#(FOLLOW SIDU'S MX4D EXAMPLE @ JIN !!!!!)

[x0401x]

Kai-You Interview: Sidu

As promised, here is the english translation of Sidu’s side of the interview from kai-you.net, which was posted a few days after Jin’s. Warning: since this interview is from two months ago, some date-related infos are off, so I had to adapt them in order for them to make sense in the present time. As always, please message me if you have questions or spot any mistakes. Raw here. Jin’s side here.

Here is Sidu-san, an illustrator and video maker that, together with Jin-san – who handles the music, light novels and comic’s script –, is yet another person to have had a major role in the making of “Kagerou Project” (KagePro), which is celebrating its sixth anniversary this year.

Back in 2011, upon meeting Jin through Twitter after watching the video he had posted on NicoNico Douga, Sidu-san was put in charge of making the character designs and MV for “Kagerou Days”, which triggered a lot of attention from the viewers. Later, she was in charge of handling all of the MVs, illustrating the light novel “Kagerou Daze -in a daze-” and making the character designs for the serialization of the manga “Kagerou Daze”.

(T/N: Some of you are probably finding this part weird, but let me clarify. We all know that not all the PVs and character designs were made by Sidu, but when the interviewer says that she “handled” them, he probably means that Sidu had a role in their making, one way or another, even if they weren’t 100% her work.)

With her video composition that relies heavily on unique patterns and high-speed cut-ins, she has become the main person behind the visual image of “Kagerou Project”. Sidu-san also served as animation director for the first time in the production of the exclusive MX4D™ movie “Kagerou Daze -in a day’s-” that was released in November of last year.

Kagerou Daze -in a day’s- Key Visual

This interview discusses in detail about the backstage of this work and the repercussion that followed its release, as well as the different character images of Mekakushi-dan, the interweaving young main group of “Kagerou Project”. Moreover, it discusses how her moves as a creator that has also been supporting “KagePro” have been proceeding, together with how Jin-san has been receiving so much attention from the media.

Kagerou Daze -in a day’s- Scene Shot 1

──It seems that MX4D “Kagerou Daze -in a day’s-” was a work in which there were arrangements being laid out until the very end.

Sidu: Yes. (Laugh) I was editing the alpha in the studio until the afternoon of the final deadline. Until then, I’d spent the days not being able to tell when it was daytime or nighttime.

(T/N: “Alpha” is a term used by animators as short for “alpha channel”. For anyone interested, there’s a small article on its definition here.)

──What part was the most difficult?

Sidu: I’m in the position of a director that has to look after everything, so though the animation director was always present, there were points I had wanted to modify no matter what, and ultimately, I used the software named “After Effects” to work on the so-called “cinematography” by adding effects all on my own.

──The production was in an apparent harsh situation, huh... For starters, what kind of thoughts pushed you to accept being the director of a MX4D movie?

Sidu: It started with the talk about extending the PV. As in connecting all of the BGM, making it into a single track and creating a video for it. I thought, “If it’s something like that, I can do it. If no one else is willing, I can take it on.” and, as the discussion about it went on, the number of things I was put in charge of increased...

In the beginning, there wasn’t even a script, and I was supposed to just deliver to the studio a storyboard consisting only of drawings, but in the end, I also ended up writing down the script myself. However, writing a script all alone was hard, so I planned out the plot together with the novelist Jinzai Aki-san, whose novel, “Bandou Keiko, Nichijou ni Aki Aki” (Shinchou Bunko nex), was illustrated by me.

Kagerou Daze -in a day’s- Scene Shot 2

──How did you make the story?

Sidu: From what I had heard at first, it was supposed to have a 25/30-minute duration. It’s as much as one episode of an anime series, so I wondered if I could create a linear, coherent story from that, but during the actual process of making it, I figured it’s no good if it can’t even fit into 18 minutes. The original story had a slapstick comedy scene with explanations for first-time viewers to understand everything, but I cut it all off. Action scenes, too, were only left in the bits where they were truly necessary.

──This time’s tale feels like it’s set in a parallel world version of a certain incident that happens in the opening of the main story of “KagePro”.

