Evangelion 2.0 CRC: Anno Interview

[Kendrix]

@xard: Don't forget "Makki" XD

[Xard]

@xard: Don't forget "Makki" XD

yeah the name is funny but Tsurumaki is Anno's protege and one of the closest working companions (if not the closest) for well over a decade so such nickname was not new or surprising to me. And I had heard frickin' Mamoru Oshii () call Izubuchi Bucchan so that didn't surpise me either...

but Kawamori getting called Sho-chan caught me completely by surprise. Of course they knew each other since Anno started his career working on SDF Macross and all, but I didn't know how well (unlike widely known friendship Anno has with Miyazaki, Miyazaki has with Oshii etc.). But it's really cool that the creators of my favourite anime franchises - Eva and Macross - know each other well enough to give Anno mandate to call Kawamori "Sho-chan". Now I'm imagining the two out drinking and discussing strategies to troll their fanbases, given the eagerness both have showed for trolling in past (especially Kawamori)

[Sailor Star Dust]

Kendrix & WarrenPeace: TOPIC.

Speculation about Shikinami goes in here, NOT in this thread: http://forum.evageeks.org/viewtopic.php?t=8064

[Warren Peace]

Seeing as how Anno's interview encompasses every aspect of the film, lots of topics are likely to come up. Speculation about Shikinami should go here because Anno's thoughts lead one to speculate about her. This speculation flows from his words.

[Sailor Star Dust]

Discussion on Asuka and other characters belong in here to an extent. This is first and foremost discussion about Anno's Interviews, and the discussion you and Kendrix had is clearly heading into speculation/off-topic territory (for instance, going into speculation about the doll obviously does not belong in here).

[1731298478]

Number-kun, before I forget, didn't you once say that this Anno interview is some 30 pages long? Or was that 30 pages when you combine the CRC 1.0 and CRC 2.0 interviews? (I hope we'll see the Anno 1.0 CRC interview after this, but I understand from personal experience that translating is a time-consuming, long, work!) I'm curious on how many parts are left? I ask because I'm wondering if maybe I could help with translating myself, but I'm not sure I'm confident enough in my Japanese to handle something like an interview. It seems like you and symbv have things covered, so perhaps I should just focus on other projects.

The CRC 2.0 interview by itself is, indeed, thirty pages (!), divided into 16 or 17 parts. The CRC 1.0 interview is probably of similar length. If you have some spare time or you just want to take a look at it, let me know and I'll send you Reichu's scans. It will probably be a long-term project overall, though.

Since that part was not in the interview itself originally, perhaps it is better to put it as a footnote in the translation?

That's a good idea. I'll edit the post to make that change.

[Kendrix]

It's a blessing to get that many info from the man himself - Anno is usually sparse with teh information.

[Xard]

It's a blessing to get that many info from the man himself - Anno is usually sparse with teh information.

Not really, there are tons of interviews of him all the way back to 90s. That stuff just happens to be all in Japanese.

[Kendrix]

Not really, there are tons of interviews of him all the way back to 90s. That stuff just happens to be all in Japanese.

Well, in that case, the real blessing is having ppl like symbv and Number-kun around^^
*leaves both of them a cookie*

[Knuckles]

Wow... are you saying there's over TEN more parts to this interview equally as long as what we've been seeing?

[gwern]

Wow... are you saying there's over TEN more parts to this interview equally as long as what we've been seeing?

Almost hard to believe - I was getting weary just copy-pasting the translations into my file of CRC material - but it is a book after all, not a pamphlet.

[1731298478]

Wow... are you saying there's over TEN more parts to this interview equally as long as what we've been seeing?

Yeah. It's a pretty long interview.

[symbv]

As promised, comments on the translation (better late than never)...
Actually not too much to comment this time :)

メインキャラにも様々な変化が……
"The various changes made to the main characters were......"

Would it be better translated as
"There were also various changes made to the main characters..." ?

