CGI Veteran Hiroyasu Kobayashi Breaks Down How He Mech-ed the Magic Happen In Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX

At Anime Central 2025, veteran CGI designer and director Hiroyasu Kobayashi made a special guest appearance to discuss his extensive career in the anime industry. With a portfolio spanning video games, anime, and films such as Gravity Rush, Honkai Impact 3rd [Reburn:II], Shin Godzilla, Shin Kamen Rider, Shin Ultraman, Promare, and all of the Evangelion Rebuild films, Kobayashi has left a significant mark on animation. His latest work on Studio khara and Sunrise's collaboration on the latest entry in the Mobile Suit Gundam series, GQuuuuuuX, continues his tradition of implementing cutting-edge CGI with larger-than-life storytelling.

During Anime News Network's interview, Kobayashi discussed the particulars of CGI mech design in Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX, lessons he's learned from working on Evangelion, his favorite Gundam, and where he hopes the animation style can be further developed in the future.

When it comes to mech in anime, especially Gundam GQuuuuuuX and Evangelion, there's a blend of CG animation as well as 2D animation. In GQuuuuuuX's case, it mostly leans on CG animation. How did you approach blending the distinct visual styles of Mobile Suit Gundam in GQuuuuuuX?

Kobayashi: Actually, GQuuuuuuX has a mixture of hand-drawn animation and 3D animation for the Mobile Suits as well. Another thing that's really wonderful is that the people who are in charge of the animation of the mechs are extraordinarily talented. Perhaps one of the reasons why it's so hard to tell that it actually switches over from 2D to 3D so often is because they're so darn good at drawing mobile suits. Our approach to filmmaking with GQuuuuuuX's mechs isn't all that different from what we were doing in Evangelion.

Were there any specific challenges in designing the Mobile Suits for GQuuuuuuX using CGI?

Kobayashi: The CGI model director is in charge of 3D modeling the Mobile Suits based on Ikuto Yamashita's designs. But I believe, from what I've heard, that Yamashita and the person who's in charge of the 3D model building based on his designs did a lot of back and forth to try to make the details and various contradictions that exist in the original 2D to make it authentic in 3D.

Speaking of Yamashita-san, in a previous interview, the mechanical designer mentioned that the team deliberately stripped down the "character-like" qualities of the Mobile Suits. Director Kazuya Tsurumaki told me that the directive was to make these Mobile Suits something that you would wear to be very active in the universe, noting how he liked the sensors in the eyes that looked like a human face. Can you share insights into striking a balance between the mechanical realism of Mobile Suits and the stylized aesthetic that fans have come to expect in a Gundam series?

Kobayashi: It was very difficult, because there's a big difference in how the Mobile Suits and mechs are designed in GQuuuuuuX versus the character designs by Take. The character designs are considerably abstract and stylized. Then you have all the Mobile Suits and mechs [whose] fidelity and authenticity of trying to be mechanical contraptions are very precise and deliberate—the two almost conflict within the same work.

My job specifically deals with adding minute details and trying to patch together various visual elements so that the two meld together much better. I try to make sure that the contradictions are not so glaring and still enjoyable for the two to intermesh.

You mentioned earlier that the techniques used in Evangelion were similar in some respects to GQuuuuuuX. What methods were used to ensure that CGI for the mechs enhanced the intensity and fluidity of battles without feeling out of place with the visual consistency of its hand-drawn elements?

Kobayashi: With regards to trying to reduce the discrepancy between the 3D sections and the 2D character animation sections with regards to the animation, fluidity, and such, that is something that [Tsurumaki] has a hands-on approach.

The abstract, stylized segments of the character animation versus the detailed segments [have a] major difference, and we try to meld them together. Even in the backgrounds—some backgrounds are extraordinarily detailed—and the other backgrounds are fairly flat and plain, just gradations and such. One of our team's jobs is to figure out how we can have minute details that act as a bridge between these two stylistic directions. We went through a considerable pre-production process where we were trying out different techniques to see what approach and what degree of detail adding would be adequate to make the whole thing click within the same movie frame. Generally speaking, though, the easiest answer was we just kept adding details. That's also very much part of Studio khara's style.

