studio as well.
A "guest," you mean.
Though every studio has
a story like that.
No.
If you think a movie...
...that's going to be spoken of uncaringly
shouldn't be made at all...
...then you shouldn't speak
uncaringly of a "guest," either.
Don't disturb the deceased.
Don't meddle with the gods.
Yes, the fact that we don't know the
audience makes it possible for us...
...in movies, to speak or hide freely.
By the way, did you hear
about screenwriter Itoh?
They say it was a horrible sight.
Anything to do with this job?
Can't tell either way yet.
But why did he die the way he did?
In a movie, people tend to
want to spill their guts.
It's true that a lot of truths
are in what's spilled...
...but things that could nauseate
you are also in there.
Despite that, when the act of spilling
one's guts is often attempted...
...it's because movie-making is still
considered a special privilege.
Just as practicing magic is.
Itoh was one of those
who was caught up in such an illusion.
A screenwriter tends to fall into
a Ionely dialogue with his movie.
It causes him to isolate himself, to feel
stagnated and frustrated and eventually...
...it invites a situation where
he ends up spilling his guts out.
That's precisely why one should make
a movie by communicating with others.
"Dialogue propels a movie forward."
You haven't changed.
Director!
L-it's the color keys, Aya and Tsuya!
Their heads were stuffed into
paint bottles or something?
How did you know?
What?
I can't believe these two
would commit suicide.
But who?
What the hell for?
The screenwriter Itoh was found
as a dismembered corpse.
And now the color keys Aya and Tsuya.
Maybe there will be many more deaths.
It's possible that this only heralds
of more serious matters.
Handawara, hurry.
To Ohtsuka...
The animation director
Ohtsuka's apartment!
Hello, this is
animation director Ohtsuka.
By the time this animation is discovered,
I will probably have left this world.
Someone nailed my apartment door shut,
making it impossible for me to get out.
2 weeks have gone by.
Thinking that someone
would eventually rescue me,
...I took the situation lightly
and stayed holed up in my apartment.
How stupid of me.
By the time I ate up all my food...
...I had no strength left
to break the door open.
And, I tried to call for help...
...but the phone didn't work
since I hadn't paid the phone bill.
Most likely, I will gradually
die from exhaustion.
I guess you could call it fate.
Given the infamous name
"The Phantom Animator"...
...which I never reflected on until now,
I have spent my life in idleness.
Maybe I am being made to pay for it now.
Yet, during these last moments
of my life...
...as animation director
of the current project...
...I wish to continue making notes about
the theme given to me by Director Maruwa...
...until I run out of gas.
That's why I picked up my pencil.
To the inbetweener in charge;
My hand is shaky from malnutrition,
so the key drawings are rough.
But please frame the two
in-between into two.
To speak about a character always
involves a certain type of difficulty.
That is because,
when speaking about a character...
...one is more vulnerable, is strongly
urged by one's unconsciousness...
...and without even realizing it, is forced
to take an ideological standpoint.
As you know, the audience usually
understands the roles in the story...
...such as heroes and villains,
through cinematic figures called...
..."personas" or the instance of
"specific roles performed by actors"...
...as well as the instance of the
individuals who are identifiable...
...and have inner human rights.
However, in animation...
...actors serving as actual entities
of these "personas" do not exist.
That makes the matter even more
complex and mysterious.
As long as movements and voices
are added accordingly by voice talents...
...there are no characters
that cannot exist in animation.
Not to