Interview of Setting Production, Mirei Suzuki
"I went for location hunting to Nagoya where this story is set. Director Nagaoka discussed with staff from Nagoya before deciding the locations based on the final scenario.
First, the symbols of Nagoya City, Nagoya TV Tower, and Oasis 21 which also appeared in the end of the previous work [The Fist of Blue Sapphire]. The night view here is very beautiful, but I couldn't go up on that day, so I only watched the lights from below. Be careful as it's very slippery on rainy days!
Next, an Instagrammable monument near Nagoya Castle. Everyone was drawn to the reds in it so I took a commemorative photo here. And Nagoya Port, one of the largest trading ports in Japan. It's a port that spans across five municipalities and has many leisure facilities.
We, the location team, also boarded a yacht and traveled around the port. I think people already know that Shukichi Haneda who appears this time is based on Hideyoshi Toyotomi. Nagoya is very closely linked to Hideyoshi Toyotomi and at the annual Nagoya Festival, a parade is held to honor the three heroes, Nobunaga Oda, Hideyoshi Toyotomi and Ieyasu Tokugawa.
In Nakamura Ward, Nagoya City, the birthplace of Hideyoshi Toyotomi, there is a street named Taiko-dori. There is also an exit named Taiko-dori Exit at Nagoya Station. Hideyoshi Toyotomi's name is closely linked here.
While feeling this connection, I continued with my location hunting and tasted some delicious Nagoya foods. This place is amazing, so I would be happy if fans will make a trip to Nagoya after the movie release! I hope you can look forward to how Nagoya will appear in this work."
Interview of Movie Director, Chika Nagaoka
Question 1: This is your 2nd time in charge of directing a Detective Conan movie, after the "The Fist of Blue Sapphire" in 2019, is there any changes in your environment and feelings? And, how did you approach with this movies?
"There is no particular change in the environment. In production, I have seniors who have been working with me for many years who I respect, and many friends, who know my good and bad points, so it's a very reassuring environment for me. And, because of the trust I have for them, I depend on them in various areas.
As for my feelings, when I started the actual production, I face various obstacles and there are times when I feel troubled. When that happens, instead of worrying alone, I tried to consult others and get advice. Surprisingly, many ideas leading to breakthrough surfaced during those conversations. Well, it was probably worst for those who have been dealing with me though. (laughs).
As for my approach, there are characters who are introduced for the first time in the movie. So, I tried to figure out their relationship with Conan's main characters in the original before starting on the production.
The Akai family has many mysterious parts not mentioned even in the original, so I had the production team organize and made a character relationship chart for me."
Question 2: Can you tell us what do you think after reading the script?
"Ever since my scenario meeting with Mr. Sakurai, the Script Writer, I was impressed with his wide knowledge in various fields, regardless of genre like chemistry, bullet trains, shogi. I feel I must be more aware of more information in various areas from now on.
The content of the script drives home the theme very clearly. I tried to translate Mr. Sakurai's thoughts into the movie and I hope we are able to communicate that to our audience who watch the movie.
Question 3: This work focuses on Akai Family, and there are many original movie characters, is there any particular character you want us to take note of? And, what is the reasons?
"It would be Mary. I think the mother has a strong character. Shuichi Akai, Shukichi Haneda, Masumi Sera...everyone has different personalities and strong characters. However, each of them has a strong core that I feel is the gift inherited from Mary's teachings.
Question 4: Vacuum superconducting maglev, sports festival, FBI, Akai Family, etc. In the movie, there are many interesting things, but what part do you find the most interesting? Also, which part do you look forward to the most when directing?
"What I found the most interesting was the difference between Conan's and the FBI's sense of justice. I wanted to express this different in thinking properly. The most fun part for me was the vacuum superconducting maglev. Especially, I hope the audience can check how we show the speed of 1,000 km/h in the theaters.
Question 5: Please tell us the highlights of the movie for you. Finally, do you have any message to audience?
"I hope the audience can look forward to how the vacuum superconducting maglev in the movie connects to the Akai Family, FBI, Conan and the others, and how the story develops. Also, I think rather than knowing nothing about the main characters' relationship with Akai Family, it's better just to know a little to get into this movie.
Since the main story of this movie is about Akai Family with the color of Red in their surname, various Red colors will appear in the movie, so please try to spot them!
