Anime Expo - Hiroshi Nagahama and Noboru Ishiguro - 2006
There's
a tradition of quiet, evocative, understated art in Japan, a tradition
that can seem absent in most Japanese animation with their fighting
robots and noisy, cute girls. Mushishi is an exception to those
unwritten rules, a series based on a manga that took its lead from the
quieter pace and style of traditional Japanese storytelling. The series
was the personal project of director Hiroshi Nagahama, with the firm
support of veteran producer Noboru Ishiguro of Artland. "Mushishi is
based on a lot of themes like nature and family values, and the
experiences that the Japanese people have had in their lives," Nagahama
said. "It's something the entire world can relate to." Mushishi has
been voted by critics as the best original animation of the 2006
season, maybe because it's not a commercially-oriented work. And its
lack of automatic commercial appeal might have seemed to be an obstacle
to Mushishi's production, except that this concept had a special
vitality. "Mushishi could be a way to expand the anime industry,"
Nagahama said. "Right now, the anime industry is narrowing. There's
tunnel vision - the anime companies turn down ideas because they don't
seem commerical - but we thought if we created a great story, the
audience would come. And it that happens, we'll sell the DVD's...It
really is a wonderful work. It shows how willing everyone was to accept
something new."
Ishiguro,
with 43 years in the industry, a career that goes back to the beginning
of the television animation business in Japan, noted that there can be
no way to tell if a series will be a hit or a flop. "There are a lot of
works that I made, thinking it's not going to be too popular when I'm
working on it," said Ishiguro. "But from another perspective, all of
the shows that have become great hits have stirred something in my
heart. The shows that don't stir something in my heart are not hits."
Ishiguro, who was a big part of Superdimensional Fortress Macross and
the Space Cruiser Yamato series, has mixed feelings about a successful
series in Japan that has been a cult favorite in the U.S., Legend of
Galactic Heroes. It was an exceptionally successful series in Japan
that made plenty of profits, but it was something that Ishiguro still
feels could have been done better. "I enjoy most working on something
completely original. I would like to work on another original
masterpiece, so Legend of Galactic Heroes is not the last masterpiece
I'm known for." But next year...
There's
a tradition of quiet, evocative, understated art in Japan, a tradition
that can seem absent in most Japanese animation with their fighting
robots and noisy, cute girls. Mushishi is an exception to those
unwritten rules, a series based on a manga that took its lead from the
quieter pace and style of traditional Japanese storytelling. The series
was the personal project of director Hiroshi Nagahama, with the firm
support of veteran producer Noboru Ishiguro of Artland. "Mushishi is
based on a lot of themes like nature and family values, and the
experiences that the Japanese people have had in their lives," Nagahama
said. "It's something the entire world can relate to." Mushishi has
been voted by critics as the best original animation of the 2006
season, maybe because it's not a commercially-oriented work. And its
lack of automatic commercial appeal might have seemed to be an obstacle
to Mushishi's production, except that this concept had a special
vitality. "Mushishi could be a way to expand the anime industry,"
Nagahama said. "Right now, the anime industry is narrowing. There's
tunnel vision - the anime companies turn down ideas because they don't
seem commerical - but we thought if we created a great story, the
audience would come. And it that happens, we'll sell the DVD's...It
really is a wonderful work. It shows how willing everyone was to accept
something new."
Ishiguro,
with 43 years in the industry, a career that goes back to the beginning
of the television animation business in Japan, noted that there can be
no way to tell if a series will be a hit or a flop. "There are a lot of
works that I made, thinking it's not going to be too popular when I'm
working on it," said Ishiguro. "But from another perspective, all of
the shows that have become great hits have stirred something in my
heart. The shows that don't stir something in my heart are not hits."
Ishiguro, who was a big part of Superdimensional Fortress Macross and
the Space Cruiser Yamato series, has mixed feelings about a successful
series in Japan that has been a cult favorite in the U.S., Legend of
Galactic Heroes. It was an exceptionally successful series in Japan
that made plenty of profits, but it was something that Ishiguro still
feels could have been done better. "I enjoy most working on something
completely original. I would like to work on another original
masterpiece, so Legend of Galactic Heroes is not the last masterpiece
I'm known for." But next year...
