Mr. Takao Yotsuji, the man behind the J9 series and Acrobunch...... International Film Corporation's robot animation, now reveals the behind-the-scenes story behind the unprecedented production! Animation Industry Watching Vol. 71

The robot anime "Makyou Densetsu Acrobanchi" (1982), produced by Kokusai Eigasha, was released on DVD-box for the first time in September 2020. The general director "Yoshinori Natsuki" is the pen name of Takao Yotsuji, who was the chief director and audio director of the J9 series starting with "Ginga Senpu Braiger" (1981). The stylish sense of music and witty dialogue in the J9 series are largely due to Mr. Yotsuji's skill.
We asked Mr. Yotsuji about the atmosphere at the production site of the J9 series, which was so free and creative that it would be unthinkable today.

BRIGHTER" started out as a "robot story with no mechanical parts!

─ ─ Mr. Yotsuji, "Science Adventure Squad Tancer 5" (1979) was your first film as a director, wasn't it? You also directed "Robot Boy Beaton" (1976) and participated in several Sunrise (formerly Soeisha) productions. ......

Yotsuji: I came from Mushi Productions. However, I did not join Mushi Productions to make animated films. I joined Mushi Productions because they were looking for talent to make commercials, both animated and live-action. My boss after I joined Mushi Productions was Mr. Kishimoto (Yoshikazu Kishimoto, later the first president of Sunrise). I took the liberty of borrowing Mr. Kishimoto's name for my pen name "Yoshinori Natsuki" for "Acrobunch.
The first job Mr. Kishimoto instructed me to do was to participate in a program called "Kyoizumi x Maetake Geba Geba Geba 90min! (1969), so go to NTV and write a gag. I wrote gags all the time among great people like Mad Amano-san. But I wanted to do live-action rather than animation, so I left Mushi Productions. Later, while I was doing live-action work, I received a phone call from Mr. Kishimoto, who had become president of Sunrise, saying, "You, tomorrow you will start work on "Raideen the Brave" (1975). I don't watch anime, so I went to him with a puzzled look on my face and said, "I've never heard of Raideen, nor have I ever eaten ......," and he introduced me to director Tadao Nagahama. I was introduced to director Tadao Nagahama, and under Nagahama's supervision, I was assigned to be in charge of literature and art for "Raideen.

─ ─ If you were working for Director Nagahama, does that mean you were in charge of the later "Raideen"?　The first season was directed by Yoshiyuki Tomino (Yoshiyuki at that time), right?

Yotsuji: That's right. When Mr. Tomino was the director, the person in charge of literature and art was Yu Yamamoto (who later wrote the original draft and scenario for the J9 series). We became good friends at that time, and we hit it off, saying, "Let's do something together eventually. At first, I decided to write the scenario for "Robot Boy Beaton" (1976). However, one of the directors fell ill, so Mr. Kishimoto told me, "You should take over as director. The animation director for "Beaton" was Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, who is known as "one genius in 100 years. I asked Yasuhiko-san, "How do you direct? He told me, "Yotsuji-san can direct," and I got a little carried away. From then on, the films I directed at Sunrise were basically robot films. Director Nagahama also asked me, "Would you like to direct a robot movie? I directed a couple of films ("Super Electromagnetic Machine Voltes V" in 1977), but robot films didn't suit me, so I ran away to work for other companies.

─ ─ "Science Adventure Tanther 5" was produced in 1979, the year after "Voltes V" ended, wasn't it?

Yotsuji: Yes, I received another call from Mr. Kishimoto asking me to be the CD (chief director) for "TANSAR 5. I was delighted and said, "If it's CD, I'd like to do it. I have a place in Kami-igusa ready for you. So, I started out by searching for staff on my own for "Tanser 5. First of all, I wanted to gather scenario writers, so I invited Hiroyuki Hoshiyama and Yuzi Watanabe, who were good friends of mine.

─ That's quite a splendid team of writers, isn't it?

Yotsuji: Yes, even at that time, it was a great lineup. However, since it was my first film as a director, I was over-zealous, and it didn't turn out the way I wanted it to. That is why I was disappointed when "Tancer 5" finished airing. When I arrived late for the launch, Mr. Kishimoto was furious with me. He said, "You know, it's at times like this that a director should stand up in front of the staff and say, "I did my best.　Indeed, that was true.

─ I heard that "TANSAR 5" was a great success and sold very well.

Yotsuji: Yes, we had "Tancer 5" screened in a movie theater at the Sunrise Festival a few years ago. I was touched when one of the audience members told me that his father had told him, "You can't watch other animations, but you can watch 'Tanser 5' only. ...... I wondered if that many people had seen it, and I heard that the average rating was over 20%. So it must have been a proper hit. ......, I realized later.


─ ─ Since "Tancer 5" was a hit, didn't you get a request for another mecha project?

Yotsuji: No. At the time, I thought I had failed on my own, so I stayed away from animation again. Through an acquaintance, I was invited to work on "Sucat" (1980), and I was asked, "The director is gone, so will you do it? I was asked to do it. The scenario was written by my senior, Tsunehisa Ito, and I decided to direct "Sucat. So, I wasn't good at mechatronics or anything like that, and I was escaping to animations that didn't have mechatronics in them.

─ But the year after "Sucat" was "Galactic Whirlwind Braiger" (1981).

Yotsuji: As I recall, Masaru Yamamoto asked me, "I'm going to start a new company, and I was wondering if you would like to direct robot movies. I was asked by Mr. Masaru Yamamoto, as I recall, "I'm going to start a new company. He said, "That's why I'm not good with mechanical things." "It doesn't have to have any mechanical things in it.　The music should be rock music," I thought of Western music, and the "BRIGHTER" project began.