Sidu: That’s right. “If all of the Mekakushi-dan had been in that scene, what would have happened?” is what I imagined when I wrote the plot. Also, this is a MX4D exclusive movie, so I thought I wanted to use the MX4D effects after all, and for such, it had to be that action-packed setting.

Sidu talks about the characters of “KagePro”.

Kagerou Daze -in a day’s- Scene Shot 3

──When making this work, what where the points you were careful with?

Sidu: The personalities of the characters. If it’s Kano, he protects his comrades from the shadows, while Kido sneaks about just like him; things like that. Just like this, I started writing about them by reflecting on what kind of posture each character would take, based off their personalities.

──When you say you were careful with the characters’ personalities, does it mean the images of the characters grew within you while making “KagePro” together with Jin-san?

Sidu: That’s right. This time, Jin-san had to give undivided attention to the music composition while I had to do the same with the movie, so I wrote the story and characters from my own interpretations. That’s why I think it’s become something different from the character images that Jin-san has.

──What part of Sidu-san’s interpretation of the character’s images is different from Jin-san’s, exactly?

Sidu: For example, Kido. When I read the light novel, I get a feeling that Jin-san views her as a pushy character. But, to me, she has the image of a cool young woman that can pull off the role of a confident man.

──I see. I think this is a valuable opportunity for Sidu-san to talk about the characters, so if you would, I’d like to hear about your impressions of all of them.

Sidu: It doesn’t change much regarding Shintarou. I do think he’s got a creepy side, but he also has the aspect of an older brother.

Momo, too, isn’t that different. Just like the image of the songs, I think she’s a bit of an oddball kind of character. Like she’s an idiot but quick-witted.

But... regarding Marry, I feel that there’s quite a gap.

──How big of a gap?

Sidu: Jin-san’s Marry, putting it simply, gives the impression of a psychopath; of someone that isn’t human. Even so, she’s faint-hearted and has a cute side for being an airhead. But within me, she isn’t so much of a scaredy-cat. Since she’d been living by herself for a long time and managed it somehow, she gives me the image of someone who’s got nerve.

Seto hasn’t had enough appearances at all, so I've got no idea about him. Having him there is fun, yet everything is fine even if he’s not around, so he might feel like a character that could run off somewhere anytime. But to me, Seto isn’t the type that moves foward thinking of himself. Similar to Ayano, he gives off the feeling that he’s holding in something dark.

When listening to “Kagerou Days”, the image that I felt of how Hibiya is aloof but doesn’t hesitate to protect the girl he likes was strong in me. But I think the Hibiya that Jin-san writes about is probably Jin-san himself. He’s an elementary schooler that lives in the countryside and is a little gross. (Laugh) Currently, the Hibiya as I see him is the result of this incompatible combination.

──What about Hiyori?

Sidu: Jin-san’s Hiyori is truly a rigid character, huh. Ah, but I don’t know if that’s his taste. (Laugh) The Hiyori as I see her is also the same as her impression from “Kagerou Days”. Though it feels like she’s always pushing others away, it’s not like she’s a character that thinks too ill of anyone.

Ene... is a base character, but she, as Ene, is clearly the number one mascot character as well. Same for the anime. But in the novel, her real character has a strong influence, so it was hard to find a balance.

Though he’s always grinning, Kano is serious when he has to be. Except, Jin-san’s Kano is feminine and feeble. But within me, he has the image of a cool character that hides his dark past and absolutely can’t be understood by others.

──Lastly, what about Konoha?

Sidu: Regarding Konoha, Jin-san and I might be in different vectors. Jin-san’s Konoha is a coward. If I had to compare, Haruka is the active one. The Konoha as I see him is completely detatched from Haruka and doesn’t have any of Haruka’s courage or fears. Konoha’s actions aren’t a result of him thinking; rather, he seems like a character that reciprocates what is given to him.

──I see. Indeed, after listening to this, it does feel like the movie is filled to the brim with Sidu-san’s interpretations.

Sidu: That’s why it might feel different from the light novel to the viewers.

Kagerou Daze -in a day’s- Scene Shot 4

──Jin-san said in his interview that it was something like an “official anthology”.

Sidu: I think that definition hits close to home.

It started out with the Oekaki Keijiban for “Puyo Puyo”.

