Ended up doing some more translation today, so here’s the next part. I have given up following the original numbering of the interview, as each section is just too short. We are finally past the halfway point of the interview, so there’s still quite a lot left to translate. The image used for this post is the end card drawn by Umino for Otorimonogatari. It was mentioned in the interview so I’ve just put it in in case anyone was interested.

– What did you think when the idea of an anime adaptation was delivered to you, Shinbo-kantoku?

Shinbo – It was a big title, so it wasn’t really about choosing between other works. When I saw the poster on the train for the new serialisation, it left quite an impression on me. So when I heard that the idea of an anime adaptation was brought to us, I was surprised and thought “What? It’s actually been brought to us?”

Umino – Oh yes, the poster when it started being published by Young Animal.

Shinbo – From your previous work, ‘Honey and Clover’ to shogi! This change was very mysterious to me at the time.

Umino – Kantoku, have you read ‘Honey and Clover’?

Shinbo – I have. With ‘Honey and Clover’, it had more of a fluffy image. Leaving aside your personal intention, I thought that there was a feeling that the students were the main characters and that you were trying to make a broader piece. So I thought, why shogi next?

Umino – I was free after finishing ‘Honey and Clover’ so many publishers had been asking me to write something similar. But then I thought if the next piece was a failure, I would be accused of being a one-hit wonder and so a third piece would no longer be possible. With the second piece I’ll go for it and write something more stiff and completely different!! If I did this, then even if I failed it would be seen as me rushing into a new area too quickly. I was thinking of doing something with university students with my third piece, but it was so fun writing ‘March comes in like a Lion’ that I just couldn’t stop.

Shinbo – When I saw the advertisement, I really felt that something was off. At the time I thought, what was this picture and what’s more, why is the next subject shogi? Now, I don’t play much shogi, but during elementary school I used to quite enjoy playing it. So strangely, I did have a lot of memories associated with shogi.

– Umino-sensei, what lead to you watching your very first anime by Shinbo-kantoku and Shaft?

Umino – It was ‘Zetsubou Sensei’. Next was ‘Arakawa’ I think. My niece really liked ‘Zetsubou Sensei’, you see. She was completed engrossed whilst watching it, so after being invited by my niece, we both started watching it together. After this, I had become friends with Hikaru Nakamura, so when ‘Arakawa’ was adapted into an anime I thought “It’s going to be done by Shinbo-kantoku, I’m really jealous”. When I watched ‘Arakawa’ – also being the case with ‘Zetsubou Sensei’ – I thought that the pacing of the comedy was really good. It was done well to make you laugh.

Shinbo – More than me, that was thanks to the work of the team involved in direction.

Umino – Anime that properly use jokes as jokes to make you laugh, really work and make me laugh a lot. Although I don’t think there are many people who can – whether in anime or manga – use both comedic and serious moments well, I really wanted to do both in my manga. Will the staff involved in direction at Shaft carry this over (into the anime)?

Shinbo – Yes, they will.

Umino – I’m crying with joy. I think it’s really nice when the jokes are funny.

– So the comedic pacing was also a reason for wanting Shinbo-kantoku and Shaft to adapt your work?

Umino – Firstly, I wanted scenes to happen up-close and not from a distance. It’s amazing how, rather than listening to it far away, it feels like you’re right in the scene. This is one point I really like. On top of that, the jokes were also funny!

– This time can I ask Shinbo-kantoku, what was it that appealed to you about Umino-sensei’s works?

Shinbo – The pictures are cute, but once taking a step in there’s a fierce feeling of pain! I haven’t adapted anything like this before so it’s worth challenging myself.

– Words like this from Shinbo-kantoku!

Shinbo – It’s raw, so very raw.

Umino – I’m very happy.

Shinbo – That’s why I ended up thinking, with the running scene I wanted to avoid pulling away!

Umino – That’s what made it fun. To think that the director would say “do a close-up” to a face that I had hidden, I thought that this was going to become something interesting. When I’m feeling embarrassed I make it into a long shot, but I hope in this way, you can say “why not show the face?” in response to these scenes (laughs).

Shinbo – Well of course, I do think that there are times when you are or aren’t allowed to show the face.

Umino – So inside you, you were thinking that you had to show off this boy’s face to everyone?

Shinbo – Thinking something like, “I have to show it!”

Umino – That’s funny (laughs).

Shinbo – I want to do this for these sorts of emotional scenes, but I’m also thinking that I want to make the hurried scenes a bit more hurried.

Umino – With the more embarrassing parts I’ve written, I’m sure that the readers all feel very embarrassed whilst reading it. So I just put in scenes of food or make it into a long shot to make the readers feel less so. I hope in the anime you do show the more embarrassing parts when necessary.

Shinbo – Although It should be said that whilst I would have been embarrassed during that period (same age as Rei-kun), now I’m not particularly embarrassed, you see (laughs).

Umino – Boys are difficult aren’t they? They’re easily hurt, so after they’ve done something embarrassing and are feeling rather ashamed of themselves, I feel that it’s better to give them some space. Otherwise they may respond by sulking, or something awful might happen to them… so I end up leaving them alone. It can be very different with a male director, so it all seems very interesting.

Shinbo – Making a mistake and failing is something that I’m sure is very relatable to a lot of people. So I wanted to show and allow people to recognise that this is what a boy’s face looks like after making a big mistake.

Umino – It’s a big problem to him, but with adults they just brush it off saying something like “I know, I know, you’re embarrassed aren’t you?”. But, it looked like he was just about the age where he might end up sulking and acting more unreasonably in response. That’s why I made it into more of a long shot (laughs).

Shinbo – So in the anime, you felt sorry for him. You don’t want him to feel sad so you want to pull away from the scene?

Umino – I’m the type that gives too much consideration that I end up spoiling the character. So I’d be very grateful if you can provide some discipline (laughs). It will ease the burden on him if people can laugh, so maybe that is the point to all this.

Shinbo – He was regretting it a lot though, wasn’t he?

Umino – He was! So during the discussion on the script, I thought that it was a really good part that the others will be adapting.

Source: http://3lion-anime.com/special/interview/vol01/?p=8

Image: http://www.monogatari-series.com/2ndseason/special/index.html

*Made a few edits. The word ‘perverse’ was out of place so that’s been replaced. Also fixed a likely misinterpretation concerning why Umino wanted to write something completely different after Honey and Clover.