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Interview: Yoshiyuki Tomino [2009-10-23]


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gendo7



Joined: 15 Oct 2007
Posts: 7
Location: Vancouver, Canada
PostPosted: Fri Oct 23, 2009 7:00 pm Reply with quote
Thanks for the interview, great stuff.

Although, I don't see how Tomino can sit there and say video games are evil because they "just steal people's time". What about anime, movies, music and books. They all do the same thing. Does he think just because its a television show or a movie it can somehow convey a message better than a video game?

Also, video games can sometimes be a great thing to socialize with (Rock Band anyone). I can see his thought process I suppose, especially with games like say World of Warcraft. But I think he's generalizing a bit too much.

Take Metal Gear Solid for example, it shares a lot of the same anti-war messages that Mobile Suit Gundam does. So I think they both succeed in what they're trying to say, just in different mediums.
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penguintruth



Joined: 08 Dec 2004
Posts: 8458
Location: Penguinopolis
PostPosted: Fri Oct 23, 2009 7:09 pm Reply with quote
The Big T has sure been out in the media a lot recently.

I'm curious about how Ring of Gundam turned out. I would like to watch it some time soon.

Turn A Gundam seemed to be the last traditionally animated Gundam series. It's interesting to read how he feels about the modern way of animating.

I have to disagree with him about video games merely stealing time, but he did at least qualify it in that other interview that he himself gets involved in video games he plays.

I think that one of the things I like about Yoshiyuki Tomino is that he isn't smug. He does seem fairly humble about his accomplishments.
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Otaking09



Joined: 24 Feb 2009
Posts: 637
PostPosted: Fri Oct 23, 2009 7:11 pm Reply with quote
Tomino is the MAN!

One of my favorite anime directors.

He's an honest man, and even though he dislikes something, he can see the benefits of what it can do/or what it has achieved.

I wish that Ring of Gundam was a TV series, because it would last longer...

And, when are they gonna license Turn A Gundam?! That's one of my favorite Gundams!!! If they dub it, I want Johnny Yong Bosch to be Loran, though he might have a tough time doing the female voice... If they have to pick a female VA, they should pick Laura Bailey, she can do a man's voice (Glass Fleet), and has a quirky regular voice. Win/win!!!
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nightjuan



Joined: 22 Jan 2008
Posts: 1473
PostPosted: Fri Oct 23, 2009 8:05 pm Reply with quote
As whimsical as a few of Tomino's answers may appear to be, I think this is still a lot more interesting to read than your usual scripted exchange or the average prepared speech.

I wonder about Ring of Gundam too but without an official translation or transcript of the dialogue there's really not much to say. It's definitely unfortunate that he hasn't found someone willing to finance a full movie.

Quote:
"That's the nature of fantasy stories, because fantasy stories were originally told to give people hope. They're pure fiction, but fantasy is a way of creating a story which gives people hope even though they know it's not true. Even for people who know it's fiction and a dream, it's a story of hope."


That's certainly how most people enjoy fiction...until you run across someone who is far too cynical for his own good, which tends to turn that hope into pure nothingness. I guess you could say it's up to the creators to provide a thin veneer of credibility to their projects, which is what allows viewers to fool themselves into accepting lies as reality, but sometimes even that isn't enough to maintain the illusion of hope. Still, that was an interesting thought.
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Vekou



Joined: 07 Jul 2003
Posts: 329
PostPosted: Fri Oct 23, 2009 8:11 pm Reply with quote
I had been wondering what his thoughts of the CGI Astro Boy movie were, since he worked on the original. Can't say I'm surprised. I assume Tezuka would have a similar reaction...

Otaking09, I don't think they (Bandai Ent.) has any plans to start dubbing any of the other Gundam series. It is a shame, because Turn A Gundam is really great - a very underrated Gundam series that is often overlooked.
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rag



Joined: 13 Jun 2005
Posts: 24
Location: Portugal
PostPosted: Fri Oct 23, 2009 8:19 pm Reply with quote
I'd rather see his Ideon question more elaborated than all those other boring questions. Very Happy
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Vent



Joined: 22 Aug 2009
Posts: 316
PostPosted: Fri Oct 23, 2009 8:24 pm Reply with quote
rag wrote:
I'd rather see his Ideon question more elaborated than all those other boring questions. Very Happy


Given Tomino's general opinion of a lot of his older work I don't think any further elaboration would be needed.

The "Amuro's Memory" answer was great. I can't even count how many other directors would try to spin that or pull something out of nowhere just to avoid looking foolish.
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Otaking09



Joined: 24 Feb 2009
Posts: 637
PostPosted: Fri Oct 23, 2009 10:04 pm Reply with quote
Vekou, while the odds of Bandai licensing ANY older Gundam now is slim...

