{"id":39700,"date":"2024-02-18T15:21:10","date_gmt":"2024-02-18T23:21:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/?p=39700"},"modified":"2025-03-07T12:30:36","modified_gmt":"2025-03-07T20:30:36","slug":"shirato81","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/shirato81\/","title":{"rendered":"Anime Personnel Interview: Takeshi Shirato"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

I want people to see the real gag in Dotakon<\/em><\/h2>\n

Takeshi Shirato, who is in top form with his Mechakko Dotakon<\/em><\/a>, is a bit of an oddball who studied chemistry at university. When we think of Mr. Shirato, we think of Yamato<\/em>. What is it about Shirato, who’s now going wild with gags? We interviewed him to find out the secret. The conversation was fun and developed into a talk about “What if Takeshi Shirato created Yamato<\/em>?”<\/p>\n

I learned about the reality of mecha and character portrayal through Yamato<\/em><\/h3>\n

Interviewer:<\/em><\/span> It’s impossible to talk about you without mentioning Space Battleship Yamato<\/em>, so can you tell us about how you got involved?<\/p>\n

Shirato:<\/em><\/span> The original trigger, I heard later, was that producer Yoshinobu Nishizaki happened to see Mazinger Z<\/em>, which I was involved in, and really liked it. Then one day, his secretary came to see me and asked me to participate in a project he was planning. That was Yamato<\/em>. He showed me the setting documents, but I thought, “Oh, this can’t be done,” and declined. Then, after a while, Nishizaki himself came to see me and said that he really wanted me to do it. Well, I had the impression that it would be difficult, but I was persuaded by Nishizaki’s enthusiasm.<\/p>\n

Interviewer:<\/em><\/span> How enthusiastic were you when you actually started production?<\/p>\n

Shirato:<\/em><\/span> Well, I had no idea how to make Yamato<\/em> fly, so I was worried even though I accepted the job. But I did want to make the best possible product.<\/p>\n

Interviewer:<\/em><\/span> You never imagined that Yamato<\/em> would become such a big hit.<\/p>\n

Shirato:<\/em><\/span> Of course, it was impossible to imagine it at first. When it actually started airing, the ratings didn’t go up, partly because Heidi Girl of the Alps<\/em> was on the other channel.<\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Interviewer:<\/em><\/span> What was the most difficult or educational aspect of building up Yamato<\/em> to that level?<\/p>\n

Shirato:<\/em><\/span> It was the mecha, after all. I had a lot of trouble figuring out how to give it a sense of reality.<\/p>\n

Interviewer:<\/em><\/span> For example?<\/p>\n

Shirato:<\/em><\/span> Well, for example, how to make the planes fly and how to make them crash. Nishizaki said that even when drawing a formation of planes, they are actually moving according to a proper strategy, so it’s no good just drawing them moving around haphazardly. I thought that made sense. So, at Nishizaki’s urging, I watched a lot of war documentaries and studied how to bring out reality in my own way.<\/p>\n

Another thing is the portrayal of characters. In Yamato<\/em>, there is always one beautiful woman who appears. And her acting is amazing. The storyboards include details that I didn’t think could ever be expressed in anime. So the meetings were very detailed, and we discussed even the details of a single eye movement. It must have been a very tiring job for the animators. The task of paying attention to such small details was difficult, but at the same time, it was also a great learning experience.<\/p>\n

Interviewer:<\/em><\/span> If you don’t get a good grasp of each character’s psychological state, you can’t create reality or make them come alive on the big screen, is that right?<\/p>\n

Shirato:<\/em><\/span> That’s right. Even if it’s impossible to express all of their psychological states, it can look unnatural if you don’t have a good grasp of them.<\/p>\n

Interviewer:<\/em><\/span> You and Toyoo Ashida were in charge of animation supervision for Yamato<\/em>?<\/p>\n

Shirato:<\/em><\/span> That’s right. Then Kenzo Koizumi joined us halfway through.<\/p>\n

Interviewer:<\/em><\/span> When I talk to the staff of Yamato<\/em>, they all say it was “interesting” and “fulfilling.” How do you feel about it?<\/p>\n

Shirato:<\/em><\/span> Indeed, when I look back on it now, I think it was an interesting job. But I didn’t have time to think about that while I was making it. I was so busy with the schedule and I was completely absorbed in it.<\/p>\n

What makes Yamato<\/em> different from other works is that after it was finished, I had the unique impression that “Oh, I’ve made a really different work.” I haven’t experienced that feeling anywhere else.<\/p>\n

Interviewer:<\/em><\/span> I think that your encounter with Yamato<\/em> was a big one, and that it was also an encounter between you and Mr. Nishizaki, but what kind of person was Mr. Nishizaki from your perspective?<\/p>\n

