Q&A With Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko’s Ayumu Watanabe

Across the past thirty-six years, Ayumu Watanabe has helped craft a multitude of animated series and feature films. When working for Shin-Ei Animation during the eighties, he earned recognition for his his work as an assistant director for a multitude of Doraemon films and shorts. By the early 2000’s, Watanabe had become a lead director, helming works such as Doraemon: Nobita and the Green Giant Legend before branching out on his own. Autonomy has been a blessing for Watanabe, with well-received works such as Space Brothers #0, If Her Flag Breaks, Ace Attorney, and Children of the Sea delighting audiences across the globe. In anticipation of the North American release of Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko on July 19th, 2022, we spoke to the gifted director. 

Tech-Gaming: While there’s an obligation to stay true to Kanako Nishi’s source material, adaptations inherently highlight and underscore different elements of a written story. What elements were emphasized for your film?

Ayumu Watanabe: While the bond between parent and child was highlighted, the hope that is learned from realizing the important things in life was also emphasized.

T-G: Nikuko flirts with being a tragic figure in the film through much of the film. Many filmmakers might not be willing to take that chance, opting for tidy depictions of parenting that convey sugary fantasy. What drew you to a work that offers a more muddled depiction of motherhood?

AW: Nikuko doesn’t think that people have bad in them. Therefore she doesn’t care if she is laughed at by someone. She feels so much joy just to be alive that she doesn’t think she is unhappy. I wanted to carefully portray this, and so a realistic depiction of motherhood was necessary.

T-G: While Kikuko is drawn in a more traditional animation style, Nikuko is rendered rather cartoonishly. What was the impetus behind that decision?

AW: I wanted to depict her dynamism and larger-than-life personality with a bit of dissonance in how she is shown. I also wanted to again consider the freedom of drawing, so that is why I put different styles of animated characters together. Please enjoy the screen overflowing with variety.

T-G: Auteur theory believes that a director’s works reflect their own personal, creative vision. Are there any kind of recurring motifs or perspectives that appear in your films?

AW: First, I like the moments when young children have experiences that open up important new doors in growing up. I’m always chasing after characters that get excited or are humbled by the big possibilities of the future. Second is depicting food and eating. I think that drawing scenes of cooking and eating allows the audience to have a deeper understanding of the characters’ everyday lives, personalities and emotional states. Especially this time with Nikuko, I included a little hint about relationships.

T-G: Your last film, Children of the Sea, depicted a tense relationship between a protagonist and her mother, as well as conflict between Ruka and members of her club. Is this merely coincidence?

AW: Parts of this were included in the original stories [that the movies are based on] and can be said to be coincidental. However, unstable relationships kids have with family and society while growing up is always a theme that should be pursued, and so in that sense I purposefully depicted that in both movies.

T-G: While watching Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko, I witnessed a rather realistic depiction of conflicts, without the archetypal villain or epic event. Is this a preferred approach to storytelling?

AW: I chose not to demand a “conclusion” for this particular film. I chose to do this because the lives of the parent and the child go on after this story ends, as Kikuko continues to grow up. This future is made up of little things in her everyday life. By fixating on those things, Nikuko, whose character is heavily stylized, begins to carry some realism. Of course, I hint at a conclusion at the beginning of the film, like with the detective, but that’s not what’s driving the story. I wanted a more rich and large-scale ending. I think there’s a difference between something easy-to-understand and something that will get a message across. Please find the little clues hiding in each scene! If the audience prays for Kikuko’s bright future at the end of the story, I call this movie a success.

T-G: For Lady Nikuko, you teamed up with Kimura Shinji again, and the results have been some truly gorgeous background art that provides a rich context. Can you provide some insight into the collaborative process?

AW: With the last film, Children of the Sea, there were great results and I think we built a great relationship. Working together again with Kimura-san had a great influence on the integrity of this film. Kimura-san deeply understands the characters and has great decision making based on understanding the intention of the producers. His playful compositions and colors were integral in depicting Nikuko’s world. It could be said that not much communication is necessary for us while working together; we share the same intentions for the film completely. That’s why I tried to leave blank spaces for him to have freedom in his creativity, along with the compositions I had in mind. By setting his imagination free while making this film, I think he was able to stand in Nikuko’s shoes. I would really love the audience to enjoy his exquisite work.

T-G: While audiences are able to enjoy the results of your work, they’re rarely given insights into the difficulties associated with film production. Can you share any obstacles you experienced with the creation of Lady Nikuko?

AW: As you already know, when it comes to animation films, drawing the pictures is the toughest part… Especially, in order to match the pictures to the voices, we end up changing the structure of the storytelling. This heavily weighed on the film but especially in the monologue scene in the hospital, it made it into something wonderful. That scene became a beautiful collaboration between the voices and the pictures.

T-G: Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko has things to say about love, belonging, and the difficulty of finding one’s place in the world. What else do you hope viewers take away from the film?

AW: “Simply being alive is pure gain”? Nikuko is so happy just being alive in this world and she appreciates it every day. There also is another way of thinking: “We are all born naked, so if you are covered with a cloth when you die, you’ve won”. It would be a great honor for me if the audience receives hints at how important it is to be a big-hearted person, and how to be one.

T-G: What would the fortune teller say about Nikuko’s past life?

AW: That’s a great question. Nikuko’s past life was as a Kewpie, I heard.