HE’S KNOWN FOR HIS WORK WITH ANIMATED FILMS SUCH AS “Jin-Roh” AND “COWBOY BEBOP: THE MOVIE” (Animation Director) , “Full Metal Alchemist” (Storyboard Artist) AND NOW

MASAHIRO ANDO TAKES ON THE DIRECTOR’S MANTLE FOR THE ANIMATED FEATURE FILM “SWORD OF THE STRANGER”. J!-ENT INTERVIEWS MASAHIRO ANDO.

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ストレンヂア 無皇刃譚SWORD OF THE STRANGER

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IMAGE: Nanashi, the main character of “Sword of the Stranger”. Image courtesy of Image courtesy of © BONES / STRANGERS 2007

asahiro Ando is known for his anime work with major titles such as “Jin-Roh”, “Cowboy Bebop: The Movie”, “Ghost in

the Shell”, “Fullmetal Alchemist”, “Me-tropolis” to name a few. In 2007, Masahiro Ando directed the animated film “Stranger~Mukoh Hadan” aka “Sword of the Stranger” which was shown in the US in Los Angeles and New York in the Summer of 2008. The film known for its dramatic and ac-tion-packed sword fighting battles, beau-tiful painted backgrounds, and involving storyline with a screenplay by Fumihiko Takayama (“Patlabor WXIII”, “Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket”), character designs by Tsunenori Saito (known for his works with “Blood: The Last Vampire”, “Escaflowne: The Movie”, “Eureka Seven: The Movie” and “RahX-ephon: Pluralitas Concentio”) and music by Naoki Sato (“Eureka Seven”, “Mouse”, “X”, and “H2: Kimi to Ita Hibi”). With a talented staff behind the fea-ture film, I was drawn in by the storyline, action-scenes and beautiful animation. But when I began my research, I real-ized that the original pilot for “Sword of the Stranger” was actually screened back in 2003 for the Tokyo Anime Festival” before

being released theatrically in 2007. So, needless to say that I had quite a few questions in regards to the film’s action scenes and also regarding the difference between the final cut in 2007 and the pilot created in 2003. I recently had the opportunity to in-terview “Sword of the Stranger” director Masahiro Ando in regards to his film being shown to Americans and also his feelings of the Japanese animation industry.

J!-ENT: Before we discuss “Sword of the Stranger”, let’s get to know a little bit about you. What was your favorite anime and manga growing up?MASAHIRO: When I was a child, I re-ally liked the sci-fi manga called “Babel Nisei” (Babel the 2nd) by Yokoyama Mitsuteru. The theme in the manga, the loneliness of one with telekinetic powers was written in a way that kids could understand. As for anime, I liked the pro-wrestling manga called “Tiger Mask”. In the story, Tiger Mask wants to save the orphanage that he grew up in so he uses the prize money he wins for that purpose and becomes a traitor who has to fight assassin wres-tlers. Now that I think about it, there is

a similarity in the relationship between Nanashi and Kotaro and the relation-ship between Tiger Mask (who starts out as a villain wrestler) and the boy from the orphanage.

J!-ENT: Was it your dream and pas-sion to work in the anime industry or did you expect yourself having an-other kind of career?MASAHIRO: I vaguely remember when I was younger, I wanted to have a job where I make things or rather where I create things. I loved drawing and watching movies (anime or live action) and TV dramas. Around the time I was in junior high school, I found out that there were jobs in anime so I thought, “This (animation) is it”. Looking back, I never thought about working in an-other field.

J!-ENT: A lot of anime fans are famil-iar with anime that you have been in-volved with such as “Cowboy Bebop: The Movie”, “Fullmetal Alchemist”, “Ghost and the Shell” and “RahXe-phon”. Of all the past anime series that you have worked on, is there a certain series that you have a special fondness for and would love to direct today?

M

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IMAGE: The young character Kotaro from “Sword of the Stranger”. Image courtesy of © BONES / STRANGERS 2007

MASAHIRO: I don’t think I’ve thought that about any existing series but I re-ally liked how “Fullmetal Alchemist” balances out the heavy story with the light characters, and in my mind it is a very ideal film as a TV anime.

