GIANT ROBO THE ANIMATION - The Day The Earth Stood Still Episode. 2 The Tragedy of Bashitarle Now, Once More, the World Will Be Plunged into True Night...! Aim for the Lively Characters! Imagawa Yasuhiro (Director) Kubooka Toshiyuki (Character Design/Animation Director) Yamashita Toshihiko (Character Design/Animation Director) As a work with animation that fuses the enjoyment of the past with the "present", "Giant Robo the Animation" has received high praise. But of course, this praise was not earned overnight. It was earned by the tireless efforts of the staff. Here, Director Imagawa and two of his staff speak about the production difficulties and the means employed to overcome them, as well as the message they want those watching the show to hear. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Imagawa - It has become standard for the characters appearing in recent animations to include the real, the theatrical touch, and the half-sized body of the super-deformed. Thus, the first time people saw the propaganda for "Giant Robo" they might have found it a bit unexpected. However, I intended to go with Mr. Yokoyama Mitsuteru's original character designs for this show rather than with the fad ever since the project's inception. Of course, part of the reason for this is that I'm a crazy fan of Mr. Yokoyama's works. But, trendy characters should appear in works prepared especially for them. In "Robo", we do the reverse and take so-called retro characters and depict them using modern means, with the idea of trying to start from scratch with what can be gained from there. Kubooka - For both me and Yamashita-kun, it certainly took some time to catch on to Director Imagawa's intentions like that. At the outset, I was stuck in the mindset that I had to draw Mr. Yokoyama's characters in a more modern style. Yamashita - At the outset, I too wore myself out wondering what I should do. But with repetition, I finally began to be able to understand the mentality of the technique behind drawing the characters from back when in modern form. And besides that, the production seems to be running pretty smoothly. But I have to wonder if back when is really okay by the way things have turned out now....(laughs) Kubooka - I never would have thought of putting a character wearing ancient Chinese clothing and a character wearing a modern-style suit together on the same screen. So, the first time I just heard the story, I thought to myself, isn't this a bit weird? But as the current production progressed and Director Imagawa's intentions became clear, I thought "Ah, this is a world where everything goes, isn't it." ...It took an appreciable amount of time before I finally caught on. Imagawa - I think the fact that "anything goes" works is because Mr. Yokoyama's characters have crossed the several decade gap and have been realized in continuing works. In other words, the weight that the various characters have is such that, if one uses common sense and gets sucked into thinking that their world is infeasible, they have the power to simply pop up eventually in some other work. If not, I doubt this one would have gone as well as it did. Yamashita - As the person in charge of the animation, when I think about making the characters move, it's like, "Robo" is really manga-like, isn't it? Imagawa - Yes, I'd like everyone to see that manga-like interest. In modern animation, there's a lot of stuff in the pictures that chiefly requires thoughtfulness, and I've come across a lot that become bound by that fact. But that's not an absolute given, and depending on the way it's shown, if the result is interesting anyone can be satisfied. Yamashita - Unprecedented scenes like Albert's super-rotational attack that we saw in the previous episode, are basically impossible in real productions, and I want to enjoy them as much as possible. Certainly, they're really fun for me to draw. Imagawa - There's no need to say "That's no good, this is no good either" and shackle yourself. I think one should try everything in order to make a production interesting. Wouldn't you say that Hong Kong movies are a good example of that? Kubooka - I never pictured myself drawing a horse for a SF work like "Robo". To our viewers, look forward to Director Imagawa trying some _really_ weird stuff from here on out. (laugh) Youshi (the Blue-Faced Beast) ------------------------------- Called "Youshi the Blue-Skinned Beast" because of her blue body, a female Expert posted at the Peking Branch. Surpassing other Experts in physical skills, and especially good with a staff. Possesses superhuman strength greater even than Tetsugyuu's, but is never vulgar and has both sisterly strength and gentleness, making the word "heroine" fit her to a T. Issei Doujin[1] -------------------------------------- An Expert of the Peking Branch who in the past, trained with Rashinjin-sensei of Jiizan. Ordinarily, those who learn that sort of senjutsu[4] are prohibited from returning to the regular world, but due to a certain reason he was permitted to leave the mountain and join the International Police Experts in their fight against the B.F. Organization. Versed in illusion and shapeshifting, he bears various items of power that can entrap enemies within an illusion and specializes in obfuscative combat. Moreover, "Issei Doujin" is his alias; his real name is Kusonshou. Fogler[2] --------- Constructed by the B.F. Organization for its "Earth Cessation Project", it is a doomsday weapon in the form of a gigantic sphere. Stated bluntly, it contains a Minus Shizuma Drive that can stop all other normal Shizuma Drives in its vicinity and has various offensive systems built in. It is believed to come from the original invention from Doctor Fogler of ten years ago, powered up with the B.F. Organization's technology and controlled by Genya. Chapter/Tracks -------------- Side 1 1. Opening Title 2. Opening - Main Title 3. Summary Thusfar 4. Subtitle 5. The Blood-Sprayed Peking Branch! 6. The Arrival of Youshi the Blue-Faced Beast!! No Mercy (of Buddha) for the Wicked! 7. The Bewitching Sorcerer, Kusonshou, Issei Doujin is Here! 8. Onslaught! Robo Comes to Daisaku's Rescue! 9. Resistance... 10. The Forbidden Past - The Corruption Within the Case 11. Atonement Runs Amok! The Incomplete Sample for Repeating the Tragedy 12. Shining Taisou! "My human electric generator is still alive!" 13. Eye Catch (A-type) Side 2 14. Eye Catch (B-type) 15. Fogler[3] Arrangements, For the Sake of Big Fire! 16. Under the Skies of Paris, Vengeance Begins! 17. The Tragedy of Bashitarle! The Former Glory of the Shizuma Drive 18. A Decade's Confession - Dr. Shizuma's Regret 19. Giant Robo - All Green! 20. After It! After It! After It! 21. Dark Clouds Down the Road 22. The Dying Doctor, A Funeral March For that Mistake 23. ENDING 24. Preview Translator's Notes ------------------ [1] As a title, "Issei Doujin" would be something like "The Consecrated Taoist". This sounds cool, but since it's also used as his common nickname, I'll just use the straight reading for the time being. [2] The liner notes spell this "Vogler", a romanization which also appears at least once in the anime as part of the GUI for the pilot of the Daikaikyuu. I chose "Fogler" because that's clearly how it's pronounced (and the yomigana for the name even has a "Fo" as its first phoneme!), and because there is at least one _other_ place in the story (one of the books about the Tragedy of Bashitarle) wherein it's spelled with an F. "Franken von Fogler" has much better alliteration than the alternative. [3] It said "V" here, so based on [1] above I rendered it as "Fogler". [4] "Senjutsu" are the powers ascribed to a class of hermits who relinquish all ties to society and pursue spiritual purity. Such powers include long life, scrying, and various feats of aesciticism. New Nelson's translates it as "wizardry", but to keep the connotation pure I use it untranslated.