Seven
years after he appeared at Anime Expo as a guest of honor, Hiroyuki
Kitakubo returned to Anaheim to meet American fans. After decades in
the anime business, where he started work on the Gundam series when he
was only 15 years old, Kitakubo has learned to appreciate American
enthusiasm toward his work. "I feel very, very happy," Kitakubo said. I
don't have a clear division between countries or see any borders, for
all people who watch my work are my customers. It doesn't matter to me
what age, what ethnicity, what generation - they're all my valued
customers." That includes fansubbers; while some in the anime industry
worry that U.S. fansubbers hurt their business, those fans' work is
appreciated by Kitakubo. "The thing that's great about them is that
they have pure energy about it," he said. "People who do fansubbing, it
seems that they're all interlinked. Most of the people who watch
fansubs know who's worked on the fansub. They're putting themselves in
a position that they can be rated by other people on their works."
Kitakubo said he likes fansubbers because they don't take to their task
as work but as enthusiastic fans, and he thinks their efforts can be
better than commercial translators. He added that the best fansubbers
should turn pro, and that anime importers should hire them to work on
their translated series "...so they can get paid as well."
In
the last decade, Kitakubo had a fan favorite in the OVA version of
Blood the Last Vampire, but he wasn't fortunate enough to get the job
of working on the revival of the title as a TV series. "I only worked
on the theatrical release. Other versions, like the game and the novels
and the TV series, I have no relationship. It doesn't matter as long as
you enjoy it." Kitakubo also directed the second half of the episodes
of Jo Jo's Bizarre Adventure (which for odd reasons were produced
before the episodes that told the first half of the story). And he
directed Golden Boy, the series that got many fans started on anime in
the late 1990's. That series turned out to be more popular in the U.S.
than in Japan, and Kitakubo has been trying to deduce the reason. "I
asked one of my co-producers why Golden Boy was doing so much better
outside of Japan. He said my works are like Japanese cars - they have
good functionality and they're fun to ride in. Japanese understand
that, but Japanese people don't support them that much. Japanese people
might want something like a BMW or a Volvo, something that has name
value or a status."
Seven
years after he appeared at Anime Expo as a guest of honor, Hiroyuki
Kitakubo returned to Anaheim to meet American fans. After decades in
the anime business, where he started work on the Gundam series when he
was only 15 years old, Kitakubo has learned to appreciate American
enthusiasm toward his work. "I feel very, very happy," Kitakubo said. I
don't have a clear division between countries or see any borders, for
all people who watch my work are my customers. It doesn't matter to me
what age, what ethnicity, what generation - they're all my valued
customers." That includes fansubbers; while some in the anime industry
worry that U.S. fansubbers hurt their business, those fans' work is
appreciated by Kitakubo. "The thing that's great about them is that
they have pure energy about it," he said. "People who do fansubbing, it
seems that they're all interlinked. Most of the people who watch
fansubs know who's worked on the fansub. They're putting themselves in
a position that they can be rated by other people on their works."
Kitakubo said he likes fansubbers because they don't take to their task
as work but as enthusiastic fans, and he thinks their efforts can be
better than commercial translators. He added that the best fansubbers
should turn pro, and that anime importers should hire them to work on
their translated series "...so they can get paid as well."
In
the last decade, Kitakubo had a fan favorite in the OVA version of
Blood the Last Vampire, but he wasn't fortunate enough to get the job
of working on the revival of the title as a TV series. "I only worked
on the theatrical release. Other versions, like the game and the novels
and the TV series, I have no relationship. It doesn't matter as long as
you enjoy it." Kitakubo also directed the second half of the episodes
of Jo Jo's Bizarre Adventure (which for odd reasons were produced
before the episodes that told the first half of the story). And he
directed Golden Boy, the series that got many fans started on anime in
the late 1990's. That series turned out to be more popular in the U.S.
than in Japan, and Kitakubo has been trying to deduce the reason. "I
asked one of my co-producers why Golden Boy was doing so much better
outside of Japan. He said my works are like Japanese cars - they have
good functionality and they're fun to ride in. Japanese understand
that, but Japanese people don't support them that much. Japanese people
might want something like a BMW or a Volvo, something that has name
value or a status."
