So, here I am sharing some bits from yesterday's watch party space for episode 5, with our usual Yuuna Kamiura (producer; again, the same that worked on AyaHiro), director Yuuka Eda and scriptwriter Miki Matsugasako.
========
They talked a bit about how the drama came to be. We only knew something about it through what Eda had shared in the event and in this interview. This is how things happened. Eda is the one who found the novel. She had a discussion with Kamiura while she was working on AyaHiro. At the time, Eda just mentioned that she wanted to do a GL. Kamiura didn't think she would get back to her so fast, but she did, right after finding Call Me by No Name. Kamiura admitted that she wouldn't have - on her own accord - picked that novel because of how complex it would've been to adapt it. But she got on board since the director was so determined about doing it. On the other hand, Eda didn't think the theme would be that big of an obstacle, but she then admits it's because she tends to think in terms of movies, and didn't initially consider the difference between producing a movie and a drama series, especially in terms of the audience.
Kamiura surprised Eda by pointing out how she thinks that her works until now hint to the fact that she has a particular interest in portraying the theme of "getting to know oneself through someone else". Eda awknowledges it. She says that we all have parts that we're not able to fully understand by ourselves, and that might make it hard to live, leading to feeling lonely and never really feeling understood, even when one does have friends (damn you, this is hard to listen to as a certified loner eheh). In CallMeNo this is true both for Meguchi and Kotoha.
Eda also talked a lot about her thoughts in regards to the portrayal of characters and their personality. Even though it's common to have leads that have a clear cut personality, like one being reliable and the other being unstable, the reality of people is that they're full of contradictions, they're never just one obvious something you can easily put in a box. So while everyone has this ideal of the strong lead, with the perfect hero saving someone else, this has never felt right to Eda, and she has this appreciation of the sort of characters that appear to be strong but are actually quite frail (and the other way around as well), that say one thing but do and/or think another (Kotoha is a great example). We might feel inclined to think that things have to flow smoothly, coherently, that if someone likes someone else, they would be kind to them; and yet some people are unable to express kindness and love precisely because they do like someone. Eda believes in the importance of portraying this as well. It's a talk filled with nuance, the sort of nuance that - this is my personal comment - is so frowned upon these days. People tend to push back against nuance, especially when it comes to human beings... We rush to label someone as bad or good. I guess it's easier and more comfortable in this fast paced world. But Eda points out that realizing this sort of incoherence in human behavior can even encourage us to look back at people who maybe hurt us in the past and come to understand that it didn't come from a place of actual desire of hurting, but from a maladjusted expression of love or inability to properly express it; and it may even bring us to forgive our own selves for something we did in the past and that hurt someone else. She says this also commenting the reaction to episode 1 and 2.
They mentioned the ring thing, saying they want us to pay attention to the animation. And Matsugasako said she actually only noticed it after seeing it in a post (she liked it, too🥹) .
See how Kotoha is rolling that thingy with her hands when Meguchi is getting the hotel room? They saw that Ichika kept playing with that ever since they got in the location, so they decided to have Kotoha do it when Meguchi turns around to look at her!
Apparently, Meguchi's reaction to the hotel room, was also Eda's actual reaction. 😂
They mentioned Meguchi's clothes and the fact that they had seen people think she was tied up, watching the trailer.
They explain how in the hotel scene, Kotoha acts as what's known - in Japanese lesbian culture - as a "Sasoi Neko", which is a woman who tendentially stays on the receiving hand while playing an active role in sexually inviting her partner. They even confirmed with the novel author. 😆
They mentioned Eda crying during the love scene filming. She said she couldn't help it, seeing how both Ichika and Mio's hands were trembling, and how they nailed the inclusion of the element of fear. Someone sent a message to Kamiura, who wasn't there, saying the scene is amazing and that Eda was crying (I wonder if it was Mio's manager ahah), and when she got to watch it herself, Kamiura also cried. As for Eda, she said this was the first time in about 7 years for her to cry during the filming of a scene.
Kotoha was not supposed to cry during the love scene. They ultimately were very happy with the result, especially with how it turned out with Kotoha seemingly trying not to show her tears to Meguchi, with the hug. Mio obviously cried not only during the actual scene (they only did two takes) but also during rehearsal. I say obviously because we've been told just how deeply Mio is able to get into her scenes, emotionally.
