The Anime Expo Lite panel revealed some information and details about the anime and also the original game's production. I transcribed the most important quotes from it below:
On the team's intention of the game becoming an Anime:
Hirano: "We started developing the project in 2006, so it was 14 years ago, but we were always hoping that it would become an Anime one day. Back then, there were many games that came out at the same time as Anime for cross promotion, but there weren’t any where the games came out first and then the Anime later. So that’s one reason why it took so long"
The original Japanese voice actors are back:
Hirano: (…) "we have the whole video game team backing up this project 100%. Even with the voice actors. I heard that the main voice actors will be from the original Japanese cast, so the Anime has the same kind of back-up."
New music was created for the Anime. It is almost complete:
Ishimoto:"Well, I created the music 14, 15 years ago. And I’ve of course aged a bit since then. As the music is for Anime this time, I wanted to do something new, but at the same time keep my originality. (…) The music is casual. It’s not so formal and rigid. This time the music was for Anime, and from a different time period, so I created music based on my taste but I also discussed with the sound director. I also discussed intimately with the director while adding my originality in the music as well, so I think it is coming out pretty good. 90% is complete."
About the Anime's visuals:
Ichikawa:"It seems like it ended up being a bit different from the original, but that’s because it’s Anime. I wanted to keep the feeling of the original game, but at the same time keep it a bit more pop for Anime."
(...) "There are parts that are 3D CG."
Part of the movie section of the original 2007 video game was cut to include more songs:
Kando:"I really liked the image of hearing various music while walking through the streets of Shibuya, like a jukebox. One day a music piece provided to me for a battle scene had singing in it. This had a huge impact on me and I thought it would be pretty cool to have singing in the background during a battle scene. And then I realized that this would be a unique feature of the game. So we decided to cut the movie portion, and use all the memory on the songs."
Fusion moves are in the Anime:
Ichikawa: "I feel there were some outlandish killer moves in the game."
Kando: "Yes, that’s right."
Ichikawa: "Why is that? How did those moves come about?"
Kando: "The characters were very distinct, so when we thought of killer moves that would suit them, they became more and more outlandish."
"It definitely was outlandish."
"They were also surfing."
Ichikawa: "Yes, so we worked hard to adapt these into the Anime world without making it look unrealistic, but at the same time not disappoint the fans."
On if the Anime story is going to unfold like the game:
Ichikawa: "So, that’s part of the highlight of the Anime so I can’t really tell you. But If you play the whole game it will take tens of hours to complete. Since we compress it into the Anime time frame, we adjust things as well. So, some parts we keep and some parts we change on purpose, and all in all we hope you enjoy the series."
On the original story's complexity:
Ichikawa: "The original story was very complicated, wasn’t it? I really felt that when I was adapting it into the Anime. There weren’t any stories that were so complicated back then, were there? Even after completing the game, I remember still trying to organize my thoughts on it. I feel that there will be people who will understand the story 100%, and those who won’t, but was that on purpose?"
Kando: "That was a tough theme during development as well. It became increasingly hard to keep all the stories tied together logically, so even after the game was completed, we went back and made sure that the scenarios made logical sense. We called that debugging."
Ichikawa: "Were you thinking of making the story really complicated from the beginning?"
Kando: "No, we didn’t plan on making it complicated. We based the concept on how the boys and girls trapped in Shibuya were going to survive. We then added various scenarios that would always change so it seemed like you were on a roller coaster. As a result, it became a really complicated story."
Ichikawa: "To that point, the Anime also feels like a roller coaster. Things unfold unexpectedly for sure. I think the fans and players of the original game would enjoy this aspect."
On if the 2007 Shibuya or the current 2020 Shibuya will be used in the Anime:
Ichikawa: "It’s based on Shibuya today. So, the buildings have changed from the game in the Anime. But there are still a few key buildings from the game that remain the same from 2007. Therefore it would be a mix of the two worlds.
Hirano: "The cell phones have changed to smart phones as well."
Ichikawa: "Yes. I tried to make it so that the current users won’t feel the Anime as being old. (…) I thought about making it nostalgic and keeping (Shibuya) the same as it was, but then I realized that the users today might not even have seen a flip phone."
Source: Anime Expo on YouTube
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