2000 Interview 03

-So that's why you made it into a cel animation for children?

H :
Actually, Edo Utsushi-e (江戸写し絵 *1) was my ideal.　(*1 A manual animation using a magic lantern that appeared in Edo in the 1800s.)
But I had doubts about the closed commercial animation industry today, and I wanted to try to revitalize the industry in a free way, so I used the same cel animation as the animation industry.
It's the same cel animation, but the content is the polar opposite of commercial animation. It was also an antithesis to the closed nature of commercial movies, commercial theater, and commercial music.

I also sympathized with the political ideology in Doji Morita(森田童子)'s songs. (Douji Morita wrote songs about the student movement of the 1970s).
So it's also a homage to Yoshiharu Tsuge(つげ義春)'s Gentou gekiga(幻燈劇画/magic lantern comics), which were shown at Doji Morita's concerts.
I went to Daisan Sozosha (第3創造社 / Doji Morita's manager and the creator of Yoshiharu Tsuge's magic lantern comics) (before I made MIDORI) to ask for advice on the methodology of underground animation.
At that time, Doji Morita's manager told me, "I want to have a live element, like drawing the animation at the same time as screening it at the screening venue." (After Doji Morita's death, it was discovered that that manager, Maeda-san, was her common-law husband.)

Also, Nagisa Oshima's film gekiga(フィルム劇画) "Ninja Bugei Cho" and Eiichi Yamamoto's "Belladonna of Sadness" were good too.

I think what's important is solid technique and thought, rather than budget.

(Continue to 04)

Additional information:

Douji Morita's songs are mainly based on the theme of the frustration that comes with the split between the Left and New Left. Harada was on the Left side, not the New Left, but praised Morita's songs highly.
The upper left corner of Douji Morita's flyer reads, "Simultaneous screening: Yoshiharu Tsuge's Magic Lantern Comic."
The name of MIDORI's Chika Gentou Gekiga(地下幻燈劇画underground lantern comics comes) from Doji Morita.

Regarding the relationship between Harada and Morita's husband and manager, Ado Maeda, here too, it was political ideology that connected the two.

At the time, most cultural and film figures were on the side of the New Left, but both the New Left and the Left were alike in that they were thoroughly critical of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.　

Harada and Maeda continued to keep in touch after that. Whenever they met, they would talk about politics. Their conversations were mainly about criticism of the Liberal Democratic Party, capitalism, neoliberalism, and the deterioration of Japanese society. (https://x.com/kiyubaru/status/1129428930174152705)

When Harada initially wanted to create MIDORI with ATG, Douji Morita was the theme song. Both Morita and J・A ・Seazer were aware of this.
The phantom ending was restored by Aaron Dylan Kearns.

https://youtu.be/CL2MdtVjack?si=7DI3nOYJZsdhIyB4