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Interview: Kazuhiro Furuhashi, Director of Gundam UC


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sonickid101



Joined: 24 Apr 2009
Posts: 132
PostPosted: Thu Apr 07, 2011 1:02 pm Reply with quote
I seen a few other things by Kazuhiro Furuhashi, he does good work, I hope he can be molded into a new up in commer, his direction in UC is fanaminal so far, I hope he continues to get work in anime for a long time
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bravetailor



Joined: 30 May 2009
Posts: 817
PostPosted: Thu Apr 07, 2011 2:43 pm Reply with quote
sonickid101 wrote:
I seen a few other things by Kazuhiro Furuhashi, he does good work, I hope he can be molded into a new up in commer, his direction in UC is fanaminal so far, I hope he continues to get work in anime for a long time


Up and comer? The guy has been around for decades. He directed the Rurouni Kenshin anime series, for cryin' out loud.
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reanimator





PostPosted: Thu Apr 07, 2011 2:54 pm Reply with quote
bravetailor wrote:
sonickid101 wrote:
I seen a few other things by Kazuhiro Furuhashi, he does good work, I hope he can be molded into a new up in commer, his direction in UC is fanaminal so far, I hope he continues to get work in anime for a long time


Up and comer? The guy has been around for decades. He directed the Rurouni Kenshin anime series, for cryin' out loud.


You're right. Someone's not checking the encyclopedia. His career is 30 years old.
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Psycho_Despair



Joined: 17 Nov 2009
Posts: 376
Location: East of Eden
PostPosted: Thu Apr 07, 2011 8:21 pm Reply with quote
reanimator wrote:
bravetailor wrote:
sonickid101 wrote:
I seen a few other things by Kazuhiro Furuhashi, he does good work, I hope he can be molded into a new up in commer, his direction in UC is fanaminal so far, I hope he continues to get work in anime for a long time


Up and comer? The guy has been around for decades. He directed the Rurouni Kenshin anime series, for cryin' out loud.


You're right. Someone's not checking the encyclopedia. His career is 30 years old.


Poor guy, he must have misread his name and mistaken him for an other guy. lol
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ittoujuu



Joined: 25 Sep 2009
Posts: 164
Location: SoCal
PostPosted: Thu Apr 07, 2011 9:06 pm Reply with quote
Thanks for the interview! I haven't seen Gundam Unicorn yet - I'm waiting until it's all out, because if it was really captivating, then having to last months until the next volume would be painful - but when it's all out on blu-ray, I'll definitely give it a whirl.

I never put two and two together that Gundam Unicorn's director was the same guy who worked on the Rurouni Kenshin series and Le Chevalier D'Eon. I enjoyed both of those a lot, so that boosts my outlook for this series.
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The Nagabuchi



Joined: 18 Apr 2007
Posts: 103
PostPosted: Thu Apr 07, 2011 9:41 pm Reply with quote
ittoujuu wrote:
Thanks for the interview! I haven't seen Gundam Unicorn yet - I'm waiting until it's all out, because if it was really captivating, then having to last months until the next volume would be painful - but when it's all out on blu-ray, I'll definitely give it a whirl.


The wait is part of the overall experience for me. Personally I love the anticipation and rewatch the previous episodes right before each new one comes out and try to catch the special cinema screenings when I can. I notice new details each time I watch it Smile
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Nayu



Joined: 23 Dec 2010
Posts: 676
PostPosted: Thu Apr 07, 2011 9:47 pm Reply with quote
sonickid101 wrote:
I seen a few other things by Kazuhiro Furuhashi, he does good work, I hope he can be molded into a new up in commer, his direction in UC is fanaminal so far, I hope he continues to get work in anime for a long time


I haven't seen a language tortured this badly in a long time. Can I get a translation?
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nightjuan



Joined: 22 Jan 2008
Posts: 1473
PostPosted: Thu Apr 07, 2011 11:31 pm Reply with quote
Short but insightful is how I'd describe this brief exchange. For instance, it's interesting to know that Furuhashi was familiar with the original Gundam series, even if he's been more of a casual viewer after that point.

There is an implication that the fourth episode might have some changes from the novels, though I'm not in any position to speculate about whatever this may or may not actually mean.
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Echo_City



Joined: 03 Apr 2011
Posts: 1236
PostPosted: Fri Apr 08, 2011 12:02 am Reply with quote
Quote:
I haven't seen Gundam Unicorn yet - I'm waiting until it's all out

Do all the characters have emotional breakdowns and fall to lows, with the best characters falling the farthest? Does the plot start off with potential but then loose itself? (The Shelf Life reviews make it sound as though it does). This is my main issue with Gundam as I've seen most of the series, and they all do this. I'm still getting over how they ravaged what could have been a good show with Gundam 00.
Quote:
Gundam Unicorn's director was the same guy who worked on the Rurouni Kenshin series and Le Chevalier D'Eon.

