Sunrise Festival 2021] Director Tomino himself confesses that he "really didn't understand! Report on the greeting speech at the screening of "Bren Powered!

A screening event of the TV anime "Bren Powered" was held at Shinjuku Piccadilly in Tokyo on October 15, 2021. Director Yoshiyuki Tomino, Akino Murata (who plays Himaru Utsumiya), and Motoi Wakamatsu (in charge of Bren Powered on the "The World of Yoshiyuki Tomino" exhibition planning team) took the stage to greet the audience after the screening.

This event was part of the "Sunrise Festival 2021 REGENERATION," a screening event taking place October 1-31, 2021.

Bren Powered" was broadcast in 1998 as WOWOW's first original animation work. At the time, it attracted a great deal of attention as it was the first non-"Gundam" TV series in a long time.

Although the difficult storyline and unique dialogue may be a bit difficult for some viewers to understand, the bright and gentle style of this work, which leads to later Tomino works such as "Tribe Gundam" and "OVERMAN King Gainer," is full of charm unique to this work.

In addition to the screening of four episodes of the TV series selected by Akino Murata, who plays the heroine Hima Utsunomiya, and Motoi Wakamatsu, who is in charge of blenpowered by the "Yoshiyuki Tomino's World" exhibition planning team, Director Tomino, Ms. Murata and Mr. Wakamatsu gave stage greetings, with Mr. Yoshitaka Kawaguchi (Sunrise) as the host, creating something organic and friendly. The event was held in a friendly mood that gave the audience a sense of something organic.

First of all, they talked about the purpose behind the selection of the four episodes screened this time.

Akino Murata

Ms. Murata chose episode 9, "Jonathan's Blade. When asked why she chose the episode, she said, "The scene where we can see the heartbreak of Jonathan, who is a maverick," and "His feelings for his mother that even Kumazo could understand.

Twenty-three years after the TV broadcast, Murata-san is now a mother. If I had been asked to make a selection 23 years ago, I would have chosen a different story," she said. "From a mother's point of view, I can't help but think Jonathan is adorable. He must have been lonely and wanted a Christmas present," she says from her mother's unique perspective. Director Tomino's smile at these comments was truly impressive.

Incidentally, Murata-san says that "Bren Powered" was her first postrecording for an animation. He recalls that at the time, he had never even practiced dubbing, and was just trying to keep up with the timing of the pictures. Especially in the first episode, he says he struggled to match his voice to the movements of the characters.

Mr. Kawaguchi then asked, "Many of the cast members were doing postrecording for the first time for "Bren Powered. What was your aim in doing that?" to Director Tomino.

Tomino replied, "I only remember that the casting went well. （The criteria (for choosing the cast) was that I hate the work of the voice actor's office," to Mr. Kawaguchi's dismay. Director Tomino further explained that he chose Ms. Murata for the role of Hima because "after listening to her voice for about 10 seconds, I could hear the voice of an amateur who was not accustomed to a voice acting agency.

That said, he says, "I don't have any feelings of condemning voice actors across the board," adding, "They are thoroughly professional, so I know that whatever they do for me is usually hit or miss. So, we have a few people (professional voice actors) who will be working on "Bren Powered" as a backup. Without such people to fill the slots, we couldn't use amateurs," said director Tomino in his casting theory.

Motoi Wakamatsu

Mr. Wakamatsu also selected two films, episode 21 "Illusion Complex" and episode 25 "Orphan's Hesitation.

He said, "Among Tomino's works, 'Brenn Powered' is very emotional and difficult to describe in words," which is why it was difficult to find a person to be in charge of the work at the Yoshiyuki Tomino Exhibition.

According to Mr. Wakamatsu, "Phenomena can be seen in different ways depending on one's position. He says that the axis of Tomino's works is "a kind of uncertainty," and this is clearly expressed in episode 21.

As for episode 25, he said, "There is an ironclad rule that the last three episodes (of Tomino's works) are the most exciting," and "So I chose it because I thought that if I watched it (the final episode) continuously from before the last episode, I would be blown away.

Yoshitaka Kawaguchi

And the final episode (episode 26), "Flying," was selected by Mr. Murata.

What he particularly likes about this episode is the direct contact between the characters, such as the scene where the children rub Brendan's body and the scene where the characters hold hands.

He said, "We can't do that now because of Corona, but I think the power of touch and rubbing is important for human beings." Because we live in an age when it is difficult to come into contact with others, he was impressed by the physical communication that is unique to this production.

Mr. Wakamatsu also commented on the appeal of the final scene, saying, "I like the fact that we are not told exactly what happened to Orphan in the end," and "I feel the romanticism of Tomino that something great is carrying human memories on its journey to the far reaches of the galaxy.

Director Yoshiyuki Tomino

While the co-stars spoke passionately about the episodes, Director Tomino, who had rewatched the first episode before the event and rewatched the four episodes with his fans on the day of the event, expressed his shock, saying, "I was horrified that he had created a story that was so incomprehensible. He also confessed that even he himself found the content difficult to understand, saying, "I really didn't understand it, so I reread the mook book (released at the time) and found it even more difficult to understand, and wondered who edited it.

Incidentally, prior to this stage greeting, Director Tomino also checked a wiki article on "Bren Powered" compiled on the Internet, and thanks to the article summarizing the work from a fan's perspective, he was able to understand "Bren Powered" in its entirety. Incidentally, it was only after reading this wiki article that he came to know about "White Tomino" (a common name for the bright style of Tomino's works. When the style is dark, it is called "Black Tomino")" and "that there are parts that are praised in this way and parts that are criticized in this way.

