Translation: Evangelion 3.0+1.0 booklet Interview

[Riki]

Hi there,
I translated Evangelion 3.0+1.0 booklet Interview.
I have started with Kazuya Tsurumaki, for the next one I'm thinking is Mahiro Maeda.

I heard that Megumi Hayashibara's part has not been translated yet. So I'm planning to do that too, after Maeda.

But, should Megumi Hayashibara's part be given priority? Please let me know your opinions.

Kazuya Tsurumaki, Director

Pre-Visualization is the key to a new way of making animation.

--When did you start working on "EVANGELION:3.0+1.0 THRICE UPON A TIME"?

Tsurumaki

I went to Paris for location scouting in the summer of 2017, and then started storyboarding the prologue scene that plays before the opening.

--How many people went on location scouting in Paris?

Tsurumaki

There were six of us, mainly 3DCG animators and modelers.

--What is your role in EVANGELION: 3.0+1.0?

Tsurumaki

First of all, Anno proposed to me that he wanted to try a different way of making the film. He said, "I want to try a method other than the usual method of drawing a storyboard and deciding on the layout," and I thought it would be tough but interesting. I think it was probably an idea that came out of his experience with Shin Godzilla. My feeling is that the completion of the storyboard accounts for about 80% of the overall quality of the animation. You don't have to work on anything other than what is specified in the storyboard, so it's very efficient. The scene is created by building up the cuts one by one as instructed by the storyboard. In live-action filming, the scene is created first, shot from multiple angles, and then edited to select the best one. There are cases where a storyboard is drawn, but even so, multiple images are shot and then edited to complete the final product. A series of scenes are shot from multiple angles, including some that are not specified in the script, and the best cuts are selected and assembled in the final editing. I think he wanted to do something similar with "EVANGELION: 3.0+1.0".

--Does that mean you need to create a PreVisualization?

Tsurumaki

Yes, in many scenes, we made PreVisualization (a simulation image that assumes the completed form with simple CGI or models in advance before producing the finished image). Nowadays, there are not a few animations that make PreVisualization, but I think it is just a flow of "storyboard -> PreVisualization". After the storyboard is created, revisions are made during the PreVisualization process to achieve a more complete storyboard. In fact, "Shin Godzilla" was made in a similar way, but this time, Anno wanted to make the previsualization first, without going through the storyboarding process, and then complete the storyboarding process. It might be easier to say that he is creating a video storyboard. It was a fresh and interesting process to think that 3DCG, which is somewhere between animation and live-action, could be a good combination of animation and live-action by using live-action production methods.

--I heard that you used a virtual camera for the PreVisualization production.

Tsurumaki

In addition to setting up the stage in 3DCG and using virtual cameras to determine the angles, we also used motion capture to combine the actors' performances. We also built miniature sets and took pictures, so it was a combination of special effects, animation, and 3DCG. Since he was a student, Anno has been making films without separating animation and live-action special effects, so he has no problem with this kind of thing, in fact, it must be a natural feeling for him. In "Nakam Rider," which he shot in his high school days, the battle on the roof of the school building was shot in the usual way, the cutout of the fall from the roof was made by cutting out a photo and using a flowing PAN (an animation technique that slides a background drawn to look like it is flowing), and the explosion was animated using dynamic photography (in this case, moving images drawn with paints and shot in stop motion). ). It's a mix of completely different elements in one work. I'm sure that the way he mixed 3DCG, miniatures, and hand-drawn animation is nothing special for him. However, there are only a few staff members who have had this experience. Obviously, I'm no different, so I didn't really know how to proceed with the actual work, or what the methodology would be... As I only knew how to make normal animation, I was completely at a loss as to how to proceed.

--It's quite different from the way the animation is done.

Tsurumaki

We have a script, but no storyboard, so we don't know the total amount of work. Moreover, PreVisualization is updated daily, so scenes may disappear and cuts may increase. We had no idea where to start, whether the scenes we were working on were really necessary, or how much work we would end up doing. I didn't even have an estimate, so I was just groping my way through the process. The storyboard is a creative part, but it is also a production part that determines the specific work to be done and the total amount of work to be done, and the animation production field is not designed so that the entire process can be carried out without instructions, so we had a hard time. By trying a completely different approach, I felt like I was opening up a new channel.

Part A approaching the live-action look, the actual work is a continuous struggle.

--How was it working on Part A?

Tsurumaki

I did some simple modeling in 3DCG, recorded the actors' performances in motion capture, and then used a virtual camera to determine the layout. Even if the actors' performances themselves were good, when I reproduced them in 3D models, the poses and movements would be loose and rough. Both the background 3DCG and the motion capture were rough, so in Part A, I had to keep working to make them look natural. It was difficult because it was very detailed work, and more importantly, we were groping.

--What was the most difficult part?

Tsurumaki

I had to create images that I've avoided in previous "Eva" works. For example, a character walking slowly from the back to the front. They stand up naturally. They sit down. In addition, everyday actions such as planting rice have been increased this time.

--General Director Anno once said, "Everyday acts such as coming into a room, sitting down and drinking a cup of coffee deliciously are likely to fail because the audience is used to seeing them. Even if it succeeds, it will look natural and will be passed over, so avoid it." So that's what you are doing.

Tsurumaki

The rice planting scene was particularly difficult. It was based on a movie of actual movement, but even if we didn't go as far as rotoscoping (a technique of tracing live action into animation), we wanted the movement to be just like that of live action, including camera shake, so the animators worked hard to achieve it.

--In the rushes (unedited prints with no sound or previews of the prints to check the shooting conditions), there was a section with live action next to the animation, was that the cut you were referring to?

Tsurumaki

That's right. It's a little different from the rotoscoping that you know (it's not a complete reproduction, but a reference for poses and timing), but in some cuts, the live action is directly replaced by the animation. Anno didn't want a live-action look in the scenes where the actors were acting in a drawn image, so he tried to use anime rules for those scenes. There are times when a character enters the screen from an unexpected angle without any preliminary movement, and the movement can look strange at first glance. I think Anno wanted the film to look like it was shot with a telephoto lens. Many scenes, such as close-ups of the hands, were taken from actual footage.

General Director Anno, who experienced live-action, aims to do what is impossible with existing animation.

--I was surprised at how different my impression was when I first read the storyboard and saw the near-finished rushes (unedited prints with no sound or previews of the prints to check the shooting conditions).

Tsurumaki

It's very different from the previous "Eva" series.

Ever since the TV series, I've been trying to do things that have never been done before in anime, so I've taken the direction of "sharpening the images". We have been experimenting with omitting things, replacing them with different things, and so on. In the "Rebuild of Evangelion" series, it had been a while since I had done anything like that, and I wanted to get back to that style of direction for ":1.0". In Rebuild of Evangelion, I was deeply moved by the fact that the challenge of doing something that hadn't been done before in anime had finally come to this point.

--Is this related to the incorporation of live-action methodologies?

Tsurumaki

I think that "Shikijitsu" and "Cutie Honey" were made with live-action rules. However, I think that "Shin Godzilla" was made with the idea that what was done in "Eva" could be done in live-action films. Of course, he mixed the "Eva" style with the live-action style to create a new style. And this time, I think he's feeding that new style back into "Rebuild of Evangelion" again. I think that's why he wants to put live-action elements into the animation.

--How did you feel about the live-action methodology?

Tsurumaki

There are good things about animation and good things about live-action, but there are also bad things or things that they are not good at. With animation, the editing process is practically complete at the storyboard stage, so there is no waste. With animation, the editing process is practically complete at the storyboard stage, so there is no waste. In live-action, for example, we shoot the entire scene. Even if you shoot the scene until the characters walk away from the room after the conversation is over, the resulting editing in the final stage may end the scene with the end of the conversation. In that case, the act of walking away from the room is not used. In the case of a normal animation, whether or not the act of walking away after a conversation is necessary is decided at the storyboard stage, so there is no waste. Even if, at the end of the production, you still want the scene where he leaves, it's basically impossible. This is one of the disadvantages of animation, but on the other hand, it is also an advantage in that there is no waste and it is overwhelmingly efficient. It's a shame that the work you put so much effort into drawing isn't being used. If using 3DCG can bring together the best of animation and live action, that would be wonderful.

