Published in July 1980: In this candid and wide-ranging conversation, Nishizaki comments on the social impact of Yamato, nationalistic themes, the rise of overzealous fans, the ideology of Ghandi, and much more.
Producer’s Production Memoir
Executive producer Yoshinobu Nishizaki’s definitive essay on Be Forever Yamato‘s creation and production, from the Office Academy deluxe book, November 1980.
Chief director Ishiguro co-wrote an account of his life as an animator titled TV Anime Battlefront, published in July 1980. This is the Yamato chapter from his book, which includes gossip and stories found nowhere else.
This interview was conducted at Anime Weekend Atlanta in the fall of 2007 with Mr. Ishiguro attending as Guest of Honor. He participated in a panel entirely devoted to Yamato hosted by this website’s editor-in-chief, Tim Eldred.
In 1981, the new magazine My Anime included autobiographical essays. Nishizaki was the first to take up the invitation, and he wrote a very personal account of his early struggles in the anime business. It’s a great snapshot in time and an unusually candid self-expose that can’t help but inspire.
A complete reproduction of an illustrated version of Yamato, written by Keisuke Fujikawa and drawn by Leiji Matsumoto during the production of the first TV series. Serialized over six issues of a monthly children’s magazine, it retold a highly-condensed version of the story in just 29 pages and was never seen again.
“Tama” achieved international recognition with his phenomenal concept art, which updated Yamato for modern tastes without losing any of the original magic. To no one’s surprise, his work as a fan earned him the post of mecha designer on Yamato 2199. This interview was conducted in December 2011 and January 2012.
As 2199 first began to unfold in 2012, Mr. Tamamori found himself in high demand for media interviews, and earned the rare distinction of appearing simultaneously in the July 2012 issues of Hobby Japan and Dengeki Hobby magazines. Read both interviews and see extensive mecha design art here.
Published March 2013, this magazine included a 12-page article on Yamato 2199 that reviews the basics of the story and includes an interview with mecha designer Junichiro Tamamori.
In October 2011, composer Akira Miyagawa was interviewed by Sean Robbins, producer and host of The J-Pop Exchange website. Sean graciously offered us the entire text of that interview for reprint here. So without further ado, we bring you the words of a musician named Miyagawa who is thankfully still among the living.
From the 2199 Chapter 4 program book. Composer Akira Miyagawa talks about growing up in the shadow of his famous father as a fan of Yamato, the beginning of his own musical career, and the requirements of reviving the original score for a new era.
An entire generation of Japanese artists and writers grew up on Yamato, and some daydreamed of one day remaking their favorite story for a new audience. One of those few who actually got to do it was Producer Hisaya Yabusaki, who oversaw the production of all the Yamato games for Sony Playstation.
As the parent company of the Yamato Playstation games, Bandai published this round-table discussion with five key members of the production staff, all of whom were on board for the entire Playstation lineup.
As a charter member of Studio Nue, Kazutaka Miyatake was one of just three artists who designed Yamato herself inside and out. When the time came to adapt the mecha into the Playstation environment, there was no one more qualified than Miyatake to do the job. He discusses his entire body of work here.
Keisuke Masunaga redefined the Leiji Matsumoto style for a new generation through various anime projects in the 1990s. This put him in an ideal position to bring the same magic to the Yamato Playstation games, as he describes in these highlights from a May, 2000 interview.
Cosmo DNA is dedicated to learning about how the saga developed and the effect it had on anime in the years that followed. That’s also the topic of this essay by producer Yoshinobu Nishizaki. It was originally published in 1983 when Yamato was just shy of 10 years old, but time has done nothing to dull its message.
Final Yamato was met with more media coverage than any of its predecessors. Ever the marketeer, Producer Yoshinobu Nishizaki put as much energy into publicity as he did into the film itself. His devotion to both should be evident in this 1983 essay, originally published in the Final Yamato Roman Album.
At the beginning of 2008, Exec Producer Yoshinobu Nishizaki had re-entered public life and Bandai Visual was preparing a remastered DVD box and model kit spearheaded by lifetime fan Hideaki Anno. Things lined up perfectly for Anno and Nishizaki to appear together. They conducted two interviews that are presented here.