J!-ENT: Let’s go ahead and talk about your film “Stranger~Mukoh Hadan” (Sword of the Stranger) which will be released in the US by Bandai Enter-tainment. In Japan, you have worked on a good number of films and televi-sion. What types of challenges did you encounter in the making of this animated film? MASAHIRO: This was my first time as director in general so directing this movie, “Stranger”, was a very big chal-lenge, and trying to figure out how to extract the jidaigeki (note: jidaigeki means “period piece”) style success-fully to an animated film. Also pretty much everything involved with con-structing this film: the directing style, the animation, the backgrounds, etc was difficult. J!-ENT: I’ve read that the original pilot was screened at Tokyo Anime Fair back in 2003. From the concept

of the original pilot to the final cut in 2007, was there a big change on what was envisioned back in 2003 versus the final cut?MASAHIRO: There was no change in the film’s direction, but the main char-acter’s image changed quite a bit. In the 2003 version, the main character was an assassin with no memory so I had planned to start the film with a much more darker feel.

J!-ENT: Was there an underlying theme or message that you wanted to convey to the viewers of “Sword of the Stranger”?MASAHIRO: Within the genre of “jid-aigeki”, the life and death of people is the core of the story. Greed is some-thing that doesn’t ever change in any age. I wanted to write a story dealing with people who are driven by their greed to fight and the emptiness they feel. And in the center of that, I want-ed to write about a man who was only able to establish his existence by fight-ing and his redemption and the rebirth of his soul.

J!-ENT: One of the first impressions that I had when watching this film,

was that I don’t think I have seen an anime like this in a long time. A seri-ous anime film that was well-planned for the storyline, the animation and possibly the best sword fighting scenes that I have ever seen in an an-ime. How challenging was it for you to direct these sword fighting action scenes? MASAHIRO: In this movie, within the action scenes we drew the living and dying of people very realistically in the fabrication of animation. The action scenes should be enjoyable to not only anime fans, but any audience in gen-eral. We worked hard on the balance between drama and the action scenes in this film so people can enjoy this film while feeling for the characters without being bored and watching with excite-ment.

J!-ENT: What was it like to work with Takayama Fumihiko (screenplay writ-er) for this film?MASAHIRO: Takayama-san himself is a fan of jidaigeki, so with the quote “Jidaigeki’s royal road in animation!” we started working busily together on the project starting with the story writ-ing. The scenario that was created was

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IMAGE: Kotaro and Nanashi from “Sword of the Stranger”. Image courtesy of © BONES / STRANGERS 2007

prepared very precisely. Having to then think about how to direct the scenario and how that would successfully trans-late to the fans was an obstacle, but it was a very stimulating and substantial time.

J!-ENT: The film featured TOKIO vocalist Nagase Tomoya as the lead character as Nanashi. Although Na-gase has appeared in many Japanese dramas, this was his first voice acting role. How was it like to work with him?MASAHIRO: It’s hard to believe this was his first time voice acting. His un-derstanding for the character was great and he portrayed Nanashi as if he was a real person. During the climax of the film where Nanashi draws his sword and yells, it went well beyond my ex-pectations and I felt so moved that it felt like my soul was being grasped.

J!-ENT: Because a lot of anime is dis-tributed internationally and “Sword of the Stranger” has a storyline that would appeal to International audi-ences, especially of fans of feudal sword fighting films, were you ever concerned that international audi-

ences might not understand “Sword of the Stranger” due to cultural dif-ferences between Japan and the rest of the world?MASAHIRO: The setting for “Strang-er” takes place in historical Japan, but the human story in the center of it goes beyond languages and country borders and concentrates on universal emo-tions, so I wasn’t worried at all.

J!-ENT: Looking back at the film a year after it had been theatrically re-leased in Japan, are you happy with the final version or do you wish there were some additions or cuts made?MASAHIRO: When the film was done, that was the best that I could have done for that film so I am very satisfied about that. There are some things that could be worked on, but instead of changing anything on the film, I will use that as homework for myself and express that in my next project.

J!-ENT: I have to ask this… Because of the final scene in the “Sword of the Stranger”. What is the probability of seeing more adventures of Nanashi ever again?MASAHIRO: The story of the man,

Nanashi, I believe has come to a close with “Stranger”. It has nothing to do if he is still alive or not, but more so I can’t imagine in my mind Nanashi ever holding a katana again.

J!-ENT: Let’s get back to questions of getting to know you a little more. I read somewhere that you began key animation work at the age of 18. That is amazing! When you were younger, what kind of hobbies did you have or what kind of work did you do to get prepared in a career in the anime in-dustry?MASAHIRO: I had no intention of go-ing to professional school, so I stud-ied basic sketching a bit on my own. Because I was going into work in ani-mation, I tried to absorb as much as I could outside of that genre.

