Interview Mr. Makino Ryuichi This interview is based on an interesting interview with Mr. Makino in the 2000 spring issue of "AIC Comic Love":"Tracing the footsteps of Makino Ryuichi from his career in the Game and Anime industry" Interviewer: Okubo Kasumitsu, J.L. for AIC Date: Spring 2000 and Winter 2001 ---------- Now on to the interview ---------- O: You have been playing an active role as an illustrator in the anime and game industries. I heard that you got your start as an animator. M: Yes. I entered a production studio that was doing contract work after I graduated from college and became an animator. I became a key frame animator after working in that studio and working on "High School-Kimengumi". O: "Kimenngumi"? It's quite surprising to know you worked on that! M: I entered the anime industry because I wanted to create action anime. But the next job I got in the studio was "Mezon Ikoku"('86), which is a daily life drama. I still wanted to be involved in action anime production and took some contract work secretly/behind the studio's back. But I got caught and the studio fired me. (Laughs) O: Oh, is that so? (Laugh) So did you freelance afterward? M: Yes. I worked in that studio for about 2 years and worked as freelance animator after I "quit". O: Which anime were you involved with during those years? M: ooh…I can't remember for I tend to forget the old work that I completed when I start working on a new anime. I am sorry but I can't remember. O: That is all right, besides, I think some of that anime is quite old. People might be surprised to know that there are many animators who belong to the "forgot my old work" group. M: I am one of them and it works for me to cut off old anime when I am working on new one. Of course there is some work that I personally have considerable feelings for, but even so, it happens quite often that I can't remember the name of the characters or something like that (laugh) Well, it's like changing your feelings by forgetting old things. O: I understand that. Like you can change your feelings by flipping a switch. What is the trigger/reason you became an animator? M: I don't feel like to telling you the reason, for I am too embarrassed to say (laughs in embarrassment). O: Now I am really curious about why, based on what you just said.(grin) M: Is not really an impressive reason…have you ever drawn little characters on the edge of your text books at school and animate it by flipping the pages? One picture after another and by connecting all of those pictures, it looks like the character is actually moving. I just thought that it was interesting and, by extension, I was attracted to animation. And I thought, "Maybe I should give it a try". That was the trigger. O: I see. And would you please let us know the reason you're involved in game production? M: A friend asked me if I wanted to join in the production of an adult PC game "The afternoon of Angles-Speical episode 3". I was working as character designer in that game and that is where I encountered game production. O: Wow. That is a really old game. M: It's a game for PC-8801 which was a few generations before windows. That is pretty old. O: Is that the first time you were a character designer? M: Yes. I did some character design work from time to time but that is the first time I created something completely original. O: Are there any particular parts you have to pay extra attention to or feel embarrassed about? M: No. Nothing particular. Even if it is a game, there is no difference from making animation for I am just drawing and there is nothing embarrassing about feeling uncomfortable to draw. Also, there is no problem when inbetweeners were copying my character design sheets. When I was working on it back then, the character design sheets were like memos to myself. O: It is true that game's scale (numbers of cels) is different form animation. One animator is enough to do all the drawing. M: That is right. The rough character design sheets can make me recall the original style I drew when I need to work on it again, that is enough. O: Now, let's talk about the highlight of this interview "Battle Athletes - Daiundoukai" First of all, would you please let us know how you encountered this anime? M: Mr. Hayashi(Hayashi Hiroki) asked me "we are planning to make a new game, how about giving it a try?" and invited me to join the project. And that new game is "Battle Athletes". I read the script and thought the story was quite interesting so I said "Please let me do it". That is how I met this anime. O: What was the workflow for producing this game? M: First of all, there are 3 animators hand out rough sketches to Mr. Hayashi. The character designs in rough sketches we hand out in the initial period became the characters in BA, that is "Akari Kanzaki", "Ichino Yanagida" and "Tomoe Kanzaki". "Tomoe" is not Akari's mother in the rough sketch; she was a classmate of Araki. Later the original plan was changed and Tomoe became Akari's mother. O: Are there any big differences between the characters shown in the game from the original character design? M: There were 2 different Araki handouts at first, longhair and short-hair Araki. The staff decided that the long-haired