--By the way, how did you feel about part C?

Tsurumaki

The C part was made in a relatively normal anime style. Anno also requested that we "keep this part normal". I drew the storyboard, created the PreVisualization from it, and then revised the storyboard.

How close can we make the "lie" of film to reality?

--How did you feel about the conclusion of the series after being involved with "Eva" for so long?

Tsurumaki

When we started the Rebuild of Evangelion series, about 10 years had passed since the TV series, and the number of fans had changed and the number of younger people had increased. So we decided to make a compilation that would allow people to enjoy Eva without having to watch the entire TV series. That was the starting point. We started with the idea that only the end of the four-part series might change, but basically 80% of the series would be a compilation, but that started to shift with ":2.0", and ":3.0" will start from a scene 14 years later, which is not even depicted in the TV series...

--So it became something unexpected along the way.

Tsurumaki

I thought that we were going to make something that would not put Anno in a state where he would be trapped like he was in the TV series and the previous "film version". I thought, " We've already experienced the extremes of that kind of thing, so we've had enough of that." I thought, "It's good to be able to make 'Eva' 10 years later, looking at the chaos from a bird's eye view." By doing so, it would result in a more " easy to watch" Eva. However, as it turned out, I got caught up in the chaos once again in ":3.0" (laughs).

--Did you recreate even the "chaotic" aspects of the TV series, which Anno described as "live"?

Tsurumaki

In the beginning, Anno may have thought that he could do a controlled creative work that didn't cross the line, given his experience in the strict live-action production system and his perspective as a director as well as a manager. However, when he started making the film, he was not satisfied with that. "It'd be lying if I didn't portray my own films as my own." And he may have thought, "Such a lie has little value as entertainment." Perhaps only Anno himself can understand this feeling.

--When I look at Anno's works, I feel that he has a way of making things that doesn't lie to himself. This is also the case with EVANGELION: 3.0+1.0 THRICE UPON A TIME.

Tsurumaki

He's very serious. That's for sure. But I think there is objectivity in "Shin Godzilla". It doesn't look like Anno is so absorbed in the characters that he is projecting himself onto them. If that's the case with "Eva," I thought it would be possible to portray Shinji and Gendo as separate from himself.

--It seems to be difficult to reproduce Anno's sense of "realism" in a group work.

Tsurumaki

On the one hand, he wants to be realistic, but on the other hand, he prefers cartoonish expressions influenced by old anime and special effects, expressions full of bluffing and keeping the truth hidden that can hardly be called realistic, and simplified cartoonish expressions. I don't know how to switch back and forth between these two extremes. That's a switch that only Anno can understand, so I wanted the storyboard to be a blueprint with instructions for that switch as well.

--But in "Eva", he drew the storyboards as well, didn't he?

Tsurumaki

For quite some time now, Anno has been saying that he doesn't want to draw storyboards and that he wants to make anime in a way that doesn't require storyboards. In fact, in "Rebuild of Evangelion", Anno did not draw most of the storyboards. I, Masayuki, Masahiro Maeda, and other staff drew the storyboards, and Anno himself drew only the parts that did not go according to his image. We play a role like an action supervisor in a live-action movie. In live-action films, the movements of the action scenes are decided by a specialist called an action supervisor. The director directs the main flow of the scene, but the action supervisor comes up with the ideas for the more detailed actions, decides on the arrangements, and then the actors perform them. If the director finds it interesting, he shoots it, and if not, he asks for corrections. The movements that are created in this way are shot with several cameras and many takes are edited to create the most appropriate scene for the director. In the same way, we draw the action storyboards like an action supervisor, and Anno edits them. However, unlike in live-action, we decide the best angle beforehand. Usually in anime, you draw a lot of image boards, and then you draw a storyboard using the image boards, and then you start the drawing process. For example, Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honnêamise was made in that way. The core creative staff interacts a lot in the creation of image boards and storyboards. As a result, the staff begins to understand what expressions are acceptable and what expressions are not, and what is cool and what is not. A certain common understanding is created among the staff. It seems that Anno was always searching for a different way to make a film, because he had seen that way of making a film completed in "Royal Space Force". However, although the drawing staff can improve and make more interesting what is drawn on the storyboard, they can't draw the original pictures directly from the script in the absence of a storyboard. If you want to do that, you have to train professional staff for that kind of production system.

The most important thing is to convince Director Anno.

--Anno's own "realism" comes out in his works, but what did you think about the many elements of Mali that you came up with for ":2.0"?

Tsurumaki

I think the Mari in "EVANGELION:3.0+1.0 THRICE UPON A TIME" has changed a lot in terms of meaning since ":2.0". In ":2.0", when Anno himself created the character, he inevitably became himself, just like Shinji, so I think he wanted to make Mari a different character, so he entrusted her to an external person. In "EVANGELION:3.0+1.0 THRICE UPON A TIME," which has a strong Anno element, I was surprised at how much this person was involved in the core of the story, and not just Mari. Mari is one of them. I originally thought that Mari should be a character that Anno would like, so I'm glad that the story and she ended up being well connected.

--Do you have any personal attachment to the story or the characters?

Tsurumaki

Of course, "Eva" is an important work for me, and I have been involved with it since the beginning of the TV series, so a part of me is projected onto "Eva", but I still feel that it is Anno's work. In making "EVANGELION:3.0+1.0 THRICE UPON A TIME", I thought it was important that Anno be satisfied with the result, first and foremost. The first priority was to make sure that Anno was satisfied with the result. That was the only thing that mattered to me.

--You mean that everyone was concentrating all their attention on what Anno wanted to do and trying to make it happen?

Tsurumaki

On the other hand, in EVANGELION:3.0+1.0 THRICE UPON A TIME, Anno asked the staff for their opinions. He didn't just ask the main staff like myself, Mahilo Maeda, and Ikki Todoroki, but he also asked the production staff and office staff for their opinions. From the clothing design to the nuances of the dialogue, I think unexpectedly he may have balanced there.

Surviving the Epidemic of the New Coronavirus

--This time, there was a major change in the staff, including the animation director.

Tsurumaki

A lot of people who hadn't been involved in "Eva" before joined us, but they were all very good, so we were relieved.

--How was the atmosphere on the studio?

Tsurumaki

When working on an animation film, there is a sense that enthusiasm rises toward the end of the film, and then the film finally goes into production. I think that if you have two years of production time, you should start seriously from the beginning, but it is impossible to start the engine until the end of the project. I can feel it when I see the staff working as one in the same studio, but this time, because of the new Corona, the animation director and other staff had to work separately, so I couldn't really feel the peak period. From the animation director's point of view, since the cuts are coming in and the schedule is set, we should all have the same feeling toward the goal, but during this peak period, we didn't share the same feeling of "Let's work hard together!" I wish we could have done it together in the same place. I wish I could have been there to share my passion for the project, especially with the staff I was working with for the first time.

--How was your own work with the Corona Damages?

Tsurumaki

I have a nature that doesn't allow me to work at home, so I stayed in the studio all the time, even when the corona disaster was said to be the most dangerous. I was told that I would be fine as long as the population density in the studio decreased. As it turned out, some of the animation directors and others worked from home, and the density of the studio was reduced, so I was able to stay in the studio, which was a big help.

--Coincidentally, I feel that this work is needed by those of us who have passed through the Corona disaster.

Tsurumaki

Anno is sensitive to such a sense of skin that is close to the times and society. At first glance, people tend to think that he only makes what he likes, but he is not only making what he likes. I think it is interesting that he pays attention to the social situation and the atmosphere around him, and that he knows what he should be making now. While he is a geek who loves old movies and anime, I feel that he is also trying to somehow incorporate the current atmosphere within the scope of what his hands can touch.

・・・

Kazuya Tsurumaki

Born in Niigata Prefecture. After working at Studio Giants, he joined "Nadia, The Secret of Blue Water" as an animator. After working at Studio Giants, he joined "Nadia: The Mysterious Sea" as an animator, and worked on "Neon Genesis Evangelion" as an assistant director for the TV series, as a director for "Evangelion: Rebirth", and as a director for "Air". He has directed all three films in the Rebuild of Evangelion series.

