Inter: Firstly, lets interview supervisor Yamashita. Mind telling us why are you chosen as the supervisor for the BORUTO movie?
Yama: Because no one else wants to do it. (laughs)
Kishi: That's not it. (laughs)
Yama: But it's true though, I'm not that qualified, when I got invited I originally rejected them. Besides I don't have much experience, also <NARUTO> is a popular series so I'm a bit worried. In the end however everyone pretty much convinced me, I myself too decided to take the challenge.
Inter: That time, have you thought out Kishi's plot ideas yet?
Yama: Not yet. <BORUTO>'s airing time is on August 2015, <THE LAST>'s airing time is on December 2014, there is simply no time to make the movie in between. Besides the movie also has a part that directly links from <THE LAST>, so before <THE LAST> is done, there is no way to make <BORUTO>. That is why when <THE LAST> just ended only then there is discussion about <BORUTO>.
Kishi: It is during Jump festa 2015's (20/21 December 2014) opening, that it is decided that Yamashita becomes the supervisor isn't it? I still remember it is decided there on the site.
Yama: Indeed, that day was the day <BORUTO> has it's first meeting. The content pretty much began from that time.
Kishi: Yep that's right. There's also the "After the whole year if we couldn't finish <BORUTO>'s script it'll be terrible" kind of talk too. I can still remember them. At that time after I finished watching <THE LAST>, when it just ended, I can't believe they actually used the <BORUTO>'s concept design I gave to the editor. And even put out the sentence "Airing on August". That time I suddenly panicked. Before I even get to appreciate how good <THE LAST> is, the first thing that came to me was a feeling of danger. (laughs)
Yama: I even remembered I blurted out to Kishi-sensei " Next year Summer!?" (laughs)
Kishi: Because it is decided that I must write <BORUTO>,I had to start from scratch for the characters, that's why I panicked. Also regarding the first meeting in Jump FESTA, I've already explained everything I wanted to do to the supervisor and every staff, I even said "If anyone has any interesting ideas please share it out" that kind of talk.
Yama: That day, I remembered the meetings are always held until around 2PM.
Kishi: That's because I wanted to get most of the story content and techniques settled first. During that time Boruto's disappearing rasengan is already decided, and also the last scene where Boruto and Sarada were talking on top of the Hokage mountain. Even though there are many scenarios that are undecided, the main content and overall theme must be consistent. And that main theme would be "The bond between father and son", so I used this as the main subject to explain to the staffs.
Inter: Then after that you leave it to Studio Pierrot?
Kishi: Nope, because most of the characters are basically new. I need to think of the dialogue, so how the story scenes played out they are decided from the beginning, then at the same time I thought of how to distribute the time frames ,overall the script is all written by me alone.
Inter: Even the time!?
Kishi: Yes. It's similar with an equation kind of thing. I just followed this method, and wrote the script properly. As for the fights, because I don't want to do Ninjutsu battles, so I wrote more Taijutsu instead. I've gave this suggestion before for <THE LAST>, but in <BORUTO> I felt that there needs to be even more taijutsu. Well even when I said that, I still wanted some jutsus like dogs, monkeys, chicken kind of jutsu. Then the supervisor replied me saying" Well that is a bit too...". (laughs)
Yama: Yeah that is what happened (laughs bitterly)
Kishi: So for most of the fighting parts I basically leave it all to the supervisor. Because the chuunin exams scene has already been finalised, and I pretty much finished writing the script. So my last advise to the supervisor would be this one line regarding Sasuke and Naruto's combined fighting scene, " Since this is the first time they fought together, this scene must be made to excite people no matter what".
Yama: To be honest, I have no idea what to do at the time (laughs)
Kishi: That time I felt bad for troubling you. Another thing would be the story flow, because of what I wrote, as long as everyone understands then it's fine, and then the one who arranged everything would be Kodachi. The one who thought of the disappearing rasengan is also Kodachi. When the first meeting happened I was cracking my brains on it, then he suggested "how about we make the rasengan disappear?" Even though the decision happened within a moment, to get to the final conclusion it sure took us a lot of time.
Yama: It sure did... I still remembered I've been thinking about it for day and night.
Kishi: That time the sketch book was still with me. The first time I finished the script from start to finish was great. That includes all of the dialogues that are written from the beginning till the end, that would be my first time too.
Inter: During <ROAD TO NINJA> you also did the planning, story, and also the character designs I believe?
Kishi: Even though I did quite some work on <ROAD TO NINJA>, it is not as much as this time. I did check on the entire <ROAD TO NINJA> 's storyboard, but at the time there is still the JUMP's series manucript I had to do... No matter what happens the JUMP's manuscript would be priority, so I pretty much checked <ROAD TO NINJA> until the first half then I stopped, troubling the staffs. So to avoid this situation this time, I didn't check on the storyboard. The moment I gave out the script, I leave everything else to the supervisor.
