A movie was born on this desk...
...and is about to be sent off all over the world.
Katsuhiro Otomo.
His superb talent...
...has been highly recognized all over the world.
American version
The comic book Akira...
French version
...has been translated and published overseas...
Italian version
...and sold more than 5 million copies.
Spanish version
Taiwanese version
Indonesian version
Brazilian version
Akira "Overseas version"
The anime Akira...
...received favorable reviews at film festivals all over the world.
Katsuhiro Otomo is now the center of attention...
...as a world-class creator.
That bike's been designed just for me. It's too much for a kid like you.
Someday we will be...
Seven years since Akira...
...a new door is opening into the Otomo zone.
After Akira...
Producer-Director Katsuhiro Otomo
...we have been considering the world market...
...during the development phase...
...which meant we wanted to create high-quality visuals...
...both technically and business-wise.
I wanted to create something superior to other Japanese animation films.
Now, let us show you the pilot film prepared before the film's premier.
In Bernard 4th Galaxy, the space salvage ship Corona...
...received an SOS from a wrecked spaceship on its return trip...
...and went for a rescue required by the space journey code.
- Okay, we're in. -Be careful.
It's more like a lift than an air lock.
- Where is the monitor? -To the side.
This is an antiquated facility.
It's from the last century.
I hope we find something valuable.
Oxygen?
Air seems fresh. Radiation is in the green.
- How's the magnetic field looking? -It's fine.
Stable now, but you can never tell.
Get back here in three hours.
What a rough greeting!
Be careful! Here comes the gravity!
Okay, okay.
Escort to the bottom of hell, huh?
Let's go!
Wow! Who built such a palace?
Papa, welcome back!
Did you bring me a present?
I've been a good girl, waiting so long!
Emily!
Papa!
Aoshima, can we fire the analyzer cannon?
What? Wait! They're still inside!
If we don't, we'll all be dead!
Quick!
Emily, I'm home. How are you?
Welcome home, my darling.
A man accidentally takes a medicine...
...which was secretly being developed by the government.
The medicine starts to transform inside his body...
...and turns him into an enormous bomb.
And off he goes to Tokyo.
Amongst the exploding stinks...
...can all three branches of the self-defense force actually stop him?
Is this God's revenge on humans who've played too much with science?
Or is this the chaotic outcome of a dead-end civilization?
What is the fate of Tokyo with its 10 million people?
Will there be a tomorrow for this fertile Kanto Plain?
Can we save Tokyo and Japan?
Well, that's gonna be pretty tough...
Dispatch from HQ, as of 9:20 today.
Target data follows.
Direction: 2 o'clock and 15 minutes. Launching angle: 42 degrees.
Weather adjustment: direction minus 2 degrees.
Launching angle plus 1 degree.
Start the ultimate contest!
Today's wind is from the west at force level five.
In the afternoon, the velocity will be...
Humidity is 60%. No chance of rain.
Shoot and blast, we won't ask for anything until we shoot.
Repeat after me:
Shoot and blast, we won't ask for anything until we shoot.
And lastly, “Oh, what fun if the cannons were mine... “
We were talking about making a few videos...
...based on my sci-fi shorts.
So we continued the development.
We encountered various obstacles, and the project was halted once.
By the time we resurrected it...
...we were planning for a theatrical release.
That's about when...
...I started thinking about the content.
Since there were three episodes...
...when I finished one, there was the next.
I sort of...
I wanted to surprise them. Well, not surprise, but...
I wanted to keep presenting the unexpected...
...all the way through the end credits.
I wanted to make something you just run through, you know.
I think I did too much...
...on my own for Akira.
Well, I still am this time too.
But since I got directors for all three episodes...
...it wasn't as hard as Akira.
It gave me a new perspective on the film.
It is an omnibus.
I wanted to keep it diverse.
That's why I got different directors.
Both Okamura and Morimoto come from doing original drawings.
Actual directors should probably do it...
...but in Japanese animation...
...writers often become directors.
It was time for Okamura and Morimoto...
...to start directing.
I could trust them.
Episode 1 - "Magnetic Rose" Director - Shoji Morimoto
After we finished Akira and the next one, Réjin Z...
...Otomo talked to me...
...about making a simple video.
I was pushing...
...for "Magnetic Rose"...
...or "Goodbye, Weapon."
Ultimately, to achieve an overall balance...
...we decided to go with "Magnetic Rose."
We were at a bar talking about it casually...
...but once we opened the lid...
...it turned out to be a pretty big project.
"Magnetic Rose."
How about that...
I think this one is the most intense, but I placed it first.
I think you can still enjoy it. It is entertainment, after all.
There is an entertaining element.
I guess it's a bit like a horror piece.
It's like a ghost story, but I think it's okay like that.
The highlights? Well, the highlight would be...
Well, we made very detailed drawings...
...and the music matches the picture very well.
I think the finished product is excellent.
Did you have to add to the original story?
Earlier on...
...I felt something was missing.
I was talking to Mr. Kon, the writer.
We said, "There's something wrong."
We changed a lot around in the fourth draft.
There wasn't much of a story...
...surrounding Heintz.
The one entering the Rose is merely an observer.
The point of view of the person entering the Rose...
...the garden, the weird building, wondering who built it...
...that didn't hold the story for 40 minutes.
So we gave a story...
...to the person entering.
And that story...
...is the memories of a girl.
We wanted to present the story subjectively.
That's how we built the story.
What about the use of CG?
When we use computers...
...our rule is to not make the computer-generated scenes stand out.
Once a scene is obviously CG...
...the next three cuts will seem like nothing.
We tried hard to avoid that.
Rather, we put in a lot of effort...
...to make the CG not look like CG.
That's how we used computers.
About the music
I was very pleased with the music.
