[originally posted 13 August 2023]
Released by MOVIC in 1988 alongside the film, the Char’s Counterattack Cinema Book is a companion resource to the film, with multiple pages of color screenshots, an interview with Director Tomino, and plenty of concept art. In this post however, we’ll only be covering the interview.
The interviewer’s questions are denoted Q: and Director Tomino’s responses are T: for clarity. This interview also contains many footnotes from the book itself, and I have also reproduced those in their entirety at the end. Which is to say, the opinions expressed there are those of the author, not my own.
Enjoy!
Yoshiyuki Tomino (富野由悠季)
Born November 5, 1941 in Kanagawa Prefecture. After graduating from Japan University College of Art, he joined Mushi Production in 1964 and was in charge of production on series such as Astro Boy. Since then, he has had his hand in many works as a freelance director. In 1979, he introduced Mobile Suit Gundam, a revolution in the robot genre. Since then, he has continued to release pioneering robot works such as Space Runaway Ideon, Aura Battler Dunbine, and Heavy Metal L-Gaim. In 1988, Mobile Suit Gundam: Char’s Counterattack, the culmination of his many works, was released. What was it that Yoshiyuki Tomino had been thinking about until its completion?
Q: There have been three Mobile Suit Gundam series so far, but how does this new movie, Mobile Suit Gundam: Char’s Counterattack, position itself among those works?
T:: Of course it’s not unrelated. It follows Mobile Suit Gundam and Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam. However, the story of Char’s Counterattack was constructed to follow those in order, but not to inherit “everything”. By not “everything,” I mean things like, “why is Beltorchika Irma(a), who was in Zeta Gundam, not in the movie?” In other words, it cannot be said that we followed the character placement perfectly.
Why did we not follow it? Originally, it was something that had to be carried over, but when I wrote such a scenario at first, it was rejected. There is a good reason for this: if she were to appear, the story would become that Amuro(b) had apparently gotten married. In other words, the main character was either married or (he and Beltorchika) had been living together for a long time, and the companies involved questioned whether it would be appropriate to depict a robot anime with such a main character. I too thought that this doubt was quite natural. However, when I was actually planning Char’s Counterattack and writing the scenario, I couldn’t come up with that much on my own. In other words, from the beginning I assumed Beltorchika would be there, since the story follows from Gundam, to Zeta, and then Char’s Counterattack. Even so, when I understood that it would not be suitable for her to appear in this film due to the concerns I mentioned earlier, I decided not to include her. Also, I made it so there was absolutely no information about her in the film. If we had to go into all that detail, the movie would have quickly exceeded the two-hour time frame.
But that’s not the only reason I didn’t have her appear. One of the key problems I noticed when I wrote the first draft of the scenario was that the “human power” became too strong, and the storyline became one where mobile suits were not needed. This is also a very troublesome matter from the perspective of affiliated companies that have invested in Char’s Counterattack. And it’s not preferable for me either. It’s a work called Gundam because there are mobile suits such as the Gundam. In the end, no matter what form Beltorchika was made to take, it would somehow end up that way. For this reason as well, she had to be removed in the end.
Q: It’s the result of a lot of hard work, isn’t it?
T: Well, on the other hand, of course there are also opinions such as, “why did you have to remove her for such a reason?” However, the way I see it, I basically want my movies to be like a one-shot episode. When I say this, you may ask what the previous movies, Gundam I, II, and III, were about, but those were in part a rehash of the TV series. So I actually think it’s okay for such films to exist, because despite feeling this way, I still made them (laughs). However, I don’t want people to think that all my films will be made that way. Personally, I didn’t want people to think that we were just trying to get our money’s worth if we split Char’s Counterattack into a part I and part II, for example. On top of that, since the film is being made to settle the score from Gundam, I wanted it to be resolved in one episode.
