Studio Ponoc Founder Yoshiaki Nishimura Talks The Imaginary, Working With Netflix and More

Studio Ponoc is making its way to Netflix with their next major feature film release, The Imaginary, and we got to talk with the writer and producer behind it all about the new film! Studio Ponoc and Netflix have entered a new deal in which Netflix will exclusively streaming Ponoc’s future film releases, and that means fans will get to see a lot more anime film released on a worldwide scale over the next few years. This all begins with The Imaginary, which is adapting A.F. Harrold’s original novel of the same name to a huge new degree. 

Former Studio Ghibli producer Yoshiaki Nishimura went on to found Studio Ponoc in 2015, and is gearing up to enter a new era with the launch of The Imaginary. Serving as the screenwriter behind the new film as well, ComicBook got the chance to speak with Nishimura ahead of the film’s full launch with the streaming service on July 5th. It’s here we got to dig into the film’s take on imagination. 

Opening up about tackling A.F. Harrold’s original novel, the design choices behind the Imaginaries, finding the balance between its darker and more childlike elements, and the studio’s future hopes with Netflix, you can read our full interview with Studio Ponoc founder and The Imaginary producer and screenwriter Yoshiaki Nishimura below (which has been edited for clarity)! 

On Adapting A.F. Harrold’s Novel

NICK VALDEZ, COMICBOOK: The Imaginary is an adaptation of A.F. Harrold’s original novel. What drew the [Studio Ponoc] to taking this story on in the first place?

YOSHIAKI NISHIMURA: When I first found this original story, it had fun parts and scary parts. I enjoyed reading it. The part that attracted me most was I felt it was special that the main character is someone that is created by someone else’s imagination, and the world is looked through the eyes and perspective of this imagined being. I was especially drawn to the setting where he’s imagined by this girl named Amanda. But if Amanda, for whatever reason, stopped imagining about him, no one else in the world could ever see him or know his existence. I thought that was very appealing. I felt that maybe creating this piece would be something where we could really express and depict something that’s very important, but unseen.

Speaking along those lines, what’s one thing that you really felt that you absolutely needed to nail when it came to the final adaptation? What’s one thing from the novel that you really had to highlight?

To your question, my answer might be too abstract, but I could have made something that was really fantastical where children could have fun and enjoy, but I felt that there was something more important to this story than just that. Rudger, Amanda, Lizzie, whether or not that the audience can feel Amanda, Rudger, and Lizzie are really alive beings. The most important thing was not creating this fantasy like imaginary world, but being able to really depict the real lives of these human beings. And that would really help ground the story. That’s because if you are able to really depict the emotion and lives of the real people, then that would help really depict the imaginary world that actually stemmed from these real humans…the not real, reality world that created this imagination.

Finding Balance

Something that also impressed me was the balance of that real world sadness with the imagination. When it comes to the story of putting a child’s life in very real danger, how is it balancing those very real things but still allowing the movie to have its fun and have freedom that imagination? Was there trouble in balancing that darkness with that light? 

Yes, that was one thing I really paid attention to. Like you’re saying, the sad parts, happy parts, and also the scary parts, making a darkness and light, but making sure that it was balanced was one of the most difficult things that I had to resolve. It was a challenge, but it wasn’t something that was outrageously difficult. Studio Ponoc and all the creators there, we do not want to tell lies or false stories to children. We felt that we should just tell the real story to children.

As long as we really keep our eyes on telling true, real stories to children, then we can naturally resolve the balance between sadness, fear, and fun. The reason is there were things that as a child that were very sad or very scary for both you and I. I felt that if I can remember these feelings that I had as a child, and if I’m able to provide that through the story, then we would be able to take it the right direction. At that point, my conversation with my own children and also having conversations with children of Studio Ponoc staff members really helped me.

On Designing Imaginaries and Sadako Inspiration

In terms of the help from the studio as well, how free was the team to experiment in coming up with different locales and imaginary designs? We get an extended scene in space, and there are varying different imaginary characters. How free was a team to explore their own imaginations?

It was actually the opposite of freedom. The reason is, as designer, you could create various, so many different kind of creatures, but John’s imaginary is not created by us, but it’s created by John. So Julia’s imaginary, let’s say, is the same thing, so in order to create an imaginary friend, you have to really understand the person, like the child, who imagined that imaginary. For this piece, not just the script, but before even creating the script, we created 10 times more pages of background information about these children that might be the creators of imaginaries. Otherwise we would not be able to create convincing imaginaries.

On the other side of that, you have Mr. Bunting who didn’t let go of his imaginary friend. What was the design impetus or the core idea behind developing his imaginary? Because he’s not really real, but also very real…

Thank you, I really appreciate you found that. Yes, that’s where I was aiming. Bunting is real, but he’s not really real. That balance was so difficult. For the design in the original story, we had [Emily Gravett’s] amazing illustration and we used that as a reference point when we created the character. You might not be aware of this, but Mr. Bunting’s imaginary friend is Japanese horror. She reminds me of Sadako from The Ring. As a design, I think it’s very interesting. But can we really justify the reasoning of why he created a Sadako looking imaginary as his imaginary? 

That’s why we actually created the background story of why Bunting’s imaginary character ended up looking like Sadako. We made a story to back up why that happened. There are no human beings that live for like 300 years. Maybe it’s like a demonalistic being, but if you were able to feel some sort of reality from that, maybe because that was based on the fact that we created this very detailed background story to him.

On Working With Netflix

Studio Ponoc and Netflix now have a deal to exclusively stream future films. What kinds of stories are you hoping to deliver to the wider Netflix audience?

First of all, I have to tell you about this. I used to be with Studio Ghibli. What we really focus on, even when I was in Studio Ghibli and my current Studio, Ponoc, we focus on creating works that are loved by children. We have one policy for this. We have a strong belief that something that we created for children that’s enjoyed by children can also be enjoyed by grownups. [Isao] Takahata, me, we all shared this idea. But in Japan now, the children’s population is decreasing so we are not really creating stories that’s targeting mainstream anymore. Many animation studios are now focusing on the grownups as the mainstream target. But the collaboration and partnership with Netflix…I have this joy where, through Netflix, we could deliver our stories to children around the world with having their language [available]. 

We don’t distinguish between Japanese children and the other children. We want all children around the world to see this. It’s so exciting for me that by getting the assistance from Netflix, that it’s possible for us to deliver our stories to children all over the world. At the same time, simultaneously, it’s not like one after another. Because it’s my personal impression, but if I was a child and I saw this on SNS, but it’s like if I didn’t get it at the same time, I go, “Why it’s out there and why can’t I see it?” Now through Netflix, if you find it, then you can see it without waiting.

The Imaginary streams with Netflix worldwide on July 5th.