Author: LIAR/Anitama Cover Source: SSSS. GRIDMAN》
The TV anime "SSSS. GRIDMAN is a heroic story based on the 1993 feature film Series Electric Light Superman Gurlitt, based on The Round Valley Production. The anime is run by TRIGGER, who is well known for his productions such as Kill la Kill and Little Witch Academy. At that time, when network technology and computer viruses were not yet known to the world, the first to introduce these concepts to film and television works was this "Electric Light Superman Gurlitt", and in 2018, when today's computer networks have been popularized, this work has awakened in the form of animation.
At the beginning of the animation, Comic Natalie interviewed the role of "SSSS. Gridman", the supervisor of "GRIDMAN", the performer Tetsumiya Yunomiya, and the script parent who wrote the "Heisei Ultra Series" such as "Nexus Ultraman" and "Galaxy Ultraman", this is also the first collaboration between the two to see how this work was born, and how to expect this work for the special audience.
When "Electric Light Superman Gurlitt" announced the new animation, it was a big surprise for the audience who had seen or known this work in the past, and they did not expect that this work would reappear in front of us in the form of animation. Maybe some friends haven't seen it, in fact, in 2015, Tetsu Yunomiya brought the short animation "Electric Light Superman Gurlitt Boys Invent great Hero" at the then "Japan Animation (ーren ー) Exhibition".
Electro Light Superman Gurlitt Boys Invent great Hero
Initially, Rain Palace asked Marutani for an animation plan for Ultraman, but this idea was unsuccessful at the time, and the reply was that he hoped to adapt other works. At that time, Yumiya was asked to do a short story for the "Japan Animation (ーjin ー) Exhibition", so he found Marutani again, hoping to get permission to adapt "Electric Light Superman Gurette" or "Anduru Melos", so Marutani agreed and gave the task of animating "Gurlitt" to Yumiya.
"Electro Light Superman Gurlitt Boys Invent great Hero" was the follow-up production of SSSS. PREREQUISITES FOR GRIDMAN. The Japan Animation Exhibition was a project to show "how much an independent animator can do", so before becoming a supervisor, I was first and foremost an animator, and at that time I was more concerned with how to draw than how to shoot. At that time, the story of "Electric Light Superman Gurlitt Boys Invent great Hero" was good, and Rain Palace liked Gurlitt's design, and the focus was on how to paint Gurlitt well. Therefore, the short stories at that time can be said to be no story. Next, if you cooperate with Round Valley, you have to make the story interesting and make the whole film well, so you began to seriously work on "SSSS. GRIDMAN" project.
Not because the position of "Andrew Melos" is a work that inherits the world view of the Otter series, and did not choose "Anduru Melos", Rain Palace has also considered adapting "Anduru Melos", mainly because "Electric Light Superman Gurlitt" is a work that he was chasing in sync when he was a child, so he has more feelings for this side. However, Yugong said that compared with the live broadcast watched by elementary school students, the impression of watching the replay after that is more profound. The reason is that when I replayed it, I was in junior high school like the protagonists in the work, and I had a more sense of substitution. The content was very new for the time, which was also a big charm of this work, and for Rain Palace, he was more addicted to the setting that the monsters in the play were caused by people, not only the Gullit side, but also the story of the enemy side that created the monsters was also very interesting.
At that time, Keiichi Hasegawa was engaged in art-related work, from small props to decorations, often in and out of Toho's studio, although he did not watch the live broadcast of "Electric Light Superman Gurlitt", but often heard rumors similar to "The shooting scene of "Gurlitt" was incredible" similar rumors.
At the beginning of the preparation of the SSSS. At the time of GRIDMAN, although I had no plans to come up with a toy, I had already thought about strengthening it in episode ○ and coming up with new equipment in episode ○. Therefore, in terms of scripting, Rain Palace hopes to find someone who has written a children's film. Although Yumiya felt that he liked toys rather than saying that he liked close-ups, Yumiya was still frightened when he heard that Marutani was going to call Keiichi Hasegawa. Rain Palace likes the "Heisei Otter Series", and Hasegawa, who has participated in many "Heisei Otter Series", is simply an unattainable person for Rain Palace. Rain Palace was deeply impressed by Hasegawa's "Galaxy Ultraman" Episode 1, monsters are changed by humans, nostalgic feelings, the sense of occlusion of the popularity relationship between the characters, and the fact that they don't seem to have a budget are very similar to "Electric Light Superman Gurlitt".
