In
the world of anime fandom in North America, Haruhiko Mikimoto is best known
for his character designs for Superdimensional Fortress Macross. But Mikimoto
said at Anime Expo on Saturday that he hasn't had an anime project for
a few years, concentrating instead on his manga and on illustrations. He
is helping produce a three-dimensional video clip, "Not the illustrations
where the characters look like puppets, but where they look more like traditional
flat art," he said. "It's only one-tenth done, but so far it's enticing
and interesting." Mikimoto is fortunate enough to be able to work at his
own pace an on his own terms, but he still works hard. "As a manga artist,
I have assistants. I draw the main character lines and the assistants draw
screen tones and shading. Sometimes they follow my instructions to the
letter and sometimes they come up with something much better."
Mikimoto
isn't a mecha man (that image may have come from his work on Macross and
some Gundam series). He prefers human characters, especially females. One
noted non-human female from Mikimoto's pen is Lunch, the living doll in
Marionette Generation, the older Mikimoto manga serialized in Super Manga
Blast. "The idea of making a doll the main character came from the editor
I had then, but back then it wasn't about the doll being that active and
walking around," said Mikimoto. "I always was thinking about female dolls
or robots having conflicts with real live females. However, if you put
that up front then the story becomes too serious, so Marionette Generation
was made into more of a comedy." Always modest, Mikimoto said "I've never
been too comfortable with the manga medium, so I never made the Marionette
Generation story the way I wanted to make it."
Mikimoto
still talks about how his high school and college friendship with Shoji
Kawamori led to him getting a job with Studio Nue started working on a
major anime project - which fell through. The replacement project was Macross,
which went on to popularity in North America as one-third of Robotech.
In the years since that early success - and his last appearance at Anime
Expo - Mikimoto "...is not sure if I'm that self confident. I've gotten
older and my stamina isn't what I used to have. I can't push myself as
hard as I once could." But, "Over these ten years, animation is getting
a positive image overseas, and that's something I'm happy about."
In
the world of anime fandom in North America, Haruhiko Mikimoto is best known
for his character designs for Superdimensional Fortress Macross. But Mikimoto
said at Anime Expo on Saturday that he hasn't had an anime project for
a few years, concentrating instead on his manga and on illustrations. He
is helping produce a three-dimensional video clip, "Not the illustrations
where the characters look like puppets, but where they look more like traditional
flat art," he said. "It's only one-tenth done, but so far it's enticing
and interesting." Mikimoto is fortunate enough to be able to work at his
own pace an on his own terms, but he still works hard. "As a manga artist,
I have assistants. I draw the main character lines and the assistants draw
screen tones and shading. Sometimes they follow my instructions to the
letter and sometimes they come up with something much better."
Mikimoto
isn't a mecha man (that image may have come from his work on Macross and
some Gundam series). He prefers human characters, especially females. One
noted non-human female from Mikimoto's pen is Lunch, the living doll in
Marionette Generation, the older Mikimoto manga serialized in Super Manga
Blast. "The idea of making a doll the main character came from the editor
I had then, but back then it wasn't about the doll being that active and
walking around," said Mikimoto. "I always was thinking about female dolls
or robots having conflicts with real live females. However, if you put
that up front then the story becomes too serious, so Marionette Generation
was made into more of a comedy." Always modest, Mikimoto said "I've never
been too comfortable with the manga medium, so I never made the Marionette
Generation story the way I wanted to make it."
Mikimoto
still talks about how his high school and college friendship with Shoji
Kawamori led to him getting a job with Studio Nue started working on a
major anime project - which fell through. The replacement project was Macross,
which went on to popularity in North America as one-third of Robotech.
In the years since that early success - and his last appearance at Anime
Expo - Mikimoto "...is not sure if I'm that self confident. I've gotten
older and my stamina isn't what I used to have. I can't push myself as
hard as I once could." But, "Over these ten years, animation is getting
a positive image overseas, and that's something I'm happy about."
