colourful-jack
Colourful-Jack
樹里 || 26歳 || French,English, 日本語 || Graduate student in Japanese studies, researches on 1980s "aesthetic" novels. I read and I translate things. || I write about Ai no kusabi, and BL in general.
10277 posts
Don't wanna be here? Send us removal request.
Last Seen Blogs
lovelyjamesblog
LovelyJames Blog
fundiemental-simposts
Life With The Sheridans
pastiife
Be Present In Your Own Mind
five-rivers
Styx, Lethe, Acheron, Phlegethon, Cocytus
Text
Paper Talk Special: YOSHIHARA Rieko's interview (1989)
“Riki is an almost full-grown black panther”
YOSHIHARA Rieko has written in a wide variety of genres, from high-school stories to fantasy and science fiction. If there is one thing her characters, like Aki and Kacchan or Iason and Riki, have in common, it’s their impressive charisma. We had the opportunity to ask her more about Ai no kusabi in this interview.
Profile
Pen name’s origin: My birth name. My family name changed when I got married, so I thought “nobody would know it’s me!”.
Date of birth: October 4th, 1954
Blood type: B
Place of birth and residence: born in Fukuoka Prefecture, living in Kumamoto Prefecture
What made you send your manuscript to the magazine: It had been a long night…
1. What made you start writing Ai no kusabi?
I didn’t really… want to write about “pure love” in a science fiction setting (ah ah ah), because I wanted to write about an “encounter” than would not just be casual, the bonds it would create and the various feelings they would draw along.
2. Which character can you empathize with the most?
Probably Riki, as one could expect. Because, even though he has a sharp tongue and is quite mature, his way of thinking is fundamentally straight. Him running around struggling yet unable to act, because he’s caught between two feelings of different natures, makes him seductive, I like it.
3. What is your favourite scene? And what is a line you like?
My favourite, hmm… It would have to be the scene where Katze cries while stifling his voice. But I also cannot put aside the scene where Riki is kept waiting in vain in the rain by Guy… As for the lines, those would be “there’s no way I’m letting him die alone” or “you may be able to look the other way despite everything, but I… wouldn’t be worth more than trash if I did. I couldn’t go on living.”
4. Could you tell us about the creation process of the characters, like Riki and Iason? (size, weight, blood type, date of birth, etc.)
I had their personality roughly figured out, so I didn’t think about their finer characteristics, but…
Riki: Because he’s a slum mongrel, I pictured him as an almost full-grown black panther. Not frail, but slender and lithe. As for his appearance, his intelligence shines through the strength of his obstinate spirit, that’s all.
Iason: Since he’s an absolutely perfect member of the elite and the Black Market’s king, he should definitely be like the God of the Sun Apollo, but raised in the depths of the sea (or something). He’s shrewd and good-looking, incredibly proud, and wouldn’t collapse under any circumstances. Regarding his height, all things considered, he’s a head taller that Riki.
Guy: In my first draft, he was a tolerant and broad-minded herbivorous felid… that was my intention, but I wonder where and how things went wrong.
Raoul: His looks, intellect and handsomeness are on par with Iason’s. He has a sense of humour and, even more than Iason, nerves of steel.
Katze: Went from being raised in the slums to being a Furniture in Eos to being a broker on the black market. Putting aside the protagonists, he’s the one with the most dramatic life, so that’s probably why I gave him a tragic handicap, like being a scarface or being a man without manhood…
Kirie: Representing slum dwellers in their late teens, he’s overconfident and reckless. He has a very limited worldview, so he’s the most fragile yet also the most dangerous character.
5. Concerning the way you chose the characters’ names, you previously said you were “drawn to the “dragon” kanji”, were you fixated on something like that for Ai no kusabi?
This time I wanted to give them names that would fit their character, so… I gave Riki a name conveying “power” (riki is one of the few ways to read the kanji meaning “power”), I named Iason after a hero from Greek mythology, and Guy after the goddess of the Earth, Gaia, for his ability to embrace everything. But when you list them, they’re not consistent. All things considered, you could say they’re just far-fetched choices, ah ah ah…
6. Writing Ai no kusabi, what did you enjoy? What did you find difficult?
For the most of it, the story was ever changing with the characters’ feelings, so until I had reached the ending, I had fun worrying (somehow) while writing. Difficult things that would bring wrinkles to my forehead, I tend not to think too much about them.
7. A number of different types of Pet Rings appear in readers’ four-case mangas, but how do you picture them yourself?
No, well, when it comes to Riki’s, its basic image was something like Sun Wukong’s circlet. Looking at it like this makes Journey to the West quite salacious too… don’t you think?
