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guster-animations · 3 days ago

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Kamen Rider Geats Finale Commemoration Producers’ Symposium: Translation (V2 Part 3)

this is part 2 of my revised translation for kamen rider geats’ producer round-table.

part 1 | part 2 | part 3 (HERE)

i originally did geats’ symposium first because it’s already been graciously transcribed and posted by other people (with a few typos)— you can find that transcription of the original japanese text here.

TOKU TRANSLATION MASTERPOST HERE

this translation was done for a few projects of mine. join the henshindex wiki today!

Review I: A Lively Group of Riders

TTFC: You’ve just returned to talking about Kan, and since you touched on the supporters and management side cast at the start, now I’d like to hear about the main cast other than Kan, if you could.

Takebe: Ryuga (Sato) was inexperienced in acting, but he had interesting features in his looks and physical ability.

Yoshikawa: In video auditions at the start, his ratings were high and he was invited to move on to face-to-face. When I looked closely at the materials, Ryuga got an A from Takebe. So it was our first time meeting him in person too. He was filled with wonder, and while other people were auditioning he was saying things like “Whoa…” (Laughs). Well, the real person is fairly different from Keiwa. If something was said, he would immediately stop what he was doing— he’s very responsive.

Takebe: I feel like he fits in the role of “the sharp one”. I don’t mean that in a bad way at all; he’s very attentive and and he completely understands things.

Takishima: Director Nakazawa likes to make scenes where they’re laughing a little bit even in a serious episode. In times like that, he made a great fit for Keiwa. For the director, he decided that Ryuga could do it and left it to him. He was doing that at the soba restaurant, and even in the endgame, in episode 48.

Yoshikawa: He can put together scenes like that himself without being told in detail. I think that’s his talent.

Takebe: So as for Ryuga, I think it’s just a matter of how he’ll use that in the future. On the other hand, there will be scenes in the future where such responsiveness alone is not enough for what the directors ask, so sometimes he should should be an “acting fool”, or rather, become deeply immersed in his role, and grow even further. He’s promising.

Takishima: That’s right. He has the ability to see himself objectively, so he can immediately come up with ideas like, “If I do it like this, the people watching will like it” (Laughs). Of course, that can also be a strength, but I want him to go even further than that. Because I think he can do that.

Yoshikawa: Like Takebe and Takishima said, I think that new opportunities will open when you don’t decide what suffices by yourself, and instead you look closer at your acting. When there is clearly “room for growth”, you want to do you best.

Takebe: Next is Yuna (Hoshino). How is she? I think that she’s had a strong image from the beginning.

Takishima: After all, she was only a person who had a lot of activity in the YouTube and modeling worlds, and still young, so her professionalism is amazing. It seems like her mother said to “always be aware of the people watching you”, and she tightly follows that idea.

Takebe: No matter what or when, she never lets her smile die. I don’t think she can.

Takishima: I think that she worked hard and energetically with such a small figure. There are definitely times where she gets tired. But she never lets that show on her face.

Yoshikawa: She was 17 when filming started, and now she’s 18. But even then, she was able to care for those around her so much, and she always kept them lively.

Takebe: Regarding her acting, the only word I have is “confidence”. The staff certainly loved it too.

Takishima: In things like her speech at the winter movie premiere she seemed nervous, which is surprising when you think about her background, but I guess she’s honest at heart.

Takebe: During the stage speeches for the summer movie, Director Kamihoriuchi said, “The most improved one is Yuna”, and she started crying with joy.

Takishima: The Kurama family was amazing. Ryoko Yui as her mother, and Shinji Kasahara as her father. Don’t get me wrong, they’re both “acting monsters” [TN: I omitted the last part of this sentence because the transcription of one kanji was definitely incorrect and I don’t know what it actually says]. She’s also amazing for getting a hold of it without fail.

Takebe: She deeply wanted to be an actress, and I’m sure that she cried with joy when her role was announced. Having that determination is great. Real life isn’t “Geats”, but if Yuna keeps wishing, that wish will surely come true.

