Anime director Akiyuki Shinbo, the king of experimental fanservice? While we can discover his eccentric, fascinating and absurd works – 5 reasons why – we don’t really know what’s in his mind.
Here are some excerpts from a 2009 interview, about adapting Bakemonogatari. If you find more english stuff about this director, be sure to share!
NewType Channel: What is your impression on the novel?
Shinbo: Not only amusing characters and story, I also found the conversations to be peculiar. That’s why we should adapt those conversations as it is without any weird changes. Since I myself also want to see those conversations in the anime.NTC: What do you mean by adapting as it is?
Shinbo: To make the boundary line between the letters and the visuals as vague as possible. Not only turns texts into visuals, but to leave the novel’s characteristics on them. This may sounds exaggerated; we’re finding the definitive technique in order to make Bakemonogatari anime. We’re also trying in on-screen texts’ direction we’ve been using up until now.NTC: The director also used a lot of on-screen texts in Sayonara Zetsubō Sensei.
Shinbo: Since letters are originated from hieroglyph, there should be a way to show them. Because of that, I want to try uniting the expressions of kanji’s appearances with the visuals.NTC: What you’re aiming is to conform to the original story; I feel that only the director is capable of accomplishing.
Shinbo: More than anything, the medium between novel and anime is different. Being conformed by what means is another topic, but I believe there’s a way to show the fun aspect of Bakemonogatari in the anime. Since the original work is very amusing, if we could do that, it would become an amusing anime. Of course, what’s important is the drawing since this is an anime. We have to make it good-looking, that’s why we asked Watanabe to work on it.
Originally published on NewType Channel, Translated by Absolutef (now offline).
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Hire a competent translator next time.