I'm also working on a translation of the Eva:1.0 interview(2007) with Tsurumaki now. If you're interested in, please visit my site and check other articles.
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/rikki

Also if you liked what I do and want to support my efforts, please consider supporting me monetarily with patreon.
https://www.patreon.com/rikkisan

[Kendrix]

Thanks! The bits about the og plans were interesting.

Its interesting that Anno wanted the ratio of experimental stuff to "normal" methods to vary for different parts of the story
& how the idea related to the shin godzilla stuff.

If youre taking request I'd vote for the Hayashibara & Sakamoto interviews first just cause theyre the last main roles missing & have great potential to clarify things

[Zusuchan]

Thanks, Rikki! This is a cool interview! You would not be against us putting this on the EvaGeeks Wiki?

As for the interview itself, I like how it gives a little clarification into Anno's "no storyboards" plan and I agree with Tsurumaki that Anno's trying to experiment. Also, I can't help but laugh at Anno letting the productions get chaotic so that they could remain truthful, hehe.

[Riki]

You would not be against us putting this on the EvaGeeks Wiki?

Of course not. Thank you, Zusuchan!

Here's the one with Megumi Hayashibara.

Megumi Hayashibara (Ayanami Rei (tentative name) / Rei Ayanami)

There are many Rays, but they are all connected at the root.
—How did you feel when you received the new script, eight years after ":3.0"?

Hayashibara
It's been like that for a while now, but for better or worse, there have been various "Evas" between movies, and as for Rei, her flesh and blood voice hasn't been interrupted for the past eight years. There have been various collaborations such as pachinko and video games. However, these are just recreations of famous lines from the past, or the incorporation of lines from the past into current games so that people who enjoy the games can remember the past. Only "Eva," Anno's new creation, is ultimately the present, the future, and the new work. When I touch it, it has a juiciness and freshness like a freshly peeled fruit, which makes me nervous but also happy. First of all, I didn't expect another Rei (Ayanami Rei (tentative name)) to be so talkative. I've said this many times before, but when Ayanami Rei blew herself up in the TV anime series, she was over for me. I felt as if I had said goodbye to her, but then the Rei appeared again in the form of "maybe the third one," and after that, every time she appeared in one of the many Raising Projects or games, I would think that this was the fifth, sixth, seventh, or eighth Rei, and I would try to make sense of her in order to make my I've been working with her, making sense of her to make it easier for me to do my job. This time, however, I was convinced that she was not just how many Rei's there were, but that she was Rei Ayanami." The soul of Rei Ayanami, whether it is black or white, is Rei. However, she's a different person, so there are some details that need to be worked out, such as how to play the black Rei and how to play the white Rei. But at the root of it all, there's something that connects them. I think it was refreshing for me to realize that this time.

—What was Ayanami Rei to you?
Hayashibara
I don't want to give a specific significance to her, so I won't say what we discussed. But when I asked Anno why Rei was like this in a scene where she didn't have any lines, he said, "Well, I don't know..." He looked at the sky and there was a pause. When I saw his unique way of thinking, I was strangely convinced, "Oh, I see”. However, it would not be good if my answer was wrong, so I listened to what General Director Anno had to say. If I were to use an analogy, when the leaves were falling in the fall, a child asked, "Mom, why do the leaves fall in the fall?" to which the mother replied, "I wonder why". I got the impression that it was very similar to something like that. There is a reason why the leaves fall. The cells are reborn and they fall for this reason. There is a natural order to the fact that leaves fall in the fall and new leaves sprout in the spring, and when you try to explain this to children in a way that they can understand, the words disappear. In the same way, everything from the earth to the wind to the seasons is probably connected in Director Anno's mind. So if I asked him to explain this scene, he would have to scoop up the explanation from a huge number of connections. The way he said, "Hmm, I wonder why" was just like that.

―Did you ask him that during the recording?

Hayashibara
After all my work as Ayanami Rei was finished, I said, "Good work. I'll see you later." We were chatting. For me, there are many works that I play based on my understanding of the character from the way of life and descent. For example, if it's a historical story, I would explore the historical background. Having done all that approaching in the TV anime series, I definitely have a shell of Ayanami Rei in me. So this time, I'm just trying to figure out what Anno wants to do and present it to him. It's not so much that I'm making it, but that I'm trying to get closer to what is required. We didn't know what was required of us when we were working on the TV animation series, and we all struggled with that.

The purple object, which concentrated human karma, passed through many things.
―There is a conclusion to the 25 years of "Eva" as a whole, and a conclusion as "EVANGELION:3.0+1.0 THRICE UPON A TIME", what does each of these mean to you?

Hayashibara
I don't know if that's the answer, but I feel like all of them are just "Evangelion". It's just Evangelion, that's all. In a very simple way, if you want to say it's a parallel world, you can say that, or if you want to say it's the future or the near future, you can say that, and I think it's up to each person's interpretation. The point is that human karma and greed are created by non-humans, and battles occur all the time, whether it's religion or discrimination, and the purple object that has concentrated human karma, including these, has passed through many things (laughs). The station is inside each individual. Like the Evangelion bullet train? (laughs).

—Is it the bullet train (laughs)?

Hayashibara
Yes, something like that. Time and space, time, the various livelihoods that people have decided on, and the Evangelion that passes through all of that. I don't know anything about Evangelion, really, but I wonder how much that lack of understanding contributes to the work. It's not that I can understand it logically, but I have a huge world of "Eva" inside of me, including the feeling, the air, Yui's thoughts, the appearance of the EVA-01 TEST TYPE, etc. I also have a lot of scenes that don't exist in the movie. It's Shinji's face as Rei sees it, the world as seen through the water, the sky as seen when it comes up from the ejection port at great speed. She's looking at the sky when she's piloting the EVA-01 TEST TYPE, but there's no emotion there. When I was playing the role, I was thinking a lot of things like, "When I see the sky, there's Angel," or "I can feel Shinji's fear," and that was more than enough for me.

―In "EVANGELION:3.0+1.0 THRICE UPON A TIME", there is a scene in which Gendo remembers Yui very strongly. What did you think about it from Yui's point of view?

Hayashibara
From Yui's point of view, I think she always knew that Gendo was like that. The whole time I was playing the role, I was thinking, "He's a little too cold to my son," and " You should have grown up by now." This time, what I think is that everyone should be saved. In Yui's opinion, there is no soul that cannot be saved. It's impossible if the person doesn't want to be saved, but if you really want to be saved, after you die, after you dissolve, if you have a soul, it's not because you prayed, it's not because you compared yourself to something else, or resented something else, or all the bad things that happened to you, all the painful things that happened to you, if you can accept that you lived this time, then you can be saved as an individual. Rei may have been a tool, but she doesn't think of herself as a tool, because she lives in one body, one mind.

―This time, there is a scene where Rei is involved in field work in the village.

Hayashibara
I didn't expect her to be working in the fields (laughs). I thought that was a great point. You're kidding! That's what Megumi Hayashibara would say. It was fun for me as another Ray. The actors (elderly woman A: Ai Satou, elderly woman B: Roko Takizawa, elderly woman C: Mami Horikoshi, elderly woman D: Kyo Yaoya) are my favorite seniors who have been really helpful to me, and I was happy to be able to record with them. As soon as they walked into the studio, they said, "Hayashibara, this work is very popular, isn't it? I'm so happy for you." I've never been surrounded by such a lively group of ladies in an "Eva" studio before. During breaks, they would say, "Sorry, we're too noisy," and start chatting. But I can't tell you how much the atmosphere healed me. They were so happy to be there. This is "Eva," right? It's not a mistake, is it? It was really relaxing. I wanted to spend all my time surrounded by these ladies. "Evangelion: Agriculture Edition". I'm going to go sell agricultural tractors and learn how to drive them (laughs).


―In ":2.0", there was a line from Rei, "I feel nice and warm". Was it even more relaxing this time?