When I worked on a piece called Macross Plus...
...Ms. Kanno, the composer...
...had a scene to score.
I was in charge for the scene. That's how I found her music.
Honestly...
...I didn't like the piece very well...
...but when I heard the music...
...I got my confidence.
So I thought when I get to direct, I would like to use her.
Composer - Yoko Kanno
Her sensitivity comes through in her music.
So l hardly had to give her much direction.
Orchestra - Members of Czech Philharmonic Orchestra
I pretty much let her do her thing.
Especially because we had the opera...
...as an indispensable element...
...she may have been hindered...
...from feeling completely free creatively.
But she still did a great job within that framework.
Did you have a key phrase during production?
Because of all the work, we called "Magnetic Rose" a work magnet.
Both Eva and Heintz...
...had to escape the magnetic field...
...so Mr. Kon and I used to say...
...we had to escape...
...the magnetic field...
...called "Otomo."
Otherwise, we wouldn't succeed.
So in that way, this may be the least Otomo-esque piece.
It is different from Akira...
...although the audience may expect...
...some sort of extension from it...
...but I believe they will understand...
...once they see this.
I would like them to know...
...that this is what we enjoy doing.
Episode 2 - Stink Bomb Director - Tensai Okamura
Well, when I heard about it, it was supposed to be video.
I was assuming something like Réjin Z.
After we started working...
...suddenly I realized it was theatrical.
I think "Stink Bomb" is all about the groove.
It's a story to zip through.
Whether or not you get into the groove...
...also depended on the music.
As Otomo mentioned earlier about "zipping through"...
...I wanted to create a rhythm in the story.
I think I managed to do that.
Since it was supposed to be video...
...I was making the storyboards conservatively.
Then I was told to be more elaborate.
That's how it went.
After I drew the first part, I was asked to do more with it.
Then it got harder.
Then I drew the second part, and it got even harder and harder as I went.
In the beginning, there would be only one or two people in a frame...
...then there had to be more than five people in a frame later on.
The work got harder.
The last half of the episode...
...in the scenes where the self-defense forces fight...
...there's a lot of detail on the machines.
You'll find many weapons that shouldn't be there.
But you'll enjoy finding them.
Usually, Otomo would come up with the specific actions in his head.
He just tells me the cuts and the scenes.
The very first scene at the hospital...
...where the camera zooms out from the TV screen...
...was also a scene I didn't plan to make so elaborate.
But Otomo had made the storyboard like that.
I was going, "Oh, my God!"
But I worked with the animators to create what he wanted.
The hardest scene, overall...
...was the one in which you first see the interior of the defense ministry.
I think it took more than a month to do the original drawings for this cut.
It's not just the people, but also the monitors in the back.
I had to do that myself, which made the whole process quite an ordeal.
What about that incident?
People who were making the episode...
...believed this kind of thing could never happen.
We went to some pharmaceutical labs to research...
...and they checked us pretty thoroughly.
We basically thought such an incident could never happen.
We thought of it as just a story in a comic...
...but a similar incident actually had happened. We were all shocked.
I think reality is actually getting closer...
...to the world of animation, comics or fiction.
It's not that we are going there, but reality is coming here.
I don't want the audience to get philosophical...
...but just zip through the episode and enjoy it.
Episode 3 - "Cannon Fodder" Director - Katsuhiro Otomo
Regarding the "one-cut process"
Everybody talks about one-cut, but it didn't end up that way.
For me, it was more about making...
...the picture flow...
...like a scroll.
I wasn't necessarily particular to the one-cut concept.
I didn't plan it that way...
Storyboards for "Cannon Fodder"
...but it just happened as I was preparing the storyboard.
I wasn't tied up with the one-cut idea at all.
-It did make it very hard to shoot. -Lots of retakes?
I couldn't allow too many retakes, but I did.
Also, there was a lot of experimentation.
I wanted to do something new.
Like CIS and computers...
...I tested computer-related technology in the beginning.
This was the last episode, but I really wanted more time.
And our computer environment was not completely set up yet.
When I decided to use computers...
...they weren't ready, which forced us to improvise as we worked.
It wasn't because I wanted to use computers.
I wanted to create certain pictures.
In the flow of production, we only used computers...
...to create effects we were not able to create in animation before.
That's why we didn't show off the computerized effects.
Which scenes were difficult?
You may have to ask the director of photography.
Giant background used in "Cannon Fodder"
Everything was pretty hard. Long hours of shooting.
Well, not just in "Cannon Fodder"...
...but overall...
...perhaps the world view...
Characters? I wasn't going to get involved.
I'm getting bored with my own drawings.
Besides, there are a lot of animators who are better than me.
Reason for selecting the composer for title music
Because of the title, Memories...
...I thought it may not seem to take place in the present.
So I wanted to bring in "the present"...
...the present Japan, in the ending.
That's why I chose techno-dance music.
I wanted the audience to exit dancing.
I asked for danceable music.
Plus, the ending credit roll is pretty long.
About six minutes. So it's long enough to dance.
Yes, I want them to dance, to exit the theater dancing.
Usually, people start reflecting...
...on the movie when the credits start rolling.
I wanted them to start reflecting...
...after they had exited the theater.
So I want them to exit dancing and think about it later.
Well, it's a weird story.
Highlights in "Cannon Fodder"?
I guess I want people...
...to submerge themselves into that world...
...without thinking about it too much.
A message to people who bought tickets in advance
Everybody enjoys it differently.
What I wanted to make...
...was a film with tension...
...like a tornado storming through your life.
So just enjoy.
Well, see you at the theater.
Seven years since Akira
A door opens to the new Otomo zone
What was that?
Ten-hut!
From the unknown
Comes
Three fantasy worlds
Memories aren't an escape!