"First of all, there is movement and pause. The theme will come later." Special interview with animation artist Jun Wada: "New Artist Picks Jun Wada Exhibition | My Swamp"
──I heard that Mr. Wada started producing animation on his own around 2002, when he was still enrolled in university. What was the trigger?
Wada : When I was a student, I majored in art, but I was actually more interested in film. I've always loved watching comic strips and skits, and I thought it would be possible to express the tension and pauses of such comedy myself. That's how I started thinking. Also, now that I think about it, I may have had a bit of a complex that my drawings weren't as good as those around me.
――There was something you wanted to do first, and you came up with the method of animation later.
Wada : That's right. At first, I had almost no knowledge or skills about anime production. It was almost by chance that I started working on this work. One day, out of curiosity, I made a short animation, and my university professor and friends praised it. That made me very happy.
──So your motivation was simple (lol).
Wada : Yes. To put it simply, I thought, ``Maybe there's an opportunity for me to take advantage of this'' (lol). That's the case even now. Even if the venue for presenting my work changes to overseas film festivals or television, the greatest motivation is still receiving praise from people close to me or hearing them say, ``That was interesting.'' I guess the timing was good. Computers were just beginning to become popular, and an environment was being created in which beginners could take on the challenge of producing animation on their own.
──Does the fact that you were inspired by the tension and pauses in comedy have something to do with the fact that Mr. Wada is from the Kansai region?
Wada : I wonder (lol). I've come into contact with it so naturally in my daily life that I don't think I've ever been conscious of it... However, unlike live-action animation, one person can control even the smallest details if they take the time to do so, so I thought this would be a better way to express tension and pauses.
──For example, what kind of manzai or skits did you like?
Wada : I watched all kinds of movies, but I especially loved Downtown. I also vividly remember skits from variety shows such as ``Gottsuee feeling''. I think Hitoshi Matsumoto's original video work called ``HITOSI MATUMOTO VISUALBUM'' (1998-99) influenced me the most. There are three volumes in total, each containing five short stories, but all of the settings are very interesting and the visual quality is high. Above all, because he created it without worrying about the length of the broadcast, you can feel the unique "pauses" that only Matsumoto can create throughout.
