Интервью с продюсером и режиссёрами аниме

[psychopass]

На тумблере, добрый человек, посетивший Сакура-кон, поделился своими записями интервью с продюсером и режиссёрами аниме.
Всего три части.
Ссылка на первую. (Ссылки на остальные две части можно найти в записи.)
Текста довольно много, но там есть некоторые интересные вещи.

часть 1

Disclaimer: For the first panel, I didn’t think to take notes, so everything I have is based on what I could remember the following day. Everything posted here is as true and accurate as I could make it, but if anyone who was there can corroborate or add to what I’ve got, please do!

Note: Words in are my personal thoughts or interjections

Preliminary info:

Executive Director Motohiro Katsuyuki- Originially a Live-Action director, Psycho Pass is his first time working on an anime.
Director Shiotani Naoyoshi- Psycho Pass marks his debut as the main director of an anime series.
Producer Wada Jouji- President of Production I.G’s splinter studio Wit (the guys doing Attack on Titan this spring)
So, the Psycho Pass related information:

Motohira’s favorite character is Akane. He likes her because she is cute, and also because he is a big fan of her seiyuu Hanazawa Kana. Motohira said that he was always excited and attentive on the days HanaKana came to work < lol />

Shiotani’s favorite character is Kougami, the hero. He also talked about Kougami’s seiyuu, Seki Tomokazu, and how he was very serious about his work but a really cool guy. Shiotani also said he really liked Kagari, that he brought something unique to the cast and that the hole he left behind with his death was never filled.

Wada’s fave was Makishima, because he was such a cool villain

When asked if there was anything that the creator’s wanted to put in the show but were forced to leave out, Shiotani said that he wanted to have more people explode, especially during the episodes with the riots.

Someone asked if the creator’s had read any of the works referenced and quoted in the show: Shiotani and Motohiro had only skimmed them, and Wada said that Urobuchi hadn’t read all of them either.

Someone asked about the watches that the characters wear and where the idea for those came from: Shiotani explained that in 7th grade, one of his teachers was convinced that in the future, cellphones and the like would be obsolete, and that everyone would wear watches that could function as phones and computers, etc. So since PP is set in the future, Shiotani remembered that story and incorporated into PP.

From the time the director’s started developing the story to when the first episode aired, Motohiro said that the process took four years.

Someone asked how the directors felt about Urobuchi covering the story, considering his reputation for killing characters: They all laughed, and Motohiro said that Urobuchi did bring his signature darkness to the show and that his philosophy had an influence in the writing, but he (Motohiro) made sure that there was always a “ray of hope”, and kept the story from getting too dark.

часть 2

Notes- Like the first panel, the guests included Executive Director Motohiro Katsuyuki, Director Shiotani Naoyoshi, and Producer Wada Jouji. Ishizuka Atsuko, the director of Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo was also at this panel, but since I was only interested in the Psycho Pass stuff I left out her answers.

Additional Notes- For the second panel, there were some technical issues that prevented things from getting started until about 20 minutes in, so there wasn’t a lot of time for questions. That, and the directors were quite chatty, especially Shiotani and Ishizuka.

Words in are my personal thoughts and reactions.

Hokay, on with the goods!

Q. I didn’t write down the first question

Shiotani stated that with Psycho Pass, he wanted to capture a detective drama type of story, and explore the question “What is Justice”, especially in a world set 100 years in the future.

Q. How would you characterize the environment for directors?

< I’m going to skip Motohiro’s answer, as a similar question was asked at the Psycho Pass panel and I have better notes for that >
Shiotani went on a completely unrelated tangent, and talked about the characters; he wanted people to be able to relate to them, so even though the world of Psycho Pass is dark and futuristic, Amano Akira (known for her attractive characters) was brought in to do the character designs to balance out the darkness of the setting and the story.
The world of Psycho Pass was created first, with the ideas of a Tokyo set 100 years in the future, the system and the theme of justice. The characters were created as a reaction of the setting, influenced by the world and not the other way around.
, PP was inspired by a lot of live action movies like Blade Runner, Minority Report, and Gattaca.
The directors, esp. Motohiro, are all fans of 80’s detective dramas, and wanted to bring back that kind of story, that you don’t necessarily see made anymore.

