{"id":24294,"date":"2017-12-05T23:38:13","date_gmt":"2017-12-06T07:38:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/?p=24294"},"modified":"2019-05-13T17:59:08","modified_gmt":"2019-05-14T00:59:08","slug":"275a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/275a\/","title":{"rendered":"Megahouse designer interview, Sept 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"1712icon\"<\/p>\n

From Yamato<\/em> fan club magazine Ship’s Log<\/em>: a boy who ran around with a homemade target scope on his bicycle helmet grew up to become a developer of the Cosmo Fleet Specials and the Yamato Girls Collection. This is a conversation with Kouji Takakura, who produced many Yamato<\/em> products for Megahouse.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

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

Interview with Kouji Takakura<\/h2>\n

Megahouse Life Hobby Division, high-end team<\/em><\/p>\n

Published in Yamato<\/em> Crew Premium fan club magazine Ship\u2019s Log<\/em> issue 19, September 22, 2107.<\/p>\n

The boy who ran around with a homemade target scope on his bicycle helmet grew up to become a developer of the Cosmo Fleet Specials and the Yamato<\/em> Girls Collection. We talked with Kouji Takakura, who produced many Yamato<\/em> products for Megahouse<\/p>\n

PROFILE
\nBorn in Shizuoka, 1969. Started in a sales position for Bandai affiliate Angel, which made candy toys. Worked on product development after a merger with Megahouse. Dealt with high-age products, the masterpieces of which were the Space Battleship Yamato<\/em> series and New Century GPX Cyber Formula<\/em> series.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The first movie I ever saw was the wonderful Farewell to Yamato<\/em><\/h3>\n

Interviewer:<\/em><\/span> Please tell us about your first encounter with Yamato<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Takakura:<\/em><\/span> It was back in elementary school. I saw Farewell<\/em> at a theater. Before that I occasionally watched the TV broadcasts with my brother, who was seven years older, but I didn\u2019t understand it very well. After some time passed after the broadcast, I was finally old enough to go see a movie, and Farewell<\/em> was my first. That was the moment. I was struck by its coolness and said, \u201cWhat is this!\u201d<\/p>\n

Interviewer:<\/em><\/span> You saw the most amazing thing first.<\/p>\n

Takakura:<\/em><\/span> It was like seeing the last inning first. (Laughs) From there, I poured all my pocket money into Yamato<\/em>. First, I bought a 700yen Yamato<\/em> model with the panel and put it on my bookshelf. I pulled out all the books in order to display it. (Laughs) It was just a simple plamodel I bought at a candy store, but it was my first scale model. It was cool to display Yamato<\/em> in a floating position, and I thought the picture depicted it like, \u201cLook at this grownup plastic model!\u201d<\/p>\n


\nMr. Takakura\u2019s first <\/em>Yamato plamodel. It was a high-class 1978 product that included a Teresa display panel.<\/em><\/p>\n

I felt like I could build an adult plamodel by myself, so I bought Andromeda<\/em> with some money I got as a New Year\u2019s gift. I remember going to buy it first thing in the morning at the start of the new year, but the toy stores were closed for the first three days of the year. \u201cI want to start now!\u201d<\/p>\n

Interviewer:<\/em><\/span> Was it the 1\/1000 Andromeda<\/em> model by Nomura Toys?<\/p>\n

Takakura:<\/em><\/span> I think so. But I had a really tough time with it. (Laughs) It was hard to attach the rear fins. I remember my older brother helping me and it got built somehow. Anyway, it was the first time I experienced Andromeda<\/em> and Yamato<\/em>. I learned that \u201ca plamodel can\u2019t be finished in one day,\u201d and my excitement was unbearable until it was finished. That was the impact of Yamato<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Interviewer:<\/em><\/span> You were suddenly touched by Yamato<\/em> with high quality in both anime and plamodels, weren\u2019t you?<\/p>\n

Takakura:<\/em><\/span> My older brother\u2019s influence was also there with plamodels. He was a person who made a diorama of the Battle of Midway when he was a 6th grader. He attached cotton smoke to little Zero fighters, and I heard that he won a prize from the principal, and it was displayed in the principal\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

