The making-of video for the first day of filming for the original animated feature film "The Last Blossom," which is a collaboration between director Mugi Kinoshita, who worked on the TV anime "Odd Taxi," and manga artist and screenwriter Kazuya Konomoto, has been released on YouTube. It shows the first recording session for Kaoru Kobayashi, who plays Akutsu, and Pierre Taki, who plays The Last Blossom.
The film's lines were recorded first, and then a pre-recording was conducted to create the visuals to match. Kobayashi and Taki received explanations about the film from Director Kinoshita and Sound Director Hiroshi Shimizu. Through their conversation, they each seemed to deepen their understanding of the roles they were playing. Kobayashi, who played Akutsu, an elderly life-sentence inmate facing death alone in prison, said, "If someone is bad at living life, if they act too fast, it can end up erasing that feeling," and he told Taki, "You have to be good at playing the role The Last Blossom," eliciting laughter from the studio. Taki, who plays The Last Blossom, a character who can manipulate human speech, demonstrated several vocal tones and consulted with Director Kinoshita, asking, "Which tone would be best?"
With Director Kinoshita, Shimizu, and other staff members watching from outside the booth, the test recording of the scene in which Akutsu and The Last Blossom exchange their first conversation began. Director Kinoshita nodded repeatedly as he listened to the dialogue between Kobayashi and Taki.
In "The Last Blossom," an elderly man serving a life sentence, Minoru Akutsu, is about to die alone in his cell when a mysterious The Last Blossom, who can speak human language, tells him, "You've had a terrible life," and through the conversation, he begins to reflect on his past. He confronts his past life and tries to reclaim what he has lost.
