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Interview: The Cast and Crew of A Lull in the Sea


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Kougeru



Joined: 13 May 2008
Posts: 5526
PostPosted: Tue Jul 14, 2015 12:25 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
Who did Hikari end up with? Miuna or Manaka?

That's exactly as you see, shown in the final episode.


Ugh..I hate these kind of answers. A lot of people read the final episode as Manaka "winning" but I felt it was pretty clear that they decided to leave things as they were. I felt that Hikari was finally starting to look at Miuna as an option after finally realizing all the sacrifices she went through for him. So he's basically just saying "interpret it as your own". I know people will outright say I'm wrong and that it was "Clear he chose Manaka". Well, they didn't outright show or say that. If it was clear he would've just said "Manaka". Instead we get Hikari and Manaka just walking together and her confessing with him saying "I know lol".

I'm so upset with this non-answer lol. I wish for an OVA to resolve this once and for all. With Miuna winning of course because she deserves it and because Manaka was a boring person with almost no really redeeming qualities.

I'm assuming I don't need to spoiler mark that since the interview itself contains a lot of spoilers


Last edited by Kougeru on Tue Jul 14, 2015 12:40 pm; edited 1 time in total
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AsherFischell



Joined: 24 Feb 2014
Posts: 327
PostPosted: Tue Jul 14, 2015 12:38 pm Reply with quote
Four of the questions picked for HanaKana were seriously from one person? Huh.
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Zac
ANN Executive Editor


Joined: 05 Jan 2002
Posts: 7912
Location: Anime News Network Technodrome
PostPosted: Tue Jul 14, 2015 1:35 pm Reply with quote
AsherFischell wrote:
Four of the questions picked for HanaKana were seriously from one person? Huh.


I should point out that we sent many more questions than we got responses for.
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Chihocchi



Joined: 15 Jan 2015
Posts: 3
Location: Orlando, FL
PostPosted: Tue Jul 14, 2015 2:34 pm Reply with quote
Thank you, ANN (and the wonderful staff members of Nagi-Asu), for conducting this interview! It was a very interesting read.
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wastrel





PostPosted: Tue Jul 14, 2015 5:31 pm Reply with quote
Zac wrote:
AsherFischell wrote:
Four of the questions picked for HanaKana were seriously from one person? Huh.


I should point out that we sent many more questions than we got responses for.


Then I'm really surprised my admittedly very weird question got an answer. I figured I was reading way more into it than was intended. Embarassed Oh well. Thanks again for the opportunity to participate in the interview process.
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omiya



Joined: 21 Sep 2011
Posts: 1825
Location: Adelaide, South Australia
PostPosted: Tue Jul 14, 2015 7:18 pm Reply with quote
Zac wrote:

I should point out that we sent many more questions than we got responses for.


Thanks for clarifying it.

One of these days it would be good to find out how the ending theme song came about.
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-Madoka-



Joined: 09 Feb 2014
Posts: 95
Location: Nottingham, United Kingdom
PostPosted: Tue Jul 14, 2015 7:50 pm Reply with quote
Kougeru wrote:


I'm so upset with this non-answer lol. I wish for an OVA to resolve this once and for all. With Miuna winning of course because she deserves it and because Manaka was a boring person with almost no really redeeming qualities.

I'm assuming I don't need to spoiler mark that since the interview itself contains a lot of spoilers


I must agree here, whilst i wont deny i am very Miuna bias (seriously i have her as a dp/avatar on almost every site, even steam!, only reason i don't here is someone had the one i was going to use and felt i didn't wish to copy), i would love a answer!
I would love it more to tell us Miuna won, aside from her cuteness she worked hard and suffered a lot, she even waited all them years still holding feelings for Hikari.

