『Fumiko’s confessionHave you ever seen a work called A 2 Minute Anime in which a girl who confessed and crushed her runs with a dashing performance. The eye-catching video was an independent production by a Kyoto Seika University student. As soon as it was announced, various media took notice.directorHiroyasu IshidaIn an instant, you become a person of the moment.
Director Ishida then entered the anime industry and made his debut as a business manager in 2013 with “Hinata no Aoshigure.” Affiliated with Studio Colorido, he has produced a variety of staged works.
In 2014, “Polette no Isu” was produced to celebrate Fuji TV Noitamina’s 10th anniversary, and in 2018, Tomihiko Morimi’s feature directorial debut “Penguin Highway” was released. And on September 16, 2022. The long-awaited final work “Drifting building complex that announces rainwas released and distributed on Netflix.
One day during summer vacation, Kosuke Kumagai, a 6th grader, sneaks into an apartment complex that has been decided to be demolished with his classmates. The housing complex is an important place where Kousuke and his childhood friend Natsume Tonai lived. Kosuke unexpectedly meets Natsume there and is informed of the existence of a mysterious boy, Tall. Then, suddenly, a strange phenomenon happened to them. Surprisingly, the building complex was adrift in the ocean…
One of the charms of Ishida’s works isWhile blending the fantasy world and the real world, it can be mentioned that it depicts the nimble emotions of boys and girls with a sense of speed.. Looking back, I’ve seen such depictions in “Fumiko”, “Aoshigure”, and “Penguin”.
This point is still relevant in “The drifting real estate complex that announces the rain”. The nimble emotions of boys and girls intersect with the imaginary world of housing estates drifting on the ocean. However, the characteristics of this work do not end there. Director Ishida challenges himself into a new realm that is different from his previous works, resulting in a slightly bittersweet “funeral story” (please check details in the main story).
This time we have an interview with director Ishida Hiroyasu, who just wrapped production on “The Drifting Housing Complex Telling Rain.” We asked him about the reasons for staging a housing complex and the changes that are specific to this work.
Interview and writing: Yoshiki Ota (TARKUS) Editing: Yuta Onda
Table of Contents
“Drifting Housing Complex” is a tricky story set in a residential complex
“A drifting building complex that announces rain”
──First of all, thank you for producing “Ame wo Yoru Drifting Complex”.
Hiroyasu IshidaThanks. I worked almost nonstop, so I haven’t calmed down yet (bitter smile). It’s been about four years since the last game, “Penguin Highway”, and I improved my own skills, and was able to build a solid system with the same staff and new people who joined the previous games.There’s an answer like a job。
──When did the planning for “Ame wo Yoru Drifting Complex” start?
Hiroyasu IshidaWe are at the beginning of 2019, after the end of Penguin Highway and a small break. First, even before I did “Penguin”, producer Koji Yamamoto from Twin Engine said to me, “I want you to do an original.” But when I met “Penguin”, I wanted to do it.
This time too, I had first considered it in the plans sent by various people, but in the process, I suddenly imagined the composition of a “real estate complex going to the sea”.
When I drew it, I liked it very much, so Mr. Yamamoto suggested I think about it… That’s when I first decided on the direction of the project as a movie.
──What made you decide to focus on residential complexes? Director Ishida moved to Jindai Residential Compound during production, right?
Hiroyasu IshidaUnlike the one-story Japanese house I lived in as a child, I was fascinated by the number of people who lived in an apartment complex. However, I think the reason it was a housing complex among various housing complexes is that it has a unique appearance and historical significance as a housing complex.
In the 1970s and 1980s, there were negative reactions, such as the appearance of the same buildings lined up evenly. The number of generations who have a good impression is also increasing.
──Indeed, lately we often see news about renovated housing complexes.
Even if you don’t live there, it’s part of the original landscape. Because I was vaguely thinking about such things, perhaps the image of the building complex on the sea that I mentioned earlier came naturally.
