Here's my attempt at the Anno interview. Corrections/suggestions appreciated ^^
Edit: The whole thing is too long for a single post... I'll post the second part if/when someone replies ...!
ミニチュアがなくなる危機感が出発点
The starting point was the fear that miniatures would disappear
―ここでは展覧会を行うことになった経緯やそこにこめられた願いなどを、庵野秀明館長ご自身の言葉で伝えていきたいと思います。まずきかっけは、どんな感じだったのでしょうか。
- I would like to convey how it was that you came to curate an exhibition, and the desires implied by it, in your own words, the words of Curator Hideaki Anno. To begin with, how did the initial impetus come about?
庵野 ２００９年の夏、「ヱヴァンゲリヲン新劇場版：破」の完成後に、シンちゃん（樋口真嗣副館長）と尾上（克郎）さんと原口（智生）さん、神谷（誠）ちゃんと神楽坂で納涼会をした時が発端です。そのとき原口さんが、いま特撮のミニチュアがどういう状況におかれているかを、非常に憂いていたんです。制作会社ではあれこれと維持費がかかるし、この先再利用の可能性も少ないし、すでに処分されたり行方不明になったりで、個人での収蔵にも場所や維持費等の問題で限界があるし自分たちがいなくなった後の心配もある。それに仕事がなく後継者もいない中で、板金等の技術者たちが引退を考えているという現状ですね。ミニチュア制作の様々な技術が残らず、新作も復元も今を逃すと永久に機会を失うだろうという話でした。それらを聞いて、危機的ミニチュアの状況をあらためて認識したんです。
Anno: It originated in the summer of 2009, after the completion of Evangelion Shingekijoban: Ha, when Shin-chan (Assistant Curator Shinji Higuchi), (Katsuro) Onoue-san, (Tomo'o) Haraguchi-san, (Makoto) Kamiya-chan and myself had an outdoor get-together in Kagurazaka. At that time Haraguchi-san was extremely worried about what kind of state the miniatures from tokusatsu [productions] were now in. The production companies would have a variety of maintenance costs to pay [to preserve them], there was little chance of them being used again in the future, already they were being disposed of or going missing, and private collections were limited by the problems of space and maintenance costs. He worried [what would happen to them] after we were gone. Moreover, in the present circumstances, they would serve no purpose and have no inheritor, and the craftsmen who work with sheet metal and so on would be thinking about retirement. He said that, with the various crafts associated with miniature production dying out, if don't do it now, we will never again have a chance to restore [the old miniatures] or to create new works. Hearing this, I became aware once more of the critical situation facing tokusatsu miniatures.
それに特撮美術自体が、衰退的な状況にあるとも聞いていました。三池（敏夫）さんたちからは、今の現場では合成用の素材撮りが多くミニチュアを使った仕事の発注は少ない、仕事がない環境だと若い新たなスタッフが入らないし助手も育たない、といった話です。特撮的な映像も東映のテレビシリーズ等はがんばっていますが、映画の多くはミニチュア映像からCGIに置き換わっていって、あげく不要と判断された民家や電信柱等のミニチュアが廃棄処分されていったりしている話も聞きました。ミニチュアの存在理由が制作現場からなくなり、特撮というものを支えてきた現場のあらゆる技術が失われてしまう。こうした時代の流れはある種仕方ない事だし、効率論から考えても近年のCGIの台頭というのもある種必然だと思います。表現手段としてのCGIが否とわけでもないんですよ。ただ、だからといってこのまま技術や創作物がなくなってしまうのはどうかなと。映像な文化は完成品としてのフィルムだけじゃないと思うんですよ。その制作過程の技術や産物も文化として遺すべきものじゃないかと思います。中には芸術と呼んでもいいものもあると思うんです。しかし、現状では、次々と失われてしまっている。本当に憂うべき状況です。
I had heard, furthermore, that the art of tokusatsu itself was in a state of decline. I had heard from (Toshio) Miike-san that in the industry today there are many shots for the purposes of compositing [but] few requests for work involving the use of miniatures, and in circumstances where the work is lacking there is no infusion of new, young staff members and no training of assistants. I was also told that, although Toho television series and others are trying hard [to preserve] tokusatsu-style visuals, many films are switching over from miniature-based visuals to CG, and ultimately miniatures of houses, telephone poles, and so on, judged to be unnecessary, are being disposed of. The reason for the existence of miniatures will disappear from the places of production, and all those arts of production which sustain tokusatsu will be lost. I think that there is a certain kind of inevitability to these trends of the period, that considered in terms of efficiency there is a certain necessity to the recent rise of CG. It's not that I'm opposed to CG as a means of expression. Only, I'm not sure [it's good] that arts and creations will go on vanishing because of it. I don't think visual culture [consists] only of its finished products. I think we also have to bequeath the techniques and products of its production process as [part of that] culture. I believe that among them are things we can call [genuine] art. But as it stands now, we are losing them, one by one. It is a truly lamentable situation.
