Talking to toco toco tv

Date: 2017 January 25 16:12

Posted by Joe

We've interviewed a lot of interesting people in the anime industry over the years and were delighted when we discovered the mini-documentary show toco toco tv. The series available on YouTube has a simple and effective format they talk to various Japanese creators and introduce places they like in Japan while telling the viewer about their work.

The show is aired on the French TV channel Nolife since 2011 and YouTube (with English and French subtitles) since 2015.

Being intrigued about the show we wanted to know more, so decided to interview Anne Ferrero the show's director.

Full Story

What is toco toco TV?

toco toco is a show where Japanese creators introduce places they like in Japan and their work.

How did it get started?

I was working in a small cable channel in France called « Nolife ». It’s an independent channel about geek and otaku culture. In September 2011, I moved to Japan and was looking for a tv show for the channel I could make on my own from scratch.

Even though I had limited skills in camera and editing at the time, the show kept on for 3 years. Then, in September 2014, I met people in Tokyo who offered to help the show grow not only in France, but on a global scale too. Currently, we have a small production team and we started to air the show on Youtube with English and French subtitles.

In August 2015 for the 5 years of the show, we decided to change the format of the show from a variety-oriented style to a documentary style, which allowed us to add more depth to our episodes.

Out of all the people you've interviewed who was the most surprising?

The most surprising was probably the game creator Swery65.

He took us to his favorite bars in Osaka which happen to be direct inspirations to his games such as « Deadly Premonition » or « D4 ». All the team keeps a great memory from this episode.

What sort of lengths do you have to go to in order to arrange interviews with all these guests?

It depends a lot from the people. For example, for creators I know personally it can be quite quick and easy to organize. However, our guests are sometimes people whom I like the work but never met, in that case we contact them to know if their interested to participate. Depending on their schedule or if they are a part of a big company, it can take some time before being able to shoot.

Other preparation also includes getting the authorizations to shoot in the places they would like to introduce in the show.

Is there anyone you'd really like to interview?

Currently the person I would like to interview the most is Fumito Ueda, the creator of Ico, Shadow of the Colossus and most recently The Last Guardian.

Does it take much time to create a new episode?

The preparation before the shoot takes a couple of weeks, sometimes more depending of the guests’ schedules. The shoot itself would usually take a whole day, then we’ll take about a week for the editing, translating and finalization for the TV broadcast, then Youtube broadcast.

It’s not a full-time project for the moment but since it’s aired every two weeks, the pace is quite fast.

What do you find the most difficult aspect of producing Toco Toco TV?

Well, one of the most difficult aspect is to keep on the schedule.

The program is aired every weeks on TV an almost simultaneously on Youtube (1st & 15th of each month). This pace is quite fast so we are constantly researching for next episode, shooting, editing and everything around. We are a very small team and everyone is also working of other projects.

What have you got planned next?

We will be actively working on increasing the quality of the show, and having guests whose work is already known overseas, while we also keep introducing Japanese creators who are lesser known for our viewers to discover their work.

Are you working on any other projects?

In July 2016, i released a full-length documentary called « Branching Paths » about Japan’s indie game scene.

The documentary follows the birth of Japan’s indie game scene between september 2013 and september 2015.

It’s available on Steam (streaming), Playism (download) and Vimeo on Demand (download) with english subtitles.

There’s also some new projects which will be out soon.

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Otaku News would like to thank Anne Ferrero and the team at toco toco tv for this interview.

Source: Otaku News