Yoshiyuki Tomino is a Japanese mecha anime creator, animator, songwriter,
artist, director, screenwriter and novelist. He was born in Odawara,
Kanagawa Prefecture, and studied at Nihon University's College of Art. He is
best known for creating the Gundam anime franchise.
Career Tomino, began his career in 1963 with
Osamu Tezuka's company, Mushi Productions, scripting the storyboards
and screenplay of the first Japanese anime television series, Tetsuwan Atomu.
He later became one of the most important members of the anime studio
Sunrise, going on to direct numerous anime through the 1970s, 1980s and
1990s. Tomino is perhaps best known for his transformation of the "Super Robot"
mecha anime genre into the "Real Robot" genre with 1979's Mobile Suit Gundam,
the first in the Gundam franchise. He has also won numerous awards, including
the "Best Director" award at the recent 2006 Tokyo International Anime Fair. Two
anime series directed by Tomino won the Animage Anime Grand Prix award.
Tomino is known for using numerous pseudonyms for miscellaneous staffing
roles that he performs in his works, including Minami Asa and Minoru
Yokitani, which are used to credit himself for screenplays and storyboards
he creates, Rin Iogi, which he uses to credit himself for theme song lyrics he
writes. Tomino has collaborated with artists such as Yoko Kanno, Asei
Kobayashi, MIO and Neil Sedaka. Tomino is noted for directing several
well-known anime series throughout his career, such as his most notable work,
the Mobile Suit Gundam series, beginning in 1979, and which was later followed
onto numerous sequels, spinoffs and merchandising franchises, Aura Battler
Dunbine, Brave Raideen, and numerous others. His newer work includes Brain
Powerd, Turn A Gundam, Overman King Gainer and most recently, Gundam
Reconguista in G. = 1970s=
Tomino made his directorial debut with 1973's Triton of the Sea. This show,
loosely based on Osamu Tezuka's manga Blue Triton, showed a different
perspective than the traditional "good vs. evil" show. The star, Triton, a
10-year-old boy, is the last survivor of the Tritons, a tribe from Atlantis that
was wiped out by the "evil" Poseidons. However the viewers learn later on that
the story was not so black and white after all.
In 1975, Tomino worked on Brave Raideen, his first mecha work, in which he
directed the first 26 episodes. Raideen was renowned and influential in its
innovative portrayal of a giant machine of mysterious and mystical origins, and
has gone on to inspire numerous other directors and series, including Yutaka
Izubuchi's 2002 series, RahXephon. Tomino also later worked on 1977's
Voltes V. While many of the series Tomino has
directed throughout his career contained an upbeat and positive tone, in which
the majority of the protagonists survive, a number of his shows during
the early years of his career contained endings in which a significant number of
characters and protagonists died. In 1977, Tomino directed Zambot 3; in its
final episode, a large number of the protagonists kill themselves to defeat
the main antagonists. By doing so, the main protagonist survives and the Earth
is saved. Certain sources cite this series as the origin of a nickname used
by some anime fans, "Kill 'Em All Tomino", although it should be noted
that Tomino had directed and worked in a number of series in which the vast
majority of the protagonists survive. In 1979, Tomino directed and wrote
Mobile Suit Gundam, which was highly influential in transforming the Super
Robot mecha genre into the Real Robot genre. Mark Simmons discusses the impact
of Gundam in his book, "Gundam Official Guide":
In an interview published in Animerica magazine, Tomino discusses what he was
trying to accomplish with Mobile Suit Gundam:
Although the last quarter of the show's original script was canceled and it had
to be completed in 43 episodes, its popularity grew after three compilation
movies were released in 1981 and 1982. Mobile Suit Gundam was followed by
numerous sequels, spin-offs and merchandising franchises, becoming one
of the longest-running and most influential, popular anime series in
history, being chosen as No. 1 on TV Asahi's "Top 100 Anime" listing in 2005.
= 1980s= In 1980, Tomino directed Space Runaway
Ideon, a series which like Mobile Suit Gundam was cancelled on its initial run,
but featured movie versions later on. The final Ideon movie, 1982's Be Invoked
ends with all of the characters dying and the home planets of both the heroes
and villains being destroyed. However, the series he immediately directed
afterwards, Xabungle, contained a much more lighthearted and upbeat theme, with
the vast majority of the characters surviving, in stark contrast to Ideon.
Tomino followed Xabungle with 1983's Aura Battler Dunbine which featured an
ending where a large number of characters were killed. Tomino's next
show, 1984's Heavy Metal L-Gaim was again a stark contrast to this theme,
with all of the heroes surviving. In 1985, Tomino directed the first
sequel to 1979's Mobile Suit Gundam, Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam. This show once
again featured Tomino's "Kill'em All" bent, particularly in the last few
episodes. Tomino's involvement in the following Gundam series, 1986's Mobile
Suit Gundam ZZ created an upbeat, comedic theme whereas the earlier
Gundam's are of a darker theme. In 1988, Tomino concluded the saga begun in
Mobile Suit Gundam with the Gundam motion picture Char's Counterattack.
