Brave Looking Anime Girls Anime Mari Mari Chan From This Art Club Has a Problem
Interview: Legendary Anime Screenwriter Mari Okada
by Kim Morrissy,If you're an anime fan, yous've probably watched an anime Mari Okada has worked on at some bespeak. Near famous for her anime-original works anohana and The Anthem of the Middle, Okada has been a prolific screenwriter for roughly twenty years. This year saw the release of Maquia - When the Promised Flower Blooms, Okada's commencement piece of work equally a director.
A series of coincidences led me to cross paths with this screenwriter-cum-managing director. Concluding year, she released her autobiography, titled From Truant to Anime Screenwriter: My Path to anohana and The Anthem of the Center , which I summarized in an article here on ANN. Later on, when J-Novel Social club licensed the book in English, I was asked to interpret it.
In preparation for the English language eBook release on May 5, we nowadays this interview with Mari Okada, which delves into the themes of From Truant to Anime Screenwriter and her recent work equally a director.
ANN: Y'all talked about your truancy and shared a lot of very personal feelings in your autobiography. What made you feel similar you wanted to tell your story?
MARI OKADA: When I debuted every bit a screenwriter, it was for direct-to-video films, not anime. It's been exactly 20 years since then, and I thought information technology was an auspicious time to write my memoirs. I started with my high school days, what I did to graduate, how I didn't go to school, and the "earth outside"; then I wrote nigh how I got into the anime manufacture, nigh the managing director Tetsuro Amino, and about the screenplay I wrote for him to convey who I was as a person.
This is the second time I've written about my life. This time, it's in prose form, just the idea of putting my life into words is the aforementioned. At present that it's been twenty years, and now that I've recently gotten work every bit a managing director, I figured that there was all the more reason to write about my life again. So I gave information technology a shot.
So does that hateful that the timing of the biography close to the announcement of Maquia - When the Promised Bloom Blooms was deliberate?
Honestly, it wasn't deliberate. I just happened to write the biography as I was working Maquia. I submitted the pitch for Maquia five years agone, and I worked on it for 3 years. As for biography, I wrote it during a fourth dimension when Maquia'south production wasn't so busy. I was holed upwardly at the P.A. Works studio the whole time then I wrote the biography there. The editor of the biography, Mr. Shimoyama, would come up visit me at the studio in Kodaira.
The master studio of P.A. Works is in the Toyama Prefecture, right?
Right. Toyama's a really tranquil identify. I would go to Toyama for the animation meetings; we would talk nigh how the character expressions should look and hash out each cutting, and and so on. At those times, we'd stop at a nearby bungalow, which was around a twenty infinitesimal walk from the studio. You could but await out a window and encounter it. Information technology makes me think, "What a nice identify." You should become there one-time.
What did Mr. Horikawa (President of P.A. Works) think about the biography during that time?
He fussed over me like a mother hen. He was worried that writing about my life would accept an emotional toll on me. In that location was a long flow of time when I couldn't talk about my truant years, but even now that I can talk about it, information technology nonetheless takes courage to share that in front of so many people. If I didn't also write nigh what happened afterward school and how I became a screenplay writer, I would probably accept decided I was better off non writing a biography at all.
But even then, Mr. Horikawa worried about me. After working with him for so long, he's become not quite family, merely like a relative to me. He works on the farm on his off days, so he'southward got a sense of perspective that's different from the rest of the industry. It'south hard to draw. I guess you could say he's very down-to-earth, someone you can depend on.
You lot first "came out" virtually your truant past in a screenplay you lot wrote for Tetsuro Amino. At that time, he told y'all to dig deeper into the mother'south character. Was that something you idea about when writing Maquia ?
I didn't prepare out to write Maquia about the female parent's grapheme. Equally a director, I focused more on the indelible bonds and relationships betwixt people. For example: a married couple can stop their wedlock, but a child can't erase their relationship with their parent even if they want to. That'southward why the characters in the film, like Maquia, can't allow go of their family. It'southward because she doesn't want to office ways with Erial that she wants to be a mother, to be family. Looking at it from another perspective, she doesn't specifically need to be a mother, which is why I didn't particularly think of my own mother as I was writing Maquia.
So the theme is "bonds" rather than maternity?
Right. It's about people influencing each other. There's a cloth chosen "hibioru" in the pic, which people weave their feelings into. But at present that you lot mention it, fifty-fifty though I wasn't consciously thinking virtually parent and kid relationships at the outset, I suppose it was something that naturally colored the film as I was writing it. Rather than my own mother, I idea about the mothers around me: my friends and people I'd met in the past. My perspective of my mother every bit a kid as well came into it as well.
That reminds me of a scene in Maquia where Maquia says to Erial: "Don't cause trouble for me!"