(T/N: For those unfamiliar with the term, “Oekaki Keijiban” or “Painter Bulletin Board”, also known as PBB and PBBS, are bulletin boards or forums dedicated to drawing pictures by using a paint program that runs in a web browser. For more info, there’s a detailed article on the subject here. And for anyone wondering, Puyo Puyo is a 90′s video game. It seems to be called “Puyo Pop” in Europe and America.)

──I think I should request a retrospective from the viewpoint of Sidu-san, who has been supporting “KagePro” that celebrates six years now with illustrations and videos, if it’s possible. But before that, when was it that Sidu-san started making art and posting it online?

Sidu: I started from the Oekaki Keijiban for “Puyo Puyo”. During those days, I was just a spectator, and believed people drew digital art using the mouse. Then I found out about the existence of tablet pens. (Laugh) Using them to draw became fun, and the first thing I published after that was the Oekaki Keijiban.

──When was that?

Sidu: The time I was in that Keijiban was at around my second or third year of middle school. Either 2007 or 2008. I’d watch MADs and FLASHs a lot on NicoDou.

(T/N: I’m pretty sure that people who watch AMVs are knowledgeable of these terms, but since they are almost exclusively used by the Japanese and were created by them, here we go again. To put it simply, MAD is the Japanese initials for AMV. The letters stand for “music anime douga”, meaning “music anime video”. But, unlike the western fanvideos, they’re mostly mash-ups with lots of effects and heavy editing, so generally leave a more intense impression. The term can also be used to describe the Japanese underground media community. Meanwhile, FLASHs are videos made using Flash Animation, the most popular animation software amongst hobbyists and YouTubers. They could be fanvideos or original creations; mostly the latter. Also, just for the heck of it, “NicoDou” is an abbreviation for NicoNico Douga.)

──Was it also around this time that you made a Pixiv account?

Sidu: Pixiv came a little later. In another Oekaki Keijiban, the word “Pixiv” popped up, so I looked it up and found the site. I had originally made an account just for the sake of viewing and didn’t post anything at all, and that’s the account I’m using until now.

──Looking back, you started using both NicoNico Douga and Pixiv in 2007. Now-a-days, the term “UGC” (User Generated Contents) has become common, but I believe that Sidu-san had been playing around in places like Keijiban as an anonymous creator and threading numerous individual accounts in websites since your teenage years.

Sidu: Thinking about it now, it was amazing. There was actually a popular person in that “Puyo Puyo” Keijiban. I remember finding this person’s art on Pixiv and got emotional while thinking, “That person is still alive!”. It was easy to find them since their art style didn’t change.

Year 2011, where the phenomenon known as “KagePro” overtook a creator.

──And then, four years from there, you discovered “KagePro” in 2011, and three months later, you became its illustrator.

Sidu: Only, I was light-hearted about it back then. After all, every tip I was receiving about how to make the art was via Twitter.

──I think 2011 was an important year, where “Senbonzakura”, “Tell Your World” and “KagePro” debuted together in a contest to become representatives of the 2010 internet’s VOCALOID and NicoNico Douga.

Sidu: It was a lively year. Before “KagePro” started, I’d made acquaintance(s) with VOCALOID song creator(s) through Twitter, but I think that was the time when it truly became lively. I also drew art for their songs.

──Does Sidu-san remember the impression from listening to Jin-san’s musical composition for the first time?

Sidu: Back then, I’d skim over the rankings of VOCALOID songs that came out everyday on NicoNico Douga. KagePro’s first song, “Jinzou Enemy”, was there, and had me going, “This song... is cool,” so I tweeted that. Then came the sudden reply from Jin-san, “Thank you very much”. That was when we had our first interaction.

──What kind of interaction was it?

Sidu: At first, we didn’t talk about songs or art at all, only about games. Then Jin-san saw my Pixiv account’s URL in my profile page and went, “So you were an artist,” then asked, “Could you draw something for my next song?”. From that, we made “Mekakushi Chord” together.

──From this point on, I think the repercussion regarding “KagePro” began to broaden all at once due to the release of “Kagerou Days” four months later, so how did you take it back then?

