2 - Style and Originality

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(Please feel free to edit the speaker names if incomplete or inaccurate. Names are handled on a best-effort basis depending on the info on the source file. Dialogue is left as is.)
[00:02] NA
    Bones established its exceptional qualities
    and outstanding production techniques.
[00:07] NA
    Minami and his colleagues set themselves
    apart from other anime production companies
[00:11] NA
    by continuing to create original anime series.
[00:15] ANDO
    Many people say they see Bones as a company
    that produces a lot of original anime.
[00:23] NA
    Unlike adaptations,
    creating an original anime from nothing
[00:29] NA
    is not only difficult, but risky, as well.
[00:33] MATSUKURA
    For an anime production company,
    producing an original anime is a dream.
[00:39] MATSUKURA
    At the same time, it's very difficult.
[00:43] MATSUKURA
    Planning is difficult.
    Securing funding is difficult.
[00:46] NA
    However, Bones trusted its
    creators with everything,
[00:49] NA
    including the direction,
    composition, and screenplay,
[00:53] NA
    leading to the creation of new and unique
    series that revolutionized the robot genre.
[01:02] NA
    Bones' success with original anime
    was not limited to robots.
[01:07] NA
    Shinichiro Watanabe, the acutely sensitive
    scriptwriter Keiko Nobumoto, and others
[01:13] NA
    would challenge the limits of anime.
[01:16] WATANABE
    There was a desire to create
    something brand new
[01:19] WATANABE
    that wasn't a copy of an
    existing successful series.
[01:22] WATANABE
    I loved that.
[01:25] OYABU
    It takes a studio that provides
    a space to create freely.
[01:35] WATANABE
    Bones is closer to Sunrise at its peak
    than current Sunrise itself.
[01:40] WATANABE
    I'll probably get in trouble
    again for saying that.
[01:45] NA
    Bones stuck to their style with TV series
    such as* Wolf's Rain*,* Space Dandy*,
[01:50] NA
    and* Carole & Tuesday and feature
    films such as Sword of the Stranger*.
[01:57] MINAMI
    For the directors, scriptwriters,
    production staff, and producers,
[02:03] MINAMI
    creating something new for an
    original anime is the expectation.
[02:09] KAWASAKI
    I think that's rooted in Bones' history.
[02:17] ANDO
    For me personally, every time
    I work on an original series
[02:21] ANDO
    it feels like a fresh experience.
[02:25] MINAMI
    Producing an original series
    is appealing for the creators.
[02:32] MINAMI
    It also entertains the audience
    with new surprises.
[02:39] NA
    The creative studio's foray began
    with a story about a boy named Hiwou.
[03:25] NA
    In 1998, the newly-established Bones
    followed production on* Cowboy Bebop*
[03:33] NA
    with their first original
    series* Hiwou War Chronicles*.
[03:39] MINAMI
    It was the Hiwou War Chronicles TV series.
[03:44] MINAMI
    We were just starting out and had no money,
[03:48] MINAMI
    but right out the gate, we produced an original
    series that wasn't sci-fi but had robots.
[03:57] NARRATION
    Created by Sho Aikawa and
    directed by Tetsuro Amino,
[04:03] NARRATION
    the series began airing in 1999.
[04:07] NARRATION
    Set during the Meiji period,
    the protagonist Hiwou and his friends
[04:12] NARRATION
    controlled a giant clockwork doll against
    their enemies in this adventure series.
[04:20] NARRATION
    It was a challenging setting for
    a recently-established anime studio.
[04:27] MINAMI
    The schedule and budget
    situation were brutal.
[04:35] MINAMI
    Our small company put together a studio.
[04:40] MINAMI
    We received a lot of help from Sunrise,
    but it was still difficult to produce.
[04:51] MINAMI
    The budget was really tight.
[04:55] ISHIKAWA
    The difficulty of producing
    an original series
[04:59] ISHIKAWA
    will remain the same in past,
    present, and future.
