Production I.G will be hosting a panel at Anime Expo 2008, this year at the Los Angeles Convention Center (July 2 - July 5, 2008).
Come see sneak previews of The Sky Crawlers, Library War, Real Drive, Phone Braver 7 and much much more!

Event: Anime Expo 2008
Panel: Production I.G Panel
Panelist: Maki Terashima-Furuta
Place: Los Angeles Convention Center, Live Programming 1 (West Hall B)
Date: July 5, 2007 (Sat)
Time: 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm

For more information:
http://www.anime-expo.org/download/AX2008_Schedule_Day3.pdf

Anime Expo website:
http://www.anime-expo.org

© MH/NI,BWDVYHDYCH

This Week's Top Page is dedicated to Asience: Hairy Tale, Kao's creative challenge directed by Kazuto Nakazawa.

Check the details of Production I.G panel at Anime Expo 2008 here.
Read the first part of our interview with Asience: Hairy Tale director Kazuto Nakazawa here.
Read our interview with Phone Braver 7 director Takashi Miike here.
We added the synopsis of the TV series Real Drive episode 4 here.
We added the synopsis of the TV series Blood + episode 24 here.

November 2007: Week 3

This Week's Top Page is dedicated to Asience: Hairy Tale, Kao's creative challenge directed by Kazuto Nakazawa.

Kazuto Nakazawa's Asience: Hairy Tale is Gold Winner at the 22nd London International Advertising Awards. Check the details here.
Read our exclusive interview with Asience inbetween checker Junko Nishimura here.
Mamoru Oshii's Tachigui: The Amazing Lives of the Fast Food Grifters is going to have its Taiwanese premiere at the 44th Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival. Read the details here.
And Oshii's thought-provoking mockumentary is also back to Australia (after premiering in Brisbane this summer), screening in Sydney at the 11th Japanese Film Festival. Read the details here.
Read about The Sky Crawlers, the new animation film by Mamoru Oshii here.
We added the synopsis of the TV series Guardian of the Spirit episode 6 here.
We added character file 6 to our Tokyo Marble Chocolate page here.

September 2007: Week 4

This Week's Top Page is dedicated to the Princess' Father as seen in Asience: Hairy Tale, the short film directed by Kazuto Nakazawa for Kao Corporation.

Read our exclusive interview with Asience art director Shuichi Hirata here.
Kenji Kamiyama's Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - Solid State Society won the Packaged Work Award at the 12th Animation Kobe. Read the details here.
Tokyo Marble Chocolate and Ghost Hound will screen at the 20th Tokyo International Film Festival. Read the details here.
Read about The Sky Crawlers, the new animation film by Mamoru Oshii here.
We added the synopsis of the TV series Guardian of the Sacred Spirit episode 2 here.

August 2007: Week 1

This Week's Top Page is dedicated to the Princess as seen in Asience: Hairy Tale, the short film directed by Kazuto Nakazawa for Kao Corporation.

Asience has been selected in competition at the prestigious Ottawa 2007 International Animation Festival. Read the details here.
Read our exclusive interview with Asience color designer Idumi Hirose here.
Tachigui: The Amazing Lives of the Fast Food Grifters is having its Australian premiere at the 16th Brisbane International Film Festival. Read the details here.
Read about The Sky Crawlers, the new animation film by Mamoru Oshii here.
We added the synopsis of the TV series Blood+ episode 9 here.
We added character file 5 to our Sisters of Wellber page here.

July 2007: Week 1

This Week's Top Page is dedicated to Asience: Hairy Tale, Kazuto Nakazawa's creative challenge for Kao Corporation.

Read our exclusive interview with Asience production manager Yoshihiko Suzuki here.
Check the newly added Asience info page here.
Kenji Kamiyama's Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - Solid State Society will receive its Canadian premiere at Fantasia 2007. Read the details here.
Read about The Sky Crawlers, the new animation film by Mamoru Oshii here.
We added the synopsis of the mobile manga XX episode 6 here.
We added character file 01 to our Sisters of Wellber page here.
We added the synopsis of TV series Reideen episode 10 here.

