Bears outward from Pride, the first one he designed, and its evil soul bursting from a plush toy's abdomen draws on Manami Hyuga. The bear-people backstory he describes never made it to the screen, which leaves the cut material as the part of the design work nobody saw.","newsletterBlurb":"Kyoji Asano, who designed the Seven Bears characters for Odoru Daisosasen N.E.W. Run Through the Metropolis!, says the concepts came from producer Chihiro Kameyama and director Katsuyuki Motohiro. Design work started with Pride, and the evil soul bursting from a plush toy's abdomen draws on Manami Hyuga from the first film. Asano also describes a bear-people backstory that was not used.","attributionJson":"[{\"source\":\"Cinema Today\",\"url\":\"https://www.cinematoday.jp/news/N0157089\",\"title\":\"The Presence of Manami Hyuga Behind the Birth of the Seven Bears: WIT STUDIO's Kyoji Asano Reveals Design Secrets of \\\"Odoru Daisosasen N.E.W.\\\"\"}]","lintFlagsJson":null,"lintHits":0,"costUsd":0,"inputTokens":4774,"outputTokens":649,"status":"published","repairAttempts":0,"nextRepairAt":null,"factsAttemptedAt":1791763629,"createdAt":"2026-10-12T00:01:51.000Z","publishedAt":"2026-10-12T00:06:06.000Z","updatedAt":"2026-10-12T00:06:06.000Z"},"cluster":{"id":"c_4486c0043e3788fea7617654","canonicalTitle":"『踊る大捜査線 N.E.W.』セブンベア誕生の裏に日向真奈美の存在　WIT STUDIO浅野恭司が明かすデザイン秘話","representativeArticleId":"a_b034a44e84f171c9035b9226","sourceCount":1,"writtenSourceCount":1,"writeAttempts":0,"isSolo":true,"entitiesJson":"{\"anime_titles\":[],\"manga_titles\":[],\"work_titles\":[\"Bayside Shakedown N.E.W.\",\"Seven Bear\"],\"studios\":[\"WIT STUDIO\"],\"people\":[\"Kyōji Asano\",\"Manami Hyūga\"],\"type\":\"news\",\"domain\":\"anime\",\"is_roundup\":false}","contentType":"news","status":"published","firstSeenAt":"2026-10-11T22:02:00.000Z","lastSeenAt":"2026-10-11T22:02:00.000Z","updatedAt":"2026-10-12T00:06:06.000Z"},"attribution":[{"source":"Cinema Today","url":"https://www.cinematoday.jp/news/N0157089","title":"『踊る大捜査線 N.E.W.』セブンベア誕生の裏に日向真奈美の存在　WIT STUDIO浅野恭司が明かすデザイン秘話"}],"entities":{"anime_titles":[],"manga_titles":[],"work_titles":["Bayside Shakedown N.E.W.","Seven Bear"],"studios":["WIT STUDIO"],"people":["Kyōji Asano","Manami Hyūga"],"type":"news","domain":"anime","is_roundup":false},"keyFacts":null}