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no art today, but i went to FLOW concert and got the pick >:3 a pick, cause take threw like 4 but still
and also phone case reveal cause why not
yeah so the concert was cool as fuck
except 2 thungs maybe
golden circle, fuck golden circles
and them playing gold, fuck boruto
but yeah i loved the band since i was like 12 n im glad i managed to see them live!
and art dump in case someone who hasnt seen my doodles sees this post
I love giving members of the bands i listen to the kpop idol treatment bc i listen to mostly various metal and rock genres. like I'm legitimately going to make those top loader photocard holders for jeff walker from carcass and iwasaki from flow and its gonna be so silly and whimsical
FLOW x Hayato Date Interview Flow 15th Anniversary History Book (2015)
Text By Ebisuwa Nachi
FLOW x Hayato Date (Naruto Anime Series Director) SPECIAL INTERVIEW
The anime "NARUTO" was FLOW's first encounter with anime. 14 years have passed since their first encounter on "GO!!!," and it has now become a major part of FLOW's music. Their deep collaboration with the series has resulted in six songs. Here we present a special conversation between FLOW and director Hayato Date, who has been working on the anime "NARUTO" since the very first episode.
TAKE: For us at FLOW, our first anime tie-up was with "GO!!!" from "NARUTO."
Hayato Date (hereafter as Date): That's right. It was almost 15 years ago, so my memory is a bit mixed up, but "GO!!!" was the opening theme for the second year of the show, and before that there was HOUND DOG, ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION, and then little by little. Whether it's an opening or an ending, we wanted some variety. Before "GO!!!" we had "Kanashimi wo Yasashisa ni" (Turning Sadness into Kindness by little by little), so I think we wanted something more energetic next time, and that's why we chose that.
GOT'S: What was your impression of FLOW when you first met them?
Date: "Momentum." That's why we decided on it. (Everyone laughs)
TAKE: There was a lot of momentum in the way you just said it.
Date: The songs were narrowed down to about three final candidates. From there, I thought about what it was like last time and what I wanted to do this time. Since it was the second year, the story was…
TAKE: When it was decided, it was right in the middle of the Chunin Exams.
Date: Naruto itself wasn't that popular at the time. It started to gain popularity little by little around the time of Little by Little. For the first "Zabuza Arc," we were asked to make it for elementary and middle school students, so we made it with that in mind, but it was "scary."
KOHSHI: It was quite serious, wasn't it?
TAKE: That's true considering the time slot.
Date: It was in the evening, not prime time yet. But it was scary for kids, and we were thinking, what should we do? We needed more momentum, and then "GO!!!" came, and we thought, "This is it!" It had a very light-hearted impression (laughs). I remember everyone deciding on it, chatting away, saying, "This has got to be it!" It was around this time that a trend started where people who hadn't yet made their major debut would debut with "NARUTO" as a strategy from record companies.
TAKE: Yes, that happened.
Date: I think "GO!!!" was the song that got everyone started doing "NARUTO" as a stepping stone to entering the major leagues.
KEIGO: We were in our second year at the time.
TAKE: FLOW, like "NARUTO," are also celebrating their 15th anniversary since their debut.
Date: So people who wanted to make their major debut started contacting us asking, "What should we do to do the opening or ending theme for NARUTO?" Some even sent us demos.
TAKE: Because of that, we've now entered an era where bands like KANA-BOON are aiming to go major in order to do the theme song for NARUTO.
Date: At first, neither the original manga nor the anime for NARUTO were that popular, so we were conscious of having a major artist perform the first song.
IWASAKI: So that's why you chose HOUND DOG.
GOT'S: Very major.
Date: But after that, it felt like a situation gradually developed where people were like, "Let's work hard together."
TAKE: Many artists became widely known after debuting with the theme song for "NARUTO," and have continued to work hard since then. We were told, "Just leave the NARUTO tie-up to a newcomer." (laughs)
GOT'S: "Is FLOW trying to do NARUTO again?!" (laughs)
Date: When they played the second song ("Re:member"), I thought, "Yay! FLOW's back!" It got the crowd excited too.
