Star Driver The Movie: Special Interview’s 2 & 3

Special Interview 02 Hayami Saori (Wako)

[Original]

––Ms. HAYAMI, you’ve already seen a pre-screening, what did you think?

HAYAMI It was really intense, from beginning to end. First and foremost is moves really fast! (lol) The TV series moved pretty fast too, especially in the action scenes, but it’s even faster now. I saw the movie first thing in the morning, but it immediately blew away any feeling of drowsiness I had (lol).

––And Wako has a Galactic Pretty Boy costume now.

HAYAMI Yeah. Actually, I saw the design for the first time when we were recording for the radio show. I was there with Miyano (Mamoru) and we both exclaimed, “W-Wako!” when we saw it (lol). During the TV series we were always surrounded by other characters who had sexy components (lol), while Wako was always sort of simple in contrast, she almost had a boyish feel to her…. So when I saw her Galactic Pretty Boy costume, I thought, “this really brings out her feminine side!”

––After playing Wako again in the movie, what sort of impression do you have of her now?

HAYAMI She’s sorta broken free of the story so far, I think she’s pretty different from how she was in the TV series. I think Wako has an image of a lively, spirited girl. Especially in the beginning, but as the story progresses the circumstances around her change, she learns how Sugata feels about her and she gradually grows. Like, her heart has grown a few sizes or something. The movie in particular has a lot of scenes of Wako worrying, crying, and in pain. I think those scenes are really important to her character.

––Ms. Hayami, were there any scenes that left a particular impression on you personally?

HAYAMI The new parts for sure. And then in the middle with Wako’s new song.

––It’s quite a lovely song, isn’t it.

HAYAMI It’s really refreshing! (lol) It’s the kind of song that just makes you want to go to Hawaii or Paris or some place like that. Like, where the morning breeze comes through an open window, making lace curtains flutter about (lol). I think both the melody and lyrics reflect both Wako’s sparkling personality and her honest, straight-forward nature. You’ll have goosebumps throughout the whole movie, but please pay special attention to her song.

Special Interview 03
Fukuyama Jun (Sugata)

[Original]

––You saw the film, so what did you think of it?

FUKUYAMA I thought it was a rather dense piece. During the screening I felt kind of exhausted* just looking at the screen, I guess you could say. Once it sucks you in the time goes by in a flash and you don’t even notice it. I think it’s a film that won’t betray the audience’s feelings. I hate to brag, but I think it was really interesting.

{*er, in a good way, I couldn’t think of a better way to phrase it, like, it’s jam-packed with stuff?}

––Mr. Fukuyama, which scenes caught your attention?

FUKUYAMA I think the part that completely drew me in was Mizuno and Marino’s story. That’s the point where, even as part of the TV series, the atmosphere is pretty different, and in the movie now, I think the way it was compiled, at least personally I found it very impressive… It felt like it pulled me right into the screen. While there’s certainly a wide variety of imagery [in the film], from Mizuno’s story on, it really sucks you in.

––You really can feel the drama of it in that part.

FUKUYAMA And, I really love the rapid-fire editing of the battle scenes in the beginning. Personally, it has a sort of, “don’t sweat the small stuff” type feel to it, and I really love it (lol). With Japanese animation, we always try to cover every little detail, but what’s really important is the overall shape of things. You can tell how much care was put into everything with Takuto, Wako and Sugata at the center along with the four Maidens’ stories at the center. There are playful sections-–and serious ones, like the Mizuno scenes I mentioned before, and there’s a clear contrast between them. All two and a half hours of it are just filled to the brim, it really made me think, “wow.”

––Alright then, lastly, why don’t you tell us about some scenes to look out for!

FUKUYAMA There are all sorts of little tidbits crammed into even the musical scenes, I think it’s a film where you can really dig into the corners and layers and keep finding things. For those unfamiliar with Star Driver, it’ll be pure fun. And for those already acquainted with the story, I think it’ll be the kind of movie that’ll make you want to go rewatch them both and compare. Oh and pay special attention to the characters’ clothes! Especially the new clothes Takuto wears in the new parts, with the Star Driver logo on the chest. I wonder, is that going to end up becoming a piece of merchandise? (lol) {Oh FukuJun, u so silly}

Ikuhara’s Twitter “rant” about creatives not reading books…

I hate to use the word “rant” because he’s not really angry about it, but anyway:

 

年間、何冊ぐらいの本を読むのか。これは自分にとって、一緒に仕事をする人に対する指標となることが多い。

— 幾原邦彦 (@ikuni_noise) January 21, 2013

“How many books do you read a year?” That question tells me a lot about the people I’m working with.