This was something I observed from my friends and the mothers around me: people have this idea of what a female parent should be. There are a lot of people who become those ideas into their heads considering of what other people tell them. Maquia isn't based off my mother and so much every bit the thought of what a mother should be. Instead of beingness mad at Erial in that scene, she'southward angrier at herself for not living up to the ideal. It's like she's berating herself - at least, that's how I felt writing it.
You said that when information technology looked like anohana was going to exist set in Chichibu, "I was the merely 1 whose blood ran cold." So what made you alter your mind and end up even having The Anthem of the Heart set there besides?
As I wrote in my biography, I objected at first to setting anohana in Chichibu. Afterwards, the fans gave so much support that I institute myself thinking that everything turned out for the best, but all the same, I requested strongly that The Anthem of the Heart be prepare in a different location. I told the director and producers to stop using Chichibu, which was why we actually went location scouting in different towns, taking photos and whatnot. Just in the terminate, the managing director said, "Information technology has to be Chichibu." (laughs)
I couldn't overturn the director'southward decision at the time, but that's why I made sure that Maquia had a fantasy setting. Although in that location were some things that were used as reference, nosotros couldn't actually become to whatever places and take photos; it'south a setting that doesn't exist anywhere in the world.
Was there a privacy issue?
Not quite. For a setting that doesn't exist anywhere, you can have references, just if you utilize Chichibu every bit a setting yous tin get one step farther: you tin apply the photos you take equally the layouts for a scene. These days, there are a lot of animators who use real-life locations as layouts, which makes it easier for them to draw through that bending or perspective. If the layouts aren't indicated in the storyboards, then the animators won't be able to draw information technology. So the staff use photos as blueprints, in a certain sense.
In Chichibu's instance, we already had a lot of photos from anohana . Nosotros also had a lot of reference materials. And, most importantly, the managing director said that he preferred Chichibu over anywhere else. As well, some other reason we keep taking photos in the aforementioned location is considering information technology'due south relatively cheap and easy to get to. So it got to the betoken where I was similar, "Looks like I'm stuck with Chichibu."
To be off-white, Chichibu is a unique place. There are no rice paddies, but a lot of fields. It's quite rare for a rural area in Japan to take no rice paddies, y'all know? Then if we used a different expanse in rural Japan, the vibe would have been different. Besides, the director Nagai is from Niigata, a place with a lot of rice paddies. And, you lot know, nobody really wants to use their hometown equally a location. It felt like they admired my hometown considering it wasn't what they had grown up with.
Would you nevertheless experience embarrassed almost setting an anime in Chichibu these days?
I wouldn't go every bit far to say I'd feel embarrassed, and information technology does get easier to write a story when I'm familiar with the location. On the other paw, I could become too caught upwards with the realism and it would constrain the scope of the story. The same matter applies if it'south a location that anime fans regard as a pilgrimage spot even if I've never been to it. Say, for instance, I'k depicting a river and there's a field next to it in real life. I tin't make that area have wild grass instead even if that'south how I'd like to imagine the scene. That'due south why I concluded upwards writing a screenplay where I can put the grasslands wherever I want them to exist.
I imagine that if I wasn't from Chichibu and I wrote a screenplay that was ready there, we'd have to investigate the place to meet if it had fields or wild grassland. But since I'chiliad from Chichibu, I'd know the surface area well enough already that I wouldn't even think to write a scene with a different backdrop. That puts a limiter to what I can write; at that place might be a sense of realism to the story, only that has its pluses and minuses.
In your autobiography, y'all wrote: "Subsequently becoming acquainted with the difficulties of adaptation and challenging it many times over, I lost any particular desire to write original stories." Recently, however, you've been doing more than original anime projects instead. What are your thoughts on adaptations these days?
Fifty-fifty now, I retrieve of adaptations as an interesting claiming. When y'all turn something similar a book into an anime with 20-something infinitesimal episodes, yous have to remember nigh whether to aggrandize or condense the material. When you're condensing it, you lot have to consider which parts you admittedly shouldn't cutting. On the other hand, if you're adding things frivolously, y'all could cease upwardly diluting the appeal of the original material. You also demand to make certain that each episode has a showtime, centre, and terminate; it won't be satisfying if it's not a distinct viewing experience in its ain right. All of these things make writing adaptations a challenge. By making the correct editing choices, you have to preserve all the emotions that were present in the original. It'southward hard work, merely it's also fun.
Of course, I've been doing originals lately, but I do want to exercise adaptations likewise.
So are in that location any adaptations you desire to piece of work on?
This is irresolute the subject a bit, but I've been working on an original manga chosen Araburu Kisetsu no Otome-domo yo (Maidens of the Savage Flavour). Information technology'due south full of girls who want to have sex. I've as well been writing a novel - although that'south a carve up thing. Writing my own manga and novels, I've idea, "Wouldn't it be nice for this to get adapted into an anime?" and I end up writing them like a screenplay. (laughs)
You also handled the novelization for anohana, correct?
