{"id":1733,"date":"2013-06-27T05:55:41","date_gmt":"2013-06-27T05:55:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/?p=1733"},"modified":"2023-02-23T17:15:06","modified_gmt":"2023-02-24T01:15:06","slug":"511","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/511\/","title":{"rendered":"Staff Questionnaire"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

“Time is running out, but I want to do my best!”<\/h2>\n

Everything was passion and madness, but now<\/em> Farewell to Yamato has been completed. The staff “looks back in time” to recall their excitement.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Questions:<\/h3>\n

1. What was your job on Yamato<\/em> Part 2?<\/p>\n

\n2. What part of Yamato<\/em> Part 2 production especially made an impression on you?
\n(A hardship, a secret story, etc.)<\/p>\n

\n3. “Yamato<\/em> and I.” What is Yamato<\/em> to you in one or two simple remarks?<\/p>\n

\n(Responses printed in their order of arrival.)<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Tomoharu Katsumata<\/h3>\n

1. Chief Director (animation director) and general supervisor of different departments. <\/p>\n

2. Creating the script and storyboard was very painful due to how long it took. There were four big storyboard books I had to carry up three flights of stairs every day at Toei Studio. Thus, both the storyboard and my body became tattered. <\/p>\n

3. I have directed 100 different works so far (including both TV and movies), and any time I think of the best way to make something, I remember the first Yamato<\/em>. <\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Kazunori Tanahashi<\/h3>\n

1. Although the original intention was for me to be an assistant director, basically my job was to check the animation. For some reason, that’s what it became. <\/p>\n

2. Truly, it was the morning of July 20. There was a great commotion coming from the stairs, and the sound rushed into the Yamato<\/em> staff room. “Sir, we’re all going to help you today!” All of Toei’s TV anime work stopped that day in an all-out rally to help Yamato<\/em> get caught up. My honest impression was relief while I rubbed my tired eyes. <\/p>\n

3. I’ve worked on Yamato<\/em> for five long years. I’m going to end it with this. <\/p>\n[Translator’s note: After writing this, Tanahashi’s intention was postponed until after Final Yamato<\/em>.] <\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Keisuke Fujikawa<\/h3>\n

1. Scriptwriting <\/p>\n

2. During the scriptwriting, I wanted to go with the staff to Hawaii to see Star Wars<\/em> and Close Encounters<\/em>, but I didn’t get my passport in time and could not participate. <\/p>\n

While writing the script, I shed tears of regret. My basic routine was to eat at a small restaurant in a hotel, then return to my room and drink a little. A voice came from behind me, “I’m not working, so please relax.” It was Producer Nishizaki. I immediately felt better! <\/p>\n

3. Yamato<\/em> is loneliness, romance, courage, decision, and endurance. I yearn for its untamed nature, the symbol of my life. A wild side does not just mean roughness. <\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Hideaki Yamamoto<\/h3>\n

1. Screenplay (from the second draft to the final draft) <\/p>\n

2. I died of “mecha stupidity.” I was like a junior high student sent back to study space science. While writing the third draft, I got an average of two hours of sleep per day over a five-day spurt. I beat the record of Napoleon! <\/p>\n

I admired the skill and tenacity of Producer Nishizaki, and I marveled at his mixture of roughness and sensitivity. <\/p>\n

3. Close Encounters of the Third Kind<\/em>.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Noboru Ishiguro<\/h3>\n

1. Technical Director. To be more specific, the mechanic and effects director. It is like working on special effects for a monster movie. <\/p>\n

2. A confession: this time I helped the mecha drawing supervisor a little and drew Yamato<\/em> properly for the first time. In fact, I have never drawn it directly until now. <\/p>\n

3. Conquering the peak. <\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Tsuji Tadanao<\/h3>\n

1. Setting [design] artist. (Inside and outside Yamato<\/em> and the advanced warship [Andromeda]<\/em>) <\/p>\n

2. Setting design work began while the script was being written and progressed day after day with meetings until midnight. While I was worrying over the details of scenery on Teresa’s planet as per Producer Nishizaki’s demands, I noticed a cracked rice cake in the mirror and got a hint from that. <\/p>\n

3. The work of setting artists rose to the level of dramaturgy in anime. [The art and technique of dramatic presentation.] <\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Geki Katsumata<\/h3>\n