8. Could you tell us your thoughts about the cassette adaptation?
I thought “Are you sure we can really do that?”… but when it became real, well, I mean, ah ah ah, what could I say? As you know, this work involves many human relationships, some violent lines, and it’s quite heavy on that. “How can we make all that fit in 60 minutes?” I wondered… When I heard the tape for the first time, it dawned on me that letters and voices are truly two completely different things, obviously. I wrote it, so it’s weird for me to say that, but I thought “can I really make Mr SEKI and Mr SHIOZAWA say those things?”… on the other hand, when I wondered what faces they made then, Tokyo felt so far away… So those were my thoughts. But everyone used their beautiful voice to give impassioned performances, so I’m very happy!
9. And lastly, what is June to you?
A breather between child rearing and house chores, a teatime friend… or something like that.
(October 1989)
79 notes
·
View notes
Text
Interview of YOSHIHARA Rieko for the Ai no Kusabi 2012 Remake (episode 1)
Ai no Kusabi ~petere kanjū~: YOSHIHARA Rieko
Please, tell us your what your immediate thoughts were when you were approached to remake the ‘92 OVA.
At first there was some consideration to make a 13-episode-long anime broadcasted on television, so I thought it was quite bold. It ended up being only 12 episodes, but because of the type of content we’re talking about, it can’t be helped if we miss the target. So I may have refused the proposal if it hadn’t come from AIC.
Was this trust earned with the previous adaptation’s achievements, as one can expect?
Definitely. And the fact that I could feel how incredibly passionate the other party was about making it. So I couldn't not entrust it to them.
This time you are also in charge of the script. What did you particularly pay attention to when adapting the story to a script?
I was put in charge of it before I knew it (laughs). Truthfully, I had no idea what an "anime script" entailed! I wrote however I liked and I was asked "could you write it more like this?", I was told to leave the top of the page blank, how many characters could fit in a line... I basically learnt how to write a script from the basics.
The staff from the old OVA was reunited to work on this project. What kind of discussion did you have with the director, Mr AKIYAMA?
When we had our preliminary meeting, I had the impression we had known each other for a long time, though that was the first time we met face-to-face. The director was surprised by that too.
Did you not meet when making the previous OVA?
Back then, the publisher acted as a go-between, so we didn't. Not diving into whether it's a good thing or not for the original author to also act as the screenwriter, I really felt the difference between the male gaze and the female gaze during the staff meetings for this project. Being asked by the director "are nipples important?" was so funny! (laughs)
Like "do we have to draw them"? (laughs)
I thought that was obvious, so I didn't understand what he meant. It's fine if you can't see the lower half, but nipples are essential, right? (laughs) Ms HAYASHI, the producer from AIC, and I were the only women in the room, so we pushed back saying "they are important!"
On what other points did you, as the original author, want them to pay close attention to?
As for my particular points of obsession, they were very precise, like Riki's flanks tightening, or his legs twisting in his erotic scenes... so I wrote all those requests into the script as context explanations. But even if you can picture clearly the situation you want to show, it may not translate well into an image, or words may fail to convey the big picture. There were some things the director wanted to show, high points in term of animation, so in turn, I realized how directing works.
For this project, particular efforts were put into the concept artworks: Tanagura, Midas and the landscape of the cybercity all are captivating pictures.
It is truly impressive. I thought of Midas, the slums and Tanagura as lying on the same plane. But this time, that structure with different levels enables to immediately convey visually a sense of hierarchy. I am incapable of that kind of idea. I let others deal with everything that's visual.
TAKEUCHI Atsushi's concept art was gorgeous too!
It was very beautiful, right? When I was asked by AIC if I wanted something associated with the anime, I answered "a compilation of concept artworks". I asked them if there wasn't something like a mook compiling concept artworks, but I was answered with a strained laugh... (laughs)
And we have ONDA Naoyuki working on the character design, based on MICHIHARA Katsumi's original design for the original novels' illustrations.
I was told Mr ONDA would be in charge like last time, so I had nothing to worry about. He showed me the characters once before a decision was made and when he asked me what I thought of it, I answered it was all good.
Will the whole squad of Blondies makes its appearance this time?
Back then, there were only Iason and Raoul. Now, it will be all thirteen of them.
What kind of request did you make?
"Make all Blondies gorgeous!", though I myself don't really know what makes an image gorgeous! (laughs) To make Iason like a Scandinavian prince and Raoul like a Latin, or something like that. And to make it so that he wasn't confused with Gideon. Because Aisha has a background of being a puppet for the supercomputer Jupiter, I asked to make him look more like an android. They all have long blond hair in common, but they have a lot of variety: honey blond, light platinum blond...
It seems like Mr ONDA struggled a bit with the outfits.