KOHSHI: That's great to hear.
TAKE: At first, there was a competition within the record company among several artists, and if you won, you had to get your work heard by the anime production team. For "GO!!", I heard that 10 groups were still left. So when we were told that it was down to the final two, we were thrilled.
Date: The momentum of the song also helped the work gain momentum. I think "GO!!!" was the catalyst that gave the "NARUTO" anime itself momentum.
KOHSHI: That made me so happy, I can't stop grinning (laughs).
Date: I think it was around that time that we started to get a sense of success. For the first year or so, people were saying that it wasn't suitable for kids and that it was scary. We made it with the intention of kids watching, so we wanted them to enjoy it, but it wasn't quite that content.
TAKE: From this point on, various characters started to appear, and the story became more about friends competing with each other.
GOT'S: The timing was perfect.
TAKE: It's thanks to that, but I never thought two of FLOW's songs would be chosen in the popularity poll for "NARUTO FINAL BEST." That's two out of five! When it came to "Sign," I felt even more strongly that I had to put my all into creating it. We had to overcome the past, and I think there are songs that fit well with the progression of the story, but "Sign" is at the biggest point in the story. With the parts about Sasuke (Uchiha), Itachi (Uchiha), and Jiraiya, it was a season that fans of the original work felt very attached to.
Date: That's why I was really happy when I heard that FLOW was doing it. It was the same with Ikimonogakari, but when they did a few songs, I was really happy, thinking, "They're doing it again." In the beginning, I think the artists still had a strong sense of, "Huh? Anime songs?"
IWASAKI: That's how it was back then. They weren't yet very positive about anime tie-ins.
TAKE: Nowadays, there's a trend, especially among young bands, of saying, "We want to do anime theme songs!" It wasn't like that back then.
Date: That trend went from going all out with "NARUTO," gaining momentum and making their debut, to people looking up to the success of those who followed, and feeling inspired by them.
TAKE: That case has taken shape, hasn't it? The 2016 "ANI-ROCK FES." was just a regular rock festival, right? It's true that times have changed in that way. In particular, when we were performing the theme song for "NARUTO," it was a time that marked many important milestones for us as a band.
KOHSHI: "Re:member" was also the first single we released after returning from our band hiatus.
KEIGO: I was in a traffic accident.
TAKE: So we couldn't plan any live shows, and music connected us when we were all scattered. That's the meaning behind the song. The members coming together. I was really happy to be able to work with NARUTO again with a song that contained those feelings.
DATE: I heard that story years later, and I thought, "Oh, so that happened."
TAKE: Actually, "Sign" was also the first single we made ourselves, without a producer. So it's a strange connection that has allowed us to work with NARUTO on various important occasions.
DATE: When you made "Sign," it was like, "Here comes FLOW!" They asked me, "How about FLOW?" and I said, "It's good, isn't it?" I haven't even listened to the song (laughs). (Everyone laughs)
IWASAKI: Wow! That's an amazing story.
TAKE: It was a pretty important part. (laughs)
KEIGO: It was pretty much right at the heart of the story! It was the moment when it was like, "From here on, it's finally happening…" (laughs)
TAKE: It's an important part, like Naruto becoming independent from his master! (laughs)
DATE: My image was, of course, to hear "GO!!!" again.
TAKE: Combined with the opening video, it became a song that left a strong impression on fans.
KEIGO: It was the first time Naruto shed tears.
KOHSHI: The response was incredible.
TAKE: Including that, I felt that the song connected with the feelings of the fans.
DATE: But when it came to the opening, I didn't really have any involvement. I pretty much left it up to the creators. I told them, "Enjoy it." Basically, I wanted some variety. It's the same with the music, but I'm always conscious of making changes. "It was like this last time, so this time it should be like this," was my standard when making choices.
TAKE: When we got to the chorus, when Jiraiya appears, you emphatically said, "We're using new technology!" but I didn't understand it at all at the time.
