16 April

Unacknowledged Virtue of The Last Unicorn: 4 Storyboards and Notes on Japanese Scenario concluded

According to the synopsis account, the collision of the Red Bull against the castle wall is mentioned as causing the castle to collapse. (synopsis no. 35)

https://twitter.com/mackuro3/status/1775771807414644926

However, the text description of the original novel implies a completely different generation principle of existence/phenomenon. No direct physical contact between the unicorn and the Red Bull is described, and it is noted that the change in consciousness of the unicorn on the verge of Prince Lír’s death is directly linked to the disappearance of the Red Bull, the collapse of the castle and the release of the trapped unicorns.

The scenario translated in Japanese by Toshiro Ueno is an interesting document that allows us to examine the process of the formation of Topcraft’s anime expression concept. The difficulties and hints of the solution in visualizing the speculative ideas that were in the heart of the original author Beagle are left in the scenario.

He is standing across the passageway, not simply filling the tunnel from one BURNING wall to another, but somehow extending into and through the walls themselves. like a terrible rainbow or mirage. Yet he is no insubstantial phantom, but the Red Bull still, steaming and SNUFFLING, his jaws CHMPING over his breath, his pale horns menacing….
(storyboard no. 311) (note)

https://twitter.com/mackuro3/status/1775771807414644926

note:
The contents of the Japanese scenario are first published in this data book, Unacknowledged Virtue of The Last Unicorn, Gento-sha, (2019). As they are written in Japanese, passages from the original English scenario are cited from the notes on the storyboards. This is cited from the storyboard no. 311.


Literary expression of a script is not necessarily premised on the actual performance, but has also been flexibly adopted in the creative world as one of the unique styles of writing. In fact, there are quite a few examples of tome writing about impossible tasks that make the director cry when planning an actual performance. The scenario that Beagle was in charge of also has traces of such unbridled written expression. Rather, one is able to see some opportunities in these parts that suggest the idea of a unique visual expression for the anime adaptation. There is also a description of shadow in the scenario that was not directly mentioned in the original novel.

The huge shadow of the Red Bull falls across him as he lies there, and then passes away again, driven by the dancing, attacking hoofs of the unicorn. (storyboard no. 333)

The result of using such suggestive parts of the scenario as a clue to a rare visual expression was the achievement by Topcraft.

https://twitter.com/mackuro3/status/1775851036437328325

After the fall of King Haggard’s castle, Prince Lír is revived by the unicorn. The counter-poison ability and purification power of the unicorn, which have been passed down in romance lore, are exhibited here. Again, it is definitely told in Schmendrick’s words that the Red Bull was responsible for the destruction of the castle, in the synopsis. An alternative interpretation was made in the synopsis, and without adopting it, Topcraft followed the description of the original novel.
The storyboard shows how the castle collapsed by itself in response with the liberation of the unicorns by the attachment of the parts of the scenario.

https://twitter.com/mackuro3/status/1775851701335191990

The four men-at-arms described in the original story are also mentioned in the scenario, but they are not depicted in the finished anime. Since the scenario was created by Beagle himself, it is difficult to determine whether their dialogue here was originally written but later deleted, or was only added to another version. The parting scene in the synopsis, between Lír who is now a king and the unicorn, is not described either in the original story or in the anime.

The closing part after the release of the unicorns gives the impression of a digest of the original text. The unicorn, who has regained her original form, returns to her home forest, and Lír, who has been reborn as a hero, becomes a king, but the story ends with the hero without being able to fulfill his wishes.

https://twitter.com/mackuro3/status/1775853463676813772

The crow that persistently followed the unicorn after Mommy Fortuna’s death was her alter ego, which arose at the instance of the release of the witch’s soul. Although there was no explicit mention in the description of the scenario, this new character in the anime provides an excellent example of visual expression that attempts thematic transcriptions. In the scene where Lír and Schmendrick bid farewell, a crow is also seen perched on the tree, but there is no mention of it either in the scenario or in the storyboard. In the final scene, when everything is over and the unicorn returns to her home forest, there is the description of “Magpie” written in the storyboard. (note)

https://twitter.com/mackuro3/status/1775854951392317591/photo/1

note:
The person who pointed out the existence of this crow, which was newly introduced in anime, was Ayano Masuda, a seminar student who the author had the opportunity to deepen the understanding of the anime The Last Unicorn together with, guiding her graduation thesis. Masuda’s study of the anime The Last Unicorn is available at the following link.
“Crow in The Last Unicorn”: https://www.academia.edu/34418731/Crow_in_The_Last_Unicorn_docx


https://twitter.com/mackuro3/status/1775854951392317591/photo/1

The animated film The Last Unicorn seems to testify how a psychic phenomenon, usually referred to using the term “supernatural harmonizing,” actualizes as a series of meaning configuration, through contrasts between the original novel, the scenario and storyboards. This is a spontaneously synchronous phenomenon that occurs without intervention of communication or information transmission, which exemplifies the concept of “synchronicity” that Jung postulated as a kind of psychic law. The magic introduced in The Last Unicorn, which must be acknowledged as a fictional speculation on the function of archetype, suggests the principle mechanism hidden in the Nature that acts as the governing principle of the universe, in way similar to the second law of thermodynamics, which is said to govern the diffusion of information beyond the scope of the effects of physical thermodynamics, and the ubiquitous deviation cause of Clinamen advocated by Lucretius.

Interestingly, the princess who appeared asking for help in the epilogue of the original story is mentioned at the end of the scenario. This is the part that Beagle did not dare to cut as an additional episode that concludes the speculative theme of “story”. This passage is interesting in relation to the theme of fictionality as a description of the original text, but it was judged by Topcraft that it was not suitable as a visual expression in the perspective of anime presentation. In the end, although this part was produced as a part of the anime, it was cut when it was screened. Beagle himself was unable to cut it from the original, and the parts that were left in the scenario were eventually deleted in acceptance of Topcraft’s decision. The cels and gengas depicting the princess’s appearance have been carefully preserved by Mr. Sazen, one of the devoted appreciators of The Last Unicorn. It would be interesting to review this part of the epilogue as a reference for study, but given the cohesiveness of the anime, the decision that it should have been cut seems to be shared by the Topcraft staff. This is a particularly suggestive example of the way in which phenomenalization occurs in various separate interfaces of fictional archetypes, which is not manifested in the original novel embodied as a phenomenal existence or in the anime as its derivative creation.

https://twitter.com/mackuro3/status/1775878620592112032

https://twitter.com/mackuro3/status/1775879654152585430