Sidu: There was a time when all of Pixiv’s rankings were often about “Kagerou Days”. Moreover, everyone was good at drawing. It was a phenomenon full of people that drew the art motifs that I had created better than myself. While I thought, “Amazing~!” I also pondered over things like, “Wouldn’t it be better if I weren’t here? Aren’t I just dragging it down?”.

──It felt like the phenomenon was overtaking you.

Sidu: Right. Everyone had all sorts of interpretations, and there were people who drew accessories and cool Hibiyas. I thought people who thought that far and made that much stuff were amazing.

──By the way, what’s Sidu-san’s image of Jin-san?

Sidu: During that time, I thought he was someone that made cool songs. But as it turns out, all he talked about were damned Otaku subjects, so I started thinking of him like, “This person... is a weird-ass old man, huh...” (Laugh) We also talked about “KagePro”, but half of it was like, “If this person was in a live-action adaptation of it, what role would you want them to play?”

Many adults she didn’t know ended up getting involved.

──“Mekakushi Chord” only contained an illustration, but “Kagerou Days” was fast to be turned into video. Had you wanted to make videos from the start?

Sidu: I had. But at first, the only software to make videos I knew of charged a fee, so I thought I couldn’t handle it and gave up. But upon doing a search, I found countless free softwares. Especially a software named “AviUtl”; I tried it out on intuition and ended up using it a lot.

──The MV of “Kagerou Days” shows stills that move through camerawork like visuals and lyrics that cut in, so an unique style was born from it. Was it inspired by anything?

Sidu: I simply thought, “I want to make a VOCALOID-ish MV” and it turned out like that. There were videos like that since back then. The rest was just the feeling that I “had to create an opening”.

I liked videos with lots of illustrated frames and watched them often, thinking that “it would be great if I could make videos like these, but drawing so many frames is exhausting so it’s impossible”. I believed that “it will be more VOCALOID-ish this way” and made it without enough frames. Although, I don’t know how, I ended up with many frames. (Laugh)

──After that, “KagePro” moved forward as a collaborative work with a particular worldview. How did you feel when the project grew bigger and bigger?

Sidu: During the time of “Headphone Actor”, I had heard about the demo movie of the VOCALOID named “IA”, but back then, I wasn’t co-working with anyone and made everything by myself. Yet, at the time that the CDs, light novels and manga were released, a bunch of adults I didn’t know became involved. “Isn’t this... kind of bad...?” is what I felt.

──Meaning, from 2011 to 2012, the situation was steadily rising to a climax, and the people from companies and labels that keep everything in order became involved.

Sidu: That’s right. At that point, all of the characters had been made. I had suddenly been told by Jin-san, “These characters will come out next, so please make as many prototypes as possible for them” and from then, we made “Konoha no Sekai Jijou”.

The feeling of “Do I feel good about this or not?” doesn’t change from the videos to the anime.

──The phenomenon’s ignition was “Kagerou Days”, and adults started getting involved during the time of “Konoha no Sekai Jijou”. Were there any other songs that Sidu-san feels to have been a turning point?

Sidu: The first time I counted with another animation company and entrusted them with raw materials for the characters and animation was during the time of “Children Record”. It was the first time I’d made a video with someone else, but since it was related to “KagePro”, it was a pain in the beginning.

──What exactly was a pain?

Sidu: I really couldn’t manage to put what I wanted to do into words in a way others would understand. There is also the fact that I’m a taciturn, the type that doesn’t talk much, and the contents of my works are usually messy. Back then, I couldn’t deal well with taking lots of jobs and having to interact with people numberous times, so I thought the proposal of making an anime was terrible.

──Are there any remarkable memories from after that?

Sidu: That would be the opening theme of the TV anime, “daze”. Back then was when I made a video with scarce animation for the first in a long time. I believed I had made a video with an evolution of my old style. Basically, I prefer making videos with motion typography like “daze” rather than animation.

──What does Sidu-san, as a creator, consider a strength in your style?

Sidu: I’m often told I’m not the articulate type, and to tell the truth, I don’t even understand my own style that well. (Laugh) I’m not that conscious of my style; I just think, “I wanna make something like this” when I occasionally see something I consider cool and do it. But my sense of time ─ my way of timing things ─ might have not changed since the past.

