Evangelion 3.0 interviews (needs translation!)

[Jay]

Taken from the Studio Ghibli website, these are interviews with Anno about Evangelion 3.0 and the Rebuild series in general. It is still in need of translation and so I post it in hopes that some kind bilingual member will be able to begin translations for us gaijin.

[url]http://www.ghibli.jp/docs/12-12-01.pdf[/url]

If you will recall, the joint Studio Ghibli & H. Anno short film, God Warrior Attacks Tokyo (about 11 minutes long) was shown before Evangelion 3.0 in theatres. Some have even commented that they enjoyed the God Warrior film more than Evangelion: Q. So Studio Ghibli has posted some potentially awesome and revelatory material on their website regarding Evangelion 3.0 and the Rebuild series. As I understand it, these aren't just interviews with H. Anno about Evangelion 3.0 but also interviews with other Khara staff.

[Kendrix]

Explanation! Finally.

At this point, I'd like to once again remind you of the still untranslated cast interviews here: http://pastebin.com/Ygr32fm0

The already translated ones (including Misato's which isn't here, but somewhere in the questions thread) have proven very insightful and what google translate spat out was interesting, for example, Miyamura talks of Asuka's maturity level (can't tell what she was saying about it, though) and somehow compares her to a "professional mercenary", if that was correct.
Saakamoto may know more of the plan.
And the first half of Ogata's may help/ give us more meat for some of the most heated discussions here.

[Darkwing]

Yes, we need these translated.

[Son of Lilin]

Have these still not been translated?[/spoiler]

[gwern]

Looking at some archived 4chan threads (now that I've given in and watched the camsub), I found some Ogata quotes, which led me in Google to a pastebin of Ogata and an interviewer discussing 3.0: http://pastebin.com/YwKZN9KQ No discussions or authorship or sourcing or alternate locations were forthcoming in Google, and I didn't see anything in the few EGF threads I've read so far.

The style reminds me a lot of the CRC interview, so I'm guessing that it's some sort of official material, and there hasn't been a whole lot of time and the 3.0 CRC hasn't come out yet, so could this be from some sort of theatrical pamphlet or RCB-alike? I also found in some threads a link to http://www.ghibli.jp/docs/12-12-01.pdf - I cannot read Japanese so I can only guess, but it looks quite official. Could this be a theatrical pamphlet and one containing the Ogata interview?

Since we all know how long pastebins survive, I'll quote it in full below:

SPOILER: Show

––From the mid-point on, you mostly have scenes with Kaworu.

OGATA
Yeah. Things were still good in the first half. He was still searching for the answer to, "Why did that have to happen?" and Shinji was growing stronger in his own way, and we also got a glimpse of his confusion over the things he didn't understand. And when Ayanami came to get him and they went out in Wunder together, that was by his own will… But, the hardest thing for him, was when Kaworu took him and showed him, "The truth [he] wanted to see." Like stepping along a place that looks like a tall staircase, and then the clouds suddenly part and he can see the scene: the results of Third Impact… And then being told, "Everything happened because of you"… When I watched video we were going to record to at home, the scene was blank, but Mr. Anno described the scene at the studio. I heard his explanation, but… We were recording around March and images of last year's disaster were all over TV and when I imagined, "What if this was all my (Shinji's) fault?" I just… It made me go "Woahhhhhh"….

––That must have been tough.

OGATA
When he saw me all shocked over that, the always calm Ishida Akira suddenly got up and said stuff like, "O-Oga-chan, w-would you like me to make you some coffee? Do you like it with milk or sugar?" or "Would you like me to rub your shoulders? Ask me for anything today!" (lol) We've worked together for such a long time, but he's the last person I'd expect that kind of reaction from! Well, that's what I like about him though (lol). I just responded, "N-No… I'm alright, but thanks," I must have looked really freaked out. "Y-You didn't do it, it wasn't you. It was Shinji," he said (lol). "You were thinking the same thing…" "Y-Yeah…" and we both hung our heads in shame (lol). He's such a kind person. Like, I started thinking, what would I do if I was 14 and thought "I did this"… I just kept those feelings in mind and it was no longer acting, I just performed in the shock of that thought. Of course I felt guilt, but, especially when you feel that way, you want to seek salvation from somewhere… especially as a child. "But, there was no other way, right? I didn't think it'd end up like this." "If even one person was saved, isn't that alright?" he thinks, and that's how he bears it. But, that one person [he thought he saved] turned out to be someone different entirely. He didn't save her… Just talking about it now makes me feel a bit exhausted. If I, an adult, feel like I couldn't bear it, how would I feel if I was told that [it was my fault] when I was only 14? That thought really stuck with me. And ultimately… Doesn't even the person who guided him have to die? As usual.