Hayashibara
In ":2.0" we were only with the NERV and school members, so even though Rei was watching Shinji, inviting Commander Ikari to dinner, and eating lunch at the Oceanic Institute, the scenery wasn't much different from the TV anime series. But this time, I didn't expect to see a "field". The sun in "Eva" up until now has been a bit unbelievable, but the impression of the moon is rather strong, especially for Rei, who always had the moon floating in the background. I've always imagined the soil in such places as dirt that turns to gravel in your mouth and tastes like blood. But this time, when I touched it, it was moist, warm, and cold, and the sound of water was pleasant. Of course, I didn't have any of those things in the studio, and the pictures weren't finished, but I had a lot of images in my mind of working in the fields and eating food on the ground with everyone. I had actually helped my friend's parents work in the fields, so I didn't think I would be able to use that experience here (laughs).

―Do these physical feelings naturally come out in your voice? Or do you have to be conscious of the technical aspects of your work so as not to change your voice?

Hayashibara
It's both. In some cases, it is better to add emotion, and in other cases, it is better to cut it out. In my case, I barely remember the script as text, but as scenery. So when you say the scene with the famous line, I think, "Oh, there...". But I think you can see Rei standing there with the moon, and of course I remember that, but at the same time I can feel the presence of Shinji holding his knees, the wind, and the lights of the city.

In Eva, being "tsukareru"(tired) means being "tori-tsukareru" (possessed) by a character.
―How did you go about playing the part of another Rei who is slowly growing up?

Hayashibara
That's the difficult part. If I tried to be pure, I would get criticism, and if I tried to be less emotional, I would get criticism again. There is a part of Anno that he definitely wants. He wants the emotions to be fuller here, and he wants the characters to be younger. There's a sense of tension that I can't deviate even 0.1mm from the nuances Anno wants to achieve. There's no way to get anything but the perfect strike. It's very tiring to try to find that out.

―You must be a very reliable person for Anno.

Hayashibara
I think that's true for everyone. That's how everyone got through "Eva". But it's not like we were able to do that from the beginning. It had to be that way because otherwise it would never end. But I don't mind the effort. It's very "tiring"(tsukareru) though. I think "tired" is closer to "possessed". It's about the characters, and about Anno's passion for his work. Sometimes it's like Gendo, sometimes like Shinji, and sometimes like Anno the director. There's also Rei in Anno. I'm possessed by it. If that were the case, I would think that the general director should just do everything himself (laughs), but that's not possible. It's quite terrifying to hear him say, "Hmm, that was really good, let's try that again." If it was so good, why don't you just let it go? What do you want if you say, "It was good, so let's try it again."
Is it some kind of different nuance? Hmmm! How about it! There are times when I feel like that. And he says, "I'll take the one you did three takes ago." But sometimes I think that one is better and that's interesting.

―Despite the fact that EVANGELION: 3.0 and EVANGELION: 3.0+1.0 THRICE UPON A TIME are connected in the timeline of the films, they took 8 years to complete. How did you feel about those years in terms of achieving the best performance?

Hayashibara
As far as I'm concerned, I don't really care much about it. Then what's the best performance? I think I should just do 120% of what I can do now and I believe that what needs to be done will come when it needs to be done. In other words, I think, " Now, eight years later, there must be a point to doing this." In the first place, the work itself is like a twisted time and space, like there is no time at all. And since we are voice actors, we only need to use our mental faculties and a little bit of our physical voice. It's not good to be too proud, but I tried not to think about the eight years.

Evangelion is coming to an end. But I'm sure there will be something that will start from where it ends for everyone.

・・・
Megumi Hayashibara
Born in Tokyo. Her representative works include "Ranma 1/2" (as Ranma), "Slayers" (as Lina Inverse), and "Detective Conan" (as Ai Haibara). She is also active as a singer and songwriter.

[BernardoCairo]

Thanks for your hard work, Riki! Both interviews were amazing!
The first one, in particular, was pretty interesting. It's always nice to take a look at a director's mindset! He definitely seems to be familiar with Anno's left field approach to animation. I have the impression that it must be a hassle to meet his boss' expectations hahaha! That said, they seem to have a nice connection. It makes sense for Anno to experiment with "live action" techniques, I guess.
As for Hayashibara, it’s as good as I expected. Her interviews are always a blast to read. One of my favorites can be found at the end of NGE's volume three. Surprisingly, I'm not sure if it's on the wiki yet.
Oh, you should move these interviews to Shin's sub-forum. All the others are being stored there (to avoid spoilers and attract readers).

[Kendrix]

Thanks a bunch!

She gets all philosophical in this one.

Everyone always asks her about OG Rei, but she does a whole lot of characters, so it was interesting that someone actually asked her about Yui for once.

It's interesting how she said this about feeling 'done' with Rei when she blew herself up; It's interestingly congruent with the 'ghostly' vibes I got from the 3rd Rei.

I read some of the Japanese comments talking about how they felt ReiQ had a 'softer' voice compared to the OG one who maybe got across as 'harder'/'firmer' by comparison.

[Zusuchan]

Thanks, Riki! I put both the Tsurumaki and the Hayashibara interview on the Wiki and changed a few things stylistically, but not the translations.

[Pluto]

Wow!

Thank you for the work and effort you put into your translation.

One of the things that stood out to me is how they used a new technique to capture motion. As a musician, I can relate the process of this film's composition.

[FelipeFritschF]

Thank you so much. Its just Maeda and Saakamoto left among the "major" interviews now.

[Riki]

Here's the one with Maeda.

Director Mahiro Maeda

To move the work along well in a group
一First of all, can you tell us about the time you participated in ":3.0"?

Maeda
":3.0" was my first project as a director, so I worked on it with a fresh sense of Anno's approach. I didn't know the context of "Eva" at all, and I thought that this lack of knowledge was the reason for my existence.

―And then you got to “EVANGELION:3.0+1.0 THRICE UPON A TIME”.

Maeda
There was a long blank of eight years after ":3.0". However, it's not that I didn't do anything during that time, but I did a lot of work with Anno at the core, and released a lot of works. In the midst of all of this, I realized that when I was younger, I was very selfish and insisted on doing what I wanted to do, but as I began to experience directing myself, I began to think about Anno and realized how difficult it is to be a director. I came to think that I should develop the good points of the director system. It's a system where one person gives orders and takes responsibility for them. Anno is also a producer, so he often has to juggle the contradictory positions of being a director on the making side and a producer on the selling side, which is quite a burden. So I thought it would be better to understand what he wanted to create, and work with him in a way that would make him feel comfortable.

―Did you think of that when you were working on ":3.0+1.0"?

Maeda
I didn't think about it that much when I was working on :3.0. When I asked Anno, "What's this about?" he wouldn't give me a straight answer. He would give me hints, but without specific words, he would say, "Please guess". So, in the past, I would have put a kind of pressure on him, saying, "You're the director, so answer the questions properly". But for ":3.0+1.0", I didn't do it that way. Instead, I took in what he said and thought about it for a while before replying, "If Anno thinks that way, what kind of answer does he want?" Khara is a group of people who create things with Anno at the center. I thought it would be better to do that in order to work well within that group.

—Please tell us about the job of "concept art director," which you also hold.

Maeda
The title "Concept Art Director" may have been given to me by Anno because he recognized that I had been working on creating various images while directing, or it may have been given to me by the production.
I don't know exactly how it happened, but anyway, it was decided that I would also be the "concept art director".
This may mislead you into thinking that I'm making all the concepts, but that's not the case.

一So you're a director who comes up with concepts as needed to make the whole thing work.

Maeda
That's my understanding of it. When you take Anno's plot and put it into visual form, there are countless things that need to be decided. I have been doing this because I want to be the person who creates the first draft. If I had to say, I would say that the plot Anno wrote is very interesting, but it is not detailed, so my job is to "turn zero into one". If I have done the first draft, Anno can clearly say, "This is totally different from what I had in mind." Once we know that, we can all start working on it together, saying, "Okay, then how about this?" The 3DCG person can create the layout, I can redraw it, or I can have Tsurumaki draw it. If you don't have something, you can't just sit at your desk and say, "No, this part should be more...", you're not going to get anything done.

—Is everything possible as a field of design?