Anyway, Yamato<\/em> made an impact in various ways. The first manga I ever bought was Yamato<\/em>, and it might be that I tasted the appeal of mecha for the first time with Yamato<\/em>. There was a plastic sheet that I bought at the theater with Farewell<\/em> that made a big impression. On the front was Yamato<\/em> seen from the rear and on the back was an illustration of the first bridge and space seen from Captain Okita\u2019s point of view. A mechanic section was drawn below that. I looked at the art and immediately learned the term Wave-Motion Gun. I rode my bike to school at the time, so I attached a sighting device to my helmet.<\/p>\n

Interviewer:<\/em><\/span> A sighting device?<\/p>\n

Takakura:<\/em><\/span> I taped a sighting device up on the rim of my helmet and rode to school. I always said, \u201cI\u2019ll shoot!\u201d or \u201cWave-Motion Gun, fire!\u201d I might have been kind of a dope. (Laughs) In any case, Yamato<\/em> became my \u201ctrigger.\u201d It was like Zero combat if you\u2019re talking about fighter planes. \u201cIf you don\u2019t know this, you won\u2019t know about that.\u201d There was a coolness in having a position of special knowledge.<\/p>\n

Interviewer:<\/em><\/span> Did you get involved with Yamato<\/em> as soon as you started working? When did you start?<\/p>\n

Takakura:<\/em><\/span> In 2005. Angel, the Bandai-affiliated company I worked for, merged with Megahouse. A department was established for original candy toys, and I was there in development. That department was special, because it used characters from content handled by Bandai, and I wanted to make something. Capsule toys were popular at the time, so my first thought was, \u201cWhy don\u2019t we do a small Yamato<\/em> thing?\u201d<\/p>\n

I wondered if a big thing could be made small because I was also a collector of minicars. \u201cNo, the refreshing feeling when you line up a bunch of palm-size things on a desktop is irresistible! That\u2019s it! Yamato<\/em>!\u201d I gave a presentation, and the bosses gave me a go-sign. As a result, the first sales were good. Actually, I also had the power of a wholesaler. There are a lot of wholesaler deals of moderate age in convenience store and confectionary distribution.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Interviewer:<\/em><\/span> Yamato<\/em>! Right! Was it like that?<\/p>\n

Takakura:<\/em><\/span> Probably. (Laughs) It was the Space Battleship Yamato<\/em> Cosmo Fleet Collection. There were five items, including Yamato<\/em> and the first Dessler battleship. I was also able to release the Dreadnought and the new Dessler battleship [in later sets], and I could make a cutaway mechanic model at that size. Oh yeah\u2026may I digress a bit?<\/p>\n

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

Interviewer:<\/em><\/span> Please, please.<\/p>\n

Takakura:<\/em><\/span> The Dreadnought was also a coveted item. When the White comet was destroyed at the end of the movie, I thought it was all over. Actually, I wanted to go the bathroom. \u201cIt\u2019s over, let\u2019s go!\u201d As soon as I stood up, there was the sound of the pipe organ\u2026<\/p>\n

Interviewer:<\/em><\/span> Good thing you didn\u2019t leave. (Laughs)<\/p>\n

Takakura:<\/em><\/span> That\u2019s right. I was astonished at its size. \u201cIt\u2019s impossible to win against this!\u201d I was really surprised by how the pass of the Dreadnought was drawn. \u201cWhat is this!\u201d Then it came to the last scene with the message\u2026so I really wanted to add the Dreadnought to the Cosmo Fleet. There\u2019s a real thrill of seeing such a big thing at palm-size. I thought it would be irresistible.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Commitment to the situation cultivated by solo-play<\/h3>\n

Interviewer:<\/em><\/span> When I hear stories about the prototypical Yamato<\/em> experience in this generation, there seems to be a commitment to the products.<\/p>\n

Takakura:<\/em><\/span> That\u2019s right. In terms of the Space Battleship Yamato<\/em> Cosmo Fleet Special line, a characteristic A2-size poster was included in some limited stores. As for this, when I was a kid I bought the movie program book and poster\u2026it was because I enjoyed the feeling of an event.<\/p>\n

And in terms of the prototypical Yamato<\/em> experience, there is the Variable Action Hi-spec Cosmo Zero Alpha 1, which may have been influenced by my favorite childhood experience. My mother said, \u201cYou were good at playing alone.\u201d When I played with Ultraman dolls, I\u2019d make a sea and mountains out of clay. The sea had ships in it up to their waterline, and I made a mountain ropeway with thread. It may be the King Joe influence, but Ultraman had a cool aesthetic for kids when he splashed in the water. I wanted to reproduce the image of Ultraman caught on the ropeway and falling, so I built it up as well as I could. That was a time when there was no video, so some people turned their imagination into pictures and cartoons while I reproduced them with clay and toys.<\/p>\n

