[Trans] interview with WS anime PD
thanks much much for this, sweet sister!original in japanese: I Love Korean Drama Vol.24 p.22-25
scanned & posted by : arayo / byjgallery
translated into english: sweet sister / bb's blog
Interview with WS Anime Director,
Nakayama Daisuke
“We Want to Create a Project That Will Disappoint Fans in a Good Way!”
Working toward next years broadcast, the production of WS anime is progressing smoothly. We talked to Nakayama Daisuke, who is overseeing all animation work, for the details on this project.
Q. Thank you for taking time from your busy schedule to talk to us.
“At first I was surprised since we never receive magazine or TV interview requests during the production process. The WS anime is not even completed yet and the interviews have already started.”
Q. What made you decide to become a character artist?
“At first I wanted to do animation work so I worked toward becoming an animator. That was because I didn’t want to limit myself to just the design field. I also wanted to become a creator and so I came to Tokyo to see how good my drawings are.
After enrolling in art school and finding out that my work was good, I made the decision. But I did not exactly decide what I wanted to do.
After graduation, I turned on the TV one day and they were showing Miyazaki’s (Miyazaki Hayato) anime and I felt something vivid within me. I later realized that within a week, I was doing animation work in a studio.”
Q. Then you became the director for the WS anime but what are your thoughts about the drama WS?
“I think the way this drama has spread is interesting. The way it broke in Japan was before hallyu officially started. Women were at the center and I was surprised at how rapidly this drama spread all around me. Then in no time the drama permeated society and had become a part of the larger background….that was my impression.”
Q. Because the drama was such a big hit, aren’t you under considerable stress with the anime version?
“Franking speaking, at the time when I agreed to do this job, I had made one decision. Because it was a BYJ project, if I was going to be beaten because the project turned out badly, then this was something that couldn’t be helped. My life as director may also end (laughs). But when I saw the results, I thought that the reviews were not bad.
When I received the request last year, we talked about how to develop the anime and at that time, an image came to me all of a sudden. I think that this is the image that everyone is hoping for in this project. Then I quickly drew a rough sketch. My strong point is being able to give shape to the latent and commonly shared things that we all possess.
Q. I see. But there must be many difficulties also….
“When we’re making the anime, there is no use in drawing BYJ just the way he is.
Although Jun Sang is burdened with loneliness and sadness, I saw him as wanting to live life strongly. I am often asked the question, “What is your impression of WS?”, and my first impression is condensed into this picture. I think that if a single picture does not tell a story when you look at it, then it is useless.
This is surprisingly difficult to do. You can draw something to be cute or beautiful, but I draw to bring understanding about the landscape you see or the burdens a character may be carrying.
Q. When you are creating the WS anime from the drama, what are you particularly conscious of?
“That what we are about to create is a different anime than for the so-called anime fan. This is nothing more than WS and there are no actors appearing in it but that we are using anime as a technique.
In other words, we are not conscious of the fact that we are now creating an anime. This is also a new challenge for me and I began working with a sense of freedom and I am not bound to preconceptions.
This is important to remember when drawing and when bringing out a character’s appeal, there is also no need to draw eyes that are big in shape. But if you draw realistically, you only end up with a portrait of a likeness. We try to create anime where the instant it is viewed, it is remembered by the eyes.”
Q. Did you watch the WS drama a number of times?
“After watching the drama again, my impression was what a really beautiful drama it is.
Every shot in the drama was dazzling and beautiful. Especially those scenes where Korea’s beautiful scenery appear in the background remains in my memories. This is where we want to emphasize the feeling of atmosphere.
In my past work experiences, I’ve worked with a team on a process called screen design. By using the abilities of this team, we came up with the idea of extracting and showing the beautiful essence from the drama. We think that if the screen design goes well, the project will turn out well.”
(omitted screen design portion)
Q. Please talk about the story and the background of the anime.
“We are depicting Jun Sang as he left for New York, what feelings he had and his feelings about living in New York. On the other hand, Yujin has also freed herself from her memories and traveled to Paris to heal. We are depicting the story of the two after they traveled in different directions.
When I first began on this project, nothing was decided as to what would be created, and there was considerable discussion on a proposal to make the drama as is into an anime. While talking to drama fans about what they would like to see in the anime, the number one focal point became, “What were the two doing during the three year period?”
After it was announced that BYJ and Choi Ji Woo would be doing the voice-overs, and although this is not a sequel, we decided to depict those parts that were not touched upon. But we are not just creating what happens after WS.
