Fanime Con - All Reports

By Andrew Tei     June 20, 2003

Between staffing the con, I was able to sneak into a few panels for a
while.

Gundam Panel

Jerry Chu ran the panel. I missed the very beginning, but the first topic that
came up from Zeta Gundam. Right now, any rumor you hear about Zeta Gundam on
Cartoon Network is false. There are no plans for its release this year, so we
will see it sometime next year. Jerry than said perhaps the most dangerous
quote you can, "The next year will be the year of good Gundam, I guarantee
that." Promises are always dangerous. Plus we had the our common stressing of
"it's a matter of when and not if."



Gundam F91 might see a small limited theatrical release, and Bandai
Entertainment is currently in the process of obtaining 35 mm prints. They will
try for 2004.




Gundam SEED was brought up, but there were no major announcements. People
brought up rumors of a voice actor saying it was being recorded already. Jerry
denied it, but brought up that you should wait until Otakon to hear about
SEED. Hmm. TM Revolution will be at Otakon. TM Revolution recorded Invoke.
Invoke is the first opening song to Gundam SEED. That's all I'm saying.



Superior Defender will be a brand new show. They won't be calling it SD, or
Gundam, though it really is. There are quite a number of episodes. It will air
FIRST in North America and then Japan. It will be dubbed in English FIRST.
This will be airing on Toonami, and don't be too surprised if it possibly
shows up in September.



Lastly, we talked about the toys. Wizard has an exclusive translucent Shining
Gundam toy figure, and they are looking into Master and Perfect grades for the
North American market. FIXX configurations are unlikely to ever hit the North
American market.

FLCL Panel

This panel was attended by Saki Yamashita (Synch Point Public Relations),
Shizuki Yamishita (Synch Point Producer), Hiroki Sato (GAINAX - FLCL script
writer), Kazuya Tsurumaki (GAINAX FLCL Director), Jennifer Sekiguchi (US Voice
Actor - Mamimi), Kari Wahlgreen (US Voice Actor - Haruka), and Maki Terashima
(Production I.G. FLCL Executive Producer).




So what the hell if FLCL? Sato started by saying there really is no
explanation. There's an old anime known as Kimagure Orange Road, which is also
known as KOR. GAINAX believed that is they started with a title that was an
abbreviation it might be more popular. So they came up with random words to
fit FLCL. Sato at this point said it was fun not to tell the truth. Your
imagination should fill in the rest. Overall, it's just foolish.



Original, FLCL wasn't going to be a comedy but a science fiction story, except
they wanted to add a bunch more girls in it. Production I.G. who helped with
the animation production of FLCL was serious though. GAINAX had just finished
with Kare Kano, so they were in a comedy gag mode. FLCL is serious, and the
wordplay makes it a comedy.



Canti, the robot who appears in the show is actually based partly on a show
called Ganbarre Robot-con. It featured a housekeeping robot that
created all sorts of calamity, and that's what they wanted to do with Canti.
Canti's head being messed up demonstrates this. Sato said he was just babbling
at this point, and had no idea what the director was thinking.




Tsurumaki injected at this point saying he though Mr. Sato said it should be a
comedy, but that he wanted a drama. He knows in the US, most people think o
fit as a comedy. In Play magazine in the US, it even won a Best Comedy Award
for 2002.



Jennifer mentioned that Mr. Tsurumaki was able to attend the first few days of
the recording of the FLCL dub in order to give the characters the right
direction. At Synch Point the actors receive the script and tapes beforehand
in order to understand the story as best they can. Kari mentioned that this
was the first time she had ever recorded for a anime series.



The English subtitles on the Region 2 release got brought up next, and
everyone cheered, so Sato said he did it just to get applause at Fanime Con.
In reality, there was an employee at GAINAX named Michael House, who told
everyone about all the features of DVD. He said, if they put subtitles on is,
anime fans in the US would import it. The first DVD was already too far into
production to do this though.




Guitars and the Vespa go brought up. Sato mentioned he didn't play guitar at
all, and Tsuurmaki said he doesn't play it either, but he does use it to hit
people. The bass that Haruko has is the same as the one as Digi Charat's
director (Hiroki-san) and it really is a left handed one. Kari and Jennifer
brought up places in the Los Angeles area where one could buy a Vespa. There's
a place on Ventura Blvd in Studio City for instance that Jennifer passes.
Tsurumaki does ride a Vespa, and it was his personal Vesa that was used in the
ending credits. Sadly, it got messed up during shooting. On the Vespa's
handles, there is a signal light on the edge, but Sati made the Vespa fall and
the piece fell off. We moved the Vespa a little bit, took a picture, moved it.
Repeat. That live action shoot was a lot harder than animation. We got in
trouble with the police and everything. Sato joked that they borrowed a lot of
people's personal property to make FLCL and no one at GAINAX can really draw
without looking at the real thing.



The US production side answered question on what was involved on their end.
Maki brought the title from Japan and oversaw the translation and recordings.
She even did the voice of one of the smaller characters. As the producer in
the US, she has the final say in about everything, including casting. The next
step is DVD production, delaying the DVDs, finding extras, delaying the DVD,
contacting the Japanese for materials, and delaying the DVD again.



In regard to the soundtrack, the Pillows were chosen since Tsurumaki mentioned
that he was a fan of them in the beginning. He contacted King Records, who in
addition to doing a lot of music for GAINAX, also was the label for the
Pillows. This led Tsurumaki to contact their producer, who okayed it.



The town in FLCL and the bridge it turns out was modeled after the city of
Negiyaki, where Tsurumaki grew up. There are also influences from Torihasi(sp?)
the background designer's hometown. Each place is well known for their rivers.
Tsurumaki used to play under a bridge at a child, and especially with fire. He
would take adult magazines down there, and live in the exciting world between
puberty and adulthood. I can't believe he said that!




