"Kyoufu Densetsu - Kaiki! Frankenstein" — Animage July 1981 Coverage

 

I'm genuinely embarrassed by how long this took to upload. But hey, better now than never, right?

Here's another translation of more anime magazine coverage. This time it's Toei's 80s Frankenstein TV anime, featured in a July 1981 issue of Animage.

As usual, magazine scans were provided by Mitchell (@RoarkVegeta on Twitter)—translation was done by Windii.

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Frankenstein has been getting a lot of attention for being "the first anime to have bloody scenes," but we asked the staff how the horror is portrayed throughout the entire film.

1) Directing
The realism of the direction that can be achieved because it's animated!

First, we asked director Yuugo Serikawa how he went about creating a sense of terror.

"The bloody scenes are the first of their kind in an anime, so we were not trying to draw attention to them. I thought that by making the 'bloody scenes' work well, they will create a realistic and dynamic impression, and will give rise to the expressive power unique to anime."

What is the expressive power unique to anime?

"In the case of animation, Franken is Franken himself. Not a plush or an actor in make-up who is playing the role. The real Franken is there. This is the greatest weapon in our arsenal of expression.

Also, there are some on-screen effects that are impossible in live-action, but in animation, they can be done at will."

Scenes unique to animation are likely to be seen at every turn. What about the storyline?

"The first half of the film is particularly difficult because it is a thriller... which means that it would be bad if the story is immediately obvious, but it would also be problematic if there is no scent of it at all. So this time around, I tried to create a good mood in the surrounding areas, and I tried to make Frankenstein effective... I guess you could say that this is where the struggle of directing comes in..."

This is not simply a scary film with a monster. That being said, as a supernatural anime, aren't there any highlight scenes?

"Naturally, we created a few scenes that are the climax of the film. In particular, the scene of Franken's birth is very powerful."

2) Animation

Fresh blood on visuals that feel monochrome!

In the case of animation, it is important how the characters are portrayed. The original story is a century old. It is said that Toyoo Ashida, the animation supervisor, had considerable difficulty in gathering materials to get an idea of the clothes and backgrounds. For example, he referred to old Frankenstein movies such as Bride of Frankenstein. Mr. Ashida says that he "wanted to create a different tone and tint from his previous work," and it will be interesting to see how this will be expressed in concrete terms.

First, how does he draw characters that promote fear, such as the doctor and Zuckel?

"I used solid black to represent the shadows of the characters. I used this method before for some parts of Cyborg 009, but I couldn't use it very well at that time. So this time, I used it to give a sense of reality to the characters and objects in particular."

The characters were created in a monotone tone with austere colors, and the shadows were boldly added. Franken's movements were slow and sluggish to accentuate his eerie presence, and he tried to convey his emotions with scant facial expressions, attitude, and mood.

By the way, how is Emily, a character so different from the others, portrayed?

"In contrast to the other characters, I emphasized brightness. In the scene where Emily picks roses, I used a lot of colors. But the movements are not flashy at all."

Ashida emphasizes that he wanted to create an animation with a horrifying visual structure and natural, gentle character movements. He says that he would consider it a great success if, after watching it, the viewer is left with the impression that it was in black-and-white. If vivid bloody colors appear on a black-and-white screen, the horror is sure to be doubled.

3) Music
The effect of synths with cold air crawling up the spine.

The third point, the music, is directed by Mr. Kentaro Haneda, who has been well known for his work in the past on Treasure Island and more recently on Door into Summer. While the beautiful piano melody was used to great effect in Door into Summer, how in the world is he going to create a sense of dread in Frankenstein, a film that emphasizes the bizarre?!

The sound of the bizarre might be associated with the sound of booming drums, but such a simple sound design is not likely to work if the film is set in modern Europe. So, he "wanted to use synthesizers to great effect." However, "creating a scary sound is actually not that difficult. Rather, it is more difficult to create the sound of Emily's gentleness." (Haneda) The focus is apparently on the way Emily is portrayed, both in the direction, animation, and music. Even though it is a horror film, or perhaps because it is a horror film, the way in which beautiful things are depicted is a key point.