J!-ENT: What other influences do you have – such as manga, TV, movies or novels?MASAHIRO: From mangas: Otomo Katsuhiro and Sakaguchi Hisashi. From novels: J. Irving and Ikenami Shoutaro. From Movies: Films by S. Peckinpah, R. Scott, S. Kubrick, Fukasaku Kinji and Chiba Shinichi. The things I read and

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IMAGE: Nanashi, the main character of “Sword of the Stranger”. Image courtesy of © BONES / STRANGERS 2007

watched when I was in my teens, de-spite the genre, they all are in my heart and very precious to me.

J!-ENT: Is there a director that in-spires you?MASAHIRO: Because he’s an artist who became a director and because I admire him, James Cameron.

J!-ENT: With a film like “Sword of the Stranger”, I’m curious... What is your favorite feudal sword fighting movie ever? And also, what is your favorite “sakuga” anime?MASAHIRO: Naming one is a bit hard, so I’ll name at least three. Out of Jidaigeki films, there’s “Jyusannin no Shikaku (The 13 Assassins)” (Direc-tor: Kudou Eiichi), “Zatoichi” (Director: Katsu Shintarou), and “Yagyu Ichizoku no Inbou (Shogun’s Samurai/Yagyu Clan Conspiracy)” (Director: Fukasaku Kinji). Not just going by an anime with good sakuga, but going for a film that combined sakuga and drama very well making it an excellent anime: “Kamui no Ken (The Sword of Kamui)” (Direc-tor: Rintaro).

J!-ENT: What is your feeling of the

state of Japanese animation right now?MASAHIRO: It seems that a lot of an-ime out right now only caters to specif-ic fans and anime that anyone can en-joy seems to be the ones made for kids and that’s a bit lonely to me. I think it would be a great idea if more anime that was accessible to larger audiences were made.

J!-ENT: If you have one word to de-scribe yourself, what word would that be and why?MASAHIRO: Contrary. I’m a contrary person.

J!-ENT: In every interview we do, we have a word play which we give you five words, you give us your defini-tion for each word:a. LOVEMASAHIRO: Self devotion

b. SUCCESSMASAHIRO: Future

c. CREATIVITYMASAHIRO: The ability to imagine

d. PEACE

MASAHIRO: Consideration

e. Sword of the StrangerMASAHIRO: A great duel movie

J!-ENT: Are you working on any cur-rent projects at this time?MASAHIRO: I am currently directing a TV anime series due to air early next summer.

J!-ENT: What final message would you like to give to the fans of your work?MASAHIRO: Working on this film, “Stranger”, I was able to understand the power and possibilities of hand-drawn animation again. I also came to the conclusion that “I like hand-drawn animation” and I would like to keep supporting hand-drawn animation.

For more information on “SWORD OF THESTRANGER” or any upcoming news on its release date, please visit:

http://www.bandai-ent.com/

You can visit the official Japanese Website here:

http://www.stranja.jp/

STRANGER-POSTCARD2009.indd 1 1/24/2009 6:03:48 PM

Written by the staff of J!-ENT, an entertainment and pop culture website celebrating its 15th Year Anniversary in 2008.

www.j-entonline.com

J!-ENT

Dennis A. Amith is the owner of the multi-disciplinary commu-nications and design business, nt2099 media and entertainment and founder of the entertain-ment and pop culture website, J!-ENT. Graduating from Cali-fornia State University, Fresno with an educational background in mass communications and journalism, Dennis A. Amith has interviewed and featured many talents and industry profession-

als in the United States, Europe and Asia and is recog-nized for promoting the entertainment and pop culture of different countries to an International audience. Cur-rently residing in California.

Image courtesy of Image courtesy of © BONES / STRANGERS 2007

J!-ENT’s Dennis A. Amith interviews former Morning Musume members Hitomi Yoshizawa and Rika Ishikawa

with their new music group sporting their persona characters a.k.a. HANGRY & ANGRY.

AVAILABLE NOW ON J!-ENT

COMING SOON TO J!-ENT

J!-ENT’s Dennis A. Amith interviews avex trax singer/songwriter Toko Furuuchi.

Photography by J!-ENT’s Mimi Ko.

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