On the other hand, "Watching it today, I finally remembered why I made it," said Tomino. He said, "The dialogue and story structure shown here were all created at the limit of my own ability up to the present. I can't remember the work I made at the very last minute, because I just threw it all out," he said looking back on his work.

He also said, "I can't recommend that anyone other than the people here (at the greeting stage) see this film.

When Kawaguchi followed up by saying that the film had many gripping moments in terms of the characters' emotions and individual episodes, Director Tomino replied, "I don't think there are any elements like that. He said that more than 20 years after the broadcast, there are almost no relationships between the characters that he remembers, and he attributes this to the fact that the playwriting did not go well.

However, "I can't say (personally) that this part was good or that I want people to shed tears here. I think it is taboo to say such things about my own work." However, when he rewatched the film to the end, he felt that it was "an amazing work that is hard to describe," and he said, "I wish someone would verbalize it well.

In response to these words, Kawaguchi asked Wakamatsu about the appeal of "Bren Powered." He replied, "In terms of perfection, there may be other Tomino works that are higher, but there is a once-in-a-lifetime feeling that can only be created at this moment in the life of director Tomino. The author himself is trying to live his life, and he is struggling to do whatever it takes.

In response to these words, Director Tomino said, "Why was such a work created? That's because 'Bren Powered' was a work of rehabilitation for me," he said.

One year before I started this project, I became depressed, completely unable to leave my house, and it took me a whole year to get out of my depression. I started this project as a rehabilitation for that. At that time, I remember that I escaped from depression by remembering the difference in sensitivity: I could not walk on an asphalt road because it was too hard, but I could walk comfortably on a rice field path. When I created a story with that kind of sensitivity, it became "Bren Powered,"" he said.

The key word in "Blended Powered" is the word and concept of "organic.

Director Tomino explained how this "organic" concept was incorporated into the film as follows.

Minerals and other inorganic objects do not have life, but organic objects do. Life is continuous and can live for hundreds of millions of years, but once a mineral is refined, it is no more. A mineral may exist as a mineral for hundreds of millions of years, but there is no life in it. Organic energy is the very power of life. I have always wondered about human ecology and the feeling of living things that it is very hard to walk on asphalt roads, but it is easy to walk on soil, and this is reflected in "Bren Powered".

（The flower garden episodes (such as the last episode) were born from that. If I were healthy, I would not be able to create such embarrassing scenes. I feel secure that I can lie down on the ground, in the rice paddies, or in the fields. To put it in an extreme way, I might be able to hear the heartbeat of the earth, and if I were lying on the ground, I might even be able to see the stars on the other side of the earth. That's how sharp your senses may become, and that's what "Bren Powered" is all about.

In addition, "Bren Powered" is often talked about for its OP video featuring nude female characters dancing wildly and its ED video featuring a photo of flower petals by photographer Nobuyoshi Araki. Regarding this, he says that he still feels good that "the OP and ED went well," and in particular, "when the ED song played, I thought it was a truly amazing work," and that he is "happy to be able to explain that the structure of the OP and ED songs and pictures is 'blenpowered. However, upon watching it again, he seemed to have more than a few concerns, such as the fact that the drawing of the OP was a little different from what he thought it was, and that he thought the pictures in the ED came out a little cleaner.

At the end of the stage greeting, it was announced that a Blu-ray box set of "Bren Powered" would be released on March 29, 2022. According to Director Tomino, who had already been able to view one episode in advance, he was pleasantly surprised to see the ED images this time and can expect high quality image processing.

In closing, he said, "I am grateful that you have created an environment where I can watch 'Bren Powered' again on Blu-ray. It's just not necessarily well made, so it's frustrating that this is the one I have to preserve. I want to remake 'Bren Powered' (laughs). I will definitely live long!" These were the happy words of Director Tomino as he closed his greetings to the audience.

Product Information

Bren Powered Blu-ray Revival Box (Special Limited Edition)

Release date: March 29, 2022
Price: 27,500 yen (tax included)

Specs: Color / (estimated) 710 min / (approx. 650 min of feature film + approx. 60 min of special features) / ・Main disc: Linear disc

Main Disc: Linear PCM (stereo) / AVC / BD50G x 5 discs / 4:3 <1080p High Definition

Special Disc: Linear PCM (Stereo) / AVC / BD25G x 1 disc / 4:3 <1080p High Definition> ・Bonus Disc: Linear PCM (Stereo) / AVC / BD25G x 1 disc

Distributor: Namco Bandai Arts Inc.

＜Special booklet
Special booklet (108 pages)

Video benefits
　New PV and CM
　◆Recording
　　Special program "Appearance of Yoshiyuki Tomino, General Director" (aired on WOWOW in June 1998)
　　　　Special program "The Fastest Strategy: AtoZ" (aired on WOWOW in June, 1998)
　　Special program "The Fastest Strategy: AtoZ" (aired on WOWOW in July 1998)
　　　 (Aired on WOWOW in July 1998)
　　Special lecture "Five Principles of Animation Direction Check
　　Non-drop opening
　　Non-drop ending

Specifications
　Box box illustrated by Atsushi Shigeta
　Digi-jacket (1 copy each)
　　Digi jacket (one each)

(c)SUNRISE