Akari was better so I cleaned up the sketches based on the longhair design. Another difference is that Akari's hairstyle is rabbit ear-like in the final character design sheet. In the initial design, the "rabbit ears" are more like worm's antennae. The other characters have no differences from the initial character design. O: You took the shape of the characters that were in your mind during initial planning period? That is amazing! M: There is nothing changed in the game, on certain levels I did sharpen the image of characters at very beginning. Later, when producing OVA series, I had a hard time while changing the design of character's clothes. There were many retakes of Mylandah and I had to redraw it many times. It was the situation that people usually said " Get hooked on and unable to escape"(bitter smile). On top of that, Mylandah's image in my mind has black hair without highlights in it. But when I finished the drawing alone with my image and took a second look at it, I was, like, "uh..hm..something's wrong with her hair.."(smile) Well, her hairstyle is fixed at some points. There is another version of her hairstyle.. it is short hair cut with waves. I personally preferred the short hair Mylandah. O: I would like to take a look at it if there is any chance. When did they decide to produce the OVA series? M: It was pretty fast after game is produced. Let me think…I think it was decided when we were making a short film for Sega Saturn edition of the game. O: That is early. Did you have a hard time when they decided to produce the OVA series? M: Yes. I was doing both game and anime at the same time. The character styles were changing gradually when I started the production work for the OVA. I cried out quite often when I was finished drawing, like, "Oh! NO! The size of the body parts is not in balance!!" " ARH…the hairstyle! Her face! Everything is not in right position!!" The staff was asking me to make characters' legs more slender in the OVA series and the game would have been changed by that. I can't go back to where I was once I changed the style, and that only exposed I am not a handy man. O: Now you mentioned it, the character's legs were thicker and do look childish. M: I WAS planning to make those characters more lolita-ish. But when they asked me to make the characters' legs more slender, the other upper body parts had to balance with slender legs, later, the faces has to take the balance with slender body parts that I had to make look more grownup. At the end, character designs were totally changed. An animator who I was working with was joking about it and asked me "New character design again? " (laugh) O: What other work was there after character design? M: I was only working on character design in the OVA series. Later, they decided to make a PlayStation game and I was working on fixing the character design and new illustrations for a short film in game. O: No time to take a break? M: I was also working on the illustrations that were published in comic magazines and merchandises during that time. There was lots of work back them. The toughest time I had is while making game manual for there was a lot of artwork that I had to finish in a short time. After that, CD-ROMs, CD…etc. I have been walking with Akari for a long time, now that I think about it. O: Are there any obstacles by being hooked up with Araki? M: There is disadvantage for going out too long with one character (bitter smile). I get used to the character design and am able to draw it without thinking too much. In other words, I will draw it by fewer lines. But, as I said I get used to it that the image of character will come up easily in my mind that even I use less lines to draw the character, it will not become another character. O: Guess it's not as good as people say "It is easy if you get used to draw it" in the anime world. That is difficult to judge what is good or bad. Now, would you please let us know is there any particular places you paid more attention to in BA? M: What I am going to say right now that Mr. Hayashi is sharing the same opinion with me. We decided to use different silhouette to distinguish characters and start the character design work. We tend to make the character have particular image so that even if there is different animator drawing Akari or Ichino with different styles, people can still distinguish the character by one look. The point is to make hairstyles with strong personalities. If you put a strong "personality"="mark/characteristic" on the character, you can say "oh! That is Akari" by one look at the silhouette. We emphasize at the hair styles and design it by the thought of people can easily distinguish characters. O: The hairstyles are quite amazing. The personalities of characters are strongly shown by their hairstyles. M: My way of defining it is "it is the tool to fly" O: You mean? M: Oh, I mean it is "not normal". It is impossible in reality. O: I see (laugh). And you are aiming at what by Makino's "format" (hairstyle) style? M: I learned this when I was making family PC games. The resolution of console game machines is very rough. Therefore, no matter how specific you draw, it is hard to make great differences. The first part for people to distinguish from one to other is by looking at silhouette. Even though the abilities of game machines are getting much, much better now, that point doesn't change at all. Therefore, I came up the idea that if it doesn't make any difference, I will exaggerate the hairstyle. This is why I did it. O: I think people just need to experience many things to learn more, so that you may find the experiences useful later. M: …games to me are not right path but that experience helped me a lot later. O: Really?