From the pages of Kobunsha’s digest magazine Gem (October 1980 issue) comes this conversation with Yoshinobu Nishizaki on the occasion of Be Forever Yamato, including side treks into the lifestyle choices afforded by the wealth from a successful anime franchise.

EXPLORING POPULAR PEOPLE

Yamato for the third time?

Asking Yoshinobu Nishizaki (Producer)

by Tomonobu Omiya (Journalist)

“Yamato” resurfaces for the third time

The battleship Yamato, which was supposed to have disappeared, has survived.

However, I am not talking about the battleship Yamato that was sunk off the coast of Kyushu. I am talking about the animated movie that was released three years ago and caused a big boom among children. Though it is the third movie in the series, the popularity of Space Battleship Yamato has not waned. Four days before the release date on August 2nd, fans began lining up in front of movie theaters in Shibuya and Shinjuku, and on the day before the release, thousands of people lined up for an all-night sit-in.

“Thanks to everyone, so far the attendance is about 85% of that of the previous movie Farewell to Yamato, but on some days it has exceeded the previous attendance, so it looks like it will do pretty well.”

Producer Yoshinobu Nishizaki, who had been working hard every day and was worried about the attendance, said this while blinking his bloodshot eyes. He was so worried that people would turn their backs on him that the joy of this success seems to be even greater, and we are all very happy for him.

But why a third movie? Yamato exploded in flames in the last scene of the previous movie Farewell and disappeared into the far reaches of space. Nishizaki himself said, “I definitely won’t make a third one.” So, how could he make a third film?

“I’m sorry for lying. The truth is, the entire staff was against adding the caption, ‘Yamato will never appear again’ to the last work. What would I do if I wanted to make it again? But I pushed my way through the opposition and added the caption. I’m so embarrassed now that I can’t even look up.”

Nishizaki is apologetic, as if he wants to crawl into a hole, but when he apologizes so easily, we are taken aback. To defend him for a moment, he didn’t intending to lie. It seems certain that he really did want to say goodbye to Yamato in the last work.

“I really thought I’d never make another one. That’s why I ended Yamato the way I did. There was no way it could happen again. I was just exhausted. The reason I ended up making it again was because of the enthusiastic voices of the fans who wanted to see more, and a strong request from the production company (Toei).”

Another reason Nishizaki decided to make a third film was because of a conflict with director and co-creator Leiji Matsumoto. Nishizaki killed off the main character, Susumu Kodai, in Farewell, but Matsumoto was strongly opposed to this. So Kodai was brought back to life in Part II, which was made for TV.

“We had already agreed to making Part II for TV. Mr. Matsumoto’s opinion was that young people must continue to live, so he wanted to keep him alive at the end of the TV version. What would happen if he came back to life? That question was the trigger for making the next story.”

From the time he made Part II for TV, he said that he was “destined to make” this latest installment, Be Forever Yamato. The theme of love is the same as the previous work, but this time, a beautiful girl named Sasha (the daughter of Susumu Kodai’s brother) is introduced as a new character, and the story weaves together the love between men and women, as well as the love between parents and children, and the love between brothers.

In the first work, the theme was, “Don’t fight, love each other.” In the second, it was “self-sacrificing love.” In the third, love has become more familiar and concrete. This means that “you can write about love endlessly,” and you can make as many works as you want.

“Whether they die or not, I don’t think it’s worth worrying about. Yamato is no longer in my hands.”

Hearing this, it sounds like Yamato will be making waves in the world again next summer.

Sudden Motorcycle “Madness” at 45

As well as being able to “write as much about love as you like,” another reason to continue is probably that you can make as much money as you like.

Box office revenue for the first film was 920 million yen. In the second year, it doubled to 2 billion yen. Even after deducting Toei’s distribution fee and production costs, Nishizaki was left with roughly 700 million yen in revenue from the second film.

Of course, this alone is not a big deal. In the case of animation, the sales of character products are also a plus along with the box office. The huge number of related products, such as plastic models, Yamato photo books, theme song records, T-shirts, handkerchiefs, etc., generate profits in the billions. It’s amazing that 12,000 copies were sold of a deluxe book costing 30,000 yen. In total, about 1.8 billion yen went into Office Academy, where Nishizaki is the president. So how much did Nishizaki get personally?

“170 million yen. Last year, my name was even included in the list of the richest people.”

His lifestyle is so luxurious that it makes you think he is trying to live up to his billionaire status. He owns two cars; a large Cadillac and a limousine. One of them has a phone. On weekends, he goes to the sea and drives the fastest cruiser in Japan (40 knots) and enjoys scuba diving. Recently, he has become interested in motorcycles. And when I say motorcycles, I mean huge ones over 1000cc.

