by The timeless masterpiece “Violet Evergarden” was presented by Kyoto Animation. This time, on the Nippon Television network “Friday Road Show,” the “special edition” that reconstructed the TV series and the movie “Violet Evergarden Gaiden-Eien to Automatic Note Doll-” will be broadcast for the first time on terrestrial broadcasting without cutting the main story. It becomes.
Anime! Anime! Then, in commemoration of this “Friday Road Show” broadcast, we conducted an independent interview with director Taichi Ishidate who worked on this work. Director Ishidate’s words, which have spun a warm and sad story, were full of works, characters, and “love” for the future.
The pure white girlfriend’s path will become the path for people to walk in posterity.
Please tell us what was most important to Director Ishidate in drawing the life of a woman named Violet Evergarden, from the TV series broadcast in 2018 to the movie version released last year. ..
When I read the original novel, I often talked to the Kyoto Animation staff that “she looks like a baby.” I want to make a work that everyone can evoke through Violet the experience from childhood that everyone must have experienced. In expressing that, I paid particular attention to her production so that she wouldn’t overcoat her underlying “innocence that isn’t dyed in anything” in the process of growing up in the story—Rice field.
Also, when expressing her charm in color, it is a slogan that should not be forgotten with the staff and cast members that “it is white, not transparent,” and I was able to firmly share that feeling, so this work I was able to draw it to the end without blurring.
How did the casting proceed?
The only audition I decided on when casting was the role of Violet. The original novel described her voice as “Reiro’s voice,” including the gorgeous impression of beauty and good manners. However, I thought that if I chose based on that criterion, I wouldn’t move away from the themes of “infants” and “whiteness.” To put it in a broken way, it feels like a country girl.
You can put it out in the first place, and the growth in the story can be played, albeit a little. It was Yui Ishikawa who had that element. As a result, I’m happy that Mr. Ishikawa played Violet.
Regarding the other cast members, we asked Yota Tsuruoka, a sound director who has a long relationship with Kyoto Animation, to appoint a voice actor who matches this work. Many people appeared for the first time in Kyoto Animation works, such as Takehito Koyasu, who played Hodges, and Daisuke Namikawa, who played Gilbert, but I am grateful for playing with this feeling much.
This work is highly evaluated as a “crying anime,” but the TV series has a simple structure that completes one episode.
When I meet with a scriptwriter, I often hear the words “to the next time” or “the hook of this work,” but the point is to get the viewer interested. I was talking about having to prepare a mechanism for this.
I can understand that opinion very much, and some works worked well because of that, but in this work that depicts the life of Violet Evergarden and the life and death of people, it is realistic to make a mechanism. It will be challenging to be born. It was also the consensus of the staff, so I decided to challenge how much I could draw without running away from expressing it simply without getting strange.
When it comes to making pictures, each method of adding colors and shadows is very delicate, and because it’s a Kyoto animation, it’s the making itself.
In the case of TV animation, we create the primary colors in the production process and proceed with the work after rationalizing as much as possible. Still, in the movie version, even the character’s depiction becomes dim as it moves away from the light source is expressed as an animation. I think that such paintings are selfish because they are made in-house. The ingenuity and ingenuity that arises from them have been incorporated abundantly.
The TV series theme song “Michishirube,” which Minori Chihara is in charge of, is also a song that symbolizes this work.
At the stage, when I asked Mr. Kayahara, I was told that “an image of a violet humming an idyllic folk song rooted in the climate while walking.” Still, when I went through the movie version, the word “Michishirube,” I was so surprised by Mr. Kayahara’s prophecy that I thought it was made to include.
Although it was drawn in the movie version, it reminds you of the ruts that Violet walked.
I agree. The path that the unfamiliar white girlfriend has walked will become the path for people to walk in posterity. I’ve been talking about that kind of story from the beginning, so I’d be happy if everyone who saw the movie version could understand it.
The movie version is the first “long epilogue” depicting Violet as the main character.
Would you please tell us a particularly memorable episode of director Ishidate in the TV series?
For example, in episode 7 with the playwright Oscar, Violet cries for the first time for someone else, and the episode of “first time” for her is especially memorable. It’s like watching the moment your baby walks for the first time.
It’s a perspective close to her father.