Because the housing complex has a simple shape, the roof resembles the deck of an aircraft carrier. I continued the production having such delusions. That’s how I decided to live in a housing estate (laughs).
──What was the reason for the current direction of the story taking place in the housing complex?
Hiroyasu IshidaI think everyone has a place full of unforgettable memories. I think it is often the case that we cannot accept this feeling. For example, when you return to your hometown for the first time in a long time, there is no sign of goodbye and the place where a certain building has disappeared. Thinking of such things,What if the building complex said they didn’t want to leave the boys and girls who lived there?I thought.
“I want to drift the building complex”, not the school or the Tokyo Tower
Hiroyasu IshidaI came up with various ideas other than school, like Tokyo Tower. I certainly understand the opinion that symbolic things are more interesting. There are many people who have never lived in an apartment complex.
But housing complexes are a rare project to start with, and the painting itself with floating housing complexes is weird and interesting, isn’t it? Images of drifting schools were drawn in “Gakko no Kaidan”, “Drifting Classroom”, and more recently in “Sonny Boy”, and they were all interesting.
different from thatI would like to challenge the image of the Tokyo Tower that everyone has seen and the school that everyone has attended.. Of course, the people who give their opinion also try to improve the work. We decided one by one talking about various things.
──When we learn that the subdivision is indeed adrift, why is it not a school like the previous work but a subdivision? I was hooked.
Hiroyasu Ishidaafter all,The project being based on a feeling of attraction for this building complex, I could not create a work by sealing it there.I do not know. I wanted to make a movie that honestly felt that feeling, so it became a movie about housing complexes and boys and girls.
However, I didn’t want to restrict the facade to just the housing estates, so I figured I could assign different locations to the housing estates based on the audience.
──The fact that the main character is an elementary school student is a common element with Ishida’s works so far.
One of the main characters, Natsume Tonai. He cannot accept that the building complex where he once lived is demolished.
Another main character, Kousuke Kumagai. She is a childhood friend of Natsume, but their relationship becomes strained after her grandfather’s death.
Hiroyasu IshidaIt had already been decided that the main character would be an elementary school student before the building complex became the stage. Kousuke and Natsume, who are elementary school students, also have an unforgettable feeling about the housing complex, but I wonder if they can somehow come to terms with it. As a result of careful consideration, it has become such a story.
──In this movie, the story progresses by focusing on two people, Kousuke Kumagai and Natsume Tonai. In particular, Natsume’s feelings become one of the triggers that caused the building complex to drift off course.
Hiroyasu IshidaThere were many possibilities as to how Natsume felt about the housing complex. Natsume’s personality was even tougher and stronger, and there was also a tendency to collide with Kosuke.
but,When it comes to the meaning I create, the things I can only think of myself and if I can just feel familiarity, in the end I have no choice but to compete when I let him out.。
The one in the center is Noppo, a mysterious boy who appeared in an apartment complex being demolished.
──In a way, Headmaster Ishida’s feelings are entrusted to you two.
Hiroyasu IshidaIf I had the skills of a world-renowned director, I would be able to systematically take the big picture not only of my subjective thoughts and tastes, but also of objectively assembled characters, to create entertainment.
Sure, Aoyama-kun from “Penguin” has some parts that I can relate to, but from an objective perspective, he was a fantastic character. However, he was a person who was needed as a story to know the older sister’s feelings, based on the worldview created by Tomihiko Morimi’s fatherhood and experience. So there are places where I can forget.
I had a hard time doing “The Drifting Housing Complex That Tells the Rain”, soI didn’t have much time to think about structural things, so I just wanted people to connect with each other.. Anyway, I wanted to look them both in the face without lying there.
However, if you take it too seriously, it can become something people can’t understand. So, it was a big job for the director to figure out how much he should take into account the opinions of different people to facilitate the transmission, and conversely, how much he should ignore the opinions so that the work could maintain consistency. .
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