“I have eleven bikes, including a 2300cc Harley Davidson. I also have a Honda Interstate 1100, which was made in America and brought to Japan, and a Kawasaki KZ1300, which is the fastest bike in the world. Everyone wears matching uniforms when we ride, and it feels like you’re riding a horse, which is fun.”

Even though he’s 45 years old, this guy rides pretty recklessly. He says he’s fallen four times so far. The first time he completely destroyed his Harley, and the fourth time he was seriously injured and took three months to heal. Far from learning his lesson from the accidents, he gets seriously angry at the police’s unreasonable crackdown.

“Why are they banning two-seaters on the highway? It’s actually more dangerous to ride two-up on ordinary roads. And why do they charge the same toll as regular cars when only one person is allowed to ride? There are many places where motorcycles are not allowed on overpasses. Why are they banned from entering the city after 11 p.m.? If it’s to prevent noise, shouldn’t it be the same for passenger cars too? Motorcycles these days make the same noise as passenger cars unless they’re modified. It’s all so irrational. It’s supposed to be a measure against motorcycle gangs, but even if there are 10,000 of them, it’s less than 10% of the total number of motorcycles. It’s really strange that everyone is inconvenienced because of it. Could you please write about this?”

He’s been mistaken for a motorcycle gang member before. As usual, Nishizaki was leading the way as he briskly drove through Tokyo. When he stopped at an intersection, a real biker gang pulled up next to him and pointed at his Harley.

“Hey, your dad bought that for you, right?”

Nishizaki took off his helmet and turned to face the biker gang. Needless to say, the biker gang member was stunned and speechless. The girl riding behind Nishizaki literally laughed so hard she fell off the bike.

“You don’t look like you’re 45 in a flashy uniform and helmet. This was the biggest punch of the year,” Nishizaki muttered, self-deprecatingly. “I’m an old man now…” I really want him to form a middle-aged biker gang and go head-to-head with the police. I hope he’ll do it.

But just like motorcycles, cruisers and scuba diving are not just hobbies. He says it always leads to work.

“If I can make an excuse, I’m a hands-on person. I can’t be satisfied until I actually try everything. I’m making a movie with motorcycles, but there’s nothing I can do if the director and scriptwriter don’t know anything about them. You can’t understand the rider’s feelings unless you actually ride one.”

Dirty Hero planned by an unusual duo

Nishizaki comes from a so-called prestigious family. His grandfather Kotaro Nishizaki was a famous pharmaceutical doctor, and his grandmother was known as the famous beauty of Rokumeikan.

His father, Tadashi Nishizaki, was a financial leader who went from being the managing director of Nippon Soda to the president of Nippon Special Steel. His aunt is Midori Nishizaki, the first head of the Nishizaki School of Dance.

His sister and the children of his relatives followed the path of the elite, but he went on to study theater at Nihon University College of Art. He says he wanted to be an actor. He also enrolled in the Bungakuza Theater company for two years. But his dream of becoming an actor was thwarted after he was involved in a near-fatal car accident.

After that, he worked a variety of jobs, including as a construction worker, a commentator at a jazz café, a bartender, a waiter, and an entertainment manager. His current luxurious lifestyle can be said to be a reaction to his time of extreme poverty.

“Rather than being an actor, I developed the idea that I wanted to be a producer who could stand above everything and develop my own way of thinking. Moreover, if I was going to become a producer, I thought I would aim to be an independent producer rather than joining a major company.”

Just as he said, he became independent as a lone wolf producer. While the number of films produced by major companies was declining in both quantity and box office revenue, Yamato, produced by Nishizaki, made unprecedented profits. The major companies that had initially underestimated “lone wolf filmmaking” suffered a strong backlash.

Lone wolf producers who don’t belong to any particular company are not uncommon in America. In fact, it’s the norm.

“What made me happy when Yamato became a hit was that independent producers in Japan were recognized by the public.”

There is another producer who makes films in a similar position to Nishizaki: Haruki Kadokawa, the president of Kadokawa Shoten. Kadokawa was also an novice when it came to film production, but he produced a series of hits, including The Inugami Clan. However, the crucial difference between Kadokawa and Nishizaki is that Kadokawa had the backing of Kadokawa Shoten Publishing, and had money.

Nishizaki had no organization to rely on, and no one to lend him money. He managed to make it with the money he saved up by selling calendars and piggy banks. In that sense, Nishizaki is probably the only producer who deserves the term Lone Wolf.

