“Actually, it was the first time I’d ever seen the TV series.” (Fujimori)
When you talk about post production, it might be an unfamiliar idea to the viewers but the videos that we can get hold of so cheaply now wouldn’t be possible without their steadfast contribution.
Yukita:“It’s behind the scenes work really, isn’t it. Originally when I was asked to participate in this interview I felt a little ridiculous. That is, as I’m in sales rather than a technician, when I talk about what I do it’s more enthusiastically shouting “Get to work!". To put it more precisely, my role is to continue looking after the staff suffering away in the office…it’s just that, really (laughs).”
Yukita says that but he’s in charge of sales for the company. He takes orders from packaging companies, takes care of scheduling until the final shipping phase, and decides on product flow.
Yukita:“I’m not the sort of person who got into this line of work because they particularly like anime or movies. After graduating from high school I went to study in America at a university in Connecticut, but even that was just a whim of wanting to try out studying overseas. Another Japanese student from my dorm had brought an Evangelion VHS with him. Whether in Japan or America, it seems there are students who don’t study and have lots of free time. This was around 1997 and we were so bored that one Saturday we watched the entire series in one day. Obviously, just watching it once I didn’t fully understand it. I enjoyed it though, so I watched it again the next day on Sunday (laughs). That’s how I first encountered Evangelion. Even after I came back to Japan, I didn’t really do any specialist video study, but I thought it would be a fun job so I joined a TV production company as an AD. Through dealing with so many video-related companies I came into contact with my present firm by chance. When I joined in 2001 I was put in charge of the Evangelion DVD box set all of a sudden. It was all kind of dramatic, but I’m grateful for it now (laughs).
Conversely, Fujimori is in charge of editing. He mainly handles video package editing and anime and movie editing for television broadcasts.
Fujimori:“I joined the company in 2001. Before that I went to a specialist film school, at that time the lab we used to develop the film was Sony PCL. Our company doesn’t just do post production, we also have filming teams so we cover a wide variety of work. I entered the editing department by chance. There wasn’t anyone there like me who’d studied all areas of film production and deliberately aimed for a technical career in editing. Originally I was more interested in live action films and directors, so naturally I hadn’t really watched any anime. The first Evangelion that I watched was at the movie theatre - the first Rebuild of Evangelion *movie, *Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone.”
Yukita:“If I can add something, when Fujimori took on this DVD and Blu-ray project he watched the *Evangelion *TV series for the first time.”
Fujimori:“Yes, that’s right (laughs), but I really enjoy playing around with the video and materials, so whatever the subject it’s always fun for me. This is something I discovered whilst working, but editing isn’t just being shut up in the studio silently working away - it’s teamwork. Not even just within the company, you build things by communicating with various other creators. For example with King Records or this time with Studio Khara. I think that’s the most fun part of the job.”