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Fist of the North Star, BeBop High School, Locke the Superman and Jo
Jo's Bizarre Adventures - Junichi Hayama worked on all of them, rising
from an inbetweener to key animator to animation supervisor. Hayama admits
he's a better artist than storyteller, which is why he sought an animation
career. From childhood, he wanted to be an artist. However, "To be a good
manga artist I had to be able to draw well and come up with good stories.
I couldn't do the latter and so I didn't take that route." |
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Japan's troubled economy has not eliminated anime, but the financial
pressures have cut production budgets to the point that fewer cels are
being used in each TV show. Just enough cels are drawn to maintain the
illusion of movement. "I don't think it's affected my work," Hayama said.
"There are good things that can come out if I use a lot of cels, but figuring
out the best way to accomplish something with a limited amount of cels
is a good challenge for me." |
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Some anime is filled with fights, and Hayama had to help create some
of the best in the Fist of the North Star TV series. You might think that
there are only so many ways people can fight - and you might run out of
battle ideas. Hayama watches pro wrestling and kung fu movies for ideas
for the fights in his anime. "If that's not enough, I try out some moves
myself. I have not hurt myself yet," he said. |
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There's little glamour in the workaday world of the anime artist, and
little rest. Hayama said he worked a standard nine-hour work day for the
first few months he was in the business, then it got out of hand with rising
responsibilities and the pressures of producing a TV series. To have the
luxury of a weekend off for the trip to Anime Expo, Hayama had to get work
done ahead of time. That meant one hour of sleep on the Monday before the
convention, three hours on Tuesday and all of six hours on Wednesday, before
jumping on the plane to Los Angeles. |
