The Blue Bird
Musical Animation
The world’s first animated adaptation of Maeterlinck’s masterpiece The Blue Bird. The original story is an overnight dream, but for the TV series adaptation, each episode (30 minutes) is a complete dream.
The fantastical charm of the original story is preserved, while the period setting is modern. The characters of Tyltyl and Mytyl are also a modern boy and girl. Naturally, the series is scheduled for 26 episodes, so each will be an original story. In that case, the key to this work is how to arrange it in a modern style while maintaining the charm of the original.
Another sales point of this work is an attempt at “musical animation.” Compared to conventional anime in which music is indispensable, here it is pushed to the forefront by incorporating musical scenes everywhere. The music is composed by Hiroshi Miyagawa with lyrics by Michio Yamagami. The staff is also diverse, including Leiji Matsumoto (character design) and Hiroshi Sasagawa (director). In particular, we can look forward to seeing the backgrounds, since Ito Kasei has been appointed as the supervisor.
Speaking of Academy productions, they have a strong image of sci-fi action films such as Yamato and Blue Noah. It will be interesting to see if they can break new ground with The Blue Bird, which combines fantasy with an element of adventure.
Most popular voice actor for three consecutive years • Now in first place
Yoko Asagami
By Satoshi Hidaka
Photos by Kenichiro Oyama
Why did Leiji Matsumoto fall for Yoko Asagami?
Last September, Leiji Matsumoto, Tetsuya Chiba, and Moto Hagio took Yoko Asagami along on a big trip to the depths of the Amazon. This is already known. However, it has also been learned that she fell in love with a young man named Shigeru, a local guide. What about this? Soichi Kaji, a.k.a. Skyman, wrote a piece about this in the Mainichi Shimbun‘s sibling newspaper Kurikuri. When her ardent fans read this, blood must have rushed to their heads, and they probably screamed, “If Shigeru comes to Japan, kill him!” Fortunately, Shigeru has not yet set foot on Japanese soil, and no bloodshed has occurred.
However, it couldn’t have been fun for Mr. Matsumoto, the creator of Yuki Mori, who was traveling with her. I can only imagine how he must have felt. He has a long torso and short legs, but he is proud to be Japanese with Yamato heritage. It is a shame for a Japanese person that Yoko was taken away by a man who has no idea where he came from.
Yoko’s encounter with Mr. Matsumoto
In the summer of 1974, Mr. Matsumoto directed his first anime, bringing Space Battleship Yamato to the world. The voice he selected for Yuki Mori from the audition tapes he had collected was that of Yoko. She breathed life into the character he created, giving it a voice and a realistic personality. He believes that the voice actor’s role is crucial.
The role of 18-year-old Yuki Mori required a voice with the core strength to withstand the stark, male-dominated environment of a battleship, as well as the subtle emotions of a woman. While Mr. Matsumoto was listening to the audition tape, he remembers saying, “It’s better not to see her face.” Mr. Matsumoto had no way of knowing who Yoko was when she was chosen as Yuki Mori. It was not until much later that he learned she was a beautiful woman. She had worked with Kei Tomiyama, who was cast as Susumu Kodai.
The night the second episode of Yamato aired, Mr. Matsumoto said, “It’s okay.” He wasn’t talking about her, who only had a line or two. It was about a scene recalling the battleship Yamato during World War II. Yoshinobu Nishizaki, the producer of the series, pushed to play Battleship March for this scene, which Mr. Matsumoto hurriedly deleted a few days before the broadcast. Criticism of the militaristic aspects of Yamato had begun brewing around that time. This was the nature of Yoshinobu Nishizaki.
[Translator’s note: this is an oversimplified version of the story; Animation Director Noboru Ishiguro describes it in greater detail here.]For Mr. Matsumoto, the battlefield was simply an extreme condition that shows how a man should live. Matsumoto himself had seen the battleship Yamato, and its heroic figure was burned into his eyes as a boy. While thinking of the fate of Yamato‘s crew as it sank, The Cockpit [manga series] was born. By the way, he would like Yoko to play the role of the lover in Cicada Crying in the Stratosphere from this series.
When did Yoko and Mr. Matsumoto meet? It was some time after Yamato had finished airing. They knew each other’s faces at the studio, but they had never spoken because no one introduced them to each other. A friend of his asked to introduce Yoko to Mr. Matsumoto, and they paid a visit to his house.
