A little overdue... I forgot how I stumbled upon this one. Maybe it was a suggestion from someone? Anyways, the November 1978 issue of Animage features an article highlighting Yoshikazu Yasuhiko as he answers some interview questions—this caught my interest, so I decided to commission an English translation of it for those looking to learn or read more about this creator.
Scans are by "Brenten958", translation is provided by "justj22".
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Figures of Animation — Yasuhiko Yoshikazu
Nippon Sunrise, Prince Sharkin, handsome characters—only one name would naturally follow those words, and that is Yoshikazu Yasuhiko. However, that is only one facet of the man he actually is.
When asked why he'd recently bought the complete works of Kenji Miyazawa, Yasuhiko gave this answer: "Because Kenji depicts things that are beneath our consciousness, and he does it with grace and in meticulous detail. For example, his 'On the Fourth Day of the Narcissus Month' is, in essence, a story about a child lost in the snow, but he would describe the aspect of being lost almost stubbornly. In doing so, he captures—in beautiful detail—something that an ordinary adult would never feel, the anxiety that only a child could normally perceive. I find myself really drawn to that sense of anxiety."
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| With his son... "Daddy's in trouble!" |
—His Youth—
Lake Saroma, Hokkaido, is famous for its bright red rugosa roses and the drift ice flowing from the Okhotsk Sea. About 20 kilometers inland from there lies Engaru, a town of 20,000 people. Another 10 kilometers further into the mountains and you'll find several small settlements. It was in one of these on December 9th, 1947 that Yasuhiko was born, the sixth of seven siblings. In that settlement of around 30 households, he spent his childhood.
In 1953, he enrolled at East Shanafuchi Elementary School.
The school had only 50 students, and unsurprisingly, just one teacher. The teacher for all six grades was also the principal.
"Naturally, there was only one classroom. Since the principal alone couldn't handle everything, even his wife (who didn't have a teaching license) would end up helping around at school...(laughs). It's just like 'Twenty-Four Eyes'. I mean, to get to the town (Engaru) you'd have to take a horse carriage in the summer, or a horse sled in the winter. It was that kind of settlement. So getting into town two or three times a year was as good as it gets."
When did you first start drawing?
I'm pretty sure I was drawing from a young age. Out in the mountains there weren't any bookstores, but in the countryside there was this old man that was sort of a mailman and newspaper deliveryman combined into one, and he would bring me a lot of old manga magazines, saying that "the kids love manga". He brought me magazines like "Bouken-Oh" and "Shonen"...
Who was your favorite manga artist?
That would be Mitsuteru Yokoyama and Mitsuaki Suzuki. Especially Suzuki's "Oda Nobunaga", I still remember it well. The story got up to Nobunaga's burning of Mount Hiei, and I ended up copying it myself, drawing the Battle of Kawanakajima in my brother's old notebooks. But since it used to be his notebook, I always had a limited amount of pages. I suppose that might actually be why I'm so used to drawing storyboards at the fixed 20-minute format now. (laughs)
In 1959, young Yasuhiko enrolled in Shanafuchi Junior High School, and threw himself into drawing what we'd now call "gekiga-style" manga in his school notebooks. While he did not have any clear goals in mind, he did think that it might be fun if he could become a manga artist.
However, in 1962, after enrolling at Engaru High School, he took a sudden interest in history. He says it might have been because he met "a truly wonderful history teacher" in high school.
"When I graduated, I actually told that teacher, 'I'll become a high school teacher!' Ever since then I've never seen them again. It's too awkward. (laughs)"
Having given up on becoming a manga artist and decided to become a teacher instead, he chose to get into university. In 1966, he enrolled in the Western History program in the Faculty of Humanities at Hirosaki University, Aomori. There he threw himself into his studies in pursuit of becoming a teacher. However, it was the 70s, right in the middle of university protest era. With no other way to avoid the student movement, he ended up dropping out in his fourth year, just one step away from fulfilling his dream of becoming a teacher.
"If I stayed and graduated, I would've actually become a teacher, or maybe gotten a job in the town hall or something. You never know how your life will unfold, I guess. (laughs)"
—Becoming an Animator—
Young Yasuhiko thought, "If I go to Tokyo, there's bound to be work", and the moment he dropped out of university, he hopped on a train. At first, he had this idea of becoming a printing worker, but by the time the train was nearing Ueno, he'd already changed his mind. He says he was "too scared to fully commit to blue-collar work".
With that in mind, his first job in Tokyo ended up being phototypesetting.
"This may sound weird, but I chose that job feeling that it's still something related to printing jobs. But anyway, it was a small place, a completely family-run operation with the owner's wife and kids around."
He spent about three months there as an apprentice, but it was not interesting work. One day, as he was reading the paper, he spotted a company in the job listings. For a moment, memories of his youth and his love of manga flashed through his mind.
It was a listing from Mushi Production's training school. Back then, however, he thought of it as nothing more than "a company that makes animation films, sounds like a fun job".
"To be honest, I didn't immediately apply for it. The reason is very simple: the pay. My salary at the time was 30,000 yen, and the training school only paid 18,000 yen. It was a very hard decision to make. (laughs)"
After much thought, he decided to take the entry exam anyway, and he found that there were 100 applicants for just 10 openings.
"So many people want this job. This job must be an interesting one."
He ended up convincing himself with that odd reason.
From there, he went on to his first job with "Wandering Sun", then "Brave Raideen", "Combattler V", ”Kum-Kum", "Zambot 3", and parts 1 and 2 of the "Space Battleship Yamato" movies. He has since continued to showcase his talents in both character design and animation.
How did you feel when you started working in this industry?
"Hmm, I think the ones who came in with big dreams and ideals quickly found out about the reality, of just how poor Japan's anime industry was, and quit right away. I'm not one of them, however."
In his second year working there, he saw a fully-animated Disney film for the very first time in his life. Up until then, he'd never seen a Disney film, and one of his friends basically had to drag him along. The film was "Snow White", shown at the Film Center in Kyobashi, Tokyo.
"As soon as it started playing, I found myself thinking, 'This is basically live-action!' (laughs). I thought that there was no way a human did this."
When did you start finding animation to be truly fun?
"Definitely "Kum-Kum". I had full control, they told me I can do what I want, so I did exactly that. I wrote the scenario myself, and I handled the animation too."
It seems like Sharkin from "Reideen" got a lot of fans...
"I think it's less about me and more because he's a character we gave our all to create, together."
Is there any project you'd like to realize right now?
"...If possible, I'd love to try and adapt one of Kenji Miyazawa's stories. The children in his works really feel like they are actual real children. Why, you ask? Because their dialogue is full of life. I think real children speak out of whatever thought is crossing their mind, so they don't always speak in proper, grammatically correct sentences. His writing values those small details, and that is why it resonates with the sensibilities of its reader."
Yoshikazu Yasuhiko and his obsession with Kenji Miyazawa... perhaps he sees a reflection of himself in that child lost in the snow.
