Yamato Testimonial 2
Kazutaka Miyatake
“Without someone who can create a unique language, animation cannot move forward.”
Kazutaka Miyatake was responsible for the design of the Space Battleship Yamato itself, as well as much of the mecha and art that formed the worldview of the series. We asked Mr. Miyatake to share some anecdotes from that time, based on the requests of producer Yoshinobu Nishizaki and the rough drafts provided by Leiji Matsumoto.
Interviewer: How did you come to be involved in Space Battleship Yamato?
Miyatake: Just as I was finishing work on Zerotester, I received an offer. My colleague, Kenichi Matsuzaki, had been attending meetings with prominent staff members such as Eiichi Yamamoto and Noboru Ishiguro. Yoshinobu Nishizaki was recruiting talented staff from the Mushi Pro group and assigning them to his own projects as directors. Mr. Ishiguro took a particular interest in me because I was an SF fan. He had read all the works we were reading.
Interviewer: At what stage did you join the project?
Miyatake: It was still titled Asteroid 6 at that point. Matsuzaki brought back a sketch he had drawn during the meeting. It depicted a command tower resembling a battleship emerging from bedrock. Matsuzaki had drawn it according to the order to resemble the battleship Nagato, but among us, we felt that “when it comes to battleships, it should be Yamato.” So we decided to call the work Space Battleship Yamato. At the next meeting, Matsuzaki told Nishizaki, “We’ve been calling it Space Battleship Yamato.” Nishizaki replied, “That has a good ring to it. The title is decided: Space Battleship Yamato.” Matsuzaki reportedly clenched his fist in his mind, thinking it was the perfect title.
As a result, the design was also made to resemble the battleship Yamato more closely. At that stage, Matsuzaki decided that either he or Naoyuki Katoh would be responsible for the design of Yamato. However, when Nishizaki heard this, he said, “You two don’t have a worldview yet. I want you to bring in an artist who can draw a design with a worldview.”
When Matsuzaki and I, who was also present at the meeting, heard this, we looked at each other. We both had a certain manga artist in mind. That person was Satoru Ozawa. In his manga Blue No. 6, which can be considered a sequel to Submarine 707, there is a battleship called Yamato Wonder. There was a spread-page illustration of Yamato Wonder rising from the mud at the bottom of the ocean. When Nishizaki saw it, he exclaimed, “This is it! This image is amazing,” and contacted Ozawa to arrange a meeting.
Later, I heard from Ozawa that Nishizaki had told him he was planning to create an anime called Space Battleship Yamato and asked for his cooperation. Ozawa agreed enthusiastically. At that point, Ozawa revealed that he had actually prepared around 200 pages of drafts.It was a work titled Ginga Ginga Ginga, featuring the Yamato flying through the sky to retrieve something important to humanity from the far reaches of space. It was still in the rough draft stage, but the sketches were drawn with remarkable care. The concept was an incredibly long journey, with the ship carrying artificial wombs instead of women, allowing generations to succeed one another aboard as they continued their voyage.
Work-in-progress art for Ginga, Ginga, Ginga by Satoru Ozawa
However, Nishizaki rejected it. “That won’t work. Female characters are very important in anime.” Hearing this, Mr. Ozawa countered, “We can’t have women on this ship. You don’t understand why we can’t.” Despite agreeing on other aspects, this one point was non-negotiable for both parties. For Mr. Ozawa, the concept was already fully developed, and he had already secured approval from the publisher, so there was no way to change it at that point.
In the end, the two parted ways. “I will still make Space Battleship Yamato,” Nishizaki said, but what’s amazing is what came next. “I respect you. I don’t think there’s anyone else who can draw manga like you. But now you’ve become my opponent. Is there anyone else out there who can match you?”
Interviewer: He asked Ozawa that?
