Interview with director Shinya Kawamasu on "Sakurada Reset" "Psychological warfare with people who concentrate on watching the film.

Sakurada Reset" is a coming-of-age ensemble drama that takes place in Sakurada, a town where people with various abilities live. The storyline, in which each person's limited abilities are combined with a logical, mysterious buildup and human drama, eventually leads to a major plot development that keeps viewers on the edge of their seats. We interviewed director Shinya Kawamatsu to find out how he transformed the traction of the completed novel into an anime.

What is the method of adapting an original novel with a lot of foreshadowing into an anime?

───In recent years, Director Kawamen has often worked on works based on manga, but is your approach to filmmaking different when working on works based on novels, such as "Sakurada Reset"?

Kawamen: Whether it is a manga or a novel, there is basically no difference in the way I direct a film that is based on an original story. With manga, I try to make the best use of the pictures from the original work, but with novels, the pictures are just images that come into my mind when I read the novel, so there is not much difference in the way I create the images.

─ ─ What was your impression of the original work of "Sakurada Reset" when you read it?

Kawamen: The original work has been published in seven books, and I thought the structure of the book, in which there are things that can only be understood after reading all of the books, was unusual and bold. When I finished reading the book, I had a strong impression of the concept of using the entire book, taking a rich time to get to the end.

───What did you consider when adapting such a structure into an animated TV series?

Kawamen: Ideally, I wanted to follow the original story as much as possible, so I created a scenario for one or two episodes in order from the first volume, but when it came time to compose the story, I couldn't fit it into a series of 24 episodes. The way the original story was foreshadowed, it would have taken a long time, especially in the early stages of the story. So, in terms of the original work, we decided to start with the third volume and arrange them in chronological order, giving priority to understandability and rationality, while still including hooks within them, so that the principle of the main characters' actions could be understood to some extent.


─ ─ The original story has many episodes that go back to the past and say, "Actually, this is how it happened," so I had the impression that you cleared that up.

Kawamen: We talked about which of the two was better in the meeting. I am fully aware that it is interesting to gradually understand how it really happened, but that method inevitably takes up a lot of time. I thought that if people did not understand the story in the first three episodes, it would be difficult for them to continue watching the series, so Katsuhiko Takayama, the series director, suggested that we start with the third volume, and this is how we came up with this idea. This is how it came to be.

─ After the first and second episodes, the rest of the story will be drawn at another time. Did you also create this kind of structure?

Kawama: That's right. Mr. Takayama does all of the series composition. It was also Takayama-san's idea to include episodes that are a bit more lighthearted or extra episodes. The timeline of the main story is quite varied, so it was hard to know where to put them in, and I also wondered if there was time to include such casual episodes in the first place (laughs). (Laughs) However, in a sense, I am grateful that the original work is complete. I have an idea of where I am going, so there is no blurring. When I read the original work, I thought it was a work that would come to life if it was completed to the end. Since the overall length of the film is set at 2 cool minutes, there are inevitably some minor episodes that cannot be included, but I thought it was meaningful to finish the film to the end.

─ ─ I think that director Kawamote's works value detailed acting, atmosphere, and the way he takes his time. When you had to make a film with such a tight structure as this one, how did you judge what to leave in and what to leave out?

Kawamote: Mr. Takayama is a logical person, so he understands the original work and incorporates those aspects into the scenario. In contrast, I focus more on the atmosphere (laughs). (Laughs.) I would include the emotions of the characters, dialogue, and episodes that I wanted to include more of. We presented our ideas to each other and mixed them together in the right places.


─ ─ The tempo of the dialogue in director Kawamote's works is very strange. I feel that each film has a certain tempo, and in this film, too, the dialogue is unique, and combined with the music, I was really drawn in.

Kawamen: I don't know how I see that. I know that there is not much time and that I have to keep up the tempo, but I think there are pros and cons to my pauses. But I think I am doing things as they are supposed to be done, so I wonder what is strange about it (laughs). (Laughs.) I think it's true that I take a lot of time between scenes, but the first episode is almost completely packed. So, people who concentrate on watching it will think there is something in it, but on the other hand, if you watch it while watching it, it will probably slip over the top. I myself am the type of person who likes to watch anime and movies in a darkened room, concentrating on what I'm watching. I make several such attempts in one episode and hope that even one or two of them will be understood. But I think all directors are like that.

─ ─ What was your initial plan for the production?

Kawahamae: Actually, the first plan I came up with after reading the original novel was the complete opposite of what you see today. The characters would say a few words, and then I would show them for a while with only music and scenery, expressing their feelings with meaningful reverberations and scenes. I think people who have read the original have that impression. So, I appointed a musician who I thought would be perfect for this kind of direction. I thought that as long as I had the music, I would be able to create that kind of direction, but as I began to develop the scenario, I realized that if I did that, I would never get to the end, so I kept the music itself and shifted the way I used it to the direction I am working on now.

─ This is the first time that Rayons, the musician, has been in charge of an animation accompaniment.

Kawasen: I like to watch music videos on YouTube, and originally I was watching Predawn, who Rayons is working with, and I saw Rayons' music video and bought his album. When I went to a live concert after that, I had just read the original story of "Sakurada Reset" and I thought Rayons' music was good. I showed Rayons' PV at the meeting and said, "This is the kind of world I want to create," and the producer gave me the OK. She also wanted to do film music, and I think she will probably work in that direction as well. Since this was her first time working on animation, I wanted her to create the music based on her feeling rather than on technical details.