“I will not make this simple just because it's a kids show” ~ Morio Asaka x Sakura Tange interview in Newtype 05/2018
Here I am again, with the highlights of another interview with Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card’s director Morio Asaka, together with Sakura Tange (Sakura’s voice actress), as part of the special feature of this month’s Newtype issue. Beware, the post is gonna be long, but please take some time to read it, it’s pretty interesting. As usual, if you mean to repost or translate this in another language, send me a message/credit me, thanks!
- The interview starts with Asaka saying that while Clear Card is a story about Sakura growing and becoming stronger, lately he found himself thinking that she’s become even stronger than he initially thought. Sakura Tange agrees, saying that she initially thought Clear Card would see Sakura gradually becoming stronger. Instead, right from episode 1, she didn’t hesitate, took the new key and chanted her Release! spell. Tange was kinda surprised by this and found herself wanting to catch up quickly with Sakura’s growth.
- Asaka mentions he wondered how far he should go with the depiction of Sakura and Syaoran’s relationship. He says “If it goes too far, it wouldn’t be CCSakura anymore…although right in episode 1 they suddenly hugged like that (laughs)” After that, they went back to their usual innocent selves so there’s quite a gap, but he understands now that they acted like that because of the time they’ve spent apart. Tange: “When I saw that hug in the manga I’ve sent a picture of it to Kumai (Syaoran’s VA), and told her “we have a case here!!”, and she replied something like “What’s that!? My brain can’t keep up!”. That was definitely a scene that shook both of us”.
- Asaka talks about Sakura Tange’s acting qualities, saying that he chose her for the quality of her voice. He emphasized the fact that Sakura Tange’s voice had just that perfect addictive something for a life-size Sakura. Sakura Tange said that she didn’t try to high-pitch her voice to make her cute, and the fact that she was chosen for this makes her happy.
- They end up talking about the recording process and what’s Asaka’s role in it, and Sakura Tange points out that this Clear Card arc’s recording is dense of details and demanding for more and more, and it’s the first time she encountered such a refined work. Since Tange found the same opinion from the other VAs too, she asks Asaka if all this refined work has a reason behind it. Asaka says that one of the reasons depends on the fact that, in the previous series, the characters used to “be at the mercy of the events”, while this time Sakura is a lot more withstanding/resistant, Syaoran knows something and has got his own goal in mind, so when the story gets to the stage where (the characters) will start to put together the puzzle pieces of the story, the acting will become quite intense. Asaka: “Ever since the previous seasons, I decided I would not make this simple just because it’s a kids show, and this is gonna be apparent even more in this Clear Card arc. Although, it may also depend on how my way to direct my shows has changed over the years.”
- When asked if his style changed to match Sakura’s growth, he says that this time the percentage of corrections to the storyboard is pretty high. He keeps adding details here and there. Sakura Tange says she noticed that. She says it’s basically the first time she’s been constantly told “please play the character this way” while recording, because when playing a character since long time, normally in test stage she would agree with the staff on a general line to follow and then the rest will be left to her in recording stage. Instead here she’s constantly guided and it becomes really, really difficult for her. But she also points out that this goes to show just how much love and care they’re putting into this work. Asaka says “What will happen from episode 13 will be even harder, though!” and Tange replies “It’s pretty hard already, haha”
Tange explains that she’s never seen the cards as enemies until now, but rather as friends, so when sound director Masafumi Mima told her, since the beginning of the series, to “hit hard the cards as if you’re doing it with hatred and anger” she was very surprised. Tange: “For such a fluffy world view and a story that was kinda simple, she’s now getting such raw and life-risking battles (laughs). They’re asking me to portray that kind of tension.”
- When asked if that’s from the early stage of the story, Tange replies that ever since the beginning, there’s this tension like “If I don’t do something, everyone is gonna die!” and mentions episode 2 as an example. Asaka takes the chance to point out how even Tomoyo had an hard time in episode 2, so there’s the fact that this time they’re showing more instances in which the characters are in difficult situations, even to the point that one might think “they’re gonna die!”. But, Asaka says he doesn’t see the cards as enemies and he has no intention to change that. They talk about how the cards this time seems “cold/inorganic” as opposed to the previous cards, and how cute Flight is, though.
- The interview moves on to the favorite scenes among the episodes aired until now, and Sakura Tange mentions the lovey dovey scenes with Syaoran. About this, Asaka says he wants to show the cool way in which he nonchalantly carries on his task. That’s the cool side of Syaoran he wants to show, more than the aesthetic side. Asaka: “I can’t tell (in details) yet, but in the episodes from now on there’ll be plenty of cool Syaoran appearing. At the current stage I don’t know how I will portray this, but in my head there’s a veeery cool Syaoran”.
- They talk about the first opening and ending, with the theme of “transparency” for the opening and the pure white dress as CLAMP’s idea. Then Asaka confirms something the japanese animation enthusiasts had already guessed right: he says he left the ending completely in the hands of a “certain person” who did also the third ending of the previous series, “Fruits Candy”.
- When asked how the story will develop from now on, Asaka says all the scenarios are already completed, and they’re currently working on the last storyboard. As far as he’s allowed to say, the story is finally reaching the core of the big mystery of this series, which is the mysterious cloaked person who appears in sakura’s dreams. Tange: “Since I don’t know anything about this, but I’m half anxious, half expecting what is about to come, if there’s something I don’t understand I think it would be a good idea if I went to ask you for clarifications” Asaka: “Sure, come at any time. Although I might not be able to answer you. (laughs)”
Asaka, never change. :)
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