Date: What was it again? What kind of image was it? (Here we examine the opening video for "Sign")
Date: We started filming digitally back then, but as the software gradually improved, we adapted to the changes. We even used 3D along the way… For example, it's difficult to draw crowds, so we placed White Zetsu in full 3D. We used that same technique in the opening, too. We incorporated new techniques each time we created it.
TAKE: I see. So that was a new challenge. Around this time, more and more fathers and mothers bringing their children wearing Konoha forehead protectors started coming to our live shows, and FLOW's customer base really expanded. There were changes like that. FLOW has made history along with "NARUTO," but as a director who has been working on anime for 14 years, do you prefer something that ends in one season or something that takes this long?
Date: It's a long-term thing. If it were one season, 12 or 13 episodes, the story would be over by the time we knew how the audience reacted. When you think, "Oh, so that's what people wanted," you can't make any changes. But when you make an anime over a long period of time, you can make adjustments as you go. You can make fine adjustments like, "Okay, let's do it like this from now on," or "Let's change this." That's why longer series are easier for me (laughs).
KOHSHI: Normally, you'd think that a work that takes a long time to make would be difficult.
Date: It's easy. You can save the important stories for later. But with a short series, you have to bring the peak to the beginning.
TAKE: There was a time when you were doing a lot of original stories, right?
Date: I was researching what kind of stories people wanted, with one-off stories or standalone stories. I thought that this would be fun for elementary school kids, and that this would please adults. While I was doing that, Shueisha told me, "Please go back to the original work as soon as possible" (laughs). But I ended up doing it for a little over a year.
TAKE: A little over a year of original stories! (laughs).
KOHSHI: That's amazing.
TAKE: In the original, you delved deeper into each character.
Date: As the number of characters increased, they began to come alive when they were given voices. We thought a lot about how to make the most of them. So I would say Sai and Yamato were more in that direction. We made them seem more human than in the original. With Sai, it was difficult because he's that kind of character, but both the actor and I had to bring out his humanity somewhere. Like Yamato's round eyes.
TAKE: The big, swollen look.
Date: Because he wasn't very popular.
KOHSHI: He's scary.
Date: So, apparently Yamato's appearances in the original were meant to end early on, but Ani-kun often played greenhorn characters with a thin voice, so we deliberately took him in a scary direction. When filming for "NARUTO" started, we were visiting the same recording studio and I made the offer to him directly in the break room. I wanted to have some fun with the actors. He said, "Let's try playing a role that's completely different from the last time."
TAKE: You yourself have been taking on new challenges as a director within this work. Including the evolution of technology. Amidst all that, the final episode was finally in sight from last year or the year before. The finish line was getting closer.
Date: It's not that the finish line was near, but rather that "THE LAST -NARUTO THE MOVIE-" was made, and by the time that was being produced, my work was finished. It was my job to portray the young Naruto, which continued from his "Boyhood Arc." After that, it was "The Last" that would depict Naruto's love life. I thought my job would only be the boyhood part. Actually, the original story ends at chapter 700, with an inserted scene of Naruto, now an adult and the Seventh Kage, attending the Five Kage Council, but at this point Naruto is no longer a young boy or a young man. Naruto has the view of love that was depicted in "The Last," so that part is no longer my job. So when production on that movie began, I thought that this was it. Up to chapter 699, and since the sequel, "Boruto," will also be a work that follows on from the romance, I thought it would be fine to just pass the baton on. So I thought I would finish my work without Naruto having any view of love at all.
KEIGO: That's a strong will.
Date: But you know, suddenly falling in love with Hinata… That's why I probably wrote a little more into Naruto's connection with Hinata, so that he and Hinata would become closer towards the second half. I had Neji remembered in the final battle in order to connect to "BORUTO-Naruto Next Generations-." That's how I connected Neji to Boruto. That was my own way of passing the baton.
KOHSHI: That's decisive.
Date: And so, I decided to end it with Master Iruka, who is where the first episode begins.
