Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honnêamise
| Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honnêamise | |
|---|---|
 Japanese theatrical release poster | |
| Japanese | 王立宇宙軍~ オネアミスの翼 |
| Hepburn | Ōritsu Uchūgun: Oneamisu no Tsubasa |
| Directed by | Hiroyuki Yamaga |
| Written by | Hiroyuki Yamaga |
| Produced by |
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| Starring |
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| Cinematography | Hiroshi Isakawa |
| Edited by | Harutoshi Ogata |
| Music by |
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Production company | Gainax |
| Distributed by | Toho Towa |
Release date |
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Running time | 119 minutes |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
| Budget | ¥800 million[1] |
| Box office | ¥347 million[a] |
Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honnêamise (Japanese: 王立宇宙軍~オネアミスの翼, Hepburn: Ōritsu Uchūgun: Oneamisu no Tsubasa) is a 1987 Japanese animated science fiction film written and directed by Hiroyuki Yamaga, co-produced by Hiroaki Inoue and Hiroyuki Sueyoshi, and planned by Toshio Okada and Shigeru Watanabe. Ryuichi Sakamoto, later to share the Academy Award for the soundtrack to The Last Emperor, served as music director. The film's story takes place on an alternate world where a disengaged young man, Shirotsugh, inspired by an idealistic woman named Riquinni, volunteers to become the first astronaut, a decision that draws them into both public and personal conflict. The film was the debut work of anime studio Gainax, whose later television and movie series Neon Genesis Evangelion would achieve international recognition,[3] and was the first anime produced by toy and game manufacturer Bandai, eventually to become one of Japan's top anime video companies.[4]
Yamaga and Okada had become known through making amateur fan-oriented short films, particularly the Daicon III and IV Opening Animations, but their pitch for Royal Space Force argued that growing the anime industry required a shift away from works that pleased fans on a surface level but reinforced their isolation, advocating instead for a different type of anime that attempted to engage with fans as human beings who shared in the alienation issues of a larger society. The making of Royal Space Force involved a collaborative year-long design process using many creators, including some from outside the anime industry, to construct an elaborately detailed alternate world described as neither utopian nor dystopian, but "an attempt to approve existence".[5] Science fiction author Ted Chiang, whose work was the basis for the Academy Award-nominated film Arrival, would later describe Royal Space Force as the single most impressive example of world building in books or film.[6]
Royal Space Force's collective approach to filmmaking, its deliberate rejection of established anime motifs, its visual complexity, and the general lack of professional experience among its staff were all factors in its chaotic production, while increasing uncertainty about the project led to what has been described as an attempt by its investors and producers to "fix" the film before release, imposing a late name change to The Wings of Honnêamise, and a lavish but deceptive publicity campaign[7] that included misleading advertising as well as a staged premiere at Mann's Chinese Theatre on February 19, 1987. Although receiving a generally good reception among domestic anime fans and the industry upon its March 14, 1987 release in Japan, including praise from Hayao Miyazaki,[8] the film failed to make back its costs at the box office, but eventually became profitable through home video sales.[9]
Royal Space Force did not receive an English-language commercial release until 1994, when Bandai licensed the film to Manga Entertainment. A dubbed 35 mm version toured theaters in North America and the United Kingdom, during which time it received coverage in major newspapers but highly mixed reviews. Since the mid-1990s, it has received several English-language home video releases, and various historical surveys of anime have regarded the film more positively; the director has stated his belief in retrospect that the elements which made Royal Space Force unsuccessful made possible the later successes of Studio Gainax.[10][b]
Plot[]
In the Kingdom of Honnêamise— on a different, Earthlike world of mid-20th century technology— a young man named Shirotsugh Lhadatt recalls his middle-class upbringing and childhood dream to fly jets for the navy. His grades disqualifying him, Shirotsugh ended up instead joining the "Royal Space Force," a tiny unit with poor morale whose commander, General Khaidenn, dreams of human spaceflight, yet is barely capable of launching unmanned satellites. One night, Shirotsugh encounters a woman named Riquinni who is preaching in the red-light district. Riquinni Nonderaiko, who lives with a sullen little girl named Manna, surprises him by suggesting that humanity could find peace through space travel. Inspired, Shirotsugh volunteers for a last-ditch project to keep the Space Force from being disbanded: send the first astronaut into orbit.
Riquinni gives Shirotsugh scriptures to study, but becomes upset when he touches her and angry when he suggests she should "compromise" with God. Riquinni feels such compromise is to blame for the evils of the world, but Shirotsugh suggests it has made it easier to live in. The General arranges a shady deal to help finance his project, and tells a cheering crowd that the orbital capsule will be a "space warship". Soon after, Riquinni's cottage is foreclosed upon and demolished; not wishing to expose Manna— whose mother was constantly abused by her husband— to any more conflicts, she rejects the outraged Shirotsugh's offer to get her a lawyer. He begins to read Riquinni's scriptures, which assert that humanity is cursed to violence for having stolen fire.
A test explosion that kills the chief rocket engineer is suggested to be the work of radicals, and Shirotsugh confounds his friends by sympathizing with protestors who say the mission is a waste of federal funding. The launch site is suddenly moved to the Kingdom's southern border, which will assist in reaching orbit but is also adjacent to a territory occupied by their international rival, the distant Republic. The General learns to his shock that his superiors see the rocket only as a useful provocation; unknown to the Kingdom, the Republic plans to buy time to get their forces into position by assassinating Shirotsugh.
Increasingly disenchanted, Shirotsugh goes AWOL, giving his money to the homeless and joining Riquinni's ministry, but is troubled by Manna's continued silence and seeing the money Riquinni keeps. He turns away when she reads from her scriptures that one’s own efforts at truth and good will fail, and one can only pray. That night, he sexually assaults her; when he hesitates momentarily, she knocks him unconscious. Next morning, a repentant Shirotsugh is bewildered when Riquinni maintains he did nothing, apologizing for having hit “a wonderful person like you". Reuniting with his best friend Marty, Shirotsugh asks whether one might be the villain in one's own life's story, not its hero. Marty replies with the view that people exist because they serve purposes for one another. The Republic's assassin strikes— Shirotsugh attempts to flee, but eventually fights back, killing the assassin. The General confides in the wounded astronaut afterwards that he once wanted to be a historian and not a soldier, but found history harder to confront, because it taught him human nature would not change.
At the launch site, the crew finishes assembling the rocket even as both sides prepare for the expected attack. Without informing his superiors, the General decides to launch early by trimming safety procedures, to which Shirotsugh agrees. When the Republic's forces invade to seize the rocket by force, an evacuation is ordered, but Shirotsugh rallies the crew to proceed with the countdown. The combined ground-air assault ceases with the rocket's unexpected launch, and the Republic forces withdraw. From orbit, Shirotsugh makes a radio broadcast, uncertain if anyone is listening: although humans have brought ruin to each new frontier, he asks nevertheless to give thanks for this moment, praying for forgiveness and guidance. As the capsule crosses into the dayside, a montage of visions suggests Shirotsugh's childhood and the passage of history; far below, Riquinni, preaching where he first met her, is the only one to look up as the snow begins to fall, and the camera draws back, past the ship and its world, to the stars.
Cast[]
| Character | Japanese[12] | English[13] |
|---|---|---|
| Shirotsugh Lhadatt | Leo Morimoto | David A. Thomas |
| Riquinni Nonderaiko | Mitsuki Yayoi | Heidi Lenhart |
| Manna Nonderaiko | Aya Murata | Wendee Lee |
| Marty Tohn | Kazuyuki Sogabe | Bryan Cranston |
| General Khaidenn | Minoru Uchida | Steve Bulen |
| Dr. Gnomm | Chikao Ōtsuka | Michael Forest |
| Kharock | Masato Hirano | Tom Konkle |
| Yanalan | Bin Shimada | |
| Darigan | Hiroshi Izawa | Stephen Apostolina |
| Domorhot | Hirotaka Suzuoki | Jan Rabson |
| Tchallichammi | Kouji Totani | Christopher de Groot |
| Majaho | Masahiro Anzai | Tony Pope |
| Nekkerout | Yoshito Yasuhara | Dan Woren |
| Prof. Ronta | Ryūji Saikachi | Kevin Seymour |
Production[]
Development[]
Royal Space Force developed out of an anime proposal presented to Shigeru Watanabe of Bandai in September 1984 by Hiroyuki Yamaga and Toshio Okada[14] from Daicon Film, an amateur film studio active in the early 1980s associated with students at the Osaka University of Arts and science fiction fandom in the Kansai region.[15] The Daicon Film staff had met Watanabe earlier through their related fan merchandise company General Products, during his involvement with product planning for Bandai's "Real Hobby Series" figurines.[16] The position had also led Watanabe into Bandai's then-new home video label Emotion, where he helped to develop Mamoru Oshii's Dallos. Released at the end of 1983, Dallos would become the first anime original video animation (OVA),[17] an industry event later described as the beginning of a new "third medium" for anime beyond film or television, offering the prospect of "a medium in which [anime] could 'grow up,' allowing the more mature thematic experiments of creators".[18]
Okada and Yamaga's pitch to Watanabe had followed the recognition Daicon Film received earlier that year in Animage magazine through a special secondary Anime Grand Prix award given to their 8 mm short Daicon IV Opening Animation.[c] Their September 1984 proposal gave the outline for an anime to be entitled Royal Space Force, to be produced under the heading of a new, professional studio to be named Gainax.[20] The proposal listed five initial core staff for the anime.[21] Four had been previously associated with Daicon Film: Yamaga was to be the anime's concept creator and director and Okada its producer,[d] Yoshiyuki Sadamoto its chief character designer, and Hideaki Anno its chief mechanical designer. The fifth, Kenichi Sonoda, listed as responsible for the anime's settei (model sheets, drawn up to give the key animators their guides as to how the objects and people to be animated should look) had previously assisted with product development at General Products.[16][e]
Writing[]
The Royal Space Force proposal, subheaded "Project Intentions: A New Wave in a Time of Lost Collaborative Illusions,"[27] began with a self-analysis of "recent animation culture from the perspective of young people".[28][f] At the time of the proposal, Yamaga was 22 years old and had directed the opening anime films for Japan's 1981 and 1983 national science fiction conventions, Daicon III and IV,[30] which through their sale to fans on home video through General Products were themselves regarded as informal precursors of the OVA concept.[31] At age 20 and while still in college, Yamaga had been chosen by the series director of the original Macross TV series, Noboru Ishiguro, to direct episode 9 of the show, "Miss Macross," as Ishiguro wished "to aim for a work that doesn’t fit the conventional sense of anime." Yamaga commented in a contemporary Animage article that it had taken him two months to create the storyboards for "Miss Macross" and wryly remarked he'd thus already used himself up doing so; the magazine noted however that the episode was well received, and judged the creative experiment a success.[32][g]
Okada and Yamaga argued in their proposal for Royal Space Force that what prevented the anime industry from advancing beyond its current level was that it had fallen into a feedback loop with its audience, producing for them a "cul-de-sac" of cute and cool-looking anime content that had the effect of only further reinforcing the more negative and introverted tendencies of many fans,[34][h] without making a real attempt to connect with them in a more fundamental and personal way:
"In modern society, which is so information-oriented, it becomes more and more difficult even for sensational works to really connect with people, and even so, those works get forgotten quickly. Moreover, this flood of superficial information has dissolved those values and dreams people could stand upon, especially among the young, who are left frustrated and anxious. It could be said that this is the root cause of the Peter Pan syndrome, that says, 'I don't want to be an adult' ... If you look at the psychology of anime fans today, they do interact with society, and they're trying to get along well in that society, but unfortunately, they don't have the ability. So as compensatory behavior, they relinquish themselves to mecha and cute young girls. However, because these are things that don't really exist—meaning, there's no interaction in reality happening between those things and the anime fans—they soon get frustrated, and then seek out the next [anime] that will stimulate them ... If you look into this situation, what these people really want, deep down, is to get along well with reality. And what we propose is to deliver the kind of project that will make people look again at the society around them and reassess it for themselves; where they will think, 'I shouldn't give up yet on reality.'"[37][i]
The proposal described Royal Space Force as "a project to make anime fans reaffirm reality".[39] Gainax asserted that the problem was not unique to anime fans, who were only "the most representative example" of the increasing tendency of younger people not to experience reality directly, but as mediated through "the informational world".[40] "We live in a society mired in a perpetual state of information overload. And the feeling of being overwhelmed by the underwhelming isn't something limited to just young people, but everyone" ... "However, this doesn't mean that people want to live alone and without contact, but instead they want to establish a balance with the 'outside' that is psychologically comfortable for them."[41] Yamaga and Okada believed that this sensibility among some fans explained why anime often combined plots that "symbolize modern politics or society" with characters whose age and appearance was "completely incongruent with reality".[42][j] The Royal Space Force plan proposed to use the creative techniques of anime for a radically different aim, to make "the exact opposite of the 'cool,' castle-in-the-sky anime[k] that is so prevalent these days ... It's on our earth now, in this world of ours now, that we feel it's time for a project that will declare there's still something valuable and meaningful in this world."[49]
"It is essential to pay close attention to the smallest design details of this world. It's because it is a completely different world that it must feel like reality. If you ask why such an approach—when the goal is to get anime fans to reaffirm their reality—it's because if you were to set this anime in our actual world to begin with, that's a place which right now they see as grubby and unappealing. By setting it in a completely different world, it becomes like a foreign film that attracts the attention of the audience. The objects of attraction are not mecha and cute girls, but ordinary customs and fashions. If normal things now look impressive and interesting because they've been seen through a different world, then we'll have achieved what we set out to do in the plan; we'll be able to express, 'Reality is much more interesting than you thought.'"[50]
The September 1984 proposal for Royal Space Force was unusual for an anime pitch in that it described the setting and story, but never named the main characters.[51] The written proposal was accompanied by a set of over 30 "image sketches" depicting the world to be designed for the anime, painted in watercolor by Sadamoto and Mahiro Maeda.[14] Maeda, a high school classmate of Daicon Film director and character designer Takami Akai, had attended Tokyo Zokei University with Sadamoto; Maeda and Sadamoto had also worked on the Macross TV series, and both were subsequently recruited into Daicon Film.[52] That same month, Watanabe brought the pitch to Bandai company president Makoto Yamashina, who himself represented a younger corporate generation;[53] Yamashina's response to reading Gainax's proposal was, "I'm not sure what this is all about, but that's exactly why I like it."[54] Yamashina would later state in an interview with the comics and animation criticism magazine Comic Box shortly before the film's release that this viewpoint represented a "grand experiment" by Bandai in producing original content over which they could have complete ownership, and a deliberate strategy that decided to give young artists freedom in creating that content: "I'm in the toy business, and I've always been of the mind that if I understand [the appeal of a product], it won't sell. The reason is the generation gap, which is profound. Honneamise just might hit the jackpot. If so, it will overturn all the assumptions we’ve had up till now. I didn't want them to make the kind of film that we could understand. Put another way, if it was a hit and I could understand why, it wouldn't be such a big deal. I did want it to be a hit, but from the start, I wasn't aiming for a Star Wars. In trying to make it a success, it had to be purely young people's ideas and concepts; we couldn't force them to compromise. We had to let them run free with it. In the big picture, they couldn't produce this on their own, and that's where we stepped in, and managed to bring it all this way. And in that respect, I believe it was a success."[55]
Pilot film[]
"This was a project that made full use of all sorts of wiles. At the time, Hayao Miyazaki said, 'Bandai was fooled by Okada's proposal.' I was the first person at Bandai to be fooled (laughs). But no, that's not the case. I'm a simple person; I just wanted to try it because it looked interesting. Nobody thought that Bandai could make an original movie. There wasn't any know-how at all. But that's why I found it interesting. No, to be honest, there were moments when I thought, 'I can't do this.' But [Gainax]'s president, Okada, and the director, Yamaga, both thought strongly, 'I want to make anime professionally, and speak to the world.' Producer Hiroaki Inoue felt the same way, as did [Yasuhiro] Takeda ... I was about the same age, so I got into the flow of all those people's enthusiasm." —Shigeru Watanabe, 2004[56][l]
Royal Space Force was initially planned as a 40-minute long OVA project,[57] with a budget variously reported at 20[58] or 40[59] million yen; however, resistance elsewhere within Bandai to entering the filmmaking business resulted in the requirement that Gainax first submit a short "pilot film" version of Royal Space Force as a demo to determine if the project would be saleable.[60] Work on the pilot film began in December 1984[14] as Yamaga and Okada moved from Osaka to Tokyo to set up Gainax's first studio in a rented space in the Takadanobaba neighborhood of Shinjuku.[61] That same month, Gainax was officially registered as a corporation in Sakai City, Osaka; founding Gainax board member Yasuhiro Takeda has remarked that the original plan was to disband Gainax as soon as Royal Space Force was completed; it was intended at first only as a temporary corporate entity needed to hold production funds from Bandai during the making of the anime.[62]
The Royal Space Force pilot film was made by the same principal staff of Yamaga, Okada, Sadamoto, Anno, and Sonoda listed in the initial proposal, with the addition of Maeda as main personnel on layouts and settei; Sadamoto, Maeda, and Anno served as well among a crew of ten key animators that included Hiroyuki Kitakubo, Yuji Moriyama, Fumio Iida, and Masayuki.[63] A further addition to the staff was co-producer Hiroaki Inoue, recruited as a founding member of Gainax by Okada. Inoue was active in the same Kansai-area science fiction fandom associated with Daicon Film, but had already been in the anime industry for several years, beginning at Tezuka Productions.[64] Takeda noted that while a number of the other Royal Space Force personnel had worked on professional anime projects, none possessed Inoue's supervisory experience, or the contacts he had built in the process.[59] Inoue would leave Gainax after their 1988–1989 Gunbuster, but continued in the industry and would later co-produce Satoshi Kon's 1997 debut film Perfect Blue.[65]
In a 2004 interview, Shigeru Watanabe, by then a senior managing director and former president of Bandai Visual, who in later years had co-produced such films as Mamoru Oshii's Ghost in the Shell and Hiroyuki Okiura's Jin-Roh,[66] reflected on his personal maneuvers to get Royal Space Force green-lit by Bandai's executive board, showing the pilot film to various people both inside and outside the company, including soliciting the views of Oshii[m] and Miyazaki.[68] As Bandai was already in the home video business, Watanabe reasoned that the strong video sales of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, released the previous year, meant that Miyazaki's opinions would hold weight with Bandai's executives.[69] Watanabe visited Miyazaki's then-studio Nibariki alone and spoke with the director for three hours, of which time, Watanabe joked, he got to speak for ten minutes. Miyazaki, who had worked with Hideaki Anno on Nausicaä,[70] told him, "Anno and his friends are amateurs, but I think they're a little different," comparing the matter to amateurs having "a gorgeous bay window" versus having a foundation: "They feel like they can make the foundation, and maybe raise a new building. If necessary, you can give that advice to the Bandai board." Watanabe laughed that when he told the executives what Miyazaki had said, they approved the project.[71]
In April 1985, Okada and Yamaga formally presented the finished pilot film to a board meeting at Bandai, together with a new set of concept paintings by Sadamoto. The four-minute pilot film began with a 40-second prelude sequence of still shots of Shirotsugh's early life accompanied by audio in Russian depicting a troubled Soviet space mission, followed by a shot of a rocket booster stage separating animated by Anno,[72] leading into the main portion of the pilot, which depicts the story's basic narrative through a progression of animated scenes without dialogue or sound effects, set to the overture of Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.[73] Okada addressed the board with a speech described as impassioned,[74] speaking for an hour on Gainax's analysis of the anime industry, future market trends, and the desire of the young for "a work called Royal Space Force".[75] Bandai gave interim approval to Royal Space Force as their company's first independent video production; however, the decision to make the project as a theatrical film would be subject to review at the end of 1985, once Gainax had produced a complete storyboard and settei.[76]
In a 2005 column for the online magazine Anime Style, editor and scriptwriter Yuichiro Oguro recalled seeing a video copy of the pilot film secretly circulating after its completion around the anime industry, where there was interest based on Sadamoto and Maeda's reputations as "the genius boys of Tokyo Zokei University".[77] Oguro noted as differences from the later finished movie the pilot film's younger appearance of Shirotsugh and more bishōjo style of Riquinni, whose behavior in the pilot put him in mind of a Miyazaki heroine, as did the composition of the film itself.[78]
Yamaga, in a 2007 interview for the Blu-ray/DVD edition release, confirmed this impression about the pilot film and speculated on its consequences:
"It's clearly different from the complete version, and by using the modern saying, it's very Ghiblish ... Among the ambitious animators of those days, there was some sort of consensus that 'if we can create an animated movie that adults can watch, with decent content "for children" which director Hayao Miyazaki has, it will be a hit for sure.' The pilot version was also created under that consensus unconsciously. However, I figured it's not good to do so, and my movie making started from completely denying that consensus. Of course, if we had created this movie with the concept of the world similar to the pilot version, it would've had a balanced and stable style, and not only for staff, but also for sponsors, motion picture companies, and the media ... it would have been easier to grasp and express. But if we had done that, I don't think that any of the Gainax works after that would've been successful at all."[10]
Screenplay[]
"The film was Gainax's call to the world, of how we would be. The story of the anime is explaining why we are making anime in the first place. The lift-off of the rocket was only a preview of our future, when we were saying to ourselves, 'Oh, we will do something!' But those feelings are mostly gone, just like memories, just like the person you were when you were young. It has almost gone away. But there is still the real thing, the film we made, that tells our story."—Toshio Okada, 1995[79]
Following the presentation of the pilot film, Yamaga returned to his hometown of Niigata to begin to write the screenplay and draw up storyboards, using a coffeehouse in which to work, taking glances out the window.[80] The opening scene of Royal Space Force, narrated by an older Shirotsugh considering his past, depicts a younger Shiro witnessing the takeoff of a jet from an aircraft carrier; the look of the scene is directly inspired by the winter damp and gloom of Niigata's coastline along the Sea of Japan.[81] Yamaga envisioned the fictional Honnêamise kingdom where most of the events of Royal Space Force took place to have the scientific level of the 1950s combined with the atmosphere of America and Europe in the 1930s, but with characters who moved to a modern rhythm. The inspiration he sought to express in anime from Niigata was not the literal look of the city, but rather a sense of the size and feel of the city and its envrions, including its urban geography; the relationships between its old and new parts, and between its denser core and more open spaces.[82]
In August 1985, six members of the Royal Space Force crew, Yamaga, Okada, Inoue, Sadamoto, and Anno from Gainax, accompanied by Shigeru Watanabe from Bandai, traveled to the United States for a research trip, studying postmodern architecture in New York City, aerospace history at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.,[83] and witnessing a launch of the Space Shuttle Discovery at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.[84] Documentary footage of the research trip was shot by Watanabe[85] and incorporated into a promotional film released two weeks before the Japanese premiere of Royal Space Force.[86] Yamaga made revisions to the script during the American research tour.[87] While staying in the US, the group was surprised and amused to see an English-dubbed version of Macross showing on their hotel room TV, a series which Yamaga, Anno, and Sadamoto had all worked upon; the scenes were from a rerun of Robotech, which had completed its initial run on American television earlier that summer.[88][89]
Noriaki Ikeda, winner of the 1986 Seiun Award for nonfiction, began a series of articles on the film's production that year for Animage. After watching a rough edit of the film, Ikeda wrote that Royal Space Force was an anime that reminded him of what the works of the American New Wave had brought to the live-action movies of Hollywood in the 1960s; perceiving in the film an effort by Gainax to create a work with their own sense of words and rhythm, employing natural body language, raw expressions, and timing, and an overall "texture" that made a closer approach to human realities.[92] Reviewing the completed film five months later, Ikeda made extensive comment on the scriptwriting: "It's been some time since I've seen an original work that pays so much attention to dialogue, and features such subtle nuance," contrasting it to "the anime we're used to seeing these days, that scream their message at you." Ikeda remarked in particular on how supporting characters were given dialogue to speak that was independent of the main storyline, which gave a sense that they were real human beings, and how this was further expressed in scenes that managed to convey "dialogue without dialogue," such as the sequence in the rocket factory where characters are seen to converse although only music is heard on the audio track.[93]
In a roundtable discussion with the anime magazine OUT following the film's theatrical release, Yamaga remarked, "I wanted to taste the sense of liberation I could get if I recognized everything [about human nature] and included it," a view with which Okada had concurred, saying, "this is a film that acknowledges people in their every aspect".[94] On the 2000 DVD commentary, Yamaga stated of the character relationships in Royal Space Force that "A critic once said that none of the characters in this film understand each other. That there's no communication between the characters. He was exactly right. The characters don't understand each other at all. But throughout the film, there are moments where there are glimpses of understandings between [Shirotsugh] and the other characters ... In reality, it's okay not to understand each other. People all live their individual lives—it's not necessary to feel the same way another feels. And in fact you will never understand anybody anyway. This is how I feel about the relationships I have with the people in my life."[95][n]
Three years after his 1992 departure from Gainax,[97] Okada reflected on the film's screenplay in an interview with Animerica: "Our goal at first was to make a very 'realistic' film. So we couldn’t have the kind of strong, dramatic construction you’d find in a Hollywood movie. [Royal Space Force] is an art film. And at the time, I thought that was very good, that this is something—an anime art film. But now when I look back, I realize ... this was a major motion picture. Bandai spent a lot of money on it. It was our big chance. Maybe if I’d given it a little stronger structure, and a little simpler story—change it a little, make it not so different—it could have met the mainstream."[98] "I think the audience gets confused at three points in the film: the first scene, which is Shiro’s opening monologue, the rape scene, and the prayer from space. Why? The film needed a stronger structure. A little more. A few changes, and the audience would be able to follow Shiro's thoughts. But right now, they miss it, and that’s a weakness. It’s true that there will be ten or twenty percent of the audience who can follow it as is, and say, 'Oh, it's a great film! I can understand everything! ' But eighty percent of the audience is thinking, 'I lost Shiro’s thoughts two or three times, or maybe four or five.' Those are the kind of people who will say, 'The art is great, and the animation is very good, but the story—mmmm...'"[99] Okada remarked however that the decentralized decision-making creative process at Gainax meant there were limits to how much control could be asserted through the script;[48] Akai would later comment that "the staff were young and curious, not unlike the characters in the film. If you tried to control them too much, they would have just walked out."[100]
Yamaga asserted that a "discrepancy between who [Riquinni] wanted to be and who she really was...is evident in her lifestyle and dialogue,"[101] and that "on the outside," she carries an image of Shiro as "'an extraordinary being who travels through space into this peaceful and heavenly place'... But deep down inside she knows the truth. She's not stupid."[102] The director remarked that Riquinni's actions and dialogue in the film's controversial scenes of assault and the morning after reflect the dissonances present in both her self-image and her image of Shiro, and that the scene "was very difficult to explain to the staff" as well; that she is signaling her strength to go on living according to her beliefs, and without Shiro in her life any longer.[103] "There's no simple explanation for that scene, but basically, I was depicting a human situation where two people are moving closer and closer, yet their relationship isn't progressing at all...[Shiro resorts] to violence in an attempt to close that gap, only to find that was also useless. The two of them never came to terms, never understood each other, even to the end of the movie. However, even though they never understood each other, they are in some way linked together..." Yamaga affirmed that the scene where Riquinni looks up from her farm labor at the jet overhead was meant to be a match with the young Shiro doing the same in the opening monologue, yet at the same time showing that she and Shiro lived their lives in different worlds. "Whereas [in the final scene] with the snow, it's actually touching her, so there is a small intimacy in that image. But the snow is very light—it melts the moment it falls. So then, are they touching, or aren't they touching? I wanted to depict an ambiguous relationship between them at the very end."[104] "When there's a man and a woman in a film, you automatically think that there's going to be a romance between them, but I didn't mean for it to be that way. Looking back now, I realize that it's difficult to comprehend a story about a man and a woman without romance, but at the time I made this film, I felt that a relationship between a man and a woman did not have to be a romantic one."[105]
Design[]
In May 1985, Gainax transferred their operations to another location in Takadanobaba that offered twice the space of their previous studio, where the existing staff gathered in friends and acquaintances to help visualize the setting of Royal Space Force.[106] Among those joining the crew at this time were two of the film's most prolific world designers: Takashi Watabe, whose designs would include the train station, rocket factory, and Royal Space Force lecture hall[107] and Yoichi Takizawa, whose contributions included the rocket launch gantry, space capsule simulator, and rocket engine test facility.[108]
Yamaga decided that the vision of the alternate world depicted in the pilot film did not have the kind of different realism he was hoping to achieve in the completed work. Rather than use the design work of the pilot as a foundation for the full-length anime, it was decided to "destroy" the world of the pilot film and start over again, creating a new series of "image board" paintings to visualize the look of Royal Space Force. The total worldbuilding process went on for roughly a year, and was described as a converse process between Yamaga and the gradually assembled team of designers; expressing his ideas into concrete terms, but also bringing their concrete skills to bear toward the expression of abstract ideas.[109] Yamaga reflected in 2007 that this reciprocal process influenced his writing on the film: "My style is not 'I have a story I created, so you help me make it.' Creators come first, and this is a story I created thinking what story those creators would shine at the most."[110]
