The animated film "Venus Wars," directed by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, was screened on March 15th at Ikebukuro Cinema Rosa (Toshima-ku, 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). The film was released in 1989, but was also known as a "phantom anime" because Yasuhiko had declared it "sealed away." The fact that the negative film was opened after Yasuhiko declared it was "unsealed" on the 30th anniversary of its release also became a topic of discussion. Yasuhiko spoke about the "sealing" and looked back on the time of production.
"Venus Wars" was released in 1989 as Yasuhiko's third theatrical anime film, following "Crusher Joe" (1983) and "Arion" (1986). It was not a commercial success. Yasuhiko himself seems to have re-evaluated it, saying, "I got sulky and said I would 'seal it away,' refusing to release it on DVD/Blu-ray. About three years ago, they held a screening. I watched it again after a long time, and I thought it wasn't so bad after all."
Sachiko Kamimura, who has worked on many of Yasuhiko's works, served as animation director. Hirotoshi Sano was the mechanical animation director, and Hiroshi Yokoyama and Makoto Kobayashi participated as mechanical designers. Joe Hisaishi served as music director. The animation staff was also impressive, with young Toshihiro Kawamoto, Hiroyuki Okiura, Masahito Yamashita, Morifumi Naka Nakamori, Toshiyuki Inoue, Kenichi Onuki, Yoshimitsu Ohashi, and Takahiro Omori participating.
Yasuhiko recalled, "It's all hand-drawn. Looking at it now, you can really appreciate the beauty of hand-drawn animation. It was made on a low budget by my company. It's a company with only four people. So, the expense of feeding people wearing ties was zero. There are few subtitles (staff roll), but that's how it was in the Showa era. We were able to have an animation director. Until then, I had been the animation director, but I had Kamimura-san and Sano-san, whom I found, do it. Sano-san can draw anything, and Kamimura-san draws movements with great care. I didn't make any corrections, and instead drew the original drawings that were left out."
Shichiro Kobayashi served as art director, and Katsuhide Uekusa voiced the main character, Hiro. The use of live-action footage in some of the backgrounds was also innovative. "I've always been indebted to Sunrise, but due to various circumstances, our relationship had soured at the time. So I did it myself. The barriers were removed, and I was able to ask people I couldn't ask at Sunrise. Shichiro Kobayashi is one of them. I asked him on a whim, and he agreed. Mr. Kobayashi asked me, 'Why use live-action?' The live-action footage was shot in the Arizona desert. It was filmed in the US, but we didn't have much money, so we attached a video camera to a car and shot it. I wanted something that would generate buzz. That's also why I asked Uekusa-kun to do it," he said, describing it as a challenging project.
Yasuhiko had once retired from anime production after working on "Venus Wars." He spoke about his feelings towards anime, saying, "There have always been many wonderful people in the anime world, but they are not known to the public. I thought that people involved in anime could also become writers. Sunrise lets you write project proposals, so I wrote quite a few. 'Gundam' is an original work, and I would be happy if it marked a turning point in an era."