The final FLCL related question had to do with any real life personalities
that made it into the series. Sato said would you really want a real life
Haruko around? You'd have a lot of problems and she'd be arrested. Who would
want to be around a person who attacked you with a Bass all the time? Now
Naoto's father was modeled after the Japanese voice actor, Suzuki Matsuo, who
actually played the role is actually a stage actor.



With the US market now being involved in financing Japanese anime product,
Sato was asked if the US market had any influences at GAINAX. Sato would like
the actual product to remain fully Japanese. He know that with a title like
Astroboy the US money has actually caused influences in the show.



People tried to find out about GAINAX's next project. Sato said in his mind,
the new project was connected to FLCL, but there are no plans for a follow-up
to FLCL. We might be able to see it next year in March.

Sadamoto Panel

This was a straight forward Q&A sessions with Sadamato, the character designer
for Evangelion, FLCL, and .Hack.



Q: How is anime design different than game design?

A: Anime design is easier, since the story is decided beforehand. I'm more
involved in the process of the entire anime. This is unlike a game like .Hack.



Q: Would you have an interested in going back to the style you used during
Wing of Honneamise?


A: I would love to, since I would like to keep my character design skills
broad.



Q: There are rumors of work basedon R-20 Galactic Airport? This is project
that he was working on in early 90's. What became of that?

A: I don't really know much about the planning of the anime, but I did a manga
side-story involving the characters. I don't know what will happen with the
animation project.



Q: "Blue Uru" designs (character and aircraft) appeared quite a while ago in
one of you artworks, was that project cancelled, or if it has not, what is
happening with it?

A: The project hasn't been cancelled and is still ongoing. The director is
here at Fanime.




Q: Can you provide any details on the new GunBuster series? (Rumor from
Tsurumaki-sensei)

A: No comment (it's a hard time to answer that).



Q: What is your reaction to really popular characters appearing in fan comics
and works?

A: Actually, for the "perverted" doujin, I can't actually draw that way, so
sometimes I read it.




Q: How hard is it to (or does he?) relate a character's clothing to their
personality?

A: In the case of FLCL, it wasn't so much the choice of clothing, but the
choice of colors (blue-adult, red-kid) but that came more from the director.
For Evangelion, for the characters, we tried to keep the color scheme (Rei-bandaged=white,
Blue Asuka-fighting=red) while the characters changed outfits; we tried to
keep the color elements with the characters?



Q: Did Hideaki Anno exert tight control over your design process while working
on animations where he was the director?

A: For the past few works that I have done, I have worked with a number of
directors (including Tsurumaki and Anno) and I would often be asked to be
involved. The most "simple" director I've Ever worked with was Anno, who would
typically work with exactly what Sadamoto gave him. The only information Anno
told him about Rei was her age, blood type and that she was "gloomy".



Q: Would you like to work in America?


A: There has been no offers from American companies, but if there were offers,
and depending on how busy GAINAX, I might. Does everyone know about the Animatrix?
For example, if something like that came, and if the production could happen
in Japan, then it more likely be possible than working in the US?



Q: What are the steps between asking for a gloomy 14-year-old character and
the final amazing design?

A: First, I get the request, and then I look at a bunch of my past designs, or
others. I study it, mix it with my own ideas, or I might mix it with someone I
know.



Q: (something related to CG versus cel drawing)


A: My room won't get dirty if it is CG. It's also easier to fix. CG is
continuing to evolve, so if that is the only option in the future, I need to
learn it now. I still draw by hand, but I can use CG to decide what colors for
clothes a lot easier. Before we used to photo copy the line art to decide. I
like both, and I want both to coexist.



Q: Do you have a favorite character, and what do you think of fans cosplaying
as your characters?

A: It's not a favorite, but I'm constantly thinking about the character I'm
work on right now. IF it looks really good on them, I'm really happy about it.
Sometimes I'll incorporate things I see into my next design. And if I see a
cute girl, I'd think it'd be nice to take them home.



Q: How did you feel about working on Project .hack?

A: With games, it's more like redesigning characters since most things like
how many swords have already been decided. I get a package for what the games
are supposed to look like, so I concentrate more on detail. For anime, I work
more on lines. Game designing is less stressful.




Q: A live action Eva movie was announced recently, what do you think about it?

A: I think it's a good thing personally. I'm looking forward to it.



Q: Can you explain some of the differences between the anime and manga of
Evangelion?

A: The manga generally is different, so I think it should be different. Even
if I made it the same, it would most likely change here and there. It's still
early on in volume 8, so there's a long way to go.




Q: What inspired Electra's character design change near the end of Nadia?

A: In Japan, most females when their hearts are broken or something, change
their hair. So it was like that. There was also a change in the setting of
series and I was asked to do something like Yamoto.



Q: Is there any part of the character design process that you enjoy the most?

A: A lot of times it is stressful, but there are times when lightning strikes,
and you just draw a lot. That's my favorite part. "When god strikes". After I
get that, I think it will be a really big hit. I show my friends my drawing,
especially my friends who will cosplay. I ask them if they would cosplay as
that. If they say no, I get disappointed.



Q: What made you decide your chosen specialization in anime?


A: I was more made the character designer, than chosen. I was originally an
animator back in Wing of Honneamise. Afterwards, the character designer job
got stuck.



Q: I noticed in FLCL, music is a large part of the show. Does music affect
your character designs?

A: In the case of FLCL, the music inspired the story rather than the
characters. Haruko was inspired by JPOP music. A band Sadamoto used to listen
to supposedly inspired Rei from Evangelion.