{"id":25431,"date":"2018-08-08T23:08:32","date_gmt":"2018-08-09T06:08:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/?p=25431"},"modified":"2018-11-14T14:56:48","modified_gmt":"2018-11-14T22:56:48","slug":"330a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/330a\/","title":{"rendered":"Harutoshi Fukui Interview, May 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"1808icon\"<\/p>\n

The day before Yamato 2202 Chapter 5 was released in theaters, this brief but insightful interview with Series Writer Harutoshi Fukui was published on Otonanswer<\/em>. Also included here is his introduction from the theatrical program book.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

The day before Yamato 2202 Chapter 5 was released in theaters, this brief but insightful interview with Series Writer Harutoshi Fukui was published on Otonanswer<\/em>. Also included here is his introduction from the theatrical program book.<\/p>\n

Talking Yamato 2202, Soldiers of Love<\/em> with Harutoshi Fukui; where we\u2019ve been and where we\u2019re going<\/h2>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

See the original article here<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Yamato 2202<\/em> has reached Chapter 4, and we interviewed series writer Harutoshi Fukui to hear his current feelings on having just three chapters left. He shared his thoughts on handing the script for this national anime.<\/p>\n

This work is a sequel to Yamato 2199<\/em> and is set three years after the voyage to Iscandar. In order to protect Planet Telezart from an invasion by the Gatlantis Empire, the former Yamato<\/em> crew takes on the challenge of a voyage to Telezart.<\/p>\n

One more, then it\u2019s a grand slam<\/h3>\n

Interviewer:<\/em><\/span> In terms of all seven chapters, I\u2019ve heard that Chapter 4 is the turning point. What is your feeling now that you\u2019re entering Chapter 5?<\/p>\n

Fukui:<\/em><\/span> Last year I felt that coming this far would be \u201cone more step,\u201d but now I don\u2019t feel that way. It\u2019s the feeling of being at the halfway point and still having so many things to do. From here, the story gets denser and darker. It\u2019s almost time to start on the ending, in such a way that you think it\u2019s going in this direction and then it gets flipped over with a boom.<\/p>\n

Interviewer:<\/em><\/span> After Gundam UC<\/em> ended, next you were in charge of composition and scriptwriting for Yamato 2202<\/em>. How do you feel about the creation of two major anime titles that represent Japan?<\/p>\n

Fukui:<\/em><\/span> It feels like if I do one more, then it\u2019s a grand slam. I didn\u2019t aim for that (laughs), but when I finished Gundam<\/em> there was no serious plan to work on something else, and when I was thinking about what to do I got the offer for Yamato<\/em>. I thought it was special providence. When I got on board, it was harder than I thought. Whether Yamato<\/em> or Gundam<\/em>, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s important to keep on chasing after them, because I graduated from Yamato<\/em> and Gundam<\/em> a long time ago. If I remade them because I was unable to graduate from them, and thought I\u2019d only end up projecting my own ego, I wouldn\u2019t have taken them on. I undertook them because I\u2019d gained a modicum of distance from them.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Interviewer:<\/em><\/span> You had a ship in Another Country\u2019s Aegis<\/em> and a submarine in Lorelei at the End of the War<\/em>, and you\u2019re dealing with battleships this time. Do you feel a connection to ships?<\/p>\n[Translator\u2019s note: the two titles mentioned here are novels by Fukui that were adapted into live-action films.]
<\/p>\n

Fukui:<\/em><\/span> There is no doubt that I have a connection with ships. I guess I haven\u2019t done a story where no ship appears. Ships are suitable for an ensemble drama in a closed space. As characters become integrated into a crew, they can stand up against a powerful enemy. In that way, I think it suits me.<\/p>\n

Interviewer:<\/em><\/span> Do you have a boat license?<\/p>\n

Fukui:<\/em><\/span> I don\u2019t have a license, and I don\u2019t want to get on board one. It has the image of taking you somewhere far beyond Japan, which I might have liked as a child. In my generation, I first knew Yamato<\/em> as the space battleship rather than the actual battleship. There were hundreds of ships in Tokyo Bay, and I longed for such a ship as a child.<\/p>\n

Interviewer:<\/em><\/span> I feel that there are many so-called \u201cBuddies\u201d in your work. In Yamato<\/em>, I think the relationship between the main characters Susumu Kodai and Klaus Keyman is like that.<\/p>\n

Fukui:<\/em><\/span> It\u2019s not a buddy thing, it\u2019s a clash between generations. If a story advances with only one set of values, it will be a sermon or propaganda rather than a story. Whatever the right answer, even if someone has it from the beginning, it\u2019s good to clash even with a boy who doesn\u2019t have it. As a human being, I think the real thrill of an ensemble story is when the truth appears for an instant and then disappears.<\/p>\n