Shirato:<\/em><\/span> Well, there’s no doubt that he’s a great producer. It’s only natural, but he understands his own work very well. And he has a spirit of service, or maybe it’s just that he cares very much about the people who watch his films, and he always believes that since they’re spending money and going out of their way to visit the theater, he has to make a work that they can enjoy and remember fondly.<\/p>\n

Even during meetings, he always looks over every frame of the storyboard and doesn’t hesitate to point out anything he doesn’t understand or that seems unnatural.<\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Works list<\/h3>\n

1955<\/span>
\nBorn in Fukagawa, Tokyo<\/p>\n

1970<\/span>
\nJanuary: Joined Hatena Pro
\n(January – May) Star of the Giants<\/em> (Animation)
\n(May 70 – September 71) Tiger Mask<\/em> (Animation, Key Animation, Animation Supervision)<\/p>\n

1971<\/span>
\nEstablished Tiger Pro
\n(October 71 – September 72) New Gegege no Kitaro<\/em><\/p>\n

1972<\/span>
\n(July 72 – March 73) Devilman<\/em> (Key Animation, Animation Supervision, Direction)<\/p>\n

1973<\/span>
\n(April – September) Mazinger Z<\/em> (Direction, Animation Supervision)
\n(October 73 – March 74) Dororon Enma-kun<\/em> (Direction, Animation Supervision, Character Design)<\/p>\n

1974<\/span>
\n(April 74 – May 75) Getta Robo<\/em> (Animation Supervision, Direction)
\n(October 74 – March 75) Space Battleship Yamato<\/em> (animation director, character design)<\/p>\n

1975<\/span>
\n(April to September) Young Tokugawa Ieyasu<\/em> (animation director, direction, layout)
\n(October 75 – March 76) Getta Robo G<\/em> (animation director, direction)<\/p>\n

1976<\/span>
\n(April to October) Gaiking<\/em> (animation director, direction, character design)
\n(October to present) Ikkyu-san<\/em> (animation director, direction)<\/p>\n

1978<\/span>
\n(October 78 – April 79) Yamato 2<\/em> (animation director)<\/p>\n

1979<\/span>
\n(March to June) The New Voyage<\/em> (Character design)<\/p>\n

1980<\/span>
\n(January – March) Be Forever Yamato<\/em> (storyboard, original drawings, character design)
\n(October 80 – April 1981) Yamato III<\/em> (storyboard, original drawings, character design)
\n(November) Wakko Willy<\/em> (pilot) (storyboard, character design, animation supervision) <\/p>\n

1981<\/span>
\n(airing from April) Mechakko Dotakon<\/em> (character design) <\/p>\n

See a longer list of Shirato’s credits at Anime News Network here<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Jungle Emperor Leo<\/em> drew me into the world of anime<\/h3>\n

Interviewer:<\/em><\/span> Have you been interested in anime and manga since you were a child? <\/p>\n

Shirato:<\/em><\/span> I liked manga and drew a lot in middle school and high school, but I think it was in my third year of university that I was casually watching TV and Tezuka’s Jungle Emperor Leo<\/em> came on. My impression at the time was that it was beautiful, probably because it was in color, and the movements were powerful, and I was really impressed. So I started to think that animation was great, and I began watching it on TV. <\/p>\n

Interviewer:<\/em><\/span> Didn’t you study art at university? <\/p>\n

Shirato:<\/em><\/span> Everyone is surprised when I tell them, but I majored in chemistry. I’ve been interested in that field since high school. But I don’t remember studying it much. (Laughs) I ended up dropping out of university after four years…<\/p>\n

Interviewer:<\/em><\/span> What about your manga history?<\/p>\n

Shirato:<\/em><\/span> I’ve always been a fan of Takao Saito<\/a>. So I used to visit his house a lot.<\/p>\n

Interviewer:<\/em><\/span> Were you hoping to become a manga artist at that time?<\/p>\n

Shirato:<\/em><\/span> Well, I wasn’t really thinking about becoming an apprentice or a manga artist at first, but I was vaguely interested. After going to his place a few times, I gradually realized how hard it was. Then I started to think that being a salaryman would be easier, so I gave up on the path to becoming a manga artist.<\/p>\n

Interviewer:<\/em><\/span> After that, what did you do until you entered the anime world?<\/p>\n

Shirato:<\/em><\/span> I still had opportunities to draw even after I gave up on becoming a manga artist. When I was in college, I drew a strip manga for a labor union magazine. It was a kind of socially charged manga, and I liked it, so I drew it with a lot of passion. It was low-paid, but I was still paid. (Laughs)<\/p>\n

