 Everyone's
heard the old saying that some people do their best thinking in the shower
or the bathtub. What happened when you try that technique on a large group
of anime producers? According to Hiroyuki Yamaga of the Gainax studio,
that's what he did when he decided to start producing and directing anime
again. This story starts in 2000, when Yamaga appeared at Fanime Con to
show film clips and art from what was then the new FLCL series. That was
all he had to present, and while it was mostly his company's work (Production
I.G. also worked on FLCL), it wasn't Yamaga's work. "I became a little
bit sad that I wasn't doing anything," Yamaga told an audience at Fanime
Con on Saturday. |
 So in the summer
of 2000, Yamaga started to develop anime series again. He used the phrase
"stages and scenery" in describing the basic concepts for two new series.
One will be based on an existing manga, which means the concept already
is in place. The second series was intended to be a completely new idea
just for film. "The most difficult is the original series, because I have
to come up with everything," he said. "Since there's no storyboard or characters,
it's hard to explain this to the people who will sponsor us." Since sponsors
are the key to getting an anime series made (they have the money and usually
get the rights to the series), Yamaga had to come up with a fully-fleshed
concept. |
 And that's
where the onsen retreat came into play. Yamaga took his creative staff
from Gainax to a hot spring to spend a week drawing up the new manga concept.
Onsen have a reputation as being a relaxing place, but that's not what
Yamaga wanted - or got. "At 8 or 8:30 a.m. a person rolls up the mats in
the rooms, so you can not stay asleep." Rather than the manga producers'
habit of writing then napping, Yamaga wanted his staff to focus on the
job, as if they were in the army. It was a great example of the Japanese
practice of collaboration; even some of Yamaga's own ideas for the anime
series didn't get through this process. |
