The animated film "Venus Wars," directed by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, was screened on March 15th at Ikebukuro Cinema Rosa (Toshima Ward, Tokyo) as an invited film at the Tokyo Anime Award Festival 2026 (TAAF2026) (organized by the festival's executive committee and the Japan Animation Association). Yasuhiko spoke about his "full-fledged return" to directing anime.
Yasuhiko made his "return" to the anime industry after approximately 25 years with the OVA (Original Video Animation) of "Mobile Suit Gundam THE ORIGIN," a manga that reconstructs the anime "Mobile Suit Gundam." He also directed the theatrical anime film "Mobile Suit Gundam: Cucuruz Doan's Island," released in 2022, but explained, "I'm a manga artist. I made 'ORIGIN' and 'Cucuruz Doan's Island,' and you might call it a return, but I came back to the anime world to retrieve something I left behind. I had lingering regrets about 'Gundam.' Everyone was so kind to me, and I realized that anime isn't so bad after all."
Yasuhiko himself seemed to think he hadn't "returned," and said, "I'm over 77 years old and still active, and for the past two or three years I've had the desire to do something without being limited to 'Gundam.' If I do that, I think it will be a comeback. If it's possible, I'd like to make it happen as soon as possible so that people can see it." He expressed his desire for a "full comeback."
"Venus Wars" was released in 1989, but it was also known as a "phantom anime" because director Yasuhiko had declared it "sealed away." The fact that the negative film was opened when Yasuhiko declared it was "unsealed" on the 30th anniversary of its release also became a topic of discussion.
While "Venus Wars" was hand-drawn during its production, modern animation is produced in a digital environment, and CG is widely used. "I like drawing by hand. I draw my manga by hand too. Filming (for animation in a digital environment) has become convenient, and we can make corrections right up until the last minute. It's like a dream. Cell layering used to be limited to around E cells, but in 'Cucuruz Doan's Island,' we used up to Y cells, and we can layer as many as we want. There are so many advantages. There's talk that AI will do it, but if it can do it, then let it. If we think it's wrong, we can correct it by hand," he said, seemingly welcoming the changes.
A retrospective exhibition of Yoshikazu Yasuhiko's work, "Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, the Artist," is being held at the Niigata Prefectural Museum of Modern Art (Nagaoka City, Niigata Prefecture) until May 24th. The retrospective has also been held in Kobe, Shimane, Aomori, Hokkaido, and Tokyo, and Yasuhiko commented, "I'm grateful to be able to hold the exhibition in such a wonderful museum. It's my first time in Nagaoka, and it's a fantastic place. There are also original drawings from 'Venus Wars.' I would be delighted if you could come and see it."