––Kaworu's final scene was one of the climaxes of this installment, wasn't it?

OGATA
During prescore, the image wasn't too clear in the animatic, but during recording touchups, they had the keyframes in. The film wasn't finished, but I could see all the fine details. I thought it was just too much, it really hit me hard. How am I supposed to recover from that? I just can't see it. Sorry…

––No it's fine. I really get what Shinji was feeling.

OGATA
Personally, I was pretty shocked when I performed that scene, so it might sound kind of traumatic when combined with the finished visuals, but the performance got OK'd and I trust the director. I guess it's good as long as it evokes feelings in the audience.

––This is another question about recording, but it's been a while since you last performed with Kaworu, hasn't it?

OGATA
It really has. Their relationship starts out this time as, "the person who said something to Shinji when he was down in the dumps." I'm just going off my memory regarding the TV series, but I think it's a bit different from how it was originally. I feel like he was a lot clingier from the start before. He had no one to rely on around him and there Kaworu appears. It's like, "Oh, you're being nice to me, what a relief, I'm saved." But, this time, Shinji, having gotten through the events of 2.0, meets him on a more level playing field, relatively speaking… "I don't really know why, but he's giving me nothing but good will," something like that. I think it is really quite different in the end. I feel like, this time, it's more than his attraction to Kaworu or what he learns from him -- they're depicted more as friends gradually closing the distance between each other. He meets a strange boy when he's feeling down, they play piano together, and little by little the distance closes between them. And in that [context/relationship] he's told, "You did this," and it shocks him terribly, but when he talks to Kaworu after that, he tells him, "If we pilot Unit 13 together and take out the spears, we can undo everything," and he's all like, "Yeah, lets do it!" It's a much more active act. Even if you slip into depression, it won't be like that forever, you can find hope in your connections to other people. So, because Rebuild's Shinji is a bit stronger, his relationship with Kaworu is a bit different.

[kboyrulez12345]

Pretty interesting interview. I love to read things like this and see the voice actors reaction to scenes. Poor Ogata, she's as traumatized as the rest of the fans.

:(

[gwern]

http://forum.evageeks.org/thread/13685/SPOILERS-Evangelion-30-interviews-needs-translation/ lists material taken from the PDF and one of them is the pastebin material linked above. Further discussion should be in that thread.

Merged

[gwern]

The already translated ones (including Misato's which isn't here, but somewhere in the questions thread)

Which thread is that?

[Kendrix]

Which thread is that?

This one.

Since it would be good if it were all in one place, I bothered to skim through it and look for Mitsuishi's interview. Here is the original posting, and here it is:
Interview with Misato's voice actress

SPOILER: Show

"When I gave an order, I did it all without hesitating with a feeling like 'I can only move forward!' or 'IF I fall then al least frontwards'"

Q: I think the 14-year timejump was a huge surprise, but how did it feel for the cast?
A: Also among the [voice] actors, there are those who do understand the world of Eva, and those who don't. I'm one of the latter group and don't understand it at all (laughs).

Q: Especially when looking at Misato's stance towards Shinji, it seems like a lot has happened [during these 14 years].
A: I think there was a lot of pain and spilled tears during these 14 years. It seemed like Misato had overcome this and deleted these memories, but the moment she met Shinji it all came up again. "Please act really really cold", this is what I have been told, but when I did so I have been told "It's so much that it's scary", so I said "Eh, not like this?" (laughs)
I tried to remember the hard time I had in my life, but that was rejected "Normal is okay, don't try too hard to make something up". Despite this, even my normal acting has not been appreciated. So in the end I tried everything, but none was good enough, so I went on with it while asking myself "How should I do this now?"

Q: I suppose there was an explanation by director Anno about the situation or circumstances?
A: As my own age was close to that of the character, I was told to act just like that. For 'Yo' [Rebuild 1.0] I have been told to try harder to sound younger, but this time I could just be myself.
There's this organisation called WILLE, which fights against NERV, and they even have built this magnificient ship WUNDER to [forcefully] get Shinji back and so on... this is from the script, but otherwise it was all my own guess. Only, I totally like the new costume. The first impression I got from the new Misato was "Wow, I really like her. She has turned out to be really cool...", so yes, I really favored the new costume.
I felt like この高いエリ (Kono Takai Eri/This high Ely?), 応援団 (Ouendan/Supportgroup) or Captain Okita from Yamato, so with this costume I'd even do cosplay (laughs). It's really the coolest thing.

