The trilogy is now in theaters! Interview with Kenji Nojima as Nobumoto Ginoza in "PSYCHO-PASS: Sinners of the System

The theatrical animated film "PSYCHO-PASS Psycho-Pass Sinners of the System Case.1 Crime and Punishment" is currently showing as a blockbuster hit.

PSYCHO-PASS Psycho-Pass" is an original science fiction animation that depicts a police force that is called to account in a near-future society where the psychological state of humans is quantified and managed.
The first season of the TV anime, which depicts the story of a near-future police force, aired from October 2012 to March 2013 on Fuji Television's "Noitamina" and other channels. The second season, which started in October 2014, was set a year and a half after the final episode of the first season, and a completely new story was depicted in the movie version released in January 2015, both of which became the talk of the town.
And as part of the "PSYCHO-PASS Psycho-Pass" Next Project announced on March 8, 2018, three theatrical anime films focusing on the five main characters, Shimotsuki x Ginoza, Sugo x Seiriku, and Cunningham, have been released consecutively since January 25 and have been a huge hit.
⇒Animation Movie Screening Schedule

We asked Kenji Nojima, who plays the role of Nobumoto Ginoza, who supports Mika Shimotsuki (CV: Ayane Sakura), the main character in "PSYCHO-PASS: Sinners of the System Case.1 Crime and Punishment" (hereinafter "Case.1"), and together they lead the story, about the film. The story is about the production of the "Mika Shimotsuki" series, which will start in January 2019.
⇒ The trilogy will be released in theaters from January 2019! Interview with Ayane Sakura, who plays Mika Shimotsuki in "PSYCHO-PASS: Psycho-Pass Sinners of the System

Finally, the desire for a sequel has been fulfilled.

───Can you tell us how you felt when you heard that this work was going to be produced?

Nojima: I had heard for a long time that something about "Psycho-Pass" was going to be recorded, but there was no indication that anything was going to be done about it, and I wondered if it was a scam. I was wondering if it was a scam, and then suddenly I was informed of the recording date. When I heard that there was going to be post recording, I was relieved to hear that Ginoza-san was going to be in it.

─ ─ Is that because "PSYCHO-PASS: Psycho-Pass" is a work in which even you, Mr. Nojima, who has played Ginoza throughout the series, "don't know what the story will be like"?

Nojima Yes, that's right. I am sure that there are stories that have not yet been depicted in the large Public Security Bureau, so there is a possibility that the story this time will not be about the first section, or if it is a completely different era, or if the story features someone in particular, I am not sure if Ginoza will have a part in it. I had always heard that there was going to be a sequel, but I was really happy when I found out that Ginoza was going to be in it.

───"Case.2 First Guardian" (hereinafter referred to as "Case.2") is a story before Akemi Tsunemori (CV: Kana Hanazawa) was assigned to the first section.

Nojima: I knew that my father (Tomoki Seiriku/CV: Kinryu Arimoto) was going to be in the show, so I had some idea that Ginoza was going to be in the show.

─ So you still felt a strong sense of "nostalgia.

NojimaI thought it was kind of cute that Ginoza was spiky.

─ ─ In terms of the story, you have gotten to know the members of the first section better in the TV and theater versions, but what was it like to play Ginoza in the past than in the TV series again?

Nojima: It was a part that I had discarded once, so I watched the first season on DVD to get back the feeling I had back then, or rather, to confirm a little that "there was a part of me that was short-tempered and biting people to protect myself and live. Ginoza was a character with a sensitive heart, or rather, a very sensitive character with an electric current running through him, so I practiced evoking that feeling, and then I brought it to the scene.

─ Did the recording go smoothly, thanks to the work of remembering the past?

Nojima: I thought it went smoothly because I had gone through the same emotional route once before, but even so, it had been a long time, so I sometimes wondered if I was really Ginoza as I had been back then. Of course, the recording had already been done, and the director and sound director had given their OK, so there was no doubt about it, but even so, I wasn't looking at it objectively, so I was worried until I saw the finished product.

─ Did your anxiety turn to relief when you saw the film?

Nojima: When I saw the finished film, I enjoyed it as if I were a viewer, thinking, "Ah, there's the old Ginoza-san.

─ Did you have that nostalgic feeling when you entered the recording studio?

Nojima: When we gathered together as a familiar group, I had the feeling that "Oh, we are recording "PSYCHO-PASS Psycho-Pass.

─ Did you talk with your co-stars about the film before you decided to record it?

