Violet Evergarden World Tour Interview

Los Angeles Anime Expo 2017 Edition with Director Ishidate Taichi

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——At last, the worldwide premiere in which the anime “Violet Evergarden” can be watched in advance has started. How was the first one at Anime Expo 2017 in America’s Los Angeles?



Ishidate: It’s a large-scale event where hardcore American fans gather, several of whom became interested in “Violet Evergarden” (“Violet” for short) out of the works that would be displayed in it, so being able to directly witness the responses of the people that had walked all the way to the screening hall was a trite but also very valuable experience. Amongst the guests, there were many who already knew the name of the “Kyoto Animation” company and the original literary piece of “Violet”.

I had somewhat imagined it would be a Comic Event like the ones in Japan, so while I had been wondering, “Would there be many adults?”, it turned out that lots of families with children attended, which surprised me. One more thing that had me shocked was that screenings and exhibits were happening all night long. It was upright in the good sense; an event with an American-like freedom to it.

——In the stage event that was the premiere’s screening, the first episode of the TV anime “Violet Evergarden” was run. How was everyone’s reaction?

Ishidate: Compared to the Japanese, American people’s expressions are richer in emotions, so although I had imagined it would be something lively like, “Oh, my God!”, it was extremely quiet as a whole, and gave off a feeling that everyone was very focused in the video.

One thing that wasn’t expected was when they laughed while clapping their hands at scenes that would make one think, “You’re laughing at that!?” (lol). “So this is the reaction of people from a different culture~?” I thought, and it was refreshing.

In addition, we got a “Nice!” and a thumbs-up from a local staff member who was in the backstage of the screening. After that person had left, they came back to show us the screen of their phone. In it was written “that’s a truly good anime” in Japanese, which made me happy. Another local staff member courteously commented something like, “Your event was the best!”, and made me think that they had probably enjoyed it.

—— After the premiere screening, a panel discussion was held to answer questions from the audience. Were there any remarkable ones?

Ishidate: I, Ishikawa Yui-san, who plays the role of Violet, and TRUE-san, who is in charge of the OP theme “Sincerely”, went up on stage for this. Perhaps because many of the people who had come to the venue had interest in the creators, there were several questions about the production.

Something funny was when we were suddenly asked, “When does the second season start?” (lol). “You only just watched the first episode, though!?” is what I thought, but my answer was, “If we receive everyone’s support…” (lol). Also, there was a question like, “This story seems to be set in a fictional continent, so will various countries and places appear from now on?”, which showed how they were consistently watching the main story. Maybe some have read the novels.

——TRUE-san, who had come up the stage with you, did the world’s first live show of the opening song “Sincerely”. How did you like listening to it?

Ishidate: I watched the live from a corner of the stage, but I think it really was good. I thought it was an even more wonderful song than when listening to it through a sound generator, and it earnestly gave me courage like, “I also have to do my best even more!”. Once again, I was able to take in the thoughts and stance towards the original work that TRUE-san put into the song, and it gave me feelings that tensed my spirit, so after the live, I ended up saying, “I’ll seriously do my best!” to TRUE-san without thinking.

While listening to the song, I thought to myself, “I have to hurry and write down… the art contents of the opening…” (lol).

——With what kind of perspective did you tackle the TV anime “Violet Evergarden”?

Ishidate: The TV anime “Violet” is a work made from a novel that won first place at the fifth “Kyoto Animation Grand Prize”. It was selected to be published as a two-volume literary collection of the KA Esuma Bunko, and its composition as a novel was arranged anew. Back when I read its manuscript for the “Kyoto Animation Grand Prize”, I was strongly drawn to this work and thought, “It’d be great if it were animated someday”.

The novel is a compilation of stories, and was pictured firstly as independent chapters about Violet’s relationship with the clients of her job as amanuensis, clearly morphing into an opus about Violet’s own personal backstory little by little. The media diverges from novel to anime, and it’s exactly because it’s a novel that it’s difficult to find a method of applying its life depictions into a TV series, so we are formulating the story as such. In order to make it into an interesting work with a continuous storyline, I talked with the story composer and scriptwriter Yoshida Reiko-san, and we decided to write the story of the girl named Violet in chronological order.

In the anime, we wrote about the figure of “Violet, who is an existence as innocent as a baby”, getting to know precious things little by little after meeting with many people. I think those who will watch it should see with their own eyes the growth of Violet as if she were watching over their own small daughter.

——What would be the charm of Violet as an individual?

Ishidate: I think Violet’s charm is her beauty as a primitive human being. I believe humans become more or less distorted as they turn into adults. There are societal responsibilities and various situations we must face, so we can’t forever remain only with feelings as untainted as those of children. But I think it’s marvelous – and even admire it – when one is always able to purely express non-rational sentiments, such as “this is beautiful” or “I want to do that”.

In order to validate this condition of primitive human being of Violet’s, we wrote about her with an ideal of “humans are supposed to be beautiful at first”. It’s not that I want to insist out loud that bare-plain humans are beautiful, but I’d be happy if we made people think, “Somehow, Violet’s lifestyle isn’t so bad”.

——After finishing the production of one episode, the first premiere screening also ended successfully. What’s the feedback?