In other words, while making that simple assertion, and if the affiliated companies that funded the film accepted that, then I thought that I would need to hold back on a story of an Amuro who might be married, and/or a story that rejects mobile suits. This is not a give and take, but a condition that we had to accept in order to make the film work. I was able to come to terms with this the more I actually worked on it, and I felt it was good that this ended up being a lighter movie. If Beltorchika had appeared, there would have been a sense of too much lengthy dialogue, and I think it would have become too true to life, not something “movie-like” that you would want to see on the big screen. However, two companies have published novels about Char’s Counterattack. I’m aware that there are opinions that the Beltorchika arc written in those novels is better, and I think that’s fine. You may ask why I didn’t force myself to do it that way, but if I did so, the Gundam series would not be able to continue in the true sense of the word. It is not only for practical reasons, such as the fact that the investors would stop paying us, but also because if I had the power to do so, and if I actually made it happen that way, I would not be able to write about mobile suits at all after that. When I asked myself whether it would be good to create such a work that would deny the existence of mobile suits, I realized that this was not the case. In other words, the first draft of the scenario must only be included in the novel version.
After all, a movie shouldn’t be made based on just one staff member’s ideas. With a movie, first there is the audience, then there are the investors and the other directors. It must be made with the help of many people, including animators, art directors, voice actors, and recording staff. If it is made according to the preferences of a single person, that’s not the way to make a film. But even so, in the end, the movie is a product of the director’s will, and it can be said that it belongs to the director. Finding that balance is what makes movies interesting.
Q: Despite the collective will, it must still be produced under the will of one person.
T: There is often an opinion that it is okay for a director to show his ego, but that is not the case. When you watch successful films, they are made through cooperating and recognizing each other so that individual egos do not come out.
By incorporating a variety of opinions without letting the director’s ego show, the film becomes more like a film. I thought that the work would be successful if it was made in that way, and I think Char’s Counterattack turned out like that. At least it didn’t turn out to be a heavy and painful “I get what you’re trying to say” type of work. So instead of asking how Char’s Counterattack is viewed from the perspective of the previous TV series, in my case, I could only make a one-shot story that inherits the qualities of them. It can’t be compared with the TV series, and it doesn’t deny the things that have occurred up until now. I think that it is only a result of those things.
Q: What do you think about the new characters such as Quess Paraya(d) who appear in Char’s Counterattack?
T: When I decided not to include Beltorchika, I thought about what was needed to add spice to the screen, and concluded that it would be better to have a girl beside the main character, so I created Chan Agi as Amuro’s partner. Since Char’s Counterattack is about Amuro and Char, the enemies and allies are not clearly divided, but have a very special structure in which they form a parallel relationship. For that reason, when I thought about Char on the enemy side this time, I needed a character who could connect both sides. When I thought about the nature of such a character, I could only come up with a character like Quess Paraya. So I made her a major supporting character, and she connected those who were divided into enemies and allies, but not completely opposing sides.
Therefore, if Beltorchika had appeared, she would have played both the role of Chan and Quess alone. A new character had to emerge from such a situation. From there, I came up with Char’s Counterattack.
Q: What about the characters from Gundam and Zeta Gundam who didn’t appear in Char’s Counterattack, besides Beltorchika?
T: I didn’t think about other characters at all for Char’s Counterattack.
The reason why I didn’t take the elements outside of the main story into consideration is that, in my personal opinion, a movie should be well-paced. I didn’t want to slow down the pace of the film by explaining the outside elements, and I knew that I wouldn’t be able to produce it in time, so I removed all of the parts that were distracting. Well, we were able to do exactly what we had planned for the film’s running time(e). There were about 300 cuts that we wanted to leave out, but they were all necessary to explain the relationships in the film, and we did not add any new elements aside from that(f).
Q: How about the production staff?
T: The fact that there are seven animation directors listed in a row is obvious to anyone who looks(g). The reason why there are seven names is simply because, after Yoshikazu Yasuhiko-kun, there has not been a main animation director who has done work comparable to him within Gundam. At the same time, it would require a great deal of effort to create something like Gundam after Yasuhiko-kun. The reason is that Gundam has a lot of “volume”. It would be cruel to expect such capacity from people who are age 25 or younger. This became apparent as we continued the production work, especially in the first four months, where even if we went to extremes, there were times when not even a single cut would be finished. If, and this is just an if, but if those four months had gone smoothly, I think the level of completion of the cuts at the dubbing stage would have gone up considerably.
There are many other reasons as to why this happened. However, due to the fact that it’s Gundam, it was a job that demanded a certain volume, or rather, quantity, and the staff must have been very nervous and worked very hard, which is why I could not raise the volume of work. I became so focused on each individual cut. That’s why when it was finished, the result was not satisfactory.