Maeda
Yes. In the end, anything was possible. I heard from the production team that Anno wanted me to draw a lot of pictures. I was like, "Oh, yeah. I understand. That's what I want. I'll draw anything you want." I did the initial image boards, storyboards, design consultations, and everything in between. I also assisted Ikuto Yamashita in finalizing the basic design. I take the original artist's drawings and make them into clean lines, or come up with ideas for slight variations. No matter how many bullets I shot, they always missed, but I considered that part of my job. I think it's meaningful to miss, or rather, it's my job to make sure that Anno knows clearly that this is not what he wants. That's what I was thinking as I drew all kinds of pictures. There's also a cut where I worked on the in-between animation.

—So, you are in charge of the process of drawing a series of continuous movements between the original drawings?

Maeda
It just happened that way. I'm told, "I want to change the texture of the BANK cut (a system that saves the video of a particular scene, or background, like a bank, and uses it in another part of the story) in the past recollection, and I need you to redraw it." So, I redraw it. Then I can't ask someone else to do the video because I want to keep the touches the same. I have no choice but to do the in-between animation myself. Whenever I'm asked to do something, I just say "yes" and do it. That's the position I'm in.
It's the complete opposite of what I did for Nadia, The Secret of Blue Water (laughs). When I was working on Nadia, I was protesting against Anno's opinions, but at the same time I was putting out my own ideas. But now that I think about it, it was Anno's final editing of the storyboard that brought the work together. That's the kind of talent Anno has. Editing in the broadest sense of the word, including editing the film. I put together a list of ingredients, and Anno made choices like, "I like this, this, and this," "I like to connect them in this order," and "I like to add this song by shifting it like this." I trusted in Anno's sense, and focused on how much good material I could get out of him.

The most time-consuming work on the imageboard
—What was the most difficult part of the project?

Maeda
Fortunately, I had a lot of time to prepare between ":3.0" and ":3.0+1.0", so I was able to do a lot of trial and error in creating the image. The most time-consuming part was the image board.

—Is it after the scene where Shinji stands up?

Maeda
Yes. It took me a long time to create the board. It was a lot of work, but the plot that Anno presented to me was very interesting, so I did a lot of trial and error based on it, asking myself what to do with this scene, what to do with the flow of the story, and whether the last scene was really the right one.

—Did you also do design work in the past eight years?

Maeda
Yes. I had been working on it little by little, but it didn't start in a full-scale way until after I started coming up with the images, so I guess it's been about two to three years. Just before we solidified the scenario, we also had a story direction that Tsurumaki had given us. His proposal was very logical and persuasive: "Let's resolve the protagonist's conflict here, have a catharsis, and end it like this." I felt very comfortable with it, and I thought, "You're absolutely right." However, I thought it was interesting that Anno's initial plot had a certain degree of invisibility, because I had a feeling that he was going to create something I had never seen before. I thought, "This is the last one," and I thought it would be more interesting to make a film about Anno's thoughts and screams. I was thinking, " Macky (Tsurumaki's nickname) has a point, but I'll vote for Anno's plot as it is." In that case, I had to prove that I thought it was interesting in a way, so I kept drawing the board. In other words, it's like I wrote a book report homework on Anno's plot. Anno's plot has almost everything he wants to say, although it's not clear which. However, my board is just the "Anno plot as I read it," so it could be fundamentally different. He might say, "What are you reading?" But on the other hand, I gave him an image board based on that assumption. Saying, "If everything is wrong, I'll redraw it from scratch."

—Anno judges the work that is submitted to him.

Maeda
This is exactly what Anno, the general director, does. He makes edits on the spot as he creates. When he says, "I don't want this part," I sometimes think, "I have my own feelings about this part," since I am also participating as a painter. But if you look at it in the big picture, my opinion is a small thing. In other words, it's like music. This phrase is cool on its own, but it's not necessary in the flow of the song, so you might want to cut it out, or remove a certain part. I think it was more like the fun of composing through trial and error.

—This time, you picked up the scenes and incidents from ":1.0", ":2.0" and ":3.0" very carefully.

Maeda
By daring to use the same motifs, he is thinking deeply about conveying something to the audience and making them feel something. Of course, there is the fact that you can see the yield in the labor-saving process using BANK, but more than that, when I watch ":3.0+1.0", I think, "Oh, it's a movie." I feel that Anno really takes his work seriously. I'm just irresponsible and just throw in my impression of the plot and say, "I wonder if it's like this." People who do that kind of work want to throw out their own ideas and new visions first. But Anno is looking at the entire series from a bird's eye view and making detailed choices.

Proposing a virtual camera and creating animation that is more like live-action
―I heard that you were also in charge of the music scene.

Maeda
I was asked to come up with a few images of a Ray experiencing farming, and I drew a few. The purpose of this may have been to reduce the number of calories in the drawing, but he said, "This part will be handled in the music scene, so make it a still picture," and I was in charge of it. In fact, Anno may have been planning to use music scenes from the beginning, but it was just a matter of circumstance for me.

一Did you do a single storyboard?

Maeda
I didn't do a storyboard, but started from a layout based on a few materials. Anno would edit it and fit it in, and the flow would be set. We would work based on that. That's how it progressed.

一Do you have scenes created in this way here and there, not just in the music scenes?

Maeda
Yes, that's right.I felt that what Anno himself wanted to do the most was to make animation like a live action film, instead of having a blueprint and following it. I have been suggesting since ":3.0" that we use a virtual camera. When I used the virtual camera in my previous work (the movie "Mad Max: Fury Road"), I thought, "This is interesting, and I wonder if it's suitable for Anno." I could make a rough 3DCG setting and shoot it as many times as I wanted, so if I didn't like the angle, I could reshoot it. This time, Anno adopted it and used it to determine angles for layouts in various scenes. It's a method of creating based on the angles cut out by the virtual camera. I thought it would be very interesting to use this method. For the action scenes, Tsurumaki drew a rough outline of the flow, and for the theatrical scenes, the actors used motion capture to record the movements of the characters, and then used the virtual camera to shoot in 3DCG based on that. By preparing a lot of shooting materials and editing them, I think I was able to achieve a "slightly live-action-like" look somewhere in between, though not completely live-action-like.

Gendo's face, the center of interest that changes as I get older
ーI heard that the impactful Gendou's face was an idea of yours.

Maeda
The reason why he wears such a design of sunglasses is because I wanted to give the impression that Gendou is, to use a trendy word, "falling into darkness". In order to make him look like he can't go back, I lost all his eyes. The eyes are the windows to the soul, so I wanted him to no longer have a human perspective. This is also the part I proposed on the image board. As for Gendo, I put a lot of weight into drawing him on the board.

ーWhy did you put so much weight on it?

Maeda
It's because as I get older, the point at which I become emotionally involved changes. I'm sorry to the audience, but I find it easier to feel for Gendo than for Shinji and the others, who are eternally 14 years old. Death is the end of all living things, isn't it? Because there is death, there is life. Back and front. When people realize this, they can't help but feel sad. Gendo has experienced a great loss and is standing there, helpless, trapped in the past. I thought I'd depict Gendo's recollections of the past as I imagined them based on the scenario.

―Do you mean the part where he "read books all the time"?

Maeda
It was Anno's idea to say that he read only books, and it was also written in the scenario. I drew it while imagining various things in my own way. I projected Gendo onto Anno and wondered what Anno's childhood would have been like. I also thought a lot about Gendo's sins. Gendo is so consumed by his grief that he doesn't care about Shinji, and lives his life by giving up everything. That's something I can relate to myself. That's why I felt that I shouldn't forgive this man easily. It is possible to make Gendo's story a sad and beautiful story. However, in my own reality, if I let this guy off easy and let him go free in the drama, I would be ashamed of myself. I drew it because I wanted to get it right. I think that part of the story may have been unnecessary for Anno. In the end, not much was left. But I'm glad that I had time to think about it and work calmly. The work itself was time-consuming and difficult, but I think I was able to do a satisfactory job.

General Director Hideaki Anno as the core of the "Evangelion Project".
—Takashi Watabe and Ikuto Yamashita, who are also responsible for the climax of the universe behind the scenes. Were you in charge of the detailed drawing board (*1)?

*1) Share with the director the information necessary for the background work, such as season, time, and weather. Draws the background to be used as a guideline when starting background work.

