This is a fairly recent interview with Naoko Yamada I have translated from AnimeAnime. With the recent announcement of Yamada’s new film Liz and the Blue Bird, I guess this is as good a time as any to release the interview! If you have any questions, please let me know.

– After winning the New Face Award at the 18th Japan Media Arts Festival with ‘Tamako Love Story’, you have continued on to win the Excellence Award for ‘A Silent Voice’. Congratulations.

Thank you. When making an anime, I always make the Japan Media Arts Festival one of my objectives, so I am very very happy.

– With this award, I’m sure for many it’ll be their first time hearing about the film ‘A Silent Voice’. So once again, I would like to ask about the more fundamental aspects of the film. This work is an anime adaptation of Yoshitoki Oima’s ‘A Silent Voice’, what did you think when you first read the original work?

I felt that it was a work that very stubbornly depicts a heart with a desire for hope. The characters are all placed in very hopeless and difficult situations, but not just that, lots of different and opposing feelings are all depicted at once. I thought it was a ‘work on sincerity’.

– Considering you were adapting such a sensitive work, were there any points you focused on during production? Did you have any keywords?

‘The want to be forgiven’. Just by living, you may make mistakes, be hurt, hurt other people, or be put into helpless situations, but even with that you can carry on, it’s all right to carry on living. I wanted to depict this kind of hope.

– The original work was 7 volumes, so I expect you needed to cut it down to fit it all into a 120 minute film. What points were you particularly careful with?

Each episode of the original work was very appealing, and on top of this, I thought it was a work with many layers of interpretation. So because of that, to make sure that it won’t become something like a bit of this and a bit of that, I very much focused on the fact that I was making a film. I organised it whilst making sure that we didn’t lose focus of the centre of the story.

– What do you mean more specifically by ‘centre’?

To focus on the main character, Shoya Ishida’s story.

– To implement this, what points were you particular about, whether from the side of the scenario or the picture?

Firstly, it would be to read the whole work through, and adapt it by working backwards from what is really necessary. This is something that I have been doing up till now, and have taken a lot of care in whatever it is I’m working on. However I have been particularly careful with this work. For the picture, I took care in making it ‘comfortable’. These are characters each with their own worries, and seem to find it painful just to live another day. In contrast, I wanted the world to be something that is open and will accept them anytime. So I decided to make the world surrounding Shoya and the others coherent and depicted as something beautiful.

– Ryosuke Takahashi, a jury for the animation division of the 20th Japan Media Arts Festival commented “a challenge to adapt such difficult material” and praised highly the appealing addition of ‘movement’ and ‘sound’ in the adaptation of the manga. Please let me ask you about each of these. Bullying, disability and the impulse to commit suicide. These very serious themes were used in the film, but what did you take care in when depicting these themes?

It’s a work where it’s quite easy to end up focusing on these more serious themes, but I’m of the thought that the main purpose of this work wasn’t to just show these things. So I needed to make sure that the people watching understood this. Therefore, for whatever action in the film it’s neither affirmed nor denied, but rather I take care in it’s depiction by moving closer to the hearts of the characters.

– In regard to ‘movement’, one point to focus on would be the detailed portrayal of sign language. I’d have thought that it would be a difficult motif to depict in anime, but what steps did you follow when producing this?

Sign language is a delicate language so a small difference, like if the palm of your hand is facing a slightly different way, can cause the meaning to change. At the beginning we showed the finished storyboards to the sign language supervisor and on top of this, we had all the scenes with sign language taken in live-action. The animators used these as a reference when animating the characters. Though, on this occasion we didn’t just portray the sign language accurately, but we also considered the character’s personality and experience with sign language when animating.

– Another point on ‘movement’. You have been noticed as a filmmaker that is quite particular in the movement and portrayal of legs as a method in depicting a character’s emotions. Was this used in this film?

Showing the legs hasn’t been something I was doing because I had some sort of special rule, but rather is something that I use occasionally in those necessary moments, so I guess this resulted in it naturally appearing more frequently. This time it was Shoya’s story so in regard to the camerawork ‘the world Shoya is able to see’ was the main point of focus. ‘What Shoya chooses to see’ and ‘what Shoya starts to see after his realisation’; it was my intention to build on these two worlds and weave them into the film.

