The original animated film "Fureru" is the latest work by the three creators who worked on the youth trilogy set in Chichibu, and is now in theaters. As with the youth trilogy, the team has reunited, with Nagai Tatsuyuki as director, Okada Mari as scriptwriter, and Tanaka Masayoshi as character designer and chief animation director. "Touch." depicts the friendship between three young men set in Takadanobaba, Tokyo, and gives the impression of being different in style from the youth trilogy, which depicted adolescent boys and girls set in Chichibu. What is the new story they are trying to depict after the youth trilogy? We asked Okada.
After completing his youth trilogy with "Sora Ao," Director Nagai's ideas for his new work were, "I want to get away from Chichibu and raise the age of the main characters," and "I want to portray male friendship with a male protagonist."
"We don't really decide on a theme. Director Nagai has a very pure way of thinking, and he wants to make things that he finds interesting and that he likes, so as we discussed what we wanted to portray this time, we decided on three boys living together. So I thought it was a story about communication. Living together doesn't always work out, and you can't always be together, so it's hard to find eternity. But what kind of situation would make that possible? I started by thinking about that and created the story."
The three main characters in "Touch." met a mysterious creature called "Touch" in their childhood, and became friends through the power of "Touch," which allows them to hear each other's inner voices. Okada says, "One of the big themes for me was that two boys who might not have been able to become friends in the first place become friends."
"Looking back, one of the things I wanted to write in Anohana was that when your position changes, you can no longer be friends. Even if you're supposed to be really close, you can't be friends the way you used to be because of changes in appearance or hobbies. I wanted to make it a story about overcoming that. However, this time in Fureru., it's a little different. Girls who might not have been friends originally become friends. How can they stay friends in the first place? Can they stay friends because they don't see their true nature? Are they really friends? But what is a 'real friend'? There is a line in the story that says, "If it weren't for Fureru, we might not have become friends," but I feel like whether or not they become friends in the first place is a miracle. I thought about how to portray that."
◇What I could depict because I was able to resolve it in adolescence
Changes in communication, friends, and relationships depending on the situation. I depict these things with three young men as the main characters. Okada, who has often worked on works with the theme of "adolescence," said that it was fun to write a story with three young men as the main characters.
"I don't have any particular attachment to adolescence, but I often get commissioned to write about it, and when I wondered why, I thought maybe I haven't fully gotten over my adolescence yet. I'm attached to a lot of things that I left behind in that era, and that's why I want to portray it so strongly. In that sense, I think that in writing about adolescence, I've been trying to come to some kind of resolution within myself."
Because she was able to come to a resolution during adolescence, "I really enjoyed writing about this age group. I used to live with friends, so I remembered how I felt at the time and how difficult it was to live in a community."
Takadanobaba, Tokyo, where "Touching." is set, is also where Okada moved to Tokyo from Chichibu and lived for a while.
"At first, there was another candidate in Tokyo, but Director Nagai didn't really get it. I thought that Director Nagai would like it in my hometown (laughs). And I thought that he probably likes Takadanobaba. We've been together for many years, so I kind of know what his hobbies and tastes are. So I asked him, "Do you want to go and have a look?" and we decided on Takadanobaba. That said, it made it a lot easier to write. There are a lot of students in Takadanobaba, and it has the atmosphere of students who have just come to Tokyo, so I thought it was a place where a story would come to mind."
◇The power of the voices of Nagase Ren, Bando Ryuta, and Maeda Kentaro
In this work, the three main characters are played by a luxurious cast of actors, Nagase Ren as Onoda Aki, Bando Ryuta as Sobue Ryo, and Maeda Kentaro as Inohara Yuta, and it has become a hot topic. Okada says, "The power I received from the voices is very large."
"I listened to their audition tapes and chose from them, but all three were really good. The character drawings, scripts, and storyboards were all ready, and among them, there was a voice that automatically played in my head. I thought it was something like that. But the three of them went beyond my expectations in a good way."
Aki, played by Nagase, is a clumsy type who is not good at talking and has been using his hands first since he was a child. "Aki is a very difficult character, and I think it's hard to make him the main character, or rather, he's a child who wants to turn a blind eye to the truth. He has pure kindness, but that kindness is quite selfish, and he uses it to protect himself. That's where it gets really difficult, but Nagase's voice is very delicate, with a soft coolness. When that voice is added, Aki's boyishness, the feeling that you can't leave him alone, really comes out." He also spoke about Bando, who plays the sporty, big brother Ryo, saying, "His voice really brings out the seriousness deep inside him. If you only listen to his lines, he seems cheerful, but there's also a seriousness and a bit of darkness inside him." He also praised Maeda, who plays Yuta, who has many complexes and a servile side, saying, "I heard that Maeda likes anime, and I think he has a great understanding of anime. He performed with a great understanding of the character, but also with a real touch." He also thought the "addition" of the three voice actors was "really interesting."
The story of friendship between three young men is told by three creators, Director Nagai, Okada, and Tanaka, and voice actors Nagase, Bando, and Maeda. Their friendship is shaken by a certain incident. It will be interesting to see what kind of "friendship" will be depicted through this youth trilogy.