I don’t know how it happened, but Masaki Tsuji wrote somewhere that Mr. Matsumoto had negotiated directly with Yoko by phone for the role of Claire in last summer’s Galaxy Express 999. As the name implies, Claire of “glass” is a woman with little sense of life. The charm of Yoko’s natural voice and speech style brings a childlike sensibility. She is somewhat unreliable, and yet she makes us fully aware that she is a woman. She has a mysterious cuteness that sometimes has a serious hardness to it.
Indeed, like a crystal glass, she has a fragility that could be broken if dropped, and a gauzy transparency. This is probably why Yoko was chosen to play the role of Claire, who dies defending Tetsuro. As an extension of this, she also played the role of Hotako in the radio drama Weeping Island of Fireflies, based on a Leiji Matsumoto work.
Expectations for Yamato III
[Translator’s note: at the time of publication, the next movie was being referred to as “Part 3.” It would later be named Be Forever.]Before the young man named Shigeru appeared, Yoko was like Yuki Mori, chief of Yamato‘s life support group who takes care of the crew members. But after the appearance of Shigeru, she became dreamy eyed (actually, she wears contact lenses) and stopped taking care of the crew.
Last fall, Yoko and Rihoko Yoshida started a DJ program on Osaka Broadcasting focused on anime information. It is a very lively program by the two women. They are very bubbly together, and once welcomed Mr. Matsumoto as a guest. They performed a mini drama with him as Susumu Kodai and her as Yuki Mori. The story was about how Kodai was jealous of Yuki’s behavior at the Amazon. Matsumoto vented his frustration through Susumu Kodai. On the other hand, Yoko was very interesting to listen to. Mr. Matsumoto said that the script was well written and went home with a sigh of relief.
Yoko Asagami was chosen in 6,000 out of 30,000 postcards in the female category of Nippon Broadcasting System’s “best ten” contest for popular voice actors. Now that she has been ranked No. 1 for three consecutive years, what is her goal for the future? Where she is going is as hard to guess as her voice. The role of Yuki Mori is a story from the past. She has also shed her role as Claire, a woman with little presence.
Yoko Asagami, a voice actress with a strong presence, will endure from here on out. She is a hard worker, and isn’t concerned about her position as the most popular actress in Japan for three years in a row. (This is the important thing.) She should broaden her range as an expressive artist. Fortunately, Yamato Part III has been decided upon with a completely new concept. I wonder what kind of character Matsumoto will create for Yoko, and I’m looking forward to how she will handle the role.
Yoko’s musings
Prologue: I am now
I am now 8 to 17 years old
In my page in my heart
To keep this day firmly in my mind
I really wanted to talk to you today
My only record so far, Good Morning…the Sea! contains this passage. I will open here by bringing it back to harsh reality.
“I am now 27 years old…”
In voice and appearance, I am considerably more childlike than Toshi. In a world where I have happily lived so far, I haven’t had many opportunities to meet people who are like demons. Rather, I have met many reliable people who are willing act as guardians. We met each other seamlessly. I feel like I was born under a truly lucky star.
I have loved anime since I was a child, and when I decided to pursue this career, I was saddened by the lack of new talent in the voice acting world for many years. Some people were trying to bring in new talent. I was lucky enough to meet them, and to meet Space Battleship Yamato, which was cancelled due to low ratings and the oil shock. After experiencing a period of stagnation, including cancelled appearances on side programs, there came an anime boom. Then I suddenly became ill and was hospitalized [in early 1979].
I prayed to God every day to let me continue to participate in Leiji Matsumoto’s anime for the rest of my life. I was told that I would be allowed to play the role of Claire in 999. I moved up my itinerary when I returned home, since a trip to the Amazon awaited me. In this way, I have been extraordinarily lucky, not only with people, but also events.
In my work, I am often told, “Go ahead and try it!” But I’ve rarely been told that I’m good at what I do. I think a “good job” would be a great encouragement for me to continue my work.
Sometimes adults are awakened by children who don’t know anything. And you think, “I hope I grow up to be an adult who don’t lose this spirit.” I think it is the most difficult and valuable thing to continue a good situation into the future. I’ve met many truthful people and have been moved by many things. I hope I can be a person who inspires others and can lend them a hand…