This was another Tomino feature in which most of the heroes were killed.
= 1990s and 2000s= Tomino would direct an additional Gundam
motion picture, Mobile Suit Gundam F91 in 1991. This movie, which took place 30
years after Char's Counterattack, re-launched the Gundam saga in a new
direction by featuring a completely new cast.
In 1993, Tomino directed his next Gundam series, Victory Gundam, which attempted
to relaunch the Gundam saga with a completely new cast. Like Zeta Gundam
before it, this series featured the deaths of a large number of the
protagonists. However, this was to be the very last Tomino series in which
this was to happen. Each of the series he directed and created afterwards
contain much more upbeat and lighthearted themes in which the vast
majority of the protagonists survive. In 1996, Tomino wrote and directed
Garzey's Wing, and in 1998 wrote and directed Brain Powerd. In 1999, he
returned to Gundam with Turn A Gundam and in 2002, directed two compilations
movies for it entitled Turn A Gundam I: Earth Light and Turn A Gundam II:
Moonlight Butterfly. Also in 2002, he directed Overman King Gainer, and in
2005, Tomino directed 3 compilation movies summarizing the events of 1985's
Zeta Gundam. His last major original work in the 2000s was the 6-episode OVA
The Wings of Rean, which first premiered on the Internet across Bandai Channel,
the broadcast beginning from December 12, 2005 with the final episode starting
on August 18, 2006. Also in 2006, Tomino made a special cameo appearance in
Shinji Higuchi's tokusatsu film Japan Sinks.
At the 2009 CESA Developers Conference, Yoshiyuki used his keynote speech to
criticize the gaming industry, citing that video games "bringing no
productivity at all" and that "consoles are just consuming electricity", while
stressing that game developers need to focus more on quality content rather
than advanced technology, comparing it to the modern animation industry. His
surprising remarks have sparked mass discussions online.
After working on the CGI short Ring of Gundam for Gundam's 30th anniversary in
2009, Tomino returned to the franchise again for its 35th anniversary in 2014
in a new work in which he wrote and directed, Gundam Reconguista in G.
Filmography Astro Boy
Wandering Sun Triton of the Sea
Neo-Human Casshern La Seine no Hoshi
The Adventures of Pepero Brave Raideen)
Super Electromagnetic Machine Voltes V Invincible Super Man Zambot 3
Invincible Steel Man Daitarn 3 Mobile Suit Gundam
Space Runaway Ideon Mobile Suit Gundam: The Movie
Mobile Suit Gundam II: Soldiers of Sorrow
Mobile Suit Gundam III: Encounters in Space
The Ideon: A Contact The Ideon: Be Invoked
Combat Mecha Xabungle Aura Battler Dunbine
Xabungle Graffiti Round Vernian Vifam
Heavy Metal L-Gaim Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam
Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack
Mobile Suit Gundam F91 Mobile Suit Victory Gundam
Garzey's Wing Brain Powerd
Turn A Gundam Turn A Gundam I: Earth Light
Turn A Gundam II: Moonlight Butterfly Overman King Gainer
The Wings of Rean Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam: A New
Translation I - Heirs To The Stars Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam: A New
Translation II - Lovers Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam: A New
Translation III - Love is the Pulse of the Stars
Japan Sinks Ring of Gundam
Gundam Reconguista in G Discography
Mobile Suit Gundam "Tobe! Gandamu" by Koh Ikeda
"Eien ni Amuro" by Koh Ikeda "Char ga Kuru" by Koichiro Hori
"Kirameki no Lalah" by Keiko Toda "Ima wa O-Yasumi" by Keiko Toda
"Kaze ni Hitori de" by Inoue Daisuke "Ai Senshi" by Inoue Daisuke
"Beginning" by Inoue Daisuke "Meguriai" by Inoue Daisuke
Aura Battler Dunbine "Dunbine Tobu" by MIO
Heavy Metal L-Gaim "Time for L-Gaim" by MIO
Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam "Zeta - Toki wo Koete" by Maya Arukawa,
composed by Neil Sedaka as Better Days Are Coming
Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ "Issenman-Nen Ginga" by Jun Hiroe
Mobile Suit Gundam F91 "Eternal Wind" by Hiroko Moriguchi
Mobile Suit Victory Gundam "Stand up to Victory"
Brain Powerd, composed by Yoko Kanno "Ai no Field" by Kokia
Turn A Gundam, composed by Yoko Kanno "Turn A Turn" by Hideki Saijou, composed
by Asei Kobayashi "Century Color" by RAYS-GUNS
"Ojousan Naishobanashi desu" by Hideki Saijou
"Tsuki no Tama" by RRET Team "Tsuki no Mayu" by Aki Okui
Overman King Gainer "King Gainer Over!" by Yoshiki Fukuyama
References External links
Nippon Battling Society, in which Tomino is in charge
Animefood Magazine Yoshiyuki Tomino Interview
Entry in the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction