Talk:Children Who Chase Lost Voices

References to use

Here's a reference/review I found:

• Matsumoto, Atsuko (April 29, 2011). "Otherworldly 'Children': Anime auteur Shinkai finds neutral setting for latest film". Daily Yomiuri Online. Archived from the original on April 30, 2011. Retrieved April 30, 2011. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)

I'll add other when I find them like puzzy. ···日本穣^? · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe · Join WikiProject Japan! 17:32, 30 April 2011 (UTC)

Interview

From http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interview/2011-08-16/interview-makoto-shinkai

AnimeNewsNetwork: Your past films have been largely set in the real world, sometimes with a sci-fi or futuristic feel but certainly this world. By contrast, Hoshi o Ou Kodomo features a fantasy world. Was this shift a conscious decision on your part?
Makoto Shinkai: The new movie is not entirely fantasy; the first half is set in a place that makes people think of the Japanese countryside. So I consider the film as taking place in two worlds. However, Asuna and the other characters all needed to go somewhere far away from the place that they're used to for the story, so it was necessary to have a totally different fantasy world incorporated.
...

ANN: The aesthetic of Agartha, the fantasy world in Hoshi o Ou Kodomo, feels influenced particularly by South America, especially the inclusion of quetzalcoatl. What led you to that choice?
MS: Since I used the term quetzalcoatl, viewers may get a strong image of South America. But in fact, Agartha was based on the remains of all the cultures in the world, including India and the Middle East. All of those ancient cultural effects are included in Agartha. When I was writing the script I was staying in London, so I had the opportunity to visit the British Museum. I got to see many ancient artifacts and so forth, which gave me a great deal of inspiration for the script. So you can consider Agartha to be a combination of all of our world's ancient cultures mixed together.
ANN: [SPOILER] The leaders of Agartha said that they believed that they should fade quietly into nonexistence, while other characters in the film fight against death itself. In the question and answer session at Otakon you said that fifteen years ago you would have sided with Shin, who works for the Agarthan leaders but may not fully agree with their views. What did you mean when you said that, and how do you feel about it now?
[SPOILER] MS: Yes, let me explain that a little. When the adorable cat Mimi died, Asuna suffered. But the people of Agartha think of death as sad, but ordinary; it's only a part of life which is unavoidable and everybody has to go through. Now that I'm getting older, I can imagine my death easier; it's closer to me and I can accept the idea that it's part of life. But 15 years or so ago, death felt further away from me. Even if someone told me that it was an unavoidable part of life, I'm sure I wouldn't have understood or accepted it. ...
It seems that there's a difference between the Japanese and English titles. Why is that?
MS: Children who Chase Lost Voices from Deep Below is actually a sub-title of the Japanese name. We're using it as a sort of temporary title in the English market, so there's a possibility in the future that the title will change to a more direct translation of the Japanese name. I'm sorry if that confused anyone.
...Your previous films have had simple themes and complex emotions; what would you say is the overarching theme of Hoshi o Ou Kodomo?
MS: It's very difficult to put the theme into one word— if it wasn't I wouldn't have made a two-hour movie! But if you want me to just say it, I guess that would be how to overcome a sense of deep loss, the loss of another person.
The action scenes in the film demonstrate new aspect of your film-making that we haven't seen before. Can you tell us about other films you looked at while establishing your own style of action?
MS: As I said earlier, I did study a lot of Miyazaki's works, but since we were using a sword this time I spent a lot of time with Rurouni Kenshin and a lot of Japanese chanbara— sword fighting television shows. In particular was one called Mugen no Jūnin [Blade of the Immortal], which was animated a few years ago. So I watched that to get some ideas.
...The time period in which Hoshi o Ou Kodomo takes place is unclear; did you have a specific time setting in mind?
MS: Yes, there is an intentional setting: I wanted to put the minimum required in for the audience to understand the timeframe. I want the audience to feel satisfied after watching the film, but at the same time I want them to have certain questions about the time frame so that they want to watch it a few times more and get more detail. So I purposely made it a little complicated to understand.
...In your previous works you've used younger protagonists; in the new work you have a more adult, mid-30s character. Is there a reason that you've used young people in the past, and what does the introduction of an older character mean for this and possible future works?
MS: First of all, yes, Morisaki is an adult. But the main character is Asuna, who is an 11- or 12-year-old girl, so first I want to talk about that. The basic purpose of the change [to a protagonist of Asuna's age] was to reach a broader audience. My past works were watched primarily by a 20-30 year old male audience, which is fine, but I wanted to challenge myself to have a broader audience— even as young as teenagers —watch and enjoy it. So that's the main reason.
[SPOILER] Can you talk a bit about the relationship between Asuna and Morisaki? At one point she says that he's almost like her father, and he doesn't react much, but later he seems conflicted at the possibility that she might have to be sacrificed in order to reach his dream. Do you think he accepts the final outcome of his journey?
[SPOILER] MS: As you know, Asuna lost her father. Upon traveling with Morisaki she starts to feel a family-like emotion for him, as if he's a father figure. But Morisaki is a very selfish, very pure person. He lost his loving wife, and upon dying his wife told him to keep living his own life...but that made it even harder for him because he loved her so much. He feels that he can't live without the purpose of making her come back to life again; that's how pure he is. That's all he has. He may know that it's almost impossible to bring back the dead. And while traveling with Asuna he also feels a vaguely family-like emotion towards her...but at the end he chose to sacrifice Asuna for his dream. But this is because he's so pure and selfish, because he feels he has to follow that in order to keep on living. It's controversial, but I can't say that he's simply a bad, selfish person. I think he's a very complicated, yet very pure person. I can't deny him.
The way that your work typically ends— the ambiguous way of letting the audience think about it —is very typical of some Japanese entertainment and perhaps comes from your literary background. Will you keep on with your ambiguous endings? Because 30 or 40 years ago it was almost impossible to imagine that kind of ending in the rest of the world, but now it's much more possible to see it spread.
MS: Morisaki is a very complicated character. He thinks his dead wife is more important than anything else. On the other hand, the boy Shin screams out that living people are more important than the dead. Asuna, on the other hand, thinks this is a blessing; she didn't deny either one and did not have to make a decision about which statement is true. That's how I feel, too. I think about these things a lot but I can't come to a conclusion either. With that in mind, I left the ending for the audience to decide, because I want them to think about it too.

If you ask whether there was any particular Japanese literature that inspired my fondness for the ambiguous ending, there isn't really any one. On seeing the audience's reaction outside of Japan I get the feeling that the ambiguous ending could be accepted worldwide in entertainment if it was perfected. The ending doesn't necessarily have to be so clear. Technically it would be easy to make my endings more understandable, but I can't change myself or what I've already read and grown up with. So maybe the way I think and the way I make endings wouldn't change that much...but it's technically possible.

We are, in all probability, never going to get a more in depth and authoritative discussion of the meanings and themes of the money; I suggest interested editors wringe this interview dry. --Gwern (contribs) 03:22 17 August 2011 (GMT)

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Age of Asuna

Hey. I have changed the age of Asuna since it is mentioned in the novel Asuna is around 11-12 years old. I have quoted some phrases from the novel for reference.

• 「十一歳、多感な年頃の女の子にとって...」(page 36) [Translation: For a girl who is 11 years old, sensitive and emotional]
• 「小学六年生のアスナにとって...」(page 177-178) [Translation: For Asuna who is an elementary school 6th grade student]

Jianhui67 ^T★C 18:26, 9 June 2018 (UTC)