そういった話を聞き、「今動かないともう間に合わない」という危機感から、なんとか公的にミニチュアを遺す方法がないかを模索し始めました。
Hearing all this, out of a sense of crisis that if I didn't act now there would be no time left, I began to search for some way of publicly bequeathing [tokusatsu] miniatures.
―逼迫した危機感が出発点だったわけですね。
- So this feeling of impending crisis was the starting point [for the exhibit].
庵野 一度失われるともう二度と戻らないモノですからね。特にそうした職人芸的なミニチュアは、きちんと公的なかたちで残すようにしたいと。まずはすぐに出来る事からやっていこうと考え、カラーという会社でアニメの資料物だけでなく、新たな文化事業として特撮関連のミニチュアの復元、再現、保管等を進めて社会に貢献していこうと思いました。僕の感覚だと、これは恩返しなんですよ。自分の感性等を育ててくれた特撮映像へのですね。で、その先もなんとか具体的に考えていこうと。
Anno: Because [miniatures are] something we won't get back once we've lost them. I wanted in particular to properly bequeath such miniatures, the work of craftsmen, in a public form. I thought that I would start with something that I could do immediately. I thought that I would not just [take tokusatsu miniatures as] resource material for [my] anime [work] at Khara, but make a contribution to society through restoring, reviving, and preserving tokusatsu-related miniatures as a new cultural project. My own sensibilities were formed by tokusatsu imagery, and I feel this is a way of paying back that debt. And afterwards, too, I'll be thinking about [what I can do] concretely.
展示会企画として大きく動き出す
Things start to move rapidly in the form of a plan for an exhibition
―そこで具体的な計画を立ち上げていったわけですか。
- And so you [started] setting up a concrete project?
庵野 最初は財団法人という考えもあったんですが、調べてみたら申請こそしやすいものの、税制優遇もなくて開設時の資金とか色々大変な割に、この案件にとっていい事が少ないんです。では実際にどうなのか、他に何かいい方法がないのかを勉強するつもりでジブリ美術館に空いているところがあれば間借り出来ないかと図々しいお願いもしてみました（笑）。その時は宮さん（宮崎駿監督の愛称）もいて、親身になって相談してくれました。国や地方自治体や財団法人、民間企業での実態や、いかにジブリ美術館の維持運営が大変なことかを、とことくと説かれましたね。財団法人の問題点や維持の難しさ等も教えてもらいました。結論としてはかなりハードルが高くて難しいだろうという話でした。美術館は無理として、せめて保管倉庫ぐらいはと考えていたんですが、その考えの甘さを実感しました。
Anno: At first I thought of [setting up] a foundation, but when I looked into it, although the application itself was simple, there were no tax breaks, and a variety of onerous costs [were involved], such as the capital you would need at the outset. As far as [a foundation] was concerned, there were few benefits [to doing it]. With the intention of investigating how [this sort of thing] would work out in reality, and [whether or not] there might be some other way, I made a shameless request, [asking] if I could rent out an unused space in the Ghibli museum (laughing). At that time Miya-san (Hayao Miyazaki's pet name) was there, and he gave me some sympathetic advice. He quickly explained to me the realities of national and local government, foundations, private corporations, and so on, and how hard it is to manage the Ghibli museum. He also taught me the problems involved with a foundation, and the difficulty of managing it. The bottom line was that there are high hurdles [to be overcome] and it will likely be difficult. I thought that, if a museum [exhibit] was impossible, then at least [I might create] a storage warehouse; but I realized the weakness of that way of thinking.