In short, the desire in my heart to do my best caused me to spend more time than I should have. This is the same as what I talked about earlier regarding writing the first draft of the scenario in which Beltorchika appeared. I wanted to do my best, and I had to do my best, but I ended up writing a story about Amuro who had lost his sense of youth. And in the end, it was exactly the same as being told, “Tomino-san, this is not a movie.” I became frozen while everyone else was taking on animation cuts. In other words, it’s proof that good results will never come if you’re all on your own, even if you try to do your best.
I deeply regret that an experienced person like myself did not recognize this situation at an earlier stage before it happened, and I am sorry for the pressure I put on the young people as a result.
But when I see the young staff members of today who are stuck in the same position of needing to always do their best, I feel that they are very nervous. However, this nervousness is very troublesome when doing business. It’s a negative factor. The result of that nervousness is the loss of time and money, and the inconvenience affects everything even up until post-recording and dubbing, and it becomes a huge nuisance for people in other positions. This is my opinion that I can say to the staff in all positions, be sure to keep a good balance in such circumstances.
Most importantly, it’s not so clear cut as simply doing work. In other words, I’m not sure that all staff members must be trained to balance multiple positions, but if they can do that well, most of the staff members who worked on Char’s Counterattack will also be able to use their abilities to be successful in their careers. There are some who are exceptional, but most of them have great skill in the fundamentals of animation. I believe that if they continue to do two or three more projects like this and gain experience, they will be able to create truly amazing animations from Tokyo. This is not flattery. That’s why I want them to cherish the power they have now.
Q: On a different note, did you draw rough drawings, such as designs, for this work?(h)
T: No, I don’t do that anymore. The reason is that it is no longer at a level that amateurs can handle, so I don’t mess with it. However, as I mentioned in the staff discussion earlier, each individual’s skill level is very high, but unfortunately, the most fundamental problem had been neglected. I was troubled because there were so many jobs where I was only interested in small, unimportant details. That is to say, I made a mistake. That’s what I struggled with, especially in the mechanical designs, to the point of getting annoyed.
As for the animators, I admit that they are quite good when it comes to the finished pictures that make up the animation. But the important thing to remember is that this is an animation picture, so it should not be drawn like a finished illustration. It’s an illustration, not an animation. You can’t make it move if it’s like that. That’s why there are almost no people who can plan the action lines for animation. Moreover, although they seem to be able to draw the movements for TV animation, which has been popular for the past couple of years, it is not true animation. Many people have forgotten how to animate normally because they have only learned that technique instead.
As for the mechanical designs, we wanted to create mobile suits with a new feeling that had never existed before. However, what we have drawn is still like something that has been seen before. There are cool little details on the surface, but in the end, if you erase everything on the surface, you end up with a character that is just a copy of another. That’s why I want you to understand that a single design illustration won’t have movement. Don’t be deceived by the level of detail.
The end result is the kind of animation that you especially see nowadays being released on home video. In short, they all end up looking the same. It’s not an independent piece.
However, that being said, I didn’t present design motifs this time. They all come from the individual designers. Nevertheless, because we had to spend so much time to get to that point, the finishing touches were inevitably lax, and I suffered from the fact that it was not a unique work of art.
Q: Returning again to the discussion of works, it seems that Gundam will come to an end with Char’s Counterattack. Did you have any feelings regarding that?
Unfortunately, while editing the film, I realized this wasn’t the end, so I don’t have that kind of deep feelings about it. To be honest, I’m thinking that Gundam will start again now that the prologue is finally over.
I myself am keenly aware that I am being kept alive within Gundam.
Q: What would you like the audience to see in Char’s Counterattack?
T: I made this film because I wanted the audience to see it, and because there’s something I wanted to portray with the film. All I can say is, please watch it(i). And whether they like it or not is not up to me. A producer can only say, “I made it this way, but what do you think of it?” If you want to say, “I made this film this way, so you should understand it this way,” then don’t bother making a film, write an essay or a novel, or spend dozens of pages in a pamphlet describing what you wanted to portray in the film. But in fact, if you wrote such a thing, there would be no need to make a movie. Then there is no pamphlet, so it’s a contradiction (laughs).
Besides, and this is obvious to those of you who have already seen Char’s Counterattack, but I’m not sure if the things I did in it, such as removing Beltorchika and the last scene with Amuro and Char, were good or bad. I won’t say it was exactly to my specifications. That was the limit I had within two hours. For instance, if I thought about adding more details, I would have run out of time. Even so, it would be nice if I could have created a masterpiece even if it was over the time limit, but I didn’t have that kind of confidence.
