Director of ‘Suzume’, “I listen to Ive’s music every day”

Director Makoto Shinkai showed interest in Korean culture. After listening to Ive's music, I couldn't hide my envy when a colleague told me that I got to work with Korean film director Bong Joon-ho.

On the afternoon of the 27th, director Makoto Shinkai gave an interview regarding the success of 'Suzume's Lockdown' at the Novotel Ambassador Seoul Yongsan.

On this day, director Makoto Shinkai smiled as he said, "I am very surprised because I couldn't imagine that so many people would see it in Korea," regarding the fact that 'Suzume's Lockdown' is about to exceed 5 million viewers. When asked about making a live-action movie of 'Suzume's Lockdown', he shook his head. He added, "It's a very shameful thing, but I'm not that interested in human actors. I like watching movies and dramas, but I can't remember the names of the human actors. I'm sorry I couldn't remember “The names are right away.” .

"I've been listening to Ive's latest single 'I Am' the most recently. I've been listening to it every day for a week now, but I don't know the name of a single member of that group. I think they're beautiful, pretty, and powerful, but I don't know the names of the members. "I can't."

When asked why director Makoto Shinkai is not interested in actors, he said, "If I were a live-action film director, I would always be interested in actors, but as an animation director, I am not interested in human actors." He added, "Animation creates characters from zero even if there are no actors." “The advantage is that I can pay,” he said with a smile.

When asked about collaborating with Korea, Director Shinkai said, "I haven't received any such collaboration proposals so far, so there are no plans yet, but the producer I worked with boasted about working with director Bong Joon-ho. I don' t know specifically what kind of movie he's making, but I'm jealous." “I thought about it,” he said, drawing attention.

Director Makoto was aware of the political confrontation that existed between Korea and Japan, but focused thoroughly on 'culture' and 'content'. I saw a trend in which political factors were being excluded from liking and consuming content.

"Japan also likes Korean dramas and K-pop and consumes a lot of them. In Korea, people are watching a lot of 'The First Slam Dunk' and 'Suzume's Lockdown' recently, but I don't think that's because they're only Japanese. When it comes to content, the country is I don't think it matters. I just think I'm enjoying something fun. Korean K-pop is very popular, but I think people enjoy the content from the perspective of ' the song is good' or 'the singer is pretty' rather than because it's Korean. “I realize that the cultural barrier to this has disappeared.”

Director Shinkai said that it was 'a happy and good thing' that Japanese animation is receiving great love in Korea. He said, “I think it is a happy situation that many people are watching all Japanese animation, regardless of whether it is 'Suzume's Lockdown,' 'The First Slam Dunk,' or 'Detective Conan,' and it is gaining strength.” “I think it's very good that Japanese animation is being recognized as a genre just as it is gaining popularity as a genre,” he said.

In particular, director Makoto Shinkai said, “I hope that Asian animation will be recognized around the world.” “I hope that content coming from Asia, such as Japan, Korea, China, and Thailand, will have power. I think it would be good if the power of animation in Asia becomes stronger.” The announcement attracted attention.

For director Makoto Shinkai, the real rival was SNS. He said, "If I were to think about the rivalry, I think it would not be other animations or live-action movies, but videos posted on the Internet," and "I think it would be SNS itself, such as YouTube and TikTok. .."

“The speed and tempo of Internet content is fast, and I plan to create an animation with a large amount of information that is comparable to that. I think my work develops a story faster than other animations. I think that’s probably what young people like.” , I think this is both an advantage and a disadvantage because some people say they don't like the speed of development."

Director Shinkai said that his animation follows the method of traditional Japanese animation and that he inserts 24 cuts per second. This method is a technique that has not changed in Japanese animation for the past 50 years.

He said, "Recently, 'Avatar 2' and other Hollywood animation works are increasing the number of frames. I know that they have increased the frame rate to 60 frames per second." He added, "When I see such things being screened and the latest technology being used, I think we need to change too. "I haven't tried anything like that yet. I'm making it in a primitive and artisanal way, the way Japanese animation has been doing it for a long time."

At the same time, he added an explanation of his writing style, saying, "There may be nothing new in terms of technology, but the way the story is told, the script, the storyboard, etc. may be different from other animations. "

When asked about his feelings about beating the score of 'The First Slam Dunk' in Korea, Coach Shinkai said, "To be honest, I was happy," and added, "In Japan, 'Slam Dunk' and 'Suzume' are actually rivals."

“In Korea, 'Suzume' came out after 'Slam Dunk.' I'm thankful for this order.
I think it was thanks to 'Slam Dunk' that the Korean audience was more interested and liked Japanese animation because they felt that Japanese animation was fun while watching 'Slam Dunk', so I think we had such good results. In China, the release order was reversed. ‘Suzume’ was in first place after its release, but then ‘Slam Dunk’ was released, and now we are being chased.”

'Suzume's Lockdown' tells the story of Suzume, a girl who accidentally opens a door that causes disaster, and desperately tries to close it to prevent disasters occurring throughout Japan. The movie takes as its main subject the Great East Japan Earthquake, which had a magnitude of 9.0, the largest ever observed in Japan.

'Suzume's Lockdown', which attracted 10 million viewers in Japan, is a long-term box office hit with 4,975,30 viewers as of the 26th. This film is ranked first among domestically released films this year, and has reached the top spot among Japanese films released domestically.

Director Makodo Shinkai, who completed the disaster trilogy with 'Suzume's Lockdown' following 'Your Name' (2017, 3.81 million viewers) and 'Weather's Child' (2019, 740,000 viewers), received favorable reviews for his work and also gained popularity. It was a box office success and became Makoto Shinkai's signature series. Among them, 'Your Name' and 'Suzume's Lockdown' were listed among the top 3 most successful Japanese films ever released in Korea.

'Suzume's Lockdown' was released on March 8th and was a long-term box office hit, exceeding 5 million viewers on the 30th of last month.

Choi Ji-ye, Ten Asia Reporter wisdomart@tenasia.co.kr