In the Showa era, it was unshakable that the teachings of a predecessor were absolute justice, but that is not so in the Heisei world (post-1980s). Companies collapsed from doing what the predecessor said, and now AI is good enough. How should one live in such a world? In this world, problems happen every day that the predecessors in the family line never had to face. I wonder what beliefs we can live by.<\/p>\n

When I think about that, this Yamato<\/em> fits well. It\u2019s like, \u201cThere\u2019s a lid for every pot.\u201d In keeping with that, we have the conflict of Captain Okita, the predecessor in the previous series saying not to use the Wave-Motion Gun. How does Susumu Kodai deal with that? I figured it would be easy for adults living in the Heisei era to sympathize. With that, I was able to depict it with the same methodology as usual.<\/p>\n

Interviewer:<\/em><\/span> In that sense, is Keyman a statement to the previous work that we should recognize a buddy over a senior?<\/p>\n

Fukui:<\/em><\/span> It has an implication of betrayal.<\/p>\n

Interviewer:<\/em><\/span> It\u2019s the same as with your characters in Aegis<\/em> and Lorelei<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Fukui:<\/em><\/span> In fact, one person is looking in a different direction than everyone else, but when we finish they\u2019re all looking in the same direction. Or maybe he was standing at the top. Since the breadth of change is the fun of the story, Keyman feels exactly like that. Because everyone takes the lead now.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The thought behind Soldiers of Love<\/em><\/h3>\n

Interviewer:<\/em><\/span> Only fighters have appeared before now, but Mobile Space Armor appears in Chapter 4. Whose idea was that?<\/p>\n

Fukui:<\/em><\/span> Makoto Kobayashi suggested it, and I thought it was interesting. It would be a problem if I have to make the Space Cavalry appear, and there weren\u2019t many scenes or highlights for them. When it comes to ship vs. ship, it\u2019s about the melee of ships clashing with each other. I wanted to be able to have characters at the forefront of that.<\/p>\n

Interviewer:<\/em><\/span> Was there any part of the armor you were particular about?<\/p>\n

Fukui:<\/em><\/span> The first thing I cared about was, make it clearly not Gundam<\/em>. (Laughs)<\/p>\n

Interviewer:<\/em><\/span> On the Gatlantis side, there\u2019s a line about \u201cA war because of love,\u201d but will there be a response to that on the Yamato<\/em> side?<\/p>\n

Fukui:<\/em><\/span> There will be a bloody answer to that. After all, the story of Farewell to Yamato<\/em> clearly said, \u201ceveryone will die for love.\u201d When that is replaced by the present-day world, only the term suicide bombing comes out. There was criticism in those days that it glorified suicide. Now it is more directly related to terrorism.<\/p>\n

Therefore, it is necessary to prepare a considerable resolution for the title Soldiers of Love<\/em> in the modern day. I dared to bring the title in as is and tell a story that can embody it. It began with a snap decision, and that\u2019s how the scripts are going all the way to the end. Moreover, the meaning of Soldiers of Love<\/em> is different from that time.<\/p>\n

Interviewer:<\/em><\/span> Chapter 5 will be shown in theaters soon, then it\u2019s on to Chapters 6 and 7. I\u2019d like to finish with as many future highlights as possible.<\/p>\n

Fukui:<\/em><\/span> Chapter 5 is \u201cturning point\u201d in the flow of introduction, development, denouement, and conclusion. It\u2019s a point in the composition that should turn toward \u201cconsolidation,\u201d but we don’t see the consolidation. There is a setup, and despite the converging catharsis, there is a development that betrays it. For those who saw the original work, there is an impact and something equivalent to trauma. <\/p>\n

You think you\u2019ve been beaten, but then something amazing comes from inside. That feeling of despair and surprise is also imitated in Hollywood grammar. If so, what could happen if we tried to recreate that feeling? That\u2019s the Yamato<\/em> I\u2019m making now. From here on, there will be a series of surprises for those who saw it back then. For those who didn\u2019t, I\u2019m making something that will not come up short compared to the latest thing. Once you start watching, you won\u2019t want to stop.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Chapter 5 Introduction<\/h3>\n

by Harutoshi Fukui, from the theatrical program book<\/em><\/p>\n

Gatlantis vs Andromeda<\/em> fleet!! Behold, the dreadful city empire!!<\/h2>\n

Is it greater than Earth?<\/h3>\n

As usual, please pardon the oncoming spoilers.
\nBe sure to read this after you watch volume 5.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve taken your family hostage. If you don\u2019t want them killed, then do what I say!\u201d <\/p>\n

This sort of villain line is the most standard of standards, especially for those of us who are pushing 50. I think that in the tokusatsu hero shows I watched in my childhood, that line would inevitably show up in one or two episodes. Adding in adult-oriented detective shows, I think I may have heard this line about a hundred times.<\/p>\n