In the decade following Royal Space Force, the Sadamoto-designed Nadia La Arwall[111][112] and Rei Ayanami[113][114] would each twice win the Anime Grand Prix fan poll for favorite female character; Sadamoto's Shinji Ikari[115][116] would also win twice for favorite male character. By contrast, his male and female leads designed for Royal Space Force, Shirotsugh and Riquinni, ranked ninth and twentieth respectively for their categories in the Grand Prix poll of 1987 releases.[117] In a roundtable discussion on Royal Space Force following its release, it was pointed out that neither Shirotsugh nor Riquinni look like typical anime lead characters.[118] Yamaga remarked in his 2007 retrospective that, "One of the changes you can easily see from the pilot version is the character modeling of the protagonist. He used to look like a boy, but has become like a middle-aged man. As you can see in Evangelion later on, characters that Yoshiyuki Sadamoto creates are more attractive when they look young. But of course, he's really skilled, so even if he challenges the area that's not his specialty, he can give us what we're asking for."[110]
Sadamoto in fact did use for the final version of Shirotsugh a model reference significantly older than the 21-year old character's age,[119] the American actor Treat Williams, although the character designer remarked that that Yamaga's instructions to make the face square and the eyebrows thicker had him thinking the redesign would look like the director himself.[120] As a reference for Manna, Yamaga referred Sadamoto to actress Tatum O'Neal as she appeared in the first half of the film Paper Moon.[121] Takami Akai remarked that "Sadamoto drew Manna so perfectly that we were sort of intimidated," adding she was "a sidekick who brought out the darker aspects" of Riquinni.[122] Regarding Riquinni herself, Sadamoto commented in 1987 that there seemed to be a model for her, but Yamaga did not tell him who it was.[123] In a 2019 interview session with Niigata University, Yamaga remarked, "What I see now is surprisingly the character Riquinni is nothing but me. At any rate, Shirotsugh is not me. If you ask me where I would position myself in the film, I would identify myself as Riquinni in many aspects, in terms of the way I think. I was probably someone weird [and] religious, ever since my childhood."[124][o] The appearance of several minor characters in Royal Space Force was based on Gainax staff members or crew on the film, including Nekkerout (Takeshi Sawamura),[64] the Republic aide who plans Shirotsugh's assassination (Fumio Iida),[127] and the director who suggests what Shiro should say before he walks out of his TV interview (Hiroyuki Kitakubo).[128]
Commenting on the character designs in Royal Space Force, Sadamoto remarked that in truth they more reflected the tastes of Gainax than his own personal ones, although at the same time, as the artist, his taste must be reflected in them somehow.[129] Sadamoto discussed the issue in terms of anime character design versus manga character design: "Manga can afford such strong and weird characters, but it's difficult to make good moving characters out of them in anime. The moment I draw a character, for example, you can see how it is going to behave, really ... but I was asking myself what I should be doing. 'Should I make their facial expressions more like those you see in a typical anime?' and so on. I feel that the audience reaction was pretty good, or at least that I managed to get a passing grade."[130]
On the premise that the real world itself was a product of mixed design, Yamaga believed that the sense of alternate reality in Royal Space Force would be strengthened by inviting as many designers as possible to participate in the anime.[131] By September, the worldbuilding of Royal Space Force proceeded forward by a system where designers were free to draw and submit visual concepts based on their interpretation of Yamaga's script; the concept art would then be discussed at a daily liaison meeting between Yamaga and the other staff.[132] Yamaga compared the approach to abstraction in painting, seeking to liberate the audience from their prior view of real life by subtly changing the shape of familiar things; citing as an example the image of "a cup," and trying to avoid the direct impulse to draw a cylindrical shape.[133]
Assistant director Shinji Higuchi had overall responsibility for coordinating the design work with Yamaga's intentions through overseeing the output of its multiple designers; Higuchi noted moreover that the film's main mecha were designed in a collaborative fashion, citing as an example the Honnêamise air force plane, for which Sadamoto first created a rough sketch, then Takizawa finished up its shape, with its final touches added by Anno.[134] Although his aim was to give a unified look to the kingdom of Honnêamise as the film's main setting, Higuchi also attempted to take care to make it neither too integrated nor too disjointed, remarking that just as the present day world is made from a mixing of different cultures, this would have also been true of a past environment such as the alternate 1950s world of Honnêamise.[135] Yamaga commented that the film also portrayed the idea that different levels of technology are present in a world at the same time depending upon particular paths of development, such as the color TV in use by the Republic, or the air combat between jet and prop planes at the end, which Yamaga compared to similar engagements during the Korean War.[136]
A deliberate exception to Royal Space Force's general design approach was the rocket itself, which was adapted from a real-world Soviet model.[137][p] This exception was later noticed by Hayao Miyazaki, for whom it formed one of his two criticisms of the anime; he was surprised that a film which had gone so far as to change the shape of money did not make the rocket more unusual.[139] Yamaga argued that although the anime reaches its eventual conclusion through a process of different design paths, it was necessary to end the film with a rocket inspired by reality, lest the audience see it as a story about a different world that has nothing to do with them.[140] In their roundtable discussion with OUT, Gainax described the rocket as also emblematic of the film's approach to mecha; despite its many mecha designs, they all play supporting roles, and even the rocket is not treated as a "lead character".[141]
Art direction[]
Although later noted for creating much of the aesthetic behind the influential 1995 film Ghost in the Shell,[142] Hiromasa Ogura in a 2012 interview named his first project as an art director, Royal Space Force, as the top work of his career.[143] Ogura had entered the anime industry in 1977 as a background painter at Kobayashi Production, where he contributed art to such films as Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro and Harmagedon. At the time work began on Royal Space Force, Ogura was at Studio Fuga, a backgrounds company he had co-founded in 1983; he related that it was his associate Yoshimi Asari of Triangle Staff who contacted him on behalf of Gainax, arranging for Okada and Inoue to come to Fuga and discuss their plans for the film. Ogura mentioned that although he did not know the details of how Asari came to suggest him for the job, he found out later that Gainax had previously approached his seniors Shichirō Kobayashi and Mukuo Takamura, who had been the art directors on Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro and Harmagedon respectively,[144] but that both had passed on Royal Space Force.[145]
After joining the Royal Space Force team on temporary loan from Studio Fuga, Ogura worked in the film's pre-production studio in Takadanobaba. He later joked that his initial reaction to Gainax was "What's up with these people?", remarking that they acted like a bunch of students who all knew each other, whereas he had no idea who any of them were. Although Ogura recalled that he had seen the Daicon opening animation films before starting Fuga and had been impressed that amateurs had made them, he did not realize at first that he was now working with the same people, laughing that he likewise eventually recognized Anno from having seen his role in the live-action Daicon short The Return of Ultraman.[146][147] After the completion of Royal Space Force, Ogura went to work on his first collaboration with Mamoru Oshii, Twilight Q: Mystery Case File 538, but would later collaborate with Gainax again as art director of the final episodes of the 1990-91 TV series Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water[148] and of the 2000-01 OVA series FLCL, which Ogura personally ranked alongside his work on the Patlabor films and Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade, praising the unique world sense of FLCL series director Kazuya Tsurumaki and animator, designer, and layout artist Hiroyuki Imaishi.[149]
Ogura oversaw a team of 16 background painters on Royal Space Force,[86] including the future art director of Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, and The Wind Rises, Yōji Takeshige. At the time of Royal Space Force's production, Takeshige was still a student attending Tama Art University; the following year he would join Studio Ghibli to create backgrounds for 1988's My Neighbor Totoro.[150] Ogura remarked that many of his team were veterans of Sanrio's theatrical films unit, which gave him confidence in their abilities; mentioning that one former Sanrio artist, future Gankutsuou art director Hiroshi Sasaki,[151] created the images for Royal Space Force's final sequence.[152][q] More than half of the background paintings for the film were made on site at Gainax, rather than assigning the task to staff working externally, as Ogura felt the worldview and details of the film's aesthetic were easier for him to communicate to artists in person, giving as an example the color subtleties; as the color scheme in Royal Space Force was subdued, if a painting needed more of a bluish cast to it, he couldn't simply instruct the artist to "add more blue."[154]
Toshio Okada described the appearance of the world in which Royal Space Force takes place as having been shaped in stages by three main artists: first, its major color elements (blue and brown) were determined by Sadamoto; then its architectural styles and artistic outlook were designed by [Takashi] Watabe, and finally Ogura gave it "a sense of life" through depicting its light, shadow, and air. It was noted also that the film's world displays different layers of time in its designs; the main motifs being Art Deco, but with older Art Nouveau and newer postmodern elements also present.[157] Yamaga expressed the view that Ogura being a Tokyo native allowed him to do a good job on the film's city scenes,[158] yet Ogura himself described the task as difficult; while he attempted to sketch out as much of the city as possible, its urban aesthetic was so cluttered that it was difficult for him to determine vanishing point and perspective.[159] Ogura commented that although the film depicted a different world, "there's nothing that you'd call sci-fi stuff, it's everyday, normal life like our own surroundings. I wanted to express that messy impression." As art director, he also laid particular emphasis on attempting to convey the visual texture of the world's architecture and interior design, remarking that he was amazed at how Watabe's original drawings of buildings contained detailed notes on the structural and decorative materials used in them, inspiring Ogura to then express in his paintings such aspects as the woodwork motifs prominent in the Royal Space Force headquarters, or by contrast the metallic elements in the room where the Republic minister Nereddon tastes wine.[160] Watabe and Ogura would collaborate again in 1995 on constructing the cityscapes of Ghost in the Shell.[161]
Ogura theorized that the background paintings in Royal Space Force were a result not only of the effort put into the film, but the philosophy behind the effort: "I think this shows what you can make if you take animation seriously. [Yamaga] often said he wanted to dispense with the usual symbolic bits. It isn't about saying that because it's evening, the colors should be signified in this way. Not every sunset is the same."[162] Critiquing his own work, Ogura wished that he had been able to convey more emphasis on the effects of light and shadow in addition to color, citing as an example the early scene at the graveyard, where he felt he should have depicted greater contrast in the objects lit by sunlight, but joked that it was hard to say exactly how things would turn out until he actually painted them, something he said was true of the entire film. As Yamaga conveyed images to him only through words, Ogura was glad that he was allowed to be free to try to express them visually in his own way,[163] particularly because even in evening shots, the director would specify to him whether it should depict evening close to dawn, the dead of night, or evening close to sunset, noting wryly that it was hard to express the difference between 3 a.m and 4 a.m.[164] Looking back on the project from 2012, Ogura maintained that while he rarely rewatched his old work, he still felt the passion when he viewed a DVD of the film: "I thought there aren't a lot of people these days making [anime] with such a level of passion. Royal Space Force was very exciting, and so were the people around me."[165]
In the 2000 director's commentary, Akai recalled his initial surprise that Yamaga wanted to use Nobuyuki Ohnishi's illustrations for the film's credits sequences, and that also "some of the animators felt there were better illustrators," a remark that made Yamaga laugh and comment, "The world of animators is a small one."[166] At the time of Royal Space Force's production, Ohnishi was known for his spot illustrations in the reader's corner section of Pia,[167] a weekly Tokyo culture and entertainment magazine associated with the long-running Pia Film Festival, as well as his airplane illustrations drawn for the magazine Model Graphix,[168] where an occasional fellow contributing artist was Hayao Miyazaki.[169] In a 1995 conversation with Animerica, Ohnishi remarked however that Yamaga's personal familiarity with his work came through Ohnishi's illustrations for the Japanese magazines Swing Journal, a jazz publication modeled on DownBeat,[170] and ADLIB, covering fusion and pop. He remembered having been "a little surprised" when Yamaga first approached him, as Ohnishi had "considered animation at the time to be strictly for children, and his own work had always been directed towards adults," but that Yamaga assured him that the film "was going to be a very adult take on science fiction."[171]
Yamaga had desired that the opening and ending credits show the world portrayed in the film from a different perspective, and felt that Ohnishi's method of using light and shadow was ideal for the purpose. He asked the artist to create an "image of inheritance,"[172] to convey a sense that this world did not exist only for the events told of in the film, but that it had existed also in its past, and would exist into its future as well.[173] Although his illustration style used a sumi-e ink wash painting technique from classical East Asian art, Ohnishi commented that he was uninterested in traditional subjects such as "bamboo and old Chinese mountains," preferring instead to paint "the typewriter and the skyscraper," with a particular interest in 1950s-era objects. Ohnishi's approach in the credits made frequent use of photographs of real people and historical events, which he would then modify when adapting it into a painting: "exchanging and replacing the details of, for example, a European picture with Asian or Middle-Eastern elements and motifs. In this way, the credits would reflect both the cultural mixing that gives the film as a whole its appearance, and symbolize the blurring between our world and the film's world, thus serving [Royal Space Force's] function as a 'kaleidoscopic mirror.'"[171] The last painting in the opening credits, where Yamaga's name as director appears, is based on a photograph of Yamaga and his younger sister when they were children.[174][171] Shiro's return alive from space[175] is depicted in the first paintings of the ending credits; Yamaga remarked that they represent the photos appearing in textbooks from the future of the world of Royal Space Force.[176]
Animation[]
After the completion in December 1985 of Daicon Film's final project, Orochi Strikes Again, its director Takami Akai and special effects director Shinji Higuchi moved to Tokyo to join the production of Royal Space Force as two of its three assistant directors, alongside Shoichi Masuo.[177] Higuchi would make the first scene actually animated and filmed in Royal Space Force, depicting a newsreel of Shirotsugh arriving in the capital city; its look was achieved by filming the cels using the same 8mm camera that Daicon had used for its amateur productions.[178] At age 20, Higuchi was the very youngest of the main crew;[179] his previous creative experience had been in live-action special effects films rather than anime. Higuchi was described as someone who did not "think like an animator," and would therefore bring unorthodox and interesting ideas and techniques to the project. The director felt that Royal Space Force benefitted from the creative contributions of people from outside anime, including opening and ending credits artist Nobuyuki Ohnishi, and several part-time college design students who did not go on to pursue a career in animation; Akai and Yamaga joked in retrospect that, owing to their scant experience, at the time they themselves had limited familiarity with the anime industry.[180]
The newsreel scene was located near the beginning of the storyboard's "C part".[r] The third out of the anime's four roughly equal half-hour divisions, the C part began with the scene of Riquinni working in the field, and concluded with the assassination attempt.[182] Royal Space Force followed the practice, adapted from TV episodes, of breaking the storyboard up into lettered parts; although intended to denote the parts before and after a mid-show commercial break, the practice was also used in theatrical works for convenience in production.[183] As 1985 drew to a close, Bandai had still not formally committed to Royal Space Force as a feature-length film release, as a distributor for the movie had not yet been secured.[184] Gainax was also late in finalizing the storyboard, which would not be completed in its entirety until June 1986.[185] However, the C part was nearly finished, and the decision was made to start production there, on the reasoning also that the sober tone of many C part scenes required precision in expression; as there was no release date yet, it was better to work on them while the schedule was still relatively loose.[186]
Royal Space Force assistant director Shoichi Masuo was an associate of Hideaki Anno, whom he had met when the two worked together on the 1984 Macross film. Anno had moved to Tokyo the previous year[70] to pursue a career as an independent animator; Masuo and Anno, who were the same age[187] were among the co-founders of Studio Graviton, a Tokyo office for animators working freelance such as themselves.[188] Masuo described the roles of himself and the two other assistant directors: Higuchi had overall charge regarding the design aspects of the settei, Masuo was in charge over the color aspects of the settei, including backgrounds,[s] whereas Akai monitored the work as a whole as general assistant to Yamaga. These roles were not fixed, and the three did not confer on a daily basis, but rather would have meetings on how to shift their approach whenever changes in the production situation called for it. Masuo noted as well that he had the most experience of the three in animation, and if an animator seemed confused over abstract directives from Yamaga, Masuo would explain in concrete terms how to execute the director's intent.[190] Regarding the animation style of Royal Space Force, Masuo remarked that it was generally straightforward, without the characteristic quirky techniques to create visual interest or amusement often associated with anime, but that "there's nothing else [in anime] like this where you can do proper acting and realistic mechanical movements. That's why its impression is quite cinematic...In animation, it's very difficult to do something normal. When you consider [Royal Space Force], there are many scenes where the characters are just drinking tea or walking around. You don't take notice of [such actions], yet they're very difficult to draw, and I think it required a lot of challenging work for the key animators."[191] Following Royal Space Force, Masuo would remain closely associated with the works of both Gainax and Anno's later Studio khara as a key animator, technical director, and mechanical designer before his death in 2017.[192]
In January 1986, Toho Towa agreed to distribute Royal Space Force as a feature film, and production assumed a more frantic pace, as the process of in-betweening, cel painting, and background painting began at this time; additional staff was recruited via advertisements placed in anime magazines.[193] Gainax relocated its studio once again, this time from Takadanobaba to a larger studio space in the Higashi-cho neighborhood of Kichijoji, where the remainder of Royal Space Force would be produced.[194] Following the C part of the film, the animation production proceeded in order from the A part (the opening scene through the fight in the air force lounge),[195] to the B part (the arrival at the rocket factory through the funeral for Dr. Gnomm),[196] then to the concluding D part (the General's talk on history to the film's ending).[197][198] The daily exchange of ideas between Yamaga and the other staff at Gainax continued during production, as the artists attempted to understand his intentions, while Yamaga reviewed animation drawings, designs, and background paintings to be re-done in order to get closer to the "image in his head," although this questioning process also continued within Yamaga himself, between concept and expression, or "author versus writer".[199]
"From the first, I did the layouts and drawings with the real thing in mind ... For that purpose, I flew in airplanes and helicopters, [rode in] Type 74 tanks, visited aircraft carriers and NASA. I also witnessed the launch of the Shuttle and exercises of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces. But I had never experienced war, nor did I want to, and for this my references were news footage, videos, and documentary films. What I experienced only through images and words, I accepted as quote, reality, unquote.
—Hideaki Anno, 1987[201]
Although Royal Space Force was essentially a pre-digital animated work[202] using layers of physical cels and backgrounds painted by hand,[203] computers played an important role in its production. Scheduling and accounting on the film was performed using a Fujitsu OASYS100,[204][205] while design drawings were scanned into a NEC PC-9801 which permitted them to be studied at different rotations and for possible color options, using a 256-color palette.[206] Rough draft animation of line drawings testing how sequences would work utilized a Quick Action Recorder computer-controlled video camera, a technology by that point common in the anime industry.[207] Computer-assisted animation seen onscreen in Royal Space Force was used for certain difficult motion shots, including the contra-rotating propellers of the Honnêamise air force plane, the rotation of the space capsule while in orbit, the tilted wheel turn of the street sweeper, and the swing of the instrument needle in the launch control bunker. The motions themselves were rendered using ASCII 3D software, and then traced onto cels.[208] By contast, Ryusuke Hikawa noted that the flakes of frost falling from the rocket at liftoff, which might be assumed to be a CG effect, were done entirely by hand under the supervision of Hideaki Anno.[209]
Anno remarked that two frequent criticisms of Royal Space Force were that "there was no need to make this as an anime" (i.e., as opposed to a live action film), but also contrariwise that "it could have looked more like a [typical] anime;" however, he maintained that both viewpoints missed what had been essential for the film, the intent of which was that the audience perceive reality in an authentic sense. Anno argued that one of the advantages of filmmaking through using 'animation' (he felt it was more accurate in the case of Royal Space Force to speak instead of the advantages of using 'pictures') was the fine degree of control it permitted the creator as a tool for presenting images, and that the high level of detail in the film was not for the sake of imitating live action, but for the conceptual goal of conveying a notion of reality.[210] Anno in fact maintained his concern as an artist on the film was for the "image"[t] rather than the "anime" per se, and that he made a conscious decision not to work in such "so-called animation", as he felt it would be inappropriate for Royal Space Force: "All I can say to people who want to see something more anime-like on their screen is that they should watch other anime."[212]
A one-minute scene of Shiro and Marty conversing on the bed of a truck delivering the Royal Space Force's electromechanical computer, originally meant to precede Shiro's first training run in the capsule simulator, was scripted and animated for the film's B part, but was not included in the theatrical release.[213] The scene was cut for reasons of length before it reached the audio recording stage; however, the 1990 Royal Space Force~The Wings of Honnêamise Memorial Box LaserDisc edition, described by Animage as a kodawari (committed to perfection) project of Bandai co-producer Shigeru Watanabe, would reassemble the film's sound team and voice actors Leo Morimoto and Kazuyuki Sogabe, and record the dialogue and sound effects for the scene.[214] This one-minute scene would also be included on subsequent DVD and Blu-ray editions of Royal Space Force.
Many of the staff of Royal Space Force had also worked on two of the major anime film projects released in 1986: Project A-ko and Castle in the Sky, including Royal Space Force's assistant director Masuo and animation director Yuji Moriyama on A-ko;[215] design artist and key animator Mahiro Maeda had worked on Castle in the Sky,[216] as did Noriko Takaya, who had earlier developed for its director Hayao Miyazaki the "harmony" method used to portray the shifting carapace of the Ohm in Nausicaä; the technique would be used also for the rocket nozzles in Royal Space Force.[u] By the summer of 1986, both works were completed, and a large number of their crew joined the production of Royal Space Force, which by that point was running on a round-the-clock schedule.[220]
Yamaga would later say of the making of Royal Space Force, "it was like we were all swinging swords with our eyes blindfolded".[10] Akai and Yamaga remarked that since they weren't "animation purists," they altered the animation drawings, cels, and timesheets in ways that were not traditional industry practice, to the extent that "the young people who followed in our footsteps in creating anime thought that was how it was done," speculating that they may have created new traditions for anime by breaking the old on the production of Royal Space Force.[221] The idea that Royal Space Force would not use anime's traditional division of labor and strictly assigned roles was developed while it was still in the pre-production stage.[222] Masuo compared Gainax's production system to putting on a school festival, with everyone sharing ideas and participating wherever they could.[223] Higuchi laughed that while as assistant director he supervised with a "blueprint" of what the film would be like, there were times when the finished work turned out to be completely different, and he thought, "Oh..."[224] In 1995, Okada reflected that the film "was made in that kind of chaos ... On a Gainax anime project, everyone has to be a director. Therefore, everyone's feelings and everyone's knowledge are going into it ... That's the good side of how Gainax's films are different from others. But we have no strong director, and that's the weak side."[225] On the director's commentary, Yamaga himself noted that when the film's final retakes were done at the end of 1986, out of 100 adjustments made to scenes, only three were based on the director's own suggestions. Akai had personally rejected other change requests by Yamaga on the basis of representing the opinions of the entire staff and making sure that "everyone was being heard". Yamaga replied, "I was just pleased that everyone was so involved in the project. I hadn't expected that to happen. It was a wonderful time. At the beginning, I was expected to make all the decisions, but as time went by, the staff started to understand that I wasn't going to make all the decisions and that they were going to have to get involved. By the end of the project, nobody cared what I had to say ... I thought that was great."[226]
Cinematography[]
As a pre-digital anime, the scenes in Royal Space Force were created by using a camera to photograph the animation cels and backgrounds onto movie film. A scene would typically consist of a series of separate individual shots known as "cuts," with each cut being prepared for the photographer by collecting into a bag all animation cels and background elements to be used in that particular cut. Akai noted that Anno's animation of the flakes of frost falling from the rocket at liftoff required so many cels[v] that the cuts for the scene were carried in a box, rather than a bag.[228] The director of photography on Royal Space Force was Hiroshi Isakawa of Mushi Production, where the animation for the pilot film had been shot in early 1985.[63] Isakawa had subsequently been asked to direct photography on the full-length film as well; in an interview after the film's completion, he remarked that he was originally assured photography could begin in April 1986, but received no cuts to film[w] until August and September, and then "only the easy work," with Gainax putting off completing the more difficult scenes until later.[x] Isakawa joked that as it was not until October that the cuts began to come in at a steady pace, it was difficult for him to determine exactly how much progress they were making on the film. The most intense period of work occurred in January 1987; Isakawa completed the filming for Royal Space Force at the end of that month, noting that with the off-and-on nature of the task, the photography had taken three months of actual time.[232]
Besides the technical necessity to photograph the animation, Gainax's own prior experience in filming amateur live-action works had a broader influence on the construction of the animated scenes themselves; the sequence early in Royal Space Force where Tchallichammi and Shiro converse in the bathroom is described in the director's commentary as a "simple scene" which was nevertheless redone many times as the staff debated the relative motions and placement of the two characters "as if we were shooting this in live-action."[233] Akai and Yamaga remarked that it had not been their intent as animators to "emulate" live-action films, but rather to make animation with a realism based on their experience of "look(ing) through the camera lens to see what it sees ... there weren't many people who could [both] draw and understand how the camera works ... It's difficult to express animated films realistically. The camera doesn't really exist."[234] Another reflection of their live-action experience involved building scale models of Marty's motorcycle, the Honnêamise naval jet and air force prop planes, and the Royal Space Force headquarters building. These models were used as reference aids for the animators,[y] but also to choose which angles and viewpoints to use in scenes where the modelled objects would appear; in the figurative sense, to "decide where the cameras should be."[236]
Many of the scenes in the film would be created through special photographic techniques applied to the underlying animation; an example was the appearance of the television screen in the Royal Space Force barracks. Gainax came up with the idea to take a clear acrylic panel cover from a fluorescent lamp and place it over the animation cels depicting the TV broadcast, moving the cover around as the cels were photographed; the motion of the prismatic pattern on the cover simulated the look of an image with varying reception quality. The appearance and disappearance of an analog television's cathode ray-generated images as a channel was switched or the set turned off was further simulated by using a photo compositing technique, as it was felt employing a simple camera fade would reduce the realism of the effect.[237] The TV screen images were shot at the T Nishimura studio, a photography specialist that would later contribute to 1989's Patlabor: The Movie.[238]
Isakawa described the technical challenges he faced in filming Gainax's work on Royal Space Force, with some individual cuts created by using as many as 12 photographic levels consisting of cels, superimposition layers, and sheets of paper masks designed to capture isolated areas of different colored transmitted light (a photographic technique useable with translucent items such as animation cels, where the image can also be illuminated by light passing through the object, rather than only by reflected light). Some of the cel layers arrived with dust and scratches, which posed additional difficulties for Isakawa; he considered obscuring them with the popular method of employing a polarizing filter, but felt he could not use the technique, as such filters also obscured fine details in the cel art. Isakawa remarked that Gainax had however largely avoided what he described as the common errors in the anime industry of cels not being long enough for their background paintings, or having misaligned attachment points to peg bars.[239] Another challenging aspect for Isakawa involved motion rather than light, such as conveying the heavy vibrations of Marty's motorcycle, or the air force plane cockpit; whereas ordinarily such scenes would be filmed while shaking the cels and the backgrounds as a unit, Gainax insisted that the elements be shaken separately.[240]
Yamaga and Shinji Higuchi, who also served as assistant director of photography on the film,[241] had Isakawa watch The Right Stuff and showed him NASA photos as a reference for the look they wished to achieve in certain shots. In an effort to convey a sense of the visual mystery of the film's world from space, Isakawa photographed the animation art through such tiny holes made in the paper masks for transmitted light that he felt the images could hardly be said to be lit at all; he was unable to judge the exact light levels needed in advance, having to make adjustments afterwards based on examining the developed film.[242] Higuchi related that he had made the holes using an acupuncture needle he had obtained from a masseur on the film's staff.[243][z] Isakawa mentioned that he would get tired and angry after being asked to shoot five or six different takes of a cut, not seeing the necessity for it, but gave up resisting when he realized it was a work "in pursuit of perfection," and felt that the final achievement was "realistic without using the imagery of live action, a work that made full use of anime's best merits."[245]
Iwao Yamaki of the studio Animation Staff Room, who had been director of photography on Harmagedon and The Dagger of Kamui,[246] served as photography supervisor on Royal Space Force, assisting Isakawa and Yamaga with advice on specific shooting techniques; his suggestions included the fog effect in the sauna where the Republic officials discuss the Honnêamise kingdom's launch plans, achieved by photographing the cels through a pinhole screen, and creating the strata of thin clouds that Shiro's training flight flies through using a slit-scan method.[247] Isakawa and Yamaki were both 20 years older than Yamaga;[248] Yamaki remarked that Gainax's filmmaking without knowledge of established techniques opened the possibility of "many adventures," and whereas his generation had adventures through what they already knew, Yamaki wanted the next generation of filmmakers to have "different adventures," that necessitated taking new risks. Yamaki approvingly quoted Yamaga that the nature of Royal Space Force as a film was not defined by the fact it was an anime, but through how it used the techniques of anime to the fullest extent to ultimately achieve filmic effects beyond if it had been a live-action work, which Yamaga believed was the way for anime to prove its value as a cinematic medium.[249]
Voice acting[]
