Long interview with composer Yoshi HANAOKA! (The 34th "Inside Man" of Anime and Game)

Knowing the "inside man" makes anime and games more interesting. In this 34th installment of our series of interviews with writer crepuscular, we talk with composer Yoshi Haneoka. Mr. Haneoka is the writer of the musical accompaniment for the hit anime "Kaguya-sama ga Kesshirasai ~Tensai-tachi no Koi Toushi Tachi no Koi Tousou Brain Battle~," and his song "Dawn! is another of Mr. Hanaoka's songs. Akiyuki Shinbo's works such as "Pani Poni Dasshu," "Negima! Hana Monogatari," "Possumonogatari," "Hanamonogatari," "End Story," and "Sequel to End Story," all of which were directed by Akiyuki Shinbo, and for which he has provided scores that perfectly fit the worldview and characters of each. Currently, he is working on a drama series "Kono Oto Tomare" (This Sound is Breathless!), a coming-of-age drama set in a koto club. a coming-of-age drama set in a koto club, in which you can enjoy an orchestra that can compete with live-action performances. The turning point for Mr. Hanaoka came when he met a scriptwriter for his debut work. In this exclusive interview, Mr. Haneoka looks back on his career to date and talks about his unique composition techniques, the difference between animation and live-action, the behind-the-scenes story behind the creation of his masterpieces, and his aspirations for the future.

Musical Opportunities Differ between Animation and Live Action

I am very honored to meet with you in the midst of your busy schedule. First of all, what do you find most rewarding about your job?

Yoshi HANAOKA (HANAOKA) I am always happy to be able to participate through music in films that have many fans looking forward to seeing them. As a musician, I also look forward to having the opportunity to record in a studio with top-notch performers and recording engineers.

─ Mr. Habuoka is also active in live-action dramas, and in 2019 he is in charge of the accompaniment for plays such as "The Lone Scalpel". What do you find attractive about anime?

HANAOKA: There are many opportunities to compose experimental music in the case of anime accompaniment. I have many opportunities to do various things musically, and I find that interesting.

What works have influenced you in your creative process?

HANAOKA: Among animated films, "Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind" (1984) and "Laputa: Castle in the Sky" (1986) are my starting point, or rather, I think they are the basis of my works and music. In particular, "Nausicaa" was shown when I was in the early grades of elementary school and left a very strong impression on me.

Although I did not understand the story that well, I was still very moved by it, and Joe Hisaishi's fascinating music was one of the reasons I became interested in composing music. At the time, I had not yet learned to play an instrument, but because of my parents' work, we had a piano, synthesizer, and many other instruments at home, so I tried playing the music from "Nausicaa" and "Laputa". As I was doing that, I gradually started doing things like composing music.

HANAOKA How much music do you listen to per month?

HANAOKA: I may not have a broad range of music yet, but I try to actively watch and listen to works that directors and producers bring up during work meetings and discussions. It does not necessarily mean that I can use them in my own works, but I would like to know what creators such as directors and producers are watching and feeling, if possible.

Narrative tension" that I paid attention to in the "Monogatari" series

Do you have a particular genre or sound design that you are good at?　For example, in "Hana Monogatari" (2014), you used short piano motifs to create soundscapes for a variety of scenes. I am impressed by "Basketball" used in the tense 1-on-1 between Suruga and Rohana, "Number Zero Ichi," an episode of Rohana's counselor using shadow puppets, "Timely Guy," which colored the reunion between Suruga and Araragi, and "Unexpected," which expressed the eerie nature of a basketball court flooded with water.

HANAOKA: As for myself, I don't really have a specialty or anything like that. I receive a variety of orders for each work, so I try to think about what kind of music is best suited for each work and create it accordingly. For the "Monogatari" series, Director Akiyuki Shinbo, Sound Director Yota Tsuruoka, and Music Producer Shinji Yamauchi asked me to use "minimal music," so I started with minimal music that leaned toward classical music and gradually added synths to go in an electronic direction, I started with minimal music that leaned toward classical, and gradually added synths and went in an electronic direction, or tried to make it sound more orchestral, and so on, all through trial and error.

I started with the classic mini-mal music, and then gradually added synths and went in an electronic direction, orchestrating it, and so on.