Inter: So you really didn't check on the storyboard even for a bit?
Kishi: Yes, not even a single glance. On the other hand, I've written the script with extreme detail. Because before I did all of this I've repeatedly watched all of Yamashita's part for the anime, no matter the storyboard or anything else they were all perfect. I felt that if I intervene just like that it would make things complicated, so I left everything to the supervior. I believed that if I do this it would benefit the project's completion even more.
Yama: Thank you Kishi-sensei for believing in me so much.
Kishi: Even though I heard that supervisor Yamashita doesn't like showing off, when I saw his storyboard, I felt that he is the kind of person who has a very strong sense of responsibillity in his work. If there's anything, the only thing I'm worry about would be that he is still young, there would be all kinds of pressure on him, can he handle all of this pressure? On the other hand, for all the things he’s done I never felt restless at all.
Inter: When Yamashita is supervising this project he said it is his first time, which part was the hardest for you?
Yama: This time the tight deadline makes it very tiring. Usually movie projects take up a year to be made, but this time we only had less than half a year. So I don’t really remember how I got through that period of time. Only thing I remembered was that it was really really tiring.
Kishi: Indeed that sounds tiring (laughs)
Yama: I was very busy every single day. If I had to say, the storyboarding was the most exhausting part. When the storyboarding ended, things got better afterwards.
Inter: When Yamashita is doing the storyboarding which part of the content did he do?
Yama: I guess it’s the later half of the movie. The last fight was done by someone called Matsumoto, he is a professional who’s very talented in creating battle scenes, I left that part to him. While I did the part before the fight and also after.
Kishi: This time the characters have very realistic facial expressions. There are too many scenes where their facial expressions alone makes the movie very engaging.
Yama: Regarding that, all of them are Tetsuo Nishio’s hard work. Because his skills are far greater than mine, so whatever that needs to be checked on I leave it to him. It’s just that sometimes I get confused, basically I thought “Is that really the right choice?”. It’s simply too hard to assign whichever scene to be important. Even though the script has Kishimoto’s thoughts and what he wants to express, until I actually start the project, I too have scenes I want to do. So I have to choose the right scene as the main scene, yet I can’t completely overshadow the other part at the same time. Not to mention this kind of project also involves different opinions so it gets different along the way (Not sure about this sentence), this is what I always get in trouble with.
Kishi: But Yamashita didn’t stray off the path. I am fortunate to see his scenes, no matter how he wants to do it, to say it simply, “It’s so good!”. And then I’ll feel once again that he is indeed a genius. Up till now I never felt like this before. It is this time that he managed to express pretty much everything from my script. I truly felt it from the bottom of my heart “Having grouped with a genius is unexpectedly the greatest thing!” For example, there was a scene in the script that describes the atmosphere where Boruto wants to to reunite with Naruto. Looking at Boruto putting up his forehead protector, Hinata then remembers the young Naruto. This scene wasn’t mentioned in the script, the original script only mentions Sasuke telling Boruto saying “Lets go”, that’s all. However the director says he’d like Hinata to appear. Hinata seeing Boruto putting up his forehead protector, she then felt the presence of the Naruto she likes. This string of feelings and atmosphere is indeed touching. I want to say this, the heartwarming scenes are all thought out by the supervisor and are done by his performance alone. It’s true, my satisfaction has already far exceeded 100%.
Inter: Are there other scenes that are done based on the director’s thoughts, leaving a lasting impression on you?
Kishi: There is also that scene with the huge rasengan, putting in the flashbacks was also the director’s idea. That scene really left me speechless. I’ve asked my friends who had watched the movie, which part do you like, they basically said they really love this scene, so I said “That wasn’t my idea...” (Laughs). So....if I want to say whatever the director did with these are right or wrong, I believe it is right.
Inter: The scene where Kyuubi mode and Susanoo did a fusion was very cool too.
Kishi: Oh, that is also the director’s idea.
Yama: It’s the same with the original series, rather similar with the jutsu Naruto/Sasuke used when they fought with Madara. At that time this jutsu seemed rather dark, this time it’s a must to make them seemed as if they’re comrades, so I slightly changed their appearance. The way the sword wielding KyuubiSusanoo fusion is written , that is Matsumoto’s idea.
Kishi: That scene has all the chicken/monkey jutsus too , “They actually really did it!” It sure made me very happy (laughs) . I don’t think we’ll ever see it again.
Yama: I might as well add, the chuunin exam’s second exam has it too, I guess a lot of people wouldn’t notice that...
Kishi: I did notice! There’s fire release (bird) and water release (dog), there’s also stone release (monkey) too.
Yama: I kept thinking “Everyone probably wouldn’t notice this” while I was making this movie (laughs)
Kishi: After watching this movie my biggest thoughts are, the parts not written in script were written in detail. It’s the same with the emotional scenes. The scene where Boruto took out the device off his hand also left a very deep impression. In the script I’ve written, I didn’t express that part very well. To be able to produce such quality, from the director to every single staff, I can only give all of them my greatest gratitude.
