The event “The World of Hideaki Anno” was held at the Tokyo International Film Festival, where excellent works from all over the world are gathered and screened. Continuing from our previous report on the “Live-Action Edition” of the event, we now report on the “Director Edition” in which he discusses the animation he has directed.
“Anyone can do the role of an animation director as long as that person can say two words: ‘OK’ and ‘bad.’” said Anno. From the standpoint of a director, doing quality control on the project is work of extreme importance. Hayao Miyazaki, whom Anno looks up to as a mentor, has given Anno high praise, saying that his quality control is magnificent. An important key phrase that sums up how Anno creates is “Ichi shiai kanzen nenshou”, which expresses how he jumps on each project, no matter the project, will full force until he’s burnt out.
Aim for the Top!: He Hadn’t Planned on Being the Director
Aim for the Top! is an OVA produced in 1988. Originally, a director other than Anno was planned to direct. However, due to various circumstances, this plan fell through. At first uneasy about the idea, Anno became moved by Hiroyuki Yamaga’s (director of Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honnêamise) script. “It was the first time I had raised my hand and volunteered to be director,” said Anno. The entire anime was in monochrome (excluding one colored part) and spanned six episodes, and Anno talked about its extremely convincing quality: “When sci-fi is in black and white, reality comes through.” “It was amazing that we were able to create Episodes 5 and 6 in three months,” he said in a bragging tone while at the same time giving praise to director Miyazaki’s abilities: “Miya-san is amazing for creating Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro in six months.”
Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water: A Work He Created as Both Director and Producer
Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water is an adventure series based on Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. This was Anno’s first TV series.
A stipulation on the series was that he had to faithfully recreate the script he was given by the broadcasting channel. However, the Gainax staff beginning with Anno expressed their dissatisfaction with the script. He said he felt that with the script the way it was the anime would not be a success. At that point, Anno laid the groundwork with businesses he associated with and strived to make his own ideas a reality. The result was that the broadcast channel approved his changes. The changes made by Gainax slowly started appearing in the script, and Anno was able to freely create the anime. Because of the achievements left behind by the series, including being highly praised in mass media and having a high viewer rating, the network gained an appreciation for Anno’s vision.
However, due to creating Aim for the Top! with his motto in mind, Anno stepped down from being director in the middle of the project. Anno talked about his profound regret over this. However, after taking an ample break, he returned to the role of director to finish the project. He managed to create a work that includes in abundance his own ideas, like submarine battles and space battles.
Neon Genesis Evangelion: A Phantom Work and a Shocking Truth
It seems that for the movie produced after the end of the TV series there was a plan to create an entirely new story in addition to remakes of Episodes 25 and 26. Anno also used his motto for this all-new project, and he gave himself up emotionally and physically. The scenario was similar to Attack on Titan, as Anno explained: “There is a city surrounded by an A.T. Field, and in that city live only humans. There is only one bridge in or out of the city. Outside the walls of the A.T. Field live Angels who prey on humans.” “What we couldn’t do on TV was show humans being eaten because being eaten is extremely terrifying to people,” said Anno regarding this completed work that would become a phantom. Even the Evangelion that the main characters pilot were created with very human-like features, and fresh concepts were used, like a surgical procedure being required to pilot them.
One other new Evangelion truth was revealed. Two books containing long interviews with Anno, Schizo Evangelion and Parano Evangelion, were published after the end of the broadcast of Evangelion. This is a monumental interview collection in which Anno’s raw thoughts from that time can be read. The truth, however, is that these books aren’t actually long interviews but rather as Anno said without divulging anything further, he wrote them himself. Fans who have known of Evangelion for years were given a huge shock with this news.
Lastly, regarding the currently in production movie Evangelion 4.0 Final, Anno commented, “Because the intervals (between Evangelion: 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0) steadily grow longer, I wonder if having the next one take place four years, no, six years later would be good.” This response elicited laughter from the crowd. Anno ended by showing his ambition for completing the new work: “I was told by Miyasaki, ‘Do you best in making Evangelion!’ And long ago I was told, ‘Rest when you want to rest!’ and, ‘Give up on Eva!’, but now I’m told to ‘Do it.’ for the time being, the last words I listened to were, ‘Do you best in making Evangelion!’ so I will make sure to create while abiding by this advice.”
This is a Tokyo Otaku Mode original article.