However, there is one thing that I would like you to see, not a part related to the main body of the work, but a technical aspect. The basic approach I took in directing this film was to try to make an animated film that felt like a normal film(j). However, there is no standard to which I can say with certainty that this is indeed a normal film. But even still, I found a baseline that I thought would be good to follow when creating Char’s Counterattack. Since the methodology is derived from drawings, the particulars of the technical theory should be more apparent on the film screen.
If you can, think not about why it looks this way, but about what the director did to make it look this way, and if you see through the answer to that question, there is much to learn. However, this is mainly a technical matter and cannot be taught in words. It’s almost impossible to understand even if you talk about it, so I want you to actually see it with your own eyes and learn from it.
If when you watch Char’s Counterattack you feel that something is strange, don’t look at it like a normal movie, but if it does feel like you can watch it normally, then so be it. And if you wondered why the story of the movie seemed to fly by, if you pay close attention to that, then you will understand that this is what must be done to make a motion picture. It will become an absolute wisdom when you have the opportunity to make a movie in the future.
Q: What kind of movies do you like other than your own?
T: I wouldn’t say I particularly like the movie itself, but if it simply comes down to preferences, I like the black and white version of King Kong made in the United States in 1933(k).
Q: Was there any influence from King Kong while making your movies?
T: I don’t think so. If you were to ask why, it’s because it’s quite an unfinished work. However, I really like it because it makes me feel like I can say “I LOVE KING KONG”. After all, I think that’s what movies are meant to be, the sensation of having fun. Moreover, I believe that the degree of foolishness of the people of that time, who created such films before World War II when talkies were first introduced in black and white, is the spirit of fun that is at the very origin of the filmmaker.
That is why I dislike the color version of King Kong shot on 70mm film. I think it’s because it’s very clearly deceptive and skeevy, and it’s done with a look that says, “I can do it even better”(l).
In other words, if you had the financial backing to film at such a large-scale location, color film was available, you could arrange for a 70mm camera, then in this day and age, anyone could make the film they wanted. I can’t forgive the fact that, despite all of that, the staff still decided they wanted to make King Kong.
Q: Do you have a favorite recent movie?
T: No, I don’t really like movies, so I don’t think I watched any movies last year (1987)…
Oh, I forgot to mention earlier, but horror movies absolutely aren’t for me.
Q: Do they not suit your fancy?
T: It’s not that they don’t suit my fancy, it’s that I can’t watch them. That’s why, when I carelessly went to see Alien(m), I was so scared that I closed my eyes for about an hour (laughs). Because I am that kind of person (laughs).
Q: Alien also changed considerably in its sequel Alien 2 (Aliens)(n) and became closer to an action story, so how do you feel about Alien 2?
T: Alien 2 is a ridiculous movie (laughs). It wasn’t that scary though. The first one was really scary… I want to kill anyone who airs that on TV. Don’t you agree? If you show it on TV, there’s nothing to be afraid of. That careless way of thinking is the same carelessness that led to the color version of King Kong, isn’t it?
But I really don’t watch movies very often. Of course, I’m interested in the work I’m doing right now, and it would be helpful if my films were successful, but I also dislike most of my films. This is because there is always a fear that if you fall in love with your own work and get absorbed in it, you won’t allow yourself to make the next one.
Still, when I saw Gundam III: Encounters in Space about four or five years after it was released, I was moved by myself (laughs). This guy made a great film, nice work (laughs). I mean, it’s probably because I only hate them for a time. Eventually I don’t see them as my own work. In that sense, I am a person with severe amnesia (laughs).
Q: RoboCop(o) has become a hot topic among recent movies, and it’s a pity that live-action movies have taken over the robot genre that is the specialty of animation.
T: It can’t. The reason why is clear. However, and this is just a dream, but for example, if there were talks about a live (live-action) robot story, I would like to do it. If that happens, I would like to create a work that would leave animation speechless. I hope there will be such an opportunity before I die (laughs).
In my case, somewhere in my heart, there is a part of me that foolishly believes in such things. It’s true that I want to think about it from a realistic point of view. I would like to think about what kind of mecha things are needed in such a situation. However, I won’t say it at this point in time while Char’s Counterattack is being released, but I would like to think more about this kind of thing around summertime once I forget about my current work. I say that as a joke now, but maybe it’ll come true (laughs). Because I believe so, I’m going to start thinking about the project a little bit, even though I don’t know how many years it will take.
