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INTEREST: Gundam Creator Yoshiyuki Tomino Elaborates on His Criticisms of Makoto Shinkai's Weatherin

Considering the absurdity for which Tomino is often known for, his thoughts here come across as surprisingly lucid and articulate. I suspect he heard the backlash against his initial comments and actually gave some thought in wording his opinions more carefully this time around.

fathomlessblue wrote:

Considering the absurdity for which Tomino is often known for, his thoughts here come across as surprisingly lucid and articulate. I suspect he heard the backlash against his initial comments and actually gave some thought in wording his opinions more carefully this time around.

I doubt this. Given how the publishing process normally works, the interview itself was probably conducted weeks or even months ago. If Tomino retread similar ground it's probably because Shinkai has been on his mind in general lately.

It's also possible that he elaborated on his thoughts in the original Playboy interview as well, but that was cut in order to fit the page limit. Tomino has a reputation for having quite a lot to say.

Except Tomino here believes that it's not really possible to really change the world with said emotions and people should just muddle through their lives as best they can while doing small helpful acts. That is a defeatist attitude exactly as the interview called it.

There’s this disdain for escapism, this desire to shove people’s faces in the dirt and grime of reality and go “this is here. It’s not going away. Do something.” A more cynical person would call the approach foreboding or nihilism.

I was talking about this matter with other people and had a little realization.
When Tomino talks about "sex", and the lack of sex, are people thinking that "we" just want to sex the characters making sex on screen? Nudity and obscenity?

It's not that!
When I watched this new Shinkai's movie and give my thoughts about, I mentioned that "I had watched Penguin Highway and that was a better movie in all regards". It's funny realizing this now but Penguin Highway despite having a much younger cast... have "sex" in it's story, you know?
Even with this important element it's still considered a "family movie", so people, it's that impossible, authors can work this "tabu" in their stories if they try.

I imagine it is not necessarily the visceral ‘sex’ we want, but a crescendo, or to use a different term, orgasm, of the involved emotions. That fact remains as a consumerist culture you focus on the immediate release rather than the journey to get there.

In those cute Shoujo romances you focus on them holding hands, kissing and so on, forgetting the fact that emotional foreplay is what makes the story not the fact they do it at the end of the story.

If I'm entirely honest, I'm not sure I understand why there is this current trend in journalist interviews of asking older directors what they think of modern directors and pop culture trends.

Uhh Snow White was 13 years old my guy

That type of interview question is stirring the drama pot and it is done to get more clicks for the Japanese website. Both men may work on anime but one makes space military shows while the other makes innocent romance movies so besides animation enthusiasts they are for different audiences. Yoshiyuki Tomino has done a great deal for anime with his work on Gundam but it doesn't make any difference what he thinks about a director who makes innocent romance movies.