Director Katabuchi Sunao, known for anime such as "In This Corner of the World" and "Black Lagoon," held a seminar entitled "Katabuchi Sunao: Portraying Sei Shonagon, The Pillow Book, and the Heian Period in a Different Way" on December 14th at the 1st Aichi-Nagoya International Animation Film Festival (ANIAFF), an international anime film festival being held in Nagoya. Director Katabuchi spoke about his new theatrical anime film "Tsurubami-iro no Nagiko-tachi," which he is currently working on.
Director Katabuchi founded the animation production company Contrail to produce a feature-length animated film. Preparations for "Tsurubami-iro no Nagiko-tachi" began around 2017, but the film is still in production and no release date has been announced. There is a reason why it is taking so long. They are apparently working on an unprecedented production system while training animators.
"We have a big challenge. It's not just about depicting the Heian period. We want to depict it not symbolically, but with a sense that makes you feel the daily life of the people there. You can't do that with just cursory animation. We have no choice but to create our own staff. In today's animation, the director and animation director redraw what has been drawn, but they give verbal instructions and have the various staff members redraw it. Today's animation is under pressure to meet schedules, but we are training animators who can take on the next generation. I want to create a situation where everyone can say that a cut was theirs until the very end."
Because the production is being carried out while training the staff, "it's taking time right now. If we rush now, we'll just be back to square one. At this stage, I don't want to get into a situation where we can just finish on schedule. This will be important as we continue to make animation in the future."
"Tsurubami-iro no Nagikotachi" is set in Kyoto 1,000 years before "The Pillow Book" was written, and depicts the daily life of Sei Shonagon. The story also carefully examines the era in which "The Pillow Book" was written. In doing so, the author says that a different view of the Heian period than previously imagined has emerged.
Regarding "Tsurubami color," he said, "Sei Shonagon wrote The Pillow Book around 200 years ago, in the middle of the Heian period. 'Tsurubami color' refers to black tsurubami. It was used when dyeing fabrics and making mourning clothes. There were also mourning clothes for the twelve-layered fabric."
"Don't you think it's hot in the summer? I wore summer clothes for about half the year. Summer clothes were blue. I sometimes wore see-through clothes. It says that in April, I wear indigo blue. I think this was cobalt blue. It's a little closer to purple. It was completely different from what I imagined," I began to understand.
In his research, he came to understand that "when Sei Shonagon was writing The Pillow Book, an epidemic was raging in Kyoto. In The Pillow Book, she writes about peaceful things, but behind the scenes, many people were dying. A different world unfolded than he had expected. For a long time, Sei Shonagon wore plain mourning clothes. That was the kind of Heian period he had never imagined."
I read "The Pillow Book" and considered what happened and when.
"Sei Shonagon served as a lady-in-waiting to Empress Sadashi. The Pillow Book also says that she had connections with people who had recently seized power, and was suspected of being an enemy. There were times when her position was shaken. There was material for a film. "When you arrange the stories in chronological order, it becomes clear that there were many different stories. It seems like it could be made into a film."
There is still much that is unknown about "Tsurubami-iro no Nagiko-tachi," but it seems that the film will be made with great attention to detail. Director Katabuchi seemed to be confident, saying, "I'm proud that we've been able to create this film while understanding what we're facing. I hope that this will lead to a good result."