Nojima: Whenever I meet the members of the "PSYCHO-PASS Psycho-Pass" team at the recording site of other works, we always end up talking about "PSYCHO-PASS Psycho-Pass". Whenever we saw each other, we would ask each other if we had heard about the new film. I think he has been on everyone's mind for a long time.

─ When we interviewed Mr. Sakura, who played the role of Shimotsuki, we asked him about Mr. Nojima, saying that he "pulled me along like Ginoza" on the set.

Nojima: I might be offended if I say that he is like Shimotsuki, but I felt that he was capable, competitive, and hardworking, and even though he sometimes said funny things, when I saw how serious he was, even when he was in the microphone next to me during the recording, I felt "Shimotsuki" in him. Even when we were being interviewed together, I felt that he was calm and very intelligent.

Ginoza, who played the role, is "an adult who can become a nice adult.

─ ─ Having played Ginoza in "Case 1", which is more recent than the movie version, and in "Case 2", which is earlier than the TV series, how do you feel about Ginoza in "Case 2" now?

Nojima: The timeline has been established as the growth of a human being, and the process of growing as a human being is depicted, and the growth is continuous, but I felt again that he has grown a lot.

───What points in particular did you feel he has grown up?

Nojima: I think I am able to take good care of Shimotsuki. I think he is taking good care of Shimotsuki, who has the same temperament as he did when he was younger, just like he took care of himself in the past. What I felt was that he has grown especially in his enjoyment of such work and involvement. I think it is a difficult thing for a human being to enjoy the way of life in the midst of daily life filled with incidents. Since I was able to do that in "Case.1," I feel that I can become a more wonderful adult in the future, or rather, an "adult who can become a wonderful adult. I think I have reached the next stage as an adult. It was as if I received a passport to become a good adult, and I was able to see that in Ginoza, and I think I was able to play a new Ginoza.

─ ─ Since this is a movie version, do you have any feelings different from those of the TV series?

Nojima: Before I got this job, I wanted to work in movies. That is why, when I worked on my first feature film - "BLOOD-C the Movie: The Last Dark," directed by Shiotani, who also worked on this film - I cried while watching the end roll with my name on it in the movie theater. That is how strongly I feel about the theater version.

─ You have such a strong attachment to the film version, and last year, on October 25, you stood on the red carpet at the 31st Tokyo International Film Festival. Could you tell us how you felt about that?

Nojima: From the waiting room, I, Seki and Sakura-san entered the venue in the same car, while Toji-san and Director Shiotani-san entered the venue in a different car. Seki and I and the driver took the liberty of pulling down the blinds inside the car, and we had a lot of fun talking about the Mercedes Benz, which cost 20 million yen each. (Laughs.) Mr. Sakura, who was watching the scene in the car, asked me, "Aren't you nervous? (laugh). (laughs). We all said, "It's fun, isn't it?" and the red carpet remained fun the whole time.

─ ─ Finally, could you tell us what kind of work "PSYCHO-PASS: Psycho-Pass" has been for you?

Nojima: It is a very important work for me personally. When I first got involved with it, I did not expect that it would become a work that I would be involved with on a daily basis, but I feel that I have grown with the work and that it has lifted me up. It is a work that is so deeply rooted in me that if I cut a blood vessel, it would overflow with "PSYCHO-PASS Psycho-Pass". It is a work that has become an everyday, special routine that I cannot imagine disappearing even 10 or 20 years from now. I saw the character Ginoza, who I never thought would change, grow as a person, and this work made me learn that "people can always change and grow if they want to. This work made me realize that there were still many things that I myself had limited myself to, and it is a work that has allowed me to grow as a person.

───What do you feel about "PSYCHO-PASS: Sinners of the System Case.3 Beyond Vengeance" (hereafter, "Case.3"), Mr. Nojima?

NOJIMA: I am looking at it from the perspective of whether or not there is a connection to the next one, and how it relates to my role in the film. I would love to see the film in the theater when it is completed. I want to experience it on a big screen and at a volume that will resonate in my body, which is only possible in a movie theater.

─ ─ Finally, what do you want people to see on the big screen in the theater in particular in "Case 1" and "Case 2"?

Nojima: What I would like people to see, or rather what I myself would like to see, is the fight scene with Rosion Matsurai (CV: Rikiya Koyama) in "Case 1". I would like to see it repeatedly on the theater screen and check out the details.

─ ─ Thank you very much for talking with us.

Film information】 ※Honorific titles are omitted.

PSYCHO-PASS: Sinners of the System Case.1 Crime and Punishment
In theaters from January 25 (Fri.)

＜Case 1: Crime and Punishment Story
This time, it's my case, right, Senpai?