その後は何も動きようがなく、「エヴァ」の制作や会社での文化事業を細々進めていました。構想としては持っておいて、機会があればその時にやろうという感じでしたね。
Being unable to do anything after that, I continued making small advances on the production of Eva and on the company's cultural programs. I held on to the idea, thinking that I would do it if the opportunity arose.
それから半年くらい経った２０１０年の夏、鈴木さんから急に呼び出しがかかった。「２０１２年はジブリ映画もないし、東京都現代美術館の展示会企画が空いているから、特撮の展覧会をやってみたらどうだ。そうすればどこに何が残っているかある程度分かるし、各企業や個人がどれくらい協力的かも見えてくるはずだ。いきなりやるより現実的ステップになるだろう」と、ありがたい話をもらいました。確かに鈴木さんのいう通りだし「現美」でやるのもいいなと思いました。大きな美術館でやると美術品として箔が付くし、国や世間に対して価値観の普及にも繋がると思ったからです。
Then, about six months after that, in the summer of 2010, I suddenly received a call from Suzuki-san. The welcome message I received was: "Since Ghibli has no films for 2012, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo has no exhibit planned, why don't we try doing a tokusatsu exhibit? If we do it we'll have to know what still remains and where it is, and we'll have to see to what extent those companies and individuals are willing to co-operate. [This will be more about] pragmatic steps than taking sudden action." Suzuki-san was certainly right, I thought; it would be good to do it at the Museum of Contemporary Art. If we did it at a major museum, I thought, [tokusatsu] would receive the prestige [associated with] works of art, and it would even be connected to the diffusion of values throughout the country and society.
なので、このチャンスは逃せませんでした。２０１２年だと「エヴァ」の作業でてんてこ舞いなのはわかっていましたが、この機を逃すともう次はないだろうと覚悟を決めて、鈴木さんの提案を引き受けました。本格的に動き出したのはそこからでした。
So, I couldn't have afforded to miss that opportunity. Although I knew that 2012 would be extremely busy due to production on Eva, I resolved myself and accepted Suzuki-san's proposal [with the feeling that] there was not likely to be another such opportunity if I let this one slip away. It was from that point onwards that we started to get seriously underway.
動き出してからはあれよあれよと決まっていった感じです。ジブリの現場スタッフも主催の日テレの担当者さんたちも特撮好きで早々に燃えてました。この企画はスタッフにも恵まれていたので、これは「いける」だろうと。早速、シンちゃんと原口さんに声をかけて協力を頼みました。二人とも即答で参加を確約してくれ、これでまた「いける」だろうと。特撮に関して強力なエネルギーを持つこの友人たちがいないと、僕一人ではどうにも出来ない企画でしたから。お金もかかるし大変な作業だけど、この人たちがいればなんとかなるだろうと。
It seemed like everything fell into place with astonishing speed once we started moving. Both the Ghibli staff and the contacts from the sponsor, NTV, were quickly fired up due to their enthusiasm for tokusatsu. Since the project was blessed with [such] staff, I felt it was sure to be successful. I immediately contacted Shin-chan and Haraguchi-san to ask if they would contribute. They both committed to help right away, and once again I felt [the project] would be successful. If I didn't have these friends who possessed such powerful energy in relation to tokusatsu, then there was no way I could have completed this project, just by myself. Although it would be difficult work and cost a lot of money, I felt that, with the help of these people, we would somehow pull it off.
―展示物の収集は、進めてみてどうでしたか。
- How did you go about obtaining the items for display?