Kazuto Nakazawa - Born in Niigata Prefecture on March 4, 1968. Animator. After graduating the Toei Animation Gakuin, he joined studio Magic Bus, and is currently in force of studio Manglobe. His credits include Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003, animation sequence director, 2003), TV series Samurai Champloo (2004, character design, chief animation director), Linkin Park's video clip Breaking the Habit (2004 MTV VMA Viewer's Choice Award), the commercial film Kirin Lemon Black: Monster Blacks Fights Back (Best Commercial Film at the 11th Holland Animated Film Festival) and the episode Moondrive in Genius Party Beyond (2008).

part I

Firstly, what made you decide to take up drawing as a profession?
Do you remember having someone in your elementary school or junior high class who was good at drawing? I was that kid who'd be always drawing for friends. They'd ask me to draw a tiger on a school bag, a shark on a shoe and so on.

A shark on a shoe??
He was a rough kid. (lol) Anyways, when you are good at drawing, you are a hero until you are in the lower grades of elementary school. But as you advance to junior and senior high schools, you become the one who paints billboards for the school sport meets and that kind of stuff. (lol) To tell you the truth, I wasn't particulary interested in drawing. I was just fairly good at it.

Were you interested in films then?
I wasn't really impressed with Japanese films since they overly reflected the directors' egos, but I loved Hollywood films and animations. Same with paintings. I loved manga and anime better than classic academic paintings, because they were more vulgar, rather laid-back, and fun.

What was your favorite anime in those days?
I liked the first Gundam. I recall I went to theatres to watch the Gundam movie trilogy. I was crazy about Yoshikazu Yasuhiko drawings.

Do you think watching those anime back then gave you the idea of becoming an animator?
No, I lived in a really rural, middle-of-nowhere place, so I couldn't even imagine who they were. I joined an animation company, but that was because I was one of those who couldn't think of anything else to pursue. When I found everybody at the studio were high-level people, I was awed. That was a sort of culture shock for me.

But unlike other people from my generation who watched anime on TV, I had not been mesmerized by Yoshinori Kanada's audacious style, so I ended up joining the industry without a real awareness of the influence he was having on so many would-be and professional animators. I realized this when I was a freshman in a studio and candidly asked Atsuko Ishida, "Who's this Kanada guy everybody's talking about?" I still remember her words when she scolded me. "Whaaat? Are you insane?" (lol)

What was your reaction? Did you feel some kind of rivalry?
Never. I have never thought that way in my life.

But now you have become a world-renowned director.
Oh, no. I am an "animator," not a "director." It is true that after Kill Bill: Vol.1, I am getting more assignments as a director, but I wasn't really interested in directing at first. I mean, a director in an animation production is a sort of mid-level manager, and I could not imagine anything more distant from a creative job. It's not exactly the kind of work that fits with my personality. As I'm getting older, I find myself in a position where circumstances are forcing me to do this type of job. Since I can draw, I am also able to "direct," but I don't have the patience to organize a group of individuals together.

What brought you to the Asience project?
Initially, it was Mitsumoto-san (**) from Production I.G who approached me. He said, "Would you be interested? You can do whatever you like on the theme of hair." That was a total lie when I think of it now. (lol) When I met with a representative from the ad agency, they already had a framework for the project.

Doesn't that make things difficult to work on?
It does! And in their image board, you had this father character who was the only one sporting this archaic Jomon-like face with an odd straight forehead hairstyle. And they wanted to close the film with "Hair is the heart of a woman" written in blood. But that's that. With a little clue, I can usually do the rest. I mean I knew this film clip had to start with a castle in the background and end with "Hair is the heart of a woman." So I simply disregarded the rest. They ordered me to make the final scene one of bloodshed, but I found that idea absolutely unaesthetic, so I changed it into a storm of falling red maple leaves, and at the same time I soften the blood spurting about with a spray effect. I also made the storyline flow through the four seasons to give it more of a Japanese feel. After all, this project had fewer binding conditions compared to other commercial films, so the production process was on the easy side. And they liked the final result.