Miyatake: Mr. Ozawa introduced him to Leiji Matsumoto. Mr. Nishizaki called him right then and there. That’s the kind of person Mr. Nishizaki is. Mr. Ozawa is amazing, but Mr. Nishizaki is also amazing. It felt like they were competing on a level far beyond our imagination.
Interviewer: With Mr. Matsumoto joining the team, the overall visual image began to take shape.
Miyatake: Mr. Matsumoto’s art design was truly wonderful. Especially the image of the Gamilas side. For example, the monument of a giant hand holding Planet Gamilas in Dessler’s command room is outstanding.
Interviewer: The design of Yamato also took shape.
Miyatake: I took the rough sketches drawn by Matsumoto, identified the key points for turning them into Yamato, and finished the sketches. I then returned them to Matsumoto, who made the necessary corrections, and we continued to refine the design in this manner.
However, Matsumoto strongly opposed adding the chrysanthemum crest to the bow, arguing it was a symbol of militarism. But Nishizaki insisted, “Without the chrysanthemum crest, it’s not Yamato.” Seeing this, Matsuzaki turned to me and asked, “Do you have any ideas?” I replied, “There’s no one else who can do it.”
Indeed, I had an idea. So I asked Matsumoto, “you like the linear marks you can see when looking directly at a gun barrel, right?” I knew he did. “If we add a gun barrel to the bow, the linear marks will be visible from the front. It won’t be the chrysanthemum crest.”
Mr. Matsumoto replied, “That’s cool.” I then told Mr. Nishizaki, “Look at the linear marks from the front. Doesn’t it look like the chrysanthemum crest?” Mr. Nishizaki also said, “Yes, it’s the chrysanthemum crest. This is it, this is what I was looking for,” and was very pleased. With approval from both of them, we added the Wave-Motion Gun to the bow. It was a convenient solution, but it gave me a sense of accomplishment as a designer.
For me, adding the Wave Gun to the bow and making the overall design slender but as rounded as possible completed the design of the Yamato. However, with such a long ship, the stern would not be visible. On the other hand, if I drew the stern, it wouldn’t be a three-dimensional representation. The rounded hull tapers toward the stern, so it wouldn’t be visible.
Interviewer: You were born in Yokosuka City and grew up seeing warships.
Miyatake: That was during the winter of my first year of elementary school. After World War II, the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force acquired two frigates from the U.S. Navy. I went to see the first public unveiling of the self-defense vessel Hatakaze and was allowed to go on a trial voyage. My grandfather, who ran a PX (a U.S. military term for a store selling daily necessities within military bases), was invited as a special guest.
When we arrived at the pier and got off the bus arranged by the Self-Defense Forces, there was an iron wall stretching from the bow to the stern of the ship. Looking up, I saw the radar spinning. The anti-aircraft guns were only visible at their tips. While the entire ship was within my field of vision from the bow to near the stern, what stood before me was a towering iron wall studded with rivets. That experience directly connects me to the Yamato.
When Mr. Nishizaki saw the finished design, he praised it, saying, “Yes, it’s cool.” But then he said, “Now I want you to draw the design from behind.” I didn’t have the energy or time left to do that. Then Mr. Katoh asked, “Do you want me to draw the back view?” and drew it for me. However, even though we’re both artists, Mr. Kato and I have different ways of seeing things. I imagine a wide-angle lens to capture depth, while he imagines a telephoto lens. My perspective is like a movie camera, while his is fixed. With a wide-angle lens and a telephoto lens, the way the subject appears is completely different. In fact, the animation staff reportedly raised an issue with Mr. Ishiguro. “The front view of Yamato and the back view of Yamato don’t connect. This can’t be animated.”
Interviewer: Animators have to keep things moving, after all.
Miyatake: Mr. Ishiguro, who was intently studying the drawings, said, “Don’t worry, Toyoo Ashida and I will figure it out.”
Interviewer: In fact, Ishiguro was responsible for the animation of Yamato passing the camera.
