AI OTA

Ai Ota is a leading screenwriter and novelist in Japan. Here Ai describes her writing process and discusses her TV episode Red Moon.

THE PROCESS:

Once I have decided on the concept I want to write about, I first go down deep, deep within myself to grasp the core of it. Once I have it, I begin the process of creating both the world and the characters at the same time. Neither should come first. If you create the world and then put the characters in place, they become mere puppets that serve the story.

Ai Ota is a leading screenwriter and novelist whose book The Fortress at Dawn won this year’s Haruhiko Oyabu Award

Patiently listen to the clamor of the city or the evening breeze of the town you want to portray and to the voices of the characters living there.

I take notes of all the scenes that appear in fragments in my mind, as well as the characters; mixed expressions of anger and sadness, their quiet gazes and so on. Then I paste pile of notes on the wall. The pictures hanging on the walls are also covered with notes, and my workroom becomes chaotic.

Next, staring at the wall, I remove the notes one by one that I think are unnecessary for the story. No matter how much I like the fragment. It will have another chance to reappear in another story.

I rearrange the order of the notes on the wall, add notes that I think are necessary, and gradually the outline and peak of the story comes into view. The characters begin to speak for themselves and the world of the story begins to move.

Once you have reached this point, all that remains is to sit down in front of your PC and write.

Every process is important, but especially to get the core of the concept is the most important. I consider this to be the responsibility of the scriptwriter. If you are vague here, you can’t have constructive and creative discussions when working with producers and directors.

HOW DOES THE WRITER THINK ABOUT HER OWN STORY?

Description of Red Moon, an episodes from the tokusatsu TV series Ultraseven X*:

In a city where a total lunar eclipse is just a few days away, a series of incidents occur in which young women in white dresses are stalked by an ugly monster. The heroes start investigating.

Eventually they learn that a hundred years ago, on the night of a total lunar eclipse, a young lady in a white dress was murdered. At the time, a young, beautiful man was staying at her father’s mansion. He had travelled all over the world and had a pair of mysterious binoculars called Glass Memoria. Looking through them, people could see the exotic landscapes he had visited, deserts with camels and European castles and so on.

Ai Ota is a leading screenwriter and novelist whose book The Fortress at Dawn won this year’s Haruhiko Oyabu Award

The young man and the lady fell in love. However, he had one weakness, a deathly fear of water. This is a story telling concept called “the one forbidden thing”: .

Though the young lady loved him, she was also anxious. Because he was not from the society she grew up in, but from the outside world. She was so anxious that she couldn’t help but test his love. And on the night of the lunar eclipse a hundred years ago, she said to him “if you really love me, please bring that flower for me”. It was a water lily flower in the water. The young man wanted to believe that his love would change his fate. Then he went into the water. The moment he broke the ‘one forbidden thing’, he transformed into a monster and in that instant he lost himself in the shock, he killed her by his side. In his monstrous form, he fled into the city’s underground and fell into a long sleep.

Eventually, the first total lunar eclipse in a hundred years approaches and he wakes up. Now he does not know that a hundred years have passed, nor does he remember that he has killed the lady he loves. He longs to see her, so he is searching for the woman in the white dress.
Now, as viewers, our hatred and abhorrence are replaced by pity for this young man. By the end of the story, he realizes the truth and begs the heroes to kill him and put him out of his misery. Through this episode, we realize several things about ourselves.

It is not so easy for us to trust and accept someone from an outside society. Anxiety sometimes makes us demand that they should prove their loyalty or love, which can have cruel consequences. Also, we realize our reflexive dislike at the beginning of the incident was misplaced. We were too quick to judge. Hate can turn into compassion when the truth is known. In other words, the story is not about defeating the enemy and achieving a righteous victory, it’s about understanding the enemy and by extension understanding our contradictions and ephemeral nature of our own existence.

[*Note: Tokusatsu stories offer popular hero vs villain action entertainment, but Ai Ota’s story elevates the genre, creating a piece that is touching and thought-provoking while remaining within the genre.]

TUNING INTO WRITERS IN OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD

In recent years we have seen a lot of films from outside our own country on Netflix and Amazon Prime, which I think is a positive change for both the viewers and the creators.

Films naturally reflect the culture of the country in which they are made. We can experience stories through shared emotions and learn from them.

From a creator’s point of view, knowing different ways of feeling and thinking gives us new clues to think about real-world issues. And I think it broadens and enriches the stories we create.

WHY I WRITE

I am a Japanese woman, but before that, I am a human being. Human beings are complex creatures, encompassing love, empathy, hatred, courage, loneliness, and a wide range of emotions. And who hasn’t thought about their own death, even if it is far in the future? Human emotions know no borders. Life is just a few decades, but there is so much worth writing.