In that sense, if the staff who worked on Char’s Counterattack were to in three years time make several animations, come to understand the techniques of real animation, and become able to make a real movie, then they could make a film capable of even silencing the live action robots produced by Hollywood.
In fact, I think it can be done. Rather, I would like them to want to make a live action adaptation of such a movie.
Thus, this means that if you don’t believe in something like the joke I just told you, you will not seriously consider a route to achieve it. If you are just vaguely wanting to do something, it will remain impossible. You have to believe that you can do it.
Q: After all, it won’t be interesting if you don’t think about those things.
T: It’s not that it’s not interesting, but if you don’t think about it, you can’t get serious about it. By believing in such ideas, things can be created.
Q: I would like to return to the topic of Char’s Counterattack, specifically I would like to ask about the voice actors.
T: Regarding that, I didn’t have much freedom. In other words, there were people I absolutely had to use(q). And there were many. As a filmmaker, more than just making a new movie, I want to make something truly refreshing. First of all, there are a lot of characters that I get caught up on in that sense. To select new characters on top of that, I had to listen to about 80 audition tapes for the first time in about two years, and I got the impression that all of the recent aspiring voice actors had the same kind of voice and similar performances. For that reason, I had no choice but to cast like this this time. This really bothered me from the bottom of my heart.
However, that does not mean that there is a problem with the people who appeared in Char’s Counterattack. In fact, the people who performed the roles were easy to work with. What I want to say is that the new options have been narrowed down to this point. I wanted to work with young, fresh girls (laughs). However, I could not abuse my authority in that way (laughs). In other words, the pool of voice actors has narrowed. It’s just like the animators we talked about earlier. Well, it has made me realize that the state of the world has narrowed in many ways, and that we need to make the world a place where we can work with people who have different characteristics. Compared to about four years ago, I was really surprised because there are fewer options now.
The cause of this is production companies’ bias towards the trend of bringing on cute-looking girls to fit an animation focused image, and this needs to be stopped now. I would like to say that animation is not such a narrow field. But that’s not the fault of individual voice actors, it’s a problem in the animation world as a whole.
Q: It’s similar to the cute girl type of idol singers.
T: Yes, exactly the same. The matter of singing ability is secondary. Such things depend on the vision and taste of the people at the top who bring in those girls, don’t you think?
Q: This time, there were three days of recording, right?
T: If you ask me, three days is not really enough, but due to the realistic budget issues and the issue of performance fees in the Japanese TV animation industry, we could not stretch it any further. I hate it because that’s the way things are now. That said, I do understand that we are all not working within idealism.
Q: It might be nothing, but regarding a part of the story that wasn’t depicted, I’m concerned that Mineva Lao Zabi(r) isn’t with Char. She’s already 14, so she should be old enough to express herself.
T: Well, you know, I didn’t touch her because if I put that in motion, it would start heading towards the interpersonal kind of story that I mentioned earlier. Because if I did that, it would have been a story about Char and Mineva. It’s a whole different sort of story. If Amuro gets involved in such a story, it will only complicate things. It would be just like the confusing feeling when Haman Karn(s) appeared in Zeta Gundam. So I instinctively avoided such stories.
So, to the question of what is the relationship between Char and Mineva from the standpoint of Char’s Counterattack, Char no longer has a problem with the Zabi family, and he wouldn’t gain anything from killing Mineva out of spite, so you can simply assume that he abandoned her, or forgot about her. Otherwise, the story of Mineva’s tragedy would be too oversimplified. And I didn’t want to get into that either.
If Char really was a lolicon(t), which is briefly touched on in the movie, for better or worse, Mineva’s bullying would begin. She would be teased, and contrary to their rank, picked up and carried around. But for her, both are torture. I personally don’t like that kind of story. The idea of depicting that inherently sadistic side of human beings does not fit well with the robot genre. So let’s say Char forgot about her. Otherwise, it would have become a bloody story…
Of course, I fully understand your desire to see their story. I guess it is because Char’s Counterattack is finally fading from my mind, but I truly feel like I could make a story about Mineva and Char.
Q: Mineva was also a character with considerable weight, right?
