A long interview with animator Manamu Amasaki! (The 8th "Inside Man" of Anime and Games)

In this series, we interview creators active on the front lines of the animation and game industry to find out more about their work styles and personalities. In this eighth installment, we interview animator Manamu Amasaki. He has participated in many famous works such as ".hack//Roots," "Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion," "Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom," "Suisei no Gargantia," "Monthly Girl Nozaki-kun," and "Dried Young Sister! He has participated in many famous works such as "Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom," "Gargantia," "Monthly Girl Nozaki-kun," and "Umaru-chan," and contributed to improving the overall quality of the drawings as the Chief Animation Director for "Unidentified in Progress," "Mikagura Gakuen Kumikyoku," "NEW GAME! Mr. Amasaki also worked on the design of "Nozaki-kun" and "Mikagura. In this interview, his first appearance in the media, he talks about his career to date, the works that have influenced him, his commitment to his work, the environment surrounding animators, the qualities and abilities required, his future goals, and much more.

A junior high school classmate's praise was the driving force behind his drawing.

Thank you very much for taking time out of your busy schedule to give us an interview at Akiba Research Institute. Could you tell us about some of the works that have influenced you?

Manamu TENZAKI: I am influenced by many works, but when I was a child, I loved "Kinnikuman" and watched it often. Kinnikuman" is easy for children to draw because the characters are symbolic. When I was in junior high school, "Saint Seiya" was all the rage, and it was popular around me to "make my own original holy robe," and I enjoyed drawing my own original holy robe as well. I was also enjoying drawing my own original holy garments. I think that may have been the foundation for me to draw pictures. I never liked taking classes, so it was more like doodling in my spare time rather than drawing. In the second year of junior high school, a friend of mine who was not very good at drawing told me, "If you like drawing so much, try drawing a girl. I tried it, and he praised me highly. I think that praise has been the driving force for me to continue drawing pictures.

Amasaki: You also have illustrations of the X-Men on your website, don't you?

AMAZAKI: About a year before Capcom released the game, when I was in technical school, a translated version of the comic was published. At the time, Japanese manga didn't have as complex a scenario as it does now, and there was a rather clear right and wrong, with a "bad guy is a bad guy" structure, but in American comics, both good guys and bad guys have all sorts of problems, and human relationships are complex. I thought that was amazing, and Jim Lee's artwork was wonderful, so I liked reading it. I thought it was cool because it was dynamic and subtle. I didn't go so far as to copy it at the time, but I did when I started working on it. When I was cleaning up the animation, there was an animator who was the supervising animator, who was clearly influenced by my work. At the time, American comics were not a major genre, so the animators around me were like, "I don't understand what the lines mean," but I immediately realized that I was influenced by the X-Men (laughs).

(laughs) - What about other things besides manga?

AMAZAKI: I like video games, and at the time I was playing "Chrono Trigger" a lot. In that game, there was a character from the primitive age named Eira, and her fellow humans would not fight the enemy, and even the elders would say, "You're strong. Eira would say, "You are strong, so you can fight," and run away! You fight so you can be strong! Eira retorts, "You're not alive. You are not alive, you are just not dead. That resonated with me, and after that, I began to think about my own work as well, "Don't give up because you can't do something, but if you can't do it, then you should be able to do it.

How about in animation?

AMASAKI: When I first entered the industry in 1997, Princess Mononoke was released. I joined a company called Studio Ad, which until I joined was mainly a finishing company, and they also did finishing work for Ghibli, and they did the finishing for "Princess Mononoke. I wasn't involved in it, but I was able to attend the first preview and the completion party, and since it was a film I saw when I first entered the industry, I referred to it as if it were my bible at the time. Whenever I was not sure how to sheet a movie, I would watch the "Mononoke" video and replay it frame by frame to determine the timesheet for reference. I also watched a behind-the-scenes program on NHK about "Mononoke," and I think I was influenced by Hayao Miyazaki's work ethic and attitude. Since I was still new to the industry and didn't know what was right or left, I took it all in stride.