But opinions there aside, a OVA would be nice, I can't deny i did come to the similar idea of others that it felt Manaka won, whilst i didn't dislike her i would rather confirmation on this (or better, a Miuna win). I hold issues with how series are always open, even romance ones have troubles saying Boy A loves Girl C and they live happy ever after, it's insane really, we usually get how it's going so a true end wouldn't hurt.
Anyway, yeah whilst i appreciate and found the interview answers interesting, i felt some question (especially this) wasn't really answered and was left too open.
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Kougeru



Joined: 13 May 2008
Posts: 5526
PostPosted: Tue Jul 14, 2015 10:22 pm Reply with quote
You put that much better than I did, Madoka lol. I let my love for Miuna get to me >.>. I honestly think I like BAD endings more than open endings at this point. I think in the 1000ish anime I've seen, a good like 25-30% (at least) have open endings or just non-endings (source material using is on-going and anime never gets a sequel). I would much rather have had Hikari grab her hand or something and I would've accepted it as Manaka winning. Well, AnoNatsu got an OVA many years later..so maybe this will too.

edit: I apologize if that person with the avatar is me lol. I wanted to protect her smile
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Angel M Cazares



Joined: 23 Sep 2010
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 14, 2015 11:29 pm Reply with quote
I already watched my A Lull in the Sea BD set (with the English dub), and I enjoyed it more that the first time I watched it. It is a well crafted show, and I would recommend it to anyone who has not watched it.

article wrote:
Are you surprised at the popularity of the show with the Western audience? Do you have a message or any special words to say to your Western fans?

...the fantastical setting and the portrayals of emotional transitions were created for Japanese viewers to relate to. Especially those characters who keep their true emotions within; that is, I believe, very Japanese. So the fact that this show was accepted by non-Japanese people brought me much surprise, along with an unexpected joy.

I am bothered by this response from director Shinohara. The question is about the show's positive reception in the West, but he seems to want to focus more on how the show was created with a Japanese audience in mind (as it should be done because anime is usually aimed at Japanese customers). But I interpret his tone as somewhat dissing Western fans.

Unfortunately for the producers of Nagi no Asukara, it bombed in Japan sales-wise. I am being self conceited here because I think the producers should be more thankful for the show being appreciated outside Japan. And Shinohara saying that he was surprised that the show was well received in the West suggests to me that Japanese anime producers are not very aware that their product is well liked outside their borders.
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Eri94



Joined: 14 Feb 2011
Posts: 220
PostPosted: Tue Jul 14, 2015 11:38 pm Reply with quote
angelmcazares wrote:
I already watched my A Lull in the Sea BD set (with the English dub), and I enjoyed it more that the first time I watched it. It is a well crafted show, and I would recommend it to anyone who has not watched it.

article wrote:
Are you surprised at the popularity of the show with the Western audience? Do you have a message or any special words to say to your Western fans?

...the fantastical setting and the portrayals of emotional transitions were created for Japanese viewers to relate to. Especially those characters who keep their true emotions within; that is, I believe, very Japanese. So the fact that this show was accepted by non-Japanese people brought me much surprise, along with an unexpected joy.

I am bothered by this response from director Shinohara. The question is about the show's positive reception in the West, but he seems to want to focus more on how the show was created with a Japanese audience in mind (as it should be done because anime is usually aimed at Japanese customers). But I interpret his tone as somewhat dissing Western fans.

Unfortunately for the producers of Nagi no Asukara, it bombed in Japan sales-wise. I am being self conceited here because I think the producers should be more thankful for the show being appreciated outside Japan. And Shinohara saying that he was surprised that the show was well received in the West suggests to me that Japanese anime producers are not very aware that their product is well liked outside their borders.

Now that you mention it, I kind've got that vibe from that answer as well...
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Megiddo



Joined: 24 Aug 2005
Posts: 8360
Location: IL
PostPosted: Tue Jul 14, 2015 11:46 pm Reply with quote
angelmcazares wrote:

Unfortunately for the producers of Nagi no Asukara, it bombed in Japan sales-wise.