My above complaint happened in D'Eon as well. That show died after the Russian arc. It did have a great dub though, which helped keep it from falling too far, IMO.
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Charred Knight



Joined: 29 Sep 2008
Posts: 3085
PostPosted: Fri Apr 08, 2011 12:12 am Reply with quote
Echo_City wrote:
Quote:
I haven't seen Gundam Unicorn yet - I'm waiting until it's all out

Do all the characters have emotional breakdowns and fall to lows, with the best characters falling the farthest? Does the plot start off with potential but then loose itself? (The Shelf Life reviews make it sound as though it does). This is my main issue with Gundam as I've seen most of the series, and they all do this. I'm still getting over how they ravaged what could have been a good show with Gundam 00.


This is more a problem that has happened with Sunrise as a whole over the past 8 years. The series starts out fantastic attracting all kinds of attention. Over the course of the second half the series loses what made it special in the first place (several Hime go insane, Shinn is replaced with Kira, Lelouch's plans get ridiculous, the moral ambiguity in Gundam 00 is removed)

My-Otome is the only Sunrise series in the last 8 years which had a better second half.
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nightjuan



Joined: 22 Jan 2008
Posts: 1473
PostPosted: Fri Apr 08, 2011 12:46 am Reply with quote
Echo_City wrote:
Does the plot start off with potential but then loose itself? (The Shelf Life reviews make it sound as though it does).


This probably isn't the best place to debate the content of Shelf Life reviews, but rather than the plot "losing" itself, so far I'd say that was a matter of Erin having a different set of expectations when it came to episode 3 of Gundam Unicorn. Even then, however, she still liked the characters despite finding a couple of the topics being discussed to be underwhelming. Thus, at the very least, I would advise anyone interested in the subject to check the show out for themselves and reach their own conclusions.

It's definitely early to make any general judgments about the entire project, however, since the story has barely reached the halfway point and, unlike most of the other Gundam series, this is an adaptation as opposed to an original production. Incidentally, I appreciate the fact that the director has been straightforward about this in the most recent interview.

Charred Knight wrote:

My-Otome is the only Sunrise series in the last 8 years which had a better second half.


While I don't know about that one....I can only vaguely agree with the principle that Sunrise hasn't been too good at making sequels or second seasons for a while, perhaps even longer than those 8 years mentioned, but I don't think this necessarily means all those series "lost" whatever made them "special" in the first place. That's a matter of opinion and interpretation, to say nothing else, since not all viewers watched those series from the same perspective or were bothered by the same real or alleged issues.

In short, I would say they all have their respective problems but there's a lot of room for healthy debate about each of them, as opposed to throwing out the baby with the bathwater with no further considerations, other than automatically dismissing everything. In that sense, I'd also advise people to develop their own lines of thought, if at all possible, instead of doing otherwise.


Last edited by nightjuan on Fri Apr 08, 2011 12:55 am; edited 1 time in total
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Echo_City



Joined: 03 Apr 2011
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 08, 2011 12:54 am Reply with quote
Quote:

My-Otome is the only Sunrise series in the last 8 years which had a better second half.

I totally agree with that; the first half of Mai-Otome could almost be skipped and the viewer wouldn't miss anything. HiME was horrible--they removed all the drama, and Mai's descent into emo territory didn't work for me. I tried shoving some prozac into my tv, but it didn't help. Wink

There was also Haruhi, where the 2nd half repeated the same episode 8 times IIRC. That was inexcusable.

IMO Gundam 00 didn't know what it wanted to do. Once Celestial Being instated their goal of unifying the world by giving mankind a common enemy to rally together against--which I thought was a thoughtful idea--the show seemed to be clueless as to where it wanted to go, and it went downhill fast.
(BTW, is anyone else starting to feel as though America is a real-life Celestial Being?)

Though what about Planetes? I thought the second half of that was pretty good, in a rare move the show moved to realism (the terrorist incident) and characters made choices with hard consequences without the show fudging the plot to give the characters the good without the bad.

