From Characters to Mechanics: Designer Akira Yasuda's Past and Future [Watching the Animation Industry No. 61

Director Yoshiyuki Tomino's latest film "G Reconguista I" "Go! Core Fighter" was released last month, with additional screenings scheduled for January 2020. The film was also well-received for the "eyes" on the main character robot, G-Self, which were designed by Akira Yasuda.
Yasuda's first job in the animation industry was as a character designer for "Tribe Gundam" (1999). Since then, he has continued to work as a designer for both characters and mechanisms in such films as "Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion" (2006) and "Moretsu Space Pirates" (2012).
However, it seems that his path to establishing himself in the animation industry was not a smooth one.

If you are motivated, you can do anything, but if you are not motivated, you have nothing.

─ Yasuda-san, you are known for your character designs for "Holy Gundam"; were you a fan of "Mobile Suit Gundam," which was broadcast in 1979?

Yasuda: I think of myself as a person who is driven by "Gundam. I was so moved by the final episode of "Invincible Superhero Zambot 3" (1977) that I quit the series halfway through, but the final episode of "Invincible Steel Man Daiturn 3" (1978) moved me so much that I watched "Gundam" when I was 15. I was in the art club at the time, and there was a local stationery shop called Sato Paper Store, where I saw a woman dressed as Amuro. She was dressed as Amuro, and she was walking in the crosswalk like a normal person. I had never heard of cosplay culture, so I was shocked that such a world existed, and I asked everyone to cosplay as "Gundam" at the high school festival. The results were not good, but I made Dom, Zugok, and the uniforms of the federal army.
I probably should have gone on to an art college or something, but I just didn't have the strength to continue drawing art-like pictures. I was more interested in animated cartoons such as "Captain Future" (1978) and robots, so I decided to go to a vocational school. I thought that if I went to Tokyo, I might be able to get by, so I moved to Tokyo from Hokkaido. But since I was attending a vocational school as a newspaper scholarship student, I was so busy that I had no time to draw pictures. I didn't have any money, and I hated the flirtatious culture of the Onyanko Club and the "Nenton Kohkeidan" (laughs).

─ ─ But you were able to join Capcom, weren't you?

Yasuda: I was hired by an unusual person, Mr. Kichioki Okamoto, a former Capcom employee, probably because of the interesting atmosphere. Because there were many eccentric bosses and unique members, it was a place where people with straight common sense would drop out, and it was a place where it was better to drop out. My boss was always pranking me like a child in a public place, so normal people would get tired of it and quit right away.

───When you were at Capcom, were you a designer?

Yasuda: I was a dotter. I wanted to be a dotter as well as a planner, so when my boss went to the bathroom, I went in there with him and asked to be a planner. It was such a lax era that my request was accepted.

─ You were in charge of character design for "Street Fighter II" (1991). From there it was 8 years until "Tribe Gundam".

Yasuda: I joined Capcom when I was 21, and around the age of 26, I worked on "Street Fighter II" with my colleagues as the main designer. Since "Strike II" was a project that I had started on my own, and since it had gained a reputation, the company asked me to divide the members of the "Strike II" team into several teams and create a game like "Strike II," so that each team would be responsible for filling in the missing parts. As a result, I lost my own team. I am in a position where I can do anything if I am motivated, but if I am not, I don't have to do anything. I am more of a chief inspector than a manager. If everyone else improves, I won't be needed anymore. I originally joined Capcom because I wanted to paint, but it became obvious that I would not be painting in the future. I started getting a full salary, so I guess I could live an interesting life, but the situation became completely uninteresting.
While I was rotting away at that, I was approached by Director Yoshiyuki Tomino. At the time, after "Mobile Suit V Gundam" (1993), Director Tomino had been writing a strange column in a rock band magazine for about three years without doing any animation work, and I thought he was very sick (laughs).