The voice performances in Royal Space Force were supervised by Atsumi Tashiro of the anime studio Group TAC. Tashiro, who had been sound director for the highly influential 1974 TV series Space Battleship Yamato[250] and subsequent Yamato movies, as well as for the 1985 Gisaburo Sugii film Night on the Galactic Railroad,[251] remarked that in the more than 20 years of his career, Royal Space Force was the first time he had agreed to direct the sound for a work made outside his own company. Gainax had been enthusiastic in pursuing Tashiro's involvement, first sending him the script of the film, followed by a visit from Yamaga and Okada to explain the script, after which, Tashiro joked, he still couldn't understand it, even with several follow-up meetings. Despite his initial difficulty in grasping the project, however, Tashiro was struck by the passion and youth of the filmmakers, and felt that working with them on Royal Space Force would represent an opportunity to "revitalize" himself professionally.[252] Tashiro's relationship with the studio would continue after the film into Gainax's next two productions: their first OVA series Gunbuster, which modeled the character Captain Tashiro upon him, and their debut TV show, Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water, in which Group TAC was closely involved.[253]
In the director's commentary, Yamaga remarked that he "wanted the dialogue to be natural," which he maintained was "a first in Japanese animation." Akai felt that a tone had been set for Royal Space Force by the decision to cast Leo Morimoto in the lead role as Shirotsugh: "The other actors knew that this was going to be a different kind of animated film when we cast Leo."[254] Morimoto was a 43-year old veteran actor in live-action films and TV[255] but had very limited experience in anime, whereas Mitsuki Yayoi, cast as Riquinni after Gainax had heard her on the radio,[256] was a stage actor and member of the Seinenza Theater Company with some voice-over experience,[255] but who had never before played an anime role.[257] While remarking that there were already many professional voice actors who were suited to animation work, Tashiro saw the casting of Morimoto and Yayoi as a great opportunity for him, asserting that the apprehension the performers felt due to their mutual unfamiliarity with the field meant that they approached their roles as an actual encounter, with genuine emotion and reactions that were honest and fresh, a spirit that Tashiro said he had forgotten within the world of anime.[258]
Morimoto remarked during a recording session for the film in late November 1986 that Tashiro directed him not to play the role of Shirotsugh as if it were an anime, but rather to attempt the flavor of a live performance,[259] noting in a later interview that Yamaga had given him the same instructions. He commented that it was a difficult role for him, as unlike a live-action drama, "you can't fake the mood, you have to express yourself correctly with just your voice," and viewed his work on Royal Space Force as "scary" but "fulfilling."[260] Although evaluating the character himself as "not a great hero," Morimoto at the same time said that he found much that was convincing in Shirotsugh's growth in the film, feeling that it somehow came to assume the role of history's own progression: "What is to be found at the end of that maturation is gradually revealed, arriving at a magnificent place." He added he was "shocked that a 24-year old could make such a film ... I'm glad to know that [creators] like this are making their debut, and I hope that more of them do." Asked what he wanted people to particularly watch for in the film, Morimoto answered that most adults, by which he included himself, "talk a lot about 'young people these days,' and so forth. But the truth is these young people who hear that from us are able to be clear about this world with an ease adults no longer possess. They have a firm grasp of history, and they don't shy away from the parts in this film that adults have avoided; they call out the lies, while at the same time, each one of them puts in their work with sincerity."[261]
Yayoi commented that Yamaga had described Riquinni to her as "uncompromising in her beliefs, and this could be seen as hardheadedness and causing problems or discomfort to those around her. But also that she could look upon something truly beautiful, yet not respond simply by thinking that yes, it is beautiful, but might ponder it, and wonder if it genuinely is. It's not a disability or a deliberate obstacle [in her character], but just that people around her would honestly think that this girl is a little bit weird."[262] Yayoi understood Riquinni as a "normal girl" who, to the extent she was out of step with everyday life, was not so much because she was strange on the inside, but because her relationships with the exterior world were governed by her strong will; Yayoi suggested that the film is her coming-of-age story as well.[263] Asked if there was anything she felt in common with Riquinni, Yayoi, herself in her early 20s, spoke first of their shared youth, and how while Riquinni's personal way of expressing her authenticity was through her religious beliefs, authenticity was a widely shared ideal of young people, and in that sense Riquinni represented "the parts of me that are genuine." Yayoi however could imagine herself also as sometimes expressing those genuine feelings directly, and sometimes holding them back with measured speech, interpreting Shirotsugh and Riquinni's final rendezvous in the film as an example of the latter; rather than any dramatic statements or tears, she noted, Riquinni simply ends the encounter with an itterasshai ("come back soon") as he departs. "But in her heart," said Yayoi, "she's thinking, 'Well, this will be the last time we meet,' laughing to the interviewer, 'Don't we all know what that feels like?'"[264]
In contrast to the animation itself on Royal Space Force, whose scenes were completed out of sequence before being edited together, the dialogue was recorded in sequence; Yamaga commented that at the beginning of the film, "everyone was unsure of their character. But by the end of the project, I no longer needed to give any direction," to the extent, Akai noted, that Morimoto ad-libbed Shirotsugh's song upon arriving at the rocket launch site guarded by dummy tanks.[265] Yamaga suggested that an emphasis in Japanese voice acting upon clear voice projection worked against a realistic-sounding delivery in certain circumstances such as military communications or PA announcements, citing the performances Mamoru Oshii later obtained in the Patlabor anime as an example of what he wished he could have achieved for Royal Space Force.[266]
In his 2010 memoir, Okada recalled his dismay at finding out that the Star Quest dub being recorded for Royal Space Force's Hollywood premiere intended to use only seven actors to voice the English version, contrasting it to the over 40 performers used in the Japanese original, and its assignment of special actors even to voice characters with only two or three lines, to give them each a distinct "color."[267] Minoru Uchida, another veteran actor with little history in anime, voiced the role of General Khaidenn,[aa] whereas the most prominent part in the film actually performed by an experienced anime voice actor was that of Marty Tohn, portrayed by Kazuyuki Sogabe, whom Akai noted also assisted on giving direction with some of the other voice actors.[269] Akai himself had a voice cameo as the soldier giving orders outside the Defense Ministry shortly before the General's meeting with his superiors.[270] The reporter whose voice is heard in the newsreel of Shiro's training regimen and the exterior shots before his abortive TV interview was Kazuo Tokumitsu, at the time host of the nationwide weekday morning television show Zoom In!! Morning! on NTV; the network, which was collaborating on the film's publicity, had requested halfway through production that the movie feature voices from their talent base. Yamaga and Akai remarked that by this stage only the news voice-overs were available, and it was too late to redraw the newsreel reporter so that he actually resembled Tokumitsu; they recalled being a bit embarrassed at how the situation had caused the network a certain offense.[271] Actors with a foreign background were employed to portray the voices of characters from the Republic, whose dialogue was delivered in a made-up language;[272] an example being the role of Republic minister Nereddon, voiced by Willie Dorsey,[273] a black American actor resident in Japan who had previously appeared in several Sonny Chiba films, including The Executioner.[274]
Music[]
In April 1986, Ryuichi Sakamoto was selected as the musical director of Royal Space Force.[275] Sakamoto was already regarded for his work in the pioneering electronic band Yellow Magic Orchestra and his soundtrack for the 1983 Nagisa Oshima film Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence[276] which had won the United Kingdom BAFTA Award for Best Film Music; the year following the release of Royal Space Force, Sakamoto would share the Academy Award for Best Original Score with David Byrne and Cong Su for their soundtrack to The Last Emperor. In 1986 Sakamoto was prominent also in the Japanese domestic film market for his soundtrack to the top-grossing nationwide movie of that year, Koneko Monogatari.[277] Sakamoto brought into the Royal Space Force project his prior collaborators on Koneko Monogatari, musicians Koji Ueno, Yuji Nomi, and Haruo Kubota.[278] During a 1998 interview with Kentaro Takekuma, Hiroyuki Yamaga remarked that asking Sakamoto to do the music for Royal Space Force required a special increase of 40 million yen above its previous 360 million yen budget, which, together with an additional 40 million yen deficit incurred while making the film, raised its final production costs to 440 million yen, and, when including advertising expenses, its estimated total costs in the accounting records to 800 million yen.[279]
The first commercial release of music for the project occurred three months before the Japanese debut of the film itself, in the form of a December 1986 limited edition The Wings of Honnêamise: Image Sketch 12" maxi single, issued on School, Sakamoto’s label under Midi Records,[275] and containing early mixes of four key initial pieces he had composed for the film's soundtrack, referred to on Image Sketch only under the names "Prototype A", "Prototype B", "Prototype C", and "Prototype D".[ab] Sakamoto commented in the liner notes for Image Sketch that when he first heard the movie was going to be called "Royal Space Force", he thought that based on the title it was going to be "a film by a far-right organization (my mistake!)" He stated that what struck him immediately about the film's storyboards was "the precision of its detail"[ac] which convinced him that "these people probably liked the same things I did," and that one of the main reasons he accepted the job was that he saw a resemblance between the meticulous care he put into his music and the efforts the filmmakers were taking with Royal Space Force. Sakamoto concluded by expressing his belief that such "finely crafted" contemporary Japanese animation and music would henceforth be increasingly exported to overseas markets in the future.[284] Yamaga's own remarks in the liner notes declared that "while it was true that this [film] was not made entirely from original materials," it possessed as its "underlying image, a collection of 'deep sensibilities'" that arose from the distinct personal characteristics of each creator who worked upon it, "a shout from each individual’s unique sense of self that bleeds through even if covered over. In the same way, Mr. Sakamoto dismissed using the styles of fill-in-the-blank,[ad] and created an ultimate sound based on his own personal sensibility. I hope you will enjoy that profound deep sensibility of his own."[287]
In an interview conducted shortly before the movie's release with Ueno, Kubota, and Keiko Shinozaki, the A&R coordinator for Midi, Shinozaki described the working process behind the composition of the film music. Ueno, Kubota, and Nomi took as their starting points a set of "keywords" that Yamaga had given them as director, together with the four prototype compositions Sakamoto (whom they referred to as kyōju, "Professor") had made.[288] Kubota detailed the creation of the "chart table" that determined the placement of the various soundtrack elements; made by the music director and sound director [that is, by Sakamoto and Atsumi Tashiro], the chart noted each scene that would require music, which, as Kubota remarked, naturally determined, based on scene length, the length of the needed music. The chart also included notes on the basic kind of music to be used in the scene, and in particular, which of the four prototypes to use as a basis for their arrangements.[289] Ueno, Kubota, and Nomi then decided which scenes in the film they would each arrange, and went to work on their arrangements separately, neither working on them in the studio together, or with Sakamoto. After arranging a piece, they would reassemble as a group and listen to each other's work, and then go their separate ways once again to continue the process.[290]
Of the 47 musical arrangements made for the film based on the chart,[291] of which 15 were later selected to be featured on The Wings of Honnêamise~Royal Space Force Original Soundtrack released in March 1987,[86] most were developed as different variations on one of Sakamoto’s original four prototypes; for example, "Prototype A" would become the basis of the Original Soundtrack's "Main Theme"; whereas "Prototype B" would become "Riquinni's Theme." A few pieces were created based on arrangements combining two of the prototypes, as with "Rishō", used during the ascent of Shiro in the rocket.[ae] 13 of the 47 pieces, however, were not based on any of the four basic prototypes, but were instead new original compositions created later in the soundtrack process by Ueno, Kubota, Nomi, or Sakamoto himself. Several of these 13 pieces were featured on the Original Soundtrack, including Sakamoto's "Ministry of Defense," used for the General's nighttime meeting with his superiors, Kubota and Ueno's "War," used for the battle to capture the launch site, Nomi's "The Final Stage," played after the General decides to proceed with the countdown, and Ueno's "Dr. Gnomm's Funeral". Two of the 47 pieces combined variations on the prototypes with new material, most prominently "Out To Space," used for Shiro's monologue from orbit and the subsequent visionary sequence, which employed successive variations on "B" and "A", followed by an additional original composition by Sakamoto.[292] The background music pieces not included on the Original Soundtrack would eventually be collected as a bonus feature on the 1990 Royal Space Force~The Wings of Honnêamise Memorial Box LaserDisc edition, where the pieces were accompanied by images from the film's concept art;[293] this bonus feature would also be included as an extra on the 2000 Manga Entertainment DVD.[294]
Toshio Okada made only two brief mentions of Sakamoto’s musical role on Royal Space Force in his memoir;[af] in his 1995 interview with Animerica, Okada had remarked that he was not personally a fan of Sakamoto’s music: "I didn't really like Sakamoto's style back then, or even now. But I know his talent, his ability to construct a strong score, and write an entire orchestration. That’s why I chose him," asserting that "at that time, he was the only choice for an original movie soundtrack. Composers for ordinary anime music can make a pop song, something in the enka style— you know, just songs, like an opening theme. But they can't do orchestration, or a sad melody like ["Riquinni's Theme"]." When asked if he had considered approaching Jo Hisaishi, associated with scoring the films of Hayao Miyazaki, Okada replied, "Jo Hisaishi always writes one or two melodies, and the rest of the soundtrack is constructed around them. You can see that in Nausicaä and Laputa. But his kind of style wouldn't have worked for [Royal Space Force]. As I said— for better or worse, the film has a very differentiated structure, and we needed a score to match that. So I told Sakamoto, "Don't make the soundtrack all by yourself. You should direct it, but get a staff with real musical talent, young and old, and incorporate their work."[296][ag]
Whereas Sakamoto's own 2009 autobiography made extensive reference to his other 1987 film project The Last Emperor, it does not discuss Royal Space Force.[298] Sakamoto’s film score for the Kōbun Shizuno film My Tyrano: Together, Forever was reported by media outlets in 2018 as his first time composing a soundtrack for an animated work; noting his recent Grammy and Golden Globe nominations for The Revenant, The Hollywood Reporter quoted Sakamoto as saying that "he had avoided animated film projects for a long time because he was more used to composing for serious live-action dramas"[299] while The Japan Times related, "Ryuichi Sakamoto has spent a career steeped in high drama [but] the Japanese star revealed he had now realized a childhood dream by working for the first time in animation. 'I grew up watching Astro Boy,' said Sakamoto, referring to the cartoon crime fighter. 'So I have a great respect for this world.'"[300] Earlier that year, in an interview with film critic Nobuhiro Hosoki during Sakamoto’s visit to the Tribeca Film Festival for the screening of the documentary on his career Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda, the composer remarked that he had been in charge of the music for an anime film "35 [sic] years ago, but I didn't like it very much (so I can't say the title)."[301][ah]
Commenting on Sakamoto’s remarks in 2018, Okada recalled that the composer had been sincerely excited about creating the music for Royal Space Force early on in the project, and had studied its storyboards closely for inspiration;[305][ai] the liner notes for the 1987 Original Soundtrack album noted a music planning meeting where the enthusiasm was so great that the participants ended up staying for 12 hours.[306] Okada felt that Sakamoto may have viewed the storyboards, with their breakdown of scene lengths into seconds, as a guide that would permit him to achieve a perfect sync between his music and the images; however, Okada noted, the actual length of a finished cut of animation may vary slightly from the storyboard, and ultimately the sound director has the prerogative to edit or adjust the music accordingly to fit.[307] Okada believed that such issues could have been resolved if he had the opportunity to speak directly with Sakamoto and make adjustments, but after a point communication with Sakamoto had become indirect, relayed through his then-management, Yoroshita Music.[308] The composer himself had been away from Japan during the final months of Royal Space Force's production, which overlapped with the shooting schedule of The Last Emperor that had begun in China in early August 1986 and which was still continuing as of February 1987 in Rome;[309] Sakamoto had been working in both locations as an actor in the film, portraying the role of Masahiko Amakasu.[310][aj] Okada asserted that although Sakamoto and Yamaga themselves never came into conflict, the situation led to frustration among the film’s staff, and in particular between Yoroshita and sound director Atsumi Tashiro; Tashiro eventually asked Okada to make the call as to whether he or Sakamoto would have final say on placing the music.[ak] Okada chose Tashiro, remarking that he accepted responsibility for the decision although he believed that it was what soured Sakamoto on Royal Space Force, to the extent of not discussing it as part of his professional history as a film composer.[311]
Release[]
Marketing[]
"Royal Space Force was put into production at the very height of the first surge in [anime] video sales, when a studio's ownership of an all-new product, deeply ingrained in the newfound market of adult fans and active fandom, made 'by fans for fans', was immensely tempting. One imagines that investors hoped to bootstrap a new Gundam or a new Yamato out of nothing, which might have explained the enthusiasm during production for a possible movie sequel or television spin-off.[al] However, as the footage of Royal Space Force neared completion in late 1986, and was found to be inconveniently free of many merchandising spin-off opportunities, there were signs among the investors and sponsors of cold feet."[285]
In a 2013 survey of the last century of the anime industry, Jonathan Clements devotes three pages to a case study of the distribution and exhibition issues surrounding Royal Space Force, describing "outrageous attempts" by the film's financial backers "to 'fix' the ailing film project," not by changing the film itself, but through a deceptive marketing campaign that began with "prolonged arguments over a sudden perceived need to rename it".[285] The project had been pitched, developed, and approved for production under the name Royal Space Force; Okada remarked that, to Gainax, it was "its one and only title".[313] All Nippon Airways, one of the film's sponsors,[314] however desired that the title include the word "wings,"[285] while Bandai favored that the title should use the form "Something of Something," on the reasoning that the last big anime hit had been called Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind.[313] Over the course of 1986, more than 20 other titles for the film had been suggested to Gainax by outside parties, including Space • Love • Story, Myth of Passion, Young Morning Star Shirotsugh, Spirits of Fire, Song of Icarus, Parallel Zone 1987, and Zero Vertex.[315] As Royal Space Force "was 'not sexy enough'" and Riquinni was "conveniently female," the initial push was to use the title (The) Wings of Riquinni.[285]
Although the plan to make Royal Space Force had been known around the anime industry since mid-1985,[316] the official announcement of the film was not made until June 4, 1986 in a press conference held at the prestigious Imperial Hotel in Tokyo.[275] Ryuichi Sakamoto, who was the only member of Royal Space Force's main staff known to the general public[317] spoke at the event, remarking that Royal Space Force would be his third film soundtrack and that its details reminded him of one of his favorite movies, Blade Runner.[318][am] The announcement at the Imperial Hotel used Royal Space Force as the main title of the film, with (The) Wings of Riquinni as a smaller subtitle; privately, Yamaga objected strongly to the subtitle, pointing out the purpose of the film was to expand the audience's view of the world, and that he did not want a title that focused on one character; therefore, if a second title was absolutely required, he suggested it use Honnêamise after the name of the kingdom in which most of the film's events takes place.[320] As 1986 drew to a close, the battle over the film's final name could be traced through updates on the project in the anime press; in the October 1986 issue of The Anime, just half a year before the film's release to Japanese theaters, the movie logo was still listed as it had appeared at the June announcement, with a large Royal Space Force above a smaller (The) Wings of Riquinni.[321] In the following month's issue, the logo no longer contained (The) Wings of Riquinni, and now read The Wings of Honnêamise~Royal Space Force, with Royal Space Force moved to the bottom, but both titles at equal size.[322] By the December 1986 issue, the logo had assumed its final theatrical release form, with Royal Space Force now smaller than The Wings of Honnêamise.[323]
"Okada and the others are still young, after all. And that has its really good points, but it also means they're ignorant of the ways of this world. So this could be their last work. Simply put, they've made this from inside a world of their own, so if it’s not a hit, their reputation will be trashed, and if it is a hit, there'll be pressure to do it again. In either case, they won't be able to do the kind of pure moviemaking the way they have up until now. So it's their last time in that sense. Next time in this business, I don't think they'll be squabbling with the advertising department of Toho Towa any more, and they'll do better that way. But in order to do well, they're going to have to compromise on their purity [in the future]. So it's quite something that they made this movie without compromise."
—Makoto Yamashina, 1987[324]
In a 2010 memoir, Okada reflected on the conflict, asserting that it had involved not only the title, but that at one point Bandai had also requested Gainax cut the film's length from two hours to 80 minutes. Okada considered that it had been a "natural" request from a sponsor's perspective, as a movie theater would give four daily showings to a two-hour film, but six if it were only 80 minutes, opening the possibility of 50% more ticket sales. At the time, however, Okada refused, arguing that the box office performance was not part of his job, and telling the theatrical distributor and Bandai in a meeting that if they wanted to cut the film by even 20 minutes, they might as well cut off Okada's arm. In retrospect, Okada felt that he had acted like a child, but that "creators are all children," and if they were making something new and interesting, then in the end everyone involved should profit; he acknowledged, however, that in the meantime it was the "grown-ups" who had to deal with the risks and problems along the way, yet to him, acting like such a "responsible adult" would have meant going along with a deceptive compromise and being just a chouseiyaku (fixer).[325] Bandai company president Makoto Yamashina affirmed shortly before the film's release that he had indeed thought of cutting 20 minutes from the film: "There were about three weeks during which we considered cutting it. Toho Towa was going through the same thing, but the process of deciding what [scenes] to cut began with conversations about why they shouldn't be cut. And afterwards, I thought, 'Ah, I get it now' and felt that I couldn't cut it. And with apologies toward Toho Towa, to please go along with this ... For the sake of the box office, it could have worked at around 100 minutes, but if we cut the film at this stage, the whole objective of the movie flies out the window, and the hundreds of millions of yen spent on it have no meaning. So I apologized—I'll be responsible if it's not a hit, so please let me do it as it is."[326]
Okada wrote of having later heard how "emotions were running high" on the Bandai side as well, to the extent of considering taking the project away from Gainax and giving it to another studio to finish, or even cancelling the film's release, despite the 360 million yen already spent on producing it. However, this would have required someone's "head to roll" at Bandai to take responsibility for the loss, which could mean Makoto Yamashina himself, who had announced Royal Space Force as his personal project durung the official press conference in June.[327] Okada noted that the person caught in the middle was Shigeru Watanabe, who had supported the project from the beginning and had secured Bandai's funding for Gainax, but now found himself "forced into a very difficult position," becoming so depressed by the conflict that following the film's release, he took a year's leave of absence. Okada expressed great regret for what he described as his lack of kindness at the time toward Watanabe, on whom he had taken out his anger and sense of betrayal, but nevertheless did not regret his lack of compromise, believing that if he had given any ground, the film might have not been completed.[328]
Clements remarked, "the promotions unit did everything in their power to make Honnêamise appeal to precisely the same audience as Nausicaä, even if that meant misleading advertising," citing one example recalled by Okada as "the 'insect incident', in which the artist [Yoshiyuki] Sadamoto was commissioned to draw an image of a giant spider-beetle attacking the city from the film. The insect in question only appeared in the film as a finger-length child's pet, although the advert gave the impression that it would grow into a house-sized behemoth equivalent to the giant ohmu in Nausicaä. Okada was incensed, not only at the apparent conspiracy to mislead audiences about his film, but that the producers would assent to wasting the time of Sadamoto, who spent three days on the commission. Okada felt ... that, if he had three days to spare, he [as one of the film's animation directors] could have better utilised the time by correcting several problematic scenes in the film itself."[285] Okada had earlier affirmed the deceptive marketing push in a 1995 interview: "Toho Towa was the distributor of The Wings of Honnêamise, and they didn't have any know-how, or sense of strategy to deal with the film ... And they were thinking that this film must be another Nausicaä, because Nausicaä was the last 'big anime hit.' But when they finally saw Wings, they realized it was not another Nausicaä [PANICKED SCREAM] and they thought, 'Okay, okay ... we'll make it Nausicaä in the publicity campaign!"[an]
Yamashina had himself acknowledged that although Bandai's plan to sell one million tickets for the film at the box office was based on that having been the sales performance for Nausicaä, "the content of this work isn’t like Nausicaä ... No one’s ever done something like this before, so it’s a great risk in that respect."[331] In 2000, Akai recalled, "The PR department didn't really seem to understand the film. They have a tendency to make a new release interesting by making it appear similar to a film that was previously a hit."[332] Yamaga remarked that, "There was no precedent in advertising a film like ours at the time. When they are asked what type of a film it is, they can only compare it to something like Nausicaä. It's actually completely different. But Nausicaä at least served as a reference when we were asked to describe our film. If it wasn't for that precedent, there would have been no reference point at all. We could never have explained why it was animated or why it was a theatrical release, or much of anything about it."[333]
The national publicity campaign for the film now being promoted under the title The Wings of Honnêamise~Royal Space Force began on New Year's Day, 1987, including full-color newspaper and magazine ads, as well as TV commercials,[334] with eventual placements in over 70 media outlets.[335] As with the "insect incident," a frequent aspect of the marketing push involved taking images from the film and presenting them in ads as fantastical. Akai gives as one example the steam train on which General Khaidenn departs for the capital to seek funding; advertisements labeled it as a "bio-train".[336] The official press kit for the theatrical release presented Riquinni and her book of scriptures as elements in a prophecy of salvation that drove the plot, describing the premise of the film as: "'... Through the guidance of a lass with a pure and untainted soul, those who are awakened shall take wing and rise to Heaven, taking in hand the Honneamise holy book' ... Shirotsugh grew up to join the Royal Space Force, as did other youths as hot blooded and energetic as he. It was then that work began on a grand project to search space for the envisioned holy book that promises eternal peace to Honneamise."[337] The weathered standing stone seen briefly outside the church storeroom where Riquinni lives during the latter part of the story,[338] while given no particular meaning in the film itself, was made into a major feature of the film's advertising, relabeled as a "Symbol Tower" that shines due to what ads described as a secret telepathic link born from the "passionate love" between Shirotsugh and Riquinni;[339] one of the film's trailers opened with an image of the glowing "tower" struck by lightning, then rising through the clouds as Riquinni prays before it while Shiro gazes up beside her; a caption proclaimed, "A world of love and youth, containing electrifying romance!" The only dialogue spoken in the trailer, "Do you believe in the miracle of love?" said by Riquinni's voice actor, Mitsuki Yayoi, was not a line from the actual film, but referenced a catchphrase used in the advertising campaign.[340][341]
Japanese release[]
"We can't make any more movies on this level. It's not just the money, not just the passion, it's the way they put this together, piece by piece. It's not about whether the story is interesting or uninteresting. It's a matter of quality, and it's not possible to maintain this level. Or that may be the case. So I think they did a great job, and yet from a professional perspective, they've made something that's a problem. When you look at it from the viewpoint of the anime industry, it must be very difficult to make something on this level. I've recently come to understand just how demanding it was for them to put make this piece by piece. And once it comes out, it'll set a new standard, won't it? If whatever comes next doesn't equal or surpass it, then it'll be a regression in terms of quality ... Disney achieved the peak [in animation] 50 years ago. You can't surpass them. Even if Spielberg or someone like that tries, it would only be an extension of what Disney did, but it wouldn't surpass it. But perhaps this time Yamaga has shown us a different approach from Disney, another possibility. Whether or not it ends up making a major impact in animation, the possibility will remain. And that's why I think he's created something amazing."—Makoto Yamashina, 1987[342]
Makoto Yamashina, the executive producer of Royal Space Force, detailed his conflicted feelings toward the final work and its box office prospects in an interview conducted shortly before the film's release in Japan: "If I had understood their concept earlier, I think I would have done it a little differently ... What they were trying to express is [found within] a visual world, so there are things that aren’t said in the script, that can’t be expressed with dialogue. The concept of the film couldn't be expressed without going ahead and making it. And after that there are no fixes; you now have this world that's been created, the world of Honnêamise, and it can’t be changed."[343] When asked what changes he would have liked to have made, Yamashina answered, "The big difference from how I thought it was going to be was that their expression was so flat. I would have made everything a bit more emotional and expansive, like the rocket launch scene at the end. While I believe at the same time that this was one of the [filmmaking] methods employed by Yamaga and the others, nevertheless it's flat. Constantly. In the emotional sense. I was fine with the scenes, the concepts, the plot development, but I would express more emotion ... "[344] Yamashina, citing the aerial action from Top Gun, 1987's highest-grossing film in Japan,[345] felt that "movies these days are all about entertainment," whereas "How the protagonist lives—his way of life, feeling depressed, wondering if he's okay with himself. That part of life, from the best movies, that's what's missing. And I think Yamaga dared to do that part." Yamashina asserted that Honnêamise was so significant because it was "the first film made for this [young] generation by that generation," and related an incident where a friend of his who also "didn't understand [the film] at all" was bewildered at the reaction of a young girl sitting next to him at a test screening, whom he saw noisily "cackling with delight". His friend, said Yamashina, wondered if he was witnessing a "revolution in the film industry" that if it succeeded, would put an end to the previous generation of filmmaking.[346]
"And then there's the matter of The Wings of Honnêamise, released through Toho. This is a movie that's come in for a lot of different praise, as well as criticism. However, it's a work that basically, I wish to support ... The question I raise though isn't so much about the film itself; it's about the core business thinking behind the release of this film. I was pleased to see Bandai enter into anime filmmaking. But why did they produce as their first film project a movie with no product development behind it, which, being a toy company, is their biggest strength? And why didn't they use a smaller budget, so as to make their profit at the box office? If their wish was to create a sustained filmmaking business, they should have aimed to make certain that their premiere release was a financial success by maximizing their commercial advantages on it. To be blunt, it was too risky a bet to have a movie like The Wings of Honnêamise be their first film. They should have made it their third or fourth."
