Interview with Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, director of "Mobile Suit Gundam: The Island of Cruz Doan": "I want to emphasize the human drama of Gundam in a no-holds-barred way.

The movie "Mobile Suit Gundam: The Island of Cruz Doan" will be on the road nationwide on June 3, 2022 (Friday).

The TV animation "Mobile Suit Gundam: The Island of Cruz Doan," a milestone in Japanese robot animation and the origin of Gundam, was broadcast in 1979.

Mobile Suit Gundam" episode 15, "The Island of Cruz Doan". Known as a masterpiece among fans, this episode depicts the sorrows of war through the interaction between the main character Amuro Ray and Doan, a deserter from the rival Zeon army, and is still talked about to this day.

On the other hand, it was omitted from the later film trilogy, so in a sense, it is an episode "known only to those in the know.

This time, "The Island of Cruz Doan" is being made into a movie, which has been attracting a great deal of attention even before its release.

The film is directed by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, the character designer and animation director of the TV series "Mobile Suit Gundam" and the creator of the manga "Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin" ("THE ORIGIN"), which has sold over 10 million copies of its comics.

Akiba Research Institute interviewed Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, the director of the manga. He talked a lot about why he made a movie of this episode, his thoughts on the work, and the particulars of the production process.

The episode "The Island of Cruz Doan" has always stuck in my mind.

--How did you come to make a movie based on the 15th episode of the TV anime, "The Island of Cruculus Doan"?

Yasuhiko: The direct impetus came from a coincidence. I suddenly came across the manga "Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin MSD, The Island of Kukurus Doan" drawn by Junji Ono, and I thought, "Who am I to say no to something like this? (laughs). （When I asked (the editor-in-chief of "Gundam Ace") about it, he told me that he had been briefed on it beforehand and I had forgotten about it. ...... "I've been briefed on it," he said. I was like, "Oh, by the way.

But the reason I thought that was because the episode "The Island of Cruz Doan" had always stuck with me. So I thought this was the one and appealed directly to the president (of Sunrise) that I wanted to do it, and the rest went smoothly until today.

--Yasuhiko: I understand that you were not involved in episode 15 of the TV series due to scheduling and other reasons.

Yasuhiko: I only remember creating the characters. In "Mobile Suit Gundam," there are several episodes that have nothing to do with the main storyline. I had originally included some of them as a way to make up for the tight production schedule. The Island of Cruz Doan is one of them. I'm sorry to say this, but it was a "throwaway" project, so after I created the characters, I didn't even know who had created the film.

However, when I was drawing the characters, I naturally looked at the storyboards, and I kept thinking that it was a good story. When I started drawing the manga for "THE ORIGIN," I had a conversation with a manga artist and asked him, "This episode was excluded from 'THE ORIGIN' for this reason, but would you draw it in the manga? I was so busy that I never got around to doing it. I was so busy that this did not happen, but that is how much I was interested in it. Then there was the coincidence I mentioned earlier, and there was this! I was so busy that I didn't make it happen.

--Who is this famous person?

Yasuhiko: It is Natsuki Sumeragi. I think he is one of the five best manga artists in Japan.

--I see that is true. So, how did you develop the content of the original one episode into a movie?

Yasuhiko: We had to turn a 20-minute episode into a film in less than two hours. I jokingly say, "We watered it down, beat it, and stretched it to make a movie" (laughs). But I thought there was definitely enough content to make a film.

--The Island of Cruz Doan" was the talk of the town, not only for the themes it contained, but also for the way Zaku was sculpted and the way he fought. Did you hear about those things as well?

Yasuhiko: No, I only knew that there were people in the world who loved this episode for some reason. However, when we actually started production, we found that there were actually people who were particular about it among the staff, including Atsushi Tamura, the Chief Animation Director. After talking to these people, I later learned that this was the way they remembered it.

--I feel that the first "Mobile Suit Gundam" was originally a humanistic story, or a work of human drama that was grounded rather than about the New Type or weapons.

Yasuhiko When I think of "Gundam," I think only of the First Gundam ("Mobile Suit Gundam"). So when people call me a "First Gundam fundamentalist," I say yes. I don't know about the other series, but I somehow feel that they are becoming more and more conceptualized. As you say, First Gundam is basically a human drama. Like the OVA of "THE ORIGIN," there are many good human dramas in this series. It would be a shame if people didn't notice that, so I wanted to emphasize it in a no-holds-barred way.

