-- by Scott Frazier

Editor's Note: "TV Safety" is the area of the images that will show up on a TV screen without distortion or cropping. Animators write notes, draw funky things (including mutant hands and such on otherwise normal character) outside this border because it will never make it onto the TV. So It's kind of a Twilight Zone for creativity that only really weird people (i.e. animators) see but that (kind of) exists in everything. Of course, there's also a more literal interpretation of the title as well.

Hello EX readers and welcome to my first column. I'm (usually) Scott Frazier and amongst many other things I am the President of Production I.G. (USA), Far East Representative of Cambridge Animation Systems (the Animo people), and a director/producer/digital manga creator. (Not necessarily in that order.) (If you saw me during the course of a day you would not see any order anywhere!) Yes, I produce and direct real Japanese animation. If you want to learn more (uh huh) you can read my interview or look at my homepage.
Although I can blather on and on about subjects of my own choosing (and regularly do), I would much prefer to answer questions from the readership so please send in some questions to for me to answer.

Production I.G., Inc. (USA)

People often ask what, exactly, it is that Production I.G., Inc., or I.G. USA as we generally call it, does. That's a very good question, and the people who have to sign the paychecks for the staff often ask the same question. Without going through all the company mission statements and such, suffice to say that where Production I.G., Ltd. (Japan) is like the FBI - taking care of the domestic area, IG USA is like the CIA - trading arms, carrying out black ops and overthrowing governments that - er, rather, taking care of things outside the borders of the country. So if somebody had, say, a couple million dollars in gold dubloons that they wanted to give to I.G. and they were in Japan they would bring it to the office, if outside Japan they should send it to the US office. (Or deposit directly in the US account. If anybody with gold is interested e-mail me and I'll let you know the account number.)
At the moment, we are mostly doing market research and some work with US animation companies.
With no available questions I must rant. So here are:

Nine Anime Myths Debunked

Myth 1: Kikuchi Michitaka and Asamiya Kia are different people.

Sorry. Same guy. Well, same body anyway.

Myth 2: Directors direct.

A lot of what is considered to be "directing" is actually done by the enshutsu, or technical director. (Sometimes referred to as the Animation Director.) This person is in charge of the details - camera filters, exact speed of panning movement, exact placement of cels on the backgrounds, what the key animation ends up looking like, etc. It is a very important job and requires a long internship and a lot of talent.

Myth 3: Shirow Masamune is extremely publicity shy and enigmatic and nobody really knows who he is.

He's actually the same guy as Kikuchi and Asamiya. Just kidding!
He is not publicity shy but has to be the hardest working guy in manga and almost never has time for interviews, events or anything. He doesn't hide away because he is avoiding the public but because he is constantly working. While we will probably never see him at a con, he does have an interest in what is going on in the world.

Myth 4: Miyazaki is a big ecology/environmental advocate and his films are statements about such.

On a radio show some years ago he said that, like any normal person, he has an interest in preserving the environment but that he is not going out of his way to preach about it. He said that he was sick and tired of being known as "Uncle Ecology" and wants to be seen as a film-maker; thus his next film would have nothing whatsoever to do with the environment.

Myth 5: Animators have brains/free will/etc.

This is a common belief in the world but not true of animators who have been working at it for more than a year. After a year we remove their brains (which bring a premium in the fan animator-brain collectors market) and hook them up to a machine similar to a dialysis machine that pumps a green fluid through their bodies. This fluid has little nanotechnology engines that allow them to work non-stop at repetitive jobs for months on end and not complain about the tiny pay they receive. Sometimes they overload and run around in circles squirting the green fluid all over the place and collapse in a gooey green heap. We then rebuild their skeletons with wire and yakitori skewers and make them directors. After a few years they either spontaneously combust (the usual) or collapse into a gooey heap yet again. The ones who collapse are buried in the Pet Sematary we have behind the studio and come back possessed and with no souls. They are then ready to be producers, accountants or presidents of game companies. (Ah, how I remember clawing my way out of that shallow grave... Brings tears to my eyes.)

Myth 6: Japanese animators and animation companies use computers a lot or know a lot about digital technology.

Until two years ago most animation companies didn't even have computers for office work. The cost performance of certain systems is now to the point where, once they get over the initial cost of setting up, they can get a return relatively quickly. More importantly, there are now systems capable of creating imagery that is indistinguishable from the work of the past and often allows the creators much more latitude in what they can do. There are still people who don't like computers and refuse to have anything to do with them. (There are hospitals for people like that...)
The West can now sleep safely with the knowledge that average Japanese people don't usually know how to program their VCRs either.

Myth 7: The shows receiving the greatest coverage in magazines like Animage, Newtype and Animedia are the most popular.

The anime magazines have their agendas too. Often the reason for shedding so much light on them is to boost awareness of shows with a small following. Just because a show is loved widely by fans does not mean that it will get good ratings on TV or sell a lot of videotapes. In fact, the more it is focused on fans, the less generally popular it is and the fewer tapes it will sell. This is not a problem if that is the target market and there are many manga and OVAs which do target purely the fan market.
Besides, don't you know EX is the only totally pure anime related magazine out there?

Myth 8: Once a show or manga becomes popular everybody else rushes to copy it, in style and/or content and try to ride the wave of its popularity until it seems like half of everything available is basically the same and you get really, really tired of looking at it.

Oh, how could you possibly believe this? Gee, no, not here. Never.

Myth 9: Japanese animators do a lot of rotoscoping. (For those unfamiliar with the term, rotoscoping is using film or video as a base and tracing and/or painting over the images. Strong examples include Fire & Ice, Lord of the Rings and the Taarna story in Heavy Metal.)

In 10 years I have never heard of anybody rotoscoping in Japan. It just isn't a technique used here although I can't say if this is a matter of cost, availability of technology, artistic reasons or what. It is common for animators to work from models, often magazine photos or video footage.

Weird Anime Company Anecdote #237 (collect 'em all)

When I was working in the production department at Artland, one of the new production assistants accidentally rear-ended a parked sparkling new Mercedes-Benz. He decided to write a note explaining what happened and how to contact him and left it under one of the windshield wipers.
The next day the owner calls and says, "This is Mr. XXX of the YYY-gumi." The car was owned by a yakuza gang! The PA who hit the car wasn't in and when he got back he almost passed out when we told him who he had hit. The cut-off-the-little-finger jokes went on for days. He was totally horrified when he went out to meet the yakuza people so the production manager had to go with him. Turns out that the yakuza were just like normal businessmen and were very polite and calm. Just before the end of the meeting the PA, in a totally relieved voice said:

"I'm really glad that you aren't mad or anything. When I heard who owned the car I was worried that... well..." "We'd kill you? Nah, you didn't break any of the lights."

It took 10 more minutes to get the PA to accept that it was a joke. Needless to say he left the company soon afterwards. The yakuza guy's business card was still on the bulletin board when I left the company years later.