Hobby Industry Inside vol.11: From Chogokin to Shokugan, half a century dedicated to toys!　Interview with Tsuyoshi Nonaka, Toy Designer!

When you hear the term "toy designer," what kind of occupation comes to mind?　In 1997, Mr. Tsuyoshi Nonaka planned and developed "Soul of Chogokin Mazinger Z" (Bandai), the first alloy toy for adults in history to become a big hit.

About 20 years have passed since "Soul of Chogokin" became a hit. Nonaka left Bandai to work as a freelance toy designer, designing a wide range of toys, from toys for eating toys to plastic models. He talks about his rich experience as a toy designer, from failures to successes.

Childhood with Character Toys

───What kind of child were you when you were a child?

Nonaka: I turned 50 this year, the same age as Ultraman. I grew up with character goods such as "Ultraman," "Masked Rider," "Mazinger Z," "Space Battleship Yamato," "Mobile Suit Gundam," etc. My childhood was a period of development for TV characters. Stationery, plastic models, alloy toys, I have been exposed to them without interruption.

─ So you wanted to work in the character goods business?

Nonaka Yes, in the 1980s, there was an issue of an anime magazine called "Animec" that featured a special issue on mecha designers. The cover was an illustration by Naoyuki Kato, and there were interviews with Yutaka Izubuchi, Kazutaka Miyatake, and others. In the special issue, there was also an article on Katsuji Murakami (an industrial designer who developed Chogokin), and my longtime mystery was solved. The originality of the miniature models, stuffed animals, and designs in Toei's hero special effects programs. Furthermore, why does "Ultraman 80" have the same aroma? When I was thinking about it at ......, I realized, "Oh, it's because this Mr. Murakami designs robots and mecha.

I was in high school, but at the time, commercials for Popy toys such as the "DX Chogokin God Sigma" were very powerful, and I had the impression that they surpassed the main animation, so I thought, "It would be most wonderful to design toys that are linked to TV programs, like Mr. Murakami does. I thought that it would be the most wonderful thing to design toys linked to TV programs like you did.

─ That's how you ended up at Bandai, wasn't it?

Nonaka After graduating from an art school, I applied to only two companies, Bandai and Takara. Bandai and Takara. I was lucky enough to get into Bandai, but before I joined the company, I was made to do "assistant work" in a department store. In short, I had to do a demonstration in the toy department. Like a street performer, I would put transforming toys in front of the children and say, "Look, there are five miniature cars, right? "Watch, they're going to merge into a robot!" And then, "Watch, they'll merge into a robot! I really enjoyed that "helping out" experience at Christmas before I joined the company. That's why I was happy to work in sales, but after I joined the company, I was assigned to the first department of the "Toy and Model Division" (at that time), which planned and developed toys for boys.

─ So you designed the robots that appeared in the Super Sentai series at Bandai?

Nonaka Of course, I couldn't suddenly get such an important position. However, I was able to draw illustrations of robots standing tall and heroes kicking coolly, so I was valued within the company.

─ What was the first product you worked on?

Nonaka: The first product I worked on was "Tousho! (1988), for which I also made figures and toys that you could play with as yourself. Until then, I had learned a lot from my seniors, and I thought I had a good understanding of the workflow, but when it came time to work on a product myself, I didn't understand it at all. I had to learn from my seniors how to make a single package or product specification, but doing it on my own was completely different. I have bitter memories of causing a lot of trouble to those around me.