---アスカの名前を式波に変えたのは、どういう理由でしょうか。
---What was the reason for changing Asuka's name to Shikinami?

庵野　先の話にも出ていましたが、EVAパイロットに関する設定を変えたので、それに合わせて整合性を待たせるのには名前も変えたほうがいいだろうと。あと、主要キャラの名前が違うというのは、旧作からのお客さんに「今回は違う，新しい感じ」と持ってもらえるかなと考えてもいました。もちろん違和感を感じたり、前の方が良かったということもあると思いますが、ここはあえて変えた感じです。旧作からのファンの人たちもアスカの名前が変わるとまでは予想していないだろうと思ったので、「あ、前と違うんだ」っていうことを衝撃をもって分かりやすく伝えられるし、トピック的にもいいんじゃないかと。
Anno: I mentioned this before, but, because I changed the settei relating to the Eva pilots, in order to provide consistency in accordance with that I thought it was best to change the name. I also thought that the change in name of a main character would enable viewers from the previous work to recieve the message, "This time is different, a new feeling." Of course I felt uncomfortable [about it], and there are things that I think are better in the original, but here I feel like I [had to] risk changing things. [?] As I thought that fans from the original work would probably not expect changes to the extent that Asuka's name would be changed, I wondered if the sense that, "Ah, this is different than before" could be conveyed in a shocking and easy-to-understand way; and I wondered if it might be good as a topic [for conversation] as well.

違和感 is more like "feeling not fitting in". "Feeling uncomfortable" of course also can mean that but it is not as specific. I think Anno used the word to mean the new name does not seem to fit with the character at first.

>but here I feel like I [had to] risk changing things. [?]
This looks about right.

SPOILER: Show

---確かに、アニメ雑誌に「二号機のデザインが変わった」と記事が出たときには、あまり反響を見かけなくて「あれ？」と思ったんですが、アスカの名前が変わったと発表された途端、ものすごいリアクションがありました。
---Indeed, when articles were published in the anime magazines on the changed design of Unit-02, I wondered what was going on, not seeing much of a response, but as soon as Asuka's name change was announced there was an enormous reaction.

庵野　ファンの大半はメカじゃなくキャラに焦点を合わせてますから、そうだと思います。
Anno: I would imagine so, as the majority of the fans are focused on the characters rather than the mecha.

アスカのキャラづくりも今度、苦労しました。デザイン自体はプラグスーツのマイナーチェンジくらいでよかったんですが、性格や生い立ちが『新劇場版』として定着するまで、大変でしたね。いや、難しかったです。
I also had a lot of difficulties creating Asuka's character this time. For the design itself, it was okay to make not much more than minor changes to her plugsuit, but it was hard establishing her personality and personal history for the new films. Well, it was difficult.

---『破』から参加したマリやアスカだけでなく、レイも大きな変化をみせていたのが印象的でした。特に食事を作ったり、「ポカポカ」という衝撃の発言があったり。レギュラーキャラの変化についても、理由があれば教えていただけますか。
---It's not just Mari and Asuka, who participate [in the new films] from "Break" onwards. It was impressive to see Rei display significant changes as well. In particular, there is the fact that she prepares a meal, or the shock of her saying "poka-poka." Concering changes made to the regular characters as well, if there were reasons [for this], please inform us of what they were.

