FEFF 11 is the first international festival that has the honour of presenting Yatterman, the big-screen adaptation of the famous anime from the 70s, directed by Miike Takashi. “I was very pleased with the number of people who approached me expressing their love for the anime,” says Chiba Yoshinori, the producer. “We’re planning to make Italy our next priority for the marketing department, as it was the western country in which the anime aired most successfully.”

The original idea of making an adaptation of the renowned anime Yatterman was thought to be absurd and gigantically complicated. The general consensus was that it would push the production company to the limits, and “either make it or break it”. The initial response to the rumours that the film was in the works was unenthusiastic and cold, which was quite worrying. To stimulate the public’s curiosity, they stopped all apparent marketing and advertising, kept the plot under wraps and refused to release any promotional photos or interviews. It seems to have worked, because the movie grossed ¥ 3 billion and has remained on top of the charts at the box office for four weeks straight.

Miike Takashi was thought to be the only director that could handle making a movie on this scale. Chiba had already produced Miike’s Fudoh – The New Generation (1996), which they had released internationally with some success. “It’s always an incredible experience to witness Miike unleashing his imagination,” says Chiba. “He does write a script beforehand, but it’s more a formality than anything, because he always ends up developing new ideas during the shooting and bringing changes to the storyboard that are astonishing in their creativity. The final result usually turns out to be completely different from the initial draft. He’s a consummate professional, and always argues his modifications with the producers, but I have to confess there were times where I felt like I would have a stroke, going crazy with thinking ‘How are we going to pull this off?’”

They were quite lucky to cast Fukada Kyoko as Doronjo. She wasn’t familiar with the anime, but once the plot was explained to her, and at the mention of the costumes she would get to wear, she immediately got onboard, actively participating and adding her personal input in the costume department. Chiba refers to her as a “living cosplay”.

The film distances itself from the original animated series in that it tells of the budding romance between the characters of Gan and Doronjo – not the kind of theme you would expect to find in a superhero movie. “While the endless repetition of fights, wins and losses works for the short episodes of the anime, the movie needed at his heart a fulcrum, a central story to support it,” explains Chiba. “Miike suggested the love story angle to make Yatterman truly unique.”

Although this is a movie made primarily for a Japanese audience, Chiba is positive Yatterman will be very much appreciated by the Italians, and it will hopefully be just as huge a success here. Given the speed with which tickets for FEFF 11 closing night screening were sold-out, they seem to have a winner on their hands.

Giorgia Marchetta
Press Room - news production