Anime Industry Watching No. 11: Learn from veteran mecha designer Hiroyuki Okawa, a behind-the-scenes force behind the anime scene who "designs the meals of the pilots who ride the Gundams, not the Gundams!

The job of a mecha designer is often thought of as designing flashy robots and huge battleships ....... However, Hiroyuki Okawa, who started working for an animation company in the 1980s, worked for a toy planning company, and is still active in the animation industry, calls himself a "mecha designer," but he is also a "jack-of-all-trades," performing a variety of jobs, including action scene composition and directing. He has been involved in countless works.

He says, "I love to draw pictures," and he is driven by an insatiable appetite for his work history. His rich and powerful way of life will surely inspire you!

--You have a background as an animator, but did you always want to be an animator?

Ohkawa: No, I just vaguely thought "I wonder if I could make a living drawing pictures ....... When I was in high school, there was a manga and anime lovers' circle outside of school, and the president of a local bookstore opened up the top floor of his building to us. It was just an amateur circle so that we could draw manga in a relaxed atmosphere (laughs). There were people in that circle who wanted to be professionals, such as Beniyu, who became an animation director. There were people like that, so I came to Tokyo thinking, "If I work hard, I can make a living in animation," which was not a good idea. I jumped in and went around to studios, and Shaft hired me as an animation man. It was right around the time "Mobile Suit Z Gundam" started (1985).

--So you were in charge of animation at Shaft?

Ohkawa: Yes. But I was transferred to Gyaroppu rather early on. While I was at Gyaroppu, a manga artist friend of mine saw a job ad for Rayup (a toy planning company) in "B-CLUB" magazine, and I joined Rayup. At the time I was thinking "I want to be a mecha designer," but I was having a hard time figuring out how to do mecha design. At that time, Koichi Chiaki, who is now a director, was participating in "Vinous Senki" as a director, and he called me and asked me to help him because he was having a hard time. In my mind, Kunio Okawara and Yoshikazu Yasuhiko were like gods, so just being able to help Mr. Yasuhiko at his site was like a dream come true. I thought, "Now I can quit animation with no regrets" (laughs). I joined Rayup and did everything from toy design, mainly for SD Gundam, to sketches for Bandai's female toy projects, etc. I was there for about 12 to 13 years.

--I was there for about 12 to 13 years, but you wanted to be a mecha designer, didn't you?

Ohkawa: I mainly liked mecha, but I also loved drawing characters and monsters. At the time, I was in charge of a game project for Bandai as a layup, and I got involved as a mecha designer. Then I was assigned to do monsters as well, and I was also given the responsibility of character design, as well as some of the maps and art settings. I guess they probably didn't have enough people. After all that, Kazuhiko Torishima, the editor-in-chief of "V Jump" magazine, asked me to draw one color illustration of this game every month. ......

--Did you have any mentors or teachers?

Ohkawa: No, I was mostly self-taught. For example, ...... (and I take out a thick file), this color illustration from a long time ago was the first time I painted on a Mac. But I didn't know about pen tablets at the time, so I painted with a mouse. This is a rough sketch for a Gundam game that was published by Pampresto. It was made at a time when the game was not yet in 3D, but rather in dots. I came up with the details of the mobile suits in my own way.

--Isn't this "Card Captor Sakura"?

--(Looking at the file) There is everything from mobile suits to beautiful girls.

Ohkawa: This is a reference drawing of a pose for a prize figure. I come up with many projects, such as turning the capsule itself into a "Gundam" diorama. People think that my first Gundam-related project was the cockpit design for "Mobile Suit Gundam Seed" (2002), but my first involvement was "Mobile New Century Gundam X" (1996). The person in charge told me, "This Gundam won't work without a controller," and "I want to make the controller into a product," so I designed it.

--So you designed the Gundam X controller for a toy?

Ohkawa: That's right. I think it was drawn as a setting for the anime based on the three-dimensional drawing I had done, with fewer lines. However, I did not specialize only in mecha. During my lay-up period, I also designed educational toys and planned picture books.

--What do you refer to when designing educational toys?

Ohkawa: I looked at books for children at bookstores, visited toy stores, and went to childcare workshops.