Q. Explain the “No Moe” philosophy of the show, and how did the creator’s keep moe out of the production?

Shiotani had a hilarious batch of answers for this question. First, he said that they kept away from moe by not having Akane take off all her clothes, and having Kougami do it instead
The creator’s were much more focused on the relationships/conflict between the male characters, saying that there was a lot of “man-on-man drama”
There was a huge focus on high-tension manly action and drama, like what you would see in older shows like Gundam
But with that said, they did their best to keep it BL-free
BL wasn’t the intent behind any of the interactions between the male characters.

Q. Is there any ad-libbing in anime?

Shiotani said yes, and in Psycho Pass’s case a lot of the time the seiyuu didn’t have much material to work with, so they brought their own interpretation of the character’s mannerisms and actions in order to set the scene.

часть 3

Disclaimer: I’m in no way officially affiliated with Psycho Pass or Funimation or anything, just a fan with a notepad and pencil. I tried my best to be as accurate as I could, but it’s possible I may have misinterpreted something. So if there’s anyone else who went to the panel that wants to share their impressions of the panel, please do!

For this panel, everything was officiated by Funimation, so the questions were all prepared by them beforehand.

Personal thoughts/comments in < brackets >

< Oh man, my handwriting for these notes is particularly terrible. Let’s see… >

Q. How did you get involved with Psycho Pass and what attracted you to the story?

Motohiro stated that Psycho Pass was originally conceived as a mecha (he used the word ‘robot’) show <!?>, and that it was Gen Urobuchi that wanted to change it to a dystopian future kind of project.
Shiotani said that since the directors (he and Motohiro) had experience with action-type dramas, and Urobuchi with people dying , he (Shiotani) was able to incorporate both ideas and enjoyed it a lot.
Wada stated that the project originally started with the President/Boss < I don’t recall the exact position, sorry> of Production IG, and that he wanted them to create a story like Ghost in the Shell or Patlabor, but for a new generation.

Q. What was the most important factor concerning the look and feel of Psycho Pass?

Shiotani said that the hidden theme of Psycho Pass is the question of “What is Justice”. Another important idea of PP is the quantification of things like crime and justice. For example, with the Dominator, which is used to measure someone’s mental state and punish the bad.
the Dominator was actually inspired by calories! He said that we live in a world of numbers, like people being concerned with making sure they get just the right amount of calories, and so he was curious as to how that idea could be applied to other things.

Q. What is the most difficult part/most fun thing about working in anime?

Motohiro explained that one of the challenges he faced was that as a live action director, he is able to be right there with the actors and staff and creator’s and that it’s a lot easier to make on-the-fly decisions or change things as problems occur.
In anime, the director’s vision is everything, and that the production process is a lot tighter, so it’s difficult to change things. That said, he really liked working as an anime director, and wants to do more anime projects.

Q. Psycho Pass was your (Shiotani) debut as an anime director; what was the transition like from film to anime?

Shiotani said that he started working on Psycho Pass while production for Blood-C was still ongoing, so he was ‘tired to death’ working on both.
The main difference, he feels, is time. In a movie, there is approx. 120 minutes to get the story across, whereas in anime, you only have 19 minutes an episode, so it’s harder to fit in all the things you want

Q. What was the collaborative process between the developers like?

Shiotani said that he developed and laid out the idea of Psycho Pass with Urobuchi and Motohiro, and that when the story Urobuchi wrote was so good, everything else just came out naturally.

Q. Talk/explain a bit about the Dominator

Shiotani explained that in order to set Psycho Pass apart from its predecessors like Ghost in the Shell, the idea of the Dominator was created. It’s extremely powerful, and it speaks; in fact, the woman who voices the Dominator also voices 80% of the car navigation systems in Japan. So whenever the Dominator speaks, it has a large impact on Japanese viewers. It was intended to be unsettling, because where the car might say, “Turn left here,” the Dominator would say, “Kill this person”

Q. The characters in Psycho Pass talk a lot about their views of Justice; which aligns best with your own?

Wada: “With regards to the characters, I agree with Urobuchi; Urobuchi thinks that people should follow whatever road they believe in. That said, I think Makishima is the most correct.”
Shiotani: “…Really?” “I also think Makishima is a great character, a very modern kind of man, but he kills a lot of people! I feel a connection most with Akane. She tries to live within the system, but still has things that she can’t or wont sacrifice. One of the most important things in Psycho Pass is the balance between what can and cannot be sacrificed for justice.”
Motohiro: “Villains need to be cool and strong in order for a story to be interesting. For example, Luke Skywalker is only as interesting as Darth Vader. Makishima is very cool, but I think that Kougami is cool too.”

