Author: Takase/Anitama Cover Source: Hiroshi Yamamoto
Interview dates: September 9 and October 25, 2016
Interview place: Renoir Nakano Kitaguchi store conference room
Interview editor: Takaseji
<h4>【Interviewee Information】</h4>
Yamamoto Yutaka
Animation supervisor and performer. Born in 1974. Born in Osaka Prefecture. After graduating from the Faculty of Letters of Kyoto University, he joined Kyoto Animation in 1998. He performed in the series and ED storyboard in The Melancholy of Haruhi Ryogu (2006), and attracted attention with the immersive concert depiction in episode 12 "Live A Live" and the new dance performance of ED. He then retired from Kyoto Animation and founded the animation company Ordet as his representative. His major works include Lucky Star (2007), Shinsho (2008), Fractals (2011), Wake Up, Girls! series (2014-2015) and so on. In addition, he is active in various fields other than animation, supervising the live-action film "My Bad Senior" (2010), writing the novel "Einsatz", and conducting long-term commentary and speech activities.
<h4>■ The world of moving from amateur to professional</h4>
——You joined Kyoto Animation after graduating from university, can you tell us about how you joined the company at that time?
Yamamoto said in a sense that the timing was very unfortunate. "Grudge Squad" was published at the Autumn Gakuen Festival during my senior year, but before that I received an acceptance letter from Kyoto Animation. If I had stayed in the grade for another year, I might have been able to turn into GAINAX like DAICON FILM, relying on us to set up the company on our own. I got a job at Kyoto Animation in the spring, and my first choice was Ghibli, and I also invested in big companies such as Sunrise and Toei Animation, as well as TV stations. But I was looking for a job, and I heard that there are animation companies in Kyoto. At that time, Kyoto Animation was a small company that no one knew about, and at most you could see the name flash in the animation and coloring of Crayon Shin-chan. But I thought it was all in Kyoto anyway, so I went to vote for one with a casual mentality. As a result, when I went to the interview, I found kyoto honsha in a desolate village called Kihata in Uji. And at that time, there was no current remodeled building, which was completely a shantytown building. And my own interview attitude is not very good, wearing a T-shirt jeans and going. Then he asked in a cajoling manner, "Do you think I can use this place as a spare tire when Ghibli doesn't want me?" But President Hatta replied, "Yes, "Yes."
——Does President Hatta see that you have a future?
Yamamoto thought he at least thought I was a very interesting person, and he actually sent me an offer. But then I also feel that I must let go of the mentality of hanging on to Lang Dang, and I have to face this matter with a responsible attitude. So as I said in my interview at Kyoto Animation, although I had already entered the third round of interviews at other animation companies, I refused them all, leaving only the Ghibli family planning to continue the interview. But Ghibli only recruited animation and coloring that year, and I already felt that it was basically out of the scene. Because I submitted my resume to volunteer for the performance, it didn't pass. So I entered Kyoto Animation after graduating from university, and the year was 1998.
──Which career did you go when you joined Kyoto Animation?
Yamamoto's admission was taken according to "Production performance". During the interview, I also expressed that I had also been a supervisor in my own production, so I did not want to go in the direction of an animator and hoped to have the opportunity to perform in the future. However, after joining the company, I didn't have anything to do for the time being, so I was initially assigned to the photography department. And it's not an animation camera, it's the software CoreRETAS. Put it this way, I'm the number one person in Kyoto Animation's Digital Photography Department, even though the software doesn't work at all (laughs). Celluloid layer ah law table, these I still have a little knowledge when I make it myself, but I am confused when I change to software.
- Is that the equivalent of your techniques in commercial production being learned in practice?
Yamamoto yes. And after the performance, I also learned by practice. I was thoroughly trained by my master, Yoshiharu Kinouchi. When I entered Kyoto Animation for about half a year, I was still studying photography, and Yoko Hatta, who was still the production director at the time, suddenly asked me, "Would Jun Yamamoto come to take the acting exam?" "So I participated.
- Can you ask about the content of the exam at that time?
The Yamamoto exam consists of drawing a storyboard of a scene. I didn't pass the test results, but the examiners, seeing the quality of my answers, agreed to let me start as a performance assistant, so I was assigned to Work as a performance assistant under Kikami. And Yoshiharu Kinaka does not need me to introduce him, everyone must know that he is the teacher of all the creative staff of Kyoto Animation, and he is also a genius animator who has laid a solid foundation for the quality of Kyoto Animation's works. My first performance as a show assistant was episode 7 of Biochemistry (1998). At that time, Kyoto Animation was still a painting-centered studio, so The first thing Kikami said to me was, "I told you that I don't know how to perform, but you can learn it anyway" (laughs). However, I couldn't really just learn it casually, so I launched a problem offensive against him. All day long trailing behind the wood, asking why, asking what this is doing, asking how that is used. So he was naturally scolded by Kigami, "I don't want to work!" Then I stepped back, and an hour later I ran over and asked (laughs). That's how I slowly learned the technique of acting under Kigami's hands.