HANAOKA: In the "Monogatari" series, the situations don't change much, and there are many scenes where the story is told in a straightforward manner, so I composed the music paying attention to the tension of the storytelling. There is not so much everyday life, incidents, or suspense. The way I composed the music is different from what I usually do.

What do you mean by "a different form from usual"?

HANAOKA: For a TV series, we often create dramatic accompaniment based on menus and meetings, looking at storyboards, scripts, and the original story, but for the "Monogatari" series, we received a video that was very close to the finished form, including the sound, at the composition stage. The same was true for the latest work, "Sequel to the Last Story" (2019). Thanks to that, I was able to create the work with reference to the atmosphere and the tempo of the conversations. The tension of "speaking without hesitation" would have been difficult to grasp with storyboards and scripts alone, but because we had the video, I think we were able to follow the rhythm of the images and the tension of the dialogues.

The stage for "Redi x Bato! (2010) was set in a young lady's school, so there was a lot of authentic classical music. In particular, "Hakurei Ryo Gakuin," with its beautiful flowing harmonies of harp and flute, and "Flame Heart," a string piece that evokes the pure and noble heart of the heroine, had a charm that made me take time to listen to the music itself, away from the images.

HANAOKA Thank you very much. I got that kind of vibe from the initial materials I received and the orders from director Atsushi Otsuki and sound director Hitoshi Akutagawa for this piece.

From the instrumentation to the performers, everything was extravagant "Kono Oto Tomare! and "Kaguya-sama

Could you tell us about some of the recent anime songs that you felt you had a good grasp of?

HANEOKA Recently, the main theme song of "Kono Oto Tomare! (2019), I really like the main theme song. (2019). Since it is the theme song, the sound is a little thicker, but I was careful not to make it too exciting, so I made it with a sense of restraint.

I also like "Kaguya-sama ga Kesshirasai - Geniuses in Love Brain Battle" (2019) very much because I was allowed to do it in a very extravagant way. I was able to do what I wanted to do for all the songs in "Kaguya-sama."

The accompaniment of "Kono Oto Tomare! was a masterpiece. The orchestral accompaniment gives it a dramatic feel more like live-action than a TV animation.

Haneoka: The sound director, Mr. Hajime Takakuwa, suggested the direction of the music for "Kono Oto Tomare! as a reference for the direction of the music for "Kono Oto Tomare! Listening to the soundtrack, I thought it had a wet, soft, yet slightly rich atmosphere, and I composed the music.

What do you consider "Kaguya-sama" to be "luxurious"?

HANAOKA: Director Mamoru Hatakeyama, sound director Hitoshi Akutagawa, and music producer Shinji Yamauchi gave me many specific ideas for the music for "Kaguya-sama," but when I tried to realize all of their ideas, it became a project with a lot of musical genres, instruments, musicians, etc. But all of the ideas were wonderful, and we are very happy with the results. But all the ideas were wonderful and I wanted to realize them, so I decided to go with the ideas and invite a lot of musicians and go all out.

In the end, the songs for "Kaguya-sama" had a variety of tastes, from baroque music-like, to rap, to ska, to songs made with hard synth sounds from the 1970s and 1980s. In addition, although we often record with limited time and resources, for this project we focused on live instruments and had many top-notch musicians play on the tracks.

In addition to a classical orchestra, drums, guitar, and bass, we had harp, classical percussion, soprano, and tenor singers. Incidentally, the piano was played by pianist and composer Haruki Mino. Mr. Mino is also the composer of "Sally the Wizard" (1989), and he gave us a wonderful performance that truly "let the piano do the talking. Starting with a lot of ideas, and blessed with wonderful musicians, we were able to create a luxurious sound for this piece.

The rap "Dawn!" by Mr. Fujiwara in the 4th episode was also created by Mr. Haneoka? in episode 4 was also composed by HANAOKA?

HANAOKA Yes, I composed it.

─ "Kono ondo to mitare! What was your most memorable order?

HANAOKA: The animation producer asked me to compose not only an orchestral piece, but also a woodwind quintet piece. Specifically, I made several pieces with only flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and horn.

HANAOKA: From classical music to rap music, what is required of a theatrical accompaniment writer is really wide-ranging, isn't it?

