Summers of Youth: Director Atsuko Ishizuka Says Goodbye, Don Glees!

In an era when it seems like every anime released in the West is either another chapter in a juggernaut franchise, or an adaptation of a light novel with a built-in fanbase, it's heartwarming that directors like Atsuko Ishizuka can still find space for a story truly new and earnest.

Her newest film, Goodbye, Don Glees! (available now on Blu-ray and VOD), is the story of Toto, Roma, and Drop, three misfits in a small rural Japanese town who bond and part over one summer (read our review here). Possibly best known for her work as a director of episodes of Supernatural: The Anime Series and A Place Further Than the Universe, it's Ishizuka's debut as a writer/director, a deeply personal story of adolescence and loss that doesn't look or feel like much of contemporary animation.

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Austin Chronicle Congratulations on directing your first original feature. With so many anime being spin-offs of series or adaptations of manga, what was the process for bringing this story to the screen?

Astuko Ishizuka: I’ve always thought I wanted to create an original film one day, so I was lucky to have staff in my studio who believed in my vision and shared it with me. But actually, it wasn’t really any one person’s idea exactly, and it was only a matter of time that before we knew it we had started to take on the challenge of making our very own animated film. Since it was the first time for all of us to make a film it took a lot of time and a ton of effort, especially when we went to put the story together, but it seemed that everyone believed that we could make it happen.

AC As someone who grew up on a farm, I could associate a lot with Roma's experiences, especially shoveling manure. What was the worst job or chore you had as a teenager?

AI: Actually, I really was happy to be able to be assigned to any kind of role or chore. Because I felt that they were counting on me. But just like Roma hated to be made fun of while working with a shovel in the film, I also hated to be mocked by my classmates. I really hated the times when I had to go in front of the whole class to work on a math problem that I wasn’t good at on the blackboard. I was worried that they were going to laugh at my handwriting being bad or that I would make a silly mistake that would make them laugh at me.

AC: Goodbye, Don Glees! felt very authentic to a kind of small-town life that you don't often see in anime. How important was it to you to capture that?

AI: Small-town life was an important theme for this story, and it’s the stage where the story takes place. The tiny town where Roma was born and raised was the only thing he knew; it was really the “entire world” to him. Unlike big cities where there is constant exposure to a lot of information, there was no new stimulation for them on a small farm that they inherited from their ancestors. I wanted to create a coming-of-age story about a country boy like this taking a huge leap and traveling (from Japan) to the other edge of the map.

AC: Visually, Goodbye, Don Glees! feels very distinct to a lot of contemporary anime. The waterfall, the forest, the clouds, the fireworks, they have a remarkable quality to them. What was the visual look you were going for, and were there any particular influences on the style?

AI: I wasn’t really conscious of that aspect of the visuals until my staff told me, but it sounds like people find it very realistic and “unlike” animation. I wasn’t very familiar with animation and comics back when I was in school, I was more into pencil sketches and oil paintings. The things I often watch are western TV series and movies but almost never anything in animation outside of my work. That is probably why the visuals in my head are unlike typical anime-style pictures but more like realistic 3D visions that have depth. My staff often tell me that animating these kinds of visuals is extremely difficult.

AC: One of the subtlest elements here is the way the music swells - from a single piano at the beginning to a full orchestra by the end. It really helps build the story up. How did you develop the score?

AI: I have had a lot of conversations with the composer. I asked for a song that has an Icelandic feel to it, but to create a song with an Icelandic feel that also expresses the gloom these Japanese countryside boys experience was a difficult challenge. At first, he tried an emotional approach with the cello and the violin singing together as the boys' emotions erupted. We called this approach “crying with strings”.

However, later I felt that it might water down the strength and toughness of facing the fierce wildland of Iceland so I asked him to change it. As for the soundtrack, I asked for rock-music to be mixed in and decided I’d rather not use too much of the “crying strings”. As a result, the confused hearts of the boys are described with unstable melody repetition on the piano. And then as the world gets wider for them, the sound gets thicker with additional musical instruments which become key points of the song. Before settling down with this style, we had many back-and-forths. I much appreciate the composer, Mr. Fujisawa, for always answering my requests with the biggest and best effect.

AC: In some ways, Goodbye, Don Glees! almost seems like a companion piece to Sora yori mo Tooi Basho (A Place Further Than The Universe) as a coming-of-age story that revolves around an epic journey. Did the series have any influence on the film?

AI This movie was born as the result of making my previous work, A Place Further than the Universe. We started off making that from the concept of having a group of girls go on a big adventure, but as we deepened each character, I realized that what they needed wasn’t an adventure itself but “close friends”. In a way the destination could have been anywhere, the South Pole or Tokyo, it didn’t matter much. What was most important in that work was for them to gain friendships that connect them with deeper bonds than they have with their families. That’s why this time I really wanted to focus on the big adventure and depict “the treasure you can gain by visiting the world’s edge”.

AC The story is very accurate in its depiction of the inner lives of teenage boys, and the complexities of friendships at that age. I was wondering about how you approached writing the three boys, and did you personally associate with any of them more?

AI I have two older brothers so I was always playing with boys when I was little. I think that made me familiar with boys' conversations so I could easily imagine their natural rapport without having to be intentional about it. In order to build each character I needed to get to know their feelings deeply, that’s why I completely turned into a 15-year-old boy while putting together the story. I probably even had a bad mouth during that time too. [laughs]

Of all of them Toto was the easiest character for me to comprehend, because I also am the type that always tries to bend over backwards and be an honor student. There are some differences too though. My parents rarely yelled at me about studying. In fact, they were the ones who distracted me from studying for exams in my room, calling me to watch TV together, from the family living room. And I was the one who yelled at them saying “Don’t distract me!”. [laughs]

AC: How did you spend your own summers as a teenager?

AI: Many Japanese middle schoolers and high schoolers work very seriously on their after-school sports club activities and I was one of them. All school sports teams have big tournaments and competitions in the summer and fall so all the kids who belonged to those sports clubs trained very hard with teammates who were also aiming for those competitions. I spent my summer vacations training with my teammates every day.

During high school, I sat at the riverside with my teammates and chit chatted until dark. When we got hungry we would go into an Okonomi-yaki restaurant. Being surrounded by hot teppan skillets and eating hot Okonomi-yaki while sweating together is such a nice memory. My friends from that time are still my friends today, and I think the summer memories I have with those friends have a big influence on the creation of my work.

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Goodbye, Don Glees! is available now on Blu-ray/DVD combo pack and VOD.