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.
Why would the December 1979 issue of Gallantmen come up on a Space Battleship Yamato website? Because it profiled Yoshinobu Nishizaki in a regular feature that examined the lifestyles of Japan’s rich and famous alpha males. As the richest and most successful producer of anime films, he definitely fit the bill.
With the explosive success of the Yamato movie in 1977, anime creators themselves emerged from the shadows to become full-fledged celebrities. Here we present two such examples from magazines published during the heyday, which put the spotlight on both Leiji Matsumoto and Yoshinobu Nishizaki.
To mark the ten-year anniversary of Yamato Resurrection, we present interviews with three of the most important members of the animation staff: Director Yoshinobu Nishizaki, Character Animation Director Tomonori Kogawa, and Mechanic Director Nobuyoshi Habara.
This interview catches Nishizaki at the early production stage of Yamato 2520 and Resurrection. He communicates the excitement of being on the verge of something new in a way that reminds everyone what made him a pioneer in the first place.
What happened when a ‘zine publisher found her way into the inner circle back in August 1977? Something that could never happen again – completely candid interviews with Yoshinobu Nishizaki and the main voice actors on the eve of super-stardom. That makes this issue of Yamato one for the history books.
Yoshinobu Nishizaki, Executive Producer and Creator of Space Battleship Yamato, died on November 7, 2010, by accidental drowning. The best that can be said about it was that, like the man himself, it was extremely unusual. Find out more about his remarkable life and read the final message from the producer here.
The second known published essay by Nishizaki, from just before the release of the 1977 feature film in which he makes his first statements about what he would like to do with a sequel.
The earliest known published essay by Nishizaki in the summer of 1977, in which he discusses the making of Series 1, shares his regrets about the premature cancellation, and makes first mention of the forthcoming feature film.
Kinejun is one of the longest-running entertainment magazines in Japan. Concerned as much with the business side of movies as the entertainment, its editors were always on the lookout for a good story, and when the Yamato movie thundered in seemingly from nowhere in August 1977, they knew they had found one.
When Yamato first rippled across mainstream pop culture in 1977, it caught the attention of editors across a broad spectrum of publications. In this case, it was literary magazine Weekly Bunshun, which makes this interview with exec producer Yoshinobu Nishizaki a unique piece of the Yamato puzzle.
An essay written by Yoshinobu Nishizaki in 1977, discussing the earliest phases of pre-production, from the first hint of the idea through the rigors of world-building and the arrival of Leiji Matsumoto. Nishizaki’s words provide an invaluable personal record of this remarkable period in anime history.
From Yamato Fan Club Magazine #1 (February, 1978). In a unique Q&A column Nishizaki gives career and personal advice to inquisitive Yamato fans and writes a wistful story of first love.
A spinoff of the pivotal OUT magazine, Rendezvous Comic was a bi-monthly manga anthology that launched in the spring of ’78. The third issue was released in July and contained a thoughtful essay by Yoshinobu Nishizaki about the making of Farewell to Yamato.
From Kinejun magazine #740, (August 1978) the first mainstream magazine to devote its cover story to an anime film. Yoshinobu Nishizaki was interviewed at length, discussing aspects of the Yamato success story that hadn’t been reported before.
This was the last of Yoshinobu Nishizaki’s essays on Farewell to Yamato, published in the Office Academy hardcover book on the film, published in 1979.
“In the years since 1974, I have put my entire life as a producer into Space Battleship Yamato. These days, I think my whole life was leading up to the creation of this drama.” In this 1980 essay, Yoshinobu Nishizaki explains his thought process behind the making of this turning point in the saga of a lifetime.
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.
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.
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.
