Depicting the Japanese view of Yasuke while maintaining his own identity was definitely the most challenging part of the process of making this film. Ultimately, this version of Yasuke's story, which we still don't know to be completely accurate, is only told from the Japanese perspective. I wanted to tell the story objectively based on the documents I sourced. The story takes place generations ago, in cultures that have changed significantly, so lots of research went into the culture of each time period and area. This is reflected in the materials used to animate throughout the different chapters, like ink, charcoal, or imagery from historical books created around the same time period in Japan. This is also reflected in the different music in each chapter, which harkened back to instruments used within each country in a subtle enough way to let the narration take the lead.
I was so drawn to this story because of its implication and inspiration for many other media in our time. Some obvious examples include television shows like Afro Samurai or the movie The Last Samurai. The romanticization of a foreign samurai appears throughout the world. I think it's important to know the roots of what we see today to better help us understand how these stories are crafted, and ultimately become better storytellers ourselves.
Animation is usually my go to medium for filmmaking for exactly this reason, you can express ideas in a unique visual way. A lot of the animation also helps reinforce the time period and location more than live footage might. Using traditional animation with paper and ink, the idea of a 1500's Japan can be gleaned from the style rather than the actual imagery.
For Yasuke, a few examples come to mind. Firstly, the climatic scene of a war torn Japan is told through embroidered historical imagery, within each, an animated story. This allowed me the challenge in finding creative ways to visualize each frame. The death of the lord told in this story was shown as the entire frame splitting in half, a way to show the gravity and impact of the moment. Secondly, the switch from full animation to live action footage at the end of the film helps change the tone of the story and narration, from something historical and biographical, to a story of optimism of the future.