(*) Yoshinori Kanada is considered one of the most revolutionary and influential animators from the 70s, breaking all figurative rules in the highly standardized TV anime production of that era. His hyperdynamicly deformed style and pyrotechnical explosions inspired innumerable would-be animators.

(**) Ryuji Mitsumoto is I.G's chief producer. The Patlabor movies, Ghost in the Shell and Innocence are among his most famous works.

(5/1 - to be continued)

© 1994-2007 KAO CORPORATION. All Rights Reserved.

Air date: March 25, 2006

Finally Saya confronts Diva. The memory of the tragic event that took place at Joel's birthday starts to come back to Saya. And as she screams, Kai dash to the top of the tower...

Script: Shigeru Morita
Storyboard: Shingo Kaneko, Naomichi Yamato
Director: Shigeru Ueda
Animation Director: Yoshiya Yamamoto

Air date: April 29, 2008

The first client to visit the Masamichi Haru Investigation Office was Jenny En from the Advisory Commission. With Kushima's introduction, Jenny has come to ask Haru if he can rescue one of shareholder of the artificial island, who went through braindown. Jenny want Haru to investigate the cause of the braindown, and recover his consciousness. Although it is a difficult request, Haru agrees to take on the job. Minamo is chosen as his buddy and she begins to see what she can do.

Script: Junichi Fujisaku
Storyboard: Koichi Hatsumi
Director: Koichi Hatsumi
Animation Director: Hideki Takahashi

This Week's Top Page is dedicated to Phone Braver 7, the VFX live action TV series directed by Takashi Miike.

We added Phone Braver 7 info page here.
Read our interview with Phone Braver 7 director Takashi Miike here.
Read the first part of our exclusive interview with Reideen 3D staff here.
Check the screening date of Asience: Hairy Tale at Annecy 2008 here.
We added the synopsis of the TV series Library War episode 3 here.
We added the synopsis of the TV series Blood + episode 23 here.

SoftBank Mobile Corp., WiZ Co., Ltd, Production I.G, Inc., OLM, Inc. and Asatsu-DK Inc have joined forces into Buddy Mobile LLP, to produce the VFX live action TV series Phone Braver 7 (original Japanese title: Keitai Sosakan 7). The show premiered in Japan on April 2, 2008 at 7:00pm on TV Tokyo.

The original story has been developed by WiZ, the company behind the hit Tamagotchi, and Production I.G, the world-famous animation studio. I.G's team of scriptwriters, including Junichi Fujisaku (Blood+, Real Drive) and Yoshiki Sakurai (Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex series) will contribute the scripts. OLM is in charge of 3D effects. SoftBank Mobile Corporation of Japan is marketing a new mobile phone series that resembles the Phone Bravers from the drama.

Phone Braver 7 is Production I.G's first participation to a live action production, contributing the original work, scriptwriting and financing.

Overview
As the technology of communication tools constantly advanced, the mobile phones began to take up the role of navigating the everyday lives of people. Certainly the time will come when innovative mobile phones will instantly start to download and provide information that the user of the phone requires.

By then, the phone would support the owner daily as if it has its own mind. Phone Braver 7 illustrates human society in the very near future - " the future that is tomorrow" - when we face the ever changing reality and the deep darkness that grows behind its shadow.

The main theme of this drama is how people and the network exist in the information society. The organization called Under Anchor challenges the cybercrimes that undermine the society. Keita, a senior high school student, gets involved in the conflict and learns life lessons along the way. His "buddy" mobile phone, Phone Braver 7, helps and guides Keita. The director of the series is Takashi Miike. World renowned directors including Mamoru Oshii and Shusuke Kaneko will join him to add to the excitement.

Story
Senior High School student Keita Amishima (Masayuki Kubota) has just moved to town. However, he can't quite socialize at school, and his attitude does not help. Even when somebody approaches him in a friendly way, Keita just bluntly reply, "Whatever" or "Don't care." Distressed with this situation, Keita eventually decides to run away from home. But as he puts his plan into action, he gets involved into an incident with a machine gone out of control in a construction site. As Keita tries to run away from the crazy machine, a man appears. His name is Takimoto (Kanji Tsuda). And to Keita's greatest surprise, the man is accompanied by a mobile phone, that is walking on his side...

official website (Japanese only)
http://ani.tv/k-tai7/

© WiZ·Production I.G·Buddy Mobile Project LLP/TV TOKYO

Original Story:
WiZ / Production I.G

Series Director:
Takashi Miike

Series Composition:
Atsuhiro Tomioka

Special Advisor:
Hideto Tomabechi, Ph.D.