And so the threatened party does what the bad guys tell them to, obeys their demands, and are then saved through the efforts of the hero. As as child, I thought that they might sacrifice themselves to at least save their families, seeing how the demands were always for something like an \u201cEarth Destruction Bomb\u201d or \u201cPoison Gas That Will Kill Everyone In Tokyo.\u201d If the Earth itself was threatened, saving your family can\u2019t really be helped, can it?<\/p>\n

Well, if the damage is just limited to Tokyo, then I suppose you could escape to Chiba or Saitama, but if the hostages are being held in exchange for the Earth or all of humanity, then the premise doesn\u2019t really hold up.<\/p>\n

No, no, even if you limit it to Tokyo, it\u2019s still no good. It\u2019d be ridiculous to endanger other people for the sake of one wealthy family. We wrap up that sort of egotism in pretty words like \u201cfamilial love\u201d and unconditionally excuse it. It\u2019s a deception in regard to the contradiction of human society, isn\u2019t it? Anyway, this has gotten a bit long, but these were the author\u2019s impressions upon becoming a middle school student. (My still watching these things after entering middle school is an entirely separate discussion). <\/p>\n

So, having these thoughts prompts the thought experiment of \u201cWhat would I do?\u201d if I was still a kid, with no idea yet of being burdened with responsibilities to a family, who considers placing his life in the balance. You\u2019d think \u201cLet me save the Earth in exchange for my life.\u201d Yes, that\u2019s it. If possible, you\u2019d want everyone to know \u201cHe sacrificed himself for Earth\u2019s sake,\u201d but even if it happened in secret, you\u2019d think \u201cWell, I think I\u2019d be able to die satisfied.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the other hand, it\u2019s far more frightening for people to not know whether they\u2019d save the Earth or not. At this point, if you won\u2019t step into the realm of asking \u201cWell, would you sacrifice the girl you have a crush on?\u201d then it\u2019s all just a middle schooler\u2019s thought experiment in the end. At the very least, for me, there\u2019s nothing more serious in the world than my own life. The moment I\u2019m asked to offer something worth more than my life, the experiment ends, because I am invincible. At the risk of sounding annoyingly simplistic, that\u2019s what it is to be a child, isn\u2019t it? <\/p>\n

As we go through life, in the period from puberty into our 20\u2019s, while I risk having this taken the wrong way, you come to feel that your life is fairly cheap. If we believe that it does have value, then somewhere inside we also have the hidden desire for there to be some danger in which we can easily offer our lives. It can\u2019t be denied that an aspect of that youthful mentality was taken advantage of with the kamikaze pilots of the old Japanese military. Perhaps, as we tearfully watched Farewell to Yamato<\/em> 40 years ago, those same sorts of heartstrings in us were being plucked.<\/p>\n

But, as that pubescent mentality I had becomes more distant in my memory, and I have long since been burdened with the responsibilities of a family, we now run that thought experiment again with completely different priorities and meanings manifesting before us. <\/p>\n

Trade your life for the world\u2026
\nYes, I could. Moreso than before.<\/p>\n

The reason being that I now have a wife and child in this world. There are things which are more important than my life. Well, what if you ask me to trade my family\u2019s life for the world? As a child, I could cut the Gordian Knot by simply declaring \u201cIt\u2019s a ridiculous premise!\u201d but I\u2019m sure I\u2019m not the only one who would realize that he couldn\u2019t. At the very worst, maybe I\u2019d say just my wife, so long as I could die with her (cue commentary from the nation\u2019s wives).<\/p>\n

But children, especially very little children, dying with me is something that I could never accept. The duty to protect and raise children, and your duty as a member of human society\u2026they\u2019re really not equivalent. On a sentimental level, the former completely overrides the latter. I understand it in theory. Children will not live long or happily in a world that\u2019s controlled by evil. But, if I were in that situation, I\u2019d probably do all I can to delude myself. With the magic words, \u201cSo long as I live, then I\u2019ll manage somehow.\u201d<\/p>\n

In volume 3, Kodai and Yuki both make a decision \u2014 one might better call it an impulse \u2014 to adopt a phony sort of cruelty to each other, arriving at a coldness that approaches madness. Like Katou has now\u2026<\/p>\n

If we think of this as a game, with the urge strong to put the thought experiment into practice, then who is Zordar, who sneers at love? Guessing from his eyes that silently look down on a healthily crying baby, that regard Sabera, who was revived as a puppet, the truth is\u2026well, I suppose, in the end, there\u2019s no hint of anything in there.<\/p>\n

The 21st century edition of Soldiers of Love<\/em> now approaches its climax.<\/p>\n

Translation by Neil Nadelman.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25431"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25431\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25732,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25431\/revisions\/25732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}