庵野 東宝と円谷プロと東映と大映（角川映画）にピー・プロダクションと、まずは特撮に関係する各社にご協力をお願いし、原口さんとコレクターの西村祐次さんたちにも協力をお願いし、トータルで展示可能なミニチュアや資料等を調べていきました。その結果、修復や復元品も含めて、可能な限り収集し展示しています。最初思っていたよりは数多く集められたと思います。ただ東日本大震災による工房の倒壊等で、損傷したミニチュアもあり、いくつかは修復をあきらめざるを得なかったのが残念でした。
Anno: First of all I contacted each company involved with tokusatsu - Toho, Tsuburaya Productions, Toei, Daei (Kadokawa Pictures), P Productions - asking for their cooperation, contacted Haraguchi-san and the collector Yuji Nishimura-san asking for their cooperation, and investigated the total number of miniatures and other materials that could potentially be displayed. As a result, to the largest possible extent [this exhibit] gathers and displays [those materials], including materials that have been repaired or restored. I believe more has been gathered than I initially expected. Only, there were some miniatures damaged due to workshops being destroyed by the Great East Japan Earthquake, and, unfortunately, we had to give up on repairing a few of those.
―修復作業はいかがでしたか。
- How did you go about repairing [the miniatures]?
庵野 修復師として原口さんが工房にこもって黙々と作業しています。今回、数々のミニチュアの復元や修復を頼んでいます。記者発表でも飾られた３メートル大のＭＪ号は、４０％くらいは原口さんが保管していたオリジナルのパーツを基本に復元しています。主に艦首や艦橋、艦尾の一部が残っていました。サークルレーザーも片方はオリジナルパーツです。オリジナルパーツは経年劣化も激しくサビだらけでしたが、きれいに元の状態へ磨いたりしています。失われていた主翼部分等のブリキのたたき出しも図面や写真をベースに当時と同じく戸井田板金さんにお願いしてます。当時と同じ技術で再現されたまさに復元品ですね。操演用の吊り点も主翼内の鉄棒も復元していますから、このまま撮影に使えます。他のミニチュアも可能の限りこだわって、当時と同じ作り方で修復しています。
Anno: Haraguchi-san, a restoration expert, worked at it silently, secluded in his workshop. I relied on him to repair or restore a large number of miniatures. About forty percent of the 3 meter long Mighty Jack used for the announcement was restored from parts of the original that had been preserved by Haraguchi-san. It was mainly the bow and bridge, as well as a part of the stern, that remained [from the original]. One of the circle lasers was also part of the original. Those parts had suffered damage over time and were covered with rust, but they were restored to their original condition. For the main wings and other parts that were lost, [we] asked the sheet metal specialist at Toita who worked on them at the time to do the metalwork based on [existing] diagrams and photos. [The model] is a truly restored work, being reconstructed using the same techniques with which it had been made at the time. The metal rods inside the main wings used to attach the wires were also restored, so you could use it for shooting as it is. With other models, too, [we] were as particular as possible, restoring them using the the same techniques at the time [when they were created].
画面の中に近づこうとする原体験
The formative experience of trying to come close to what was on screen
―子どものころ、ミニチュア特撮はどのようにご覧になっていましたか？
- How did you view miniature-based tokusatsu when you were a child?
庵野 雑誌にも特撮の秘密みたいな記事が載っていたので、「つくりもの」の世界であることはハッキリと意識していました。でも、その「つくりもの」の世界の中で「ほんものだ」と瞬間的に思うときの衝撃や、その世界観やビジュアルイメージの面白さに夢中になってる感じでしたね。子供のころはテレビも小さかったしモノクロで画像も荒かったので、映像を結構リアルに感じてました。合成画面とか光学作画のシーンとかが特に好きな画面でしたね。実際にはあり得ないビジュアルというのに惹かれたんだと思います。ミニチュアの山、時にビルが並んでいる街が好きでしたね。特撮番組の舞台が街の回は、喜んで観てました。
Anno: Articles on the secrets of tokusatsu and so on appeared in magazines [at that time], so I was very much conscious of the fact that it was an artificially created world. But I had the feeling of being absorbed in the fascination of the worldview, the visual images, and the shock I felt when I momentarily believed something to be real within that artificial world. When I was a child the television was small and monochrome with poor image quality, so the images [in tokusatsu programs] seemed real enough. I especially liked composited screen images or scenes with optical effects. I think I was captivated by visuals that weren't possible in reality. I liked the miniature mountains, and especially the cities lined with miniature buildings. I watched tokusatsu show episodes that took place in cities with great pleasure.