HANAOKA We receive so many different orders for each piece. I am always ready to respond to those orders in various ways.

In the case of "Kono Oto Tomare! has a lot of koto music in the play. There seems to be a separate composer, but was the recording done by Mr. Hanaoka?

HANAOKA: Koto music is a specialized subject, so it was done by a different team. Since both gekidan and koto kyoku are played, Mr. Takakuwa ordered us to create them differentiated from each other. Therefore, we did not include Japanese instruments in the dramatic accompaniment, nor did we include scales that would give the audience a sense of Japan.

Difficulties in composing without visual images

Do you start from the melody or the chords?　Or do you start from the chords?

HANEOKA: We start at the same time. After I have completed a certain amount of music, I review it, and if necessary, I revise both the melody and the chords. Not only melody and chords, but also arrangement, tone, whether to use synths or live instruments, whether the music meets the order, whether the musicians can record their performances within the recording time, what kind of score will make it easier for the musicians to understand the music, and so on. I create the music while thinking and feeling various things at the same time.

How do you develop an image of the music?

HANAOKA: I don't do anything unusual. I listen to various stories from the director and sound director at meetings, read the original work and storyboards carefully, and think and create while looking at the menu.

Looking back on the history of musical accompaniment, there seem to be pros and cons to the use of temp tracks (ed. note: pre-existing music used to convey an image to the composer).

HANAOKA: In meetings where we want to discuss the details of the music, I feel that it is difficult to share the image of the music we both have in mind by simply using a series of relatively abstract words such as "gentle" or "brave. I think that if we have reference music, it will be easier for us to share a common understanding as a basis for conversation.

Do you still get retakes and NGs?

HANAOKA: Of course there are.

─ Do you compose music for live-action TV dramas during pre-production (editing note: before shooting)?

HANAOKA: In many cases, yes. I read the script and compose the music after developing an image based on the orders I receive in meetings with the director and producer. Since the film is often not finished at that point, it is sometimes difficult to get a good sense of the mood of the film. In such cases, I sometimes try to find a film I have worked on or a director's previous work that is close to the film and play it on my computer or TV with the sound off to see if the tempo and tension match the music I am currently composing. When I do this with some of my films, I find that I can get a sense of temperature that I didn't notice when I was listening to the music alone, or that I don't need this particular sound.

Do you prepare storyboards for your live-action films as you do for your animated films?

HANAOKA: I don't think we ever received storyboards.

Do you think there is any difference in the ease of creation between scripts and storyboards?　I think it is easier to evoke an image with pictures than with text.

HANAOKA: I am not an animation expert, so I spend a lot of time looking at storyboards, but even so, it is easier to visualize various things with a storyboard than without one. Even so, it is easier to visualize various aspects of the work if there is a storyboard than if there isn't one. I think one of the most difficult aspects of composing a live-action or animated film is that you have to compose the music before the images are finished.

Is there a difference in the way you compose for movies?

HANAOKA: Films are a little easier to make because we receive the finished images. Of course, that doesn't mean it is easy.

Are you challenging yourself to create new tones?　In Hollywood, it seems that you sometimes make sounds from things other than musical instruments.

HANAOKA: I don't do that very often. I know there are people who do that kind of thing, and I look at YouTube, etc., to see who is using what kind of things and what kind of sounds they are making, and I also have a lot of sampled software sound sources for composition, over 18TB on SSD, so that I can respond to orders whenever they come in. I do that. I have more than 18TB of sampled software instruments on my SSD, but most of the offers I receive now are for mature and relaxed works, including live-action films, so I am concentrating on how I can express the emotions of the audience with orthodox instruments. Of course, if I am asked to create a new sound, I always try as much as possible.

Do you have any criteria for participating in your productions?

HANAOKA: I always want to participate in any work that offers me a chance to work on music, not only for animation but also for theatrical accompaniment.

Do you communicate with the original creators?

HANAOKA: I rarely communicate directly with them.

─ Recently, have you received any offers from directors?

HANAOKA Recently, I received an offer directly from director Mitsuo Kurotsuchi for the live-action film "Hoshi Meguri no Machi" (2018). We had previously worked together on the TV drama "Aishikute" (2016), and he contacted me saying, "I would love to work with you again this time. I would be happy to talk to you again after working with you in the past.