—Tetsuo Daitoku, 1988[347]
To Yamashina, the contrast spoke to a paramount issue dating back to the original proposal for Royal Space Force—whether the creators were correct in their understanding of what their generation was truly looking for in a film; the pre-release research and test audience reactions had left Yamashina personally uncertain on this question: "I'm afraid that the theaters will be deserted, and no one will go to see the movie."[348] On the other hand, Yamashina repeated his concern for the implications if the film did turn out to be a hit: "If this is the [new] line that Yamaga is setting out, then filmmakers in the future are going to have to follow this line," suggesting that the previous assumptions about movies "will all get blown away ... You won't be able to make [a hit movie for young people] unless you're of that same generation."[349] Yamashina expressed the belief that directors the same age as himself such as Steven Spielberg and George Lucas could still connect with young audiences because "in America there isn't such a big gap" whereas "in Japan, the gap starts from around 25. There's a fault line between the generations" and that what Honnêamise was offering viewers was a new approach compared to Lucas and Spielberg, whose films he described as "entertainment, simple to grasp ... If it turns out that young people today are thinking along Yamaga's lines, at that level of sophistication, it's going to be very difficult [for other filmmakers]." Yamashina speculated on whether rapid generational change meant Yamaga should have made the movie when he was even younger in order to better connect with a teenage audience, remarking that the director first conceived the idea of the film at 19, but that the movie was not finished until he was 24. "It's hard for me to talk about the film like this, but regardless of whether or not it succeeds, it's a movie that I don't understand. Until it opens at the theater, we won't really know."[350]
The world premiere of the film was held on February 19, 1987 at Mann's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, California.[351] Americans invited to the showing included anime fans from the Cartoon/Fantasy Organization,[ao] and several figures associated with U.S. science fiction cinema including The Terminator and Aliens actor Michael Biehn,[353] as well as Blade Runner designer Syd Mead.[86] The screening, intended to help build publicity for the film's release to theaters in Japan the following month, was arranged for and covered by the Japanese news media.[354] Footage from the Hollywood event was incorporated into a half-hour Sunday morning promotional special, Tobe! Oneamisu no Tsubasa —Harukanaru hoshi no monogatari— ("Fly! The Wings of Honnêamise—Story of a Distant Star") that aired March 8 on Nippon TV, six days before the film's release in Japan.[86] Although referred to in Japanese publicity materials as The Wings of Honnêamise~Royal Space Force's "American prescreening,"[355] the film was shown under the name Star Quest, and presented in an English dub remarked upon by both U.S. and Japanese anime magazines covering the event[353][356] for its differences from the original film; in particular its use of "Americanized" names for the characters and changes to their motivations: as examples, in Star Quest, Riquinni, now known as "Diane," opposes the space project from the beginning, whereas Shirotsugh, now known as "Randy," is more positive toward it,[357] while the superiors of General Khaidenn, now known as "General Dixon," wish to use the rocket launch not as a provocation for war, but as a peace overture.[358]
The Wings of Honnêamise~Royal Space Force was released nationwide in Japan on March 14, 1987[86] through Toho's foreign film branch theaters;[359] in some smaller cities, it was shown as a double feature with the 1985 made-for-television film Ewoks: The Battle for Endor.[360] In a roundtable discussion in late spring following the film's release, co-producer Hiroaki Inoue observed that he could say the film "put up a good fight," arguing that the average theater stay for original anime films was four weeks, and Castle in the Sky had shown for five; in one theater, Royal Space Force had managed a seven-week engagement.[361] In 2002, Takeda recalled, "Not a single theater cancelled its run, and in some locations, it actually had a longer run than initially planned ... The budget scale meant that reclaiming all the production costs[ap] at the box office simply wasn't feasible."[359] Clements commented, "Such a claim, however, obscures to a certain degree the goldrush tensions of the period, when Japan's booming bubble economy arguably resulted in more investors than a film warranted," contending that Royal Space Force might have been reasonably expected to make back its money on its initial release, had it been a more modestly-budgeted OVA as first conceived.[58] On home video, the film's title was changed back to Royal Space Force, with The Wings of Honnêamise as a smaller subtitle, beginning with the 1990 Japanese laserdisc box set release.[363] Although Gainax itself was nearly bankrupted by the project, Bandai was reported as having made back its money on the movie in September 1994, seven and a half years after its Japanese theatrical release; the anime continued to generate profit for them in the years to come.[364][365][aq]
English-language release[]
Toshio Okada, who had attended the Star Quest event together with writer/director Hiroyuki Yamaga,[136] "concluded that a market did indeed exist in America for well-dubbed and subtitled animation," and after discussions with Bandai prepared a subtitled 16 mm film version of the film to be shown at the 1988 Worldcon in New Orleans, with the subsequent aim of making a "budget-priced videotape version" available in the United States.[367] However, Royal Space Force did not receive an English-language commercial release until 1994, when a new English dub of the film was made by Manga Entertainment using its original 1987 Japanese theatrical release title, The Wings of Honnêamise: Royal Space Force. Previously active releasing anime in the United Kingdom, the dub of Honnêamise was Manga's debut project upon entering the US anime market.[368]
The new English dub showed in over 20 movie theaters during 1994–95 in a 35 mm film version distributed by Tara Releasing[368][369] and in June 1995 the film was released by Manga Entertainment in separate dubbed and subtitled VHS versions[370] followed in January 1997 by a bilingual closed-captioned laserdisc release by Manga Entertainment and Pioneer LDCA.[371] Animerica, in a contemporary review, assessed the dub as "admirable in many respects," but remarked on several differences between the dialogue in the English subtitled and dubbed versions, noting that in the dubbed version of the film, Riquinni suggests that she herself is to blame both for Shirotsugh's attempt to rape her, as well as for the earlier destruction of her home, and that in the dub, Shirotsugh does not ask Marty about the possibility of being the villain of one's own life story; the review argued that the subtitled version represents "a clearer presentation of the original ideas and personalities created by Hiroyuki Yamaga."[372][ar]
The 2000 release by Manga Entertainment on DVD, which features a commentary track with Hiroyuki Yamaga and Takami Akai, was severely criticized for its poor quality.[374][375][376][377] In 2007, Bandai Visual released a Blu-ray/HD DVD version to mark the film's 20th anniversary; this release used the audio of the 1997 Japanese edition of the film[378] in which its sound effects were re-recorded in Dolby 5.1.[379] Although containing a 20-page booklet with essays by Hiroyuki Yamaga and Ryusuke Hikawa,[380] it lacks the commentary track of the 2000 Manga DVD release, and is now out of print. Maiden Japan re-released the movie separately on Blu-ray and DVD in 2013.[381]
The film's initial release in the United Kingdom on VHS in 1995 by Manga Entertainment was cut to remove the attempted rape scene; in a contemporary interview, BBFC examiner Imtiaz Karim indicated this was done voluntarily by Manga, so that the film, which had been certified for audiences 15 and up when shown in UK theaters, could receive the lower PG certificate when released on home video.[382] The 2015 Blu-ray and DVD UK edition of the film from Anime Limited was released uncut with a 15 certificate.[383]
Reception[]
Japanese critical response[]
The Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan's largest daily newspaper, published a mixed review of the film the day before its Japanese premiere, advising readers that, "if what you’re seeking is Top Gun heroic fantasy, you’re not going to get it;" the review took the perspective that rather Hiroyuki Yamaga, as director, writer, and original concept creator, had been attempting with the film "to pour out all the images within his mind into contemporary Japanese society".[384] The newspaper characterized the film as scattered and boring at times, and stated a certain "resentment at its lack of excitement," but concluded by expressing its admiration for the film on the grounds of its effort and expense, honest and personal vision, and for not clinging to the patterns of previous anime works.[385]
Royal Space Force ranked high in major annual retrospectives awarded by the Japanese anime press. The film won the Japan Anime Award for best anime release of 1987, chosen by an industry jury and sponsored by a consortium of magazines including Animedia,[as] OUT, My Anime, The Anime, and Animec.[387] In the Anime Grand Prix fan poll rankings, sponsored by Animage magazine, Royal Space Force made two of the year's top ten lists: voted #4 anime release of 1987, with Shirotsugh Lhadatt as #9 male character,[388] in addition to receiving an Animage Award presented that year by the magazine to the film itself.[387][at] In 1988, Royal Space Force won the Seiun Award, Japan's oldest prize for science fiction, for Best Dramatic Presentation of the previous year.[387] At the beginning of 1989, Animage founding editor Hideo Ogata, writing for Tokuma Shoten's retrospective on the first 70 years of anime film, compared Royal Space Force to Isao Takahata's 1968 The Great Adventure of Horus, Prince of the Sun; just as Horus had suddenly demonstrated a new level of realism and social themes in anime, Ogata saw Royal Space Force as a work that also seemed to have emerged onto the scene unrelated to any previous commercial release, "an anime movie with a different methodology and message ... It's uncertain what influence it will have on anime in the future, but what is certain is that this was a work filled with the tremendous passion of its young staff."[390] Hayao Miyazaki, who had been a key animator and scene designer on Takahata's film,[391] would in 1995 himself argue that the staff of Royal Space Force demonstrated it remained possible to make an anime film the way he had helped to make Horus in the 1960s, as part of a crew of "inexperienced amateurs in their mid-20s, who hung out together and ate together, who mingled their work and their personal lives together".[392]
Tetsuo Daitoku, editor of the anime magazine OUT, reviewed Royal Space Force for Japan's oldest film journal, Kinema Junpo, in their March 15, 1987 issue.[393][au] Daitoku wrote that he began watching the film wondering why the young creative staff making the film, whom he called "a new kind of people in anime," had chosen to use the "well-worn subject" of space travel, which had already been the focus of such iconic works as Space Battleship Yamato, not to mention live-action films such as The Right Stuff.[395][av] Daitoku however found the question in his mind being removed "little by little" as the film progressed: "Yes, human beings have gone beyond this world in the physical sense, and left their footprints up among the stars, but did their conscience and mentality go along with them?"[398] He felt the film acknowledged the issue and therefore took it as "necessary to observe the history and civilization of mankind from [a point] where the whole Earth can be seen ... This motif is the underlying basis of The Wings of Honnêamise. It is clear from the scenes at the end that we are seeing the reality of human history, not [only] that of a different world."[399] By "taking full advantage of the unique medium of animation," the creators "observe civilization objectively first and then disassemble it to eventually restructure it" ... "creating the different world by newly creating everything," down to the spoons, in the example Daitoku gives.[400] "Stories that feature cool machines, robots, and attractive characters, with the plot unfolding while drifting through space, already reached their peak in a sense with the [1984] Macross movie. Rather than trying to go beyond Macross, I think the creators of this film believed that they could find a new horizon for anime by creating a different world in a way that draws the story closer to Earth again."[401] Daitoku points out Shirotsugh is aware that whatever technology humans invent will be misused, and that Shirotsugh, although with noble intentions, is shown by the film to be less than heroic as a person, asking in conclusion: "What did the windmill mean that this Don Quixote named Shirotsugh Lhadatt went to space to confront, on this Rozinante called a rocket?"[402]
The March 15 issue of Kinema Junpo also featured a conversation on the film between Hiroyuki Yamaga and Hayao Miyazaki. Miyazaki praised Royal Space Force, calling it "an honest work, without any bluff or pretension ... I thought the movie is going to be a great inspiration to the young people working in this industry. They may be intensely divided over whether they like it or not, but either way it's going to serve as a stimulus."[403] Yamaga debated several aspects of the film with Miyazaki, asserting a great difference between their filmmaking approaches.[404] Miyazaki himself characterized a fundamental difference between the settings of his movies and that of Royal Space Force, explaining he thought Yamaga's film was honest because, "sending up a rocket may give the characters meaning in their lives, but you understand very well they live in a world where they'll be caught up by reality again. That's why I make anachronistic [anime] films on purpose."[405][aw] In the OUT roundtable later that year, Okada would also affirm this difference: "People make serious movies trying to give answers. Mr. Miyazaki's stories are good examples. He creates a fictitious world where he can respond, 'this is what's important.' But our generation knows that it doesn't work that way."[407]
"I don't know if I'm trying to drag you into my arena today; I just want to be clear to you about the parts I don't understand. But more than that, I wanted to tell you that I really think The Wings of Honnêamise is great. I wasn't under any obligation to look upon it kindly. I was ready to say it was no good if it really wasn't. But then I went to see the film, and I left it with good feelings."
—Hayao Miyazaki in conversation with Hiroyuki Yamaga, 1987[408]
In the Kinema Junpo conversation, Miyazaki related the two problems he personally had with Royal Space Force. The first was the rocket itself, which he saw as not unusual enough; for Miyazaki, its appearance detracted from the sense of victory he wished to feel at the end, because it seemed too reminiscent of "big science like NASA".[409] Related to that was his second problem with the film, in that Miyazaki did not find it convincing that the older members of the launch team would have been prepared to stop the countdown and give up after all their years of work, and that it was Shirotsugh who had to rally them to continue: "I didn't think these old guys would ever say, let's quit. Don't you agree? They seemed forced to say that ... Shirotsugh was only riding because he had the physical strength. After all, it wasn't the young people who'd had the passion; I couldn't help but feel that it was the old guys. I thought it was just done for drama."[410] Yamaga did not deny that he wrote the script in a way he thought would appeal to young people,[411] but argued that the clash between generations was not the message of the film. Miyazaki felt that since it was young people like Yamaga who had "actively sown the seeds of improvement [in anime]" with Royal Space Force, it would have been better in the movie if the young told the old, "'Stand back, old men.'"[412] Yamaga noted in response that the film showed a reality where neither generation of the Space Force saw their personal visions prevail, as the construction of the rocket and its launch only happened because of support from a government that had a different agenda from their own.[413] "It's not about making a leap, even though from the beginning it seems that way. More than going somewhere new in a physical sense, my aim was to show something worthy in the process."[414]
English-language critical response[]
Critical reaction to the English-dubbed version of the film during its 1994–1995 theatrical release was greatly divided, with reviews differing widely on the film's plot, themes, direction, and designs. The San Jose Mercury News's Stephen Whitty gave a one-star review, writing that the film offered "nothing really original ... nothing's ever really at stake; there's never a resolution because there's never any conflict to begin with ... And there's also the same misogyny that ruins so much 'adult' animation." Whitty also perceived "self-loathing stereotypes" in the character designs: "The only characters who look remotely Japanese are comical or villainous; the hero and heroine have Caucasian features and big, cute, Hello Kitty eyes."[415] A very similar perception was advanced by LA Village View's Sean O'Neill: "nearly all the good guys look white, with big, round, Walter Keane-style eyes, while the villains are sinister Asians, straight out of a WWII-era American movie. Is this an example of Japanese self-loathing, or does it simply underscore the international prevalence of Western standards of beauty?"[416] The Dallas Morning News's Scott Bowles had a more fundamental disagreement with the film's approach as an anime, comparing it to attempts to "commercialize punk music" that instead "stripped the music of its anger, vitality and interest ... face it, anime, and the manga (Japanese comic books) that inspire them are pretty scurrilous pop art forms. Filled with perfectly sculpted heroes, large-breasted and often naked women and lots and lots of violence, they're forms best appreciated by 13-year old boys. And in trying to appeal to a broader audience, writer/director Hiroyuki Yamaga has smoothed out anime's rough edges so much that what he's left with is about as interesting as a Formica counter top," recommending instead that audiences see "a far more representative anime, Fist of the North Star ... Fist has few of the pretensions of Wings and it's driven along with an energy its better-dressed cousin never attains."[417]
More favorable contemporary reviews tended to regard the film as unconventional while nevertheless recommending the film. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram's Andy Grieser wrote that the film "blends provocative ideas and visual beauty ... The world of Wings is a bawdy, claustrophobic Sodom reminiscent of the hybrid Japanese-American city in 1982's Blade Runner."[418] F.X. Feeney wrote in LA Weekly, "These strange, outsize pieces fuse and add a feeling of depth that cartoon narratives often don't obtain ... Technical brilliance aside, what gives The Wings of Honnêamise its slow-building power is the love story—a mysterious and credible one."[419] Richard Harrington in The Washington Post viewed its two-hour length as "a bit windy" but also asserted, "Hiroyuki Yamaga's The Wings of Honnêamise is a spectacular example of Japanimation, ambitious and daring in its seamless melding of color, depth and detail."[420] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three stars out of four, writing: "One of the pleasures of the film is simply enjoying Yamaga's visual imagination, as in a montage at the end, which shows the planet's suffering and turmoil," and remarked on his "offbeat dramatic style" ... "If you're curious about anime, The Wings of Honnêamise, playing for one week at the Music Box, is a good place to start."[421] Chris Jones of The Daily Texan gave it four stars out of five; while describing the film as "really strange," Jones nevertheless urged readers to see the film, writing, "I really liked this film more than any other animation I've seen and more than most other 'real' films. Depth and intelligence are written into it in more ways than words can describe."[422] In the United Kingdom, Jonathan Romney, writing in The Guardian, regarded the film as the standout of an anime festival at London's National Film Theatre: "One film in the season, though, proves that anime can be complex and lyrical as well as exciting. Hiroyuki Yamaga's Wings of Honnêamise ... Creaky dubbing notwithstanding, it beats recent Disney offerings hands down."[423] In Australia, Max Autohead of Hyper magazine rated it 10 out of 10, calling it "a cinematic masterpiece that will pave the way for more" anime of its kind.[424]
Following its initial English-language release in the mid-'90s, later retrospectives on anime have had a positive view of Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honnêamise. In a 1999 issue of Time, former Film Comment editor-in-chief Richard Corliss wrote an outline on the history of anime, listing under the year 1987 the remark, "The Wings of Honnêamise is released, making anime officially an art form."[425] In the 2006 edition of The Anime Encyclopedia, Jonathan Clements and Helen McCarthy characterized the film as "one of the shining examples of how cerebral and intelligent anime can be".[426] Simon Richmond, in 2009's The Rough Guide to Anime, wrote that the film's "reputation has grown over time to the point where it is justly heralded as a classic of the medium".[427] whereas in 2014's Anime, Colin Odell and Michelle Le Blanc described the film as "an example of science-fantasy anime as art-film narrative, combined with a coming-of-age drama that is intelligent and thought-provoking".[428] In a 2017 Paste listing of the 100 best anime movies of all time, Adult Swim senior vice president and on-air creative director Jason DeMarco ranked the film at #11, remarking, "If The Wings of Honnêamise is a 'noble failure,' it's the sort of failure many filmmakers would kill to have on their résumé."[429] During a 2021 interview with the New York Times, science fiction author Ted Chiang, whose Nebula Award-winning "Story of Your Life" was the basis[ax] for the Denis Villeneuve movie Arrival, cited Royal Space Force as the single most impressive example of world building in book or film: "I just really was impressed by the way that the animators for that film, they invented an entirely new physical culture for this movie. The movie is not about those things, but they really fleshed out this alternate world just as the backdrop for the story that they wanted to tell."[6]
Themes and analysis[]
The rhythmic movements of cosmic planets existed before human civilization. We may try to bestow humanistic meanings to the universe, but it is essentially indifferent to us and beyond our interpretations. The history of human civilization teaches us that "purposes" and "missions" are often used as sacrosanct excuses to commit violence. It is accepted as a truism that humans need to fight for some ideal goals to sustain civilization. At one point in [Royal Space Force], an interviewer asks Shirotsugh to talk about the "purpose" (shimei) of his mission. Shirotsugh does not know how to answer this question ... but he is certainly affected by the question. The later part of the movie suggests that Shirotsugh’s adamant ignorance or, say, innocence implies that not having a purpose is his purpose; his mission has a point because it is blatantly useless. In fact, every military man and politician ridicules his mission ... Shirotsugh’s lack of purpose (which also means not having a military force to destroy or to subjugate others) is an oblique political gesture against intrinsically war-driven human civilization, yet he still cannot escape from such a world in turmoil. His prayer at the end of the film means not only his hope for a better future but also his unconditional acceptance of this world.[431]
Royal Space Force attracted a broader academic analysis as early as 1992, when Takashi Murakami referenced the film through Sea Breeze, a work created during his doctoral studies in nihonga at Tokyo University of the Arts.[432] The installation piece was described as "a ring of enormous, 1000-watt mercury spotlights that emitted a powerful blast of heat and blinding light when a roller shutter was raised...Sea Breeze neatly aligned two major threads in Murakami’s practice of the time: the legacy of the war and its attendant ideologies of imperial divinity and the uniqueness of the Japanese people, and a burgeoning fascination with consumer culture and otaku creativity...the circular of lights was based on a close-up of rocket engines firing during a space launch in the anime Royal Space Force: [The] Wings of Honneamise."[433] Hiroyuki Yamaga’s remark on Royal Space Force, "We wanted to create a world, and we wanted to look at it from space" would be quoted as an epigram[434] in the catalog of the 2001–04 exhibition headlined by Murakami, My Reality—Contemporary Art and the Culture of Japanese Animation, by which time Murakami was described as a "pivotal figure" among contemporary artists "inundated with manga and anime—and with concepts of the new Japan, which was wrestling with a sense of self-identity as an increasingly strong part of the modern capitalistic world, yet was tied to a long and distinguished past."[435] A previous Murakami exhibition in 1999 had noted that the artist's "notorious sculpture" My Lonesome Cowboy was "created at the suggestion of Toshio Okada, the [Gainax] animation film producer".[436]
In a March 1992 roundtable discussion with the Japanese arts magazine Bijutsu Techō, Murakami remarked that he "... found it commendable that otaku were dedicated to 'the invention of a new technique, especially through the use of overlooked elements, finding an "empty space" between existing methods of production or criteria for judging works.' He maintained that art must find the same 'empty space' to revolutionize itself."[437] Sea Breeze was "... contained in a square box on wheels...when switched on, the intense heat and dazzling flash of the lights evoke the moment of its launch...Gainax represented, for Murakami, a model of marginalized yet cutting-edge cultural production. Referring to their film was Murakami's homage to Gainax's independent spirit. At the same time, the fact that the burning wheel was contained inside a box signified passion confined within a conventional frame, evoking the failure of Honneamise to present a uniquely Japanese expression as it remained under the influence of Western science-fiction films."[438] Murakami would later assert, two years after its initial debut, that Sea Breeze "does not have any concept. Just an enormous work [whose] ground of art is collapsed," yet in 1999 remarked further of the piece that, "sadly, this indoor artworld spectacle was the closest the Japanese would get to a space program".[439]
Murakami would express a specific historical conception of otaku during a discussion with Toshio Okada conducted for the 2005 exhibition Little Boy: The Arts of Japan's Exploding Subculture, addressing Okada with the premise: "After Japan experienced defeat in World War II, it gave birth to a distinctive phenomenon, which has gradually degenerated into a uniquely Japanese culture ... [you] are at the very center of this otaku culture",[440] further asserting in an essay for the exhibit catalog that therefore "otaku ... all are ultimately defined by their relentless references to a humiliated self".[441] This historical positioning of otaku culture would itself be challenged through an analysis of Royal Space Force by Viktor Eikman, who cites Murakami's statement in the same essay that the anime studio that made the film occupied "a central place in the current anime world... [they were] professionally incorporated as Gainax in 1984 upon production of the feature-length anime The Wings of Honneamise (released in 1987)"[442] but that the two Gainax works discussed by Murakami in his theory of otaku were the Daicon IV Opening Animation and Neon Genesis Evangelion. Eikman argues that the theory should be tested also against "other works by the same studio, made by the same people for the same audience, but not analysed [in the essay] by Murakami".[443] Of Royal Space Force, Eikman contended, "At most we may view the humiliated Shiro’s mission as symbolic of Japan’s desire to join the Space Race in particular and the 'big boy' struggles of the Cold War in general, a desire which plays into the sense of childish impotence described by Murakami, but even that is a very speculative hypothesis," arguing that "it is remarkably hard to find parallels to World War II" in the film. Eikman proposes a possible "weak analogy" in Royal Space Force to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor through the theory of an opposing nation being permitted to attack the launch site in order to provide a casus belli, but suggests such an analogy would "inappropriately cast Shiro as an American".[444]
In 2004's The Cinema Effect, a historical survey examining film through "the question of temporality",[445] Sean Cubitt presents an argument grouping Royal Space Force together with Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s 1942: A Love Story and Tsui Hark’s Once Upon a Time in China as examples of "revisionary" films, distinct from "revisionist" works in that they "do not so much revise [their] history as revision it, look into it with a new mode of envisioning the relationship between the past and the present ... they displace the fate of the present, opening instead a vista onto an elsewhere...ready to forsake the Western ideal of realism [for] the possibility of understanding how they might remake the past and so make the present other than it is."[446] Cubitt proposes that in Royal Space Force "the future emerges as an alternative past ... the film envisions [a country of] lamplighters and steam trains, trams, and prop-driven warplanes, a universe that the Meiji modernization ... might have arrived at had it not been urged along other routes by its exposure to Western technology."[447] A diegesis structured between town and country is seen by Cubitt in the persons of Shiro and Riquinni and their evocation of the "urban-rural continuum" present in Japan's particular experience of modernization, dependent upon "the mythic standing of rice as the medium of 'commensality,' of sharing, hospitality, connection to the gods, the environment, and the cycles of sexual reproduction. In the imaginary country of Honnêamise, the humble bowl of 'terish' seems to work in the same way, a dish whose origin is not clarified in a brief shot of harvesting what might be wheat or millet. The offering and sharing of food brings the stranger into the community in a way that idle urban drinking and gambling cannot."[448]
Cubitt, like Murakami, references the historical consequences of World War II, but in citing a speech by Japan's first postwar prime minister Naruhiko Higashikuni on the need for "nationwide collective repentance," suggests that such repentance is "the theme that seems to resonate in the curious, slow budding" of Royal Space Force through Riquinni's "homemade religion of renunciation and impending judgment"[449] arguing that such a philosophy is evoked also through the film's animation style: "Often a minor fluctuation is all there is to denote the atmosphere or emotion of a scene ... The appeal to a sophisticated audience's ability to decipher these small motions grows into an overall impression of lassitude before a world and a life well worth renouncing" and that "the two major action sequences, the chase and death of the assassin and the launch sequence, cut in the frame, the edit and the construction of depth, but they resolve into the absolute indifference of movements in equilibrium. Like the zero of the Lumières' flickering views, the action of [Royal Space Force] sums at nothingness, a zero degree of the political that removes its resolution from history, and from time itself, into the atemporal zone denoted by Shirotsugh's orbit ... an empty place from which alone the strife of warfare and suffering sinks into pure regret, not so much an end as an exit from history."[450]
In contrast, Shu Kuge, in a 2007 essay in the journal Mechademia, sees Shiro's position in space at film's end as "not the denial of history but the empathetic move to accept the cruel world without translating it into a metaphysical meaning".[451] Kuge groups the connection between Shiro and Riquinni with that between Mikako Nagamine and Noboru Terao in Makoto Shinkai's Voices of a Distant Star as examples of a personal connection that, although under different circumstances in each story, is in either case a relationship sustained by the spatial distance between two people: "[they] sustain the distance rather than shrink it because sustaining ... is crucial for their relationships to be vast and generous. The topological relationship between the floating and the remaining is actually a mimesis of a stellar relationship, such as the moon and the earth, the earth and the sun. Repetitive references to 'stars' in these movies should not be understood as metaphors; the characters in these anime aspire to become stars in space so as to overcome human dimensions..."[452] Kuge suggests a mutual personal attraction is indeed present between Riquinni and Shiro, but that "Riquinni maintains distance from Shirotsugh and leaves herself as an object of desire somewhat obscure, probably because she fears that physical proximity as well as the clarity of her interest diminishes a certain degree of her and his curiosity in their relationship. It is not that she is a tease, but she seems to know that ongoing curiosity, a drive toward the unknown, makes life more valuable; therefore, they can take care of each other better. In other words, the unknown should be sustained. Spatially speaking, curiosity is possible when the contact of the two bodies is suspended."[453]