In addition to rival Kadokawa and Nishizaki, Yasuyoshi Tokuma, the president of Tokuma Shoten, who has a rough relationship with Kadokawa, is also said to be involved in the production of this major film. The original story is Haruhiko Oyabu’s Dirty Hero, and this is a movie about motorcycles.

Tokuma and Nishizaki will each contribute 500 million yen toward the production costs. Kadokawa is in charge of PR, and will invest huge amounts of advertising funds. Tokuma and Kadokawa, who hold the publishing rights to Oyabu’s work, will have no animosity or concern if the book sells as a result of the film adaptation. It just so happens that the interests of the three of them coincide.

The movie is scheduled for release in August next year, and they are currently working on the script. The director has yet to be decided. Nishizaki will be in charge of overall direction as the general producer.

“When you think of Oyabu’s works, you think of men and women doing it all the time, but with this movie I want to appeal to what is real and what is valuable. Of course, the story is centered on love between a man and a woman, but I want to visualize a different kind of romanticism between men and women than Yamato.”

This is Nishizaki’s first experience with a feature film. It won’t be like his previous animated films. Moreover, with two “overachiever” collaborators, how much of his “Nishizaki-style adaptation” will work? It’s a unique combination, and it’s definitely something to behold.

Above: promotional flyer commissioned by Nishizaki to announce the beginning of preproduction for Dirty Hero. The art is probably by Yamato veteran Takeshi Shirato, and the back of the flyer promoted the motorcycles to appear. Nishizaki may have owned all of them, most definitely the white Harley FLH80 in the center. For whatever reason, Dirty Hero was released as a feature film in 1982 without Nishizaki’s involvement.

A producer who was asked for his autograph

It has long been said that the film industry is more “Western-oriented” than “Japanese-oriented.” The reason for this is probably the producer system. The main difference between producers and directors in foreign countries and those in Japan is that they are freelancers or contractors in foreign countries, while they are lifetime employees in Japan. I wouldn’t say that this is the sole cause, but it is certainly a major factor.

Under a contract system, if you make a work that doesn’t get a lot of viewers, you’re in a tough situation where you’ll never get another contract, whereas a company employee producer won’t be fired even if they fail.

Rather than failing badly, they try to make something that they can predict will be moderately popular. So they don’t take risks and can’t make unique films. When you become a lone wolf in the free market, this is already a hardship. There are countless examples of American producers who go from living in a luxury mansion in Beverly Hills one day to a cheap apartment downtown the next. In other words, for American producers, movies are a big gamble where everything is on the line. Their enthusiasm for what they make is completely different from that of Japanese producers.

The content of the Yamato movie is very Japanese, but Nishizaki’s qualities as a producer are very American. While he talks about his lofty dream of living in Beverly Hills and producing Hollywood movies, he also murmurs, “I’m worried that my life will take another big punch…” It can be said that this tension is what made Space Battleship Yamato” a success.

“In America, good plans are given opportunities. Anyone can dream of taking a shot at success. And those who make it big are generously applauded. In Japan, it’s the opposite. Opportunities are not given, and those who make it big are criticized. In America, there are banks that specialize in lending money to good plans. Japan is ten to twenty years behind.”

Japanese audiences have progressed from the era of watching movies by stars to the era of watching movies by directors. However, it will be a while before they start watching movies on the name of the producer. Now, Nishizaki is asked by fans for autographs and handshakes. This is because he is the creator of Yamato, but this producer’s popularity will not necessarily last forever.

He wants to break away from the organization in order to create new works. Currently, Nishizaki has four affiliated companies and 120 employees.

“In the end, I’m a producer, not a manager. It takes a lot of energy to maintain an organization. When you spend time on management, you inevitably neglect the creative side. I want to leave management to someone else and concentrate on being a producer.”

Hearing a comment like that, I feel that the main reason Nishizaki reluctantly made the third Yamato was to maintain the business. I wonder if the business situation, which requires the company to constantly make a certain amount of profit, led him to make the third Yamato film.

“I have to worry about more and more unnecessary things, and it’s become more and more difficult.”

He also said that he recently stopped going to Ginza. He wants to rest his body and take time to think, even if just for a moment. He only goes home on Father’s Day and his children’s birthdays, so he lives a very simple life. The seemingly glamorous business of being a producer is also quite tough.

After Dirty Hero, he is apparently going to make a maritime youth drama using a real ship, and I am very interested and excited to see what kind of romance he will create when he leaves the organization and literally returns to being a lone wolf.