Q. Did the voice actors add any traits to the characters?

Shiotani said that due to the super aggressive production schedule, none of the crew had time for smoke breaks. Kougami’s voice actor, Seki Tomokazu, is a big smoker, and so Kougami’s character was written to be a smoker in order to give Seki time to smoke
Also, the cigarettes that Shinya smokes are those left behind by his dead colleague and friend, Sasayama. It shows a little insight into Kougami’s character.

Q. Which influence/inspirational work for Psycho Pass is your favorite?

Motohiro’s favorites are the new Total Recall and the film Looper, which have some similarities to Psycho Pass.
Shiotani said that for him personally, he was thinking a lot about the movie Seven, especially while developing Psycho Pass. In Seven, there is a really difficult case that starts in a downpour (like the first ep of PP), and both Makishima and the villain of Seven die at sunset.
Wada believes that Makishima was inspired by the Joker from The Dark Knight.

Q. What was it like working with the voice actors, particularly Hanazawa Kana and Seki Tomokazu?

Shiotani shared a funny story; In the episode where Akane’s friend Yuki is killed by Makishima, Akane has a line where she says “Makishima can’t be judged by the Dominator” or something, but Hanazawa said a completely different name, and so for a while the cast and crew would teaser her, saying things like “Oh, Makishima’s not here today”.
Concerning Seki Tomokazu, Shiotani said that he’s a very serious and professional person, very dedicated to doing great performances as his characters, but that he’s also a bit of a pervert, and that they had several conversations about “erotic” topics. But Seki-san is very very cool, he added.

Q. If money and scheduling weren’t a problem, what stories or characters would you like to explore?

Wada: “Hmmm…. There are so many things I want to do, it’s hard to decide. If possible I would like to depict Kougami’s and Gino’s high school years and explore that time together.
Shiotani: “…Really?” “There is actually a reason that Kougami was demoted to being an Enforcer, and I would like to explore that story. Also, Masaoka, I love him, he has a mechanical arm and I would like to explore that. I like stories about old men.”
Motohiro: “This is a secret I’ve been told not to say in Japan, but at the end of the credits of the last episode, a card/image was added by the directors, so yes, I would love to make a sequel.”
Shiotani: “If this gets out we’ll be in big trouble so keep it to yourselves, but I feel the same way (as Motohiro).”
Wada added that that if given the necessary support, he would be more than happy to work on more Psycho Pass, and that Urobuchi feels the same.
*Sticking this here because I forgot to mention it before and it fits with what was said above, but several times throughout the different panels, Shiotani said that what we saw was “only a drop in the bucket” in the larger Psycho Pass world, and that there a ton of stories left to tell.

Q. Are there any differences between American fans and Japanese fans?

Shiotani said that he feels like the fans are pretty similar. Girls on both sides really like Ginoza and Masaoka.
He also said that he was really impressed by the fans who like the show; after working on Psycho Pass so passionately and for so long, knowing that so many people like it so much gives him a surpised “…Really?” kind of feeling.
He said that he was “truly moved by everyone who loves Psycho Pass, so thank you.”
Motohiro: “I’ve been to many live-action film type events, but this is my first anime convention and seeing everyone as fans. I was exhausted when I got here but now I’m burning with energy and want to get back to Japan and work on something great.”
Then the guests shared some parting thoughts, which basically amounted to “Please support our show!” Shiotani asked that we all cheer them on, and to support Psycho Pass if we want a sequel.

And that’s it for me! As you all have probably heard by now, Funimation is bringing Psycho Pass over officially, with a release due the first quarter of next year. Like the directors said, please support the show, and hopefully one day we can see more of the Psycho Pass world!

Если кто-то будет героем и переведёт это, я конечно же, обновлю пост.