[05:06] ISHIKAWA
    It's hard to make a hit.
[05:10] ISHIKAWA
    An original series doesn't have the
    recognition of an adaptation or a sequel.
[05:20] ISHIKAWA
    Gaining recognition is as difficult
    now as it was in the past.
[05:32] NA
    Bones moved away from
    robot series for a while
[05:35] NA
    to break new ground with original anime.
[05:39] NA
    Wolf's Rain follows the story of wolves
    surviving in human forms in a desolate future.
[05:47] NA
    Its creator Keiko Nobumoto wrote scripts
    for numerous series, including Cowboy Bebop.
[05:54] NA
    Wolf's Rain poetically depicts the search
    for paradise amidst an apocalyptic outlook.
[06:01] MINAMI
    A story about wolves seeking paradise
    sounds like it would be hopeful.
[06:07] SASAKI
    Or active.
[06:08] MINAMI
    But it's not like that at all.
[06:12] SASAKI
    It's a paradise shrouded in
    sadness, which is unusual.
[06:15] SASAKI
    Normally a paradise is joyful and hopeful.
[06:21] SASAKI
    It's very much in Nobumoto's style,
[06:24] SASAKI
    and that produced a chemical
    reaction with Ms. Kanno.
[06:30] NA
    Despite its complex
    and revolutionary themes,
[06:35] NA
    Bones placed their full trust
    in Nobumoto's screenplay
[06:38] NA
    and Director Tensai Okamura's
    abilities, leading to the creation
[06:43] NA
    of a masterpiece full of
    lyricism and originality.
[06:48] WATANABE
    Nobumoto Keiko, a scriptwriter I frequently
    worked with, passed away recently.
[06:57] WATANABE
    A screening was held after her passing.
[07:02] WATANABE
    The first three episodes of Wolf's Rain
    were shown at the screening.
[07:10] WATANABE
    I was amazed by the emotion
    the scriptwriter put into Wolf's Rain.
[07:21] WATANABE
    A lot of anime these days are adaptations,
[07:27] WATANABE
    and I don't think you can say
    the scriptwriter and director
[07:30] WATANABE
    pour their souls into adaptations.
[07:34] SPEAKER
    But the scriptwriter poured
    her soul into Wolf's Rain,
[07:41] SPEAKER
    and I think that's incredible.
[07:46] NA
    In 2014, Shinichiro Watanabe
    and Keiko Nobumoto
[07:51] NA
    presented Minami with an innovative proposal:
    a laid-back and unbelievable space adventure
[07:57] NA
    about Dandy, an alien hunter,
    and his eccentric crew.
[08:05] DANDY
    The name's Dandy. Space Dandy.
[08:09] MINAMI
    In some ways, Director Watanabe
    and I wanted to create
[08:12] MINAMI
    something counter to current culture.
[08:14] MINAMI
    We wanted to make something
    completely different
[08:18] MINAMI
    from what current anime and the industry
    were expressing that was still animation.
[08:28] DANDY
    Go with the flow.
[08:31] DANDY
    That's me, baby.
[08:34] WATANABE
    We were unhappy with the anime industry
    and the anime being produced at the time.
[08:47] AKANE
    In the early 2000s, a lot of companies
    were producing bishojo anime for core fans,
[09:03] AKANE
    but Mr. Minami never engaged with those.
[09:08] DANDY
    You really wanna know? That's K-E-T-S-U.
[09:13] DANDY
    That's right. It's butts.
[09:16] WATANABE
    Creators were told to create works
    that would sell, so they did.
[09:26] WATANABE
    But chasing success by copying
    successful series isn't good.
[09:34] WATANABE
    We wanted to produce works that would
    allow creators to create more freely.
[09:39] WATANABE
    Mr. Minami was also unhappy about that,
[09:43] WATANABE
    and we shared a desire to break out of that thinking
[09:47] WATANABE
    and create the situation we have now.