「脚本家になりたい」という若い人と話をしたことがある。「面白い本を教えて」と聞いた。きっとマニアックなラノベのタイトルを教えてもらえる、と思っていた。でも彼は「僕は本を読まないんです」と答えた。とても驚いた。

— 幾原邦彦 (@ikuni_noise) January 21, 2013

Once, I was chatting with a young person who, “wants to be a screenwriter.” So I asked, “Any interesting book recommendations?” I was sure I was going to get a litany of popular light novel titles. But, he just responded, “I don’t read books.” I was shocked.

僕自身は「本を読む」という行為にコンプレックスがある。なぜなら中学生の同級生に「年間200冊読む」という人がいたからだ。僕は彼のことを軽蔑していた。「読む本の数に意味なんかない」と思っていたからだ。大学生のとき、ふとしたきっかけで「ある本」を手に取った。（つづく）

— 幾原邦彦 (@ikuni_noise) January 21, 2013

I’ve got something of a complex about the act of “reading books.” Because when I was in middle school, one of my classmates claimed to have read “200 books in a year.” I couldn’t stand him. I always believed, “the number of books you read is meaningless.” When I was in college, “a certain book” fell into my hands. (ctd.)

その本は衝撃的な内容だった。自分のそれまでの価値観を変えた。そして、かつての中学生の同級生がそのタイトルの本を当時読んでいたことを思い出した。冷や汗が出た。大学生の自分の衝撃を、彼は中学で既に体験していたのか？彼と交流がない今、そのことに意味があったかどうかわからない。（つづく）

— 幾原邦彦 (@ikuni_noise) January 21, 2013

This book had some shocking contents. It changed the values I’d held up until then. And then I remembered, that that kid back in middle school had read it back then. I broke out into a cold sweat. He’d already experienced the same shock I’d just felt from it as a college student, in middle school? I have no contact with him now, so I have no idea if that’s significant at all. (ctd.)

だが、自分の「知る」「知らなければ」という焦りは、そのことから始まっていると思う。

— 幾原邦彦 (@ikuni_noise) January 21, 2013

But, I think this all stems from my impatience [to learn things I "wanted to] know” and [those I felt I] “must know.”

そんな簡単に自分の人生を変える本を知ることはできないし、巡り会えないのです。だから焦るわけです。ネットにはこの情報は落ちてないからね。。。

— 幾原邦彦 (@ikuni_noise) January 21, 2013

There was no way I could have just known that that book would change my life, I happened upon it. And thus my impatience. That sort of information was nowhere to be found on the internet…

やはり「声優になりたいです」という若い人に会ったとき「最近、読んだ面白い本はなに？」と聞いたら、「本はあまり読みません」とのことだった。驚いた。演技する、という行為は「台詞やト書きの解釈力」を必要とすると思う。本を読むって大事だと思う。朗読すると、その人の解釈力がわかるから。

— 幾原邦彦 (@ikuni_noise) January 21, 2013

And so, when I met a young person who, “wanted to be a voice actor,” and I asked, “Have you read any interesting books lately?” I got the response, “I don’t really read books.” It shocked me. I think being able to “interpret dialogue and stage directions” are critical skills for an actor. I think reading books is so important. Because when someone reads aloud, you’re getting their interpretation of the piece.

Star Driver Movie Special Interview 01: Miyano Mamoru

Oh, what’s this, me posting about Star Driver again? Anyway, this interview just went up on the movie site. Enjoy:

Special Interview 01

Miyano Mamoru (Tsunashi Takuto)

––Since you’ve just recently seen a preview screening of the film, could you give us your frank impression of it?

MIYANO I was really overwhelmed. It was so entertaining, and I got to see Star Driver again in movie form. To me, it’s kind of like [looking back on] my ‘youth.’ Like I really put my ‘youth’ in this series.

––So, Takuto himself aside, you put your ‘youth’ into it when you were playing him, huh.

MIYANO It was so dazzling I could barely make Takuto out (lol). During the climax, Wako has this line, “Maybe Takuto’s first phase is making everyone smile,” I think it’s something like that. Takuto worries and gets down in his own way, but everything about him just sparkles. He’s always honest and frank and never dwells on the past. I really felt that aspect of him in this film. Especially in the final scene, I was watching Takuto and I just started to tear up. Takuto’s radiance touched me and made my heart tremble, the tears just spilled out. I think it’s very powerful.

