An Interview With Indie Anime Film ‘Let Them Breathe: City On The Ocean’ Creator Candice Rogers
by Anna Lindwasser
Let Them Breathe: City on the Ocean is an independent anime film that will be premiering in Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Burbank, Las Vegas, Austin, Houston, Chicago, Indianapolis, Atlanta, Orange County, CA, San Luis Obispo, Las Vegas and New York City.
This feature-length film is directed, produced, written and animated by Texan artist and animator Candice Rogers. The director is a long-time anime fan who has been exploring the series’ zombie-addled world through multiple mediums, including animation and video games.
The film tells the story of Jesse Chen, a teenage boy whose seemingly ordinary trip to school results in his spending two years unconscious. Having lost his entire family and the safe world he once knew, Jesse follows an oceanic path to discover a makeshift city.
To create a manga-like appearance, Rogers uses cel shading animation, which manipulates a 3D object into a 2D image. The cast is diverse, and includes Japanese actress Yumiko Daniel, who plays Jesse, among other characters. She also played Jesse’s mother in Let Them Breathe: Hello Mother, a video game on Steam that’s set in the same world. Another video game, Selena’s Awakening, is set to come out in Fall of this year.
I had the privilege of seeing an advance screening of Let Them Breathe: City on the Ocean and interviewing Rogers. Her responses were thorough and incisive. Take a look:
Anna Lindwasser: How did you get your start in animation?
Candice Rogers: College was when I began animating. It was something I could learn on my own by using freeware, and the software that was of course provided for me during my education. Software like Blender and Krita allowed me to experiment with different forms of animation styles. From the very beginning, I was heavily inspired by Japanese animation, anime. It wasn’t until I went back to care for my late mom, I was able to truly focus on animating with the little experience and budget I had, which in turn led to the web series.
Lindwasser: One thing I liked about the film was the fact that Jesse speaks Japanese at home, even though that doesn’t “match” the origins of his last name. This is something that happens all the time in real life but is often left out of fiction for simplicity’s sake. My own last name doesn’t reflect the entirety of my background, so I resonated with this detail. What inspired you to include it?
Rogers: Many people are fascinated by where they come from, what’s in their blood. Jesse is second gen and he never thought too far on why he had the last name he had. The imagery of a family sitting amongst one another to talk about their lineage is something to be proud of. Mr. Chen never had any regret or guilt for what his family did to ensure prosperity even if that meant going from one country. Mr. Chen wanted his sons to have the American dream regardless of the sacrifice it may have on their identity.
Lindwasser: How did you land on the art and animation style that you chose?
Rogers: The style and art is an influence between cell shading, my favorite render technique within Blender and then anime/manga art and design. There was just no way I could do a 2D animation mainly because I prefer 3D animation, yet at the same time I wanted to keep the style a bit traditional to that of anime. Cell shading gives an illusion of 2D to a 3D object. It’s something I quite fancy.
Lindwasser: Can you talk a little bit about the themes you wanted to explore with this story?
Rogers: Family, love and loss are a given in such genres of an apocalypse, but friendship was the biggest theme I wanted to explore and this is because of how important friendship is to me. One friend, we’ve been best friends since we were 11. Another friend, we’ve been best friends for 14 years. And yes, both are men. Because it’s something I’ve experienced: being best friends with someone as a kid to now as an adult, it’s one of my favorite themes to write about.
I wanted to show a story of just how important friendship was to Jesse. He cares deeply for Selena; he loves Selena and at that point in time, all he cares about is cherishing her friendship and Selena feels the same way.
Lindwasser: What got you interested in anime to begin with? Do you have any favorites? Were there any anime or other media that influenced Let Them Breathe?
Rogers: What originally got me interested in anime was Power Rangers and other projects from Saban Ent( VR Troopers, Beetleburgs, Mystic Knights, etc) which introduced me to martial arts and Japanese content. Upon growing out of Power Rangers, Pokemon came onto the scene and I fell in love with the style of animation, the story telling, the over exaggeration of movements and facial expressions, and I needed more! Sailor Moon and Demon Slayer are by far my favorites followed by Naruto and Boruto.
Zombie apocalypse media like Resident Evil, The Last of Us, and of course The Walking Dead inspired Let Them Breathe. We know what happens before and during an apocalypse, but I haven’t come across much or any content of what happens once there’s a cure and once there’s a vaccine and Let Them Breathe touches on that…well, will touch on it even further.
Lindwasser: The film included multiple sequences that featured only animation and music, no dialog. It had an interesting surreal effect that helped the film stand out. What led you to include those sequences?
Rogers: Since I was a kid and when I could write, I was always critiqued and told to “show more and tell less”. This is funny because anime tends to have a lot of talking. Full on scenes where characters are just sitting or standing while talking. I remember watching the Attack on Titan movie and so many scenes were three to five minutes of the characters standing and talking…that’s it, but music, music can make the audience feel something words lack the ability to do. These original score scenes allow the audience to immerse themselves into the characters; whereas words often leave the audience beyond the fourth wall.
Lindwasser: Why did Jesse’s teacher become so disdainful when he learned that Jesse’s father lived in Japan? I have some ideas, but I’m interested in what you hoped to convey.
The Teacher has generational trauma and is a nationalist; two things Jesse is quite oblivious to. Still, it doesn’t stop the Teacher from letting out his anger on Jesse due to the sins of a nation’s past. One could even say the scene was a foreshadow…
Lindwasser: Selena’s attempts to protect Jesse by not telling him what she knew while advising him to be careful created an interesting dynamic between the two characters. Can you expand on their relationship?
Rogers: Jesse and Selena are best friends who have the potential to be more yet are completely satisfied with their relationship as is. In fact, Selena appeared in episode three of the web series, and what made me do this story was episode 3 was the most popular on YouTube with about 20,000 some odd views and with the most likes. So I figured people must really like them.
Lindwasser: What, if anything, can you share about your plans for the future of the Let Them Breathe universe?
Rogers: There’s going to be another video game, if the sun don’t set and the creek don’t rise. This video game will focus on one of the characters of the web series, and it will take place in South Korea. Unlike the previous two games excluding horror, it will have action and martial arts. It will be a winter 2025 release or a winter 2026 release. A good year or two of production will be needed.
And of course if finances allow, a live action and/or another anime movie-shoot, maybe even a show! It would be amazing to partner with a Japanese studio to bring an amazing sequel to the big screen once more.
Lindwasser: Is there anything that I didn’t ask about that you would like to share?
Rogers: I’m very proud of how far the universe has come in just four years. 2020, the start of the YouTube channel, 2021, the web series was uploaded. Then in 2023 I began working on the first mini game, Hello Mother, and then 2024, the second game, Selena’s Awakening and then of course, the movie. Very content with this pace, I don’t feel it’s going too fast nor too slow. And those of you who’ve been there from the beginning, I’m glad you’re enjoying the ride!
If this film sounds good to you and you’re anywhere near Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Burbank, Las Vegas, Austin, Houston, Chicago, Indianapolis, Atlanta, Orange County, CA, San Luis Obispo, Las Vegas or New York City, be sure to check it out. Not only will you be supporting a talented indie creator, you’ll also get to enjoy an intriguing story told using a unique art style.
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