Style.fm Interview with Osamu Dezaki about The Snow Queen

http://www.style.fm/as/13_special/mini_050613.shtml
Special Feature
Mini-Interview
Speaking with Director Osamu Dezaki: His enthusiasm for the new work, “The Snow Queen”
“The romance of travel. And drama that portrays people.”
Last month, NHK General Television began airing the latest work by director Osamu Dezaki: the TV series “The Snow Queen,” based on a Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale. In recent years Dezaki has mostly worked on theatrical films, and this is his first time directing a TV series since “The Legend of the White Whale” (from 1997). What direction is he taking with this project? We asked him to spare a little time from his busy schedule to talk with us.
● Broadcast information
“The Snow Queen” (planned for 39 episodes) is airing on NHK General Television every Sunday from 19:30 to 19:55.
PROFILE
Osamu Dezaki (Dezaki Osamu)
Animation director. Born November 18, 1943, Tokyo. Debuted as a rental-book manga artist while in high school; in 1963 he joined Mushi Production, then in the midst of producing Japan’s first full-fledged TV anime series, “Astro Boy” (“Tetsuwan Atom”). After stints at Art Fresh and Madhouse, he is currently with ANNAPURU, the studio he founded. He has worked on numerous titles, including “Ashita no Joe,” “Aim for the Ace!,” “Gamba’s Adventure,” “Nobody’s Boy: Remi,” “Treasure Island,” “The Rose of Versailles,” “Space Cobra,” “Dear Brother,” “The Legend of the White Whale,” and “Black Jack.” Recent works include the theatrical “Tottoko Hamtaro” and the theatrical “AIR.”
Oguro: First, what sort of structure did you have in mind for “The Snow Queen”?
Dezaki: …If you go only by the original “The Snow Queen,” there aren’t enough episodes for a TV series, so we decided to bring in other Andersen stories and also add some originals. We talked it over together and chose to do it that way. (Brief silence.) …To tell the truth, I haven’t slept at all today (wry smile).
Oguro: Ah, really!? I’m sorry to impose when you’re tired!
Dezaki: Well, we’ve slightly raised the age of the protagonist, Gerda. In the original, a little girl sort of wanders out of the house and ends up chasing after Kai, but in this series it’s not like that—she sets out on a journey of her own will to search for Kai. In that sense it may feel a bit new.
Oguro: Gerda’s become quite a lively girl, hasn’t she?
Dezaki: She’s not just “cute,” right? A girl like that grows tougher through traveling. I think it’ll be a kind of road movie. It’s not that it’s the female version of “Nobody’s Boy: Remi,” but the image of a person traveling—and what travel means—forms the bedrock of the story. Travel, truth be told, isn’t supposed to have too much meaning to it (laughs).
Oguro: (laughs) Your ideal is that travel should have no set purpose, right?
Dezaki: Yeah. I think that’s how it is.
Oguro: Certainly, judging from the first three episodes that have aired, the way the story proceeds and the atmosphere are closest to “Nobody’s Boy: Remi” among your works to date.
Dezaki: That might be close. There are all sorts of dramas along the journey, and the protagonist changes. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a long time, so that’s part of why I’m putting a lot into it. …Though today I’m worn out and running on empty (wry smile).
Everyone: (laughs).
Oguro: Up through what’s aired so far, you’ve storyboarded every episode yourself; how many do you plan to draw?
Dezaki: I’ll probably end up drawing more than 30. Right now 13 storyboards are done; I drew 11 of those myself. I’ve also made revisions to the other two.
Oguro: The protagonists’ daily lives are grounded, while only the Snow Queen and her underling are characters from a fantasy world. Will those two sides come closer together as it goes on?
Dezaki: Once they enter the Snow Queen’s territory, all kinds of things happen. Even in episode 1, to foreshadow that, there’s a church in the forest. As far as “fantasy,” I plan to weave themes like “miracles” into individual stories. We’ll also do tales like “The Red Shoes” and “The Little Match Girl.”
Oguro: I see.
Dezaki: But it’s tough, you know—folding those stories into Gerda’s journey.
Oguro: Gerda can’t very well become the little match girl herself.
Dezaki: The protagonist can’t die. Everyone knows “The Little Match Girl,” so I’d like to handle how Gerda gets involved in a way that doesn’t reduce her to a mere narrative device.
Oguro: Was making Gerda an active child meant to set her moving proactively so she can be woven into those stories?
Dezaki: More than that, I want the protagonist to have strength. Not just be swept along. In that sense, Gerda isn’t yet a “woman.” She’s a girl—she’s not yet an adult woman. She’s in that in-between. And fundamentally I think women have aspects where they’re stronger than men (laughs). Gerda is a free-spirited, strong girl in how she faces various things.
Oguro: In episode 1, Gerda says she’s faster on her feet, but she loses the footrace with Kai. Yet afterward she puts on a brave face—that part is adorable.
Dezaki: Yeah. When a novel is your source, what’s fun is that you can freely build characters in that way. The same goes for the characters designed by Akio Sugino.
Oguro: I see.
Dezaki: And it goes for how we portray the people who appear in the individual stories. Those dramas connect back to Gerda. So we need to think up serious—well, “serious” might sound odd—proper drama. I think that’s rewarding work. I don’t want to treat each episode’s guest characters perfunctorily—not just assign them a “role” and call it a day.
