Interview with Director Tetsuro Araki on the occasion of the theatrical release of the movie "Bubble": How do you feel about the romantic action movie that you have made after "Shinketsu no Kyojin" and "Kabaneri: The Iron Castle"? Interview with Director Tetsuro Araki

Director Tetsuro Araki, who has worked on a number of popular films including "DEATH NOTE," "Guilty Crown," "Shinketsu no Kyojin," and "Kabaneri the Iron Castle," will present the animated film "Bubble" with his friend WIT STUDIO, who has worked on "SPY x FAMILY," among others, on May 13, 2022 (Friday). The film will be released in theaters on May 13, 2022 (Fri.).

The film depicts a gravity-defying action love story of a boy and a girl who are drawn together by their feelings, as well as spectacular parkour action in Tokyo, where gravity has been broken by bubbles that have rained down on the world. What did the leading animation director of the era get from this new coming-of-age love story based on Araki's specialty of action depiction, with science fiction elements added by Gen Urobuchi, who worked with him on the script?



I was curious to see what kind of drawer I had.

--I heard that "Bubble" was originally conceived by director Araki and producer Genki Kawamura. Could you tell us how that came about?

Araki: Myself, producer Tetsuya Nakatake, and WIT STUDIO president Taketsugu Wada came up with the idea of what kind of films we should make in order for more people to see our works in the future. We asked Genki Kawamura if he would be interested in working with us. At that time, it had already been decided that Genki would join us later. Then, Mr. Kawamura suggested that we start from a place that we could not imagine from our previous image, and suggested a coming-of-age love story. Like the blue sky on the advertising poster. Actually, that made me happy. It is not often that I am offered a job that is not an extension of my previous work. But I thought that a coming-of-age love story would allow me to show a new side of myself to the audience. I thought it would be easier for me to carry my weight in directing a story about a pity girl, so I suggested "The Little Mermaid," and then Mr. Kubuchi added the setting of a girl named Uta, in other words, a science fiction element, and this is how the film came to be.

--Since this is an original work, was there anything that you wanted to do?

ARAKI: If I had to say, I would say that I wanted to challenge myself to do something I had never done before. So I was interested in what parts of myself would be brought out in this film. I was interested in what parts of myself would be brought out in this project. In that sense, what was surprising and interesting was that in the middle of the film, there is a scene in which a character falls off a boat when it speeds up, and I was able to depict that scene in which the character is just playing. In the past, characters were often on the brink of life and death, and I never had the chance to depict them playing around aimlessly. But I was surprised that such scenes, which were not written in the scenario, came naturally from my own hands, and it was a valuable opportunity for me to think that such an opportunity would not have arisen without this job.

--When you say "spontaneously," do you mean that you didn't feel the need to direct?

Araki: To a certain extent, there was a reason for it from a directorial standpoint. For example, after that scene, the main character, Uta, is looking at a book with pictures of a grieving parent and child burned out on the battlefield. The scene where the characters are playing was meant to create a gap between that scene and the rest of the story. It was to bring them back to reality all at once from the happy place. But apart from that, the scene of the characters playing is very attractive by itself, and I regretted not having drawn it before. I thought it would have been nice to have such scenes even in a work with life and death in the background.

--I heard that the framework for this scenario was a sketch of "Ningyohime" drawn by Director Araki. What kind of message did you receive from the plot that was created from that sketch?

Araki: Rather than a message, Mr. Araki's plot was more like a list of ideas on how to reinterpret the fairy tale "Ningyohime" to make it into a modern work. I was able to show him the structure of how "Ningyohime" could be adapted into a modern anime. That is the greatness of Mr. Kyobuchi. It is unexpectedly impossible for ordinary people, including myself, to do this. So the next step was to figure out how to use this structure to create an interesting scenario. There were so many ways to expand the plot. But it was a very delicate plot, and the structure would break down quickly if we tried to inflate it in an unusual way. So, the structure came out in one day, but the most difficult part was to create a 100-minute movie scenario based on it. That was the most difficult part, because it took two or three years.

--So you had three screenwriters for this project?

Araki: That's right. Mr. Araki wrote the scenario in a relay format, with Mr. Naoko Sato and Mr. Renji Taiki writing the scenario based on Mr. Urabuchi's plot. Mr. Taiki first created the shape of the scene, and then he put together a rather large number of ideas for the action scenes. However, I wanted more detail in the love story part, so next I left it in the hands of a female writer, Naoko Sato. I heard that it is a common practice in Hollywood to add scenarios based on the characteristics of each character, but I guess that must have been Ms. Kawamura's experience. I thought it was an interesting approach, and I think it worked well.

--What difficulties came to mind when you were creating the storyboards from the completed scenario?

Araki: No, it was difficult. I didn't know if I could really make it look like a proper movie until I had finished drawing the storyboard to the very end. But as a result, I had a breakthrough of my own, and I felt that I was surprisingly dependable (laughs).

--(Laughs.) - In what ways was the scenario difficult to make into a storyboard?