––We get a glimpse of Takuto a little more grown up in the new cuts.

MIYANO Getting to see a new side of everyone really made my heart pound. Like, “Wow! They’re in Shinjuku!” (lol). And that final scene is really impressive. It’s like, their story will still continue from here. When I thought, “They’ll carve out another, new story,” it made me want to meet Takuto and the others again. {I think it’s really cute how Miyano uses 会う re: Takuto}

––So, you’re interested in where Takuto and the others are headed from here on?

MIYANO In the last episode, [Takuto] said, “We’ll see a different, but even more amazing sky,” [there's always] that ‘sky.’ Takuto’s lines that give voice to his convictions––like his “I can see it,” line and so on, I think those lines carry a really important message for us even in our regular lives. You can’t use magic to make your dreams come true, but you can cut open your own future if you hold those dreams tight and work toward them. It’s kind of a testament to that. I think that ‘sky’ that appears in the end is the embodiment of that positive energy.

––So, finally, please give a message to everyone eagerly waiting to see the movie.

MIYANO There are all sorts of things I want you to watch for, but ultimately, it’s “entertainment.” It’s a movie that’ll make you laugh and cry and feel refreshed when you finish watching it. So, everyone, don’t miss it. I think we should enjoy our ‘youth’ together. Let’s sing out our youths together!

Ikuhara’s new project, Penguinbear?

Been posting about this all day on /a/, might as well consolidate everything in a post.

Ikuni tweeted the following yesterday:

みんなまだ気がついてない？RT @lvdctv: 某アレのリアクションが皆無で大変に心配になっているのだけど、それは明日以降なのかな？（ ・(ｪ)・ ）—
幾原邦彦 (@ikuni_noise) August 10, 2012

@ikuni_noise: Has no one noticed yet? RT @lvdctv: I’m really concerned about how everyone’s going to react to “that,” but I guess we won’t know until tomorrow? （ ・(ｪ)・ ）

(Note: @lvdctv is Penguindrum’s producer.)

Turns out, a mysterious URL was included on one of the postcards in the goods pack the Penguindrum team is selling at Comiket right now: http://www.penguinbear.com/

This is all that’s on the site at the moment:

It’s pretty similar to the early Penguindrum splash sites. The text reads, “Find it without getting mixed up in that transparent/invisible storm.” Transparent/Invisible being one of those keywords from the show.

So what is Penguinbear? Your guess is as good as mine. This chunk of that one event report from shortly after the show ended might be relevant though:

One audience member asked: “Do you have any desire to remake Penguindrum with the same cast of characters, but completely gag or completely serious? What would it be about?”

(Personally, I took this as a question about whether there were any plans to produce a parallel story continuation type thing, lol)

Ikuhara: “I do.”
Audience: Zawa… zawa…
Ikuhara: “As far as what it’d be about….. that’s a secret *smirk*.”
Audience: WOAH

(Doesn’t it seem like a very Ikuhara-esq way to hint at a sequel? lol I think {the meat of} both the question and the answer was flying under the radar. The director’s a real entertainer.)

[EDIT] Koizumi just acknowledged the site through an RT. No one else on staff has mentioned it overtly yet. [EDIT2] Lol, he just undid it. I guess he wasn’t supposed to do that, haha.

The Basara Movie

Some notes about the Basara Movie:

First off, this took a long time because 1) me and my friend, who was the primary TL on this, both have jobs and other lol fansubbing obligations and 2) everyone talks really fucking weird. For example:

Mitsunari? That fucker loves making up words because actual Japanese isn’t angry enough to convey his RAGE. We were considering smashing together English words to reflect this, but most of our solutions were too stupid sounding to work at all (ex. “zanmetsu” yeah that’s not actually a word, it’s “decapitate” smashed into “destroy” -– I almost made it “decapistroy”).

His other tic is that he likes to use passive imperatives. No that’s not a typo PASSIVE IMPERATIVES (morelike passive aggressive amirite). So shit like ordering people, not to “die” but to “BE KILLED.”

I’m sure some of you hate how we rendered Masamune in the translation, but in our most humble opinions, no one has quite captured just how fucking obnoxious he is in English. Even his voice actor thinks he’s an obnoxious little shit (at the VA greeting event before the movie premier we went to, Nakai said something to the effect of “I feel kind of bad for Mitsunari. He’s just honestly trying to avenge his lord and then THIS FUCKER crashes in, spouting English left and right and generally being totally disrespectful!”).

