The theme of this film is hidden in the gap between the settings. ...... "Infini-T Force The Movie: Gatchaman: Saraba Tomoyo" Interview with Director Jun Matsumoto

The "Infini-T Force the Movie: Gatchaman: Saraba Tomoyo" finally opened on Saturday, February 24, 2018. Infini-T Force," produced to commemorate the 55th anniversary of Tatsunoko Productions, brings together the four main characters from the four Tatsunoko hero animated films of the past, "Science Ninja Team Gatchaman," "Space Knight Tekkaman," "Huraiken Polymer" and "Shinsojin Casshan," to fight to protect the world. The story is called "The World of Gatchaman".

Following the TV series that aired in the fall of 2017 as an animated series, the film version that was released this time marks the finale of the series, but the film version incorporates various elements that are different from the TV series, making it a solid independent work that is not just a rehash of the TV series. The feature of this film version is that it is not a mere rehash, but a solid independent work. It features a completely new story and world, including the appearance of "Joe the Condor," who did not appear in the TV series. We interviewed Mr. Jun Matsumoto, director of "Infini-T Force: Gatchaman the Movie, Saraba Tomoyo," about the highlights unique to this film and some of the production secrets.

Director Matsumoto has actually had a close relationship with 3DCG.

───This film hasa different director from theTV series "Infini-T Force," butcould you tell us how you were chosen to direct"Infini-T Force the Movie," which isTatsunoko Productions' 55thanniversary film?

Matsumoto: First of all, there was already talk of making a theater version of "Infini-T Force" before the TV series started. When it was time to start production on the movie version, the TV series was still in production and Director Kiyotaka Suzuki was quite busy. Mr. Ohmatsu, who was working as a producer on another film I was working on, was also involved in this film, and he asked me if I would be interested in directing the feature film version.

Actually, when I later learned that the film was titled "Tatsunoko Production's 55th Anniversary Production," I thought it would have been better to have someone with more connection to Tatsunoko (laughs). (Laughs.) Director Suzuki is one of Tatsunoko's most experienced directors, and I am sure there were many others, but I decided to give it a try because it was a great opportunity for me.

─ ─ "Infini-T Force" is a full 3DCGmovie, and you used motion capture to create the pictures.

Matsumoto: Actually, I am rather fond of 3DCG. I was once invited to participate in a 5-minute 3DCG animation called "Digital Tokoro-san" (2000-2001), which was produced by Polygon Pictures, and I worked as a storyboard artist. I was invited to work on a 5-minute 3DCG animation called "Digital Tokoro-san" (2000-2001), which was produced by Polygon Pictures, and I was a member of the so-called "science fiction generation". I like 3DCG for the simple reason that it looks like science fiction (laughs). Of course, I think I have a good knowledge of 3DCG as a job.

─ I see. It was because of your career that you were asked to work on this project, wasn't it? Incidentally, since the release dates of the TV series and the movie version are neatly linked, did you work almost in parallel on the production of the movie?

Matsumoto: Yes, that's right. The staff members from the TV series were almost completely transferred to the movie version, and the CG director was a different person from the TV series, but there are many overlapping parts.

─ Was the script ready when you started working on the movie version?

Matsumoto: The scripts for all the episodes of the TV series were already written. So, I reread the script of the TV series several times before starting work on the film version, and then started working on the script for the film version.

─ ─ The script was written by Jun Kumagai, how did you go about this?

Matsumoto: Mr. Kumagai was in charge of writing 2-3 episodes of the TV series, so he has a good understanding of the worldview of the film, and that's why the producer asked him to write the script. I also had the expectation that there might be more that I would like to write about in the future, as it is a continuation of the TV series.

The introduction of Joe the Condor was a major shift in the direction of the story.

─ ─ I felt that the TV series and the theater version, while of course having a story connection, also had quite a different overall worldview and a somewhat darker side. Was this your intention from the beginning?

Matsumoto: It wasn't exactly a goal, but the producers already had a desire to introduce a Tatsunoko hero who did not appear in the TV series in the theater version. So, we talked about introducing Joe the Condor, who is not the main character but is particularly famous, and when it came down to it, the development had to be hard because of that character.

─ ─ So, you were pulled into the film in part by Joe's character.

Matsumoto: The style of "Infini-T Force" is to create a new story while maintaining the image of the original Tatsunoko characters, so a major theme was to keep the original characters alive. We also had various ideas on how to connect the TV series to the theater version. There was some concern that having Joe in the movie version would not be consistent with the TV series in which Emi was the main character, but after much discussion, we decided to go with the current form. However, we settled on the idea that since Joe was going to be in the movie, we should focus on the relationship between Ken and Joe.

─ So by introducing the main character from the TV series, Laughing, you were able to expand the story in a different world, while still maintaining a connection to the TV series.

Matsumoto: That's right. I think that if we did not include Laugh, the story would not be "Infini-T Force" at all. I feel that because of Laugh, the other main characters are all present.

─ Indeed. But in this film version, the story is mainly set in the world of "Gatchaman.

Matsumoto: Actually, in the beginning, we had an idea for a story set in a completely different world from the Gatchaman world. However, we wanted to use assets (assets/resources) from the TV series for this theater version, and under those conditions, we decided that 3DCG would be a bit difficult. With normal animation, you can draw whatever you want, but with 3DCG, the production process is similar to that of live-action, where you first make a model, move it, light it, and render it, just like casting an actor. It is quite difficult to create a completely new character or world. I think that Kumagai-san also had quite a bit of difficulty in this area when writing the script. I had some ideas on how to use things that had been used in the TV series.

At first, we were going to have two Ken characters and have one of them be the villain, but that didn't work out well as a storyline, so Dr. Nambu came out as a replacement villain.

─ ─I guess you could say that this development was made possible by taking advantage of the merits of3DCGproduction, and by smoothly producing the film version while inheriting as much of the assets of the TV series as possible.

Matsumoto: As I mentioned earlier, when the decision was made to produce the TV series, it was also decided to produce the feature film version, so I think it is best to look at the TV series and the feature film as a single work. Although there are parts of the storyline that are not completely connected, I think of it as an experimental method of depiction that falls somewhere between photo-realism and hand-drawing (cel-shader), and I think of the TV series and the movie version as a single work.

─ For those of you of the Gatchaman generation, the main character Ken is an orthodox hero, while Joe has a bit of a delinquent side, which was also a big part of his charm. For the fans of the old days, they were very curious to see where Joe would appear in the film, and it seems that he is portrayed in a somewhat confrontational manner with Ken. It was a bit like a "typical" scene, though.

Matsumoto: When I look back at the old series, it's not so surprising (laughs). (laughs) But the image that viewers have of Joe is that he is a bit of a delinquent or a lonely person. So from the beginning, I wanted him to be a little bit of a wilful loner, rather than a good friend.

───This film focuses on the relationship between the main character Ken and Joe, but in a sense, I got the impression that it is also the story of Joe more than Ken. I felt again that Joe is such a strong character.

Matsumoto: That may not be the case in recent anime, but I think it was quite rare to have a sub character that was stronger than the main character in anime of that time. I feel that the staff and cast of "Gatchaman" at that time were amazing.