An interview with Kia Asamiya: "I am who I am today because of Space Battleship Yamato" - His return as an animator, his retirement, and his thoughts on the remake series

Asamiya Kia, a manga artist known for works such as "Silent Mobius" and "The Great Steam Detectives," has a deep connection with the remake series of the popular anime "Space Battleship Yamato." Asamiya is not only a manga artist, but is also known as an animator. He took a break from animating after drawing the original drawings for "Gekiganger 3" in "Martian Successor Nadesico," which aired in 1996, but returned to animating for the first remake series, "Space Battleship Yamato 2199," which aired on TV in 2013. Since then, he has worked on storyboards, layouts, and visuals for the remake series, and has also drawn the teaser visual for the latest remake series, "Yamato Forever REBEL 3199," which has been a hot topic. We asked Asamiya about his thoughts on "Space Battleship Yamato" and his involvement with the remake series. ◇The trigger for his return was a consultation with Izubuchi Yutaka The first TV anime, "Space Battleship Yamato," began airing half a century ago, in 1974. It became a big movement and had a big influence on subsequent anime. Asamiya was one of the people who was greatly affected by it. The remake series was not the first time that Asamiya participated in "Space Battleship Yamato". He also participated as an animator in "Space Battleship Yamato: The Final Chapter" released in 1983. "I was in the fifth grade when it started broadcasting. At the time, there were only two commercial TV stations in my hometown. After "Samurai Giants" finished, I saw the preview for "Yamato" and was shocked. I was so hooked that I thought I had to start watching it next week! It was different from the anime I had been watching until then. However, not many people around me were watching it. I think a lot of people were watching "Monkey Warriors" (a rival program). "Yamato" was the trigger for the creation of anime magazines, and when I saw it, I learned about the job of an animator for the first time. I thought, if I can make a living by drawing pictures... I decided to become an animator. My first job as an animator was the animation for "The Final Chapter." Asamiya had been active as an animator under the name "Michitaka Kikuchi," but he stopped working as an animator to focus on manga. However, he received a direct offer from Director Yutaka Izubuchi, who worked on "2199," and he returned to work as an animator. "I think the last key animation I did was for Gekiganger 3 (character design by Nobuyoshi Habara), an anime within Martian Successor Nadesico, for which I was doing the character draft. I also do manga. I was asked to do creature design for Kamen Rider Fourze (aired from 2011 to 2012), so I went to consult with Izubuchi. It was my first time doing creature design, and when I went to talk to this great senior, he said, 'Actually, I'm working on Yamato now. Do you want to see the setting?' Of course I wanted to see it. When I did, he said, 'You've seen it, haven't you? Aren't you going to get on this ship?' (laughs). Since it was Izubuchi who asked, there was no reason for me to refuse. After all, Yamato is special, and I am who I am today because of Yamato. He participated in "2199" as an animator, but looking back, he recalls that at first, "I was like Urashima Taro." "It had been about 15 years since I last did key animation, so there were a lot of things I didn't understand, and I asked the production manager to give me a glossary. At first, it was a scene of mechas fighting on the floating continent of Jupiter. Nowadays, I would leave it all to the CG, but at that time, I drew rough key animations to refer to the timing of the CG production. After that, I did a lot of things, such as correcting the layout, key animation and layout for the ending... The producer, Shimoji Shiono, was the first person I worked with after becoming a freelance animator, and I basically never turn down work from people who have helped me. I've known Shimoji since I worked on Transformers for Ashi Productions. I've been in the industry for a long time, but I think I was able to continue because of the timing and the connections." ◇Retirement as an animator He will also participate in "Space Battleship Yamato 2202: Warriors of Love," which was screened in theaters from 2017 to 2019 as a sequel to "2199." The director of "2202" was Nobuyoshi Habara. Asamiya and Habara have a connection through various works such as "The Great Steam Detectives," "Mobile Battleship Nadesico," "Shurato: A Tale of Heavenly Warriors," and "Sonic Soldier Borgman." "For '2202,' I first came up with the concept for the opening with Habara. As we were talking at a family restaurant, I drew something on a napkin I found nearby, saying, "I guess it's