That’s when I saw Jungle Emperor Leo<\/em> as I mentioned earlier. After that, I became very interested in animation, so I wanted to see how anime is made, and one day I went to visit Mushi Productions. By chance, they were looking for animators. I thought, “Great!” and applied.<\/p>\n

Interviewer:<\/em><\/span> And that’s how you got in?<\/p>\n

Shirato:<\/em><\/span> No, actually, I failed the exam. (Laughs) After that, I was working part-time drawing for a weekly manga magazine, but the editors asked me to draw something in a gekiga style, and I quit because I couldn’t draw that kind of thing. It was only for a short time, though…<\/p>\n

Interviewer:<\/em><\/span> And what about anime?<\/p>\n

Shirato:<\/em><\/span> Even after I dropped out of university, I was still interested in it, so I studied with my friends and also got lessons at Tatsunoko Productions. Then one day, my friend told me that they were looking for animators at Hatena Productions, so I ended up joining them.<\/p>\n

Interviewer:<\/em><\/span> So you joined them and immediately started working on Star of the Giants<\/em>?<\/p>\n

Shirato:<\/em><\/span> That’s right. When I joined, Star of the Giants<\/em> had just started, and I was asked to draw the animation right away. I think it was around the beginning of 1970. Then I was assigned to Tiger Mask<\/em>, where I was in charge of animation and key animation.<\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Interviewer:<\/em><\/span> Who else was at Hatena Pro?<\/p>\n

Shirato:<\/em><\/span> Well, there were Kenzo Koizumi, Hiroshi Wagatsuma, Kazuo Komatsubara, Minoru Okazaki, and Takao Konan. They were all great seniors, and I was amazed at how they could draw such good pictures. I was always wondering how they could draw so well.<\/p>\n

Interviewer:<\/em><\/span> I’m sure you learned a lot from your seniors, but who influenced you the most?<\/p>\n

Shirato:<\/em><\/span> Everyone really taught me a lot. If I had to choose one person, I learned a lot from Komatsubara-san because he was the animation director for Tiger Mask<\/em>. I was very influenced by him and would often look at what he drew and imitate it. I also learned a lot from Wagatsuma-san…<\/p>\n

Interviewer:<\/em><\/span> After Tiger Mask<\/em>…?<\/p>\n

Shirato:<\/em><\/span> Hatena Pro disbanded about a year after I joined, so I had no choice but to go independent and set up Tiger Pro, where I continued to work as the key artist and animation director for Tiger Mask<\/em>. After that…I’ll give you a quick rundown of the titles. <\/p>\n

I directed Devilman<\/em> from July 1972, Mazinger Z<\/em> from April 1973, and Dororon Enma-kun<\/em> from October. Then in April 1974, we did Getta Robo<\/em>, in October we did the famous Space Battleship Yamato<\/em>, in April 1975 we did Tokugawa Ieyasu, and in October we did Getta Robo G<\/em>. After that, in April 1976, we did Gaiking<\/em>, in October we did Ikkyu-san<\/em>, which is still ongoing, in 1977 we did Grand Prix no Taka, Dangard A, Baratak<\/em> and so on. In October 1978 we did Yamato 2<\/em>, and in March of the following year we did The New Voyage<\/em>. After that, we did Be Forever<\/em>, and we continued with Yamato III<\/em> last year. And that’s how we got to the current Mecchakko Dotakon<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Memorabilia<\/span><\/h3>\n

(at right)<\/p>\n

(A) A work I drew when I was 12 years old, using Tetsujin 28<\/em> as a model.<\/span><\/p>\n

(B) A masterpiece (?) drawn when I was 12 years old.<\/span><\/p>\n

(C) An original manga drawn when I was in my second year of high school. It’s interesting that the main character, Kenta (the boy with the hedgehog head in the center), resembles Dotakon from Mechakko Dotakon<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you’re going to make a new Yamato<\/em> series, you should have a very sci-fi feel to it.<\/h3>\n

Interviewer:<\/em><\/span> Are you currently working on Mechakko Dotakon<\/em> and Ikkyu-san<\/em>?<\/p>\n

Shirato:<\/em><\/span> Yes. We’ve been doing Ikkyu-san<\/em> for four years now, and we’re still doing it at a pace of one show a month.<\/p>\n

Interviewer:<\/em><\/span> Mechakko<\/em> seems to have a good reputation, how do you feel about it?<\/p>\n

Shirato:<\/em><\/span> Yes, it’s good. (Laughs) Well, I think what’s good about it is the way we keep the gags in check. If it was just slapstick, it would be easy for the people making it, but I think the audience would get bored quickly. So we do “real” gags.<\/p>\n