(Laugh) That is why the attractive characters of Makino style were born by that hard work and experience. Does any animator influence you? M: The people I have been working with so far definitely influence me. And I am greatly influenced by cartoonist Mr. Hosono Fujihiko and animator Mr. Yamauchi Noriyasu. O: Now you mentioned them, I do feel like your work has their style. M: Mr. Yamauchi is very good at drawing girls bottoms, right? O: I knew you are going to say that! (Laugh) M: I personally think I am greatly influenced by Mr. Yamauchi. I call him "Master" whenever I meet him personally and he always thinks I am joking. But I AM serious by calling him master just he won't admit it. (Laugh) O: Have you ever worked with Mr. Yamauchi? M: No. Unfortunately I never had the chance to work with him. I meet Mr. Hayashi and Mr.Nishijima Katuhiko quite often in private. O: I see. I heard that your personal interest are computers and you're very good at them. M: Uh..I was saying to myself that "I will not be able to understand this thing" at first. But when I was involved in game production work I felt that "I can't understand the size of dot if I don't know computer" so I decided to make myself study it again. Well, the other reason is I want to play PC games... it's a mixture of personal feelings.(smile) O: How about now? M: I power up my FM-TOWNS to Windows and use it to play games, net surfing, and drawing. I have a machine in AIC but it is not as powerful as my own machine at home. Therefore I do most of the digital painting at home. O: Do you have your own homepage? M: Yes. I have my own homepage with an orthodox format. I didn't update it quite often for I have been very busy recently. But I do upload original illustrations when I have time. I was planning to upload illustrations at first but there were problems with tools and capacities so I gave up. But I don't care that much, for that is my interest; I am taking my time to work on it. O: I think fans have to check it if there are many of your original work. M: I also have BBS on my website that if anybody hasn't visited it yet. I welcome you to take a look at it. But I gradually realized the difficulties of hosting a BBS. O: Can you tell us more? M: If you put the things you are going to say in words, it is possible that what you write is not 100% what you want to say or the nuance changes. Sometimes you will hurt somebody else by it, even you don't mean to. That is why I said it is difficult. I am paying a lot of attention to what I write. I hope other people are aware of what they said within morals. O: Would you tell us what you've been working on recently? M: I am taking a break recently (Laugh). I am helping Mr. Hayashi, Mr. Kajishima's work and as key frame animator in "Sol Bianca". I am working as a helper now. O: Is there anybody bringing game or animation projects to you? Fans are concerned about volume 2 of your art book. M: Uh..I can't say. (laugh). This is just a thought, it will be fun to make male version of BA. There will be lot of handsome guys that show up in the anime but will have serious hard fights like cartoonist Mr. Katsuhiko Shimamoto draws in his comic. O: That will be fun! (Laugh) One last question, what is your message to the hard-core fans of BA and BA freaks? M: Sure. I don't know who are those reading this interview but if you are interested in "Ryuichi Makino" please visit my homepage . I have my profiles and original images there. How about that? (Laughs in embarrassment) O: Thank you for taking some time for our interview. Now on to new interview added by the AIC English website editor: J: You mentioned you are attracted by animation, what are the anime that made you want to be an animator? M: "Gundam Wing". Precisely speaking, the character designer of Gumdam-Yasuhiko Yoshikazu's work attracted me. He makes the character movement so lively, as if they are real. I think I wanted to move one picture and make it move beautifully is why I wanted to be animator. J: Hm…Gundam Wing is robot animation and I know you are very good at drawing female characters… you also mentioned you want to make action anime in the interview. What changed your interest? M: (grin) To many people's surprise, I didn't like drawing female character at all in the beginning. Female Characters need to pay more attention to draw and it's too much of a bother. But when I took "The afternoon of Angles- Special episode 3" game job, I have to draw it for there is no male characters in it.(laugh). After a while, my female character Design are proved by people without my knowledge and that how I get into it.