The Secret Story Behind the Creation of Lemon & Sugar

Lemon & Sugar and the Creator's
Sweet and slightly sour creative journey

During his time at art school, his video works were recognized at several international film festivals. Although he was not an animation major, he was deeply impressed by the many international works he encountered at the film festivals. He was happy with the professional jury's evaluations, but the works that won audience awards left a particularly strong impression. He was struck by the power of works that made the audience laugh, cry, and give standing ovations.

Seeing works that moved people's hearts across different races and cultures, the sight was dazzling to him at the time. Although his own works were praised for their beautiful sounds and images, they lacked a narrative. So he decided to challenge himself to create works with a story.

He realized that in order to create works that touch the heart, not only is an excellent story needed, but also characters to perform that story. This experience led him to join a character production company.

However, after entering society and being caught up in busy days, he realized he was drifting away from what he wanted to do. He had always been relatively skillful but had a temperament that didn't continue deeply into one thing (recently, he was somewhat relieved to learn the term "multipotentialite"). He admired people like Charles M. Schulz of PEANUTS, Takashi Yanase of Anpanman, and director Hayao Miyazaki, who continued to do one thing until they became old.

When he had children, he didn't want to show them a version of himself that wasn't doing what he loved, so he decided to challenge himself once again while continuing his job. He set a new goal for himself, utilizing his skills as a designer: "Create characters loved by people all over the world." And he aimed to create a work that he could continue to enjoy for a lifetime, even if it didn't sell.

However, he once again faced the problem of needing a story. A single character couldn't generate a story, and at least two or more characters were needed. Instead of creating similar characters that wouldn't advance the story, he came up with characters with contrasting settings. The balance of Lemon-chan and Sugar-kun's eyes, noses, ribbons, ears, and contours is all designed in contrast. The personality settings were not initially decided, but when the characters' pictures were lined up, their relationships naturally emerged.

Ten years after graduating from university, he was finally able to create "Lemon & Sugar," a work he wanted to continue for a lifetime.

It may seem like a detour, but his self-taught animation learning experience and various design skills cultivated through work have been useful. Looking back, everything was a necessary time and experience. When he firmly decided to make Lemon & Sugar his life's work in 2015, many people mysteriously began to cooperate.

Through these two, he wants to challenge various things. He is excited to give Lemon-chan and Sugar-kun wonderful experiences and is working on new projects with this exhilarating feeling.

In 2024, Lemon & Sugar will celebrate their 10th anniversary.
He would be happy if you could warmly watch over the story that will unfold from now on. He is also looking forward to hearing from licensees and partners who will support the growth of Lemon & Sugar together.

Let's expand the sweet and slightly sour world of these two together!

LEMONA DESIGN ｜ Daiki Aizawa