Q: She's really bold/elegant. Female fans should increase [because of her].
Speaking of this, as she has become the captain of a battle ship, most of her lines she shouts. So honestly I was looking forward less to the acting. Before we saw many happy scenes from her life, so I wasn't sure if I should chose what I should take, my thinking or my standpoint, so I had a chance to say "Go, Shinji!" quite a lot [I think she means, she wasn't sure if she should act as a friend or superior to Shinji]. The range of inner emotions/feelings etc was broad, so it was a lot of fun.
But you know, If I say cold things to Shinji as soon as I meet him, it's clear that he will close his heart. So I acted, while I was thinking "Misato, what has happened?", and imagining that something really terrible must have happened 14 years ago [I don't understand one point of this sentence's sytax, the meaning might be slightly different].
Now I treat it like this: Surely she has become like this while adhering to her own sense of justice.

Q: She is a lot stronger than before now.
A: Even if it is so, I feel like it's not her own will, but she just got to become like his. I was just happy that she survived together with Ritsuko. This time Ritsuko seem slike a spy from Russia. I like it how she takes a step back and supports Misato. I feel like the battle of the once young women has surpassed ??? one mountain [can't make sense of this. Maybe some kind of proverb, which possibly means that it has been taken another step forward].

Q: Taking into consideration that they have seperated from NERV, the relationship between Misato and Ritsuko seems more like this of Gendo and Fuyutsuki.
A: Hmmm, yeah, right. So, then next time I hide my hand in front of my mouth like this. (laughs) [She refers to Gendo holding his ads in front of his mouth while talking, the famous pose.]

seems fairly short compared to the others. But I heard the full booklet scans are aviable (on nyaa?), so it should be posible to check them if there's more of this or even interviews we do not know about yet.

Again, we're still missing the first half of Ogata's, Miyamura's (which, again, has an official statement about Asuka's maturity that Google Translate wouldn't divulge in a comprehensible fashion) and Saakamoto's. And the other stuff mentioned in the OP. After Q, people are longing for explanation.
This is all we have right now, but its IS something and we need to translate it.

[gwern]

Thanks.

As far as Nyaa goes, I see a 106MB torrent for "[Artbook] Evangelion 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo [2012]". That might be it. I'll download it and give it a look.

[Darkwing]

That was interesting. So she had a hard time acting cold and harsh towards Shinji? I guess she misses telling him to go for it. It doesn't really surprise me that some of the VA get Eva and some don't.

[Grub]

It's not that they don't get Eva, but they love certain characters so much, and their own, have known the other characters and their VAs for so long, they hate doing these 180s on them. Because there's this emotional attachment, right? It's tough to do. Especially with what Ogata was saying. Yeesh.

It's like being a part of a family, and decades later as part of some activity or therapy, you're told to all act completely horrific towards each other. Could anyone in a stable family do that to their mom? Their dad? Their brothers and sisters and sons and daughters? Even if you know it's fake, it'd just feel awful.

[gwern]

As far as Nyaa goes, I see a 106MB torrent for "[Artbook] Evangelion 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo [2012]". That might be it. I'll download it and give it a look.

I've downloaded and this appears to be it: there's 20 or so pages of text labeled with the various voice actors - Ogata, Kaworu, Gendo etc., including all the new bridge bunnies (why bother? one wonders) and Suzuhara.

[driftking18594]

At least these interviews with the VAs help to fill in the gap (or should I say chasm?) between 2.0 and 3.0.

[Kendrix]

I've downloaded and this appears to be it: there's 20 or so pages of text labeled with the various voice actors - Ogata, Kaworu, Gendo etc., including all the new bridge bunnies (why bother? one wonders) and Suzuhara.

The interviews new ones may offen backstory on them. And I'm very, very curious for Gendo's. Again, when it's all translated, I'd like it to be all put in one place where ppl can easily find it.
Maybe the wiki, or that github thngy that also has the translation of the movie itself.

again, the masses do want/ will want explanations, and we're the place their comming to, so yeah, someone please translate, starting with the rest of Ogatas for interpretation-meat and then Miyamura's to finally put the maturity debate to rest.

They are offering us explanation. We should make use of it.

[TMBounty_Hunter]

Any updates on more translations of these interviews?

