Artist
and animator Hidenori Matsubara had what would seem to be one of the most
difficult jobs in the anime industry. In 1992, he had to adapt the original
character designs from the popular Oh My Goddess manga for the animated
version. Those designs were remarkably detailed, but Matsubara had to simplify
the characters so they could be animated. "The number of lines have to
be reduced and the extra details have to be cut down and simplified," Matsubara
said. "Belldandy often has her hair up in a ponytail in the original. There
are 20 lines in the manga, but in the animation it's reduced to ten."
Taking
charge of another artist's popular work might seem to be an intimidating
assignment, but it didn't bother Matsubara. "Since animation is group work,
it is impossible to make a perfect version of the manga designs," he said.
"I do my best so people won't be uncomfortable with them." Oh My Goddess
wasn't as popular in its manga days as it was after the animation was produced,
he added. "I really like the original manga series so i tried to draw like
a fan of the series. I was not too worried about the previous fans."
This
was Matsubara's first trip to Anime Expo, and he was amazed by what he
saw on the convention's opening day. "I think this is a really big event.
I went through the exhibit halls and I saw how the fans enjoyed themselves.
This event here seems to have a lot more variety than the Comic Market
in Japan. I was astonished that there were so many people coming here from
all over the United States."
Artist
and animator Hidenori Matsubara had what would seem to be one of the most
difficult jobs in the anime industry. In 1992, he had to adapt the original
character designs from the popular Oh My Goddess manga for the animated
version. Those designs were remarkably detailed, but Matsubara had to simplify
the characters so they could be animated. "The number of lines have to
be reduced and the extra details have to be cut down and simplified," Matsubara
said. "Belldandy often has her hair up in a ponytail in the original. There
are 20 lines in the manga, but in the animation it's reduced to ten."
Taking
charge of another artist's popular work might seem to be an intimidating
assignment, but it didn't bother Matsubara. "Since animation is group work,
it is impossible to make a perfect version of the manga designs," he said.
"I do my best so people won't be uncomfortable with them." Oh My Goddess
wasn't as popular in its manga days as it was after the animation was produced,
he added. "I really like the original manga series so i tried to draw like
a fan of the series. I was not too worried about the previous fans."
This
was Matsubara's first trip to Anime Expo, and he was amazed by what he
saw on the convention's opening day. "I think this is a really big event.
I went through the exhibit halls and I saw how the fans enjoyed themselves.
This event here seems to have a lot more variety than the Comic Market
in Japan. I was astonished that there were so many people coming here from
all over the United States."