(See Ultraman battle King Joe on Youtube here<\/a> and here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

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

Therefore, I put an emphasis on recreating that situation with the asteroid ring on Yamato<\/em> and the Cosmo Zero with a catapult and a Yuki Mori figure. On the Medaluza<\/em>-class Annihilation-type Heavy Battleship, in addition to a removable Flame Strike Gun, there is also a scale Deathvatator.<\/p>\n

Interviewer:<\/em><\/span> it\u2019s like wish fulfillment. It\u2019s on a small runner, which reminds me of old scale models that came with small airplanes.<\/p>\n

Takakura:<\/em><\/span> I think there are ways to enjoy something on an individual basis after you buy it. I think about, \u201cI want to display it this way,\u201d or \u201cNot everyone may want to do it that way.\u201d It could be said that I\u2019m pushing my own taste, I guess. (Laughs) But I\u2019ll be happy if you buy it and not notice that two or three hours have passed since you opened the box! Food has an expiration date, and there is something like a time limit to play with a toy, and I want to make a product that can stand up to it.<\/p>\n

Interviewer:<\/em><\/span> The Cosmo Zero can replicate the storage form and attack form\u2026there is no other finished product in this size. And it\u2019s crowned with the name \u201cVariable Action High-spec,\u201d which is Megahouse\u2019s top mecha category brand, isn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Takakura:<\/em><\/span> That\u2019s right. For me, it\u2019s my first single airplane product. There is already a well-done Cosmo Zero model kit from the hobby division, and when I was supervising I wanted to reference it. The answers were there in a way, but for a finished product we have to pay particular attention to weight and painting with diecast metal. Two colors are needed for silver, to give it a bold metallic texture. And actually, the parts painted in matte are also diecast. And we\u2019ve included transparent stickers for decals to use as you like. And the catapult mentioned earlier is included separately from the pedestal.<\/p>\n

Interviewer:<\/em><\/span> On the other hand, the Yuki Mori Private Coordinate Version figure was also released as a new product in September. It\u2019s a substantial series, but are the challenges different from mecha.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Takakura:<\/em><\/span> They are. There is the point that it\u2019s decided with a prototype, but it would be the same even if it was made as data. By the way, all the prototypes I\u2019m in charge of are made in analog. My position is somewhat temperamental, so I often say, \u201cThat\u2019s a bad angle in a good way\u201d (Laughs) or \u201cWhy that scenario?\u201d<\/p>\n

Interviewer:<\/em><\/span> Do you have sharp eyes for how to make beautiful women in three dimensions?<\/p>\n

Takakura:<\/em><\/span> My business partners and I consult the camera. As a result, we use cameras more often, and I look at a subject through a viewfinder more often. That experience is reflected in the photography on the packaging. Also, a prototype is useful to see how sex appeal is transmitted to the user from line of sight. The figure pose is always a point of concern. It\u2019s good if there is a scenario that gives an impression of the story, but it may be unsuitable for a product. I imagine the character\u2019s pose and gesture, and sometimes I consult with the designer. I also reference poses from pinup models and idols. Even if you look at K-pop idols, you can find a pose you might not normally conceive.<\/p>\n

I want to answer everyone with a message of \u201cthings\u201d<\/h3>\n

Interviewer:<\/em><\/span> Finally, please give a message to the readers of Yamato<\/em> Crew.<\/p>\n

Takakura:<\/em><\/span> For myself, I\u2019d like to say \u201cI\u2019m one of the fans,\u201d and I\u2019m here now on behalf of the fans. I might be exaggerating my role a little, but I\u2019ll say \u201cI make the things you want.\u201d I hope I can answer to you through the message of \u201cthings\u201d that I work on today. It is work, so money is definitely attached, and the story goes that you shouldn\u2019t mix that with hobbies and fun, but I feel that if this isn\u2019t your favorite thing it\u2019s not possible to implicitly transmit anything. Since I\u2019m a Yamato<\/em> lover, I\u2019d like to keep making things that say, \u201cThis person gets it.\u201d So If I do some strange thing, I\u2019d be happy if people say, \u201cAh! This was made by that guy.\u201d (Laughs)<\/p>\n

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