20 Years after "Cowboy Bebop," Kimitoshi Yamane Talks about the Real Joy of Mechanical Design [Watching the Anime Industry No. 47

Japan Expo was held in Paris from July 5 to 8, 2018. Among the Japanese from various genres, including musicians and performers, the main staff of the anime "Cowboy Bebop," which celebrated its 20th anniversary, was invited to the event. Kimitoshi Yamane, the mechanical designer who designed the Bebop, Swordfish II, and other main mecha, was also interviewed by movie magazines and other media in Paris. Swordfish II, designed by Mr. Yamane, also appeared in the movie "Ready Player 1" and is very well known overseas. Why are "Bebop" mecha so popular overseas?　What ideas went into their creation?　We spoke with Mr. Yamane, who had just returned from France, at a hotel near Haneda Airport.

Artomic's phone number was printed on the art book.

─ What made you decide to become a mecha designer?

Yamane: The anime boom that began in the 1970s of course, but the first time I became aware of mecha as a stage set was when I saw the Tiger tank in the movie "Operation Strategy. It was very well made, and I was impressed that there are adults who care about such a made-up mecha. I used to draw pictures of "Space Battleship Yamato," but I liked to draw from my own angle rather than copying the anime pictures as they were. Looking back on it now, I think it may have been a good way to learn perspective.
I then mistakenly thought that I liked machines, and entered the mechanical engineering department of a technical high school. While I was forced to do drafting, I was bothered by the thought, "I want to do design, not drafting. ......

─ ─ You were from Shimane Prefecture, right?

Yamane Yes, the environment was so different from Tokyo, where Comiket is held regularly. After graduating from high school, I went to the Animation Department of Chiyoda Institute of Technology and Arts in Ueno, Tokyo, in order to get more information. I couldn't cause trouble for my parents, so I worked while I was there. I felt like Conan, the future boy, leaving the island to find his friends (laughs).
But at the vocational school, there were jobs available for animators, but none for mechanical designers. When I was in trouble, one of my classmates had a "MegaZone 23" setting book, and I found a stamp printed on the setting drawing in the book. On the stamp was printed the name of Artmic, the company that had planned and designed "MegaZone," along with a phone number (laughs). It must have been a generous time.


─ So you saw that and called Artmic?

Yamane: I started visiting several times with the design drawings I had done myself. I started helping Mr. Shinji Aramaki and Mr. Hideki Kakinuma with mechanical design for their OVA works, and for "Casshern" (1993) and "GATCHAMAN" (1994), I was entrusted with the design alone. Then, Mr. Yutaka Izubuchi introduced me to Sunrise, saying, "You are an interesting person, Yamane-kun," and I joined Sunrise for "Mobile Budden G Gundam" (1994). Masahiko Minami, who produced "G Gundam" (now president of BONES), invited me to work on "Escaflowne in the Sky" (1996), and that was the beginning of my transforming robot hell with Shoji Kawamori.