Director Shingo Natsume's interview to commemorate the end of the broadcast of the 2021 summer anime "Sonny Boy," which left a lot of mysteries and fresh emotions in its wake!

The "Sonny Boy" anime that ran through the summer of 2021 was a work that was exciting in every way, from the images to the music to the story, and was the exact opposite of the "easy to understand" that has become the mainstream these days.

I did not understand quantum mechanics or general theory of relativity, which often appear in science fiction anime, but the story went from there to superstring theory, and I was almost at my wit's end, but it was interesting nonetheless. Sonny Boy" was not a simple story.

One day, most of the classmates suddenly drifted into another dimension and chose to live in that world, while only Nagara (NAGARA: CV. Aoi Ichikawa) and Mizuho (CV. Aoi Yuki) made the decision to return to the original world, and they did. After watching such a final episode, we directly interviewed Director Natsume! He answered our many riddles and questions one by one in detail.

I hope you will feel something like "I don't know what it is, but it tugs at your heartstrings.

The last episode was really wonderful. I don't know if I understand everything, but I hope that people who have this impression of "I don't know what it is, but it was interesting! But did you expect that there would be people who would say, "I don't know, but it was fun!

Natsume: I was hoping that the anime would be seen in various ways depending on the angle of view. I think "Sonny Boy" is a very simple work from a certain point of view. In a word, it is "Nagara's growth," but if you deviate from that by two or three steps, it can be very distorted. I think that I was able to keep the shape as consistent as possible, while at the same time keeping it just barely intact.

Q: I saw "Nagara's growth" as one of the main axes of the project.

Natsume: Somehow, I think it is okay not to understand what we don't understand. This is true both in my works and in the world. For example, gravity is something that we know exists, but we don't know how it works or how it works, but it is still alive. I like to investigate, consider, and imagine it, but I think it is better to think of it as a role that exists in the world.

Whether it is the "birds" or the "war" or whatever else we call it, Kodama's (CV. Ayana Taketatsu) ability is, in a word, "M-theory," a unified field theory that is able to control up to the 11th dimension of physics. In other words, she has the ability to control up to the 11th dimension of physics. The existence of something that exists in the world is somehow present in the work, but no matter how deeply we delve into it, it is something that is ultimately unknowable, so it is "something that is unknowable.

I believe that absurdities exist in the world of physics as well as in the absurdities of society in which we live, so I created the work while overlapping various things with such absurdities. I thought I had packed a lot of information and feelings into the work, so I would be happy if the audience could feel that "I don't know what it is, but it touches my heartstrings".

That's exactly how I felt about it.

Natsume: But when I think about it, I like those kinds of movies and novels too. When I read Salinger's novels, I think, "What is this crazy boy? But when I read it again after some time has passed, the parts that touched my heartstrings come to the surface. I think there are many cases like that.

It's hard to put into words, but I was really interested in and liked the ambient aspects, such as the moment when the heart moves, the two sides of the coin, etc. So I thought I would not hide that part of the music. So I made the music with the intention of including these elements without hiding them.

I think I made something that I don't understand because I think this way, and I think it's a problem, but for me, it was a work that I made while being honest about it (laughs).

(Laughs.) Also, I often read the feedback on Twitter, and sometimes there are people who make comments that really stick in my mind. I was happy to see that there were quite a few comments, both good and bad, that said, "Oh, you got the message. I thought it was great that there were people who pointed out what I was struggling with and what I thought would be interesting.

Lightship" contained the resolve of Nagara and Mizuho, both with a sense of loneliness

I may not have understood everything, but there was definitely something that grabbed my heart and wouldn't let go. I found every episode interesting as I watched. Drifting occurs when abilities are combined, and there are people who try to return to their original world, people who try to stay in that world, and people who cannot return because time has passed. While vaguely understanding such things, I was moved by Nagara's growth with Nozomi (CV. Saori Onishi), and so I was able to put it into words: "Interesting".

Natsume: I don't mean to sound arrogant at all, but there is no need to be ashamed of not understanding something. I think it is fine to say, "I didn't understand, but this part was interesting. On the other hand, I think it's okay to try to understand, to try to fit the puzzle together in your own way, and to enjoy it.

I know that it would be more fun if I could fit the puzzle of everyone's abilities together, but unlike the world of your work, there is just not enough time (laughs). However, I am sure that if you go back and look at it again from episode 1 after the last episode, you will definitely see something different. And then there's the "the music is so good! isn't it?

Natsume That's right!　In the 11th episode, a song suddenly starts playing, and in the last episode, there are suddenly 3 songs even though we said we would not use accompaniment.

Q: The soundtrack was also of a high level as an album work.

Natsume: I was very excited that we had so many different artists compose songs at the right time. Also, there were quite a few people who said, "I bought the analog record. I guess those people are watching the anime. People who are interested in a once-defunct technology like vinyl records. I also bought a record player when I heard that an analog record would be released this time.

