The small press conference with Moretsu Pirates, Rinne no Lagrange, and Martian Successor Nadesico director Tatsuo Sato—as well as the follow-up private interview—is one of the richest dialogues we’ve ever had with an anime creator. We hope you enjoy this inside look behind Sato-san’s thought process in making Moretsu Pirates, Lagrange, and other shows. Some tidbits that perhaps have never been shared, like the origin of Lagrange’s OP, are here.
Translation by Rome. Our questions, which compose the vast majority of them, are in bold.
How do you feel the anime industry has changed over the years?
Well, the biggest change was when I went from being a producer to a director. The job has become mostly about how to communicate with people, so I came to be able speak like I’m doing now.
In Moretsu Space Pirates, there seems to be a deliberate upending of expectations in the way the show is paced and the characters built. What was your process in deciding how to adapt the original novel into an anime? Was there an eye in particular to recapturing certain approaches that are less common today?
The original work was a novel. Each episode advances the story, but [since the anime has to come to an end before the novel’s story ends] it’s weird to have to say “stop” to the main character’s growth, right? The main character becomes a high school student, and from there the [anime and novel stories] run alongside each other like parallel lines. But the story goes on past that; if you read it in a long run, that would have been okay, but if you adapt an anime in parallel with the novel, you don’t have the freedom to deviate. This anime series has 26 episodes, so rather than just simply adapt the novel, it has to build up to a rising climax to end the story. That’s how I restructured the story, making sure that the character will end her growth after 26 episodes of the series.
So the anime series only focused one part of the story.
Well, this I directed is “moretsu” (gung-ho, bodacious), but it’s not moretsu in the beginning. The story is about how Marika becomes a “moretsu” pirate.
Nadesico was one of the first shows to use certain “meta” techniques in anime: Gekiganger-3, the parodies of contemporary anime, etc. Now these techniques have become widespread. What is your opinion of that trend?
Well, speaking of Nadesico, the meta is heavily involved is the first part of the story. But to tell the story all the way through meta techniques is difficult in terms of the structure. Although it is now used a lot, it is really difficult for the meta to be involved with the core of the story.
If you could collaborate with another great director in the anime scene, like you did with Masaaki Yuasa in Cat Soup, who would you like to work with?
Yuasa is a guy who entered the anime industry at the same time as me, so he is like a close duplicate of mine, so I know his greatness. Well it will be rude to say it like this to him, but I was interested in “what if I make anime based on him?” so I did it. This type of person is rare; although I have some people that I’d like to work with, it is rare for me to create works with that in mind.
Can you talk about Rin-ne no Lagrange and the degree of your involvement as the chief director?
Well, the production is still going on. When Morestu Pirates just started, I was asked to also join the Lagrange project. So it was impossible for me to fully participate. The main part I did was in directing the construction of the project. The basic form of the series, scenario writer, and director are under me, but the real filmmaking was done by them.
The original work has two cours with a total of 24 episodes. Of course as the story goes on, it will deviate from the original plan. When they lose track of what the goal and wander into dangerous territory, you advise and support them. Very much like—well, it’s weird to say “from above,” since I’m not involved on set, as it were, but that was how I was involved.
Do you have any specific examples?
[The basic concept is that] a girl rides on a robot and fights the enemy. First, there was already talk that we’ll make a robot anime with a girl as the main character, but it wasn’t concretely clear what form and what kind of a girl, and everyone was thinking about how to do it. They said “let’s do something that’s never been before,” but they can’t come up with any idea. Well, if we want to have a girl that’s never been seen before, let’s do a “disappointing beauty” (zannen-bijin or zannenkei-bijin; think Chihaya from Chihayafuru). She is cute, but can’t be too [cute in the usual way]. So, for example, let’s put a jersey/tracksuit on her. Let’s tie her hair with a rubber-band. She’s not like the typical “good girl” that is liked by everybody, the everyone might want her to be, but she’s more merry, out of the ordinary. So what happens if this kind of girl is the main character? That’s how it started.
Lagrange seems to have some similarity to Evangelion: you’ve got a blue uniform girl, an orange/red uniformed girl, but Madoka is very different from Shinji. Was this intentional? After all, Nadesico had parodies of Evangelion.