Ishidate: The feedback… honestly, it’s hard for me to say anything myself. It’s up to those who watched it to say whether it was fun or not, so I think it’s not my place to say anything about that. As someone who is in the production, I’m like, “I wonder if people will think it’s interesting if we do this…” all the while making it through trial and error, but by the time we’d finished writing the contents of the first episode, we came to the conclusion of, “It’s a somber story, but with this, it will be fun!”. That impression didn’t change even after seeing the completed animation. It wasn’t easy to produce it, but I was happy when the art director said, “I’m satisfied”.

——Evan Call-san is the one working on the soundtrack. What sort of interchanges do you have?

Ishidate: The sound director, Tsuruoka Youta-san, said that “(the pieces Evan-san composes) are mischievous~ (lol)” and told us that he had this kind of funny reputation (lol). That’s why I’d been looking forward to working together with him. Evan-san joined the production from the second commercial of the original literary work, accepting the invitation of our music producer, and firstly attempted to make an image song as a trial. Rather than something concrete, it conveyed only the image of the production, and leaving it to Evan-san’s own sense as he freely created a tune, it turned out perfectly matching the image of this work.

——In what kinds of points did you feel that?

Ishidate: It was all very challenging. While the noises of typing on typewriters, the rustling sounds of fountain pens and paper, etc. are incorporated in the tracks, the indication that he could come up with a pretty good “trial song” was brilliantly integrated in it, and what’s more, it had a nice feeling to it. I felt he was a person with an artistic vigor and sense. To tell the truth, while some of the background music of the first episode that he made are orthodox, there are also tracks that seem to contain musical elements similar to that of Celtic nations, and I think that the astoundingly detached moderation and good discordancy that come not only from this midst fit the world building of “Violet”.

——Under what circumstances did you choose Ishikawa Yui-san as the role of Violet?

Ishidate: The first time I heard Ishikawa-san’s voice was in a live-action movie, in which she was performing as actress. The impression that she had an unpretentious type of voice remained within me, and at first, we had her give her name as an audition member, but I thought that Ishikawa-san’s voice really matched the image of Violet in comparison to the others. Ishikawa-san surely had acting skills, but she’s also an actress that has the adaptability to accurately surmise the scene directions, and as she was able to promptly correspond to our directions after recording episode one, I thought, “As expected!”. She acts out Violet’s accumulation of delicate emotions rather carefully.

——At the moment, you’re in the middle of producing episode 2 onward. How is that going?

Ishidate: It’s… hard (giggle). The first episode was still easy to write because Violet was “at zero”, but from now on, she will change little by little upon meeting with people. This change is not something symbolic, and I wonder what I should do to properly convey to the spectators that it’s a truly light and subtle thing… moreover, we’re making this production while keeping the multiple stories concurrent, so it’s really a hassle. While checking on episode 6, I got questions regarding episode 3. We, who are in the making of it, almost want status charts for the growth of Violet in each episode, like “kindness: 5” or “level of understanding towards others: 4” (lol). For the production itself, it feels like “the race is only just starting!”.

——From now on, as part of the “World Tour” premiere screening assemblies, screenings will be held throughout the world, including Germany and Singapore. I would like to ask about Los Angeles, which you stopped by this time. Is this director Ishidate’s first time visiting Los Angeles?

Ishidate: Yes. For starters, I hadn’t gone abroad ever since high school when I went to Thailand, so it started with me having to get a new passport (lol). Although I could not afford to enjoy sightseeing in Los Angeles, as I went by car from the airport the Los Angeles Convention Center, I took a freeway that was used for the scenes of a certain movie. At that time, I didn’t really realize this, but after I returned to Japan, I watched a preview of that movie and got excited like, “Ah! I had passed by this place!” (lol).

Also, I’d wanted to see the “Hollywood Sign” since I had come all the way to LA, but it seems that it was a bit far from the venue of Anime Expo, so unfortunately, my wish did not come true… In addition, there were apparently many people who visited LA for “Anime Expo 2017” at the occasion, and when some noticed I was Japanese, they got excited and came to talk to me a lot (lol)…

——Were there any remarkable happenings during your stay?

Ishidate: There were! While I was in the vicinity of the entrance of the hotel I was lodged at, perhaps because she saw that I was wearing an “Anime Expo” pass around my neck and thought that I was part of it, a young woman came to ask me, “Are you an animator?”. I answered, “YES!” and from that, a conversation splurged, up to a point where she told me that her daughter was an anime fan and a cosplayer. We chatted for a while; maybe about an hour (lol).

——Did your words get through?

Ishidate: Unfortunately, I can hardly speak English, so there were many moments in which the talk didn’t get through. No, probably most of what I said wasn’t understood. Whenever the conversation didn’t get through, she would be like “oh, boy~” as if asking the heavens for help (lol), but with the atmosphere and gestures of that moment, I was somehow able to communicate and had a good time. The fact that I could talk naturally with a foreign person about animation became an incredibly wonderful memory.

——Next, you will visit Manheim in Germany to attend “AnimagiC”, which will be held there. Please leave a message for the fans who are looking forward to the upcoming screenings and worldwide airing in January 2018!

Ishidate: I plan to make this into something that will make many people think at least for a little bit, “This was an interesting work”, and every day, we are doing our best as a united staff and, so while we try not to bring our hopes up too much, we still end up having expectations (lol). I’d be the happiest if everyone could warmly watch over the TV anime “Violet Evergarden”! We’ll be in your care!