Long Interview with Art Director, Yoshimi Unno! (The "inside man" of anime and games No.36)

In this 36th installment of the series, writer crepuscular talks with Yoshimi Unno, Art Director and Director of Production Eye Inc. Unno-san's beautiful natural scenery in "Yuru Can△" is still fresh in our memories. He has been a major figure in the history of anime since the 1990s with "Space Knight Tekkaman Blade" and "Blue Seed," and in the 2000s with the ".hack" series and "Ghoul Rei - Zero". -In the 2000s, with the ".hack" series and "Ghouls: Zero", the city has created famous stages that will remain in the history of anime. In recent years, in addition to "YURU CAN-△," he has made his presence felt in "Saint Seiya Golden Soul of gold," "Zegapain ADP," and "Wake Up, Girls! It may seem surprising, but "soul of gold" is Mr. Umino's first "Saint Seiya" series. In this exclusive interview, Mr. Unno talks at length about his career and creative theories. (Editor's note: For more information on "Yuru Can△," please also read the special interview with director Yoshiaki Kyogoku.)

Art director who draws both settings and BG

First of all, I would like to thank Mr. Unno for taking the time to speak with us today. First of all, could you tell us what you think is attractive about anime art?

Yoshimi Unno (Yoshimi Unno ): I think it's very interesting to see how my drawings are expressed with a million times more power than I ever thought possible, when the celluloid and music are superimposed on them, or when the cinematographer comes in and adds different elements to them.

I think it is very interesting to feel the power of the film being expressed in a way that is a million times more powerful than you would expect.

Unno: We do that because it is necessary for the production, and when I watch it on TV, I often think, "Oh, so this is how it turned out. It's fun because I often think, "This is beautiful.

─ It seems that in many of the productions in which you participate as art director, the position of "art setting" is not assigned. Is there a reason for this?

Unno: It has always been that way at Production Eye. The art director creates the settings, draws the boards, and draws the BG (background in the film). These days there is a lot of sharing of work, but in the past, the art director used to draw everything.

In the past, the art director would draw everything, but in the past, the art director would draw everything.

Unno: I also drew the settings for "Heyagemono". When I was busy, Junko Nagasawa, the art setter at Aipro, helped me a lot. I think it was like that: whoever had more free time was the one who drew the settings.

Unno: I heard that the art setting is generally different from an architect's blueprints or an interior coordinator's drawings, and that the layout and decoration of the rooms are created according to the scenario and production plan.

Unno: Basically, it is based on the original story, but I imagine the character's personality and lifestyle, and think "this is the kind of room I would like" as I create.

In "Ben To" (2011), the concept was to fight for a half-price lunch box in a supermarket, and the camera rotated during the battle. Was there any special way to create the supermarket setting?

Unno: To make it easy for a large group of people to fight, we made the bento sales area quite spacious. Also, director Shin Itagaki was particular about this. He asked us to decide at the beginning what sales area is here and what sales area is there, and to make sure that we know what we can see from here.

Unno: At the beginning of the opening scene, the camera moves along the aisles made of product shelves toward the half-price box lunches.

Unno: I think we provided the product shelves and accessories as materials, but it was David Productions who put them together and created the images. The animation producer, Hisataka Kasama, knew the supermarket very well.

Boundary between props and art settings

How do you design the props?　In live-action, the art director seems to be in charge of props as well, but in Japanese animation, animators often draw them as "props.

Unno: We draw things like beds, room lights, and desks as part of the art setting. In the past, however, various things were not so well classified, so "persimmon seeds" for snacks and "bicycles" for the characters to ride were sometimes used as art settings (laughs). (Laughs.) Now, we leave the things that the characters carry to the prop people. The props make things like the tents and cooking utensils in "YuruCan△.

Unno: I heard that foreign art directors, especially those who are called "production designers," sometimes create the worldview of the work based on the director's intentions, and even make adjustments to the cut and direction.

Unno: Art directors in other countries are often deeply involved in the overall production, but in our case, the basic approach is to have the director see what we have created in response to the order. As for the worldview, the director talks with the original creator many times to finalize and refine the work. I work on the basis of that.

What works have influenced you?

Unno: The works that influenced me, or rather the ones that made me fall in love with animation, were "Donegai Toad" (1972-74) and "Heidi, Girl of the Alps" (1974). The stories and backgrounds were so good that I have those two works in my mind for a long time. I rushed home from school to watch reruns of "Donegai Toad" over and over again. I also loved "My Neighbor Totoro" (1988), and was very much influenced by the way the sunset scenery was expressed.

How about live-action films?

Unno: I used to watch Akira Kurosawa's films a lot. I learned a lot from "Seven Samurai," and I watched "Tsubaki Sanjuro" and "Spider's Web Castle" many times.

Strength in depicting nature

Unno: Are there any backgrounds or genres that you are good at?

Unno: "I want to paint BG of nature! I always think, "I want to draw BG of nature! I really enjoy drawing things like trees. When I receive a storyboard and think about who to entrust the in-house backgrounds to, I sometimes draw the nature parts to myself and leave the indoors and the buildings to others (laughs).

(Laughs) - So you paint your own pictures, even when you are the art director? If you love nature, you must have really enjoyed "Yuru Can△" from the bottom of your heart, right?

Unno: Yes, it was. I really enjoyed drawing the autumn leaves at Lake Shiorren. Director Yoshiaki Kyogoku asked me to "bring the peak of the autumn leaves at Shiorirenko," so the leaves before that were not as beautiful as they could be. I was also impressed by the area by Lake Motosu because there was an interesting process of drawing an autumn scene full of soot at the beginning of episode 1, and then drawing a spring scene with lush greenery at the same location at the end of episode 12.

In "YuruCan△," there were several scenes that had a slightly different background from the original story.

Unno: The original author, Mr. Afuro, went on location three separate times, so the seasons changed depending on the photographic materials he used. Therefore, the areas with foliage in the original story had to be consistent with the seasons in the anime.

Unno: There are many different designs for the buildings, are there any buildings that you enjoy drawing?

Unno: Among buildings, I like old Japanese buildings the best.

Unno: Historical buildings have many fans, so I guess I have to pay attention to them.

Unno: When I worked on "Heyagemono," I had a historical archaeologist who gave me a lot of "precautions.

Unno: In episode 15, there is a scene in which the 3D model of the Waitan rotates.

Unno: We created the exterior settings, but we did not make the 3D model.