It’s not so much a parody of Evangelion…actually Evangelion is very much a summation of the whole history of robot anime, where a boy that has never ridden on a robot [learns to] ride it and look for his purpose. It started from Mazinger Z, whose plot is the “royal road” of robot anime. Evangelion took the same road: what if you put a boy like Shinji in the robot? That’s how Evangelion was made. So, in terms of that, this is similar: what if we put a jersey girl [in a robot]?
Anime is still stigmatized in USA as being for kids. What about Japan? Shouldn’t anime appeal to all ages and all walks of life?
There were many people from the prior generation before mine making anime for kids, but with messages for adults inserted along the way. And we watched them and grew up, so of course, we adopted those tastes and we don’t really care if it is targeting the kids. We learned much that as a format that anime might be for kids but with messages for grownups—but we have a sense that kids are also getting our message anyway, so I think continuing in this mode is okay.
How did you approach Shigofumi? It was deep and philosophical.
Shigofumi wasn’t for kids so much, but rather for late teens, like high school students to college students. [It was] an anime that those kind of people will watch. But despite that, we didn’t make an excessive depiction visually. But, indirectly we had to depict the anger that can be understood. So we intentionally did that.
What was the most difficult making the characters and environment?
Well, the most difficult part was that the character should not be swayed, but at the same time had to grow up. So, how to depict his growth, it’s kind of contradictory. He can’t be swayed, but not being swayed doesn’t mean he can’t change in some way. So, the hardest part was how to balance that.
Do you find it more difficult adapting anime from a novel or manga than creating original anime?
Even for original works, it depends on taste. Speaking of light novels, there are already illustrations, so the novel and illustrations together already create a preset image of the story. Reconstructing that into anime is very tough. Readers are very narrow. so if you make it into anime, the leeway given to it can be very narrow. And we have to work with that and explore it, and we have to bring out the unique qualities of anime. We have to make visuals very precisely, so it’s very tough. We can’t do location shoots!
The anime industry has changed a great deal since Nadesico. Do you think today’s industry environment makes it difficult to tell the stories you like to tell? (Clarification requested by translator.) Well, since Eva, we’ve seen the rise of the otaku subculture, the moe culture. Moretsu seemed different from that trend. Is it hard to make an anime like Moretsu today?
On the contrary: since the time of Eva until now, the anime cycle is getting faster, so how do you not get sucked into that trend? And what is the best thing to do? And the conclusion I drew was to make it the orthodox way, and that was it. And I thought that instead [people] would see a new thing, to see characters growing tremendously through 24 episodes: to see how the characters make decisions, to show the process of growth. I had a keen sense that would become the tastiest part of the anime, so this time I’m glad I made anime in that manner, and it was great to know that people really digging that kind of stuff are increasing.
What is the most important element to make anime?
Well, anime in this case is TV anime or… all anime? Ok, the most important thing in anime is basically that it is a medium that is bound by a running time, so there’s a [limited] sense of time (temporary art). So, for example, if you structure 26 episodes at 30 minutes each, then you have to think about the flow, and even with the artsy anime has to fall within the structure of what should you depict in that set time.
Was it your idea to bring Rasmus Faber to write the OP of Lagrange (“Try Unite”)?
Well, in this case, we had a competition. There were several contestants, and among them there was a foreigner whose name wasn’t familiar, and I was like, “who is this dude?” And I was told he was Rasmus Faber. And Lagrange’s music production company was Flying DOG from Victor Records. Victor Records have released Rasmus Faber’s CD albums, and that’s how we had connections through that. And Faber personally dearly loves Megumi Nakajima’s voice, and he particularly wanted to compose a song with Megumi’s voice. That’s how he appealed to us with that story, and he entered the competition, and that was really hilarious. So, [I said], let’s give him a shot! That’s how it was decided.
What role has technology played in making anime? Is it easier to make anime now?
Oh yes, certainly, it makes you feel that you can do anything with it. However, along with those benefits, you have to really make sure you know what you want to do with it, otherwise you will be distracted with the flow. So, you always have to ask yourself what you really want to do each time technology makes progress. And that is very important.
Tomorrow: our private interview with Sato!
Awesome panel interview!