They also alluded to what we had also come to guess, which is the fact that they went from wearing bathrobes to being naked, meaning...you know what eheh.
They mentioned how, even though initially they planned on filming just the right amount of content (to the point they were worried it wouldn't be enough), ultimately they filmed more, which led to some unavoidable cutting, most noticeable for this fifth episode. In particular, there was supposed to be a morning scene before they go out at the end of the episode (which is connected to the "jam" discourse - there was a scene with them eating toast with jam). The good news, my friends, is that they expressed the desire to release the scene somehow at some point.
While not explicitly stated in the drama, Kotoha has started bringing and leaving her own clothes to Megumi's place. They also mention them using matching mugs! All expressing them having gotten closer, and the new normality of them coming back to the same home.
When they were considering someone for the role of the .... and here they say "mother", then consider it might've been a spoiler and ultimately surrender to the fact that it was sort of obvious and already out there - someone brought up Tamao Satou's name and they immediately thought she was perfect. The Triple Pink part as a byproduct of the choice, not something they made intentionally. They did think it was quite interesting, though.
I've seen someone think that Megumi's reaction could've meant she knew the woman, but she was just stunned. Here they explained how in the novel it's described as in that moment Meguchi found this woman to be so almost frighteningly beautiful that she felt like she might fall in love.
For the brief flashback shot in the ending, Eda explained that she took inspiration from the movie Seven, by which she was traumatized when she was younger.
They talked quite a bit about the content warning for episode 6, that there is a scene for which some viewers might want to be prepared. Kamiura is really fond of the episode (Matsugasako says she also loves it, and we know it also includes the most memorable scene for Mio as well) and she absolutely didn't want to neglect the portrayal of this particular scene as it is very important in the novel.
Eda points out that one of the "issues" is the adaptation from words to footage, because in switching from one to the other there is a chance for the element of violence to appear more intense. So they tried their best to stay true to the novel while finding the ideal way to put it on screen.
Eda then spoke at length about trauma in general, a theme she's been thinking about a lot lately. She finds it to be very complex. Something more than a simple extremely bad event from the past. What leads that to become a trauma, she thinks must be the presence of love somewhere there, or anyway an element of attachment. She really wanted to portray this nuance (I personally think this might be particularly relevant to the kind of trauma in this series, having to do with the figure of the mother).
Kamiura then adds that despite everything, the sweetness is not going to be absent from next episode. Matsugasako then chips in to strongly tell us that she wants us to believe in MeguKoto as we watch. Kamiura even says that, once we reach episode 8, in a way the drama might seem to be like an entirely different series, which was clearly meant in a positive way. I personally interpreted it as in we'll be able to experience it all with full peace of mind, without the heaviness and darkness we're deeply perceiving week after week now.
They also reiterate the importance of watching on TVer. So I really want to ask you all to make an effort here if you can. It's 100%. You just have to use a VPN and watch and rewatch episode 5 as many times as possible.
Unlike Eda and Kamiura, Matsugasako has only watched until EP6, and is yet to watch the final two episodes. Her most immediate thought after finishing EP6 was "No way this can end in only two more episodes", to which Kamiura said "Ohi, you're the one who wrote it!!" Just sharing because I thought it was funny!
The three of them then commented, very impressed and very happily, about the fact that nobody is spoiling the novel!
After the nervousness and tension from the filming of the love hotel scene in EP5, the scene in EP6 caused a whole different sort of nervousness and tension in everyone. Still on the shaking hands level, but different. Eda said she had to had to go into the break room multiple times, and cry.
At this point, they're actually considering not doing a watch party for episode 6. They feel like they would end up watching without saying anything. Probably, I think, they'll ultimately decide also based on the reception.
And that's it, I guess. I hope you found something interesting in what I shared from the space! What I feel like saying is that I'm grateful that it's been exactly these women who took care of the creation of this incredible drama. I can't help but hope to have another lesbian themed series (and movie too) directed by Eda, I hope that Kamiura will keep working on GL projects and I'd be happy if Matsugasako lent her writing hand again.
Now, getting ready for next week...
No comments:
Post a Comment