@nightjuan, I'm not going to form a definite opinion on the show until I see it. However, I'm tired of having my expectations dashed by shows that start off good, and have a great buildup, only to then jump off the metaphorical cliff and die, taking my time and hope with them. I just can't get into Unicorn due to that. I can extrapolate that it will suck (IMO) because all the others before it did, but there is still that slim chance that this will be the one gundam I think is good. I want to see how high the chance of that is before I invest time and money.
(On shelf life, while I've only read it recently, I find myself agreeing. I didn't like Phantom, and I enjoyed Golgo 13...albeit for different reasons, so I'll give that columnist some of my trust in reviews.)
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enurtsol



Joined: 01 May 2007
Posts: 14746
PostPosted: Fri Apr 08, 2011 1:26 am Reply with quote
Echo_City wrote:

IMO Gundam 00 didn't know what it wanted to do. Once Celestial Being instated their goal of unifying the world by giving mankind a common enemy to rally together against--which I thought was a thoughtful idea--the show seemed to be clueless as to where it wanted to go, and it went downhill fast.
(BTW, is anyone else starting to feel as though America is a real-life Celestial Being?)


No, no, it's been brought up before. Laughing
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nightjuan



Joined: 22 Jan 2008
Posts: 1473
PostPosted: Fri Apr 08, 2011 1:28 am Reply with quote
Echo_City wrote:

There was also Haruhi, where the 2nd half repeated the same episode 8 times IIRC. That was inexcusable.


Perhaps so, but that wouldn't be Sunrise's fault or would it? That's a KyoAni show.

Quote:
(BTW, is anyone else starting to feel as though America is a real-life Celestial Being?)


Not to get too political here, but I do believe the concept of a certain nation being called the "world's policeman" has a long and twisted history that goes above and beyond current events. In a way, however, Gundam 00's first season did try to take a page (or several) from contemporary international affairs for its own purposes.

Quote:
Though what about Planetes? I thought the second half of that was pretty good, in a rare move the show moved to realism (the terrorist incident) and characters made choices with hard consequences without the show fudging the plot to give the characters the good without the bad.


I happen to agree with you about that, for the most part, but I've known people who didn't exactly share those sentiments. For whatever it's worth, however, Planetes was a manga adaptation...albeit one that did take certain liberties, both for better and for worse. Still a great show though, at least as far as I'm concerned.

Quote:
@nightjuan, I'm not going to form a definite opinion on the show until I see it. However, I'm tired of having my expectations dashed by shows that start off good, and have a great buildup, only to then jump off the metaphorical cliff and die, taking my time and hope with them. I just can't get into Unicorn due to that. I can extrapolate that it will suck (IMO) because all the others before it did, but there is still that slim chance that this will be the one gundam I think is good. I want to see how high the chance of that is before I invest time and money.


Which is, of course, entirely within your prerogatives.

I don't know how many Gundam series you've seen, overall, but at the very least it's certainly warranted to take a break from time to time instead of trying to watch all of them, especially if they're not living up to your expectations.

Can't say I would adopt that stance as a general rule, but sometimes I've also preferred to wait until a series has been completed before actually watching any of it (the Rebuild of Evangelion movies, for example, though for entirely unrelated reasons).

All I can do is point out a couple of differences in the production process for Gundam Unicorn, which isn't identical to that of other series, and reiterate my personal satisfaction with what has happened so far. No more, no less. None of us can provide any guarantees.

Quote:

(On shelf life, while I've only read it recently, I find myself agreeing. I didn't like Phantom, and I enjoyed Golgo 13...albeit for different reasons, so I'll give that columnist some of my trust in reviews.)


That's nice to know and, rightfully so, one of the many uses for such columns. Still, it's not like she completely dismissed the show.

Curiously enough, I tend to agree with Erin more often than I've disagreed, for the record, but just find it far more interesting to discuss our greater or lesser differences of opinion rather than to simply reiterate our agreement. We're all distinct individuals, after all, and even those with similar tastes are bound to disagree sooner or later.
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Echo_City



Joined: 03 Apr 2011
Posts: 1236
PostPosted: Fri Apr 08, 2011 2:27 am Reply with quote
Quote:
Perhaps so, but that wouldn't be Sunrise's fault or would it? That's a KyoAni show.

True, but I put some blame for that on Bandai, & the distinction between Bandai and Sunrise is rather thinly defined.

I'm aware Planetes is a manga adaptation--it's one of the unfortunately rare manga adaptations that is awesome. Regretfully I haven't read the manga. I wasn't aware that we were only talking about shows that Sunrise created the original concept for though. Sad
Quote:
I don't know how many Gundam series you've seen, overall, but at the very least it's certainly warranted to take a break from time to time instead of trying to watch all of them, especially if they're not living up to your expectations.

As far as I know, I've seen at least parts of them all, except Unicorn. I'm just not enthralled with them; like bleach I keep up with them a bit just because I feel that it's the "civic duty" of an anime fan (esp. since I do the con circuit), not because I enjoy them. But unlike the average mega-popular shounen, Gundam has the potential to be awesome. It starts to fulfill that potential, and then it makes a hard left turn. Why Bandai, Why?! Maybe I'll give the English dub a shot for UC, the only Gundam I've seen dubbed was 08MS.
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