Q. How was the sound quality?

Natsume: Very good!　And I have also bought and listened to the records of each band that played at this event. They are also very good.

You must have awakened to the goodness of vinyl records (laughs). It was exciting to get to know bands I didn't know.

Natsume: The same was true of Aerial Thief, wasn't it?

Staff As a side note, Sunset Rollercoaster/Sunset Rollercoaster won the Grammy Award for Best Band at the Golden Globe Awards, which is called the Grammy Awards in Taiwan, and there is a lot of good news coming in.

Q: "Let There Be Light Again" by Sunset Rollercoaster was also a great song, and from episode 11, there are more songs in the series.

Natsume: We had a meeting, but it was very informal (laughs). (Laughs) I explained that this was the scene and the character had this kind of emotion, and then he read the scenario and wrote the song for me. As I mentioned last time, we got sidetracked during our meetings, and even when I thought we didn't have a good meeting, the songs were right in the middle, so I knew that the artists must be very sensitive. It was really wonderful.

Q: For example, in episode 11, after Nozomi died, the song "Lightship" by The Natsuyasumi Band was playing in the background as Nagara and Mizuho were having a funeral, and I think it was an exquisite song that fit the scene perfectly.

Natsume: It was a way for the two junior high school students to see off their friends in their own way. But they have a strong will to return to their original world. That's what we talked about at the meeting. When we received the rough draft of the song after that, it was just a song, but later, the band played on it, and there was a drum roll like a drum and fife corps, and it was a song about the two of them going home! It was a departure song for the two of us. I was very moved by the sadness, but also by the determination of the two. Funerals can sometimes be sad and mellow, but the song "Lightship" showed that the two junior high school students were sad but had to move forward, and the lyrics were just right.

I wanted a little bit of melancholy, so I asked them to arrange "Shonen Shoujo" as a narrative arrangement.

I wanted to ask you something. In episode 10, I think it was Asakaze (CV. Chiaki Kobayashi) who turned Nozomi into a foreign entity with powers.　I can read a little bit from the letter from Fracture-chan (CV. Yuka Ozaki) though.

Natsume Yes, I wonder ...... what kind of feelings she had. Simply put, the devil got the better of me and I failed to catch ...... it. I think it's like an error in baseball. It's possible that I could have helped, and something just didn't mesh a bit. There are many times in life, aren't there, when you wonder why you didn't do that at that moment? It's not a regret, but it happened, and there is no going back. It's probably something I will regret for the rest of my life in the morning breeze sense. That's why I don't know why. But I thought that it could change things.

Q: In that world, is the morning breeze a being that can bring death?

Natsume: No, I don't think so. In that world, I feel that time is in charge of death. The body is still and does not age, but the spirit ages.

That's what Rajdhani said in episode 11, isn't it?

Natsume: In terms of the way of thinking, I feel that it is somewhat similar to works that I like, such as Kurt Vonnegut's "Slaughterhouse 5" and "The Titan's Specter". Also, the science fiction novel "The End of Childhood" by Arthur C. Clarke. They often capture the human being as seen from a higher dimension. There is the idea that when you look at the third dimension from the fourth dimension, there are only dots of information, and the time axis has all been crushed, and that's kind of the image I have. There is no beginning and no end, but there is certainly a moment of life woven into the fabric. But it is a moment, trapped in what can only be seen as light from a distance. That is the idea that it can become a relic of ability.

But from a three-dimensional perspective, it is almost tantamount to death. It can't speak, it can only say that it existed. It's a sad way of cutting it off in the third dimension.

Sonny Boy" was originally titled "LIGHTYEAR. It means "light year" (a very long time), and since it has been uttered, it is a state of being that incorporates such sadness. Rajdhani explains that death in episode 11. Death can take many forms, and in the case of human beings, "the end of the will" and "the end of growth" are the definition of death. I am not sure how to explain it well myself (laughs).

I think I understand what Rajdhani was saying. And about Nozomi, even though I had died in the original world, I still wanted to go back. This may have been influenced by Nagara's words in episode 6, "I won't run away even if the outcome is already decided," but I think it was the strength that allowed him to make this decision. I thought Nagara grew up because of that.

Natsume: I think it is Nozomi's determination to accept whatever happens to her. It is not a suicidal desire, and Nozomi is not returning home to die, but to return if there is even the slightest possibility.

Nagara's being an observer means that he has only been going around opening the box of possibilities. In the last episode, when Mizuho closes the light, it is not Nagara's power but Mizuho's power to return. I was thinking of it as returning to the "superimposed" state.

Returning is the act of closing the box once again, so from the rarefied point of view, both possibilities are still there. It may or may not be dead. But I think Nagara took that to mean that Nozomi was prepared to accept that and return home.

Mizuho's ability was the ability to remain still, wasn't it?

Natsume It is something related to stillness. By superimposing them again with that power, I imagine that they are returned to the state they were in before the observation was made.