Maeda
The basic image was the rough sketch (a rough drawing, with a layout that includes a rough idea of the movement) and boards that I inherited from ":3.0", and Watabe's new image was also interesting. I was conscious of how I could integrate them into the dramatic progression of the Anno plot. The discussion started with the question of simply what is going on, and what is actually going on in space, but there are settings that have been built up so far, such as "Antarctica is the hypocenter of Second Impact." The "Gaff's door" is often mentioned, but this time, the creator of the setting was forced to think about it in a more concrete and logical way. Even if it's not clearly explained in the work, if the creator doesn't understand it, it won't be understood by the audience. It seems that Anno has a clear vision, and when I asked him questions, he would answer, "This is what I want it to look like, and this is where I want it to be." So I drew pictures on the board while asking him questions frequently. I also drew a rough composition of the whole picture and a vertical diagram of the earth.

—I know you're still working on it, but how do you feel about the film?

Maeda
It's interesting! I can't wait to see the finished film. In many ways, I'm excited that we'll be able to create something I've never seen before. It shows that Anno has a lot of enthusiasm, or maybe he's just going his own way? For better or worse, it's a good example of the director's system, and his strong sense of selfishness and non-compliance is carried through.

―Is there a particular scene that you would like people to watch?

Maeda
All of them, of course. In fact, I would like people to watch all four films at once, starting with the first one, ":1.0". If you do that, I think you will be very convinced. The other day, I watched one of the films on TV for the first time in a long time, and I thought, "I see what you mean, that's Anno." Anno is not only the face of Studio khara, but he is also the core of the Evangelion project. For that reason, I thought that Anno was the one who wanted to get out of here the most. But that doesn't mean that he wanted to escape because he was in pain, or that he wanted to leave everyone behind and go somewhere alone. The previous film ("The End of Evangelion") was subtitled "Magokoro wo Kimi ni" ("Sincerely yours"), and I think that's it. The form of the work has changed, but I'm sure Anno has changed, and everyone has changed, too. Under such circumstances, I feel that the state of "Eva" is Anno's "sincerity as best he can". I can't say for sure because it's still unorganized in my mind. So, at this point, I can only say that there is a lot to see. However, I hope you can feel "Anno's sincerity". It may be an exaggeration for a third party to say such a thing, but I think it was made with such sincerity. It's not making fun of anything, and it's not a self-parody. It's very serious work.

The key colors of the booklet and the concept of the illustrations
―It seems to me that Eva has absorbed the current atmosphere in its own way and has become a work with a message.

Maeda
Yes, it really did. I think it came about naturally. When I started the Rebuild of Evangelion series, I thought "service" would be an important keyword. I thought it meant, "Thank you to all the fans who have been following us for so many years." I feel that the first film, ":1.0", has a strong character as a fan movie. But that's not the end of the story. I guess Anno was not satisfied with just that. Of course, there are a lot of services in this movie as well, but Anno's personality and what he feels now are the most important things that come out. I feel that this is the biggest selling point of the "Evangelion" content.
One of the highlights of the film is the art. Tatsuya Kushida's art is great. It's not enough to say that realism is good, but he also provides photo-realistic layouts of miniature models and locations. Of course there is a lot of information that comes from that. The fact that he was able to put it all together into a picture as an "anime background" was particularly amazing to me this time. When the rushes (movie data for checking after shooting) come in, I watch them with great admiration for his talent. I think it's worthy of a big red mark to say, "Great job, Kushida.” The background art is well done. The CGI and animation are also doing a great job, but it's the combined effort of all the staff that is amazing.

ーPlease tell us about the concept behind the cover of the booklet.

Maeda
Ikki Todoroki, the assistant to the general director, decides on the key color for each project, and he told me that he wanted to use white this time. White is the color of light. I was thinking about drawing a white color that has a sense of breaking through, or a white color that is untainted by anything. To express this, I was a little selfish and chose special inks and papers, and I'm proud of how it turned out (laughs). The original picture was kind of smoky or dark, and there was a suggestion to show more of the picture, but I thought it would be cooler for the booklet to show the whiteness of the paper first, so I asked the artist to finish it that way. However, the original picture was carefully drawn with all my heart and soul.

・・・
Maeda Mahiro
Born in Tottori Prefecture. While a student at Tokyo Zokei University, he participated in "Super Dimension Fortress Macross" and "Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind".
After graduating, he worked as an animator on "Castle in the Sky" and was involved in the founding of Gainax.
Since then, he has worked on "Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honnêamise", image boards and world settings for "GunBuster", and direction and design for "Nadia, The Secret of Blue Water". In the "Rebuild of Evangelion" series, he was in charge of the image board for ":2.0" and the director for ":3.0".

[Zusuchan]

You sure are fast, Riki! Many thanks for this!

Maeda, like Tsurumaki, says he considers NTE to have a message, hmm.

Edit: Oh, btw, it's Mahiro Maeda-there's a typo, I guess, the first time his name is written.

[Kendrix]

The bit on Gendo's visor was interesting, even if it was sort of understandable at a glance.

[Riki]

it's Mahiro Maeda-there's a typo, I guess, the first time his name is written.

Thank you for pointing out, Zusuchan.

[Riki]

Here's the one with Maaya Sakamoto.

Maaya Sakamoto (as Makinami Mari Illustrious)
I never thought I'd be given such an important role at the last minute.
—What did you think when you heard about EVANGELION:3.0+1.0 THRICE UPON A TIME after 8 years?

Sakamoto
I thought it had finally come (laughs). But in the meantime, I've been playing Mari's lines many times a year on pachinko slot machines, so I didn't feel like eight years had passed.

—":3.0+1.0" she played a big role from cold open1. I was also surprised to hear Mari's humming from the background of each company's logo.

Sakamoto
When I recorded the humming, I had no idea that it would be used in that way. Anno gave me the two songs from the Showa era, and on the day of recording, he just ordered me to sing them happily, so I followed his instructions. I thought that one of the songs would be used in between the lines, but it turned out that both songs would be used in full size. Later, during the additional recording of parts A and B, they showed us the cold open1, which was to be released prior to the show, and the logos of the companies that appeared at the beginning were covered with my humming, so I turned pale wondering what the audience would think when they saw it (laughs). Thankfully, I was relieved to hear positive comments from many people, such as "I saw it" and " You played a very significant role."

—Beginning with your humming, you were all over the place in cold open1.

Sakamoto
In the beginning, I only received the script for parts A and B, and I didn't know what would happen in the second half, so I just had to do what I had to do. At this point, I thought that this would be Mali's mountainous point in "3.0+1.0", and played the role as best I could. Looking back on it now, I think the directors may have made a fine calculation to make Mari the main character so that the audience could enjoy the feeling of the unknown, because if the familiar characters from the TV series were active from the cold open, it would have given away too many hints about what was to come.

—As a result, she plays a very important role in the whole story, and it seems that Mari is also a very important person in the whole "Eva" world.

Sakamoto
It was a heavy burden for me, wondering if the fans would scold me for making such a newcomer hold hands with Shinji at the end (laughs). However, there have been many ways to portray "Eva" in the past, and if you can think of this as one of the possible endings, I'll be saved.

—I'm also curious why you call him "Gendo-kun" with a "kun".

Sakamoto
We now know that she must have been connected to Gendo and the others for a long time. However, no matter what circumstances she was living under, Mari is fundamentally an optimist and does not worry too much. She may have her own worries, but she's not the type to show them, and she always seems to be having fun. I think that's what makes him such a contrast to Shinji and the other characters. She has no two faces, so I tried to play the role with as few complex nuances as possible. No matter how desperate the scene may seem, Mari believes that things are going in the right direction, and she is happy, which is the nuance of joy I tried to convey in my voice. I tried to keep her voice positive and not too sorrowful. At the climax of the film, I tried to convey in my voice my strong desire to go and get Shinji no matter what.

―I heard that the staff had been discussing what kind of character Mari would be from the time she appeared in ":2.0".

Sakamoto
The main story is about Shinji, Rei, Asuka, and the others, and I used to think that Mari was just a cheerful character who would be a spice to the story. In fact, she wasn't really the focus of ":3.0", and I was aware that that was the way it was going to be, but I didn't expect to be given such an important role at the very end. I don't know if he intended it to be this way from the beginning or if he went towards this place while making it. When Mari appeared in ":2.0" for the first time, Anno explained her role to me, but he said, "Tsurumaki is more obsessed with the portrayal of Mari, so I'll leave it to Tsurumaki," so I assumed that Anno didn't have any feelings for Mari. So I was a little curious as to why she was given such an important role (laughs).