When I heard Shunsuke Takeuchi's voice, I jumped at the chance to find someone like him!

--How did you season Doan and the other characters in the film?

Yasuhiko: Actually, I have not yet met Mr. Araki (Yoshihisa), who wrote the screenplay for the original story (at the time of the interview). But I haven't changed the framework of Mr. Araki's script, and the setting of Doan is basically the same. I didn't want to change the lines, so I used them as they were.

--Yasuhiko: Did you review the TV series when you made the movie?

Yasuhiko: It was only a 20-minute episode, but I didn't want to watch it, so I only saw the rush or the complete package of the TV series in the studio. I had no intention of reviewing it again this time, but when Mr. Tamura and others told me how particular they were about that scene, I felt I had to watch it, so I watched it just once (laughs). So, while I was drawing the characters myself, I even forgot how many children there were.

*Rush: To preview a visual film in order to check it. The stage before the first preview.

--I guess the number of children has increased a lot.

Yasuhiko: (In the TV series) I thought I had drawn more, but I was surprised to see only three (laughs).

--(laughs) - Shunsuke Takeuchi is the voice actor for Doan. What did you think of Takeuchi's voice?

Yasuhiko: My day job is a manga artist, and I am not a returning animator, so I have no knowledge of the current anime scene or voice actors. So when I heard Mr. Takeuchi's voice because he was young and had a nice voice, I jumped at the chance to hear someone like him. I am glad to have found someone good.

--He has a really nice voice. In a good way, it doesn't make you feel your age.

Yasuhiko He is so young. It's just a pity that we couldn't see the clash between the veteran actor Toru Furuya and Mr. Takeuchi's sashi acting, since it was recorded without him in Corona.

--By the way, I was surprised to hear that Doan was 19 years old in the TV series setting.

Yasuhiko: No matter how you look at Doan, he doesn't have the face of a teenager (laughs). At that time, there was a restriction that everyone after 20 was an old man, so I guess it was like, "If they ask you how old you are, you should be a teenager.

- So, what is the age range for this movie?

Yasuhiko: I'm in my thirties, in the prime of manhood; I'm thinking maybe 35-36 years old.

-I would be satisfied with that age. In terms of characters, you also have Lt. Slegger at this stage.

Yasuhiko Yes, that's right. If we follow the storyline of "THE ORIGIN," he will naturally appear (at this stage). Besides, Slegger is my favorite character, and I don't like the fact that the White Base team is made up of only young people. I want there to be adults. So, I want Slegger to be there, no matter what the current is. The voice actor (Tomofumi Ikezoe) was renewed for "THE ORIGIN," but it ended with almost no scenes, so I wanted to have his voice in a proper scene. I wanted to have a proper voice in the film.

--Bright was not only a cool character, but also had some comical scenes.

Yasuhiko: Bright was also a teenager at the time, but that was abandoned in the concept, so he was portrayed as a middle-manager.

I gave him a weapon because I knew he couldn't win with just a straight punch and a kick.

--I was very excited by the cool mobile suits and the power of the battle when I saw the footage. Were there any particular points that you were conscious of or focused on?

Yasuhiko: This time, all the mobile suits, including the Gundam (RX-78-02 Gundam), are CG. The OVA of "THE ORIGIN" is also CG, but strictly speaking, the animators did the first original drawings and the processing was done by CG. This time, we left it completely to the CG artists and let them see what they could do. I still have some anxiety and interest in what the viewers will think of it, but it was truly a first experience for me.

--How did you feel when you saw the finished product?

Yasuhiko: I thought it was interesting. I could check the animators' drawings, including time sheets, and give them instructions for corrections, but I had no idea how the CG would turn out. I didn't know how to give orders, so I basically just looked at the finished product and said, "I see. The other thing was what the discerning customers would think when they saw it.

--The Gundam and Doan's Zaku (MS-06F Doan's Zaku) are of course cool, but the mobile suits of Doan's former squadron, the Southern Cross Corps, are also cool. Was this also the director's idea?

