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by the Alefgard (Tokyo Metropolitan) Symphony Orchestra conducted by Koichi Sugiyama. The
video was created by a top-notch staff including Shinji Higuchi (special effects), Tomio Haraguchi
(special makeup), Fuyuki Shinada (monster sculpting) and Hideaki Anno and Yoshiyuki Sadamoto
(animated effects). It was directed by Takami Akai.
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supervised that particular element, but somehow, I was able to swing it on Dragon
Quest. I learned a lot from a fellow named Onoue161, our key supplier of materials
on set. He s still in the special effects business, working on several cutting-edge
projects.
We also had a life-size (or close to it) model of the Dragon King s head. It had been
made by Fuyuki Shinada, who gained notoriety for his design work on the Godzilla
films. One day, Shinada was staring intently at a three-foot long model tank sitting
in a corner at Nikkatsu Studio. Finally, he turned and said, This is the #61 from
Gappa, isn t it? I wonder if they d get angry if I took it. . . He seemed half-serious
about taking the thing home with him, but he gave up after it proved to be too
heavy.
Incidentally, the head portion of the Dragon King had been cut and sculpted from
a kind of Styrofoam board called kapok. It s often used in special effects, but
can double as a comfortable bed on late nights at the studio. Those big blocks
of foam were just the right size. If they hadn t been cut yet, we d sleep on top
of them, and if they had been cut, we d nestle inside the hollowed-out area. The
larger props were made somewhere in the studio in Chofu, while the small ones were
actually manufactured in my Kichijoji apartment (where several former DAICON
staff members who went pro spent many nights). Work on the film pretty much
went on from the wee hours of the morning until very late at night. Dirty, scruffy-
looking men were going in and out of my place all night long, and when we opened
the windows in the morning, the smell of thinner (which we used with adhesives)
was overpowering. The neighbors started to complain, and I was eventually evicted.
Luckily, this occurred after production on the film was complete.
The film s debut was held at the Tokyo Bay NK Hall in Maihama. It played to the
accompaniment of a full orchestra, conducted by Koichi Sugiyama162. For me, it s
amazing that this entire project began with a simple interest in garage kits! But
this is exactly how our business developed and expanded.
Komatsu Sakyo Anime Gekijo
It was around this time that GAINAX produced a rather unique work called Ko-
matsu Sakyo Anime Gekijo (lit. Sakyo Komatsu s Anime Theater )163. This anime
161
Katsurou Onoue (1931-) Director of special effects films. He is currently the managing director
of a company called Tokusatsu Kenkyujo. He has been in charge of special effects for countless
TV hero series. In more recent years, he has been working with digital effects as well. Some of
this more well-known works are Bakuretsu Toshi ( Burst City ) and Gamera 3.
162
Koichi Sugiyama (1931-) Composer whose songwriting talents cross over a wide range of genres.
Famous for being a video game enthusiast himself, he has composed the scores for video games -
particularly the RPG classic Dragon Quest ( Dragon Warrior ) series published by ENIX. He has
also composed music for a variety of animated works, including Densetsu Kyojin Ideon. Sugiyama
came up with the parody theme song that we borrowed for DAICON FILM s Kaettekita Ultraman.
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adaptation of Mr. Komatsu s short-short novellas was financed by Bandai, and aired
as a daily TV series. Yamaga was put in charge of the script, and we asked manga
artist Jun Ishikawa164 to provide the character designs. The series was released for
sale and rental, but surprisingly, it never caught on, remaining a sort of phantom
project in GAINAX s body of work.
The original plan was to make Shinchi Hoshi Gekijo, as Hoshi s name was practically
synonymous with the short-short. We presented the idea to Mr. Hoshi165 at a hotel
in Ginza, directly after he met with his publisher. We asked him to consider an
anime version of his works, but he immediately responded with a flat-out No.
I ll be perfectly honest with you ,e said. I don t want anyone else touching my
work - at least not while I m alive. Wait until I m dead. I won t offer any complaints
then. So much for negotiations.
We were left searching for someone to turn to, and after giving it some thought,
we decided that Sakyo Komatsu would be our next best bet. When we approached
him without idea, we told him what had happened with Hoshi, to which he replied,
Yeah, that sounds like him. And just like that, he accepted our offer.
Incidentally, even though Mr. Hoshi passed away several years ago, we still haven t
worked up the courage to tell his family about the promise he made. . .
Gamemaker GAINAX
Even with an undertaking like Dragon Quest to keep us busy, we still decided to
move ahead with our production of Gunbuster. Volume 2 sales were impressive, so it
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