(laugh in embarrassment) J: I see. You start your career from unknown young animator and would you tell us how did you enter anime related job after college. M: There are some links between anime college and production companies or studios. Anime college will introduced groups of graduate students to Production Company. I entered the studio as I mentioned in the interview by the connection of college. J: But what about those people who has no connection? M: I think the only way is knock on animation companies' door directly and tell them how much you really want to be an animator. But you have to prepare that the payment you got will not be able to support your life in Tokyo in first few months. Normally, people hire you for a period of time, as trainee for you are not useable at all. What I mean is, no matter how good you are, the real animation work is very different from what you learn by yourself or in college. The animation company will not pay trainees. J: Than how do people support themselves as trainees? Have part time job? M: (laugh) you won't have time to have part time job. I think most of people live with their parents. J: It sounds like it is quite difficult work as animator. M: It is not difficult at all to be animator; it is difficult to keep going. J: Can you tell us more? M: First of all, new stuff is hired as inbetweener and those works are boring/donkey works and not creative at all. You just keep copying the same page with little or a lot of facial or body movement between key frames. New stuff will not involve in creative jobs, you just practicing how people talk or walking, and that is very simple work repeat again and again. Besides, anime company pay you by the numbers of in-between frame you work, no matter the in-between frames you got have to take 3 hours to finish or just a simple mouth movement takes you 3 min to finish it. One frame is one frame, no more no less. J: Did you experience that in your first job? M: Yes. I knew that I couldn't survive by the wage I got if I kept working as inbetweener. So I kept asking them let me be a key frame animator for about a year. J: Is working as inbetweener essential to people who want to be animator? M: Yes. You will at least work as an inbetweener for about one or two years. Cause you need practice to get used to the animation production works. J: What about they teach in anime college? M: Anime college will only teach you basic drawing technique. They will not teach you something very Practical. This is a common agreement in anime industry that you don't really need to go to anime college to learn those things. If you can draw, you can just enter Production Company, and practicing something useful there. You spend the same period of time (minimum: 2 years) paid college fees to learn nothing practical or paid yourself in production company to learn something practical, which will you choice? J: Does the salary of key frame animator different from inbetweener? M: Yes. If you are key frame animator, one cute counts your payment. About how many frames in one cut is different. But you get pay more. J: That is very interesting. But allow me back to being an inbetweener for a second. I heard that if you are not good you got more wages. M: That is true. People who draw good deal with difficult in-between frame that required better skills or technique. And of course you spend a lot time on it but..one frame is one frame…you can only accomplish this much for it takes time and got paid by this much. For people who draw bad, because they are bad, they draw faster and they finished more frames then good drawer, so they got paid more. Beside, good inbetweener have to fix bad inbetweeners works sometime. It is like, work hard but pay less, word less but pay more. Quite unreasonable, isn't it?(smile) J: Yes. It is. A little question, what are the action anime you work secretly in the first studio and got fired? M: I don't think there is many people know it, the name is "Tobikage" a minor animation but female character was design by Mr. Hirano. J: Thank you very much. Any words for people want to be animator? M: (Serious face) I think people must very serious about your feeling of being an animator. There are too many things will happened to make you feel frustrated if you take it less than committed. Please go for it as you really mean it. I am "real" "real" seriously meant it. "Ganbatte!" J:Thank you very much and also thank you for design this month's free wall paper for us. M:Thank you too! (end of interview) If you have question to Mr. Makino, please send it to here with the topic name: "Question to Makino" »» Back to Mr. Makino's profile and filmography © AIC. All rights reserved. We welcome you to contact us if you have any question toward this website. If your questions are related to our anime work, please send your question by e-mail to here.	Company Profile Message from Miura Business Activities AIC anime artists ··· Akiyama Katuhito ··· Hayashi Hiroki ··· Kajishima Masaki* ··· Kitajima Nobuyuki ··· Kitazume Hiroyuki* ·· Makino Ryuichi ··· Ochi Hiroyuki ··· Okuda Atsushi* ··· Onda Naoyuki* Note: • Creators who has star mark at the end of their name are freelance animators or has their work base at AIC • All names are in Japanese naming order, family name first F.A.Q