something like this..." and created the basis of the storyboard. I do layouts, key drawings, storyboards, and illustrations for copyrights. I've also started illustrating the packaging of plastic models." He will also participate in "The Era of Space Battleship Yamato: Choices in 2202 A.D.," a compilation of "2199" and "2202" released in 2021. "I'm doing all the storyboards for the new scenes in the compilation and the new cuts of the mecha all by myself. Also the layouts and key drawings. By participating in the compilation, I realized my limitations as an animator... Because anime is a comprehensive art form made by everyone together, I thought I was causing trouble to other people, so I decided to quit being an animator. I won't be doing it anymore. I'm retiring."While this "retirement announcement" is disappointing for fans, he has also taken part in "Space Battleship Yamato 2205: The New Voyage" and the latest work, "Yamato Forever REBEL 3199." "For 2205, I did the illustrations on the sleeve and the teaser visuals for the latter chapter, and I also drew the teaser visuals for 3199. I also did detail updates to the main story, two storyboards, and drew drawings like image boards. The Yamato in the last cut of the first chapter is my drawing. I drew the drawing as reference for the storyboards and the like, but I hope I'll have the opportunity to reveal it somewhere someday." The teaser visual for 3199's second chapter, "Red Sun's Release," shows the Yamato about to depart. "I did the storyboard for episode 4, and it was a visual of the launch scene from the asteroid in episode 4. It's a bit of a bird's-eye view, with the bridge blacked out by the backlight, and only the windows are shining. It may be rare to see a visual of Yamato from the front." What he teaches as an instructor Although he is "retired" as an animator, he has also worked on storyboards for "Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch of Mercury," "Mobile Suit Gundam SEED FREEDOM," and "HIGHSPEED Etoile." He also teaches young animators at Bandai Namco Filmworks. "Since last year, I have been training new animators every Wednesday, but since the other instructors are all active animators, I teach them in a slightly different way. I don't teach them much about movement (laughs). I teach them methodology, layout, camera, etc., and I have them watch a movie every time. I tell them the key points before I show them." It's a luxury to be able to receive direct instruction from Asamiya, and I'm curious to know what kind of movies he shows them. "Recently I had him watch 'Poppoya'. It was one of the turning points in Japanese cinema, and I told him that he should remember the name of the famous cinematographer, Kimura Daisaku. I've also seen 'Aim for the Ace' and 'Back to the Future,' as well as 'Farewell, My Lovely Lupin' and Fleischer's Superman film 'The Mysterious Robot Robbery'... I watch live-action films too. It's better for animators to study the acting of real people. I'm the type of person who doesn't need to watch that much anime." ◇The appeal of the remake series It has been half a century since the first film, 'Space Battleship Yamato,' began airing, but Yamato still retains its timeless appeal. "While retaining the Yamato battleship's large-ship, large-gun principles, it also has a spaceship feel. Up until then, most spaceships were rocket-type, and the impact of a ship flying in the sky was huge. Because Yamato is so great, it's difficult to design other space battleships. Yamato's impact was so big that it can't be imitated." What does Asamiya, who is from the "Yamato generation," think about the appeal of the remake series? "I think it's big that new Yamato works are still being made today. The old fans are supporting us, and with 2202 we've seen a significant increase in female fans. Because it's Yamato, I'll do anything. People sometimes ask me, is it okay if it's Yamato, but it is Yamato after all. That's what it is. The remake series has a different color depending on the director, and I'm looking forward to that as well." "3199" is general director Fukui Harutoshi, who was in charge of series composition for "2202" and "2205." "Fukui's work contains a lot of information. This time, as the general director, I have to digest that amount of information, so I think it will be difficult. Even when I'm storyboarding, I feel like there is a lot of information, and I'm sure there are many amazing things behind this amount of information. I've finished all of my storyboard and drawing work for the main story, but I'm looking forward to seeing what happens." Asamiya and other staff members who are passionate about "Space Battleship Yamato" are participating in the remake series. I hope you will feel that passion in the second chapter of "3199," "Red Sun's Sorting," which is currently being screened.