Animation Industry Watching No. 26: Interview with Tomoyuki Uchikoga, a designer who impresses the image of animation works with his logo and packaging!

For fans, the most familiar and important anime goods are probably the soundtrack CDs, DVDs, Blu-ray discs, and other software. It is probably software such as soundtrack CDs, DVDs, and Blu-ray discs. Tomoyuki Uchikoga, president of Channel Productions, Inc., is a designer who has worked on many anime software package designs. Recently, he has been involved not only in title logos and packages, but also in the full-length animated films. We asked Uchikoga about the fun and difficulties of being involved in an anime production from an "outside" perspective.

From music CD jacket design to the world of animation

───How did you start working on DVDs and other packaging for anime?

Uchikoga: Originally, I was designing music CD jackets. Apart from my work, I have always loved anime and manga, and around the year 2000, there was an increase in tie-ups with regular artists singing anime theme songs. Then, "Uchikoga-kun, you liked anime, didn't you?" and I started getting requests to design limited edition anime jackets and soundtrack CDs. They wanted me to design a CD that was a little more artist-oriented in its approach, rather than the anime CDs I had been working on. ...... At that time, other people were designing the title logo and DVDs, and I was only in charge of the CD jackets. The producers of "Gurren Lagann" (2007) and "Okiku Furikabutte" (2007) called me at about the same time and asked for someone who would not work in a traditional anime-like context, so I decided to work on the DVD jackets for the first time. I was asked to do the DVD jacket for the first time. Until then, I think I was perceived as someone in the music field.

─ Did you study the basics at a design school?

Uchikoga Yes, I am from Aichi Prefecture and attended a design school in Nagoya. After graduation, I wanted to move to Tokyo to design CD jackets, but of course I had no connections. So, I released CDs of aspiring musicians I met after coming to Tokyo in a form similar to producing, and I also designed the jackets, initially for small general merchandise stores and bookstores. Little by little, I expanded the distribution and got them placed in Tower Records and TSUTAYA. Although I was the one who placed the order and did the work myself, I was able to establish a track record of "having designed CD jackets. If a band on my label plays with a band on the same label, the other band will be interested in the jacket and ask me to design it for them. Music and fashion magazines also featured my jackets and gave me interviews.

─ So you became well-known, didn't you?

Uchikoga Yes, and fortunately the CDs sold well. The person who commissioned me to do the CD jacket for "Mobile Suit Gundam Seed" was someone who bought my CDs when I was working for an independent label and came to my live performances. When I was working on "Gundam Seed," I went to Sunrise for the first time for a meeting. From that time on, I also drew rough sketches for ordering illustrations by myself.