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Tsurune —Tsunagari no Issha— Official Fanbook Interview

Director Yamamura Takuya

Debuted as a director in 2018 with “Tsurune —Kazemai Koukou Kyuudou-bu—”, recapping the series with a movie four years later. What has he found through working on “Tsunagari no Issha” with his team?

Making an animation that would “tear into everyone’s hearts”

——About the sequel’s production, what kind of work did you want to make it into?

I wanted to create an animation that would tear into the hearts of the viewers. There are so many animated works out there in the world, and unfortunately, some of them end up being forgotten. However, I believe even those works leave something behind that marks our hearts, like, “I love that one scene from that one movie”. I think this is the animation “tearing into your heart”. Up until now, even while working as an episode director for series other than “Tsurune”, I’ve always thought, “I want to make animation that will leave a strong impression”. With “Tsurune”, I have taken the position of series director, and this desire grew stronger during the production of the movie and second season.

——You have used ribbons for the OP and key visuals of the second season. Where did this idea come from?

One time, when I was gathering references of Japanese archery, I felt that there was an invisible connection between the clubmates. I figured it was both a connection between comrades and a connection with the things they had been doing until then. It was then that I decided to write the story of season 2 with “connections” as the theme. When I thought about how to depict it, I figured I wanted a motif that would make people feel a “connection” through imagery, not words. From there, after thinking about how to represent the characters’ relationships through bringing out their designated colors, the result we got to was the ribbons.

Portraying the paths of three archers

——How did you want to write Minato in the second season?

We depicted Minato’s “recovering from target panic” in the first season, but in the second one, I wanted to write Minato as a positive and cheerful protagonist, as the ochi of Kazemai. I wanted to portray him as pulling everyone along, until he could feel from the bottom of his heart that he “loves the bow”. From the start of season 2, Minato has become resilient, enough to be able to face any walls he hits with nothing but positivity, while also enjoying kyudo.

——You were also able to depict the shortcomings that come with being obsessed with kyudo.

When you research kyudo, you find out that some parts of it have things in common with our daily lives and how we work. There was a time when I was too preoccupied with nothing but myself, which gave me tunnel vision, and when I looked back, I realized I had been acting selfishly, but although I repented for it, the fact that I had a negative impact on the people around me means I wasn’t able to see things objectively. I wanted to depict these kinds of shortcomings, which everyone experiences at least once in life, in this story. That’s exactly what making animation is—there’s a limit to what a person can do by themselves. I think that only with someone else’s help and support can you finally accomplish what you weren’t able to do by yourself.

——There were many cuts in season 2 where Minato’s eyes left an impression.

Just as it says “I want to keep looking at this ‘infatuation’” on the thumbnail of the first key visual (page 9 of this book), I intended to portray the act of “looking” with care. This is also something I realized when gathering material about Japanese archery—that the archers look at the target very seriously. When I saw them doing that, I felt like this is how it goes—they “observe, take notice and learn”. We have also made the highlights bigger for the designs of the characters’ irises in the second season, in order for the photography of their eyes to feel convincing. I wanted to make it so that the movements of Minato’s heart, such as being stimulated by what people say to him or relating to someone else’s feelings, would be conveyed through his eyes. The way that Minato’s eyes motivate the people around him is implied in the expression “fire-starter”, which was used in the first volume of the novel. When you see someone doing their best, you also feel like doing your best, right?

——How did you plan to write Shuu, who is also Minato’s rival?

About Shuu, we could only depict fragments of him in the first season, so I wanted to portray his private life in detail in the second one. Born as the eldest son of the Fujiwara family, Shuu was raised with the expectation of behaving as an heir from a young age, so I think he had come to be called “the young nobleman” without even himself realizing it. But he shows a gentle face in front of Sae-chan, so the truth is that he does have a normal high school boy side to him. I’m glad we were able to show this casual facet of Shuu in the second season.

——Shuu’s attitude towards archery seemed to be different from Minato’s.

This is but my own interpretation and has nothing to do with the original novel, but I think Shuu was living his life thinking he had to be strong at all times. So perhaps he felt the strength that he had been looking for since early childhood in the sport called Japanese archery, where one has to face themselves. His father built a kyudojo in their home and asked Saionji-sensei to teach him, so it feels like he couldn’t back down (laughs). Because he’d been subconsciously shouldering these expectations from his father, he was taken aback when Ryouhei told him, “I had the feeling that he’s rooting for you”. Ryouhei’s presence must have been a big deal for Shuu, since it gives him different perspectives. I really think it’s great that Shuu started getting along with Ryouhei.

I was the one in charge of the storyboards for episode 7, which delves deep into Shuu. I believe the levels of completion in that storyboard are quite high, even amongst all the storyboards I’ve drawn until now!

——The paintings from episode 7 were also impressive.

We thought about what the most effective way of expressing things through animation would be, rather than saying them through dialogue, and as a result, we came up with the paintings. The painting decorating Shuu’s room carries the meaning of, “through meeting the Boy, the Black Eagle became king”. This foreshadows the fact that through meeting Minato, who can aim for the same heights as him, Shuu wins both the team and individual competitions at the national tournament. The crown in the painting being right on top of Shuu’s head as he sat in front of it was pure coincidence. It surprised me when I was checking the animation, like, “Huh, the crown is on Shuu’s head?!” and then the staff was even more surprised, like, “Was that not on purpose!?” (laughs).

——Could you tell us about the appeal of Nikaidou Eisuke, who appears from season two?

The things Nikaidou does are so main character-like, aren’t they? In order to prove the superiority of the shamen-style shooting, he rebuilt a club on the verge of being disbanded by himself and went as far as the nationals. I think it’s charming that his purpose for shooting the bow was properly established and that he was set on quitting once it was achieved. Personally, I also really like the fact that he isn’t the kind of person who keeps doing things on a whim, but rather who is good at planning and is able to get things done.

——How did you think about writing Nikaidou in season two?

After rewatching episode 1, I noticed, during the regional tournament, that Nikaidou has an incredible way of putting up walls through his words and attitude (laughs). The plan was to make an impact on the viewers at first, like, “What’s up with this guy?” and then reveal the burdens he was shouldering as the story went on. I wrote him while hoping he would ultimately become the kind of character that people root for.

——He did show a lot of facial expressions.

Rather than being two-faced, he’s the kind of skillful character who changes the way he interacts with others depending on who they are. But although he’s skilled, he’s still a high school student, so of course, he has an awkward side to him. There are times when he shows his leadership within the club, yet he also ends up acting rebellious with Masa-san after being told this and that, even though he knows that Masa-san is right. He has many sides to him, but all of it comes from earnest actions in order to accomplish his goals.

——The flashback in episode 9 was an essential scene that shows his backbone.

Within the limited TV series slot of 20 minutes per episode, I think you always want to display maximum effect in the minimum amount of time. It was necessary to think about whether we’d be able to convey Nikaidou’s backbone through the short flashback scene of episode 9. I told Ishihara (Tatsuya)-san, who was in charge of episode 9’s storyboards, “I want you to depict the four seasons in the flashbacks so that they represent the passage of time”. I think it’s a scene that lets you feel the precious days that Nikaidou and his uncle Shigeru spent together along with the change of seasons. I personally think Nikaidou had a superb reaction when his uncle asked him, “Do you have to shoot like that?” as he was about to abandon the shamen-style shooting. The way he averts his eyes and dangles his feet under the table.

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