Kuge further asserts "... They 'communicate' best when they have a physical distance between them...Shirotsugh visits Riquinni the day before he leaves for his mission, but she is not at home. He then hops into a trolley car, and Riquinni almost simultaneously steps out from the same car. She turns and recognizes Shirotsugh on board. They do not talk, but she smiles at him. As the trolley car slowly begins to move, Shirotsugh smiles back, saying 'Ittekimasu,' which literally means 'I am going,' a greeting that can be uttered only between family members and close friends.[ay] This scene lasts for less than thirty seconds, yet it demonstrates effectively and poetically what their relationship is. The physical distance between these two people connects them and sustains them in a particular continuity, although they appear not to share the same space. The same continuity also preserves the erotic energy between them. Collapsing this distance can mean the end of their relationship."[455] Noting the struggle between the armed forces of Honnêamise and the Republic to control the same physical territory, Kuge comments that by contrast the Royal Space Force does not in fact "possess any military force," and suggests that likewise the personal nature of Shiro and Riquinni's relationship depends upon respecting the physical separation and boundaries that she seeks to maintain and which he seeks to violate, and does violate, before they are reaffirmed in the latter part of the film. "It is not a coincidence that Shirotsugh's enthusiasm for space arises right after he meets Riquinni, who promotes the world of mythos that preserves the unknown (because it does not inquire about the 'essence' of all that is), instead of that of logos, or logical reasoning, which rationalizes physical phenomena. As she sustains her distance from him, his curiosity toward her is also transposed to an unknown territory, that is, outer space. When Shirotsugh reaches the unknown, there is no physical contact. All he can do is float. He seems to realize that the world indeed has no boundaries; in fact, he can float in this one continuous spatiality that includes everything. Being sustained by this vast distance, Shirotsugh prays, as if it were the only way to tell others the grandeur of this world."[456]
Sequel[]
During 1992–93, Gainax developed plans for a sequel to Royal Space Force to be entitled Aoki Uru (also known under the titles Uru in Blue and Blue Uru); an anime film project to be directed by Hideaki Anno and scripted by Hiroyuki Yamaga, with Yoshiyuki Sadamoto serving as its chief animation director and character designer. Although a full storyboard, partial script, and an extensive collection of design illustrations were produced for Aoki Uru,[457] the project had been initiated without a secured budget, and its development occurred within a period of personal, financial, and managerial crises at Gainax that contributed to the indefinite suspension of work on Aoki Uru in July 1993; the studio instead shifted to producing as their next anime project the TV series Neon Genesis Evangelion.[458] In the years following 1993, Gainax has made occasional announcements regarding a revival of the Aoki Uru concept, including a multimedia proposal in the late 1990s, and the formal announcement of an English name for the film, Uru in Blue, at the 2013 Tokyo Anime Fair. In 2018, the Uru in Blue project was transferred from Gainax to Gaina, a different corporate entity and subsidiary of the Kinoshita Group, with the aim of a worldwide release of the film in 2022.[459]
See also[]
- List of animated feature films
Notes[]
- ^ Toshio Okada has stated that movie theater ticket sales were "only about 120 or 150 million" yen.[2]
- ^ When asked in 2004 to state what had been "the biggest thing that happened" to him at Gainax, Neon Genesis Evangelion director Hideaki Anno cited two things: "the company managing to stay together" after the production of Royal Space Force, and "resisting the urge to resign from my job even after the Aoki Uru project [the sequel to Royal Space Force] was put on indefinite hold."[11]
- ^ The award was part of the "Minor Anime Grand Prix" section, in which the Anime Grand Prix's sponsors, Animage, recognized achievements outside the major categories of the main award. The Daicon IV Opening Animation was given that year's prize for the "Local Works" category; the award was made alongside a prize in the "Foreign Works" category for Yuri Norstein's Hedgehog in the Fog, originally released in the Soviet Union in 1975.[19]
- ^ Although the original 1984 proposal for Royal Space Force listed Okada as its producer,[22] the film as released in 1987 listed Okada, together with Shigeru Watanabe, under the credit 企画 (kikaku, "planning"), a job described as assisting with the "herculean task" of assisting the producer with all aspects of production management.[23] Okada has however described his role as that of producer in later discussions of Royal Space Force: "But we didn't get back the money. No, I mustn't say we. Bandai didn't get back the money. And of course, it was my responsibility. I was the producer of that film."[24] "From my point of view, I'm the producer, the only one who can be that final breakwater. I’m the president of Gainax, the producer of this film. The buck stops here."[25]
- ^ Okada recalled in 1995, "He made lots of designs for [Royal Space Force]. At first, he was supposed to be one of the main mechanical designers. But I couldn't use his mecha designs because they were too fantastic." Yamaga suggested he instead work on creating the movie's red-light district; Sonoda's designs for it appear in the finished film.[26]
- ^ Gainax's proposal referred to their own generation using both the term wakamono, "young people," and the term yangu (ヤング), "[the] young," a loan word that had become associated with Japanese youth pop culture, as reflected in the launch of such manga magazines in the late 1970s and early 1980s as Weekly Young Jump or Weekly Young Magazine.[29]
- ^ Yamaga had used an old idiomatic expression,「刀折れ矢尽きて」, that refers to reaching the point in battle of having shot one's last arrow, and broken one's sword.[33]
- ^ The word used in the proposal to describe this personality trend was ネクラ (nekura, "gloomy"). A term in popular use within Japan during the 1980s, nekura had connotations that would later be associated with the word otaku.[35] In a 2016 commentary track for the Otaku no Video Blu-ray, Yamaga remarked that the term nekura was in use as far back as his high school days [in the late 1970s]. Gainax producer and publicist Hiroki Sato gave its meaning as "dark root" or "creep," and described it as one of two different Japanese terms to describe hardcore fans that predated the use of otaku. First came マニア (mania, "maniac," "fanatic," "enthusiast") a loan word used in Japanese to refer to the obsessed person, rather than to the obsession as mania would be used in English. Yamaga commented that mania literature often affected a professorial mien and was a word that lent such fans "a sort of air of dignity...It gave the impression of somebody intelligent, a person of multifacted knowledge." Sato remarked that the label nekura rather than mania came into use later, once "things got focused on the negative aspects."[36]
- ^ In a 2004 essay on Akihabara and the history of otaku culture, professor Kaichiro Morikawa wrote in similar terms: "...as shadows of reality descended upon the 'future' and 'science,' dreams of youth raced off into the realm of fantasy. Objects of fascination veered from science toward science fiction and on to SF anime, whose two leading lights have characteristically been 'robots' and bishōjo 'nymphs.'"[38]
- ^ The proposal commented several times on what it described as the "pervasive cultural presence" in anime of the lolicon aesthetic;[43] the same Animage article profiling Yamaga’s direction of "Miss Macross" had noted that the three alien spies who later infiltrate the space battleship after watching a broadcast of the titular beauty contest were named Warera, Rorii, and Konda, of which the magazine remarked, "Start from the left and keep reading…" i.e., warera lolicon da, meaning in Japanese, "we’re lolicon(s)."[44] Animage itself, less than a year before in its April 1982 issue, whose cover story was devoted to the Mobile Suit Gundam III compilation film and which featured the third chapter of Hayao Miyazaki’s then-new manga Nausicaä, had given away as a furoku (free gift item), a pack of "Lolicon Cards," playing cards that each featured a different anime girl character, with the exception of the aces, which in all four suits was Clarisse from The Castle of Cagliostro,[45][46] a favorite heroine of Animage reader polls.[47]
- ^ The phrase esoragoto (絵空事) used in the proposal for "castle-in-the-sky" is different from that used in the title of Hayao Miyazaki's Tenkū no Shiro Laputa (Castle in the Sky), whose production would partially overlap with that of Royal Space Force. Toshio Okada maintained that "during the production stage of [Royal Space Force] Miyazaki would often appear in the dead of night...and talk members of Gainax's crew into leaving to work instead on his own movie."[48]
- ^ The term Watanabe used for "wiles," teren-tekuda (手練手管), is a traditional yojijukugo (four-character phrase) with overtones of seduction, coaxing, and guile. In his 2002 memoir, Takeda notes that both Watanabe and he were born in 1957, "and the two of us have gone out drinking together many times...He is also the one who arranged for Bandai to help fund the production of our first theatrical anime release. If it hadn't been for him, Okada and Yamaga's dream of producing a feature length motion picture might never have been realized."[16]
- ^ In a 1996 appearance at the San Jose convention Anime America, Okada, miming gestures of Watanabe praying and running, remarked to a panel audience that Watanabe "believes in Mamoru Oshii, just like Jesus Christ...I told Mr. Watanabe, 'I want to make this film'...and he thinks, 'I think it's a good idea, but I can't decide if it's really good. So—just a moment, I must go to Mr. Oshii's house'...And Mr. Oshii says, 'Oh—it's interesting!' So, he thought, 'It's good, it's good, it's good!' [LAUGHS] And it's a very powerful motivation for him, inside. So, he works very hard, and gets a very large budget for our film from the president of Bandai. So Mr. Oshii, he is a very good person for me, or for Studio Gainax, but...but...it is very strange to say, 'Maybe it is good, but maybe it is not so good.' It was a religion. But just now, Mr. Watanabe, he's come out of his brainwashing. So, he sometimes says: 'Maybe...maybe, maybe, Mr. Oshii is sometimes wrong.' [LAUGHS]"[67]
- ^ In the 2000 director's commentary, Yamaga and Akai made extensive discussion on the portrayal of Riquinni; Yamaga remarked on the viewer misconception that she made her money as a prostitute, whereas Akai commented that he didn’t think the film's staff themselves fully understood Riquinni: "I think it was our lack of ability that we couldn’t make [her] a more prominent character."[96]
- ^ Yamaga noted that he personally drew the tract that Riquinni is seeking to give to passersby at the end of the film.[125] Akai suggested to Yamaga that in deciding to go to space, Shirotsugh "deep down inside thinks that he has done [this] for" Riquinni, and comes to realize "there's a part of her in him," yet at the end Riquinni herself now has doubts about the mission, and can no longer give her wholehearted support to Shirotsugh. Yamaga agreed with this interpretation.[126]
- ^ Anno suggested that the tall, cylindrical look of the Space Race-era rockets he had grown up watching on TV would by itself seem somewhat exotic to contemporary high school audiences in 1987, who associated human spaceflight with the appearance of the Space Shuttle. On the choice of using either an early US or Soviet rocket as a model for the Royal Space Force launcher, Anno explained that he chose the Soviet because it was novel to him personally, and because he felt the Vostok's use of boosters that separated horizontally (rather than vertically as with American rockets of the period) would create more visual interest. An aesthetic touch Anno added to the final rocket design was its copper appearance, which was inspired by the Japanese 10 yen coin.[138]
- ^ Akai discusses the involvement as well in this sequence of the future director of Gankutsuou, Mahiro Maeda.[153]
- ^ The original storyboard used the style "C part" (Cパート), rather than "Part C" as might be the more usual phrasing in English.[181]
- ^ Although Masuo described the backgrounds in their original linework stage (genzu) as amazing in of themselves, he placed particular emphasis on how art director Hiromasa Ogura expressed them in the finished film; he argued that the animation cel art on its own could not have conveyed the world building aspect, asserting that the background art tells more about the world of Royal Space Force than do the film's characters.[189]
- ^ Anno expressed this idea with the word 映像 (eizou), the same term used by Eizouken, the anime filmmakers of the eponymous 2020 TV series Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!.[211]
- ^ Akai notes that the heroine of Gainax's 1988–1989 OVA series Gunbuster was named after the artist.[217] In traditional cel animation, the impression of movement is created with a sequence of images painted onto transparent acetate cels, each separate cel image differing in position from the previous cel. Each cel is individually photographed against a background image visible beneath the transparent portion of the cel, so that when the photos are run as a sequence, the cel images simulate the appearance of an object moving against the background. Takaya's method, instead of using a sequence of separate animation cels, created movement within a unified "harmony layer" where the object intended to move was constructed as one single assembly made from flat overlapping cutout pieces, each piece mounted individually on an elastic strip; the strip was pulled, and the resulting motion of the parts filmed. Miyazaki's assistant on Nausicaä, Kazuyoshi Katayama, compared the technique to a bellows, remarking that the varying levels of elastic tension along the parts of the assembly conveyed a distinct sense of dimension and mass to the motion depicted.[218] The larger concept of "harmony" in cel animation encompassed conveying touches, shadings, and gradations of the kind associated with oils or watercolors that were not necessarily expressible through the acrylic paints traditionally used to color cels directly; therefore the harmony technique would, for example, paint only the black outlines of the animated object on the transparent cel, conveying the animated object's color via a separate painted layer underneath the cel. A "harmony" layer could also incorporate additional imagery created by background artists that were trimmed into shapes and attached to the cels.[219]
- ^ In an interview shortly after the film's completion, Anno laughed that as he was given freedom to animate the launch however he wanted, he ended up making 250 drawings for one three-second sequence, layering them in as many as eight or nine levels of cels at once.[227]
- ^ Shoichi Masuo had noted that one of his responsibilities as an assistant director on Royal Space Force was to send the genga, or key animation drawings, to various outside studios that would then complete the cuts; among the 25 such subcontractors for the film were AIC, Madhouse, Artland, Magic Bus, and Mushi Production.[229] However, whereas ordinarily on an anime TV show or film such subcontractors would be sent batches of 50 or 100 cuts to complete, Masuo remarked that on Royal Space Force he was obliged to send batches consisting of only 10 or 20 cuts at a time, as animation work had begun with the storyboards still unfinished.[230]
- ^ Anno commented at the time that he had in fact originally planned to start with the hardest work and animate the rocket launch first; he felt, however, that it would be an impossible task before he understood the look and the worldview of Royal Space Force, and thus, Anno remarked wryly that he instead ended up animating the launch at the very last minute.[231]
- ^ The models were built by Anno, who commented that he also built one of the film's street sweeper as well as models of other objects designed for the film. He described them as very useful in his animation work, remarking as an example that he could not have understood the shape of the Honnêamise air force plane without first having the model as a reference; ironically, the model was not available when it came time to actually draw the key animation, as it had gone out of the studio for use in publicity interviews.[235]
- ^ The staffer, nicknamed "Anma", received a brief cameo in the film as the launchpad crewman with his arm around Kharock as the Space Force celebrates the final assembly of the rocket. In the 2000 director's commentary, Akai and Yamaga cited Anma as an example of a collective spirit still fondly remembered among those who had worked on the film; a young licensed acupuncturist and masseur who "offered massages and acupuncture to tired animators...He told us that he couldn't help us with the production, but he helped by making the staff feel better. Everyone was so pleased that we created a character modeled after him."[244]
- ^ Uchida joked that he found his own thoughts very much overlapped with those of the General, whom he saw as someone with ideals from his youth that had run into barriers. He remarked that when asked to voice the character, he had already been an actor for over 30 years, and what interested him about the film was that he felt it let him know what was truly on the mind of younger people; while he worked regularly with young actors in theater, Uchida felt that what he described as the "nonchalant" attitude of their generation meant that he would not learn their true feelings in the course of his professional interactions.[268]
- ^ "Prototype D" was the Royal Space Force anthem; the version on Image Sketch featured Sakamoto’s own vocals. Gainax had given Sakamoto a sardonic checklist of items to guide the composition of the Royal Space Force's pompous anthem, requesting for example that it sing of the galaxy even though the force had never even left the planet, that its lyrics evoke manly phrases befitting the 1950s and 60s generation, and that "on a sunny day, you can feel the tranquility of ten people singing it in the middle of a graveyard."[280] The anthem's lyrics would in fact be written by Kenzo Saeki, a bandmate of Haruo Kubota in the group Pearl Brothers,[281] later to create the musical score for the 2006 anime version of Welcome to the N.H.K..[282]
- ^ In seeming contrast to Sakamoto's remarks, Ueno commented that although they had the chance to see the film's storyboards before beginning work on the music, they could only vaguely imagine based on the images what the actual scenes would look like.[283]
- ^ Yamaga had begun his comments in the liner notes by saying that today works were being made in "the easy way", by following a maru-maru kaze no…; maru-maru in this case having the sense of "fill-in-the-blank" and kaze no having the sense of a style or following a trend, and so meaning works made in whatever style was popular. Kaze can also have the meaning of "wind," and Kaze no tani no Naushika (Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind) was being used by the distributors of Royal Space Force as their promotional model based on Nausicaä's popularity, despite the dissimilarities between the two works.[285][286]
- ^ Rishō can be translated as "rising," but the kanji used for the track’s title, 「離床」have the specific meaning of rising from one’s sickbed.[292]
- ^ The first reference to Sakamoto is a comment that the budget for Royal Space Force had already "ballooned" as Gainax extensively expanded their ideas for the look and content of the full-length movie beyond the pilot film, until Bandai’s financial commitment to the project had passed the "point of no return, and Ryuichi Sakamoto was chosen as the music director." The second reference is in regard to the idea of re-using Sakamoto’s music to save money in making a proposed early sequel concept Okada refers to as Honneamise 2.[295]
- ^ The composer had noted however in 1986 that he had already begun the practice of working with a staff while making his previous soundtrack for Koneko Monogatari, remarking of Ueno, Nomi, and Kubota: "I enjoy working with them, and it's very much a smooth process. I’m proud to say that we are the most efficient group of composers in Japan today."[297]
- ^ Sakamoto did include pieces from the Royal Space Force soundtrack on two subsequent 1993 Midi compilation releases: the "Main Theme" on Gruppo Musicale II, an album that included his groundbreaking electronica track[302] "Riot In Lagos," and "Riquinni's Theme" on Opera, an album that also featured the themes to Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence and The Last Emperor. Midi re-issued the Royal Space Force soundtrack itself in 1993 as well.[303] Sakamoto also made what Hosoki described as a surprising revelation that, two or three years prior to the interview, Isao Takahata had hired him to compose the music for an anime project, but, laughed Sakamoto, "my music was too serious and he ended up firing me."[304]
- ^ Sakamoto had remarked that in composing for My Tyrano he had also been obliged to work from an incomplete film: "When I was making the music, the film featured only [black and white] animated silhouettes and there was no dialogue. I had to resort to my own imagination to compose."[299]
- ^ Although he would receive the Academy Award for his soundtrack work on the film, Sakamoto commented in 2017 that he had in fact not planned originally on writing any music for The Last Emperor; the request to do so came several months after shooting had concluded, via a sudden phone call from the producer. Sakamoto remarked that he was given only one week to compose his contributions.[310]
- ^ The chart table containing the exact scene placements and composition details for the film’s musical tracks was featured on the back cover of Image Sketch, released on December 20, 1986, indicating these decisions had been made by that point.[275]
- ^ Okada describes the idea for a TV anime series spinoff as originating from a split at Bandai between executives in one group who simply regarded the film as a loss for the company and wished to move on, and those in another group who believed it could still eventually become a successful investment. Around June of 1987, this "success" faction suggested to Okada and Yamaga that Royal Space Force could be developed into a TV anime series that would begin airing in April of 1988. Yamaga and Okada began to discuss the outline of a 52-episode weekly series that would expand the background events of the film’s story. In the outline, the space program itself would not get underway within the TV series until the fall, several months into the show; it would be preceded by a major plot event, the first nuclear test within the alternate world of Royal Space Force, giving military significance to the development of the rocket as a possible delivery system. Yamaga desired that the nuclear test storyline be featured in an August episode, to coincide with the anniversary of the end of the Second World War. At the time, Okada compared the outline’s structure to the approach taken in Isao Takahata’s 1976 3000 Leagues in Search of Mother, itself a one-year series where the eponymous search does not begin until the fourth month. As the planning for the TV series consisted only of conversations, Okada felt he could not say how serious Yamaga was about the show, but in retrospect compared Yamaga’s ideas for episodes peripheral to the main narrative to Shin Takahashi’s Saikano, as well as to Cowboy Bebop, whose episodes Okada descibed as "branches and leaves" that enriched the main storyline. Okada commented that at some point the TV proposal faded away within Bandai without his knowledge, and he and Yamaga continued to discuss the series idea for a time until they later became aware it was no longer under actual consideration.[312]
- ^ Sakamoto had sampled Blade Runner earlier that year for the track "Broadway Boogie Woogie" on his album Futurista.[319]
- ^ All-caps "[PANICKED SCREAM]" is in original sourced quotation.[313]
- ^ The Cartoon/Fantasy Organization (C/FO) has been described as "the first American anime club," founded in Los Angeles in 1977. The C/FO later expanded with chapters in multiple US cities before breaking up as a national organization in 1989; the Los Angeles and Cleveland chapters continued to hold local meetings under the C/FO name.[352]
- ^ Okada remarked that of the 800 million yen budget for the film, 360 million had been spent on the direct production costs; the remainder was for indirect costs including advertising (senden) expenses and distribution costs (kōgyō, "entertainment," a term here referring to booking advance blocs of screening dates for the film in theaters).[362]
- ^ In an interview conducted in April 2003 (published in 2005), Yasuhiro Takeda remarked that when Gainax was planning Royal Space Force, there were people who asked whether they intended to secure rights in the work, but at the time it was more of a priority for Gainax to get the film made the way they wanted to than to insist on rights. Although Yamaga did retain the right to supervise the film, and Gainax was credited by Bandai for making it, Royal Space Force was financed through Bandai, to whom the contract gave 100% of the copyright; Takeda commented, "Contractually, [Royal Space Force] is not 'our thing.'"[366]
- ^ When Yamaga himself was asked about the dub by Animerica in 1997, however, he affirmed that while he did not receive any translations of the Manga Entertainment version until after it was recorded and that, "how well it was translated or adapted—I don't understand any English, so I couldn't comment," he nevertheless praised the voice directing of the English dub; regarding controversy over its translation, Yamaga expressed the view: "I felt that some of the changes couldn't be helped. Some things just don't translate, and yes, some of the characters' motivations were changed a bit, but it's something to be expected and something that I accept. What I think is that everyone has their own areas of tolerance as you shift from the original work. When I used to watch American movies with subtitles, I'd read the subtitles and see that obviously it's not what's actually being said on-screen. But I had to accept it, because it can't be helped, and there's nothing I can do about it. So it didn't affect my enjoyment of the film overall. It comes down to what you're willing to accept."[373]
- ^ Founded in 1981, Animedia is Japan's second oldest remaining anime magazine after Animage, although it is perhaps better known for its spinoff magazine focusing on bishōjo characters, Megami.[386]
- ^ The Animage Award was a special recognition prize and former category of the Anime Grand Prix that was issued on several occasions between 1981 and 1987.[389]
- ^ The review's title does not use isekai in its current sense of a story genre where the main character is someone transported to another world; here it refers simply to the idea of another, alternate world itself.[394]
- ^ Daitoku, in describing Gainax as a "new kind of people," employs the term shinjinrui (新人類), sometimes used as a Japanese equivalent of what in the United States is referred to as Generation X.;[396] the term was also used repeatedly by Makoto Yamashina to describe both Gainax and the film's intended audience.[397]
- ^ The phrase Miyazaki used in referring to his own movies was manga eiga (マンガ映画, "cartoon films"), a once popular term in Japan for animated works.[406]
- ^ The novella was also an influence upon Kazuya Tsurumaki and Hideaki Anno in creating "The Story of Your Life," the similarly-named final episode of Gainax's OVA series Aim for the Top! 2 Diebuster, released in English under the title Gunbuster 2.[430]
- ^ Riquinni responds with "itterasshai", which would also be the expected familiar reply of one who awaits a person's return. Kuge, a Japanese artist writing in English, makes note of the usages of the film's original language at several points in his analysis, including observing that "Shirotsugh" is an alternate romanization of an actual given name in Japanese, Shirotsugu (「代次」「四郎次」).[454]
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Citations[]
- ^ Takekuma 1998, p. 176
- ^ 「映画館の売り上げが一億二千万とか一億五千万ぐらいしかありません。」Okada 2010, p. 92
- ^ Gene Park (June 25, 2019). "Evangelion is finally on Netflix. I don't need a rewatch because the trauma lives on in me". washingtonpost.com. Nash Holdings LLC. Archived from the original on October 8, 2019. Retrieved September 30, 2019.
- ^ Andrew Pollack (March 12, 1995). "'Morphing' Into The Toy World's Top Ranks". nytimes.com. The New York Times Company. Archived from the original on October 8, 2019. Retrieved October 5, 2019.
- ^ 「『オネアミス』の基本的な思想で面白いなって思うのは、楽観でも悲観でもない、けれど存在を肯定しようとしているところなんです。現実の世界というものをシビアに見すえた時にすごく悲観的に考え、そこで思想を作る人間もいるし、逆に現実から離れてユートピア的に考える人もいるわけですが、『オネアミス』の場合、そういう観点からじゃない。。。」Daitoku 1987c, p. 23
- ^ a b Ezra Klein (March 30, 2021). "The Ezra Klein Show—Transcript: Ezra Klein Interviews Ted Chiang". nytimes.com. The New York Times Company. Retrieved March 30, 2021.
- ^ Clements 2013, pp. 172–174
- ^ Yamaga & Miyazaki 1987, pp. 76–81
- ^ Clements 2013, p. 175
- ^ a b c Yamaga 2007, p. 5
- ^ Steinman 2007, p. 30
- ^ Studio Ash 1987, p. 127
- ^ Bandai Visual Co., Ltd. 2007, Title 3, 00:00:20
- ^ a b c Matsushita 1987, p. 25
- ^ Takeda 2005, pp. 46–48
- ^ a b c Takeda 2005, p. 188
- ^ Ruh 2014, pp. 16–17
- ^ Clements 2013, p. 160
- ^ Ogata 1984, pp. 43–47
- ^ Takeda 2005, pp. 90–91
- ^ Studio Hard 1987, p. 48
- ^ 「プロデューサー 岡田斗司夫」Studio Hard 1987, p. 48
- ^ Justin Sevakis (August 21, 2019). "Answerman: What Does An Anime Producer Do?". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on October 29, 2020. Retrieved October 24, 2020.
- ^ Horn 1996c, p. 24
- ^ 「僕にしてみれば、プロデューサーである僕だけが最後の防波堤です。僕はガイナックスの社長であり、この映画のプロデューサーであり、最終責任者です。」Okada 2010, p. 76
- ^ Horn 1996b, p. 23
- ^ 「本作品の企画意図 ──共同幻想を喪失した時代の新しい波──」Studio Hard 1987, p. 48
- ^ 「現在のアニメーション文化を特に『ヤング』と呼ばれる若者の視点で見ると、いくつかの切り口が見つかります。」Studio Hard 1987, p. 48
- ^ Kinsella 2000, p. 48
- ^ Matsushita 1987, p. 23
- ^ Clements 2013, p. 172
- ^ 「『ミス•マクロス』演出は若冠20歳──9話演出 山賀博之──AM11月号で紹介された『DAICON III』の演出を担当したのが唯一のアニメ体験という新人演出家。 石黒氏は 『従来のアニメの感覚にそまらない作品を目ざしているため』起用したと語る。。。だが9話の評判は上々。石黒氏の試みは成功したようだ。」Ogata 1983, p. 55
- ^ 「『9話のコンテ1本に2か月近くかかりつきり。もう刀折れ矢尽きた感じ』(山賀氏)。」Ogata 1983, p. 55
- ^ 「このように最近のアニメは 『かわいい女の子』と『かっこよくリアルっぽいメカ』。。。それは現在のネクラといわれるアニメ•ファンの嗜好をそのまま反映しているからです。。。見る方はそれを一度見ただけで次の、より刺激の強い作品を求めるという袋小路に追い込まれる一方なのです。。。今こそ方向転換の時期です。では、この袋小路を打ち破る、あたらしいアニメとはどんなものでしょうか？」Studio Hard 1987, p. 48
- ^ Saitō 2011, p. 12
- ^ Sano, Sato & Yamaga 2016, 00:16:28
- ^ 「高度に情報化された現代社会においては、どんなセンセーショナルな作品も感動を呼ぶことはむずかしく、すぐに色褪せてしまいます。しかも、皮相な情報の氾濫により、安心できる価値感や夢が打ち壊されてしまっており、特に若者は欲求不満と不安のただなかにいます。『大人になりたくない』というピーターパン•シンドロームも、そこから発生しているといえましょう。。。そこで現在のアニメファンの心理をもう一度振り返って考えてみてください。彼等は社会との接触を持ち、その中でうまくやっていきたいにもかかわらず不幸にもその能力を持たないため、 代償行為としてメカや女の子に興味を走らせていたわけです。 が、当然それらが現実のものではない、すなわち自分との関わり合いが無いものであるため、 より刺激的なものを性急に求めすぐ欲求不満を起こしてしまいます。。。そんな中で彼等が根本的に求めているのは、現実とうまく楽しくやっていく事、と言えるでしょう。そこで我々は身近な社会を再認識し『現実もまだまだ捨てたものじゃない』と考えられるような作品を提示しようと思います。」Studio Hard 1987, p. 48
- ^ Morikawa 2004, p. 22
- ^ 「アニメ•ファンに現実を再確認させる作品」Studio Hard 1987, p. 49
- ^ 「そこで彼等はその捌け口を自分を束縛する直接的な 『現実 』── つまり、あるがままの周囲の世界──にではなく、テレビや新聞、映画といった間接的、情報的な世界に目を向けることに見出しているのです。。。そして、その若者の典型例といえるのが、アニメ•ファン達なのです。」Studio Hard 1987, p. 48
- ^ 「『情報過多』といわれる現代社会。若者に限らず誰もが『シラけて』います。。。が、人間というのは決して一人で生きていたいわけではなく、 外との接触で精神的なバランスを保つものなのです。」Studio Hard 1987, p. 48
- ^ 「だからこそアニメ•ファンのなかには、或る面で最も現代の政治や社会を象徴する。。。や直接的な欲求を最も現実と切り離した状態として提示する」Studio Hard 1987, p. 48
- ^ 「まず、すでにブー厶というよリは慢性化の感すらある『ロリコン• ブーム』。ロリコン化の波はアニメ•ファンの同人誌から始まリ、プラモ•ファン、マンガ•ファンをも巻き込み、いまや『ロリコン•アニメ』なる代物まであらわれるしまつです。。。この方式だと、女の子はよリロリコン風にかわいく。。。」Studio Hard 1987, p. 48
- ^ 「マイクローンとなりマクロスに潜入する3人組左からワレラ、ロリー、コンダ、続けて読むと。。。」Ogata 1983, p. 54
- ^ Ogata 1982, p. 1
- ^ Tokugi 1998, p. 141
- ^ McCarthy 1999, p. 56
- ^ a b Horn 1996c, p. 27
- ^ 「もちろんこれは今まで作られてきた、現実には極力抵抗しない『かっこいい』絵空事のアニメとは正反対のものです。。。この地球には、この世界には、まだまだ価値あることや意味あることが存在する、と宣言するような作品こそ、今、もっとも望まれるのではないでしょうか。」Studio Hard 1987, p. 48
- ^ 「世界設定には細心の注意必要です。この世界は全くの異世界であると同時に、現実そのものであらねばならないからです。なぜなら、現実を再認識させるためとはいえ、全く現実の通りの世界でストーリーを進めても、その現実というもの自体が彼等にとっては手垢がついた、魅力の無い世界と感しられるからです。それより、この作品の世界を全くの異世界として設定してしまい、まるで外国映画であるかのようにふるまった方が観客の注意をそちらに引きつけられるわけですし、その引きつける対象がメカや女の子でなく、ごく普通の風俗やファッシヨン（普通といっても考えぬかれた異世界ですから、充分興味深く、面白いわけです）であるのならば、企画意図はほば、達成したといえるのではないでしょうか。つまり、その手法をとれば『現実とは自分が今、思っているよりずっと面白い』という事が表現できるのではないで��ょうか。」Studio Hard 1987, p. 49
- ^ 「普通どんな企画書も（特にアニメの場合）、作品本編のタタキ台程度の扱いしかされない。。。あえて割愛させていただいた。唯一あるとすれば、主人公とヒロインに名前がないということくらいか。」Studio Hard 1987, p. 49
- ^ Takeda 2005, p. 187
- ^ Moss 2018, p. 526
- ^ 「『何がなんだかわからないけど、何がなんだかわからないところがいい。』」Matsushita 1987, p. 25
- ^ 「『。。。100%自分達でやってみようという壮大な実験なんですよ。我々が全部コントロールできることでやろうと。。。何だっていったら、若い人にそのままやらせることじゃないかと思っていたんですよ。だから、ぼくはおもちゃやってていつも思うんですけど、ぼくなんかが分かるのは売れないんですよ。それがあたり前なんですよ。なぜかというと世代がこんなに違うんですよ。このギャップって凄いですよ。ですからこの「オネアミス──」は、若い人向けに作ってますが、ひょっとして大当たりするかもしれません。あたったら今まで言ってることは全部ひっくり返るんですよ。なぜかというと、我々が分るような映画を作ってもらいたくない訳ですよ。つまり言えることは、ぼくが分るようだったら所詮あたったところで大したことないなっていうことなんですよ。最初から「スターウォーズ」を狙っている訳じゃないんですけど、やっぱりヒットさせたい。でも、ヒットさせるためには、本当に純粋に若者達だけの考え方で、コンセプトで、ヘタに妥協させちゃいけないんです。それで突っ走らせないといけない。大きな意味でのプロデューサー的な部分でいうと彼らだけではできませんからね、その辺で我々がうまくここまでもってきたというわけです。そういう面では成功だったんじゃないかと思いますけどね。』」Saitani 1987, p. 48
- ^ 「『いろんな手練手管を駆使して企画を通したものです。当時、宮崎駿さん『岡田さんの企画書にだまされたバンダイ』と言われましたよ。そのバンダイでもいちばん初めにだまされたのが僕だと（笑）。しかし、だますとかだまされるとか、そんな話ではなくてですね。僕は単純な人間ですから、ただ面白そうだからやってみたかった。誰もバンダイが映画をオリジナルでつくれるなんて思わなかった。ノウハウだってまったくなかったし。しかし、だからこそ面白いと思ったんです。いや、正直に言うと、自分自身でも「そんなことができるわけがない」と思った瞬間もありましたけど。しかし社長の岡田さんも、監督の山賀さんも、とにかく「ちゃんとプロとしてアニメをつくって、世に問いたいんだ」と、強烈に考えていた。プロデューサーの井上博明さんもそうで。。。武田さんも同じ気持ちだった。僕も同じくらいの年でしたから、そうしたいろんな人の熱意の流れのなかに入って。。。」Hotta 2005, pp. 425–426
- ^ 「最初は40分くらいのビデオを自主製作でやろうという気楽な話だったんです。」Matsushita 1987, p. 202
- ^ a b Clements 2013, p. 174
- ^ a b Takeda 2005, p. 90
- ^ Takeda 2005, p. 91
- ^ Takeda 2005, pp. 92–93
- ^ Takeda 2005, pp. 91–92
- ^ a b Watanabe 1990, p. 22
- ^ a b Takeda 2005, p. 184
- ^ Osmond 2009, p. 34
- ^ Hotta 2005, p. 417
- ^ "Return of the Otaking: Toshio Okada at Anime America '96". j-pop.com. Archived from the original on January 26, 2000. Retrieved February 17, 2020.
- ^ 「それが完成したのが'85年。そしてパイロットフィルムを社内はもちろん、いろんなところに見せてまわった。押井さんにも見せましたし。。。宮崎駿さんのところにも見せに行きました。」Hotta 2005, p. 426
- ^ 「そしてもうひとつ、宮崎さんは『ナウシカ』の仕事で、映像の世界に確固たる存在感を示していたので、もしその宮崎さんがフィルムを評価してくれれば、バンダイの内部も説得できるようになるだろうと考えていたんです。」Hotta 2005, p. 426
- ^ a b Takeda 2005, p. 13
- ^ 「宮崎さんとは3時間にわたって話して、といっても宮崎さんが２時間５０分お話しになって、僕は１０分だけでしたけど（笑）。そのときに宮崎さんは『庵野君たちはアマチュアだけど、ちょっと違う存在だと思う』と評価してくれたんです。『アマチュアには豪華な出窓はつくれても、基礎をきちっとつくるという部分でふらつく人間が多い。しかし彼らはきちんと基礎をつくって、たぶん新しい建物をつくることができそうな気がするから、もしも必要ならばバンダイの役員会の皆さんの前で、アドバイスなどをして差し上げてもいいですよ』とまで言ってくれた��ですよ。もうそれだけで、僕は我が意を得たりといいますか、『これで大丈夫だ』という気分になりました。実際に役員会でも、『宮崎さんはこうおっしゃった』と伝えたら、それで企画は通ってしまいました（笑）。」Hotta 2005, pp. 426–27
- ^ Watanabe 1990, p. 21
- ^ Studio Hard 1987, p. 85
- ^ 「重役会議で岡田は熱弁する。」Matsushita 1987, p. 25
- ^ 「この日の為に何度も頭の中でセリフを考えて、メモを作り完璧を期した。まず、現在のアニメ界の状況分析から話を始めて、市場分析から市場予測へ。今、若者たちはどんな映画を求めているのかを。最終的に、だからこそ『王立宇宙軍』という作品が必要なのだということを１時間に渡りしゃべり続けた。」Matsushita 1987, p. 25
- ^ 「企業として映像事業に進出する機会を欲していたバンダイは『王立宇宙軍』を第一回自主 製作作品に選んで、本編の制作は決定する。しかし、その決定は設定と絵コンテ作業までの暫定的決定であり、劇場用映画として正式決定は８５年末に再び検討するということにある。」Matsushita 1987, p. 25
- ^ 「『東京造形大学の天才少年達が、凄いアニメを作っている』という噂を聞いて、しばらくしてから、『王立宇宙軍』のパイロットフィルムを観る機会があった。仕事で観たわけではない。業界の誰かにこっそりとビデオを観せてもらったのだ。」Yuichiro Oguro (October 4, 2005). "Anime-sama 365-nichi dai 340-kai Ōritsu Uchūgun Pairottofirumu [365 Days of Anime #340: Ōritsu Uchūgun Pilot Film]". Anime Style. Studio Male. Retrieved August 24, 2019.
- ^ 「映像に関しては、全体がまるで宮崎駿の作品のようにきっちりと構築されていた。。。パイロットフィルムでは、後のシロツグに相当する主人公は、完成した本編よりも幼い感じで、やや二枚目。リイクニにあたるヒロインは、完成した本編よりも美少女寄りのキャラクターだ。彼女が涙を散らして、何かを叫ぶカットがあり、それは宮崎作品のヒロインを連想させた。」Yuichiro Oguro (October 4, 2005). "Anime-sama 365-nichi dai 340-kai Ōritsu Uchūgun Pairottofirumu [365 Days of Anime #340: Ōritsu Uchūgun Pilot Film]". Anime Style. Studio Male. Retrieved August 24, 2019.
