Atsushi Takahashi and Takamitsu Inoue interview

Written by A. H. on 26 May 2014

Turning up to an interview with Japanese guests looking like a drowned rat isn't part of normal UK Anime Network protocol, but on a rain-soaked Saturday morning that was more or less how we arrived to a two-man interview in preparation for "Blue Monday" - that being, the release of Blue Exorcist: The Movie on home video in the UK.

Thankfully, the film's director, Atsushi Takahashi, and producer, Takamitsu Inoue, had escaped the ravages of the British weather, and could spend some time chatting about their careers and the film in question in cool, dry comfort within one of the MCM London Comic Con's green rooms.  Read on to see what they had to say.

First of all, welcome to the UK to both of you! Is this your first time in the country?

Atsushi Takahashi: It's my first time.

Takamitsu Inoue: Yep, it's both of our first times.

Have you been able to see any sights so far?

Takahashi: We had a full day of sight-seeing yesterday. We went on a narrowboat trip!

What was it like getting the opportunity to work on creating a feature-length movie for a series as well-known as Blue Exorcist? Were there any particular challenges or worries that you were concerned about?

Takahashi: I thought it wasn't that well known when I came on board, but apparently it was - maybe I just didn't know that it was that well-known!

First of all, I was a different director coming on board compared to the director of the TV series, and the fans of the TV series were a different group to the fans of the manga, so one challenge was how to go about not betraying those fans.

Inoue: I agree. The comics are very popular - are they popular in the UK as well?

Yes, they've proved very popular here as well.

Inoue: The two challenges with the film were that because the manga was so popular, we didn't want to let down those fans of the manga but we also wanted to make something that new people seeing it for the first time would be able to enjoy.

How did the story depicted by the film come about - did it start with the characters, a particular concept that you wanted to put across, or something else entirely?

Takahashi: I had various ideas for other projects, and when they invited me to do Blue Exorcist: The Movie I thought one of those ideas that I had would work well with Blue Exorcist. I suggested it to Mr. Inoue, and that's where it started.

Inoue: Mr. Takahashi made his suggestion, and it was basically a story about a demon who wanted to be human. For my part, I didn't want to have a story about defeating a really strong enemy - the kind of story where you have an enemy that only appears in the film, and you have to rescue a princess. I didn't want that.

Takahashi: Usually with films based around manga, if it's a male protagonist you'll have a girl who only appears in the film and you know that they're going to break up in the end - they don't get married or anything and you know what's going to happen, it's kind of a spoiler. That's what we didn't want.

It strikes me that the core concept of memories being precious no matter how painful could have been a difficult one to work into a film that was still entertaining - was it difficult to balance presenting that idea to the viewer with creating a fun and enjoyable film?

Takahashi: The gap we felt was between this theme of needing to face up to reality and people coming to see the film wanting to forget about reality, but there was one female member of staff who said that some people actually want to hear that kind of lesson.

It's a strange film maybe, where you have this passionate young male protagonist telling people that they need to face up to reality!

Inoue: The character of Usamaro in the film has the power to erase bad memories, and he has a child-like way of thinking about it. Rin on the other hand sees that all kinds of memories, both good and bad, are important for your own growth and important to move forward with your life - because he has this experience of losing his father but wanting to keep hold of those memories, it's that which manages to convince Usamaro.