8Bit/Digi
An Insight for Bay Area Gamers
The Island of Giant Insects: US Premier and a Talk With Producer Tatsuya Ishiguro was an event exclusive to Crunchyroll Expo 2019.
The theme may have been New Crunchy City, but horror dominated Crunchyroll Expo 2019 with events like the premier of The Island of Giant Insects.
The Island of Giant Insects: US Premier and a Talk With Producer Tatsuya Ishiguro was both an insightful panel and a premier exclusive to Crunchyroll Expo 2019. Due to the mature content of the OVA, this panel was only open to guests +18 years of age.
The panel starts with the showing of a new trailer for the OVA features more grotesque moments while building up the hype. This is followed with a Q&A session with Tatsuya Ishiguro, the producer of The Island of Giant Insects. This was a chance for the audience to learn about how the team was able to create the OVA while also the steps they took to be faithful to the source material.
One of the first key talking points during the session was Ishiguro’s fascination with military fiction and how they wanted to incorporate that into the OVA. Another key topic looked at was having to study insect biology as means to better understand the world they wanted to create. The session ends with words of wisdom on why we should not fear insects but instead take the time to learn about them.
The Island of Giant Insects begins right away with Oribe Mutsumi and her classmates having encountered several giant insects with deadly results while Naruse Chitose is snatched by a wasp. The situation is made worse when Kamijo Atsushi attempts to take charge of the group and encourages the survivors to abandon their classmates.
Mutsumi with the help of Matsuoka Ayumi are able to convince the group to make an effort to save their classmates. They are successful in saving some while also forced to watch the others suffer a grotesque fate. After making a clean escape, they end up in a tick nest and the premier ends on a cliffhanger.
This first episode introduces audiences to the core characters along with setting up the foundation for who are the protagonist and antagonists. Also fans got more questions than answers with plenty of lewd carnage.
After the premier, Ishiguro made a surprise announcement. has started a Kickstarter to raise funds for a cinematic adaptation. The film will take the OVA and condense it into a single movie. At the moment, the team is unclear if they would aim for a PG-13 rating or go all out for a hard R-rating.
The Island of Giant Insects: US Premier and a Talk With Producer Tatsuya Ishiguro was one of many panels and premiers during the Crunchyroll Expo 2019 weekend.
Disclaimer: Crunchyroll provided me with press passes for the weekend.
This special report is part of 8Bit/Digi‘s coverage of Crunchyroll Expo 2019. If you attended the event, please share your thoughts in the comment section below.
Stan Rezaee is the founder and Editor of 8Bit/Digi. He is a journalist and gamer from the Bay Area who has been writing about the medium for over five years.
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