Also, any Engrish errors (“Long time know see!”) were present in the script included with the Bluray. We left them intact because, quite frankly, Masamune is an idiot.

Other things:

You may have noticed that we translated the nicknames (Gyobu, Kingo, etc). They’re pretty much all plays on obscure Chinese court titles or similar things. I don’t remember specifics on all of them, but we tried to pick things that made sense and sounded reasonably like a nickname instead of a long string of words.

Mitsunari’s nicknames “The Minister of Misfortune” and “The King of Misfortune” are the same sort of thing. The longer title includes a play on how you read the kanji for Mitsunari. We went with “misfortune” over some variant on “evil” because idk, Mitsunari just comes off more pathetic than evil.

What else… Oh yeah, so this fucking movie has some lines/scenes that are so utterly incomprehensible that a lot of native Japanese people had no fucking clue what was going on in them. I found a lengthy post on one of those ask-people-questions sites in which one person asked for an explanation of that scene with Mitsunari and Otani in front of the Hideyoshi statue because Otani’s using metaphors + old timey Japanese, and in return got a 7 paragraph response from someone claiming to have seen the movie 6 times.

For some lines we decided to ignore whatever was literally being said in favor of cribbing lines from the US release of Basara 3 (see: some attack names, Oichi’s song and Keiji’s Basara phrase, though I made some tweaks to Oichi’s song to reflect what happens later). We sorta just picked and chose based on our own preferences for lines (basically if the Japanese was stupid we went with the English localization), so it’s not really a consistency thing.

And lastly (for now at least), when they re-kill Nobunaga at the end, he utters half of his historical final words: zehi mo nashi––which is just fancy old timey Japanese for everyone’s favorite “shikata ga nai.”

I think my friend and I should really get together and write some posts about actual history vs. Basara, because while Basara’s obviously completely ridiculous and not really attempting to be historically accurate pretty much ever, there are some interesting little nods to ~actual history~ that are pretty interesting.

Penguin News 2

[EDIT] BD2 bonus CD track listing:

1 絆・冠葉 – Bonds: Kanba
2 絆・チェイス – Bonds: Chase
3 やだなにこれ – Ew, What IS That?
4 恋のプレリュード – Prelude to Love
5 多蕗さんだらけの乙女ゲーム (オーディオドラマ) – The Totally Tabuki Dating Sim (Audio Drama)
6 乙女がタタッタ! – The Girl is TA-TA-TA! {I think this is a pun, tatatta as a SFX and past tense 叩く “to hit/abuse”}
7 妄想ワルツ – Delusional Waltz
8 衝撃の真実 (カーたんとラッちゃん) – Reality Bomb (Ottie and Kappie)
9 ピングミッション・リターンズ – Penguin Mission: Returns

 

Upcoming Episode titles

Station 18: So Just Be There For Me / だから私のためにいてほしい
Director & Storyboard: Yamauchi Shigeyasu – AD: Nishii Terumi & Baba Mitsuko
Nishii: I’m doing some of the key animation for episode 18 and it reminded me that Penguindrum has some actiony parts…Yamauchi Shigeyasu is directing episode 18, so I think it’ll be a pretty unique episode. Please look forward to it.

Station 19: My Soulmate / 私の運命の人
Director & Storyboard: Gotoh Keiji – AD: Gotoh Keiji, Ishii Kumi

Station 20: Thank You For Picking Me / 選んでくれてありがとう
Director & Storyboard: Hayashi Akemi – AD: TBA

Station 21: The Door of Fate That We Choose / 僕たちが選ぶ運命のドア
Director: Yamazaki Mitsue – Storyboard: Ikuni, Yamazaki Mitsue, Furukawa Tomohiro – AD: TBA

Station 22: Beautiful Coffin / 美しい棺
Staff (other than script): TBA

Novel 2 Spoiler Dump

Because easymodo is down. Spoilers go to ep 18.