庵野　レイはなぜか、自然に「ああなった」感じです。いつもレイってなぜそうなったのか覚えていないんですよ。レイがシンジとゲンドウのために食事会っていうのは、もともとTVシリーズの第四話用に考えていた僕のプロットを思い出して今回入れたんだと思います。そのときはシンジの誕生会だったような記憶があります。それを今回の食事会に置き換えたのかなと。で、脚本１稿からすでにレイが食事を作るエピソードがあります。二〇〇六年九月九日付の第２稿には、レイの「……ヒミツ。もう少しうまくなったら、話す」というセリフが書いてあります。レイがシンジに二度目の笑顔を向けるというところですね。『破』のレイはここからできています。このセリフを思いついたときから、レイは自然に感情が少し表面に漏れてくるキャラになっていってしまった感じです。レイに関しては、無意識ですね。何もコントロールしてません。「ポカポカ」もいつの間にか彼女が勝手に話してる感じでしたね。
Anno: With Rei, for some reason, i just feel "it happened like that" naturally. I never remember why it happened that way. Regarding Rei's dinner party for Shinji and Gendo, that was originally a plot I had thought of using for episode 4 of the TV series. I remembered it and thought I would include it this time. I have a memory of it being, at that time, something like Shinji's birthday party. I think I replaced that with the dinner party this time. So, the episode where Rei prepares a meal was already in the first draft of the script. The dialogue where Rei says, "......it's a secret. I'll tell you when I get a little better [at it]" was included in the second draft, dated September 9th, 2006. That's the second time that Rei smiles at Shinji. The Rei of "Break" was established from this point on. Since I hit upon that dialogue, I feel like Rei spontaneously became a character whose emotions leak a little bit into her outward appearance. As far as Rei is concerned, [I am] unconscious. I don't control anything. With "poka-poka," as well, I felt like she said it of her own volition before I was even aware of it.

シンジもそうですね。自分の中では当たり前過ぎて、主人公なのによく存在を忘れてます。
It's also the same with Shinji. In my mind he is so much a matter of course that, despite him being the protagonist, I often forget that he exists.

No comment for the above :)

ミサトは今回の『新劇場版』では、シンジの対である福主人公としての立場、立ち位置をはっきりさせています。シンジもレイもミサトもアスカも、映画という限られた呎の中での感情の動きなので、ある程度与えられた役割に沿って動いています。やらなければならないことが物語の展開上、すでに決定されている感じですね。これがTVだといろいろ脱線しても回収できる余裕があるので、好きに動いてくれるんですが。映画だとこれは仕方がない。
As for Misato, in the new films, I made her position as a secondary protagonist as opposed to Shinj clear. Shinji, as well as Rei, as well as Misato, as well as Asuka - as they express their emotions within the limited space of a film, to a certain extent they will act in accordance with given roles. I feel that, within the development of the story, things that I have to do have already been determined. If this was TV, even I went on various tangents I would still have room to recover, so [the characters] would act as I pleased. [???] In a film, I can't do anything about this.

There seems to be an incorrect kanji here: For "secondary protagonist", the Japanese should have been 副主人公; 福 has the same pronunciation but the kanji does not make sense here.

And the word "position" was mentioned twice in the original text - 立場、立ち位置. I wonder why... Perhaps the former as an abstract position and the latter as where the physical positioning in the movie?

好きに動いてくれるんですが
>so [the characters] would act as I pleased. [???]
That looks what he was trying to say.

SPOILER: Show

とはいえ、登場人物たちはただの旧作の延長ではなく、結果として新しいキャラになってる感じがしました。僕の中ではすでに十四年以上前から存在するキャラたちのに、まだまだ変化していた感じです。特にアスカはキャラ設定から変わりましたね。
Nevertheless, I had the feeling that the characters were not simply extentions of the old work, but were new characters as a result. Although they were characters who already existed inside of me for over fourteen years, I feel like they were still changing. Asuka in particular changed from her [original] character settei.

No comment for above :)

[1731298478]

As promised, comments on the translation (better late than never)...
Actually not too much to comment this time :)

Thanks very much again, symbv.
Please don't feel any pressure to comment on the translation - especially if you are busy, or if you don't want to spoil yourself further. I think there will only be more spoilers in the future. I really appreciate you doing this, though.

違和感 is more like "feeling not fitting in". "Feeling uncomfortable" of course also can mean that but it is not as specific. I think Anno used the word to mean the new name does not seem to fit with the character at first.

I tried putting "it feels like things are not quite right" here instead, in the sense that "it feels like things do not quite fit." Though, I don't know if this is the best way to render it.

