Artist
and writer Shino Masanori has been part of two of the Cartoon Network's
most popular anime series. He worked on mecha design and art on Gundam
Wing, the Robotech for a new generation and a show that demonstrated
for young fans the melodramatic intensity of anime, and was the writer
for the most recent Inu-Yasha movies, following in the path of the TV
series that has launched a thousand cosplayers. Inu-Yasha was the first
anime series based on Rumiko Takahashi's works to be widely cablecast
in the U.S., and it was clear at a Pacific Media Expo interview session
that Masanori has a world of respect for Takahashi. "The Rumiko
Takahashi style is the main style in anime," he said. "The anime
industry has been shaded around her style - she's been a huge influence
on the industry. I thought that Takahashi's style would stay only in
Japan, but it's spread world wide and there's a lot of pressure to
preserve it." Masanori was surprised to learn that Inu-Yasha had
attracted so many fans in the U.S., and said he had to be careful about
how he wrote scripts on the relationship between Inu-Yasha and Kagome.
"The fans in Japan really like that relationship, it's what keeps the
series going. If they hook up, the series is over."
Masanori
had little to say about his Gundam work, noting only that "I've worked
only on a couple of Gundam series, but since Gundam is looked upon as a
very special series, there's a lot of pressure on me." He had more to
say about reworking Yasuhiro Nightow's Gungrave designs for animation.
"When it comes to manga artists, a lot of them are picky, but when it
comes to Nightow he's easy to work with and I'm thankful for that.
Nightow's work has been the vision in his worldwide outlook. There may
be more Trigun fans in the United States because of the worldwide views
he has." The cross-pollination of ideas and styles from the U.S. and
Japan has been noted in the trio of Matrix movies, which have been seen
by many as live-action anime. "The Matrix is totally like the anime
style - I was amazed at how they wanted to make a live action movie
from the material. Because of those films, the anime industry is
reinventing what they do."
Worldwide,
the major change in animation production has been the move away from
cels and toward computers. Said Masanori, "There is no cel art any more
in Japan. Personally, I favor the transition from cels to computers,
but in the anime industry there are a lot of people who dislike the
transition. In the animation industry worldwide, Japan is the only one
that uses the 2-D look." That likely referred to the U.S. trend toward
3-D animation in theatrical movies such as the Toy Story and Shrek
series. While anime sticks to the 2-D look, Masanori feels the change
is coming; the 2004 Appleseed film will have a 3-D look, and he noted
that a 3-D Gundam show is being researched. "Now, the industry is
working on how the 2-D and 3-D words can be combined. It depends on how
cleanly the two can be matched. When we were first trying 3-D, it was
hard to preserve the film look of the two...now, it's like a nice mix."
Artist
and writer Shino Masanori has been part of two of the Cartoon Network's
most popular anime series. He worked on mecha design and art on Gundam
Wing, the Robotech for a new generation and a show that demonstrated
for young fans the melodramatic intensity of anime, and was the writer
for the most recent Inu-Yasha movies, following in the path of the TV
series that has launched a thousand cosplayers. Inu-Yasha was the first
anime series based on Rumiko Takahashi's works to be widely cablecast
in the U.S., and it was clear at a Pacific Media Expo interview session
that Masanori has a world of respect for Takahashi. "The Rumiko
Takahashi style is the main style in anime," he said. "The anime
industry has been shaded around her style - she's been a huge influence
on the industry. I thought that Takahashi's style would stay only in
Japan, but it's spread world wide and there's a lot of pressure to
preserve it." Masanori was surprised to learn that Inu-Yasha had
attracted so many fans in the U.S., and said he had to be careful about
how he wrote scripts on the relationship between Inu-Yasha and Kagome.
"The fans in Japan really like that relationship, it's what keeps the
series going. If they hook up, the series is over."
Masanori
had little to say about his Gundam work, noting only that "I've worked
only on a couple of Gundam series, but since Gundam is looked upon as a
very special series, there's a lot of pressure on me." He had more to
say about reworking Yasuhiro Nightow's Gungrave designs for animation.
"When it comes to manga artists, a lot of them are picky, but when it
comes to Nightow he's easy to work with and I'm thankful for that.
Nightow's work has been the vision in his worldwide outlook. There may
be more Trigun fans in the United States because of the worldwide views
he has." The cross-pollination of ideas and styles from the U.S. and
Japan has been noted in the trio of Matrix movies, which have been seen
by many as live-action anime. "The Matrix is totally like the anime
style - I was amazed at how they wanted to make a live action movie
from the material. Because of those films, the anime industry is
reinventing what they do."
Worldwide,
the major change in animation production has been the move away from
cels and toward computers. Said Masanori, "There is no cel art any more
in Japan. Personally, I favor the transition from cels to computers,
but in the anime industry there are a lot of people who dislike the
transition. In the animation industry worldwide, Japan is the only one
that uses the 2-D look." That likely referred to the U.S. trend toward
3-D animation in theatrical movies such as the Toy Story and Shrek
series. While anime sticks to the 2-D look, Masanori feels the change
is coming; the 2004 Appleseed film will have a 3-D look, and he noted
that a 3-D Gundam show is being researched. "Now, the industry is
working on how the 2-D and 3-D words can be combined. It depends on how
cleanly the two can be matched. When we were first trying 3-D, it was
hard to preserve the film look of the two...now, it's like a nice mix."
