――First of all, I would like to ask about the design concept of Godzilla for this work, "GODZILLA Planet of the Monsters". What kind of orders did you receive from Toho?

Mr. SegaActually Toho-san said that "please do it freely." Listening to it, I was surprised that Shinano Kanbun, co-director and Mr. Kaiben Gen, the script, "are you sure?" (Laugh).
But it was difficult for it to have no constraints, and I was troubled at first.

- Was the expression unique to CG with few constraints conscious?

Kotobuki:I was not conscious of being a CG, it was a concept first.

Mr. SegaI first thought about what to express with Godzilla of this work and organized it, it was the flow of consulting the one-sided supervisor as to how to draw it with CG ... ....

Kotobuki:Certainly CG has few restrictions on expression compared to modeled objects and pictures. There are limitations on designs, weights, materials, etc., of plastic objects moved by people, and there are limits to the details that can be drawn by hand if the picture is also productivity considered. However, on the contrary, there are convincing power as a thing due to restriction in the modeled object, and there is an attraction that the animator challenges the limit in the picture. I believe that CG's constraints do not have such a charm. CG needs a device to make the character "probably enough to believe" without restriction.

Mr. SegaCG is harder to empathize than hand-drawn animation. That's why "things" stick to "speaking" when making characters.
You think about the circumstances and origins of things in their form. By establishing both "things and words", we realize "stop of distrust" as in acting terms, and have the audience immerse without doubt.
It is necessary for the character to have persuasive power for that.

- How did you derive the concept of "Sacred tree"?

Mr. SegaThere are two reasons. First of all, it was the original plan of Kagiyama's initial plot "This time Godzilla is the vertex of life evolution."
From that, I thought that living things living in the real world are longevity and huge, I arrived at trees that keep living in units of thousands of years. And I chose Yakusugi and Metasequoia and other big trees / old trees as a motif.
And another thing, I thought that this time Godzilla wanted to exist like a natural phenomenon such as lightning strike, earthquake, typhoon. It is the object of faith in primitive religion. This plants are added to the concept of "Kamiki".
From there we will lead to the setting "super evolved plants" which probably contains mysterious metal elements.

Kotobuki:I was very impressed with the plant setting. But it is not a plant monster like the past biolante and mammoth flower, but we must express this monster as Godzilla to the last. I thought about how to do that.
First of all I was worried about the surface of the skin. The body surface of Godzilla is burning skin or it is rugged like hardened lava. Meanwhile, overseas it has a reptilian interpretation such as a lizard.
But this time it is a plant, so I should use a different expression, but I did not want to be like Pinocchio.

Mr. SegaThe design from which the leaves grew from different parts of the body is different, right? That is (laugh).

Kotobuki:Yes Yes. There were plans to branch around the body and make it like a cactus. But I thought that was also different.

Mr. SegaGodzilla like a cactus may be pretty (laugh).

Kotobuki:I was looking for ways to express plants besides that, there was an interesting photograph in contemporary art materials collected by Director Seki.
I came up with sculptures of animals made from driftwoods that came up there, as a hint and from there to express plant fibers as a body surface. You can make the structure mean if you make the pattern of the fiber like a muscle.
Actually, muscle of animals is also made of fiber.

Mr. SegaPlants seem to be stopped on human time axis, but when you capture it with time lapse shooting, it moves enormously richly.
Even small weeds have the ability to break asphalt. It is a setting called a plant that can demonstrate such power on the same time axis as ours. Godzilla of this work.

Kotobuki:I think that it is possible to move like that because the fiber has a structure like a muscle ... if it is said to be persuasive.

Mr. SegaI also refer to Denki Waki ​​in the body structure.
Deng Yuena can generate high voltage of 800 V / 1A. Most of the body is a power generation organ, and the part of the body with more than 2 meters of internal organs is about 1/5 of the whole.
And Godzilla of this work is not a bone or an internal organs in the big body, but the majority of the body has been set as a mass of fibers that have the role of power generator.

Kotobuki:In this way, from the idea of ​​"fiber", "muscle", "power generator" spread.
Its tail is most noticeable in its characteristics. That is an image of a shielded wire made by knitting a metal.

- Incorporating such new elements, symbolic parts such as dragons like faces and back billets are made use of, and it has become a design that was established as Godzilla.

Mr. SegaIn the initial plan, it was a more collapsed face, but when I tried to put out sacredness I went by as long as it is now.

Kotobuki:It made me look like a wise man after having been lengthened. Somehow the image looks good (laugh).

Mr. SegaI did not want to put out a ferocious feeling peculiar to predators like T Rex.
That's why I made my head small and I felt terrible but I felt just the eyes gentle. Because I wanted to see more intelligence than a human being.

Kotobuki:Also there was no idea of ​​Godzilla without back fever from the beginning. He was already growing up at the stage of Mr. Sega's first sketch.

Mr. SegaWhether it is the personality of Godzilla.

Kotobuki:This time I set it as a leaf that looks like a back bille.
It is an image of a barbari with a barbarian and a carnivorous plant, and incorporates the unique attacking properties of plants. Here is the part where the setting and design matched well.

Mr. SegaJust looking at the teeth and nails is actually a prickly brown. Plants "mimic" everything like dorsal fillets, teeth and nails.
All the monsters appearing in the world of animated version Godzilla are the setting which occurred in a big event called sudden biological selection phenomenon, they are representatives of various families such as mammals, reptiles, insects, etc., all of them are driven out It is Godzilla of this work which is a super evolved plant that stood at the top.
Its appearance was mimicked by collecting only features such as eagle, lion, snake ... etc ... of the other races.
And, rather than anatomical correctness, I also have features that feel "dignity" as an impression.