Miyatake: The music brings the drawings to life. That’s Ishiguro’s true genius. The way Yamato approaches from afar, passes in front of the viewer, and then recedes into the distance —- a movement that seems impossible just from looking at the design — was possible because Ishiguro had the music in his head.
Ishiguro was also well versed in music and was skilled at directing musical scenes. In the second series of Astro Boy (1980), there was a scene directed by Ishiguro where two Uran girls spun around and struck a pose, and the music stopped perfectly at that moment. I was there when Shoji Kawamori, who wanted to direct Macross Do You Remember Love, asked Ishiguro for tips on directing musical scenes. Ishiguro replied, “Read the score backwards” and “cut the storyboard from the back.”
Kawamori was shocked to hear that. It sounds simple, but not many people can read a score backwards. The same goes for cutting a storyboard freely from any point. This is something Ishiguro could do because he had a musical sense.
Interviewer: Even so, it’s amazing that he was able to animate such complex designs 50 years ago.
Miyatake: Suddenly, something new appeared and made everything else obsolete. It’s not special effects, it’s animation. Ishiguro-san was amazing for doing that, but Nishizaki-san, who made him do it, was also an amazing person. Nishizaki-san has been criticized for various things, but personally, I think he was the world’s greatest producer.
Interviewer: Fifty years have passed since then, and remakes are still being made today, but the design of Yamato hasn’t changed much. I think there’s also a sense of being bound by the inability to change it.
Miyatake: I don’t know how Junichiro Tamamori feels about that, but it seems like he’s incorporating various elements.
Interviewer: Mr. Tamamori respects the old image while also trying to incorporate new elements. I feel like he values a sense of realism because he was originally an industrial designer.
Miyatake: I feel like he understands what we were trying to do.
Interviewer: After that, you participated in Farewell to Yamato.
Miyatake: I designed Andromeda, which is twice as strong as Yamato. I completely changed the overall form from Yamato and expressed the fact that it is twice as strong by simply equipping it with two Wave Guns.
However, Studio Nue decided to step away from the Yamato series after this work. Ishiguro also said, “This is the end.” The first Yamato was unified in the language of Mushi Productions. Under Nishizaki’s direction, even though the colors in the first series were dark to minimize visible flaws like trash and cel scratches, they were kept subdued. But Farewell was unified in the language of Toei Animation. It’s natural for them to be different, but for some reason, we just didn’t click with Toei’s blue universe.
I was impressed by Ishiguro-san, who took on the role of animation director for Farewell and managed to overcome that different language. But without Toei, such a large-scale film wouldn’t have been completed in time for its release date.
After that, I participated in the PlayStation game Space Battleship Yamato, The Distant Planet Iscandar (2000), and then came Yamato 2199.
Interviewer: This year marks the 50th anniversary of Yamato.
Miyatake: The best thing about working on Yamato was getting to know Mr. Ishiguro. He created his own language to describe explosions in space. Without someone who can create such a unique language, animation cannot move forward. Creating a unique language is what brings about a new era. Following Mr. Ishiguro, for example, Ichiro Itano created scenes of air battles in zero gravity and in the atmosphere for Macross. People who can create such unique languages are essential for the evolution of animation.
PROFILE
Born on September 21, 1949, in Kanagawa Prefecture. Inspired by 2001: A Space Odyssey, he aspired to become a designer. Around the time of his university graduation, he co-founded Studio Nue, a specialized planning and production company for science-fiction, with his colleagues Kenichi Matsuzaki and Naoyuki Katoh. He has been active as a designer/illustrator in numerous works. Notable works include Zerotester, Space Battleship Yamato, Space Pirate Captain Harlock, Farewell to Yamato, Technopolice 21C, Macross, Dunbine, Orguss, Sayonara Jupiter, Starship Troopers, Dirty Pair, Submarine 707R, Mechanical Angel Gabriel (co-authored with Naoyuki Kato), Yamato 2199, Symphonic Poem Eureka Seven, Knights & Magic, and others.
See his credit list at Anime News Network here