For those that have seen the drama and for those that have not, we want everyone to come to know WS. If there are those that watch the drama after seeing the anime, then we would be happy.”
Q. The first thing that we see is New York. Jun Sang, lives in despair pressured by the choices of whether to have an operation or whether he will be able to forget his memories. How do you plan to depict New York?
“I think that the setting shows the two of them separating out of mutual understanding. It was not as if one said, please don’t go, and they told one another to each find happiness on their own as they separated, which I think took strong determination for the two as they parted.
But Jun Sang is ill. In the drama, Jun Sang’s illness is kept hidden and he is not portrayed as trying to live his life strongly.
But we wanted to depict that part of Jun Sang’s life. It is just that New York is an exciting city and whether a sequel or a story, as a drama it must be entertaining. Various encounters and incidents take place in New York. The end result comes down to the encounter with one person. An accident may occur but we want to shine a new light on Jun Sang.
In this sense, New York will appear as an exciting city. In contrast to this is the French portion with Yujin.
For me, sentimental images come to mind in this section more than New York. If the New York portion shows New York to be a masculine city, then the French portion has a feminine feel to it. We think that we can show these two sides of the drama.”
Q. In the French portion, what cities will play a setting?
“There are still many parts that I can’t discuss yet but if you are one of the women that love WS, I think, without a doubt, that you will love the locations that will appear. They are all locations where you will say they are, “Wonderful!” or “I want to go there!”
I think that the images will not be urban in feeling but will turn out to be images that you dream about in your soul.
There will also be images of Korea and there is also a Korean director in place with both the Japanese and Korean teams doing the creating.”
Q. BYJ and Choi Ji Woo have been confirmed to do the voiceovers but what about the other voices?
“The other voice actors have not been cast yet. After all the characters have been cast, the voice actors may be cast.”
Q. What is your opinion of BYJ?
“I think that BYJ and Choi Ji Woo both agreed to appear because they value their Japanese fans. BYJ was the first one who decided to appear and I think he decided to participate because this is a joint project by Japan and Korea, two countries that love him. He may have also liked the character of Jun Sang.
But at the press conference where we did not know if he would appear until the very, very end, he was taken with our drawings and when he said to me, “I will appear in the role”, this came as a big surprise to me. That my drawings were able to open another door made me happy.”
Q. We can’t wait to see the anime.
“I would like to keep drawing one picture at a time, carefully and conscientiously so that I can create works that I can share and treasure with everyone. Adding in some surprises, we hope to disappoint everyone in a good way with this project.”
Q. We are really looking forward to the anime. Thank you for the interview today.
Wonderful Characters
A staff member from the WS production committee also sat in on the interview and gave us this comment.
“We talked to director Nakayama and first had him draw a rough sketch, but in the moment we saw that sketch, we fell in love with it. Jun Sang’s loneliness clearly came through in that sketch. The strength of his solitary thoughts buried within his heart came pouring out of the drawing.
The staff could all imagine that this drawing was moving. As a result, we asked director Nakayama to please sketch all of the drawings. While we were struggling over how to show the drama as an anime, the Jun Sang character appeared so that we could imagine the story development. It felt as if the fog before us had instantly cleared.
Earlier, there were many females at the anime fair when it was held. Among them, there were many older women who had lost their husbands and who saw their memories overlapping as BYJ and Jun Sang. For these women, the fact that a dead person comes back to life is what they say makes this such a wonderful drama. That is the reason why they become so engrossed in WS, why they fall in love with Jun Sang and how they are able to identify themselves with BYJ’s performance.
In the same way, when we saw the rough sketch, we were able to identify with something in it.”
p.s. here's a close-up of the jun-sang sketch....
posted by bb @ 11/26/2008 09:03:00 PM
2 Comments:
Dearest BB and Bae sisters:
Wow! So the Winter Sonata anime is not just a reproduction in cartoon form of the original story, but it is in fact about the three years of separation between Jun Sang in New York and Yu Jin in France. That is fantastic. And both Bae Yong Joon and Choi Ji Woo have agreed to voice over. That is even more wonderful. It only proves the classic universality and aesthetic versatility of Winter Sonata inspite of its teary melodrama.
Thanks for the good news.
Sarang Hamnida,
josephine pasricha
Some people actually say that they think the anime is useless for they don't know that it's not just a reproduction of the original story.
But heck,I'm in love with Winter Sonata so much I wouldn't care less if they turn the whole series into an anime.
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