Win a copy of the BD! An interview with director Tomohiko Ito on the release of "HELLO WORLD" on Blu-ray and DVD!

The original theatrical anime "HELLO WORLD," released in September 2019, has an interesting structure, showing the first half as a shonen manga-like battle manga training and romantic comedy, while the second half overwhelms with powerful action and large scale science fiction-like depiction.

Some may feel that "science fiction" is a bit too high-brow for them, but the major change in genre in this work, as described above, allows the viewer to quickly find themselves running through the work until the very end. This time, we interviewed director Tomohiko Ito, focusing on the "pop" and "cute characters" in the first half of the film, which softened the high threshold.

Attempting to change genres by assigning a different contortionist for each part

Director Ito is known for the "SWORD ART ONLINE" series, and has worked on both the animated TV series and the feature film version.

Ito: The main difference is that this is an original work as well as a theatrical work. This means that very few people had a vision of the finished product, so it was important to find a way to spread that vision to the staff. So, first of all, I made a video version of the storyboard, and since it was a presco, I added my voice to it and tried to convey the story as such. I hoped that by doing so, I could get closer to the ideal form of the work that I had in mind.

Q: It is difficult to share an image until it is completed.

Ito: With TV animation, once you've created one film, you can have the artist follow it. But with theater works, that is not possible, so I think there is a big difference between the two.

Q: In a sense, do you also have no idea of the final form?

ITOH: No, I have a vague idea of how it will end up, but I want to exceed that imagination if possible. There are times when I feel that I could only get to this point after all. I won't mention what percentage I achieved this time (laughs).

Q: "Hello World" was 97 minutes long. Did you feel that it was short from the creator's point of view?

ITOH: I thought it was short. I think Toho had the intention of making it a little shorter, but I think it would have been okay to aim for just short of 100 minutes.

Incidentally, if you could add 2 or 3 minutes to the film, what would you add?

ITOH: I think it would be the part at the end where the adult Naomi has a change of heart. I think I could have drawn that part a little more carefully, but if I had done that, the whole movie would have had a strong adult Naomi smell, so I don't think it would have been beneficial to do so. ...... It's a difficult point.

I think there are three major developments in terms of the structure of the work. The first is a shounen manga-like training thing, then comes a romantic comedy, and the climax of the second half is a sci-fi work. What is the reason for this structure and what do you think is good about it?

ITOH: In recent years, there has been a trend in Hollywood films to make a major genre change in the middle of the story. I wanted to follow this trend, so I divided the film into A, B, C, and D parts, and asked different storytellers to work on each part. By doing so, I was able to have each person work in his or her own specialty zone, and I think that each person's individual flavor came out. Of course, as the director, I had to make some adjustments.

Q: This is a bit off topic, but the Blu-ray special edition includes the spin-off film "ANOTHER WORLD". How did you come up with this one?

ITOH: I was told to make this for advertising purposes, so I did (laughs). (Laughs.) So it was not a project that was in the works from the beginning, so we started making it while saying, "What are we going to do? So we started making it while saying, "What are we going to do?

The general story of "Hello World" is that high school student Naomi Kakusho (CV. Takumi Kitamura) loses her girlfriend Ruri Ichigyo (CV. Minami Hamabe) in an accident, and Naomi (CV. Momori Matsuzaka), an adult from the future, tries to change her destiny. I felt that the story was really complemented by the way Naomi (CV. Sadayuki Matsuoka) was portrayed after he lost her. After knowing that, when I watched the main story, I felt more emotionally involved with the adult Naomi and was more moved by the story.

Ito: If you say so, I am glad we made this film, and I also feel that we should have made it more easily viewable during its release, but now that it is included in the package, I hope you will watch it as well.

The "most 3D-proof" character design challenge

This work was very interesting as one of the few full-fledged science fiction works in recent Japanese animation, but at the same time, it had something to attract people who find science fiction a bit difficult, and that was Yukiko Horiguchi ("K-ON!", "Tamako Market", etc.). Tamako Market" and others). I was first surprised to see her drawings being moved in 3DCG, and at the same time, I thought it was a very high hurdle for her to take on.

Ito: Well, basically, it is the type of design that should not be made into 3D (laughs). I did not do it with the future of the CG industry in mind, but we cannot imitate the U.S., which is far ahead of us in CG. So I thought about what the Japanese CG animation community should do to have a unique position in the industry.

I thought that there might be a way to fight using the cell-look technique. Graphinica, the animation production company, is a company that takes an approach that is close to drawing, which is different from both Polygon Pictures (animation production company that produced the "Knights of Sidonia" and "GODZILLA" series) and Orange (animation production company that produced "The Land of Jewels" and "BEASTARS"). (an animation production company that has worked on "Knight of Sidonia" and "GODZILLA" series) and Orange (an animation production company that has worked on "Jewel Country" and "BEASTARS"). Each company has its own unique characteristics, which is interesting, but I am from the animation field, so one of my goals this time was to try to work on various areas where I am not good at, while incorporating my strengths in 3DCG.

