What kind of person is Takayuki Hirao, the director of 'Sakura no Ondo'? Thorough interview
The completely original work currently being produced by Ufotable is ' Sakura no Ondo'. It is not just an original project, but it is also a noteworthy work in that Ufotable does everything from planning to distribution, but it is directed by Takayuki Hirao of 'Sky Boundary Chapter 5 Contradiction Spiral'. directed by. Director Tetsuro Araki of 'DEATH NOTE', 'We still don't know the name of the flower we saw that day. 』Director Tatsuyuki Nagai and others, as one of the creators of the generation that attracts attention, we conducted an interview this time.
GIGAZINE (hereinafter, G):
This time, I would like to ask you from the level of 'Which one were you born?'
Director Takayuki Hirao (henceforth, Hirao):
Are you born? (Lol)
G:
I heard that Mr. Hirao was from Kagawa prefecture, who was the model for the stage of 'Sakura no Ondo'. What kind of child were you?
Hirao:
My house was on a mountain, in the middle of a slope, and it was a housing complex, but there were few children. Of course, I had friends when I went to school, but no one came to play because it was a steep slope (laughs) I couldn't play catch because it was almost a slope in front of my house, and I practiced soccer. I was in a situation where I couldn't do it. I was still playing, but my older brother, who is five years older than me, likes manga and buys novels and manga that are a little older than me. So I read it carefully.
G:
What kind of work were you reading?
Hirao:
Katsuhiro Otomo's '
G:
Oh!
Hirao:
I read 'AKIRA' in the first grade of elementary school or so.
G:
It's a great experience (laughs)
Hirao:
I thought it was a very unpleasant work because many people died, but in the end it was interesting so I went to my brother's room and read it all the time. As for novels, my brother liked Haruki Murakami's novels, so that's it. I read my first work, '
G:
So that's it. I was wondering if there would be a work that was serialized in 'Weekly Shonen Jump' for generations, but I was reading about that, but 'AKIRA' came first.
Hirao:
Well, 'AKIRA' was the first. After that, I felt like I started reading ' Dragon Ball ' and ' JoJo's Bizarre Adventure '.
G:
'First of all, there was'AKIRA'' is a great experience ...
Hirao:
My brother has a strong influence on me, the first work I read.
G:
Mr. Hirao started his manga career with 'AKIRA'. How did you decide to enter the anime industry?
Hirao:
Originally I wanted to be a manga artist, but I was in junior high school, high school and judo club. During that time, I was doing judo all the time, and when I was in my second year of high school, I quarreled with a judo teacher and quit. So I thought about what to do and remembered that I wanted to be a manga artist, so I joined the art club. Then, when the teacher of the art club told me to draw a manga, I tried to draw a manga, and he said, 'You are not suitable for a cartoonist' (laughs).
G:
Quite clearly ...
Hirao:
Be clearly told. He said, 'I think it's better to go into the video,' and said, 'Then, to the video.' So, if anything, I was a poor grader, so I gave up on college and thought, 'Let's go to a vocational school.' So I searched for a live-action vocational school, but I couldn't find it at that time. 'Then I watched anime, so let's go to the anime industry', so I entered ' Osaka Designers' College '. I've been in Osaka for about two years. Immediately after I entered school, there was a proper live-action vocational school in front of me, and I thought, 'I should have gone there,' but in the end, it was just like going to an anime vocational school.
G:
The transition from the judo club to the art club ... it's amazing.
Hirao:
This may be rude to my alma mater, but at that time it was a high school that wasn't very good at it. The art club was a female teacher who was popular with the bad guys for some reason. I wasn't bad at all, but when I entered the art club, the Yankees were sitting on chairs and drawing pictures silently. It was rather interesting to be on that side, and I thought it would be fun, so I felt like I went in.
G:
What kind of anime were you watching at that time?
Hirao:
When I was in elementary school, I used to see ' Nadia : The Secret of Blue Water'. That was about 4-5 years of elementary school. Around the time of ' Mobile Suit Z Gundam ', my brother really liked Gundam, so I watched it a lot. I saw it sideways, and I also saw ' Future GPX Cyber Formula '. My house was on the mountain, so Shikoku Broadcasting couldn't enter. But for some reason, our radio waves were coming from the other side of the sea.
G:
It is a TV Tokyo series.
Hirao:
Oh yeah. Also, there was a program called 'I love anime! ' For summer vacation and so on.
G:
Oh, there was!
Hirao:
My brother was watching that, and I was watching it next to me. Didn't you play OVA, an anime for adults, on 'I love anime!' Rather than doing it on TV? I was looking at it if there was one.
G:
Certainly, people who watched this program around me have the image that there are still many people who like anime (laughs) 'I love anime!' Because OVA can be seen on TV, 'That's it.' It seems that there are quite a lot of people who say, 'I saw it.'
Hirao:
It was shocking to be doing this kind of thing in anime. When I was in elementary school, I think I used to do things like ' Maro Maruko ' and ' Labyrinth Property FILE 538 '. I'm a very core guy.
G:
I feel like I was influenced a lot when I was in elementary school (laughs)
Hirao:
However, there were places where major works seemed to enter the industry quickly, so it was difficult to catch up with everyone's topic.
G:
If you look at your work history, you'll see the name from '
Hirao:
I entered the industry when I was 20 and was motivated. However, at that time, the Madhouse was on the 3rd floor and the place was very small. At that time, there were about 10 people in sync, but everyone was standing (laughs).