Takishima: To say just one thing, I’m happy that she tried to keep the scene calm, but I say that, when the moment is right, it’s also good to not care about your surroundings and instead enter your own world and zone in. I guess she’s so kind that she can’t help but look around her… As much as I think that, I have lots of thanks and encouragement for Yuna.

Yoshikawa: Can I talk about (Kazuto) Mokudai? He was actually busy with other work and he couldn’t attend auditions. But I liked him a lot and wanted to meet him, so I prepared a chance for him to try out on a day when he was available. Then he took that opportunity, and he was cast as Buffa… Michinaga.

His answers on the audition questionnaire were interesting— For the question “Are you good at a sport?”, he calmly responded, “I can do anything”. Also, during auditions, we met with 4 people who had taught Mokudai, but they kept changing the subject, even though no one was asked (Laughs). Like, “Oh, interesting. Then, how is this actor?”. He, like Yuna, was 17 at the time. Despite this, he was always confident and brazen, and I would think, “What is this person’s deal?” (Laughs).

Takishima: You said back then that it felt a little like Kiita (Komagine, who played the lead in Zenkaiger).

Takebe: That’s true, I did say that.

Takishima: Kiita and Mokudai both listen well to what people said, and are able to further improve based on those comments. By the way, when his manager asked how the auditions for “Geats” went afterwards, he (?) replied, “I got a good laugh out of it” (Laughs).

Takebe: Mokudai was decided, and with Kan as Ace and Ryuga as Keiwa, it felt like the last piece of the male group was filled. Our opinions on who would get which one were divided until the end, and like I said at the start, Kan’s Ace was something that we made a gamble on, but it turned out amazing.

Takishima: Next is Tsumuri. Kokoro Aoshima.

Takebe: In regards to her she seemed to be a little unfit for a cheerful character during auditions, but Tsumuri was probably the only character in the DGP staff who would become an ally of Ace and company, so we wanted her to give a cheerful performance. She was tempted to perform that sort of character more mysteriously, but we kept saying “Be cheerful” and it paid off. Before our eyes, she was established as a bright and sweet character. Director Nakazawa especially cared about that. Tsumuri was always cute in his episodes (Laughs).

Takishima: No matter what, Tsumuri would always get a lot of exposition lines, so we had a lot of trouble with that in the early days. But she got through that period wonderfully. Even so, she had many green-screen shots, and on top of that, she had to say things that she hadn’t known before as if she knew them. I think it was difficult for her.

Takebe: It’s because Yuya loves Tsumuri too. Neon is a heroine too, but Tsumuri is a different kind of one. As the key person of the final arc, she showed a lot of growth over the year. I think she persevered well. At the beginning, she said, “If people remember the role of Tsumuri better than they remember me, then I’ll be happy,” and that was striking.

Review II: “Second Times” and Action

Takebe: For the characters other than the main 5, the key word in a sense was “second job”. They did their first job not as a Rider, and by then it’s easier to work with them because we know those people’s abilities and personality to some extent, and the client would be more willing to work with us because they can think that we liked their previous performance. To cite something specific, Niram’s Ryo Kitamura, and Win Hareruya’s Tsubasa Sakiyama, both appeared together in the Toei Movie-Stage “The Shinigami Incident” (directed by Director Shibasaki), and because of that, we thought about having them appear in “Geats” too. Daichi’s Dai Gotou was in the stage show “Kamen Rider Zangetsu”, and Fuku Suzuki was also in the movie “Saber + Zenkaiger: Super Hero Senki”…

Takishima: Kekera’s Shundo is in “Kamen Rider Amazons”.

Takebe: Shinji Kasahara was a guest role in “Amazons” too, but in terms of Toei shows, “Mirai Sentai Timeranger” was before then.

Takishima: Girori’s Oshinari too, he appeared in a movie for “Kamen Rider Wizard” directed by Nakazawa.

TTFC: Speaking of connections to Director Nakazawa, Haruka Kudo from “Kaitou Sentai Lupinranger vs. Keisatsu Sentai Patranger” appeared as a guest in the summer movie.