―ご自身では、プラモデルなど模型はよく作られた方ですか？
- Were you someone who would construct a lot of models?
庵野 貧乏だったので数はないですが、お年玉はお金じゃなく、毎年プラモデルを買ってもらってました。小学校の時は空想ものばかりで、ご多分に漏れずサンダーバード等のＩＴＣ物やシュピーゲル号、ウルトラホーク１号、マイティジャック号等を作ってましたね。子供の頃はよく効果音を口で再現しながら手に持って遊んでいました。ゼンマイとか走行用のタイヤはでしたね。画面の中の本物には無いので、パーツとして最初から接着しませんでした。とにかく、見た画面の操演を自分の手の動きで忠実に再現したかったんです。いわゆる「ごっこ」ですが、それが高じて今の仕事につながっている気がします。
Anno: I was poor, so I didn't have many, but each New Year's, I would have a plastic model bought for me instead of receiving money as a present. When I was in elementary school they were simply objects of fancy, and I constructed models from ITC shows like Thunderbirds, the Speigel, the Ultra Hawk 1, the Mighty Jack, and so on, just like those around me did. When I was a child I would often play [with the models], reproducing the sound effects with my mouth while holding [the model] in my hand. It wasn't necessary for it to have springs or tires for movement. They weren't part of the real thing on the screen, so from the very beginning I didn't glue them on as parts. Anyway, I wanted to faithfully reproduce the wire-based movements I saw on the screen using my own hands. [That was] so-called "make-believe," but I feel like it developed and connected [directly] to my job now.
―やはりビデオのない時代、画面内に近づこうと思えばプラモデルですよね。
- Of course, in an age where there was no video [recording], if you wanted to get closer to what was on screen, [you had to resort to] plastic models.
庵野 そうですね。立体物の動きや雰囲気を手っ取り早く再現するには同じ形の立体物が一番です。小さい頃からミニチュアというかジオラマとかが好きでした。中学、高校になると田宮の戦場シリーズとか鉄道模型や艦船模型とかのスケールモデルに嗜好が移りました。しかし、鉄道模型は高くてなかなか手が出ませんでしたね。作るのはもっぱら艦船のプラモ、特に手頃なウオーターシリーズが多かったです。産業や科学記念館等に展示してある、スイッチを押すと動くジオラマとかも好きでした。故郷にある石炭記念館の炭坑や工場のジオラマのスイッチを押しによく行ってました（笑）。
Anno: Right. In order to expeditiously reproduce the movement or atmosphere of three-dimensional objects, [having] three-dimensional objects of the same form is best. Since I was a child I loved miniatures or dioramas and so on. In junior high and high school my interest shifted to scale models: the Tamiya Battlefield Series, for example, and models of things like railways and boats. However, I couldn't really afford to buy the railway models. The ones I put together were exclusively plastic models of boats, with many of them being from the affordable Waterline Series in particular. I also loved the dioramas that would be displayed at science or technology museums and so on, where [things] would move if you pushed a button. I often went to the coal museum in my hometown in order to push the buttons of the coal mine and factory dioramas (laughing).