There was disagreement within the company as to whether she saw Violet as her paternity or motherhood. It was said that I was looking from the perspective of a male parent, and the staff member Haruka Fujita, who was in charge of directing the gaiden, was neither of them, but more objective, like “dust floating in the air.” He said he was looking at it from a different perspective.
I was in charge of the final selection of expressions. Still, I could make it without relying solely on my subjectivity because of the various opinions that came out.
Also, the episode of Anne and her mother in the 10th episode of the TV series was drawn in the opening scene of the movie version, but it is a viral story.
Regarding the 10th episode, it is the first episode of the original novel, and there is something that is very easy to understand and comes to mind. And I thought that if it were made firmly, it would reach the viewers.
The person in charge of the play is Evan Call, who put a boy’s voice in the chorus of that time. “Since episode 10 is the story of Anne and her mother, can the chorus be the voice of a girl?” Asked Mr. Tsuruoka, the sound director, but Evan said, “The voice of a boy is more mysterious. Because there is. “
Before the voice change, there wasn’t much difference between the voices of men and women, and in fact, it matched the scene very well. I was amazed at the sharpness of his senses. I think that the factor that makes that episode especially cry is also in such a musical aspect.
Each guest character appearing in each story has an element that you can sympathize with, and as a viewer, there is a part that empathizes with it.
As with the original novel, Violet is not the main character, but the guest character of each story is the main character, and “the violet seen by those people” is depicted. However, in the final movie version, she has no choice but to confront herself or Gilbert. At the production time, he also said with Sound Director Tsuruoka, “This movie version is the first episode to draw Violet as the main character.”
Each episode of the TV series and Gaiden is a puzzle piece that makes up a woman named Violet Evergarden, and watching the movie version fills the last piece.
I agree. In other words, the movie version is a “long epilogue.” The story’s growth of Violet was done so far, and maybe the movie version could be slapstick. If it’s the last piece, it’s an epilogue.
The only regrettable thing in the TV series was that the story ended without Violet meeting Gilbert again, so while I think it’s good for her growth, I feel sorry for her character. I was there.
Of course, artistry as entertainment is essential, but above all, I want her to be happy, laugh, and reach her end. And I want to depict what she has done in her world after she’s gone. Although it is my ego, I thought it was correct and made the movie version.
What we can do now is “what can we leave in the future?”
I think that the animation “Beyond the Boundary” directed by Ishidate has the same theme of “love” as this work, but it is commonly valued in drawing “love” in work. Have you ever been?
I like Takeshi Kitano, and his words are “gentleness is” guts. “Half-hearted tenderness may be a nuisance to the other party, or you may have a hard time. If you want to help the other person, you have to go out to the end, and you need “guts” to get through it.
The family love and romantic feelings depicted in work also have something in common with the words, the strength, and preciousness that goes through without throwing them to the end, and what lies ahead of that. I also cherish it in “Beyond the Boundary” and “Violet Evergarden.”
The communication method continues to change as the times change, but please tell us that Director Ishidate is important in exchanging words.
I’m the type of person who can keep talking for a long time, but the more words I have, the less the essence of what I want to convey, and as a result, I’m worried that it won’t reach the other person. That’s why I have a longing for someone who can accurately convey their feelings with simple language.
Even in work, “Good doll scoops up the true heart that you want to convey from the words spoken by the other party and makes it a letter. It is the most important thing for the automatic doll and the most challenging thing. However, I think that the important thing that I want to convey to the other party is simple in many cases, so I would like to summarize it rather than give a reason.
I also feel that I’m working as an editor, but the simpler the words are, the more “love” as the amount of information is condensed.
So I think “love” is “concentration.” At first, I think about it with various options, but in the end, it is scraped off, and it becomes more straightforward, and it becomes a power word. The same thing can be said for animation paint. I think that various people can evaluate works often reach that level, and because I am happy with that, I can express a similar dimension again. I can work hard to do it.
It may be a familiar feeling for many people involved in “manufacturing.” Finally, please tell us what Director Ishidate wants to convey through Kyoto Animation works.
There is something similar to “Violet Evergarden,” but what we can do now is “what can we leave in the future?” I want people living in the future to be in a world where they can feel kindness, compassion, and “hope.” I want to leave such thoughts and wishes as work.