Takebe: In that sense, this year had a pretty big group of returning actors, but everyone was happy to lend us their help for as much as they wanted. Everyone certainly delivered performances that exceeded expectations. If you think about it, the framework of taiga dramas and serial dramas depends on their many returning actors, but in tokusatsu, the mental images of the characters performed are strong, so it’s hard to call back people who were playing former regulars. Of course, even though new people are cast in the lead roles, Yu has many reliable abilities in alumni, so there should be no difficulty with calling on those people again. So, Takishima and Yoshikawa, whatever work you help with from now on, I want you to talk to the cast members that you met in “Geats” when the time comes. Also, we didn’t talk about action very much, so… I think the greatest outcome left to talk about from “Geats” is its action. The two treasures of the show are action director Fujita, and (Hiroshi) Nakata, who played Geats.

Yoshikawa: I’ve been watching the Kamen Rider series for more than 20 years, but I’ve never seen action that cool. As a Rider superfan, I really enjoyed seeing action that was still new to me. The shots that Fujita did were amazing, and Nakata’s Geats was always sexy.

Takebe: We always worry about how to do action and what to do to make things feel new. When I enter the position of Chief, I have to find a replacement for last year’s action director: (Michihiro) Takeda for “Kamen Rider Kiva” (2008), Fukuzawa for “Go-Busters”… Fujita in “Geats” was that kind of aim. There were a lot of times we said “You’re doing your best with the action”, but I think we were able to revolutionize action in Rider thanks to him, and it had a big impact on other works too. Like, for example, the ikemen boom at the time of “Ryuki”, and the popularity of voice actors and suit actors for “Den-O”— those things “change” and “are changed,” spreading to the Sentai and Ultraman seasons that started there. I think that these tokusatsu programs establishing new practices is how you say they “changed”. There’s been a reaction to the new “beginning” that Geats’s action created, and I look forward to the action that Fukuzawa will build on it with in “Gotchard”.

Takishima: I think it’s good that there’s a cause-and-effect with Fujita’s action. In the script, you write the beginning of battles and which side wins in the end, but you don’t really point at minute details related to physical movement or the items they use. Because of this, Fujita makes up everything that happens after the battle starts. The enemy weapons are troublesome, so they block the arms a lot, or they took a hit and lost their balance, but at that rate they barely escaped on their feet, things like that. Without the fights onscreen stopping, the “battles” have temperature and are always incredible. [TN: she made a pun on the word for “battle” sounding similar to the word for “warm”] Like Geats and Buffa’s fight in episode 32, I thought it was their final battle. Honestly, at the beginning, I wondered if they would get short of breath somewhere if the fights were this densely packed.

Takebe: It was amazing from episodes 3 and 4 and onwards.

Takishima: That’s right. Well, I thought he was trying to do a special showcase for the start of the program, or a one-time highlight reel, but it just kept going.

Takebe: Fujita really thinks about things thoroughly. So when the summer movie arrived, he seemed tired since it was at the same time as the TV series, but he wanted to do the summer movie himself no matter what, so I respected his wishes and let him to it.

Review F: Reiwa Riders Continuing to Battle

Takebe: We have staff capable of filming the new actors in interesting ways on Rider sets. I think that filming the famous experienced actors well isn’t as difficult because they have their own potential, but truthfully, it’s challenging to make the newcomers look good. However, the first episode of each series is made possible with the director, the cinematography team, and the lighting team. When you add in the fact that they support those actors as they grow, I can seriously respect them and say, “Our company’s staff is incredible!” with honesty. But there were times when even the main characters Keiwa and Neon didn’t appear, and Ace couldn’t let his guard down even though he was the star (Laughs), but how did the cast handle this?

Takishima: About that, the one I worried about most every time was Dai Gotou. He would check a new script and go “Oh, Daichi is still here! Thank goodness!” (Laughs). Compared to Gotou, everyone who played the main Riders wasn’t worried about it.

TTFC: When the series continues like this, it might become a tendency of sorts for them to not worry about it. Like, “I guess this important of a character won’t die.” Of course, it’s still interesting to have exceptions.

