Original article reproduced for the “Yamato Syndrome 1977-83” doujinshi
Artist’s impression of the voice recording session. It is noted
that about 20 actors were present. Lower section: caricatures
of the voice actors. Clockwise from top left: Kei Tomiyama
(Kodai), Yoko Asagami (Yuki), Hideo Nakamura (Shima),
Koichi Ogata (Analyzer), Mari Okamoto (Teresa).
Behind the Scenes
by Hisa Wanihiko
Space Battleship Yamato 2, Nippon TV, Saturday at 7pm
Suddenly, the room becomes dark. Space Battleship Yamato2 is shown on the screen. It looks nothing like what is usually shown on TV. “What the…?” If you look closely, you can see Susumu Kodai (the main character) and Daisuke Shima. The robot Analyzer is also there, and the Space Battleship Yamato floats in the air.
But to my surprise, there is no color on the screen. Even if it does happen sometimes, it’s just a red line that says “Line here.” These lines are all in pencil. In addition, Susumu Kodai and Yuki Mori (the heroine) say lines and jokes that have nothing to do with the screen.
“Is this afreco?”
“No, it’s rehearsal right now, and at first we just look at the script along with the screen.”
“But what about the color?”
“That’s because the film to be broadcast couldn’t be finished in time. It’s an edited version of the original art, transferred to film before it was captured on cels.”
This is a studio in Akasaka, Tokyo.
I visited to see the afreco scene of Yamato 2, a popular anime that is currently in the midst of a boom. Afreco means “after recording.” In other words, this refers to voice actors adding lines to the animation after it is finished, along with music and sound effects.
The voice actors of popular anime are now the most sought after by fans. Even though this was the middle of winter (and the middle of the night), four high school girls were hanging around outside the studio, waiting for the voice actors to come out. It is typical of today’s kids that they don’t say that the voice actor’s image is different from that of Kodai-kun on TV.
[Translator’s note: given the timing of the production schedule, it is likely that the reporter attended the first recording session of 1979, for Yamato 2 Episode 18. It would be broadcast on February 10.]
Artist’s impression of an animator at work
Before coming to Akasaka, I visited the anime production site in Nerima.
The pencil drawings being done there were not for afreco, but for a TV anime being produced for broadcast. Based on the storyboard, the animator draws the genga [key animation/original art], and then breaks it down into movements. (This step was shot on film for use in afreco.)
When the animation director gives the OK, the animation is transferred to cels and the specified colors are applied to each piece. 300 sheets are enough for one minute, 3,000 for ten minutes, and so on. That adds up to about 8,000 sheets for one episode.
A young woman’s fingertips carefully apply color to each sheet one by one. In some scenes, only the mouth or the hands move. Still, it is hard work. If I had to do it all by myself, I don’t know how many years it would take.
When this is captured on film and voices and music are added, it becomes the Yamato 2 that is broadcast on TV. I feel that the TV broadcast is not just the tip of the iceberg, but rather the tip of a pyramid that has been built up stone by stone. I would like to thank all the animators and everyone else for their hard work. Keep up the good work for the children and the fans.