[09:50] WATANABE
    If I told another studio
    I wanted to create freely,
[09:54] WATANABE
    I doubt anyone else would've let me do it.
[09:58] MINAMI
    In that way, Space Dandy was created
    in the freest place in the industry.
[10:06] NA
    Bones began challenging the limits
    of anime production once again.
[10:10] NA
    They expanded the boundaries of the genre
[10:14] NA
    through the wild adventures
    of Dandy and his friends.
[10:17] WATANABE
    The desire to create a more creative,
    free, and anarchical series came first.
[10:26] WATANABE
    Producing a comedy
    was our excuse to do that.
[10:29] WATANABE
    Some of the episodes have
    no comedic elements at all,
[10:33] WATANABE
    but we could include them for the
    simple reason that it was a comedy.
[10:41] ITO
    I assume it was Mr. Minami
    and Director Watanabe's decision,
[10:47] ITO
    but I remember them saying they wanted
[10:50] ITO
    to make a serious effort
    to create something stupid.
[10:53] ITO
    At first, I wasn't sure what they meant.
[10:59] ITO
    It's certainly a comedy, but there are
    a lot of other elements, as well.
[11:07] WATANABE
    It's an avant-garde or experimental series.
[11:13] WATANABE
    Normally it would be difficult
    to air episodes with that content.
[11:22] WATANABE
    It's very surreal.
[11:24] WATANABE
    Truly amazing films should express things
    that can't be put into words.
[11:32] WATANABE
    I feel we were able to effectively
    incorporate that into entertainment.
[11:40] DANDY
    Dandy...
[11:44] NA
    Bones and Watanabe's deep relationship
    created a series in a new genre once again.
[11:50] NA
    In 2019, for Bones' 20th anniversary
    and the 10th anniversary of FlyingDog,
[11:56] NA
    Bones announced Carole & Tuesday,
[11:58] NA
    a music-themed series
    celebrating these milestones.
[12:03] NA
    Cowboy Bebop,* Samurai Champloo*,
    and* Space Dandy*.
[12:08] NA
    Music plays an important role in
    all of Shinichiro Watanabe's works.
[12:15] NA
    Carole & Tuesday, which began
    with an invitation from Shiro Sasaki,
[12:20] NA
    was a series about music, so it was only
    natural that Watanabe would be involved.
[12:26] MINAMI
    It was proposed that we make
    a series about music.
[12:29] MINAMI
    Unlike existing music anime,
    we thought it would be interesting
[12:34] MINAMI
    to produce something
    that would create music.
[12:42] WATANABE
    We talked about how to make the series
    approachable to first-time watchers
[12:48] WATANABE
    and settled on a story about two girls
    who start making music after they meet.
[13:06] NA
    In the world of* Carole & Tuesday*,
    art is created by advanced AI technology,
[13:13] NA
    and people simply enjoy their creations.
[13:15] NA
    Two girls meet and begin to change
    the world with the music they create.
[13:21] NA
    With its modern and forward-looking themes,
[13:25] NA
    the series took a hard look
    at how we engage with creativity.
[13:30] SASAKI
    During college, I really liked
    American music from the late 60s.
[13:37] SASAKI
    At the time, young people were
    fighting or protesting with music.
[13:45] CATHERINE
    Your determination to fight with
    only your music made you unique.
[13:53] CATHERINE
    It's been a while since I last listened
    to music made without AI.
[13:57] CATHERINE
    I look forward to hearing your next work.
[13:59] NA
    The series was directed by Motonobu Hori.
[14:02] NA
    The concert that serves
    as the climax of the series
[14:05] NA
    features musicians performing a variety
    of genres with varied musical expressions.
[14:09] NA
    Innovative images and
    a broad range of direction
[14:12] NA
    were necessary to breathe life
    into the scenes and story.
[14:18] HORI
    We were working off of
    Mr. Kubonouchi's character designs,
[14:22] HORI
    which were actually pretty
    difficult to animate.
