Ito Tomohiko, director of the film 'The Guardian of the Green Tree', revealed everything from working with original author Keigo Higashino to messages for Korean fans.
On the 23rd, Ito Tomohiko, who directed the film 'The Guardian of the Green Tree', responded in writing to questions from domestic reporters.
The Guardian of the Green Tree, the first of Keigo Higashino's novels to be adapted into an animation, is a mystery fantasy animation film based on Keigo Higashino's original work that depicts the hidden power of a wish-granting green tree and the story of guardians who pursue the secrets of late-night visitors searching for the tree. Ito Tomohiko, who earlier worked with Mamoru Hosoda of The Girl Who Leapt Through Time and Tetsuo Araki of Attack on Titan and was influenced by them, made full use of his experience directing a variety of genres—such as mystery thrillers and sci-fi fantasy action—in works including Sword Art Online, Erased, and HELLO WORLD when creating The Guardian of the Green Tree.
Regarding what prompted him to direct the work, Ito said first, "The planning began during the COVID-19 pandemic. When a famous comedian in Japan died, news reports said that even his relatives could not be at his bedside. I thought that if there had been a green tree like the one in the story, they might have been able to hear his last words. I thought this was a contemporary yet universal story, so I decided to produce it."
He also said, "There are no superhuman characters in this work. So the people who come hoping the green tree will grant their wishes make very realistic wishes. They are our spokespeople," and emphasized the work's appeal by saying, "There are various patterns to that, so readers of the original or the audience can find parts to relate to."
The point Ito considered most important when turning the original novel into an animation was "trying to concentrate the story on the protagonist Reito and his aunt Chifune." He elaborated, "Other parts that could be cut were cut or roles were combined. In the original, the person who talks about the green tree's mystery was someone else, but in the film I changed it so that the main character Reito tells it, which also increased scenes where the main character can be active."
Was there help from original author Keigo Higashino? Ito added, "He trusted us considerably and left things to us, so there were no special requests. He offered his opinion about a rough image of the shrine's location, but since our ideas were not completely the same, the production company conducted various investigations."
He said, "Depicting the green tree itself and the wish scenes was the most difficult," adding, "It was difficult but also the part I thought we should put the most effort into in the animation." He also said, "For the shrine, we visited the shrines in Akiruno, Tokyo, which Keigo Higashino had in mind as locations, and combined plausible elements to create it. The green tree was likely inspired by the 'wish-granting green tree' in Atami that art director Hiroshi Takiguchi visited."
He also worked with actors such as Takahashi Fumiya, Amami Yuki, Saito Asuka, Miyase Ryubi, and Osawa Takao. Ito emphasized, "The actors approached the recordings with great enthusiasm about the work. Because Fumiya Takahashi's recording for animation was his first aside from guest appearances, at first he practiced with young voice actors nearby and then adapted to the role and the voice acting itself by recording with Amami Yuki and Saito Asuka. Since these people are primarily live-action actors performing only with their voices, we tried to find ways to have them record in as conversational a manner as possible: asking them to have an actual argument inside the recording booth, asking them to just run, putting a gallery inside the booth and asking them to speak in front of them, or setting the microphones to face the two people's faces directly—we tried many things."
He also said, "Artistically, I wanted the depiction of the city and the outskirts around the green tree to be different. I wanted the city to feel a bit cold and the outskirts and the area around the green tree to feel more sacred and warmer with more nature. The goal was to capture scenes with added artistic elements, and the art boards from art director Hiroshi Takiguchi had a depiction style more painstaking than usual animation, so I think that feeling came through even in ordinary scenes. I asked Tsubasa Yamaguchi to organize the world so that a little man like in manga would not seem out of place. Basically it is a real-touch depiction method, but I wanted to create as many silhouette patterns of the characters as possible, so I asked for that. I told Akiko Itagaki to organize the designs so they would be easy to draw as animation and, if possible, to create whimsical expressions. The goal was a visually comfortable screen. I wanted to create a world where distorted expressions are allowed," he shared anecdotes about the art work.
How was working with music director Yugo Kanno? It has been reported that he asked Kanno to compose the piano piece that is importantly expressed in the latter part before starting the storyboard work, and Ito recalled, "I think I said, 'Please compose a piece that can make the audience cry.' In the story, the person who composed that piece was not at the level of a professional pianist, so I wanted it to be as close to that as possible. I also said it would be good if there were a memorable melody."
A cute cuckoo (konohazuku) character also appears as a scene-stealer in the film. Regarding this, Ito said, "When Reito lives in the shrine's office he tends to talk to himself, so to avoid that I thought it would be good to create a mascot-like character he could talk to, and we adopted that idea. Because something half-realistic would not be fun, I thought a cute, cartoonish design would be better, so I asked Yukiko Horiguchi, who worked on K-On, to do the design. (She worked with me on my previous work HELLO WORLD.) When Horiguchi agreed, the decision was made. The cuckoo's name was recently decided as 'Shiromi.' It was taken from Horiguchi's pen name 'white fish (pronounced "shiromi" sakana). I hope someone will make a doll of it," he joked.
Regarding the message of The Guardian of the Green Tree, which prompts reflection on connections between generations, the director said firmly, "I think it would be presumptuous to say I passed on my heart, but since this was a rare opportunity I want to pass on the knowledge and skills I know to the next generation." Finally, he added to Korean fans, "I think Keigo Higashino is very popular in Korea, so I hope all of Keigo Higashino's fans will come to the theaters. I also hope those who are not fans will come to the theaters. I think it's a film that families can watch together, so I hope people will come holding their family's hands to see it."
[Photo] Provided by ANIPLUS.
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