Scriptwriters:
Atsuhiro Tomioka, Junichi Fujisaku, Ryo Higaki, Yoshiki Sakurai

Episode Directors (alphabetical order):
Shusuke Kaneko, Kazuya Konaka, Mamoru Oshii, Hiroyuki Tsuji, Norio Tsuruta, Takeshi Watanabe, Kunihiko Yuyama

CGI Supervisor:
Masataka Nakajima

Director of Photography:
Masakazu Oka

Art Director:
Tomoyuki Maruo

Music:
Yoshihiro Ike

Production:
TV Tokyo / Production I.G / OLM

Presented by:
Buddy Mobile Project LLP

CAST

Keita Amishima:
Masataka Kubota

Sosuke Takimoto:
Kanji Tsuda

Chigusa Mimasaka:
Yuko Ito

Daiki Kirihara:
Satoshi Matsuda

Toko Asano:
Yoko Mitsuya

Mayuko Hasekura:
Nao Nagasawa

Kentaro Amishima:
Hiromasa Taguchi

Harumi Amishima:
Noriko Watanabe

Kohei Mito:
Mickey Curtis

Katsuhiko Shimura:
Hiroshi Katsuno

Shugo Kaito:
Yosuke Katsuno

Karen Ameshima:
Reiko Igarashi

Yuri Mido:
Natsuki Okamoto

Air date: April 24, 2008

A confession by Tezuka unsettles Iku. The Archives Building that houses the history of censorship was closed. It was predicted that the helicopter airlift operation was going to be a bitter battle. Dojo singles Iku out from the operation. What are his intentions? The fierce battle against the Media Betterment Committee begins without the heartbroken Iku.

Script: Daishiro Tanimura
Storyboard: Kazunobu Fusegi
Directors: Kazunobu Fusegi
Animation Director: Yasutaka Kubota

Air date: March 18, 2006

Saya and Hagi meet Solomon in the Zoo again. Hagi fiercely attacks him. Solomon skillfully handles Hagi. Solomon tells them that he is a chevalier and that chevaliers are trying to kill Saya. He also adds that his feelings are different from the wishes of his brothers. Around that time, David, Kai and Riku arrive at the Zoo...

Script: Shotaro Suga
Storyboard: Ei Aoki
Director: Ei Aoki
Animation Director: Toyoaki Fukushima

What are the key features and the structure of this drama series?
Freedom. Until now, heroes had predetermined characters and the story normally let the audience share the hero's anguish and fight along with the hero. But Phone Braver 7 has a young main character. Because he is still a boy, his story is many sided: he would fall in love and get jealous or have family problems. So the audience can see him from many perspectives. And it's all right for him to change as the story progresses.

How would you like to experiment with younger audiences through this drama?
When we were young, TV was the all-mighty. Now, it's different. Children are surrounded by an incredible number of things that attract their attention. TV programs must be really stimulating to attract them. I would like to collaborate with other directors and create an even free, unpredictable, nail-biting and heart-pounding drama, and enjoy that process with the directors. And then see if the children would give me their thumbs up.

What is your reaction to the program being aired at 7 pm on TV Tokyo?
Unpredictable. The key point for a movie or a TV program to succeed is the level of anticipation. And it's working well with this drama. The momentum of growing anticipation before the airing will be replaced by complete surprise once you actually see the episodes: we've prepared a story that would increase the audience's anticipation even more with an unexpected and unpredictable storyline.

As a key feature of this series, there will be a contingent of gorgeous directors including you - the list would certainly please movie and anime fans -. What do you expect from this set up as a series director?
It is very important to keep to the original story and characters, but I am not satisfied with just that and finish the job. That's the minimum requirement for any director. I would like the directors to utilize the staff member's skills and the time they have to really focus on bringing out the distinctiveness. As for Mamoru Oshii, I am expecting more than just following the same story as other episodes. I'd like him to throw in ideas liberally and create something completely different and utterly Oshii-like.

