Nakama Britannica

As reported on the AUKN News section recently, the BFI kicked off their Anime Now weekend at the South Bank venue with a screening of 5cm Per Second, the latest feature film from Comix Wave studios. As an added incentive the three-part feature was played in full along with a personal appearance from the director, Makoto Shinkai, who is currently enjoying an extended stay in London prior to his next film project.

I’m sure Shinkai needs no introduction but for the benefit of members of the audience the BFI’s Justin Johnson gave a brief run-down before inviting the man himself on stage to give his own short introduction before the film itself began. I have to say at this point that Shinkai is every bit as polite and modest as he is on pre-recorded interviews - casually dressed and for the interview that followed speaking through an interpreter (whose name I can’t recall but he did a great job), he came across as being somewhat shy but seemingly unaffected by the praise and industry awards he’s received so far.

The screening itself went down well with the audience of course, but I was also interested in the ‘in conversation’ session that followed; it ended up running for an hour or so (ironically the same running time as the movie!) and would probably have lasted longer were a screening of Satoshi Kon’s Paprika not following immediately afterwards. The paragraphs that follow are based on hand-written notes I made as the interview progressed, in a three-way exchange between Mr Johnson, Mr Shinkai and the interpreter so I’ve had to condense and paraphrase certain sections, as well as re-learn how to read my own handwriting!

In the company of cats

It’s well-known that Shinkai’s films feature cats prominently so the interview kicked off with a quick explanation of his fondness for felines as pets (this came after a quick showing of his early work, the She and Her Cat animated short). It turns out that he grew up with cats but when establishing himself as a young animator living in Tokyo he was unable to keep one of his own; a similar situation arose recently when he found himself missing his cat after moving to London. Shinjuku, where the Comix Wave studio is located, is however an area frequented by many homeless strays - Shinkai adopted a kitten while working on The Place Promised… and by the time of the film’s completion, the studio staff had adopted four more. Their presence was therapeutic, apparently.

Solo versus studio

Attention then turned to his early career while working at a games company; the question posed was what inspired him to make Voices of a Distant Star. Shinkai was keen to stress how he wanted to tell an original story of his own, and how it was convenient that the software technology was available to him. When asked how working with a full staff of fellow artists and animators differs, he said it is enjoyable but also more difficult - “Changing the way I feel and look at things,” which I took to be a reference to the additional responsibility involved. Instructing other people in realising his own personal ideas was also something he says he finds challenging.

Forming a soundtrack

An interesting aspect of Shinkai’s work is the music - all three of his feature films to date feature soundtracks by a songwriter known only as TENMON. The writing of a musical score for his films apparently takes an unusual approach too - it turns out that the songs are written at the storyboard stage, then the director gives feedback on how the music fits in with the storyboards. It appears to me that Shinkai and TENMON work closely to match narrative and music from quite an early stage in production.

Recurring themes and worldwide audiences

The observation that the themes of distance, losing touch and the use of technology are recurring ones in the majority of Shinkai’s work to date was met with a response that they are not planned, but are obvious in retrospect; it disproves my personal theory of a ‘distance trilogy’ series of films, but doesn’t rule out a return to similar themes in subsequent projects. The now-famous communication by mobile phone that formed the core of Voices of a Distant Star was born from the then-new technology which he used to keep in touch with his girlfriend at the time while at work. He admitted at this point that his films often feature direct personal experiences; he also has certain people or groups of people specifically in mind when writing a story.

In terms of target audience though, the quintessentially Japanese setting is deliberately intended to appeal to a domestic audience - Shinkai never really considered making a film for foreign viewers before, but in light of the international popularity of his movies he concedes that this would probably change in future. His social circle for example includes more foreigners so after meeting more people and visiting more places outside his home country he expects later works may have a more ‘international’ feel.

Moving to England

One topic was of course his recent move to London - it turns out that he will be living there for the rest of 2008 before returning home to work on his next film. One of the reasons for this is that he wanted to be inspired creatively by the different location - Tokyo is a good working environment, he said, but he hoped a change of scene would give him new ideas. He then outlined how he left home for Tokyo at the age of eighteen, knowing what he wanted to do but feeling very conscious of the loneliness andvulnerability one feels when living away from home. I think he was drawing parallels between this time and his current situation, in which he has once again left his ‘comfort zone’.

The future

The audience were then given the chance to ask questions of their own, the first being what Shinkai planned to do in the next five to ten years. He admitted that beyond spending the next few months here in the UK before returning home to make his next movie, he has no clear long-term plans. We fans can however take comfort in the fact that a new Shinkai movie is on its way!

In terms of what’s next, Shinkai admits that making short films and pieces for other productions (in this case, the animation sequences made for the ef visual novels) are fun to make and are less time-consuming than fully fledged features. The response seemed a bit vague and confused to me (they were pushed for time at this point) but I think he was trying to highlight how alternating between smaller and larger projects makes the job more interesting; I think he was trying to say his next project is a major one, or it could be wishful thinking on my part.

Inevitably the DVD/Blu Ray release date of 5cm Per Second was close to the front of many of our minds - it’s worryingly in ‘Distribution Hell’ at present but mindful of the demand, the distributors are working hard to get through the red tape.

Science fiction

The observation (explained in detail and in Japanese!) that different worlds and sometimes entire universes have come up in Shinkai’s works so far led to the question of how he looks at physics and science in general. Here he declared his love of sci-fi, especially the works of the late Arthur C Clarke that he enjoyed while in high school and college; the genre does indeed interest him a great deal and he hopes to revisit it in future projects.

5cm Per Second: the ending (SPOILERS)

A question directly related to the 5cm Per Second film was also raised, particularly the ending. IF YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT HAPPENS, I RECOMMEND YOU SKIP THIS PARAGRAPH! The increasing distance between the characters as the film progressed gave a less-than happy conclusion; Shinkai’s explanation for this was that he didn’t want a ‘fairy tale’ ending. Instead, their lives go on and as a result the viewer finds him- or herself thinking about what what happens next. Interestingly he thought about changing how it concluded part way through production but eventually decided to keep to the original plan.

The state of the industry

In light of recent controversy surrounding the role of the Internet in the anime industry, one audience member asked Shinkai for his own personal opinion. I think his stance as a film maker rather than a businessman is important here, because he stated (as quickly as he could, given time constraints) that the ‘net has been beneficial in terms of opportunities for, I’m guessing, advertising new productions and giving new animators more exposure. As for the sheer volume of new releases, he seems to be relatively unconcerned with market saturation - from his point of view, a wider choice for viewers is less pressure for individual creators because he feels it gives him more freedom to do his own thing.

And finally…

The last question partly explains why Shinkai is given the misleading label of ‘the new Miyazaki’: his favourite animated film is famously the Ghibli movie Laputa: Castle in the Sky. In regards to his own view, what does he think of it? Apparently it was a life-changing experience for him, and aims to one day use his own films to share that feeling he experienced with others.

At this point we ran out of time!

Afterwards he was in the gift shop to meet a lengthy queue of fans; the 5cm Per Second art book sold out within minutes but he took the time to give some autographs and words of thanks to those who attended. I feel very fortunate in that I was able to personally meet and shake the hand of one of my favourite film makers and wish him luck with his next project. The signed DVD inlay that goes with my Place Promised… disc may well end up pride of place on my living room wall…

I would like to thank the BFI for organising the event and also to Mr Shinkai who kindly took the time to visit the venue and answer our questions. It was a very special and memorable evening indeed.