“Mobile Suit Gundam” creator Yoshiyuki Tomino issued a playful challenge to aspiring artists at a screening on Saturday.
Key points:
- Tomino, 82, delivered his pep talk to new animators and artists after the screening of his 1988 film “Mobile Suit Gundam: Char’s Counterattack” at the second Niigata International Animation Film Festival in Niigata City, Niigata Prefecture.
- During his speech, Tomino praised Hayao Miyazaki, 83, for his work and how his latest Oscar win for “The Boy and the Heron” has raised the bar for young artists looking to enter the anime and manga industry. He also mentioned that young artists would have to work extra hard if they want to surpass Miyazaki and works like “One Piece,” created by Eiichiro Oda.
- “Please do your best to crush Miyazaki. I can’t do it anymore. Thanks to Miyazaki’s animations, anime and movies themselves are changing,” Tomino noted in his closing remark.
The details:
- Miyazaki won his second Oscar for best animated feature at the 96th Academy Awards on March 10 for “The Boy and the Heron,” following his first in 2002 for “Spirited Away.”
- Meanwhile, Fandom’s fifth annual Inside Fandom study in 2023 ranked “One Piece” as the third-most popular entertainment franchise in the world, next to “Star Wars” at No. 1, followed by Marvel in second. The series beat other big-name franchises on the list, including “Elder Scrolls,” “Grand Theft Auto” and “Final Fantasy.”
- Tomino has never shied away from his professional rivalry against Miyazaki. He expressed his admiration for the legendary director and urge to surpass him during his lecture at Takara University’s Tokyo Media Department on May 5, 2019, telling the students, “Once you join the anime industry, you’re surrounded by deeply talented people… If there’s someone you want to crush nearby, it inspires you to chase after your dreams to a ridiculous extent… I was able to make something like Gundam…
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