1. Art Director <\/p>\n

2. My thumb dried out while looking for scenes because the storyboard was so thick. <\/p>\n

3. “You cannot talk about Japan without Yamato<\/em>.” I dreamt that the spirit of the old IJN Yamato<\/em> crew said this to Mr. Nishizaki while holding a cashbox. It was during a catnap at dawn after an all-nighter! <\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Kouzou Masanobu<\/h3>\n

1. Key Animation and Layout. <\/p>\n

2. I regret causing inconvenience by falling behind schedule. <\/p>\n

3. I was engaged on Yamato<\/em> from the first TV episode, and it was serious work. There were many troubles and worries, but I managed to carry it out for long years. <\/p>\n

<\/br><\/br><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Atsushi Tashiro<\/h3>\n

1. Sound Director. <\/p>\n

2. It is a rare thing when those who work on a drama also shed tears for it. <\/p>\n

3. It’s unusual for a Space SF project to have a feeling of familiar romance. <\/p>\n

<\/br><\/br><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Yoshio Aiso<\/h3>\n

1. Photography [animation camera] <\/p>\n

2. Sometimes I fail because I get careless. On Yamato<\/em> I shot a NG [No Good] frame 1300 in a 1500 frame scene by putting down a gloss acetate instead of a flat one. <\/p>\n

I had trouble every day with garbage and dust getting on the dark backgrounds and it became stomach-churning. <\/p>\n

There were a lot of backlit scenes and other special effects this time, so my shots required way too much homework. It was both enjoyable and frightening. <\/p>\n

3. On the production side, it takes patience and endurance because it is always a rush. In terms of content on the work side? It is sublimely peaceful plus the love of space. <\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Jun Hirano<\/h3>\n

1. Animation and Animation Correction. <\/p>\n

2. Because the work of character animation is very confusing, I had a difficult time though the characters were drawn more accurately. <\/p>\n

3. I think it will be a memorable work. <\/p>\n

<\/br><\/br><\/br><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Katsuyoshi Ishihara<\/h3>\n

1. Background Art. <\/p>\n

2. The production of Yamato<\/em> itself is an “impression” for me. <\/p>\n

3. I feel that language is extremely limited to describe the unique sense of nostalgia I feel for Yamato<\/em>. Why is it that Yamato<\/em> dashes out into space with no sense of incongruity at all? Such an observation can be used as a guideline for a member of a society that would live there. <\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Kenzo Koizumi<\/h3>\n

1. Key Animation. <\/p>\n

2. It took a month and a half, but it was over in no time. <\/p>\n

3. It was a work that excited a creative person’s spirit of romantic adventure, and it became one of the most unforgettable for me. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Tominaga<\/h3>\n

1. FAX and Xerox enlargement\/reduction = Animation Correction. <\/p>\n

2. “I think everyone watched the first Yamato<\/em>, but that’s not the kind of job we do. We wouldn’t work with such a dirty FAX. Doesn’t our FAX look beautiful?” <\/p>\n

Why did I explain it to visitors that way? It was appealing. Extraordinary research and passion for the anime world made FAX technology number one. It is the nature of a Xerox machine to require a constant temperature for reduction and enlargement, so we had to keep it cold in the summer. <\/p>\n[Translator’s note: FAX in this case was the term for a tracing machine that would turn a pencil drawing into ink on a cel. It was great for saving time in hectic TV production, but not always great at producing a clean transfer until the technology improved.] <\/p>\n

3. I know there was an Anime fan magazine with a “Yamato<\/em> Special” three years ago, and having heard of the interest I paid attention. It was a bridge to the heart of anime fans. <\/p>\n[Translator’s note: For the sake of accuracy, three years prior to this comment would have been 1975, but the first magazine with a Yamato<\/em> cover story was a 1976 issue of Fantoche<\/em><\/a>. He is probably misremembering the date, or confusing it with the famous 1977 issue of OUT<\/em><\/a>.] <\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Tracing Crew<\/h3>\n

Kazuko Kurosawa, Kimiyo Okunishi, Iano Sonoe, Mihiko Irie, Reiko Igarashi<\/em> <\/p>\n

1. Tracing. <\/p>\n

2. Every day was an explosion. We did not know if the many different battleships were friend or foe, and we made a lot of mistakes because it was very difficult. <\/p>\n

3. It is a lovely feeling for someone to remain in the heart and never disappear. <\/p>\n

The End<\/h3>\n

Special thanks to Tsuneo Tateno for translation assistance.<\/em><\/p>\n

\nReturn to the Farewell to Yamato<\/em> Time Machine.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1733","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1733"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1733\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33907,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1733\/revisions\/33907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}