[14:27] HORI
    Animating those characters performing
    was pretty difficult in an of itself,
[14:38] HORI
    and animating that as part of
    a series was a challenge, as well.
[14:42] HORI
    Also, Watanabe-san's musical taste
    is incredibly refined.
[14:49] HORI
    He always chooses whatever's
    cutting edge at the time,
[14:54] HORI
    so matching that was a challenge, as well.
[15:00] SKIP
    Not bad. Only 52 takes with Tobe.
[15:06] HORI
    We left the vocalists' movements
    up to the animators.
[15:12] HORI
    For example, the movements of
    a hip hop rapper or an R&B singer
[15:21] HORI
    are influenced by their musical culture.
[15:28] HORI
    No one had captured that yet,
[15:34] HORI
    so we did our best to
    express that with animation.
[15:40] WATANABE
    There's no action.
[15:42] WATANABE
    Almost all of Bones' works had been
    action up until that point,
[15:50] WATANABE
    so I think it was challenging for Bones.
[15:55] MINAMI
    The scale was enormous.
[15:57] MINAMI
    Some of the artists involved were
    internationally renowned artists.
[16:08] MINAMI
    We were aiming to create something
    unachievable at a normal scale.
[16:18] NA
    Carole & Tuesday,* Wolf's Rain*,* Space Dandy*,
    RahXephon, and* Hiwou War Chronicles*
[16:25] NA
    all have an underlying Bones-like quality,
[16:29] NA
    but it's difficult to succinctly
    describe what that is.
[16:33] NA
    Creativity, originality, risk taking,
    and freedom all fit the bill.
[16:41] NA
    Creativity and freedom can be found throughout
    their 2007 film* Sword of the Stranger*,
[16:51] NA
    the story of an orphan named
    Kotaro who is rescued by Nanashi,
[16:55] NA
    a warrior who has sworn to never fight again.
[16:58] NA
    A sense of nihilism hangs about
    this jidaigeki-inspired chanbara film.
[17:03] NA
    The brutal and bloody battles of the Sengoku
    period demonstrate the horrors of war.
[17:10] NA
    Sword of the Stranger,
    directed by Masahiro Ando,
[17:13] NA
    drew international attention
    for the quality of its story and action
[17:19] NA
    and for pushing the limits
    of animation technology.
[17:22] WATANABE
    Stranger's action scenes are
    really well made. I was impressed.
[17:30] ANDO
    I'd watched jidaigeki since I was a child.
[17:34] ANDO
    I liked them all individually, but there were
    also certain elements within them I liked
[17:43] ANDO
    that had stayed with me.
[17:57] AMANO
    Preserving the original ideas of the
    creators at the center of a project,
[18:07] AMANO
    such as the directors, the scriptwriters,
    and the designers, is essential.
[18:15] AMANO
    Otherwise you lose sight of what's important,
[18:19] AMANO
    since you're writing the story
    throughout production.
[18:22] AMANO
    It's important to pause
    and carefully consider
[18:25] AMANO
    the ideas the initial creators came up with.
[18:30] ANDO
    Little by little, I described the ideas
    I had for the film to the designers,
[18:41] ANDO
    which they turned into art.
[18:44] ANDO
    I wanted to create something
    manga-like rather than realistic.
[18:51] ANDO
    I wanted elements of reality
    without becoming realistic.
[18:54] ANDO
    Manga-like, but not too manga-like.
[19:01] ANDO
    Together we searched for the answer
[19:05] ANDO
    by comparing the images in my head
    and the art they drew.
[19:21] ANDO
    It was less that I wanted
    Mr. Sato's jidaigeki music
[19:24] ANDO
    and more that I was a fan
    of his music in general.
[19:28] ANDO
    I was curious to know what kind of music
    Mr. Sato would compose for a jidaigeki.
[19:36] SATO
    During the fight scenes,
    I kept the music stoic.
[19:43] SATO
    Percussion only, for example.
[19:46] SATO
    Rather than having the music
    speak too much, I kept it stoic.
