AnimeNEXT - American and Japanese Producers - 2006
In
this group, anime dub producers David Williams of ADV Films (left) and
freelancer Toshifumi Yoshida (left center) are rookies compared to the
Japanese representatives. Director Rintaro (right center) and Mad House
president Masao Maruyama (right, on the other side of the interpreter)
have careers that began before the start of the modern era of Japanese
animation in the early 1980's. All four agreed that their goal is to
keep anime fans coming back for more, and to learn the kind of animated
entertainment those fans want. "The main challenge is to get the
audience to enjoy the piece, whether it's children or adults, or comedy
or drama," said Maruyama. "Each offers its unique challenges. The main
point is always to bring forth new ideas and concepts, so the audience
will have something to look forward to." Added Rintaro, "Japanese
animation has been around for over 40 years now, and it evolves from
day to day. The most important challenge is to come up with new ways of
expressing ideas, new ways to make movies and TV series, and continue
the traditions that have come before us." Yoshida said the Japanese
anime creators face greater challenges then dub producers when it comes
to making fans happy. Williams noted one of his great challenges is
finding who owns the rights to a series so a deal can be made to bring
the series to the U.S. Often a series original owner has gone out of
business and rights have swung between several hands, he said.
This
discussion was supposed to be about how producers bring anime to the
U.S., but fans had other questions to ask. One fan, remembering how Mad
House started introducing the Trigun series to America in 1998, asked
Maruyama if there was a chance of more animated Trigun in the future.
The veteran producer had a coy and humorous response: he said that he
"had heard rumors" that someone might be working on a new Trigun
project, and that he had happened to see Yasuhiro Nightow, Trigun's
manga creator, in Mad House's offices, speaking with one of the
company's directors. Of course, Nightow has taken the Trigun series far
beyond the animation released in the U.S. with the Trigun Maximum manga
which has not been animated. Maruyama said just enough to get some
people speculating about another series.
In
this group, anime dub producers David Williams of ADV Films (left) and
freelancer Toshifumi Yoshida (left center) are rookies compared to the
Japanese representatives. Director Rintaro (right center) and Mad House
president Masao Maruyama (right, on the other side of the interpreter)
have careers that began before the start of the modern era of Japanese
animation in the early 1980's. All four agreed that their goal is to
keep anime fans coming back for more, and to learn the kind of animated
entertainment those fans want. "The main challenge is to get the
audience to enjoy the piece, whether it's children or adults, or comedy
or drama," said Maruyama. "Each offers its unique challenges. The main
point is always to bring forth new ideas and concepts, so the audience
will have something to look forward to." Added Rintaro, "Japanese
animation has been around for over 40 years now, and it evolves from
day to day. The most important challenge is to come up with new ways of
expressing ideas, new ways to make movies and TV series, and continue
the traditions that have come before us." Yoshida said the Japanese
anime creators face greater challenges then dub producers when it comes
to making fans happy. Williams noted one of his great challenges is
finding who owns the rights to a series so a deal can be made to bring
the series to the U.S. Often a series original owner has gone out of
business and rights have swung between several hands, he said.
This
discussion was supposed to be about how producers bring anime to the
U.S., but fans had other questions to ask. One fan, remembering how Mad
House started introducing the Trigun series to America in 1998, asked
Maruyama if there was a chance of more animated Trigun in the future.
The veteran producer had a coy and humorous response: he said that he
"had heard rumors" that someone might be working on a new Trigun
project, and that he had happened to see Yasuhiro Nightow, Trigun's
manga creator, in Mad House's offices, speaking with one of the
company's directors. Of course, Nightow has taken the Trigun series far
beyond the animation released in the U.S. with the Trigun Maximum manga
which has not been animated. Maruyama said just enough to get some
people speculating about another series.