Kotobuki:This is my selfish interpretation, but the first thing I came to thinking when asking "majesty" was "old man of all-back standing in the wind" (laugh). That image is also included a bit.

Mr. SegaWhen consulting Mr. Katakawa with the image of posing, I was able to show pictures of opera singers such as Pavarotti. That was funny (laugh).
But I was satisfied by seeing the completed visuals.

Kotobuki:I did not want to be an aggressive pose. So I came up with a tenor-based opera singer.

- The body that you felt like a long body and long legs are also characteristic of this Godzilla.

Mr. SegaAmong fans, it is said to be "Sumo wrestling type" (lol), but it is indeed correct as it is certainly referring to the statue of King Geumjo's King Geumjo.
That is not an anatomically correct muscle, but the "symbol of strength" that an old man thought is a characteristic of modeling.

Kotobuki:Perhaps it is a body form with a wrestler of the time as a motif. I had long wanted to make a character with motif expression unique to Japan as a motif. I wanted to use the sense of shaping originated in Japan someday not in Greek sculptures such as Hercules.
I was pleased that it was realized with this Godzilla.

Mr. SegaIt is because I did not want to make the leg long, because I did not want it to be a dull image. I express expressive agility.
The world view is hard sci-fi, and the style is like a Cinema, but I think that by including sacred trees and Kongo Rikishi, the characters have become very Japanese.

Kotobuki:Regarding these whole bodies, I could design based on the knowledge of anatomy, but it was difficult for only the tail to be so troubled.
I did not know what to refer to because there is no creatures with such a body structure in the real world.
I majored in art anatomy during my school days, so I can not design with absolutely ignored anatomy. Even if you tell a lie, you can not convince you that it is not a lie derived from the correct form, and a persuasive character can not be born unless you do it.

Mr. SegaIt seems that the snake also became such a structure through what evolutionary process has many mysteries, it seems that it finally turned out in recent years.

Kotobuki:It is a mystery how the muscles for the movement are connected though the snake actually moves the spine and moves. As I mentioned earlier, only the tail was referred to an artificial structure like a wire.

Mr. SegaAnd the tail functions as a third foot supporting a heavy weight, while raising it like a seesaw when it comes to a balance, we are balanced to make full efforts.
At that time, as in T-Rex, it is going to be in a forward-looking attitude, but since he is unbeatable in the process, it is necessary to do a full effort (laugh).

前 The forward-looking posture that Setsu said to the remark. The silhouette changes greatly from the usual standing figure, and it becomes a figure different from conventional Godzilla. Of course, you can pose at "S.H.MonsterArts Godzilla (2017)".

-What is the part of "S.H.MonsterArts Godzilla (2017)"?

Kotobuki:The most sticky thing is the fibrous detail on the body surface. And on the upward facing side of the whole body, I gave a bright green color. It is an image that has been mossed through many years. After that, I also asked "I will not have a big gap in the moving part".
I thought it was difficult here because of the actions, but you could handle it well.

Mr. SegaSince perfection was high from the beginning, we did not say much.
Rather, it is a feeling that the prototype teacher and Mr. Bandai taught me about the interpretation of "people who produce as real" and the magnitude of shaping technology.

-In fact, it is not unusual for the case where the work and the product can be done simultaneously at "S.H.MonsterArts". Thanks to you, we achieved the best in the series.

Mr. SegaReally? Well, it is the first time for us to have our Godzilla released simultaneously with release.

Kotobuki:It was a project that was moving from an early stage. The first figure we supervised was "S.H.MonsterArts Godzilla (2017)".

Mr. SegaThe supervised exchanges and meetings continued for about a year. I am glad that it took so much time that much effort.

Kotobuki:If it is a supervision method of "approaching setting," everything will be all the same, although there are various items.
I think that it should make use of the characteristics of the action figure to the sofabi for the sofabi and the action figure for the action figure. And I think that this product is a product that our designs and characteristics of goods engage well.

- Please tell us the impression that you actually viewed the item.

Mr. Sega...... I lose too much emotion. No, I think it's done really well.

Kotobuki:Parts division was entirely up to you, but I finished it in a very convincing form. It is wonderful to split the V-shaped "sternocleidomastoid muscle" on the neck.
I am particularly impressed with the tail. I was surprised that it was split movable making full use of the knitted shape.

Mr. SegaIt is good for this spirit of muscle relaxation.

Kotobuki:These limbs, shoulder, back muscles conscious of wrestlers. I was conscious of the sense of volume not existing in the traditional Godzilla, but it is good that these muscles are firmly expressed and modeled. It is also the unique charm of a movable figure that can also be made to lean forward.
This pose is pretty well shown both in the play and in the trailer.

Mr. SegaThe silhouette changes completely in this way when it is in the forward tilted posture. It will be in a shape not in the past Godzilla.
This figure symbolizes our commitment. I feel a lot value in being able to reproduce the concept stereoscopically.

Kotobuki:In the presence of Godzilla 's silhouette restraint, it was our goal to add a new image to the image.

Mr. SegaThe existence which can not be expressed by CG called a real solid object is also attractive. It seems as if you are watching live action version of our animation. I'd like to take a piece shoot animation using this (laugh).

- Please give a message to your fans at the end.

Kotobuki:As we have talked so far, we have included in Godzilla designs associated with various words and shapes in our designs. Those who watch the movie want this figure to be handy as "auxiliary teaching materials" to interpret those images.
Also this time Godzilla is doing actions beyond past works, this figure can reproduce those movements in any way. I really hope you enjoy it.

Mr. Sega"Please go to the theater and put your figure at hand as well". Since the present opinion is wonderful, please let me make a joint opinion (laugh).

- Thank you very much for your busy schedule today.