Neutral tone, neither male nor female, neither older nor younger.
—Did you have a wide range of demands during the recording process?

Sakamoto
For example, this time, the line "Let's go next!" He asked me to act like Chou-san of the Drifters (Chosuke Ikariya of the Drifters).
I could understand the nuance of the line, but I wasn't sure if I could act it out. I was worried because I couldn't prepare in advance, but I gave it my best shot. After five or six takes, I was told, "You've already done a good job so far, so let's do it one last time," so I did something completely different. Then I was told, "The last one was the best because it was the most like Chou-san" (lol). I often get orders like this. In the scene where I was shooting the gun, I improvised a phrase saying in desperation, "Meow meow meow," and they liked it. No matter how crazy the order is (laughs), don't worry about "What?", I just accept it and challenge myself positively, and sometimes something unexpected comes out of me.
I feel as if I'm being trained by a demon instructor at the "Eva" postrecording site (laughs).

—That's a tough way to respond.

Sakamoto
It's fun. Becoming what is required is the real pleasure of being an actor. Besides, Anno never denies, "The play you just did is not what I want." He would say, "That one is good, that one was good too," only to not give me the OK (laughs). "One more time." "Let's try it again." He patiently waits for something to come out. He really understands how actors feel, because if he says, "No," they get stuck, but if he says, "Good, one more time," they get motivated. Basically, actors want to be dyed in your hue (laughs).

—How did you feel when you voiced Evangelion Unit 02 Beast Form 2nd Phase in :2.0?

Sakamoto
I remember I was told, "Make it look like a beast." Even though it was processed, it was quite difficult. I had to use a very low voice and bark like a beast, so my throat was crushed in no time. I had to use a very low voice and bark like a beast, so my throat get hoarse in a flash. I've never played such a role before, but I've learned to take the chance and do things out of the blue, without any preparation beforehand, and thanks to that experience, I feel like I'm not afraid of any situation. In ":3.0+1.0", I'll be playing the role of Unit 8, so it's going to be even harder than before. (The interview took place before the recording of the EVA voice)

―Is there anything that you pay attention to in order to create a sense of dynamic and scale in Mari?

Sakamoto
Mari is a very energetic person, so if I relax even a little, people say, "You've lost your energy." So I keep putting a lot of effort into it. It seems that if my voice is too high or too low, it doesn't sound like Mari, and I often have to re-record my voice because of the range problem: "The current one is too high," or "The current one is a little low and people might be afraid." Through such a process, I think we were able to set a tone that was typical of Mari.

―What do you feel is the tone that is typical of Mali?

Sakamoto
Neutrality, I guess. She looks like a girl, but inside she's like an old man from the Showa era, not old, not a child, masculine and feminine, with no excesses or deficiencies. She is neither male nor female, neither older nor younger, but in a neutral state that I thought was Mari.


―Was there a scene that was difficult for you?

Sakamoto
The conversation with Fuyutsuki. It was my first time to talk with Fuyutsuki, and he was talking about something difficult. I read the script and searched for the words I didn't understand, but on the day of the performance, I pretended to know what I was doing. I was a little surprised that I got the OK after just one try.

I feel that Mari likes people very much.
―What do you think of Mari's obsession with "smell" in relation to Shinji?

Sakamoto
"You smell good" is a memorable line from Mari's first appearance in ":2.0".
I think it was a memorable scene for the audience as well, since it is always included in pachinko-type slot machines.
At the end of this episode, there is another line about smell that seems to be foreshadowing, and I really like it.
I thought it was nice that they spent a long time coming back to the ‘smell’.

I feel that Mari really likes people. She likes Shinji, but I think Asuka is special to Mari.
Even though Asuka treats her coldly, Mari always calls her "Princess" and respects and protects her as a special person. In addition to the battles they have together, the scene where she cuts his hair is very quiet and calm, and it has a nice sentimentality to it. I thought the contrast between the two was well drawn. For the scene with Asuka, it was great to be able to record her voice with Yuko Miyamura.

―Did you have a chance to communicate with the other cast members?

Sakamoto
I think the voice actors who have experienced the TV anime series have the feeling that they have been working together with each other every week. However, in "Rebuild of Evangelion", most of the scenes were recorded separately, so there were not many opportunities for us to interact with other people. This time, too, I didn't see anyone except for Miyamura, and I had to do the postrecording almost alone, thinking only about Mari.

However, at the Khara New Year's party, there was a large gathering of all the main cast members, and we created a LINE group on the spot. Everyone was tweeting all the time, so we were able to communicate with each other. For example, Emi Ogata reported to us, "I've been to Paris," or "I've finished my recording," or "I'm just about to start," and so on.

When cold open was released, we all shared our thoughts on it. Even though we didn't record it together, it gave us a sense of closeness, as if we were having a regular conversation. I was so excited that everyone was using the "Eva" LINE stamp, and I thought, "A real Eva is using a real stamp!" (laughs).

―Finally, please tell us your impressions of "Evangelion" after 25 years of existence.

Sakamoto
When I watch the story from Mari's point of view, I feel that all the characters are lovable. This time, I was especially relieved to see that Gendo seemed to have resolved his suffering neatly. I'm sure that the ending will make everyone feel that all the characters were lovable. I think that each person who has seen "Eva" over a long period of time has projected various thoughts and feelings onto it, so even if this is not necessarily the only correct answer, it may be the happiest ending that we can think of at the moment. At the same time, I feel that even after all this, there is still a lot of space left for us to think and enjoy.
Perhaps that is the best part of the concluding episode.
It's been a quarter of a century since the TV anime series, and for some people, "Rebuild of Evangelion" may be the first "Evangelion" they've seen.
For those people, it will be interesting to go back and watch the past works.
I was lucky enough to be there at the moment when a legendary work ended in a good way that threw something new at us.

・・・
Maya Sakamoto
Born in Tokyo. Her representative works include "The Vision of Escaflowne" (Hitomi Kanzaki), "GunBuster2!" (Lark Melkumar), "Ouran High School Host Club" (Haruhi Fujioka), and "The Garden of Sinners" (Ryōgi Shiki), etc.

[FelipeFritschF]

Thanks again.

Might I suggest you try the Miyamura and Ogata interviews from just a couple of days ago, now? They're on the Trello. I've had them summarized and they're very interesting. The Miyamura interviews rethread a lot of ground, though, but it seems they're only about 50% the same.

[Kendrix]

Well, there were no backstory clarifcations in this whatsover, which is also an answer (probably, it was supposed to be deliberately mysterious & give us just enough hints to speculate)

It's still super useful if you want to, say, put her in a fanfiction, to know what the general flavor was that they wanted her to add & what inner mechanics they wanted her keep in mind.


Recall those striking descriptions from the Death & Rebirth booklet where we heard of Asuka having 'a wall in her heart' that you can't get past, while Rei has this 'hidden pool of feelings' deep down - someone who just blurts whatever she thinks/feels is certainly a contrast to that.

Mari's someone of whom we simultaneously know nothing & everything - her background, goal & knowledge is shadowy, but her personality is pretty self-evident, she 'hides her own sorrows' & there's enough there to hint some degree of closedness, but what she wants is pretty straightforward.

[BernardoCairo]

Thanks again, Riki!
I truly enjoyed how Sakamoto focused herself on the ins and outs of voice acting. I legitimately laughed when she commented on not understanding some of Fuyutsuki's lines. That sequence certainly seems to be a bit cryptic. If I was working with it, I would probably go crazy hahaha! It's definitely not an easy job.
I also liked how she described Mari's character. We don't know much about her backstory. However, we know who she is. An affectionate, funny and badass person who loves to pilot her Evangelion and is a true friend of Asuka. She almost runs in the rule of cool and that works amazingly. This sets her apart from everyone else. She probably wouldn't work within the context of NGE, but NTE was developed with her in mind. It's fun to have such an "oddball" in the cast!