In the West, CGI in anime often carries a unique stigma, as fans favor traditional 2D animation over its digital counterpart. This preference is partly due to how CGI can sometimes appear jarring when juxtaposed with hand-drawn backgrounds or characters. Is this sentiment also echoed among anime fans in Japan, and was that something that went into the thought process of making GQuuuuuuX?

Kobayashi: I think it's reduced quite a bit, that kind of hesitation toward it. One of the things that has happened recently is that there are numerous game franchises like iDOLM@STER. All the characters in iDOLM@STER are 3D rendered. Then, there are anime shows that feature those characters. At least for references, even within certain segments of the shows, you see 3D CG being incorporated as a rendering process. This may sound rather boorish, but compared to poorly hand-drawn animation, decent 3D animation is something that people don't poo poo upon.

It has less to do with how much money has to be expended. We are constantly made aware of cost performance and making sure that it doesn't overrun budgets. But, at the end of the day, it's about how convincing and how pleasing it looks to the audience. (Laughs) Everybody likes Genshin characters, don't they? It has a lot to do with how people appreciate artwork, and the means is not as important as what they finally take from it.

Earlier, you mentioned that the production of GQuuuuuuX often involved adding a lot of detail to the show to figure out what would work with balancing its CG and 2D. Were there any new CG techniques or technologies that the team employed to make it work?

Kobayashi: It's hard to come up with something truly innovative or groundbreaking in what we were doing. But thinking about the different processes that are involved in making QuuuuuuX, I suppose one major segment that's different compared to what we've done before is all the graphical texturing and the different visual assets that are attached to the mechs—like the marking that says "police" in English, but actually it says “military police” in Japanese.

The requirement for the inclusion of those markings [on the mobile suits] was handed out to us by our director. It would have been very difficult to do this if it was hand-drawn. This process, however, through repetition, gradually turned into something that expanded our own style—and it kind of seems to work really well. I was taken aback by how good it started to look.

I asked Tsurumaki this, but I wanted to ask you as well: Of all the Mobile Suit designs, is there a specific mech that's your favorite, and why?

Kobayashi: What did director Tsurumaki say?

He mentioned that one of his favorite characters was Chalia Bull and told Polygon that Gelgoog was his favorite. However, he and scriptwriter Yōji Enokido had a big debate about whether GM or Rick Dom would win in a fight.

Kobayashi: (laughs) I think the original Gundam has a unique position. Its simple design carries a strong sense of heroism; for me, the white color is also an important part of its identity.

And for me, many of the Mobile Suit designs from the original Gundam still feel incredibly striking. I think one reason is that director [Yoshiyuki] Tomino came up with some rough designs for the Mobile Suits that mechanical designer Kunio Ōkawara rearranged. Mr. Okawara is phenomenally, exceptionally good at translating what Mr. Tomino wanted. If you ever have a chance to look at Mr. Okawara's material in the very early days at studio Mechaman, it's wonderful stuff. It shows you how he was taking hero robot elements and translating them into concrete shapes.

Not to re-ask the question, but would you have a favorite mech design, or does the hero design tend to be your favorite in a series?

Kobayashi: Early in the series, the Zero One Gundam shows up—[the RX-78-01]. Its coloring is inspired by the Prototype Gundam, which was part of an extension of the Mobile Suit series dubbed the MSV—Mobile Suit Variation—initiated by Stream Base [a group of influential modelers] back in 1983, I think. Somewhere around then. They were taking the original Gunpla, and they came up with new variations. The Prototype Gundam was featured in it, and it seems [Hideaki] Anno was the one who wanted to feature it [in our current Gundam series.] Because I'm aware of what the Prototype Gundam is and how it's supposed to look, or at least how it's visualized in the MSV series, I made sure that it has the correct markings.

Are there any lessons from your work on GQuuuuuuX that you're excited to apply to future projects? How do you see the role of CGI evolving in mech anime, and what excites you most about its potential in storytelling?

Kobayashi: Director Tsurumaki had a specific vision for QuuuuuuX that actually differs to some degree—I think you catch on—with Mr. Anno. The fact that we could authentically, hopefully, render and recreate Tsurumaki's vision presents interesting opportunities and possibilities for what we can do in the future.

Thank you to Dan Kanemitsu for providing translation services during this interview.

Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX is currently streaming on Amazon Prime in the U.S.