Sunrise Festival 2019 Special】Tetsu Shiratori "got into the characters from the day before" and what he thought at the recording session! The "Infinite Leviathan" talk stage, which focuses on the behind-the-scenes stories that pop up in the 20th year!

Sunrise Festival 2019 Fugetsu, an annual event in which Sunrise, which has produced numerous animated films, screened their works in movie theaters every day, was held from September 13, 2019 to September 27, 2019.

This time, we report on the "Infinite Leviathan" stage held on Saturday, September 21. Perhaps because this is the 20th anniversary of the TV broadcast of this work, it has been attracting renewed attention, and many fans came to the venue. The lobby was so crowded that there was not even room to step on the floor before the doors opened.

Rare items were also on display, including a plastic model released by Aoshima Bunka Kyozai-sha at the time and a mock-up of Leviathan made by mechanical designer Kimitoshi Yamane, which drew long lines of fans eager to take pictures.

Amidst the excitement, Director Goro Taniguchi, Yosuke Kuroda (series composition), Tetsu Shiratori (Kouji Aiba), and Shuyuki Hiyama (Ayers Blue) took to the stage. The event proceeded in a very friendly atmosphere.
Here is a report from the stage.

To commemorate the Sunrise Festival feature, "Infinite Leviathan" visitor bonus posters will be given away to five lucky winners in a drawing!
For details, please check the article linked below.

Staff, Voice Actors, and Producers Really Clashed with Each Other at the Production Site

The talk stage began with an episode of how the director and Mr. Kuroda met.

Mr. Kuroda first learned of this work when two proposals, one for "Leviathan" and the other for another work, were brought to his studio, Orfe. At the time, in addition to Mr. Kuroda, Orfe also had Hideyuki Kurata, known for "Ore no Imouto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai" and other works, and the two of them decided to share the project.

Later, Mr. Kuroda met with Director Taniguchi, and at their first meeting, Mr. Kuroda had dyed his hair green. This was a punishment for Mr. Kuroda losing a bet at a bar, and Director Taniguchi, who did not know this, thought, "Does he dye his hair for policy? It was a first meeting with such a big impact, he said.

The project of "Leviathan" started in such a situation, with about 500 boys and girls drifting on a space battleship. Taniguchi replied, "Yes, there will be rape, won't there? She then thought, "I can write about such situations without avoiding them," and decided to follow the director's lead.

This work is broadcast every Wednesday evening at 6:00 p.m., a prime time slot. Hiyama and Shiratori thought it was an amazing work that they were willing to go this far, but the fact was that "Neon Genesis Evangelion" had already been broadcast in the same time slot several years earlier, and many problematic scenes had already been aired. Director Taniguchi says that this project was realized because the producer at TV Tokyo at the time was a person who approached the production with a lot of determination.

On the other hand, Mr. Kuroda said, "This film was the first time I had an actor get angry with me to my face. This was such a big shock to the voice actors who appeared in the film.

How did the script, which was oriented toward rawness, come about?

When the topic turned to episodes during post recording, it was mentioned that Director Taniguchi and Mr. Kuroda visited the post recording studio every time they worked on the film.

According to Director Taniguchi, this was because it was convenient for him to have the scriptwriters on site so that he could correct the script on the spot when the voice actors' performances affected the script or when he needed to revise lines.

In contrast, Shiratori, who was watching the staff from inside the postrecording booth, recalls, "Back then, there was a sense that the two of us (Director Taniguchi and Kuroda-san) were like one.

He also said that around the time of "Leviathan," Director Taniguchi sat in the back of the staff room and did not come into the booth very often. He explained that the reason for this was because it was his first film as a director, and instead of giving instructions from all over the place, he had Yasuo Urakami, the late sound director, centralize the instructions, and he tried to look at the work from a bird's eye view. Because of this, he had drawn a line between himself and the voice actors, thinking that it was not necessary to get along with them so well.

However, according to Shiratori and Hiyama, "(Director Taniguchi) has been coming into the recording booth more and more in recent productions," suggesting that he has now established a good relationship with the voice actors while maintaining a moderate distance.

Now it was the voice actors' turn to reminisce.

Mr. Shiratori, who is known for getting into his roles, said that he had been living in the mood of Kouji Aiba since the day before the recording session. Soichiro Hoshi, who plays Yuki Aiba, the younger brother of Kouji, who is a tormentor of Kouji, confessed that he "really didn't want to see" and "didn't want to get close to" him at the time.

