Interview with Tomohiko Ito, Director of "SWORD ART ONLINE THE MOVIE -Ordinal Scale-" Tackling the Film as Head of the Script Room

The "Sword Art Online" series was first published in April 2009 by Dengeki Bunko and has sold more than 19 million copies worldwide. 2012 saw the start of the TV anime series, and on February 18, 2017, the series' first theatrical anime "Sword Art Online the Movie: Ordinal Scale -will be released in theaters on February 18, 2017. Akiba Research Institute interviewed director Tomohiko Ito for the third time in a year, just before the roadshow. In addition to the secret story behind the production of the film, he also talked about the script room at Aniplex, where he serves as the general manager, and his thoughts on the film, among other topics.

Thanks to "Pokemon GO"?

───First of all, please tell us how the decision to produce the film version was made.

Director Tomohiko Ito (Ito): At the end of 2014, after the second season of the TV series was over, we were told that we would continue to work on the film. At that time, nothing had been decided, but in 2015, the original author, Reki Kawahara, gave us some ideas and we decided to go with AR (augmented reality).

─ ─ Why did you choose AR as the subject matter instead of VR (virtual reality)?

Ito: The main reason was that we wanted to make a big change to the game, the setting of the story. In AR, players can only move their own bodies, so they can only move as they would in real life. There were some limitations, such as the fact that swords do not exist in the physical world, so it was impossible to depict sword fights, so we had to be careful how we depicted players fighting one-on-one. To fill this limitation, we had to be creative, such as by focusing on team play, and we cleared up these problems.
However, I was more worried about AR in the beginning. Up until now, all of the games in the series have been created in VR (virtual reality), but this time, AR (augmented reality), which adds information to the scenery, would inevitably give the impression that we were technologically backward. We were concerned about that. Besides, AR was not widely used at the beginning of the project, so we had a hard time explaining to the staff what AR was all about.

───Are there any particular circumstances that changed your mind from your initial apprehension to confidence?

Ito: The huge success of "Pokemon GO. People would ask me, "What kind of game is "Ordinal Scale"? I could just say, "It's a game where you fight in Pokémon GO. I am very grateful that AR has become a familiar presence. I am very grateful to Niantic, the developer of "Pokemon GO. If I had to say so, it would have been better if the boom coincided with the release of the movie version: ...... (laughs).


─ ─ "Sword Art Online" was set in medieval Europe, "Alvheim Online" in fantasy, and each game has depicted a different worldview. What is the axis of "Ordinal Scale"?

ITOH: We wanted to create a worldview that was different from the TV series, so we added a touch of science fiction to the fantasy elements. For the mob players other than the main characters, we also included the beasts and robots that often appear in Internet games. The beast mobs drawn by the animators at A-1 Pictures were so popular that they ended up appearing in most of the battles. The world of "Ordinal Scale" is also very deep, and I was surprised to read in the pamphlet that there were things I didn't know about it. I hope you will read the pamphlet as well.

─ ─ Because of the gimmick of AR, many real places appear in the film. Wasn't it difficult to choose the locations?

Ito: Yes, it was. First of all, there had to be an open space where battles could be fought, and it would be even better if there was a landmark that everyone knew and could recognize at a glance. From there, I would choose situations with an emphasis on production considerations, such as "a long staircase would be helpful in creating a picture," or "this building also appears in other works, so don't use the same angle. ...... We went through a lot of trouble, but we were fortunate that we were able to film all of the locations in Tokyo. Incidentally, the Akihabara UDX, where the story first appears, was specified by Kawahara-sensei from the plotting stage. It was a familiar location for the "Dengeki Bunko Autumn Festival," so I guess he thought he couldn't leave it out (laughs).