There seems to be an incorrect kanji here: For "secondary protagonist", the Japanese should have been 副主人公; 福 has the same pronunciation but the kanji does not make sense here.

This is my typing mistake!! My apologies for the error!

And the word "position" was mentioned twice in the original text - 立場、立ち位置. I wonder why... Perhaps the former as an abstract position and the latter as where the physical positioning in the movie?

I wondered about this, too. I couldn't figure out why Anno used both 立場 and 立ち位置, but I think you're right about there being a distinction between two kinds of "positions." I'll have to think about how the translation could reflect that.

[symbv]

Thanks very much again, symbv.
Please don't feel any pressure to comment on the translation - especially if you are busy, or if you don't want to spoil yourself further. I think there will only be more spoilers in the future. I really appreciate you doing this, though.

No no no.. I am quite fine doing this. I think I have been sufficiently spoiled about Rebuild that reading Anno interview should not pose additional spoiler that is significant. Besides, earlier I promised to put a comment (before I got unlinked from internet last week) so I am just doing what I promised to do earlier.

This is my typing mistake!! My apologies for the error!

You typed all the Japanese text?? I am impressed!! I heard more and more people use some OCR software to input printed Japanese text into computer so I thought perhaps the printed text got the kanji wrong...

[Lowki]

I frequent these forums just to stay up to date with the goings on in this franchise. I thought it was about time i registered just to say thank you very much to Numbers and Symbv for all the hard work and time they have invested into translating these hugely interesting interviews.

[1731298478]

Here is my attempt at the second half of Part 5. I wanted to post this sooner following the first half, but I was a bit sidetracked by other things. Please expect and forgive mistakes; corrections and suggestions are always truly appreciated. Thanks to Reichu for the scans and symbv for all his help.

Corrections from symbv have been incorporated, including the second question and the second-last paragraph, which are his translations. Thanks very much again, symbv!!!

------

Part 5 [Second Segment]

---アスカは加持との関係も変わって、新鮮な感じがしました。
--- With Asuka's relationship to Kaji also changed, I felt something new [about her].

庵野　ええ。バッサリと切ってなくしました。映画だと、加持とアスカの話までとても描く余裕がないというのが主の理由ですね。ちょっとだけ入れても、それじゃキャラとして立たないし、旧作を知っているヒトにしか分からない微妙なニュアンスになってしまう。だったらその辺はバッサリ切って、むしろ加持はマリに近寄らせておこうと。それは、今までのメインキャラたちの中に誰もマリを知っている登場人物がいないのは、作劇上諸々よろしくないという判断です。ならば加持が一番適役なんじゃないかなと。同じ「破」からの出番だし。何かと裏を知ってそうで、あちこちにパイプがありそうだし。
Anno: Yeah. I completely cut it from the film. The main reason was that, in a film, there is simply not enough room to depict something like Kaji and Asuka's story. Even if we had put just a little [of that] in, then she would not have worked as a character, and it would inevitably have been a nuance that only those who knew the original series would understand. So I completely cut that [relationship], and instead decided to have Kaji be close to Mari. That decision was made because of the fact that, among the main characters who had appeared up to this point, there were none who knew Mari, and this was causing me various difficulties in writing. That being the case, I figured that Kaji was the most suitable. He was, like Mari, a character who appears from "Break" onwards. He's someone who seems to know various secrets, and to have various connections.

---そこは一石二鳥みたいな感じで、アスカの３号機事件にも大きな影響を与えたという印象でした。
--- I feel like you killed two birds with one stone there, and I had the impression that that also had a big impact to Asuka's incident with Unit 03.

