Interview with Director Seshita, Deputy Director Yoshihei, and Sound Director Iwanami, key players in the sound of "BLAME!　Interviews with Director Seshita, Deputy Director Yoshihei, and Sound Director Iwanami, key players in the sound of the second "BLAME!

The staff of "Knights of Sidonia," including Hiroyuki Seshimo, Naohiro "Tady" Yoshihira, and Miwa Iwanami, the sound director, gathered again to produce Polygon Pictures' latest work, "BLAME! How did they create a theatrical version of this work that was said to be impossible to visualize? We also had the opportunity to interview the film's key people, director Seshita, deputy director Yoshihei, and sound director Iwanami, about the sound of the film, which will also be screened in Dolby Atmos.

─ First of all, I heard that the film version of "BLAME!", which will be released on May 20, 2017, was said to be impossible to visualize among the fans of the original work. Was it because of the TV animation "Knights of Sidonia"?

Director Seshita (Seshita): Of course, the production of "Knights of Sidonia" was a fundamental factor, but I think the biggest factor was the deep involvement of Mr. Tsutomu Nibe himself in the supervision of the project. Otherwise, it would have been difficult to work on such a legendary work like "BLAME!

Deputy Director Yoshihei (Yoshihei): There is a possibility that it would be a mere tracing of the original work, which would not be well received by new viewers of "BLAME!

Seshita: For our part, we would like to include expressions that are unique to anime, but if the content deviates from the image of the original work, it would be a complete disaster. I believe that the realization and completion of this work was the result of Mr. Nibei himself and our staff working together to create the kind of expression that he would have wanted to use.

Yoshihira: As a result, the entire team was able to create this work with confidence. Many of the staff members who worked on "Knights of Sidonia" were directly involved in the production of this work, so when we heard that the next project was going to be "BLAME!

─ What did you pay particular attention to in terms of the visuals?

Seshimo: The origin and essence of Mr. Tsutomu Nibei, and how to visualize the unique worldview of "BLAME! How can we express the atmosphere of a closed space in a more realistic way? Also, since the visuals have a large difference in light and shadow, light and dark, how can we put them together in a visual style?

Yoshihira: On the other hand, we also struggled to find the right balance between the hard science fiction and the pop style that current anime fans would feel comfortable with. We kept searching for the best match in character design, backgrounds, and direction.

Seshita──I could sense this intention in the actual images.

Seshita: I think we were able to create a fairly pop image in comparison with the original work, but when you look at it again from a general perspective, it is still a very hard science fiction work (laughs).

(Laughs.) In terms of the position of the work, it might be easier to understand if you see it as an introduction to the world of "BLAME!


Seshita: This balance is really difficult to achieve. For example, some fans of the original story may think that the main character, Kirii, talks too much. However, from our point of view, it would seem that he has no lines at all. We wondered what we should do with such a non-speaking protagonist (laughs). In the end, thanks to the music by Yugo Kanno and the exquisite sound design created by sound director Iwanami, we could feel the emotional movement even in the silent scenes.