[19:55] SATO
    On the other hand, I composed heartfelt
    music for Nanashi and Kotaro's scenes.
[20:04] NANASHI
    If you stand over there, you'll catch a cold.
[20:10] SATO
    I wanted to expand the breadth
    of the animation and setting
[20:18] SATO
    by using instruments used in Arabic
    and African music for a Japanese jidaigeki.
[20:28] SPEAKER
    If the foundation of music is solid,
    you can try all kinds of things
[20:33] SPEAKER
    and create even more interesting music.
[20:37] SPEAKER
    That foundation is Bones.
[20:39] SPEAKER
    The quality of the animation
    and how interesting the script is.
[20:46] SPEAKER
    When those are solid, it's easy
    to compose music for them.
[20:50] SPEAKER
    You'll create something interesting
    no matter what you do.
[20:53] NA
    Under Masahiko Minami's leadership,
[20:55] NA
    Bones demonstrates its strength when the
    right team is put together for a project.
[20:59] NA
    For a studio like Bones that is
    constantly working on something,
[21:03] NA
    it means staff move from one project
    to the next without interruption.
[21:09] MINAMI
    Being a producer comes down to whether
    or not you can imagine the completed product.
[21:19] MINAMI
    Whether it's music, effects,
    or sound direction,
[21:26] MINAMI
    when creating a show, we think about
    how who is assigned to what work
[21:32] MINAMI
    will lead to what the final product looks like.
[21:36] MINAMI
    It's an interpersonal relationship.
[21:39] MINAMI
    We value the way many people are involved
    in the creation of a single product.
[21:48] KATSUMATA
    Mangaka sometimes create by
    themselves, but an original anime
[21:54] KATSUMATA
    is the product of the combination of
    multiple creators' or staff members' skills.
[22:03] AKANE
    The best thing about Bones
    is their skilled animators.
[22:12] AKANE
    They've gathered some
    of the best animators in Japan,
[22:17] AKANE
    and it was Mr. Minami
    who brought them together.
[22:21] AKANE
    He has an exceptional eye for art.
[22:25] AKANE
    He saw the work of new artists
[22:27] AKANE
    and found artists with potential
    at a relatively early stage.
[22:35] TAKEDA
    He's exceptional at identifying star talent.
[22:40] TAKEDA
    Not only that, but he knows what to combine
    to create the right chemical reaction
[22:51] TAKEDA
    to improve their talents even more.
[22:54] NATSUME
    I wouldn't call it Minamism,
    but there's a unified will.
[23:00] NATSUME
    You can really see it in Bones' work.
[23:03] NATSUME
    Mr. Minami puts a lot of effort
    into Bones' original series in particular.
[23:11] NATSUME
    He faces directors and writers
    directly when working with them,
[23:17] NATSUME
    which is how they create works
    with such presence and solid bones.
[23:25] NA
    Creating original anime is difficult,
    but it is worthwhile.
[23:31] NA
    The satisfaction of creating beautiful
    high-level works pushes creators forward.
[23:38] NA
    That feeling forms the skeleton of
    bones which Minami builds on top of.
[23:44] MINAMI
    It's literally bones, a collection of bones.
[23:51] MINAMI
    We broke away from Sunrise
    and started as a very small company.
[24:02] MINAMI
    We were starting from the bones
    and building up the flesh on top of that.
[24:11] MINAMI
    In Japanese, there are
    a lot of expressions about bones,
[24:16] MINAMI
    like "he's got a strong backbone"
    or "love me until I'm only bones."
[24:22] MINAMI
    That's why we're bones.
[24:25] NA
    Their creative and original anime
    are undoubtedly the foundation of bones,
[24:31] NA
    but the strengths they cultivated
    producing original anime
[24:35] NA
    became the source of their success
    with manga adaptations
[24:40] NA
    that are mainstream in Japanese animation,
    such as* My Hero Academia and Mob Psycho 100*.