Naoko Yamada has numerous credits to her name as director and animator; however, even across 20 years of great success in Japan and within the anime world, Yamada finds herself bearing a “first” with her latest film, The Colors Within (きみの色). The film marks Yamada’s first time directing an original story, rather than adapting from previously established source material, whether a television show, manga, or novel.
The Colors Within follows Totsuko (voiced by Sayu Suzukawa), a young girl enrolled in a Catholic high school who contains a quirk wherein she sees people as colours. Totsuko becomes enthralled with her classmate Kimi’s (Akari Takaishi) colour; after learning that Kimi dropped out of school, Totsuko tracks Kimi down at the used book store she’s employed. In her feverish excitement, Totsuko accidentally leads Kimi to believe that she can play piano, and the two form a band with Kimi playing guitar and Rui (Taisei Kido), a patron of the book shop and theremin player.
The coming-of-age story bursts with the intense emotions of youth. Yamada and screenwriter Reiko Yoshida, a frequent collaborator of Yamada’s, create a world full of opportunity and potential, reflecting the most optimistic lens of being a student. Although Totsuko faces her fair share of challenges and obstacles, The Colors Within embodies the pureness, passion, and elation of growing up.
Prior to the North American release of The Colors Within, The Asian Cut had the opportunity to speak with Yamada (with Satsuki Yamashita as interpreter) over video to discuss her latest film, creating the character of Totsuko, and the influence of Catholicism.
The Asian Cut: You’ve previously mentioned that you didn’t want to make original films [preferring to adapt stories instead]. What made you change your mind for this movie?
Naoko Yamada: I’m surprised that you know that! Thank you for knowing that. I did say that I didn’t want to work on original stories before, and that’s because I didn’t think I had the ability to create stories. I’m more interested in creating visuals as an expression of myself. Using non-verbal animation was, I thought, really what I was good at, because I don’t think I’m really good at putting into words what I want to express. I didn’t really imagine that I would be working on an original film.
But why did I change my mind? Well, when I was brainstorming stories for the next project and we came up with this [The Colors Within], the producer suggested, ‘I think you might as well just work on an original story.’ So then I said that I wanted to take on that challenge.
TAC: I grew up around Buddhist culture but not practices, which I think is true for many today when it comes to Buddhism and Shinto in Japan. Catholicism, though, while having a culture, is more practice in nature. In creating Totsuko, how did Catholicism as a practice influence her personality and character?
NY: With Totsuko’s personality or character, I’m actually not sure which came first, was it because I wanted her to be religious and that’s how I created her, or did I create Totsuko first and then her religious aspects came in? I’m not sure as of right now.
I personally don’t have a religion that I adhere to. But each of my grandmas — one was really Buddhist and one was really into Shinto, because of that, both religions were part of me, the practice and the culture was within me. But with Catholicism, whether it’s their practice or culture, I didn’t have the opportunity to get to know it, or be immersed in it. I was only exposed to it through movies or books. So maybe I wanted to learn more about Catholicism, and maybe that’s how I created Totsuko.
TAC: Did you learn anything particularly interesting or surprising about Catholicism?
NY: I went in trying to learn about Catholicism with a very pure, very blank slate — no prejudice. I think I really accepted their practices and culture naturally, so I don’t think I was surprised or taken aback by anything. People say it’s strict or there’s these sins you cannot commit, but I think I was able to accept it just as it is.
TAC: Switching gears, where did you get the idea to give Totsuko of being able to see colour? I found that a really fascinating element.
NY: I didn’t want to put a name on [a] specific emotion. By not putting a name on that emotion, it really expands your imagination. By using sound or colours, I think these are the various ways to accept emotions, or the way we interact with others — [it’s] different for everybody. Using sound and colour is a way for Totsuko to be able to interact with [others]. I think it came from Totsuko’s Catholic belief. Light is important from her belief, so then to her light is colour.
TAC: How did you decide on the different colours for the characters?
NY: As a director, I wanted to focus on the primary colours of light, so Kimi is blue, Rui is green, Totsuko is red. Towards the end of the movie, for a moment, you could actually see that Totsuko is able to see her colour. As I said at the previous question, light is really important to Totsuko. With the primary colours of light, when you put all the colours of light layered on top of each other, it becomes lighter, or it turns white. I think in that whiteness, you sense this infinite possibilities for these characters, and that’s what I wanted to focus on.
