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Anime Expo - Friday - Hideki Mitsui
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At Anime Expo's opening ceremonies, screenwriter
Hideki Mitsui said that writers don't step into the anime spotlight very
often. Mitsui has given life to the stories in series such as the TV version
of All-Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku-Nuku, Red Hood Cha Cha, Shin Tenchi
Muyo and Gatekeepers. "I try to being water to enrich their souls," Mitsui
said about the typically-young audience for his scripts. "I grew up watching
anime from childhood. Those shows gave me dreams and hopes - I try to do
the same thing for the next generation." |
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Mitsui has a reputation as a comedy writer (of three
writers on Gatekeepers, he usually handles the comedy episodes). "The character
comes first and the story comes next," he said in describing his writing
style. In creating scripts for the Nuku-Nuku TV series, "I refocused on
how to make people laugh, so I tried to break down the characters - to
make them do unusual things that don't make common sense." Repeated gags
like Nuku-Nuku's trouble remembering names make the humor in that series,
he said. |
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Part of the professional self-discipline of writing
anime shows is to make the story fit in block that fill fewer than 30 minutes.
The chapter breaks in anime also have to fit commercial time-outs, much
different than the 15-page patterns of manga serials. And through it all,
things can't be too obscure. "It's my job to make the stories easy to grasp."
said Mitsui. |
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Then there's the factor of the producers and sponsors
of a series, who often are most interested in making sure that items they
want to sell as toys are featured in each episode - the magical staff that
a character uses, for example. Mitsui must integrate that into his scripts.
"I have to draw a blueprint for the artistic element and the business element,"
he said. |
