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【FEATURE】Japanese cultural icons front and center in Disney Pixar anime 'Wreck it Ralph'

日本のポップカルチャー満載のアニメ映画　『シュガー・ラッシュ』

By Taro Karasaki Asahi Weekly

　人気ビデオゲームの悪役がヒーローに憧れ、ゲームセンターが休止する夜中に他のゲームに「乗り移り」暴れるというディズニー・ピクサ―の最新冒険アニメ映画『シュガー・ラッシュ』（原題"Wreck it Ralph"　3月23日から３Ｄ／２ＤでTOHOシネマズ有楽座ほか全国公開）。日本のゲームキャラクターやお菓子、「原宿ファッション」が登場するなど、日本のポップカルチャーが満載だ。同作品のプロデューサーを務めたクラーク・スペンサー氏は「ビデオゲーム発祥の地である日本への敬意を表したい」と、日本の流行などを徹底的に調べたという。日本の自動車工場で働いたという異色の経験も持つスペンサーさんに話を聞いた。

　When Disney Pixar chose to create a film paying tribute to video games, it knew it had to include a Japanese element.

　To do that, the studio needed a person well versed in Japanese pop culture, and one who could get the finest details right - someone who could silence the most finicky of otaku.

　It found those qualities in Clark Spencer, a Disney veteran whose curriculum vitae includes stints launching the entertainment TV broadcaster Disney Channel in Asia and as a factory hand on an assembly line at a Japanese automaker.

　"I think we know that Japan is kind of the birthplace of video games and so we wanted to make sure that we acknowledge that in the film," Spencer told the Asahi Weekly in an interview ahead of the release of the animation comedy "Wreck it Ralph," a celebration of video game culture.

　The movie follows the adventure of Ralph, an 8-bit game villain who seeks out a better life by trying to attain recognition by sneaking into the worlds of other, more contemporary, video games at a game arcade.

　After snatching a medal in a first-person shooter game, he inadvertently steps into the world of "Sugar Rush," a racing game set in a world of sweets and candies.

　Japanese cultural icons are interspersed throughout the game, ranging from popular Japanese confections (Pocky and Kittyland biscuits) that fill the race circuit stands, to Harajuku-style, frilly skirts and rainbow colored tops worn by the game characters.

　"When we started to create the world of Sugar Rush, it just felt to us like that is a game that would have come from Japan … we wanted to have a couple of things that are iconic of Japan," Spencer said.

　The design of the circuit which serves as the main stage, was inspired by Nintendo's Mario Kart racing game. The characters living in Sugar Rush were designed to resemble anime characters.

　"And we wanted colorful sweets, like those in Japan," Spencer said.

　To get the details right, Spencer and his team went to the Little Tokyo district in Los Angeles to study the different kinds of candy sold in Japan, and to get an idea of what colors and patterns were used in their package designs.

　If there is anything that gave Spencer a keen sense for detail, it may have been the time he spent seeing how Japanese manufacturing works from the inside.

　While studying at business school, he applied through the Japan Society in New York for a four-month experience tour at an auto assembly line in Japan.

　"It was phenomenal to be able to watch how people took such pride in what they were doing," he said.

　"Even if their task was really, really small, their pride was huge because they were responsible for making a great car. That is what I took away from the experience. I really incorporate that in how I manage the team when I make these movies," he added.

　But even that kind of experience did little in terms of preparing Spencer for the biggest Japanese cultural input in the film: The female idol group AKB48 sings the ending theme for global release.

　"It is always a bit of a gamble as to whether it will all work out," Spencer said, referring to working with outside artists, particularly overseas acts, in creating original tracks.

　After explaining the basic concept of the movie and the way the game Sugar Rush worked, it was up to producer Yasushi Akimoto to come up with the score and the lyrics.

　"We were so excited when we got it (the song) back because, translated into English for us, there is a real depth to the lyrics, but there is also something very fun about it. When we heard the song, we were so proud," Spencer said.