I mean if they're not even gonna release an Anime Legends of the 1st Mobile Suit Gundam, they're not gonna do Space Runaway Ideon, or any other of the other separate stories...

However, the only reason I said "License Turn A Gundam!" is because it is a tribu to his last directing for a Gundam series. (Overman King Gainer, and the movies and OVAs don't count)

And yes, Turn A Gundam was awesome... I love when series start out underdeloped in technology and progress. The characters were sweet, the Gundam was AWESOME, but I haven't seen the ending yet...

DON'T SPOIL IT!!!
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pajmo9



Joined: 24 Feb 2005
Posts: 630
PostPosted: Fri Oct 23, 2009 11:44 pm Reply with quote
Loved the interview

Its always interesting to hear what Tomino has to say.
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captainbanana



Joined: 20 Feb 2009
Posts: 191
PostPosted: Sat Oct 24, 2009 2:40 am Reply with quote
I'm a huge fan of Gundam, and of Tomino himself, but I can't say I blame investors for not jumping on the chance to fund Ring of Gundam. Compared to something like Unicorn, ROG seems to pale (I hate full CGI, so I may be biased to the point that I can't see any redeeming qualities that may exist).

Having said that, thank you for the interview. It seems like Tomino has done more interviews in the past six months than he did in the past six years.
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centzontotochtin



Joined: 03 Jun 2008
Posts: 13
PostPosted: Sat Oct 24, 2009 8:09 am Reply with quote
So true about the bad CG. Poor Tomino Very Happy
Having the honesty to admit something you were directing is a bit crap is quite impressive. It's interesting for people to know why, too.. although Im sure he pissed off his entire character animation team with some of those statements (but looking at the way those things move they deserved it Smile)

I like his theories about myths. Particularly the one about dragonslayer stories giving people the motivation to be complete bastards. In fact the whole interview was fascinating.

With things like Ring of Gundam where the CG is so detailed, I never understand why they don't just film live actors and stick them in.. they might have some personality then.

Unicorn looks like it will be great though.

He's right about computer games, but some of them are beautifully imaginative these days. And anime steals your time too.. Very Happy
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Ktimene's Lover



Joined: 23 Apr 2005
Posts: 2242
Location: Glendale, AZ (Proudly living in the desert)
PostPosted: Sat Oct 24, 2009 10:55 am Reply with quote
gendo7 quotes:
Quote:
Although, I don't see how Tomino can sit there and say video games are evil because they "just steal people's time". What about anime, movies, music and books. They all do the same thing. Does he think just because its a television show or a movie it can somehow convey a message better than a video game?

This could be construed as either hypocrisy, ignorance, or a double standard. I think he may see anime/manga/movies/music/books as wasting people's time in a different way.

Though I can see how he views 3-D Astro Boy being trash (ironically, he worked on the original 1960s anime in his early 20s), I do see it also being another thing for him to look at. That is, I saw an ANN link to an interview with Tezuka's son, Macoto. His son said that his dad for a long time wanted an American movie version of dad's most famous work.
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belvadeer





PostPosted: Sat Oct 24, 2009 11:52 am Reply with quote
Did he have to mention dragonslaying? *grumble grumble*

And he bagged on the Astro Boy movie for being CG? That's actually kind of funny, considering the fiasco with the article here Anime hyper
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Zin5ki



Joined: 06 Jan 2008
Posts: 6680
Location: London, UK
PostPosted: Sat Oct 24, 2009 3:12 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
(In English) I have one example, thinking of fantasy. British people believe the stories of dragons...

(Continuing in Japanese) That is, they believe the stories about the knight who slays the dragon. Because of that, in the colonial era, the British had the heart to go and take control of colonies on the other side of the world.

I suppose I can grant him that. St. George is the patron saint of more countries than just England however.

Quote:
In thinking about whether our current way of thinking could continue into the future, I decided to make a story that said it might not. It's a negative theme, but I wanted to see if I could make the story a little lighter by making it as a Gundam series.

This sound like it has all the makings of a classic Tomino work, save for the new approach to character animation. We'll have to wait and see the extent to which these alleged timing issues detriment the final product, if at all.
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penguintruth



Joined: 08 Dec 2004
Posts: 8458
Location: Penguinopolis
PostPosted: Sat Oct 24, 2009 5:29 pm Reply with quote
Otaking09 wrote:
mean if they're not even gonna release an Anime Legends of the 1st Mobile Suit Gundam, they're not gonna do Space Runaway Ideon, or any other of the other separate stories...


It's a shame, too. The original series DVDs have been out of print for years, and I would think they could even do a bilingual release by now. Mobile Suit Gundam is one of those classics that deserve it.

Then again, it probably wouldn't do the type of sales that would justify it.

I'm still a little miffed that Cartoon Network never gave it a full run. But I suppose I should let it go.
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