But Nagara wanted to return to the world where Nozomi lives, didn't he?

Natsume Yes, in episode 11, Nagara told Rajdani that he had an item to add to the Robinson Plan, and that was the direction. He wanted to go in the direction that Rarity's compass was pointing. In the beginning, it was easy to go back (to the original world) by closing the box, but Nagara changed the direction at the end because he was aiming at the light that Nozomi was looking at.

Nagara was aiming there, and that was the direction in which Nozomi was living?

Natsume: It sounds a bit like cheating, but yes.

Rajdhani also knew that, didn't he?

Natsume That's right. Mizuho was not amused by that. She thinks she is going to lose everything. That's why she pretended not to know when she returned to her original world at the end (laughs).

(laughs) So that was the reason!　He was just being a little bit mean. It is true that I had to say goodbye to the cat as well. ......

Natsume: I was frustrated because of that, too. Mizuho went along with Nagara, so I think of Mizuho's growth as having been accompanied by motherhood. So perhaps the reason she wanted to return was because she wanted to have children or something like that.

Q. Incidentally, why did you make a rocket when you were leaving?　I think it must have been very difficult for the artist to make it.

Natsume: The artists did a great job on that part (laughs). I thought it was a very Rajdani-like choice. With Apollo 11, I wanted to try to "reproduce the probability of copying a cat," and I also wanted to combine it with the challenge of mankind. As a man, I wanted to do the rocket scene at least once!　The director of episode 11, Jin'ai Ohno, has always loved airplanes, and he studied a lot of materials on the Apollo rockets to determine the exact parts, colors, and timing of the rockets. I heard that it was very difficult for him to do the research because he started from the base building (laughs). But I like that sense of forgetting the purpose of the project. There is a sense of romance.

It certainly was romantic (laughs). Nozomi was alive in the original world, but she did not remember Nagara, which was obvious, but it was sad. However, the smile on Nagara's face at the end was really good, and I thought it was a happy ending.

Natsume: It is a positive thing that she returns home without worrying about stepping on a puddle.

It wasn't a happy ending in the romantic comedy sense, but in terms of Nagara's growth, I felt refreshed after watching it. From Nagara's point of view, she is happy just to have Nozomi alive, so it doesn't really matter who is next to her.

Natsume Yes, and life is still long, so you never know what will happen. Morning breeze, for example, will definitely break up with you (laughs). (Laughs.) Even if you go out with someone in high school, it won't last. But some people think it's sad, while others feel positive, and I think it depends on each person's values. I thought it was a very happy ending, but the sound director, Shoji Hatata, said, "Isn't it too sad? He said, "Isn't it too sad?

I think Nagara will tell me "Let's be friends" someday. Personally, I was shocked that Nozomi died both in the real world and in the other world, so I was just happy to see her alive.

Natsume Moreover, she had become a bit cuter. She became a high school student and became more feminine than a girl.

I thought that Rajdani's smile in episode 11 was a nice expression.

Natsume: It was like "Omohide Poroporo Poro" (laughs). (laughs) At first, Nagara was like that too, but as expected, I asked them to stop doing that and had Nagara cast a little more shadow.

I had Nagara cast a bit more of a shadow.

Natsume: For episode 11, Norifumi Kugai did the storyboards and was the animation director, so it was like Rajdhani came back looking pretty cool, and it was well received.

It had been 2000 years. Mizuho also had a scene where she blushed when she saw Rajdani.

Natsume: She must have been curious about it. This was a missing piece, but in episode 12, around the time Nozomi was having a girls' night out at the coffee shop, I had included dots of each character in high school, including Cap, Pony, Rajdani, and others. That missing conte will be in the Blu-ray, so please look forward to it.

Q: So the Blu-ray box set will include a lot of extras?

Natsume: There are many extras. The booklet includes commentary on each episode and a long interview about the characters and the worldview. For example, in episode 9, Nagara goes to pick up Nozomi, who is cowering in a daze. I was also thinking of explaining that part of the story a little. ...... It also includes the making of the recording of Mr. Mineta's narration!

Q: I thought "Shonen Shoujo" would definitely come at the end, and I was even preparing for the intro to play, but I was shocked to hear "Shonen Shoujo" played by you.

Natsume That's right. ...... (laughs). (Laughs.) I asked him if he wanted to play the song when we got to the middle of the song. I thought that if I asked Mr. Mineta to re-arrange the song with just an acoustic guitar, he could better convey Nagara's feelings and the situation in which she is placed. I asked him to do it, but mostly because I wanted to hear it live (laughs).

But I was moved. It was really amazing. There was a sense of tension, and I was really moved when Nagara started singing at the end of his lines while the video was playing. It made me feel glad that I was directing the film. It is a memory that will last a lifetime.

(Interview and text by Junichi Tsukagoshi)



Ⓒ Sonny Boy committee