On November 12th, director Mamoru Hosoda, known for such works as "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time" and "Summer Wars," attended a pre-release event for his latest animated film, "Scarlet" (released November 21st), held at SHIBUYA QWS in Shibuya, Tokyo. Hosoda spoke about how his latest film tackles the grand theme of "life and death." He said, "With each film, I've been able to make it thanks to the support of the audience, and as a result of building up deeper themes one by one, with my seventh film, I've finally reached a point where I can tackle such big questions as life and death, and 'what does it mean to live?' I decided to tackle these themes as a film and make the film with a strong resolve."
Director Hosoda said that there were many new challenges in his latest work, and revealed what went on behind the scenes of the production, saying, "Because it's a larger-scale production than my previous works, I had to create a screen that matched it, and it didn't work the same way as before. It's a new way of seeing animation, or what we call a look, and I spent a lot of time and effort developing and finding that. It took a long time to choose which was the right answer."
The event took place in Shibuya, Tokyo, one of the locations associated with Hosoda's films, "Scarlet" and "The Boy and the Beast." The venue was SHIBUYA QWS, which is close to the sky, like the "endless place" (a heavenly place said to be at the very end of the mountain peaks) that appears in "Scarlet." Also in attendance were Ashida Mana, the voice actor for the main character Scarlet, and Masaki Okada, the voice actor for the modern-day Japanese nurse, Hijiri, who travels with Scarlet. Iwai Yuuki of the comedy duo "Haraichi," who is a big fan of Hosoda's work, served as MC.
Hosoda is the director behind the original story and screenplay for the latest film. After failing to exact revenge on her father's murder, Scarlett once again seeks revenge on her nemesis in the Land of the Dead. The Land of the Dead is a place where if one does not achieve revenge on their nemesis and reach the "endless place," they will become nothing and their existence will disappear, and Scarlett embarks on an endless journey of revenge.
