The entire Mobile Suit Gundam series has gone through 35 years of history, and Yuki Tomino, the father of Gundam, has not released a new TV anime for 15 years. Therefore, "Gundam G: Restoration Movement", which was broadcast in October, has attracted countless viewers due to Director Tomino's reappearance, and it is also a new challenge for Director Tomino himself. He was not only responsible for the script of all the episodes, but also wrote the lyrics for the ending song, which was active in every sense. Recently, some Japanese media specially invited Ryusuke Hikawa, an animation tokusatsu researcher who is very familiar with the "Mobile Suit Gundam" series and Tomino's works, and animation critic Ryota Fujitsu, to have a special conversation about the charm of Gundam Tomino. In the next interview, the two will discuss Gundam itself and the appeal of Yuki Tomino.

■This is a masterpiece and a final account of your career

Q: We talked about "Soul Power" at the beginning, and I think it is a turning point in director Tomino's work. So do the two think that the same meaning is contained in the "G Restoration Movement"?

Ryusuke Hikawa: On this issue, I actually had a similar feeling of disrespect in Hayao Miyazaki's "The Wind Rises". I think that in terms of age, "The Wind Rises" is more like a kind of last words from director Hayao Miyazaki. And this is also the case with the "G Restoration Movement". I'm afraid that director Tomino also wants children to see something, to imagine the world in 50 or 100 years, and it is also a collection or final account of his work. I guess he was trying to predict the future.

In the final analysis, the TV series is a kind of war of attrition, and it has strict requirements for the body. At the time of "Soul Power", director Tomino was already 57 or 8 years old. At that age, I went to make a zuò TV anime, which was surprising in itself. And even more so today, 15 years later? Especially after the start of the animation, a lot of work has to be carried out at the same time, and the production site will also enter a state of busyness. If it's a theatrical version, then there will only be one ending, but for TV anime, there is an ending for each of the 26 episodes. This is not only a large number of episodes, but also a refinement of storyboards, dubbing, product production and other procedures, and different episodes have to be arranged with different people. These are all coordinated by him.

Fujizu: In addition, he has to be in charge of all the scripts, so it feels like he is getting older. So far, he has been running and thinking about new content. And his foothold is completely different from others.

Q: Speaking of the culmination, director Tomino not only considered the issue of literary creation in this "G Restoration Movement", but also hoped that it would be a great commercial success, right?

Glacier: Mr. Tomino has always been thinking about the business side. There is actually a reason why he deliberately obsessed with machine animation and deliberately made Gundam works.

Fujizu: But it's also a matter of quality. Although they were all aimed at the place before half a step, Mr. Tomino's pace was very important, so it didn't seem like he was aiming half a step to us.

It's just that when I interviewed him, the two talked a lot about "ONEPIECE". I think he and the staff around him are very enthusiastic about what makes ONEPIECE so interesting. I am afraid that it can also be seen that while he is making his own works, he has not forgotten the secret of the success of jì analysis of other works.

Glacier: This also contains the purpose of trying to figure out Guò's own work to fight back.

Fujizu: That's right. He doesn't just dig deeper, he applies what he has learned to his work.

Glacier: This time it's about a road movie, or a journey. Originally, director Tomino was very good at "using large 'hotels' to express the road trips of Xiàn characters". When guests come, there will be a big boat as a "big hotel" to greet them, and when such a scene is put into operation, it becomes a road movie. This is a very convenient way to create a story.

Fujitsu: Mr. Hikawa's statement may be a bit difficult to understand, but in the words of Kikihito's work, it is "let the base take off".

Glacier: Exactly. However, there are no large spaceships in the early stages of the work......

Q: There should be pirate ships in the future. After all, the relevant settings are already in the manual. Mr. Yamane, who was in charge of the mechanical design, created this pirate ship, and the image of the "old Zeon ship of the ZZ" can be seen in the picture, which also makes people think about it.

■I don't know when everyone fell in love with "Inverted A Gundam"

Q: Inverted A Gundam will be released on Blu-ray BOX soon. I would like to ask the two about the story between this work and director Tomino. In terms of the TV series, this is also the Tomino Gundam from 15 years ago.

This time, "G Restoration Movement" has the same feeling as "Inverted A Gundam", which has a sense of anti-main theme. For example, "Inverted A" gives the impression that the engine starts slowly. At the same time, "G Restoration Movement" has been slamming into the third episode. What do you think about the changes that have taken place in the past 15 years?

Glacier: Since I'm going to release "Inverted A" Blu-ray this time, I've also reviewed the work. I feel that the biggest feature of this work is the "Gundam made at the end of the century". Almost 100 years before the end of the 20th century, the impact of the Industrial Revolution turned the land of the United States upside down. Considering this factor, "Inverted A" also has a somewhat back-to-origin feeling. But in "G Restoration Movement", there is not much sense of return in this regard.