In the winter of 2117, a runaway vehicle plunged into the Public Security Bureau building.
The driver of the car was Izumi Yosaka, a psychological counselor at Sanctuary, an isolation facility for potential criminals in Aomori.
However, just before the interrogation, it is decided that Yosaka will be immediately deported.
The warden, Mika Shimotsuki, heads to Aomori with the executioner, Nobumoto Ginoza, and others to have Yosaka extradited.
What awaited them there was a "false paradise.

<CAST
Nobumoto Ginoza: Kenji Nojima Mika Shimotsuki: Ayane Sakura
Izumi Yozaka: Saori Yumiba Takeya Kugari: Shoei Hirai Qiangka Tsujikai: Kanae Oka Rosion Matsurai: Rikiya Koyama Aiko Genzawa: Kimiko Saito Koji Noto: Yohei Tadano Akira Karuma: Keiichi Nakagawa
Akemi Tsunemori: Kana Hanazawa Teppei Sugo: Hiroki Higashiji Sho Hinagawa: Takahiro Sakurai Yayoi Rokugozuka: Shizuka Ito Shion Karanomori: Miyuki Sawashiro

＜STAFF>
SS story original idea and director: Naoyoshi Shiotani
Screenplay : Ryo Yoshigami
Chief Animation Director：Satoru Nakamura
Animation Supervisor：Ryota Niino, Ryota Furukawa, Shunji Suzuki, Fumi Morita, Satoru Nakamura, Tetsuro Moronuki
Director：Tomoyuki Kurokawa, Yasuhiro Shimoji
Director of Photography：Eiji Arai
3D: Sublimation
Color Design: Eimiko Ueno
Art Director: Shuichi Kusamori
Sound Director: Miwa Iwanami
Music: Yugo Kanno
Character Design: Naoyuki Onda, Kyoji Asano, Tsune Abe
Series Original Design: Gen Urobuchi
Character Planning: Akira Amano
Animation Production: Production I.G
Distributor: Toho Video Division

PSYCHO-PASS Psycho-Pass Sinners of the System Case.2 First Guardian

In theaters on February 15 (Fri.)

＜Teppei Sugo / Hiroki Toji / Tomoki Seiriku / Kinryu Arimoto
＜Screenplay: Makoto Fukami Chief Animation Director: Tsune Abe Series Design: Gen Urobuchi Character Design: Akira Amano Animation Production: Production I.G

PSYCHO-PASS Psycho-Pass Sinners of the System Case.3 Beyond Vengeance

In theaters on March 8 (Friday)

＜Shinya Cunningham / Tomokazu Seki
＜STAFF＞SS Story Original Idea/Director: Naoyoshi Shiotani Screenplay: Makoto Fukami Chief Animation Director: Naoyuki Onda, Tsune Abe, Satoru Nakamura Series Original Idea: Gen Urobuchi Character Design: Akira Amano Animation Production: Production I.G

Kenji Nojima (Shin Gen Ginoza) autographed color paper present!

To commemorate the release of this interview, we are giving away a signed color paper autographed by Kenji Nojima (Nobumoto Ginoza) to one lucky winner. Please read the detailed application guidelines before applying.

<Prize
A colorful paper autographed by Kenji Nojima (Nobumoto Ginoza)

<Entry requirements
Application period: February 14, 2019 (Thu) - February 24, 2019 (Sun) 23:59
Number of winners: 2
Announcement of winners: Prizes will be sent to the winners.
Prize shipping: Prizes will be shipped by the end of April 2019.
How to apply: Please fill out the application form below.

<Precautions
Registration (free of charge) is required to apply.
Only one entry per person is allowed.
We will not be able to respond to any inquiries regarding the results of the drawing or shipping status.
Transfer or resale of the prize or rights to the prize winner to a third party is prohibited.
Kakaku.com Group employees and related parties are not eligible to participate.
Prizes must be shipped within Japan.
We will take the utmost care in packaging the prizes, but please note that we cannot accept returns or exchanges in the event that the prizes are damaged due to an accident during transportation.
Please note that the prize will be invalidated in the following cases
　Multiple winners at the same address or in the same household
　If you have entered the contest using an unauthorized account (e.g., multiple accounts by the same person)
　If a prize cannot be delivered due to the winner's address, change of address, long-term absence, etc.
　Prizes cannot be delivered due to incomplete contact or delivery address information.
　In the event that the prize recipient fails to contact us by the prize delivery address notification deadline
　If there is any fraudulent activity related to the application.

(C) Psycho-Pass Production Committee