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The secret toPEN15ssuccess lies in its precision.
Thats in no small part thanks to pitch-perfect world-building from production designer Grace Alie.
A smattering of eyesore wall decor (from boy band collages to Got Milk?
We pulled from actual details of growing up in that era.
The girls homes are really where the set design hits its sweet spot.
Its kind of shocking how little schools change, Alie says.
We eBayed actualTeen Beatmagazines and cut them up and collaged onto her wall.
Her room had a lot of stuff in it, little knickknacks and treasures that shes cherished.
For Mayas dresser set, she imagined them as hand-me-down pieces from older brother Shuji.
Then to make it hers, she painted it purple.
The father just supports what Mayas mom likes; shes the homemaker and decorates how she wants.
The end result is indicative of a homey and harmonious partnership.
The opposite is seen in Annas home.
By seasons end, her parents (shown throughout as argumentative and incompatible) reveal theyre getting a divorce.
Their discord is seen in design accents of their shared spaces.
If you were just to take a glance at it, everything looks right.
But theres unfinished projects around the house; the walls are beat up or the furniture is fraying.
you might see distress.
Shes searching, so we tried to incorporate that.
Annas frayed family life is why her room became, by design, a safe haven.
But for Annas clear, vintage Unisonic phone, Alie turned to eBay.
That phone was the phone that every kid wanted.
I never had that phone and I was always jealous of my friends who did.
Alie surmises Anna was gifted such luxuries as her phone and TV because shes an only child.
It all comes together to form one of 2019s most visually distinct and cringe-inducingly realistic new series.
It goes back to those My Little Pony toys from episode three, Ojichan.
The camera then pans down between Mayas legs, and you see her labia kind of pulse.
Believe it or not, the gag was a practical rig that Erskine had to wear while filming.
We made it with two pumps that you controlled with your hands.
It couldve really ballooned out if we wanted it to, but Maya wanted to keep it more subtle.
That was a really fun prop to make.