Inter: Kishi-sensei, which are the scenes that left you those deep impressions?
Kishi: Well, since I wrote the entire script myself, while the story is developing I pretty much already knew everything (Laughs). Though that said, this particular scene, which is not written in the script, did left a really deep impression on me. Among all the scenarios, if I had to choose the best impression I got from would be the forehead protector scene I guess.
Yama: I changed that part myself, I’m really sorry about that, kinda felt bad about it too...
Kishi: It’s no problem, you did a really good job! There’s also that part with Sasuke’s Shishi rendan, “inverse” shishi rendan, that idea was really good! And then there’s Jiraiya’s flashback part, all of these scenes pretty much has nothing to do with me.... But I really felt that, even though the script is essential for the movie, the process of blending the performance and the music to perfection is also very important. What makes me happy is that the script never wrote this, which is when Boruto uses rasengan, his hand turned for a little. When Naruto uses rasengan at the beginning it’s also like that, I can actually feel every staff’s effort and love for the project. When Boruto got his wrist injured and bandaged, this scene too is not written in the script.
Yama: Yep, that part is not written indeed.
Kishi: That sure is a meaningful moment, no matter the action, the performance, or the music I felt that they’re done professionally. Then there’s the part where Naruto walks into Boruto’s room, I like this kind of intriguing scene too.
Inter: To express the awkward atmosphere between the two, there is truly a feel of realism in that.
Kishi: I actually personally asked them to freeze that moment for a bit. I was hoping that this scene would share the same time frame with reality, because it’s a very important scene.
Inter: Is there any reason why Sasuke is Boruto’s teacher?
Kishi: At first I wanted to assign someone else as Boruto’s teacher. But Sasuke in <The Last> isn’t active enough (laughs). Other than that, I even want to make a movie with Sasuke as the main character. So for the Boruto movie even though Boruto is the main character, I also want Sasuke to be more active, by having Sasuke as the teacher they would always be on screen together, that is what I thought. I thought of this idea is because I like Dragon Ball, Gohan is Picollo’s disciple no? I think this kind of situation is really good. So by becoming the rival’s disciple, I felt that it’s not a bad idea. This is a scene where I looked forward to when I was young (Laughs). Even though I don’t pay much attention to Dragon Ball, if I look back, in the end it did effect my decision.
Yama: Dragon Ball is indeed a great series. (laughs)
Inter: Regarding Naruto’s impression now, up till now there seems to be some changes.
Kishi: The way I see it, Naruto being an incompetent father seems like a good idea. After all this is the first time he becomes a father. Him not getting along well with his kids, if I don’t make it relatable then there is no point in that. In the end if I let Naruto look good then he wouldn’t be able to relate with boruto. And if I wrote Boruto clashing with a cool dad, wouldn’t that be hard to relate to as well? So I didn’t plan to draw Naruto as a cool-looking hokage, rather I drew him as a bad, incompetent father. However I won’t do that from start to finish, in the end I want to show that “Even though Boruto doesn’t know much, but the young Naruto was indeed very cool!” that kind of acknowledgement.
Yama: The first half for Naruto sure feels terrible, as a Naruto fan it does hurt me a little (Laughs)
Kishi: With those dark circles and eye bags, all he did was sigh (Laughs). Though this particular point is crucial. If I don’t do this, the last scene wouldn’t be as cool. Just that, he became the hokage he always wanted, letting everyone see a bit of his cool side would’ve been better. But then, anyone becoming a father would have this kind of feeling I believe, after all there are people who said that about me too (laughs)
Inter: Lastly, is there anything you want to say to the fans who are buying this movie?
Kishi: Even though there are some comments with my work, I still think this is the perfect piece. I did said in an advertisement the last time “I couldn’t write anything better than this”, there is no lie in this sentence. I hope this work of mine would satisfy everyone. On the other hand, if there is one day I could draw something better than this, then at that mean time everyone please take care of me (laughs). At least now, this is a movie that went through all kinds of intriguing changes it became the great work of art it is now. You can also bring your friends along to watch it, if you ask them to buy the blue-ray or the DVD then I’ll be happier (Laughs)
Yama: I want this movie to be the kind where you watched it a few times and yet it still makes you happy, so I hope everyone would watch it a few more times. And also, I just learnt this during the celebration dinner, because the staffs are a playful bunch, they secretly drew Pakkun in one of the scenes.
Kishi: What!? This is the first time I heard of this....!
Yama: The starting point where “Kinshiki” “got smacked away” (laughs). So this movie has this kind of small things, you can also compare the previous dialogue and previous scenes, you can pretty much enjoy the movie and at the same time find the differences too!
Inter: Thank you!
Note that some parts may be wrong, since this is a third party trans and all 
