Anipages

Oh yea, meant to ask. You haven't seem Dougram have you? It seems to share a fair amount of Votoms/Takahashi staff.

Hey Ben. Long time no post, doubt you'll even see this. Heh.

Anyway I've been watching a ton of 80s stuff recently (trying to find god mars but I cant find it!) Just probed votoms, its really cool.

Anyway about Layzner japanese wiki says that TV ratings were pretty good somewhere around 10% and toys sold well. But they lost a major sponsor in Sanyo due to the fallout of an apparent scandal with their fan heaters giving of carbon monoxide poisoning (apparently 4 people died in japan). Hence they had to cut it short.

There's a great post here about Gisaburo Sugii :)

http://www.mangauk.com/?p=street-fighting-man

There's a great post here about Gisaburo Sugii :)

Hey man thx for the traslation! I love Nekojiru!
Now i got a question for you, is Yamano still alive? Do he still make works?

we should be able to appreciate what karnya others when we have ethics including film anamasi, Greetings boz...
http://www.furnituremebeljati.com

Enjoyed reading this :D What an inspiration :) Hope we get to see more of your animations Bahi.

Also, Mr. Ben, is the Anipages forum still open for other members?

the short is here, enjoy

http://rutube.ru/video/e63c268a3e3be5d7e996b4a0e7bc70b8/

@Maxworth

For pro animators, are you referring Japanese or non-Japanese animators? There are all sorts of animators out there and many of them are busy with whatever project they're working on.

I am a man of 30's but I still like Sinchan.

Fable Fantasy
http://www.fablefantasy.com

I believe Mr. Tsuguyuki Kubo was also involved with Thundercats and Silverhawks, though he didn't do the initial designing of the characters (done in the states by someone else) he drew the model-sheets in his characteristic style.

Bahi JD, is very open. He's actually one of the first pro animators i've ever come in contact with. It seems to me like most animators dont reply their emails...ever... :) I started my career in design and advertising. i know/knew nothing about animating. now very late in my 20s i want to animate. i cannot think or do anything else but watch, draw and animate. Thanks Bahi!

Nice

I would love to see this too, if it's possible.

Yes, he is extremely talented and worked on Cuts 12221-1342 and 1691-1730 of Akira according to the Akira Animation Archives page 83.

@ben_the_bear

Thank you very much for up bring the behind-the-scene story of Itano and Ishiguro.

It doesn't matter whether it's 8 years late or not. You just heard Itano's story directly from him and this is the best site that talks about art and artists behind Japanese animation in English.

Things like this aren't widely talked about in Anime fandom. Behind-the-scene stories make us appreciate anime better. We love to know more about this artists and how it affected their works and lives.

The gap between anime artists and fans is so wide in the west and there isn't much appreciation on what they do. That gap created indifference among fans. Conventions are wonderful because fans can connect with creators and narrow the gap. These people put their precious time, youth, and creativity to produce niche medium to please small number of dedicated fans. It's not right if there is no appreciation for what they do.

You can't help yourself admiring their methods because we are the ones who enjoy the fruit of their labor. Plus, their time-honored tradition of drawing thousands of pages art makes it more human and fascinating than ever.

I saw Itano at Animazement 2012. He went in place of Noburo Ishiguro who had passed away a few months earlier. He had 3 panels, 1 on Blassreiter, one on his work overall, and one with Hiroshi Nagahama in memory of Ishiguro. The last panel was pretty sad and Itano started crying at a few points.

But during his main panel in one of the ballrooms, he mentioned his work on a ton of stuff I had no idea he was involved with. He said that he gave materials to the men who would later form Gainax so they could make the Daicon IV Animation, and he revealed he animated the part with the flying swords in the Daicon IV animation. If I remember correctly he said that Daicon III was above average. He also told me he did a small amount of work on Wings of Honneamise.

He also mentioned working on Space Battleship Yamato, and told many stories about getting orders from Ishiguro. He and other young animators would make extremely detailed scenes to upstage the older animators. When they met during the production of SDF Macross, Ishiguro said that Itano was "that troublemaker on Yamato."

As for the Circus, he said he would strap about 100 fireworks to his motorcycle and light them with a Zippo and speed off before the police showed up. He said that "without the American Zippo, there would be no Itano Circus."

During the panel in remembrance of Ishiguro, he talked about visting Ishiguro in the ICU. Ishiguro asked him to bring him storyboards so he could start working on a new project called "Horanger" when he left the ICU. Horanger would be about 5 Buddhist monks that fought spirits. He didn't mention Super Sentai (or the interpreter didn't use the term) but he described it as a satire show.

He still seemed like the "Crazy Itano" I've always heard about (think Angel Cop International Jewish Conspiracy). When someone asked about Violence Jack episode 2, he claimed that he made the show better, even though there is a ton of rape in episode 2.

Sorry to post this comment about 8 years after you posted this article. It's 5 AM and I can't sleep.