T: That’s why it’s okay to have at least one forgotten girl, isn’t it? In the case of Beltorchika, she was chosen at first but then had to be pushed aside, so it’s still good. There are even parts of the Gundam series already like that where certain characters are the focus(u). That’s why I feel like I shouldn’t choose everyone. I feel like if I tried to cover every angle, it would make me unwell. In the extra episode, I’ll definitely deal with Mineva… no, I won’t (laughs).
But if I were to take it on, it would be about an adult Mineva. Otherwise, it would feel unpleasant and pitiful, so I will begin once her coming-of-age ceremony is finished and she is no longer a child. After she grows up, I’ll think about how I want to cook up a good story. I have that thought in my head right now, and I’ll use it in the next Gundam… (laughs).
Q: Finally, I would like to ask about Amuro and Char in Char’s Counterattack. Which of these two characters do you personally prefer?
T: Hmm, I can’t say that as their creator, since I understand both of them very well. However, Amuro is a normalish character, while Char is the object of many people’s hopes and dreams(v). But even so, everyone knows that it’s pretty dangerous to end up like Char, so if someone asks you which one you prefer, I have a feeling that you should answer that you like Amuro more. Besides, the character Char is something I myself wanted to try portraying, so I sometimes think that I don’t like that guy because I couldn’t do it. That’s the extent of my comparative argument, and I can’t answer which I prefer since they’re too close in my mind.
However, when it comes to my feelings for the two of them, I naturally have a separate feeling that Amuro and Char have done well so far. But also, I think there is a bit of a problem this time because of what the word “counterattack” implies.
Q: I feel that those two have the same basic personality, but did you have that in mind?
T: If that’s how you feel about it, then as a creator, I don’t have anything to say. I didn’t intend to do that on purpose.
Q: There was a time where I thought it wouldn’t be strange for those two to switch places.
T: I see, I can understand that too. So Amuro and Char should be able to be good friends. However, people with the same “personality” can never come together. In particular, whether it is a nation or a company, only one person can be the top in an organization. The rest of the people must become the assistants or members. However, Amuro and Char are both men at the top. That’s why the two cannot exist at the same time. If you want to do that, you have to change the world.
After all, Gundam is a war story because mobile suits appear, and if you want to portray only Amuro and Char in a different way, it doesn’t have to be a war drama.
Indeed, Gundam is a world where characters like these two appear, characters with personalities that even I cannot change. Because of that, I wasn’t able to fiddle with them intentionally.
Q: It’s often said that the characters have become independent.
T: Well, that’s right. It’s not as simple as it sounds on the surface, but it’s definitely true. They exist as human beings with proper personalities.
So, even if Amuro and Char die in Char’s Counterattack, their existence will never be diluted. In that sense, rather than being able to create a good story, I really feel that I was lucky enough to come across it.
Q: Thank you very much.
Footnotes
[As written in the original text]
(a) Beltorchika Irma
In Zeta Gundam, she is a woman who made Amuro, a man who had shut himself in his own shell and refused to fight, see himself as a warrior again. She belonged to the anti-Earth Federation organization Karaba on Earth. She has the sensibility to choose Amuro over Char, and it is interesting how she would have acted if she had appeared in “Char’s Counterattack”. In addition, because she did not appear, it was assumed that she was on Earth.
(b) It seems like Amuro got married
Amuro went up to space again with Beltorchika at the time of Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ. That is to say…what if they had lived together for the five years or so between then and Char’s Counterattack.
(c) Novel versions
Published by Tokuma Shoten and Kadokawa Shoten. The former is a novelization of the main story of Char’s Counterattack and earlier events, and the latter is a novelization centered on the story of Beltorchika.
(d) Quess Paraya
The heroine of Char’s Counterattack. In the first draft of the scenario in which Beltorchika appeared, she was the character by Char’s side from the beginning. However, since Beltorchika no longer appeared, a character was needed to connect Amuro and Char, and so her role in the story was to shift from Amuro’s side to Char’s side. Considering that Beltorchika was a character who chose Amuro over Char, it’s very interesting to see Quess choosing the opposite path.
(e) Movie running time
This is a very big problem when releasing a movie. If the time is longer, the number of movies that can be screened in a day will decrease, which will lower the box office performance. That said, it being too short is also an issue. Recently, the run time must also be considered when it is released on home video or laser disc. After considering these conditions, Char’s Counterattack was produced as a movie with a runtime of about 1 hour and 50 minutes.