Interview of Screenplay, Takeharu Sakurai
Question 1: Mr. Sakurai, this will be your 5th time in charge of the script for a Detective Conan movie. When writing for the first Detective Conan's Private Eyes' Requiem (2013) and this movie, has there been any change in your feeling or approach to Conan?
"Whenever I write a script for Detective Conan movies, I would decide the Regular character who would be guest characters and the theme with the producer. Then I would write the story while getting Aoyoma-sensei and the Director to fix it. I would also add the parts desired by Aoyama-sensei. There is no change in this flow, but on Private Eyes' Requiem, I recklessly took on the challenge without knowing the difficulties. Now, with my knowledge of the difficulties, it feels more like a test of my abilities. In other words, it changed from "Challenge" to "Trial". I think this is a change that will jappen if you continue with any work."
Question 2: You wrote both popular characters, Toru Amuro into the previous movie and Suichi Akai in this one. Do you have any particular feelings when comparing these two characters? Also, was there anything you put extra care of when writing Shuichi Akai in this work? Or anything you enjoyed?
"I think the similarity between Amuro and Akai is there "Loneliness". Amuro has a loneliness that stems from having no home to return to and Akai has a loneliness that stems from not being able to retun home.
Amuro's loneliness with something to depend on as opposed to Akai's loneliness that rejects dependency. Amuora has the strength to embrace the loneliness alone and Akai has the strength to accompany a lonely person.
I feel that when I write these two characters.
When I write Shuichi Akai, I take note of Subaru Okiya. Although those two are basically the same person, they have different personalities. However, there are times when despite being Okiya, his personality is almost all Akai.
It was difficult to adjust that what percentage of Akai is Okiya in each scene with Aoyama-sensei and the production team. However, Akai is much more difficult.
Conan, Haibara, Sera, Mary, Shukichi, James, Jody, and Camel, everyone has different perception about Akai. The information that Akai gave or hid from each of them are all different.
I had to check with Aoyama-sensia and the production team to find out what is allowed in which scene. We have to proceed like a puzzle. There are some things the characters already know about, but the readers do not yet.
And things that will be revealed by the time the movie is released. It is as if you are playing with a puzzle with astronomical number of pieces. It was both painful and fun at the same time.
Question 3: This movie focuses on Akai Family, and there are many original movie characters, is there any particular character to take note of? And, what is the reason?
"The whole Akai Family are important characters here. If I have to mention one, then it is Mary. The more I hear from Aoyama-sensei about her, the burden she bears is out of this world. If you take a closer look at the movie, you will find new information about her."
Question 4: What do you look forward to when your script is visualized?
"It's fun and scary to read the dubbing script. The dubbing script is a script written by someone based on my screenplay. Thus, in this media, things like "Did the lines I wrote become such as line?" "Did the scene that I wrote become like this?", will impact me the first.
My second impact will come at the preview. Dubbing script is a process that won't be found in live-action dramas and movies, I was surprised when though I wrote this script with almost the same number of pages as last time, but this dubbing script has almost double the number of pages than the last!"
Question 5: Please tell us the highlights of this movie for you. Finally, do you have any message to the audience?
"I think there are many highlights in the events, characters and action scenes in the movie. As a screenwriter, I would be happy if you could understand the theme a little more. I think there have been many dramas with "past sins" creating "present sins".
However, there is also "past justice" that can create "present sins" as well. What will people do in that situation? It would be good to show Conan's and Akai's "harmony" and "difference". I wrote with this in mind.
Interview of Image Board, loundraw
Question 1: It will be the third time to be in charge of image boards for Detective Conan Movies, so they are pretty much defined. What do you think is your position this time?
"It's strange, there are moments when I still don't believe that I'm involved in Conan. It's a well-known manga that I've been reading since I was a child. The fact that I'm in charge of creating images for this on the big screen is so overwhelming that I feel that it's not even real.
However, I feel that the response to the role given to me steadily increases as I work more on it. I love the characters, but I pack my own ideas without breaking the world's view of this work.
If my images are useful to the staff, then there is nothing more fulfilling to me. Drawing image boards for Detective Conan Movies is like the facing my childhood. I try to draw with fresh eyes with a feeling of nostalgia while making sure to do work I can be proud of."
Question 2: What kind of image you envisioned from the screenplay for the image boards?
"I was reading the screenplay while talking with Director Nagaoka and the production team, and I decided to have stylish look this time. Looking at previous movie series as a whole, the scale of the event in this movie is one of the largest and the suspense and action that comes with it are also very thrilling.
I consciously added a strong contrast in the light and scene construction in order to bring out the roller-coaster-like dramatic twists and turns.
It will also link nicely to the Akai Family that appears in this work. Akai Family is shrouded in mystery and shadows. It is the shadows that bring out their appeal. Light and shadow, justice and evil, I painstakingly tried to convey the tension between both sides through my images.
Interview of Production Team, Full of Highlights From Each Section As Well
Question 1: In the production of this work, The Scarlet Bullet, can you tell us what did you struggle with, what you were particular about, and what was rewarding for you?
"This time, the stage is set between Tokyo and Nagoya. As a result, there are many buildings again just like the previous work. So, I was worried even before it started. It is always difficult with many buildings (laugh). Moreover, unlike Singapore, this time there are fictional places like linear train stations of Shibahama Station and Shin-Nagoya Station. It is very difficult yet interesting to make these fictional places seem real to blend in with real locations. The diector told me that Akai does not match a bright blue sky so I deliberately toned down the day-time sky for this work." said Kouki Fukushima, Art Director.
"Connecting with the title of "scarlet", there is always red color on someone in those four days. If I only stick to the character's image color, it will be too one-sided. So, I decided on this by considering the connection between the story and the character so that the clothes in the last scene look cool or cute." said Fusako Nakao, Color Design.
"The compositing section in an animation production combines all the image materials. it involves elevating the work by interpreting and composing the materials created by various creators such as drawing, background, CG, etc. However, similar to cooking, great ingredients do not always result in delicious food, so this can improve or destroy the final work. This is the pain and reward of our section. In The Scarlet Bullet, the themes are vacuum superconducting maglev, sports festival so we aimed to create images that conveys speed and dynamism." said Jin Nishiyama, Director of Photography.
"The story this time has the major elements related to the story prepared in 3DCG. THe work of creating and incorporating them in each cut is difficult, but it is rewarding to imagine how they are used and the audience reactions to them. In particular, the director placed a lot of emphasis on the vacuum superconducting maglev, and it was created with him proposing various ideas for the designs and textures. I would like to show everyone the vaccum superconducting maglev as soon as possible!" said Hiroki Matsukura, the CG Director.
"In this work, there are various vehicles such as vacuum superconducting maglev, bullet train, automobiles, motorcycles, etc. 3DCG is used in many vehicles and we tried to express various colors and textures according to the situation. Aslo, because vehicles need to interact with characters and the background, we tested them to make sure their look are integrated properly. In some cases, we had to replace the full scene with 3DCG. Creating images that matches Director Nagaoka's vision and requests is both a challenge and rewarding." said Hiromitsu Koiwa, the CG Director.
Question 2: What is the highlight of this work?
"I think it will be hard to notice, but we made many detailed touches so I hope you can enjoy the world of Conan." said Kouki Fukushima, Art Director.
"Other than the Akai Family, I think you can understand the relationship and thoughts of each characters. I try to adjust the colours so that the characters look good in the scene, I hope you enjoy it while paying attention to such details." said Fusako Nakao, Color Design.
"An animation movie is an art form born from a collaboration with many cast and staff, so the attention to detail from every section is condensed. The detailed attention of each section is concentrated. Other than enjoying the actions of Conan and the Akai Family, I hope you can also enjoy the atmosphere, speed and thrill created by our efforts, which might not be obvious at first glance." said Jin Nishiyama, Director of Photography.
"If I write too much, I will spoil the movie. So, I will express it with an image. The highlight of this movie is the tension in a closed environment like The Bullet Train Movie (1875) by Director Junya Sato and the interaction in the vacuum superconducting maglev. The 3DCG team prepared images that add tension as much as possible as the story develops with the characters trying to solve the case with their all." said Hiroki Matsukura, CG Director.
"I think the main highlight should be Conan drawing closer to the mystery and the Akai Family, and the key stage of the vacuum superconducting maglev and global sports festivel. I think the content of the movie as a whole has many highlights, such as bold action scenes. Also, 3DCG is used in unexpected places such as characters and background. So, if you pay attention to that area, you may be able to enjoy it from a different perspective." said Hiromitsu Koiwa, CG Director.
