10/9/14 Okada and Steins;Gate Director Interview

Okada and Steins;Gate Director Interview: http://imgur.com/a/YVdGL#0

Translation --

Q: What's the story behind you becoming the scriptwriter?
A: In the beginning I was requested to by Matsukura Yuuji of JC Staff. At that time the contents of the game haven't been decided upon yet and it's supposed to move along with the anime. What convinced me was when he said that "we based a card game around the stories that you wrote". There were some initial composition ideas but they said that I'm free to write it as I liked to.

Q: Were there some demands for the script?
A: To separate this from card battles aimed at kids, I was requested to not pursue the battles in detail but to advance the through the story. Another was to include a lot of girls and with that I was in charge of the content but I was also requested to have a dark style.

Q: Since this was your first anime based on a card game, how did you feel about it?
A: I actually wanted to do a card game anime and I also like card games. When I was around 20 years old, pokemon cards just came out and I was really addicted to it. I even played against the elementary schoolers in the nearby supermarket.

Q: What did you think about the combination of the story of the girls with the card game?
A: After pokemon I dabbled in magic the gathering and at that time there were some girls who were into it too. Some were captivated by the designs and some wanted to collect them, I think that they were too far away from a girl's interests. That's why I thought that in that world it would go quite well to have girls as the main characters.

I can't do this, it takes me too long even for this small page never mind finishing the remaining 5 pages. Besides, my translation quality is very iffy.

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Q: Despite the fact that LRIGs, girls that exist inside cards, are characteristic of wixoss, what kind of work did you want to create?
A: Although I was free to write as I wished, I still wanted to stick to the original proposal's ideas. Since the idea that "wishes will be granted if you win" was in the proposal I decided to use that as it is. However, this idea is used in many other works and so I'd like it implemented in something that uses card games as a stage instead. Besides, isn't it scary to have the girls themselves turn into cards?
Although it seems that the girls are dragged into it, I want to show that ultimately the power to choose is in the girls' hands. I want to portray the dark style through things like strong malice and the horror of a splatter (movie) but I wanted them to be cornered by the feeling that "the sins and mistakes are my own fault". Above the feeling of being cornered by circumstance, I think that the moments of regret where one says "I shouldn't have done that back then" are the darkest and most painful. I don't remember clearly but in a fairy tails/folklore there is a story where an old man that's spinning thread around a spool and says "I'm getting tired so please takeover for me" and if you do takeover he'll disappear. Until the next person comes it's said that you have to keep going and I found that very scary. I thought it'd be good if I can show the pain of the chain of failed choices.

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Q: Are you saying that the greatest fear is the inability to escape from the failure you encounter on the path that you chose?
A: Yes. In addition there's also the unpleasant relay of entrusting the sin that you've escaped from on someone else. On one hand I thought it'd be better if selectors made smaller wishes. With this there can be a setup where so and so wish will get so and so punishment and it's what I based the script around. It's not on the level of "Shimura, ushiro ushiro!" (some maymay that you use with regards to characters that don't realize the danger approaching from behind http://dic.pixiv.net/a/%E5%BF%97%E6%9D%91%E5%BE%8C%E3%82%8D! ) (lol) but before they realize it they become dragged into something huge.

Q: How did you want to portray the protagonist Ruuko’s LRIG?
A: I wanted to make Tama easy to understand. Just like her name, Tama’s personality is like that of a cat. I also have a cat and although they are cute and courageous they also have teeth and sharp claws. They like following their own desires and such character won’t be cling to Ruuko too closely and so I thought of pairing them up.

Q: Does the female image of the LRIG stem from Tama?
A: No, Tama is in a special position. I wanted to show that the other LRIGs have their own way of thinking. For example, I’ve created the image that Hanayo-san matches up with Yuzuki. Hanayo (I think that's what she's referring to) has wishes fitting of a girl but she has no choice but to continue the negative cycle. Hanayo-san has told Yuzuki that “it’s fine to throw me away” because she wants to stop the cycle if it were possible but she herself has no power to. By including such weakness, she gives a more mature impression than selectors (?).