Please offer a message to the audience.
This is a story you've never seen before - a meeting of two heroes: a boy named Keita, representing the human being, and Seven, representing the machines. About a half-hour into the first episode, they have to fight together. It's a universal drama of vulnerable and caring humans as they respond to an unexpected incident. The first episode is an introduction to the unknown world. If that will encourage people to get inside the story, they are sure to enjoy the diverse stories that unfold.

© WiZ·Production I.G·Buddy Mobile Project LLP/TV TOKYO

Profile: Shigeki Hayashi - Born on January 26th in Chiba Prefecture. 3D CGI director. Board member of SimImage Studio. While still at school, he was convinced that CG was going to be the indispensable technology for the future film industry, and he decided to become a CG creator. The first creative work was to make a film that was shown at Fujitsu's pavilion at the 1990 International Garden and Greenery Exposition held in Osaka. After working for Polygon Pictures, he landed a job as lighting artist for the 3D CG movie, Final Fantasy (2001), and continued to participate in several projects including SD Gundam Force (2004, TV series, animator), in the game Monster Hunters (2004, movie part, animatics director) and Zoids: Genesis (2005, TV series, 3D CGI director). On Reideen he comments, "It was a venture to challenge the limits of 3D CG in a TV series."

Profile: Keiji Ikeda - Born on October 31, 1980 in Okayama Prefecture. 3D CG VFX designer. He decided to work in the CG visuals industry because he wished to share what he enjoyed the most as a child. In 2004, he debuted as a CG designer with a TV ad for Pocket Monster Emerald (Game Boy Advance software.) Since then he has worked on Gundam Evolve (full 3D CG OVA, 2001 to 2003) and the game Monster Hunter 2 (2006). He is one of Japan's promising young CG creators. On Reideen he comments, "Yeah, it definitely was a challenging project."

Reideen has everything we wanted to express with 3D CG.

First of all, can you tell us how you happened to join the Reideen team, Hayashi-san?
Hayashi: A sales representative from Maya introduced me to Producer Eiji Mizutani, who is the head of IGFX, Production IG's 3D CG studio. At the time, I was working as CGI technical director in Zoids: Genesis, so I think it was towards the end of March 2006 when I joined the Reideen team. The production had already advanced to some extent, so I took over from there.

Zoids: Genesis and Reideen both have CG animated mechs. Were there any techniques and know-how from Zoids: Genesis that you found helpful in Reideen?
Hayashi: From my previous experiences with TV animation, I learned that how we structure the workflow was very important. I made improvements to a workflow I created for Zoids: Genesis and used it for Reideen. In a 3D CG production, the created data goes through several people's hands. It's fundamental that you don't get things messed up in that process. You should also let the computer do as much as it can, so that you can concentrate on adding animation and creating visual effects. I aimed at making a work environment where the staff could concentrate on their job and could also see the entire production workflow at a glance.

As for the modeling, we created everything from the scratch. For the motion graphics, in Zoids: Genesis we were able to reuse movement data for different Zoid models just by changing the camera settings to get different shots, but for Reideen, the main concept for the movements was "slow," so we couldn't reuse the data, except as for some walking sequences for the Jinrai.

"Slow" movements are the trademark of this series, and were never used in a previous robot anime. What was your first impression when you heard Hongo-san's idea?
Hayashi: By coincidence, I wanted to make that kind of robot anime, too, so I was really hooked on that process. Director Hongo also requested that we should try to avoid cel-shading (*) and outlines. I had that idea too, although I knew it was very risky. It meant a challenge for me, but I was very positive about it. It was so amazing that I even start feeling worried: was I really allowed to load this project with my ideas since the very beginning? (lol) (1)

Ikeda-san, at with stage did you joined this project?
Ikeda: I joined the team when they were creating modeling data using Reideen's character design drawings. My initial job was to add animation and visual effect data.