Hi Ben and all readers.
I just download all RAWs of the "The Ultraman" (a 1979 tv series with animation produced by Sunrise for Tsurubaya Pro). And i discovered Ichiro Itano in episode 48. The animation is more fluid than most other episodes. Already notice quite detailed action scenes. Although not very surprised.
The last three episodes (the series has 50 eps) are some of the best animated episodes. Although Itano only works in 48. Another curiosity is that Tomino works in the last two episodes (a pseudonym).
Another personality known that caught my attention was Yuji Moriyama (Itano former partner before 1979 in St. Musashi), who was already working on this series for Keiichiro Kimura's Neomedia Pro.

Greetings!

This review is wrong about Hosoda's involvement with digimon franchise. The first movie, the one with the young hikari and taichi, was THE first animated digimon production, in 1998, and what ultimatly decided in favour of the production of the digimon adventure TV series.

It wasn't the beguinning of the franchise because of the 1997 one shot C'mon digimon, but that was also set in the real world.

Later on, he would also direct episode 21 of the tv series, in a throwback to that first movie.

I been doing my research on this anime show! i knew about this show for some time! Yes I have all of the episodes! its a very unique show! One I decided to step forward and sub it myself! Right now I'm getting all of the research done " I have the itallion dubb one..and working on a translation as accurate as I can get it! I'm only doing one episode..the first one..I'll keep you updated!1

@capnsid,

Yeah, me too I have those first designs. They are in a magazine of 1984, on a billboard. Although the play was called "Omega Zone" (not Megazone).

Here in my blog, I uploaded that page.
http://sakuga80.blogspot.com.ar/2010/10/my-anime-magazine-octubre-d-e1984.html

Macrossworld.com forum find many people know about it.


Greetings!

Awesome interview, really interesting and inspiring. Thanks for sharing a lot of insights about the industry. Keep up the amazing work!

Very very cool read. I didn't know that telecommuting as a single freelancer (and not like a studio foreign studio being hired that can take care of multiple tasks/positions) was even an option in the anime industry.

The part about Apollon was very interesting as well. I remember that scene and thinking, "wow, they're really amped about it!" It was very exciting. Interesting that Japanese viewers picked up on the subtle non-Japaneseness of it.

Thanks a lot everyone! Hope you all enjoyed the interview.

6 years late. I want to see this too haha

Hmm...regarding my last comment on Koike/redline, I recently rewatched (parts of)the film on a better screen and it actually improved my impressions considerably. So I may have to re-evaluate it...

It does bring up an issue I've become increasingly conscious of over the years: the importance of actually watching visual media in an ideal or at least best possible format. The feeling of texture, and how the eye follows, or focuses on the imagery can differ considerably.

can you review the 2010 movie? cause I found the 2010 movie you mentioned here is the spaceblazer movie, which is 2009 movie. The 2010 movie is the mermaid one(and yes, i think it's bland)
btw, have you watched the 2012 one? I think it's worse-___-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dE-M0n2vDwc

Animation by Joe Hobson

KingofallHeroes:

Watch the show Windy Tales to see how to do this thing the right way

How exactly is Wakabayashi/Matsumoto's animation wasted on a show like Naruto?

You would think that ninja's with the power to create basically anything with magic would be ideal for whatever crazy zany action an animator can make.

And Episode 30, 48, 71, 133 and 85 143 167 of Shippuden have been some of the best animated episodes I have ever watched in all of TV anime

@capnsid,

So exactly what are you looking for? Are you looking for a pilot film?

Does the magazine sized booklet gave you any clue?

Unless one of us is super hardcore Megazone 23 fan who has bought countless videos and printed publications, there is no way to know for sure.

Overall a nice movie but after reading the book, I have to say I am disappointed at some decisions.

In the book the explicit killings of the foxes are never shown, just implied. Neither is the painful moment when the vixen steps into a trap. In the book it was the male cub that was shot and the vixen that was caught in a trap. Why the need to change that in the movie? It is a children's literature adaptation after all.

Also the book's paintings are beautiful. In the movie such resemblance appears only in the initial title letters where the fox stands and stares. A pity they decided to choose the anime look instead.

the book overall is in stark contrast to the violence that is prevalent in most anime series and movies meant for younger audiences.

Anyway, thanks for recommending that movie Ben. I've seen it again recently and thought it was better than the first time. It captures the books essence, despite those decisions.

MZ 23 Part 2 is my fave of the three Megazones, though I've had a burning question for decades: in the magazine-sized booklet for the Japanese LD of Part 2, there's artwork for what I assume was a potential roughcut, with different hair color for characters (Dumpi with blue hair with a red streak through it, Yui with longer black hair, uncut, etc.), the original Eve from Part 1, Shogo clocking BD, different color schemes for scenes, and so on.

Is there a way to track down this roughcut, and the dozen or so produced eps of Part 1, which were cannibalized to make the OVA?

Haven't watched the show either, but on the overall strength of her writing so far, I never saw reason to be particulary critical of Okada. Of course Okada to me is mostly synonymous with AnoHana which is certainly one of the most passionate and well-crafted anime series in recent history. The show's youthful and sentimental ethos is, way more so than many similar attempts, well-developed and well-earned.

the most I'll say against AnoHana is that, having rewatched it recently, the first episode really isn't the strongest opener. Despite being one of the most highly worked episodes, the pacing and drawings often seem less vivid than most of the subsequent episodes.

