Note: I am five days late. Proscrastination, man, that’s what it does ahah. But anyways, I’m going to be catching up on these pretty soon, so enjoy! Btw, happy Zankyou no Terror week y'all, even if it’s already ended <3
1. What colour would Lisa’s voice take in your mind?
I guess it’s pretty much a tie between green and yellow. I find that these two colors have the most vibrancy to them, but that they can be overpowered and shadowed by other colors quite easily (especially yellow. It’s very easy to color over pale yellow).
I can associate these two colors to Lisa because they represent how at first, Lisa was meek and ate her emotions, how people easily walked over her and she wouldn’t be able to respond (a pale yellow that can’t quite stand out against brighter colors like orange, red or blue). She looks like she’s full of despair and sadness, and flower that can’t quite shine because it is surrounded by sunflowers.
There is strength and life in Lisa, but it’s hard for her to show that she’s got some backbone when nobody tells her that she matters, when school is hell and home is an added source of worry and stress. It’s unhealthty.
But after meeting Twelve, after starting to live with our two terrorists, Lisa starts to live. She takes the initiative by trying to cook or doing the laundry, she goes around the apartment to satisfy her curiosity and she acts like someone her age. Her range of expression broadens: surprise, happiness, envy, sheepishness, content. We see here that Lisa is working to becoming a whole person, someone with a plethora of expressions. She doesn’t eat them up anymore, she starts to shine.
That’s why I associate her with green or yellow. Because they can be the lightest of colors and easy to overlook or soil, but there are shades or green and yellow that are very bright. Yellow can be warm and comforting, while green is calm. Yellow is the sun overhead and green is the grass that feeds on the light: the meanings of yellow are light and hope, optimism and energy. On the other hand, the meanings of green are growth and peacefulness, youthfulness and trust.
And I picture Lisa’s voice as either yellow or green, sometimes being pale or sometimes being the most loud and bright shade ever (right to left)
2. Do you think colours play an important part in the show?
Yes. The use of color allows to establish contrast between characters (like Lisa’s voice being pale yellow and opposing Five whose color scheme is purple, whether it’s her make-up, her eyes color or her clothing as yellow and purple. This is actually pretty interesting since yellow and purple are complementary colors, meaning that they offer the brightest contrast when placed side by side and can cancel each other out) and can be quite symbolic (the red-blue-white combination reminds the viewer of the Icelandic flag and of Nine and Twelve’s VON, their hope, Five painting one of her fingernails like that).
However, on an artitstic point of view, animation wise, colors create an atmosphere and decide the mood: oppressive, light, heavy, serious, cheerful, etc. For example, in the end of episode 11, the sunset gives everything an ominous shade of purple: ominous because so far, we’ve been accustomed to associate purple with Five and with bad things happening. So subconsciouly, when we see how the scene darkens (drastically so, I may add, compared to the previous more light-hearted moment where Nine, Twelve and Lisa were playing around), we feel that tragedy is near. We know.
There’s also a little thing I picked up: it may sound like I pulled it out of nowhere, but when we see Nine, he’s surrounded by a blue tint and his glasses reflect that cold shade of blue. And later, when Twelve is at the Tokyo govt building, Twelve is illuminated by the emergency lights, giving the screen a greenish tint. Also, Nine + Three (or Nine + Lisa) = Twelve, while Blue + Yellow (or Nine + Lisa) = Green (or Twelve). Just a thing I noticed. It may have no meaning though :P
Otherwise, the game of light and shadows also plays an important role in the show, dictating the mood and, combined with Yoko Kanno’s impressive and eclectic soundtrack, the viewer is almost always aware that some impending doom will threaten the protagonist. Muted colors give off this vibe of madness and loneliness, and as such, the more vivid colors pop out much more than had everything been colored with bright colors (see how Five’s eyes are the focus of the picture below, how they seem to glint with a determind and mad because the whole picture is cast in shadows and soft muted colors? This is the effect I was talking about).
(“After that winter will come, and snow will cover everything.” We know that white is the reason it all began: Twelve and Nine’s story started back at the Settlement, where the walls, the people, the clothes, everything, was white. It’s sort of a throwback and a neat touch for Zankyou no Terror’s story to start in white too.)
There are many more instances of Zankyou no Terror’s impressive use of colors, contrasts and subtle accents, but at the top of my head (hey it,s been a month since I last watched ZnT, I don’t remember everything yo :P), these are the most impressive ones (of crouse they’re from episode 11 it’s the one I’ve rewatched until the halfway point just to see Twelve and Lisa holding hands. I’ve got shipping needs y'all):
Obviously there are many more examples of beautiful scenery. That’s one of the aspects with which Zankyou no Terror charmed me. If you want more of these beautiful screenshots, go rewatch the series.
Enjoyment guaranteed.
3. Do you think Twelve’s seeing Lisa’s voice as being the colour yellow is symbolic? If so, of what?
Like I said above, yellow symbolizes light, hope and optimism, many things that Twelve and Nine were never privy to before. Lisa’s yellow voice is a beacon of change for Twelve, who has never dreamed of a future beyond his and Nine’s plan, who was mostly a playful devil-may-care at the beginning of the series yet changed enough to question why he and Nine were going through their plans and started having doubts.
Lisa’s yellow voice is symbolic because it comes with a person who needed Twelve and gave him a purpose. The color yellow is, in Japanese culture, a symbol of courage, and I find it very fitting for Lisa to carry courage in her voice and actions. It’s also a motivator for Twelve, who starts to act more open and tries to live for himself instead of living to carry out his plan of justice.
But above all, yellow was a symbol of hope: hope for a new future ._.