G:
Is it because it's narrow?
Hirao:
It's small and there are no seats, so stand up. What's more, I only work on the phone or outside. Therefore, when asked to go around, everyone goes out with a slightly proud face. Because I got a job (laughs), I'm also fighting for a phone number.
G:
Some people are waiting.
Hirao:
Oh yeah, there are a few people waiting and I'm free because I don't have a job anyway, so I was doing things like who could get the call first when the phone rang. I was desperate for that. It was my first time to get a job, and it was new to enter a slightly special industry called the animation industry. I really wanted to be a director, but the work in progress became interesting. There was a time when I was doing production work all the time. I think I've been doing it for a couple of years. It's rather easy to be washed away (laughs) I came out from Osaka to Tokyo and there were a lot of interesting things. In the meantime, Tetsuro Araki and Ryosuke Nakamura , who were in the same period, went up to the production and asked, 'Isn't this bad?'
G:
The name was mentioned a little now, but in 'This is the director of the Arasa generation' featured by Animage before, the names of Mr. Hirao and Mr. Araki were lined up, but it is quite close in age. So, is it like a rival?
Hirao:
I've been able to get along with Araki in private. I think Araki-kun has had the most influence on me since I entered the industry. At the same time, the picture was so good and talented ... That's why talking is completely different. It's something I'm thinking about, and the impression I get when I see the work is a bit different. Even if the two of us are talking about how it was, we are looking at things from a completely different perspective. So I thought, 'I have to catch up somehow,' so I evaded a lot of discussions and tried to steal. I still think I can't catch up with Araki. We both have a certain amount of supervision, but even so, including talent and skill, he can't match him at all.
G:
It feels like you're very far away, even though you're close.
Hirao:
I agree.
G:
Then, are there any anime, movies, or novels that Mr. Hirao recommends to others?
Hirao:
There are so many, and I don't know which one to mention suddenly (laughs) Recently, I've been watching overseas dramas all the time. It's called '
Hirao:
In the anime I saw recently, '
G:
Director Tatsuyuki Nagai of 'Anohana' is also close in age.
Hirao:
I've met Director Nagai once because of the connection with Mr. Araki. Mr. Araki, Mr. Nagai, Mr.
G:
Mr. Nagai said, 'Toradora! 'A Certain Scientific Railgun' and 'We still don't know the name of the flower we saw that day. I'm the director. Mr. Hirao also directed the voluminous Chapter 5 in 'The Garden of Sinners', and I think it's a big work in his career.
Hirao:
I agree. I'm really glad that I was allowed to do 'Paradox Spiral'.
G:
So that's it. Finally, please give us one ambition for the future.
Hirao:
Ambition ... If it's a goal, I have a lot of thoughts. Since 'The Garden of Sinners', I have been doing what I like in the two works '
Hirao:
'Sakura no Ondo' is also original, and I am allowed to do it in my favorite way. However, because I like it, I want to make the core part into entertainment in the next work.
I've been working while thinking about what to deliver to customers, but I'd like to gradually expand the range of customers to deliver. If such things can be delivered properly, the goal is to create a vessel for works that can reach a wider audience.
G:
I want to connect what I want to do individually to entertainment.
Hirao:
That's close. It was so big that I was allowed to do these two works, and thanks to that, I could see various things.
G:
Instead of saying 'what you receive is this kind of thing' or 'what you want to do is this kind of thing', you are thinking about 'how can you deliver this to the outside?'
Hirao:
I agree. However, I feel that it will take a little longer to realize that. So even if you can't give up on what you want to do in the next work, if you can expand it to more customers, you can suppress yourself once, look at it from a bird's-eye view, and deliver it more. I'm thinking of choosing that if it can be done.
Until now, even if I had the intention of delivering it to the customer properly, if there were two choices, there was a little part where I chose what I wanted to do. Let's shift it here once. Only when I can do that, I wonder if I can make a well-balanced product by combining the two. Speaking of ambition, that is ambition.
G:
So that's it. I am looking forward to the 'cherry blossom temperature' as the first step toward that goal. By the way, it's an additional question that is quite different from the main question, but if Mr. Hirao has a recommended menu at the ufotable cafe or a menu that says 'I always eat' ...
Hirao:
Eh (laughs)
Ufotable Hikaru Kondo Producer (hereinafter referred to as Kondo):
You always eat pork.
Hirao:
Oh, it comes with the soup and rice of this 'salted black pork with 3 kinds of sauce'. Also, 'Butter roll French toast'.
Kondo:
The calories are amazing ...
(Everyone laughs)
Hirao:
I haven't come to the cafe lately, but after eating this once, I've been here for three days in a row.
Kondo:
This is delicious, isn't it?
G:
So that's it. I definitely have to eat it. Thank you for today.
In addition, this interview was conducted as part of ' Animage x GIGAZINE 3D Collaboration ', and in the interview of GIGAZINE, we asked him to talk mainly about Director Hirao himself, but
By the way, the state of the photo shoot for the Animage article was like this. Please check what kind of photos are actually used on the paper.
·postscript
The next work directed by Hirao is the movie 'Witch Girl Sisters Yoyo and Nene' released on December 28, 2013. Actually, it seems that the project was launched at the end of the production of this 'Sakura no Tempo'. We interviewed Director Hirao just before the release of 'Yoyonene'.
Interview with Takayuki Hirao, 'Yoyo and Nene, the Witch Girl Sisters' whose growth has changed the basis of the work
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