Araki: The storyline of this work required me to convey what was necessary without using words, but only pictures. In addition, even in scenes where there was a third-party, doctor-like character, it would be unnatural to have him explain with dialogue, so we decided not to have him do so. For example, at the end of the game, when describing the behavior of the bubbles with different attributes, in addition to their colors and shapes, it should be possible to distinguish between the two types of bubbles by sight, for example, this bubble has a regular arrangement and this bubble has a random arrangement. It was quite difficult to do that. As you can imagine, the parkour part was another challenge. The workload for the artists was quite heavy. I did not have any ......, or was it too much work for me? (Laughs). It is a technique that is an extension of the 3D Maneuver Gear in "The Progressive Titan," but it requires a precise combination of the buildings in the background and movement, so it required another level of skill and determination. Also, we asked for realistic, not exaggerated, parkour movements, because the stage is fictional, and if the movements are also fictional, the lies will become too much. Therefore, we decided to ensure the reality of the work through realistic movements, but this required the staff to learn. I also created a folder of materials for parkour moves, and wrote the folder numbers on the storyboards for the cuts that required those materials. Each of the animators did further research on their own as well. It was not an easy task, so I thought it must have been quite difficult (laughs).

--First of all, the first point that was difficult was the fact that it is a love story between a young man and woman, so did you have any difficulty in drawing it without using words?

Araki: I never thought it was difficult because they don't speak. From the early stages of the scenario, Mr. Kawamura suggested the character of Gelsomina from Fellini's "The Road" as a possible image for the character of Uta. I could see clearly what I wanted her to be: a character who expresses herself with her eyes rather than words, a character who does not speak but gradually grows and conveys a message to the main character. So, what I focused on in the storyboards was to make the character funny. I had a rule of thumb that if you can laugh at a character, you will like him or her, so I thought that if I could make Uta laugh, then the future would be bright. And if there is no laughter, there is no crying. So I wanted to make Uta a fun character.



Passion for parkour and original works

--Did you decide to introduce parkour into the work from a very early stage?

Araki: Yes, I did. There was the idea of having them hold weapons, but I decided to use parkour-like movements from a rather early stage, because as long as we were producing at WIT STUDIO, we had to think about creating opportunities for action animators. Even though it was a coming-of-age love story, it was a prerequisite for us to make a movie where the action animation could be enjoyed to the fullest.

--What is it about parkour that attracted Director Araki so much?

Araki: I used parkour as a reference in "Shinkyu no Kyojin" and "Kabaneri the Iron Castles," and whenever I had the chance, I would create scenes that made use of parkour. It is fun to watch people jump and run around, trusting in their own body's ability in the face of danger. I feel true freedom. So, I studied and worked seriously to depict real parkour, not the parkour style, although the picture aspect of the scene was also a factor. So I had a lot of fun storyboarding the film. Besides, I knew I could "do" the parkour scene, so I didn't have any trouble or difficulty with it. Of course, my experience with the 3D Maneuver Gear was a big part of that.

--I also used the same make-up technique for the close-ups of the characters in this project.

Araki: The original character design this time was by Takeshi Obata, and we used a style that is more cartoonish than realistic, so the details are shallower than in "Shinkage no Kyojin," and the makeup is a little lighter. But the effect is sufficient, isn't it? In this case, I would say that the artist was rather careful in the use of the makeup and selected the areas where the effect is really effective. In fact, there are some scenes where the makeup effect is reduced. So, it was not a case of reflexively applying make-up because it was a close-up.

--What are the criteria for when it is best not to use make-up?

Araki: There is no rule. There was a point where I would avoid doing it when the character was looking at me, but it was based on a subtle sense. For example, if a character is moving because it is an ordinary moment in her daily life, the emphasis of the make-up might be too much of a distraction. I think a large part of the decision is based on the flow of the scene. If I decided to use make-up for a cut during the storyboarding process, I put that instruction in the storyboard, but there were some cuts that were later changed to make-up. Many of our staff are familiar with this technique and know its effects, so some cuts were changed to make-up based on the opinions of the production staff as well as the director. I think the staff had an idea of what would or would not be made up. That part was not so difficult.

--It is a good thing that you have a team that has worked on many productions at WIT STUDIO.

Araki: That's right. That's a good thing.

--What do you feel is the unique appeal of "Bubble" from your point of view?

Araki: I think it is a strange combination of a team that specializes in action elements and a coming-of-age love story, resulting in a superb action scene despite the fact that it is a love scene. We call it "love parkour" or "sad action" (laughs). I thought at the time of the first issue (preview) that this was an interesting aspect of the film that is not easily found in other works. So I hope you enjoy this unique romantic action film.

--Please tell us what kind of film "Bubble" is, including your thoughts on originality and the difficulties involved in making an original film.

Araki: Yes, that's right. Of course, I have strong feelings for original works. And it is much more difficult than the original work. That is why I consider it a life's work. I am grateful for the opportunity to be able to give form to the ideas that I had in my previous works, such as "I can do it better this time" and "I want to try it out". The highest point in my opinion so far is "Kabaneri of Kouetsujo: Kaimon Kessen," but the response I got at that time was great, so I developed that line of work into "Bubble. And I feel that it turned out well, so now I am looking forward to seeing the reaction from the customers.

(Reporting, writing, and photography by Koji Shimizu)

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