- ^ Horn 1996c, pp. 25–26
- ^ 「脚本も絵コンテも全て新潟の喫茶店で窓の外を見ながら書いた。」Matsushita 1987, p. 25
- ^ Akai & Yamaga 2000, 00:35
- ^ 「山賀は故郷の新潟でシナリオの執筆を開始する。山賀は語る。『この作品が狙っているイメージは、科学は1950年代、世界の雰囲気は1930年代前後のアメリカやヨーロッポ、登場人物と動きのリズムは現代という感じです。オネアミス自体が地方都市という感じで、実は僕の故郷である新潟をベースにして考えてあるんです。新潟といっても絵的なイメージではなく、街の規模や雰囲気という意味。街の作りや古い部分と新しい部分の同居ぶり、街の使われ方、荒野とも空地ともつかめ無人地帯と街の継がり方とか、新潟の街でオネアミスの雰囲気を（スタッフに）掴んで貰った。。。』」Matsushita 1987, p. 25
- ^ Studio Hard 1987, pp. 50, 52
- ^ Matsushita 1987, p. 27
- ^ Studio Hard 1987, p. 50
- ^ a b c d e f Matsushita 1987, p. 32
- ^ 「 渡米中に加筆、修整を加えたシナリオをたずさえて......。」Studio Hard 1987, p. 52
- ^ Napton, Park & Riddick 1990, p. 11
- ^ Horn 1996b, p. 22
- ^ 「 スペースシャトル打ち上げの見学である。『感想は、すさまじい光と音。これにつきます』と山賀は語る。」Studio Hard 1987, p. 52
- ^ 「今までのアニメーションにもあるような、記号的な観せ方というのは避けて、自分で見たりさわったりした物の印象をできるだけ崩さないようにしようと心掛けました。。。実際にフィルムになった画面はやっぱりNASAで見てきたものが役に立っていますね。」Matsushita 1987, p. 202
- ^ 「 先日、ガイナックスのスタジオの 一室で、完成したオール•ラッシュのフィルムをスタッフと一緒に見ることができました。。。ところが、60年代 末から、アメリカン•ニューシネマとよばれる作家と作品が登場して、『俺たちに明日はない』『明日に向か って撃て』と、ロケーション中心のより生身の人間に近づいたリアルなキャラ設計で、アメリカ映画のムードを一変させてしまったのです。そして、「オネアミスの翼」に同じ肌あいのなにかを感じるのです。。。人間的な動きと生の表情、タイミ ングをめざして、まさに自分たちの リズム感とことばで、アニメ作品を 作ろうとしているのです。」Ikeda 1986, p. 38
- ^ 「 『オネアミスの翼/王立宇宙軍』を見て、そのダイアローグ(セリフ)にびっくりしてしまった。ここまでセリフに気を使い、繊細なニュアンスをこめたオリジナル作品は、ひさびさではないだろうか。特に王立宇宙軍の各キャラクターのセリフは、ストーリーから離れて自由な伸びやかさを持たせており、 昨今 “テーマを声高に叫ぶアニメ” を見なれていたので、実に新鮮で、 等身大の人間を実感させてくれた。ロケットが組み立てを開始すると音楽をかぶせて、セリフを聞かせずグノッム博士がドムロットやチャリチャンミにうれしげに語りかけたり、 マジャホが技術者にエンジンの前でどなっていたり、“セリフのないセリフ•シーン” という演出。セリフを使わないセリフもあるんだというそのセンスに感激してしまうのデス。」Ikeda 1987, p. 24
- ^ 「『何か、そういう風に考えると、とにかく全部入れて、全部認めちゃったらどあうなるかみたいな、それで得られる解放感のようなものを僕自身が味わいたいというのがかなりあったんです。』『でも最終的にこの映画はあらゆる局面において、人間を肯定するものだから。。。』」Daitoku 1987c, p. 22
- ^ Akai & Yamaga 2000, 1:21:34
- ^ Akai & Yamaga 2000, 01:09:08, 01:11:09
- ^ Takeda 2005, p. 15
- ^ Horn 1996c, p. 10
- ^ Horn 1996c, p. 25
- ^ Akai & Yamaga 2000, 21:58
- ^ Akai & Yamaga 2000, 1:12:06
- ^ Akai & Yamaga 2000, 1:13:50
- ^ Akai & Yamaga 2000, 1:16:00
- ^ Horn 1998, p. 13
- ^ Akai & Yamaga 2000, 1:16:59
- ^ 「ガイナックスは同じ高田馬場の倍のスペースのスタジオに移転する。各人の友人知人関係からプロダクションデザインのスタッフが集められる。［王立宇宙軍］の作品世界観を決めた渡部隆《プロダクションデザイン》や滝沢洋一《プロダクションデザイン》たちが次々と参加する。」Matsushita 1987, p. 25
- ^ Matsushita 1987, p. 109
- ^ Matsushita 1987, pp. 112–113
- ^ 「プレゼンテーションの材料であるパイロットフィルムは魅惑な異世界が強調された。しかし、［王立宇宙軍］の作品世界観である現実より現実的な異世界を構築する材料ではない。パイロットフィルムで構築された異世界は破壊されて、再び［王立宇宙軍］の異世界がイメージボードによって構築される。画面構成を重視する［王立宇宙軍］は、山賀博之の抽象的なイメージをデザインがそれぞれの分野で具像的なボードにする作業で約1年を費す。逆にそれぞれの分野のデザイナーの具体的なボードを山賀が抽象的なイメージでまとめる作業でもある。」Matsushita 1987, p. 25
- ^ a b c Yamaga 2007, p. 6
- ^ Takeda 1991, p. 31
- ^ Takeda 1992, p. 33
- ^ Watanabe 1996, p. 41
- ^ Watanabe 1997, p. 39
- ^ Watanabe 1997, p. 38
- ^ Matsushita 1998, p. 40
- ^ Suzuki 1988, pp. 40–41
- ^ 「『 「オネアミス」のキャラというのは、いわゆるアニメっぽくないしシロツグにしてもリイクニにしてもカッコイイ主人公、かわいい女の子という風に作られてないわけですが、その点での反応は？』」Daitoku 1987c, p. 20
- ^ Studio Ash 1987, p. 58
- ^ 「『モデルはトリート＝ウィリアムス（［ヘアー］［プリンス•オブ•シティ］他）という俳優ですが、山賀監督から顔を四角く眉を太く顎を張らせてと言われて描き直していくうちに監督本人に似せればいいんだなと。』」Matsushita 1987, p. 51
- ^ 「『最初に監督からテイタム＝オニール、それも［ペーパームーン］の前半1時間のテイタム＝オニールと言われたんです』」Matsushita 1987, p. 63
- ^ Akai & Yamaga 2000, 1:11:21
- ^ 「『「モデルがあるらしいんだけど山賀監督は教えてくれない。」』」Matsushita 1987, p. 56
- ^ Ishida & Kim 2019, p. 27
- ^ Akai & Yamaga 2000, 1:56:02
- ^ Akai & Yamaga 2000, 1:18:06
- ^ Akai & Yamaga 2000, 1:07:26
- ^ Akai & Yamaga 2000, 1:05:08
- ^ 「『「 オネアミス」のキャラは、どちらかというとがガイナックス好みのキャラで、僕自身の好みのラインではないんですよね、正直な話。。。まあ、自分の絵だからそれなりに自分の好みを反映してはいるんだろうけど』」Daitoku 1987c, p. 20
- ^ 「『マンガだったら、これだけアクがあってもいいかなって思うんだけど、アニメだと動かしずらいキャラだし、デザインした瞬間に動きが見えちゃうんですよね、リアルな方向で。。。その部分で少しあがいていたんです、もっと表情をアニメ的にしてみようとか......。反応としては、わりとよかったというか、何とか合格点キープはしたんじゃないですかね。』」Daitoku 1987c, p. 20
- ^ 「 『。。。また多くのデザイナーによる物が混在している現実世界をトレースして、なるべく多くのデザイナーに参加して貰った。思想や感覚の違うデザインが混ざることで現実感を強くするわけです。』」Matsushita 1987, p. 27
- ^ 「 スタッフの全員が作品世界観を把握する為に設定作業は、デザイナーがシナリオから自由にデザインボードを描いて、毎日定時のデｨスカッションによるチェックで進められる。その為にデザインボードは山賀とスタッフの連絡表的役割の設定（検討稿）」Matsushita 1987, pp. 25, 27
- ^ 「 『。。。各人が抽象的に思っている印象に多少の記号化された情報も残して実体を創り上げるという、抽象絵画のようなデザインをしたんです。例えば"コップ"という物を表現しろと言われたら、すぐに"円筒のような物"を簡単に描いてしまう。それは避けようと。』」Matsushita 1987, p. 27
- ^ 「その中で私の仕事は何かというと、なんというかその打ち合せのまとめ役ですとか、監督からの発注を更に具体的に設定の人間に発 注するということでした。それも例えばメインメカなどは 誰かひとりがデザインしたわけではなくて、戦闘機にしても貞本（義行）さんのラフがあってその上に滝沢（洋一）さんが形をまとめあげて最後に庵野(秀明）さんが手を加えて完成したんです。そういうふうにして何人もの人間の手を経て最後にできてくるものなどがある場合に、その間のコーディネイトというか監督との調整とかイメージの統一をしていました。」Matsushita 1987, p. 200
- ^ 「作品の中の『オネアミス』というひとつの世界観の統一するように心掛けていらしたんですね。」「そうですねえ。逆に気を付けていたのは統一してもいけないし、かといってバラバラになりすぎてもいけないしと。文化というのがだいたい年代にして1950年代ぐらいだとしたら、必ずしも単一文化ではなくていくつかの文化が混ぜ合ったところででき上がっているというような感じなんです。現代にしてもそうですしね。」Matsushita 1987, p. 200
- ^ a b Ebert et al. 1988, p. 33
- ^ 「『今回はNASAというよりソ連のロケットをモデルにしたんですが。。。』」Yamaga & Miyazaki 1987, p. 77
- ^ 「デザインを決めるのもロケットは苦労しました。とにかく、僕達の持っている『現実』のロケット（これは子供の頃にTVで観た物）のイメージを崩さないようにしました。 現在の高校生は。。。ロケットというとスペースシャトルになってしまう。そういう人達にはあの長細に棒状の形は珍しく感じるのではないかと。」「形はソ連のボストークみたいですね。」「ソ連のロケットにした理由はアメリカ式の水平分難よりソ連式の垂直分離の方が絵的に良いし、自分にとっても斬新だったからです。」「ロケットの色については？」「自分で勝手に10円玉の色にしました。『銅』というイメージがあったんです。」Matsushita 1987, p. 202
- ^ 「『お金の形まで変えたデザインをやってるじゃない。そしたら、何でロケットだけ変えないのか、奇黄に見えたの。』」Yamaga & Miyazaki 1987, p. 79
- ^ 「『ただ、結論の部分で、それを現実の世界からはずしちゃうと違うものになっちゃうんです。その過程までは、いろんな所を通っててもいいけれど、最後の結論の部分では現実のものを時ってこないと、それはもうまるっきり自分らと関係ない別の世界の話になっちゃう』」Yamaga & Miyazaki 1987, p. 79
- ^ 「『 それに合わせて言えば、うちはワキ役メカに撤して、主役メカなんていらないよって感じで作っちゃったところがありますから、主役メカってひとつもないんですよね。あのロケットでさえ主役メカではないんです。』」Daitoku 1987c, p. 20
- ^ Patrick Lum (August 2, 2018). "Ghost in the Shell's urban dreamscapes: behind the moody art of the anime classic". The Guardian. Retrieved February 16, 2021.
- ^ 「ところで、小倉さんは本当に数多くの作品を手がけられておられますが、ご自身のキャリアを振り返って、一番に挙げるとしたらどの作品になりますか？」「やっぱり『王立宇宙軍 オネアミスの翼』ですね。最初に美術監督をした作品ということもあるけど。。。」SU Planning Co., Ltd. 2012c
- ^ Ogata 1989, pp. 77, 95
- ^ 「1954年生まれ。1977年、小林プロダクションに入社。。。『ルパン三世 カリオストロの城』(1979年)、『エースをねらえ！』(1979年)、『幻魔大戦』(1983年)などの劇場用作品で背景を担当。1983年に小林プロダクションを退社し、同僚だった大野広司、水谷利春とともにスタジオ風雅を設立。。。」「『王立宇宙軍 オネアミスの翼』の話は、浅利さんから電話があったんですよ。美術監督を探していると。それで、面白そうなので話を聞こうということになって。岡田(斗司夫)さんとかプロデューサーの井上(博明)さんとかが風雅に来て、こういうのを作ろうとしてるんですけど―っていう話になって、それで受けることになったんです。。。あとで聞いたら、“王立”はどうやら、小林(七郎)さんや椋尾(篁)さんに発注したんだけど断られたらしくて。そこから浅利さんにどういう経緯で話があったのかはよく知らないんだけど。」SU Planning Co., Ltd. 2012a
- ^ 「何だかわからなかったよ(笑)。“何なんだろう、この人たちは？”って感じで。当時はガイナックスが高田馬場に事務所を構えていた頃で、そこで風雅からの出向という形でイメージボードを描いたりしていた。そこに行ったら、みんな学生みたいで(笑)。みんな知り合い同士みたいなんだけど、こっちは誰が何だかちっともわからない。DAICON は以前に会社で見てて、“これを素人が作れるんだ、すごいな”とは思ってたんだけど、この人たちがそうだったんだっていうのは、後で知ったんですよ。それで実写の『帰ってきたウルトラマン』とか見たら、庵野(秀明)がいるわけじゃない？(笑)。ああ、この人たちだったんだぁって。」SU Planning Co., Ltd. 2012a
- ^ Matthew Roe (June 17, 2019). "Hideaki Anno: Before Evangelion". Anime News Network. Retrieved January 23, 2020.
- ^ 「『王立宇宙軍 オネアミスの翼』(1987年)が終わってすぐ風雅を辞めちゃったのね。押井(守)さんの『トワイライトＱ 迷宮物件 FILE538』(1987年)をやりたくて。。。“ナディア”は最後の方だけだった(第34～39話で美術監督)。。。」SU Planning Co., Ltd. 2012a
- ^ 「さて、“王立”が一番として、これ以外で印象に残っているご自分の作品をあえて挙げるとすると、どの作品になりますか？」「『機動警察パトレイバー』、『人狼 JIN-ROH』…それから『フリクリ』。独特な絵柄に合わせて世界を完結させるのが大変だったけど面白かった。大したもんですよ、今石(洋之)君や鶴巻(和哉)君達は。」SU Planning Co., Ltd. 2012c
- ^ Mamatas & Montesa 2014, p. 88
- ^ Geneon (2005). Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo (DVD). Long Beach, California. back cover. ASIN B0009ZE9GM.
- ^ 「美術のスタッフは、サンリオの方が多くて。 劇場版をやってこられた方々ですから、きっちり描くということに関しては大丈夫、と。。。佐々木君というのがいまして。ラストのイメージシーンは、彼が全部やってくれたんですよ。自分でこういう風にしたい、というのがあったみたいで、あれはなかなか面白いモノになったんじゃあないかと思います。」Studio Ash 1987, p. 125
- ^ Akai & Yamaga 2000, 1:55:12
- ^ 「背景の作業に関しては半分以上は内部でこなしたんです。それはまずあの世界観を把握していなければダメだということと、それだけの情報量を知っていなければダメだということからだったんです。中の人間だと原図を渡した段階で色々とこっちからのイメージも伝えやすいのですが、外の人間は僕がするI回の説明では微妙な部分とか云えきれなくて…。例えば色味を押さえた感じで描いていたので、もっと青味をといっても単純に青だけを加えるということではないので描き辛か��たと思いますね。」Matsushita 1987, p. 205
- ^ Akai & Yamaga 2000, 24:33
- ^ 「ただ、最初は王立の世界観がつかめなかったですね。だから、『これカッコいいな』と思っても監督なんかが『いや、ちょっと違うな』とか言って、 一体何が違うのかな(笑)。始めの頃は、分かんなかったですね。分かってきたのは、本編 (の作業) をやってからですね。」Studio Ash 1987, p. 124
- ^ 「『まず、貞本君がこの世界の色を決めた。そして渡部さんが建築様式と美術観を決めて、小倉さんがそこに光と影と空気、ひいては生活感を与えた。そこで始めて[王立宇宙軍]の美術が完成するのです。(岡田斗司夫)』言葉の解釈では、メインラインがアールデコで、いちばん古い部分がアールヌーボーで、新しい部分がポストモダン。メインカラーが青と茶という。」 Matsushita 1987, p. 18
- ^ Akai & Yamaga 2000, 25:58
- ^ 「そういう意味で今回は街並みが多かったのでかなり大変だったんじゃないですか？」「そうですね。街に関してはできる限り描き起こす方向でやってみたんですが、あれだけゴチャゴチャしていると消失点も何処にあるのかわからなくなるし、パースが取りにくいですね。」Matsushita 1987, p. 205
- ^ 「ただ、異世界というところでもって、いわゆるSFチックなモノはなしで、普通の、自分達の周りと同じ日常だ、ということでしたね。ゴチャゴチャした印象が欲しい、ということで。。。"質感の違い"を表現するというのを、当初 から言ってましたね。原図段階で大まかな説明をもらって。たとえば宇宙軍本部のレリーフなんかは、『木だ』ということなんで極力それを強調したりとか。室内なんかは、あの、ネレッドン首相が利き酒をする部屋があるでしょ。あそこなんかはデザインが面白かったので、ここんところは金属に、とか意識的にやりましたね。まあ、渡部さんの原図なんかはスゴくて(笑)、ここが金属でここは木みたいなのが細かく書いてあって。」Studio Ash 1987, p. 124
- ^ Di Battista 2016
- ^ 「全体的にアニメーションも真剣に取り組めばこれだけのものができるよ、ということではないかと思います。監督がよく言っていたのは、記号的な部分をやめたいということなんですよね。単純に夕方ならこういう色というのではなく、いつも同じ夕焼けということはないわけだし、キャラに関しても記号的な部分をなるベくやらないと」Matsushita 1987, p. 205
- ^ 「コントラストを、もっと強調してもよかったかなあと、思いますね。最初の頃は、光の当たってるところは真っ白にトンじゃう位、極端に言えばそれぐらいに、みたいなのはあったんですけどね。なかなか、そこまでできなくて。特に、最初の墓場のシーンなんかは、 もっと、コントラストをきかせればよかったかなあと。。。でも具体的にどういう風にするかというと、そりゃ描いてみないと分かんないというのがあるんですけども(笑)。描いてみないと分かんないというのは、作 品全体を通してそうでして。特に監督は、言葉だけでイメージを伝えてきますから。『ここを、こう』とか。まあその分まかせてもらえて、有難かったというのもありますけど。」Studio Ash 1987, pp. 124–125
- ^ 「あと、光と影の移り変り方として時間帯が凄く細かく分かれているんですよ(笑)。監督の方から、例えば同じ夕方でも昼に近い夕方とか夜に近い夕方とかもう陽が沈みそうな夕方とか、その時間帯をかなり言われて(笑)。ただ3時と4 時の違いというのはできないですよね、やっぱり(笑)。」Matsushita 1987, p. 205
- ^ 「自分の作品を見直すのって滅多にしないんだけど、去年の１月くらいに久しぶりにDVDで見直して、ちょっと感動したもんなぁ(笑)。ああ、情熱を感じるなぁ…今、こういう情熱を持って作ってる人って、あまりいないんじゃないかなぁとかって思っちゃって。“王立”はすごく刺激的だったのね。周りにいた人達もそうだったし。」SU Planning Co., Ltd. 2012c
- ^ Akai & Yamaga 2000, 02:40, 04:05
- ^ 「なおOP, EDともに、イラストレーター大西信行が手がける。『ぴあ』 誌上の読者コーナーのカットでおなじみ。」Studio Hard 1987, p. 160
- ^ 「オープニングとエンデイングのイラストを担当しているのがモデル雑誌『モデル•グラフイックス』で飛行機のイラストを描いている大西信之さん。」Ogata 1987b, p. 14
- ^ Miyazaki 2009, p. 244
- ^ Minor 2004, p. 131
- ^ a b c Horn 1995b, p. 14
- ^ 「「映画とは別の視点から見た、あの世界を最初と最後につけておきたいと思ったんです。大西さんの光と影だけで描く絵はそれにピタリでした。えんえんとあの舞台になった世界がドラマの間だけじゃなくて、前にも後にもずっと続いている。その継承するイメージを出したくてお願いしました。」」Ogata 1987b, p. 14
- ^ 「延々と舞台になったあの世界が映画だけでなくて、前にも後にも続いているその継承するイメージを出したくてお願いした。(山賀博之)」」Matsushita 1987, p. 20
- ^ Akai & Yamaga 2000, 03:34
- ^ 「エンディングはシロツグの生還から」Studio Hard 1987, p. 160
- ^ Akai & Yamaga 2000, 01:56:49
- ^ Takeda 2005, p. 96
- ^ Akai & Yamaga 2000, 53:05
- ^ Matsushita 1987, p. 200
- ^ Akai & Yamaga 2000, 10:55, 34:13, 38:46
- ^ Matsushita 1987, p. 118
- ^ Matsushita 1987, pp. 118, 149
- ^ 「TVシリーズは、30 分物の場合中CMを境にし、前半をAパート、後半をBパートと呼称して作業上の便宜をはかっている。劇場作品には途中CMが入ることはないが、コンテの分割や作業上の便宜をはかるために、やはりいくつかのパートに別けられることが多い。本作品の場合も例外でなく、4つのパートに分かれている。」Studio Hard 1987, pp. 52–53
- ^ 「作業は進み、昭和60年末となった。しかし、バンダイが「王立」を正式に劇場用映画として始動させるかどうかの最終決定はまだでない。そのころバンダイでは、「王立」を成功させようとする人々が一丸となって配給会社捜し、最終検討を行っていた。ともかくも、製作作業を停めるわけにはいかない。」Studio Hard 1987, p. 52
- ^ 「86年6月撮影──絵コンテの作業が終了して、撮影が開始する。」 Matsushita 1987, p. 31
- ^ 「 絵コンテの方はかなり遅れていたが、幸いCパートの部分がほぼ完全で、作画もCパートから突人。最も最初にとりかかったのは、ニュースフィルムのシーン。。。作画をCパートから始めた理由は、絵コンテとの兼ねあいだけでない。まずCパートは地味なシーンが多く、地味であるが故に的確な作画と緻密な演技力が必要とされる。そのため比較的スケジュールの楽なうちにやっておこうと考えたためだ。」Studio Hard 1987, p. 52
- ^ Matsushita 1987, p. 199
- ^ khara, inc. 2006
- ^ 「原図も確かに凄いんですが、それを最終的な画面にした美術の小倉さんの力がかなり大きいと思います。ある意味でセルの作画だけで言うならば、あそこまで異世界観とか密度の高い画面というのはできなかったと思うんですよね。画面の大半は背景が占めますから。その意味で美術の人の力が大きく出ている作品だし、キャラクターより美術の方が「王立宇宙軍]という世界を語っているように思いますね。」Matsushita 1987, p. 199
- ^ 「同じ助監の樋口 (真嗣)君がいちおう設定班というのを組んでいまして、その中で設定全般を作ることと背景や原画の人から設定に関して出される質問を全部受け持って、おかしな点とか新しい設定ができる度に発注したりという作業をやっていて、赤井(孝美）さんの方はもう本当に監督の補助みたいな感じで僕達の作業全般を含めて見てくれる一方で基本的には色彩設定の方を担当して、色指定や背景などの打ち合せをやっていました」「3人の助監の方々のコミュニケーションというのはどういう形で進めていかれたんですか？毎日定時に打ち合せをするとか？」「そういうふうではなくて、原画の上がり具合とか色々と状況が変わりますから、何か状況が変化する度に改善策を相談しながら。これだという決まった方法があるわけではなかったので、状況が変わる度にちょっとこれだとやりづらいからああいう方法をとろう。。。あと、僕の場合は3人の中でいちばんアニメーションという仕事に関しては長くやっていますし、アニメーターのことはよくわかっているので打ち合せの時に原画マンの人が戶惑いそうな時に「あ、これはこうしてください」という感じで監督とかの抽象的な言葉を具体的に説明したりしていました。」Matsushita 1987, p. 199
- ^ 「今はテレビでもビデオでも映画でも、割とアニメ特有の変わったエフェクトを入れたり、動かし方にしても変なリアクションの絵を入れて面白おかしくやる方が多いですから、こういうきちんとした芝居をして、メカにしてもリアリティを持った動かし方をするというのは他にありませんからね。そのへんで印象がかなり映画的だなというか、。。。逆にアニメの場合、普通のことをやるというのが物凄く難しいんですよね。アクションがかなりハデな芝居はアニメでは凄く描きやすい部類に入ると思うんですが[王立宇宙軍] の場合、普通にお茶を飲んだりとかただ歩いているだけという芝居が多いんです。そのへんは目立たないんですが作業的に物凄く難しい点で、そういう部分で原画マンの人はかなり難しい作業をやらなくてはならなかったんじゃないかなあと思います。」Matsushita 1987, p. 199
- ^ Rafael Antonio Pineda (July 26, 2017). "Animator/Director Shoichi Masuo Passes Away at 57". Anime News Network. Retrieved July 4, 2021.