I wrote the anohana novels as the anime was airing, and continued afterwards the series had finished. The 2d book took about a year. I'one thousand primarily a screenwriter, and then doing the anohana novelization was really hard. When you're turning an anime or manga into a novel, there are and then many things you lot can't include.
Although I did accept to think about what to cut and what to go on, there aren't really any huge events in anohana'south instance. Information technology'southward nearly a group of boys and girls coming to terms with Menma's death. The changes don't happen through big events; it happens gradually through the small things. It'southward like shooting fish in a barrel enough to condense the story, but when it'south constructed with all these little details, removing them makes information technology so much harder to retain the touch. To compensate, I came upward with new events specifically for the novel. That was pretty fun. It was difficult work, and it took over a twelvemonth, but information technology was a fun challenge that I'd like to attempt again quondam.
Going by your own personal experiences in anime screenwriting after creating anohana , to what extent practice you lot think that the artist can be separated from their fine art?
The fun of anime is that information technology'southward a collaborative work fabricated by many people. Fifty-fifty if I wrote the script, the overall impression of the story changes when the lines are voiced, and so on. In the by, I used to change the lines, but these days when people show me their storyboards at meetings, the art would bring a different sense of perspective, and I would tell them, "Do it more than like this." During the compositing phase, I'd say, "Make the stars shine more than brightly," then on. That was the case with Maquia, for instance. If you were to inquire me who is responsible for how the overall picture looks, I'd say it's the result of everyone's effort, and I think that'southward a good affair.
anohana started because I made a challenge to myself to write a charismatic truant protagonist. I may take been a truant, but I was never a protagonist, and then I didn't ready out to put myself into the story. I wanted to utilize my experiences every bit a springboard for a more interesting story.
As for the affair of self-expression, the screenplay is like the peak batter in an anime production. The screenplay lets out the first shot, and the stronger the strike is, the more than it resonates with everyone else like ripples from a moving ridge. On the other hand, if my strike is weak, so the others will only follow forth perfunctorily. That'south why I desire to write screenplays that can resonate with the staff and bring out their best efforts. And in guild to write such screenplays, I endeavor to include some experiences or other things that take left a strong impression on me. It's a bit unlike from wanting to write about myself exactly.
You described how you lost self-confidence when you were writing The Anthem of the Heart , and were afraid to write the screenplay. These days, what do you do when you experience lapses in self-confidence?
I nonetheless experience fear that my piece of work isn't skillful, and I wouldn't say that I overcame it. (laughs) I agonize over my work every single time, simply this is also the kind of job where those fears tin ultimately temper and improve the final product. So I simply go along at it.
It's not oftentimes that people in the anime industry write an autobiography. Whose biography would you want to read?
I had to think near this ane a lot. (laughs) This isn't a straight reply, but there's a guy at P.A. Works named Nobuhiro Kikuchi. He comes from Toyama, just like Horikawa. He doesn't specialize in anime, and I don't suppose he'd ever joined an anime studio. I'll accept to confirm this, but he didn't know anything virtually anime production. But he was an upperclassman to Horikawa in university, and fifty-fifty now he's involved in the administrative side of P.A. Works. He doesn't take an anime groundwork at all - I think he was into mail service order service? He's unusual in this business, and on peak of that, he'south ever talking near how he wants to realize Horikawa's vision.
I'chiliad really interested in their human relationship and how a person exterior the anime industry became involved with anime production on such an intimate level. He has a different perspective, which is fascinating, and he's in Toyama, besides. I'd similar to know about his day-to-day life in Toyama. In that location aren't many people like him, so I'd similar to know how he got into the anime manufacture, even considering his relationship with Horikawa. I'm just actually curious.
There are all sorts. (laughs)
(laughs) Simply, you know, most people in the anime industry got there because they dearest anime and want to make information technology, which is why I'thou curious. As well, he'due south into the business concern and administrative side, and that's really unique among people into anime. And so I recall information technology would make an interesting story.
How do you feel about From Truant to Anime Screenwriter being translated into English language? Is in that location anything you lot'd like to say to your overseas fans?
I'one thousand really grateful and honored. I'm really happy to hear that you translated information technology and then promptly. (laughs) I do wonder if there were volition be some parts, similar my experiences in school, that would be hard for readers in other countries to empathise, only I exercise recollect that anyone who has ever been through puberty can probably chronicle to what a hard and frustrating time that is. I hope that people overseas volition read the book and share their impressions.
Our thanks to Mari Okada and J-Novel Club for this opportunity. Cheque back Friday, May 4 for an exclusive extract from From Truant to Anime Screenwriter!
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Source: https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interview/2018-05-02/legendary-anime-screenwriter-mari-okada/.130650
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