On the topic of Takeshi Koike. I'm unsure to what extent he's the guy to bring in for efficient character-animation. He draws cool-looking characters that would look great on a t-shirt, and he's obviously got his highly worked 'sakuga' moments of characters performing extreme actions. But apart from that I thought even Redline suffered heavily from long stretches of glossy drawings with rudimentary or inert character/dramatic tension. Even if they were trying to be interesting, like the four-armed old mechanic or the yakuza boss who's always performing some bizzare action. Though I don't think the problem is his designs per se.

As mentioned, I haven't watched the show but I wonder whether calling the series an "anti-moe anime" is really any more definitive or meaningful than calling K-ON! an "anti-macho action anime" or Jin-roh an "anti-kids transforming hero anime". At any rate I'm weary of the phrase "moe". It's a by now meaningless buzzword that vaguely references dumb shows with overtly glossy girls or something. I take it this show is less dumb and the girls less overtly glossy.

in a more overall sense, I've really been enjoying Ben's coverage of the Lupin III franchise. Though what I consider definite Lupin III is mostly about the early movies and tv specials. The stylings and highly imaginative and elaborate storytelling of films like Secret of Mamo, Goodbye Lady Liberty and even the somewhat uneven(?) Gold of Babylon is really what captures my imagination. And of course, I love Cagliostro as well.

congrats again Bahi. Regarding the awkward cultural confusion at Apollon, well...we didnt say anything when Japanese animated American cartoons, so no reason to worry! In fact the cartoons got even better thanks to them

The book with the credits I was talking about is 東映動画 長編アニメ大全集 上巻. Other info came mostly from Yasuo Otsuka's books plus a few other sources.

Being 16 in America used to discourage me even with my dedication but now with the knowledge I've learned from u I kno what I'm lacking and that I'm not to young to do something for myself...dude stay awesome!!!...

Thanks for your post!

Iam a japanese animations fan and want to become an animator . I can do every thing drawing and story writing......

It is very very surprisingly for me... now i needed your help I have some fairy tale story don't know what to do... can you help me please...

That's indeed very interesting! May I ask what is the book you are refering to ? Is it where you found all the information you used for this article ?

I really like Ben's last paragraph. Granted that I haven't watched the show yet, I like the fact that Sayo Yamamoto and Mari Okada are doing something different even though they're not perfect as many people wanted them to be. Just because Mari Okada had hits on other shows, it doesn't mean that we should expect to be good at every genre.

Since we're on the subject of female creators in boys-club nature of anime production, I've noticed that western male fans tend to get overtly critical about Mari Okada. I think they expect too much from her. I wonder if they have voiced the same type of opinion on other writers who are predominantly males.

Pon Kozutsumi also directed the 2011 Animator Training Project Shirogumi.

Perhaps the best and most subtle out of the 4.

Dear Michael,
send me a line at my mail address
alexdubcheckNULLSPAMmyopera.com.
I'll answer you and I'll give you clues;
I tried to answer you here,
but something does not work

This interview made me smile so much!

I was so frustrated by this episode that I still haven't felt much like discussing it. The bulk of the show was annoying enough in the way that it constantly teased the viewer and mislead you with the plot, but the one thing that kept me going through the series was the hope that it would congeal into something more satisfying with the final episode. For it to do exactly the opposite and pull a "fooled you, that was all bullshit" ending just makes me want to forget about the whole show and move on. It had so many possibilities, and apart from a couple of good episodes (I did like #5 and #9) it rarely lived up to them.

"That did not turn out to be the case at all, either due to the much slower nature of Takeshi Koike's style or, more likely, because he simply didn't want to invest himself too much in the project for whatever reason."

Well, the bulk of his work is on the recent Lupin pachinko Lupin animation. He doesn't have much clout in Japan, though, and my guess is they only attached him to the project, to get Westerners interested in it. There's a lot of newb Lupin fans who only saw Fujiko because of Redline.

"it attempts to be artistic, but winds up being merely sophomorically artsy."

Well, I thought that was the point. That it was making fun of otaku fodder which pretentiously acts the same way.

ABCB: "The characters are utterly one-dimensional - I don't see how Pycal is any more thrilling a villain that Oscar?"

It's what he represents as a character out of Lupin's normal element.

Er, I meant #13.

"It almost comes across as an anti-moe anime,"

Been sayin' that for a while. Reply #9. http://lupinthethird.com/forums/index.php?topic=2087.0

Kraker2k -

No problem at all. I actually know about this, but I think I only saw one episode a long time ago and wasn't too impressed by it, so I was kind of wary of revisiting it today. Yeah, apparently it was one of the big Anime R projects, with all of the major members involved. I should probably give it another chance to see if there is more to appreciate than I remembered. Even apart from Anime R there are quite a few cool names - Hideki Tamura, Shoichi Masuo, Nobuyoshi Habara, Toshiyuki Inoue...