やはり日本人の文化として、箱庭的なものが好きだというところがあると思うんです。建築模型もよく作りこみますし、四街道にある日本歴史博物館のジオラマというかミニチュアは見事で、ホントに良いですね。江戸博物館もいいですね、江戸の町等がよくできてます。鉄道博物館もいいですね。そこに立体として再現されている街を見ると、嬉しくなってきます。
Also I think that there is a love for "hakoniwa"-type things that exists as a part of Japanese culture. [We?] often create models of buildings, and the dioramas or miniatures at the Museum of Japanese History in Yotsukaido are magnificent, truly excellent. The Edo Museum is also good; the [miniature] Edo city, for example, is well made. The Railway Museum is good as well. It makes me happy to see the city that has been reproduced in three dimensions there.
―圧縮されて一望する感覚が大事ということでしょうか。
- The feeling of something having been compacted so that you can view it all in a single glance is crucial, right?
庵野 パノラマ感というか神の目線で世界を一望というのもポイントだと思いますが、そこに実在するものを縮小して再現しようという気持ち、そこもポイントなんだと思います。特撮ステージにも憧れました。子供の頃の雑誌等に特撮の裏側みたい特集記事で紹介されていて、ずっとあこがれていましたね。今でも特撮ステージの現場に見学に行くと嬉しくなります。楽しいですね。その感じが来場者の方々に伝わればいいなと、特撮ステージを再現した展示を企画しています。
Anno: Part of it, I think, is the panoramic feeling or [the sense of] viewing the world in a single glance, from the perspective of God; but part of is also, I think, the desire to condense and recreate something that exists in reality. I was also attracted by the tokusatsu stage. I was introduced to it by feature behind-the-scenes articles on tokusatsu in magazines and so on from my childhood, and I have been attracted by it ever since then. Even now it makes me happy to tour an actual tokusatsu stage. It's a pleasure. [Having the sense that] it would be good to convey that feeling to those attending, [we've] planned out an exhibit which recreates the tokusatsu stage.
実在感と触れそうな感覚が必要なポイント
The sense of coming close to the feeling of reality is essential
―庵野さんとしては、ミニチュア特撮のどういう部分に惹かれているのでしょうか。
- What aspect of miniature-based tokusatsu are you personally attracted by?
庵野 ミニチュア特撮って、本来は撮影困難なイメージを可能にするための手段だったと思うんです。戦記映画を撮ろうしたときに戦闘機や戦艦をそのまま再現して、現実の場所で撮影できればそれが一番の理想だと思います。けど、実現するとなると制作費はべらぼうになるし、そんなロケ場所の確保は困難を極めるし、現実的には不可能なんですね。ならば、撮影が可能になるまで現実そのものを縮小する。つまり、ミニチュア世界を映画の中の現実として、そこに人間といっしょに映っていてもおかしくないように観客に見せようという気持ちが出発点だと聞いています。４０メートルの巨人の映像を撮りたくても、１分の１の街に芝居の出来る巨人を立たせて撮ることは実現不可能ですから、１．８メートルの人が４０メートルに見えるよう街の方を２５分の１に縮小するという発想ですよね。リアルに感じさせる画面づくりの手段としてのミニアチュアなので、そこが大事だと思うんです。まずリアルなビジュアルイメージありきというのが、やっぱりすごいなと。
Anno: Miniature-based tokusasu, I think, was originally a technique intended to make possible [the production of] images that were difficult to shoot [normally]. When [film companies] were trying to shoot war films, the ideal, I think, would have been if they could have reproduced the fighters and battleships as they were and shot at the actual locations. However, putting that into practice would have meant absurd production costs, and it would have been very difficult to reserve the locations in question [for shooting], so realistically speaking, it was not possible. That being the case, they had to shrink reality itself until it was possible for them to shoot it. Briefly, I have heard that the starting point [for miniatures] was the desire to show a miniature world to the audience as the reality within the film, coming across without strangeness even when human beings were shown together with it. Since it was unfeasible, if you wanted to shoot images of a forty meter tall giant, to set up a giant that could be used for the drama in a life-sized city and film it, the idea was to shrink a city to 1/25th of its size and make a 1.8 meter tall person seem to be forty meters tall. [The use of] miniatures as a technique for creating on-screen images that convey a sense of reality - I think that's of great importance. I think the fact that [miniatures] are based first of all upon [the creation of] realistic visual images is amazing.