What was the most challenging part in animation and visual effect rendering for Reideen?
Ikeda: Basically, the job was to put what Director Hongo and mechanical designers, Atsushi Takeuchi and Shinji Aramaki, wanted to draw onto the actual screen. In particular, Takeuchi-san drew the storyboards for all Reideen-related bank scenes (**), and Aramaki-san did the same for the Hayate and Jinrai bank scenes. So I had very detailed storyboards personally drawn by the two mechanical designers themselves. I simply hoped to recreate the settings indicated on the storyboards. The "fade-in" sequence where Junki boards Reideen, and also the bank scenes where Reideen transforms into God Bird or God Marine were especially challenging.

Hayashi: As for those bank scenes, we discussed the details extensively with the director and two mechanical designers - Takeuchi-san and Aramaki-san - until we settled on the definite presentation styles. Throughout the production process, I think we were able to understand Takeuchi-san's philosophy and he understood what we could do. Once we completed these bank scenes, we could communicate with each other with more ease. The numerous discussions we had while we worked on the project, I think, was a very rare and luxurious process for a TV anime production.

Ikeda: We brought the completed 3D data directly to the checking room and explained what we could do and what we wanted to do as we progressed in production. When we are tight on schedule, we tend to rely on and stick with what we can do and are good at, but it was different in this production. We would expose our ideas and propose new methods make it into reality. We could expand our horizon. When I look back, I could see that the whole process helped to improve my skills. I really enjoyed working on this project.

(*) Cel-shading is a method to make 3D graphics look like cel-animation. Cel-shading in the 3D CG software rendering allows adding outlining lines and shades intentionally as in cel-animation. This has become a commonly used method to match the texture of 3D graphics with traditional 2D cel-animation.

(**) "Bank scenes" is a Japlish technical term used in the Japanese animation industry to indicate basic sequences that once created are reused in different episodes throughout a TV series, such as the main robot transformation, or its weapons.

(1 - to be continued)

© 2007 Tohokushinsha Film Corporation · Production I.G

Air date: March 11, 2006

Saya and Hagi arrived at the ruins of "The Zoo," were Saya's forgotten past is sleeping. The place is covered with overgrown grass and only a portion of the exterior walls is still standing. Soon, Saya's memories awake: her first encounter with Hagi, the incident on the Zoo owner's birthday, and the image of the whole building on fire...

Script: Reiko Yoshida
Storyboard: Takashi Sano
Director: Man Kawasaki
Animation Director: Toshimichi Kobayashi

Air date: April 22, 2008

Haru witnesses the fifty-year history of the artificial island created by Eichiro Kushima. After he saw the new "sea" in the Meta-Real Network, he decides to take the "brain dive" test conducted by Kushima so that he would feel the sea again. But Haru is too dominated by the anxiety of loosing the sea again, and the test turns into disaster just because of his persistence. What is required of a "diver"? Haru learns the answer to this question through Minamo, but as he tries to take the final test, "braindown" occurs.

Script: Junichi Fujisaku
Storyboard: Toshiyuki Kono
Director: Koichi Hatsumi
Animation Director: Keiichi Kondo

This Week's Top Page is dedicated to Reideen, as seen in Mitsuru Hongo's TV series Reideen.

Read the first part of our exclusive interview with Reideen 3D staff here.
Read our exclusive interview with Naoyoshi Shiotani here.
Check the screening date of Asience: Hairy Tale at Annecy 2008 here.
We added the synopsis of the TV series Real Drive episode 3 here.
We added the synopsis of the TV series Blood + episode 22 here.

March 2007: Week 1

This Week's Top Page is dedicated to Reideen, as seen in Mitsuru Hongo's new TV series Reideen, starting in Japan on March 3 on WOWOW.

Read about Tachigui: The Amazing Lives of the Fast Food Grifters screening at the 31st Hong Kong International Film Festival here.
Read about the selection of Kazuhiro Furuhashi's Le Chevalier D'Eon at SICAF 2007 here.
Read the our report of the Reideen press conference here.
We added synopsis of TV series Reideen episode 1 here.
We added synopsis of TV series xxxHOLiC episode 20 here.
We added the synopsis of TV series IGPX episode 10 here.