Interviewer:<\/em><\/span> What do you mean by “real” gags?<\/p>\n

Shirato:<\/em><\/span> Gags that adults can enjoy. A clear mechanism and a good punch line. So it’s hard to make it, but I think the good thing about the gags is that the staff can get into it and make them.<\/p>\n

Interviewer:<\/em><\/span> So the staff is really putting in a lot of effort.<\/p>\n

Shirato:<\/em><\/span> Yes, that’s true. The response was much more than we expected, and if an “original” thing can get that many viewers, I think that’s pretty good. That’s encouraging for the staff. And we’re all working hard to make it more interesting and more popular in the future.<\/p>\n

Watch the opening title here<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Interviewer:<\/em><\/span> When I take in your work history, it seems like a lot of it is hard stuff, but your new work Mechakko<\/em> is a bit different in style with gags. What do you think about “gag stuff” yourself?<\/p>\n

Shirato:<\/em><\/span> It’s true that I’ve made a lot of hard stuff, and it’s not a world that I dislike, but in terms of my personal preferences, I prefer gag-like stuff. For example, even in the works I’ve done so far, there are a lot of works that contain gag elements, like Professor Alphon in Devilman<\/em> and Asataro in Getta Robo<\/em>. That’s also the case with Dororon Enma-kun<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Interviewer:<\/em><\/span> When do you come up with ideas for gags?<\/p>\n

Shirato:<\/em><\/span> Well, I don’t think about making funny gags at all, but when I’m checking storyboards, funny gags often come to me. That is, when I look at a storyboard, I can follow the flow of the story, and various gags come to my mind, such as, “Oh, it would be more interesting if we did this.” I put them into the storyboard one after another. Then the episode director often gets angry at me. “Why didn’t you put it in the script?” (Laughs)<\/p>\n

Interviewer:<\/em><\/span> Do you ever go out of your way to find gag material?<\/p>\n

Shirato:<\/em><\/span> Well, I don’t have a specific book of material, and I don’t look for it carefully, but I’ve always liked Chaplin’s movies. His works are stimulating and helpful. But one time I used a Chaplin gag as is, and I was ridiculed for not being good at it. (Laughs)<\/p>\n

Interviewer:<\/em><\/span> Finally, I want to ask you: will you work on Yamato<\/em> again?<\/p>\n

Shirato:<\/em><\/span> Well, I’ve heard that it might be done again, but I can’t say for sure.<\/p>\n

Interviewer:<\/em><\/span> If you do it, regardless of what kind of work it will be, what kind of new Yamato<\/em> would you like to create?<\/p>\n

Shirato:<\/em><\/span> Well, if they could incorporate my ideas, I would like to create a “super sci-fi” (I don’t think there’s a word for that).<\/p>\n

The sense of science-fiction these days, whether it’s Voyager<\/em> or the space shuttle, is that the sense of SF from the past is becoming a reality. So I don’t think the audience would be surprised by a Yamato<\/em> set against the backdrop of Earth, as they were in the beginning. For example, the story could be about Yamato<\/em> going to investigate something more than double the distance of Iscandar (140,000 light years), and then discovering a planet tens of thousands of light years away, and trying to contact it by sending out radio waves. However, no matter how many times they try, the radio waves are always bounced back. When they investigate to see what’s wrong, they find a shell that envelops the galaxy. In order to get closer to that planet, they have to destroy the shell. However, they didn’t know how to do that. Then, after encountering various difficulties, they finally succeeded in destroying it. I once thought of a story like that.<\/p>\n

I feel like a story about discovering a new planet in the universe would be hard for viewers to follow…<\/p>\n

Interviewer:<\/em><\/span> So you’re saying that the interesting thing is the idea.<\/p>\n

Shirato:<\/em><\/span> That’s right. From now on, we have to go with super SF ideas.<\/p>\n

Note: Shirato’s next Yamato project was as the storyboard supervisor for Final Yamato.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Memorabilia<\/span><\/h3>\n

(D) A manga I drew for my labor union’s newsletter when I was a student.<\/span><\/p>\n

(C) Character settings for Gaiking<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

(F) Storyboard for Space Battleship Yamato<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

(G) I found this sketch in my sketchbook. Do you think you’ve seen this character somewhere before? Yes, Dotakon was born from this character sketch.<\/span><\/p>\n

(H) With my eldest daughter Eriko (10 years old) and second daughter Megumi (8 years old).<\/span><\/p>\n

(I) A snap of me going at the beach with a friend when I was a university student.<\/span><\/p>\n

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

Return to previous article<\/a><\/p>\n

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