- ^ 「 86年1月 正式決定──劇場用映画として正式決定されて、［王立宇宙軍］の制作作業は慌しくなる。アニメ雑誌の公募でスタッフが増員、吉祥寺にスタジオを移転してスペースが拡張される。絵コンテに合わせて原図、原画が進む。動画、仕上、背景の作業も開始する。配給会社が東宝東和に決定する。」Matsushita 1987, p. 27
- ^ Takeda 2005, pp. 14, 96
- ^ Matsushita 1987, pp. 46, 76
- ^ Matsushita 1987, pp. 78, 108
- ^ Matsushita 1987, pp. 158, 188
- ^ 「 作画の方は、パート順で言うと、C—A—B—D となった。」Studio Hard 1987, p. 54
- ^ 「 一方山賀は、上がってきた原画、設定、背景に目を通し、自分のイメージとは違うとリテイクを出し、"自分の頭の中のイメージ"に少しでも近い画面をあくまで追求する。作画スタッフも、山賀の意図を理理解しようと務め、また自分のイメージも引き出してくる。ガイナックスでは連日のごとく、山賀対作画スタッフ──ひいては作者対作家の意見の交換が繰り返されていた。」Studio Hard 1987, p. 54
- ^ Takeda 2005, pp. 49–50
- ^ 「実作業としては、まず実物��意識してレイアウトや作画をしました。。。その為に、飛行機やヘリ、74式戦車にも乗りましたし、空母やN A S Aにも行ってきました。シャトルの打ち上げや自衛隊の演習も見てきました。ただ、戦争だけは体験したことも無かったし、したくも無かったのでニュースフィル厶やビデオ、記録フィルムを参考にしてます。映像や文章でしか経験できないものは、それを『現実』として受け止めています。」Matsushita 1987, p. 202
- ^ Akai & Yamaga 2000, 1:55:27
- ^ Akai & Yamaga 2000, 36:45
- ^ 「 富士通のオアシスメイトを制作管理の為に導入する。入力した全シーン、カット、秒数と枚数の、レイアウトから撮影までの各作業が予定日までUPしていない場合に受註担当者が出力される。また、受註金額などの経理管理まできる」Matsushita 1987, p. 31
- ^ Kanda 1983
- ^ 「 NECのPC-9801は色指定や立体回転、移動の作画補助の為に導入する。イメージスキャナーで入力したキャラクターやメカニックにおえかきソフトで256色の色を組み変えて色彩設計を具像化する。」Matsushita 1987, p. 31
- ^ Clements 2013, p. 161
- ^ 「 3Dグラフィック•ソフト（（株）アスキー協力）で回転や移動をさせてプリントした画をトレースして難しい作画を補助する。例えば王国空軍レシプロ機の二重反転プロップファンの回転、衛星軌道上の宇宙軍ロケットの宇宙船の不規則な回転、道路清掃車の傾斜した車輪の回転、計器盤の指針などである。」Matsushita 1987, p. 31
- ^ Hikawa 2007b, p. 15
- ^ 「[王立宇宙軍]を観た人からよく「アニメにする必要は無かったのでは」とか、そうでなければ「もっとアニメ的な観せ方があっても良いのでは」と言われますけど、[王立宇宙軍]の場合はその必要は無かったと思います。[王立宇宙軍] は実感を持った現実を観客に観せるという意図がありましたから。『アニメーション』（この場合は『絵』になりますけど）の良さのひとつに、必要���『情報』だけを観客に伝えられると いうことがあります。つまり演出を含めて観せたいものだけを描けば良いし、また描かないものは観客には見えません。創り手の意図がそのまま純粋にストレートに伝わるのです。止めセルにしても美術にしても描き込んではありますが、実写みたいにする為に情報量を増やしているわけではありません。画面を現実的に観せる為です。」Matsushita 1987, p. 202
- ^ 「映像にこだわるわけであって、アニメにこだわっているわけではないのです。」Matsushita 1987, p. 202
- ^ 「いわゆるアニメーションには、意識的にしないようにしました。[王立宇宙軍]には合わないと思ったからです。もっとアニメ的な画面を観たい人は他のアニメを観てくれとし��言えませんね。」Matsushita 1987, p. 202
- ^ Matsushita 1987, p. 108
- ^ 「制作当時、尺数の関係でアフレコ前にカットされた１分間のシーンを再現するため、監督、音響、録音監督、声優らが３年半ぶりに集りアフレコを行った。１分の内容は、鉄橋の上を走るトラックの荷台で横になったシロツグとマテｨが話をするというシーン。」Takeda 1990, p. 39
- ^ Ogata 1989, p. 117
- ^ Ogata 1989, p. 120
- ^ Akai & Yamaga 2000, 36:13
- ^ Katayama 2019, pp. 153–155
- ^ 「 アニメ業界特有の技術用語。セル仕上げでは表現できない、油彩画や水彩画のような「手描き」風のタッチや陰影、グラデーションなどを表現する技法。セルアニメの場合、アニメーターが描いた動画の実線をセルにトレスするが、ハーモニーの場合は、そのセルに直接着色するのではなく線画に合わせて背景用紙に着色し、その上に線画だけのセルを乗せて撮影する。その他にも、背景美術が描いた素材を切り抜いたものをセルに張り付けたりもする場合もある。」SU Planning Co., Ltd. 2012b
- ^ 「86年7～8月［プロジェクトA子］［天空の城ラピュタ］──西島克彦監督、宮崎駿監督の劇場用娯楽アニメ映画。［王立宇宙軍］に参加するだいのスタッフが参加していた作品。この二作品の制作が終って森山雄治 《作画監督》たち、スタッフの全員が揃って［王立宇宙軍］の制作業は24時間体制で進む。」Matsushita 1987, p. 31
- ^ Akai & Yamaga 2000, 37:52
- ^ 「85年9月 デザインボード──「。。。従来の分業体制をやめて、設定作業を含める全作業に設定、原動画、美術などのスタッフが参加する。」Matsushita 1987, p. 27
- ^ 「あと、ガイナックスの制作体制自体 がさっき言ったように作業分担をきちんと決めて自分の仕事だけをやればあとは知らんぷりというのではなく、みんなでアイディアがあったら出し合ったり作業的にみんなでできるものならみんなでやっちゃう、という学校の文化祭みたいな作り方ですから(笑)。」Matsushita 1987, p. 199
- ^ 「やっている最中はこういう映画だろうという青写真を基に行動しているわけですが、その青写真と上がったものが全然達っていて『ああ…』ということ もありましたし(笑)。」Matsushita 1987, p. 200
- ^ Horn 1996c, pp. 26–27
- ^ Akai & Yamaga 2000, 28:32
- ^ 「その周辺は絵コ ンテから自由にやらせて貰えましたから、自分の好き勝手にやっています。枚数の制限も無いので、1カット作画でHセルIセルまで使って3秒で250枚とか(笑)。」Matsushita 1987, p. 202
- ^ Akai & Yamaga 2000, 15:10, 01:48:02
- ^ Studio Ash 1987, p. 126
- ^ 「原画を外注に小きざみに出してしまったのでそのバラつきがいちばん苦しかったですね。20カットとか10カット単位で分けて出していたんです。普通テレビでも映画でもシーンで50とか100という単位でやって貰うんですが、[王立宇宙軍」の場合でそういうことができたのは数えるほどしかいなかったもので。その理由というのは絵コンテの作業と並行していたところがありまして(笑)。」Matsushita 1987, p. 199
- ^ 「しんどいところから作画を済ませていこう、という計画が当初あったのでいちばん最初にあのロケットの打ち上げから始めようと思ったんですが、[王立宇宙軍]の世界観もイメージも摑んでいないうちからではそれはとても無理だろう、ということで結局は最後の最後の最後になってしまいましたね(笑)。」Matsushita 1987, p. 202
- ^ 「たまたま虫プロでパイロット版の撮影をやったんで、それで本編の撮影もやんないかという話が僕のところに来たんです。その時の約束では4月から始まる予定だったのが。。。それで面倒なカットは後回しにする形をとりますから8月9月は楽な仕事しか入らないわけですよね、作画も撮影も。だからそれほど気にならなかったんですが、10月頃から急に本格的に動き出してきたもんだから進行状況を把握するだけで大変だったんですよ(笑)。8月から動きだしてはいたけど、手を付けられないように物凄い量がドバーッと入ってきたのは1月になってですが。まあ、1月いっぱいまでかかりましたけど実際は正味3ヶ月という計算ですね。」Matsushita 1987, p. 206
- ^ Akai & Yamaga 2000, 14:08
- ^ Akai & Yamaga 2000, 01:48:38
- ^ 「ミニチュアは映画に出てくる飛行機や清掃車、バイク等色々と作りました。」「それらは役に立ちましたか？」「はい、役に立ちました。最初のうちの立体感を摑むのにたいへん便利でしたね。王立空軍機なんか模型が無いとよくわからない形をしていましたから。でも実際に原画を描く時には取材とかで外に持っていかれて手元にはありませんでした(笑)。」Matsushita 1987, p. 202
- ^ Akai & Yamaga 2000, 22:11
- ^ 「 テレビ画面が消えたリ、映ったリというところでは、フェ—ドを使うとテレビ画面らしくなくなってしまうので、テレビ画面上の絵はオプチカル合成で入れられた。スイッチが入るとバッと広がるように映る瞬間の表現上この技術は使わなければならないものだ。さらに全体がモザイク状になっているのは、螢光灯のカバーに使われているギザギザ入リのアクリル板を使ったため。そのカバーをセルの上におき、動かしているので、少し受像状態が良くないテレビ画面らしく見えるのだ。何気ない工夫だが、こうした工夫の積み重ねが技術の向上を生み出す。素人の作リ出すアイディアにも素晴しいものがあることを忘れずに。このテレビ画面の撮影をしたのは、撮影専門のティ•ニシムラのスタジオである。」Studio Hard 1987, p. 68
- ^ Naito & Saito 2006, p. 4
- ^ 「だから重ねると12枚くらいになるんです。全部がセルというわけではないですが、スーパーが入ったり透過光のラシャ紙のマスクだったり、それで12枚なんていうのもありましたけどね。。。だから中には汚いものもあるんで今流行っているPLフィルターを使おうと思ったんです。でも、あれはディテールが潰れちゃうんで美術の方が困るらしいんですよね。だからほこりやセル傷が凄いものはかなりしんどい思いをしました。。。よくセルの長さが足りないとかタップの付け方がまちがっているとかがあるんですが、そういった点は最初にキチッとやっていたらしくトラブルはあまり無かったですね。」Matsushita 1987, pp. 206–207
- ^ 「特に、あの飛行機に乗っているシーンで、外の景色とコクピットの両方が摇れている感じを出したいらしいんです。普通だと全部が一緒に摇れちゃうんですが、景色とコクピットが別に摇れてダブラシがあったり。あとオートバイに乗っているシーンで、やっぱり乗っている人が揺れて向こうの山も摇れるとか、そういう細かいところの要望がかなりありましたね。」Matsushita 1987, p. 207
- ^ 「そのへんの撮影のイメージ的な要望は、山賀(博之)監督なり撮影の助監督である樋口 (真嗣)さんからどういう形で表現されたんですか？」Matsushita 1987, p. 207
- ^ 「[ライトスタッフ]どいう映画がありますよね。あれを観せられたりしました。あとNASAで取材した写真とか、いろんなサンプルを観せられながらこのような感じにしたいと言われて。。。例えは透過光にしても、ラシャ紙にちっちゃいちっちゃい穴を開けてもう殆ど透過光とは思えないようなこともやったんです。宇宙から見た地球の神秘とでもいうのか、今までには考えられないような弱い光なんです。強い弱いど言われてもどの程度かわからないんで、フィルム上がりで決定するしかないんですよね。」Matsushita 1987, p. 207
- ^ 「あと変わったところでは、透過光のマスクで黒いラシャ紙に穴を開けるのに今までいちばん細い針でエアブラシの掃除用の針とかを使っていたんですが、今回はうちのスタッフのひとりに現役のあんま屋がいまして(笑)」「あんま…？」「針灸のあんま屋です。まだ若いんですが、その人が商売道具に使っている針灸用の針が更に細くて。。。そこで透過光の時はその針を使いました。」Matsushita 1987, p. 200
- ^ Akai & Yamaga 2000, 1:33:04
- ^ 「しんどかったというか。リテイクを5回も6回もやっているとだんだん疲れてきちゃって、何故リテイクなのかわからなくて腹立てながらやったりしたんですが、まあそれだけ完璧を追求した作品な ので諦めもつきます。フィルムを観た感じは実写的な素材をライブアクションを使わずにアニメの良さを駆使して引き出した作品と感じました。」Matsushita 1987, p. 207
- ^ Ogata 1989, pp. 95, 106
- ^ 「僕はどちらかというと撮影テクニックのアドバイスをする立場だったわけで、例えばサウナのシーンがあった時にモヤモヤとしたエアブラシの引きセルをただ引っ張るだけじゃ面白くないからピンホールをぼかした形で霧を表現したらどうかとか、それからジェット機が空に飛び交って雲から技ける時にベタの青空だけじゃつまらないからそこに薄い雲をスリットスキャンで入れようよとか、そういうアドバイスですね。」Matsushita 1987, p. 207
- ^ Matsushita 1987, pp. 206, 207
- ^ 「テクニックを全く知らない状態で冒 険するから新しい頁が開けるわけですからね。テクニック を知らないからできる冒険もいっぱいあるわけです。僕達、テクニックを知っている経験者は経験者としての冒険をしますが、次の世代の人達はもっと違う冒険をやって欲しい。 結果はやってみないとわからないけど、怪我するのが嫌だから手を出さないでいるといつまでも冒険はできない。。。山賀監督も言っていたんですが、アニメだからこういう ふうになったのではなくて、アニメという手段を使ったか らにはそれを最大限に生かして特撮以上のものを作りあげ てこそアニメの価値ができるんですよね。」Matsushita 1987, p. 207
- ^ Ogata 1988, p. 55
- ^ Ogata 1989, pp. 70, 74, 82, 85, 97, 109
- ^ 「まず、僕は20数年アニメーションをやっているわけですが、他所の会社の音響監督は自分の所の仕事ができなくなってしまうんでお断りするようにしているんですよ。そうしたら『そんなこと言わないでぜひともお願いしたい』と非常に熱心に言われたんです。それでシナリオを読んでみたんですが、何だかわからなかったので説明に来て欲しいと頼んだら監督とプロデューサーが来てくれたんですよ。 それでもわからなかったんですよね(笑)。ただそこで、若い彼達が積極的に情熱を持って内容を説明しようとしているのがとてもよくわかったんです。年齡を聞いたら監督が 23才（当時）というでしょう。僕は彼達と一緒に仕事をすることによって自分を活性化していくことができるのではないか、と思ったんです。それで一緒に仕事をやることになりまして全体に渡っての打ち合せをしたんだけど、それでもなかなかわからなかった。彼達の情熱はわかるけれども僕はどうしたらいいんだ(笑)。」Matsushita 1987, p. 206
- ^ Takeda 2005, pp. 93, 190
- ^ Akai & Yamaga 2000, 10:25
- ^ a b Matsushita 1987, p. 209
- ^ Akai & Yamaga 2000, 16:00
- ^ 「森本さんはアニメの本格的アフレコは初めてだが。。。そして、リイクニ役の弥 生みつきさんもアニメの仕事は初めてでアフレコでは緊張したという。」Ogata 1987a, p. 33
- ^ 「アニメーションに適した声の役者というのは世の中にいっぱいいるわけですが、あのキャスティングの中に経験豊かな人達がいてそこに森本レオさんと弥生みつきさんがぽ っと入った時に、今までアニメ界の中で忘れていたことを彼達が教えてくれたんです。。。全体の雰囲気ですね。彼達はアニメーションフィルム に対して恐怖心を持っているわけですよ。出会いが間近だから、純粋に作品に感動したリアクションというものが素直に出て、それに凄い新鮮味があるんです。」Matsushita 1987, p. 206
- ^ 「そして、11月27、28日に行なわれたアフレコでも、その演出は細部にわたって行なわれた。シロツグ役の森本レオさんは、休憩中にこの作品をこう語ってくれた。。。『音響ディレクターの田代(敦巳)さんから、アニメのようにだけは演らないでほしい。なるべくライブに、味をつけるようにやってほしいといわれたんです。』」Ogata 1987a, p. 33
- ^ 「『難しいですねえ。ドラマと違って雰囲気でごまかせないでしょう。声だけできちっと表現しないといけないから。 非常に恐かったけれど充実感はありましたね。』『山賀(博之)監督から最初にこういう部分に注意して欲しいという言葉はありましたか？』『アニメのようにだけはやらないで欲しい、と言われて凄く嬉しかったですね。』」Matsushita 1987, p. 209
- ^ 「立派な英雄じゃない。。。シロツグがどんどんグローイングアップしていく話ですよね。そういう話にどれだけ説得力を持たせられるかということなんだけど、[王立宇宙軍]はそれはずいぶんあると思うし。個人の成長がいつのまにか歴史の成長に継がっていくんですよね。その成長の果てにあるものが段々と見えてくる。そのところが凄く壮大なんですよ、これ。こういう作品を24才の人が作ってしまうというのが凄いショックですね。やっぱりこういう人が出てくるんだなあというのが嬉しいし、どんどんと出てきて欲しい。。。どこっていっぱいあるんですけどね。いちばん感じて欲しいのは…僕達も含めて大人って『近頃の若い者は』とか色々と言うでしょう。でも実はそう言われている若い者は大人がもうできないような世界をとても軽々とクリアしているんです。歴史もしっかり把握して今まで大人達が映画の嘘と言って逃げていた部分を逃げないでひとつずつ誠実に仕事をしていこうとする、そういう若さの厶ク厶クと湧きあがってくる恐さをいちばん感じて欲しいですね。」Matsushita 1987, p. 209
- ^ 「『山賀監督からリイクニについてどんな説明を受けましたか？』『本人の信じている部分が逆に頑固になってしまって、 あまり頑固なんで他人に迷惑をかけるところがあると。きれいなものを見てきれいだわと素直に思うことができないで、本当にきれいなのかしらって思ってしまったりする。障害じゃないんですが他人から変な子じゃないかと思われてしまう子です、と。』」Matsushita 1987, p. 209
- ^ 「リイクニはちょっと変わった娘でしょ。でも心の中は普通の女の子だと思うんです。ただ自分の意志をしっかり持ってる娘で、意志が強すぎるために人には変な子だと思われている。それで日常生活の中に少しズレが出てる娘だと思うんです。この物語も青春物ですよね。」Ogata 1987a, p. 33
- ^ 「う～ん、私達の年代に近いというか20代の若い感覚に合っているんではないかと。自分の中で純粋な部分、この子でいうと宗教みたいな部分になってくるんですが、その部分は私達の年代というか世代がたくさん持っているものだと思うんですよね。年のせいかもしれないけれど直線的に 『違う！』と言っちゃう時もあるけど、むしろそう思っていてもそれをグッと押さえて『違います』とちゃんと言える。そういう部分がわかるなあ、という感じはします。最後にシロツグさんが宇宙に行ってしまうさよならのシーンがあるんですが、そこでも『あ、行ってしまうのか、最後のさよならだわ』って思っても泣いたりしないで『行ってらっしゃい』とフワ���と言ってしまってサラッと終ってしまうという感じなんです。でも本人の心の中では『ああ、こ れであなたに会うのは最後ね』と思っているんですよね。とてもわかると思いませんか？(笑)」Matsushita 1987, p. 209
- ^ Akai & Yamaga 2000, 01:32:36
- ^ Akai & Yamaga 2000, 58:30
- ^ 「もともとの『王立宇宙軍』 は、アフレコのときに日本人の声優さんを四十人以上使っています。メインの配役はもちろん、ちょっとしたサブキャラでも、専用の声優さんにお願いしていました。二言三言のサブキャラでも、専用の声優さんを指定して、ちゃんと声の色を変えてたんです。ところが、アメリカ版のアフレコの会場に行ったら七人ぐらいしかいない。この七人で全てやろうというんです。」Okada 2010, p. 90
- ^ 「今回は将軍役の劇団昮のベテラン内田稔さんにもお話を聞いてみた。『ぼくらが大人になって考えていることがちゃんと入っていて感心しました。若者と大人の対立風に見えてるんだけど、将軍はおそらく若いときは同じであって、理想と挫折もあって、芝居で若い者とやってる人間としては実によくわかる。結局、若い人はノンシャランでしょう。年寄りから見るとこのごろの若い者は何を考えてるんだということに対して、彼らが実は自分たちが考えてるのはこうなんだとこの作品は出そうとしている。そこがおもしろい。ズーッと昔から父と子と同じで、 年とった世代は新しく手渡していく世代にいつも物足りなさを感じていて、それがくりかえされてきたけど、やはりちゃんと受けついでいくんだなあといいたいのだと思うし、なるほどなあと思います。30数年役者をやって、将軍の想いに実にオーバーラップしちゃうんですねえ(笑)』」Ogata 1987a, p. 34
- ^ Akai & Yamaga 2000, 09:57
- ^ Akai & Yamaga 2000, 58:03
- ^ Akai & Yamaga 2000, 55:29, 01:03:36
- ^ Akai & Yamaga 2000, 01:06:47
- ^ 「ネレッドン ウィリー•ドーシー」Studio Ash 1987, p. 127
- ^ Macias 2001, p. 58
- ^ a b c d Matsushita 1987, p. 31
- ^ Studio Hard 1987, p. 54
- ^ "Kako haikyū shūnyū jōi sakuhin (Haikyū shūnyū 10 oku-en ijō bangumi) 1986-nen (1 tsuki～12 tsuki) [Top-Grossing Past Works By Distribution Income (Programs with distribution earnings of 1 billion yen or more) (January-December) 1986]". Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan, Inc. Archived from the original on May 23, 2019. Retrieved October 4, 2019.
- ^ Matsushita 1987, p. 208
- ^ 「だから最初は三億六〇〇〇万円と言っていたんですが、音楽を坂本龍一に頼んだら、特別予算四〇〇〇万円必要になっちゃったんですよ。それで四億円になった。 それで作っていくうちに赤字を出しちゃいまして、それが四〇〇〇万円。結局、現場での総制作費は四億四〇〇〇万円かな。当初の見積もりより八〇〇〇万も越えたわけだから、オーバーし過ぎかも知れません。それで宣伝費やらなんやらで、八億というふうになってますけど。まあ、それで間違いないでしょう。帳簿上の流れでは。」Takekuma 1998, p. 176
- ^ 「。。。（４）『太陽が燃えてる•••』『星が呼んでる•••』等、５０～６０年代風の男くさい、元気のより語を使いモンタージュ効果で威勢のよさを出す。（５）一度も宇宙に出た事がなくとも銀河（この単語もいい）��歌は唄える。（バカらしいほどのスケール感）。。。（７）よく晴れた日に墓地のど真中で１０人並んで歌うとのどかな感じが出る。」Matsushita 1987, p. 31
- ^ 「窪田晴男は、坂本龍一の『未来派野郎』にギタリストとして参加していた人で、『オネアミスの翼/イメージ•スケッチ』の「プロトタイプ」を作詞した佐伯健三とともにパール兄 弟のメンバーです。」Takahashi 1987
- ^ Carroll, Luke (August 21, 2011). "Welcome to the NHK - Complete Series DVD Review". Anime News Network. Retrieved May 17, 2021.
- ^ 「その時は絵も観せられているんですか？」「絵コンテですね。」「それでは、絵からはあまり想像できなかった…。」「いや、漠然とだけどありますよ。」Matsushita 1987, p. 208
- ^ 「この話が持ち上り、最初に『王立宇宙軍』というタイトルをきかされた時、これは右翼関係の映画だ（失礼！) と思ってしまった。さっそくコンテを見せてもらい、まず、そのディーテールの緻密さに驚かされ、たぶんこの人たちは自分と同じようなものが好きなんだろうなという確信を持ちました。アニメーションの緻密な作業と、ふだん僕たちがやっている音楽の作業とがとても似ていた──これがこの仕事を引き受けた大きな理由のひとつでした。。。そして、海外市場ということを考えた時、今回のアニメーションや音楽のような緻密な仕事が、今後どんどん輸出されるのではないかと考えています。」Sakamoto 1986
- ^ a b c d e f Clements 2013, p. 173
- ^ 「今日、巷では〇〇風の……〇〇の様な……といった安易なものの作り方が、美しいひらきなおりとして横行しております。（中略) 」Yamaga 1986
- ^ 「たしかに、本作品もすベての材料がオリジナルとは言えません。しかし、その根底に流れているイメージは、一人一人のクリエイターが持つところ。。。いわば『深層の感性』の集合体であります。それはもう、覆い隠してもにじみでてくる個人固有の自我の叫びとも言えましょう。音楽も同様、〇〇風といった考え方をすべて排除し、坂本さん個人の感性に根差した究極の音造りをしていただきました。その奥深い深層の感性をお楽しみください。」Yamaga 1986
- ^ 「で、3人は教授の作ったABCDの4つのテーマとどのシーンで使うかということと山賀（博之）監督から渡されたキーワードを持って。。。」Matsushita 1987, p. 208
- ^ 「まず本編のどこに音楽がいるのかを音楽監督と音響監督の人が決めるんです。それと音楽自体をどういう系統の音楽にしよう、という根本的なコンセプトが決まって、線引きがあって、それでおのずと秒数が出てくるんです。今回はありがたいことにチャート表ができていまして。普通は自分で作らなきゃいけないのでそれが大変なんですけど （笑）。あれができると作業の半分はできたようなものですね。その下に4つのテーマのうちのどれをモチーフに使うかちゃんと書いてあって、それをどういうふうにしなければならないかの指示があったんでそれを基にして作っていったんですよね。」Matsushita 1987, p. 208
- ^ 「 。。。それぞれ旅に出たと（笑）。スタジオに一緒に入ったこともないし教授と一緒に入ったわけでもないですしね。」「各々で作って集合してちょっと聴き合ったりして、また散らばる。」Matsushita 1987, p. 208
- ^ Midi Inc. 1986
- ^ a b Takahashi 1987, liner notes
- ^ 「5 面（標準ディスク）の残りの部分と、６面���長時間ディスク）の全面はBGM集になっており、画面はBGMの場面にあったイメージボードを多数収録するというかたちになっている。」Takeda 1990, p. 39
- ^ Manga Entertainment 2000, Main Menu (Special Features: Art & Music)
- ^ 「バンダイからパイロット版の予算をもらってからも、ひたすらアイディアを膨らませていく作業を続けていました。キャラクタ―のアイディアや設定が出る。イメ^―ジボ―ドもどんどんできる。町の設定、服の設定、様々な設定やアイディアを出し合う設定期間と称する期間がどんどんのびて、 予算は膨らんでいきます。バンダイは、もう引き返せないところまで出資していて、 音楽監督は坂本龍一(一九五二～)と決まりました。」「最初の劇場版はゼロから作ったから四億かかったけど、今 度は前の設定がまだ全部残ってる。坂本龍一先生の音楽も全 部残ってる。」Okada 2010, pp. 70, 96
- ^ Horn 1996d, pp. 24–25
- ^ 「映画音楽の仕事に関して、僕は前作からチーム制をとっています。上野耕路、窪田晴男、野見祐二というのがそのメンバー。彼らとの共同作業は楽しく、作業もとてもスムーズです。今、日本で考えられる最も効率の良いコンポーザー集団だと僕は自負しています。」Sakamoto 1986
- ^ Sakamoto 2009, pp. 147–148, 164–167, 171–175, 180–190
- ^ a b Lee 2018
- ^ Mizuno 2018
- ^ 「『アニメ映画の音楽に携わったことについては、「今から35年前に担当したことがあるんですが、あまり気に入っていないんです（そのため題名も言えないらしい）。』」Hosoki 2018
- ^ Vine, Richard (July 9, 2011). "Ryuichi Sakamoto records Riot In Lagos". The Guardian. Retrieved May 15, 2021.
- ^ Midi Creative Co., Ltd. "Midi Record Club—Artist Index: Sakamoto Ryūichi". Midi Record Club. Retrieved May 12, 2021.
- ^ 「『あと実は、2、3年前に高畑勲さんと会って、音楽の担当を任されていたんですが……僕の音楽がシリアス過ぎて、結局解雇されてしまったんです（笑）』と意外な事実を明かした。」Hosoki 2018
- ^ 「実は『オネアミスの翼王立宇宙軍』の音楽打ち合わせの時、坂本さんはすごいノリノリだったからなんですね。「こういうふうにしたい、ああいうふうにしたい」って、坂本さんも一生懸命に言ってたんですよ。打ち入りパーティの時もそうでしたし、打ち合わせもすごく和気あいあいと進んだんです。。。でも、坂本さんは明らかにコンテをすごく読み込んでいたし、「ここのシーンにはこんな音楽で～」って話してたから、僕は“擦り寄って来た”わけでは決してないと感じていました。」Okada 2018, p. 1
- ^ 「彼らのこの作品に賭ける意気込みは相当なもので、それは例えば、音楽の打ち合わせにでかけた人たちが12時間もいることになってしまったとか、様々なエピソードを生んでいます。」Takahashi 1987, liner notes
- ^ 「どんな問題かと言うと、坂本さんは絵コンテを見て「よし、俺も参加するぞ！」と思ったあまり、絵コンテ通りの音楽をつけるって言ったんです。アニメの絵コンテというのは、まるでCMのように「この映像に何秒、この映像に何秒何コマ」というふうに、設計図がめちゃくちゃ細かいんですよ。。。おそらく、「これを使えば映像と音との完全なるシンクロが実現できるんじゃないか？」という、坂本さんの思い込みも入ったんだと思うんですよ。。。ところが、現実にアニメを作り出すと、アニメというのは出来上がってくるカットによって、アニメーターがカットに付ける演技も違ってくるんですね。なので、「コンテ通りに○秒」というふうに作られるわけではなくて、そこから微妙に尺が伸びたり縮んだりすることになるんです。そういう時、通常はどうするのかというと、音楽を担当する音響監督が切って詰めることになるわけです。例えば、「この音楽はこのタイミングで」と言われても、「もうちょっと前から流した方がいい」とか、「後から出した方がいい」というふうに、音響監督が調整するんです。」Okada 2018, p. 1
- ^ 「もちろん、そういう時に、坂本龍一さんと僕らが直に話して調整していれば、そこはなんとかなったと思うんですけ��も、坂本さん側も坂本さん側で、「ちゃんとこうやってくれよ！」という指示を、坂本さん自身が当時所属されていたヨロシタミュージックを通して話される。」Okada 2018, p. 2
- ^ Bowker 1987
- ^ a b Weston 2017
- ^ 「そんなふうに、何やら、それぞれのスタッフの間で、坂本龍一さんと監督の山賀博之以外のところでのトラブルが、ザーッと出てくる。その結果、グループ・タックの田代敦巳さんという音響監督と、ヨロシタミュージックの社長が激しくぶつかることになってしまったんですね。。。これに対して、音響監督の田代敦巳さんからは「どの音楽をどの位置で入れるかの決定権は、坂本龍一にあるんですか？ 田代敦巳にあるんですか？ 岡田さんはプロデューサーでしょ？ あなたが決めてください！」と言われて（笑）。。。だから、「音響監督の田代さんの意見で、ここは統一します」ということを、プロデューサーの僕が決めて、ヨロシタさんにも連絡したんですね。けれども、坂本さんは、この件があったからだと思うんですけど、以後の取材でも『王立宇宙軍 オネアミスの翼』に関しては、なんか黒歴史っぽくなってしまって、触れないようにというか、わりとなかったことみたいにされてるんですよね。これに関しての最終的な責任というのは、「田代さんでいきます」と僕が決めたことにあると思うんですけども。」Okada 2018, p. 2
- ^ 「バンダイの社内でもこの『オネアミスの翼』というのは、失敗したからさっさと撤退の手を考えようという派が生まれました。それとは別に、『これは今成功しつつあるから、もっとメジャーにどんどん拡大していこう』という派もできて、二つの派閥が対立し始めました。。。もう一方の「成功しつつある』という派閥の人たちは 『「王立宇宙軍オネアミスの翼」は行けると思う。これTVシリーズになりませんか」と言ってきます。。。で、山賀君に『バンダイからすごい話が来てるよ。「王立」 をTVシリーズでできないかって。それも一年間五十二話で の、ストーリーラインを考えてみてくれ』だって。。。その話を聞いたのって六月ぐらいでした。翌年の四月から一年間オンエア予定らしい。それなら準備期間が一年近くあります。。。『どうすんの！？これで「オネアミスの翼」二時間くらいあるやつの、前を書くの？ それとも後ろを書くの？ それともこれ二時間を五十二に伸ばすの？』って訊いたら『もちろんこの二時間を五十二に伸ばすんですよ』。。。『母をたずねて三千里』。。。母を訪ねて出発するのって、四ヶ月目に入ってからなんですよ。。。山賀君がすごく嬉しそうに『八月十日～十五日の終戦記念日あたりでやりたいネタがあるんです！』『何したいの』って聞いたら『世界初の核実験をやりたいんです。』ロケットを開発してるってことは、もちろんロケットだけ開発してるはずはないんです。ロケットというのはミサイルです。核兵器とミサイルと両方持たないと、軍事的に何の意味もない。。。実は『オネアミスの翼』は、その中のロケットの部分しか書いてないんだけど、もう一つの部分として、核兵器の開発を絶対やってる答です。。。今考えれば『最終兵器彼女』(高橋しん原作。二〇〇二年アニメ化)みたいな話を、山賀君はやりたかったんだと思います。彼は口べたなので、どこまで本気で考えたのかわからないですけど。そういう外したプロットばっかり出てくるんです。『青年たちががんばって力を合わせて宇宙へ行こうという青春映画です！』というメインプロットがほとんど出てこない。メインストーリーじゃなく、枝葉ばっかり作ろうとするんですね。これを後に僕は『カウボーイビバップ現象』と呼ぶようになったんですけど。そういう風に枝葉のストーリーばっかり充実させて、秋口から宇宙計画がようやっと始まる、みたいな感じです。ところが、TV版の話はいつの間にかバンダイの中で立ち消えていたんです。企画が立ち消えた時って、だれも教えてくれないんです。だから、僕と山賀君はそれに気づかず、色ヶ考え続けていたわけです。後から発見したことなんですけどね。。。あんまり話さないからTV版の話どうなったのかなと思っ。」Okada 2010, pp. 92–95
- ^ a b c Horn 1996d, p. 9
- ^ 「協力 全日空 株式会社ネットワーク 」Studio Ash 1987, p. 126
- ^ 「他にガイナックス以外のところで考えられたタイトルは下記のとおりである。宇宙•愛•ものがたり、情熱たちの神話。。。若き明星シロツグ。。。スピリッツオブファイアー。。。イカロスの歌、パラレルゾーン１９８７。。。０の頂点。。。」Matsushita 1987, p. 31
- ^ 「今から、２年前ぐらいのことだったそうだ。編集部にゼネプロの岡田氏から電話がかかってきた。それによると、劇場用映画を作るということである。」Daitoku 1987b, p. 27
- ^ Hikawa 2007a, p. 1
- ^ 「86年6月4日──日比谷の帝国ホテルに於いて［王立宇宙軍 リイクニの翼］の制作発表記者会見が行なわれる。席上で坂本龍一は語る。『［戦場のメリークリスマス］［子猫物語］に続いて映画音楽は３回目ですが、今回は特に僕の好きな［ブレードランナー］的な細部にこだわった異世界ものということで、 非常にのって仕事ができると思っています。』」 Matsushita 1987, p. 31
- ^ ja:未来派野郎#収録曲
- ^ 「『リイクニの翼』だと、観客の意識がリイクニに向き過ぎるということで変更した。世界観を広げる為ですね。『オネアミス』という名は山賀君が考えた。」Matsushita 1987, p. 31
- ^ "Ōritsu Uchūgun~Riikuni no Tsubasa". The Anime. Kindaieigasha. October 1986. p. 53.
- ^ "Oneamisu no Tsubasa~Ōritsu Uchūgun". The Anime. Kindaieigasha. November 1986. p. 57.