4.2k average per volume is not a "bomb" for sales. If you want an example of a bomb for Shinohara then it's obviously Red Data Girl, which averaged 1.4k per volume, just 1/3 of NagiAsu's sales.
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ANN_Lynzee
ANN Executive Editor


Joined: 02 May 2011
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 15, 2015 12:17 am Reply with quote
angelmcazares wrote:
article wrote:
Are you surprised at the popularity of the show with the Western audience? Do you have a message or any special words to say to your Western fans?

...the fantastical setting and the portrayals of emotional transitions were created for Japanese viewers to relate to. Especially those characters who keep their true emotions within; that is, I believe, very Japanese. So the fact that this show was accepted by non-Japanese people brought me much surprise, along with an unexpected joy.

I am bothered by this response from director Shinohara. The question is about the show's positive reception in the West, but he seems to want to focus more on how the show was created with a Japanese audience in mind (as it should be done because anime is usually aimed at Japanese customers). But I interpret his tone as somewhat dissing Western fans.


It's quite possible he's referring to honne and tatamae which, while it exists to varying degrees in all cultures, a large amount of importance is placed on it in Japan. It's part of the reason getting up front answers in interviews can be difficult.

Western culture, or at the very least American culture, is seen as brash, loud, demanding, etc. It doesn't surprise me that those stereotypes would leave a director surprised that we could relate culturally to the concept he was describing.
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kotomikun



Joined: 06 May 2013
Posts: 1205
PostPosted: Wed Jul 15, 2015 12:24 am Reply with quote
Kougeru wrote:
I think in the 1000ish anime I've seen, a good like 25-30% (at least) have open endings or just non-endings (source material using is on-going and anime never gets a sequel). I would much rather have had Hikari grab her hand or something and I would've accepted it as Manaka winning.


Japan loves its ambiguous endings. And of the ones that don't have ambiguous endings... I don't think I've ever seen an anime where the primary romantic couple ended up being something unexpected. It's always the most obvious one, which makes most shipping arguments seem a bit futile to me.

Sometimes if it's a perfectly balanced love triangle (A and B like C, who is indecisive) with no one else involved, it can be sort of hard to guess. But this show started off heavily telegraphing Hikari and Manaka as the main couple, throwing in Tsumugu as an unwitting rival. That setup could only end with pairing them up, vague maybeness, or tragic permanent separation.
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-Madoka-



Joined: 09 Feb 2014
Posts: 95
Location: Nottingham, United Kingdom
PostPosted: Wed Jul 15, 2015 2:37 am Reply with quote
angelmcazares wrote:


article wrote:
Are you surprised at the popularity of the show with the Western audience? Do you have a message or any special words to say to your Western fans?

...the fantastical setting and the portrayals of emotional transitions were created for Japanese viewers to relate to. Especially those characters who keep their true emotions within; that is, I believe, very Japanese. So the fact that this show was accepted by non-Japanese people brought me much surprise, along with an unexpected joy.

I am bothered by this response from director Shinohara. The question is about the show's positive reception in the West, but he seems to want to focus more on how the show was created with a Japanese audience in mind (as it should be done because anime is usually aimed at Japanese customers). But I interpret his tone as somewhat dissing Western fans.


I didn't feel ill intention to this but i sort of know what you mean, when i saw the question i though to myself "Oh this might be interesting, how do JP see their unintended oversea audience" but what i got was a " it was made with Japan in mind", whilst i know they all are (obviously) made for Japan and i wouldn't half question that, i felt sad he really didn't answer much, sure he said it brought a surprise and unexpected joy but I would rather him focused to begin with and he thoughts about it being liked outside the local borders, more detail and he views on it.
I didn't take his reply offensive or felt a sense of mocking or hostility but I feel he dodged the bullet providing a half line answer to the actual question.
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primum_mobile



Joined: 17 Apr 2015
Posts: 4
PostPosted: Wed Jul 15, 2015 4:09 am Reply with quote
What weren't all the parings obvious in the end?

HikarixManaka but taking it slow
TsumuguxChisaki
Kaname will open a possibility with a future with Sayu
Miuna, as the show's theme says; will grow and have new feelings after her unrequited love.

post show promo material are already pairing her up with Uroko.
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