Penguin Drum BD1 Bonus CD Tracklisting

1 運命の子たち – The Children of Fate
2 キラキラ – Sparkling
3 ボーイミーツガール – Boy Meets Girl
4 ペンギン0号殺ペン事件 (オーディオドラマ) – The Murder of Penguin 0 (Audio Drama)
5 ピングミッション – Penguin Mission
6 セクシーが来た! – Here Comes Sexy!
7 珊瑚の迷路 – Labyrinth of Coral
8 僕たちの望みの喜びよ – The Joy of Our Desiring

[source]

The first BD will be out on the 26th, that’s two days from now. If you can afford it you should probably consider buying it if for no other reason than the fact that the extras look fucking sweet:

- Episodes 1-3
- Audio commentary on all three episodes. Episode 1 is with Arakawa Miho (Himari) and Ikuni. Episodes 2 and 3 are with Arakawa Miho (Himari), Miyake Marie (Ringo) and Ikuni.
- HD versions of the 6 pre-show CMs
- Bonus CD containing:
— 7 OST tracks (listed above)
— The audio drama “The Murder of Penguin 0,” featuring: Kimura Subaru (Kanba), Kimura Ryohei (Shoma), Arakawa Miho (Himari) and Miyake Marie (Ringo) with script by: Takahashi Kei
- 4P guide booklet (this has a long interview with Ikuhara in it, it looked like it was 4 pages of solid text when they flashed it on KossoPin)
- 12P bonus booklet, “Princess of the Crystal” corrected genga collection
- Postcards of Hoshino Lily’s endcards for the first three episodes

 

Penguin News

General:

• There’s a Triple H ARB cover album to be released December 21st.
• Innocent World is doing a Penguindrum collaboration piece.
• Here’s what the second novel’s cover looks like. The book’s due out at the end of the month.

Upcoming Episodes:

[EDIT] Titles seem to have been fake!

Station 16: “True Feelings” 本当の気持ち  “The Immortal Man” 死なない男 (10/27)
Director & Storyboard: Kaneko Shingo – AD: Ishikawa Tomomi, Kagami Takahiro

Station 17: “The Me Inside the Cage” 檻の中の僕 “The Unforgivable” 許されざる者  (11/3)
Director, Storyboard & AD: Nakamura Shouko, Aizawa Masahiro – Storyboard: + Ikuhara

Station 18: “So Just Be There For Me” だから私のためにいてほしい (11/10)
Director: Yamauchi Shigeyasu – Storyboard: TBA – AD: Nishii Terumi
Nishii: I’m doing some of the key animation for episode 18 and it reminded me that Penguindrum has some actiony parts…Yamauchi Shigeyasu is directing episode 18, so I think it’ll be a pretty unique episode. Please look forward to it.

BD2′s LE content announced on Twitter:

- Episodes 4-6
- An interview with Hoshino Lily
- 12P booklet, “Hoshino Lily Original Character Design Collection”
- Commentary with Kimura Ryouhei, Kimura Subaru and Ikuni
- Bonus CD containing:
— The audio drama, “The Totally Tabuki Dating Sim”
— There will be more OST tracks, but no mention of how many {corrected because lol I can’t read}
- Postcards of Hoshino Lily’s endcards for 4-6

Penguin 13

Probably going to post some actual analysis/speculation later, but this just kind of hit me:

Sanetoshi asks this question in episode 13:

What do you think of the word “fate”?
Does the concept of fate exist in reality?
To put it simply, are people’s future set in stone when they are born, never to be challenged?
Do you believe in such a rule?

And each of the three main characters have already given their answers to it:

Shoma’s (also Kanba’s in 12) answer:

I hate the word “fate.”
Birth, encounters, partings, success and failure, fortune and misfortune in life.
If everything is already set in stone by fate, then why are we even born?
There are those born wealthy, those born of beautiful mothers and those born into war or poverty.
If that’s all caused by fate, then God must be incredibly unfair and cruel.
Because, ever since that day, none of us had a future.
The only thing we knew was that we would never amount to anything.

Kanba’s answer:

Why are people born?
If people are born only to suffer, is it meant as some kind of a punishment?
Or a cynical joke?
If that’s the case, animals that adhere to the survival strategies programmed in their DNA…are far more elegant and simple.
If there really is an existence worthy of being called “God,” I want to ask him just one thing.
Is there really fate in the universe?
If a man ignored his fate and his instincts and his DNA’s commands…to love someone…
Dear God, is he really human?
Just wondering.
I hate the word “fate.”

Ringo’s answer:

I love the word “fate.”
You know how they talk about “fated encounters”?
Just one single encounter can completely change your life.
Such special encounters are not coincidences.
They’re definitely… fate.
Of course, life is not all happy encounters.
There are many painful, sad predicaments.
It’s hard to accept that misfortunes beyond your control are fate.
But I think…there’s a meaning no matter how sad and painful it may be.
Nothing in this world is pointless.
Because… I believe in fate.

Anyway, kind of obvious and I don’t have any solid analysis atm, but I thought it was interesting.