Takebe: After all, during “Kamen Rider Ryuki” 20 years ago, it was different in many ways. That time there weren’t exceptions, so when the next script came, the first thing everyone did was check if they were alive or dead (Laughs). They had a hunger for success. That’s something you need to have in order to grow, so we want today’s kids to have that knowledge too.

TTFC: Over the last 20 years, the ways viewers regard TV itself have also changed. Because of that, us at TTFC are also supported by a lot of members, but there’s also an established way to enjoy streaming dramas.

Takebe: To get them to continue watching one-year-long TV series, you can’t make careless decisions. It wasn’t like this in the old days, but now there are already plenty of attractive media outside of television, so we have to do things to advance against competition. Kamen Rider is a strong brand, but that alone isn’t enough to get people to watch it. The way we make trailers and things like that are planned out to the furthest extent possible. We can’t let them forget about the show in the week leading up to the next episode. Even if it’s not the best, they will continue watching it if it continues to stay at the top of their “recommended” lists. To this end, we did everything we could within the production, and we also did everything else we could to promote the show and create buzz. So I also asked Takishima and Yoshikawa to keep working on it. In the extreme, you can start anywhere. If you know about the work “Kamen Rider Geats” and you’re interested in it, we get you to watch it. I’m realizing that this effort has never been as important in the past. Our time will be up soon (Laughs), but do the two of you have something you want to talk about?

Yoshikawa: Because it’s the first work I’ve been in charge of, I think there are still many parts I’m not helpful for. But the other day, when I went to drink together with Director Nakazawa, he said, “As for Kan’s growth, you’ve become a good mentor for him”. Without thinking, I asked, “Director, are you drunk already?” (Laughs), but I was already crying. Kan was a good guy, and I think I had good chemistry with him, but to hear those words coming from the main director of my first project… I don’t think I’ll ever forget that.

Takishima: You might be nominated as “the person who mentors the lead actor” in the next work you’re involved with too (Laughs).

Takebe: Director Nakazawa is incredible too. I think he also saw that point. After all, he has a wide field of vision over the people he works with.

Yoshikawa: I already talked about my personal history, but I was really happy with the many Kamen Rider names I devised. Beginning with Tycoon, then Glare, Gazer, and Regad. Because English is my specialty, I was also entrusted with the English translation of the Desire Card in the opening and the like. As a big Kamen Rider fan, “If I died tomorrow, I wouldn’t regret anything. And even if I did die, Tycoon’s name would remain!” (Laughs). It was truly a privilege to be part of this year.

Takebe: You also came up with the message at the very end, “Ace with us”.

Takishima: I have the character songs.

Takebe: The character songs! People seem to think that I do the character songs, but I don’t (Laughs).

Takishima: Taking advantage of the fact that Takebe has that reputation in the work she’s involved with (Laughs), I made a lot. I’d only worked on Sentai shows up to now, so it was my first time working with Avex, but they also had a wide range of artists. The music producer (Mayu) Iida is also very good at taking charge of the ordering process, and the ideas I conveyed to her were realized as songs at a terrific resolution. While discussing the lyrics, I came to understand the characters better, and it was fun work. All of the directors paid great attention to the music videos they made too, so I’d definitely like the fans of “Geats” who are reading this to check them out.

Takebe: Everyone in the cast will be singing in the nationwide Final Stage as well, so please also look forward to that. Speaking of, the other day there was a lot of excitement in the summer movie’s Kansai campaign. I was surprised by that, but at the same time, it made me happy.

Yoshikawa: Kan is from Kyoto, so he probably said “I’m home!” in his speech (Laughs), but really, there was so much excitement that the meeting hall shook.

Takebe: I’m relieved that “Geats” has provided good results in television ratings, box-office scores, and toy sales. Especially the second half from the beginning of the year onwards, which saw an increase, made it worth everyone’s effort. When you’ve been in the profession for this long, you see some cases where the hard work doesn’t amount to anything, so… in that sense, I’m extremely grateful. Even though we’ve announced the Final Stage and V-Cinext, there are still many other “Geats”-related projects in the works, so I would appreciate your continued support!