Hiyama also said that Norio Wakamoto, who played Conrad Viskes, kept practicing "Bratica ......" in a small voice during recording. He commented that his voice was actually secretly picked up by the microphone, and that it was memorable that "Bratica" was repeated as if it were a sutra, which excited the audience.

According to Director Taniguchi and Mr. Kuroda, "Wakamoto-san is eager to practice" and "I think he is looking for a good balance of acting with the surrounding performances. Since there were many co-stars and senior voice actors working together on the film, it was a scene where many different generations and styles of acting were mixed together.

The conversation then turned to an episode in which Mr. Kuroda often revised and added to the scripts on site.

Nowadays, it is easy to exchange revisions via e-mail, but at that time, e-mail was not yet a widespread tool, and it was faster to rewrite scripts on the spot! So they would revise the scripts on the spot and hand them to the voice actors.

Shirotori asked, "Is that why there were so many lines that were written with an emphasis on the flow?" Director Taniguchi replied, "I think it is important to write with the flow. If you don't intentionally include redundant expressions, it doesn't come out sounding raw. Perhaps because of this production stance, Shiratori said, "Mr. Kuroda's lines are interesting as an actor. In that sense, the recording of the CD drama, in which they played around with scenarios, was "especially interesting," said Hiyama, nodding his head broadly.

Hoping to see you again in the next 20 years: ......

He also talked about the "thick gaya script" as a memory unique to this work. Since this work originally had a lot of technical terms and many mob characters in addition to the main characters, the dialogue for the gaya was also well prepared. The script was also quite voluminous, starting with about 20 pages, but by the time the final episode was over, it had grown to 40 pages.

I thought we were going to record a drama CD," Hiyama jokingly recalled, "It took an hour just to record the gaya.

Toward the end of the event, the performers answered questions from fans. In response to the question, "Have you ever had a similar experience to a character in 'Leviathan'?" Shirotori said, "I often feel stuck in my adolescent years, and that feeling is similar to Kubuji's." Kuroda explained that Kubuji's arm is lost due to an injury at the end of the story. He revealed that his own brother, who lost the use of one of his arms due to an accident in his childhood, had a considerable influence on the development of the story. The audience was surprised to learn that the realistic expression of the film was supported by his own experience.

After the talk stage, three episodes were shown: Episode 6 "Boku no Setsuna," Episode 10 "Shinjirunai Nakuete," and Episode 25 "Ore de Idomu To Be. Director Taniguchi chose these episodes based on the criterion of "episodes in which Mr. Hiyama is active.

Blue, one of the main characters played by Mr. Hiyama, did not appear in that many episodes. However, Mr. Hiyama himself actually appeared in all the episodes, as he had various roles and mob roles as well. Therefore, the episodes in which "Mr. Hiyama is active (in various roles)" were chosen, he said.

In closing, Shiratori commented, "Since "Leviathan" has lasted 20 years, let's do our best to see you all again in the next 20 years. The talk stage ended with the staff and fans wishing for the day when they could meet again.

After the event, we conducted an interview with Director Taniguchi!

───Please tell us frankly how you feel about this event.

Taniguchi: First of all, I would like to thank the fans who have supported us for 20 years since the first TV broadcast. Without the fans, events like this would not be possible. I am sure that there may be people who have come into contact with this work in various ways along the way, and I would like to thank all of you for that as well.

This work was created in the hope that when you revisit it five or ten years from now, you will have a different impression of it, and I think you will enjoy it like a gourmet meal. I hope you will enjoy it again and again.

It would be great if we could have a 30th anniversary event in the future, but I am not sure how many of the members are still in the industry, so I consider this time as a break for now. I am glad that I was able to spend this time with you all.

───For you, Director Taniguchi, what is the position of this film?

Taniguchi: This is a film that I made with the intention of retiring. I made this film with the intention of making it my last. I was sure that I would not receive any more offers.

───That is why you went to such great lengths in making this work, isn't it?

Taniguchi: That is true, and it was also made possible by the staff and customers who sympathized with the work and followed it, so I am not at liberty to say how I personally felt about it. However, I did not think about what would happen after the show was over.

───Finally, do you have any comments for the fans?

Taniguchi: When you start watching the film, you may feel a bit overwhelmed. But once the story starts moving, you will forget about it.

Perhaps it depends on who you are emotionally attached to and who is your main focus when watching "Leviathan". If you watch "Leviathan" with Kouji Aiba as your main character, you may indeed find some parts of the story painful. But if you watch it with other people as your main focus, I think you will have a different impression. We hope you will watch the film several times with the intention of seeing it in that way.

■Five winners will be selected by lottery to receive a Sunrise Festival visitor's bonus poster!
For details, please click the link below!