Fujizu: I think "Inverted A" has a strong pursuit of literary attainment.

Glacier: Thanks to the experience of "Soul Power", director Tomino fully demonstrated his literary nature. As a result of his own experience, after the year of Lent, he began to start from the life of an individual and try to connect with the higher level of existence, and he continued to try to do so.

Fujizu: Speaking of which, in Inverted A Gundam, there is a term called "mine ruins." In other words, it is based on the theme of "butterflies", which symbolize the cycle of life. Butterflies and snakes are creatures that give people the impression of "revival".

Glacier: This work was born at a time when the origin of life was being re-examined. At that time, it was not only discussed in many live broadcasts, but also on some DVDs. And I recently reviewed my evaluation of "Inverted A" at that time, and I feel that I am really old.

Fujitsu: Oops~ (laughs) At the time, I was also in charge of covering "Inverted A Gundam", and I thought, "It's a very attractive work, but it doesn't seem to be widely spread." "It also makes me a little anxious.

Glacier: At the time, however, I didn't think the work was attractive to the public. The Bald Gundam was not very popular at the time, and it was too different from other Gundam series to gain popularity. But after 5 or 6 years passed since the premiere, I found that everyone started to like this work again. Anyway, I feel that way.

Fujizu: I think the theme of "Inverted A" is too strong. Just now, Mr. Hikawa also mentioned the problems of "the end of the century" and "life", and these problems are consciously integrated into Mr. Tomino's work.

■Although the death of a person is sad, there is no need to deliberately express it

Fujizu: In comparison, "The G Restoration Movement" is a very simple story. "The powerful guy is very handsome" (laughs) and the like, and the entertainment element is very strong.

Glacier: Speaking of entertainment, the cheerleading girls who came out were quite surprising. I wonder if it will appear again?

Fujizu: Mani should come out again in the future. In addition, Norredo Nag's role will not be less. This time, there are four main female characters (including Laraia) from the very beginning. If we look at previous Gundam works, we have to worry about "who will survive to the end?" "Sort of.

Glacier: If you're a Mobile Suit pilot, then life and death are a big issue.

Fujizu: Since it's a work by director Tomino, everyone is worried about whether a lot of people are going to die again this time" (laughs). However, on the whole, Gundam's works give people the feeling that "although the death of a person is sad, there is no need to deliberately express it".

Q: But by the time of the third episode, the deaths of some of the characters were already vividly depicted.

Fujitsu: I think this is the first time in the Gundam series that this has happened, "There will be people dying like this in the future, and although we cut it down from the perspective of the image and the development of the story, this entanglement has not left this world."

Glacier: In the past, there have been many animations where characters fall from a height and come out unscathed. If "G Restoration Movement" does not depict the death of the characters at the beginning, then the audience will feel that this work is "a world where no dead people will die". In fact, it is precisely because the world is alive with death that it is necessary to portray those who live...... I think Director Tomino is trying to express this point.

■A rare modern writer Yuki Tomino

Q: At the end of the interview, can you tell us what you think is so powerful about director Tomino?

Glacier: "What is a human being?" Even after thousands of years, no one has been able to find an answer to this question. On the other hand, Mr. Tomino is constantly thinking and exploring in animation, which makes me think that he is a rare modern writer. Can people understand each other? In fact, people can cooperate with each other to create miracles together. The balance between despair and hope in Tomino's work is very ingenious to me.

Animation is an accumulation of "marks", so it is often easy for the maker to depict only one aspect. But is a cheerful person also positive in his heart? There are doubts about this. And "G Restoration Movement" is portrayed from many aspects and angles from the very beginning, so the external and inner parts of the characters can also be constantly revealed. This was a big surprise to me. Due to the amount of information, there are some things that can be difficult to digest, but overall it is still possible to keep up with the pace. From the point of view of "portraying people and the world", I believe it will be a great work.

Fujitsu: "Anyway, the picture is a kind of 'mark', so what we care about is how to combine the marks to make them come to life and be the same as the real thing, right?" "And in this regard, the level of director Tomino is very high, and you can feel his power in "G Restoration Movement".

We don't have to care about the quality of the painting, such as some of the body conditions, the situation of the characters eating, the painting is almost fine, we need to think about how to make the characters have a unique shape, so that the whole story rhythm looks great, and the characters in each storyboard should be lifelike. So that the whole work comes alive. Every time I look at Mr. Tomino's ancestral products, I think he has done a lot of fun in this area. On top of that, it would be nice if the theme could still be stimulating. The theme this time is "Genki's G", so I'm looking forward to what Mr. Tomino can do in this regard.

Q: Thank you both for your time today.