The light tempo of the film, which is a direct descendant of Kihachi Okamoto's work, is brought to fruition in the epic theme of the film!　The exquisite cutwork of "Aim for the Top! The exquisite cutwork of "Top Nerae!

Yoshiyuki Sadamoto is in charge of character design for the TV anime "Great Pretender," which began airing this month. In the late 1980s, Mr. Sadamoto worked as an animation director on the OVA "Aim for the Top! episodes 5 and 6.

In this issue, we will look at the fifth episode, "Please! Give Time to Love! Let's focus on the fifth episode, "Please!
When it is discovered that hundreds of millions of space monsters are approaching the Earth, the Imperial Space Forces of the Earth and its General Staff formulate a plan. The decommissioned space battleship Exelion's degeneracy reactor is set to go haywire, creating an artificial black hole that will swallow up the enemy.
The main character, Takaya Noriko, boards the giant mecha buster machine with his senior, Amano Kazumi, and sets out on an escort mission for the Ekselyon. However, Kazumi's lover Ota has only six months to live, and by the time Noriko and Kazumi return to Earth after their battle at sublight speed, half a year will have already passed on Earth.
The film depicts the progress of the large-scale operation and the secret love between Kazumi and Ota at the same time, and at the climax, two Buster machines merge to form the giant robot Gunbuster, which engages in a great battle. The cutwork is crisp and keeps the viewer interested at all times.

The cutwork leading up to the famous line, "The enemy is seven minutes long and the black is three minutes long," is reconfirming.

A close-up of the red telephone.
　SE (the sound of the telephone bell ringing).

Close-up of the man with the receiver on his shoulder.
　The man says, "What?"

Bust shot of man behind equipment, taking notes. The message "Space Force Intelligence" is shown.
　The man says, "I can't hear you. Yeah, you mean the thing-seat?"

Close-up of the memo. The man writes "Kotoza" in pencil.

Close-up of the phone. The man is talking on the back of the phone, taking notes.
　The man says, "Around 326?"

Close-up of the note again. The lead of the pencil snaps off.

Close-up of the man's mouth as he speaks into the receiver.
　The man says, "A large group of enemies?

A surveillance satellite floating in space.
　(OFF) "Yes!　There are too many enemies to see black in space. Seven minutes of enemy and three minutes of black. Look, seven parts enemy, three parts black!"

In the middle of the last line of dialogue, the film cuts to a long cut with the galaxy PANning. In other words, in the important scene where the human side learns that a large group of enemy space monsters is approaching, information is efficiently conveyed by inserting sharp sound effects such as "the sound of the telephone" and "the sound of a broken pencil lead" while overlapping detailed close-ups such as "the mouth of the man receiving the call" and "the pencil taking notes," and finally, a cut that captures the galactic system. Finally, a shot of the galaxy is shown to give a bird's-eye view of the big situation.

By the way, it is well known that the last line, "The enemy is seven minutes and the black is three minutes," is a quote from Kihachi Okamoto's "The History of the Showa Era: The Battle of Okinawa" (1971).
The original line was "There are too many U.S. naval vessels in the area around the west coast of the main island, so we cannot see the color of the sea," by Branch Commander Katani. Communications Chief Miyake, receiving a call at the command post, asked, "What, the color of the sea?　When Mr. Kaya picked up the phone himself and said, "The ships are seven minutes and the sea is three minutes. Do you understand?　The ship is seven minutes and the sea is three minutes.
Aim for the Top! Episode 5, in fact, has traces of the "Battle of Okinawa" from the very beginning. Let's check it out.

A theme created by "a huge situation" and "small reactions

The opening scene of "The Battle of Okinawa. As the U.S. military forces close in on Okinawa, Army Commander Watanabe is giving a speech at the Naha City Public Hall to encourage the people of the prefecture. The military commander appeals from the podium, "I want you to make up your minds to crush the enemy. As the next cut, an empty bottle rolls across the floor of the public hall, hitting a chair near the feet of a citizen listening to the lecture and coming to a stop. Immediately afterward, the title "The History of the Showa Era: The Battle of Okinawa" appears on the screen in large letters.
On the other hand, the opening scene of the fifth episode of "Aim for the Top! The opening scene of the fifth episode. A graduation ceremony is being held at Okinawa Girls' Space High School. When Noriko and Kazumi return to earth after their battle in space, 10 years have passed in earth time. All of their classmates had graduated 10 years earlier. Noriko recalls her classmates and is overcome with sentimentality. Noriko stands up in surprise when the principal calls her name from the podium, "Third grade, first class, Takaya Noriko. There is a cutaway shot of gym chairs clanking, and then "Episode 5: Please! Time for Love!" and the subtitle is shown in large print.

In both cases, "the man who is the head of the organization shouts from the podium" and "the chair clatters," a large situation contrasted with a small reaction, with the title appearing immediately after. In terms of sharp cutting, interweaving the large with the small, "The Battle of Okinawa" and "Aim for the Top! are clearly at the same level.

On her way home from the graduation ceremony, Noriko passes her classmate Kimiko, who graduated 10 years earlier than herself and is now the mother of a child. While Noriko and Kimiko are talking in the park, they see a giant spaceship, the "Eltorium," in the distance. According to Kimiko, the Eltorium is a ship used to escape from Earth, and only one in four thousand civilians are allowed to board it, as military personnel are given priority.
'You may despise me. ...... Noriko. With your connections, Takami's seat, can't you do something about it?　I want that boy to have a future."
Takami is the name of Kimiko's daughter, who is only two years old.
Kimiko ......
Noriko exclaimed. Immediately after that, in the front basket of Kimiko's bicycle parked in the park, a pack of eggs moves and makes a faint "crackling" sound. This small cut plays the role of a punctuation mark that brings the entire scene to a sharp close.

In this scene, too, the big situation of "escape from the earth" is contrasted with the small existence of "a classmate and his child talking in the park.
After this scene, Noriko tells Kimiko through Takami that she cannot meet Kimiko's request. Kimiko is a mother. So much time has passed while I was in space, and I'm being left alone," Noriko murmurs. The time difference between space and Earth is a major theme that runs throughout "Aim for the Top! is a major theme that runs through "Aim for the Top!
From this perspective, we find a detail that should not be overlooked in the earlier cut to the clanging of the egg carton. In addition to the eggs, Kimiko's bicycle basket is loaded with daikon radishes, canned food, and other groceries, but Noriko's diploma and commemorative album, which she is on her way home from school, are also placed in the basket with the eggs. In other words, in the basket of the bicycle, there is a time difference of 10 years, and two separate times are living together. In this light, the egg can also be overlaid with the meaning of "future" that Takami has in mind.
The reason we find such a literary theme in the film is that we are looking at the completed work after the fact, and it may have been simply a direction to create a sense of tempo at the time of production. Conversely, as we simply pursue visual pleasure, meaning and themes will emerge of their own accord in the gaps between the polished production techniques.

(Text by Keisuke Hirota)