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Anime Expo - Friday - Keiji Gotoh
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Of the large cast of Sorcerer Hunters designed by
artist Keiji Gotoh (right), which gives him the most trouble? Tira Miss,
not because of her tight-fitting costume, but because of her flowing, red/pink
hair. "It was very difficult to draw," said the designer who also drew
characters for Martian Successor Nadesico, Those Who Hunt Elves and Hyper
Police. Along with Tohru Sato, a XEBEC producer who handled Martian Successor
Nadesico (left), Gotoh appeared at an Anime Expo fan panel on Friday. |
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"I draw what I like to draw. That attitude is more
like a hobby than anything else," said Gotoh. His character designs often
are adaptations of others' manga work. "I feel apologetic to them as artists,"
Gotoh said about those manga creators. "I feel more frustrated when I have
ideas about those characters that I can't put on paper." Gotoh can shows
his creativity when he gets a video game assignment, including his work
on the Double Cast and Gatekeepers games, which were done much like animated
films, he said. |
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Well, maybe the trip to California wasn't all fun
and games for Gotoh. Gatekeepers has made the transition from game to film,
the series is still in production, Gotoh is creating the storyboards for
several episodes...and those drawings aren't finished, meaning that he
had to take his work with him to the convention. "I am in real peril,"
he joked, not looking forward to hours of drawing the storyboards in his
Disneyland Hotel room. |
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Sato said he was fascinated by the way that Americans
accepted anime artists. "I am surprised that American fans have so much
respect for the creators," he said. "I feel a higher level of respect than
in Japan," he added to the large room full of people who had assembled
to hear the artists. |