[Kendrix]

We got at least enough backstory to explain at least why she has such intimate knowledge of all things EVA related: She either is, or is a clone of, a rogue member of Fuyu's & Gendo's group.

And then there's of course the 'English private school girl' outfit that she runs around in. Either she still had that lying around from when she was actually 15 and wore it as disguise, or, if we assume a 'Makinami type clone', it's her actual school outfit.

They do bring it back for the Beach scene when there was absolutely no reason so it doesn't seem like just a random disguise with no significance.
Though I guess the point of putting her in a different outfit was also to show her DSS choker.

[Mr. Tines]

Junko Iwao interview via /a/

Shin Evangelion pamphlet, Junko Iwao interview

-First of all, please tell us how you felt when you read the script.
(With tears in her eyes) My heart was filled with joy. I thought, "Everyone has lived a fierce life. When I received the recording schedule in an email before the script was written, the name of the role was "Hikari Suzuhara" instead of "Hikari Horaki", so at first I thought it was a typo. I didn't even know if I should ask about it, my heart was pounding when I received the script. When I first opened the page with the list of characters I thought "It wasn't a typo. I (Hikari) really have become Hikari Suzuhara. Does that mean I've become Toji's wife?" I was so overcome with emotion that I cried before I knew the whole story. I was really curious about how it happened, so I opened the page and was shocked to see that the avant-garde was set in Bali, France, but I hurriedly looked for the scene where Hikari and Toji were appearing. After I confirmed that "Oh, it's true. We're married!" "Did Touji become a doctor?" "And we have a child!" I was also surprised to learn that! I was so moved we were gifted a treasure called Tsubame. As I was reading, I was crying so much that I almost cried into the script. I wondered if I was dreaming a strange dream. It took me a very long time to realize that the script in front of me was real.

-It impressed you this much.
In [Q], the world had become a place without Hikari, Toji, and Kensuke, and to be honest, I was feeling lonely, so my happiness to see that "You're all alive!" was very big! At the recording studio, I was talking with Mr. Tomo Seki, who played Toji, saying, "We're alive!" "And we even got married. So Hikari's a mother now." We rejoiced with each other. During the third recording session, we got together with Tetsuya Iwanaga who played Kensuke, and again we said "We're really alive" (laughs).

-Although you didn't appear in many scenes, you did appear in [1.0] and [2.0], and you were relatively close to Toji in those episodes. There was also a cut where Toji was protecting Hikari.
That scene is impressive. In the TV series setting, Hikari was harboring delicate feelings for Toji, but Toji was also there to protect Hikari at any time, and that was evident in that scene. However, I hadn't imagined that they would actually get together. I'm glad my dream came true. As a woman, I felt blessed, and it was as if Hikari was fulfilling my dream of becoming a mother that I had never achieved. I felt as if I were Hikari's mother, and I wanted to watch her grow up.

-In [Shin], Hikari is in charge of the household part.
She has become a strong and kind mother who not only protects her own children, but also leads others by understanding the feelings of the children and mothers around her. Because she was a leader who organized the class as the class representative, I feel that she has grown into a strong and compassionate woman who can support Toji, who is now a doctor.

-There's also Toji's "The wife of the world" line.
She's doing her best as a cook! (laughs) In the TV series, Hikari was a motherly figure who made bentos not only for Toji, but also for her older and younger sisters. It's heartwarming to see her become a mother while still being a good cook and being supported by a gentle husband who is so proud of her. It gives me strength to know that even though they live in an unimaginably difficult place with scars from the disaster still remaining, they still have a family that is full of laughter. I learned from Hikari and the others that the more difficult times are, the more we need to be like this, and the more we need to overcome them with a cheerful smile.

-Did you ever wonder how hard it was for Hikari to get through those 14 years?
The fact that Toji and Hikari have gone through more hardships than anyone else is evident in their facial expressions, and it was heartbreaking to think that they have experienced more sorrow than most people their age, and have overcome it by working together, drinking in the tears. The expression on her face which makes her look older than her age makes me imagine those years and it makes me love her even more. At first, I was worried about how mature I should make my voice tone, but then I realized that Hikari's natural cheerfulness was fine as it was, and when I actually heard Mr. Seki's voice playing Toji at the recording studio, I was able to act naturally by leaning on his deepened voice, and I felt that I was able to put my heart and soul into the two of them who struggled so much.

-How did you interpret the feelings of the 28-year-old Hikari when she met Rei and Shinji, who were still 14 years old?
I spoke to them one by one as if I were speaking to myself at the age of 14, the mother-to-be, I spoke to each of them one by one, hoping to show them that there was a warm future ahead. Each line was polite and gentle, there were many words that were so deeply felt in my heart that I felt as if I could hear my own mother's voice when I was reading the script at home and practicing, my eyes were burning many times. No matter how much I practiced, I felt like crying during the performance, but I took a deep breath and went into the recording with a bright and peaceful mind. I was also happy to see Ms. Megumi Hayashibara who played the role of Rei, smiling kindly at me.

-You have written a lot on your script.
(Showing the writing on the script) it may interfere with the production of the recording, sometimes I draw faces like emoji characters. I drew this face here next to the talk about umeboshi. The scene which starts with the line "My husband looks forward to it every year," leads to the following line, "Life is a repetition of painful and pleasant things. It's okay if every day is the same as today." It's because these words ooze from Hikari's own experience of rest that I can't help but feel the emotion before I say them out loud. Then, the general director said, "Be bright, don't cry" so I drew a smiley face and a note to remind myself "Bright and cheerful. Strive to be bright. You have to act lively." And then I've rewritten "It's hard to live" in hiragana and added an accent. I also marked the word "Tsubame" in the sentence "And also Tsubame." I made a conscious effort to bite down on the words.

-What did you think about the fact that Toji and Hikari's child was named Tsubame?
In the TV series Hikari's two sisters are named Kodama and Nozomi, so I guess her daughter is Tsubame because she also must be named after a shinkansen. I guess Toji and Hikari must have decided that "Tsubame is the only way to go!" It's not in the dialogue, but it's as if I can hear their conversation. Rather than going through a number of name suggestions, I imagined that they would have decided on a name before the baby was born Without hesitation. I imagined them smiling and saying "Let's name it Tsubame, whether it's a boy or a gir" and I felt happy.

-Speaking of the Shinkansen, the three Horaki sisters appeared in Shinkansen Transformation Robot Shinkalion.
When I went to ride the Eva Shinkansen, there were posters of the characters inside the train, and for the first time, I was able to take a closer look at the illustrations of the three sisters, Hikari, Nozomi and Kodama. When I saw the picture, I wondered who the voice actor would be (laughs). Of course I wanted to play Hikari as she was, but when I was asked if I could play all three sisters in Shinkalion, I was really excited. I was like, "No way! I can't believe it. I'm so happy!But really?" I was half in disbelief. I never thought I would be able to play the three sisters, and "Shinkalion" has become one of the unforgettable works along with "Eva". I've always had a connection with shinkansen (laughs). When I was a child, my father bought me a toy microphone at the station when I first rode the Shinkansen, and I used to play with it by myself, singing and reading picture books. This is something I have never had a chance to talk about before, but I feel that the Shinkansen is my destiny (laughs). I've had friends tell me that watching "Shinkalion" inspired them to watch "Eva," or that, "It's a hot topic among the mothers' generation," and I was delighted to meet all the children and new fans.

-Do you communicate with other cast members besides Seki-san and Iwanaga-san?
We have a group line with the cast members. The only thing I knew about it was [Shin]'s last line, and I was speechless, and even then I couldn't stop crying. I couldn't react, but everyone was sending up crying emoticons and stamps, and I thought, "Everyone is feeling the same way." I feel both excited and scared to go see the finished work in the theater. In a movie theater, I can't shout or cry with all my might because there are other people there, so I'd like to see it in a place where I can do those things, but I also want to see it on the big screen in the theater, It bothers me! (laughs)

-Finally, please give a message to those who are reading this pamphlet.
From the bottom of my heart, I'm really glad that Hikari who said she liked kind people was able to marry a "kind person."

[Kendrix]

Awww~
She's so happy for Hikari.

I loved the part where she talked about imparting her hard-earned life wisdom on Shinji & Rei who are still babey.