- ^ "Oneamisu no Tsubasa~Ōritsu Uchūgun". The Anime. Kindaieigasha. December 1986. p. 57.
- ^ 「『結局、岡田君をはじめまだ若いんですよ。だから、すごくいいところは持ってるんですけど、やはりある面でいうと世間知らずのところがあるから。だから、これが彼らの最後の作品になる可能性もありますね。要するに彼らが自分たちだけの世界でこれたのは、このあとあたんなかったらボロクソ言われるだろうし、あたったらこの次またあてなきゃいけないというプレッシャーが出てくるだろうから、いずれにしろ今までのような純粋な形で映画は作れないでしょうね。だから、これで最後じゃないですか、そういう意味で彼らが作れるのは。この次は商売で、もっと、東宝東和の宣伝部とケンカもしないだろうしね、もっとうまく彼らは次はやると思いますよ。でも、うまくやるということは、彼らのいう純粋さがどこまでつらぬけるかっていうときに、どこかで妥協しなければいけないんですよね。だから、妥協しないで作った結構な映画じゃないですか。 』」Saitani 1987, p. 51
- ^ 「スポンサ—との軋鑠 ── 製作が進んで、作品が具体的になってくると、バンダイとの間に様々な軋櫟が生じ始めたのです。例えば、タイトル問題。。。作品の長さでも揉めました。最初から二時間でという約束だったのに、四十分切って一時間二十分にしてくれと言われたからです。上映時間二時間の映画は、劇場では一日四回しか廻せない。一日四回しか廻せなかったら、興行収入にも上限がある。それを四十分切って一時間二十分の映画にすると、一日六回映画館で廻せるわけです。。。五〇パーセントの売り上げ増が見込めて、それだけ、一館一館の映画館の収益が上がるわけです。スポンサーとして要求するのは当然の権利でしょう。。。興行収入の説明をされても、それは俺の仕事じゃないと、つっぱねました。興行会社やバンダイを含む会議の時は、『本編を二十分切 るなら、オレの腕を斬ってからにしろ』とつっぱねました。。。そういう面で考えると、僕はとこまでもクリエイタ—であろうとしました。クリエイタ—とは全員「子供」なんです。。。自分がやりたい事をやる。それが正しい。なぜかというと、自分がやってることは新しくて面白いから。新しくて面白け��ば、最終的にみんなが儲かるはず。だから正しい。その通りなんですよ。最終的にみんなが儲かるんです。でも、途中のリスクはどうなるのか。途中のデメリットは どうなるのか。それを、誰かが引き受けなきゃならない。それは「大人」が引き受けるんですね。。。でも僕は、責任ある大人になれなかった。そこで責任ある大人の役を引き受けると、結局、誰かを騙すことになつちやう。バンダイが言っていることをハイハイと聞き、現場から上 がってくる意見をハイハイと聞いて、妥協案を探す役職をに なつちやう。それはプロデューサーじやなくて、「大人」じやなくて、単なる調整役です。」Okada 2010, pp. 74–76
- ^ 「『それで3週間位、切る切らないでやったんですよ。東宝東和さんと同じことなんですけど、切る切らないの過程で、ここを切ってなぜ切っちゃだめなんだっていう話から始まったんです。それから、あーなるほどと思ったんですよ。切れないなって、感じたんですよ。。。東宝東和に申し訳ないけどやらしてくれと。興業的にいえば100分位に切ってもできるけど、ここで切っちゃうとこの映画を作ったということが全部飛んじゃうんで、つまり何億ってかけた意味が全くなくなっちゃうんでね、申し訳ないけどあたるあたらないの責任はこっちがもつから全部このままやらせてくれ、ということで。』」Saitani 1987, p. 49
- ^ 「当時バンダイ側もすごく感情的になっていて、一時は三億六千万円捨ててもいいから、企画をつぶしてしまおうと、覚悟をしていた、と後に聞きました。でもそれをやっちゃうと、担当取締役の首が飛ぶとか、社長作品として立ち上げた企画だし、記者会見までしたから体裁が悪すぎるとか。いつそ、フイルムを全部引き上げて、ガイナックスじゃなくてもっと言うこと聞くプロダクションに残りの仕上げ全部やらせようかとか、そういう話まで出たそうです。」Okada 2010, p. 75
- ^ 「バンダイからお金を引き出してくれて、何でもオッケーしてくれる渡辺さんでしたが、このころから、バンダイと僕らの間で板挟みになっちゃって、非常に苦しい立場に追い込まれてしまいます。。。それでも仲間だとばかり思つていたナベさんがこんなことを言い出すなんて、僕たちは裏切られたと感じたし、怒りで憎悪の炎を燃やしたりもしました。だから、僕たちは渡辺さんを責めまくつたわけです。。。渡辺さんは鬱病になって、『オネアミスの翼』が終わって半年位したら、故郷に帰ってしまって、ほんとに一年間働けなかったんですよ。。。この件に関して、僕はものすごく後悔しています。なぜ、もうちよっと大人になれなかったんだろう。せめてナベさんにだけは優しくなれなかったんだろうかって。反省はしてないです。あのとき、他に打てる手はなかったから。少しぐらい妥協しても良かったかな、とは全く思わないんです。そんなことをしたら、多分この作品は完成しませんでした。」Okada 2010, pp. 75, 77
- ^ Bandai Visual Co., Ltd. 2007, Title 4, Japanese Trailer, 00:01
- ^ "Oneamisu no Tsubasa". Animage. Tokuma Shoten. February 1987.
- ^ 「 『やっぱり一応100万人��定してますけどね。。。』『そうですね、確か「ナウシカ」は100万人という話ですから。』『その作ってる作品の中味がね、「ナウシカ」。。。とかじゃないでしょ。誰も今までやったことがないんですからね、だからそういう面ですごいリスクあります。』」Saitani 1987, p. 51
- ^ Akai & Yamaga 2000, 40:40
- ^ Akai & Yamaga 2000, 41:22
- ^ 「昭和６２年元旦、事態は急に回転し始めた。この時、初の広告が新聞にの載ったのである。しかも四色印刷である。。。「TVや新聞でもしっかり告知されている。その上、いろんな雑誌が取り上げてくれている。。。」Daitoku 1987b, p. 27
- ^ 「７０を越える雑誌メデｨア」Daitoku 1987b, p. 31
- ^ Akai & Yamaga 2000, 40:39
- ^ 「『。。。汚れなき魂の少女の導きのもと 目覚めしきものは翼を持ち天に昇り オネアミスの聖典を手にするであろう』。。。成長したシロツグは彼同様血気盛んな若者たちが集まる王立宇宙軍に入隊する。そこではオネアミスに永遠の平和を約束する幻の聖典を、宇宙へ捜しに行く大プロジェクトが進行していた。」Matsushita 1987, p. 33
- ^ Matsushita 1987, pp. 134–136
- ^ 「『熱愛──ふたりだけの秘密。シロツグとリイクニの愛が始まった。２人は彼らだけがマインド•コミュニケーションというテレパシーを使得ることを発見。リイクニの愛の思想とシロツグの平和への夢が結ばれ、シンボル•タワーが光を帯びて輝き始めた。』」Daitoku 1987b, p. 26
- ^ Bandai Visual Co., Ltd. 2007, Title 4, Japanese Trailer, 00:43, 00:58
- ^ 「『あなたの知ってる！？オネアミス 君は愛の奇跡を見たか！？。。。ロケットは無事発射できるのか、シロツグは生きて戻ってこれるのか、そしてオネアミスの歴史を変えてしまうような "愛の奇跡" とは！？』」Daitoku 1987b, pp. 25, 26
- ^ 「『もうできないですよ、あの映画は、あのレベルで。お金の問題だけじゃなくて、彼らのあれだけの情熱をかけた、あれだけの一枚一枚きちんとしたものはできないです。ストーリーの面白い面白くないは別です。クオリティという面でもうできないです。多分。だから、えらいもの作ったとぼくは思いますよ。プロ的に言うと、イヤなものを作られちゃったなと思いますよ、アニメ業界からいうと。あのレベルで作られちゃうと、大変だよな。最近よく分ったんですけど、彼らが一枚一枚作ったのは大変なことですよ。あれが出てくると、あれがあたり前になるんですよね。あれと同じかあれを越さないと今度はクオリティー的にいうとレベルが低くなるんですよ。。。（アニメ的という意味では）ウォルトディズニーにはやっぱり勝てないんですよ。ディズニーは50年前にあの分野の方向性で頂点を極めちゃったんですよ。あの延長線上はない。スピルバーグやなんかがやっても、全部延長線上なんですけど、ディズニーは越せないんです。多分、今回山賀君がやったやり方っていうのは、ディズニーとは違うんで、ひとつ可能性はあるんですよ。アニメーションのもうひとつ違った部分での、メジャーになるかどうかは別として、あれはひとつあると思いますよ。だから、ものすごいものを作ったとぼくは思いますね。』」Saitani 1987, p. 51
- ^ 「『 彼らがそういうコンセプトで作っていますからね、ぼくはそのコンセプトが前に分っていれば、もうちょっと違ったやり方でさせたと思うんですけど、それが分んなかったから。。。彼らが言おうとしてたことは、ビジュアルな世界ですから、シナリオでも書いてないところ、要するに口では言えないところがある訳です。それを彼らはあえて作ってみなきゃ分らないんだ、というところまでやっちゃったんですね。そうすると直しようがない訳ですよ。その世界ができてるんですよ、『オネアミス』の世界ができていてそれを変える訳にはいかないんですよ。。。』」Saitani 1987, p. 49
- ^ 「 『僕が思ってたと違う大きなちがいはね、フラットなんですよ、彼らの表現がね。僕なんか、もうちょっとエモーショナルで大きくするんですよ全て。例えば最後のロケット発射でもね。あの場合は、役らの山賀君等の、一つのやり方だと思いますけど、フラットなんですよね。コンスタントで。感情的に言うとね、あの、ですからシーンだとかストーリーのコンセプト、ストーリー立てとかね、僕はあれはあれでいいと思ってるんですよ。ただ、もしあそこで違いをつけるとすると、感情表現がね、僕なんかもっと変えるから。。。』」Saitani 1987, p. 50
- ^ "Kako haikyū shūnyū jōi sakuhin (Haikyū shūnyū 10 oku-en ijō bangumi) 1987-nen (1 tsuki～12 tsuki) [Top-Grossing Past Works By Distribution Income (Programs with distribution earnings of 1 billion yen or more) (January-December) 1987. (The MPPAJ lists Top Gun under its box office performance rankings for 1987 with a notation that the film was not released in Japan until December of 1986.)]". Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan. Retrieved March 8, 2021.
- ^ 「 『最近の映画はね、エンターテイメントに徹しちゃってるんでね、それがないんですよ。その瞬間は楽しいんですよ、バーッと。ところがね、「トップガン」じゃないけどね飛行機はよかったってね、要するにその部分だけで...、中味のね主人公の生き方だとか人生の生き方だとか、あるいは落ち込んでしまうとかね、要するに自分に対して自分はこれでいいのか、とかね。そういう部分っての最高の映画、なくなってきちゃったんですよ。で、敢えてね、彼はそこの部分やったと思うんですよ。。。あの、ですからあの映画大変な映画なんですよ。なんでかって言うとね、新人類のために初めて新人類が作った映画なんですよ。。。このあいだね、面白い話があった。これ、あとで映画当った後、（笑）まあ、当たるかどうかわからないですよ、あたったらこの話は生きてくると思うけど、僕の友だちと一緒に最初の試写会行った後、彼と、食事したんです。「どうだった？」って、彼何も言わないわけね。それでね、しばらくたってからね、ポツポツって言い始めたわけ。「 いやー、山科くんね、オレ悪いけどね全然わかんなかったんだ」で、となりに若い女のコがいて見ながらキャッキャッ笑ってね喜んでるだって。それでね、自分はちっとも面白くないんでとなりが何でこんなに騒いでんのかショック受けたってわけ。。。で、彼は、「 山科くん、この作品は映画界の革命になっちゃうかもしんないよ。もしこの映画が当ったらば、誰も今の映画を作ってる人は映画作んなくなるよ」って言うんですよ。』」Saitani 1987, p. 50
- ^ 「そして東宝洋画系の『オネアミスの翼』である。なにかと毀誉褒貶の多い映画ではあるが、基本的には僕はこの作品を支持したい。。。ただし僕が疑問に思ったのは、作品論的な問題よりも、映画を公開に至らせるまでのバックボーンのことであった。バンダイが直接にアニメ映画製作に乗り出すことは喜ばしいとしても、なぜオモチャ会社としての最大のメリットである商品展開を抜きにした作品を第１作目として製作したのだろうか？また、興行面での結果予算をなぜもっとツメた上で作らなかったのだろうか？映画をそれ以後も持続的に製作することを考えたのならば、企業としての商業的なメリットを最大限に活用して、第１作目はなにがなんでも興行的に成功させる必要があったのではないだろうか。はっきり言って『オネアミスの翼』のような作品は第３作目、４作目に作るべきであり、第１作目に持ってくるのにはあまりにリスクの高い賭けだったような気がする。」Daitoku 1988, p. 73
- ^ 「 『僕の心配は映画館に閑古鳥が入って誰も映画見に行かないと、これが恐いんです。』」Saitani 1987, p. 49
- ^ 「 『で、だけどもしあの山賀くんが提案してるものがこの線だとすると、ね、これから作る人はこの続でないと映画があたんないってことになるんですよ。全部ふっとんじゃう。。。ただあれが成功すると困るのは、今後映画がものすごく難かしくなるんですよ。なぜかと言うと新人類のヤツじゃないと作れなくなっちゃうんですよ。』」Saitani 1987, pp. 50–51
- ^ 「 『要するにアメリカのスピルバーグとかジョージ＝ルーカスはね、まだ我々の世代なんですよ、どっちかって言うと。それにアメリカはそんな大きなギャップないんですよ。若い人と。ところが日本の場合は25位からね、こんなギャップありますよ。世代の断層が。。。それもちょっとエンターテイメントに徹してね、わかりやすくしただけですけどね。だからもし山賀くんなんかのああいうソフィスティケイトされた非常にレベルの高いあの部分でもし今の若い人がああいうふうに考えてるんだとすると大変だと思いますよ。。。山賀君が19の時から考えたものを24でかかってますからね。そういう意味でいいますと今の十代にあてるためには、もうちょっと若く作んなきゃいけないかもしれません。それだけもう時代が速いから。。。この映画はそういう面でいうと、もうすごく話しにくいんだけど、あたってもあたんなくても困るんだけど、本当に分んない映画ですね、ふたを開けてみないと分んないですね。』」Saitani 1987, p. 51
- ^ Matsushita 1987, pp. 31–32
- ^ Patten 2004, pp. 9, 24, 29, 39
- ^ a b Suzuki 1987, p. 22
- ^ Patten 1987, p. 3
- ^ Daitoku 1987b, p. 31
- ^ Daitoku 1987b, p. 30
- ^ Smith 1987, pp. 28–29
- ^ Ebert et al. 1988, p. 35
- ^ a b Takeda 2005, p. 97
- ^ 「『地方はルーカスの「エンドア」と２本立てだったので。。。』」Daitoku 1987c, p. 20
- ^ 「『３月１４日公開作品と春休み映画の中では２番目ですから、健闘したと言えますね。一番長い劇場で7週かかりまして、最近、この手の映画は長くて４週、「ラピュタ」でも５週でしたから、長くかかった方でしょうね。』」Daitoku 1987c, p. 20
- ^ 「具体的に言うと『王立』は、直接制作費が三億六千万円、宣伝•興行用の間接経費を含めた総製作費が八億円くらいかかっています。」Okada 2010, p. 92
- ^ Horn 1996d, p. 24
- ^ Horn 1996a, p. 6
- ^ Clements 2013, pp. 174–175
- ^ 「『王立』のときはまず作品をつくることが優先事項で、それどころではなかった。もちろん周囲には『権利はどうすんねん、確保しとけ』と言ってくれる人もいましたけど、あのときは『今 は作品ができることが大事。そういうことを主張するよりも作品の完成度を上げることに集中しよう』と、最初に申し合わせていたんです。だから『王立』の著作権は契約上、100%バンダイビジュアルにあります。もちろん法律上は監督した山賀には監督権というものがあります。またバンダイビジュアルも配慮してくれて、クレジットの表記にガイナックスも入れてくれていますし、お金も入ってきます。しかし契約上は、『ウチのモノ』ではないんですよ。」Hotta 2005, p. 36
- ^ "Subtitled Wings of Oneamis". Animag. No. 4. 1988. p. 7.
- ^ a b Carl Gustav Horn (January 1995). "Winging its Way to a Theater Near You". Animerica. Vol. 3 no. 1. Viz Communications, Inc. p. 14.
- ^ Carl Gustav Horn (March 1995). "Wings of Honneamise Update". Animerica. Vol. 3 no. 3. Viz Communications, Inc. p. 60.
- ^ "Out of the Blue and Into the Black: The Wings of Honneamise". Animerica. Vol. 3 no. 6. Viz Communications, Inc. June 1995. p. 16.
- ^ "Animerica Radar". Animerica. Vol. 5 no. 1. Viz Communications, Inc. January 1997. p. 15.
- ^ Horn 1995a, p. 9
- ^ Horn 1998, pp. 13, 26
- ^ "The Manga Entertainment DVD of Wings of Honneamise is widely reviled as a poster child for poor compression and authoring. From the horrific telecine to the double flagging, fake anamorphic and the ludicrous edge halos, many professionals I've shown it to couldn't believe it ever was released at all, as The VHS looks better in many cases." http://www.thedigitalbits.com/reviewshd/wingsjinbrd.html Archived 2009-11-18 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "A Technical Analysis of Manga's Wings of Honneamise DVD". Inwards. 2000. Archived from the original on August 8, 2007. Retrieved December 27, 2019.
- ^ "...the print Manga have sourced shows frequent signs of ageing. Dust, hairs, cigarette burns (as they are known in the industry) at reel changeovers, it is all here and all faults make frequent appearances. There really has been zero effort put into remastering this print which is a great shame, and the encoding is again quite poor, resulting in a picture that loses out on a lot of detail due to an overall softness (edging on blurriness) that kills the kind of clarity this film requires...but on the whole for fans this release is a definite disappointment." DVDTimes 2001
- ^ Brian Hanson stated simply that "the transfer looks like ass" Archived 2010-06-20 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Bandai Visual Co., Ltd. 2007, Title 2
- ^ "'Sound Update Version' Production Locale Report". Gainax Network Systems. October 1997. Archived from the original on Feb 9, 2005. Retrieved October 26, 2020.
- ^ Ryusuke Hikawa Hiroyuki Yamaga (July 27, 2007). Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise (Blu-ray/DVD). liner notes: Bandai Visual Co., Ltd.
- ^ "Maiden Japan to Release Royal Space Force Film on DVD/BD in October". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on 2013-06-30. Retrieved 27 June 2013.
- ^ Ridout 1996, p. 120
- ^ "Wings Of Honneamise—DVD/Blu-ray Collector's Edition". 2015. Retrieved December 27, 2019.
- ^ 「『トップガン』的なヒロイック•ファンタジーを 期待すると、当てが外れる。。。原案•脚本•監督の山賀博之は、現代日本社会への自分のイメージをすべて注ぎ込もうとしている。」Watanabe 1987
- ^ 「間延びして退屈なところもあるし、話がバラバラなまま盛り上がりを欠く恨みもある。だが、これだけ金も時間 もかかった大作に、既成のアニメのパターンに寄り掛かることなく、飾りの無い率直な自分のイメージを貫いたところは、あっぱれといわねばなるまい。」Watanabe 1987
- ^ ja:��ニメディア
- ^ a b c Manga Entertainment 2000, back cover
- ^ Suzuki 1988, pp. 38, 40
- ^ ja:アニメグランプリ#アニメージュ賞
- ^ 「かつて『ホルス』が突然に、リアルな描写と社会的なテームをもったアニメ作品として観客の目の前に登場したように、この作品もそれまでの商業作品との関連なく突然に、それまでと違ったアニメ映画の方法論とメッセージを持った作品とした登場した。それがのちのアニメ作品にどのような影響を与えるかは定かではないが、若手スタッフたちの素晴しい情熱に満ちた作品であったことは間違いない。」Ogata 1989, p. 124
- ^ Ogata 1989, p. 47
- ^ 「それは今だって可能なんですよ。『オネアミスの翼』はそれを立証していると思うんです。あれを作ったのは経験という点では素人ですよ。一緒にたむろして飯食って、私生活も仕事もぐしゃぐしゃになりながら、二十代半ばの連中だけで作ったんですから。」Miyazaki & Takahata 1995, p. 18
- ^ Daitoku 1987a, pp. 80–81
- ^ Isekai
- ^ 「アニメ映画という観点で限ってみても『宇宙戦艦ヤマト』や『銀河鉄道999』といった作品がそれこそ脱•地球の興奮と解放感を観客に与えたのはもう大分以前のことだ。さらに、映画好きの人間ならば『ライトスタッフ』や立花隆原作の『宇宙からの帰還』が宇宙飛行士や宇宙の姿を実与で伝えていることを知っているだろう。アニメ界の新人類ともいえる『オネアミスの翼』の若手スタッフたちが何を意図して、それほど手垢のついた題材を、あえて、それもアニメーションで描こうとしたのか？」Daitoku 1987a, p. 80
- ^ Bolton, Csicsery-Ronay Jr. & Tatsumi 2007, p. xxii
- ^ 「『ところがたぶん新人類はね、そのからみが少なくてすむんじゃないかと思ってるんですよ。。。』『あの、ですからあの映画大変な映画なんですよ。なんでかって言うとね、新人類のために初めて新人類が作った映画なんですよ。。。』『なぜかと言うと新人類のヤツじゃないと作れなくなっちゃうんですよ。』」Saitani 1987, pp. 50, 51
- ^ 「だが、この疑問はこの映画を観ていくうちに氷解していった。なるほど人類は物理的には地球圏を離れ他の星に足跡をしるすまでの経験をした。しかし、意識や精神の面においては果たしてどうであろうか。」Daitoku 1987a, p. 80
- ^ 「そこで、地球全体を眺め得る地点から人類の歴史と文明を、もう一度相対化してみる必要があるのではないか。『オネアミスの翼』という作品にはそうしたモチーフが根底にある。その事はこの映画のエンデｨングに流れる異世界ではなく現実の人類の歴史をたどるシーンからも明らかに読みとれるし。。。」Daitoku 1987a, pp. 80–81
- ^ 「なぜあそこまで異世界の創出にこだれるかということも。。。アニメーションという表現媒体の性格をフルに活用して、それこそ匙一本にいたるまでありとあらゆる物を別物に創り上げることによって、実は文明そのものを一旦相対化し解体した上で再構成しようという意志の表れなのだ。」Daitoku 1987a, p. 81
- ^ 「かっこいいメカやロボット、魅力的なキャラクターが登場し、宇宙を漂流しながら物語が展開していくという話は、ある意味では映画『マクロス』で一つの頂点に到達してしまっている。『マクロス』の先を進むことよりも、もう一度より地球に物語を引きつけた形で別の世界を創出するこどの方が、アニメ映画の新しい地平がひらけるのではないかという目論見はこの映画の創り手たちにあったと思うのである。」Daitoku 1987a, p. 81
- ^ 「ロケットというロシナンテに跨がって宇宙に旅立つた宇宙飛行土シロツグ•ラーダットというドン•キホーテが立ち向かった風車がいったい何であったのか？」Daitoku 1987a, p. 81
- ^ 「『「オネアミスの翼」を見て、よくやったと思って感心したの、俺。はったりとかカッコつけみたいなものが感じられなくて、正直につくってるなと、とても気持ちよかった。。。その映画が、若い同業者の諸君に、非常に大きな刺激になると思ったんです。賛否両論、激しく分かれるかと思うけど、それでも刺激になる。』」Yamaga & Miyazaki 1987, p. 76
- ^ 「『「でも、宮崎さんと僕のつくり方の違いもすごく大きいと思うんです。』」Yamaga & Miyazaki 1987, p. 80
- ^ 「『「そこでロケットを飛ばした結果、生甲斐をそこで感じても、次にまた現実にからめとられるだろうという中に生きているという、やりきれなさもよく分かる。だから、俺だった、アナクロニズムのマンガ映画をわざと作ってる。』」Yamaga & Miyazaki 1987, p. 79
- ^ Clements 2013, p. 1
- ^ 「『映画をマジに作る人というのは、それに答えてあげようとするんです。宮崎（駿）さんの話もそうですが、答えてあげたいからフィクションの世界を作ろうとする、せめて、これだけは大切だ、と。でも僕たちの世代はそうじゃないことを知っている。』」Daitoku 1987c, p. 23
- ^ 「『とにかく、今日は僕は自分の土俵に引��ずりこもうとしているのか、よく分かんないけど、それより自分がここでやっぱりよく分からんことをはっきり言いたい。ただ言うだけじゃなくて、「オネアミスの翼」をその前に十分評価していることも言いたかった。あたたかい目で見守んなきゃいけないとか、そういう気は全然ないんでね。ダメならけなそうと待ちかまえていたんだから。映画を見て、とにかく気持ちよく帰ってきたんです。』」Yamaga & Miyazaki 1987, p. 80
- ^ 「『僕は、最後までNASAのロケットが上がって行くという、むなしさと同じものを感じてね。やったぜ、という感動がない。』『ただ、ロケットを打ち上げるなら、NASAなどビッグサイエンスにかすみとられないためにも、変なロケット。。。』」Yamaga & Miyazaki 1987, p. 77
- ^ 「『僕は、ジジイがもうやめようとは絶対言わないだろうと思った。そう思わない？ 無理してるって感じがした。。。ただ、シロツグは体力があるから乗っかっただけです。やっぱり情熱を時ってやってたのは、若者じゃなくて、ジジイたちという気がしてしょうがない。あれは、ただ一つの作劇術でやってるだけだと思う。』」Yamaga & Miyazaki 1987, p. 78
- ^ 「『それは、最終的なところにあって......。』」Yamaga & Miyazaki 1987, p. 79
- ^ 「『でも、今回の映画でも能動的な出発的の、タネをまいて推進してったのは、君たち若者だから。』『ジジイと若者の関係。ジジイ引っこめって、やればいいのにと思った。』」Yamaga & Miyazaki 1987, p. 80
- ^ 「『ジジイと若者が、僕らが打ち上げると思って打ち上げたロケットだと思ってもらっちゃ困るというところがあったんです。あれは、あくまで国がお金を出してつくったロケットで。だから、ああいう形で。』」Yamaga & Miyazaki 1987, p. 80
- ^ 「『いや、最初から飛び出したように見えて飛び出してないけど、物理的に飛び出すこと自体より、その過程において、いいものがあるんじゃないかみたいなのが、狙いですから。』」Yamaga & Miyazaki 1987, p. 80
- ^ Whitty, Stephen (December 2, 1994). "A journey to no place special". San Jose Mercury News. p. 9.
- ^ O'Neill, Sean (March 10–16, 1995). "Broken Wings Is Offensive". LA Village View. p. 18.
- ^ Bowles, Scott (November 28, 1994). "Animated 'Wings' looks good but isn't". Dallas Morning News. pp. 11C.
- ^ Grieser, Andy (June 24, 1995). "'Wings' of wonder video blends provocative ideas and visual beauty". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. p. 3.
- ^ Feeney, F.X. (March 10–16, 1995). "The Wings of Honneamise". LA Weekly. p. 55.
- ^ Harrington, Richard (December 23, 1994). "'Wings': Soaring Animation". The Washington Post. pp. D6.
- ^ Ebert, Roger (May 12, 1995). "The Wings Of Honneamise". rogerebert.com (originally published in the Chicago Sun-Times). Archived from the original on April 24, 2010. Retrieved January 14, 2010.
- ^ Jones, Chris (April 3, 1995). "Japanimation flies high in 'Honneamise'". The Daily Texan. p. 5.
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- ^ Corliss, Richard (November 22, 1999). "Amazing Anime". Time. p. 96.
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- ^ Richmond, Simon (2009). The Rough Guide to Anime: Japan's finest from Ghibli to Gankutsuō. Rough Guides. p. 136. ISBN 978-1858282053.
- ^ Odell, Colin; Michelle Le Blanc (2014). Anime. Oldcastle Books. p. 87. ISBN 978-1842435861.
- ^ DeMarco, Jason (January 3, 2017). "The 100 Best Anime Movies of All Time". Paste. Paste Media Group. Archived from the original on November 14, 2020. Retrieved August 8, 2019.
- ^ Horn 2007, p. 16
- ^ Kuge 2007, pp. 258–259
- ^ Martin 2017, p. 142
- ^ Keehan 2017, p. 93
- ^ Flemingconfiguration 2001, p. 16
- ^ Fleming 2001, pp. 18, 36
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- ^ Matsui 2007, p. 89
- ^ Friis-Hansen 2000, p. 41
- ^ Morikawa, Murakami & Okada 2005, p. 165
- ^ Murakami 2005, p. 132
- ^ Murakami 2005, p. 127
- ^ Eikman 2007, pp. 7–8
- ^ Eikman 2007, p. 30
- ^ Cubitt 2004, p. 5
- ^ Cubitt 2004, p. 321
- ^ Cubitt 2004, p. 303
- ^ Cubitt 2004, pp. 304–305
- ^ Cubitt 2004, pp. 303–304
- ^ Cubitt 2004, p. 307
- ^ Kuge 2007, p. 253
- ^ Kuge 2007, pp. 256–257
- ^ Kuge 2007, pp. 255–256
- ^ Kuge 2007, p. 252
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- ^ Kuge 2007, p. 256
- ^ Gainax 1998
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- ^ Rafael Antonio Pineda (September 7, 2018). "Gaina Announces Uru in Blue Anime for 2022, New Top o Nerae! 3 Anime Project". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on April 22, 2020. Retrieved February 9, 2020.
External links[]
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Wikiquote has quotations related to: The Wings of Honnêamise |
- Official website (in Japanese) (archived English homepage)
- The Wings of Honnêamise (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
- Ôritsu uchûgun Oneamisu no tsubasa at IMDb
- Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honnêamise at Rotten Tomatoes
- Entry in The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction
- 1987 films
- Japanese-language films
- 1987 anime films
- 1987 drama films
- 1980s science fiction drama films
- Anime with original screenplays
- Bandai Visual
- Drama anime and manga
- Films about space programs
- Films directed by Hiroyuki Yamaga
- Films scored by Ryuichi Sakamoto
- Films scored by Yuji Nomi
- Films set in a fictional country
- Films set on fictional planets
- Gainax
- Japanese aviation films
- Japanese films
- Japanese animated science fiction films
- Maiden Japan
- Science fiction anime and manga
- Toho animated films