Kia Asamiya: Yamatalk for the first time in six years
returning to work as an animator “Because it’s Yamato“, and “The magic three letters”
Published by Mantan Web, December 20. See the original article here.
A Yamatalk screening for REBEL 3199 Chapter 2 was held on December 19th at the Shinjuku Piccadilly Theater (Tokyo), and in addition to general director Harutoshi Fukui, Director Naomichi Yamato, and Screenwriter Hideki Oka, artist Kia Asamiya appeared. It was the first time in about six years that Asamiya appeared at a Yamatalk screening, and he talked about his thoughts on Yamato and the remake series.
Asamiya is known not only as a manga artist, but also as an animator. The remake series was not the first time that Asamiya participated in Space Battleship Yamato. He also participated as an animator on Final Yamato, released in 1983. At the event, he revealed the scene he was in charge of at the time, saying, “The studio I was in at the time was a subcontractor for Toei Animation. It was a Dengil scene.”
Asami took a break after doing the key animation for Gekiganger 3 in Martian Successor Nadesico (1996), but returned to animating for the first remake series, Yamato 2199 (2012). Since then, he has worked on storyboards, layouts, and visuals for the remake series.
He said that he returned as an animator after receiving a direct offer from 2199 Director Yutaka Izubuchi. He said, “It’s because it’s Yamato. If it was any other work, I would have run away. It’s the three magic letters. When I hear Ya-ma-to, I can’t help wagging my tail.”
He has also worked on the package art for plastic models, and when asked about his favorite mecha other than Yamato, he replied, “There are so many…maybe Andromeda. It was a formative experience that left a big impact on me. I was happy when I was able to draw it for the packaging.”
REBEL 3199: Kia Asamiya’s image drawings revealed, including spoilers for Chapter 3
Published by Mantan Web, December 20. See the original article here.
A screening with Yamatalk for Chapter 2 of REBEL 3199 was held on December 19th at the Shinjuku Piccadilly Theater (Tokyo), and in addition to general director Harutoshi Fukui, director Naomichi Yamato, and screenwriter Hideki Oka, Kia Asamiya, who is responsible for the image drawings, appeared. It was the first time in about six years that Asamiya appeared at a screening with Yamatalk, and his image drawings were made public.
According to Asamiya, an image drawing is something similar to an image board [concept art], but “it’s a word I made up.” At the event, in addition to Yamato‘s appearance scene in Chapter 1, image drawings of “Grodez approaching Yamato,” “Cosmo Hound sortie,” “Grodez appears,” and “Yamato being attacked by a multi-legged tank” were shown.
In addition, image drawings for Chapter 3, including spoilers, were also unveiled. Images of “Cosmo Tiger II attacking Arktia,” “Yamato and Grodez,” and “Mobile Armor” were shown. It seems that the highlight of Chapter 3 will be intense battle scenes, and Fukui said, “We’ve put a lot of effort into them.”
Asamiya, who is a big fan of Yamato,” said with respect, “I was looking for angles that haven’t been seen in the traditional Yamato.”
Photo posted on Twitter by AnalyzerAU09
Yamatalk Event Report
Published by Aniverse, December 20. See the original article here.
Harutoshi Fukui (general director), Naomichi Yamato (director), Hideki Oka (scriptwriter), and Kia Asamiya (image drawing) appeared on stage! The event report for the REBEL 3199 Chapter 2 screening with Yamatalk has arrived!
Sound effects engineer Mitsuru Kashiwabara, who added sound effects to many anime works including Space Battleship Yamato, passed away on November 18th. Since the remake series continues to use the sound effects created by him, the speakers held a moment of silence prior to the event to mourn the deceased.
Then, for the talk that followed, Kia Asamiya, who is in charge of image drawings, storyboards, and teaser visuals for REBEL 3199, appeared. This was his first appearance as a guest since the Yamatalk held in 2018 for Yamato 2202 Chapter 5.
“I’ve been given a lot of work for Space Battleship Yamato, and I’m working hard at it. But my main job is manga,” Asamiya said in his opening remarks. Three teaser visuals drawn by Asamiya from chapters one to three were displayed at the venue, and when Hideki Oka, who acted as the MC for the day, asked, “All seven posters (up to the final chapter) will all line up in a row, right?” Asamiya replied enthusiastically, “I hope so.” The audience erupted in loud applause.