Oguro: In other words, you don’t want to make them merely “bad people” or merely “pitiful people.”
Dezaki: Right—we need to value those aspects.
Oguro: Ah, today we’re doing a normal interview.
Dezaki: Yeah, this is different from your usual coverage, Oguro-kun (laughs).
Oguro: Well, the show has only just begun airing, so I have to ask the basic things properly (laughs). What concerns me most going forward is the Snow Queen herself. As of now, you’re portraying her in a way that could be taken either as a villain or not, right?
Dezaki: Yeah. The Snow Queen is a spirit of nature—in other words, nature itself. Nature can be gentle to people, and it can be harsh. Depending on how people deal with it, it can become something frightening. I’m thinking of the Snow Queen not as a symbol of the realm of death, but as a symbol of all phenomena, lying between life and death. Exactly what that means will gradually become clear as you watch, so it’s a bit of a shame I can’t spell it all out here (wry smile).
Oguro: Before it aired, because it’s a fantasy, I thought it would be a softer-touch work, but there are depictions of the harshness of life and realistic elements too.
Dezaki: In that era, only a handful were well-off; for most people, poverty was the norm. In such a time, Gerda travels on her own two feet. At night she has to find somewhere to stay, and she has to figure out food too. Walking wears you out, and what if she gets sick—things like that. I want to pursue that kind of reality. Back on “Nobody’s Boy: Remi,” I did a story where Remi buys bread (episode 12, “Little Ringmaster Remi”). The unit of currency is the sou, and Remi only has 11 sous; he drops his money and can’t find one sou and desperately searches between the customers’ legs. I want to do those kinds of severe moments. How does a girl who doesn’t know left from right get by? She’s strong and doesn’t lose heart—well, sometimes she does (laughs). And from that dejection, she rises again. Vitalis’s line “Go forward!” might be present in this series too.
Oguro: How about the cast? You’ve got actors participating as well.
Dezaki: Gerda is good.
Oguro: She is, isn’t she.
Dezaki: The actors turned out better than expected. They were good, and I feel like something like a sense of dignity is emerging in the work.
Oguro: A troubadour appeared in episode 3. Someone like me thought, “I’ve been waiting for this!”
Dezaki: He’s a character not in Andersen. His name is Ragi, and he symbolizes the journey. Maybe he’s like a younger Vitalis.
Oguro: And that troubadour serves as the narrator, doing the storytelling.
Dezaki: Right. I hope that helps evoke a sense of romance.
Oguro: It’s been a while since you handled a TV series; how does it feel?
Dezaki: It’s tough, as expected. Every week the (film) stock gets used up. Right now it feels like I’m cutting one storyboard a week, and I’ve been drawing for about six straight weeks (laughs). But I only get about four days a week when I can concentrate on storyboards.
Oguro: Every week you’ve got postrecording and script meetings, after all.
Dezaki: And these days there’s V-edit (video editing), which takes time too. So on open days I have to draw storyboards all day. Well, there’s no point in talking about that here (wry smile).
Oguro: No, no—fans want to know how you work too. Even the NHK producer said, amazed, “Mr. Dezaki is working at an incredible speed.” At that pace, you don’t have time to go golfing.
Dezaki: I hardly go. Even when invited, I often turn it down. I think when this project ends I might not have any friends left (laughs).
Oguro: How is the production floor?
Dezaki: They’re working hard. With no time in the schedule, they’re still turning it into something solid. On the finer points I’ll say, “Not like this,” and get mad (laughs). In any case, if I can somehow get the storyboards done, the rest they’ll handle properly.
Oguro: What about the music?
Dezaki: I think it’s good. The way the music is placed isn’t showy for its own sake. It’s matched in a way that fits live-action sensibilities—or literary works, you might say. I like that. The quality of the music itself is like that too. Mr. (Akira) Senju isn’t doing it in a way that aims for immediate, literal effect. …In other words, it isn’t rock (laughs).
Oguro: The opening theme is refined too. That’s a violin, right?
Dezaki: As for the opening, at first I said, “If there’s no vocal, I can’t make the visuals!” (laughs)
Oguro: Without lyrics, it’s hard to form imagery for the visuals?
Dezaki: Yeah. I feel music in the words themselves. So drawing a storyboard without words is tough. And I don’t exactly have a refined sense for music (laughs). If anything, I like rock and enka, so it was all the harder. I drew the storyboards based on the themes inside me.
Oguro: Earlier you said this is the sort of drama you’ve wanted to do for a long time; could you talk a bit more about that?
Dezaki: This isn’t the kind of work where guns appear, or there’s murder, or other shocking elements, or a hero shows up and runs wild. There’s drama in the quieter parts of everyday life, and leading viewers along with that—that’s the basics of direction, I think. The previous work I did, “AIR,” was like that too, and I’m happy I’ve gotten the chance to depict people in that way; it’s been an education as well. I hope I can convey the appeal of drama itself.
● June 7, 2005
Interview location: Tokyo, NHK Broadcasting Center
Interview/Composition: Yuichiro Oguro
● Related pages
NHK Online
http://www.nhk.or.jp/
“The Snow Queen” program site
http://www.nhk.or.jp/anime/snowqueen/
Osamu Dezaki Official Fan Club
http://www.toshima.ne.jp/~styou/