It is precisely because of the insufficient budget of "Electric Light Superman Gurlitt" that other novel ideas such as the simple computer world in the play can stand out in similar close-up works. Hasegawa said that just as it was decided that the defense organization familiar to everyone in the Ultraman series would not appear in the play because it had already been decided, the focus of "Gurlitt" was on the children who assisted Gurlitt. This is also the result of considering it to distinguish it from Ultraman. Rain Palace liked Hasegawa's line of thinking, "If this road doesn't work, then how about changing the road" Thinking Transformation can often drive this set. Therefore, after consulting with Marutani, it was decided to ask Hasegawa to take charge of the SSSS. GRIDMAN" series composition.
Although Hasegawa has not seen "Electric Light Superman Gurlitt", he still knows that the play uses computer viruses and network worlds, and in the past, Hasegawa has also participated in works like this, that is, the animation of "Mega Man EXE", so when he received this job, he also had a similar feeling. Just after getting the SSSS. When GRIDMAN first planned the book, it seemed that this was not the same thing as "Electric Light Superman Gurlitt", certainly not "Mega Man EXEe", and even closer to the science fiction works full of huge mysteries like "Evangelion". However, it is only the original story and the setting outline, and the current finished product is two different things. When Hasegawa heard about the project, he learned that what he wanted to do was "not only those who have seen this work in the past can enjoy the work better, and they don't want to make a remake of the past", but when he saw this plan, Hasegawa said, "This is also too new!" However, the time that followed was very generous, and Hasegawa decided to exchange ideas with everyone and reimagine the work.
Rain Palace said that in fact, it was also hoped that the audience who likes animation could easily see it, and this has not changed until now. Now viewers who like close-ups will naturally watch the animation. Conversely, people who watch animation don't necessarily go to see close-ups. Therefore, I hope that this animation can become an entry point and expand the audience to see close-ups.
In order to make a work that can be easily seen by audiences who like animation, the first thing is to deal with the character design. Of course, the special camera drama also pays attention to the appearance of the actors, but the audience who likes the close-up film still likes the appearance after the transformation more than the image before the transformation, not only the people who watch it, but even the people who do it. In terms of animation, what needs to be paid attention to is the relationship between the characters and dig deeper. Then there's character design. Characters published in animation magazines are generally not looked at by the audience if they are not natural. So SSSS. Gridman's first main visual image deliberately excludes Gurlitt.
《SSSS. The main visual diagram of the first bullet of GRIDMAN
For animation audiences, when they see "Animation Production: TRIGGER", they will basically have expectations, which is also a focus of everyone's attention. In the "Ultraman Carnival 2018" SSSS. At the gridman symposium, even the voice actors enthusiastically appreciated the production of VIGOR, and even visited the studio to study. TRIGGER said that generally there are voice actors who want to come to visit, they will be very active in inviting them to visit, basically every work will be like this, SSSS. GRIDMAN is where almost all the voice actors are coming. Tetsu Yunomiya is also very happy about this, because the sound production and painting of the animation are almost separate, so the voice actors have little time to observe the production site of the animation. There are also people who don't listen to sound much, but Yunomiya said that if you can draw while listening to the voice actor's acting skills, it will also be helpful for painting, and the two complement each other. Rain Palace said that TRIGGER animators can do this, and it is already very valuable just that.
<h5>[References].</h5>
Natalie: Tetsu Amemiya, Keiichi Hasegawa Interview Special Effects × A New Challenge of Anime! Answers to Gritman and love letters to 90's robo-anime
This article is for publication by Anitama only, and no unit or individual may publish part or all of this article in any form.
Official website: http://www.anitama.cn
Official Weibo: @AnimeTamashii
WeChat public number: Anitama0815
Cooperation email: [email protected]
Original: m.anitama.cn/article/8afeb1e3696d0a8a?utm_source=toutiao