TAKE: I feel exactly the same as the director, but we've been involved with "NARUTO," we've met Naruto, we've created songs for him, and we really feel like we've grown together. That's why I think if FLOW were to do the music for "BORUTO," it would change the image of "NARUTO" that we've created up until now. If I ever had the opportunity, I might be able to write a message about "BORUTO" from Naruto's perspective. That's why "Niji no Sora" (Rainbow's Sky) is a song filled with my feelings of gratitude to "NARUTO."
GOT'S: The ending video for "Niji no Sora" was really good.
TAKE: The video was amazing, wasn't it? We'd always made openings up until now, but this was our first ending, and it's from the perspective of someone inside the counter at Ichiraku.
Date: I didn't even discuss it with the director, I just told him, "Do whatever you like." He said, "I want to portray it as based on Ichiraku," so I said, "Okay, that's fine."
TAKE: It's like a compilation from that angle. Personally, I had hoped that the song would be one that would make people reminisce about the past while listening to it, and I felt that this was embodied in the video.
Date: Even if it's questionable whether he really spent his childhood like that at Ichiraku, I wanted to convey the atmosphere that the director grew up there. It's not like he could live on his own, so I thought it was fine for him to pop in every now and then.
TAKE: It also makes you feel like there's future with Hinata.
Date: But Hinata appears too much.
TAKE: Because she's the heroine! (laughs)
Date: I think the true heroine of this story is Sasuke. It's a story about the hero, Naruto, rescuing the heroine, Sasuke.
KEIGO: I see.
KOHSHI: That's certainly true. It depends on how you look at it.
TAKE: But we were able to walk alongside them for a really long time.
Date: I couldn't do anything alone. I asked for everyone, including the staff, actors, editors, and composers to lend me their strength. I always say that I want to bring everyone's strength together to lift up this work. I approach each song with the feeling that we should all work together to lift it up. So I think that FLOW's songs really gave me a lot of strength. This is especially true with "GO!!!", and I thought, "I can keep going with this for a while."
TAKE: Thank you! We felt the exact same way.
DATE: We've been doing "NARUTO" for 14 years, and during that time FLOW has done four songs, one more for reruns, and one for the "Live Spectacle NARUTO." It feels like we've grown together. Around the time of "Rainbow Sky," I was vaguely thinking about how I wanted to pass the baton to the next generation. I really started out billing it as the epic drama of Naruto and Sasuke, so having them work on the songs throughout that time has made it a truly unforgettable work. When I hear the music, I can picture it in my mind, and for better or worse, I remember the difficult times we went through at the time. The work will live on forever, so I hope FLOW will continue to cherish the "live feel" and play "NARUTO" music overseas. We look forward to your continued success! Thank you from all of us at FLOW!
Happy Birthday to Asuma-sensei.
Got to watch those heartbreaking scenes on a big screen two days ago as we watched FLOW cover Closer..
Did we cry over anime once again? Yes sir.
If FLOW doesn't come to my state and I can't travel to go see them I will cry.
【VR LIVE📷】
コードギアス 反逆のルルーシュ×FLOW VRライブの開催が決定!!!
VR空間上でルルーシュの回想と共にコードギアス の世界を巡りながらFLOWのライブをお楽しみ頂けるスペシャルなライブとなっております！
TEPPONG JUST SENT ME OUR DUET VERSION OF WORLD END! AND HOLY FRICK IM YELLIN LOUDLY
Gah ok our voices actually compliment each other quite well I’m like SHOOK! Ok I’m glad we gave each other the parts that we did because this arrangement brings out both our strengths QuQ Imma cry now.
THIS IS OUR ARRANGEMENT BTW ^w^:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qzu1zJHlUKTGYEZk81VhgGvT1BS-K5iW6ORU07JzsVk/edit
Ok this made my day TTwTT thanks Teppy! ♥
Can someone please take me to Anime Expo in LA so I can see OLDCODEX & FLOW perform? Please? 😭😭