[AlphaGamma]

Moved here from another topic

I've seen somewhere else that what Miyamura compared Asuka to was an "embittered mercenary". Meaning someone extremely jaded, who probably lost any faith in mankind, kinda relevant which how much aggressive she was through 3.0

That's actually a bit of a misconception (seems to happen an awful lot with Asuka...). In the actual interview Asuka's VA never really expressed herself in such a negative way. She calls her a mercenary once, but that's all there is to it.
Yuko's interview is actually surprisingly optimistic and positive, unlike most of the others.
I can try to translate it from the italian translation.

INTERVIEW (Yuko Miyamura/Asuka VA)

Q: What was your first impression when you read the script?
A:The first time (i read it) i didn't understand much, but i quickly realised that it was going to be something new (different). "Finally you can stand on your own two feet, finally that time has come..." was the feeling i had (about Asuka3.0). Usually the more time you spend as the character (you voice) the more you learn about its role, but when i received the script my feeling was probably the same as that of the viewers:"What's going on?"etc... And that feeling never changed. No matter how many times i read it, i couldn't understand it. Even though i could never truly comprehend it, during the (post) recording i started to perceive the logic behind the changes. Evangelion has always been centered around confused and conflicted feelings that are never truly "put to rest". But it's thanks to Evangelion that i learned to face all the difficulties in my life. I had to get used to them (the changes)... or something like that (laughs). Still, (i had) some sort of presentiment, so to speak, and it made me excited. Or maybe i felt just like (you do) when you have to ingest something weird (...). Anyway, i've made my decision. I'll do my best, no matter what.

Q: How did you feel about (the new) Asuka?
A: I was quite surprised when i heard that the fans were worried about her (fate in 2.0). It's not clear what happens to her. We can say one things for sure, though, (in 3.0) she's alive and she's still fighting. The new Asuka is quite different from the previous (2.0) one. She's finally learned to stand on her own two feet (Yuko repeats it again here). But she still hasn't stopped shouting "Are you stupid? (BakaShinji ofc..)". It may seem weird to say this but i truly believe in Asuka's happiness, and i think she will achieve it (in 4.0, i guess). I haven't talked about this with the studio, but i'm truly convinced.

Q: About the (voice) acting, what did you focus on the most?
A: I've discussed about this a lot with the director and the rest of the staff. More than "discussing", it would probably be better to say that I kept asking "why? how did this happens?" but i never really received a satisfactory answer (they never explained her anything...). For example when i asked about the "Curse of the eva", that prevents the pilots from aging past 14, i didn't receive any explanation... I kept wondering "Why? How?". The director once said: "Asuka is now a professional mercenary" or was it a"captain of the army"? I don't remember exactly, but the fact that she's a mercenary or a soldier is quite obvious: she's got an eyepatch! (...) It was thanks to that that i finally managed to understand her character.

Q: Do you remember anything in particular of the post recording?
A: During the post recording i was on my own, but that fit the condition of the character well (being lonely). The "cat" was particularly impressive (referring to the beast mode). It made me worry quite a bit and i just can't get it out of my head.

Q: Do you want to talk about the changes that moving to Australia brought to your life and to your "relationship" with Evangelion?
A: I've been living in Australia for 4 years now. During this time my younger son was born, and now he's one and a half year old... If i think about it, i can draw a comparison between NME and the first steps of my son (in the same way as Asuka has learnt to stand on her own two feet, her son did too), don't you think? I've said this at the beggining of the interview, Asuka seemed to me like a mix of strength, happiness (there's probably a better way to put this) and sadness. Just like my son, whenever they fall (Asuka and Yuko's son) they quickly get back up. I think she's really a great girl. And the mother always believes in the happiness of her children, while protecting and keeping an eye on them.

Q: How do you think NME is going to end? What do you think will happen to Asuka?
A: As i said many times, "Asuka's future is going to be happy"... I know it! Since the beginning of Evangelion (NGE included), i've been wishing for her to be happy, no matter what (here Yuko imitates a cat "Nya" first, then a dog "Wan"). Who knows? But whatever happens, your mama will do her best (here she's talking directly to Asuka, i guess...). That is what i think. Everything will be fine!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
That's it, here's the link to the italian translation: http://www.dummy-system.com/intervista-a-yuko-miyamura-su-evangelion-3-0/
Apologize if there is an english translation alrdy (might have missed it)...

[Seele00TextOnly]

...

[Rei IV]

Awesome find. Perhaps this interview can clarify the misconception that Asuka "hates" Shinji or that she has gone a complete 180 or any other tired exaggeration of the character and her depiction in the film.

[Lonecow12]

That interview gave me warm fuzzy feelings.

But if something bad happens to Asuka now, I'll also have to feel bad for Miyamura...