―庵野さんにとって特撮の良さとは何でしょうか。
- What, for you, is the strength of tokusatsu?
庵野 特撮のいいところは、なんといっても現実と空想の融合した世界を描けるところですね。これはアニメーションでつくれない世界です。アニメは全部つくりもので、最初から記号で構成されている世界です。どんなに現実的なものをそこに入れ込もうとも、やはり最初からつくられた世界なんです。全てが人のイメージで構成することができる「実際にはない世界」で、それはアニメーションでは当たり前のことです。現実感がない記号の世界だからこそ、いろいろな面白い表現が幅の大きくできるというのがアニメーションのいいところです。作り手としても、自分のイメージで全てをコントロールした映像を作るには最適の手段です。特撮は、現実感の中にアニメと同じ発想の「現実にはないイメージ」を紛れ込ませることができるんですね。現実を切り取った空間の中に、現実ではない空想を融合させられるんです。その異種感覚というのはすごくいいなと。荒唐無稽な映像を現実感ある映像にですることもできます。ミニチュアを使ったり、実景に合成ではめ込んだり近年ではＣＧＩを使ったりと、いろいろな方法はありますが、そのビジュアルすごいです。実際の人間と怪獣やウルトラマンが同じ場所にたりとか、ビルが壊れたりとか、見たこともないような巨大なメカが人間といっしょに活躍しているとか可視光線が一直線に空に伸びていくとかは、やはり実写じゃないと味わえないと思うんです。それが可能になったのは特撮という表現方法があったからからだと思います。
Anno: The strength of tokusatsu is, above all else, its ability to depict a world that unites fantasy and reality. This is a world you can't create with animation. An anime is something entirely created, so from the outset it's a world consisting [only] of symbols. No matter how you try to put something real into it, from the outset it's a constructed world. The world which doesn't exist in reality, the world which can be completely constructed by the imagination of a human being, is the normal condition for animation. The strength of animation is that, precisely because it's an unreal world of symbols, you can utilize a broad range of interesting [modes of] expression. If you are a creator, it's the most suitable means for making images where you control everything in accordance with your vision. With tokusatsu, just as with anime, you have the same concept of "images that don't exist in reality", but you can slip them into something that feels like reality. Fantasies that don't exist in reality can be combined with a space that cuts off [a piece of] reality. I think the feeling [produced by this combination of] heterogeneous elements is really good. You're able to transform preposterous images into images with a feeling of reality. There are a variety of methods, such as the use of miniatures, inserting [something] into real scenery through compositing, or, in recent years, the use of CGI, but the [resulting] visual images are amazing. Things like real human beings appearing in the same place as a monster or Ultraman, or buildings being destroyed, or giant mecha like you've never seen before acting together with human beings, or rays of light shooting straight out into the sky - these things, I think, can only be relished in live action. That has become possible, I believe, through the means of expression called tokusatsu.
その多様な表現方法の中で、特撮博物館ではミニチュア特撮に特化というかスポットを当てています。東宝特撮映画黄金期のミニチュアは、画面密度もすごく細かいところまで作られていて、そういう技術の底力のすごさとか、映像の持っている力強さみたいなものがミニチュア特撮の魅力ですね。ミニチュア特撮のいいところは、ミニチュア、撮影用の模型という実物があることです。CGIのようにパソコンの中に情報としてあるのではなく、実際にそこにあるという、その存在感。そこがいいですね。
From among these diverse means of expression, the Tokusatsu Museum specializes in or spotlights miniature-based tokusatsu. With the miniatures [made for] the golden age Toho tokusatsu films, the images on screen were crafted down to the finest detail, and the appeal of miniatures consists in something like the greatness of the latent power of that technique, or the power [those] images contain. The strength of miniature-based tokusatsu lies in the fact that there are real objects [there], the miniatures and the models used for shooting. They don't exist as information inside a computer like CGI, they're really there, and that's good, that sense of presence.
I love manly tears Anno, too.
