Shinkai at London, BFI Southbank

During Makoto Shinkai's stay in London, he made a guest appearance at BFI Southbank as part of the Anime Weekend programme on 27th June 2008. His third movie 5 Centimetres Per Second was one of the Japanese animations shown during the evening.

A live interview and autograph session was organised afterwards. Here is an account of what happened during that part of the day when I travelled down to London for the event.

On The Day...

The room for the screening was darkly lit and was pretty much completely full even though only the central seating area was filled when I last checked the bookings the night before.

After settling down, it was a few minutes before someone appeared on stage to introduce Makoto Shinkai into the room and he was welcomed by a huge round of applause which refused to cease until he started speaking. Unlike the description on venue's website however, the interview was going to take place after the movie. Shinkai only introduced what 5cm was about before returning inside.

Watching the movie on the big screen was good because details in the artwork were more apparent and the surround sound effects gave a good sense of immersion such as the cars running along side the road outside the telephone booth that young Akari was calling Takaki from. One could also notice the “crystals” that made up the LCD screen on the mobile phones that can only be seen in the Blu-ray version of the movie and not in the DVD version. It was also good to find the screening was a subtitled version.

I’ve never seen AD Vision's subtitles before but they turned out to be fairly well translated. I think only the ending theme song needed more work.

Once the credits were over, people clapped and once again, Shinkai was welcomed back into the room together with the interviewer and a translator. In the interview, which lasted for about half an hour, Shinkai spoke mainly in Japanese but there was the odd phrase that he said in English. He even said, “Yes desu” which gave people a laugh.

Live Interview

Note that the following transcript isn't word by word. The lines in bold are the questions or topics that were discussed and the lines in italics are my own notes.

The importance of cats.

When Shinkai was asked what he missed most about Japan, his reply was just his cat Sayuri. He grew up with a cat as a pet but when he moved to Tokyo he no longer had one. When he started making “The Place Promised in Our Early Days” there he eventually picked up an abandoned newborn cat. Shinjuku in Tokyo was a place where lots of cats were abandoned and before he knew it, he picked up another four giving him a total of five to take care of during the making of the Early Days movie. Fortunately the staff helped feed them and actually helped the staff relax too. Thus, Shinkai wanted to put them in his movies to remember them by.

Inspiration to create “She and Her Cat” and “Voices of a Distant Star” alone

In 2002 when Shinkai started making “Voices of a Distant Star”, Shinkai was still working with the Japanese games company Falcom as an animator with works such as the Ys series. He enjoyed his job but it was one with a busy schedule meaning he had to wake up early and work until late at night. It was then that he thought of creating his own stories rather than assist in telling someone else’s i.e. the company’s. Working alone would also mean giving himself more freedom and flexibility. All the software such as Adobe Photoshop and After Effects were all there on his Mac and he already gained experience in using them at work. He jokes it wasn’t much help in relieving stress because he was doing the same work back at home.

Working with a team to produce “The Place Promised in Our Early Days”

When working alone, Shinkai had to worry about raising funds but now that he’s financed by a company (i.e. Comix Wave), he has to think about how to share his thoughts with his team of five people such as how he wants the movie made and animated. Unlike Voices of a Distant Star which was made by himself alone as a hobby, this new movie also gave him some responsibility that affects the lives of his staff. It was a difficult experience but it was enjoyable.

Tenmon’s role in the projects.

Instead of finishing the animated movie first before passing it onto Tenmon for composing the music, Shinkai has Tenmon creating the music as soon as he finishes the storyboarding. They then work together as the movie is produced giving feedback and collaborating to get the music just right. It’s quite an unusual approach in animation where the music is usually added afterwards.

No deliberate recurring theme such as long distance relationships or losing touch between the works.

The translator got stuck midway and those who knew Japanese (I presume) laughed when Shinkai told him, “Ganbatte kudasai (Do your best)”.

Shinkai had wanted a certain common theme in “Voices of a Distant Star” and “The Place Promised in Our Early Days” which could have been long distance love and relationships but, he never planned to have the same themes running through all three of his movies. However, looking back at his works, he realises that he may have been trying to illustrate a similar theme in slightly different ways.

When “Voices of a Distant Star” was being made, e-mailing via mobile phones was just starting to gain popularity and not many knew how to use it (Japan uses e-mail addresses to message instead of texting via phone numbers due to network limitations). Back then, Shinkai would e-mail his girlfriend and when he starts to wonder why she hadn’t replied yet when the message should have reached her already, he would get worried or even a little jealous sometimes. Even though they lived together in the same city, it felt like they were living on different planets and when he thought of it that way, “Voices of a Distant Star” was born.

After that, Shinkai became interested in the communication between people and how they come to understand the relationships with each other. This maybe the reason to the recurring themes.

As movies go worldwide, target audience also becomes internationalised.

Shinkai had never thought of his movies reaching an audience outside Japan and thus, while making his movies he had only wanted to use his own experience from high school life such as joining clubs which, would be something the Japanese audience would be familiar with. Each of his movies are made to target a specific audience group and convey a message to them such as maybe lovers or friends.

Ever since making “Voices of a Distant Star” six years ago, Shinkai understands his audience has expanded worldwide and will be taking that into consideration for his future works so that everyone, not just Japanese people, will be able to relate to it which is one of the reasons why he chose to live in the UK.