I thought it would be really difficult to express "kawaii" in CG, but I found Ruri Ichigyo to be extremely cute during the process. The scene on the bench and the part where she confesses her feelings to Naonaru. I was wondering what kind of tricks you used to clear that up.

Ito: I think it was the animators' hard work. We did not use motion capture this time, so everything was done by hand by the animators. So if it looked cute, I think the main facial supervisor, Ayaka Igarashi, and the animation supervisors, Yagita-san and Ogita-san, did a great job.

People tend to think that if you have a 3D model, you can easily create all the cuts, but that is not the case at all (laughs).

(Laughs.) The nimeters transformed the model in their own way and made it look like Mr. Horiguchi's character was reproduced, because it was crafted according to the appearance of the cut. That probably wouldn't be allowed in other companies, but I felt that without that kind of looseness, it wouldn't have been possible to do something like that.

I guess that's true!　That seems to be quite a challenge. ......

Ito: That's why there are moments when I think, "Even though it's 3D, the drawing collapses" (laughs). (Laughs.) "That's just a little too much work on the model! (laughs).

I felt that you were aiming for "cute" while skillfully incorporating manga-like expressions. Like the part where Ikko-san turns bright red, or the cute aura of Kanjikouji Misuzu (CV. Haruka Fukuhara).

Ito: Manga-like expressions were the difficult part, though. People who watch Japanese anime would like to see manga-like expressions, and I would like to include some of that, but there was a sense that the 3D was not fully integrated into the anime, so I wanted to achieve that. I wanted to achieve that. Sometimes people say that it smells like a late-night cartoon, but I think that's just the way it is.

Q: And in the real world at the end, I was surprised to see the drawing suddenly become hand-drawn. The inside of Altara, a device that preserves the past as it is, was drawn in 3DCG, which was an amazing device linked to the story. Moreover, many of the names in the drawings are familiar to me from "Sword Art Online," so I was very impressed.

Ito: I had some thoughts about whether I should have shown that more clearly, and some thoughts that maybe not so much, but I thought this was a good balance in the use of hand-drawing in "Hello World". It is easy to say, "Here, it has changed! It would have been easy to say, "Well, we changed it!" but there was a fear that it would end up looking like we were trying to decide which was better.

I tried to see what would happen if I went back to the original drawing, and I wondered how it would feel, but surprisingly, when I asked people in the industry, some said they did not mind at all, with some honestly saying that (the hand-drawing) was only at the end. So maybe it's a bit of a departure from what I was going for. ...... (laughs).

Visual commentary with the cast's personalities shining through

Please tell us a little about the visual commentary included in the package. Minami Hamabe's fluffy look is very mysterious and gives off an aura of charm like Ikko-san, and on the other hand, Shoumi Kitamura's love of science fiction came out in full force, which was very interesting.

Ito: I don't remember the content at all since it was recorded quite a while ago, but it is true that Kitamura-kun talked about science fiction works during breaks between recording sessions. He wanted to show "Ghost in the Shell" and "Gundam" to Hamabe-san. On the other hand, Hamabe-san is not so open-minded, so the contrast between the two was very interesting. I felt a similarity in terms of Ruri's personality, and I was glad that she is not a cheerful person (laughs). If he had been a very talkative person, I don't think it would have turned out that way.

Q: By the way, what did you think of Kitamura-san's performance?　In the first half, she was rather cute, like a heroine.

Ito: It was difficult to find an actor, especially one that could play that age range, so I looked for Kitamura-kun. After that, he was in the animated film "Our Seven-Day War," so I feel he should have been called upon more often. What is it, the feeling of not being a hero, or as you often say, life-size?　When it comes to being a little more vulnerable than that, there aren't many people who can do it. When you see him in live-action, his looks add a kind of strength, but when you hear just the voice component, I thought there was a sense of vulnerability.

Q: Lastly, now that the package is being released, we will be able to see it many times.

Ito: For those who have come to see the movie many times, there must be something you haven't discovered yet, so please watch it! Also, we made the film with the mindset that it is okay to see such works once in a while, even though people tend to stay away from the science fiction genre. And if you say, "It's 3DCG, isn't it? We hope that viewers will take it easy and enjoy the 100 minutes or so of the film.

I personally think that it would be good if there was an atmosphere to enjoy science fiction films more, which were in the minority among them. Personally, I think it would be good if there was an atmosphere of enjoying science fiction films, which were in the minority.

Ito: Looking at the industry as a whole, I don't think everyone wants to tell the same story, and within a given context, each is doing something different. I think it would be good to have you compare them. I think you will feel something different from the copy on the front page, so I hope you will take it home with you after seeing it.

(Interview and text by Junichi Tsukagoshi)

Product Information
HELLO WORLD
Price: Blu-ray Special Edition 9,800 yen (tax not included), Blu-ray Normal Edition 4,800 yen (tax not included), DVD Normal Edition 3,800 yen (tax not included)
Release date: April 8
Release date: April 8, 2010 ・Sold and distributed by: Toho

Commemorating the interview with Tomohiko Ito, director of the movie "HELLO WORLD," one winner will receive the regular edition Blu-ray by drawing!

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HELLO WORLD" regular disc Blu-ray

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