(f) Storyboards
The storyboards cut by Director Tomino at the beginning were about 2400, but when completed, there were about 2100. When producing video film, it often happens that the number of seconds per cut is longer than planned, so there are cases where missing cuts must be made like this. However, in the case of animation, there are many steps in the process from the original drawing to the shooting, so the final decision must be made as soon as possible.
(g) Animation Directors
Seven animation directors were originally planned to work with Hiroyuki Kitazume and Hidetoshi Omori. In the end, the members were: Yoshinobu Inano, Hidetoshi Ōmori, Mikio Odagawa, Hiroyuki Kitazume, Takatsuna Senba, Shinichirō Minami, and Kisaraka Yamada.
(h) Rough drawings
Until around the time of Aura Battler Dunbine, Director Tomino used to draw rough sketches himself and hand them to the designers when deciding on mecha designs.
(i) Please watch this! (これは観てください!)
Director Tomino’s famous words. After all, films are meant to be seen. This is certainly true.
(j) A film that is made to look like a normal film
An animated film is somewhat restricted by the fact that it’s animated. That’s what prevents it from being like a normal film. After all, one must consider that a film must be made to be supported by a wide range of people.
(k) Black and white version of King Kong
The movie was released in America in 1933. At that time, there were almost no movies featuring giant monsters, so it’s said that the audience who saw this work was stunned by the image.
(l) Color version of King Kong
To be precise, the first work was released in 1976, and King Kong 2 was released in 1986. Both films are directed by John Guillermin. It was produced in the United States following the black and white version. Many people may remember it because it hasn’t been that long yet.
(m) Alien
The movie was released in the United States in 1979. The director is Ridley Scott. Using a sci-fi stage of a spaceship for transporting minerals that travels through outer space, the horror movie became a hot topic not only in the United States but also in Japan.
(n) Alien 2 (Aliens)
A movie produced in the United States in 1986 as a sequel to the previous film Alien. The director is James Cameron. Although the story continues from the previous film, it is a work that emphasizes action scenes instead.
(o) RoboCop
The film was released in the United States last year and then in Japan in February of this year (1988). Directed by Paul Verhoeven. It cleverly depicts the activities and anguish of a cyborg detective born in a violent city in the near future.
(p) “Live Gundam” (ライブ・ガンダム)
A few years ago, there was talk of adapting Gundam into a live-action tokusatsu film in Hollywood. As mentioned in the text, unfortunately it did not come to fruition, but it can be said that it was a ground-breaking event that Japanese animation was recognized by foreign countries.
(q) The actors/actresses that must be used
This refers to characters such as Amuro, Char, and Bright from the first show whose voices could not be replaced.
(r) Mineva Lao Zabi
She is the only daughter of Dozle Zabi, the second son of the Zabi family that governs the Principality of Zeon, and his wife Zenna, as well as the sole survivor of the Zabi family after the end of the One Year War. At that time, she was an infant about 1 year old, but she was raised by Haman Karn and Char in Axis and reappeared in Zeta Gundam. However, because she was seven or eight years old at that time, her ego was not yet solidified, and Haman made her a symbol of Neo Zeon. It must have been hard to overlook her situation. Char saves her from Haman’s hands when he leaves the AEUG and hides himself again and disappears. Of the women who appeared in Zeta Gundam and were deeply involved in the story, only Mineva and Beltorchika survived.
(s) The complicated feeling when Haman Karn appeared
In Zeta Gundam, Haman and Char’s relationship was that of old lovers, but they were forced to fight. You could say that the story was not straightforward because Kamille Bidan and other characters got involved.
(t) If he were a lolicon
In Char’s Counterattack, this line was said after seeing Char pull Quess in. It’s scary because there are parts that make you think it’s true somehow.
(u) The parts where other characters are in the spotlight
In order to give drama to certain characters in the Gundam series, each one of them is given the weight of being like a main character. However, it is meaningless if the main story is distorted because of this.
(v) Subject of a dream’s desire
We can call him this because he is Char, the only one who has the power to pass judgment on the reality in front of him. Although he knows that dropping the Axis on the earth and trying to eliminate more than one billion people is an evil deed, Char in Char’s Counterattack is able to do it. It is certainly dangerous, but I admire it.