Tokyo Sound

Unlike movies, actors are often in the camera and rarely outside the camera. Some actors don’t even know what they have filmed until the film is finished. For animation supervisors like Yin Ze who have received the original director’s storyboard, it can be said that they slowly watched the foundation of the film being laid and then built into a mountain.

Since "Voices of a Distant Star", many years have passed, and Makoto Nido has grown from a shy young man with fair skin to a middle-aged man with a beer belly. The independent animator who did not come from a professional background has given himself a satisfactory answer today.

The film is nearly 100 minutes long. The first 30 minutes explain the spatial distance for the opening, the next 30 minutes explain the temporal distance for the turning point, and the last 30 minutes are the outbreak and ending of the plot. The narrative is clear and the connection is smooth.

The audience is brought into the story step by step, the rhythm and plot are integrated, and this time there is no unrequited love, which makes people feel the impression of a hazy first love.

This is the quality that a mature work should have.

This is a work that is the result of Makoto's experience, and it is also a work that is the result of everyone's hard work. The script took half a year to be polished, and the video storyboard took half a year. Makoto worked hard for more than ten hours a day. In addition to composing the pictures, he also dubbed the lines of all the characters, providing a foundation for all the voice actors. I have never seen such a weird supervisor. There is no other option to support his vigorous vitality except creative passion. When a person is obsessed with a project, it is like taking a shot of chicken blood, feeling pain and happiness, and not knowing what fatigue is.

At the same time, the reason why he worked so hard on the storyboard was that after entering the animation stage, Makoto Niwato seemed a little weak in front of the top animation team. At the reception, he also laughed bitterly and laughed at himself, saying that after entering the animation stage, he felt that he had less say.

In fact, there was only one year between the official start of production and the release of the film, and given the scale of this work, the time left for drawing was very short. Ando Masatsugu had a keen eye and knew that the deadline was tight, so he put all his efforts into it from the beginning. With his superb skills, his wastebasket was often filled to the brim after a day of drawing. Even if the manuscript was considered to be of high quality by others, he would not hesitate to crumple it into a ball and throw it away if he felt it was not good enough.

While working, looking at the broad back of Ando Masashi working at his desk, Makoto, who was born as an independent producer, was deeply moved by the attitude of the older generation of animators. He invited Ando to drink several times, hoping to quietly narrow the distance between their hearts, but was rejected five times in a row... because he was too busy.

Makoto Nido usually doesn't dare to step into the painting area easily, as the atmosphere there is very tense.

The background art team is basically made up of familiar partners, with the exception of a new member named Yin, who does not interfere with any creation or setting, but acts like an amplifier to make the discussed plans even more exciting.

Tokyo and Itomori, city and countryside, these two background stages have different styles.

Tokyo is gorgeous and glittering, whether it is the shape of the buildings or the shadows clearly outlined by the linear style, the reflection of the sky, etc. This kind of inorganic beauty is very suitable for digital technology. However, the natural landscape of Japan is heavy in color matching, and it is difficult to express the bright yellow-green temperature. Instead, it is easier to express it with brushes and pigments like Ghibli.

At this time, Yin, who was good at using software and had profound classical skills, played a great auxiliary role, which created an excellent balance between the background team and the character team led by Ando Masatsugu.

Both sides understand each other's meaning, neither is so strong as to overwhelm the other, nor is it purely to set off the other, so the integration of background and character reaches a very high level.

When masters fight, conflict is also another form of fusion.

In terms of the animation team, this is already the most luxurious one in recent years. In addition, there is also a first-class music and executive team.

It is not in vain that Makoto Nito has said many times that this is a "miraculous lineup" and that they "gambled everything they had to accomplish it."

The painstaking efforts of hundreds of people and several years of hard work will ultimately result in a wonderful audio-visual experience in the screening room.

On the big screen, Mitsuha successfully returned to the place before the comet fell. She ran for her life, and when she fell, she opened her palms, but did not see the name of her lover, only a silent "I like you".

The audience were all touched and their hearts were gripped.

Yin Ze was also touched, of course. He thought that Okura Keiyuki, who drew this scene, was the only real master left in Japan.

This is where the most emotional part of the film comes.

The huge Milky Way traverses the deep and vast sky, pouring down from the heads of people and characters, which is really a magnificent waterfall. The dense clusters of bright and shining stars are just like the splashing water of a waterfall.

The singing resounded in the ears along with the rapid and blooming of meteors from the sky. The spreading fragments dragged long tails of light across the dark ink night sky. It was the smallest celestial body in the universe. It burned its entire journey. At the last moment of its life, it could burn up the entire starry sky.

The sky was studded with stars, and near the horizon, shining sentinels touched the earth.

Those once lively and vibrant shrines, streets, residences and green hills full of life have all become a thing of the past in the light and impact, magnificent yet with the coldness of doomsday.

As if to calm the audience, the film returns to calm and ends quietly.

After all, Makoto has the reputation of being an old thief, and the famous scene of the broken marriage on the train is still vivid in people's minds. So when Taki and Mitsuha passed each other on the snowy night, some viewers were furious, thinking that this old thief must be trying to murder me again and stab me.

Until the very end, under the anxious and scratching gazes of everyone present, Taki and Mitsuha separated again, and Taki finally turned around and spoke.

A lot of people felt relieved.

In a corner of the cinema, a powerful "Nice" was heard.

Taki and Mitsuha shed tears at the same time.

'What is your name?'

'What is your name?'

The movie ends.

The lights in the cinema came on.

"Hey, you're not jealous, are you?" After admiring it again, Yin Ze noticed the actions next to him and said with ill intention.

"No, no, I have a very high tear point." Sakura Ayane turned her head away, "It's just that the blood circulation in my legs and feet is blocked from sitting. I need to rest for a while before I can get up and walk. You wait a moment."

At this time, as a gentleman, he should hand over a tissue. But if he really handed over the tissue, wouldn't that be repeating the other person's tears after watching the movie? This is a sign of not being able to read the air, and very low emotional intelligence. So Yin Ze made a high emotional intelligence decision, he really did nothing.

Kazuhiko Yanbe was the only person watching the movie alone in the theater. He originally wanted to come with his sister, but was unable to do so.

Oh, it would be great if Dao Ge was still here. Dao Ge is gone, and I can’t even participate in the half-price promotion for the second cup of ice cream.

Get out of the long rows of seats.

Yanbe Kazuhiko suddenly paused. He looked at the crowd and felt that a figure looked familiar... maybe it was an illusion.

Yin Ze and Sakura Ayane came out of the cinema. Instead of taking a car, they walked on the side of the road.

The sky was clear at night, without any thick dark clouds. The moonlight was bright, pouring over the long road and spreading all over the ground. Tiny star clusters formed long streams.

"Is the movie good?" Yin Ze asked for no reason.

"Not bad." Sakura Ayane was on his right side, with her hands behind her back, and said in a mature and steady manner, "I can only say that the performance met expectations."

"Hehe...hahaha." Yin Ze suddenly laughed.

"Do you have any problem--" Sakura Ayane was unconvinced.

"No, I suddenly remembered that I walked this road a long time ago." Yin Ze said with a smile, "At that time, I asked you 'Have you eaten enough?' Oh, you said at that time that your father was urging you to lose weight, hahahaha."

"Such a small and distant thing, yet you remember it so clearly." Sakura Ayane snorted.

"Yes, you were chasing me, grabbing my clothes and beating me." Yin Ze brought up the past.

"Well, that was in the past. Now I won't play with you like an elementary school student." Sakura Ayane must have some impression of puberty. She suddenly felt a little unnatural and her face turned slightly red.

"Hey, this movie should be very popular. Brother Cheng must invite me to play, otherwise it will be unreasonable." Yin Ze said to himself.

"I don't know as much as you do about drawing, but as for dubbing, I am a professional after all. I'll give you 88 points this time," said Sakura Ayane.

"What's the full score?" Yin Ze frowned.

"100." said Sakura Ayane.

"What about the remaining 22 points?"

"It should be the remaining 12 points...you idiot."

"Doesn't this show that you, a top student at Keio University, are good at math?" Yin Ze smiled gently.

"There are 12 points left to prevent you from being too proud." Sakura Ayane said back to the film, "But the ending and the title touch on the theme, which I didn't expect."

Uh, I don't know if I should reveal this information. This may come from the first time I met Makoto, or from the first time Makoto greeted me. Yin Ze thought.

"Concise and powerful, the lines are really well done." Sakura Ayane nodded, and suddenly imitated the plot at the end, taking a few quick steps forward.

then.

"What's your name?" The girl turned around, her hair fluttering in the wind like a clear shallow beach.

Yin Ze was slowed down by this sudden move, and then he waved his hand, "Hey, I'm the person you know."

My thoughts are endless. If I could really see her while she is sleeping, as if I were knowing that I am in a dream, I hope I would not wake up.

……

The animated film, Your Name, quickly grabbed the headlines in entertainment news.

There is no other reason, it’s pure data strength, it was released on 300 screens, mobilizing 3 people in 96 days, and the cumulative box office is 12.8 billion yen!

The male to female passenger ratio is 64 to 36, with males being the majority.

An unprecedented hit!

An unprecedented hit!

This starting speed is absolutely unusual, and those involved have all smelled the scent of a big explosion.

As expected, under intense wait-and-see attitude, the film's box office growth rate in two weeks has exceeded that of all animated works in the previous ten years.

The excellent line of live-action Bang animation, the 20 billion yen/30 billion yen standard was broken at the speed of light in the second week, a total of 300 million people were mobilized, and the cumulative box office in the second week was 38.7 billion yen!

It’s like a rocket launching itself!

So far, it has become a phenomenal topic.

If the upward trend continues, this final result and fastest record will most likely once again refresh the top 100 or even top 50 of Japan’s domestic movie box office charts!

The decline of Japanese films did not happen in a day or two. The swordplay films that were once glorious have now become unpopular in their own country.

There are simply not many people making exciting special effects blockbusters anymore, and what we can watch now are basically TV dramas shot by Dai Ge to sell toys.

This also comes at a time when Hayao Miyazaki has repeatedly announced his retirement.

The only remaining animated film in the domestic box office, the most powerful one, seems to have lost its backbone all of a sudden. In fact, even Hayao Miyazaki can no longer replicate the animation miracle of the millennium, which can continuously release masterpieces with box office of over 10 billion yuan, win reputation, commercial and awards, and make the industry and the outside world excited.

Investors have always been conservative, and now they lack confidence even more.

But the unusual growth curve of "Your Name" seemed to give everyone a shock.

Not long after, Makoto Nido woke up and saw the headline of the newspaper, which read "Makoto Nido, the animation master who succeeded Hayao Miyazaki". Such a big title directly woke up Makoto's remaining sleepiness. He had never participated in traditional animation and came from an independent background. He had been improving as a student for so many years, so how could he dare to admit this.

But the director wasn't the only one who was overwhelmed by the good news.

At this point, even Toho's original slogan of "earning 60 billion yen" became so powerless.

Now even the entire production team doesn’t know where it will end up.

Four weeks later, we launched an attack on the 10 billion yen level!

In the office, Toho's managing director, Oku Shoji, suddenly felt that he had lost money.

Hundreds of billions, and the momentum seems to be going upwards. Even our own Kamishiraishi Mone feels a bit of a loss if she puts it on there.

This, this, this... the male lead isn't even from our own family!!!

Oku Shoji took a series of deep breaths.

Next time I attend Keidanren's cocktail party, Mr. Natsume might not want to have just one drink with me. He should at least ask me to sit at that table and chat about family matters, right? !

Chapter 111: Retreat or Not

"The box office has reached 8 billion yen in just 27 days! The number of viewers has exceeded 210 million! The latest masterpiece of director Makoto Nito!"

"It's been a week since the movie was released, and as you can see, it continues to be full—" The program's location reporter came to a cinema in Tokyo to give an introduction.

“We actually wanted to see it today, but they’re all sold out. We have no choice but to reserve tickets for tomorrow.” A couple who arrived a few steps late answered in an interview.

"It's been released for a week and it's still basically sold out. This kind of courage has only been seen in Ghibli animations in the past," said the theater manager with emotion.

……

"The momentum continues, ranking first for four consecutive weeks!"

"After four weeks of release, the box office is still above 10 billion yen every weekend?!"

「截至19日，累计成绩动员698万79人，票房91亿473万円。靠近百亿极限！」

"I was dragged here by my friends. During the most intense moment of the whole play, I actually felt a little overwhelmed, but my friends were beside me, so I forced myself to hold back the tears." A middle school student with a good physique was interviewed.

"It's so great that we finally met. I almost wanted to @ex-conviction supervisor on Twitter and angrily attack him." A homegirl breathed a sigh of relief.

"Many of you came here in pairs. I'm so envious... But it's OK as long as Sanye is happy." A man pushed his glasses.

……

"No. 1 in movie satisfaction, No. 1 in first-run movie mobilization, made the whole of Japan cry, a miracle story!"

"A first outside of Ghibli?! Your Name is sold out every day! Box office revenue exceeded 28 billion yen in 100 days!"

"It's 1:6 p.m. now, but all the shows before p.m. are full." said the location reporter with his back to the theater's information screen.

"As for Japanese animation, this is the first time that a work other than Studio Ghibli has achieved this result. This is also ranked ninth in the ranking of Japanese films of all time." An industry insider answered while sitting at his desk.

"The original novel written by director Makoto Nido has also surpassed the sales of 'Sparks' written by Naoki Matayoshi last year, surpassing the one million copies."

"The singles from the movie were also ranked in the top three on Oricon for four consecutive weeks and became a huge hit."

"It can be said that it has now become a social phenomenon!" praised the host.

"We have already watched it twice." The interviewed audience said, "The pictures are so detailed and beautiful that just watching it once is not enough. And when I watched it again, I gradually paid attention to the lyrics, and then I found that the lyrics are closely connected to the plot."

"Watch it three times." A fat bear-like man said forcefully, "Many shots contain a lot of information, such as the text on the phone screen, short sentences in the notes, etc. You have to watch it several times to see it all clearly."

"Will there be a live-action version? I think the voice actor himself is fully capable of doing the role!" The unnamed female audience member was a little excited.