– In regard to ‘sound’, the background music – which was quite particular, incorporating noise – gained a lot of attention. You worked closely with the musician, Kensuke Ushio in the production of this music. What steps did you follow when producing this?

When I first met Ushio-san, we had quite an abstract conversation about something like ‘the concept of making a piece of work’, and so it started with him saying “for the moment I’ll compose a piece with this conversation in mind”. After this, whenever I would make a bit of progress with the storyboards I would show Ushio-san, and after reading it he would say “here’s a sketch” and hand me some new music. Before I knew it, I had enough music aligned with the world of this work, without needing to order for a composition. Also, after this he worked on the dubbing of the sound over the finished image, which we did it together whilst consulting each other.

– I think it’s a unique style of production where the image and sound mutually stimulate and enhance each other. But why were you so particular about ‘sound’?

It’s because I thought that this was a work that ‘focused on human physiology’. From there you go to the womb… or rather inside the body, looking inside the body of something living, you ‘see’ something called ‘sound’ which must exist. More specifically I wanted to make it a piece of work where you could ‘experience’ this. Sound is often perceived as something to be ‘heard’, but I think it is a phenomenon that is linked to many different things, like how the body is able to feel the sound through vibrations caused by its frequency. To organise this all onto film was something that I thought held a lot of meaning for this work… ah sorry, it’s not quite coming together.

– Oh no, I understand it well.

To put it simply… I think I wanted to make ‘sound’ into a film.

– So I guess it’s the idea of making ‘the shape of voice’, but how was the response to the film?

It was very stimulating. I realised that I wanted to use these experiences to challenge myself on my next work.

– In the Japan Media Arts Festival, other than the ‘Animation Division’, the ‘Art Division’, ‘Manga Division’, and the ‘Entertainment Division’ focusing on digital media like games, web and applications, and various other media are the subjects of focus. Is there a division you are interested in other than the ‘Animation Division’?

Yes, I’m interested in the art division. I head straight there every year to check.

– With your recent works, not just the appeal of its more traditional animation, but also your sense in filmmaking crossing the boundaries of media, for example your live action lens-like feeling, and in addition the artificial lens effect on the digital image can be put forward as one of your particular styles. How did this preference in style come to be?

It may be because I have originally liked films in camera or live-action. But having said that, it’s not that I want to implement live-action into my animated works… and saying this, I think it is necessary to have a fine line separating what is real and what is not, so simulating a camera is something that I want to do after the world has been finished in animation. That’s why it’s a feeling where you ‘act as if it’s live action in an anime world’. If this balance, even by a small amount tips to one side, the world will suddenly become more artificial. On the other hand, if it goes well I feel that the world depicted will unendingly expand with various colours and smells…

– The exhibition for award winning works at the Japan Media Arts Festival will be open from the 16th to the 28th of September 2017. At this exhibition I am sure that there will be many who are not just fans of animation, but also have an interest in a whole range of areas who will be able to see your work. This will connect to ‘sound’ as we previously talked about but, how would you like people to see ‘A Silent Voice’ when taken not as an ‘animated work’ but rather more broadly as ‘Media Art’.

Firstly this is a film that depicts a story in which ‘a boy practices how to live’, but another focal point other than the previously mentioned ‘film about sound’ is ‘a work that allows you to experience the memories and sensations of another person’. This was another aspect that was thought about when making the film. So I would like people not just to enjoy the story’s content and meaning. There is something that rises from the film, something that you can’t quite grasp. I would like the various people watching to accept and understand this as part of an individual and personal viewing experience.

– Thank you very much. Finally, for the readers please give a final message.

Though there may be people who think ‘A Silent Voice’ is a work mainly dealing with heavy themes, it probably won’t be scary so please don’t worry, and with this opportunity I’d be very happy if you were able to see the film.

Source: https://animeanime.jp/article/2017/09/26/35438.html

Image: http://natalie.mu/comic/gallery/show/news_id/188752/image_id/583393