Asamiya is active in many fields, including as an animator, illustrator, and manga artist, and Oka seemed impressed by his career, saying, “The more I look into it, the more I realize that Asamiya’s work is diverse, and that he is truly a multi-talented creator.”
He first encountered Yamato when he was in fifth grade. After that, he learned about the profession of animator through an anime magazine, and decided to pursue an animator’s path in the future. Asamiya’s first job as an animator was on the 1983 movie Final Yamato.
“The studio I was working for at the time was a subcontractor for Toei Animation. By chance, we received one shot of Yamato animation. Three newcomers divided it and drew it,” Asamiya recalled. By the way, the scene was of the giant battleship Garnborst of the Dengil Empire.
Asamiya worked on manga such as Silent Mobius and The Great Steam Detectives, while also working as an animator under the name Michitaka Kikuchi. However, in the 2000s, he stopped working as an animator to focus on manga. After a long hiatus, he returned to animating in 2012 with the key animation for Yamato 2199.
“Around that time, I was doing creature design for Kamen Rider Fourze, and I went to consult with Yutaka Izubuchi (general director of 2199). He said, ‘Actually, I’m working on Yamato. Do you want to see the designs?’ I said, ‘Can you show me? I want to see it!’ He showed me, and he said, ‘You saw it, didn’t you? Aren’t you going to get on board this ship now?'” Asamiya recalled with a laugh.
It was Yamato that brought Asamiya back to animation after being away from the anime scene until then.
“If Izubuchi had asked me about another work, I might have run away. After all, Yamato is the magic three letters. When I hear Ya-ma-to, I start wagging my tail. Some people in the industry say, ‘If you say Yamato to Asamiya, he’ll do anything,’ and they’re certainly right,” he said with a laugh.
Hideki Oka, Naomichi Yamato, Harutoshi Fukui
True to his words, even after returning to animation, he has been involved in many Yamato-related projects. Regarding 2017’s Yamato 2202, directed by his ally Nobuyoshi Habara (with whom he has teamed up on numerous works such as Martian Successor Nadesico and Shurato), he said, “He’s a rare friend in the anime industry, so I can talk frankly with him. We even made the opening title while exchanging opinions at a family restaurant. I drew a rough sketch of Yamato being rebuilt on a paper napkin I had there. I gave it to Habara, who scanned it as a storyboard.” Because of this, he also worked on storyboards for each episode of the series.
In 2021’s Age of Yamato movie, he was in charge of storyboards for the new scenes included in the compilation and created new shots of the mecha by himself. Director Fukui explained, “The reason for this was that, even though it was a compilation, there were parts that had to be created as new scenes due to the structure of the film. I asked Mr. Asamiya, who I had also relied on for 2202.” Meanwhile, Director Naomichi Yamato, who joined the series from 2205, said that he didn’t have a direct relationship with Asamiya at the time, but said that when he saw the visuals that Asamiya came up with, “I always thought they were really amazing.”
And for REBEL 3199, he is involved in the framework of the series, such as storyboards, image drawings, and teaser visuals. On the screen, a succession of valuable image drawings were projected, including teaser visuals from the first to the third chapter, Yamato in the Icarus Observatory, Grodez closing in on Yamato, and a Cosmo Tiger shooting down a multi-legged tank, all of which were being seen by an audience for the first time.
In addition, storyboards from Chapter 3 were also shown, including a Cosmo Tiger being chased by the new Dezariam fighter Arktia, Mobile Armor breaking into somewhere, and Grand Reverse being attacked by something. Director Fukui raised expectations by saying, “The battles are also full of twists and turns.” The audience listened to their talk with great interest.
Finally, Hideki Oka said, “We received many questions today, but we could only address two of them. I’m sorry we didn’t have time to read everything we wanted to. Do you want to do a second round [at another time]?” His suggestion was met with loud applause from the audience. Asamiya also responded, ‘See you again after I get more work,’ and there were high hopes for a second talk show appearance.
