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“Kimi no Iro” (“The Colors Within”), a new anime film directed by Naoko Yamada, portrays a high school girl with synesthesia and her two friends who are all trying to find themselves and unite through their band. Yamada has been drawing a lot of attention both at home and abroad.
The film, which was released in theaters on Aug. 30, tells the story of Totsuko (voiced by Sayu Suzukawa), a high school girl who has the ability to see the “colors” of others — perceiving their personalities and emotions as colors. She forms a band with Kimi (Akari Takaishi), a girl she met at school, and Rui (Taisei Kido), a music enthusiast. The three, dealing with their respective challenges, rehearse together at a church on the remote island.
The moving drama is enhanced by its beautiful colors like watercolor palette. I asked the director, Yamada, about her thoughts on her film.
Adolescent sensibility
The main character, Totsuko, can perceive other people’s personalities through colors, but she cannot see her own. Yamada says that the character’s delicate sensibility combined with her adolescent fragility was created from her own observations of teenagers close to her.
“I’ve felt that they try to communicate with people in a very delicate way, such as using words in a way that does not hurt others,” Yamada said. “I wanted to portray the young people of today, who are rich in originality, as if observing them under a microscope, instead of lumping them together.”
Atmosphere of a real concert
Totsuko forms a band with Kimi and Rui, as if naturally drawn to their beautiful colors. They face their own challenges, such as trying hard to meet the expectations of those around them and suppressing their desires to do what they want to do. They communicate with each other while expressing their difficulties and frustrations through music.
Yamada said that although the film is about teenagers, she “focused on universal human emotions,” and hopes that it will “inspire viewers to start doing something new, not just starting a band.”
One of the highlights of the film is the first concert by the three main characters, for which Yamada and her team made great efforts to reproduce the atmosphere and groove of a real concert with the sound design, with a goal of “turning the movie theater into a live concert venue.”
“I hope you will experience it in the theater,” Yamada said.
Inspired by the colors of the sea
The overwhelming beauty of the colors used in the film, set in a hilly port city, is also noteworthy. About the colors, Yamada said that she was inspired by the sea off the coast of Nagasaki, also a port city with many slopes, which she visited when preparing for the production. The work is full of delicate sparkles that seem to visualize Totsuko’s world in which people are seen in colors.
“These colors are the colors of light,” Yamada said. “The colors of the beautiful seas of Nagasaki and the Goto Islands are unimaginably beautiful. They are also the basis of the work.”
The driving force behind this film was Reiko Yoshida, who wrote the screenplay, and Kensuke Ushio, the music director who also composed the film’s music. The two are indispensable production partners for Yamada. She has worked with them on “Eiga: Koe no Katachi” (“A Silent Voice: The Movie”) and “Heike Monogatari” (“The Heike Story”). When working together, the three create a synergy that makes each person’s individuality shine more brightly. Their relationship is just like the one between Totsuko, Kimi and Rui.
The title “Kimi no Iro” has two meanings, Yamada says. One is “Kimi no iro” (the colors of Kimi), because of the protagonist’s friend Kimi, and the other is “kimi no iro,” which means the colors of you. “I hope the film causes the audience to ask themselves, ‘what are my colors?’” Yamada said.
International recognition
The Yomiuri Shimbun Naoko Yamada
Yamada has a deserved reputation as one of the best female animation directors in Japan. Her reputation is also growing overseas.
“The Colors Within” was selected for the feature films competition section of the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in France, the largest festival in the anime industry. It also won the Best Animation Film award at the Shanghai International Film Festival.
While Yamada’s strength is ensemble dramas about adolescence, she has also tackled ambitious subjects such as Japanese classical literature. She is currently greatly interested in “magical girls.” “I really want to see their fantastic world,” she said. “My mind changes every day, from doing this one day to doing that the next, but right now it’s absolutely magical girls!” she said emphatically.
Naoko Yamada
Yamada is from Kyoto Prefecture. She made her directorial debut in 2009 with the TV series “K-ON!” while working at Kyoto Animation Co. She also directed “K-ON! The Movie” in 2011 and “A Silent Voice: The Movie” in 2016 before going independent. Her other works include “Liz to Aoi Tori” (“Liz and the Blue Bird”) and the TV series “The Heike Story.”
