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Maeda Mahiro / Murata Range / Kusanagi Takuhito / Murahama Shoji
Guest Of Honor Panel
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These esteemed guests all worked on BLUE SUBMARINE NO. 6
together, mainly as staffers of Studio Gonzo: Maeda Mahiro was the director
and mechanical designer, Murata Range was the character designer and illustrator,
Kusanagi Takuhito was the monster designer and a mechancial designer, and Murahama
Shoji is the president of Gonzo. They began the panel by showing exclusive
clips—never seen before by anyone outside their studio! (another Anime Expo
exclusive)—of stunning CG / 2D animation (as good as their OVA quality work)
from the upcoming PlayStation and Dreamcast game versions of AO NO
ROKU GO (BLUE SUBMARINE NO. 6). Their panel was also marked by many other
interesting exclusives, one being the giving away of limited edition, out-of-print
Studio Gonzo calendars, with exclusive illustrations from Murata Range and Gotoh
Keiji among others! There were only 10 or so, and they were given out to the first
10 people chosen for questions. Finally, they showed an exclusive clip of
VANDREAD, a new all-CG 3D anime series that Maeda-san is
working on currently.
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Pictured: Maeda Mahiro
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Q: First, I want to say that I think that
all your efforts on BLUE SUBMARINE NO. 6 are fantastic. The question,
though, is whether you've heard about a small "controversy" brewing in the anime community
regarding the unique blend of CG and 2D illustrations
in your work, BLUE SUBMARINE NO. 6? There are many anime fans who find the
CG and 2D in BLUE SUBMARINE NO. 6
to be very jarring , where the CG is really noticeably CG,
and the 2D is very blatantly 2D, with almost no
compositing done. They feel that the CG should blend a lot more with the
2D, with the CG painted on top of, in an anime style,
something like MONONOKE HIME. Yet there are many fans who feel that your
CG and 2D extremes are perfectly fine. What are your
thoughts on this?
Maeda: There was controversy among our staff as well! After many
discussions back and forth, we decided that we wanted Mr. Murata's beautiful 2D
illustrations, and we wanted the freedom and unique qualities of 3D as well,
for example, the ocean sequences, so we kept them both. The "mismatch" was intentional: we decided
that this was the "style" for BLUE SUBMARINE NO. 6.
Q: Will there be a new
GIANT ROBO anime?
Maeda: No.
Q: Kusanagi-san, what do you enjoy doing more:
anime or video games (GRANDIA)?
Kusanagi: The actual work is not much different. But I like anime more;
it's more social, working with a whole staff.
Q: Kusanagi-san, what is your
inspiration?
Kusanagi: I look at the texture on mammals, sea creatures, and the like. I
always want to make my designs beautiful. I look up to people like Jim Henson.
Q: Maeda-san, what do you think about the
censorship that happened on the Singaporean release of EVANGELION?
Maeda: I didn't know about the censorship, and this is the first time I've
heard about a Singaporean release; it is surprising. Well, there are differences in backgrounds,
peoples, values, etc., yet at the same time I would want to see the original content preserved, but
in the end because of the societal differences, you have to respect what they've done.
Q: What was your reaction to the final product for
BLUE SUBMARINE NO. 6?
Maeda: I was happy, and am still happy. I'm relieved that it was finally
done [smiles].
Murata: It was very nice to see my own characters animated and moving.
Kusanagi: When it first began, I felt empty, but as the anime got into
full production, I put more emotion into it and in the end I was happy with it.
Q: How do you feel about CG?
And its future use?
Murata: Well, with computers you can do so much more, so its usage will
continue to grow.
Kusanagi: In general, I think it's good. But on my desk, you won't find a
PC. I prefer the analog way better.
Q: What are your favorite characters?
Murata: It's difficult. I like them all [smiles].
Kusanagi: Right now, the [BLUE SUBMARINE]
NO. 6 characters, but tomorrow will be different.
Q: Maeda-san, who's your biggest
influence?
Maeda: I like Miyazaki Hayao [audience erupts into cheering]. And Takahata
Isao.
This panel also marked another AX2000 first: A massive Jan-Ken-Pon
(Rock-Scissors-Paper) tournament between the Guests of Honor and the entire
audience! They decided to give away 3 more limited edition calendars,
except these were over-sized calendars, as opposed to the desktop calendars
given away earlier. Basically, the entire audience challenged Maeda-san to
Jan-Ken-Pon, and actually, Maeda-san accidentally blew away the entire
audience! So the audience retried, and in the end, the last three
finalists won the calendars.
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