On March 30, 2008 at Sakura-Con, Active Anime conducted an interview with Director Aki Tsunaki about his latest new series Haruka - Beyond the Stream of Time - A Tale of the Eight Guardians.
Beyond the stream of time, there lay a peaceful capital city on sacred ground protected by Four Gods. One day, the Four Gods were stolen away and the capital of this alternate world is overrun by vengeful spirits. This is the tale of Akane, the chosen Priestess of the Dragon God and her Eight Guardians as they clash against the Demon clan in hopes of saving the capital. A cast of gorgeous characters played by an all-star cast await within each of the series’ 26 episodes!
Distruted by Bandai Visual USA / Volume 1 Release Date: April 22, 2008
INTERVIEW CONDUCTED BY JARED SAGE
Active Anime: When did you realize that you had a love affair with anime and how did you pursue this passion to get into the animation business?
Mr. Tsunaki: Well ever since I was a child I was already watching shows such as Astroboy, Gigantor, and 8 Man. I was in about high school when I felt that I wanted to be in the animation industry. My father had a lot of different types of interests such as fishing, swimming, and photography. One thing he was into was 8mm filming and I used to play with his equipment. That was when I got into moving pictures. After I graduated high school, I went to Tokyo and entered into an animation school. Active Anime: Due to the popularity of anime outside of Japan, other creators and producers tend to customize and gear their work towards Westerners. Did the popularity of anime outside of Japan change the way you do things to make sure that fans outside of Japan will be satisfied as well?
Mr. Tsunaki: Haruka has an original video game, so we didn’t want to change the story of it at all. It is out of respect for the original series, but at the same time, we didn’t want to destroy the world that it created. And so, I look forward to seeing to see if the product made for Japan is going to be accepted in the US.
Director Aki Tsunaki with fans at Sakrua-Con (March 28 - 30, 2008)
Active Anime: After all of these years working in the animation industry, what drives you to continue in the industry?
Mr. Tsunaki: It’s definitely the faces of the fans that are enjoying the show as they watch and the feedback I get from them. It all goes back to the roots of when I used to make my own 8mm film shorts. I would just gather the kids around town and I liked to watch their reaction. Active Anime: In what part of your career did you realize that you have made a mark in the anime industry?
Mr. Tsunaki: Well being invited to overseas conventions and being introduced to the fans around the world makes me feel like myself and my works have been accepted. But at the same time I feel that I haven’t yet done everything that I can do. I feel like I am still on my way there. Active Anime: We’ve heard that you don’t eat raw fish. Would you consider that one to be the biggest misconceptions about Japanese people that they all eat raw fish or sushi?
Mr. Tsunaki: I think it is a personal preference for liking raw fish or not. I agree that it is a misconception. Most Japanese people do enjoy raw fish, just not me personally. Active Anime: This is your first time in the United States, and you’re invited as a guest of honor to promote your latest series. How is your stay so far and what can you tell us about your latest work, Haruka.
Mr. Tsunaki: There is a lot of space and everything seems big. We ordered pizza and it was huge, bigger than what we call a “large size” in Japan. I’ve always wanted to taste real McDonalds. I went yesterday and it was actually less greasy than I had expected.
As for Haurka, I know that shoujo manga is a relatively new genre in the US so I look forward to seeing the reaction of the fans. Even though it is shoujo, it is not necessarily leaning towards what women like and emotionally I think it is something that men can like as well.  Active Anime: Other than the popularity of Haruka as a video game and manga, what attracted you to direct this new series?
Mr. Tsunaki: Having the video game as the original story, there was a lot of multimedia such as CD dramas. I was asked to draw the cover art and insert illustrations for those. Before that, I used to draw some stand-alone shoujo manga, and it that sense I was interested in the Haruka anime.
Active Anime: Would the series follow the manga story systematically, or did you deviate a bit from the story line?
Mr. Tsunaki: Well the manga is still being serialized as of today and the story hasn’t been finished. For the TV series, we had a limit of 26 episodes and we needed to complete the story. So the core of the story is the same but we had to find a way to resolve it. Also, within the 30 minute episodes we had to find a way to resolve the introduction, development, climax, and conclusions. Active Anime: Haruka’s animation is done with such grace, style, and color combinations. As a director, how did you envision the cinematic transition of the art style from the video game or the manga, and did the transition pose any challenges during production?
Mr. Tsunaki: As you can tell from the manga illustrations, Haruka has a very soft feel to it. That’s the impression you get for the characters the background art we didn’t want to have anything that had too strong or too much of an impact. Also, because the story is based off Japan 1000 years ago, we were very careful with the use of light and the areas with no light and the contrast between the two. One really important factor was keeping the appeal of the various characters drawn by manga artist Tohko Mizuno.  Active Anime: You have directed Pokemon and Yu-gi-oh, both are fantasy style animation and both have male lead characters, and even with Initial D the lead is a male character. In contrast, what is it like directing a fantasy anime with a female as the lead character?
Mr. Tsunaki: Well it felt very new to me. Learning about the thought process and emotional feelings of women was something I had to learn from various sources. Also, I felt that visually it was a challenge for me and at times was very difficult.
Active Anime: The manga finally made its way here in the North America; it will be released on April 1, and followed by the release of the DVD on April 22. How does it feel knowing that anime fans outside of Japan are watching your work?
Mr. Tsunaki: I really look forward to it. I’m really looking forward to hearing what kind of responses and opinions the fans will have, weather it be good or bad. Active Anime: Thank you very much for your time, and we wish you success as we all look forward to your new project, but before we let you go, do you want to say anything to fans in America.
Mr. Tsunaki: I hope you enjoy Haruka: Beyond the Stream of Time, which is a new shoujo anime coming out in the US. And I hope all of you experience romances in your lives as well!
All Images Copyrighted: © Tohko Mizuno, HAKUSENSHA, KOEI Co., Ltd. / Haruka Committee All Rights Reserved.
Powered by AkoComment Tweaked Special Edition v.1.4.6
AkoComment © Copyright 2004 by Arthur Konze - www.mamboportal.com
All right reserved
|
