This interview took place at the Annecy Film Festival event in 2000, and was posted to FilmFestivals.com. (Link rot has set in here!)
Translated from the original French text by SmashGenesis, and edited by Raph.

Kunihiko Ikuhara: Without Deceit, I Am a Boy

Several years after working on the anime series Sailor Moon, Kunihiko Ikuhara saw in Utena the opportunity to direct his first true masterwork by adapting Chiho Saito’s popular manga. Screened at the Annecy Film Festile in 2000 and currently being screened at Nouvelles Images du Japon à Paris, the film Utena is the flamboyant culmination of his work on the television series. We encountered the director last year at Annecy.

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Can you tell us exactly how you became an animator?

I fell into this line of work by chance in 1986. I had read in a cinema magazine that Toei was looking for staff to make anime. So, I applied and I was tested. I found myself as assistant director when I entered the studio; I worked this position from 1986 to 1990. In 1992, I saw myself promoted to director of the series Sailor Moon, which I worked on for 4 years.

What drew you to this series, and how do you feel about these 4 years?

(He thinks for a while.) Hmm… There were lots of girls! (laughter)

Apparently, you also like girls who disguise themselves as boys…

It’s true that in Sailor Moon, a character disguises herself as a boy. At the start, that would have had to have been a boy, but after some back-and-forth, we opted for a female character disguised as a boy.

Utena makes you think of the Takarazuka Revue’s androgyny…

The concept of the cast of Utena was effectively simpler to develop with Takarazuka as a base. Everyone had a precise reference idea, so the development of Utena became easier to conceptualize.

How did you manage to form your work team, Be-Papas?

Gathering the team was not a huge problem, given that most of the members of the principal staff came from Sailor Moon, notably the scenario writer and the character designer Shinya Hasegawa, who had left working on Evangelion. I also liked Chiho Saito’s drawings, which were drawn for the Utena manga. From the start, we had the four major players for this project under way, and that made things easy enough.

As indicated by the French title, Utena is a fillette “revolutionnaire” (a revolutionary girl), but what does this title mean in your opinion?

Honestly, what’s really revolutionary about here is that she isn’t aware of her surroundings or her future, when suddenly, she enters a new phase of her life. She revolutionizes herself as well as the world around her. From now on, she's going to oppose and discover the world.

For you, is Utena a film for everyone, for certain, targeted audiences?

It is a series that speaks to, as I myself wanted it to, more to teenagers than to a truly large audience. The fact that it was aired on TV made it able to reach a larger audience, but at its foundation, it is for an audience of teenagers, just like the movie.

For you, are the characters’ hair and hair colors a particular symbol?

Actually, for me, the colors, the visual, that’s something important that I try to take advantage of as much as possible. That’s why there is a multitude of hair colors in the series that may seem surreal!

If we told you you’re a director with a very feminine touch, would that flatter you?

It’s possible you’ve already said that… (laughs) But if you still feel that, that’s very much fine!

For you, are manga fantasies you like to take refuge in, or do you always keep an eye open towards the society around you?

(He thinks) (laughter) What a difficult question… (laughter) I think that it’s even harder to create a world if we aren’t already looking at the world around us, the way that you can be able to advance, to progress. I don’t think that we can work all locked up, taking refuge in an enclosed world and still advance if we don’t justly have a vision for the world surrounding us.

Would you like to work overseas or is the world of Japan enough for you?

I’m someone who likes the whole world, who would like to see the whole world. I would like to work in Europe, in France, in the US. More than being well-known, I would like to continue to create myself and learn about foreign things.





Shoujo Kakumei Utena (Revolutionary Girl Utena) is © Kunihiko Ikuhara, Chiho Saito, Shogakukan and bePapas/TV Tokyo and/or their respective copyright holders. The US release of the Revolutionary Girl Utena series and movie was © Central Park Media and now belongs to Right Stuf. The US release of the Utena manga is © VIZ. The various sources used in this site are noted where their content is presented. Don't sue us, seriously. Blood. Stone.