庵野　ええ。ドラマとしては旧作のときよりも、アスカの孤立度を高くしたかったんです。シリーズ物だとトータルの呎も長く描写もあれこれと遊べてたので、「アスカはあこがれの男性もそばにいて、表層的には人づき合いもうまい女の子」となってました。しかし、今回のような映画では呎も短く、コンパクトにキャラをまとめないと散らかってしまうので、シンプルに周囲から孤立させて、ミサトぐらいしか知り合いがいない感じで、友人が誰もいないところからスタートさせた方が、その後の心の変化も分かりやすいかなと。だから加持とも引き離したんです。そうでないと、ひとりで来た感じが薄くなるので。その上で、ミサトとシンジ以外との接触少なくして、ヒカリと話すのもわりと後半で呎も短くしました。
Anno: Yeah. As [part of the] drama, I wanted to increase Asuka's degree of isolation even more than in the original work. Because, in the series, the total amount of time available is significant, and I was able to play around with her portrayal, it became "Asuka is a girl who has the man she longs for nearby, and who, on the surface, is skilled at social relations." In a film like this, because the time available is short, and the characters will be a mess if you cannot pull them together compactly, I simply isolated her from her surroundings, so it's as though she doesn't know anyone except for Misato. I thought her subsequent change of heart would also be easier to understand if I had her start with no friends. Because of that, I separated her from Kaji as well. If I hadn't, the feeling that she had come [to Japan] alone would have become diluted. In accordance with this, I kept her contact with others besides Misato and Shinji slight, and I also kept her conversations with Hikari relatively short in the [film's] second half.

とにかく映画で一本二時間くらいだと、変化の幅は大きい方がお客さんに伝わりやすくていいと思うんです。３号機事件をアスカにとってのクライマックスと設定し、彼女が舞台から消える直前を感情のピークとして、消えた後との落差をできるだけ大きくしたかったんです。ひとりで対処できなかった落下使徒戦をキカッケに、少しずつ解放されていって、最後にミサトという他人に初めて心情を吐露する。しかしまあ、ここを盛り上げるために、いろいろと話を考えて持っていくのは大変でした。主人公ではないので、ウエイトのバランスもあったし。けど、Cパートはほとんど、アスカ中心の話ですね。
In any case for movie if one film lasts around 2 hours, I think bigger extent of changes are better for conveying [messages] to the audience. I set the Unit-03 incident as the climax for Asuka, and with her emotion peak being the moment right before she disappeared from the stage I wanted to make the gap between this and [the part] after her disappearance as big as possible. Starting form the falling angel battle which she could not deal with by herself, she got liberated little by little, and at last she laid bare her feelings for the first time to other people which was Misato. But, well, it was hard work to think up and bring about various stories in order to liven things up here. [She is] not the protagonist, and then there is also the weighting balance. That said, Part C is almost a story with Asuka as center.

あと、Cパートはレイの食事会が流れの軸になっていたので、主人公たるシンジがなかなか物語の中に出てきませんでした。アクティブな感じでなく「待っている」立場が多いので、つい忘れちゃうんですね。途中のラッシュで見てあまりにシンジの出番が少ないというか出てこない呎が長過ぎたので、観客が忘れないようにと、ラジオを聞きながら勉強しているシーンを後から追加しています。そこでもシンジの物語としては「レイの食事会を楽しみに待つ」ということしかないので、せっかくの出番もそれを強調するだけでしたけど。
Because Rei's dinner party became the hinge for the rest of Part C, the main character, Shinji, had a hard time making appearances in the story. Because there are many "waiting" situations rather than a feeling of activity, you just forget about him. Watching the rushes that were made along the way, Shinji's appearances were too few, or should I say that he didn't appear for too long a period of time. So, in order that the audience would not forget [him], the scene where he listens to the radio while studying was afterwards added. Despite that, as far as Shinji's story [in Part C] goes, it is nothing but "looking forward to Rei's dinner party," so when Shinji finally appears again, [the added appearance] only emphasizes that.

[Xard]

in other words Anno knows what he is doing, still

[Shogo-Kun]

Interestingly tidbit about Kaji being connected to Mari instead of Asuka. I wonder what this will mean for future movies. Begin speculation NOW!

[Seele00TextOnly]

...