Forum - View topicHideaki Anno: A Career Retrospective
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Lord Geo
Posts: 2544 Location: North Brunswick, New Jersey |
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While I didn't watch the video version, I did read the text version, and all I can say "Bravo" to managing to condense Anno's history into something as concise as it wound up being. The sheer size is still wound up being is just testament to how big of a name Hideaki Anno is for anime.
I wonder if one of the uncredited assistants was Kazuhiko Shimamoto, the mangaka behind Blazing Transfer Student & Blue Blazes, as he was also one of Anno's Osaka University friends. |
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Swissman
Posts: 768 Location: Switzerland |
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Daicon III was also an homage to cult manga author Azuma Hideo. You can tell by the girl's character design and a cameo appearance of two odly looking guys (giving the girl a cup of water) that Anno and his pals were fans of Azuma Hideo.
I wrote a master thesis on Murakami's novel and Anno's adaption of Love & Pop. I'd be curious to know what led you to conclude his representation of enjo kôsai as overdramatic and over embellished. Not that I disagree... |
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Sarcataclysmal
Posts: 58 |
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To Mr. Matthew Roe, and the rest of ANN, please stop telling people Hideaki Anno left the production of Kare Kano entirely, because he didn't. He left production for one episode, and then returned immediately afterwards.
Hiroki Sato came on board to help with the directing, yes, but that doesn't mean Anno left and made Sato finish the series for him. He didn't. Yes, Anno changed his credited name from Kanji to Katakana at episode 16, but it's still Anno. Hiroyuki Yamaga said the series had a creative interest problem in regards to the author and the studio's views not matching, and that they had made the author mad with them. So that's a possibility. Another possibilitiy comes from an anonymous(?) ex-Gainax staffer saying Anno was just a bit irritated with the television restrictions put in place by TV Tokyo after the seizure incident that happened with Pokemon. Another possibility comes from JP Wiki, which says that Anno put too much pressure on the staff and the schedule with his methods (according to the Blu-Ray release of the series), and his process didn't sit well with TV Tokyo. So this is the most likely reason. Regardless of the reason, however, there is no evidence to support the idea that Anno left the series' production and left it incomplete to the point that Hiroki Sato had to finish it, because Sato didn't finish it-- Sato came to assist Anno in finishing it. |
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Greboruri
Posts: 374 Location: QBN, NSW, Australia |
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Holy hell, this is just untrue. No one bootlegged the Daicon IV opening animation on to laserdisc. General Products released the two Daicon opening animations onto laserdisc themselves in 1988 with their tokusatsu short film Eight-Headed Giant Serpent's Counterattack on the other side of the disc. This was released as a "promotion only" item that came with an artbook in an attempt to avoid any copyright problems. General Products also released the Daicon opening animations on VHS and Beta tapes numerous times in the 1980's. |
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Zhou-BR
Posts: 1422 |
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In the booklet that's included in the Japanese BD release, there are many interviews that shed some light on Kare Kano's behind-the-scenes troubles, and the show's Japanese Wikipedia page cites them as sources. Apparently, the problems started when TV Tokyo rejected Anno's cut of episode 14, which was a recap and completely devoid of dialogue. Producers Toshimichi Ohtsuki and Yuji Matsukura had to assemble a different cut for the broadcast (which is the one present in RightStuf's DVD release) that features spoken dialogue, and they also had to handle the recap portion of episode 15. The Japanese home video release of the show features different versions of episodes 14 and 15 that are dialogue-free in the recap portions like Anno originally intended, but they were assembled by Masahiko Ohtsuka and Ken Ando, and Anno's own cut of episode 14 is apparently lost for good. It was after this whole situation that Anno started spelling his name differently in the opening credits and sharing the directing credit with Hiroki Sato, but he reportedly kept showing up every day to do checks and issue instructions, and by the end he played a more active role supervising episode 26 due to its tight schedule, which I guess explains while he was credited for its storyboard, with his name properly spelled in kanji and everything. |
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ANN_Lynzee
ANN Executive Editor
 Posts: 2939 Location: Email for assistance only |
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The following update was added to the article:
