Anime Expo New York - Char\'s Counterattack Screening

By Andrew Tei     August 31, 2002

Again, I must apologize for the roughness this of this. Everything is through
an interpreter and transcribed a week later and hastily written notes in the
theater.



Conventions

TW: Tom Wayland

YT: Yoshiyuki Tomino

Q: Audience Question



We arrived at the theater quite late, and then discovered that our press
seating was missing. Our main press contact, wasn’t there today so the press
person in charge that day had no idea what to do with us. She finally got Hiro
Awaohara, the head of Big Apple Anime Fest and he got us seating immediately.



Tom Wayland: Before we start the movie, we have a treat for you. Another one
of our great guests of honor. This man’s name has been synonymous with the
Gundam series for over twenty years now, the director of Mobile Suit Gundam
and Char’s Counterattack, Mr. Yoshiyuki Tomino.



Yoshiyuki Tomino: Thank you very much. I’m glad to see you in New York. Right
now I was told to introduce the film. But its been such a long time since I
made the film, that I can’t really do that. It may be hard for those who don’t
know the First Gundam series. This is the story that finalizes the Gundam
series. The first one, for those who don’t know, so it may be hard to
understand. And the second point is, the characters are a little old, so it
may not be suitable for the animated series. That’s why the Gundam series was
made one after another, and many different characters appeared. After twenty
years I’m here in New York, so I don’t think it was a bad thing. Char’s
Counterattack is a sequence of the First Gundam, and a big of a grown up
story. I am a little regretful about that. This was probably a public
relations effort of the toy company, in the terms of Char’s Counterattack; I
consider it to be a Star Wars series complete. I have to recognize my
weaknesses in terms of seeing this, but it has the enthusiasm of the First
Gundam, so I would like you to enjoy this film. It may not be as good as Star
Wars



Tom Wayland: Let’s give me a big hand everyone.



At this point, they started the film for the first time. It was out of focus
and cropped improperly. They stopped the film and restarted it, skipping about
ten seconds and the title sequence. Hiro Awoahara finally got up and
apologized and said they would restart the film. Time I spent trying to steal
Mariela’s popcorn, and being smacked for it.



After the film, we had our big Q&A session.



Tom Wayland: I have a couple of question to start..



Yoshiyuki Tomino: Before we start, thank you for watching it in this very cold
theater.



TW: How did you like the audience reaction film? Do you get to do this often?
Watch your works with the fans?



YT: Actually, I really have virtually no experience seeing it with the fans.
But I have seen it once or twice with the Japanese fans. I must say the
Japanese didn’t have as much time to laugh as you guys did. I was able to hear
you laugh and was really relieved.



TW: I think everyone liked it a lot. How do you like watching your own work? I
know a lot of artists get self-conscious and overanalyze.



YT: I actually don’t like it very much. One of the major things is there is a
lot of talk about tactics and war strategies, and filled with drama. It was
hard to see. I saw it after three years of not seeing it. This is one thing I
think I need to improve.



TW: We talked earlier today, and you felt that movies has taken a turn seem to
be a lot more flash over story and substance. And you wanted to take it back
in your work, and tone down on the sensationalism. Do you feel you managed to
do this for Char’s Counterattack?



YT: As I mentioned before, it was hard story wise. I don’t think I was able to
achieve this. After this, I really studied about the storyline. I realized
this after this work.



TW: What is next for Gundam?



YT: Turn-A Space.



TW: Ok, let’s turn this over to audience to see what they have to ask.



Audience Question: When you were younger did you know this is what you wanted
to do later on in life? Directing and movies?



YT: Of course.



Q: I have two questions. One, since you’ve been there through the history of
anime, are you surprised to see how the American audience have taken an
interest in it? How do you feel anime has evolved?



YT: For one thing, I guess, coming to the US was ten years late. I guess the
Japanese business people were not proud of their work. I am regretful it took
so long to get here. I’ve been involved in anime for over 20 years, I was
thinking I was competing with Spielburg and Lucas, and it was regarded as a
somewhat foolish thing. So I guess in terms of developing anime, I feel inside
I haven’t developed much.



Q: The characters in Gundam are charismatic and flawed, what influences did
you have in creating the characters?



YT: Let’s say, once I have the motivation for the character, I think about
their typical behavior in terms of directing. In order to do that, I have to
observe ordinary people’s habits and daily behavior. Is that difficult to
understand?



Q: I was wondering, what is your opinion of what happened to Char and Amuro at
the end of Char’s Counterattack?

YT: If you want to reiterate that to confirm the ending, it’s going be a joke.
You shouldn’t really try to think about what happened to Char and Amuro. The
hint is inside the movie, someone like Char is a charismatic leader, and in
the end Char really longed for a mother.



Q: What advice do you have for future writers and directors of anime?



YT: Just like this movie, if your mind was captured too much on the exciting
scenes, you may forgot about the relationships about people. If you forgot
about drama, that’s not good. So if you have the fear about forgetting that
drama, that’s a teaching.



Q: What were those T-shaped objects?



YT: The explanation is inside the movie, so I’m not going to explain. One
another explanation I want to give you is, I didn’t want to create a cross, so
I made a T. And T is my initial too.



Q: The Gundam Universe has gone through a lot of different locales and
characters through the years. Would you say there is a universal theme
connecting them, even if we just stick to the Universal Century?



YT: Anything that I handle has a theme, and it’s the same theme. There maybe
some directors who use a different theme. My theme is human beings may be
foolish, but we are wonderful beings. There is one other explanation, or
logic, because this was work, I could do this project.



Q: Where did you get the idea for Gundam?



YT: I really don't know here it came from. Perhaps just because it was a work
I could do.



Q: When you were a young boy what was your favorite cartoon or anime?



YT: Actually I don't have a favorite. In terms of Disney, it was only up to
Cinderella.



Unfortunately, this Q&A session had to be cut short due to the delays.