Blondies each have something like their own symbol they display, and their outfit emphasizes that. And to show the difference between their full dress and their casual clothes, I suggested to Ms HAYASHI they wear something like a shoulder mark on top of their full dress uniform. When I was shown drawings, I only replied things like "maybe a wider belt would be better...", so I think it wasn't easy for Mr ONDA.
Kirie looks a bit more like a kid now, with freckles on his face...
I didn't pay much attention to it, but I still wanted a contrast that would show the three-year gap between Riki and Kirie. He's surrounded by adults, so even if he has ambition, he's still a child. In the second episode, there's a scene in which he brushes his hair in the mirror whistling, he was such a show-off kid, that made me laugh. That kind of character's deeper characteristics come out here and there.
I think the fans are paying close attention to this project's casting. The cast is the same as for the drama CDs released in 2007, but were you involved in the selection?
As the drama CDs came before the anime, so when I was contacted for the anime adaptation, I asked "please, if even one voice actor from the CDs cannot take part in this, recast all the roles"! Originally, I had planned the drama CDs to be produced independently, so if the cast had to change, I would rather have a clear-cut difference between the anime and the drama CDs. Thankfully, the director agreed to it, so we only had to ask them to reprise their role. So it was when I thought about casting voice actors for the drama CDs that I worried.
How did you choose the cast?
All things considered, the first role to cast was Iason's. In the previous OVA, Iason had become synonymous with SHIOZAWA Kaneto for fans, so deciding who would play Iason was the most pressing issue. So I thought Mr ÔKAWA would be good.
That must have been quite the pressure for Mr ÔKAWA. Did you talk about anything during the recording?
He struggled with speaking without conveying emotions, so much so he told me after recording that was difficult. I thought naively that speaking in even tones was easier, but listening to voice actors, it seems like speaking without emotions is the most difficult. Plus, don't you think he has a soft, caring voice? I wondered how it would turn out when he plays Iason, and my heart couldn't not pound during the first recording.
And did it go for ITÔ Kentarô, playing Riki?
I wanted someone who would be on par with Mr ÔKAWA, playing Iason, and I though Mr ITÔ would be good. It seems he had a hard time recording scenes from Riki's period as a Pet because he was asked to make his voice sound younger. (laughs)
What were your impressions when you saw the characters move in animation?
"Aah, they're sexy!" (laughs). There are also original scenes added by each episode's director, and I'm delighted they could depict them so closely.
By the way, please tell us if there is any scene in the first episode you particularly like or that we have to see.
I would have to answer "all of it". The main plot points of the story haven't changed, so what surprised me the most was the scene from the monitor screen reflected in Daryl's eyes. "It's really reflecting it!" I thought. And then, when the air car Iason has climbed in soars in the sky after Riki has run away. And the glowing tail lights leave a trail behind the car. That scene really moved me.
Now, I would like it if you could tell us more about the original work. The novel began publishing in 1986, but BL works in a Science-Fiction setting are still rare today.
At that time, it wasn't BL but JUNE though. Well, JUNE itself was made from submitted works, so you could pretty much write what you wanted. I wonder if that wouldn't be out of the question for publishers nowadays. A happy end in which you assume characters are lovey-dovey is fine, whether in fantasy or SF, but considering the content of that particular work (laughs).
What made you start writing it?
I wanted to write the last scene. Riki and Iason connecting their cigarettes... the climax to a series of events. Leading up to it was a class system that couldn't be overthrown, the characters would be the head of the ruling class and someone from the slums, and from there I thought about the setting. From the moment the serialization started, I had decided how I would write the end.
Some time has passed since the publication of the chapters into a novel, and the paperback version has been expanded to reach six volumes, that was quite the growth.
Rather than add to it, I would say I got the feeling I wanted to try digging up things I hadn't written in twenty years. I feel like back then, I rushed through Riki and Iason's relationship, and even though the story had ramifications, I didn't have the margin to write it. And when it was published anew by Tokuma Shoten in the Chara bunko collection, I thought this might be the last time I could add to it. So the second half became almost entirely original content (laughs).
Your works often deal with "obsession", but is there something you particularly care about in your depictions?
Rather than caring particularly about something, I'd say it's '"sticky and deep" depictions. Not only love scenes, I also want to depict human relations deeply. I do not feel "obsession" much because when I write, I do not think "obsess! obsess!" but "imagine! imagine!". Now for my literary fixations, even to express a single action, I would wonder if there isn't another word. It's a bit of an odd topic, but I like using a dictionary.
What kind of dictionary do you like?
I guess I like the Kôjien the best. In fact, I also found the tile "Ai no kusabi" in the Kôjien. Novels differ from manga and anime in that they only have text, so I want to look for more approriate ways to say things. Like, even if that means coining words. Speaking of coined words, I added two kanji to the subtitle and made it so that even if you can't read them, you can understand their meaning by looking at them.
The first title being ~petere kanjū~.
I thought about the two characters "cage" and "beast" and after explaining their meaning, I asked them to find the word that would fit in Latin, "petere". But the production team was surprised when they asked me "how do you read that?" and I replied "you don't need to read it". There was a moment of silence, after which they asked again "are you sure?!" (laughs).
You said there was no need to read it "kanju"...
I didn't want to spell out its reading. I would like people not to read it but imagine it, to understand it with their senses.
From the moment it began publication to now, Ai no Kusabi has been accompanying you for many years. What kind of work is it to you?
It was my first series being published, so I rushed through it, and though it wasn't the start, I feel like it was. I could still write about it now, I even recently wrote an extra short story for Shôsetsu Chara (vol.35, Tokuma Shoten), as it contained a bonus DVD of the preview. I would even like writing about the three years Riki spent as a Pet, if I were given the opportunity. To me, Ai no Kusabi is a work I could always expand, no matter where I place the spotlight.
To finish, do you have any message for the fans?
This is the first episode, so I would really want people to watch it. Because all my emotions, from seeing the words I wrote gain colors, accompanied by voices, and even 3D CGI are in this episode. I wish I could see the entire 12 episodes, so with your support, I hope the second season can be launched.
Interviewer: MURAYAMA Takako
14 notes
·
View notes
Photo
Zakk’s New Year illustrations throughout the years 2014-2019.
2K notes
·
View notes
Text
we are already living in the cyberpunk future and i know this because within a span of 3 days we went from this tweet:
to thousands of people making phony images and replying to them with their passionate desire to have them as a tshirt to overload the bots with nonsense and junk and send out warnings to shoppers like this:
and now we even have people replying to pictures of baby yoda with “i want this on a tshirt” knowing how ravenous disney is being with copyright in hopes to get the stores taken down altogether
i dont know what it is about stuff like this and the whole turn mei into a symbol of hk protesters thing but, its really reassuring for some reason
498K notes
·
View notes
Photo
I’m meeting with my academic advisor today and let me tell you, a bitch is scared so I stress made these
3K notes
·
View notes
Text
They make it too easy for me.
7K notes
·
View notes
Photo
The Vampire Chronicles + ao3 tags part 1
8K notes
·
View notes
Photo
iwtv
6K notes
·
View notes
Photo
Lestat being Extra in Interview with the Vampire (1994)
12K notes
·
View notes
Text
“He who makes a beast of himself removes himself from the pain of being human”: The Theme of Vampyr and Why the Endings Make Sense Part 1
@freyanuris tagged you like I promised
First of all: **SPOILERS** This post is chocked full of spoilers for Vampyr, so please do not read this if you don’t want the game ruined for you! You have been warned. I’m including a cut to be safe.
Since Vampyr has come out there have been complaints about the forced relationship between Jonathan and Elizabeth. There has been no lack of discussion as to why people either like it or hate it. A more interesting question to ask, though, is WHY did Dontnod make the choice to force a romance and why did they make it such an integral part of the story. The romance and its fulfillment or rejection is the major climax of the game. Every decision Jonathan makes determines whether he and Elizabeth run away together or if she commits suicide. Why? Why is this the final confrontation in the game? If we explore this question then the structure of the game, the relationships between most of its characters, and the major theme of the game become clear.
さらに読む
247 notes
·
View notes
Text
*writes I LIKE GIRLS on every other page of my journals so future historians don’t try to insist that I’m straight”
319K notes
·
View notes
Text
*writes I LIKE GIRLS on every other page of my journals so future historians don’t try to insist that I’m straight”
319K notes
·
View notes
Text
My position on translations
After reading something a translator wrote on their position on (re)translations, I thought I'd make my position clear on this whole matter as well.
I do not mind other people translating the same texts I do. If you want to, go ahead. You do you. If you think your translation could add anything to the understanding of the original text readers have, that reason is valid enough.
I don't believe fan translators have any right to claim ownership of any work they translate. "Ai no kusabi" isn't "my" novel. It's just a novel I love that I happen to provide a translation to. You don't have to "ask" for my permission to translate it, it isn't mine to give.
Harassing someone into taking their work down is a serious dick move in my books. I don't want to be one, do you?
I welcome all and any feedback. Did you find any part/sentence hard to understand? Did you find any spelling error? Please, let me know.
5 notes
·
View notes
Text
A collection of favourite photos taken over the last 6 months //
Check out more at instagram.com/agk42
2K notes
·
View notes
Photo
Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 ♦ Clan Reveals
7K notes
·
View notes