EX Home | Email | Search | Prev. Page | Contents | Next Page
Vol 2 Issue 7
[EX-CLUSIVE]

A Conversation With Minami Masahiko

During a recent visit to Sunrise's main headquarters and No. 2 Studio, EX interviewed COWBOY BEBOP's producer, Minami Masahiko. Starting with ROUND-VERNIAN VIFAM, Minami's works have ranged the diverse gamut of robot animation. In WHIRL WIND! IRON LEAGUER, robotic competitors play the sport of the future inspired by soccer. THE VISION OF ESCAFLOWNE blends divination and medieval mecha with shoujo manga influences in a science-fiction / fantasy / romance / war drama that defies genre pigeonholing. Even within Sunrise's flagship GUNDAM franchise, Minami worked on two series that couldn't be more different: MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM 0083: STARDUST MEMORIES and MOBILE FIGHTER G GUNDAM. Mr. Minami talks to EX about his latest project, memories (and movie rumors) of ESCAFLOWNE, and Sunrise's future direction.


Cowboy BeBop

EX: IRON LEAGUER, G GUNDAM, and ESCAFLOWNE were three animated series featuring robots. How do you feel about producing COWBOY BEBOP, which doesn't feature any robots?

Minami: At Sunrise, it is taken for granted that most of the works are robot-related. I have already done three robot [television] series as a producer myself. But I wanted to produce non-robot animation with spaceships. Actually, [even the COWBOY BEBOP's use of] spaceships was mostly a request from Bandai, who makes hobby plastic models. It wanted to make models like those for movies such as STAR WARS and STAR TREK. As science-fiction animation, I consider COWBOY BEBOP normal, and not too different from robot animation.

EX: How did the project of COWBOY BEBOP begin?

Minami: First, we had some very broad ideas of making an anime in space. We started with these broad ideas and narrowed them down to what's currently popular in the anime industry, and how to make that into a television series. Those ideas were then discussed by the producers, director, and writers.
  The strong point of anime with robots is that the main character's connection with a robot is usually much stronger than with just a starship. The relationship between the main human character and a robot is pretty strong, and it creates a big impact on the story. But I didn't want to give into that, and do just a ordinary robot series. I was pondering how to make the same big impact with starships.

EX: What are some of the influences for the story of COWBOY BEBOP? (For example, American and Japanese SF novels, movies, series...)

Minami: Japanese detective stories—for example, detective television series, old LUPIN THE 3RD works, and such. I wanted to do episodic stories instead of a sequential story, but with the same characters every time. For example, in United States and Japan, there are series about police and the most wanted criminals. This is where I got the idea from. The stage [of COWBOY BEBOP] is the solar system, but there are always criminals which no police can catch. This is the kind of stories I wanted to tell.

The spacecrafts of COWBOY BEBOP.

EX: Right now, there isn't much non-robot science-fiction animation on television. Do you think the television audience is ready for animation similar to COWBOY BEBOP?

Minami: The reasons why robot series are more popular than other genres is first, the relationship with the sponsors—because robot toys sell much more than other kinds. From the general audience's point of view too, robot series are of course fun.
  However, the character aspects of the story should be enjoyed also, not just the robots. So in that case, I don't think there will be any problems with space science fiction without robots because the characters in the story are what is important. The advantage [with non-robot SF animation] is that we are all familiar with vehicles, something we ride on. In this case, it just happens to be a starship. In this case, the character who handles the starship has good impact on the story. This is like short movies—25 minutes every time. That's the fun part of the story as a TV series.

EX: How do you plan to use computer graphics in COWBOY BEBOP?

Minami: Please watch this. [Minami puts a tape into a VCR.] The first episode is pretty much done, so you may see the CG. [The episode's title ("Asteroid Blues") appears, and a cratered, craggy planetoid comes into view and slowly rotates.] This is CG. This time, we wanted to be able to do all the planets and such in CG.

EX: Which computer progams do you use?

Minami: I don't really know. (laughs) I don't use them myself. For the scenes in space, we do 3-D work. For all the compositing, we use ReTAS. Also, the monitors... and the warp-like effect. [Note: Sayama Yoshinori, the creator repsonsible for the digital graphics in MACROSS PLUS, is collaborating the computer screen imagery seen in COWBOY BEBOP. People travel around in COWBOY BEBOP using phase-shift gates, somewhat similar in operation and visuals to the STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE's wormhole and BABYLON 5's jump gates.]

EX: For a television series, this feels like a OVA.

Minami: But this is the first episode. (laughs) A character is drugged, so we use CG to simulate his vision. Most of the CG are scenes like the planets and the warping. There are other small portions where the director use CG techniques. As in ESCAFLOWNE, the cel work and the CG just don't match. So it's kind of hard to composite cel and CG in one film frame.


The Vision of Escaflowne

EX: According to [ESCAFLOWNE character designer] Yuuki Nobuteru, Sunrise is planning to turn ESCAFLOWNE into a movie. If so, when will production probably begin? Who from the original staff will be returning for the ESCAFLOWNE movie?

Minami: Hmm, Yuuki said this at America, right? He put us in an extremely difficult fix. (laughs nervously) We're in the middle of planning now, so we haven't announced anything yet. It's still a maybe. But [Yuuki's statements] travelled by Internet [back to Japan.] Hence, we're in a difficult position. But if it really were to happen, most of the central staff will be from the tv series.

EX: For example, director Akane Kazuki?

Minami: Well, director would be Akane, and the story creator would be Kawamori Shouji. The scriptwriters will probably be different, as we would select writers who are experts in movie scripts.

Two purported inspirations for ESCAFLOWNE locales with their anime counterparts.

EX: What were some of the positive and the negative points of using computer graphics in ESCAFLOWNE?

Minami: A good point is that it gave the director new techniques and new ideas. There are some new aspects in enjoying the work itself. Although we have just started using computer graphics in animation, I think I can take advantage of them in BEBOP, and I am also happy that other companies' productions have been influenced [by us] and are having changes made.
  The bad point is money. (laughs) It's very costly. It takes a lot of time too. For over thirty years, it was only cel animation, especially for tv series. In other words, we needed to change the views of the staff and animators, and then there is the problem of graphics. Cel animation and digital graphics just don't match too well. It's really hard to choose when to use the computer graphics and which type of graphics. It is forbidden to let the audience notice a weird match, because it might disturb the story flow. All of a sudden they would see weird graphics and it might disrupt their attention and enjoyment.

EX: What was the one most interesting problem or unique aspect you faced with while working on ESCAFLOWNE?

Minami: That's difficult to say... (laughs) The director was doing desk work all the time and slept at the desk. When he was sleeping, he sprained his neck and he had to wear a neck brace. That was the most interesting problem. (laughs)
  Also, there was the character voice Sakamoto Maaya. She started [work on ESCAFLOWNE as Kanzaki Hitomi] as a first year student in high school, and it was her debut [in a main regular role] in anime. She can also sing and did a album. It was almost as if her talent grew up with Esca, and I was proud of that. And she was pretty. (laughs) It was also tough for Yuuki because he was doing X at the same time.

EX: Of which aspect of ESCAFLOWNE are you most proud?

Minami: Business-wise, it did not reach the level of EVANGELION (laughs). What I'm proud of? First, I am proud of making a new kind of robot anime. We were also able to make truly substantial use of computer graphics in a television series. As producer of the work, I think I got interesting combinations out of the staff's efforts. I think we created a good alternate world fantasy type of story, although I heard from many that we shouldn't have used robots in the story (laughs).


EX Home | Email | Search | back | Contents | Next Page