Inspiration from living in a foreign country.

By living in a foreign place, Shinkai was hoping he would get inspired creatively, coming up with ideas he’s never previously thought of.

However the main reason was, which may sound odd, was that his working environment in Japan was starting to feel a bit too comfortable to work in.

Translator interpreted it this as “nice place and that he felt like he wanted to get out of this nice place”, implying London wasn’t a nice place. This made the interviewer say, “thank you very much” which gave us a little laugh.

To be more specific, Shinkai felt he managed to meet many partner companies too easily so far and his funders would always give him the freedom to produce his works the way he wanted. Furthermore, all the staff that were recruited were all talented people so his job was becoming a very pleasant one and he was feeling no stress at all.

By having people around him who understood his ideas without him saying anything, he started to wonder what it was that he was after now. This reminded him of the time when he moved out to Tokyo at the age of eighteen, when he felt the loneliness and loss of protection living away from his own home. That was also the time when he realised what it was that he wanted.

And so just like that time, Shinkai wanted to move somewhere further away from Tokyo hoping he will find the answer he’s seeking. A place like London where it was cold and where he couldn’t speak the English language felt like a good place.

Everyone laughs at the way Shinkai was describing London but then Shinkai interrupts to say, “But I love London” and everyone applauds very loudly. This part was great!

We then had some time for a Q & A session. Quite a number of people asked in Japanese and for most of them, the translator was very brief.

Still an animator in 5 ~ 10 years time.

Shinkai had never thought that far ahead but what he is certain of is that he’ll be staying in London for the rest of the year before returning to Japan and starting immediately on his next movie.

In “Voices of a Distant Star” there is the long distance theme but, the speed at which time passed was different which makes it kind of physics related. After that, there’s “The Place Promised in Our Early Days” that deals with the subject of parallel worlds and alternative universes which again, is kind of physics related. This time “5 Centimetres per Second” we once again see the appearance of space and flying rockets. How do you feel towards the subject of physics, Mr. Shinkai?

This was quite a long winded question that kind of troubled the translator and perhaps even Shinkai himself who laughed along with the audience.

In answer, Shinkai reveals that he’s a great fan of science fiction and his favourite author is Authur C. Clarke who has unfortunately passed away now. He noted that he wasn't just saying this because he was in London.

In junior high he used to spend a lot of time re-reading his novels and it was then that he wanted to write stories at the same scale about space and time. One day, he will do it but for now he jokes that all he can manage is portray a story about a boy on a two hour train journey.

Spoiler - Click to view question about ending.

“Voices of a Distant Star” and “The Place Promised in Our Early Days” are already available in the UK from ADV. When will “5 Centimetres per Second” be available? Also, will you be producing a series for the “Ef” game?

Shinkai didn’t really answer the distribution question. The interviewer only said there are some complications and 5cm will come out as soon as possible.

Shinkai replies that he does indeed create short movies such as "Gathering of the Cats", openings and trailers for PC games but the games themselves are really not his own work. He’s enjoyed making a lot of shorts so far because while long movies such as “5 Centimetres per Second” took a year and a half to complete, short works only take a few months. Creating works such as the Shinano Daily Newspaper short commercial or music videos have been very fulfilling as part of his job. However, he feels that he wants to produce a full length movie again for his next piece of work.

Any worries about losing some of the Japanese audience as movies become more internationalised?

Had never really thought about it although he really should have. Shinkai feels that Japan has a lot of animations being produced so there’s a lot of choice for people. He would be happy if people enjoy watching his works but, if it’s not to their tastes they should be able to find alternatives. Furthermore, he doesn’t want to make something that caters to an audience’s interest but, something that’s of his own interest and thoughts.

Is the state of animation improving and is there increasing room for independent creators?

Thinks there is plenty of room for them thanks to the internet. Six years ago when he started making his first commercial movie, there was already the possibility to upload one’s own works onto the internet. These days it’s a lot more easier.

“Yes, desu.”

Did Ghibli’s “Laputa: Castle in the Sky” had any influence in the creation of “The Place Promised in Our Early Days”?

It did have influence because it was his favourite movie that he watched back in junior high school and it was a life-changing experience. Shinkai thought it was a very emotional movie and would like to share the same experience through his own works but, feels he isn’t quite at that level yet.

And that’s all we had time for the night!

Thanks goes to BFI who arranged this great event and Daike-san who helped me decipher and clear up some of the things said at the interview!

Autograph Session

With time running out as the room had to be used for the next movie in the Anime Now Weekend, people were reminded that Shinkai will be having an autograph session at the shop just like the update on their site had said. They also had copies of the second batch of his artbook for sale at £25 each which is about twice the original price but, if you tack on the expensive import postage it's just about right..

I think there was at least around 50 people queuing and there were quite a number of Japanese present. I was told the group of people to the left were some of Shinkai’s friends although I don’t know if they really were or not. Tenmon was present at the event too supposedly but again, I’ve never seen a picture of him so I wouldn’t know even if I saw him.

As I waited I saw happy people coming out carrying other items such as the sleeves of the DVDs and Blu-ray versions of the movie signed.

“The Place Promised in Our Early Days” was playing on the HD TV behind Shinkai and I think there was a woman from Comix Wave who talked to each person beforehand to see what it was they wanted signed. Shinkai mainly spoke in English but in Japanese too of course to those who spoke it.