INDEX
“My Life didn’t Start until I was 25 or 26 Years Old
-In terms of “authorship,” I think the novels and manga you brought today have probably had a greater influence on you than music, so I would like to ask you to introduce one book at a time. First, “Honey and Clover” by Chika Umino.
Sawada: I think it is the same with Chika Umino’s works in general, but just using the manga format, I have the feeling that I am in touch with her ideas and what she considers to be a beautiful way of life, and I think this is especially evident in “Honey and Clover”.
If you look at “Honey and Clover” as a whole, you might think it is a love story set in an art school, but there is also a story about creative theory in the middle of it, which is also very core to the story. There is a story about a bicycle trip in the middle of the film, and it’s because he’s going through the same struggles that I am. I mentioned that I am the only one who doesn’t like music culturally, but it’s the same thing. and sets out on a journey to find out. But the answer he comes back with is “I’m fine with that. It is not that he comes back with something special. Chika Umino’s philosophy and her way of thinking about creation are included in this book, and yet the quality of the romance story is so high. …… This is a good luck charm for me.
-I’m not sure if it’s a good idea or not, but I’m sure it’s a good idea. Ekuni’s name has come up a lot in past interviews.
Sawada：Mr. Ekuni is the author I admire the most, and the first book I read was “Falling Evening. It may sound a little dangerous, but if I had been born with a female gender, I would probably read Ekuni Kaori and get helpless despair all the time.
When I look at the comments about Ekuni’s works on the Internet, I often read things like “she puts something into a universal love story,” but in my opinion, it’s more like imaginary, or “if she goes this far, it’s already the realm of drama. But Mr. Ekuni never lowers the resolution. He never writes about what he doesn’t know without knowing it, or rather, he writes as words that come from his core, so to me they seem to be his thoughts. I am aware of this when I write lyrics, but even if the lyrics are self-satisfied, I think it is important to strike despair into people’s hearts. If the intensity of the lyrics is not strong enough, it is absolutely useless, so in that sense, he is one of the writers I admire. I also love the heroine Hanako so much as a character that I put her first in my life (laughs).
(Laughs) – Another of Ekuni’s novels is “Holly Garden.
Sawada：I don’t like to use this kind of word for Ekuni’s novel, but the gimmick stuck with me so much. In the middle of the novel, there is a story about a can, which I call a “cursed can,” in which the main character stuffs pictures of her ex-boyfriends and other important people into the can and keeps them out of her reach. Actually, I do the same thing.
As in all of your novels, all of your characters are very strong. They are sometimes written as fragile, but they have a strong, unwavering character, and they flaunt that character to other people. They show that “I am just crazy about love, but the rest of me is normal. But the way he leaves his unresolved feelings behind is very easy: “I put them in a can and keep them out of reach,” and there is something human about that, or maybe it is just the naivete of people who do that. It’s a sense of balance that in the end everyone is not so different. I think it’s really wonderful.
Next is Kamenosuke Ogata’s “A Bright Night Like Castella,” his only collection of poems.
Sawada：I originally read it as a quote from one of Ekuni’s novels and thought, “What a beautiful passage. It is very difficult for me to blur my imagination and give the reader some kind of scene. I think people who can write lyrics like poems think about the lyrics one or two times more than I do. I think that if I don’t give it enough resolution, it’s just too clean. But if you reduce the resolution too much, it becomes just beautiful words, so I like people who strike a good balance between the two.
When I read the line, “The night as bright as Castella,” and it made me think of Castella in the night sky, I thought, “I’ve already been completely absorbed into your world. I learned that the power of words is most beautiful when used in this way.
-By the way, when did you first encounter “Honey and Clover” and Mr. Ekuni’s works?
Sawada：It was late. I was probably around 20 years old when I saw “Honey and Clover. Ekuni’s work was more recent, like in 2020, I think.
Until then, you were in a baseball-centered, boyish world, and then you came across these works.
Sawada: I feel like I finally found a place where I fit in. I don’t think I’ve said this in many interviews, but I didn’t really start my life until I was 25 or 26 (……), and now I don’t think I did much thinking with my head. I met a lot of people, thought about a lot of things, and when my tastes and interests became more in line with my own, I think I was able to see the outline of who I was for the first time. Until then, I was in a culture that was really the complete opposite of my own, and there is a part of me that has decided that I will never go back there.