Yasuhiko: I came up with the idea for the Southern Cross team; in the TV series, there is a regular standard Zaku (Zaku II) chasing after them. But I thought that would be boring, so I asked Mr. Okawara (Kunio Okawara, mechanical designer) to come up with a high-mobility type. However, it was difficult to get an image of the high-mobility type. Dom's movements (using hover) are fast and quite interesting, but if we did that, it would become Dom. ...... That's what I was struggling with.

--Yasuhiko: I asked Mr. Okawara, "How did you come up with the image of Dom?

Yasuhiko: I asked Mr. Okawara to make something like a "pre-Dom," a stage before Dom. How to actually move it was a matter of consultation with the director.

--Yasuhiko: What did you honestly think about the fact that Doan's Zaku was used in the TV series in physical combat, such as a fist bump?

Yasuhiko: I didn't actually know about this because I didn't review it properly. I only found out about it recently. When I told him that "Zaku (Doan Zaku) only has a heat hawk," he said, "No, it was originally a meat-and-blow fight, with a right fist thrust and a kick! Is that right?" (laughs). (Laughs.) But I knew I couldn't win with just a straight fist thrust and a kick, so I gave him the Heat Hawk and told him to allow me to do that.

In this episode, both Amuro and Doan are the main characters.

-When I turned my attention to Amuro, I was also impressed by the depiction of his relentlessness when fighting the enemy. Is that partly because it is a battle?

Yasuhiko: The reason why we showed no mercy was because we thought there must be a reason for not showing any mercy. If you don't have an opponent that you don't have to show mercy to, you can't get emotionally involved. I am from an older generation, so I told the staff, "This is a yakuza movie. I thought that the story would fit well with that kind of small, eerie atmosphere. I talked about this with the assistant director, Mr. Lim Ga-hee, and the director as well. I don't know if "yakuza film" is the right term.

--I see. So you depicted these aspects while keeping the cool mobile suits and dialogues from the TV series?

Yasuhiko: Yes, that's right. Amuro is the main character, but Doan is also the main character. I depicted who Doan is, what he is doing here, and why he is being chased. In that sense, both Amuro and Gundam are on the side. It's a big selling point that Gundam stands on the ground and fights after a long time, but we can't be too nebulous (in Amuro's fight) because we don't want Doan and Doan's Zaku to eat too much (laughs). (Laughs.) No matter how long the movie is, if it is long and drawn out, people won't be pleased.

--Lastly, please tell us again what you wanted to convey or depict in this film.

Yasuhiko: The episode "The Island of Cruz Doan" left a strong impression on me because of its "sociality. It depicts sociality in a very primitive way. First Gundam has an anti-war theme, so there are other episodes that have a strong nuance of that, but "The Island of Cruz Doan" is the most clearly depicted. He becomes a deserter and protects his children. And then there's also the no-holds-barred theme of Amuro making them lay down their weapons. I think that is also a heavy theme.

The position of abstaining from war, the position of wanting to protect the weak, or the weak who are at the mercy of politics and are very unhappy, the most important of which are children. So that is the bottom line of this story. This is exactly the problem I wanted to depict in "The Island of Cruz Doan," and the fact that children are still suffering in the world today is a bit painful.

--I hope that each person who watches this episode will feel that. By the way, are there any other episodes of "Mobile Suit Gundam" other than this one that you would like to visualize?

Yasuhiko: No, I don't have any more. This is the last one.

--You have done everything you can.

Yasuhiko That's right. In the OVA of "THE ORIGIN," I was allowed to work on a past episode that had not been filmed, and this time I was able to make something that had been stuck in the main story, and I happened to realize it like a sleeping child waking up.

- so I will enjoy the film with that in mind. Thank you very much!

(Reporting, writing, and photography by Kenichi Chiba)

Film Information

Roadshow: June 3 (Fri.) in Japan (Dolby Cinema/4D simultaneous release)

Distributor: Shochiku ODS Business Office

＜Main Staff

Planning/Production: Sunrise

Original Story: YATATE Hajime, TOMINO Yoshiyuki

Director : Yoshikazu Yasuhiko

Assistant Director : Im Gahi

Screenplay : Toshizo Nemoto

Character Design : Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, Atsushi Tamura, Tsukasa Kotobuki

Mechanical Design : Kunio Okawara, Hajime Katoki, Kimitoshi Yamane