A long interview with animator Norie Tanaka! (The 12th "Inside Man" of Anime and Games)

This series brings you the real voices of creators. In this 12th installment, we introduce animator Kie Tanaka. Ms. Tanaka participated in "Cardboard Senki Wars," "Absolute Duo," and "Bless This Wonderful World! He has been the chief animation director and character designer for "Hand Red," and is attracting attention from within and outside the industry as a talented young animator. In this interview, we asked him about his influences, his career, his commitment to his work, the qualities and abilities required of an animator, and his future goals.

Getting to know animators through "Fullmetal Alchemist

Thank you very much for your time today. Could you tell us about the works that have influenced you, Mr. Tanaka?

Kie Tanaka (Tanaka): When I was a child, I really liked "Candidate for Goddess of Mercy" (2000), which was on BS2 Satellite Animation Theater. At that time, I did not yet know what an animator does, but I was influenced by it at the time. I also used to watch "Steel Angel Kurumi" (1999-2000), for which animator Yuriko Senba designed the characters, and I admired the design of this work, which was full of cute android girls.

The work that made me aware of the job of animator was "Fullmetal Alchemist" (2003-04), directed by Seiji Mizushima, which I saw when I was a student. When I first saw the original drawings in animation magazines, I was surprised to learn that the person who draws the pictures does not add color to them, and that there is a person who creates the basis for the pictures. There are many works that have influenced me since I became an animator, but the one that first struck me was "Fullmetal Alchemist.

-Who do you look up to?

Tanaka Someone I consider to be my "spiritual master" is Hiroyuki Nishimura, who designed the characters for "Danboard Senki Wars" (2013). This work was the first time I had the opportunity to participate in Nishimura's work as a chief animation director, and... wow, he is an amazing person!

I think the ideal animator image differs from person to person, but Nishimura-san is very close to my ideal image. He is very quick with his hands and makes a great amount of corrections!　He can draw anything, and yet he has personality and movement. I think he has a personality that anyone who works with him will love!

Good at drawing beautiful girls and children's drawings and emotional plays.

-Tanaka: What is your specialty or favorite drawing?

Tanaka: I enjoy working on works with girls and for children, as I have been doing them for a long time.

-I enjoy working on them because I've been working on works with girls and for children for a long time. Do you feel any resistance to such expressions?

Tanaka: Not at all, and I wish everyone would draw with more tension (laughs).

-I think it's hard to draw not only the faces but also the breasts and physiques of the girls in "Absolute Duo" (2015), "Hand Red" (2016), and "Bless This Wonderful World!

Tanaka In a work like this, breasts are part of the character's personality, so if the breasts of all the different characters were the same, in a sense, their individuality would be lost. Therefore, I would like to draw "girls with small breasts" and "girls with large breasts" in different ways.

-What else do you pay special attention to in your drawings?

Tanaka: The emotional expressions in the drawings. I like to draw them as if they are very angry or crying.

-How about action?

Tanaka I am still learning (laugh). When I say I can draw, those who can really draw get angry with me. However, I like action itself, so I would like to do it. Right now, I am mainly working as a production supervisor or supervising production supervisor, but I prefer to do original drawings.

Original picture in 3 months, animation director in 1 year, and chief animation director in 4 years.

-What is your career path? Did you always want to be an animator?

Tanaka: I didn't always have a strong desire to be an animator. At first, I vaguely thought, "It would be nice if I could draw pictures and make that my job. Later, I learned about the profession of animator and became interested in it, so I went to Yoyogi Animation Gakuin in Osaka and have been drawing animation pictures ever since.

-Why didn't you choose any other job?

Tanaka At the time, I thought being an animator was the coolest, so I didn't think about becoming a manga artist or an illustrator. I had the image that an illustrator is someone who can express a world view by drawing even the paint and background, and a cartoonist is someone who can think of a story to tell. But I wasn't really interested in that at the time, and it was a big shock to me to realize that if you draw a lot of pictures, the pictures move in a cool way.

-What was the first studio you entered?

Tanaka: I worked at Studio One Pack in Osaka for about three years, then moved to Tokyo and joined C2C.

-What kind of work did you do when you were in Osaka?

Tanaka: About three months after I started working in animation, I was asked to do the original drawings for "Inari-sama at Home" (2008). (2008). I think my first movie was "Chocolate Underground" (2008).

About a year later, I was asked to supervise the production of "Omamori Himari" (2010). It wasn't me who said this, but from then on, people thought I must like drawing beautiful girls (laughs).

-Tanaka: You were able to start working as an original picture artist within three months of joining the company, isn't that fast?

Tanaka: After I had gained some experience in moving images, when the senior staff felt that I was ready, they would assign me to the original drawing position, and I was allowed to do so relatively quickly. There was a group system in which a senior member would watch over several junior members, and I was guided by the leader of that group. I was instructed by the leader of that group. But the first time I did original drawings, I didn't know what to do, and the leader of the group corrected almost all of the cuts and beat me to a pulp (laughs).

-(Laughs.) How long did you stay at C2C?

Tanaka: I worked on "Bakuman. (2011-12), "Magi" (2012-14), and "Cardboard Wars," and I worked there until 2015 as a production supervisor and supervising supervisor.

How was it like supervising production in a -gross environment?

Tanaka: It was different from the original contractor's site, and there were many difficulties. For example, it is difficult to understand the evaluation because you cannot see the director or the person with whom you are working on the character design, etc. I often feel uneasy and wonder if I am doing the right thing. When I visited the studio of the original contractor for rush check, the supervising director told me that he was looking forward to my corrections, which may have been a compliment, but at that time I was very happy.