<h4>■ The unknown legend of Yoshiharu Kigami</h4>
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Yamamoto's current situation in Kyoto may have changed again, so I don't know very well, but the person in charge of painting work from hiring to promotion was all Yoshiharu Kigami. In other words, only those who feel promising on Kigami can enter Kyoto Animation, and only those who accept Kikami's guidance and are recognized by Kikami can be promoted to original painting and performance. So everyone was a disciple of Mushang, and I was the same at the time, and all the work would be checked by him one by one.
--Mr. Kigami was already known as a superb animator in his time in Tokyo, and is often referred to as the backbone of Kyoto Animation. But he himself rarely comes to the stage, can you tell us more about him?
Yamamoto was originally the one who painted a large number of super original paintings in many famous works such as "Chrono Fortress Ke Zeng Remember Love" (1984), "AKIRA" (1988), "Grave of the Fireflies" (1988), and so on. Before entering Kyoto Animation, his "Animal House" studio was also a remarkable place. According to Kigami, the Animal House went to play baseball in the morning, sweated and drank beer at noon, and began to work (laughs). So according to his statement, I think he should be very capable of doing things when he was in Tokyo. Then in 1990, he came to Kyoto for personal reasons.
- So what about him in Kyoto?
Yamamoto made it big. Half of my anti-bone spirit was cultivated by Master Kigami (laughs). For example, if I finish the storyboard and show it to him, I will be scolded by him as "what a ghost". Then he taught me, "How do you do this exactly like the script!" Will the script be ignored in its entirety? (Laughs). The same is true of his own work, with Kikami directly changing the ending of the work in "Stone Warrior" (1999). The original plot should take the route of punishing evil and promoting good, and end after the evil forces perish. As a result, he changed the storyboard to the final unfolding of the boss's soul being redeemed. I followed him all the time, and the episodes he was in charge of made me read the script beforehand and showed it to me as soon as the storyboard was completed. At that time, I was surprised to find that this ending was not right, and when I mentioned it to him, he said to me with a proud face, "See, no, the job is to do this" (laughs). Therefore, the spirit of Master's thorough brainwashing for me is that "if you feel that the right thing is done, you don't need to leave your hand when you are creative."
—— "Force Stone Warrior" is also your first performance.
Yamamoto's first performance was episode 10. At that time, Master was also merciless to me. At Kyoto Animation, the drawing session requires the attendance of the whole group. I greeted the people in the room, "So let's get started." This is my first time performing, and I don't know how to draw, so I want to listen to everyone's opinions as much as possible and perform with the help of everyone's strength. Suddenly, Mugami said, "Stop." disband. I asked him, "What's wrong with you?" Then he was scolded, "What an asshole! You're going to dominate! You're going to take command!" You've got to be a little more arrogant! So I was almost canceled by him for my performance (laughs).
——It is said that the storyboard of this episode uses the same name as the final episode under the name of "Ume-an", which should be the same as "Miyoshi Ichiro" and "Fumio Tada", which are mr. Kigami's aliases, right?
Yamamoto yes. Remember that he said it was taken from "The Man Who Must Kill". Other names should have provenance, but I can't remember.... He himself is really a fake writer, yet he likes to use strange names in his work. It always felt as if he didn't want to go to the front of the stage.
Do you know what the reason is?
Yamamoto said yes first, this is just my unauthorized imagination. He may have a strong sense that he could not challenge the culture of Kyoto Animation. This is also because even if he wanted to do things when he first joined the company, Kyoto Animation's strength as a studio at that time was not enough to support him. Therefore, this caused him not to choose to attract attention as a writer, but to contribute more to the road of cultivating young talents and building a field system. After Kyoto Animation grew up, and finally when he could supervise his work, he began to talk about the phrase "there are so many people who are more interesting than me, I can't be a supervisor anymore."
──What was the situation when Mr. Kikami was the supervisor and you were the assistant of the OVA "MUNTO" series (2003-2005)?
Yamamoto thought it should have been President Hatta and his wife who repeatedly urged him to be a supervisor, and he really had no way to reluctantly go up. In fact, there was a project called "Kasajizo" before "MUNTO", and at that time, Kikami had already drawn all the storyboards and even made samples. The sample was quite good, but at that time, Kyoto Animation did not rely on the confidence of self-company to do a good job. The literary and artistic color of that work is very strong, and the theme is somewhat boring, so the project was not passed in the end. The subsequent MUNTO, on the contrary, was a new project aimed at a work with the potential to sell well. Of course, none of the members of the company in Kyoto at the time thought that MUNTO was a sellable film (laughs). In short, for such a reason, "MUNTO" is the first official general contract of Kyoto Animation in any case, so the supervision is taken over by the pillar of the company. So I now think that not having Kikami make Kasajizo was Kyoto Animation's biggest failure.
(To be continued)
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