Why "MOSPIDA" now?　Director and mecha designer Shinji Aramaki talks about the romance of 80's mecha! Animation Industry Watching No. 69

At the end of July 2020, Tatsunoko Productions announced a new project "GENESIS BREAKER" for "Kikkou Souseiki Mospida," which may have surprised many people. MSPIDA" was first broadcast on TV in October 1983, a total of 37 years ago. During that time, no new video works were produced, but many newly designed toy products were created and welcomed by fans.
The program featured the variable fighter "Legios" and the motorcycle-turned-power-suit "Mospeeda" in action at the same time, but how did the project begin and what is the secret of its long-lasting popularity?　We interviewed Mr. Shinji Aramaki, who played a central role in "Mospeeda" as a mechanical designer at the time.

Was it a police action movie at first?　The initial plan of MOSPIDA

─ I heard that "Kikou Souseiki Mospida" was your debut work?

ARAMAKI: This was my debut work as an animation mecha designer. Before that, I worked as a freelance designer, designing "New Microman" for Takara (at the time). However, I moved to Tokyo in June of 1982, around the same time I started designing Mikroman.
Then, in November of that year, I was involved in the "Mospida" project. In the summer of that year, "The Super Dimension Fortress Macross" was announced for broadcast in the fall, and there was a lot of talk about it. At that time, I became acquainted with Mr. Toshimitsu Suzuki of Artmik, and we suddenly discussed the idea of an anime project with a transforming fighter plane. Mr. Suzuki's idea was to combine the Legios with a bomber that transforms into a larger robot behind it, giving it a silhouette similar to a large delta-winged aircraft, but I still could not get over the feeling that it was, for all intents and purposes, a second-generation Valkyrie.
Around that time, I asked Mr. Suzuki for a completely different idea, "How about a near-future police action anime featuring a power suit that transforms into a motorcycle? I showed him the prototype design of the Mospida, and he said, "Well, let's have it appear in the same project. I thought that a motorcycle would make a good police action film like "Technopolis 21C" (1982) (in which Art Mick was also involved).


─ ─ In the initial design of the Mospeeda, the word "Police" is written on the body, isn't it? Did you envision an urban war like in "Bubblegum Crisis" (1987)?

Aramaki: Yes, I wanted to create a story in which police on motorcycles wear power suits and fight robots or catch bad guys. To begin with, I felt it was strange to have a motorcycle transforming into a Mospeeder and a variable fighter together. I said something like, "If you're going to ride a fighter, why bother with a motorcycle on the ground?" But Mr. Suzuki pushed me away, saying, "We have to decide on the content of the project already" (laughs).
At the time, I was helping with the design of the Micro-Change series and other products in the "New Microman" series, and I felt the depth of transformable mecha, and I liked the idea of a powered suit. So I thought, "What if a motorcycle became a power suit?

─ ─ Didn't Studio Nue draw a power suit as an illustration for the paperback book "Space Warrior" (1977)? You didn't go in that kind of heavy-handed direction, did you?

Aramaki: Of course, I like the power suits of Mr. Miyatake (Kazutaka) and Mr. Kato (Naoyuki). Or rather, that is my starting point. But for the Mospeeda, I wanted it to be nimble in both movement and design, in keeping with the image of a motorcycle. The "space warrior" direction was later done in "Metalskin Panic MADOX-01" (1987; Mr. Aramaki was director/mecha designer) (laughs).


─ ─ So you were aware of Studio Nue, weren't you?

Aramaki: Not only was I aware of them, but I have always respected them as "great people. The same Takara department that I was working for on Mikroman was also developing Diaclone, and I was shown the original design drawings by Kawamori (Shoji) and Miyatake of Nue. In a different way, I thank him every time I meet him, saying, "Thanks to Mr. Kawamori, I am what I am today" (laughs). (Laughs) The reason for this is that Kawamori-san designed the main mecha when he was in his early 20s, made it a big hit, and then went on to become a director. The way he built his career has become a role model for me. When I moved to Tokyo, I thought, "If I work hard for 10 years, I might be able to design a main mecha. I was given the job in the same year I moved to Tokyo. This was because Mr. Kawamori had designed Valkyrie and directed the film version of Macross, both of which were successful, and there was a definite trend in the animation industry at that time to "give young people a chance.

─ ─ In 1983, when "Mospeeda" was broadcast, there were a great number of robot animations produced, weren't there?

Aramaki: "Mobile Suit Gundam" was broadcast in 1979, wasn't it? It must have been around 1983 that those of us born in the 1960s, who saw "Gundam" and yearned to create this kind of animation, began to work in the industry. When I look around me, I see many animators, directors, and designers of the same generation, and I have the impression that many of them are still working hard in the industry.