──I think it’s a big point for the sound and images to be synchronized. The way of capturing motion in Sidu-san’s videos feels like the motion and the music are in the same session, like it connects with a percussion instrument through a wire.

Sidu: Hoa~, thank you very much. I’ll try to keep that up from now on. (Laugh)

──Is this more of an emotional than a technical thing?

Sidu: That’s right. It’s completely emotional. Whether I’ll “feel good about it or not”.

“Kagerou Daze -in a day’s”, the movie that resonated Jin and Sidu’s music and videos.

Kagerou Daze -in a day’s- Scene Shot 5

──About that feeling, I wonder if it didn’t come to life in the production of this MX4D. I felt something like a connection between the bridging and coordination of this production and the sense of timing of Sidu-san’s videos.

Sidu: I think that success was achieved entirely thanks to the technique of the contributing editors. In the process of making it, I did imagine things like, “I want to put special effects in this bit,” but when the part of adding MD4X effects actually came, it turned out to be fun. So I thought, “Let’s put in a lot of effects,” and it wound up really flashy.

──It flickered a lot; my glasses even got wet. (Laugh)

Sidu: Yes, yes. Makes one feel like, “just shake things up,” huh? (Laugh)

──Was there anything you obsessed over in the coordination of the animation or the MX4D?

Sidu: There are scenes in Shintarou’s point of view, and I thought that, since it was a subjective viewpoint, we couldn’t just halt them, so I made them oscilate all the time. While imagining them, I felt we should just make them flashy.

──This movie’s main point is the subjective viewpoint, huh? Within 20 minutes, the point of view is often switched. The opening scene with the terrorists also starts with a subjective viewpoint in first person. It became a form of narration similar to a virtual reality type of self-insertion.

Sidu: That’s right. We referenced that genre of video games named FPS rather than making it like a regular anime. I thought the MX4D effects were very compatible with that.

──Seeing the feedbacks, there were several positive ones like “they move so much when the frames are put together” or “the water and scents were amazing”, and it gave me the impression that many people enjoyed the aspect of self-insertion provided by the MX4D. I believe you have come across various different feedbacks as well, so how did you take them?

Sidu: I’m extremely grateful to the people who said it was fun. But there are also negative opinions. To be honest, even I think there were things I couldn’t manage to do, so I symphathize with them like, “So you think the same as me, huh?”.

It ended up being a short story, but it started out from a PV-like form of storytelling, so it felt like an omake. That’s why the people who said it was enjoyable (personally) make me the happiest.

──Is that to say that the story and the personal experience were memorable?

Sidu: Yes. However, for the story, “Kagerou Daze -in a day’s-” actually has a sequel, “Route-2”. I won’t go into details yet, but I can say there will be a connection with it through the use of this first-person subjective viewpoint.

──In Jin-san’s interview, he also talked about the pleasure of personal experience, and the keywords were “feeling of immersion”. The opening “RED” expressed a feeling of dizziness from being inside a whirlpool with its fast tempo. He said that, this time, he worked on the song for the movie completely separated from you, but in the end, I believe your feelings wound up linked to one another. Lastly, in retrospect of these six years, what was “KagePro” for Sidu-san?

Sidu: It was a school. I learned a lot of things through “Kagerou Days”. I learned a lot of bad things too. My art simply became better and I became better at making videos as well. I learned how to worldbuild and make videos and anime. I always had to greet lot of people at work, so I also became more sociable. It really felt like a school.

──Meaning you grew together with “KagePro”.

Sidu: That’s right. I also got to eat some delicious stuff. (Laugh)

──Hahaha. By the way, Jin-san said that “KagePro” was “meant to seriously deceive children”. And that “it wasn’t made to please adults”.

Sidu: That’s right. Lately, I have often heard people commenting with disdain, “that thing is aimed at children”. But I believe that everyone makes stories influenced by things they liked as children or animes they watched and mangas they read. That’s why I think childhood is important. It’s okay for it to be a work that adults can also enjoy, but what meaning would it bear if children couldn’t stand it? Is what I feel.

#kagerou project #kagepro #mekakucity actors #kagerou daze #kagerou daze in a day's #sidu #jin #anime #my translation