It has been brought to our attention that some details presented in this documentary have come under dispute, and we wanted to apologize and clear up any misconceptions that may have arisen as a result. Regarding Anno's involvement in the anime adaptation of Kare Kano (His & Her Circumstances), there has long existed considerable dispute as to whether he actually left the series early, or that he was still involved through the final episode. This debate has been largely centered on the differences in which Anno is credited in the final episodes, and that he shares director credits with Hiroki Sato. In the 2019 Blu-ray re-release of Kare Kano, the series included new interviews with Anno and Sato which set the record straight. Due to conflicts with TV Tokyo, Anno left the production halfway through Episode 14, to protect the creative freedom of the staff and to not bog down the already tight schedule, but returned to directorial duties shortly thereafter, and did not actually leave the series up to Sato to finish. So, while the experience did still put off Anno from helming another anime series after its completion, and the series was still constantly at odds with internal studio struggles at Gainax, as well as external struggles with TV Tokyo and Kare Kano creator Masami Tsuda, it is incorrect to say that Sato was solely responsible for the conclusion of the anime, or that Anno "abandoned" the series. Anno remained the series director for all 26 episodes. The second detail which has been disputed is the assertion that the Daicon IV opening animation was bootlegged to LaserDisc by fans due to the copyright infringement brought about by Daicon Film using unlicensed music. This information was taken from the Polygon article "Neverending Evangelion" by Aaron Stewart-Ahn, in which he writes in relation to the opening in question, "The animation became an artifact of legend, traded among anime fans and even — despite the non-legal, trademark-infringing status — getting pressed to bootleg LaserDisc." This repurposed information was cited somewhat incorrectly, as its original reference was to the greater bootlegging phenomena surrounding Gainax's early works (most specifically Neon Genesis Evangelion), of which the Diacon openings were seemingly also involved. While there exists bootlegged LaserDisc copies of the Daicon openings shared among fans, with numerous threads online discussing how certain individuals attained their version of the Daicon openings, it is incorrect to say that the majority of copies at the time of its release were these illegal bootlegs. The character goods brand known as General Products, founded by Gainax co-founder Toshio Okada and other "veterans of the 20th Japan Sci-Fi Convention," started releasing Betamax and VHS releases of these openings released throughout the 1980s (the actions of which were referenced in the documentary when talking about the Daicon III opening, but unfortunately the brand was not directly named). So, while it is accurate that LaserDisc bootlegs of the Daicon openings do in fact exist, it is incorrect to claim that before General Products started selling official copies this was the method by which fans owned copies, as General Products itself was based on "the success of the Daicon III dealer’s room," where Anno and the others directly sold copies of the work. Thank you for your diligence in bringing these issues to light, and while we understand that mistakes happen, we are committed to providing accurate information in all of our content. |
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dm
 Subscriber Posts: 1354 |
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Wow. This was a great overview of Anno's work and career --- one that was improved by the resulting commentary, and ANN's reaction to it.
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Greboruri
Posts: 374 Location: QBN, NSW, Australia |
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Good that the original was corrected, but I am continually utterly baffled by the usage of the term "bootleg" in this case. The fact that Gainax/Daicon Film's merchandise arm, General Products, pressed up and released the laserdisc themselves, it's odd to classify that product as a bootleg, even if the usage of the characters and music used within the opening animations were themselves unauthorised. So here is the laserdisc's listing on Discogs. Here is Lawrence Eng's scans and info about the laserdisc, plus images and info on the betamax tape. And finally, here is a full page General Products advertisement from a mid 1988 issue of Comic box which clearly lists the price and contents of the laserdisc (see top right box on the page). Actual bootleg laserdiscs were few and far in-between. The manufacture cost to profit ratio wasn't great to begin with. Glass masters for laserdiscs cost in the order of $7,000. It would also not make any sense for fans to actively bootleg the films on to laserdisc as General Products had already released copies |
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ANN_Lynzee
ANN Executive Editor
Posts: 2939 Location: Email for assistance only |
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It's been explained sufficiently. Please move on.
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hugjior
Posts: 1 |
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Hideaki Anno had indeed a great career. And it's true that he has left the production for only 1 episode! |
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